Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 10

 Nepgear felt both excited and nervous as she and her sister made their way back to the house they stayed in the night before. “So this place has a really big basement, huh?” Neptune said, as they stopped in front of the house. “What do you thinks inside? Giant fake Christmas trees? Rats? Cardboard boxes?”

“I don’t know.” Nepgear admitted. “I think it’s weird that those three computer towers were still active, but without a monitor I couldn’t tell what they were being used for. If I had to guess. Maybe they were monitoring the house, or something?”

“Oh yeah? Wonder why.” Neptune said. “Very suspiciously suspicious!”

“Yeah.” Nepgear said, in agreement.

Nepgear led the way into the house once more. “How are we going to find this basement? I looked in every room and I didn’t see any stairs leading down.” Said Neptune.

“I have an idea.” Nepgear said, as she pulled out her N-Gear. “I should have done this sooner, but I didn’t want to mess with those towers.”

Neptune followed Nepgear through the house and were soon standing in front of the computer towers. Like earlier that morning, the towers were still active and humming along. “I’m not sure how long this is going to take, so please give me a minute.”

“Take your time sis.” Neptune said, as she collapsed on the couch. “I was thinking about taking a few days off anyways.”

“Neptune…” Nepgear groaned, but she knew her sister was just joking. Pulling out a wire, Nepgear plugged it into the first computer tower. After that she plugged the other end of the wire into her N-Gear. “Alright. I’m downloading all this computer towers data. It shouldn’t take that long.”

“Cool, cool.” Neptune said, her eyes were closed.

“Finished.” Nepgear said, after a few moments of waiting. After that Nepgear downloaded the data off the other computer towers. Once finished, Nepgear took a seat on the couch next to her sisters head and began going through all the data she could. “It looks like this place was some kind of research lab. They were monitoring the Fairy Tower, but it doesn’t look like it was the focus of their research.”

“Huh.” Said Neptune.

“It looks like the main focus of their research was monsters.” Nepgear said, looking the data over. “That’s interesting. It looks like they were really focused on a monster called HachimaJin.”

“I see.” Said Neptune.

“I can’t find any data about this HachimaJin, but it looks like they were trying to summon a goddess.” Nepgear said.

“I can’t believe it.” Said Neptune.

Nepgear sighed deeply as she glanced down at her sisters closed eyes. “Are you really listening Neptune?” Nepgear asked.

“Of course.” Neptune said, keeping her eyes closed. “People were really nosey about Hachima and they wanted to summon a goddess named Jin. Right?”

“Kind of, but no. They never named the goddess they were trying to summon. Also its HachimaJin.” Said Nepgear.

“Like I said.” Neptune said, sitting up. “So what about that basement?”

“Oh right.” Nepgear said, as she started looking for information on the house they were staying in. As Nepgear searched, a scary thought entered her mind. “I wonder if the information about this house were on the computer towers I took apart? I hope not!”

“I was thinking. What if the information we need on this house was actually in-” Neptune began.

“I found it!” Nepgear said, cutting her sister off. “There’s a secret switch over there!” Nepgear said, pointing to a nearby wall. “We’ll need to move the couch as well.”

“Oh man… More hard labor.” Neptune groaned.

Neptune and Nepgear leapt off the couch and quickly pushed it aside. After that, Nepgear made her way over to the wall that she had pointed at. Placing her hands on a panel, she pushed it upwards revealing a hidden switch. After pressing the switch, the floor beneath the girls feet started to shake.

“Uh… Nepgear? Are we sure you didn’t hit a self-destruct button or something?” Asked Neptune.

“I’m pretty sure.” Said Nepgear, giggling nervously.

“Well we’ll both find out in a second.” Neptune said, as she started to get nervous.

Both girls screamed when they heard a loud boom, but it wasn’t the house exploding. Instead the floor where the couch had been sitting moments before opened up and a large service elevator appeared. The elevator was red in color and it was covered in a heavy layer of dust. The elevator didn’t have a top either.

“Were alive!” Neptune said, throwing her hands up in triumph.

“Goodness that scared me.” Nepgear said, placing her hand over her heart.

“I wasn’t worried. I knew my brainy little sister wouldn’t blow us up.” Neptune said. “Still… Should we go down there?” Neptune asked, as she looked throwing the grating on the elevator and saw nothing, but darkness underneath. “I know Histoire asked us to investigate.”

“It’ll be okay. According to this data, lights should come on as we descend.”

“Descend into the pits of hell!” Neptune said, in a spooky voice.

“Don’t say that.” Nepgear said.

Both Neptune and Nepgear nervously stepped onto the elevator. After that, Nepgear pressed a single green button located on a control panel and the elevator started moving downwards. As the elevator moved downwards, the floor above them closed and everything went dark.

Before any of the Nep’s could say anything, lights started turning on illuminating the area around them.

“This is a boring looking elevator shaft.” Neptune said.

“Yeah.” Said Nepgear, looking down at her N-Gear. “I have a map of this facility. It’s incredibly large. I don’t think were going to be able to explore the entire area.”

“It’s that big?” Neptune asked.

“It’s not really that. Most of these areas look like they were built to contain some kind of liquid. I’m not sure what it’s for though.” Said Nepgear.

“We’ll find out soon enough, right?” Asked Neptune.

“Yeah.” Nepgear said.

When the elevator came to a stop, the girls found themselves standing in a large room. The floor, walls and ceiling were bright white in color. Located on the left side of the room was an enormous generator and on the right side of the room were dozens of computer monitors that sat on top of a large table. Underneath the table were even more computer towers. The monitors all had different kinds of information displayed on them.

“That’s weird.” Nepgear said, making her way over to one of the monitors and raking her index finger over the screen. “There’s no dust. Maybe someone’s been taking care of this place.”

“I see.” Neptune said, noticing a door was located on the far side of the room. “Well maybe we can find everything we need in this room.”

“I hope.” Said Nepgear, as she took a seat in front of one of the monitors. After plugging her N-Gear into one of the towers, Nepgear went to work gathering all the information she could from the massive facility.

As Nepgear worked, Neptune wandered around the room taking everything in. “This isn’t my deal.” Thought Neptune. Neptune walked around the room several times, before she found herself standing in front of the doorway. “I really want to explore some more, but I better not leave Nepgear behind. She gets so lonely sometimes.” Neptune said giggling, when she remembered how upset her sister would get whenever she left the house without her.

Neptune turned but before she could take a single step, a low growling noise came from the other side of the door. “Whoa.” Neptune said, surprised.

“Hungry big sis?” Nepgear asked, not taking her eyes off her N-Gear.

“That wasn’t me.” Neptune said, glancing at the door over her shoulder.

The sound of something heavy smacking against the door caught both girls by surprise. “What’s going on?” Nepgear demanded, jumping to her feet.

“No idea.” Neptune said, turning towards the door. “Someone could be down here with us.”

“What should we do?” Nepgear asked, nervously.

“Well… If someone’s down here we can question them! I’ll be good cop, you be bad cop. Put on a mean face Nepgear!” Neptune said, as she reached for the door and pulled it open.

A large figure stumbled out of the door. The figure’s skin looked green and putrid. “Oh gross!” Neptune said, before covering her mouth with her hands. “Oh. Not you sir. I was thinking about something else.”

The figure looked into Neptune’s eyes. “DQN!” The figure shouted, before it grabbed it’s head and tossed it as fast as it could at Neptune.

Neptune leapt out of the way, missing the head by mere inches. “DQN!” The figure shouted, as it’s body lumbered toward Neptune.

“It’s a DQN Zombie!” Nepgear cried out.

“A what?” Neptune said, taking several steps away from the creature.

“It’s a monster the people in the facility were studying. Quick sis! Get rid of it!” Nepgear said, a she summoned her energy sword.

Neptune summoned her katana and leapt at the creature. Once Neptune was close enough, she brought her sword down fast. The blade sliced through the creatures chest, sending it reeling backwards. “I hope this thing isn’t really human.” Neptune muttered, as she swung her sword several more times.

The DQN Zombie tried to fight back, but Neptune was too fast for it and after another slash of her katana, the creature vanished.

“Gross!” Neptune said, shivering a little. “Nepgear? Find me a shower, okay?”

“Yeah.” Nepgear said. The girl was about to sit back down at the computer monitor, but stopped when she heard more growling coming from the open doorway.

“Uh-oh…” Neptune said, in a small voice. “WATCH OUT!” Neptune cried, as she jumped to the right.

A second later dozens of DQN Zombie heads flew through the open door. The heads rolled across the ground. After that, the owners of those heads ran into the room. “I’m coming sis!” Nepgear cried, as she ran forwards.

Neptune and Nepgear swung their blades wildly as they defeated all the DQN Zombies that flooded into the room.

“Nepgear? Are you okay?” Neptune asked.

“I’m fine!” Nepgear said, as she sliced one of the DQN Zombies cleanly in two.

“Good! Stay close so-” Neptune screamed in pain as a zombie slammed it’s body into her back, sending Neptune flying forwards. The girl slammed into the ground and rolled several feet away before coming to a rest.

Neptune scrambled to her feet and turned to the DQN zombie that had attacked her, but before she could do anything, she felt several large hands grab her arms and pull them back.

“LET GO!” Neptune cried. “I hate handsy zombies!”

The DQN zombie that had attacked her before grabbed its head and took aim at Neptune. “Looks like I’m about to get a game over!” Neptune said, sadly,

“GET OFF MY SISTER!”  Nepgear screamed, as she sliced through the attacking DQN zombie with a single swing of her energy blade. After that she leapt at the zombies holding her sister.

“Yeah!” Neptune cheered, as the grip on her arms loosened. Neptune leapt to her feet and sent the heel of her right foot into one of the creature’s chest, sending it flying backwards.

“Are you okay?” Nepgear asked, as she pressed her back firmly against her sisters.

“Thanks to you Nepgear! Remind me to pat you on the head later, okay?” Neptune said.

“Right!” Nepgear said, smiling proudly.

Neptune and Nepgear leapt at the DQN zombies and in a flurry of motion, were easily able to defeat the rest of the creatures. Once they were finished all the monsters had vanished leaving the girls completely alone.

“We did it!” Neptune said.

“Y-yes.” Nepgear said, the girl was standing directly in front of her sister. Her head was lowered and her eyes were closed.

Neptune smiled warmly. “Aw Nepgear.” She said, reaching forwards and patting her sister on the head. “You did good! I’m proud of you!”

“Thanks!” Nepgear said, the girl sounded as though she were close to tears.

Nepgear opened her eyes and looked at the open doorway. “I’m still gathering information, but I think this facility is hiding a lot of secrets.”

“Secrets mean more hard work.” Said Neptune. “I guess were staying down here a little longer, huh?”

Nepgear nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s for the best.”