When the girls woke up the following morning, they didn’t have to waste a lot of time getting ready. Thanks to Noire, all they had to do was put their food into a single backpack. Now everyone had a backpack that they carried. After that, they headed outside where the morning sun greeted them. “Well… Let’s get going.” Noire said, smiling warmly at her friends.
“Too early. Need sleep.” Neptune whined, her arms were swinging lifelessly by her sides.
“It is pretty early, but I’m sure we’ll all be wide awake by the time we reach the national park.” Said Noire.
Neptune, Nepgear, Noire and Uni started walking down the long street that led out of Lastation. As they walked, the girls took the sights in. “I’m really going to miss Lastation.” Nepgear said. “This place wasn’t always fun, but it felt like home every time I came back.”
“Yeah.” Neptune said, perking up a little. “Remember when Black Sister went nuts?”
“Don’t remember stuff like that.” Noire said, annoyed. “Remember how it felt when we came home every time we activated a Fairy Tower.”
“Yeah…” Neptune muttered, as she tried to come up with another joke, but quickly realized she didn’t have one. “Happy.” She said.
Noire beamed with pride, but she didn’t let it show on her face. Instead she led the charge through the city and soon the girls were leaving out of Lastation’s many gates. As the girls walked towards their destination, all of them kept their eyes open for any signs of monsters.
“So…” Nepgear began. “What are our plans today?” She asked.
“First were going to activate the Fairy Tower. Then were going to do some hunting.” Said Noire.
“Huh? I don’t want to exercise all day!” Neptune cried.
Noire sighed deeply. “Don’t worry Neptune. Were just going to hunt for a little while. Not all day.” Said Noire. “I actually have something better planned for us afterwards.” A mischievous smile appeared on Noire’s face.
Neptune cupped one of her hands over her mouth. “Nepgear?” Neptune whispered.
“Yeah?” Nepgear said, whispering back. Unfortunately for her, Nepgear’s whisper was louder then she meant it to be.
“Noire’s up to something. Be ready to make a run for it when she whips out the ultra-training or something.” Neptune said.
Noire sighed deeply and rolled her eyes, but her smile quickly returned. “Now it’s time for some ultra-training!” Noire announced. “Everyone hand your backpacks over to Neptune to carry!”
“Eek! I’ll be good!” Neptune cried.
“Good to hear. Next time you’ll be giving Nepgear a piggyback ride all the way to the Fairy Tower.” Noire warned.
Nepgear giggled nervously, while Neptune nodded her head several times a look of fear on her face.
The girls continued to walk until they spotted the Fairy Tower in the distance. “Hey Uni? Can you please use your rifle’s scope to see what were dealing with?” Noire asked.
“Sure big sis.” Uni said, as she summoned her rifle and brought the scope close to her eye. “I see a bunch of little monsters like Terits, Spiders and Boss Lizard monsters.” Uni said. “Oh and a Phoenix and Galakryzer.”
“Uh…” Neptune began. “What was that last one?” She asked.
Just as Neptune asked her question, a giant robot appeared next to the Phoenix. The robot was black and red in color, looked like it had upside-down wings on it’s back and it held a large sword in it’s hands.
“I want to take it apart!” Nepgear said, her eyes twinkled with delight.
“Sure. I don’t mind.” Noire said. “But first we need to deal with it.”
“Rig-” Uni began.
“RIGHT!” Nepgear said, cutting Uni off.
Noire giggled. “Alright. Uni? I want you to pick off the smaller monsters from here if you can. Meanwhile Neptune, Nepgear and I will rush in and take that Galakryzer down. If you manage to defeat all the smaller monsters before we defeat that robot, I want you to start shooting the Phoenix. Okay?”
“Got it.” Uni said, nodding.
“Alright. Let’s get ready.” Noire said.
Uni fell to one knee as she took aim at a Terits. Noire stood directly behind her sister and held her rapier up to her face. Neptune and Nepgear held their swords down at their sides and both stood on either side of Noire.
“Now… Let’s….” Noire began.
“Wait.” Neptune said, before Noire could finish speaking.
“What is it?” Asked Noire.
“Look at us! Were doing a hero pose!” Neptune said, brimming with excitement. “We did a natural hero pose! Isn’t that awesome?”
Noire shook her head. “No Neptune. That’s not exciting.” Noire said. “Yeah that’s really awesome! Were doing a hero pose!” Noire thought to herself. “Let’s go now!” She roared.
The moment Noire said the word ‘now’, Uni fired at the Terits killing it instant. Meanwhile Neptune and Nepgear followed after Noire who led the charge against the Galakryzer. As the girls rushed forwards, more beams of energy flew past them and struck the surrounding monsters killing them in one hit.
The Galakryzer suddenly turned it’s attention towards the girls. Reeling back, the robot swung it’s heavy sword at Noire. Noire leapt high in the air and flipped over the robot, catching the creatures attention. The Galakryzer turned it’s body in hopes of keeping the girl in it’s sights, but before it could launch an attack, it felt two swords slice into it’s back.
The Galakryzer fell forwards. It’s right knee slammed into the ground sending debris into the air.
“Lace ribbon dance!” Noire cried, as she began twirling on her heels. Noire’s sword sliced through the robot’s body several times, sending sparks and smoke into the air.
The Galakryzer’s body started to shake violently, before it fell lifelessly into the ground. “We did it!” Noire said, excitedly.
“Watch out!” Nepgear cried.
“It’s okay.” Noire said, as the shadow of a phoenix fell over the girl. “I have a dependable little sister.” Before the phoenix could launch any kind of attack against noire, a beam of energy struck the creature in the chest several times. The phoenix roared in anger, but soon it’s lifeless body vanished.
“Awesome!” Nepgear said, turning her eyes towards the Galakryzer. “Now to take this-” Before Nepgear could finish speaking, the robot vanished along side the phoenix. “Aww…”
“Ooh.” Noire began. “Sorry about that Nepgear. I forgot they did that.”
Nepgear felt tears form in the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home.” She cried.
“There, there Nep Jr.” Neptune said, patting her sister on the back. “I’ll buy you a calculator or something later, okay? Let’s hurry up and activate the Fairy Tower!” And with that, Neptune made her way to the Fairy Tower and inserted the flash memory stick into the USB port. Moments later, Histoire appeared.
“Congratulations!” Histoire began. “You’ve activated all five Fairy Towers in Lastation!” Histoire looked into the smiling faces of all the girls who stood before her. “You all did very well. I’m proud of all of you.”
“Aww shucks…” Neptune said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
“Yes. If it weren’t for Noire, Nepgear and Uni, I doubt any of this could have been possible.” Said Histoire.
“Huh? HEY!” Neptune cried. “I’m the one who inserted the memory dealie. I… Aww…” Neptune said, sadly.
Histoire giggled. “I’m only joking with you Neptune. I’m proud of you as well.”
“I wouldn’t say that to her if I were you.” Said Noire, smirking. “It’ll just go to her head.”
“Yeah that’s true.” Neptune said, blushing heavily.
“Not a compliment.” Noire muttered under her breath. “Anyhoo… Histoire? Where are we off to next?”
“Leanbox.” Histoire answered.
“Thought so.” Said Nepgear. “It is the closest nation to Lastation.”
“Yes.” Said Histoire.
“I was going to ask.” Noire began. “How do you decide the order that we need to activate these Fairy Towers in?”
Histoire turned her eyes to Noire. “That’s a good question. You’re actually activating the Fairy Towers in the order they were deactivated in. It must be done this way or else they won’t work.”
“I see.” Said Nepgear, scratching her chin thoughtfully. “How far away is the next Fairy Tower?”
“It’ll take about three days to reach it on foot.” Histoire said, as she glanced around the area they were in. “I have a feeling that on foot is the only way you’ll be able to reach your destination.”
“Aww…” Neptune cried.
“Suck it up.” Said Noire. “Anyways. Let’s see how much share energy we collected from those monsters. After that I want to do some hunting and then my big surprise!” Noire said, as she rubbed her hands together.
The girls did as Noire suggested. After they removed their backpacks and leaned them against the Fairy Tower they checked the amount of share energy they had earned from killing all the monsters they did and they went hunting. The girls fought Terits, Spiders and Boss Lizard monsters at first, but soon the Galakryzer and Phoenix monsters returned.
The girls continued to fight the monsters for several long hours. As they fought they increased their stats and soon the monsters were easier to defeat. “I think that should do it.” Noire said.
“Finally.” Neptune said, collapsing on the ground. “Nepgear sweetie? Do your big sister a favor will you?”
“Oh no.” Nepgear said, a look of worry appeared on her face.
“Bring your sister a pudding please… Oh and tell her if her legs are still there.” Neptune said.
Nepgear sighed deeply. “You’re fine sis.” She said, but decided to go and get her sister a pudding anyways.
“You’re always going to dote on her. Aren’t you Nepgear?” Said Uni, smiling at Nepgear as she dug into her backpack.
“Yeah, well…” Nepgear began, but she stopped speaking when she spotted the devices she created to break into Lastation’s Basilicom. “She’s my sister. Have to look out for her.” She said, as she covered the devices up and grabbed a pudding instead.
“Yeah… I guess…” Uni said. Uni made her way to her backpack as well and pulled out a pudding before she turned to Noire. Noire was sitting on the ground next to Nepgear and the girls were talking amongst each other. Uni made her way over to her sister and handed it to her. “Here you are sis.” Uni said, handing the pudding over.
“Oh. That’s alright Uni.” Noire began, but noticed that her sister wasn’t facing her. Instead she was looking somewhere else and her cheeks were bright red. “Thanks Uni.” Noire said.
The four girls ate a cup of pudding, before Noire got to her feet. “Alright. Time for my surprise!” Noire said, as she made her way over to her backpack and reached inside. To everyone’s surprise, Noire pulled out four handheld game consoles. “I bought these yesterday and pre-installed some co-op games.” She said.
“Whoa!” Neptune said. “I didn’t know you played videogames Noire.”
“Of course I play videogames. I’m actually really good at them too.” Noire said, smiling proudly.
“Yeah. Sounds like something a losing loser would say.” Neptune said, giggling mischievously.
“What was that?!” Noire snapped. “That’s it Neptune! Me and you, one-on-one! NOW!” Noire made her way over to Neptune and shoved one of the handheld consoles into her hands.
Uni giggled nervously. “You shouldn’t have made fun of my sisters gaming abilities. She won’t stop playing now until she wins.”
“Stop talking like I already lost!” Noire said, handing a console over to Uni. “Here Nepgear. Oh and you better get another pudding ready for your sister. She’s going to need a sympathy pudding after she loses.”
“Ooh. Now I really hope I lose.” Neptune said, as she playfully kicked her feet as the console booted up.
Neptune, Nepgear, Noire and Uni started playing videogames for the rest of the day. Later that night, they unrolled their sleeping bags and continued playing while laying down. “This is really fun.” Noire thought to herself, but she knew their fun would soon be coming to an end.
***
The following day everyone, except for Neptune, tried to hold back their tears. “Waah! I’m going to miss you Noire! Uni!” Neptune cried, as she threw her arms around both girls. “You two were like the sisters I didn’t even know I had, or needed!” She cried.
“N-Neptune! Stop being a baby!” Noire said, as tears trickled down her bright red cheeks. “As soon as this whole thing is over with, were going to see each other all the time!”
“Yeah…” Uni said, choking back her tears.
“That’s true.” Neptune said, as she released her grip on her friends. “I’ll be over at your house everyday playing videogames and hogging the couch.”
“Yeah… We’ll probably be moving before that happens.” Noire said, smirking.
Neptune giggled as she moved backwards until she was standing next to Nepgear. “Nep J Jr.” Neptune said, placing her hand on Nepgear’s back and pushing the girl gently forwards.
Nepgear blushed heavily, but she didn’t let her sadness top her. Nepgear moved over to Uni and Noire and hugged them as well. “I’ll miss you both. I had so much fun.” Nepgear said.
“We did too.” Noire said, patting Nepgear gently on the back.
“You can hog our couch anytime, okay?” Said Uni.
“Heard that.” Neptune said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and trying to sound annoyed.
After that, Nepgear rejoined her sister. “See you later.” Nepgear said, as she and Neptune turned to leave.
“Bye.” Noire said and Uni said.
Noire and Uni waited until they saw their friends disappear into the distance. “Come on Uni. We can teleport back home if you want.”
Uni took a jagged breath. “Big sis?” She began. Uni wanted to ask her sister all kinds of questions. She wanted to ask her if she really would miss Neptune and Nepgear, when they would see their friends together, if staying behind was actually a mistake. Instead all she could ask her sister was one question. “Can we just walk back?”
Noire smiled warmly at her sister and extended her hand. “Of course.”
“Thanks.” Uni said, as tears trickled down her cheeks. Uni took her sisters hand and the two started their journey back to their home. Back to Lastation.
