Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 32

 An entire week had passed since Neptune and Nepgear left to train. At first it was just the two of them slaying dragons, but after a while their friends joined them. Now Neptune, Nepgear, IF, Compa, Red MAGES. and Falcom all fought along side each other killing dragons and getting stronger.

“You’ve all done very well!” Said Histoire.

“Especially me, right?” Neptune asked, pointing at herself.

Histoire stared unblinkingly at Neptune for a few moments, before she turned towards the other girls. “You’ve all managed to earn a ton of share energy. You should be able to increase your stats several times over.”

Neptune’s shoulders sagged. “Boo…” She breathed. “Nepgear and I could hardly raise our stats at all!”

“We still did pretty good big sis.” Said Nepgear, who was holding her energy sword by her side. “If it were me, I would stick around here for a while longer, but…”

Neptune took a deep breath and smiled weakly at her sister. “Yeah. Time to get moving, huh?”

“Yes.” Said Histoire, nodding.

“You two are headed for Lastation next?” Asked Falcom. “If you want. I can go with you.”

“We’d love that, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Said Nepgear. “Considering what happened with HachimaJin. If another monster appears, Planeptune is going to need all the help it can get.”

“So what your saying is… The goddess and her sister can’t be counted on?” Asked MAGES. smiling mischievously.

“Oh no!” Nepgear said, shocked by MAGES. words. “I’m not saying that at all. Purple Heart and Purple Sister are really powerful, they just need backup. That’s all!”

“Yes. I was teasing you.” Said MAGES..

“Oh goodness MAGES.!” Nepgear said, annoyed.

Neptune giggled. “Anyhoo, thanks for coming out and playing with us everyone!” Neptune said, saluting her friends. “We’ll be back at some point. So do us a favor and look after each other, okay?”

“Nep…” IF began. “Just worry about yourself and Gear. Okay?”

“I’m going to miss you Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge!” Compa said, her eyes were wet with tears.

“Bye wifeys!” Said Red.

“See you when you two get back!” Said Falcom.

After Falcom finished speaking, all the girls except for Neptune and Nepgear were teleported away. Neptune took a deep breath, before turning to Histoire. “Alright Histy. How do we get to Lastation?”

“We have to walk, remember sis? That way.” Nepgear said, pointing north.

“Ah-ha!” Neptune said, smiling proudly. “I see my little sister needs her big sister to further her education. You see Nepgear, we can’t simply walk into Lastation. Patrol guards will stop us.”

“Neptune is correct.” said Histoire. “However, this cave has a tunnel that will lead you into Lastation. After that, the walk to the next Fairy Tower will only take you a few hours.”

“Oh.” Nepgear said, surprised.

“See? Told ya!” Neptune said.

“Neptune… Wasn’t it I who told you this information yesterday? You’re sounding awfully cocky for someone who needed educated the previous day.” Said Histoire.

Neptune blushed a little. “Yeah… Well…” Neptune began, laughing a little as she scratched the back of her head. “Anyways. Let’s get going Nepgear.” Said Neptune.

“Right.” Nepgear said, nodding.

Neptune and Nepgear waved goodbye to Histoire and started walking towards the other side of the massive cavern. As they walked, the girl noticed that several of the dragons were making their way back into the cavern. Their massive feet caused ripples in the water.    

“It’s funny. I didn’t think we’d ever use dragons in order to get stronger.” Said Nepgear.

“I know, right? But we were killing them left right and center!” Neptune said, holding up her katana as she spoke.

When the girls finally reached the other side of the cavern, they spotted the tunnel that Histoire had mentioned. The tunnel looked dark and small. “Let me go first.” Nepgear said, as she pulled out her N-Gear. After pressing a few buttons on her N-Gear’s screen, a light came on.

“Wow! You can use that thing as a flashlight?” Neptune asked.

“Yeah. I installed one after I saw that IF’s smartphone had a flashlight function.” Said Nepgear. “Unlike her flashlight though, mine has a brighter bulb and it draws power from it’s own power source!” Nepgear said, smiling proudly at her small handheld device.

“Good girl Nepgear, but we can talk about your flashlight later.” Neptune said, giving Nepgear’s head a small pat.

“R-Right.” Nepgear said. Nepgear carefully held out her N-Gear as she held her energy sword with her other hand. After that, she led the way into the tunnel.

Neptune and Nepgear weren’t certain how long they walked. The only sounds they could hear was the sound of their own footsteps on the stone floor and the sound of something dripping from the ceiling. After several long minutes of walking the tunnel started to expand and soon they found themselves standing in a large cavern.

This cavern wasn’t nearly as big as the last one they were in, but it was better than the tunnel they were moving through before. Not only that, but several crystals created light.

Nepgear turned off her N-Gear’s light and then brought up the map. “Okay. Were in Lastation.” Said Nepgear, glancing over her shoulder at her sister.

“Nice. I’m ready to get out of this stupid cave!” Neptune said.

“Tell me about it. I don’t think we’ve seen the sun in days.” Nepgear said, sighing deeply.

“I’m like a solar powered calculator. If I don’t see the sun soon I’ll die and be useless.” Neptune said, before she giggled. “Funny… Me missing the sun.”

“Yeah.” Said Nepgear.

“Hey! Not supposed to agree.” Said Neptune, narrowing her eyes at the back of Nepgear’s head.

Nepgear didn’t say anything as she led the girls through the cavern and were soon standing outside. The sun was shining brightly overhead and a warm breeze blew through their hair. “I’m glad the sun’s still out.” Said Nepgear. “I don’t know about you big sis, but time seemed to stop when we were in that cavern.”

“Yeah. This week has felt like one really long day.” Said Neptune. “Anyways. Let’s hurry up and find that Fairy Tower. I want to get this thing over with!”

Nepgear nodded and pointed towards the north. “North.” Said Nepgear. The two girls walked side-by-side over the plains. As they walked, the girls noticed that the monsters around them were different.

“What kinds of creatures are these?” Neptune wondered, aloud. “I wonder if we can even kill them.”

“Who knows.” Said Nepgear. “I think we should try to avoid any fights until we reach the Fairy Tower.”

Several hours passed when the girls finally spotted the Fairy Tower in the distance. This Fairy Tower looked the same as the others, but it was nestled in the middle of four hills. The girls couldn’t see anything that was blocking or guarding the tower either.

“There it is!” Neptune said, pointing the tip of her katana at the giant device. “Come on Nepgear! CHARGE!” Neptune cried, as she started running as fast as she could.

“Wait for me big sis!” Nepgear cried, running after her sister.

The two girls ran as fast as they could. Their eyes were locked on the Fairy Tower. Just when Neptune reached the first hill, she stopped in her tracks when a figure suddenly appeared from behind the hill. The figure leapt several yards into the air and they held a rapier over their heads.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” The figure cried.

Neptune gasped when she realized the figure was a girl with black twin pigtails. Neptune held her katana out in front of her as the girl brought her rapier down hard. “WHOA!” Neptune cried, as her feet sank into the ground a little.

“You better get out of here!” The girl cried, angrily.

“Hey! Leave my sister alone!” Nepgear cried, as she rushed forwards. Before Nepgear could swing her energy sword at the girl, she noticed something shimmering out of the corners of her eyes. Turning quickly she saw a beam of energy slicing through the air at her.

Nepgear held up her hand. “Barrier!” She cried. A barrier appeared between herself and the beam of energy. The beam of energy struck the barrier, blocking the attack. “I didn’t think I would have to use my new power already.” Nepgear thought.

“Shoot!” Came a feminine voice.

Nepgear noticed the place where the beam of energy had come from, a girl now stood. She had long black hair and was garbed in a black outfit and she carried a rifle in her hands.

“Noire!” The girl cried out.

“Don’t worry about me Uni. Just take care of that one.” Noire said, gesturing with her head at Nepgear.

Neptune gritted her teeth as she pushed Noire off her. “Hey! I don’t know who you are, but I know one thing for sure!” Neptune pointed the tip of her katana at Noire. “You obviously don’t have any friends!”

“WAH!” Noire cried, angrily. “Who are you accusing of not having any friends!”

“Obviously it’s you!” Neptune said.

“Oh! That’s it!” Noire leapt at Neptune and swung her rapier three times. Neptune easily blocked each attack and swung her sword as well, which Noire easily blocked.

As Neptune and Noire’s battle raged on, Nepgear turned her focus to Uni. Uni ran at Nepgear as fast as she could and continued to fire her rifle. Nepgear used her barrier to block each of the shots, but she was running out of energy already. “I can’t keep blocking! I have to attack!” Nepgear thought, as she too started running forwards.

When Uni was close to Nepgear she swung the butt of her rifle at Nepgear’s face, Nepgear quickly dodged out of the way, but Uni was faster and slammed the heel of her right shoe into Nepgear’s chest, knocking her backwards.

Nepgear slammed into the ground, but forced herself to roll backwards. The girl managed to dodge several laser blasts, but only by a few seconds.

“That’s it!” Nepgear screamed, as she kicked off the ground and leapt high into the air.

“Easy target!” Uni said, aiming her rifle at Nepgear and pulling the trigger.

Just as the laser beam struck Nepgear in the chest, Nepgear created another barrier. The beam of energy was absorbed by the barrier. Nepgear fell straight onto Uni, but before they struck each other, Nepgear pulled her shield away.

“OW!” Uni and Nepgear cried, as they both slammed into the ground. Nepgear straddled Uni’s waist, as she grabbed the girl’s rifle and pulled. Uni held onto her gun with all her might. “GET OFF ME!” Uni screamed.

“NO! YOU LET GO OF THE GUN!” Nepgear cried.

“YOU STOP SAYING I DON’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!” Noire screamed.

“YOU STOP… ATTACKING ME!” Neptune said, trying to find something to yell about.

“YOU FOUR STOP FIGHTING! NOW!” Histoire’s voice exploded from the Fairy Tower, causing the ground beneath the girls to shake.

All the girls stopped fighting almost immediately. “Histoire! Were just trying to protect the Fairy Tower!” Noire said.

“That’s right! These terrorists were trying to attack it!” Said Uni.

“Terrorists? Were not terrorists! Were trying to activate the Fairy Tower!” Said Nepgear, sighing deeply.

“That’s right! Tell them Histoire!” Said Neptune.

Histoire took a deep breath. “Please come over here before we continue talking.” Histoire said.

Neptune, Nepgear, Noire and Uni did as they were told. The girls cautiously walked side-by-side until they were standing in front of the Fairy Tower. Neither of the girls trusted the other and weren’t certain if this was some kind of trap. “Now.” Histoire said, taking a deep breath. “Who has the flash memory stick?” Histoire asked.

“I do.” Said Neptune, holding it up.

“Good. Please insert it into my USB drive.” Said Histoire.

“Oh my! That sounded lewd.” Neptune said.

Histoire furrowed her brows, but when she ran the sentence back through her head, her cheeks grew bright red. “JUST DO IT!” Histoire snapped, angrily.

“Whoa! Histy is Pissty!” Neptune said, as she playfully nudged Noire with her shoulder. “Get it? I took Histy’s name and-”

“Clever. Just do it before Pissty get’s even more pissed.” Said Noire.

“Tough crowd.” Neptune said, sighing deeply.

“One second.” Said Nepgear, holding up her hand. “Histoire? Aren’t you already activated?” She asked.

Histoire took a deep breath. “Good question. This Fairy Tower isn’t activated. It’s normal functions are active, but I don’t have access to the Fairy Tower data. I do know, thanks to a quick scan, that Neptune is carrying the flash memory stick.”

“Huh…” Noire said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “So Histoire. You know who these two girls are?”

“That’s correct. They, along with you and your sister, are in my memory banks. They are important like you two are.” Histoire said, looking from Noire and Uni.

“So are they friend or foe?” Noire asked.

“Let this answer your question!” Neptune said, as she moved towards the Fairy Tower and slid the flash memory stick into it. “Does that feel good Histoire? It’s not too tight is it? What if I-”

“SHUT UP!” Histoire snapped, her cheeks were even redder than before.

After a few moments of awkward silence, the Fairy Tower started humming loudly, but soon the humming settled back down. “Very good. You managed to activate this Fairy Tower.” Histoire said, smiling brightly at Neptune. “I can see you managed to activate all the Fairy Tower’s in the nation of Planeptune.”

“That’s right. We’ve been nepping it up everywhere!” Neptune said.

Histoire nodded. “I can see that. You two have been on quite a journey so far, but unfortunately your journey isn’t over just yet.”

“Don’t tell me.” Neptune began.

“That’s correct. There are four more Fairy Towers that must be activated in Lastation.” Said Histoire.

Neptune fell to her knees and threw her hands into the air. “NOOOOOO!” She screamed. Suddenly Neptune turned to Noire. “Do you have any pudding?”

“Not on me, but at home… Why? Do you want some?” Noire asked.

“YEEEEESSSSSS!” Neptune screamed.

Nepgear and Uni sighed deeply. “Oh goodness.” They both said, in unison.