One Random Sukima 1

Ail and Sanae enter through the red door, and as soon as they are inside, it closes right behind them, leaving their tents and some of their supplies behind. Ail panics and shouts "oh no! The grapes! I forgot the grapes!!!" He tries to go back, but behind him is a solid red mountain wall, instead of a door. He sighs and says to himself "you stupid, stupid fool!" Sanae sighs then walks away, looking around. Ail notices she's irritated, however he can't figure out exactly why, then thinks "maybe... I've been so damn mopey lately. So many things have happened. Some harder to accept than others. No... if I keep looking back, I'll just end up in that same loop. I have to look forward." With determination in his eyes, Ail clenches his fist, nods to himself and thinks "right. I must be strong. For myself and my friends... and Sanae. Yes, this is what miss Shou was talking about, I am sure." Without him realizing it, the left side of the claw-marks on his face slowly vanish. He goes toward Sanae and says "come on Sanae. Budou's around here somewhere. Let's go find her!" He smiles at her as she looks at him a little puzzled. She curiously looks into his eyes and notices resolve. She smiles and says "y-yes! Yes, let go look for her!" Looking around they realize they are in a very dark world. The ground and the rocks are all red and looks as though they could burn them in seconds. The sky is so dark, it's almost black, but some small poisonous looking clouds reveal a hint of blue up there. The trees look dangerous. Their bark looks dark brown, their leaves black, and some ooze a strange red liquid that looks like blood, yet smells as sweet as honey. Although the ground is so hot, the air is freezing cold. Sanae wraps herself with Ail's cape, while Ail clenches his fist and uses his energy to heat up his body. Ail closes his eyes and concentrates. It's easy since there is no sound of wind, even. Sanae says "this place... it's like being in hell." Ail says "yes... it's too quiet, and even those clouds look dangerous... and I think... yes! Sanae, she IS here! I can't pin-point her location, but I feel Budou's presence!" Sanae smiles and says "well what are we waiting for, standing here? Let's go!" Ail smiles and nods, then both walk together toward a gigantic red mountain, following a yellowish road that trails around it.

They feel as though they have walked for at least an hour by the time they reach the red mountains. Sanae sits on a rock and says "Ail, wait. Let me rest for a moment. I feel so tired, I just want to rest a bit." Ail looks at her curiously and asks "so the rock's not hot?" Sanae realizes she's sitting on the red rock, pats it around and casually says "oh! Well no, it's not. In fact, it's surprisingly comfortable." To their surprise, Suwako starts calling them through the communication orb. Sanae immediately takes it out of her waist bag, looks at the orb with the green frog design in it's center and asks "what was that? Lady Moriya, I can barely understand what you're saying." Under a lot of hissing and crackling sounds, Sanae manages to understand when Suwako says "wait... ampli... sig..." For a moment, the orb fell silent, then Suwako asks "how's that?" Sanae replies "oh, I can hear you perfectly now." Suwako chuckles and says "just wanted to know how are you. Did you find the place yet?" Sanae smiles and says "yes, we're inside it right now. It's very strange. There's no wind, the sky is dark, and even the trees look dangerous." Suwako replies "ahh, I see. Well please take care and come back home soon." Before Sanae is able to reply, a powerful gust sends both Ail and Sanae flying in different directions, both yelping in surprise. Suwako shouts "Sanae! SANAE!! What's going on!? Sanae, answer me!!" Ail manages to get up and witnesses as an entire mountain falls on Sanae, silencing her deadly scream. At that moment, Ail loses his mind and without realizing it, he rushes toward the massive mountain, shouting Sanae's name and pounding on it with his strongest blasts.

As Ail continues to assault on the mountain the remaining portion of the claw-marks on his face turn red, then revert back, then again red, and so on. In his mind he shouts "no! This is all my FAULT! Sanae. SANAE! I killed her!!" Images of Sanae fill his mind as he replies to himself "no, Ail. She alive, and you know it! Just keep breaking this thing. We'll blast it into pieces and rescue her!" Again, he replies to himself in his mind "a whole mountain fell on her. How can she POSSIBLY be alive. You killed, her! You're a monster, Ail!" Again, he replies to himself "no, Ail! Don't give in. Just blast this. Blast this thing to hell, if you have to. Get her OUT OF THERE!" Ail screams loud and unleashes a blast so massive, it breaks a large portion of the mountain, however it's not enough, and he can't find Sanae's body anywhere. He succumbs to exhaustion and grief and is just about to give up, when the mountain simply flies away. Immediately, he rushes to the center where Sanae lies unharmed on the ground. She looks pale, trembling on the ground, her hair frizzy, her arms an legs spread open. She tries to speak as Ail rushes closer. Ail looks at her energy flow and sighs with relief as he says "she's completely unharmed... Sanae." Still trembling, Sanae is unable to get up and looks at Ail with a terrorized expression in her eyes. Ail brushes her forehead with his fingertips and says "Sanae, it's me... Ail. You're alive and completely unharmed. Sanae? Can you hear me?" Sanae continues to stare at him with terrified eyes, but stops trembling. She quickly sits up and holds on to Ail, who is surprised at first, but then holds her back and says "it's ok... you're ok." Sanae replies "so... dark... big... I couldn't move... I... I should be... dead." As Ail pats her back comforting her, he notices the communication orb turning black, then turning to dust. Ail says "Sanae... the orb." Twisting her neck and torso a little, without letting go of Ail, she sees the orb's ashes on the ground. Ail says "that Suwako... She protected your life with that orb." Sanae gulps and says "lady M-Moriya is so thoughtful." A realization hits her thoughts hard. She gasps, pushes Ail back and says "Ail, what if they think I'm dead!?" Ail nods and says "y-yeah. I though about that too. But what can we do? We can't go back now." Sanae looks around, hoping to find an answer, but that's when Ail says "Mima!" Sanae looks at him curiously as he says "I can contact Mima, I'm sure! Give me a minute." Ail closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Inside his mind, he calls for Mima.

In the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu, Marisa, Maribel, Renko, Aya and Mima are adorning the inside of the shrine with welcome banners and colorful string. Outside, Suika sweeps some leaves away, but constantly takes sake-breaks, taking longer than necessary to finish the job. Inside, Reimu, Maribel and Mima hold on to a long pink string. Reimu ties the string at key points, making it into one arc after another. Mima looks bored as she waits for Reimu to finish. She closes her eyes and hears Ail's voice in her mind. "Mima... Mima, can you hear me?" asks Ail. Mima quickly replies "Ail! What's the matter? Do you need my help? Do you want me to come get you!?" Ail replies "no, it's alright Mima, we're alright. I need a favor from you." Mima replies "go on..." Ail says "a mountain fell on Sanae and destroyed the communication orb Suwako gave us. Don't worry, we are both fine. We just need you, or someone to tell the goddesses at the Moriya Shrine that Sanae is ok." Mima sounds worried when she asks "Ail, are you sure that's all?" Ail says "actually, we made it into this Makai, but this place is just horrible." Mima asks "can I look into your mind?" Ail says "go right ahead." Mima can see what Ail sees at the moment. She looks at the ground, the sky, the trees, then says "wow, that looks like a real hell." Reimu reaches Mima and asks "Mima, if you're bored, you can-" Mima shushes her and says "I'm speaking with Ail." Reimu excitedly shouts "AIL!? Is he ok? Is Sanae ok!? Did they find Budou!?" Mima says "not yet... but they made it into the other Makai... It's a horrible place, Reimu... wait... wait, what?" Reimu excitedly asks "what is it!?" Inside Mima's mind, Ail's voice is replaced by a rough, deep, yet calm and wise voice that says to her "you better tend to his request. It sounds important. Don't worry, your friends are just fine." Mima screams, drops to the ground on her back, then crawls backward against a wall. Reimu grabs Mima by her shoulders, shakes her and excitedly asks "what! Mima, what the hell is it!?" Mima replies "big... very big... R-Reimu?" Reimu's face turns as white as a ghost's skin when she asks "big? Mima, what is it?" Mima relaxes and says "it's ok. They are fine. Ail asked me to tell the goddesses at the Moriya Shrine that Sanae is alive." Reimu shouts "ALIVE!!? What do you mean!? Mima, what happened!?"

Back at the hellish Makai, Ail concentrates as he speaks with Mima. Sanae keeps staring at him as he concentrates, and without realizing it, a large black plate quietly sets itself behind them. Sanae feels something and turns around. The moment she looks behind her she turns pale, her heart beats fast, and she trembles as she looks up. She whimpers "A-A-Ail~!?" Ail slightly opens his eyes, then starts trembling as much as Sanae. He gulps as he looks up and notices the body of a large black dragon. It's skin looks like a colossal plate of armor, smoothed out and looking powerful. It's wings cover the sky from view, it's body is so massive, it makes the mountain that fell in Sanae look like a large ice-cream cone. It opens it's red lizard-like eye, which is three times their own size, sitting right behind them, then, in a thunderous, deep, yet clam and wise tone of voice, he says "little humans? Here? Well I'll be. I haven't seen humans in such a long time." Ail and Sanae hug each other, trembling in fear. The dragon smiles and says "you don't have to worry about me, I'm not going to harm you. I'm sorry about that rock earlier. I am glad to see I didn't harm any of you." Ail gulps and asks "s-s-s-so... y-you're... th-the one that... that pulled the mountain off Sanae?" The dragon asks "mountain? Oh, that's right. To you, that small rock looks like a mountain. You have to forgive me. It's been so long since I've been near humans." Ail gulps, nods and says "i-i-it's ok..." The dragon stares at them for a moment, then asks "and may I ask, what are two humans such as yourselves doing in this place? Don't you know it's very dangerous for you? All the creatures here have a taste for human flesh." Ail stands up while still holding on to Sanae and bravely says "that's right... We came here looking for a child youkai that was sent here by mistake. She should be encased inside a blue barrier." The dragon grumbles lightly and says "I see. I saw this child just now. Shes over there, by that valley, but..." Ail gasps and asks "what? What is it?" The dragon closes his eye and says "I'm sorry, but she wasn't moving at all when I saw her." Both Ail and Sanae gasp as they look at each other, then both look at the dragon. He continues saying "don't lose hope, little humans. Go and find her... Go on! Don't worry. As long as my master doesn't feel your presence, I won't attack you. Now go, before he does. You may be small, but your spirits emanate great power. It's only a matter of time before he feels your presence." Ail nods and says "thanks... My name is Ail, and this is Sanae. What's your name." The dragon smiles as he lifts his massive head and says "call me Dai-Drecon. Now go, little humans. Before it's too late." Ail looks at Sanae and says "piggy-back" Sanae nods, gets on Ail's back, then Ail starts running toward the valley where the dragon said Budou was. Just as they pass by, both shout "Thank you!" to Dai-Drecon, making him smile once more.

Dai-Drecon closes his massive eye and concentrates. In his mind he says "Shinki? Are you there?" Shinki replies "Dai! How are you? What is it?" Dai-Drecon replies "the two humans you told me about are here. You were right. They are very special, particularly that male. He's wise beyond his years. He was quite afraid of me and I would be too. He'd be a fool is he wasn't right..? Although, I feel confusion in him." Shinki says "oh, I'm so glad they made it there safely. Yes, he's going though much right now. There's probably so much running through his mind right now." Dai-Drekon replies "yes. I could sense this. That child youkai means a lot to them. To come all this way for her. Humans are such strange creatures." Shinki chuckles and says "yes, they are. They really surprised me when they went searching for that place without a second though... Dai? Dai, what's the matter?" A loud thunderous roar shakes the land, causing Dai-Drecon to gasp in horror. He says to Shinki "no! My master has felt their presence!" Shinki panics and says "can-can you help them!?" Dai Drecon replies "you know I can't disobey my master. I can stall, but not for long. I'm sorry Shinki. I must go now." Shinki sits on the main chair at the dinner table as she speaks with Dai-Drecon. Yuki, Yumeko and Luize are present at the moment and watch as Shinki's face turns pale. Yumeko asks "lady Shinki, what is it!?" Shinki gulps and says "my-my contact found Ail and Sanae... he says they are ok, but..." Yuki asks "but~?" Shinki looks at all present in their eyes and says "the master of that horrible land found them..." All in the room feel horror, turning the atmosphere in the room heavy. Luize lets out a tear from her left eye and asks "so... he got them?" Shinki says "no... he just found them out... Oh, I hope they can get out in time!"

Ail rushes as fast as he can run with Sanae on his back, reaching the valley, feeling quite winded. As soon as Sanae gets off his back, the thunderous roar gets their attention, making them lose their balance as the ground under them shakes. Ail exclaims "I think we've been found out... HURRY, we have to find Budou!" Sanae replies "LOOK! Over there!" They find the blue ice-shaped barrier, but to their surprise, it's empty, it's top cut open. Ail kneels down and touches the barrier. Sanae continues to look around, desperately, hoping to see Budou around somewhere. Ail closes his eyes and continues to touch the barrier. The blue barrier gets inside him. He opens his eyes and says "Sanae, down there!" Without thinking, or giving Sanae the chance to reply, he carries her, then jumps down toward the valley. Immediately reaching the bottom, a few feet away, under some dirt, lies Budou. Her dress is a mess, her hair is dirty, her wings look tattered, but she breathes. Ail and Sanae kneel right beside her, both calling out to her. Ail gently lifts Budou's head and softly says "Budou... wake up. It's us. Wake up." Sanae gently adds "Budou, it's your mama and papa." Budou narrowly opens her eyes and smiles. She is weak, but manages to softly say "mama? Papa? You came... I knew you'd come." Ail shushes her and as he takes a peach out of his pockets, he says "it's alright, we're here. We're gonna take you home now." He gets the peach close to her mouth, but she can't bite down hard enough, so Ail takes a bite for her and gives her a small piece. After she swallows, she looks at Sanae, then at Ail and says "thank you... There is nothing to eat here... I was so hungry." Ail and Sanae smile at her, then Sanae says "let's get you home now." Budou weakly flaps her wings and says "please... take Phredia with us. She will die here." Sanae and Ail look around and under Budou's hair lies a tiny fairy without color on her. Ail looks at the fairy and says "she... dying." Budou starts to cry and says "no~! Papa, don't leave her here.. plea-..se~!" Budou falls unconscious on Ail's arms, her entire body hanging limp on the air. Ail and Sanae both panic and call for her, but calm down after hearing her snore softly. Ail looks at the weakened fairy and picks it up with one hand. The moment he does, the fairy's color returns to her. She has long blond hair, pointy ears, blue eyes and wears a small red dress with a white ribbon on her neck. She's so small, she fits in Ail's hand. She wakes up and looks around, then spots Budou on Ail's arm. She clenches her teeth and strikes Ail on the head. Sanae says "wait, wait little fairy! We're not going to hurt her. We came here to rescue her." The fairy stares curiously at Sanae for a moment, then at Ail. She backs away and then nods. After she does, she opens Sanae's waist bag and gets inside. Sanae shouts "HEY! Don't you DARE read my diary." The fairy yawns and falls asleep, completely ignoring Sanae.

Another ground-shaking roar rattles the land as Sanae closes her waist bag, leaving it a little bit open for the fairy. Ail, who is carrying the sleeping Budou and Sanae fly to reach higher ground, and to their horror, countless demons, all in different shapes and sizes, rush toward them. Even Dai-Drecon, flies with the group. Sanae shouts "I though he said he wouldn't hurt us!" Ail looks on at the colossal dragon and says "remember, he has a master. He has to obey." Sanae asks "what do we do now?" Ail says "RUN!" Ail hands Budou to Sanae, carries Sanae, then hovers just above the ground, then starts flying away as fast as he can. He hovers around the valley, hoping to see an exit somewhere, but all he finds is a colossal hove stomping furiously, and roaring as he gets closer. Ail stops and heads back inside the valley, hoping to gain some time by hiding. He looks everywhere, but sees no way out, as even more demons come to them from all directions now. Their footsteps sound like loud thunder, causing small tremors as they get closer to the humans. Ail and Sanae stop, sit on the ground and look at each other, then back to Budou. Ail says "well... this is it." Sanae nods and says "a-at least... we found her, didn't we." Ail brushes Budou's head and smiles while saying "yes... we did." Ail tries to open a gap, but immediately realizes it's a bad idea, seeing large black tentacles coming from inside, and closes it. Sanae looks at him and says "I knew something like that would happen." Ail chuckles and says "I won't say I'm sorry, Sanae, but I do wish, I could save you two somehow." Sanae grabs his hand, says "it's three" then smiles. They get closer, and closer to each other, and just as they are about to kiss, a large blue anchor lands hard on the ground next to them. Above, a large ship in the skies, hovers. Sanae gasps and says "that's the Palanquin... Murasa's ship!" From the flying ship, a girl shouts "GRAB ON, YOU TWO!" Without wasting a second, Ail and Sanae grab on to the anchor, each with one arm, as each hold Budou together with their other arm. As they fly up on the anchor, they see the master of the land. I gigantic monster with large black horns on his head. He roars in a rage as the humans escape. Immediately after reaching the deck, Sanae leads Ail inside the ship. As soon as they enter, a girl with short gray hair, ears of a mouse, red eyes, wearing a brownish-black one-piece dress with pink sleeves and a gray capelet, and a crystal pendant necklace, gets on top of the deck and faces the largest demon. She shouts "I'll miss you~!" as a mouse in a basket that hangs on her tail jumps straight toward the demon and unleashes a beam of light that blinds the monster, saving the ship and all aboard it in exchange for it's own life. The girl cries and whispers "thank you" as she heads back inside the ship, through the door Ail and Sanae used.

Meanwhile Reimu and Mima arrive at the Moriya Shrine and find there is a lightning storm swirling right on top of the shrine. The trees around it look decayed, and now, heavy winds accompany the thunder and lightning. The thunder and winds are so loud, Reimu has to shout in order to be heard. "Mima! This can get real ugly. If they attack, don't hold back!" Mima shouts back "sure thing! I think this may be a bad time to tell you this, but I ate the last of the manju this morning." Reimu looks angrily at Mima and shouts "WHAT!? Argh, Mima~! I was saving that!" Suwako and Kanako burst out of the door and look menacingly at Reimu and Mima, who immediately hides behind Reimu while trembling. Suwako moans and is unable to speak, however, Kanako manages to ask "what... you... want!?" Reimu thinks "they've regressed this much in such short time. This is dangerous." She takes a deep breath and shouts "Kanako, Suwako! Ail contacted Mima through telepathy. He says he and Sanae are fine!" Kanako opens her eyes wide and asks "w-what? Sanae's alive?" For a moment, the storm above the shrine clams a bit, but then Kanako shouts angrily "you're not trying to trick me, are you!?" causing the storm to turn into a hurricane. Reimu covers her eyes with her forearm to protect herself from the heavy winds, while Mima uses her body to shield some of the wind from Reimu. Reimu shouts back "calm down, Kanako! Ail and Mima have a psychic connection. They spoke earlier. Ail said the orb protected Sanae's life, that she is alive and well!" Both Kanako and Suwako immediately recover their sanity, the trees recover their full life, the storm dies out, and Suwako speaks clearly. She asks "S-Sanae? She's alive?" Mima stands beside Reimu and nods while facing Suwako. Suwako turns to Kanako, smiles, gasps and shouts "SANAE'S ALIVE!!! Kanako, Sanae is ALIVE!" Kanako grabs Suwako and gives her a hug as she jumps on her and smiles as she says "yeah, yeah I heard you, you silly toad!" Reimu takes a breath of relief, then head-locks Mima and says "now you have to get more manju for me, you hog!" Suwako and Kanako stare as Mima says "aww~ come on, I was hungry~!" Suwako says "such children." Kanako nods and says "so immature."

Back at the Palanquin, Ail and Sanae find the living quarters after walking by many fairies that quietly stared at them while floating around. They place Budou on one of the beds after entering a room. Sanae places the fairy beside her and both sleep contently now. Ail looks at Sanae and asks her "so who is Murasa?" From the door the same voice as before says "that's CAPTAIN, Murasa. Captain Minamitsu Murasa at your service!" Both Sanae and Ail turn around and see a girl with short black hair, teal eyes, wearing a teal and white sailor suit, carrying a purification ladle (Hishaku) and wears a white captain's hat. Ail quickly bows his head and says "I'm sorry, captain. Thank you so much for rescuing us. We were goners down there." Minamitsu gets closer to Ail and scans his face. She brushes her fingers through Shou's claw-marks and says "HAH! Shou was right, you really are smart! Her mark is almost gone, which means, you seem to have learned your lesson, am I right?" At first, Ail is lost for words, but then says "y-yeah... It took some time... but I think I understand what she meant last time. Wait... how do you know about-?" Minamitsu looks at him, then curiously at Sanae and asks "you haven't told him about us..? I'm so disappointed in you!" Sanae looks away and says "i-it never crossed my mind, so I'm sorry, geez!" Minamitsu sighs then says "well, it's ok. We should be getting back home soon anyway, so please rest a while." Ail asks "wait! I want to know how did you find us? Who sent you? And when you say home, you mean Gensokyo?" Minamitsu chuckles and says "alright, alright, settle down. First of all, let me present you to Nazrin." The mouse girl enters the room, still sniffling, sad about the loss of her friend. Minamitsu says "come on, Naz. He wouldn't want to see you this way. Be proud of his bravery." Nazrin smiles and says "I'll still miss him." Minamitsu hugs her and pats her back while saying "time heals all wounds." Ail bows to Nazrin, but says nothing after noticing she's glaring back to him. Minamitsu lets go of Nazrin and says "well, be at ease and rest. It was lady Hijiri that sent for you." Ail asks "Byakuren sent for us?" Minamitsu strikes Ail's head with her ladle and says "that's LADY Hijiri. Geez, they told me you had manners!" Ail crouches as he rubs his head. Sanae gets closer and crouches with him, looks at the bump, gets back up and angrily shouts "HEY, don't be so mean, or I'll exterminate you again!" Minamitsu gulps and pulls Nazrin in front of her. Ail gets up and says "it's ok, Sanae. Anyway, lady Hijiri sent for us?" Minamitsu smiles again and says "yes. We are to take you safely back to Gensokyo, so please, just rest. You've had a long journey, and the trip back home may be a little long." Ail looks at Minamitsu and asks "why is that?" Minamitsu smiles as she says "well, we just went in and out of that Makai, so we've run out of power~!" Ail and Sanae both look nervous. Sanae says "you're taking this quite calmly." Minamitsu says "because we're currently crashing against a large icy mountain." With that, the entire ship rattles violently. Ail and Sanae manage to hold Budou and her fairy on the bed while vibrations continued. After the rattling stops, Minamitsu continues to stand smiling and says "ah well. Come on Naz. Let's get this ship running again." Ail and Sanae look at each other in disbelief as they get up from the floor, but decide to rest, and LATER, deal with the captain. Ail leaves the room and says "I'll go to the next room, so if you need anything, just call." Sanae nods, quickly rushes to him, hugs him, then stares at him while smiling. From their left, Minamitsu says "aww! look at the happy couple! Can we watch?"

To be continued...

Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Budou were created by Willie G.R.
Some assistance by snapshot2010

OCT 8 2009
written by
Willie G.R.