Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 22

 HachimaJin floated high in the air. The creatures massive body turned until it spotted Neptune and Nepgear standing next to the Fairy Tower. “They released us, right?” It said, with a strangely feminine voice.

“Yeah! They had no idea what they were doing!” Said HachimaJin, now sounding  masculine.

“Should we destroy them now?” HachimaJin asked.

“Nah! We’ll show them a little consideration.” And with those words, HachimaJin vanished from sight.

Neptune’s lower jaw dropped in awe. “That was the freakiest monster we’ve seen so far.” She muttered.

Nepgear turned to Histoire who wore a panicked look on her face. “Histoire? What was that thing? What do you mean we made a terrible mistake?” She asked.

“Yeah! Isn’t this your mistake? Were the victims here.” Said Neptune.

“Not the point Neptune.” Nepgear said, sighing deeply. “Also how did we end up here?”

Histoire took a deep breath. “Please give me a moment to explain everything. First off. The Fairy Towers have the power to teleport it’s users. However, there are certain guidelines one must follow. First off you must activate all the Fairy Towers in that region and you must visit the Fairy Tower you wish to teleport to.”

“That’s neat.” Nepgear said, wishing she could take apart the Fairy Tower even more. “Alright. So what about that mistake you mentioned?”

“That one is a bit more complicated. Tell me Nepgear and Neptune. Have you been remembering things lately? Things you can’t explain?” Asked Histoire.

Neptune and Nepgear nodded. “Yeah. We started remembering things when we activated the Fairy Towers for the first time. We’ve also been feeling headaches and dizziness too.” Nepgear explained.

“I thought so.” Said Histoire. “The reason’s you’ve been remembering so many things lately is simple. Your memories seem to be tied to the Fairy Towers. I’m not entirely sure how or why it ended up like that, but from what information I’ve gathered, it seems as though everyone is suffering from this phenomenon.”

“I see…” Neptune said. “No wait! I don’t see! Why are we getting headaches and stuff? That didn’t happen before!”

“That’s simple.” Said Histoire. “It’s because the Fairy Towers have been healing you as you activate them. That’s why you’re suddenly remembering the names of monsters and events that took place in the past.”

“Weird.” Neptune said. “I suddenly feel dizzy again.”

“That’s not all.” Histoire said, shaking her head. “It seems that the monsters themselves are also tied to the Fairy Towers.”

“Seriously?” Asked Nepgear.

“Yes. I don’t know why, but it seems as though monsters were seals alongside the original Histoire. Every time you activate a new Fairy Tower, a group of monsters are unleashed onto the world.” Said Histoire. “I can only assume that this isn’t happening on Planeptune.”

“This is so weird. How is that even possible?” Asked Nepgear.

“The only way something like this could happen, is if the original Histoire did it.” Said Histoire.

“HUH!?” Neptune and Nepgear shouted at the same time.

“You better start explaining Histoire, or I’m going to turn you into pudding!” Neptune said, pointing at Histoire angrily. “I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out! Or Nepgear will! Yeah!”

“Wait Neptune!” Nepgear cried, placing her hands on Neptune’s shoulders.  

“Now please calm down!” Histoire said, holding up her hands. “I’m apart of the original Histoire and I know for a fact that she would never use her powers in such a manner. She would only use her powers to restore something that was altered or changed.” The small fairy like girl explained.

“What do you mean?” Nepgear asked.

“The original Histoire does have access to a lot of power, however someone could use their own power to force changes upon the world through her.” Histoire explained. “That’s the only way something like this could have happened.”

“Okay, okay.” Said Neptune. “So where did that Hachimachi thing come from?” She asked.

“HachimaJin.” Histoire corrected her. “Remember when you told me that you felt strange while standing in one of the rooms in the underground facility below that house?” Histoire asked.

“Yeah?” Said Nepgear.

“I believe you were sensing HachimaJin’s presences at the time. HachimaJin is an incredibly powerful monster so it doesn’t surprise me that you’d still be able to sense it even sealed away.” Histoire explained.

Nepgear crossed her arms in front of her chest and thought for a moment. “I guess that makes some kind of sense, but I’m still curious. Why would anyone set it up like this? Why seal away our memories and those monsters like this? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes sense to me!” Said Neptune.

“What do you mean?” Asked Histoire.

“Well if I were a bad guy, I would seal away people’s memories so they forgot stuff. Also I would make it harder to activate more Fairy Towers.” Said Neptune. “Just think about it Nepgear. Before we were fighting dogoo’s. Now were fighting dragons and giant Hachimajerks! Yep! Makes sense to me!”

“What do you think?” Nepgear asked Histoire.

“Yes. Considering everything we know, it does make logical sense.” Said Histoire. “Oh and I should probably mention. While you two were away, I managed to hack into the underground facilities security system. It took some doing, but I managed to locate and tag each monster that was down there. I calculated that the moment you activated the third Fairy Tower, HachimaJin appeared.”

“That settles it.” Said Neptune, slapping her hands together. “So what do we do now?”

Nepgear didn’t answer right away. Instead she turned her eyes towards the sky where HachimaJin had appeared. “I think we need to go back to Planeptune for right now and let Purple Heart know what happened.”

“Ooh! Good idea! I want to see IF, Compa and Purple Sister! I’m sure Falcom’s already at Planeptune living it up!” Said Neptune.

“Yeah.” Nepgear said, smiling. “Histoire? Could you teleport us to the first Fairy Tower we activated?”

“Sure!” Histoire said.

***
Compa took a deep breath and dabbed her forehead with the back of her hand. “This is exhausting.” She breathed. IF was standing several feet away battling a large group of dogoo that had surrounded her.

IF twirled on her heels and lashed out with a flurry of attacks. With a bright flash all the dogoo were killed. “That should do it. Want to take a break?” IF asked, turning to Compa who was already collapsed next to the Fairy Tower. IF couldn’t help, but giggle. “It looks like you’re already taking a break.”

“Sorry Iffy. I’m just so tired.” Compa said, her giant syringe was lying on the ground next to her.

“That’s alright. Monster hunting isn’t really your thing, huh?” IF asked, making her way over to her friend. IF took a seat next to Compa and turned her attention towards the sky. “This place is pretty peaceful, despite all the monsters, huh?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Said Compa.

“I hope you don’t mind doing this with me.” Said IF.

“Of course not Iffy. I love spending time with you.” Said Compa.

IF blushed a little. “Oh yeah?” She said.

“Of course! Also we have to get stronger, remember what Purple Heart told us?” Said Compa.

IF nodded. She did receive a phone call a few days ago from Purple Heart asking her and Compa to start using the Fairy Tower in order to improve their stats. “I actually didn’t think we’d be able to use this thing, but apparently adventurers have been using it for years.”

“Yeah.” Said Compa. Compa smile slowly faded. “I wonder how Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge are doing. I really miss them.”

“Me too. Who knows when we’ll see them again?” Said IF.

A bright flash took Compa and IF by surprise, suddenly Neptune and Nepgear appeared in front of the girls. “Howdy! I’m back!” Neptune said, saluting.

Compa and IF jumped to their feet. “Neppu!” Compa cried, as she threw her arms around Neptune and Nepgear and hugged them tightly.

“Uh-oh! Leaky pipe alert!” Neptune said.

IF fought back her own tears. “Hey Nep! Gear! How long were you planning on keeping us?” IF asked.

“Sorry about that.” Nepgear said, as Compa hugged her even tighter.

“We have some big news to tell everyone.” Said Neptune.

***
Neptune, Nepgear, IF and Compa made their way back to Planeptune and to the Basilicom. Once there they were led to a large room. The room had several couches, a table and a large window that looked out over the city. “This room could use some pudding.” Neptune said, as she took off her backpack and pulled a pudding pack out. “Anyone want to join me?” She asked.

Before Neptune could open her pudding, the door to the room opened and Purple Heart, Purple Sister and Falcom entered the room.

“Neptune! Nepgear!” Purple Sister said, as she moved quickly over to the two girls. “How are you two?” She asked, smiling brightly.

“Great!” Neptune said.

“Were good. How are you?” Nepgear asked.

Compa smiled brightly. “You two look so alike!” She muttered.

“I’m glad you two are alright.” Said Purple Heart. “I heard you have some news for us?”

Neptune and Nepgear relayed all the information they had gathered. After they finished explaining everything, Purple Heart didn’t seem all that surprised. “I see. I’m glad you two are back safe.”

“Uh… No offense Purple Heart.” Neptune began. “But we laid down some heavy stuff, but you’re not having a problem picking it up, are you?”

“No.” Purple Heart said, shaking her head. “Actually I heard much the same from Histoire before. She told me that the original Histoire is the only one who could have removed my sisters memories.”

“What?!” Nepgear said, shocked.

“Yes. I almost dismantled the Fairy Tower after she told me that, but she did tell me that only someone exerting their own power of Histoire could force her to change anything.” Said Purple Heart. “Still. I’m glad you told me about HachimaJin. I’ll inform my patrols about this monster.”

“You’re welcome.” Neptune said, placing her hands behind her head.

“Now that you two are back. What’s the plan?” Asked IF. “I don’t want to sound skeptical, but I’m not sure you two actually need to activate the rest of the Fairy Towers yourselves. It seems like anyone could do it really.”

“True.” Said Nepgear.

“I would love to sit at home. Put up my feet and eat more pudding and play videogames. I’ve earned a five year vacation, but I want to keep going!” Neptune said. The girl’s words took everyone by surprise. “Nepgear. We’ve accomplished a lot so far and I want to see this thing through until the end!”

Nepgear didn’t say anything. Instead she shifted her weight from her left foot, to her right. The girl seemed to be lost for words.

“Of course I won’t force you. If you don’t want to keep going, just let me know. Okay?” Said Purple Heart.

“Yeah! I’m going to leave the decision up to my favorite baby sister!” Neptune said, throwing her arms around Nepgear.

Purple Sister turned her head slightly towards Purple Heart. “Am I your favorite baby sister?” She asked.

Purple Heart giggled. “Of course you are Purple Sister!” She said, hugging her sister as well.

“This is so sweet!” Compa said, close to tears.

“Do you mind if I think about it for a bit?” Nepgear asked.

Neptune nodded. “Of course! I wanted to spend a few days at home anyways. I have so many video games and puddings to catch up on. Oh and I want to show our house off to Falcom and Purple Sister!”

“I’d like to see it.” Said Falcom.

“Me too.” Said Purple sister, raising her right hand.

“Oh and we’d like for you to meet a friend of ours.” Said IF.

“You’re really going to like her!” Said Compa.

Neptune took Nepgear’s hands into her own. “Did you hear that Nepgear? They replaced us since we were gone! How horrible!”

“Oh please. Like we could replace Nepgear with anyone.” Said IF, smirking.

“What about me?” Neptune asked.

“Did you hear me Nep? We could never replace Nepgear.” IF said, turning to leave.

“HEY!” Neptune cried out, annoyed. “What about me!?”