The following day after checking out of their hotel room and eating a little breakfast, the girls headed to the outskirts of the city. “Just to let everyone know.” Linda began, scratching her cheek nervously. “I did try to find someone to give us a ride yesterday, but everyone refused.”
“That’s alright.” Noire said.
“Bunch of cowards!” Neptune cried, throwing her hands into the air.
“Neptune!” Noire snapped. “Yeah… I get it.” She said, after a few moments of silence. “Still we knew we were going to have to walk, so let’s start walking.”
“Hurray…” Neptune and Linda said dully.
The outskirts of the city were made up of fields and mountains and forests. Thankfully for the girls, they didn’t have to trek through the wilderness. Instead they had a road that led straight into the abandoned city.
Neptune, Noire and Linda started walking down the long road. As they walked, they talked amongst themselves. “So Linda…” Neptune began. “Do you have any funny stories about being a thief?” She asked.
Linda thought for a few moments, before she shook her head. “Not really. I remember being a thief, but all my memories are messed up. I do know that I quit.”
“That’s good.” Said Noire, who had her eyes turned to her feet.
“That wasn’t really funny.” Said Neptune, sighing deeply.
“S-Sorry.” Linda said, surprised by Neptune’s reaction. “What about you two? Any funny stories to share?” She asked.
“Not really.” Noire said.
“Yeah. Noire doesn’t have a single funny bone in her body.” Said Neptune.
“Hey…” Noire said, glancing over her shoulder at Neptune in annoyance.
“Noire single-handedly outlawed fun in Lastation.” Neptune added.
“HEY!” Noire snapped.
“See? What’d I tell you?” Neptune whispered to Linda, as she covered her mouth with her hand.
“What about you then Neptune?” Noire asked, smirking. “Any funny stories to share?” She asked.
“Of course!” Neptune said, matter-of-factly. “I bring laughter to everyone I come in contact with!” Neptune said, gleefully.
“I admit. You’re too goofy to take seriously.” Said Noire.
Neptune closed her eyes and groaned loudly. “Thanks Noire. That was really nice of you!” She said, in a pouting voice.
Linda couldn’t help, but giggle. “I know I’m having fun here.” She admitted.
Neptune giggled. “That’s good to hear.” She said. “Anyways, how long have we been walking? We have to be close to getting there now, right?”
“We’ve been walking a grand total of ten minutes Neptune. We aren’t anywhere close to the abandoned city.” Noire said, sighing deeply. Noire groaned loudly herself. “I got to be honest with you. Even though I choose this route, even I was dreading it. We also have monsters were going to have to deal with regardless.”
“What kind of monsters?” Linda asked, nervously.
“Bird monsters called Shoebill.” Noire said. “These monsters aren’t that difficult, but they can be a pain in the butt to deal with.” Said Noire, readjusting her grip on her backpack.
“Sounds like fun.” Neptune said.
As the girls continued to move forwards, they started to notice signs located just outside the road. “Warning! Turn Back!” The signs read.
“I’m guessing they didn’t want anyone to accidentally go to this city, huh?” Noire muttered under her breath. “It’s so weird. If something went so terribly wrong in this city, why didn’t the goddesses deal with it? All I know about this place is the fact that everyone who lived in this city evacuated.” Noire thought to herself. “I wonder how our relations with the other countries are. If the danger in the city was too much, couldn’t we have asked for help from Planeptune? Lowee? Leanbox?”
As Noire thought about this, she felt a strange sense of pride. “I know if it were me in charge. I wouldn’t want to ask for help either. I could probably deal with this threat alone, but with Uni by my side there is no doubt we could have dealt with this problem.”
“Notice how quiet Noire got?” Neptune whispered to Linda. “It means she’s planning out her next method to make this job harder. Don’t be surprised if she tells us to dump our backpacks and fill them with rocks instead.”
“I heard that.” Noire said, annoyed.
Neptune quickly looked away as she started whistling nonchalantly while Linda giggled nervously.
Two hours later Noire stopped walking, which nearly caused Linda to run into her. “Whoa.” Linda said, stopping in her tracks. Suddenly Linda felt something collide with her back.
“Owie!” Neptune cried out, as she bounced off Linda’s back. “Hey what’s the big idea?” She demanded.
“Look.” Noire said, pointing forwards.
Neptune and Linda looked past Noire and spotted a small herd of bird monsters. “Are those the Shoebill?” Linda asked.
“Yeah.” Said Noire. “Shoebill are pretty aggressive. They won’t let us get away too easily.”
“Don’t worry.” Linda said, smirking. Linda held out her hands and summoned a metal pipe. “I’ll deal with these things!” Linda ran towards the group of Shoebill with the metal pipe held high over her head. “Time to die birdies!” She cried.
The Shoebill monsters turned their heads towards the girl before they began flapping their wings. To Linda’s shock several tiny tornadoes formed between her and the Shoebill monsters. The tornadoes struck Linda and launched her high into the air.
Linda screamed in terror as she flew high overhead and landed hard on the street below. “Linda!” Noire cried, as she summoned her rapier and started charging at the Shoebill.
Neptune summoned her katana as well and rushed along side Noire. As the two girls ran the Shoebill squawked loudly before they too charged forwards.
When Noire got close enough, she aimed the tip of her rapier at the first Shoebill and charged forwards with unbelievable speed. Her rapier sliced through several of the Shoebill monsters in less than a few seconds, killing them all in an instant. Neptune leapt at three Shoebill herself and managed to kill them quickly as well.
Once both Noire and Neptune had finished dealing with the monsters, they turned their eyes towards Linda who had a dazed look on her face. “D-Did I get them?” She asked.
Noire sent her rapier away. “You sure did.” Noire said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Here.” Neptune said, as she held out her hand. “Heal!” She announced.
Linda’s body started shining brightly. When the glow vanished her wounds had been healed.
“That was stupid.” Linda said, giggling nervously.
“Please be more careful.” Noire said, reaching down and grabbing Linda by the hand. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“At least you have a funny story now.” Neptune said, grabbing Linda’s other hand and helping her to her feet.
Linda sighed deeply. “Sorry about that.”
Noire shook her head. “It’s alright. Come on you two. Let’s keep walking.”
***
An entire day had passed since Neptune and Noire had left for the abandoned city. Even though Nepgear and Uni both missed their sisters, the girls refused to let it upset them. Instead they focused on the jobs that Kei gave them. The girls were now standing just a few yards away from the first Fairy Tower, they had just finished off dozens of spider monsters.
“Nepgear? I need some help over here.” Uni said.
Nepgear turned on her heels and saw Uni was bent down and scraping something off the floor. “What is it?” Nepgear asked, making her way over to her friend.
“I found some webbing here, but it’s hard to pull up.” Said Uni.
“Oh. One second.” Nepgear said, a she sent her energy sword away. Nepgear made her way to the other side of the webbing and grabbed several handfuls of it. After that both girls pulled with all their might. IT took several moments, but eventually the webbing began to loosen it’s grip on the ground and pull free from it.
“There.” Uni said, breathing hard. “Can you get me a box?” She asked.
“Sure.” Nepgear said, as she ran over to a small stack of boxes. After finding an empty one, she made her way back to Uni and opened it up. “Here you are.” She said.
“Thanks.” Uni said, as she dropped the webbing inside. “I think we got everything we needed, right?”
“Yeah. Were done for today.” Said Nepgear.
Uni and Nepgear gathered up the boxes and started making their way back to Lastation. “I wonder…” Uni began, as though she were testing Nepgear to see if she was up for a conversation.
“Wondered what?” Nepgear asked.
“I was just wondering where our sisters are right now.” Said Uni.
“Well…” Nepgear thought for a moment. “If I had to guess. I would say they were probably walking to the abounded city as we speak. Unless they found someone to give them a ride.”
“Yeah.” Said Uni.
“Yeah.” Nepgear said, sighing deeply. “I miss them.”
“Me too.” Said Uni. “They should have brought us with them, but I know work is important.”
“Yeah.” Nepgear said, sighing once more. “I wonder where the last Fairy Tower is.” Said Nepgear.
“The way things are going. It’ll probably be located on the very edge of Lastation.” Said Uni.
“I don’t know.” Nepgear said. “The first Fairy Tower we activated was further away from Lastation than the second one was.” Said Nepgear. “I wonder what determines which Fairy Tower needs to be activated next.”
“That’s a good question.” Uni said, glancing over her shoulder at the Fairy Tower in the distance. “Do you feel like walking all the way back over there and asking?”
Nepgear shook her head. “No Uni. I don’t.” Said Nepgear. “Goodness imagine if we did that and Histoire said she didn’t know! I would be so mad!”
“Yeah. Me too.” Said Uni. “Is it even possible for you to get mad?” Uni asked, thinking for a few moments. “I don’t remember seeing you get angry at all.”
“I can get mad.” Nepgear said, surprised by Uni’s question. “I was really mad when my sister got hurt.”
“Mad? Or scared?” Asked Uni.
“Both! I was super mad and scared.” Nepgear said.
Uni giggled. “Okay, okay. I believe you.” She said, holding up her hands in defense. “You are surprisingly over-protective of your big sister. I mean if Noire got hurt like Neptune did that day, I would have acted the same way. Still, I feel like you dote on her too much.”
“Huh… Really?” Nepgear asked.
“Yeah. Like when Neptune’s at home you constantly serve her sweets and do her chores. I mean Noire is working with her to straighten her out, but still. You should tell your sister no more often.” Said Uni.
“Yeah?” Nepgear said.
Uni shook her head. “Not like I have any right to lecture you. I mean, I dote on my sister too.”
“Not like me.” Said Nepgear, tilting her head slightly to the right. “I don’t know. I just love my sister and I like doing things for her. I want to be her little sister forever, so maybe that’s why I’m not strict with her.”
“Yeah?” Said Uni. “Well I want my sisters approval… All the time.” Nepgear couldn’t help, but giggle. “Hey! What’s so funny?” Uni asked, annoyed.
“Sorry.” Nepgear said, shaking her head. “I was just thinking how hopeless both of us are without our sisters.”
Uni blinked her eyes several times. Uni wanted to argue that point with Nepgear, but apart of her knew that her friend was right. “I guess you’re right. Were both hopeless little sisters.” Uni admitted.
After Nepgear and Uni handed their collected items over to Kei, they both headed for home. As they walked side-by-side, they continued to talk about their sisters until they finally reached their home.
Before Nepgear stepped into the house, she glanced up at the sky which was nearly dark now. “I hope both you and Noire are doing fine.” Nepgear thought.
“Hurry up Nepgear!” Uni called. “I want to eat and play some video games! I have this FPS I really want to show you!”
Nepgear smiled brightly. “Coming!”
