Neptunia Heart Souls- CHAPTER 55

 After Neptune and Nepgear said farewell to their friends, they started making their way to the Leanbox. As the girls walked, they talked among themselves, though there were times when they didn’t say a single word to each other. During those moments, Nepgear found herself thinking about Leanbox’s Basilicom.

“I wonder where Leanbox’s main city is. I’ll have to sneak over there and break into the Basilicom. I just wonder if I’ll have a chance to do that without my sister finding out.” Nepgear thought to herself.

Several hours after Nepgear had that thought, the two girls found a large boulder pocking out of the ground and decided to take a break on it. Neptune carefully sat down and placed her hands on her thighs. Nepgear on the other hand decided to keep standing. “I can’t believe we have to walk for three days! This stinks!” Neptune said, though she didn’t sound as annoyed as she normally would have.

“You’ve gotten stronger big sister.” Said Nepgear. “I bet you’re not that tired right now, huh?”

“Hmm? Guess so.” Said Neptune, a small smile appeared on her face. “Got to say Nepgear, you always find the best way to look at things.”

“Thanks.” Said Nepgear, smiling.

“Also you make this journey better. I’m glad you’re my sister Nepgear!” Said Neptune, smiling warmly at her sister.

Nepgear giggled. “I’m glad you’re my sister too.” Said Nepgear. “I really hope you never find out that I broke into the Basilicom now.”

“Anyways…” Neptune said, playfully slapping her legs a few times. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

“I’m ready.” Said Nepgear.

Neptune got to her feet and the two girls continued their journey. As they walked, they kept their eyes open for any monsters that might try to attack them. Even though there were all kinds of monsters around them, none of them tried to attack them.

Spider monsters kept their distance from the girls. Terits would hop away when the girls got too close to them and Boss Lizards didn’t even bother with them. They simply flew around as they pleased.

Even though the monsters didn’t attack them, Neptune and Nepgear summoned their swords just incase.

The plains that surrounded Lastation soon came to an end and the girls found themselves climbing over more boulders. Walking up long stone slopes that only ended in giant mountains. “Ugh… No thank you.” Neptune said, as she stood in front of one of those mountains. Neptune turned lazily towards the left and started walking around.

“I don’t feel like climbing a mountain either.” Nepgear admitted, giggling nervously.

The trip around the mountain took quite a while to walk around and soon the sun had disappeared overhead and the sky had turned orange and pink in color. “It’s almost sleepy time.” Neptune said, the girl was starting to feel exhausted.

“Yeah.” Said Nepgear. “I kind of want to get around this mountain first, but…” Before Nepgear could finish speaking, her eyes fell on something that shocked her.

“Huh?” Neptune said, turning to look at her sister. “What’s wrong?”

“Look.” Nepgear said, pointing towards the northwest.

Neptune followed where her sister was pointing. “I don’t see…” Neptune began, but stopped speaking when she saw exactly what it was that her sister was pointing at. Poking out of a grove of trees was a Fairy Tower. “Whoa!” Neptune gasped. “is that a Fairy Tower? Yep! It’s a Fairy Tower!”

“I didn’t know you and Noire traveled out this far before.” Nepgear said.

Neptune shook her head. “We didn’t.” Said Neptune. “Believe me baby sister, if Noire and I traveled this far out, we’d have teleported here. Not walked.”

“Oh yeah…” Nepgear said, nearly forgetting how lazy her sister could get. “We should go over there and check it out. Maybe if it’s abandoned or something, I could take it apart!” Nepgear said. The idea of taking apart a Fairy Tower excited Nepgear. Her fingers started to wiggle as she imagined taking apart the massive device and uncovering all of it’s secrets.

“No way little sister.” Neptune said. “It would take you years to take that thing apart and study it.”

“Yeah, but…” Nepgear said, trying to come up with a way to convince her sister. “You’re right… We should just keep going.”

“No, no.” Neptune said, turning her body in the direction of the Fairy Tower. “I’m curious. Let’s check it out!”

Nepgear followed Neptune as she led the charge to the Fairy Tower. As they got closer, they noticed a strange fog started to surround them. The fog wasn’t thick though, so they could easily keep one another in sight.

After several long moments, the two girls stood in front of the Fairy Tower, but they also found themselves surrounded by five buildings. The buildings looked like they were houses, but the girls couldn’t be sure.

“This whole place is weird.” Nepgear said, suddenly feeling nervous. “Maybe we should leave.”

“Hey!” Came a voice.

Nepgear and Neptune yelped. “Who’s there!” Neptune said, holding her katana out in front of her.

“Over here!” The voice said.

Neptune looked around the area, but couldn’t see anyone talking. Her eyes soon turned to the Fairy Tower. There she spotted a tiny girl. “Oh! It’s Histoire!” Neptune said, as she started jogging over to the Fairy Tower.

“Who the hell are you calling Histoire!” The girl snapped.

Neptune stopped in her tracks when she realized the small, holographic girl in front of her wasn’t Histoire, though she did look a little like her. “Uh… Who are you?” Asked Neptune.

“My names Croire.” Said the girl, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Who the hell are you two?”

“You don’t know?” Nepgear asked, confused. “Don’t you share information between Fairy Towers?” Asked Nepgear.

“Of course I do!” Croire said, annoyed. “Except I’m the only Fairy Tower left, so excuse me if I don’t know who the hell you two are.”

“No! That’s not true!” Nepgear said, making her way over to Croire. “There are over five Fairy Towers in Lastation alone. How can you say you’re the only one left?” The girl asked.

“What can I say?” Croire asked, shrugging her shoulders. “I was connected to dozens of Fairy Towers one minute and disconnected from them the next. So obviously you’re an idiot.”

“Hey! Don’t talk about my baby sister! She knows a lot!” Said Neptune, before she smirked. “Besides, there are more than five Fairy Towers, so you’re the idiot you idiot!”

Croire narrowed her eyes at Neptune and growled under her breath. “Dumb ass girls… I swear…”

“Hold on. Let’s calm down for a second.” Nepgear said, holding up her hands. “Do you mind if I touch you?”

Croire’s cheeks grew bright red. “Only if you’re gentle.” She teased.

Nepgear ignored Croire’s innuendo, as she made her way over to the Fairy Tower’s terminal and began pounding information into it.

As Nepgear worked an awkward silence hung in the air. Croire glanced around the area while Neptune tapped her right foot and began humming to herself. After a few moments of this Neptune finally broke the silence.

“Oh yeah. My name is Neptune and that’s Nepgear.” Said Neptune, pointing at herself and then Nepgear.

“Yeah, great.” Croire said. Her response made Neptune groaned loudly. “Can’t blame me can you? I’ve been so bored here!”

“How long have you been here?” Neptune asked.

“A long time. Three years maybe.” Said Croire. “I remember I was located in a giant field one minute and here the next.”

“That’s weird. Maybe one of the goddesses decided to move you.” Neptune offered.

“That wouldn’t explain her being cut off from the rest of the Fairy Towers.” Said Nepgear. “I didn’t mention this before, but the connect between each Fairy Tower is incredibly powerful. Remember that Fairy Tower located underground in that massive cave filled with dragons?” Nepgear asked. “Well that was still connected to all the other Fairy Towers and it didn’t have any kind of informational delay either.”

“I see.” Neptune said, though she became lost along the way.

“The fact that this Fairy Tower was cut off from the rest is odd.” Said Nepgear, as she continued to pound information into it. “Also why is Croire here instead of Histoire? That doesn’t make any sense either.”

“It doesn’t make sense that Histoire would be here when I’ve always been here!” Said Croire.

“Is that how it was when you were connected to all the other Fairy Towers?” Nepgear asked.

“Of course!” Said Croire. “I’ve been apart of the Fairy Tower’s since the very beginning! Also I was designed to look exactly to look exactly like the original Croire as well.” Croire said, a large smile appeared on her face.

“I see…” Said Nepgear, as she continued to pound information into the terminal.

“Uh… Nepgear?” Neptune began. “What are you doing over there?”

“I’m trying to figure everything out.” Said Nepgear. “I found a few interesting things. I just looked at your connection device and it’s working flawlessly. I also did a quick histoire search and it looks like Croire is telling the truth. Her connection with the other Fairy Towers ended in a single minute.”

“See? So stop acting so surprised that I told the true.” Said Croire.

“There’s something else that really surprised me as well.” Said Nepgear. “Croire? Do you have the power to heal people?”

“Of course!” Said Croire. “Didn’t you feel my healing ability when you touched me?”

“No.” Nepgear said, shaking her head. “I also tried to look at my stats, but they didn’t appear.”

“Well maybe you should touch me somewhere else.” Croire said, giggling evilly.

“How lewd.” Neptune said, giggling as well.

“This is really weird.” Said Nepgear, scratching her chin thoughtfully. Nepgear pulled out her N-Gear and connected it to the Fairy Tower. Moments later her eyes turned to Croire. “Croire… I have a theory, but you might not like it.”

“I doubt you could say anything that I would like, but let’s hear it anyways.” Said Croire.

“I believe… You may have come from another dimension.” Said Nepgear.

The words ‘another dimension’ hung heavy in the air. “Nepgear? Are you sure that Croire’s data is wrong? Or maybe this whole thing is a prank or something?” Neptune asked.

“I wish that were the case, but it’s not.” Said Nepgear. “I did a search of Croire’s database and found that all the information inside is accurate and hasn’t been tampered with. Not only that, but I also compared her mapping system with mine and they’re completely different. I believe Croire is from another dimension.”

“Hey!” Croire snapped. “All of that stuff is protected with my firewalls! How did you-”

“I hacked you.” Said Nepgear.

“She hacked me…” Croire said, her voice trailed.

“I also uploaded a surprise.” Said Nepgear.

Before Croire could say anything, a girl appeared next to her. The girl sat on a book and was smiling brightly. “Hello. My name is Histoire.” The girl said.

“Whoa!” Neptune said, giggling. “Histoire is here!”

“You hacked me and now I gave birth? I’m a mommy?!” Croire cried.

“No! Nothing like that!” Nepgear said. “I only uploaded a program that would give Histoire access to other computer devices. That’s all.”

“When did you make this?” Neptune asked.

“I thought it was a good idea all the way back in Planeptune. After Histoire told us that she was going to monitor that weird house, I thought it might make things easier if I had a way of helping Histoire make connections. Her image is here, but she’s not actually uploaded to your Fairy Tower.”

“That’s good. This Fairy Tower is mine!” Croire said, angrily.

“Stop getting map at Nepgear! She’s trying to help you out!” Neptune said, nearly losing her patience with Croire.

“It’s alright big sis.” Said Nepgear, trying to calm her sister down.

“It’s okay.” Said Histoire. “I would be upset too if someone tried to upload another AI to my Fairy Tower, but I promise you Croire I’m not here to take over. I’m going to help Nepgear find out what happened to you.”

“Yeah? Well you better keep your artificial hands off my processors!” Croire warned.

“I can agree to that.” Said Histoire. “With your permission, I would like to do a scan though. If I’m correct, Nepgear is working under the hypothesis that you are from another dimension, correct?”

“Yes I am.” Said Nepgear. “I compared the map from where Croire was originally located to the map in our dimension and they are completely different.”

“Well…” Neptune began. “I know this is going to sound uncharacteristically smart of me, but a lot can happen in three years.”

“You’re right big sister, but the only way that things could have changed so drastically is if the world was reshaped.” Said Nepgear. “For instance three years ago a mountain located a few miles away from where Croire was originally located. That was in Croire’s dimension. In our dimension that mountain would be located only a mile away from where she would be.”

“Let me guess. That mountain?” Neptune said, gesturing towards the mountain she and Nepgear had walked around.

“Exactly.” Said Nepgear. “With that said. This area is a bit wonky.”

“Wonky how?” Asked Nepgear.

“Nepgear is correct. I’m picking up some weird interference coming from… All around us?” Said Histoire.

“Yeah. I’ve been feeling that too for a few years now.” Said Croire, leaning backwards. “You get used to it.”

Histoire closed her eyes, but suddenly they shot back open. “Neptune? Nepgear? I think you two need to leave! NOW!”