Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 1

 There was no sound or light. Nothing seemed to reach the strange abyss. A young girl stood in the middle of this abyss, a vacant look in her eyes. As though stirred by an invisible force, the young girl started to move. At first she moved her fingers, before she blinked her eyes several times. Soon she took a step and then another.

“Where am I?” The girl wondered aloud. Her voice lacked any impact. As though it were only strong enough to reach her ears.

“Neptune?” A voice said. This voice had impact. It echoed and reverberated off walls that the girl couldn’t see. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” The girl said, nodding her head. Neptune slowly moved her eyes left and right, but she couldn’t see anything. “Where are you? Who are you?” She asked.

The voice didn’t answer right away and Neptune couldn’t help, but wonder if it would. “My name is Histoire. I’m a tome.”

“Tomb?” Neptune said, her eyes widened a bit.

“No. A tome.” The voice quickly corrected. “I need your help Neptune. Please activate the Fairy Towers. Release me.”

“Fairy Towers? Release you?” Neptune repeated. “That sounds really hard.”

“It’s alright-” Histoire began, but her voice was cut off by a different voice.

“Neptune? Hey Neptune! Please wake up!” The new voice cried.

Neptune opened her eyes and spotted Nepgear’s face hovering above hers. Nepgear wore a worried look on her face and she was grasping one of Neptune’s shoulders in her hands.

“Oh Nepgear!” Neptune said, happily. “You saved me!”

“I saved you?” Nepgear said, furrowing her brow.

“Yeah. A weird voice was asking me to activate some Fairy Towers and release her. It sounded like a real bore chore and I didn’t want to do it! So thanks Nepgear!” Neptune said, with a large smile.

Nepgear shook her head. “Well you’re welcome sis, but we need to hurry. We have to kill some Dogoo’s today and-” Before Nepgear could finish speaking, Neptune rolled onto her stomach.

“That sounds like a real bore chore too. Let me go talk to Histoire again.” Neptune said, as she tried to go back to sleep.

“No sis!” Nepgear cried, as she started shaking her big sister harder than before. “We have to go now! IF and Compa are waiting for us!”

“Okay okay…” Neptune said, sighing deeply as she sat up in bed. “Hey Nepgear, I have an idea…”

“If you drop that idea and get up now, I’ll make pudding for breakfast!” Nepgear said. Nepgear gasped as Neptune leapt out of bed and in a matter of moments was changed and ready to go out.

“Let’s go Nepgear! Times wasting!” Neptune said, as she led the way out of their room.

Nepgear sighed once more, but a small smile appeared on her lips. “Maybe I should try the pudding approach more often.” She thought.

Nepgear followed her sister into the small kitchen where she quickly prepared some puddings for the two of them. After that, they headed outside. The sun was shining brightly overhead and a warm breeze blew through the girls hair. “What a morning!” Neptune said, as she happily ate away at her pudding.

Neptune and Nepgear were both girls who lived in the city of Planeptune. Planeptune was a small city that was mostly made up of small wooden houses and factories Planeptune was ruled over by the goddess Purple Heart. Purple Heart was a kind, but serious leader. However, every once in a while Purple Heart would act childishly.

Neptune and Nepgear were members of the guild and often went on quests together. This morning however, they were planning on teaming up with their closest friends IF and Compa.

“Do you think IF is going to be mad this morning?” Neptune asked, as she continued to shovel mouthfuls of pudding into her mouth.

“No. I woke us up early so we wouldn’t be late.” Nepgear said, as she led the charge through the city.

“That’s my super brainy sister for you!” Neptune said. The two sisters stopped at a trashcan and tossed away the cups their puddings had come in and the plastic spoons before continuing on.

The two girls moved down several alleyways and streets until they reached a large gate that led out of the city. Standing by the gate were two girls. IF and Compa. IF was looking down at one of her cellphones while Compa was patiently waiting next to her.

“Hi! Were here!” Nepgear called out.

IF glanced up from her phone. “You’re late.” IF said, in a stern voice.

“No way!” Neptune said, stopping a few feet away from IF and Compa. “My sister woke me up early. So were actually early.”

“I know.” IF said, smiling mischievously. “I knew Nepgear would be smart enough to wake you up early, because if she didn’t you’d be late. So I’m scolding you for being late anyways.”

“Aww not fair!” Neptune said, her shoulder sagged.

“Good morning Nep-Nep! Good morning Ge-Ge!” Compa said, using her usual nicknames for her two friends.

“Morning Compa!” Neptune said.

“Good morning.” Nepgear said, bowing her head a little.

“If I’m being scolded for being late. I should say that I have a good reason for it.” Neptune said.

“Pudding coma?” IF asked.

“Pudding Coma?” Compa offered.

“Pudding Coma.” Nepgear said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and nodding her head several times.

“Not a pudding coma! Though that is a great idea.” Neptune said, her voice trailed off before she started shaking her head hard. “But no! Not a pudding coma! I had a weird dream!”

“What kind of dream Nep-Nep?” Asked Compa.

“Well…” Neptune began, trying to remember the specifics. “I had a dream about a girl named Histoire and she told me to activate something called a Fairy Tower. Oh and she asked me to release her.”

“Weird.” IF said. “So was it a bad dream or something?”

Neptune shook her head. “I’m going to have to say no. It was just weird.”

IF didn’t say anything more. Instead she started typing something into her phone. After that, she slid the phone back onto her belt where several other phones were waiting to be used.

“Anyways, let’s get this quest over with. I’m ready for my second pudding.” Neptune said, glumly.

IF giggled as she pulled out the quest form and looked it over. “Alright. So our client is asking us to kill five Dogoo.”

“Dogoos’ are pretty easy, right?” Neptune said, as she held out her hands. In a flash of bright light a wooden sword appeared in front of her. “I bet I’ll kill all five of them before any of you can!”

“You’re not used to fighting monsters are you?” IF asked, titling her head slightly to the right and smiling.

“Uh… No.” Neptune said, shaking her head. “Every quest we’ve been on so far involved finding herbs.”

“Thought so.” IF said. “In that case, just stick with us. It’s true Dogoos’ can be easy, but they can still overwhelm you if you aren’t careful.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll use my mad nursing skills if anyone gets hurt!” Compa said, smiling brightly.

“Aw! I knew I loved you for a reason Compa!” Neptune said, hugging Compa’s arm close to her chest.

“Enough of that!” IF said, grabbing Neptune by the scruff of her shirt and dragging her away from Compa.

“Sorry IF. I didn’t mean to make you jealous.” Neptune said, giggling nervously.

“Me jealous?” IF began, her cheeks grew bright red. “I’m not jealous! I’m annoyed! Now let’s get this quest over with!” And with those words, the four friends headed out of Planeptune and into a large valley.

The valley was beautiful, but it was filled with all kinds of monsters.

The four friends didn’t have to walk far before their first target appeared in front of them. “Dogoo!” The monster said, as it turned its gelatinous body towards the group.

“There’s our first target!” IF said, her eyes shifted towards Neptune. “Hey Neptune. Why don’t you show us how its done?”

“Alright!” Neptune said, nervously. “Uh… Here I go…” And with that, Neptune ran forwards, her sword held high over her head. “Die monster!” She cried out.

Before Neptune could do anything however, the Dogoo leapt backwards avoiding her sword by mere inches. “HEY!” Neptune cried out, as the tip of her wooden sword slammed into the ground.

The dogoo suddenly leapt at Neptune, smacking her hard in the chest. The wind was knocked out of Neptune and she was sent flying backwards. “Ouch!” The girl cried out, as she slammed into the ground and rolled several feet away. “Uh… IF? Maybe you should show us how its done?”

“I guess I could.” IF said.

Nepgear and Compa knelt down beside Neptune. “Are you okay big sis?” Nepgear asked.

“I’m fine. That dogoo is stronger than it looks.” Neptune said.

“You just have to anticipate its attacks. Once you learn to do that, you’ll be fine.” IF said, as she summoned two daggers into her hands. After that, IF slowly made her way over to the dogoo.

“Dogoo! Goo!” The creature growled.

IF stopped in her tracks and lifted her daggers. “Come on dogoo.” She said.

The dogoo suddenly leapt at IF, but unlike Neptune, IF knew what to do. Moving swiftly to the side, she avoided the Dogoo’s attack, but as the creature flew past her, IF swung one of her daggers cutting into the creature.

The dogoo landed on the ground, but before it could do anything else, IF slammed her daggers into the creatures upper body. With a bright flash, the dogoo vanished.

“You see? Not that hard.” Said IF.

“I agree.” Neptune said, getting to her feet. “Why don’t you take care of the rest of the dogoos, while Nepgear and Compa rest here?”

“Good idea. I’ll take the whole reward for myself too.” IF said, shrugging her shoulders.

“On second thought. We’ll come with you.” Said Neptune.

The four girls continued to make their way through the valley. Every time they came across a dogoo, one of them would deal with it. Nepgear used an energy sword that she had made herself, in order to defeat one a dogoo. Compa used a giant syringe to kill one and IF dealt with the fourth one herself.

“One more dogoo left.” Neptune said, smiling brightly. “We make a great team! You three kill them and I cheer for you! Hooray!” Neptune said, throwing her hands into the air.

“Neptune you should kill the last one.” Nepgear said.

“Seriously. We can’t carry you this entire quest.” Said IF.

“I disagree. You three have been carrying me quite well so far.” Neptune said. “Right Compa?”

“They have a point Nep-Nep.” Compa said.

Neptune gasped. “Betrayed by my two best friends and my baby sister. What will I do?” Neptune asked, pretending to cry.

“You could kill that over there.” IF said, pointing somewhere to the right.

Neptune turned her head and spotted a dogoo hopping towards them. “Oh… I see.” Neptune said, sighing deeply. “I guess I don’t have a choice.” Neptune said, as she started running at the dogoo as fast as she could.

“Remember what I said!” IF called out.

“Yeah yeah…” Neptune said.

Neptune charged forwards, her feet slammed against the ground as she ran. Neptune held her sword down by her right side. The moment the dogoo was close enough, it leapt at the girl with all it’s might.

Neptune gritted her teeth as she held her sword up in front of her. The dogoo slammed into the weapon causing Neptune to stumble a bit, but she didn’t fall.

“Goo!” The dogoo growled as it landed on the ground. Before the creature could do anything else, Neptune raised her wooden sword and plunged the tip deep into it’s gelatinous body. The dogoo growled once more before it vanished completely.

“Whew… That was tough.” Neptune said, dabbing her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand.

“You did it sis!” Nepgear cried, as she jumped at Neptune and threw her arms around her sister.

“I know, I know. I’m awesome.” Said Neptune.

“Nice work Nep!” IF said, smiling as well. “Now do it again.”

“Huh? Isn’t the quest over already?” Neptune asked.

“Yeah, but you said you wanted to do more hunting quests, right?” Asked IF. “You need to get the practice in.”

Neptune wanted to argue, but she knew her friend was right. “That’s true.” Neptune said, sighing deeply. Nepgear looked from her sister, to IF and Compa. After that Nepgear closed her eyes and giggled a bit. “Things have been hard lately. Taxes are going up and no ones hiring. We need to do hunting more hunting quests big sis.”

Neptune swallowed hard. “You’re right. I need to provide for my baby sister.” Neptune said, turning on her heels and holding her wooden sword with both hands. “Let’s get started!”

“I’m going with you.” Nepgear said, activating her energy sword.

“That’s the spirit!” IF said, as she watched Neptune and Nepgear charge after a small group of dogoo.

“I’m proud of them.” Compa said, smiling sweetly.

“Me too, but I’m also a bit worried. Neptune’s a good girl, but she can be lazy. I don’t want her to rely on Nepgear to do everything.” IF said. Just as IF stopped speaking, she felt her phone from before vibrate.

Pulling out her phone, IF’s smile vanished when she read the text she had just received.

“What’s wrong?” Compa asked, noticing IF’s mood had changed.

“Look.” IF said, turning the phone so Compa could read the screen.

Compa’s eyes went wide. “What does it mean?” She asked, before turning her eyes towards Neptune who was being chased by four dogoos’.