When Noire heard that Neptune had an idea, she wasn’t expecting this. Neptune, Noire, Vert and Blanc had changed into their goddess forms and were now carrying a large Fairy Tower between them.
“This is crazy Neptune.” Black Heart said. “Why are we doing this again?”
“It’s simple Noire.” Purple Heart began. “We couldn’t possibly carry the rest of the girls here with us. So we’ll take this Fairy Tower as close to the cavern where Rei Ryghts is hiding and let them teleport there.”
“That actually makes sense.” Said Green Heart.
“Even though I’ve regained all my memories, I don’t remember Neptune ever having a good idea before.” Said White Heart, smirking. “Are we sure this Neptune is the real one?”
“Very funny Blanc.” Purple Heart said, rolling her eyes.
The girls flew in relative silence for several hours. As they flew, each one remembered a time in their lives when they flew together like this. Sometimes they flew together as enemies, while other times they flew together as friends. Regardless of the situation, the girls were happy to have their memories back.
“Hey Blanc? Remember I challenged you in that kart racing game and you wouldn’t let me leave until you won?” Purple Heart asked, giggling a little.
“N-Nope!” White Heart said, blushing a little.
“I remember…” Black Heart said, smiling mischievously. “Blanc wouldn’t let anyone leave until she got first place at least once. Then she lectured us by saying we weren’t playing the right way.”
“I remember.” Green Heart said, giggling.
“You’re remembering wrong! Neptune’s the one who did that kind of thing. Remember that fighting game she claimed she had mastered, but couldn’t even string together a single combo attack?” White Heart said.
Purple Heart giggled. “Hey I beat Nepgear. I thought I was good.”
“Yeah. She probably let you win.” Black Heart said.
Purple Heart giggled once more. “Yeah. Probably. She’s a good sister.”
“My sister enjoys FPS games. Whatever that is.” Black Heart said.
“My sisters love party games.” Said White Heart.
“I’m still so jealous of you three.” Green Heart said. “I really wish I had a little sister. I would dote on her and have tea parties with her. Of course I would teach her how to be a proper goddess.”
“Well…” Purple Heart began. “I don’t mind if Nepgear spends a little time with you. Just remember she’s my little sister.”
“Did you hear that? Neptune gave me Nepgear!” Green Heart cheered.
“Hey!” Purple Heart began, but before she could say another word Black Heart interrupted them.
“Hold on Neptune. Look ahead of us.” Black Heart said.
Purple Heart looked ahead and saw what Black Heart saw. Located directly in front of them was a large cavern, but standing in front of that cavern were hundreds of monsters. The monsters ranged from Dogoo, to Ancient Dragons. There were even machine monsters they hadn’t seen before.
“That’s… Not good.” Purple Heart said, clearing her throat.
The girls flew several miles further before they landed and sat the Fairy Tower down. “What should we do now?” Purple Heart asked.
“Same plan. We rush in and kick everything’s ass.” White Heart said, making her way over to Purple Heart. “This trash mob can’t stop us!”
“True.” Green Heart said. “The problem is, were going to have to keep an eye on our human companions.”
“That’s true.” Said Black Heart. Black Heart took a deep breath before she sighed deeply. “Geesh Neptune. Fine! You can have all the glory!”
“Huh?” Purple Heart said, confused.
“Seriously. You’re just a glory hog.” White Heart said, shrugging her shoulders.
“You never think about the rest of us do you?” Green Heart asked.
“Wh-What are you talking about?” Asked Purple Heart. While the girls were talking, their friends started arriving. First the CPU Candidates arrived and then their human friends appeared as well.
“Alright everyone.” Black Heart said, ignoring Purple Heart’s questions. “This is the new plan. Green Heart, White Heart and I will team up with the rest of you and fight the monsters outside this cavern. Meanwhile Purple Heart and Purple Sister will fly into the cavern and deal with Rei Ryghts. Any questions?”
“I have a question.” Purple Heart said, raising her right hand. “What are you talking about?”
Green Heart giggled as she placed a firm hand on Purple Heart’s shoulder. “I mean it’s time for you and your lovely sister to steal all the glory for yourselves. Go and defeat Rei Ryghts. It’s up to you two.”
Purple Heart glanced around at all the girls who stood around her. “Ladies… I…”
“What are you waiting around for Nep? Get going!” IF said.
“I know you and Ge-Ge can beat her!” Compa said, smiling warmly at her friends.
“Good luck wifey!” Red said, saluting.
“Yeah! Good luck out there!” Said Marvy.
“I know you two can do this.” Said Falcom.
“I’ll play a song for you two when you get back!” 5pb. said, as she strummed her guitar.
“You have my approval for this mission.” MAGES. Said.
“Good luck, nyu. Come back safe, nyu.” Broccoli said.
“Good luck ladies!” Cyberconnect2 said, smiling brightly.
“Thanks everyone.” Purple Heart said.
“Thanks.” Purple Sister said, the girl was close to tears, but she knew it wasn’t the time to cry.
“Too bad. I wanted to show off what I could do.” White Sister Ram said.
“We can fight next to big sis. So I’m happy.” Said White Sister Rom, blushing a little.
“I don’t like it. Are you sure you don’t need me to come along?” Asked Black Sister.
Black Heart giggled. “Actually Uni. I could use someone to watch my back out there.”
“I’m on it!” Black Sister said, happily.
“Good luck you two.” Said Green Heart.
“Kick her ass for us!” White Heart said, smiling brightly.
“Right!” Purple Sister said, nodding.
“Oh and don’t worry!” Purple Heart said as she and her sister activated their weapons. “We’ll cut down some of these monsters as we go!”
“Hey! Save some for us!” White Sister Ram said.
“Eh… We’ll think about it.” Purple Heart said.
Purple Sister and Purple Heart exchanged looked before they turned to the cavern and started flying towards the opening as fast as they could. As the girls cut through the monsters as they made their journey to the cavern.
Once the girls had reached their destination, both had transformed into their human forms and started running down a long, dark tunnel. Moments later they found themselves standing in a large, circular chamber. Located in the middle of the chamber was an enormous, white stone.
“That must be it.” Nepgear said. “This stone has the power to absorb share energy.”
“Who goes there?!” Came a voice.
Neptune and Nepgear looked up and spotted a lone goddess standing on top of the stone. The goddess looked down at the girls and giggled. “Neptune and Nepgear? I knew this was going to happen… Never enough time.” Rei Ryghts said, sighing deeply. “So how the hell are you? Did you have fun regaining all your stupid memories? They were stupid, right?”
“Stupid? Well kind of! Fun? You betcha! And… What was the third thing you asked?” Neptune asked.
“Rei Ryghts? Why are you doing this?” Nepgear demanded.
“Why? You don’t know bitch? I’m doing it because I can! How you like them apples?” Rei Ryghts giggled.
Nepgear took a deep breath and watched as Rei Ryghts put her hands onto the stone. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then her face turned red and she seemed to be struggling for some reason. It almost reminded Nepgear of someone who was trying to stand up, but couldn’t quite do it.
“Dude… do that in a bathroom!” Neptune said, looking away.
“Shut up!” Rei Ryghts snapped. “Do you know how tough it is trying to drain this stupid thing of share energy?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Nepgear asked, confused.
Rei Ryghts sighed deeply. “I discovered this stupid stone a long time ago. Before we even met. I tried to absorb share energy from it, but it’s tough. This thing absorbs it, it just doesn’t like giving any up! So it’s a struggle!” Once more Rei Ryghts’ face turned bright red as she tried to force share energy out of the stone.
“Dude… You should have just fought monsters like the rest of us do.” Neptune said.
Rei Ryghts settled down. “I could do that, but the share energy from this crystal is a bit different from the share energy you get from monsters. This stuff is pure share energy.”
“Share energy is share energy. Don’t complicate it dude.” Neptune said.
“Histoire didn’t tell you? Did she?” Rei Ryghts asked. “The only way to reprogram the Fairy Towers and force them to increase our stats above the maximum, is to use pure share energy.”
Nepgear and Neptune exchanged glances. “Oh right… I do remember that.” Nepgear said, tapping her lower lip thoughtfully. “I think it was during that week long Fairy Tower workshop Histoire held.”
“Nepgear. We really should stop mentioning things that didn’t take place in this story. Our readers are going to get confused.” Neptune said.
Nepgear sighed deeply. “We went the entire story without any meta humor. Why did you have to start now?”
“Hey! I’m talking!” Rei Ryghts said, annoyed.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep going.” Neptune said, gesturing towards Rei Ryghts.
“W-well… That’s all I have to say about that.” Rei Ryghts said, before she summoned her sword. “So are we going to kill each other now, or…”
“Wait!” Nepgear said, holding out her hand! “I have a question for you. Why did you do all of this? Steal Histoire, separate us goddesses from our human forms? You also erased Purple Sister’s memories and made it impossible for her to regain any. Also Arfoire! Why did you make her remember only the bad stuff about us? Why?”
“Simple you dorks!” Rei Ryghts said, as she floated down from the share absorbing stone. “After I decided on my plan, I needed to do something to make sure you annoying brats didn’t get in my way. So I started slowly. I moved a few Fairy Towers around, but soon I needed some backup.”
“So I decided to seek out Arfoire. I told her my plan, but that bitch said no! Can you believe that? So I decided to punish her. First I needed Histoire. I took her back to this cave and started changing things in her tome. Of course that little runt fought back, but I can be persuasive.”
“Watch it!” Neptune snapped, as she summoned her katana and aimed the point at Rei Ryghts. This sudden action merely caused Rei Ryghts to laugh.
“The first thing I did was seal away Arfoire’s memories and then I sent her back to Planeptune disoriented. Then I decided to punish the goddesses. I first took Nepgear and separated her from her goddess form. I removed all of Purple Sister’s memories and made it impossible for her to regain her memories. You know. Just for fun!”
Nepgear narrowed her eyes at Rei Ryghts. “You think that was fun? Do you have any idea how much pain and fear you caused? I might not have lived it personally, but when Purple Sister and I became one again, I felt that fear! It’s unbearable.”
“Meh. Still fun.” Rei Ryghts said.
Nepgear balled her hands into tight fists. “So why didn’t you do that to the rest of us?”
“Simple. You brats were too fast.” Said Rei Ryghts, shrugging her shoulders. “Histoire was putting up a big fight and I couldn’t make all the changes I wanted. So I made quick changes.”
“Okay. But… You kept us together? Maybe…” Nepgear began.
“Oh please! I wanted to drop you little brats off in monster dens. Histoire’s the one who kept you idiots together! The changes were annoying, but I could live with them.” Rei Ryghts said, shrugging her shoulders. “Oh and before you ask. Yes I tried to make it so taking share energy out of that damn stone was easier, but Histoire simply wouldn’t allow it.”
“Yeah. Histoire’s short, but she’s all kinds of stubborn!” Neptune said, a proud smile appeared on her face. “And guess what Rei! That’s why we love her!”
“That’s right!” Nepgear said.
“Oh? Isn’t that cute!” Rei Ryghts said, before she started cackling. “By the way Neptune! I really wanted to hurt you by taking your Nepgear away. Tell me. Did Purple Heart suffer at all?”
Neptune didn’t say a word. Her smile never faltered.
“That damn smile! I’ll cut it off!” Rei Ryghts leapt forwards, but her target wasn’t Neptune. Instead it was Nepgear.
Nepgear gasped, but before Rei could do anything, Neptune appeared between her and Rei. Neptune had quickly transformed into her goddess form when she blocked Rei’s first attack. “Don’t even think about it Rei!” Purple Heart said.
Nepgear quickly transformed into her goddess form and summoned her weapon. Jumping forwards, Purple Sister kicked Rei Ryghts hard in the chest sending her flying backwards. “Hey! This isn’t fair! Two against one is cheating!”
Purple Heart giggled. “You’re mistaken Rei. There isn’t just two of us. All of our friends are outside right now fighting along side us!”
These words only seemed to annoy Rei Ryghts anymore. “IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY OF YOU THERE ARE! I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” Rei Ryghts flew as fast as she could at Purple Heart and launched a barrage of attacks.
Purple Heart easily blocked and parried each attack before she twirled around on her heels and slammed her sword into Rei’s chest, sending her flying backwards once more. Rei Ryghts skidded backwards several long yards before she suddenly kicked off the ground and flew high into the air.
“I GOT HER!” Purple Sister cried, as she aimed her weapon at Rei Ryghts and fired.
Rei Ryghts managed to avoid several blasts of energy that was aimed at her, but the third one managed to strike the girl in the chest causing her to fall back to the ground. “Damn it!” Rei Ryghts snapped, as she sat up. “Stop aiming for my boobs!”
“You get it now. Don’t you?” Purple Heart said. “You can’t beat us.”
“Oh no…” Rei Ryghts said, annoyed. “After everything I’ve done! Everything that I’ve planned! You really think that I’m just going to stop now? Give myself up? Don’t be stupid!” Rei Ryghts took a deep breath, before an evil smile appeared on her face.
“Whoa… She’s creepy.” Purple Sister muttered.
“I could be wrong, but I bet I have enough share energy to make the changes I wanted to the Fairy Towers. Now I just have to find one!” Rei Ryghts said.
“No…” Purple Sister began, when she realized what Rei Ryghts meant.
“That’s right! Didn’t you idiots bring me one? Thanks for t hat!” Rei Ryghts kicked off into the air and started flying towards the entrance to the cavern’s massive chamber. Purple Heart and Purple Sister tried to stop her, but Rei Ryghts easily dodged around them.
Moments later Rei Ryghts flew out of the cavern as fast as she could. The girl watched in horror as the monsters all around her were destroyed. The thing that really horrified Rei Ryghts, was the fact that the monsters weren’t simply being killed off by the goddesses, but also humans as well.
“How could this happen?! Damn it!” Rei Ryghts roared with anger.
Rei Ryghts turned her eyes away from the carnage and instead focused on the Fairy Tower in front of her. Sweat poured down her forehead as she continued to fly. Even though time seemed to have slowed down, Rei Ryghts managed to reach the Fairy Tower without anyone seeming to notice.
“Alright Histoire!” Rei Ryghts roared, as she grabbed the terminal of the Fairy Tower with both hands. “Time to…”
“Time to what?” Came a familiar voice.
Rei Ryghts turned and spotted Arfoire standing a few feet away from her. “Time to change everything Arfoire. Join me okay? I’ll let you have Lowee!”
“Thanks! But no thanks!” Arfoire said, as she punched Rei Ryghts as hard as she could in the nose. “I hate the cold!”
Rei Ryghts fell backwards against the Fairy Tower. The moment she touched it, the wound Arfoire caused healed. Rei Ryghts giggled, but Arfoire threw another punch and then another and another. After the fourth punch, Rei Ryghts was sprawled across the terminal. Blood was trickling down her lip.
“Why? This… Thing should be healing me.” Rei Ryghts breathed.
“I have the power to turn that function off.” Said Histoire.
A few moments later Purple Heart and Purple Sister landed next to Arfoire. Purple Heart quickly changed back into her human form. “Oooh yeah. She’s done.” Neptune said. Rei Ryghts groaned loudly, as she lost her goddess form and turned back into her human form.
“Thanks Arfoire.” Nepgear said. She had also changed into her human form.
Arfoire shrugged her shoulders. “No need to thank me. I owed her a little payback.”
“What should we do now?” Nepgear asked, turning back to the fight that was currently happening. “There’s still tons of monsters out there.”
“Yeah, but we can’t exactly leave her.” Said Neptune.
“I’ll take her to Planeptune.” Arfoire volunteered. “You can have the original Histoire meet me at the Fairy Tower you all used to teleport here. She can escort us back. How does that sound?”
“Sure!” Neptune said.
Arfoire was surprised. “You trust me Neptune?” Arfoire asked.
“Of course!” Neptune said, smiling and winking at Arfoire. “What kind of buddy would we be if I couldn’t trust you?” Neptune changed back into her goddess form. “Come on Nepgear! We can leave the rest to Arfoire.”
“Right!” Nepgear said, before transforming back. “Thanks again Arfoire! I mean it!” And with those words, Purple Heart and Purple Sister joined their friends in fighting the rest of the monsters.
“Friends, huh?” Arfoire said, as an evil smile appeared on her lips.
“Arfoire?” Histoire began.
“It’s nothing. I’m just not sure if I’m ready to considering the goddesses my friends.” Arfoire bent down and scooped Rei Ryghts up in her arms. “Especially Neptune. She can be so loud, annoying and stupid.”
“She’s a work in progress.” Histoire said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m teleporting you now.”
Arfoire nodded. “Right.”
***
Several days had passed since the battle with Rei Ryghts. Rei Ryghts had been put into custody and locked in a cell that was especially created to contain goddesses. Neptune and Nepgear spent the rest of their time celebrating with the other goddesses and their human friends.
“I can’t believe I’m friends with the goddesses!” Compa said, giggling and blushing.
“Were not just friends Compa! Were best buddies forever!” Neptune said.
“Hump…” Noire said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Must be nice. Not like I’m jealous or anything.”
“Aww!” Neptune said, as she cuddled up to Noire. “Like you’re not my best buddy!” Neptune said, giggling.
Noire smiled and blushed a little herself. “Not like… I care or anything.”
“Uh-huh, whatever!” Neptune said, giggling.
After the celebrations started to die down and people left the Basilicom, Neptune and Nepgear were left alone. The girls checked on Rei Ryghts to make sure she was still okay. After that they headed to their bedrooms. “You know what sis?” Nepgear began. “Rei Ryghts was alone for a very long time. She was shunned by her people so many years ago. I feel really bad for her.”
“I do too, but if you act naughty, you go into time out.” Neptune said.
Nepgear nodded. “I know. You’re right.” Nepgear said.
Once the girls reached their bedrooms, their eyes instantly fell on the backpacks resting on each of their beds. “I almost forgot about these.” Nepgear said, making her way over to her bed and pulling open the flap. “These backpacks served us well, huh?”
“Yeah.” Neptune said, as she opened her backpack and started pulling things out. “Pudding packs, clothes, toothbrush, more pudding packs and… Whoa!” Neptune said, as she pulled out a white box.
“What is it?” Nepgear asked.
“Look!” Neptune said, as she held up the small white console, with a strange orange swirl mark on the lid. “Remember this thing? We got it back in that creepy house!”
Nepgear thought for a few moments, before she remembered what Neptune was talking about. “Oh right… That house.”
“What’s wrong?” Neptune asked, tilting her head slightly to the right.
Nepgear remembered just how badly Neptune had gotten hurt while exploring the house and how helpless she felt. It was a feeling she didn’t ever want to feel again. Nepgear took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s nothing.” Nepgear lied. “So do you want me to look at it or something?”
“Maybe tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I feel like going to sleep and staying asleep for the rest of forever!” Neptune placed the console down on a nearby shelf.
“I’m tired too, but Histoire isn’t going to like us slacking off. We have so much work to catch up on.” Nepgear said, sighing deeply.
“It could be worse. We could be in the same position as Noire and Uni are.” Neptune said, remembering the dread on Noire’s face when she realized that Black Heart hadn’t accomplished anything in months.
“Yeah. I feel bad for her.” Nepgear admitted. “Anyways big sis. Goodnight.” Nepgear said, as she kicked off her footwear and peeled off her stockings.
“Goodnight.” Neptune said, as she did the same thing. After that, the two girls crawled under their blankets and soon fell into a deep, relaxing sleep.
“Help me.” The voice sounded as though it were coming from the room Neptune and Nepgear were sleeping in.
Neptune opened her eyes. “What was that?” Neptune breathed. “Histoire? Did you get kidnapped again?”
“Please… Help me. Someone… save me.” The voice said.
Neptune jumped out of bed. “Who’s there?!” Neptune cried, looking all around her.
“W-What’s wrong big sis?” Nepgear asked, as she sat up in bed.
“I just heard a voice!” Neptune said, as she turned on a light.
“Help me.” The voice said.
Nepgear jumped out of bed. “I just heard it! Where’s it coming from?” Nepgear and Neptune pulled on their stockings and shoes, before summoning their weapons. “Is someone there? Where are you?!”
“Here!” The voice said.
Neptune and Nepgear turned their eyes towards the white console. Suddenly the girls saw a large portal appear in the room with them and an incredible force draw them in. “What the heck!” Neptune cried.
“Neptune!” Nepgear cried, as she and Neptune were pulled into the portal.
***
The young girl heard an ear piercing scream. Quickly sitting up, the girl glanced around the room she was in. She couldn’t see anything unusual, but she could have sworn she heard someone screaming. “Was that my imagination?” The girl wondered to herself.
Getting to her feet, the girl headed outside and glanced up at the dark sky. “This world… It’s so dark and dreary, but at least the stars look pretty tonight.” The girl thought to herself.
“Is everything okay?” Came the sound of a mature voice.
The girl turned and smiled. “I’m doing okay Umio. I just had a weird dream.”
“Oh?” Umio said. Even though Umio had a mature sounding voice, he was actually a fish that was able to float several feet in the air. Umio made his way over to his friend and looked up at the stars. “It’s nice tonight.”
“Yeah. Feels rare in this world.” The girl said.
“True.” Umio said, before turning to leave. “I’m going to go back to sleep. Make sure you don’t stay up too late. Okay Uzume.”
“Of course!” Uzume said, smiling brightly and saluting. “Staying up late and not having enough energy to do anything tomorrow? That wouldn’t be very cool of me, would it?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
