The OC poll has ended a bit sooner than I said. That being said, there is now another poll on my page as to future story ideas after the OC stories have all been written. Feedback on that would be greatly appreciated and will remain up until the OC stories have all been written or uploaded. Still not to sure...
Anyways, if you care about what I write afterwards, I'd appreciate it if you went and voted.

[Chapter 24]

[Sigi]

I opened the door to the suite, only to be met by a horrifying sight. I let out a groan. "Damnit, Neptune..."

Multiple empty pudding cups were scattered throughout the room, marking the floor and various furniture. Neptune slept on the bed, a plastic spoon dangling loosely from her fingers and pudding smeared her mouth. Of course, the room had a lingering smell of—you guessed it—pudding.

I let out a sigh and navigated my way over to Neptune, trying my best to not step on any of empty plastic cups.

As I made it over to her, I poked at her cheek. "Hey, Neptune. Wake up and help me clean."

"Mmgh..." However, Neptune just continued to cuddle with the pillow and rolled away from me. "Five more minutes..."

I watched as she continued to roll around in the bed. "Geez..."

It was the last day of our break and we were required to get back to the school by the dawn of the first school day back.

Yet, here was Neptune, sleeping away on the bed.

"Well, maybe this will get you up..." Climbing onto the bed, I leaned in close to Neptune and pressed my lips against her's.

"…!"

*Thump!*

Neptune's eyes had suddenly shot open and, before I knew it, I had tumbled to the floor with a burning pain on my right cheek.

"Owww..." As I rubbed at the place where Neptune had slapped me, I noticed her looking down at me with a pouting face and glaring eyes. "H-Hey, why'd you slap me so hard? I was just trying to wake you up..."

"I-I don't care!" Neptune blurted out, throwing the pillow at my face. "You don't have to kiss me to wake me up!"

I caught the pillow and tossed it aside. "Well, you didn't seem like you were going to wake up if I tried anything else! Plus, what's wrong with it?! We're dating now!"

"I don't want to hear any more of your excuses!" Neptune continued. "Just don't do that again! I'm not ready for that kind of stuff! You're tainting an innocent girl!"

I let out a guffaw. "You!? You're anything but innocent!"

*THUMP!*

Neptune had thrown another pillow at me. This time, it had caused me to quickly fall to the floor. "I said to stop making excuses! Now, let's hurry and clean up this room, you lazybone!"

"Yeah, I'M the lazy one..." Rolling my eyes, I caught my breath and tossed the pillows back to the bed.

While Neptune was busy cleaning the room filled with her pudding cups, I worked to make the bed.

"Oh, Sigi," Neptune suddenly stopped what she had been doing and looked over at me, wearing a smile. "Are you ready for the Angel's Ball? It's gonna be soon."

I shrugged and stared up at the ceiling. "I don't know... I guess."

"Aw, don't be such a bore chore about it," Neptune said, resuming her cleaning. "I wanna have a fun time there!"

I also resumed my chore. "I mean, I guess I'm ready. I have an attire I could use and I guess I have some things planned for what we could do after the dance."

"Can little 'ol Nep ask what those things are?" She asked curiously.

I shook my head. "Nope. I'd rather leave it as a surprise. Plus, I don't think you'll hate it. At least, I hope..."

"Now you're just making this even harder to stand!" Neptune pouted. "You're really not going to tell me?!"

I shook my head once again. "Nope, sorry."

Neptune let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll figure it out on my own! For now, let's make this room look like one of those TV commercials!"

I shrugged. "I don't know what that means, but, if it can get you to clean faster, I'll just let that sit in that head of yours."

And so, for the rest of that morning, we spent our time cleaning the bedroom and packing our belongings.

"Alright. Sigi, keep Luna safe, you got that?" Jewel stared into my eyes, piercing into them.

I gave a nod as Luna and I exchanged high fives. "I got it, don't worry about that."

"Oh, I nearly forgot about this," Jewel quickly ran back into the suite, coming back with a small package. "This is what your parents sent you two."

Luna took the package and, putting it close to her ear, gave it a light shake. Though, nothing could be heard from within. She looked at Jewel. "What's in it?"

Jewel shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. They left it for you two to open."

"Here," Luna handed me the package. "Maybe you can guess what's in it..."

I did just as Luna had and shook the package close to my ear. Though it was very faint, something had shaken. "If I had to guess, it's something big or clothes."

"You two are overthinking this," Noire said. "Just open the package instead of taking guesses."

I shrugged. "Alright."

I peeled the tape that sealed the package and opened it.

Inside was a sealed envelope and a small toy inside.

I took them both out and turned to Luna, waving the toy. "Do you have any idea what this thing is?"

Luna stared at it blankly. "U-Um... I'd be lying if I'd said yes."

I switched over to Neptune and everyone else. "Do you guys have any idea?"

Neptune grinned. "It looks like it could be a meme!"

Noire wore the same expression Luna wore. "I-It's kinda unsettling..."

"I think it looks really cute and totally adorbs~!" Uzume added.

I shrugged and looked back to Jewel, who had been watching us with amusement. "Do you know what this thing is?"

Jewel gave a nod. "I do. It's a robot your mom had made way back when she was still dating your father. At least, that's she had told me."

"Really?" Luna and I stared into the tiny robot's weird eyes. "B-But...it looks so weird..."

Jewel shrugged. "I'm not your mom. I just knew that she had an addiction to machines."

I stared into the sharp white pupils of the robot.

While the rest of its body was dressed in pretty normal clothes, the head was the weird part. It was blocky, wearing a surprised expression and had wide, hollow white eyes. For some reason, it was the face that made it unsettling.

"Wait..." I then turned the robot to look at the bottom of it. On the bottom of a boot were the printed words Nepgeardam. "W-What's a Nepgeardam...?"

Luna shrugged. "I'm not sure... L-Let's just move on and read the letter."

I stuffed the Nepgeardam into my bag and unsealed the envelope, revealing the letter. Examining the letter, it had been written in ink, something you rarely saw in Rouge.

I cleared my throat and read it aloud:

Sigi and Luna,

I hope you two enjoyed your holiday. Sadly, we couldn't come see you two as the situation over here is too overwhelming for any types of vacations. The best we could do was send you this letter and one of your mom's robots(Yes, it's weird. But, your mom wanted to send it to you). Don't worry, I sent you something. After you read finish reading this letter, look inside the envelope again. Anyways, I hope you two are doing well in school and are growing stronger, living happy lives. Once we get this problem solved over here, we'll finally come see you and, if you want, take you home with us. Just know that we are always thinking about you and want to see you as soon as possible. Though, things don't seem to be going well so we can't guarantee how soon we'll see you. But, we have to go. Remember that we love and care about you two. We'll always be in your hearts.

Love,

Dad

I found my hands shaking as I finished reading the letter. Quickly, I folded the letter back up and handed it to Luna. Regaining my composure, I reached back into the envelope and took out a small disc.

"Why is there a disc in here?" Luna asked. "We don't have anything that can play it."

"Maybe it's one of those discs that has a monster in it!" Neptune suggested.

We looked back at her. "Why the hell would a monster come out of a disc?!"

"Because that's what happens in video games!" Neptune claimed.

I let out a sigh and tapped on the disc. As soon as I did, the disc began emitting light and created a blinding white glow.

When the glow had faded away, what had once been a disc had turned to a glass cage filled with several blue slime creatures with dog faces, happily hopping around in a simulated environment.

"Woah!" Luna pressed her nose against the cage. "What are those!?"

"Those are Dogoos," Jewel answered.

"Man, they look like someone who slapped a dog's face onto a slime!" Neptune commented.

"Well, they're pretty cute," Shiri said. "I don't mind how they look."

Uzume pouted. "Uzume is jealous! Uzume wants one!"

"Sorry, they're not yours," I turned back to Jewel. "Jewel, can you watch these while we're off at school. We don't exactly know how to care for them anyways."

She gave a smile and nodded. "Sure. Make sure you win the tournament though."

I returned with my own grin. "I'll try my best!"

As Luna, Neptune and I exchanged hugs with Jewel, we made sure we had everything before leaving for the school.

The second term was about to begin. And, with that, so was the Hades Tournament.

And the Angel's Ball.