The following day Nepgear was surprised by the scene that she saw in the living room. Dozens of items had been placed on the table and several sleeping bags were lying on the ground. “I think I got everything were going to need. I’m going to withdraw some credits on the off chance we run into a place that doesn’t except a card.” Said Noire.
“Right, right.” Neptune said. The girl looked as though she could barely keep her eyes open.
“Are you two going somewhere?” Nepgear asked.
“Were going out to activate the fourth Fairy Tower, remember?” Noire asked.
“Oh yeah!” Nepgear said, as though she had completely forgotten. “I just thought that you were going to leave a little later, that’s all.”
“No time like the present.” Said Noire. “Anyways me and your sister are going to be gone for several days. Are you going to be okay without this dragging you down?” Noire asked, gesturing towards Neptune.
“Huh? Yeah I guess.” Nepgear said, though the truth was she knew she would miss her sister.
“It’ll be alright. Not like you two can’t call each other.” Said Uni, appearing behind Nepgear.
“Good morning Uni.” Said Noire.
“Morning big sis.” Said Uni. “I found some extra batteries.” She said, holding up a pack of large batteries in her hands.
“Oh, thanks. You can go ahead and put them in Neptune’s bag.” Said Noire.
“Why my bag?” Neptune asked.
“I’m going to load you down and help you grow some muscle. By the time were finished with this trip, your leg muscles are going to be bigger than your mouth muscles.” Said Noire, smiling mischievously.
“Hey! My mouth is cute and petite!” Neptune said, pointing at her own mouth as she spoke.
“Big and gaping is more like it.” Said Noire.
“Is that abandoned city really that far out?” Nepgear asked.
Noire’s smile vanished when she noticed how worried Nepgear was. “It’ll take us a few days to reach it. Were not going to be walking the entire way. Were actually going to take a bus to one city and walk to the abandoned city after that. As you can imagine, no ones driving to that city anymore.” Said Noire. “I promise Nepgear. I’ll look after your sister.”
“And Neptune will look after my sister. Right Neptune?” Uni asked.
Neptune didn’t answer. Instead she smiled a goofy smile while she held up a thumbs-up sign.
“I think that means yes.” Said Noire. “Anyways I’m just taking all of this stuff because I like to be cautious.”
“I see. That makes sense.” Said Nepgear.
“But you two don’t have time to worry about us. You need to worry about getting to work and doing a good job, right?” Noire asked, as she placed her hands high on her hips.
“Right.” Uni said, smiling brightly.
Noire, with the help of Nepgear and her sister, quickly packed up the rest of their belongings and put them into the two backpacks. While the girls did this, Neptune made her way over to the couch where Uni’s console was sitting. “We can take this too, right?” Neptune asked, placing her hands on the console.
“No Neptune.” Noire said.
“Aww crackers!” Neptune said. “I was just joking. I know how sacred a game console is to a girl. I just wanted to cheer Uni up.”
“Huh?” Noire said, turning her eyes to Uni. At first Noire couldn’t see anything wrong with her sister. Uni was hovering over the backpack Noire was using and she was filling it with all kinds of items that she would need, but every once in a while a worried look would appear on Uni’s face.
Noire tilted her head slightly to the right before she reached over and wrapped her fingers around Uni’s right hand. Uni blinked several times before turning her eyes to her sister. “What’s wrong?” Uni asked.
Noire shook her head. “Nothings wrong Uni. Everything’s okay.”
Uni’s eyes went wide before she furrowed her brow. “Promise?” She asked.
Noire nodded. “I promise.”
“Thanks big sis.” Uni said.
Nepgear and Neptune exchanged smiles at this lovely scene. “Don’t worry Noire. I’ll look after Uni for you.” Said Nepgear.
“Thanks.” Said Noire, not taking her eyes off her sister. “Uni’s a tough girl, but she still needs someone to stand with her.”
“And I’ll take care of Nepgear.” Said Uni. “She’s still a baby who needs me to hold her hand sometimes.”
“Huh? I’m not a baby.” Said Nepgear, taken off guard by Uni’s comments.
When the girls finally finished packing the two backpacks and stuffed each of them with one sleeping bag, Neptune and Noire slid them onto their backs. “Well it’s time to get going.” Noire said. “Remember everything we talked about. Be safe and we’ll be back.”
“That’s right.” Said Neptune. “Oh and if you two have any trouble call us. Activating the Fairy Tower is important, but you two are more important than that. Understand?” Neptune asked.
Uni and Nepgear hesitated for a moment. “Excuse me? Neptune just asked you two a question. Do you understand or not?” Noire asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Yes.” Uni and Nepgear said, in unison.
“Great!” Neptune said, smiling brightly. “Now give me one for the road!” Neptune said, as she held out her arms.
Nepgear happily hugged her sister. Uni on the other hand hesitated until Noire held out her arms as well. After the four sisters hugged they said their farewells.
“See you later you two!” Neptune said.
“See you!” Said Noire.
Uni and Nepgear stood side-by-side waving as their sisters headed down the long street leading to the bus stop. “Are you alright Uni?” Nepgear asked.
“Y-Yeah.” Uni said, her voice shook a bit in her throat. “I know our sisters are going to be okay, but I’m still going to miss Noire.”
“I know.” Nepgear said. “I’m going to miss Neptune, but this is an important trip.”
“I know, I know.” Uni said, taking a deep breath. “Anyways we better get ready for work. Kei’s pretty strict about tardiness.”
“That’s true.” Said Nepgear. “Let’s get to work.”
***
After Neptune and Noire reached the bus station, Neptune found a bench to sit on while Noire went to withdraw some credits and buy two tickets for them. After that, Noire returned and handed Neptune one of the tickets. “We have about an hour before the bus gets here.”
“Aw shucks. Too bad.” Neptune said, sighing deeply.
“It’s better that were early than late.” Said Noire, taking a seat next to her friend.
“I know, I know.” Said Neptune.
A silence fell over Noire and Neptune as they waited together. As they waited, Noire couldn’t help but wonder what a trip like this would be like if she were traveling with Uni instead. “So…” Noire began. “You and your sister did a lot of traveling, huh? I mean while activating these Fairy Towers, huh?”
“That’s right.” Said Neptune.
“Did you enjoy any of it?” Noire asked.
Neptune thought for a moment. “To be honest with you. Yeah. It’s been fun traveling around, meeting new people. I really enjoyed meeting you Noire, despite you being so stuffy. Uni too.”
Noire thought about getting angry at Neptune’s remark, but decided against it. “Well I’m glad I met you and Nepgear. Mostly Nepgear though.”
Neptune giggled. “Uni’s a good kid. She worries a lot, but that’s because she’s so thoughtful.”
“Same goes for Nepgear. She’s a responsible girl, but she depends on you too much.” Said Noire.
“Yeah…” Neptune said, her voice trailed a bit. “So it’s safe to say were both still worried about our sisters.”
“Oh god yes.” Noire said. “I’ve never left Uni alone for this long. They’re responsible girls. I’m not worried about them causing trouble, I’m worried about someone or something causing trouble for them!”
“Yeah… I mean do you want to go back and get them?” Neptune asked.
“Ye-” Noire shook her head. “No. We have to trust them, right?”
“Right.” Said Neptune. “You almost said yes, right?”
“Yeah…” Noire said, sighing deeply.
Another silence fell over the two girls and it lasted until the bus finally arrived at the station. Getting to their feet, the two girls boarded the bus and took a seat near the back. Neptune swung her backpack off and sat it down on her lap. After that, she opened her backpack and started rifling through her things.
Noire watched as several people boarded the bus after them. Noire looked at the faces of each person, but didn’t recognize any of them. That was until a strange girl with pale skin boarded the bus.
“Hey.” Noire began, pointing at the girl. “Does that girl look familiar to you?” She asked.
Neptune looked up from her backpack and looked at the person Noire was pointing at. “Nope. I don’t think so…” Said Neptune, narrowing her eyes at the girl that Noire was pointing at.
“You know her. She was that loopy girl who attacked us when we activated the second Fairy Tower. Linda!” Noire said.
The girl that Noire was pointing at suddenly turned her head towards Noire and Neptune. Noire quickly looked away and acted like she was reading something, but she gasped when she noticed that Neptune was still staring. “Oh yeah! It’s Linda! Hi Linda!” Neptune said, waving at the girl.
“Neptune are you nuts?!” Noire cried.
Neptune turned to Noire. “Kind of.” She admitted. Neptune suddenly gasped, as she did this the bus pulled away from the bus station and pulled onto the road. While this was happening, Linda had gotten to her feet and started making her way towards the two girls.
“What’s wrong?” Noire asked, keeping her eyes on Linda. “Oh crap. I hope Linda doesn’t start a fight.” Noire thought to herself.
“I just remembered something!” Neptune said.
“Really? What?” Asked Noire.
“Linda! She knows Pirachu!” Said Neptune.
“Hi ladies!” Linda began, but before she could say another word Noire grabbed the girl by the front of her hoodie and pulled her so close that their noses were nearly touching.
“YOU!” Noire screamed, angrily.
“Whoa! Wh-What’s going on?!” Linda stammered.
“Don’t act like you don’t know girlie! Were putting the squeeze on you!” Neptune said, jumping to her feet and poking Linda in the arm. “Better start talking before we start looking for all your tickle spots!” The girl warned.
“Whoa! Hold on!” Linda cried, putting her hands in the air. “I don’t know what you mean. Let’s just talk about this!”
Noire took a deep breath, before she pulled Linda into the seat with them. Now Linda sat between Neptune and Noire.
“So… How’s it going?” Linda asked, her voice shook in her throat.
“Bad.” Noire said, annoyed. “Let me ask you something Linda. How important is a baby sister to a big sister?” She asked.
“H-How important? Very?” Linda offered.
“That’s right!” Neptune said.
“And if someone put that baby sister in danger, how angry do you think the big sister gets?” Noire asked.
“Very?” Said Linda.
“Exactly! Your friend Pirachu put our baby sisters in danger and were really mad about that! Tell us everything you know about that rat and G.” Said Noire, crossing her arms in front of her.
“Rat? G?” Linda said, tilting her head slightly to the right.
“That’s it! Noire you take her armpits, I’ll get her ribs!” Neptune warned, as she started wiggling her fingers.
“NO WAIT!” Linda cried out, her cheeks grew bright red. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
“Start talking then!” Noire said, annoyed. “But my friend here loves making girls like you squirm. I might not be able to hold her off for very long.”
“Okay, okay!” Linda cried, tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Listen. After you activated that Fairy Tower, I actually started remembering a few things. The first thing I remembered was the fact that me and Pirachu weren’t really friends. We just pulled jobs together.”
“So you’re a thief?” Asked Noire.
“No not anymore!” Linda cried, folding her hands together. “Linda’s a good girl now! She doesn’t rob or anything, I swear!”
“So what were you two doing in that part of Lastation?” Noire demanded.
“We were going to recycle some of the metal there, that’s it.” Said Linda. “They made it legal to take stuff out of those factories, remember? But then they built that stupid wall. We snuck over it, but were attacked by the monsters. Pirachu left me and I was trapped there.”
“Is that true?” Neptune asked.
“Well for the most part.” Said Noire. “We used to be able to go there, but monsters started moving in so they walled it off.”
“Alright.” Noire said, turning her eyes back to Linda. “What about Pirachu? Where can we find him?”
“I don’t know!” Linda said.
“Better get my fingers ready.” Neptune said, as she started wiggling her fingers.
“I swear! We always met up at the same place in Lastation every time we met up for a job. We didn’t tell each other where we lived or anything. We were playing it safe!” Linda said, looking at Neptune who was poised to start tickling her.
“That does make sense.” Said Noire. “Alright. What about this G person?”
Linda didn’t answer right away. Instead she turned her body so she was completely facing Neptune. Her arms were still raised and she wore a goofy grin on her face. “I don’t know…”
“OHHHH YEAHHHHH?” Neptune said, moving her hands as though she were seconds away from pouncing. “I believe her.” She said, dropping her hands.
“Yeah me too.” Said Noire.
“R-Really?” Said Linda, looking back from Neptune to Noire. “Why?”
“From what our sisters told us I had a feeling that this G person was just using Pirachu to lure them into a trap.” Said Noire. “So with that said. Linda why are you here?”
Linda turned her eyes towards her feet. “To be honest. When I woke up in the hospital I could barely remember what happened to me. I do know that you two helped me out so I wanted to thank you, but I got shy when I noticed you getting on the bus so I followed you.” She admitted.
“Aw!” Neptune said, throwing her arms around Linda. “We have a new friend Noire! Isn’t that great?”
“F-Friend?” Noire said, blushing. “Y-Yeah. I guess. Not that I care.” Noire said, laughing nervously.
Linda giggled. “Thanks!” She said. “So where are you two going?”
“The abandoned city.” Noire answered.
Linda’s eyes went wide with terror. “Seriously? I might need to get off the bus.”
