Lowee

The Lowee Hunting Festival was finally nearing its end. Due to some unforeseen complications the main camp had been compromised and was now halfway torn down. Through a sheer miracle the Renaissance Fair not far away had experienced no problems. There were no civilian casualties in the main camp either due to an early evacuation notice. A few brave girls had warned everyone to escape and held off the main forces of the enemy.

Many a hunter had gotten hurt or injured, but there was not a single death. Those bruised men and women were now being treated with first aid kits under the oversight of a nurse that just happened to be close by. Although her cutesy face and speech pattern made some people doubt her professionalism.

Only 15 more minutes and the time limit would pass. The sun was already setting slowly at the horizon. And yet there was no sight of Neptune or K-sha.

Hunter 1: "This festival was a bust! I didn't even get to hunt anything huge, because some madwoman destroyed everything in front of me!"

Hunter 2: "The monsters literally exploded before I could touch them!"

Hunter 3: "I was saved by the CPUs…"

Hunter 4: "How do you even hunt giant robots?!"

The beaten hunters were all sitting around a campfire and complaining about their meager results, but Guildmaster (who was now wearing a sling around is injured arm) punched their heads with his huge fist.

Guildmaster: "Listen to yourself maggots! Is this how a hunter should act? If you have the energy to complain you can go out there and behead a few more dragons! Aahahah!"

Hunter 1: "You might be right boss… but there is nothing left to hunt. Those CPUs and Gold Thirds have decimated everything in the forest."

Hunter 2: "Someone should ban them from next year's festival. Or there might be no competition left."

Vert: "Today might actually have put a dent into Lowee's monster eco-system."

Leanbox' CPU had been sitting on top of a crate with crossed legs while listening to everyone's complaints. She smiled placatory when everyone backed away in surprise.

Vert: "You should have some pride in your CPU good men. Lowee's guild is definitely at the top right now."

Guildmaster: "Hahah Lady White Heart and Lady C-sha are our best huntresses after all!"

The crowd nodded and then they cheered supportively.

Guildmaster: "But if I may be so impertinent to ask… why did you not participate too Lady Green Heart?"

Vert: "I prefer hunting events in 4 Goddesses Online 2 over the real deal."

Her response was very expected, but it still made most people around her laugh amusedly. They obviously didn't know that she was serious.

IF: "You people sure are energetic even after all this trouble."

She had returned from looking after Compa and had brought along Nepgear and Uni. Those two were strangely quiet and did do everything not to look at each other.

IF: "So, have you seen any sign of Nep yet?"

The question was aimed at the Guildmaster who kept tabs one everyone. The huge man shrugged and shook his head. Those two sure were cutting it close.

Compa: "Look over there! It's Nep-Nep!"

As if on cue Compa left the medical tent and pointed at the bushes near the entrance to the forest. From within the leaves and twigs emerged a hunched over Neptune! She was supporting her body with a long stick like an old man. Even from over here one could see how beat up she looked.

IF: "Where's K-sha then?"

But that question was answered right after as well. Coming crawling out of the same bushes was the half-dead looking black haired girl. She was literally pulling herself along the ground by the tips of her fingers, covered in dirt.

They made one pathetic picture.

A few moments later they were both carried over to the campfire by their friends and placed against a cart. Despite their outward appearance they were still awake and able to talk.

Neptune: "The hero… always appears… at the last moment."

Her usual banter was a little forced.

Guildmaster: "The first festival day will end very soon. If I may say so, neither of you looks able to continue. So do you wish to hear the results right now?"

Neptune: "Sure…"

K-sha: "I'm… ready…"

IF: "Hurry up. They'll collapse soon."

Guildmaster: "Got it! Let me first freshen up your memory. There are extermination quests and gathering quests, each award a certain amount of points depending on difficulty. After the robot attack, those metal monsters have been added to the request list, so your efforts during the defense will not be in vain either."

He scrolled through his tablet with his healthy arm. The sling on the right arm was about to burst off due to his bulging muscles.

Guildmaster: "Lady K-sha has completed 157 extermination quests, coming in with 204 points over all!"

The surrounding hunters and huntresses started applauding. That number was quite high after all.

Guildmaster: "Lady Purple Heart has completed 184 extermination quests, but more focused on lower ranked targets and her overall score is…"

Neptune gulped. IF unconsciously leaned forward. Compa was rolling out a bandage that she would use to fix up the two girls. Nepgear and Uni both still seemed spaced out.

Guildmaster: "…203 points total!"

Neptune: "Gaaaahoooohhh!"

The shock hit Neptune like an uppercut in a fighting game and she even managed to fly backwards in an arc while her voice of defeat echoed around.

IF: "So close…"

Vert: "They really have a knack for making things exciting."

Neptune collapsed on the ground and her damaged hoodie dress almost fell apart. From the side of her pocket something fell out. The red glow attracted IF's attention.

IF: "Wait a second. Is that…!"

She picked the red bundle up from the ground and held it in the light of the fire and the evening sun. Red petals.

IF: "How much time until the festival ends?"

Guildmaster: "Uh… uhm… 5 more minutes!"

IF: "Nep wants to hand in one final item for a gathering quest!"

Compa: "What's that Iffy?"

IF: "The Mysterious Petal Rafflesia. Nep picked it up during the hunt. It's a rare item. Come on slowpoke, wake up!"

She slapped Neptune across the cheeks several times to forcefully revive her. The purple haired girl made funny sounds on each hit until she finally awoke with swollen cheeks.

Neptune: "P-please no more abuse Histy… I swear I will do my paperwork… next week…"

She mumbled incoherently with half closed eyes.

Compa: "Nep-Nep you can still win!"

Neptune: "Aye aye captain, ready for action!"

The mere mention of the word 'winning' worked better than any revival potion. Neptune had risen and saluted with a straight back. Of course that was pure reflex, her wrought down body couldn't hold that pose and she fell forward. IF caught her and pushed the red petals into her blistered hands. She gave her a shoulder to lean on and moved her over to the Guildmaster.

Neptune: "Err… I present to you this here offering…"

Her confusion was apparent, but she still handed him the item. Guildmaster nodded and took the flower into his veiny arm. Afterwards he pushed a button on the pad to accept the fulfilled request.

Guildmaster: "It's a rare item so it's worth 3 points! Totaling to a whopping 206 points for Lady Purple Heart!"

Another round of cheers echoed along the tents and Neptune, still not sure what was going on, smiled vaguely. She gazed at K-sha who was leaning against her knees.

K-sha: "I… lost after all… ehehe…"

Neptune: "But it was a great match!"

She put a hand on K-sha's shoulder and grinned happily. That smile was infectious and K-sha managed to move her hurting face into one last reflection of Neptune's own happy face.

K-sha: "We did our best, didn't we?"

Neptune: "110% effort! Even Noire would be proud!"

They both nodded in satisfaction and exhaustion. Then they both collapsed and hit their heads against each other with a loud 'bonk'.

Nepgear: "Sis!"

She snapped out of her trance and rushed over to her sister. Neptune was already snoring away. Nepgear grabbed one of her arms and then pulled her on her back. When she rose from her squatting potion she was suddenly faced with Uni who had been doing the same thing for K-sha. Their faces were really close.

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Nepgear: "Ah! I… w-we got to bring them to the Basilicom!"

Uni: "O-obviously! Hurry up already!"

They both blushed and started running towards the castle, seemingly barely weighed down by their sleeping cargo.

IF: "Okay… what happened between those two?"

Vert just giggled knowingly.

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Lowee's Basilicom also doubled as a magnificent castle. It was a tourist attraction and there were tours around the castle grounds, although nobody was allowed to go into the actual CPU wing. Be that as it may, there was a lot of room inside of it and that was used to the festival's full advantage. In the open courtyard a party was held by the returning hunters and soldiers who had fought hard in today's battles.

Nepgear's group was one of the last to return for the day and they were greeted by quite the spectacle. In the middle of the courtyard a giant fire and roast were prepared. And sitting next to an enormous mountain of meat were Blanc, C-sha, Rom and Ram. C-sha in particular was busy spinning a human sized piece of monster meat on the fire to grill it to a beautiful and appealing color.

The smell of food awoke the sleeping tiger on Nepgear's back and Neptune opened her heavy eyes.

Neptune: "I smell the crushed dreams of a monster family~"

Nepgear: "It looks quite delicious."

C-sha: "Oh what's up girls? How's your hunting? Got anything good?"

Blanc: "Most people don't hunt those monsters to eat them."

The silent retort came from a chair next to the roast where Blanc was currently resting with the sleeping twins. They were both leaning their little heads on Blanc's lap and peacefully dreaming away.

Neptune: "It was a total success!"

She patted Nepgear on the back to tell her to let her down and she obliged all too happily. Nep stretched her sore limbs a little and moved towards the big chunk of meet with some drool coming from her mouth.

C-sha: "No touching. That's my piece."

IF: "The… entire thing?"

Neptune: "Ahhh… that's torture! Displaying it for all to see, luring them in with the sweet, sweet smell of a max leveled grill skill…"

Her body was shaking from hypoglycemia.

C-sha: "You really look like you're about to starve. Alright, you can have some of the next badge. There is enough for everyone. We got about 500 quests done."

Compa: "That's a loooot!"

IF: "And they don't even look the least bit exhausted…"

She sighed and put a hand on her side in disbelief. It was impossible that they hadn't been involved in the skirmish with the robots as well, so that would mean they did all these monster hunting quests in addition to fighting the invading army. Even though IF didn't look nearly as banged up as Nep and K-sha, her Nine Brand outfit was still damaged with cuts and tears all over it.

Blanc: "That reminds me… does anybody know who messed with the seal that was supposed to keep the giant killer robots confined?"

Why was her head slowly turning towards Neptune? And her voice was dripping in some freezing energy that cooled down even the flames of the bonfire next to her.

Neptune: "M-must have been some newbie hunter. You know how they are! Stumbling into waterfall caves, scratching on red seals. People these days are so careless!"

Blanc: "Did I mention anything about a waterfall or a red seal?"

C-sha: "Sure didn't."

Everyone was now putting their full attention on Neptune. Especially Lowee's CPU that had been forced to make a public speech about the crisis and apologized several times. Apologizing. Several times. Lady White Heart.

Neptune: "Ohhh I suddenly feel my strength draining. Catch me Nep Jr.!"

Neptune pretended to faint and fell into her sister's arms.

Blanc: "You don't think I'll let you get away with this right-?!"

C-sha put a hand on Blanc's head and nodded towards the sleeping twins. If Blanc got into one of her outbursts right now it would definitely wake them up. Blanc bit her lip and used all her self-control to stay composed.

Blanc: "We'll have a meeting about this."

Her quiet voice was even more threatening than her usual yelling. Neptune's face turned blue while she pretended to sleep.

Uni: "Can you stand already?"

Just like Neptune, K-sha had also awoken and was insisting on standing on her own feet.

K-sha: "I wish Noire would have carried me home after I injured myself at a sports festival instead..."

Uni: "This isn't some rom-com anime!"

K-sha: "Where did Noire go after she left us?"

It didn't look like she could think about anything else right now. Maybe that was her defensive mechanism after losing the match. In response Uni seemed increasingly uncomfortable. She grabbed her right arm with her left hand and looked the other way.

Vert: "If I may? Noire came to the main camp to assist in dispelling the invasion. After making sure everything was well she returned to the forest."

A helpful and concise explanation. But wasn't she skipping a few parts?

IF: "By the way, what have you two been doing during the big clamor?"

She asked the two CPU candidates that had been keeping some distance on purpose.

Nepgear: "W-we didn't notice."

Blanc: "I tire of repeating this, but… Giant killer robots. Everywhere. How could you not notice them?"

Sometimes people forgot that Blanc had a strong bullshit detector under her hat. And she liked to point out contradictions. Nepgear felt increasingly cornered, so she finally looked at Uni with pleading eyes. Uni grimaced, as she was put on the spot, but with some inner strength she chimed in.

Uni: "Nepgear made a mess in one of the tents and we were too busy cleaning it up to notice. Until big sis came by to look if things were fine. We wanted to help, but there were no robots left."

She crossed her arms and huffed, hoping that would make her look sure of herself. Her eyes were also closed, because she couldn't bear to see Nepgear's betrayed expression after she had thrown her under the bus so fast.

IF: "I see no need to elaborate then."

She coughed and pulled the attention away from them.

IF: "Let's celebrate a job well done for today and get some rest."

Vert: "Wise words. I do wonder what monster meat tastes like. You truly prepare it in a way that resembles the concept art in a game, C-sha."

C-sha: "I wouldn't know about that, but do you want to test it Lady Vert?"

She handed her a slab of grilled meat without hesitation.

Neptune: "The heck?! Why does Vert get such a different treatment?"

C-sha: "Weren't you supposed to be K.O.?"

Neptune: "Ack!"

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The merrymaking kept going deep into the night. Eventually the CPUs and friends moved into the castle to relax. Blanc brought the twins to bed and then returned to her desk to get to typing on her manuscript. The rest spread out however they wanted. It was already decided that today there would be a sleepover at Blanc's place.

Neptune: "I need a hot springs event right about now."

She said as she collapsed on a couch. K-sha had already fallen asleep on the armchair next to it. Vert had disappeared to who knows where, IF and Compa had returned to the medical tent and the only one who could even hear Neptune's mumbling were Nepgear and Uni who were sitting in the corner and talking about something.

Slowly Nep closed her tired eyes for the final time today. With some effort she had won this challenge at the cusp of defeat. K-sha had taken it surprisingly well. She had to admit that fighting back to back with her was pretty cool.

And now that she had managed to wring some monster meat out of C-sha's ultimate defense she might have felt more accomplished than when she beat Dark Purple.

There was only one thing amiss. The person that was supposed to be in the middle of this entire hubbub wasn't showing up. Since when did Neptune waste time on thinking of some party pooper when she could have fun celebrating?

But it would have been fun to see Noire's reaction, wouldn't it?

Those were her last thoughts before finally drifting off into dreamland.

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Not much later the lights dimmed in the castle and the party in the courtyard died down. When everything became truly quiet… that's when a shadowy figure moved through the castle grounds and into the hallways. It took careful steps not to wake anyone who had been sleeping on the floor or some tables.

It ended up in the CPU quarters and pushed open the door to where Neptune and the rest were located.

Uni: "Big sis?"

She jumped up from her chair and put both hands on the table. Nepgear also looked up in surprise. They had been about to go to sleep as well, but now they were wide awake.

Noire: "Shh. Don't wake up those two."

She put a finger to her lips and quietly walked over to her sister.

Uni: "Did you finish your work now? It must have been so much."

Noire: "Don't worry about it. That much is normal for me."

Counting her usual work and the requests in combination with the festival, Noire had finished around 700 quests. And she didn't look much more tired than Blanc did.

Noire: "I had to leave immediately before, but you are not hurt, are you?"

Her question towards Uni was meant to be caring, but for the CPU candidate it felt like scolding.

Uni: "Nothing happened to us. We didn't get into a fight at all."

Noire: "That's good then."

Noire really thought so. She glimpsed over at the sleeping pair. It was obvious that she wanted to say something, but then swallowed her words.

Uni: "K-sha lost today."

She changed the topic at the first opportunity she could get. Noire frowned and shook her head.

Noire: "That whole contest is pointless. But I guess it was good that so many capable fighters were around to stop the robot invasion."

Nepgear decidedly kept quiet about the true reason for that particular attack on both nations. It was better to let Noire have a positive image of today's events.

The raven haired goddess walked over to the couch and left them alone.

Nepgear: "It's hard to match up to her, huh?"

Uni: "That's big sis for you. I think even all combined we can barely help her out."

Nepgear: "Isn't it the thought that counts? If you do your best how can you be wrong?"

Uni: "You changed a lot Nepgear."

She pointed out with a melancholic smile. Nepgear didn't reply immediately, but then she nodded.

Nepgear: "I have learned a lot in the Zero Dimension. And there is still more I need to learn. But I also realized that I don't have to hurry so much. Figuring things out step by step is more than enough."

That smile again. Uni felt blinded by that brightness. She really needed to catch up to her friend. Today she had been a complete dummy, but maybe Nepgear was right about figuring things out…

On the other end of the room Noire was looking at snoring Neptune and drooling K-sha. With faces like that one would wonder how strong those two girls could really be. But Noire knew all too well how tenacious they were. They had been protecting Lastation by themselves while Noire selfishly went to look for Uni. She felt really grateful.

That didn't stop her from also feeling annoyed at how they had dismissed her. Is that what friendship really was? Not that she really cared about that or anything!

That lazy Neptune had worked her little butt off for this event. Noire already knew that Neptune could get serious when it concerned the fate of the world, but this was really just a game to her, right? And she dragged the always overly serious K-sha into it who had done her best to match up to her.

Somehow… even if it was selfish… She felt that their efforts were precious.

A smile crept up her serious face and she felt an unknown instinct to move her hands. Almost tenderly she put her hands on Neptune and K-sha's heads and petted them softly. It took all her self-control not to say 'Good job' while doing it.

A sense of fulfillment was spreading through her as-

Vert: "Hello, are you still awake my cute little Nepgear? Do you want to sleep in my room tonight? I have organized a great new game that I wish to share with my little sister."

-Noire immediately jumped away from them like a shocked cat. In an instant she was standing close to the wall and crossing her arms to play it off. Now that she looked at it, didn't she do something really embarrassing with people still in the room?! Uni was definitely pretending not to have seen it! Oh she could feel her face getting hot.

Nepgear: "I… I already share a room with Neptune, so…"

Nepgear politely declined Vert, who was looking at the situation with a questioning gaze. She didn't even realize her crime.

Vert: "I understand. We could throw her on the bed while playing."

Nepgear: "I would rather sleep too."

Vert: "Is that so? I always believed that nighttime was the best for enjoying certain games. But I do not intend to deprive you of your sleep."

She crossed her arms below her bosom and smiled understandingly. Nepgear actually felt a little bad about it. Even when they were all together for a sleepover Vert ended up alone.

Noire: "Well, I have to head back home then. Good night everyone."

Uni: "B-but big sis! Can't you stay over with me?"

Noire: "…"

Noire closed one eye and considered it. She had wrapped up all the work for today and probably tomorrow as well. And it's not like she was the one who wanted to stay. Uni was going to feel lonely like that gaming obsessed blonde over there. She couldn't let that happen, right?

Noire: "I guess. We will have to talk about today's problems anyway, so might as well stay here for that."

She looked at Vert who just nodded in response. Another CPU meeting in just a few days was unexpected, but absolutely understandable this time.

Uni's eyes lit up and Noire could see that she made the right decision. This would be the first time in a while that they slept in the same room together. Ever since they had hidden in K-sha's dorm room actually.

Vert: "Good night then ladies. Shall I come to wake you up Nepgear?"

Nepgear: "I have an alarm!"

Vert: "Can your alarm do this?"

She hugged Nepgear without warning (or resistance) and the ever present 'boing' sound encompassed the CPU candidate's world.

Noire: "I'm not going to do that for you Uni."

Uni: "I wouldn't want that anyway."

The Lastation sisters just watched with shadows over their faces.

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In the Basilicom office only a single lamp was still lit. Blanc was still typing on her keyboard. Sleepless nights were a dime in a dozen for her. Leaning on a windowsill close by, C-sha just watched the last embers of the fire outside die down. She was thoroughly satisfied with today.

C-sha: "Still here? That's all folks."

Blanc: "Is that your way of ending the chapter?"

C-sha: "Oh sorry! Did you want the honors Blanny?"

Blanc: "Do I look like I care?"

C-sha: "Yep."

Blanc: "…see you next time."

There is no way she would say the entire thing. This wasn't a TV show.

To be continued