Misplaced Sukima P-6

Flying in the sky, headed to the Bamboo forest were Reimu, followed closely by a dogy-fied Ail, who got a little smaller now, looking like a very young child with a pair of dog ears and a tail. "Thanks for getting me out of there, Reimu" said Ail in a squeaky voice. Reimu, trying not to laugh said "sure... no problem". *FLASHBACK* Aya and Momiji wouldn't let go of Ail, smothering him, rubbing their faces against his face and ears saying "aww~ soft fur!" "so cu~te!" Reimu comes by and says "hey, don't you two have a job to do?" Suddenly they both let go of Ail, dropping him to the ground and saying "oh yeah... let's go Momiji! Let's terminate that contract!" said Aya followed by Momiji who said "right behind you, miss Aya!" *FLASHBACK OVER*

At Entei, in the Hourai Clinic, Eirin had Reisen tied up by her arms and legs, pulled behind her back and hung by the ceiling. Eirin had a thick black leather whip on her hand when she turns around just as Reimu and Ail enter her clinic. "Ah yes, I see" said Eirin as she examined Ail. "That's the drug Udonge was suppose to bring me back. I am so sorry for this. Don't worry, she'll get her punishment really soon." Ail who had just shrunk to the size of a miniature dog, jumps on Eirin's table and looks at her with his puppy eyes and in his new squeaky voice, says "please miss Eirin, it was just an accident. Forgive miss Reisen." Eirin smiles as she looks into his eyes and before she could say anything, he pulls the sad puppy eyes. Reimu looked on, feeling almost disgusted, then Eirin says "alright... I supposed I'll forgive her just this once." Eirin turns to Reimu with a smile, revealing blood coming from her nose. As Eirin goes to release Reisen, Reimu approaches Ail and menacingly says "you better not try that shit on me, or you'll get hurt." Ail starts shaking, then lowers his ears and puts his tail between his legs. Just then, Kaguya enters the clinic "Eirin, I want breakfast! Where's the Udonge? I want her to cook something for me!" Ail's eyes twinkle and gets down from Eirin's desk. Kaguya continued to call for Eirin when suddenly *chomp* she started screaming "ow, ow, ow O~~~W~~~! My LEG!!!" Ail had bitten Kaguya's leg and wouldn't let go, even when she shook her leg, trying to get him off. Reimu scolds Ail "bad boy! Let go of her leg!" then Eirin comes in with a scalpel in her hand, behind her was Reisen looking very relieved. Eirin glares at Ail and smiling says "my, I've never dissected a live dog before. I wonder how's that like?" Ail yelps and let's go of Kaguya, then runs to Reimu, jumping on her arms. Reimu notices the twinkle in Eirin's eyes, and offers Ail to her, Ail crying twin waterfalls. After everything settled down again, Eirin says "the effect of this drug isn't permanent, however I don't have an antidote either." Ail looks at her calmly and says well, as long as I can fly, I don't mind. Any idea when this will wear off?" Eirin shakes her head and shrugs saying "not a clue. Might be hours, days, weeks." Reimu was quietly looking at Ail for some time now and thinks "hmm... this looks so familiar" then an image of Sakuya pops in her head. Eirin then sayd "I'll try to find an antidote in the mean time, however..." her eyes twinkle again as she grabs her scalpel again and says in a most ominous tone "...I could use a test subject..." Ail pulls the sad puppy eyes again, making Eirin drop her scalpel, her nose slightly bleeding. "That's dangerously cute" though Eirin.

As Ail and Reimu walk out of the clinic, Kaguya angrily shouts "that mangy mongrel will pay for this, you hear me! I'll be having a hot dog meal one of these days, so you be ready!" Ail would bark back, but Reimu gave him "the eye", so he immediately quieted down then followed her up to the sky. While flying back to the shrine Ail asks "hey Reimu? don't you find it odd that somehow my pants have a hole for my tail... and that my clothes shrunk with me?" Reimu smiles and says "Ail, it is best not to question these things. Sometimes the answer can be more confusing than the question." Ail turns his attention to the Forest of Magic, as a large explosion makes many birds fly away from the forest. Reimu bangs her head with her hand and says "we better go check it out." When they arrive at the source of the explosion they see a silver haired man with golden eyes, wearing glasses and black and blue clothes struggling to get up. He was next to a house with a sign on it that said "Kourindou". Immediately after landing Reimu asks "hey Rinnosuke, are you ok?" After getting up and pretending to be fine, even though his clothes were in tatters and he was singed all over, he says "I'm fine. Argh! Those two idiots came here yelling about terminating a contract, but it seems to me they never heard that the pen is mightier than the sword." Reimu laughs hard then says "so Aya and Momiji were here? Took them longer than I thought." Rinnosuke looks at her angrily but sighs and spots Ail asking "who is this little fellow?" Reimu stops laughing and says "oh right, this is Ail. Ail, meet Rinnosuke Morichika. He runs this little shop of antiques you see here." Ail looks back at Rinnosuke saying "how do you do? Pleasure to meet you, sir." Rinnosuke shakes Ail's hand then opens his eyes a little wider then says "wait, Ail? The human from the outside with the youkai blood? The one that beat Remilia AND Flandre Scarlet? I though he'd be a lot taller... and more human than this." Ail shrugs saying "don't let appearances fool you, sir." Reimu places her hand on Ail's head and pressed down hard to the ground and says "a little accident fell on his head. He should be fine anyway." "I see" says Rinnosuke as he accommodates his glasses then says "please, won't you come in? I insist" Reimu looks indifferent as she nods slightly saying "sure".

Once inside, Ail immediately recognized a television, a video game console and some MP3 players, then asks "how did you get all this stuff?" Rinnosuke, with a face that suggested victory, said "impressive, huh? I collect things from the outside world that somehow end up in Gensokyo." Bursting his bubble, Reimu adds with a big smile "oh yes, and our Rinnosuke, here, can determine the name and purpose of each and every item, however he doesn't know how they are used." Ail grabs an MP3 player and turns it on, then says "if you could plug this to a computer with an USB cable, we can add music and listen to it using headphones." "I got those things here" said Rinnosuke, just as the MP3 lost it's power. Ail explains how to recharge it, then explains how exactly to use the computer, how to put in the songs, and somehow, Reimu found herself dazed at all the nonsense the two of them started saying about; internet, modems, files, hacking, and so on. After two hours, Ail had Rinnosuke set with all the machines and such all powered up and running perfectly. As Reimu and Ail left, Rinnosuke happily waving at them, Ail comments "amazing how a tiny quartz crystal like that can power up all that stuff." Reimu just looks at him and says "you don't know what you have just done." Ail lets out a low "rowl?" as they headed back to the shrine.

Back at the shrine, Reimu lands, Ail just behind her. Kyo was sweeping the front of the shrine while Suika was shaking the empty donation box. "Oh, you're back!" said Kyo, looking around. "Hey, wasn't Ail with you?" Reimu looks at Kyo and smiles saying "oh, he's right behind me. Look." She moves to reveal Ail, looking up at Kyo. Kyo and Suika both opened their eyes as widely as they could and rush to him. After a few second, Kyo says "A... Ail?" Ail nods revealing his tail. Kyo and Suika look at each other, then back at Ail. "Pffft.. WAHAHAHAHA!" Both Kyo and Suika were laughing uncontrollably, holding their sides and rolling on the floor. Ail looked at them indifferently, however he inhales a bit of air and lets out a small puff before Kyo gets up, tears in his eyes and laughing hard, holding Ail in one hand and pointing at him saying "dude, what happened? HAHAHA, you look just like a dog!" Suika stops laughing and looks at Ail for a while, and suddenly an image of Sakuya with dog ears and a tail pop into her mind. She looks at Reimu who was trying hard to contain her laughter then shakes her head at Suika, so Suika kept quiet. Ail jumps from Kyo's hand then says "I think I'll go to the village." but Reimu grabs him saying "oh, no. Let's avoid trouble, alright? You are too small, and someone could step on you. Also, we need to know if this transformation has affected your powers somehow." Ail looks at himself and says "oh, I think it's alright, look!" Ail shoots his danmaku to the air. It looked normal but then the shots fell back down, exploding on impact. The shots had hit Suika and Kyo, knocking them both down, then Ail looks at Reimu and smiles, then Reimu grabs him and says "well, you can defend yourself quite well, I see, but seems your power is a little bit unstable. Until we know the full extent of the damage, you will stay here." Reimu places Ail on the ground then goes inside the shrine, Ail follows her after a bit, leaving both Suika and Kyo knocked down on the ground.

At late noon, Marisa arrives at the shrine. "Yo, Reimu, how's everything, ze!?" said Marisa as she sits on the shrine's porch. From inside the shrine, Reimu responds "heh, just as always. I'll send some tea your way." "Thanks" replies Marisa, then quietly says to herself "she seems to be in a good mood today. I wonder what happened?" Her tea is placed on a plate to her left, along with three rice cookies. "Oh, thank you Rei-" Marisa turns around to thank Reimu,however who she finds is the tiny dog Ail. For a second she just stares, then points at Ail, shaking, asking "I-I-is that you. Ail?" Ail nods saying "small accident." Marisa grabs him and starts hugging him so hard saying "So~ cu~te, ooh, and so soft and cuddly!" Ail, out of breath, calls for help, but just then Marisa lets go then starts drinking her tea asking "and what kind of accident? Is it permanent?" Kyo comes from the lake behind the shrine saying "some shady new drug Eirin made fell on his head. Now he a cute wittle puppy, HAHAHA!" Ail sighs then Kyo grabs a stick and says "here boy, go get the stick, go, go get it!" Ail, looking slightly annoyed responds "I'm not chasing any sticks for your amusement..." but Kyo throws the stick, and Ail instinctively runs barking after the stick. Waggling his tail, he returns with the stick in his mouth thinking "what am I doin~g!?" Little pink hearts start flying from Marisa's head and pop just as they reached the top of her hat. She then grabs Ail and starts hugging him tightly again. Kyo was laughing so hard, he started to cry. Just then Remilia and Sakuya arrive at the shrine flying. As soon as they land Remilia looks at Ail and says "so it IS true. He's been turned into a dog! So cute too." From the shrine stairs, Yuka, Keine, Mystia, Cirno, and Wriggle also come to visit the new puppy, and then then Kanako, Sanae, Suwako, the Aki sisters, Hina and Nitori arrive. Pretty soon, the shrine was full of guests, all coming to see Ail. He was feeling embarrassed to no ends, as they all kept hugging him and holding him and pinching his cheeks and calling him cute and adorable. At night, the youkai from the underground came too. Then Yukari, Ran and Chen, Yukari providing sake for all. Meiling, Flandre, Patchouli, and Koakuma arrived, Flandre holding Ail almost too hard saying "big brother is so soft and cuddly. Can I keep him!?" Soon after, Entei was there too. It was now one big party. After Ail was released from Flandre's clutches he shouts "HE~~Y!" They all quiet down and look at him. "How did you all find out about this?" Reimu, looking a bit concerned handed him a newspaper called The Bunbunmaru Newspaper, and on the front page, a Picture of Ail as a human, and another of Ail as a dog, then the headline says "Gensokyo's wonder boy goes to the dogs". Something about that irritated Ail, but he just sighs and says "the fastest reporter, huh?" Reimu nods saying "uh-huh". Everyone there, including Remilia, would look at Ail, then at Sakuya, but nobody would say a word, so the party just kept going.

The next morning a familiar whimsical voice was heard calling "hello~! Is anybody here?" Carrying a broom, Ail went to greet the visitors. It was Yuyuko and Youmu. Youmu stares at Ail saying "so they WERE telling the truth after all. I guess I owe you a double-breakfast." Yuyuko smiles and says "better make it a double-lunch, Youmu." Youmu sighs and drops her hands down, but she then perks up asking "is Kyo here? I've got some new moves I'd like to try on him!" Ail nods saying "I'll go get him for you." From inside the shrine there was silence, then suddenly Kyo's voice could be heard saying "get the stick, go get it, boy!" then a wooden stick would fly out of the shrine, Ail behind it barking then crashing against a tree, Kyo laughing as hard as he could. "Whoa, poor kid." said Youmu, who then realized Yuyuko was not beside her. Instead, Yuyuko was looking quite angry, pulling Kyo's ears gently saying "don't pick on him, please." Once they calmed Yuyuko down, Youmu challenged Kyo who gladly accepted, and while they prepared themselves to the match, Yuyuko grabs Ail and places him on her lap. Reimu comes to the shrine porch, placing tea for herself, Yuyuko and Ail, to drink as they watched the match. Kyo surrounds his arms with the familiar blade-like and shield-like white energies,and Youmu unsheathes both her swords. They lunge at each other, clashing fiercely. While they fought, Yuyuko says to Reimu in a disappointed tone "Reimu, you should have watched out for him a little more." Reimu, annoyed replies "I'm not the boy's babysitter or anything, got it?" Looking serious Yuyuko says "you know something's coming. We will need all the help we can get. We have to watch out of each other." Reimu looks at Yuyuko, who was looking back at Reimu looking very serious. Reimu says "it's okay, I took him to Eirin. It's a temporary thing. Besides, why do you care so much for him? He's a human from the outside, not even..." Yuyuko lowers her sight and notices Ail had fallen asleep on her lap, and had placed the tea cup on the floor so it wouldn't spill on her. Yuyuko again looks at Reimu and says "I'm sorry... his spirit seems so familiar to me. It feels as if he were... family." Reimu looks very concerned and says "Yuyuko... you're a ghost. You can't let yourself be controlled by emotion. Attachments are also dangerous for you... It's not healthy for a ghost." Again, Yuyuko lowers her sight and says "I'm sorry" and then smiles again, rubbing Ail's ears, which start twitching as she does. Both Reimu and Yuyuko say "that's so cute!" Yuyuko stays quiet for a bit, then in her usual whimsical tone says "oh... I'm hungry." Reimu sighs saying "fine." then pockets a charm she was hiding behind her and thinks "that was close."

Kyo and Youmu's fight went on for 3 minutes, and then, "you have improved quite a lot, I see." said Youmu. Kyo smiles and says "not bad yourself." They clash once more, then back away, seizing each other, then Youmu says "I know you can't see our Spell Cards, so I'll tell you when I'll be using them" but Kyo just smiles back and says "no need. I like surprises." Youmu grins back at him and says "alright, then. Don't cry if you get hurt!" Ail wakes up just in time to see the fight go on. Reimu had brought some rice balls out and was arguing with Yuyuko, who was already eating the 5th one, so Ail gets off Yuyuko's lap and sits on the porch, hanging his legs from the edge, watching the fight. Youmu takes out a spell card and shouts "Human Sign, Present Life Slash!" Youmu's sword glows blue as she slashes forward, missing Kyo by a hair. Kyo retaliates by shooting his shield energy at her, which she blocks with her sword, then takes out another spell card, shouting "Ghost Sword, Fasting of the Young Gaki!" Youmu flies up and slashes the air at such great speeds, Ail couldn't see her, yet is seemed Kyo was able to follow her; then suddenly is followed by petal-like blue danmaku that come out in many circles. Kyo used his Shield energy to block and reflect some, however he was grazed by a lot more. Kyo then jumps high in the air, and just as Youmu was about to unleash the second wave, Kyo comes down hard, his blade-like energy coming down hard with him. Youmu blocks just in time, however her spell was interrupted. Both were still quite fresh, then Youmu says "amazing to be able to keep up with me, but how long can you keep this up?" Kyo smirks, then says "longer than you can, I bet." Youmu pulls another spell card then shouts "Obsessor, Slash of Eternity!" Youmu lunges at Kyo at incredible speeds. Kyo felt as though he was floating in mid-air, and was unable to dodge, however, using his shield energy, her protects himself a bit as Youmu kept attacking repeatedly, in a pattern that looked like a dance. Once the attack was done, Kyo drops to the ground full of bruises and some cuts, but he was smiling as he got up saying "not bad at all. Now it's my turn." Kyo started shooting his shield energy around, forcing Youmu to block constantly, and while she blocks his shots, Kyo runs to her and slashes at her with his blade energy, forcing her to defend against his blade, but getting her damaged by the danmaku balls. Both fighters were winded. Almost out of breath, Youmu says "that... was impressive, but now I finish this!" Kyo smirks, breathing hard saying "I was... about to... say that!" Youmu flies up and takes out another spell card, shouting "Heaven's Sword, Five Signs of the Deva!!!" Five set of petal-like danmaku materialize in the air after Youmu slashes at unbelievable speeds, then spread out randomly, leaving very little room for Kyo to dodge. He had to use his shield as he jumps up to reach Youmu, however he was hit various times by the danmaku, but he went on, reaching Youmu, causing an energy discharge as they clashed their blades. Both fell to the ground face-first, laughing and coughing, then Ail says "if you two were fighting for real, you'd both be dead, you know."

After their wounds were treated, Youmu and Kyo eat one rice ball each, since Yuyuko had eaten 10 already, and that was all that was left. "I'll go buy more rice then" said Ail. Reimu looks at him smiling with a sparkle in her eyes and shouts "you're my hero!" then Youmu asks "won't you need help carrying it back here?" Ail shakes his head saying "I'll be fine" and then walks outside, then flies to the village. Kyo stares at Youmu's ghost half and says "hey Youmu, what's the deal with that ball that keeps following you around like that? In fact, I think it was also shooting at me." Youmu looks at him widening her eyes then gets a bit annoyed and says "that happens to be my other half... didn't you know that already?" Kyo's face fills with great confusion, then Reimu comes from behind him, knocks his head with her fist, saying "idiot!" As Ail flew to the village he realized the days were getting cold. Winter was soon to come. He then remembers his old home, cozy in his bedroom, waiting for the next day to come as he played video games, or went outside, and just hang around with Kyo and some of his friends, quietly listening to their conversations. When he comes back to, he realizes he had passed over the village and quickly turns around with a "rowf!" In the village, the people treated him normally, although behind his back, some were saying he looked better now. After buying the rice, he realized... it was heavy and couldn't fly with it. "This body has lost a lot of strength... ahh, but it's only a temporary thing." As he walked back to the shrine, the rice bag on his back, he hears a familiar tune sung by Mystia. "Hello, Mystia" said Ail, and soon after Mystia comes down and asks "need help?" Since the bag was too heavy for Mystia to carry, she helped by pulling some of the weight of the bag while Ail continues to carry it on his back. "Thanks a lot for you help, Mysita. I'd probably be winded by now if you hadn't helped." Mystia replies "no problem... So you ARE going to come back to normal, right?" Ail keeps quiet for a moment as he takes the first step of the stairs to the shrine then says "well, from what Eirin said, yes, it's just a matter of time. I never though that my physical strength would diminish this much, though." Mystia giggles as they continue up the stairs. After finally reaching the top, Ail was so tired he could barely more his legs, and Mystia just dropped face-up, catching her breath. A whimsical voice is heard close by saying "my, that looks heavy. Don't strain yourself too hard, or you'll get too tough for me to chew on." It was Yuyuko, floating slowly toward Ail and Mystia, drool dripping down to the ground. Mystia shrieks, gets up in a second and flies away fast screaming "get her away!! Someone help me~!" Yuyuko continues to float after Mystia passing by Ail who gets up and tries to pull her back with all his might, but his tiny body was no match for Yuyuko's hunger drive so he flies back to the shrine shouting "Yuyuko wants to eat Mystia! Someone help!" Youmu says "yeah, she does this often." then Reimu adds "do you think she really have a stomach in there?" and then Youmu says "who knows. All I know is she's always hungry!" A little angry, Ail says "I can't believe this... fine I'll save her myself!" and leaves. Just then Kyo gets up from the ground looking very drowsy and asks "did I miss something?" then Reimu goes out and sees the bag of Rice then says "Oh Kyo, get the rice back to the storage." Then from inside the Shrine Kyo protests "why do I have to do that?"

It was late afternoon, and Ail SOMEHOW got a large piece of meat and was luring Yuyuko back to the Hakurei Shrine with it. Mystia waves at Ail saying "thank you very much!" and Ail waves back, slowing down a bit, almost allowing Yuyuko to take a bite off the meat. Leading Yuyuko back Ail notices the sack of rice was still next to the shrine stairs and as he lands, Yuyuko lands behind him, then handing the meat to Yuyuko, he inhales a lot of air and when he exhales, it sounded as though he was whining. Grabbing the heavy sack of rice, he now walks to the shrine's storehouse. After depositing the rice in the rice box, Ail hears a faint muffled voice, his dog ears twitching and arranging in order to listen more clearly. He sniffs around and then spots a small trap door that leads down, inside the shrine's store house. With little difficulty Ail opens the trap door, the voice sounding a lot clearer now. It was saying something about a master plan after escaping the clutches of the red and white one, then laughter. Ail went down and found a small corridor with various doors, one had light coming from inside. From this door the voice came, now saying "nah... I'll probably just pull her hair while she sleeps... ah, but the poor dear needs to eat, so I'll give her some money I guess." Ail slowly opens the door, hearing a ripping sound as he did, and inside the room was a woman. She had long green hair and green eyes and wore a long blue robe and blue cape with white trims on it. Her long sleeves were also white, she had a ghostly white tail, and she also wore a pointy blue hat with yellow star and sun designs with a white ribbon tied around it. Ail also noticed beside her bed was a long staff adorned with a white crescent on top. "What's this?" asked the woman. She looks at Ail who was frozen by the doorway, for some reason. She looks at the little dog-man then says "how did you open that door, little dog-man." Ail jumps in place then says "I'm so sorry... didn't mean to bother you. I was just wondering who was in here?" The woman's ghostly tail makes a popping sound, and now she had legs, then she says "I am the great and powerful Mima, sure you have heard of me!" Ail lowers his ears and says "sorry, I haven't. Err... I am Ail, miss Mima. A pleasure to meet you." Mima looked almost disappointed saying "oh... I see" as she thinks "he's not really a dog... ooh, Reimu sure picked an odd one." Ail bows his tiny head and says "I'm sorry to have bothered you, miss. I'll just go now." Mima rushes to him saying "wait, wait, let's both go outside together. I could use the fresh air." Something told Ail she was trouble, but there was very little he could do to stop her now and so both go outside. As soon as the door closed behind them, the paper charms that held the door closed materialized, replacing the ones Ail had just broken.

Back outside the shrine Mima stretches, revealing large pair of bat-like wings, then concealing them again. Ail looks up at her then says "are you a demon?" Mima smiles at him saying "I'm an evil spirit." Ail calmly says "oh, I see. And why exactly were you living down there?" then Reimu answers "because she is dangerous to have out here!" Looking at Reimu and then Mima's surprised face, Ail knew for certain he had just made a terrible mistake. Suddenly Mima and Ail were both bombarded by yin-yang balls from the sky. "Ail, I am very disappointed in you, releasing this crazy spirit like that!" said Reimu, sounding quite annoyed, then turns to Mima and says "and you, go BACK to your room, young old lady!" Mima comes out from under the yin-yang balls saying "aww, give me a break, I just got out." Reimu thinks about it and Mima says "HA! got y- Wait... my- CRAP, I left my staff in the room!!!" Reimu smiles a most evil smile of satisfaction and says "then you can stay up here, then." Mima drops down her hands and slumps as she floats to the shrine saying "I want some sake *sob*" Reimu looks at the pile of yin-yang balls where Ail was and saying "come on, Ail. Get out of there already" she sticks her hand in and pulls out Ail who was crying twin waterfalls, his body limp and the atmosphere around him was very gloomy. Yuyuko gets close and says "Oh, I think you were a little too hard on him" and then grabs him and takes him with her into the shrine saying "don't worry, accidents happen." Reimu sighs then says to herself "will I ever have peace and quiet again?" From behind the trees in the shrine a voice says "is that so~?" so Reimu throws one of the yin-yang balls toward the direction of the voice, then turns it into a yellow cat. "Ow ow ow~!" said the voice as the cat attacked.

At night, Mima and Kyo were a little drunk. Mima kept calling Kyo a hunk. At first Kyo felt uncomfortable and blushed, but after drinking a bit, he didn't mind at all. From nowhere Marisa came to joined them both. Yuyuko and Youmu were saying goodbye, and Ail was still feeling down, cornering himself around one of the farthest corners of the shrine, and Reimu gave up and joined the others in drinking. It was very early morning when Ail woke up, feeling much better now. Kyo, Mima, Marisa, and Reimu were all asleep on the ground, the bottles of sake spread all around. When Ail goes outside, it was still dark, the sun was just starting to rise from the horizon. He decides to fly around, no destination in mind. Passing by the Lake, Ail gets close to the water and sees a reflection of himself. Landing at the island he continues to stare at himself by the lake. Behind him a shadow looms ominously. After the sun was up, Marisa was the first to wake up. She notices some paper falling off Reimu's sleeves and picks it up. It was Renko and Maribel's letter. Marisa reads the whole thing without realizing Kyo was right behind her, reading it as well. By the time Marisa realizes Kyo's behind her, she shrieks and throws the letter up, Kyo catching it, then finishes reading. He drops the letter to the ground and without saying a word, he heads outside to the lake behind the shrine. Reimu and Mima wake up at the same time, Marisa panics repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "You're awfully loud this morning" said Reimu rubbing her face, then continues "sorry for what?" Marisa shows Reimu the letter saying "I'm sorry, Kyo read it while I was looking at it, I'm sorry!" Reimu's face turns pale. Mima looked at both of them wondering what was going on. "Marisa, where did he go?" asked Reimu, then Marisa points at the lake saying "back there." Reimu looks at the letter for a moment then says "better leave him alone for now... I knew I should have given them this letter before. Crap, this is gonna be a long day... And where's Ail?" Reimu looks at Mima who shrugs and then Marisa who looked very concerned and says "the only one I saw awake was Kyo. Haven't seen Ail at all."

It was near noon and Reimu was starting to get a bad feeling about Ail, who hadn't returned yet. Marisa was apologizing so much, it was driving Reimu mad, however she felt this was all her own fault, so she hasn't snapped at Marisa yet. Mima was now getting used to using danmaku and trying to come up with spell cards of her own outside the shrine and Kyo was still by the lake. "That's it, I'm gonna go talk to him" said Reimu. Marisa stood up and was about to say something when Reimu says "Marisa, go look for Ail. It's not like him to just vanish like that." Immediately Marisa jumps on her broom and quickly flies away, then Reimu hesitantly walks to the back of the shrine. She found Kyo meditating by the lake, Genjii next to him who softly says "she's here... I'll go back inside now" then submerges underwater. Reimu looks on and says "Kyo, I'm-" but Kyo, while still in meditation, stops her and asks "since when did you have that?" Reimu sighs and says "I found it about a week after you guys came to Gensokyo." Kyo opens his eyes, however stayed sitting on the ground, looks at Reimu and says "you do realize I am angry enough to try and rip that damned barrier in two, and just walk back home, right?" Reimu looked down, unable to respond, then Kyo answers "but it's like Genjii said... even if you did show me that letter before... what could I have done? I wonder..." Reimu looks back at Kyo who was now looking at the sky then continued saying "...I wonder if they are still looking for us? Our families, my friends, all of them worried for us, and we... unable to do a thing. I'm guessing that Yukari wouldn't even help us send them letter, huh?" Reimu tries to say something, however she gives up and says "knowing her, she'll probably just burn them, or use them to make paper airplanes." Kyo gets up and approaches Reimu and says "I must thank you for not showing us this letter before. I bet even Ail would get worried too if he saw this. Remind me to thank him later. Guess if it had been me alone in here, I'd have either snapped, or be six feet underground by now." Reimu's face turns pale, and at the worst possible moment Marisa arrives empty-handed saying "he wasn't at the Moriya shrine, ze!" Reimu gulps as soon as Kyo realizes what they were talking about. Back at the shrine, Reimu says "...you're right, Kyo. If we split up, we'll have a better chance of finding him, but you can't fly, so that limits you a bit." Kyo laughs and says "seems you don't know me very well." Reimu hands him and Marisa a charm and says "if one of us should find Ail, simply lift this above your head and shout 'I FOUND HIM' and this will signal the others to regroup in that area, got it!?" Marisa and Kyo nod then he, Marisa and Reimu all head in different directions and begin their search.

Reimu headed straight to Entei, where she was greeted by Tewi, who promptly tried to trick Reimu into a trap, however Tewi found herself tied upside down by her ankle from the highest bamboo shoot. Reisen then comes out of the mansion. "I'm looking for Ail. He's been missing since this morning, and hasn't come back yet." said Reimu. Reisen looked a little concerned and said "I'm sorry, we've been here all day, and we haven't seen him." From inside, Kaguya heard the whole thing and shouted "really? Maybe you should have kept that mongrel on a tight leash. He's probably rolling around some garbage for all we know." Reimu looks at Kaguya with intent to kill, however she just sighs and leaves, thanking Reisen for her time. "Maybe I should help too" though Reisen, but Eirin calls her "Udonge, I need some help here, come quickly." Reisen sighs and heads toward the clinic. Still hanging by her ankle, Tewi shouts "can someone get me down already?" Marisa goes to the Forest of Magic and lands at Kourindou where Rinnosuke comes out to greet her, this time he was wearing a large brown bag around his waist. "Marisa, what a pleasant surprise." says Rinnosuke, then Marisa worriedly asks "have you seen Ail around here?" Rinnosuke adjusts his glasses saying "no, sorry. Did something happen?" Marisa is about to explain, however she notices flickers coming from inside Rinnosuke's shop and she asks "hey Kourin, what's with the light-works? Some kind of experiment?" Rinnosuke's eyes twinkle and says "I'm so glad you asked. Come inside." Once inside, he showed Marisa all the things Ail left up and running in the shop. He then points her at a computer and tells her "you see that little round thing there? That's a mouse and you use it to move things inside the computer... go on, I'll turn on a training course, to help you master this faster." As he said that, Rinnosuke clicks on some small cream-colored box in the computer that turned on some sort of maze inside the screen and said "all you have to do is guide the arrow inside the blue maze, to the red goal. Can you do that?" Marisa smirks saying "looks too easy!" Quickly Marisa went through levels 1 and 2, then slowly and steadily, she was about to finish level 3, when completely out of nowhere, a monstrous face appears in front of her, screaming a bloody scream. Rinnosuke laughs hard, when this happens, but promptly stops when he realizes Marisa isn't moving. She froze in place, her mouth opened, her eyes shrunk, her body turned white and as cold as ice. "Uh-oh" said Rinnosuke, then grabs her and runs as fast as he could to the Hourai Clinic shouting "hold on, Marisa, I'll save you~!"

It was getting dark and Reimu was getting worried as she kept flying around, calling for Ail. Marisa was in the Hourai clinic, still looking as pale as a ghost and saying "the face is telling me things..." and Rinnosuke shouts "don't listen to the face, just come back here to us!" and Eirin would inject her with some green liquid, returning some color back to Marisa's face. Kyo had just arrived at the lake and looks at the Scarlet Mansion's island. He felt something there, so he decides to use a tree branch as a slingshot to reach the island. Upon reaching the island, he immediately hears a two familiar voices. "Cirno" said the squeaky voice "it's really me, Ail. I was turned into a dog very recently... you went to the shrine to laugh at me, remember?" A childish voice replied "silence. Do you think I'm some sort of idiot? Ail is human, and you are a dog. There's a big different. I am a genius after all." The squeaky voice sighs. Kyo, without thinking about it once, pulled out the charm and shouts "I FOUND HIM", and a flash of purple light came from the charm to the skies, and the words "Regroup here" were written on the clouds. When Kyo investigates the voices, he found Ail frozen up to his neck, and Cirno acting like a guard next to him. "Cirno? What have you done to Ail!?" shouted Kyo. Cirno stands and angrily replies "this is not Ail, it's an impostor! I captured him!" Kyo got mad, but tried to keep his cool saying "Cirno... that is Ail. He just has the body and ears of a dog... and a fluffy wittle tail too." he finished saying mockingly, which annoyed Ail a bit. Cirno stares at Kyo then thinks "so this is Ail after all? Wait... this Kyo MUST be a fake. Yes, they are trying to confuse me." She back away and says "You are trying to trick me, but I am too smart for you! You are a FAKE Kyo! I must freeze you!" She pulls out a spell card. Kyo couldn't see it, or hear it's declaration, however Ail shouts "Kyo, this spell card is called Icicle Fall! Just stand in front of her!" Without hesitation, Kyo stands in front of her as she shoots small icicles sideways, then smiles at her, and punches her right on the head, knocking her out, leaving a large bump on her head. Just then, Reimu arrives to the scene. "You found him!?" she shouts. Kyo signals her to come down. When she lands, she sees Ail frozen to his neck inside a large block of ice, and Cirno knocked out to the other side. "AIL!" she shouts in relief "you idiot, what happened to you!?" Kyo smiles saying "we were that worried, buddy. You really gave us one hell of a scare!" Shivering, Ail says "I am sorry to have worried you so much. Now, I've used up all my energy keeping myself warm... so could you PLEASE get me out of here!?" Kyo and Reimu laugh a little ashamed, blast the ice off, wrap little dog-Ail around a white cloth, then head home, Reimu flying while holding Ail, and Kyo using his tree branch slingshot maneuver to reach the other side."

Back at the shrine at night, Reimu finishes explaining about the letter. Still shivering Ail says "I k-k-knew about the letter. B-B-But Yu-Yukari said sh-she'd only h-h-help if I learned to *achoo-sniffle* use my barrier p-p-powers" Reimu looks at Ail looking sad, then Ail responds more calmly, shivering less "I didn't know the contents of the letter, just knew there had to be something going on outside, but all we can do now is survive, so we can let our families know, in a future, that we are well, and amongst wonderful friends." Reimu smiles then looks back at Mima, Suika and Kyo, who were drunk and celebrating Ail's safe return. Mima says "I think I'm getting the hang of thiz danmaku business, look!" She points her finger at Reimu and one yellow shard-like danmaku pops from her finger and straight to the ground. Mima, Suika and Kyo look as the tiny shard on the ground vanish, then Suika says "you need to drink more!" Kyo shouts "YEAH! Let's drink to that!" then Mima gets really close to him and says "you're a SMART hunk!" Reimu turns back around and asks "I wonder whatever happened to Marisa. She was supposed to be looking for you as well." Ail sneezes again and says "she'll turn around *achoo sniffle* eventually." Reimu looks at Ail and says "we need to get you medicine..."

At the Hourai clinic, Eirin looked frustrated, Reisen was falling asleep on her feet, Rinnosuke was still telling Marisa to ignore the face, and Marisa, although her color and warmth had returned, she was still shocked in bed saying "the face, the face, it's looking at me!" From outside, Reimu shouts "Eirin, do you have something for colds!?" She opens the door. She was holding Ail, wrapped in a white sheet and looks at the scene, then calmly walks to Marisa saying "so THIS is what happened to her!" Ail sneezes again then says "told you she'd turn up somewhere." Rinnosuke panics saying "it was just a prank, I didn't know she'd freak out like this!" Reimu looks at Marisa, then says "Oh, I got just the thing" then throws a yin-yang ball straight at Marisa's face, who recovers miraculously shouting "HEY, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!!?" All in the room, but Reimu and Ail, were incredibly surprised at Marisa's sudden recovery. Marisa looks back at them and says "whoa... I was having this strange dream about a monstrous face and... hey wait, where am I?" she then looks at Reimu and Ail and says "oh, when did you find Ail... why is his face green?" After many apologies by Rinnosuke, prompt payment to Eirin, cold medicine retrieval and, again, prompt payment to Eirin, everyone heads to their homes, Marisa giving Rinnosuke a ride on her broom. Just as Eirin and Reisen close the mansion door behind them Reisen asks "hey, have you seen Tewi... or princess Kaguya for that matter?" Eirin responds "they are probably asleep by now... come on Udonge, time to sleep." "Okay Master" replies Reisen. Just outside the gates of Entei, hanging from tall bamboo shoots were Tewi to the left side, and Kaguya to the right side calling for help. "Why did you set two of these!?" asked Kaguya. Tewi, looking tired replies "they were supposed to be for Reisen and Reimu!" Kaguya sighs and says "I order you to get me down, NOW!" then Tewi answers "I can't reach you... we'll have to wait until someone else comes." Both fell quiet, letting their hands hang, then suddenly an arrow cuts both ropes, the girls falling down hard on their faces. Eirin was looking outside the window with her bow at hand saying to herself "today... was busy."

To be continued...
Characters, scenario and spell cards all belong to ZUN
Ail and Kyo were created by Willie G.R.

JUN 27 2009
written by
Willie G.R.