Tuesday, October 27, 2009

One Random Sukima 5

The full moon rises from the east, turning more red as it continues to rise in the skies. Eirin, Kaguya, Reisen, carrying the unconscious Tewi, and Rika, walk hurriedly toward Entei. Rika asks "Please, can someone tell me what's the matter? Why do we have to hurry..? I want to look at the Moon. It's so beautiful!" Rika stops to admire the moon, but Eirin pulls her hand and says "Rika, please trust us. It's very dangerous to be outside at nights like these. The mansion's not far. I'll explain more there, but now we must hurry." To their left, some of the bamboo shoots rattle violently. Eirin points her bow and arrow at that direction, signaling Rika with her head to continue walking. A sudden roar, followed by a loud squeal, and then sounds of flesh being torn and consumed. Kaguya shouts "Eirin!" then everyone starts running, Rika following their lead, until they all reach the Entei mansion. Kaguya says "phew! Last time I stayed outside on a night like this, I died five times, remember Eirin? Oh, my clothes got so messy." Kaguya is about to open the door, when Eirin points her arrow toward it and shouts "PRINCESS!!" then gestures her weapon to the left. Kaguya silently nods, then backs away from the door. The door begins to rattle on it's own, causing tension to rise, and even Tewi, who wakes up just now, senses danger, and immediately crawls to Reisen's back, using her hair to hide under. Rika stands next to Eirin, getting ready for a fight. Eirin says "please, just say back." Rika replies "I want to help, to make amends for the trouble I caused earlier." Eirin smiles, then silently nods. The door rattles more violently, then stops. Eirin and Rika continue to stare at the door, then, with a loud bang, the door bursts open and Yukari, with half her body inside her gap, bursts out with her hands in the air and shouts "YOU FOUND ME~~!" Eirin fires her arrow, turning it into a red beam that strikes Yukari right on her chest, making her scream in pain, then drop down, leaving her body hang limp while still in her gap. Rika says "oh... miss Yukari!" Eirin says "oh great... it's her." Rika shouts "oh no~! She's dead! You killed miss Yukari." Eirin calmly says "relax. She's just fine." Yukari springs up, gets out of her gap, gets close to Eirin, and angrily shouts "hey, that HURT, you hag!" Eirin smiles dangerously and in a sweet tone of voice she says "my, this ancient wrinkled woman dares call me a hag, how amusing." Yukari says "ancient!? I'll have you know, I am 19 years old!" Eirin smiles and says "oh, and you dare call me old? I'm 17 years old." Yukari shouts "I'm 15" Eirin replies "well I'm 13." Yukari shouts "Oh YEAH!?" Kaguya, Reisen and Rika watch the childish battle, looking at the quarreling women with disbelief and disappointment, while Tewi just rolls on the ground, laughing herself to tears.

After calming down and getting safely inside the Entei Mansion, Reisen prepares some tea, sets it on the table, along with some rice cookies, but before Rika joins in, she asks "miss Yukari, how could you do that to me? And on such a dangerous night like tonight!" Yukari smiles, takes a sip of tea, then says "this place is not for the feint of heart. If you want to live here, you have to prepare yourself for everything. Anything can happen, be it something good, or something bad." Rika stars at Yukari and angrily says "I understand what you are saying, but you left me defenseless out there! What if something happened to me?" Yukari says "fu, fu, fu~! Darling, you're not defenseless. You'd had your spell card with you all the time in your right pocket." Rika whispers to herself "spell... card?" She rummages through her pocket and finds it, right where Yukari said it was. When she looks at it, she sees an image of a yin-yang orb, however, there are chains on it. Yukari looks at it and says "oh my... it's sealed? I wonder why is that?" Rika stares at Yukari for some time, then, before she asks, Yukari says "spell cards is what we use here to show our strength and power, without going overboard. Without them, we couldn't use any spells at all, however, you shouldn't rely on them all the time, deary. Now, as to why your spell card is sealed like that... I'm afraid I am not sure myself." Rika turns her attention to her spell card and thinks "Oath Keeper?" Yukari asks "something wrong?" Rika turns her attention back to Yukari, then says "no, it's nothing." Yukari covers her mouth upon opening her fan, then silently smiles. Eirin says "well, it's too dangerous to go out tonight, so, miss Rika, you may stay here if you like." Rika bows, almost striking the table with her forehead, then says "oh, please, I don't want to be a bother." Eirin smiles and says "you won't be a bother. Besides, it looks like you have nowhere else to go, unless this youkai has an idea?" Yukari looks away, pretending not to hear anything. Rika then says "well... I guess you're right." Eirin smiles and says "great! If you need anything..." Eirin smiles in such a wickedly evil fashion as she looks at Tewi, that it makes the entire room tremble in fear, then continues saying in a dangerous undertone "...ask little miss TEWI. She will help you, as payback for tricking you like that... got it!?" Tewi gulps and nods, then Rika calmly says "alright. Thank you very much for your hospitality." Eirin smiles casually, and says "no need for thanks. It's the least Tewi can do for you." Rika giggles and smiles angelically. Everyone, except for Yukari, seem to hide their eyes under their hair as they stare at Rika's smile, then all of them start bleeding through their noses. Rika panics and asks "oh my! A-are you alright!? What happened?" Only Eirin answers after wiping her nose, her eyes still hidden under he hair as she says "it's nothing, sweetie. It's nothing."

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gates, Ail greets Meiling, whose shift is just about done. "Meiling, how are you?" Meiling opens her eyes widely, then excitedly, she says "Ail! You're back! I'm so glad to see you're safe!" Ail smiles and says "I'm glad to see you too." For a moment, they stand there, just smiling at each other, then Meiling asks "what's the matter... aren't you coming in?" Ail scratches his cheek and says "well... you see... I've come to challenge your mistress, and... Well I don't want to get you in trouble, so..." Meiling smiles, then says "I won't get in trouble... my shift is over now. You came in after I left. See you later." With a smile on her face, Meiling enters and closes the gate, then quickly enters the mansion. Ail waits for a bit before jumping over the gate, then quietly following inside. Once inside, he hears Patchouli arguing with someone. "But you can't think things so logically. If you do, you'll just continue to fail." A familiar voice answers "I... I just can't think like that, Patchouli. I need to know how, and why it works like that." Patchouli growls, then says "look, it's too dangerous for you to go back to the shrine, so you can stay here. Maybe I can help explain some more, but right now, I am hungry, and I'm sure you are too." The footsteps get closer, so Ail presses himself against a wall, hoping that his presence will go unnoticed, but to his surprise, his boots start glowing blue for a moment, then he turns completely invisible. He thinks "thank you, Nitori!" Soon after he turns invisible, Remilia passes by him, looking quite content alongside Sakuya, then Meiling comes from behind them, then, from the basement stairs come Patchouli and Koakuma, accompanied by Renko, to Ail's surprise. Ail thinks "so, Renko wants to learn something here, huh? Wonder what it is? To think she and Patchy couldn't see eye-to-eye just a few weeks ago." Ail continues to sit against the wall for about an hour or two, then everyone comes out of the dinning room, all headed back the way they came. Remilia stops in front of where Ail is hiding. Sakuya asks "my lady, is something wrong?" Remilia smiles as she glances at Ail. Ail knows she sees him as clearly as he can see her, then nods. Remilia says "Sakuya, Meiling. Come with me to the tower, please. She turns to Ail, then says "I'll wait for you there." then winks. Both Meiling and Sakuya look at their mistress confused, but follow her regardless, Sakuya asking "my lady, what is this all of a sudden?" After they are gone, Ail gets up, then gets shocked by his own boots, as the the invisibility feature turns itself off, probably becoming useless in the process. Ail blows out a bit of smoke from his mouth and whispers in an angry undertone "Nitori~!"

Ail reaches the clock tower without delay, and upon opening the door, he sees Remilia standing at the very top of the tower itself, expanding her arms toward the sky as she looks up at the red full moon. As if sitting on the air, to her left is Meiling, and as elegant as ever, to her right, is Sakuya, and both immediately turn their attention to Ail. Still facing the moon, Remilia says "Anilan, I am so glad to see you again. You've been gone for some times... 3 weeks? A little more, a little less?" Ail bows and says "I am glad to see you too, lady Remilia." Remilia replies "I see you've picked up some manners. Now tell me, are you sure you want to challenge me during such a beautiful red moon like this?" Ail thinks "she already knows. Alright, this saves some explaining." Ail stands firm and says "yes. I truly wish to do this." Remilia spins in place, stopping when facing toward Ail with a content smile on her face, then says "what are the conditions?" Ail says "same as the first time we fought." Remilia's content smile turns twisted and wicked, then she says "I see. Tell me something. Are you not satisfied from last time? Perhaps you think I LET you win? Or is it, perhaps, something else?" Ail bows his head and says "please forgive my insolence in asking this, but didn't you hold back last time?" Remilia slowly glides down from the tower as she says "yes, I did, but do not mistake THAT as letting you win. I was aiming to defeat you without killing you, and you beat me, never-the-less." Ail says "at first, out of my own arrogance, I though you were disrespecting me, demeaning me, thinking I am weak." Ail places his left hand on his chest, making the tip of his fingers glow bright white, then says "but after thinking for some time, I feel the one being disrespectful, is me... thinking I am all that because I defeated you last time." Remilia's smile vanishes as she looks neutrally at Ail. Ail says "fight me at your full power, lady Remilia. Allow me to prove to you and myself that last time my victory was no fluke." Remilia continues to look into Ail's eyes and says "understood. I will not hold back. Sakuya, Meiling!" Both Meiling and Sakuya float farther away. Remilia says "I have asked them to act as witnesses to this battle, knowing they are dear friends to both of us. I also asked Patchouli to stay inside at all times." Ail nods and says "I understand, and agree. She wouldn't like this one bit." Remilia smirks, then Raises her hands and says "five spell cards each. The conditions, if I win, you become a servant to me and MY servants... if YOU win, you'll have unrestricted access to the mansion at any time. Agreed?" Ail bows his body, then stances ready for the fight. Remilia continues to smirk as she raises her hand above her head, unleashing a small, but intense red energy orb, then, as soon as she releases it, she shouts "BEGIN!"

In a flash, Remilia sends the red energy toward Ail, turning into a small lance while in the air. It goes so fast, Ail is unable to see it at all, but to his luck, she misses him by inches. Ail sweats a lot after realizing he didn't even see that attack, but composes himself, stances ready, then realizes Remilia is nowhere in sight. He looks around and thinks "where is she? Is she invisible... no.." A sudden blur catches his eyes, then he thinks "she's moving fast. Faster than I can follow... Calm down Ail. Take a deep breath... you can do this. Focus!!" He closes his eyes and hears Remilia's wings flapping all around. Remilia smirks after Ail closes his eyes, then swoops in to attack, but Ail reacts just in time, grabs Remilia by her hands and pushes her away, causing himself to spin for a moment, so he uses the momentum to fire a pair of white lasers at her after stopping. The momentum allow his lasers to fly fast enough to graze Remilia, who is able to react at the very last second, and avoids being hit directly. Remilia smiles and says "impressive, but can you keep this up for long?" Ail smiles back and says "I was just about to ask that same question." Remilia drops her smile and says "tch. You're getting cocky. Let's take care of that." Remilia unleashes a barrage of those small lances straight at Ail. Using a barrier, he manages to escape the barrage, then shoots various small orbs at Remilia. She dodges those orbs as if it were child's play, then unleashes 5 more lances, then swoops toward Ail, along with the lances. Before Ail is able to react, three of those lances strike his shoulders, and before he is able to recover, he is struck hard by Remilia's head, and is sent flying hard toward the large clock tower, his back breaking open a large hole on the wall. Remilia quickly pulls out a spell card and shouts "Devil Sign - World in Nightmare!" Remilia turns into a bat, just as Ail gets up, holding his back in pain, then starts shooting speedy red knives and slow-moving red orbs all around her. The knives move in a straight line, surrounding Remilia, and moving toward where Ail is. He yelps when he see's the speedy red knives moving toward him, so he starts to fly away from them as fast as he can, also avoiding the large red orbs that come from the center of the attack. He tries to fight back, but Remilia's bat form is impossible to hit. She laughs as Ail notices this particular detail, but then Ail pulls out his own spell card and shouts "Light Sign - Holy Dance!" As a large round barrier of light safely encases Ail within it, 8 lasers spread and trap Remilia within two of them, just as Remilia turns back into her vampire form. Remilia continues her attack, but tries to find a way out, however, the lasers prevent her from even going upward as they move left, right, up and down, so she intensifies her attack, hoping to break that barrier and cancel Ail's spell. From the barrier, trios of white orbs are expelled, all forming small triangles, as they head toward Remilia, who is barely able to dodge the assault. Roughly 20 seconds pass and neither show signs of slowing down. Remilia intensifies her spell, making her knives move faster and the orbs hit harder. Ail's spell now adds light-blue petals in straight lines going along-side the lasers. Meiling and Sakuya look at each other, then Meiling asks "should we stop them?" Sakuya replies "we'd be the targets if we did that." Just after saying that, a blinding flash lights up the entire lake, as both spell cards defeat each other at the same time. The explosions cause the floor below to break, causing both Ail and Remilia to fall inside the main hall.

Ail gets up, looking a bit surprised at Remilia. He turns his attention to the collapsed roof and says "Wow... did we just do that?" Remilia spring up, using her hands, landing on her feet, then shouts "AAAHHHH MY ROOF!!! She clenches her teeth and turns toward Ail as her face turns red and her left eye starts twitching. She points at him and says "you're gonna pay for that!" Ail sweats and waves his hands as he says "alright, alright. We got a fight going on now." Remilia smiles again as she prepares herself for melee battle, then says "right. After you're my slave, I'll make you rebuild the entire roof by yourself." Ail prepares himself as well with a smile on his face, then says "first you'll have to beat me, lady Remilia." Ail takes the offensive and rushes to Remilia, trying a kick behind her knees, but Remilia jumps out of the way just in time and swipes her claws at Ail's shoulder, leaving three cuts. Ail quickly backs away, then uses his barrier and turns it into a hammer which he swings straight at Remilia. She stops the hammer from falling with her two hands, then pushes it back, but before being able to recover, Ail is right in front of her and blasts her with two focused exploding orbs that send her flying against her chair, then he pulls out a spell card and shouts "Brightness - Overwhelming Heart!" Large bright white rings expel from Ail's heart and expand along with large white orbs trailing along, scattering aimlessly after reaching 5 feet of distance. The rings also start moving around unevenly between each other, making them harder to avoid. Remilia stands firmly on her feet, waiting for the rings to be close enough, then pulls a spell card from her pocket and shouts "Divine Spear - Spear of the Gungnir!" Remilia cuts her forearm and uses the blood to create a large spear then tosses it at Ail. Both spells clash, and for a moment, it seems Ail's rings are strong enough to push Remilia's spear back, but Remilia tosses three more, as quickly as she can, then breaks through Ail's rings and strikes him directly, sending him flying back against the door and sliding down to the floor. She smiles and thinks "this was way~ too easy" then prepares another spear, quickly launching it toward Ail. Just before the lance hits, Remilia sees a blur heading left, then moving behind her, but before she can react, Ail spin-kicks her back and sends her spinning in the air, flying straight toward the wall just above the door. Remilia, still stuck to the wall, rubs her head and looks on as Ail, who's leg is still in the air, spins in place, screaming "someone STOP ME~!" He continues to spin faster and faster, looking like a small tornado in the room, then his boot blows black smoke, and slowly, he stops spinning. After the spinning stops, his eyes spinning in place and smiling quite silly, Ail tries to keep himself from falling down, stumbling aimlessly and speaking gibberish. Remilia, after popping herself off the wall, casually walks to him, grabs his shoulders, then slaps him on the face. Ail manages to return to normal, then says "thanks." Remilia smiles and says "you can thank me by NOT HOLDING BACK! Now come on!!"

Inside Patchouli's library, Renko, Koakuma and Patchouli feel the tremors from the battle. Patchouli gets up and angrily says "rawr! How can we READ with all this NOISE!? I'm going up there. I don't CARE what she said to me!" Renko asks "want me to come?" Patchouli turns to her, placing her hand in front of her, signaling Renko to stop, then says "no, you continue your studies. Koakuma will help you if she can. I won't be long." Patchouli turns around and hovers toward the exit as she says "and please, if you see Marisa, DON'T confront her. She's too much for you, so let her take anything she wants!" Renko gulps and lowers her head a little. Koakuma walks closer to Renko, just as Patchouli slams the doors shut, then places her hand on Renko's shoulder and says "please, don't think ill of her. It seems she worries for you." Renko says "I know, I know. But sometimes I feel she's demeaning me. She should be a little more sensitive." Koakuma sighs and says "she's who she is, miss Usami." Renko sighs angrily, and buries her face inside the book she was reading before, then says "fine... err, Koakuma, could you tell me what's this symbol for?" Koakuma smiles and says "certainly." The two stay studying symbols and magic spells, while Patchouli, unwisely goes and investigate the battle noises from above.

At the main hall, Remilia continues to move around Ail with great speed, making it hard for him to follow, but He is able to block the attacks just as Remilia gets close. Ail thinks "I can't keep this up. If this goes on, she'll eventually get me." Remilia, while moving around, thinks "I got him on the ropes. Now all I need to do is tire him out, and win this." Ail's senses are getting accustomed to Remilia's speed, making it easier for him to follow, and just as he launches at her, Remilia launches at him, both holding energy orbs in their hands, and when they are inches away from each other, they stop and look to their right. Their eyes widely open and their pupils shrinking to the size of marbles. A large lump on the small carpet moves on it's own toward the door. Even Meiling and Sakuya, who are still on the broken roof, witnessing the fight, look on in surprise. At the end of the carpet, out comes Yuki, who immediately realizes her cover is blown, springs up to her feet, rubs the back of her head with her right hand, and nervously smiles and chuckles. She looks at Ail and Remilia, then says "er, I am not here... you can't see me. It's a spell. Yes... you THINK you can see me, but you can't. A pile of books drop from under her skirt on to her feet. She smiles widely, sweating and trembling a little, then starts to wave her hands in front of herself and says "I am not here~!" then manages to slowly slither back under the carpet. Sakuya, looking annoyed, rolls the carpet along with Yuki in it and says "this carpet needs cleaning. I'll be back in a second." She places the carpet on her shoulder, then vanishes in an instant, then comes back almost 2 seconds later, places the carpet back in it's place, elegantly bows, placing her right arm on her abdomen as she says "all clean, my lady." then flies back up to the broken roof. Remilia face-palms hard and says "if these interruptions keep up, we'll never finish this." Ail nods and says "I agree. I guess we better stop playing around then, agreed?" Remilia smiles and pulls out a spell card from her pocket, then says "agreed." Ail smiles back and pulls out another spell card, then stares at Remilia. Just outside the mansion's gates, Yuki lies on the floor with her entire back and butt covered in daggers. She lifts up her head, crying streams of tears from both eyes and whimpers "uuu~ pincushion."

Remilia releases her spell card as it glows red and floats in front of her, then she shouts "Scarlet Bat - Vampirish Night!" After Remilia declares her spell card, Sakuya says to Meiling "she needs to change those names, don't you think?" Meiling quietly nods with a smile on her face, then both receive a red dagger on the shoulder just as Remilia shouts "I HEARD THAT!" Ail gets surrounded by various bats that shoot red daggers at him, surrounding him in daggers that come from all directions. Ail tries to declare his spell card, but the number of daggers is overwhelming. Remilia laughs and asks "what's the matter? Too much for you?" Ail looks around, then spots an opening just above Remilia, so he rushes above her, getting stabbed on the left shoulder, then manages to declare his spell. "Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core" 7 blue and white stars with 8 sharp edges materialize around Ail, then each tip scatters at the speed of light, all trailing sharp blue spikes that scatter in straight lines of 5, and homing white petals. Remilia moves around as much as she can, but the number of danmaku from Ail's attack overwhelms her, however she continues her assault, but realizes the daggers aren't even touching Ail at all. She looks on surprised and says "tch, invulnerability, huh?" Ail smiles at her and says "more or less." Remilia continues to dodge what she can, then Ail, after 10 seconds of activating his spell, starts dodging the daggers as best he can, getting grazed by around legs. As both fighters concentrate on each other, the doors to the main hall open up, Patchouli shouting angrily "Remi, what's going on... here?" Patchouli opens her eyes widely, the pupil shrinks, then she begins to tremble. She whispers "no... stop this..." She lifts her trembling arm and points at them with her finger, then shouts "STOP IT, you two!" She coughs violently, losing her concentration, but she composes herself and tries once more, but Meiling gets behind her and wraps her arms around Patchouli's shoulders. Patchouli struggles and says "Meiling, let me GO! I have to stop them!" Meiling calmly says "mistress' orders. Nobody's allowed to interfere." Patchouli starts crying as she commands "Meiling, I ORDER YOU to let me go!" Meiling sighs and says "please forgive me, and just watch, lady Patchouli." Patchouli stops struggling, having some trouble breathing as she cries, then angrily whispers "idiots." Remilia and Ail are covered in cuts and bruises all over. The right side of Remilia's face is covered in blood, and Ail's left and right arms are full of cuts and burns, bleeding through the cuts on his shoulder. Remilia's spell times out, so she starts moving around freely, trying to avoid Ail's spell, but she is struck various times by the scattered spikes, getting stabbed on the back and arms by 3 or 4 of the spikes in the groups. Ail's spell card times out just as the homing white petals are about to strike her, and immediately, Ail and Remilia start moving around the room at amazing speeds. Sakuya, Meiling and Patchouli are having a very hard time trying to follow them, and all they can hear is the reaction of energies every time the battlers clash against each other.

Remilia and Ail continue their high-speed melee battle, Remilia using her claws for both offense and defense, trying to strike Ail and blocking his attacks, while Ail covers his arms in a barrier and blocks Remilia's claws and tries to strike her directly. Both rush to each other at amazing speed, then both strike hard against each other, clashing their right arms, causing an energy wave that turns off all the lights in the room, leaving only the eerie light of the red moon to light the room. Afterward, Remilia backs away to where her chair was, and Ail stands on the carpet where Yuki was hiding under. Remilia takes a few breaths, then sighs and says "you sure have improved a lot from last time." Ail bows and says "thanks. In all honestly, these boots of mine are enhancing my abilities a little." Remilia says "good. It's been some time since I got a good sport... other than Reimu, that is." Remilia takes out another spell card form her pocket and says "before we continue, I have a question for you." Ail nods and says "please, ask away, lady Remilia." Remilia smiles, closing her eyes and looking down on to the floor, then raises her head, looking neutrally at Ail, and asks "why is it that I can't seem to change your fate? You see, I can see where your fate lies, and I can change it, and although I do not have total control over this, it's almost impossible for me to even see yours. Tell me, how this even possible?" Ail closes his eyes as he pulls a spell card from his pocket, then says "it's because I love going against fate. I use my entire will for this. If fate wants me to die, I will go against it and live on. That's just one example." Remilia smiles and says "I see. I am quite impressed. It even seems to me that you've been doing this long before learning you're half-youkai." Ail nods, then Remilia says "alright then. I'll let you know right now, you current fate is to become my servant and stand by my side for ages to come. Can you change this? Can you use that will of yours and prevent this from happening?" Ail bows and smiles, then says "I already felt this and am currently doing all I can to go against it." Remilia smiles wickedly and says "good. Then come at me, and show me this will of yours. I wish to experience it's full power!!"

Remilia and Ail declare their spell cards at the same time, both cards floating just above their heads, Remilia's glowing scarlet, while Ail's glows blue. "God Devil - Remilia Stoker" "Mad Waves - Raging Waves" After the declaration, Sakuya, who continues to sit on the broken roof, Meiling, and Patchouli, who stand in the hall, watching the fight, all think "those names are just laughable." Remilia unleashes 25 red lasers all around her, trapping Ail between two of them as she unleashes a wall of red knifes that scatter all over, coming non-stop toward Ail. Ail shoots 6 pairs of 8 extra-large orbs in straight lines. To his right, and left, two of those lines stand vertically, while the last two position themselves horizontally under Ail, then from the orbs a wall of blue crystals scatter quickly toward Remilia, clashing against Remilia's knives. Afterward, the orbs spread as they fly toward her, followed by waves of water that release even more blue scattered crystals. The orbs and waves open a path for the crystals, and although Remilia tries to release enough daggers in time, various of the crystals reach her, all exploding violently on contact. Remilia shouts in pain, but continues her attack, regardless. Ail also continues his attack, both of them repeating the spell patterns, getting faster each time. By the 4th strike, Remilia's had enough and her spell cancels out, while Ail's times out just then." Remilia pants and says "water... it's so annoying!" Ail asks "should we stop?" Remilia smiles, then gets up on her feet and says "we still have ONE more spell card. Ail smiles back and says "wouldn't have it any other way, lady Remilia." She smiles wickedly at Ail, then he smirks back, and both become a blur to the others once more, as they move as fast as possible, trying to strike each other with either high-speed melee tactic, or quick danmaku play. Orbs, lasers, knives, daggers and shock-wave after shock-wave is all the three witnesses can see. Remilia and Ail stop for a moment, then shoot various orbs at each other, both covering their faces with their forearms as the barrage strikes, then rush at each other very quickly, locking each others hands, pushing against one-another. Remilia asks "why aren't you using those gaps of yours?" Ail replies "want this to be as fair as possible." Remilia smiles and says "you are certainly a rare breed. That's very commendable of you." Ail smiles, but a sudden pressure against his fingers makes him shout in pain. Remilia squeezes his hands tightly, then lets go of his right hand, lifts him up in the air by his left, spins him around very violently, then flings him against the corner. The impact makes the whole floor rattle, the wall crack, and a large chunk of roof to weaken. Ail is dizzy and unable to recover in time. Remilia smiles and says "I'll do this quickly!" Remilia launches at him as he is unable to move, bearing her fangs and claws, ready to strike hard, but to Ail's luck, the large chunk of roof falls a few inches away from him, blocking Remilia, who yelps just before crashing against the chunk of rock, cracking it and turning it to pieces in the process. Remilia stumbles in a circle with her eyes spinning, trying to speak, but saying gibberish, then sits on the ground a few feet away form Ail.

Sakuya feels a great urge to go and aid her mistress, but if she did that right now, Remilia would never forgive her. Patchouli takes the away a book she was using to avoid seeing Remilia's impact from her face, looking at the dazed battlers, then says to Meiling "see? This is why I wanted to stop them. They're gonna end up hurt, or DEAD!" Meiling sighs and says "Mistress Remilia gave us strict order, lady Patchouli. You know we can't go against her orders." Patchouli sighs and says "I know... I know. I'm sorry." After some time passes, Ail and Remilia recover from the daze, then Ail says "whoa... that was fun.... let's do it again!" Remilia angrily shouts "NO! That HURT. Let's just get on with this!" Ail nods and says "right. Have at you!" Immediately, Ail unleashes his focused orange energy orbs that explode on contact. Remilia quickly moves away, avoiding both the orb and it's blast, then fires a small lance toward Ail, who uses the walls to bounce himself away from it, just as it strikes where he was just standing. Remilia tries to surprise him by standing right where he's about to land, and trying to claw him as hard as she can, but Ail manages to get an impulse and arc just above Remilia's attack range. Remilia smirks and pulls out one more spell card, then Ail stands firmly on the ground and pulls out his last one as well. Remilia says "we do this at the same time. Whichever cancels out first loses. Agreed?" Ail nods and says "agreed." They declare their spell cards at the same time, both cards glowing, Remilia's floating next to her, glowing scarlet, while Ail holds his on his hand as it glows white and green. "Scarlet Gensokyo" "Earth Sign - Earth Spirit Heartbeat" Remilia blasts blue extra-large orbs in arcs that release a wall of red orbs that, for a moment, stay floating in mid air, but very suddenly start moving around at a fast pace. At the same time, Ail unleashes a massive amount of white and green crystals that shape a heart around him, momentarily protecting him from Remilia's fast bullet barrage. The crystals scatter, beating at the rhythm of Ail's heart, then Ail shoots various blue orbs from his hands straight at Remilia, at the same time as he unleashes the two pair of white lasers that encase Remilia between them, however, since he's not on the ground, no vines come to help. They both continue their assault on each other, Remilia unleashing that heavy barrage of red orbs, and Ail unleashing that equally heavy barrage of crystals, however, Remilia is getting tired, as Ail continues to assault her with his homing blue orbs as well. Ail notices Remilia is getting tired, so he decides to move a little, making his laser strike her at the same time as the barrage of crystals and blue orbs. Remilia screams as her spell cancels out, then falls down to the floor quite hard, her body expelling some steam. Sakuya immediately shouts "It's over! Ail wins!" Immediately, Ail stops shooting, then takes a deep breath and sits down hard on the floor, closing his eyes. Patchouli, Meiling and Sakuya rush inside.

Neither Ail or Remilia move at all, both have their eyes closed. Patchouli's heart starts beating fast, as a cold fear takes over her. Sakuya places her hand on Patchouli's shoulder and says "relax, they are fine. Just exhausted themselves." Ail smiles and opens his eyes, then says "that was one hard battle." Remilia sits up as if nothing had happened to her and says "bah! You just got lucky. You were mine back there!" Ail jokingly says "dream on~!" Both start laughing, then Patchouli gets angry, her face turning red when she screams "that's not funny! You two could have been killed. What where you thinking!? And look at the roof, it's a mess. This entire room... There's blood everywhere! How are we going to *cough cough*" Patchouli starts coughing violently, then drops on the floor too. Meiling says "take it easy, lady Patchouli. They are alive and well. Isn't that good enough?" Patchouli stops coughing, then thinks for a moment and smiles as Meiling helps her back up, then says "yeah... I guess so." She lets her arm hang limp in the air as Meiling continues to hold her, then Meiling says "miss Sakuya.." Sakuya replies before Meiling says anything else "yes please. And make sure to cover her up well. It's chilly tonight." Meiling smiles and nods, then in a motherly tone, says "come on, lady Patchouli. Let's go to your room." Patchouli continues to smile with her eyes narrowly open, walking beside Meiling as she helps her to her room, then weakly says "please... take me downstairs before. I need to check up on Renko." Meiling giggles as she grabs Patchouli and carries her out the room and says "alright. But then you're going to bed, alright?" Sakuya stares at them as they leave through the door and thinks "what's with this mother-child atmosphere?" Ail and Remilia get back up, then they walk toward each other, shake hands, and Remilia smiles as she says "well, I guess you won. You may continue to visit the mansion as you have all this time. Feel proud of yourself. Your powers, along with some 'luck', have earned you victory. This proves your last victory was no fluke... my friend." Ail smiles, narrowing his eyes, and says "glad to hear that... Remi." Remilia lets go of his hand, then places both hands on her waist and says "however, I will still be expecting payment for the damaged roof." Ail scratches his left cheek, smiling embarrassed, then says "heh heh heh, I guess I don't have a choice there, huh?" Remilia frowns and says "I wasn't kidding when I said you had to pay for that." Ail bows with a smile and says "that's fine. I'll even lend a hand whenever I can." From behind him, Ail feels as though he's being run over by a bull as he flies toward the ground, landing hard on his face. Remilia casually says "ah, Flandre. Thanks for not interfering with out fight." Ail grumbles in pain "hi... Flan... chan." Flandre hugs Ail for some time, rubbing her cheek on his back, then gets back up and says "I am so glad you won, because if you didn't, I'd have to kick your butt." Remilia looks confused and asks "what do you mean?" Flandre, with an innocent and angelical smile on her face says "well, big brother and I had a battle earlier, and he beat me, and if you had beaten him, then that mean he's not stronger, but I am weaker, and then I'd be REALLY mad. *giggle*" As Sakuya and various fairy maids begin to clean and rebuild the room, Remilia looks surprised at Flandre, then at Ail, who is still on the floor, unable to get up, then grabs him by his shirt and shouts "HEY, you didn't tell me you fought my sister before!" Ail's head fall limp as his eyes spin and a silly smile covers his face. Remilia looks at him a little worried, then says "er, Sakuya... please prepare one of the guest rooms. Seems mister Anilan will be staying the night." Flandre looks innocently as she asks "Onee-sama, what's wrong with him?" Remilia lets go of Ail, letting him drop to the floor, then grabs Flandre and give her a big hug as two fairy maids grab Ail's legs and drag him out to the hall, then says "Flan... it's been so long since you called me that." Flandre giggles, then smiles innocently, tilting her head a little to the left and says "well I didn't feel like it."

Down at the library, Meiling carries Patchouli to Renko and Koakuma, who panic and spring up from their chairs, knocking them down, then Patchouli lets her head drop down, looking neutrally at the girls, then says "don't worry. It's only my asthma. I'll be fine in the morning. Just wanted to tell you that Ail will be escorting you back to the shrine in the morning." Renko nods quietly, then picks up both chairs as Patchouli addresses to Koakuma. "Koa, please go to the main hall and recover the books the black and white one tried to steal." Koakuma looks confused and says "but... we haven't seen Marisa at all, right miss Renko?" Renko nods and says "it's been pretty calm in here." Patchouli calmly says "oddly enough, this time it wasn't Marisa. Well, please, get to it." Koakuma flaps the wings on her head as she salutes Patchouli while saying "right away, lady Patchouli" then quickly flies toward the library's exit. Meiling says "well, is that all miss Patchouli?" Patchouli nods, then Meiling says "then off to bed you go." As she gets carried away by Meiling, Patchouli adds "oh, miss Renko, please ask Koakuma to take you to one of the guest rooms when you get tired, alright?" Renko quietly nods and watches as Meiling carries Patchouli, then hears the door closing shut, sits back down, opens a book, and after a long and loud sighs, she says "I'll never be able to do this."

At Entei, Rika is unable to sleep, so she exits the room she's sharing with Reisen, then heads to the living room and sits there, looking out the window, admiring the countless stars in the sky. she sighs and thinks "this is going to be a very interesting place to live in. The people here have such amazing powers and abilities... I hope I can serve my new master well enough. First I have to meet her, though." Rika takes out her spell card from her pocket and stares at it while thinking "this spell card... With it I could use spells and powers to defend myself. But this one is sealed... I wonder why?" From behind comes Tewi, wearing a collar with a chain attached to it and says "thanks for not pulling on the chain." Rika gets startled and hides her spell card immediately, then turns to Tewi and smiles, then says "miss Tewi. Did I wake you up? I'm sorry." Tewi sweats and thinks "is this girl for real?" Rika says to her "please, don't bother yourself for me. I know that miss Eirin said you had to serve me, but I don't want to be a bother." Tewi stares at her in disbelief, then says "even after all i did to you?" Rika says "that was a pretty mean trick, but... it was harmless, so I forgive you." For a moment, an image of Reisen fills Tewi's mind, but she just ignores it. Rika then continues "tomorrow I get to meet my master. I hope I can serve her well." Tewi gets closer, then says "you are too kind... are you an angel?" Rika lets Tewi sit beside her, then start brushing the rabbit's hair with her fingers, then says "no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?" Rika looks at Tewi and notices she's fallen asleep, so she quietly smiles and continues to stare at the stars through the windows, letting the rabbit sleep against her shoulder through the rest of the night.

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Ail's spell cards were created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by snapshot2010

OCT 27 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

One Random Sukima 4

It was quite a long night for Budou, Ail, Sanae, Phredia and Eirin. Budou had woken up just as Eirin injected her with nutrients and anti-venom. She tried to escape many times, but quickly, she lost all her strength. Ail managed to get close to her with Phredia's help and convinced her to come out to be treated, with promise to blow up Eirin if she tried any experiments, which, of course, disappointed her quite a lot.

It's past midnight and Eirin is exhausted, so Reisen helps her to her room as soon as she receives Ail's payment. Sanae holds on to Budou, who even asleep, refuses to let go. Phredia falls asleep and uses Sanae's head as a bed and her hair as covers. By the gates to the Entei Mansion, Reimu leans with her back against the wall, crossing her arm and smiling almost too wickedly. She says "well, it was about time. How is she?" Ail and Sanae smile back at Reimu, then Ail answers "luckily, she wasn't poisoned, but she was drained. That creature absorbed a lot of her blood along with some nutrients." Sanae rubs Budou's head and says "it's a miracle she's alive." Reimu stops smiling and looks to the ground. Sanae and Ail look at each other and try to say something to her, but Reimu lifts her head up, smiles again, and says "glad to hear she's ok. Come. Kanako is waiting for Ail at his house, and Suwako is patrolling around her shrine. You should be safe at my shrine for tonight." Ail and Sanae smile, then all fly toward Reimu's shrine. Ail asks "we won't be a bother?" Reimu calmly replies "of course not. Now come, Kanako's probably ready to do her rounds."

Morning at the Hakurei Shrine. Inside the shrine, the girls are all sleeping around each other in a circle, while Ail sleeps farther away. Something quietly drags Ail's futon outside as he contently continues to sleep soundly. Once outside, Kanako stands next to him, holding one of her largest logs with both her hands, smiling triumphantly, raising her log above her head and ready to strike down hard on the half-human. As she smiles wickedly, she whispers "you tried to defile my Sanae, so now you receive just, godly punishment." Kanako clenches her teeth as she raises the log high above her head, but then stops and drops her log upon feeling a painfully strong tug on her ear. The log falls on the ground hard enough to strike Suwako, who is under the dirt, but jumps out immediately after being struck, then she ALSO feels a painfully strong tug on her ear. Before either goddess can react, they are pulled together by their ears, head-butting each other hard, seeing stars flashing in front of their eyes as they both fall on the ground. Sanae smiles while glaring angrily at both goddesses, who upon the sight, embrace each other tightly. Shaking, Suwako asks "Sa-Sanae, wh-what's the matter? Heh heh." Kanako adds "you didn't have to do that." Maintaining the furious smile, Sanae stares at the goddesses and says "now you two listen up. You lay one finger on him, and you'll be cooking your own meals for a year, understand?" Both Kanako and Suwako cry as they whimper "no~ anything but that!" Suwako says "Sanae's cooking is the best. You can't do that." Sanae continues to stare, and smiles as she says "then leave him ALONE!" Kanako says "but he tried to dirty our Sanae" One, then two strikes on the head for each goddess by Sanae leave two bumps on their heads. Suwako asks "Why me too?" Sanae says "leave-him-alone! Besides, what if I WANTED him to kiss me!?" Suwako and Kanako look at each other through the corner of their eyes; Suwako whispers "she won't listen to us." Kanako whisper back "what happened to my Sanae?" Suwako replies "she grew up." High above the skies, a little black blob flies toward the human village, unable to keep steady, as it asks "is that so~?"

Ail wakes up to a beautiful morning, just outside the shrine. He looks around and wonders what is he doing out there, but shrugs and sits up on the futon, stretches and yawns, then is struck by a quick hug and a loud "PAPA~! Good morning papa!" Budou clings on to Ail's neck, as energetic as she was before. Ail chuckles and says "Budou, good morning. You seem to be feeling much better now, right?" Budou giggles and says "yes. Papa was right. That lady was not bad after all! Oh yes, gramma and big sis want to say something to you!" Ail thinks for a moment "gramma...? Big sis...?" He snaps his fingers and thinks "right... Kanako and Suwako." From inside the shrine, looking apologetic, Suwako, with a bump on her head, and Kanako walk toward Ail, kneel in front of him, then say "we're sorry." Ail stares with curiosity, then Kanako says "sorry for saying all that and for hunting you down." Suwako adds "and for trying to throttle you this morning, and for trying to make you pee on the futon." Ail opens his left eye wide, while Budou laughs. Sanae comes with a bowl of water and says "caught her just in time too." Ail sweats and scratches his right cheek, then says, with a forced smile "err... that's ok, I guess. No harm done, right? Apology accepted. Just... please, no more of this. I have a lot to take care of right now." The goddesses continue to bow and say "thank you very much." Kanako thinks "I'll get you yet." Suwako thinks "we'll see about that." Reimu comes walking from the shrine and says "ahh, you're awake. Good. Shou wants to see you at Byakuren's temple today." Ail manages to get up with Budou on his arms and asks "Shou? Did she say what for?" Reimu looks at his face and stares, then smiles and says "don't worry too much. Come on, let's eat. I'm starving." Sanae smiles and says "I'll help with breakfast." Ail adds "I'll get the table ready." Budou shouts "I'll help papa!" Kanako sighs and says "fine. Can we eat here too?" Reimu sweats a little and says "this isn't a restaurant, you know!?" As they head inside, Kanako says "aww, have a heart. We haven't had a nice meal in weeks." Suwako gets annoyed and shouts "that's because you keep messing my cooking with those old recipes of yours!" Kanako growl "who are you calling old, you dirty frog!?" Mima, Maribel and Renko watch everything from inside the shrine, unable to say anything at all, but Maribel smiles, heads toward Kanako and Suwako, then says "you both look plenty young, so please stop fighting." then smiles at them. The goddesses look neutrally at Maribel, then Suwako says "you're cute. Can I keep you?" Maribel panics and sweats as she says "n- no~! What kind of question is that? Of course not!" Suwako then says "Aww~ And here I was hoping to get a new pet. Cute kitty~!" Suwako jumps on Maribel's back, then starts to gently pet her cat ears, making her relax and start purring. Mima and Renko look at each other disgusted, then Mima says "that's so immature."

It's noon, and Ail finishes sweeping around Reimu's shrine, as thanks for the night and breakfast. Sanae, Budou, Phredia, Kanako and Suwako are just about to leave when Ail says "please take care, and take good care of Budou for me." Almost crying, Budou asks "but why can't we go home, papa!?" Ail kneels, rubs Budou's head, then says "I'm sorry, Budou. I have to take care of something very important. But I'll go pick you up as SOON as I am done." Budou sniffle as she wipes her nose with her forearm and says "ok papa. Be careful. The sparkles are looking after you, but they have to sleep too." Ail smile and says "thanks. I'll be alright. You'll see." From inside the shrine, a woman says "oh, she's purring. So CUTE~!" They turn their attention to Reimu, who points to her left, then they turn to look at Renko, who looks neutral as she points to her right at Mima, who is rubbing Maribel's ears while her nose bleeds and red hearts fly all around her. Maribel is lying on her stomach on the ground, smiling like a content cat on it's master's lap. Renko sighs and says "so much for maturity." Without realizing it, Suwako is no longer next to Kanako. When they look around for her, they spot her at the other side of Maribel, rubbing her right ear and saying "cute, isn't she?" Mima replies "and she's all mine~!" with a heart in her mouth. Kanako sweats and looks on with disbelief. She walks inside, blowing a cloud puff from her mouth as she enters, then comes out, dragging Suwako by her leg. Suwako struggles to go back inside, saying "wait, no. Let me stay a while longer. Come on, I wanna pet her some more! She so so~~ft, ple~~ase!" Kanako growls "you got Budou, so stop complaining!" Suwako calms down and gets up straight, then smiles and says "oh yeah, that's right!" From inside, Mima's eyes are cast in a blue shadow, opening her mouth wide and sweating a little, then quickly leans to the floor, placing her left forearm on her forehead as she bangs the floor with her right arm, crying "that's s unfair~!" Sanae gets closer to Ail and says "please... don't lose, ok! If you dare lose, I'm going to kill you!" Ail chuckles nervously and says "I don't plan on losing. I'll come back, free as ever." Sanae sighs, grabs Ail by his shoulder, then kisses his cheek, causing the two goddesses to stare at him with shadows cast on their eyes. She backs away, grabs Budou, hiding her saddened face from the little youkai, and says "good luck then", then flies away, Phredia quickly following. The goddesses force a twisted smile toward Ail, making him feel awkward and uneasy, then both fly after Sanae. Ail turns to Reimu and Renko, bows and says "thanks for your hospitality." Reimu replies "remember, she's very dangerous, so keep alert at all times." Ail smiles, turns around and as he walks away he says "I'll see you guys later." Renko gasps, then says "oh, that's right. Reimu, I have something to tend to, so I'll be heading out." Reimu smirks and says "alright. Just keep your eyes open too, alright?" Renko tries to smile back, but she is to nervous to do so, and says "y-... yeah, of course."

Ail lands in front of Byakuren's temple, and he's immediately greeted by Shou Toramaru. "Well, hello, mister Ail. I was wondering if you got my message." Ail smiles nervously and says "heh heh, sorry. So what is it, miss Shou?" Shou gets uncomfortably close to Ail's face, and stares. She says "please, close your right eye." Ail, obediently closes his eye and asks "what's the matter?" Shou shushes him, then gently brushes her fingers through the precise location as where her claw-marks were. She smiles and shouts "HA! I can't believe it! You understood why I scratched your face like that, and you managed to learn what I wanted you to learn!" Ail looks surprised, then Shou says "the claw-marks I gave you are gone... completely healed." Ail smiles and says "I see... yes, it took some effort, but I finally understood, and I am grateful to all my friends for helping me as they did." Shou smiles, grabs his right arm, places her hand on Ail's bracelet, making it glow orange for a moment, then lets go after the glowing stops. Ail looks at the bracelet and notices a tiger design under the others, roaring fiercely, and swiping it's claw. Shou continues to smile, then says "I need a big favor from you." Ail looks at Shou, smiles, then asks "sure. What is is?" Shou points toward the road that leads to the Misty Lake, then says "follow that road on foot. You should come across three mischievous little youkai who keep scaring villagers for their amusement. One of them is very powerful. A blond vampire dressed in red." Ail looks seriously at Shou and asks "Flandre? Shouldn't you tell Reimu-?" Shou speaks over Ail's voice, saying "this little vampire has an attachment to you, and only YOU can save her now." Ail gets surprised and asks "save her!? What's wrong with her?" Shou smiles and says "follow the road and you'll find out." Ail stares neutrally at Shou, but turns his head when he hears a familiar voice calling to him. "A~~il! A~~~IL!" Ail looks on as Nitori flies toward him, hovering above the ground, using one of her rockets to fly to him, holding a box on her hand. She stops just in front of him and her rocket gets inside her backpack. She smiles and says "I finished! They are ready for you!" Ail looks confused and says "Nitori, so glad to see you... er, what do you mean?" Nitori narrows her eyes while smiling, then opens the box and Ail sees his old boots, fully restored and looking like new. Ail looks on with awe and says "my old boots... You finished them, I see. They... look like NEW!" Nitori smiles and says "they are IMPROVED. These babies will help you increase your power with the new energy device I implanted in the sole. It should also make walking a LOT more comfortable than those tattered black slippers." Shou and Ail look at his slippers. Shou giggles, then Ail sits on the ground, pulls them off, grabs his boots, then puts them on. Immediately, he feels a surge of energy as Nitori says "your power should be nehanced the second you tie those laces. I've added a few other features too, but I'll let you figure that out on your own." Ail shivers, but keeps quiet. Nitori happily says "and so, I will expect your payment soon, but please, don't feel obligated to pay all at once. Take your time. And with that, I leave you now. Take care." Nitori winks, her rocket pops out of her backpack, then fires up and sends her flying through the skies at great speeds, back to the Youkai Forest, while she screams her lungs out. Shou smiles and says "I'll be taking these destroyed slipper and dispose of them for you." Ail smiles and says "thank you very much, miss Shou. I best be off now. Please take care." Shou chuckles and says "you better take care too. Lady Hijiri would be sad if you didn't return." Ail smiles back, however, he doesn't know what to answer back, so he just signals Shou a farewell, then follows the road to the Misty Lake. Shou smirks, then stares at Ail's old, destroyed shoes as she walks toward the Temple.

Noon at the Bamboo forest. The sky is turning gold, slowly, as the sun begins it's descent. One of Yukari's gaps opens up in the middle of the forest, and out comes a girl in shrine maiden outfit, who falls rolling on the ground and lands on her stomach after she stops rolling. Yukari, whose voice echoes all around the girl, says "let's see if you are truly ready, sweetie. If you can survive long enough to find me, then I'll consider you ready... if no~t... Well, I'll let your family know." From the ground, the girl shouts "hey... wait a minute! Yukari?" The girl gets up on her feet. She has long wavy brown hair that reaches her waist, and an enchanting pair of light-blue eyes, the color of the sky. She wears a common kimono-style shrine maiden outfit. The bottom skirt is white with red Strips from both sides that go to the bottom end of her skirt. The upper part is white and long sleeved. Much like Reimu's old outfit, and around her neck, she wears a big red ribbon with flame designs and the letters in kanji for "The Will of Fire" half written in one part of the ribbon, the other half at the other part of the ribbon. Looking confused, she looks around and shouts "Yukari~! Where are you~!" She crosses her arms, hugging herself, and says "oh... I guess she knows better." The girl extends her arms beside herself, clenches her right hand into a fist, placing it bravely in front of her right cheek, and with great determination in her eyes she says "I will pass this test! Just you watch me!" A suddenly rustle to her left startles the girl, joining both arms on her chest, clenching her hands together, raising her left leg, then trembles as she says "who- Who is there? Show yourself!" For a moment, the rustling stops, then, a small white rabbit pops from between the bamboo. The girl lowers her guard and says "aww, it's just a cute little bunny. Hello little friend." She smiles as she approaches the rabbit, ready to pat it's head, when she realizes there is a girl dressed in pink, wearing a carrot in a necklace, with red eyes, short black hair, and a pair of white rabbit ears, staring at her. The rabbit smiles wickedly and says "well, here's a face I've never seen before." The girl stares curiously at the rabbit girl and asks "are those ears real?" The rabbit girl says "your definitely not form around here, huh? Well, consider yourself lucky. My name is Tewi Inaba, and I happen to be the youkai of luck! Stick with me, and you'll be ju~st fine!" The girl stares at Tewi for a moment. Tewi says "staring is rude, miss, er.. what's your name?" The girl gets a little startled, then bows and quickly says "my, I'm sorry. My name is Rika. Pleasure to meet you, miss Inaba." With glints in her eyes, Tewi places her arm around Rika's neck, then says "please, call me Tewi. Now then, come with me!" As they walk toward the unknown, Tewi casually asks "so what's your family name? Are you being rude to me? And what brings you to MY forest, Rika?" Rika replies "I'm sorry, but I am an orphan, so I don't really have a family name... and I'm supposed to find someone, miss Tewi. Your forest is so pretty, by the way." Tewi chuckles and repeats "please, call me Tewi. Just Tewi."

Tewi leads Rika to a clearing in the forest. Many rabbits, white, brown, black, and blotched colored, all surround Rika, as Tewi sits on a make-shift throne. She closes her eyes and proudly says "Rika, since you have invaded my forest, I will ask of you three favors in return for my help." As the rabbits get closer to Rika, she asks "three... favors?" Tewi continues to talk with her eyes close, her chest expanded, and looking important as she says "yes. And if you fail even one, I will not help you, got it?" Tewi gets no response, so she opens one eye, then realizes Rika is kneeling next to the rabbits, petting as many as she can, smiling angelically as she does. Tewi looks on with disbelief, feeling a little sick on the stomach, then asks "are you even listening to me?" Rika calmly replies "yes, mi- er, Tewi. Please, tell me what I must do." Tewi smirks, then says "I've been walking all day all around my precious forest. Please, rub my royal feet." Rika's eyes are cast in shadow as she asks "ru-rub your feet?" Tewi stretches her legs and toes, then wiggles them around as she stretches them, then says "yup. Don't think this is all just for me. I'm a rabbit. You should get LOADS of luck if you rub my feet." Rika sweats while she forces a weak chuckle along with a small smile, then finds herself rubbing the feet of what she believe to be, the queen of the forest. During this time, Rika says "my, for such a hard worker, your feet seem to be in perfect condition, Tewi." Tewi smiles and says "why, thank you very much. Now..." Tewi gets up with a hop, feeling relaxed and very soothed, then sits back down on her throne and says "for the second favor, I want you to build an elaborate set of traps on the road." Rika looks quite confused, then Tewi says "we have to keep the enemies of the forest at bay. Let them know, the queen doesn't suffer fools lightly!" Rika thinks for a moment, then smiles and says "ah, that makes sense to me!" Tewi then adds "you've got one hour~!" Rika opens her mouth wide, her eyes cast in shadow, and sweating after hearing the ridiculous time limit for the request.

1 HOUR LATER

Rika returns to Tewi. Her clothes are a little dirty, but she smiles as she holds a small white rabbit on her arm and pets it with her other hand, then says "mi-... Tewi, the traps are all set!" Tewi looks at Rika and says "really? Well, took you a little longer than I had hoped, but I'll be a kind queen and consider this a success, IF they work correctly." Rika stares confused and asks "but how will we know how they...?" Tewi shushes Rika and says "the enemy approaches. Keep quiet." Rika hears the voice of a woman contently humming as she walks down the road. Her footsteps stop, then the woman says "oh... this is odd. What a beautiful flower. But I've never seen a flower as beautiful as this growing around these parts." The sound of a heavy bag being set on the ground echoes lightly around, then quiet. The woman says "my, I should replant this somewhere else, or someone will step on it." The sound of rope tightening reaches the clearing, along with the woman's scream of horror. The sound of the rope snapping, as the woman continues to scream at the top of her lungs reaches them, then a metallic 'clang' and a crushing sound, along with light choking, then a loud explosion, a splat, a burst of fire, and then a rumble!" Rika stands behind Tewi, counting with her fingers, leaving her pinkie upward. From the road, the woman cries "ow, o-hoh-how, OW~. What was all that just now!?" Tewi chuckles mischievously as Rika taps her shoulder lightly. Tewi pushes Rika's hand away, then Rika says "but, your majesty... I mean, Tewi. One of the traps-" Tewi turns around, looking triumphant, then says "a-pa-pa! For the last favor, I want you to find the exact value..." She rummages around her dress, then pulls out a paper and a pencil, then finishes saying "...of pi!" Rika can't believe her ears. She backs away, her eyes cast in shadow, her mouth wide open, her hair springing up from various parts of her head, and the atmosphere behind her turning blue and heavy. She stutters as she asks "e-e-exact va-v-value? O-of pi? B-but, but-" Tewi forces the paper and pencil on Rika's hands, then smiles. Rika sweats as some more strands of hair spring form her head, then another pair of voices are heard coming from the other side of the road. One sounds very young, and says "the sound came from here!" A more adult-sounding voice replies "alright... what's this?" The younger voice says "ooh, dumplings!" Immediately, a whirring sound along with the girl's scream, followed by a loud explosion and crumbling sound fills the forest. The adult woman shouts "PRINCESS!!!" Rika asks "princess?" Tewi freezes in fear. There is silence, then Tewi breathes with relief, saying "phew.. I think they're go-" An arrow flies just beside Tewi, clinging to her clothes and sending her against the bamboo wall, trapping her. Rika shouts "queen Tewi!!!" A silver-haired woman wearing a red and blue outfit and a matching nurse cap asks "queen?" She points her arrow at Rika and says "I see. Miss, come with me. I'm afraid you have been tricked. And as for you!" The woman turns her attention to Tewi and gets closer, looking at the rabbit girl with murderous eyes, casting her shadow on Tewi.

Ail walks toward the Misty Lake, lost in though as for the reasons of having to deal with Flandre. He thinks to himself "this isn't good... I can't fight both Flandre and Remilia on the same day... they'll destroy me. What to do?" A wicked child-like laughter makes Ail stop where he stands. He immediately recognizes Flandre's laughter, followed by Rumia's, and then, a third one he can't seem to recognize. Everything turns dark; Ail is unable to see anything at all, and then, right in front of him are Rumia, Flandre, and whom he believes is Agava. He points at her and asks "A... Agava, is that you?" Agava smiles and says "hey, haven't seen you in a while, dummy." Ail snaps his fingers and says "yup, that's Agava. So what can I help you with?" Flandre scoffs and says "you're not even saying hello, huh? Just glance and walk away!? I don't think so big-... Ail!" Ail immediately realizes, by the looks on her eyes, that she's angry. Ail concernedly asks "Flandre, what's the matter? There's... something about you. Why are you so sad?" Flandre shouts "SAD!? You are as stupid as I thought. I'm not sad, I'm ANGRY! You are the reason big sister got HURT!" Ail calmly replies "you know I'd never do anything to hurt any of you on purpose, Flan. You know that." Flandre thinks for a moment. She knows he's right. All she really wants to do is jump on him and give him a bone-breaking hug, but her pride gets the best of her, then she shouts "you made me weak! If I was stronger, I'd have NEVER let Agava trick me like that. I'd have blown her to bits!!" Agava waves her hand and says "hey, I'm right here~." Ail shouts back "if you did that, you wouldn't be having fun with you FRIENDS right now, would you!? You'd be inside the mansion, bored out of your mind!!" Flandre realizes this immediately. Everything around her disappears, replaced by a dark screen. She thinks about all that has happened, and how Agava is now a friend, instead of a murderous monster. Ail then adds "and if it wasn't for YOU, both Agava and Budou would be sealed by now." Flandre lets out a "huh?" as she opens her eyes wide. She thinks about all that's happened, mostly about how Agava truly changed, just to be with her. Flandre relaxes, then smiles as she looks down with a shadow over her eyes. Ail looks on curiously, then Flandre starts to giggle. Ail thinks "so I'll have to do this, no matter what... Somehow, I have to conserve energy. I just hope I know what I'm doing." With a wicked smile, she lifts her head to look straight at Ail, then shouts "Rumia, do it!" Rumia smiles widely with her eyes narrowly open, as a thick film of darkness covers the area Ail and Flandre are in, leaving 3 arc-like openings to let in enough light. Flandre, in a very wicked tone of voice, says "I never played properly with you, Ail, so let have our fist game. Now get ready!!" Ail sighs and says "I didn't want to have to do this, but I guess I don't have a choice."

Flandre giggles some more, as she hovers menacingly a few feet above the ground, then immediately unleashes an unthinkable amount of danmaku, all scattered, giving Ail very little room to dodge. Ail sweats as he watches the bullets head his way, then thinks "here it comes." Calmly, and looking as if he's not putting any effort, he nimbly dodges each and every singly shot with ease. Ail thinks "wow... I wasn't really trying... I see. These boots." He looks at the boots Nitori just gave him and thinks "these really do work. Good. I think I can conserve energy after all." Flandre shouts "HEY, FIGHT BACK! How am I supposed to have fun if you don't fight BACK!" She lunges at him, looking like a blur in the air. Every time she thinks she's got him, he moves a little, avoiding her completely. Flandre continues her assault, trying to strike Ail with her claws, but missing every time. She starts to get frustrated and says "hey, why can't I hit you!?" Ail smirks and says "come on, Flanny. Stop this already." Flandre's cheeks turn red with rage, then she shouts "HEY! I told you not to CALL me that!" Ail smiles, then bows and says "my apologies, Flanny." Flandre's face turns even more red. Without saying a word, still smiling, however, in a very twisted manner, she summons her twisted black rod, then again, like a blur in the air, she rushes him, trying to strike him with her weapon. Ail has a hard time dodging this time, as she swings her weapon, expanding her range of attack, every time she passes by him. She continues her assault, giving Ail a hard time, grazing his shirt as she passes by once more. Ail loses his balance, so Flandre immediately lunges at him, however, Ail drops on his back and uses his legs to kick Flandre upward, then tries to take her weapon away, but Flandre manages to hold on tight, causing Ail to slam her against the ground on her back. She gets up with some tears in her eyes, clenching her teeth in pain. She looks at him angrily and says "that hurt! I'll make you PAY for that." Agava, who is standing next to Rumia by one of the arcs, says "she's getting mad, and he won't attack. This could get ugly, fast. Rumia, shouldn't we stop them?" Extending her arms and smiling as she watches the fight unfold, she replies "no reason to. Just watch." Agava crosses her arms across her chest, then continues to quietly watch.

Flandre tries to fight Ail at close range, swinging her claws as fast as she can, trying to strike his face and torso, but Ail manages to dodge with ease, matching the vampire's moves perfectly. As he does this, he thinks "I'm not putting any effort here. These boots; are they enhancing my skills and reflexes as well? I'll try something..." Flandre swings downward, thinking she's struck Ail with a smile on her face, but she quickly realizes he's behind her. Before she can turn around, Ail pushes her, almost making her fall to the ground. Flandre manages to stop and looks back at Ail wish shock and surprise, then says "how-how can you match my speed? That's never happened before... YOU'RE CHEATING, AREN'T YOU!?" Ail shrugs, but doesn't answer. Flandre giggles as she pulls out a spell card form her pocket and with a smile, she says "alright, you cheater. I can play your game, so LET'S PLAY!!!! Forbidden Barrage - Catadioptric!" Blue extra-large danmaku orbs with medium and small orbs trailing along, start bouncing all over the small dark dome. The space is so confined, that even with the enhancements, Ail is singed and grazed various times by the smaller orbs. He looks around while dodging the boucing orbs and the scattered ones, then thinks "I'll have to use a little more..." He flips, jumps, flies, twirls, missing many orbs, some passing right in front of his nose. He finally gets in range, then flip-kicks Flandre behind her knees, making her flip and fall right on top of one of the larger orbs, which explodes on contact. The spell cancels out, so Ail quickly steps away from Flandre, who growls as she gets up. She glares at Ail as she slowly gets back on her feet, then, without saying another word, she pulls out another spell card, and almost screaming, she declares "TABOO!!! LAVATEIN!!!" Her weapon turns into a long red beam-sword and immediately, she swings it from left to right, trailing various shard bullets in an arc that scatter as they fall. Ail manages to dodge this wave with easy, but Flandre is not done, and swings from right, to left, and then, almost immediately, again, from left, to right. She swings wildly now, however, in her loss of control, she can't generate enough bullets to cause Ail much trouble. She growls loudly when she notices this, then tries thrusting the beam-sword at Ail, who, without effort, dodges all her attacks, again, thanks to his enhanced boots. In her rage, Flandre foolishly raises the sword above her head and forgets about the trailing danmaku. She watches and trembles as the shards head her way, freezing on the spot. Her own bullets hit her hard, canceling her spell card. Rumia asks "is it over ye~t?" Flandre gets up and shouts "NOT YET! I'm going to break him... heh... I'll BREAK HIM!!!" Flandre laughs maniacally as she pulls out another spell card, then frowning, she shouts "Taboo - Cranberry Trap!"

All around them, red and intense-blue medium danmaku orbs fly from all directions, literally trying to trap Ail in the center of the bullet concentration. To his luck, he is able to find many gaps between her bullets, and without effort, goes right through them. Many times, bullets are mere inches away from him, but he manages to spot them in time and move accordingly. Flandre gets angrier and intensifies her spell. The bullets move faster, however, they have more, larger gaps in between. Ail thinks "enough of this!" He surrounds one of his hands in a blue barrier, then he bats a group of orbs that fly straight toward Flandre. She dodges them just in time, sticks her tongue out, then a washtub falls on her head, canceling the spell. Flandre floats back to the ground, holding the back of her head with both hands, then kneels low to the ground. Kneeling, she springs her torso up, and with tears in her eyes, her face even redder with rage, and looking straight at Ail, she shouts "HEY~! What the HELL was that!?" She looks above her and sees one of Ail's gaps closing. She clenches her teeth, almost bearing her gums, growling with intense rage as she turns her face to Ail. She gets up and pulls out two spell cards from her pockets, then growls "you... you are making FUN of me! I'll teach you you... you ******." Flandre's curse echoes widely, and even fairies fly away crying. Agava and Rumia both stare at her with their mouths wide open, and Ail looks at her with great shock and surprise, then manages to say "h-hey! Young ladies SHOULDN'T say such things!" Flandre shouts "SHUT UP!! Just Shut up and fight properly!" Ail thinks "I though we were playing." but doesn't say it. He just watches as she declares her spell cards.

Flandre stands firmly on the ground and shouts "Taboo!! Four of a Kind!!" Flandre splits into four, and each one of her shoots a different type of bullet, in different rhythms. Ail prepares himself to dodge, but doesn't notice one of the Flandres has the second spell card, then all four at the same time, even while shooting, shout "Forbidden Barrage - Starbow Break!" Ail's face fills with panic, and for good reason. Medium danmaku orbs of red, blue, yellow and green, along with the bullets from four Flandres, create a massive wall of danmaku, all heading straight at him. Ail thinks "she's really trying to kill me. Not even Reimu could survive this... no choice..." He pulls out a spell card, then says "no choice. Flandre, you'll be the first one to experience my newest spell. I'm sorry." Ail plants his feet on the ground as firmly as he can, then shouts "Earth Sign - Earth Spirit Heartbeat!" A massive concentration of green and white crystal-shaped danmaku surround Ail, forming a perfect heart that starts beating to the rhythm of his own heart. Flandre tries to fly away, but realizes she is trapped by various vines that sprout from where Ail is standing. To her horror, all four of her are trapped by these vines. She keeps confident that her wall of danmaku will protect her and blast Ail, but her own bullets are consumed by Ail's, as the crystals scatter around, heading toward her, followed by large blue orbs that come from Ail's own hand and seem to go directly at her, at the same time as two pairs white lasers shoot to the sides, then move, until they aim right in front of Ail himself, creating a trap that hinders movement, however, one of the lasers strikes the real Flandre, followed by the blue orbs and some of the scattered shards. Flandre screams in agony for what seems for her like an eternity, however, Ail had stopped his spell after only a few seconds. Flandre falls to the ground, her body sizzling as some steam expels from her back. Concerned, Ail, Rumia and Agava rush to her.

Ail drops to his knees, sliding next to Flandre, then lifts her up and places her head on his lap, calling out to her. Rumia and Agava watch with worry, Agava asking "is she alive!?" Ail sighs with relief and says "yes... she's alive." Agava grabs Ail's neck with both her hand, shakes him violently, and shouts "you BRUTE, be more careful! You're going against a LADY after all!" Rumia smacks the back of Ail's head and says "dummy!" Flandre opens her eyes, smiles, and weakly says "big... brother. Why did you stop? I wanted to break you to pieces, but you won... you should break me." Ail pulls Flandre closer, hugs her, and says "when will you learn, you stubborn little vampire!?" He helps her sit on the ground, then says "I'd never do that to you, or anyone else, unless I saw no other choice." Flandre looks to the ground, then Ail says "Flandre, stop blaming yourself for what happened. Yes, Meiling got sick, and many bad things happened, but thanks to you, Agava had a full change of heart, and now, you have two friends that play with you, AND you are allowed outside the mansion. Wouldn't you agree everything is better now?" Flandre opens her eyes wide upon this realization, then Ail says "and I'm SURE Meiling has told you she's not mad at you at all, right?" Flandre raises her eyes to meet Ail's, then nods. Ail smiles, rubs her head, then says "now please, try not to scare too many villagers... ALL 3 OF YOU! Understand?" Rumia smiles and asks "is that-?" but Agava smacks the back of Rumia's head hard, then says "not now!" Ail chuckles, then gets back up on his feet, then says "now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business tend to." Flandre manages to get up and ask "what are you going to do, big brother?" Ail smirks and says "you should know by now." Flandre quietly nods, then Ail rubs her head again, then casually walks away, waving at the three girls as he leaves. Agava asks "so? What's he up to?" Flandre replies "he's going to challenge big sis." Agava gets surprised and asks "is he NUTS!? There's a full moon tonight!" Flandre nods, then says "I don't think he'll change his mind at all... whoa." Flandre falls to the ground. Agava and Rumia stand next to her, then Agava says "we better take you home. That last attack hit you head-on, and looked quite strong." Flandre weakly says "he's stronger... I want to play with him again."

As Ail walks toward the Misty Lake, his bracelet makes a soothing whoosh sound. When he looks at it, he notices Shou's symbol glowing orange, then he says "so THAT'S why I got so lucky... thanks Shou." Ail looks to the red sky and notices the full moon rising. Slowly, he lowers his arm and says "so much for luck... a full moon. Should I do this?" He stops for a moment, and just thinks. Youkai are starting to roam about, sounding quite active, so Ail decides to fly to have a better view of his surroundings. He looks at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, then thinks "now is not the time to chicken out. I have 5 blessings, really helpful pair boots, and the will to do this... I can't lose." then flies toward the mansion. As the moon continues to rise, an eerie red light slowly encases itself around the moon. Ail knows it's gonna take more than just will power to defeat Remilia now, and as he flies toward her mansion, he prepares himself for a long and heavy battle against the princess of the night, Remilia Scarlet.

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Agava, Budou and Ail's spell cards were created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by snapshot 2010

OCT 24 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

One Random Sukima 3

Ail wakes up, still inside the Palanquin. The ship still isn't moving, so he guesses they've been stuck there for at least one day by now. He opens his eyes and realizes he's sleeping face-down, but before turning around, he stays there and admires the flower patterns on the tatami flooring. He decides to turn around, and the moment he does, he realizes he's not wearing anything under the bed sheets. He wonders when did that happen, then he realizes, Sanae is right next to him, covering herself up with the bed sheets. For a few moments, Ail analyzes the situation, and the realization hits him as hard as a punch from Suika. He and Sanae are under the same sheets of the same bed. Ail face turns pale, his entire body following quickly. Sanae wakes up and smiles tenderly, saying "darling, you're awake. Good morning" From the door comes Captain Murasa, smiling and shouting "GOO~D MOR~NING everyone! Ohh, busy night, huh? Ah well, just wanted to tell you we MIGHT be stuck here for a little while longer. Now I'll stop interrupting here, so please continue as you were!" Minamitsu closes the door, then Budou jumps from the other bed and shouts "YAY~! I get to have a little brother or sister, right!?" Ail feels all kinds of feelings, mostly surprise and uncertainty. Budou sits in front of Sanae, while Sanae tells her "yeah. maybe you might get TWO little brothers or sisters." Ail's face turns purple and finally shouts "WHA~~T? Wait, when did we-? How did you-? What's going on here!?" The scene completely changes, and now he's in the Moriya Shrine, tied to a rope and hanging right above a large black cauldron with some sort of sickly colored yellow liquid, bubbling and steaming. Probably boiling. Kanako and Suwako stand menacingly beside the pot, dressed in purple robes, there eyes cast in shadow as they smile wickedly. Kanako says "I told you, if you touched my Sanae, retribution would follow." Suwako then adds in a mysterious and dangerous tone "so we're going to have to cook you alive, and then..." The rope breaks and Ail hears the goddesses laughing wickedly as he splashes into the boiling liquid. All turns black as he burns inside the liquid, then Sanae's voice calls for him.

"Ail! Ail~! Anilan, wake up!" shouts Sanae. With a loud yelp and a startled jump, Ail finally wakes up, then touches himself. He says "I'm... alive... I got my clothes on... and..." He spots Sanae smiling at him and casually saying "good morning." He yelps again and jumps out of the bed, falling to the floor on his face. Sanae quickly helps him up, worriedly asking "Ail, what's the matter? Are you alright?" Ail gets up rubbing the top of his head, saying "Sanae... bad dream. How's Budou?" Sanae smiles and says "she's just woken up. The captain gave her some grapes and she seems to be recovering just fine. In fact, she wants to see you." Ail finally wakes up entirely, smiles and says "I'm so relieved to hear that." Sanae smiles and says "come one, sleepy head." Sanae continues to stare at his face, admiring how the claw-marks are almost completely gone; only a small fraction of it remains beside his right eye. Ail asks "S-Sanae? What is it?" Sanae giggles as she twirls and faces the door, and smiling and still giggling, she says "nothing. Come one, Budou's waiting for you." Ail watches curiously as Sanae continues to giggle as she leaves the room. He wonders if something was the matter, but preferred not to think about it too much. He was quite glad nothing like in his dream had happened, but at the same time he feels a little sad and disappointed. After a bit, he follows Sanae to the next room to see Budou.

Immediately entering the girl's room, Ail hears a tired "Papa~!" from Budou. His face shines bright with a smile after hearing Budou's voice again. He turns to her and says "Budou, how are you?" He kneels down beside her bed and gives her a hug. She giggles and says "papa, I knew you and mama were coming. I just knew it!" The little blond elven fairy flies just above Budou, staring at Ail straight into his eyes, then bows. Instinctively, Ail says "it's alright. There's no need to apologize." Budou smiles and says "Phredia is so nice. She still wants to apologize. She thought you wanted to hurt me too." Both Ail and Sanae lightly gasp, then Sanae asks "hurt... you? Budou, what happened to you?" Ail adds "I am very curious as to what happened too. That barrier I placed on you was not weak at all." Budou stops smiling and says "it was Phredia. She though I was trapped, so she cut the top off and got me out of there three days ago." Ail looks curious and asks Phredia "you're that powerful?" Phredia silently nods, then Sanae asks "but if you've been out for only 3 days, why are you so weak... what happened?" Budou's eyes show great fear as she says "Phredia and I stayed close to papa's barrier because I knew you'd come, but... These monsters... they were horrible. They said they wanted my blood... I was scared, but Phredia was very brave and fought them off for a whole day." Ail looks at Phredia and says "then I owe Phredia my eternal thanks." Sanae nods and bows to Phredia. The little fairy blushes a little and turns her eyes away. Budou smiles and says "she's so bashful." Ail brushes Budou's hair with his fingers and asks "but then... what happened? You look hurt, and your clothes, you wings..." Budou trembles and whimpers a little as she says "I was so hungry... I couldn't fly away. After Phredia scared away all those monsters, one of them grabbed us from behind. I couldn't fly away, papa. He squeezed us a lot. His hands had spikes, and they hurt me so much. Phredia started glowing, then this bright light turned the monster into sand, but after that, I couldn't move, then I went to sleep." Budou smiles when she adds "but papa and mama woke me up! And they saved Phredia too! I am so happy" Ail and Sanae smile tenderly, then Sanae says "well, miss Phredia, once we get back to Gensokyo, what are you going to do?" Phredia immediately hugs Budou's neck, then Budou says "she asks if she can stay with me." Ail and Sanae look at each other curiously, then Ail asks "Phredia talks?" Budou looks a bit surprised and says "well of course she can, papa! What kind of question is that!?" Ail sweats and says "yeah, sorry. Well then, of course Phredia can stay with you, then." Sanae adds "I agree. Seems she loves Budou as much as we do." Phredia blushes again and hides her face inside Budou's hair. Budou giggles and weakly cheers and says "yay... Phredia can stay. Thank you mama, papa..." With that, Budou falls immediately asleep again. Ail whispers "she's so tired." He takes her little white bow from his pocket and places it on the left side of her head as Sanae says "it seems that creature's hands had some poison on them." Phredia nods excitedly. Ail and Sanae look at each other worriedly, but keep quiet. Ail thinks "I'm sorry, Budou, but I'm taking you to Eirin's when we get home." He looks back at Sanae, and she nods back at him, as if knowing what he was just thinking.

Ail leaves the room and says "I think I'm going to explore around here for a bit." Sanae replies "alright. I'll patch Budou's clothes in the meantime." Ail smiles and waves as he closes the door behind him, then flies away, exploring the insides of the large ship. All the fairies around stare at him curiously as he heads in deeper into the ship. Reaching a very dark area of the ship, Ail thinks "whoa... I wonder what's going on here. It's so dark." From farther ahead, he notices thousands of tiny red dots. He gets a very bad feeling and decides to head back, but the moment he turns around, he comes face-to-face with Nazrin, who looks at him menacingly, with tears in her eyes. Ail asks "miss Nazrin... what's the matter?" In her hands, Nazrin holds two peculiar black rods that have the symbols for North and West on one, East and South on the other. She angrily asks "what are you doing here, human!? Get out of here, now!" Ail realizes the thousand red dots are actually Nazrin's army of mice. He looks into her glowing red eyes and asks "what did I do to you? Maybe I can..." Nazrin shouts "my best friend sacrificed himself to save YOU! Why? You're just a lowly human! Why did he have to die for YOU!?" Not knowing what she's talking about, Ail decides to keep quiet. Nazrin shouts "I'll avenge him! Yes, that's what he would want! Human, you are going to DIE today!" Ail keeps his eyes on Nazrin, who starts hovering ominously above him, positioning her rods menacingly in front of her. He can hear her mice squeaking excitedly, all of their eyes glowing blood-red along with Nazrin's. Ail looks at her seriously and calmly says "miss Nazrin, you don't want to do this." Nazrin shouts "what the hell do YOU know, human! Today, the mouse beats the all mighty human. COME ON!" Ail sighs as he face-palms, then hovers along with her and says "don't say I didn't warn you." Nazrin lets out an annoyed "tch!" and just like that, lilac petal danmaku flies straight at Ail as she waves her rods up and down, always positioning them away from each other. Ail dodges the danmaku with much ease, barely moving at all, however, he doesn't fire back. Nazrin gets furious and shouts "if you're gonna let yourself get killed, then STOP MOVING!" She intensifies the speed of the bullets, and still, Ail dodges them with ease. He sighs as he fires a pair of white lasers, accompanied by three orange orbs, striking Nazrin quite hard.


Nazrin flinches and drops her rods on the ground while rubbing her face. She glares furiously at Ail and says "that was cheap. If that's how you want to play, I'll make sure to make you feel sorry." Ail stares calmly and asks "so you still want to fight?" Nazrin growls, quickly recovers her rods, and pulls a spell card from under her capelet and shouts "Search Sign - Rare Metal Detector" Nazrin fires six light-blue lasers, two to Ail's left and right, two to Nazrin's, then two just above her, all spread into a circle of scattered light-blue danmaku bullets after hitting the walls, then she moves toward the left as she fires 8 more lasers to the right, all spreading into bullets as they hit the walls. She quickly goes to the right, firing 14 more lasers around and above her and using her bullets for cover, then finally, fires 12 light-green lasers. Ail dodges all the lasers and bullets quite calmly, but does not shoot back at all. Nazrin is just about to start her attack once more, when Ail calmly says "give it up. I don't want to have to hurt you." Nazrin smiles and says "you're just afraid I'll beat you up." Ail shrugs and casually says "fine... I'll just do THIS!" Ail surrounds himself with a strange flickering white and blue barrier that attracts Nazrin's bullets, then sends them straight back at her, just as she continues her attack. She falls to the floor, and immediately her army of mice squeaks angrily at Ail. Ail hovers a little higher, however the mice are climbing the walls and setting themselves just above him; he looks worried. Nazrin shouts "don't you DARE! He's mine to finish! YOU can have his flesh afterward!" All the mice back away into the darkness, so Ail relaxes. Nazrin pulls out another spell card and angrily shouts "Vision Sign - Nazrin Pendulum" The pendant on Nazrin's necklace glows brightly and splits into 3 very large crystals that surround, and protect her. The crystals spin around, expand and retract as they shoot small blue crystal danmaku. Nazrin also shoots one extra large red danmaku orb, and as time passes, the shoots them a little faster. Ail calmly dodges all the shots and the extra large orbs, without firing once at Nazrin. Nazrin, sounding a little desperate, says "hahah, die human!" She intensifies her spell, making the crystals spin faster and shooting many more orbs, using too much energy in doing so. Ail notices this and decides to stop her, before she kills herself. The moment the crystals expand, Ail moves in and tackles Nazrin toward her mice, defeating her spell card in the process.

Nazrin sits up with the help of her mice, all staring dangerously at Ail, who surrounds himself with a barrier the exact size of his body, making it into a blue of suit, however, it hinders his movement. Nazrin has her face full of tears, her cheeks red with rage. She clenches her teeth, almost bearing her gums, and shouts "get him, GET HIM! Avenge our friend!" In an instant, all the mice jump and cling on Ail, however, the barrier protects him, and yet the mice keep gnawing on it. One of them manages to actually eat a piece of the barrier off. Ail notices this and thinks "if I don't do something soon, they're gonna eat me alive... but if I hurt one of these guys she'll only get madder." The lights turn on in that dark room just as an anchor lands next to Ail and the mice. Startled, all the mice scatter away from Ail immediately. Minamitsu glares angrily and asks "Are you ok, Ail?" Ail exhales and says "yes, captain. Thanks a lot. *phew*" Minamitsu continues to glare angrily as she gets closer to Nazrin. She grabs the mouse youkai by her shirt, pulls her up, growling and forcing a most dangerous smile, she asks "what the hell are you doing?" Afraid, Nazrin looks away and keeps quiet. Ail releases himself from the barrier, raises his hand and says "please... don't. Not on my stead, please. Just tell me, what happened? Why is she so angry for her friend... and who was her friend?" Murasa looks neutrally at Nazrin and says "I'll report this to lady Hijiri. Be thankful for him, or I'd have punished you to no ends. Lady Hijiri asked us to bring them back ALIVE, Naz!" Nazrin continues to kneel on the floor, looking at the tatami flooring, hoping Minamitsu will leave her alone. The captain turns to Ail and says "you remember that really big demon, right?" Ail nods, then Minamitsu continues "well, her friend was a really special mouse she cared for since he was a baby. He had to sacrifice himself, or that demon would have caught this ship and torn it apart in a snap of his fingers." Ail looks at Nazrin and says "I see. So I've been wrongly accused by miss Nazrin." Nazrin springs up and shouts "it's YOUR fault he's DEAD! He died to save YOUR sorry human lives!" Ail gets uncomfortably close to Nazrin's face and looks at her with a neutral expression and says "wrong, miss Nazrin, but before I say more, consider this. If he REALLY had sacrificed himself for 'me', wouldn't killing me yourself dishonor his sacrifice?" Nazrin bumps her forehead on Ail's and tries to shout, but then opens her eyes, then realizes what Ail means. Ail says "but he DIDN'T sacrifice himself for me, or Sanae. If what Captain Murasa says is true, your friend sacrificed himself for YOU!" Nazrin drops on her knees as Ail says this. When she thinks about it, she realizes Ail is right. She wants to apologize, but can't speak at all. Ail smiles and says "you see? I am right, am I not?" Nazrin's eyes get glassy as she stares at Ail from the floor and tries to speak, but can't seem to find the words. Ail offers his hand to help Nazrin up, saying "apology accepted, if you promise not to eat me... ok?" Nazrin stares at his hand, then back up to him, then at Minamitsu, who edges her to accept Ail's offer. Nazrin springs up on her own, then runs away, hiding her face from the others. Ail and Minamitsu look at each other, then Minamitsu says "that girl... she's really a good girl at heart. A little too hard-headed sometimes, but what can you expect from a mouse, huh?" Ail sweats and tries to smile, but can't seem to say anything.

Back at the dormitories, Sanae finishes patching up Budou's clothes and she and Phredia manage to clothe Budou while she sleeps. The little bat youkai moans happily, then wraps her wings around herself as she continues to sleep. Sanae wraps her under the bed sheets, then sighs and whispers to Phredia "thanks for all your help." The elven fairy happily bows, then flutters right beside Budou. Just then, Ail knocks and enters the room with Captain Murasa. He asks "how's Budou doing?" Sanae smiles and says "sleeping like a little angel." Minamitsu, at the top of her lungs, shouts "oh right, I forgot to tell you, we are at FULL POWER, so we'll be back home in about 2 hours!" Both Sanae and Ail look at Minamitsu with both surprise and anger. They look at Budou and notice she is still asleep. Minamitsu covers her mouth and softly says "oh my, I'm sorry." Budou starts to turn around, moaning and clenching her eyes tight, but stops and doesn't wake up. All three wipe their foreheads and wipe the sweat off, then Budou starts crying, calling for her papa and mama. All three look at each other in disbelief, then Minamitsu salutes them, smiles and right before closing the door she says "well, seems you got your hands full here, so I'll just be heading out, bye." then leaves. As Sanae and Ail try to calm Budou down, they look at each other and Ail asks "when we land?" Sanae smiles wickedly and quickly adds "I'll smack her head."

At Gensokyo, in the Forest of Magic, Mystia finishes placing the last bits of straw on a brand new nest on a sturdy branch of a healthy tree. She sighs contently and says "phew, finished at last." She hums happily, then starts singing "my nest on a tree~! Green leaves for me~! Get storms away from here~! La la la~!" She continues to hum her song, over and over, unaware that underneath her, behind her tree, someone stalks her, like a shark circling it's prey. The black hat with a white ribbon moves from bush to bush, making no sound as it quickly hides, every time Mystia looks behind her. For some time, Mystia looks all around her. She continues to look around for some time, but then shrugs, then continues to sing and hum. Just above her, to her left, the blond fire witch, Yuki, slowly and quietly slithers, positioning herself right next to Mystia's ear, and quietly takes a deep breath and then shouts, at the top of her lungs "I'M GONNA EAT SPARROW FOR DINNER~~!!!" Mystia panic and flutters her wings desperately, her eyes shrinking to the size of marbles as she struggles to quickly fly away. Finally, she manages to get airborne, shouting "CHI~~~~N!!!" Yuki laughs so much, first she drops from the branch above, to Mystia's branch. Unable to control herself, she continues to laugh harder, then without realizing it, she falls off the tree, landing face-down to the ground next to the tree, however, she continues to laugh. Finally calming down, Yuki says to herself "ho-ho~ man that was so easy! I wonder who should I visit next?" She looks around and between some leaves, she sees Alice's white house. She smiles with jagged teeth and says "target sighted! Commence mission." Yuki looks toward the sky and notices Mai flying just above her, angrily calling "Yuki~~! Yuki, when I find you, you are DEAD! Yu~ki~!" Mai heads straight to Alice's house, so Yuki thinks "tch, dammit. Abort mission. I'll just come back later. Geez, I just ate the last cake. She doesn't have to overreact like that. Bah, whatever!" then hides behind some bushes and continues to swim around them, only her black hat showing above the leaves.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Byakuren and Shou climb the very last step to the shrine, both panting and leaning against the large gate in front of the shrine. Shou says "l...lady Hijiri... maybe *pant* next time *pant* we can fly." Byakuren takes a deep breath to recover, but can't stop panting, and says "now *pant* now Shou, sometimes *pant* some exercise... is good *pant* for you." Watching the whole show, is Maribel, who has her magical cat ears exposed. She holds a broom on her left hand, placing her right hand on her waist and asking "are you alright?" Byakuren and Shou realize they are being watched, and miraculously recover and stand straight, in front of Maribel. Byakuren smiles and says "Maribel, so nice to see you. Is Reimu here?" Maribel bows her head and smiles, then says "miss Hijiri, miss Toramaru. Yes, I'll get her for you." Maribel takes a deep breath as Byakuren says "oh, please do; I have something impor-" Before Byakuren finishes her sentence, Maribel shouts so loud, both Shou and Byakuren duck, covering their ears. "MI~~SS REI~~MU~~!!!! YOU HAVE VISITO~~RS!!!" Maribel smiles angelically, while inside, after the sound of glass breaking on the floor, Reimu's voice angrily replies "dammit!! Maribel, I told you not to DO that!" Reimu storms to the front of the shrine, looking very annoyed. She grabs Maribel by her purple dress and while clenching her teeth, she asks "why are you screaming now?" Maribel continues to smile and points at Byakuren and Shou. Both wave their hands and smile casually saying "hi~" A blue shadow is cast on Reimu's eyes. She lets go of Maribel, bows and nervously says "w-welcome, Byakuren, Shou. What can I do for you today? Heh heh." Byakuren smiles and says "great news, Reimu. I just received word that the Palanquin is headed this way. It should be here in one hour." Reimu looks unimpressed and asks "so?" Byakuren sweats and says "it has 4 very special passengers~." For a second, Reimu doesn't understand, but suddenly gasps and smiles widely, then asks "you mean, Ail, Sanae, AND Budou? Err... who's the fourth one?" Shou says "someone called 'Phredia'. Seems to be a friend. We though you knew her." Reimu continues to smile widely and says "well, if she's with them, she must be a friend. Ooh~, MIMA, RENKO, come quick!" As Mima, Renko and Suika walk out the shrine, Reimu asks "where are they disembarking?" Byakuren smiles and giggles, then says "right here. They should be here in about an hour or so." Reimu turns to Mima, still smiling, and says "Mima, tell Kanako and Suwako to come as quickly as they can. Renko, Maribel, you two make sure everything's ready here. There's gonna be a party, you can be sure of that." Maribel and Renko salute Reimu and say "right away!" then both split up and head to different areas around the shrine. Marisa, startling Reimu, asks "what should I do, daze?" Reimu recovers quickly and says "help me prepare the food!" While Reimu and Marisa discussed what to cook, Shou and Byakuren, a little surprised, look at each other, sweat, then Shou says "do you think we did the right thing here?" Byakuren flaps her hand and says "hey, hey... if we didn't, she might seal us." Shou crosses her arms and looking very serious, she nods. Suika stares at everyone with her narrow, childish eyes and shouts "FINE~! I'll take care of the sake again!" turns into a mist, and flies away, while Marisa, Reimu, Byakuren and Shou stare at her in surprise.

Exactly 1 Hour Later:

Kanako has JUST arrived and is excitedly running around, telling everyone "Sanae's coming home" while smiling widely, like a child in a candy store. Reimu stands on at the front of the gate, smiling excitedly, awaiting the arrival of the Palanquin. Marisa sits by the donation box, repeating "calm down, Reimu. Calm down." Suwako hops toward Marisa, then jumps on top of the donation box, positions herself to face toward the shrine's stairs, then takes a deep breath and starts singing "Aauuu~ auu aa~~uuu~!" Reimu gets mighty annoyed, turns around and shouts "what the hell is that for!!?" Suwako pulls a pair of sad eyes on Reimu, even flickering with tears, as she says "it's a blessing, to help them come home safely!" Reimu looks at Suwako a little disgusted, but apparently, her sad eyes did the trick as Reimu sighs and says "fine... just try to keep it down."

Ail, who's holding Budou, Sanae, Phredia, Minamitsu and Nazrin are all on the ship's deck, looking down from above the clouds. Minamitsu spots the Hakurei Shrine and says "alright, we're here. You guys can fly, right?" Ail nods and says "thanks for everything, Captain Murasa. We owe you quite a lot." Sanae bows and says "yes, thank you very much." Minamitsu blushes tomato red and says "aww, come on, don't get all sappy on me like this." Sanae giggles while Ail quietly smiles at Minamitsu. Sanae, Ail and Phredia wave to Nazrin and the captain, but just before they fly off, Nazrin shouts "wa~it!" Ail, Sanae and Minamitsu look curiously at Nazrin, who now has a pair of baby mice tn the basket on her tail. She looks down to the floor before looking at Ail and says "I'm sorry... about all I said and did." Ail smiles and says "you are forgiven." Sanae looks curiously at Ail and Nazrin, then back at Ail, then asks "err, what happened?" Ail smiles as he calmly replies "just a small misunderstanding. Now come on, I want to see everyone." Budou adds "I want to see Hakurei sis, and bookworm, and bookworm 2, and granny, and..." Sanae giggles and Ail chuckles as Budou keeps naming more friends, then again, they wave at Nazrin and Minamitsu, then jump off the ship, Phredia quietly following them. From the height they are in, the shrine looks very small, but as they descend, it grows in size. Ail is finally able to see Reimu, so he signals Sanae to land behind her. Quietly, the four of them land behind Reimu. Suwako opens her eyes wide and Marisa smirks, as Ail and Sanae signal them to be quiet. They want to surprise Reimu, but Suwako can't hide her excitement in her eyes. Reimu looks at her curiously and asks "Suwako... what's wrong with you now?" Just as Reimu turns around, Lily White crashes on to Ail and clings to his neck, shouting "you're BA~~CK!!!" By the time Reimu turns around, Ail and Sanae are being surrounded by everyone, except herself. Reimu places her hands on her waist, sighs, shrugs, then casually walks toward the group of youkai, humans and gods surrounding the returning humans, and their youkai.

Throughout the afternoon, Lily White leaves, looking tired and almost falling asleep. Kyo, Suika, Mima and Aya, hold a drinking contest, while Nitori, Momiji, and Renko just watch. Orin and Satori chat with Maribel; the goddesses hold on to Sanae tightly, hugging her and rubbing their cheeks against Sanae's; Marisa, Yuki, Alice and Mai are sitting in a semi-circle, talking about spells and potions, and Ail sits by the entrance of the shrine with Phredia sitting on his shoulder while Reimu continues to hold Budou on her lap and brushing her hair with her hand. Byakuren and Alice get closer to Ail and Reimu, then sit next to them, while Shou and Minamitsu head toward the drinking contestants. Reimu smiles and says "I'm so glad to see you all back. You know I'm sorry about..." Ail chuckles and says "no apologies needed. Besides, I almost gave up searching for that source, if it wasn't that I'm so darn stubborn when it comes to fate." Byakuren looks surprised and asks "what do you mean?" Ail sighs and says "I could see that energy flow almost as clearly as Reimu, and on the second day of searching, I was already thinking of giving up... however..." By now, almost everyone has their attention set on Ail and Reimu. Ail takes a deep breath and says "however, as luck would have it, I saw a footprint too large to be of Medicine's or Luna's at the Nameless Hill. I followed the direction is was pointing to and found that Crystal Knight hiding inside a cave. That's when I managed to feel the actual energy flow." Reimu keeps quite so Ail adds "at first, I couldn't grasp the whole situation, since I could see the energy flowing differently than that of what I felt." Reimu raises her sight and says "I see. I guess I should have listened to you after all." Ail starts to sweat and tries to think of what to say, but then Alice asks "hey, Ail. Is that... a doll on your shoulder?" Phredia looks a little annoyed, so Ail immediately says "oh, she's a fairy, actually. A really powerful one too." Alice sighs as Reimu smiles and says "I see. She made a pact to protect Budou. It seems to be unbreakable." Reimu stares at the fairy and says "she's the real thing. Her power could even surpass my own." All stare at Reimu, then worriedly at Phredia, however, the little fairy continues to sit on Ail's shoulder, looking down to the floor, blushing. Reimu then smiles and says "lucky she's not mischievous." Phredia lifts her sights and smiles at Reimu, then immediately flies toward her hugs and kisses Reimu on the cheek, then rests on Reimu's shoulder.

Reimu and Byakuren look seriously at Ail after staring at Budou, who continues to yawn, wake up for a few seconds, then fall asleep again. Byakuren asks "is she alright?" Ail says "I'll need to take her to see Eirin. She was starving when I found her, and seems a demon over at that Makai managed to poison her." Reimu, sounding worried, scolds Ail "Anilan, you should have taken her there immediately! She's just a child!" Ail sighs and says "true. I better-" A sudden chill reaches Ail, Reimu, Byakuren and Alice. They all look behind them and notice Kanako and Suwako staring into Kanako's mirror, which she is holding in her hand and pointing it toward Ail. A wicked shadow is cast upon their eyes as they smile wickedly. Kanako, in a twisted tone, says "YOU~~! You tried to kiss my Sanae!?" Reimu, Byakuren and Alice get away from Ail as he springs up with fear on his face. Kanako looks on and gasps in horror, then shouts "not just once b-b-b-but TWICE!?" Suwako shouts and says "AAH~! Perverted dreaming! Look, look at that!" Sanae shouts "hey, what are you guys doing!? Lady Yasaka, lady Moriya, stop that RIGHT NOW!" Ignoring Sanae, Kanako, in a threateningly dangerous voice says "Suwako, you take the right." Suwako, in an equally threatening voice, says "I'll just blast him where he-... Where did he go!?" Everyone inside, even the drunkards, all turn their eyes to where Ail was when Kanako shouts "HE'S GONE! Suwako!" Suwako gets under the ground, shouting "ON IT!" then Kanako immediately takes to the air, shouting "I know where you live, Ail~~!" Sanae Runs to the door of the shrine and shouts "Wait! Kanako, Suwako, if you hurt him, I'll stop cooking for a week!" Just before Sanae flies after them, Reimu pulls her by the shoulder. Sanae angrily turns around and asks "what!? What is-?" Ail is holding Budou behind Reimu while halfway inside a blue gap. Sanae sight with relief and smile at him. Ail says "I'll be at Eirin's with Budou. Want to come?" Both Phredia and Sanae head straight inside the gap, Phredia positioning herself on Budou's left shoulder. Reimu says "I'll follow later. First I'll try to keep those goddesses busy." Ail bows and says "thanks. I'll see you later then." From behind the shrine, Luna shouts "did something happen!?" Youmu shouts "Hey, we're having a match here. Don't disrespect me!" Yuyuko whimsically says "Youmu~, don't get too close." A blast rattles the ground, then Yuyuko says "I told you~!" Reimu face-palms and says "Maribel, please take care of that for me." Maribel salutes Reimu and says "passively blast intruders. Got it!" then rushes outside. Reimu shouts "no, Maribel, wait!"

To be continued...

Characters, scenario and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Luna, Budou and Phredia were created by Willie G.R.

OCT 21 2009
written by
Willie G.R