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