Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 67

 Nepgear didn’t sleep well that night. Even though she disarmed the security system in the village herself, she could only imagine Yvoire giving the order to have it restored. Trapping them inside the village and attempting to poison them all once more. The door to the Building they stayed in had been replaced.

Neptune and Broccoli shared a bed, while Vert and Nepgear shared the other. Every time Nepgear heard a noise outside, she lifted her head off the pillow and looked at the door. “This is horrible. I can’t sleep. This whole village is driving me crazy.” Nepgear thought, bitterly to herself.

“It’s okay, dear.” Vert said, placing a gentle hand on Nepgear’s face. “I know you’re scared, but everything will be fine. I promise.”

“Thanks Vert.” Nepgear said. Even though Nepgear couldn’t bring herself to call Vert a ‘big sister’, she thought that Vert would make an excellent one. A few moments later, Nepgear was able to drift off to sleep.

Nepgear was startled awake when she heard someone knocking on their door. Jumping to her feet, Nepgear glanced around the room. She saw that everyone was gone. “Hey!” Nepgear cried, as she ran to the door and flung it open. To Nepgear’s shock, Neptune was standing on the other side.

“Morning Nepgear!” Neptune said, giggling. “How’d-” Before Neptune could finish speaking, Nepgear threw her arms around her sister. “Whoa! Easy there Nepgear!” Neptune said, as she threw her arms around Nepgear as well.

“Sorry Neptune. I was just worried.” Nepgear said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Are you okay? Are you feeling better?”

“Yep!” Neptune said, giggling. “You wouldn’t even know that I had been poisoned yesterday!” Neptune glanced suspiciously around the village. “Speaking of which. Don’t eat their pudding. Trust me.” Neptune said, in a whisper.

“Right.” Nepgear said. “Where’s Vert and Broccoli?”

“They’re at the village’s entrance. They made breakfast for us. Also Vert wants us to kill that Big Pirachu or whatever.” Neptune said, sighing deeply. “Seriously. She’s such a goodie goodie.”

“You don’t want to?” Nepgear asked.

“Nah. I don’t mind.” Neptune said, shrugging her shoulders. “I know Yvoire’s the bad guy and not everyone in the village. Still. It’s work Nepgear. Work!”

Nepgear laughed. “I’m glad you’re back to normal Neptune.”

Nepgear followed Neptune to the front of the village where Vert and Broccoli were waiting. “Good morning, nyu!” Broccoli said, waving to Nepgear.

“Good morning.” Said Nepgear, turning her eyes to Vert. “Sorry if I kept you up last night Vert.”

“Oh please! I was in heaven sleeping next to my younger sister!” Vert said. Neptune groaned loudly, but she didn’t say anything. “Anyways my dear. I made us some oatmeal. I know it’s not fancy, but it should fill your belly.” Vert said, holding out a bowl to Nepgear.

Nepgear took the bowl and a spoon before taking a seat next to her sister. Nepgear had to admit that the entire scene seemed unusual. Vert had made a small fire on the ground and had borrowed several chairs for them to sit. As the girls ate, they noticed they were being watched by the villagers of New Leanbox.

“I bet they’re wondering what were going to do next.” Nepgear said, as she poked at her oatmeal. “Considering everything that happened.”

“True.” Neptune said. “I bet the four of us could easily overthrow Yvoire and live in this village as tyrants!” Neptune said, as she waved her spoon around like it was a scepter. “Bring me your best pudding subjects! Hold the poison!”

Vert burst into laughter, while Nepgear groaned. “You’re crazy, nyu.” Broccoli said, before shoveling some oatmeal into her mouth.

Vert stopped laughing when she spotted a familiar face. A face she wasn’t in the mood to see. Yvoire shuffled down the street. His hands were folded together in front of him and he wore a nervous look on his face. “Ladies. How is your morning going for you?” Yvoire asked, once he was in earshot.

“Great.” Neptune said. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

“I’m glad.” Yvoire said. “Like I said the previous day. That poison-”

“Don’t.” Nepgear said, cutting Yvoire off. “You’re lucky were willing to help this village with Big Pirachu, so don’t you dare try to justify what you did or pretend your poison somehow worked the way you said it did.”

“Right…” Yvoire said, his voice trailed.

Vert took a deep breath. “Yvoire. I want to ask you something about Big Pirachu and I expect you to tell me the truth. Understand?”

“Of course.” Yvoire said, nodding.

“Did Big Pirachu appear before or after you built your village?” Asked Vert.

“Before.” Yvoire answered.

“And he’s simply trying to destroy the village, right? He’s not trying to get back something you took from him?” Vert asked.

“No. We didn’t take anything from Big Pirachu.” Yvoire said. “I swear. We just built our village here and Big Pirachu attacked. After that we built the wall and installed our security system. Like I mentioned yesterday, he destroyed most of our tanks.”

“I see…” Vert said.

“Did you figure something out, nyu?” Broccoli asked.

“No. I just wanted to make sure there were no surprises awaiting us.” Said Vert. “Another question Yvoire. Do you really think this monster was created by the other goddesses?”

Yvoire didn’t answer right away. Instead he glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “To be honest…” Yvoire began, in a hushed whisper.

“Can’t hear you Yvoire!” Neptune shouted.

Yvoire swallowed hard. “To be honest…” Yvoire said, in a louder voice. “I made that up. I thought it would help the villagers of New Leanbox to embrace our goddess even more.”

“I thought so.” Vert said. “In that case I believe what were dealing with is a normal monster.”

“Yeah… Too bad for you Yvoire.” Neptune said, smiling mischievously.

“Yes…” Yvoire said, in a low voice. “You said that you were leaving after you deal with this monster. Correct?”

“I don’t remember saying that.” Nepgear said.

Yvoire’s eyes turned to Nepgear before they turned back to Vert. “You did say that though…”

“Calm down Yvoire.” Vert said. “After we finish our breakfast, were going to try to lure Big Pirachu out. If were lucky we’ll have dealt with it. After that we’ll leave.”

“No.” Nepgear said, finally getting to her feet and turning to Yvoire. “No. I want you to tell our people the truth about Big Pirachu. I want you to tell them the truth about the poison you fed to my sister!”

Yvoire’s lower jaw dropped and the color in his cheeks vanished. “Please… I’m sorry about what happened, but you have to listen to reason. Everything I do is for the sake of my people and our goddess.”

“That’s our condition Yvoire.” Vert said. “Either you tell them, or we’ll tell them.”

Yvoire took a jagged breath. “Very well. As soon as Big Pirachu is dealt with, I’ll tell them the truth.”

“Before.” Nepgear said. “As in right now!”

Yvoire nearly fell to his knees, but somehow managed to keep standing. “Fine. I’ll do it right now.” And with those words, Yvoire began calling his villagers over to him. It took nearly twenty minutes, but soon the entire front of the village was filled with people. “My fellow villagers. I have something to tell you.” Yvoire began.

Nepgear, Neptune, Vert and Broccoli watched as Yvoire told the villagers the truth. He told them the truth about the poison and about Big Pirachu. At the very end everyone wore a shocked look on their faces.

“I can’t believe it.” A woman muttered.

“You lied to us!” A man cried out.

“I’m truly sorry.” Yvoire said.

“Yeah right! You’re sorry you got caught!” Someone cried out, over the crowd of murmuring people.

Nepgear turned away from Yvoire and took a seat back at the fire Vert had built. “Thanks for backing me up Vert.”

“Of course. What are big sisters for?” Vert asked.

Neptune opened her mouth to say something, but quickly changed her mind. “She saved your life, she helped your sister, let her have this…” Neptune muttered under her breath.

“Crazy, nyu.” Broccoli said.

When the girls finally finished their breakfast, they headed out of the village. The girls had no idea what was going to happen to Yvoire, but they weren’t going to stick around to find out.

“I wonder how were going to find Big Pirachu.” Neptune wondered, aloud. “I mean it’s a giant rat, but I don’t see it anywhere.”

“I’m not sure to be honest with you. We might have to spread out in order to find it.” Vert said.

“That might not be a good idea.” Said Nepgear. “I didn’t fight the thing yesterday, but it seemed really powerful.”

“I know, nyu. We almost got flattened yesterday, nyu.” Broccoli said.

“Eureka!” Neptune said, as she lifted Broccoli off Gema. “We have a catgirl right here! Rats hate catgirls, right? So go get it girl!” Neptune said, sitting Broccoli gently on the grass.

“No way, nyu.” Broccoli said, as she hopped back onto Gema.

“Well I’m out of ideas.” Said Neptune. Neptune blinked her eyes several times when she noticed a strange look appear on Vert, Nepgear and Broccoli’s faces. “Let me guess. Big Pirachu’s behind me?”

Nepgear, Vert and Broccoli nodded their heads.

Neptune whirled around and saw Big Pirachu marching towards her. “Hey. My plan worked!” Neptune said. “It’s the, take credit for Big Pirachu showing up, plan!” Neptune said, as she held out her hands and summoned her katana. “You girls ready?”

“Ready!” Nepgear said, as she summoned her energy sword.

“Ready, nyu.” Broccoli said.

“I’m ready as well.” Said Vert, summoning her spear.

Neptune led the charge. As she ran at Big Pirachu, a mischievous smile appeared on her face. “Man… after yesterday, I feel alive! I feel like I can do anything!” Neptune thought, as she leapt high into the air and brought her sword down hard.

Neptune’s katana sliced through the air with a silvery flash, cutting Big Pirachu’s face. The giant rodent roared in anger as it through a heavy paw at Neptune. Neptune flipped over the paw, missing it by mere inches.

Big Pirachu tried to follow Neptune with it’s eyes, but before it could launch another attack at the girl, Nepgear had leapt at the creature and sliced into it’s back.

Big Pirachu’s entire body went rigid, as it turned on it’s heels and launched it’s paw at Nepgear, but before it could attack the girl, a giant spear slammed into it’s chest, sending the rodent flying backwards.

CHUU!” Big Pirachu cried, as it slammed into the ground sending dust and debris flying into the air.

“My turn, nyu!” Broccoli said, as she walked over to the downed rodent and slammed Gema lazily into the creature. Big Pirachu’s eyes opened wide, before the creature vanished in a bright flash of light. “I’m a winner, nyu!” Broccoli said, throwing her hands victoriously into the air.

Nepgear smiled brightly, but her smile faltered when she heard cheers coming from the village. Turning on her heels, the girl saw the villagers had gathered outside the village.

“You did it!” Someone shouted.

“Thank you girls” Cheered someone else.

Neptune waved her hands over her head. “You’re welcome everyone!”

Nepgear felt a hand on the small of her back. “Are you okay?” Vert asked, smiling warmly into Nepgear’s eyes.

Nepgear took a deep breath, before she nodded. “I’m alright. I’m still mad about what happened.”

“You have every right to be angry.” Vert said. “But we did a good thing here. I just hope the villagers learn from everything that happened. I wish we could do something more when it comes to Yvoire.”

“Yeah.” Said Nepgear, nodding.

“Don’t worry about it.” Said Neptune, making her way over to the two girls. “I betcha the people of that village will give Yvoire the boot. They don’t need him.”

“That’s true.” Said Nepgear. “Still. Can we leave?”

Vert nodded. “Of course. We still have to activate the rest of those Fairy Towers after all.” After the girls gathered their backpacks, they continued on their journey to the second Fairy Tower. They could only hope that the villagers of New Leanbox stopped listening to Yvoire.