Hello there, welcome to another chapter. Sadly, the eggplants here aren't as big and purple as the ones shown in the anime.

Episode Six: Purple Heart Hates Purple Vegetables

Planeptower

For the time being, Plutia and Kusakabe stayed at Planeptune. The Planeptune crew and the guests were having a peaceful dinner. The dish was steak with eggplants and string beans. Neptune and the others were fine with the fact that Plutia was the CPU of Planeptune, at least in another dimension. As for Kusakabe...

"There's two of you!?"

Neptune stood up as she said that.

"Not exactly, Neptune-san," Kusakabe corrected.

"Then, you're his long lost brother? Tendou-kun, I've never heard of this!"

"Will you sit down? You're interrupting dinner," Tendou sternly scolded.

"Besides, that plot twist is overused," Kagami added.

"Tendou-san, you're taking this quite well," Histoire said, "I expected a reaction when he showed up."

"Trust me, I was shocked like the others. Also, I'm not new to dimension travel. I've been to the edge of time and space a few times before."

She shut her mouth and thought, 'Who the heck is this man anyway?'

Changing the topic, IF asked to Plutia, "Can you transform?"

"I can, but people tell me not to do it too often."

"How come?"

"I wonder why..."

Peashy, who sat next to Neptune, had finished her steak. She wanted more, but there was nothing on her plate other than the side dish. So she took Neptune's remaining piece. Neptune tried to stop her, but it was too late.

"You can have this," Peashy said, offering a cooked eggplant.

Neptune was terrified by the purple vegetable. "Get it away from me! I hate eggplants!"

"This is Tendou's cooking, you know," IF said, "It came out really well."

"I don't want to! The stench alone makes me lose all strength."

"They're good for you," Tendou said.

"I agree," Histoire followed.

"Not you too, Histy!"

Suddenly, the oracle vibrated. When IF asked why she was like that, she said she didn't know. Neptune blamed it on the eggplant. Ignorant to the ruckus, Peashy ate the eggplant. Tendou could only sigh, and so did Kagami. Kusakabe chuckled at the scene.

Outside, a certain duo eavesdropped at the conversation.

Share Crystal Chamber

Histoire made contact with the caller, who looked like her but smaller.

"Sorry about that. It was the first time I'd ever received communications from another dimension, so it took me a while to read the manual and respond accordingly."

"I'm sorry for calling you out of the blue, too," the smaller Histoire apologized, "Thank you for taking care of Plutia-san and Souji-san."

"You're kind of tiny."

"Don't look down on me because I'm small! I was the one who sent them to your dimension, you know."

"I see. That was quite the shock, though.I had no idea other dimensions existed, let alone that they were so easy to travel between."

"It's not easy! I'll have you know it's actually quite difficult to do."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Well, the manual does contain a how-to guide. Took me three days to read it all."

"Is that so? I'll have a look through mine. Anyway, why did you send Plutia-san and Kusakabe-san here?"

"To tell you the truth, we detected a large flow of energy from our dimension to yours. I think something–or someone–moved there."

"Oh..."

"Whatever it is, it holds so much energy that if we let it go, our world might run out of energy to sustain itself."

"Right."

"That's why we need Plutia-san to look for whatever went missing and bring it back, with Souji-san as her caretaker."

"I see. So, how would one go about searching for this thing?"

"I spent three days investigating that, and I still couldn't figure it out."

"Huh?"

"All we can do is try to stay on top of any changes that happen in your world. If some kind of major upheaval takes place, you should be able to find what we seek nearby."

"I understand. I'll let the others know."

Planeptower

Compa served dessert, which was pudding. Neptune was obviously ecstatic. Before she could take one, Peashy took hers, which was named.

"Hey, P-ko!"

"I want this one!"

"That's mine. Can't you see it says 'Nep's' on the label?"

"Peashy-chan, the others are the same as that one," Nepgear told the little girl.

"No! I want to eat Nep's pudding!"

"It says it's mine, so it's mine!" Neptune still persisted.

"Go away!"

"Say what?"

Neptune suddenly felt something hit her head. Instinctively, she caught it. It was a pudding cup, Tendou's to be specific. It had his name in an intricate handwriting.

"Take mine," the owner of the pudding said nonchalantly, "I'll just grab some ice cream."

"Tendou-kun, you're a lifesaver!"

Later, both Neptune and Peashy sat down to eat their dessert. As the former was already eating, the latter tried to get it out of the cup. She tried squeezing it, which didn't turn out quite well. It was a gooey mess on the plate. Seeing that, Neptune cracked up. Plutia comforted the sobbing girl, and Kusakabe shut the goddess' mouth by shoving it with her own pudding.

"Good grief. For a goddess, you're tactless."

The next day, Histoire told everyone what she heard last night. However, no one was listening except for IF, Compa, and Kagami. Neptune was playing video games, Plutia was sewing, and Nepgear was trying to get her N-Gear back from Peashy. The two Soujis went out to buy groceries, most probably tofu.

"Um, are you listening to me?"

"Oh, sorry, Histy-san. I'm listening," Nepgear stopped to reply, but ran after Peashy again.

"That's if anything peculiar happens, right?" Neptune restated, "I haven't seen anything yet."

"But you haven't moved an inch."

"I'll go on patrol, Lady Histoire," IF told the oracle.

"I'll go with you," Kagami said.

"Thanks as always. I'm counting on you."

"Sure." Before she went out, she remembered something. "Compa, you've got work now, right? Want a ride on my motorbike?"

"Yes, thank you!"

The three set off. Meanwhile, Plutia had finished her work. It was a Neptune plushie.

"All done!"

Everyone present went and took a look at it.

"Plutie, is that me?" Neptune asked.

"It's Neptuna!" Peashy said excitedly.

"That's right."

"It's so cute," Nepgear cooed.

"Totally. It's got everything that makes me cute!" the older CPU indirectly gloated.

"I like making plushies of my friends. I have a lot of them back home."

She showed them a plushie she had made before. It was a Kusakabe plushie. The Purple sisters almost mistook it as Tendou, but they noticed the palette swap on the clothes.

"Make me, too!" Peashy implored.

"I'll do yours next, and Gear-chan after that."

She prepared the cloth and laid it down on the coffee table. She then went to a thinking position.

"Maybe we'll get to see a real artist's work?" Neptune said in anticipation.

"Yeah, maybe she'll make it without any pattern paper," Nepgear added.

They waited and waited for her to make it. She didn't, deciding to take a nap instead. Poor Peashy sobbed as her plushie wasn't going to be made.

Downtown Planeptune

The usual route to Compa's workplace was unfortunately closed since it was under construction.

"There's a lot of construction work going on today," IF mused, "Sorry we're running late."

"I don't think this will be a problem," Kagami assured.

"Huh?"

Calling the Gatack Zecter, Kagami quickly transformed. "Henshin!"

HENSHIN

Gatack then pushed the handlebars of the Gatack Extender so that they were facing forward. "Cast Off!"

CAST OFF

He jumped high, casting off his armor. The dirt-bike transformed into a hoverboard of some sort with the mandibles enlarged.

"Hop on, Compa!"

She got on the flying vehicle. Before the two left, she waved to IF. "See you, Ai-chan!" Then they flew away.

IF went on with her patrol. Suddenly, a purple mist covered the street. She stopped and held her breath. The helmet was blocking some of the mist, but not all. Within the mist, two cloaked figures appeared.

"You certainly fell for that one easily," the taller figure said.

"Wait, you can't be..."

Calling TheBee Zecter, which then latched itself onto the Rider Brace, she turned the wasp-like machine.

HENSHIN

Transformed, she got off and charged at the hooded person. She took off the cloak, revealing the identity.

"Arfoire!"

Unfortunately, the poison had taken effect. She felt woozy, struggling to stand. She swung at Arfoire but missed. Her opponent punched her in the gut. TheBee collapsed right there.

Planeptower

Tired of waiting for Plutia, Neptune and Peashy fell asleep on the couch. Nepgear ran to wake them up. She seemed in a hurry.

"Onee-chan, wake up!"

"I can't eat anymore...," mumbled Neptune.

"Quit having such cliched dreams!"

Neptune woke up, tiredly looking at her sister. "What do you want, Nepgear?"

Pulling out the N-Gear, the younger Purple sister showed pictures of IF, de-transformed, bound to a post.

"What the heck is that?"

"They were sent to me from an unknown address. There was a map attached, too."

"We need to go save her!"

"Yeah, but who would do a thing like this?"

Downtown Planeptune

Over at the nearest market, Tendou and Kusakabe chatted while getting things from the former's checklist. To differ between the two, Tendou was wearing a black coat and white shirt while Kusakabe was wearing a black shirt and white jacket. Their speech pattern was also different, as Kusakabe had a more polite tone.

"If you're wondering about Hiyori, she's doing well. She started her own bistro about a year ago," the former began.

"Thank goodness. I was worried something happened to her."

"Still want to take her away? You do have my previous surname."

"Like I said from our last encounter, I want you to protect our world, Kabuto. That also includes Hiyori."

"We're not in our world, though, and just call me Tendou."

"Then call me Kusakabe."

"It still feels weird to say it. Still better than Souji since we both are."

Suddenly, the Kabuto Extender comm line rang. Running to pick it up, it was from Nepgear.

"Tendou-san, IF-san is in trouble! We're going there to save her! I'll send you the address!"

She hung up.

"And I hoped to get some tofu for tonight, but oh well," Tendou sighed.

"It is unfortunate. Let's go, shall we?"

The two of them got on the bike. Tendou was the driver with Kusakabe on the back. Putting on their helmets, the original Souji started the engine and rode to the specified location.

Eggplant Plains

IF woke up to the familiar face of Arfoire.

"You won't achieve anything by doing this, Arfoire. Nep-ko, Nepgear, and the Riders will just defeat you again."

"This time will be different," Arfoire said confidently, "I've got an ace up my sleeve. That is..."

She pointed at the field behind her, "All these eggplants!"

"What?"

"I've already figured out that eggplants are a CPU's Achilles' heel! I'll put them through hell right here in this eggplant farm."

"You don't stand a chance no matter what tricks you pull, you old hag."

"Shut up, pipsqueak."

She pulled out a rather large eggplant. Turning IF's head with a mischievous grin, she put the whole eggplant into her mouth. IF tried so hard to resist, but it was too much.

"Choke it all down. Don't leave a single molecule behind."

Swallowing it down, IF said, "What do you think you're doing, you wrinkly witch!?"

"Silence!" Arfoire shoved another one. She then went on talking, "Eggplant skin is loaded with polyphenols, you know?"

Just after she made the hostage to swallow everything, reinforcements arrived.

"Stop right there!"

Turning around, she saw the CPUs of Planeptune carrying Plutia.

"There you are, CPU. Today's the day I send you six feet under."

Then, the backup entered the fields. Noticing the bike, she deduced, "Kabuto..."

When the two helmeted people got off the ride, they took off their helmets. She was caught off guard with their similarities.

"Why is there two of you!?"

"Darn it, should've expected that," Tendou facepalmed.

Eventually, Purple Heart noticed where they were and instinctively clasped her nose and mouth with her free hand.

"Onee-chan, are you okay?" Purple Sister worriedly asked.

"I'm sorry. The stench of those eggplants..."

"Took you long enough," the witch said, "I bought all this farmland so I could use your Achilles' heel against you. This eggplant field will be your grave!"

"Don't be stupid! Sure, I may hate eggplants, but they're not going to kill me."

"We'll see about that."

She threw a basket of the purple vegetable, and it turned into a bunch of eggplant lancers. "Come forth, my purple servants!"

Tendou and Kusakabe facepalmed at her antics. "That sounds really dumb, coming from her," the former said.

"I expected more flair. Anyway, you know what to do," the other Souji reminded.

"Who do you take me for?"

They both raised their hand, calling their respective partners. Kusakabe's Zecter is exactly the same as Tendou's, except for the darker colors. It isn't named the Dark Kabuto Zecter for no reason. Taking their stances, they shouted the magic word.

"'Henshin!'"

HENSHIN

Hexagons covered their bodies. Their Masked Forms were also the same. The only difference was that Dark Kabuto's visor was yellow.

Back with the goddesses, Purple Heart couldn't take the eggplants anymore and reverted back to Neptune. Purple Sister struggled to keep her older sister and Plutia afloat. Eventually, her grip slipped. The two sister shouted as they fell. Their cries were heard by the two Kabutos and they acted accordingly.

"'Cast Off!'"

CAST OFF

CHANGE BEETLE

"'Clock Up!'"

CLOCK UP

They caught the falling goddesses just in time. Kabuto caught Neptune and Dark Kabuto caught Plutia.

CLOCK OVER

"I'm a CPU, you know," Neptune said while in Kabuto's arms, "Even if I fall from that height, I'll be fine."

"Because of a purple vegetable? I find that ironic," Kabuto retorted, which was met with a pout. "How's it on your end, Kusakabe?"

"Safe and sound," Dark Kabuto answered, putting Plutia down.

Neptune finally got a closer look at Kabuto's copy. The parts that should be red on the original was black. He also had brown circuit patterns on the upper armor. The eyes were yellow instead of blue.

The eggplant army was on their tail. Neptune was scared of them and ran away, and Plutia was too tired to care. So Kabuto commanded Purple Sister to cover them. His mimic already brandished the kunai from his Kunai Gun.

"Just like back home," he mused.

Slaying some of his own enemies, Kabuto asked, "Wait, you mean this happens a lot in your dimension?"

"Pretty much," he replied, cutting another group of eggplant lancers, "Let's just say I'm the quest taker for the Basilicom."

Back to Arfoire and IF, the latter tried to snap Neptune out of her eggplant-induced fear. The former's response was to shove more eggplants into her mouth. Purple Sister wanted to free her but was stopped by another army of eggplant lancers. Neptune fought back, still trying to resist the smell. Kabuto, who had his hands full, noticed Plutia's changing expression. She lifted the Neptune plushie that she brought with her and slammed it to the ground, creating a crater. Everyone got her attention.

"This kind of...," she slowly began, "Vexes me."

"Oh no, Plutie is using big words!" Neptune stated.

She stomped the plushie, shocking and scaring everyone present including the two Kabutos, although to a lesser degree.

"Why would you... torment... Ai-chan like that?"

Scared, Arfoire tried to retort, "She's my hostage! I can do whatever I want to her!"

"So that's how it's going to be, is it?" she paused, letting out a sinister grin, "In that case..."

Plutia transformed into her HDD. Her change was as drastic as Purple Heart's. She donned a revealing black suit and butterfly-like wings. She had dark magenta eyes and iris colored hair. Wielding a sword-whip, she is named Iris Heart.

"Maybe I should do whatever I want, too."

"Uh, Plutie?" Neptune shakily said.

"Who the heck are you!?" Arfoire asked.

"Me? I'm just a goddess called Iris Heart. You don't have to remember it."

She dashed to the witch, saying, "I'll carve it into your body for you!" and slashed her friend's captor. Not done yet, she taunted, "Don't tell me you're all flash and no substance, now," and smashed her to the ground.

"Show me a side of yours that's a little less withered up, would you!?"

Iris Heart continued her merciless attacked Arfoire, laughing in joy in the process.

"She seems to be enjoying herself," Purple Sister commented.

"Anyway, we should let Plutie handle things over there," Neptune told her little sister, transforming into Purple Heart. "While they're at it, let's finish these guys off nice and quick. Nepgear, go and free Ai-chan. I'll chop up these eggplants."

"Okay."

With the two Kabutos...

"Is she always like this in HDD?" Kabuto wondered.

"Yeah," Dark Kabuto answered, "That's why she shouldn't do it too often. In that form, she's dominant, so to speak."

Iris Heart slammed the witch down once more, making a large crater.

"I thought I'd be able to have a bit more fun, but I guess a loser's a loser."

"I just let my guard down, that's all!"

"Man, losers are always full of excuses. Blah blah blah blah, it hurts to listen to.

"I'm not going to reach the climax like this. Guess I'll just finish you off. Oh, I have a better idea."

With her sword whip, she grabbed an eggplant. "Think of yourself as this measly purple vegetable."

Realizing what she was going to do, Purple Heart tried to stop her. "Wait, Plutie! Don't –," but her warning came out too late as Iris Heart tossed and whipped the eggplant.

"I'll whip you into shape, so you will never be a loser again! Yes, you'll become my servant, my broken servant! Even if it means I have to delete you and make you obsolete!"

Having too much fun, she kept whipping the vegetable.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!"

When she was done, the ruined eggplant fell down. Horrified, Arfoire fainted.

"It's still not enough. Too bad she fainted. Now, who's..."

CLOCK UP

She felt an impact on her side of her face. Rolling down the hill, she got up and looked at her attacker.

"You're... Souji-kun's lookalike, if I'm not mistaken."

It was Kabuto. He seemed furious about something, and they were going to find out the reason.

"Grandmother said this: 'There are two things a man must never do. One is to not make girls cry... The other is to not handle food so crudely!'"

He began his assault on Iris Heart. She happily complied his unspoken request. "Come, beetle boy! Satisfy me!" Clashing blades and fists, they started a war dance. Every attack was an art of its own right. Kabuto's unwavering strikes combined with the CPU's flashy swordsmanship was for the lack of a better word, beautiful. The other conscious people awed at the fight. It might be the best battle they had ever witnessed. To think it started because of a wasted eggplant.

"Wow, he's the first person other than me not to be intimidated by her presence," Dark Kabuto thought out loud.

Before long, it was over. Iris Heart was on the ground, sighing in content. From her expression, she could have reached the aforementioned climax. When she turned back to Plutia, she fell asleep. Kabuto, who already reverted to his human form, was on his knees. He had spent a lot of stamina from that fight alone. Slowly getting up, he said one more punchline, "In the end... we're all satisfied. And you are set free."

The Purple Sisters, IF and Dark Kabuto approached him, checking if he was hurt.

"Sorry that I lost my cool," Tendou apologized.

"Don't be," Dark Kabuto said, reverting to Kusakabe, "I guess you don't like wasting food."

"No good chef does. Speaking of that," he gazed at the eggplants that were yet to be picked, "I know what we'll be having tonight."

Meanwhile, in the shack near the farm, Pirachu sat in the corner, moping. "Compa-chan..."

Planeptower

True to his words, they had mauve eggplants for dinner. Neptune and IF, who was traumatized, shrieked in horror.

"Why are we having eggplants again after what just happened?" questioned Neptune.

"Yeah, why?" IF followed.

"Peashy-chan likes it," Tendou said, "And I didn't buy anything else, thanks to that incident."

To prove his argument, he pointed at Peashy who gladly ate the cooked vegetable.

"Just deal with it and eat."

They still refused. So he told his mimic, "Kusakabe, feed IF. I'll take care of Neptune."

The two Soujis went to feed the unwilling pair. Kusakabe got off easy. Although the Maker didn't want it at first, with some sweet words and a soft rub to the head, she opened her mouth and ate it. Tendou on the other hand...

"Will you stop that?"

"No."

Neptune kept turning her head away. She wanted none of those eggplants. Having enough of her antics, he said, "Might as well do this." He put a slice in his mouth with one end sticking out. His face went closer to hers. She blushed, knowing what would happen.

"W-wait, Tendou-kun! Are you serious!?"

"If it makes you eat, then yeah."

She pouted. "Fine."

She inched her face closer, opening her mouth. She finally took a bite. The others had varying responses. Nepgear and Compa covered their mouths in shock. 'She... ate it. How romantic.'

Plutia cheered in her usual tired fashion. "Yay..."

Histoire was a little uncomfortable. "Tendou-san, there are children here!"

"If it works, I won't complain." He then faced Neptune again. "One more?"

"Tendou-san!"

"Boy, you're making moves!" Kagami smirked.

"Shut it," was the reply.

When the night ended, everyone went back to their quarters. Tendou had one more thought before going to sleep.

'I wonder... if she could walk the path of Heaven.'

Eggplant Plains

Arfoire decided to give up on world domination. She had grown tired of it and settled down to be an eggplant farmer.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Pirachu asked.

"Yeah. I used all of my money on that operation, so I don't have anywhere else to go."

The mouse got up and began picking some eggplants.

"You'll help me?"

"I don't have anything better to do."

She looked up to the sky, saying, "This is so strange. For the first time ever, I feel alive."

The next chapter is, oh boy, the R-18 island. I know they wrote it like Ex-Aid episodes 12 and 17 but darn, it's the beach episode.

As the currently airing Kamen Rider series put it, see you next game.