“Neptune! Wake up!” Noire shouted. Neptune was sleeping soundly on the couch and Noire was towering over the girl, her hands were on her hips. “You need to get up and do some work! It’s almost ten in the morning!” Noire said, feeling incredibly annoyed that the girl who was meant to activate all the Fairy Towers refused to get up early.
“No thanks…” Neptune breathed. “I couldn’t possibly eat anymore… Oh is that pudding? I guess I have room after all!” Neptune muttered.
“A clichéd dream? Really?” Noire said, annoyed. “Get up Neptune!”
Neptune suddenly opened her eyes, which surprised Noire. “Huh? Where am I?” Neptune muttered, before she sat up and stretched her hands high over her head. “This isn’t my room… Or house… Or bed… Or little sister.” Said Neptune, turning to face Noire. “Who are you again?”
“Noire!” Noire shouted. “Listen Neptune. If you’re going to activate all the Fairy Towers in Lastation, then you need to show a little more responsibility. Just take our sisters for example. They both woke up early and are currently taking on several quests for Lastation. Meanwhile, what are you doing?”
“Going back to sleep?” Neptune offered.
“NO! You’re going to get up!” Noire said, grabbing Neptune by the arm and forcing the girl to her feet. “Now, I made some toast for you. Eat it, drink tea and let’s get going.”
Neptune groaned loudly as she made her way over to the table and started eating her toast. After that, she drank some tea that Noire had placed in front of her. “Where is Nepgear again?” Neptune asked, glancing around the room.
“I told you. She and Uni are doing quests for Lastation.” Noire said.
“Even though were Planeptune citizens?” Asked Neptune.
“Well Uni took on the quests, Nepgear is just helping her with them.” Said Noire.
“Cool.” Said Neptune, sighing deeply. “Where are we going?”
Noire made her way over to the tea pot and poured herself a cup. “I take on jobs exclusively for a factory.”
“Oh. Sounds fun.” Neptune said, dully.
“Work isn’t supposed to be fun. That’s why it’s called work.” Said Noire.
Neptune waggled her finger at Noire. “Oh Noire. Work can be fun. For instance, it’s my job to taste test pudding. I take my job very seriously, but it’s also fun!”
“No it’s not!” Noire shouted. “Listen Neptune. You need to hurry up with that toast. We need to leave soon.”
Neptune sighed deeply, but did as she was told. After finishing off the toast and tea, the two girls headed outside. As the girls walked down the streets of Lastation, Neptune’s eyes were as large as saucers. She was amazed by all the impressive looking buildings and incredibly high smokestacks. “Got to admit Noire. Lastation is pretty cool.” Neptune said.
“Isn’t it?” Noire said, smiling proudly.
“Huh? Why are you smiling? Lastation doesn’t belong to you, does it?” Neptune asked.
“Of course not.” Noire said, feeling a bit annoyed. “I still have pride in my city. Not sure why though.”
“I just assume you’re a weirdo.” Said Neptune, shrugging her shoulders.
“Well who asked you?” Noire said, her annoyance once again returned.
Neptune and Noire finally arrived at a large factory. Opening a small metal door, the two girls went inside and were instantly greeted by incredibly large machines, conveyer belts and thousands of blinking lights. The sounds of machines running greeted the girls ears as well.
“Wowie! This place is amazing!” Neptune said.
“Glad you like it.” Came a voice.
Neptune turned and spotted a blue haired woman standing in front of a work bench. The woman was drawing something on a long piece of paper. “How are you doing today miss Chian?” Noire asked.
“Oh please. I told you to just call me Chian.” Said the blue haired woman, not taking her eyes off her work. “So Noire? Who’s your friend?”
“Oh she doesn’t have any of those.” Neptune said, giggling.
“Hey!” Noire snapped. “I do have friends! I have tons of them!” Noire said, annoyed.
Chian giggled, as she finally turned her attention to Neptune. “Well I like to consider myself one of those friends.”
“See?” Noire said, gesturing at Chian.
“That’s so nice of you to play along.” Neptune said, ignoring the fact that Noire was now shaking with anger. “My name is Neptune by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Neptune.” Said Chian. “I know this might sound strange, but you’re not from around here are you?”
“How could you tell?” Neptune asked, surprised.
“Let’s just call it a hunch.” Said Chian. “Not that it matters to me.”
“Chian is the owner of this factory. Were going to do some work for her.” Said Noire.
“If you don’t mind of course.” Said Chian.
“I don’t mind. Since I’m here.” Neptune said, her shoulders sagged. “But I should warn you. I’m not good with machines, building stuff, walking around, lifting heavy things, driving things, filling up coffee pots, dealing with customers, making phone calls, holding open doors.”
“Sounds about right.” Noire said, smirking.
“Hey! I can fight monsters pretty darn good!” Neptune said, annoyed.
“Monsters is actually what I need your help with.” Said Chian. “There’s an old factory that’s located on the outskirts of Lastation. It’s crawling with monsters and I’m hoping you two could go there and clear them out. What do you say?”
Neptune didn’t answer right away. Instead she looked down at her hands. “I’m torn. My pride is on the line here, but I also don’t want to fight monsters right now.”
“We’ll take the job.” Noire said, grabbing Neptune by the arm. “Let’s go Neptune.”
“Huh? I don’t wanna!” Neptune cried, as Noire pulled her out of the factory.
“Good luck you two!” Chian said, waving goodbye to the girls.
***
Nepgear had spent the night in Uni’s room. Even though Uni offered Nepgear the bed, the girl couldn’t bring herself to take it. Instead she slept on the floor inside a sleeping bag. That morning, Nepgear was surprised to see Uni had awoken before she did. “Sorry I overslept.” Nepgear said, getting to her feet and stretching her hands over her head.
“You’re fine. I always get up this early.” Uni said, who was sitting at her workbench working on her gun.
“What are you doing?” Nepgear asked, wandering over to the workbench and looking down at Uni’s work.
“I’m just trying to increase the power output.” Said Uni.
“Huh…” Said Nepgear. “Have you thought about using a different lens to amplify power. Also if you’re worried about power loss, you might want to consider a backup power source, but you might have to rewire a few things, but I could help you with it.” Said Nepgear.
Uni’s lower jaw dropped. “Whoa. You sound like you know what you’re talking about.” The girl said.
“Oh, well…” Nepgear began, as she summoned her energy sword. “I built this thing from scratch. It took me a while to get all the parts I needed and it could use some improvements, but I’m proud of it.”
“That’s amazing Nepgear.” Uni said. “If you don’t mind. Could you help me with this?” She asked.
“Of course! I would love too!” Nepgear said, excitedly. After showing the energy sword off for a moment, she sent the blade away.
Uni took a deep breath. “Anyways. I need to take on some quests for the guild. What are your plans today?”
“Well…” Nepgear began. “Do you mind if I go with you? I’d like to help out if I can. Also I need to go back to the Fairy Tower and find out where the next one is. I sort of forgot to ask.”
“Cool.” Uni said, getting to her feet. “I know. I’ll take some quests that will take us in that area. Sounds good?”
“Great! Thanks!” Nepgear said. Uni was about to head for the door, but Nepgear stopped her. “Uni? What about your gun?” She asked. The gun that Uni had been working on was lying on the workbench in peaces.
“Oh! No worries. I actually own about five different guns. I make sure I have at least one in working order.” Said Noire.
“Right. That makes sense.” Said Nepgear.
Nepgear followed Uni out of her bedroom and downstairs where Noire was waiting. “Morning sis.” Uni said.
“Good morning Uni. Nepgear.” Noire said.
Nepgear saw that Noire was sitting at the table. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she was staring angrily at Neptune who was lying on the couch. Noire was tapping her index finger against her forearm.
“I’m so sorry.” Nepgear said, her cheeks grew bright red. “I’ll wake her up.” Nepgear was about to wake Neptune up, but Noire stopped her.
“No Nepgear. I’m going to whip your sister into shape starting today.” Noire said.
“Huh? Are you sure? She can be a handful.” Nepgear said.
“I’m sure. You two eat your breakfasts. Once you leave I’ll get to work on that.” Noire said, pointing a stern finger at Neptune’s unconscious body.
“What… Nepgear? You’re going to do all the work for me today? That’s sweet of you!” Neptune muttered in her sleep.
Nepgear’s cheeks grew even redder than before. “Oh geesh big sis.” Nepgear said, embarrassed.
Uni and Nepgear ate their breakfasts. After that, they headed for the front door. “I’ll see you later sis.” Uni said.
“Right. Be careful out there you two.” Noire said.
“We will.” Nepgear and Uni said, in unison.
Once the girls were outside and the door was closed, Nepgear sighed deeply. “Oh man… I hope your sister knows what she’s getting into.”
“Is miss Neptune hard to wake up or something?” Uni asked.
Nepgear didn’t answer right away. The girl was struggling with a good way to describe her sister. “Let’s just say my sister can be difficult when it comes to everything.” Nepgear said.
Uni sighed herself and patted Nepgear on the shoulder. “I could tell you were struggling to phrase it the right way.”
The two girls headed for Lastation’s guild. To Nepgear’s surprise, the building looked a lot like the guild in Planeptune. Uni applied for two hunting jobs. After that the girls headed out of Lastation.
“So what are we hunting today?” Nepgear asked.
“Were hunting for Spider and Plum-met monsters.” Said Uni.
“Got it.” Nepgear said, nodding.
Uni and Nepgear walked side-by-side until they came across their first group of Spider monsters. “There they are.” Uni said, as she summoned her gun. After that, Uni aimed her weapon at the spiders and fired.
The first energy blast struck one spider dead on, killing it instantly. The other spiders started running towards the girls. Uni aimed at another spider and killed it, before aiming at another one and killing it as well.
Nepgear summoned her sword and sliced through two of the creatures before they could launch their attack. Soon all the spiders had been dealt with. “That was pretty easy.” Nepgear said.
“Yeah. These spider monsters are pretty weak. The Plum-met monsters can be a bit more tricky.” Said Uni.
Nepgear nodded as she followed after Uni. When they finally came upon a few Plum-met monsters, Nepgear was surprised. “Are those pipes poking out of the ground?” Nepgear asked.
“Nope. Those are the monsters.” Uni said. The monsters did indeed look like large, green pipes though. “I’ll start shooting them. After I do, you go in for the kill. Okay?”
“Right.” Nepgear said, ready to leap into the fray.
Uni aimed her rifle at the Plum-met monsters and began firing. The moment her first attack hit the Plum-met monster on the right, the creature started sliding across the ground towards her. Uni ignored it as she fired at the other monster.
The moment Uni lowered her rifle, Nepgear leapt into action. She swung her sword hard killing the first Plum-met monster, after that she began running as fast as she could at the second one.
The Plum-met monster launched it’s large body at Nepgear when she was close enough, causing Nepgear to block the attack using her sword. After that, she swung her blade killing the monster instantly.
“WATCH OUT!” Noire cried, as she fired her rifle once more.
Nepgear turned on her heels and spotted a large spider monster leaping at her. Nepgear held up her sword to block the attack, but Uni fired her rifle. The energy blast struck the creature in the side, killing it.
“Goodness. That was close.” Nepgear said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Thanks Uni!” Nepgear said, smiling brightly at Uni.
“You’re welcome.” Uni said, suddenly becoming a bit cocky. “Lastation can be a pretty dangerous place, but you should be fine as long as I’m around.”
“You’re right.” Nepgear said. “I’m glad were friends Uni.”
“F-Friends?” Uni said, her cheeks grew bright red.
“Yeah. I mean… if you want to be.” Said Nepgear.
“W-Well…” Uni began. “I guess I don’t mind being your friend.” Uni said, scratching her right cheek nervously. “Anyways. Let’s keep going.” The girl said, quickly changing the subject.
Uni and Nepgear continued to make their way towards the Fairy Tower. When they finally arrived, Nepgear pulled out her N-Gear. “Excuse me Histoire.”
“Hello Nepgear. Uni. How are you two today?” Histoire asked, bowing a little.
“Were good.” Said Nepgear. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I forgot to get information on the next Fairy Tower.”
“I see.” Said Histoire. “I’ll send you two the information now. In the meantime, tell me. How is Neptune and Noire doing?”
***
Neptune and Noire made their way through Lastation and were soon standing in front of the factory that Chian had mentioned. The factory was old. It had large holes embedded in its sides, the front of the factory was littered with all kinds of junk including robot parts and the sounds of monsters could be heard coming from it’s dilapidated walls.
“Well this place looks cheery.” Said Neptune. “Are you sure you want to go in there Noire? We could just blow this whole thing off you know.”
“Are you kidding me?” Noire said, annoyed. “There’s no way were going to blow this job off. That’s irresponsible. You need to set a better example for your sister.”
“Huh? I am setting a great example for her.” Neptune said. “I think I am at least.”
“Yeah. I doubt it.” Said Noire, rolling her eyes. “Anyways, get your weapon ready. Were clearing this factory out now!” And with that, Noire and Neptune made their way into the factory.
