Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 21

 Nepgear felt guilty as she and Neptune cleaned out Falcom’s refrigerator. The refrigerator was small and it didn’t have a lot of items in it. As Neptune and Nepgear stuffed their backpacks with the items, Neptune couldn’t help, but squeal with delight every time they pulled out a new pack of pudding.

“Ooh! Nepgear? I have a fun idea! Let’s find a bucket and dump all the pudding in it and eat it out of the bucket! How awesome would that be?” Asked Neptune.

Nepgear didn’t respond. Instead she focused on emptying the refrigerator instead. “Neptune. I don’t think were going to be able to take all of this. Maybe we should leave some of the water bottles behind?”

“I’ll take one of those.” Said Neptune, as she opened one of the bottles and tilted it up to her lips. “I wish this was milk tea though.” Neptune said, licking her lips.

“Don’t drink too many of those! There aren’t any toilets between here and the next Fairy Tower.” Nepgear said.

Neptune giggled as she patted Nepgear on the shoulder. “Silly Nepgear! The world is our toilet!”

“That’s gross Neptune…” Said Nepgear, in disgust. After the girls took everything they could, they got to their feet and glanced around the small cabin. “Falcom was really nice to let us use this place.” Said Nepgear, grabbing the straps of her backpack.

“Yeah. I really hope that Purple Sister and Falcom are doing well.” Said Neptune. “I have to admit. As a big sister I was worried about Purple Sister. Which is weird considering were not related.”

“Maybe its because we look so much alike.” Said Nepgear.

“That might be it, but at the same time. She seemed really familiar too. It’s weird.” Neptune said. The girl started to feel a tinge of pain in her head, but it vanished soon afterwards. “Anyways baby sister of mine. Shall we go?”

“Yeah. I’m ready.” Said Nepgear, following after her sister.

Once the two girls were outside, Neptune waited while her sister pulled out her N-Gear and started looking over the map. “I feel kind of weird not locking the door. I know Falcom told us not to, but still. I feel bad.” Neptune said, in a small voice.

Nepgear scanned the map on her N-Gear for several moments. “I did manage to speak to Falcom. She said that she’s been at the Fairy Tower‘s location several times before, but she’s never actually seen the Fairy Tower.”

“Maybe it only appears to people who are pure of heart?” Neptune suggested.

“I don’t know of anyone more pure than Falcom, do you?” Nepgear asked.

“Yeah I do! Me!” Said Neptune.

“Yeah, anyways Falcom suggested that we look underground in the caves. She said that miners used to excavate in the surrounding mines and there’s a good chance we’ll find the Fairy Tower underground.”

“I noticed you didn’t agree with me Nepgear.” Neptune said, narrowing her eyes at her sister.  

“She said that there’s enough light in the caves so we don’t have to worry about seeing, but we should still be careful.” Said Nepgear.

“You’re ignoring your sweet big sister now? Fine. Whatever.” Said Neptune.

Nepgear pointed towards the north west. “Let’s head that way.” She said.

Neptune nodded as both girls started walking. It took them an entire day, but soon the girls reached the cliffs where the Fairy Tower was supposed to be kept. Both Nep’s noticed several metallic bridges that led from one cliff top to the next, but they also noticed a trail leading to the ground far below.

“This is it.” Said Nepgear, gesturing towards the trial.

Neptune followed the trail with her eyes until she spotted a large cavern far below. “Looks rough. Do we know what’s living in that cave?” Asked Neptune.

“Falcom told me it was filled with Dragons.” Said Nepgear.

“Just dragons, huh?” Neptune said, taking a jagged breath. “Sounds fun. Ready to give up and go back to Falcom’s place? I assume no one will come looking for us there.”

“You know we can’t stop.” Said Nepgear.

“Yeah yeah. Nepgear you’re such an honest girl scout. Alright!” Neptune began, slapping her hands together. “Let’s do this thing!” And with that, Neptune summoned her katana. Grabbing the hilt with both her hands she aimed the tip of her sword at the cavern far below. “CHARGE!” She ordered.

“We shouldn’t run.” Said Nepgear, summoning her energy sword as well.

“Absolutely not. I don’t want you to trip and get hurt.” Said Neptune, taking Nepgear by the hand. “Here, to help keep you balanced.”

Nepgear giggled. “Thanks sis.” Nepgear allowed her sister to help her down the long trail to the cavern. As they walked, Nepgear couldn’t help but wonder if Neptune was acting this way because of Purple Sister. “Maybe Purple Sister reminded Neptune of me after all. We did look strangely alike.”

When the girls finally reached the bottom of the trail, they both peered inside. To Nepgear’s surprise, the rocks that were embedded into the wall of the cavern were shining brightly. “Wow. I thought this cavern was being lit up with manmade lights, but the rocks are shining.”

“That’s neat and all, but don’t geek out yet. We still have to worry about those dragons.” Said Neptune.

Neptune and Nepgear made their way into the cavern and followed the lights until they reached an underground lake. The water stretched out in all directors, but the lake itself was only a few inches deep. Located in the middle of this lake was the Fairy Tower and walking around the Fairy Tower, were dozens of dragons.

“Oh goodness.” Nepgear said, in a weak voice. “There’s so many dragons.”

“Yeah. I wonder how many we can kill before they eat us. My guess is zero.” Said Neptune.

“Don’t say that Neptune. Chances are were going to have to use these dragons to get stronger.” Said Nepgear, nervously.

One of the large dragons suddenly halted and turned it’s eyes towards the girls. Neptune and Nepgear quickly ducked behind a nearby boulder. “Do you think it saw us?” Nepgear asked.

“No way.” Said Neptune, as a large figure suddenly pounced on the boulder.

Neptune and Nepgear leapt away as a large dragon slammed into the boulder, obliterating it. “Whoa!” Nepgear cried out, as she was engulfed in smoke. Nepgear held up her hands to block anything that might hit her in the face.

A loud roar caused Nepgear to gasp. A chill ran down her spine. Looking up, Nepgear saw the dragon was baring down on her. The creature was swinging it’s right hand at her.

“HEY!” Neptune cried, as she suddenly appeared in front of Nepgear. The girl blocked the creatures hand using her sword. “Keep your hands to yourself!” Neptune screamed, as she pushed the dragon’s hand away and sliced at the creatures chest. The dragon roared as the tip of Neptune’s sword sliced through the dragon’s chest. “It’s your fault buddy.”

Nepgear clenched her left hand into a tight fists and hit her thigh. “Stop being afraid Nepgear!” Nepgear thought to herself. “Go over there and back your sister up!” Nepgear closed her eyes tightly, clenched her jaw and opened her eyes. After that, Nepgear leapt high into the air and screamed.

The dragon looked up in time to see Nepgear swing her sword down. With a single slash, the dragon’s head was completely cut free from its body and in a flash, the dragon vanished.

“I did it!” Nepgear said, breathlessly.

“You sure did Nepgear.” Neptune said, pointing forwards.

Nepgear sighed deeply. Her scream had caught the attention of the other dragons and now the creatures were charging towards the two girls. “Oh goodness.” Said Nepgear, sadly.

“Any good ideas?” Asked Neptune.

Nepgear thought for a moment. “I have one. Hide!”

“Hide?” Neptune said.

“Yes! You hide, I’ll distract the dragons. After that you can activate the Fairy Tower and once its setup we can use it to heal ourselves if we get too badly injured.” Said Nepgear.

“That’s a great idea Nepgear, but you should do it.” Neptune said, holding out the memory stick that Histoire had given them.

“No sis. You do it!” Nepgear cried, as she waved her sword wildly over her head and shouted. “COME AND GET ME!”

Neptune fought the urge to chase after Nepgear. Instead she ducked behind a nearby boulder and watched as her sister grabbed the attention of all the dragons in the massive cavern.

Once most of the dragons were chasing after Nepgear, Neptune slipped out from her hiding spot and started running as fast as she could towards the Fairy Tower. The only sounds Neptune could hear was Nepgear screaming at the dragons and attacking them when they got too close to her.

“Come on Neptune! You have to move faster!” Neptune screamed at herself.

Before Neptune knew it, she was standing at the Fairy Tower’s terminal. Sliding the memory stick into the USB port, Neptune turned to Nepgear. “NEPGEAR! THIS WAY!” Neptune cried.

Nepgear leapt over a dragon’s attack and started running as fast as she could towards the Fairy Tower, but Neptune could tell that Nepgear was in trouble. Rushing forwards Neptune ran to her sister as fast as she could. “NEPGEAR!” Neptune cried.

“NEPTUNE!” Nepgear cried.

“Like an anime!” Neptune thought to herself. Once Neptune had passed Nepgear, she leapt at the first dragon that was closer to her and swung her sword. In a single slash of her blade, she managed to kill the dragon.

The other dragons were caught off guard by this and halted in their tracks. Neptune eyed the creatures angrily. “This is the power of a big sister! You shouldn’t have scared my precious Nepgear!”

The dragons took a few steps away from Neptune, before they turned and fled from the girl. “Don’t go too far! We need to grind share energy later!” Neptune called after them. Neptune started jogging back over to where Nepgear was waiting for her.

“Oh wow big sis! You were amazing!” Nepgear said, her eyes were sparkling with joy.

“Really? Thank you Nepgear!” Neptune said, scratching the back of her head with embarrassment.

“Neptune? Nepgear?” Came the voice of Histoire. “You both did very well getting here.”

“Thanks!” Nepgear said, turning to Histoire. “So we finally did it, right? We finally activated all the Fairy Towers!”

“Yep. Some might call us heroes. I would agree with them.” Said Neptune, smiling proudly.

“You two are indeed heroes. You managed to activate all the Fairy Towers on Planeptune and you managed to do it rather quickly. Now please, use the share energy to increase your stats.” Said Histoire.

“Good idea. I think- WAIT!” Neptune cried.

“Whoa! Neptune! Please don’t shout like that.” Nepgear said, her hands were now covering her ears.

“Nepgear? Did you hear what Histoire just said?” Said Neptune. “We activated all the Fairy Towers on Planeptune.”

“Yeah, so?” Nepgear asked, furrowing her brow. Suddenly the girl realized what her sister was saying. “Are there more Fairy Towers?” Nepgear asked, turning to Histoire.

“Unfortunately yes.” Said Histoire. “Thanks to the activation of this third Fairy Tower, I can see that there are at least three more.”

“Three more?” Neptune said, her shoulders sagged. “Oh shoot. Did ya hear that Nepgear? Three!”

“Yes, but I have a feeling that it’s not just three.” Said Histoire.

“What makes you say that?” Asked Nepgear.

“Well. You see the three Fairy Towers are located in Lastation, Leanbox and Lowee, but considering the size of those nations, I know there has to be more than one setup to monitor those nations.”

“I’m going to lay down and die now.” Neptune said.

“Wait big sister.” Nepgear said, grabbing Neptune’s arm. “So we need to activate all the Fairy Tower’s to release the original Histoire, right? We can do that.”

“We can?” Asked Neptune.

“Yes we can.” Said Nepgear. “It’s better than giving up and we can still get stronger.” Said Nepgear, as she pulled Neptune over to the Fairy Tower’s monitor. “Come on. Let’s use our share energy.”

Neptune and Nepgear were surprised. They managed to increase their share energy by quite a bit, but it wasn’t enough to max out their stats completely. Once the girls were finished, they felt stronger.

“Alright! This is great!” Said Nepgear.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, but…” Histoire began. “I have some terrible new!”

“What terrible news?” Asked Nepgear.

“I’m sorry. I’ll explain in a moment. Or more accurately, another Histoire from a different Fairy Tower will.” Histoire began. “The other me will also explain what I’m going to do now!”

“Huh?” Neptune said, confused.

Neptune and Nepgear’s eyes were suddenly flooded with light and the ground beneath their feet felt as though it disappeared. The girls didn’t feel like they were falling though, instead it felt as though they were being pulled forwards.

When the ground suddenly reappeared beneath them, the light vanished from their eyes and the girls found themselves standing in the forest. “Huh? Where are we?” Nepgear said.

“I think…” Neptune turned and spotted Histoire from the Fairy Tower they saw in the forest. “Histoire? What the heck are-”

“Watch out!” Histoire cried.

A loud explosion caused both Neptune and Nepgear to whirl around. At first they had no idea what had caused the explosion, but soon the cause became apparent. An enormous monster appeared in the sky. The creature had a monstrous face, but half of that face looked pale white while the other half was bright pink. “What the goodness is that?!” Nepgear cried.

“That thing is HachimaJin.” Said Histoire. “I’m sorry but I fear we made a terrible mistake!”