Nepgear pulled out her mask and fitted her grappling devices onto her arms. After that she made her way over to Neptune and peered into her closed eyes. “Big sister?” Nepgear whispered.
Neptune’s soft breaths were her only response.
After sitting on her knees in front of her sister for a few moments, Nepgear got to her feet and headed out of the room. The hotel the girls were staying in was large, but the hallways were empty. Nepgear found a side entrance to leave through and soon found herself outside.
“Time to get started.” Nepgear thought, as she slid her mask on and started running as fast as she could towards Leanbox’s Basilicom. As Nepgear ran, she made sure to take as many alleyway and back streets as she could, in order to avoid being seen by other people.
Soon Nepgear stood in front of the large Basilicom. Nepgear searched the building for several long moments, until she found a back entrance. Taking out her other N-Gear, Nepgear began hacking into the door. Since Nepgear started building her other N-Gear, she managed to add more hacking devices and apps to it. Now it only took her a few button presses in order to hack most doorways.
After the door was hacked and Nepgear was able to slip inside, she began her search for Histoire.
Nepgear moved from room to room as she searched for the original Histoire. As Nepgear moved, she kept her eyes on her N-Gear’s screen incase there were any signs of traps or security systems.
“I’m surprised. Considering this is a Basilicom I would think this place had more security.” Nepgear thought, as she moved down a long hallway that was completely free of security. The Basilicom didn’t have any cameras and the rooms that did have cameras weren’t activated.
Nepgear even found several laser tripwire alarm systems that were getting power, but were turned off. “This is so weird.” Nepgear thought, as she made her way to the top floor.
As Nepgear reached the top floor of the Basilicom, she made her way through a nearby doorway. The room was fairly dark except for the light coming from multiple computer monitors.
“Did someone leave their computers on?” Nepgear wondered, as she stepped closer to the monitors.
“Lights.” Came a voice.
The lights in the room suddenly came on and Nepgear saw that she wasn’t alone. Sitting on a large couch was a beautiful woman with long green hair. “Who are you?” The woman asked.
Nepgear could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She quickly looked around the room expecting to see Leanbox guards ready to pounce on her. However, the only other person in the room beside herself was the green haired woman.
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on having you arrested. Though trespassing isn’t very nice.” Said the green haired woman.
“M-My named… It’s Nepgear.” Nepgear said, before mentally kicking herself. “Why did I tell you that?” Nepgear wondered, aloud. Nepgear pulled off her mask and ran her fingers through her hair.
The green haired woman giggled. “So it’s you. It’s nice to meet you Nepgear.”
“Me?” Nepgear said, furrowing brow. “You knew I was coming?”
“Of course. Histoire sent you didn’t she?” The green haired woman said. “By the way. My name is lady Green Heart, but you can call me Green Heart.”
“Green Heart?” Nepgear began. “You mean the goddess of Leanbox?”
“That’s right.” Green Heart said.
Now that the lights in the room were on, Nepgear looked around the room. She saw that the room was fairly large. It’s walls were covered in posters of video game characters. There were shelves filled with video game figurines and the floors were covered in video game boxes.
Nepgear turned her attention to the computer monitors and noticed that Green Heart wasn’t simply playing one video game. She was actually playing four at the same time. “Green Heart? How did you know I was coming?” Nepgear asked.
“I had a dream about a girl named Histoire. She told me that Neptune and Nepgear were coming to Leanbox. She told me that you’re here to activate the Fairy Towers in my land and she asked me to help you if I could.” Green Heart tore her eyes from the computer monitors and looked at Nepgear. “You’re very cute.” She said, before quickly turning her eyes back towards the monitors.
“What’s wrong?” Asked Nepgear, noticing the anguish in Green Heart’s eyes.
“It’s funny… I love video games. I love… Well maybe you’re too young to hear about the genre. I love playing games, but I feel like I’m missing something. The love I feel for games isn’t what it should be.” Said Green Heart.
Nepgear furrowed her brow. “Can you stop playing?” Nepgear asked.
“I can for a short amount of time, but the urge to come back and see what happens next is too strong for me.” Said Green Heart. “Oh! I just realized that I hadn’t answered your question. I had a feeling that someone might come to the Basilicom because I heard that someone had broken into Lastation’s Basilicom, but they didn’t steal anything. I figured it might be you or Neptune.”
“Wow…” Nepgear said, her voice trailed.
“Do you mind telling me why you broke into my Basilicom?” Green Heart asked.
“Well… I hope you don’t get angry, but…” After that, Nepgear told her everything she had learnt since starting her journey and she didn’t leave anything out. Once she reached the end of her story, she waited for Green Heart’s reaction.
“I see…” Green Heart said.
“I’m really sorry. I’m being very-” Nepgear began, but Green Heart cut her off.
“Smart.” Green Heart said. “If I were told that, I would think the very same thing. I do assure you that I didn’t take the original Histoire, but I don’t mind you searching the rest of my Basilicom. I actually had security cut for that very reason.”
“Really?” Nepgear said. “You had me figured out since the beginning?”
Green Heart giggled and shook her head. “No dear, but I had a feeling you or Neptune would want to see me. After all, I haven’t come to introduce myself yet.”
“I okay.” Nepgear said. “Lastation’s goddess said they were missing something as well. They couldn’t focus on anything really. Black Heart was obsessed with work, but couldn’t complete any jobs. Black Sister was obsessed with impressing her sister. Purple Heart never said, but I’m sure she was missing something. Purple Sister was missing her memories completely. I can only imagine what the goddess of Lowee is missing.”
“Oh my…” Green Heart began, an awkward silence fell on the two girls. “Nepgear sweetie?”
“Yes?” Asked Nepgear.
“Is there anything I can do to help? I know that I’m stuck here for whatever reason, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help you out financially.” Said Green Heart.
“No. That’s okay.” Nepgear said. “Were actually making good time and we only need to activate three more Fairy Towers.”
“That’s good.” Said Green Heart.
“Besides. We already made some good friends since coming to Leanbox. They’re helping us out as well.” Nepgear said.
“Excellent.” Said Green Heart. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Thanks.” Nepgear said. “I should probably get going. I don’t want to worry my big sister.”
“I understand.” Green Heart said, once again turning her eyes away from her computer monitors. “I know you and your sister can do this Nepgear.” Green Heart said, before she was compelled to turn her eyes back to her computer monitors. “Oh and don’t worry about wearing a mask on your way back out. I’ll inform the few security officers that you’re leaving. They won’t bother you.”
“Thanks Lady Green Heart.” Nepgear said, bowing to the woman. “I promise. I’ll work hard for Leanbox and you.”
“Thanks!” Green Heart said, giggling. “I can tell that you’re brilliant!”
Nepgear took a deep breath. Her cheeks were burning hot. Turning on her heels she headed out of the Basilicom. Nepgear didn’t bother using her other N-Gear as she left through the Basilicom’s front entrance.
Like Green Heart said, the few security officers that Nepgear passed didn’t bother her. Instead they actually bowed as she walked past them. Soon Nepgear was back outside. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.” Nepgear thought, as she turned her eyes back towards the Basilicom. “I better get back home.”
Nepgear ran back to her hotel. After slipping into her room, she took off her grappling devices and placed them and her other N-Gear into her backpack, before slipping under the covers of her bed.
“Couldn’t sleep Nepgear?” Neptune asked.
Nepgear’s eyes went wide and once again she felt her heart pounding in her ears. “N-No!” Nepgear squeaked.
“Are you okay now?” Neptune asked.
“Yes.” Nepgear said.
“Goodnight baby sister.” Neptune said.
“Goodnight.” Nepgear said.
***
The following morning Nepgear sat up in bed and stretched her hands high over her head. Neptune was sitting on the edge of the bed playing a videogame console that was connected to the television. “Morning sis.” Nepgear said, as she threw her warm blankets off her and swung her bare feet over the side of the bed.
“Morning Nepgear!” Neptune said, giggling. “Did you see my new game console?”
“You bought that?” Nepgear asked.
Neptune giggled once more. “Yep! I was just checking out bank account and were loaded! So I bought a new console!” Neptune said.
“Neptune! We have to discuss our purchases with each other first and… Wait… What do you mean were loaded?” Nepgear asked.
“Yeah! Remember when Purple Heart said she would pay us for every Fairy Tower we activate? Well she’s been keeping up with the payments.” Said Neptune. “I was wondering how much money we had, so I looked it up and were loaded.” Neptune reached into her pocket and handed Nepgear a small slip of paper.
“Yeah, but… We still need to…” Nepgear began, but she found it hard to speak when she noticed the large number written on the slip of paper. “A new console, huh?”
“Yep! And it has all the graphics!” Neptune said. “Don’t worry Nepgear. You can buy something too.”
“Well… Okay.” Nepgear said. The girl was at a loss for words. Nepgear was sitting on the edge of her bed, watching as Neptune continued to play her video game. As she played, Nepgear couldn’t help but think about the day before. How she had broken into Leanbox’s Basilicom and talked to the goddess herself.
“Whoa! Look at this dude!” Neptune said, as a large monster appeared in front of her avatar.
“So… Neptune about last night?” Nepgear began.
“You couldn’t sleep, right?” Neptune asked.
“Yeah.” Said Nepgear. “Anyways. What’s the plan for today?”
Neptune didn’t answer right away. Instead she concentrated on dodging the monsters attacks in her game. “Well. I talked to Vert and Marvy. They decided we should take one more day to relax. We’ll head out tomorrow morning for our next destination. Is that okay with you?” Neptune asked.
Nepgear nodded. “That’s fine.”
Another silence fell over the two girls. This time the silence seemed suffocating. Nepgear started feeling bad about lying to Neptune since she first broke into the Basilicom in Lastation. Now that she had done it again, she felt even guiltier. “Neptune?” Nepgear began.
“What’s up?” Neptune asked.
“Do you remember when someone broke into Lastation’s Basilicom?” Nepgear asked.
“Oh yeah. That was hilarious!” Neptune said.
“It wasn’t funny Neptune! I did it because I thought Black Heart or Black Sister might have kidnapped the original Histoire!” Nepgear said, annoyed that her sister thought the entire thing was funny.
Another awkward silence fell over the girls, but this time the silence was different. Both Neptune and Nepgear’s eyes were wide open.
“Uh…” Nepgear began, giggling nervously. “What I meant was…”
“Y-You broke into the Lastation’s Basilicom?” Neptune began, the controller she was holding slipped out of her hands.
“Yes.” Nepgear said, nodding. “And I broke into Leanbox’s Basilicom last night, but it’s okay. Green Heart wasn’t mad at all.”
“You broke into Leanbox’s Basilicom too?!” Neptune cried.
“Yes.” Nepgear said, nodding.
“Uh… I… You didn’t… I mean…” Neptune began, struggling to find the right words. “You’re grounded missy!”
