The first thing Nepgear saw was that she wasn't in the Basilicom anymore.
How strange... She doesn't remember going outdoors.
She looked around and immediately recognized the place. It was the same place where she went to visit her sister. A warm, golden light pervaded the place. She started shielding herself from the bright light until her eyes adjusted to it. She felt a sensation of warmth from the shimmer filling her body. She could hear the birds singing and smell the fresh morning dew.
"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead!"
Wait... that voice. That couldn't be...
Nepgear heard a voice she recognized all to well. She quickly turned to face none other than her older sister, Neptune, who was just sitting on a rock while she was enjoying a cup of her favourite sweet, pudding.
"Neptune...?"
The girl, much like her, had short purple hair. She had two white D-pad button hairpins and a white collar on her neck. She wore a white hoodie with long striped socks and purple shoes. She finished eating her pudding before she hopped off and stretched her body.
The girl doesn't need any introduction, as she's the known and beloved self-proclaimed main character and breaker of the fourth wall.
"The one and only. What? Didja think that the protagonist of the protagonists wouldn't make an appearance in the story? Pshh, don't be silly. You might be the main character in this story, but I'm still the face of this franchise, after all." She did a V-pose as she ginned while giving a wink.
Nepgear stood staring like a stupid fish out of the water. Her brain couldn't process the whole situation, as she was unable to think of anything to say.
"Come on, Nep Jr., this isn't the time to be spacing out, silly. Heh, geddit? It's the name of the chapter." She then started walking ahead, leaving her poor sister still frozen in place. After a few moments, her sister's words finally registered.
"H-Huh? W-Wait for me!"
She sprung forward to catch up with her sister. The sisters have been strolling silently side by side for some time. The two did not mirror each other's body language. Neptune was walking with her arms behind her head as she whistled, while Nepgear was touching her arms and avoiding eye contact.
"Um... so, where are we going, sis?"
"Hm? Oh, to meet up with our other friends, of course." The sight of her sister smiling was enough to ease her.
"Our... friends?"
"Yup, everyone is waiting for us. It's going to be a long walk, so better get geared up." She giggled at her own pun.
"O-Oh, Okay... that's great."
They proceed to walk some more, though it appears that they were simply looping in place, as the scenery has not changed in the slightest at all. Something else was bothering Nepgear.
This dream somehow seemed so... vivid.
"Hey, what's up, kiddo? Something on your mind."
"H-Huh? Oh, no. I just got a bit lost in my thoughts there, haha..."
"Uh, huh, but for reals, what got you all rattled up? Come on, you can rely on your big sister, so tell me."
No. None of this is real.
"I'm fine." Her sister slightly frowned, a little disappointed in her monosyllabic reply but she did not press any further. After some time passed, Nepgear became tired all of a sudden. Her vision was getting a bit blurry as she struggled to keep her balance.
"Oh... it seems like our times are up, huh? Well, I'm sure we'll meet again. Thanks for the pudding!"
"I love you, Nepgear. Always."
She couldn't make out what her sister was saying as it became all muffled, then everything went black yet.
(N)
Nepgear slowly opened her eyes.
She was back at her workplace. It seems she fell asleep as soon as she finished adding the last touch to her project. She let out a yawn and stretched her arms before she rubbed her eyes.
How long did I sleep for?
She had a blanket covering her. No doubt that Histoire fetched a blanket for her so she would not catch a cold.
She couldn't help but imagine Histoire trying her best to lift a blanket due to her size, which brought a smile to her face.
"Hm?"
She noticed a note on a table. She picked it up and began reading it.
Kei called. She said to call her as soon as you're available.
Also, you shouldn't keep sleeping at your workplace like that.
It's not good for your neck and you might end up catching a cold as well.
Don't forget to eat before you head out.
-Histoire
She set the note aside and grabbed the Nep-Note from the table before standing up from her chair and folding the blanket. She then went to practice her daily hygiene in the bathroom. After grabbing a quick bite from the kitchen, she headed to the office to start her business meeting with Kei.
She settled in front of her computer and initiated a video chat with the Lastation oracle. After a few moments, a short girl appeared on the screen. The woman was dressed professionally in a black suit and had white hair.
"You're here, good. Though I expected you a bit earlier."
"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Kei. I overslept a bit, haha." Nepgear scratched her cheek.
"Don't worry. Histoire has already informed me. I have to agree with her that you need a proper rest. Others can fill in your place while you rest, so I don't see any excuse for you to be skipping sleep to do work. And no, short naps don't cut it."
"I know, I know... I'll try to mellow out."
"That's good to hear. With that out of the way, shall we begin with business?"
"Yeah. So, did you manage to find ASIC's base?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." Kei picked up a report paper from her desk. "Just a few hours ago, one of the scouts reported that they had discovered what appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse that was converted into a base on the far west side outside of Leanbox."
"I assume that you wanted me to deal with it."
"Correct. I decided to send IF to scout the place ahead. She confirmed that the base belonged to ASIC. She also said there were a lot of shipments coming in and out. I informed IF to standby until you arrive. I trust that the two of you could handle it."
"You can count on us."
"Best of luck. I'm sending you the location right now. Report back to me as soon as you're done."
And with that, the call was over, and the screen went dark. She left the office and came across the flying tome on her way to the balcony.
"Oh, good morning, Histoire."
"It's actually late in the afternoon."
"Goodness! That late!" Nepgear's eyes shot wide open at the revelation. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier, Histoire?"
"Well, you looked peaceful while sleeping so I didn't have the heart in me to disturb you." She put her finger on her cheek.
"You really shouldn't have woken me sooner." Nepgear shook her head before she went and pecked her on the forehead nonetheless. "I'm heading out now, Histoire."
"Be safe out there, Nepgear." The tome nodded as she saw her leave.
Nepgear went outside before she took out her N-Gear and checked the location. She then transformed and soared into the sky towards her destination.
(N)
The trip didn't take long due to her having her own method of air transport.
Leanbox: The Land of Green Pastures.
Water was surrounding the nation. The nation's outskirts still maintain their signature color, and nature is still untouched.
The same thing can't be said for the city itself. It became a sight that was taken from a post-apocalyptic movie, with how smoke and rubble filled the place and the smell of fire burning. The noise of gunfire and shouting echoed through the city non-stop.
She changed back into her human form and continued on foot when she got close to the meeting spot.
The sound of crushing grass continued with each step she took. She spotted her friend lying on a cliff as she was scouting the place with a pair of binoculars. She was a former guild agent at Planeptune. Now, she's a professionally trained special agent.
"Hey." Nepgear lay down beside her.
"Jeez, you sure took your own sweet time coming here." The brunette didn't bother looking away from the binoculars. She wore a long black leather jacket and she had a simple black tank top with body armor on top and shorts underneath. She wore black long socks,boots, and gloves. She wore a long belt that had her initials on it. She was strapped with a gun holster and other gadgets on her belt and she also had a knife hidden below her ankle. IF changed her hairstyle as she settled on a half-buzz haircut, with the other side having long hair.
The girl went by the name IF.
'A beautiful gust of wind that blows through Gamindustri.'
They used to come over to the guild to hang out, but now the two have gone their separate ways, with IF and her other friend Compa wanting to focus more on their carriers, which is understandable. But she won't lie if she says she hadn't missed them. They were her friends who stood with her and helped in her journey to save Gamindustri all those years ago.
"Didya had a good sleep at least?"
"Not you too, IF... I have already heard it from both Histoire and Kei." Nepgear loudly groaned. it seems like she won't be hearing the end of it. "Jokes aside, what are we dealing with right now?"
"So far... it's just some abandoned warehouse that was turned into a base by ASIC remnants, as you already know." IF passed the binoculars over to Nepgear, who began observing the place.
Hmm... there seem to be a couple of guards watching on the rooftop.
"So, what's the plan?" Nepgear put the binoculars aside and turned to her friend. "How are we approaching this?"
"Well..." IF rubbed her chin. "There's only two ways we can do this: one, we wait until nightfall so we can sneak in and catch them off guard."
"Or two... we can attack now in broad daylight. They don't look particularly tough but they might overwhelm us if we're not careful."
"Personally, I'll go with the second option, but I'll leave the choice to you, Gear."
Nepgear began pondering carefully for a bit before deciding on their approach. Which was...
Author's Notes
Hello there! I've been gone for a month, mostly due to irl stuff, and had gone through a time where I'd lost my spark and motivation to write, but thankfully, with college beginning this week, I've started to get my stuff together.
So, I've been playing a lot of Neptunia Victory on PS3. I've played about 100 hours in-game; most of it was me getting sidetracked with side content, and I've reached only chapter 4 of the game. I'm taking my time with it; it's been mostly fun (this didn't age very well. -future me.), but it's getting repetitive with the grinding and the reuse of assets, and oh lord, they weren't kidding when they said that the company was known to reuse assets, but I didn't think it was to this extent. (＃°Д°)
I like the jokes in this game; some are hit-and-miss, and the worst of them all are the Sadie jokes. Like, seriously, they won't stop doing the same joke over and over, like Vaas said, 'One time is funny, two times is fucking annoying.' This game does this, but do it a million times and expect me to laugh. I find the villains to be more interesting than the heroes, and strangely, the voice actors sure had a field day with their lines, haha. It's a shame they are not fully dubbed in English.
Lastly, I'm kind of furious about how they turned Nepgear into a mere punching bag and butt of jokes in this game and just overthrow her development because of the bad reception they got from the last game, and what's more infatuating is that they are fully aware of it and make jokes about it. They made my poor Nepgear dirty. This is why this story exists: I shall give Nepgear what she truly deserves and give her justice!
Next Chapter: ASIC Remnants
Nepgear once again teams up with her old ally to take down ASIC and bring their base of operations down.