Wednesday, December 30, 2009

One Random Sukima 23 A Scarlet Shower 2

Morning at the Moriya Shrine. Sanae wakes up a little later than usual in her white sleeping robes, finding Budou and Phredia already eating their breakfast. With her mouth full, Budou excitedly says "mama! I made breakfast!" Phredia flies in front of Budou's face, waving her finger reprehensively at her, then Budou gulps and says "sorry." Sanae asks "where’s Ail? Is he on lady Yasaka's lap again?" Budou shakes her head and says "big sister and papa went swimming to the lake." Sanae gasps and shouts "THE LAKE!? He could drown!" Sanae runs outside, skidding as she takes a sharp turn and heads toward the lake. In her head, memories of Ail rush through, even memories in his dog form. A tear escapes her right eye and says "I'll save you Ail! I'll save you!" When she reaches the lake, she desperately jumps into the water, shouting "I'LL SAVE YOU~!" She jumps over Suwako and continues flying over the human Ail and she dives into the water, looking all over the water for dog Ail. After 2 minutes of searching, Sanae surfaces, sobbing and shouting "no~! He's dea~d! Ail~!" From behind her, Suwako asks "Sanae, what are you doing?" Sanae shouts "you killed Ail~! Why~?" Suwako asks "eeeh? What are you TALKING about?" Ail says "I'm right here!" Sanae turns around and sees Ail is human again, wearing deep-blue swim shorts, and Suwako wearing a one-piece purple swimsuit with a big frog face design. Sanae gasps with excitement and jumps straight at him, reaching the shore AND Ail in just one jump and hugs him tight by the neck, shouting "AIL~! You're alive!!! AND you're human again!" Ail laughs as he hugs Sanae back, then says "I'm sorry for scaring you. Seems I turned back to normal during the night." Sanae continues to hug him tightly around the neck for a little longer, then lets him go and looks into his eyes as she says "I'm sorry about yesterday. It was just so unfair, and-and…" Ail smiles and says "calm down, it's alright. Everything is alright now." Sanae finally lets go of Ail, then Suwako forces her hat on Ail's head, all the way down to his face, then shouts "SANAE! Have some decency! It's almost transparent!" Sanae realizes what Suwako says, then dunks herself into the water, leaving her blushing head outside of it and shouting "oops! Tha-that's my mistake there! Heh heh!" Suwako hands Sanae a towel, just as Ail manages to pull off Pyonta, Suwako's hats. Sanae runs back to the shrine, wrapped in the white towel, while Suwako takes back her hat from Ail and says "you pervert, tell me what you saw!" Ail shivers in place, his face blue and his eyes full of tears as he says "my old math teacher *sob*!" Suwako opens her eyes wide and looks inside her hat, then says "oops... had Pyonta-kun set on traumatic memories... err, sorry about that." Ail walks out of the water, still sobbing and trembling, then cries "I want my mommy~!"

At Alice's house in the Forest of Magic, Shanghai and Hourai finish preparing a good breakfast for Alice. Shanghai says "orange juice goes on the left, Hourai." Hourai replies "but what if she wants to use her RIGHT hand this time?" From behind, Alice says "well, good morning you two. Oh my, is all of this for me?" Hourai and Shanghai both fly straight toward Alice with smiles on their little faces, then Shanghai says "we are good to mommy Alice!" Shanghai's eyes hide under her hair as she blushes so much, her little head seems as though it's about to burst. Alice looks surprised and places her hand on her chest as she asks "wha-what did you call me?" Shanghai flies to the table and kneels down on it, placing her hands in front of herself and supporting her body with her arms and knees, looking a little sad as her long hair drops around her head. She trembles a bit more when Hourai says "*gasp* Shanghai, you didn't!" Shanghai stutters as she says "s-s-sorry m-m-miss A-Alice. I-it won't happen again!" Alice gently pats the little doll's head, making her raise her sight and see Alice with a motherly smile and some tears in her face. At first, Shanghai thinks she did something bad to Alice, but her fears immediately subside when Alice says "thank you." Both dolls looks very surprised toward Alice, who continues "I'm so glad, you see me like a mother to you. That makes me very happy." Like magic, Shanghai's feelings switch from uncertainty to happiness. She flies toward Alice and pulls out a white napkin the same size as her from under her skirt, then wipes Alice's tears off. Before she manages to hide the napkin again, Alice grabs both dolls and holds them against her chest, then says "please, continue to think of me as you mother. Nothing would make me happier." Shanghai smiles and hugs Alice back, saying "I'm so glad... You really are like a mom to us. Right Hourai?" Hourai hugs Alice tightly, and looking very happy, she says "*sigh* Mama's so soft and warm." Both Alice and Shanghai, with a large sweat-drop falling from the back of their heads, stare at Hourai as she continues to hug Alice and rub her face against Alice's chest so contently. Promptly after eating breakfast, Alice, Shanghai and Hourai head toward the door as Alice says "alright, girls. Let's go get some more materials. I'm starting to run low on strings." The moment she opens the door to head outside, she notices Shinki just about to knock on it with a smile on her face. Alice and the dolls blink a few times before Shinki says "Alice, sweetie, how are you? I came to see how you are doing!" Alice says "mom, hi. What a pleasant surprise." In the sky, Yuki flies by as fast as she can, crying "why are you still chasing me!?" A few snowflake bullets pass by, then Mai comes soon after, shouting "come back here and let me BLAST YOU!" After both Shinki and Alice finish staring dumbfounded at the two passing-by girls, Hourai flies in front of Shinki's face and stares at her for a while. Confused, Shinki points at Hourai, then the little doll says "you are mommy's mommy, so that makes you GRAMMA~!" Hourai hugs Shiki's face as Shinki giggles nervously and says "oh my. What just happened here?" Alice and Shanghai shrug, unable to come up with an explanation, then Shinki grabs the little doll with a smile and says "well of course I'm your gramma! Oh my, I must be the youngest looking gramma around here." At Mayohiga, Yukari suddenly sneezes, waking up from her sleep. She looks around her room with tired eyes, then mumbles "such a nice dream" then goes back to sleep.

Flying above the Forest of Magic, Elly says "come on, Kurumi. Those fiends went THIS way!" Kurumi looks annoyed as she replies "we'd have them already if you hadn't messed with that mouse." Sweating and smiling sheepishly, Elly replies "oh come on! Anyone can make mistakes." As they pass just above Alice's house, Elly hears Shinki says "Alice, make sure the door is locked." Elly exclaims "Ail!?" Alice replies to Shinki "mom, please. I can take care of myself." Elly shouts "AIL~!" getting Alice, Shinki and the doll's attention. As she heads toward them, Kurumi face palms and says "here we go again!" Elly lands right in front of Alice and next to Shinki, then with fire in her eyes, she points at Alice and says "I have found you, AIL! My name is Elly, and you are going to die by MY HAND!" Elly raises her scythe, ready to strike down Alice, who simply continues to stare back at the youkai quite calmly. Elly furiously swings her scythe and strikes down hard, only to realize she's not holding the scythe in her hands. She desperately looks around, then notices Shinki is holding it, looking quite angry. Shinki says "I don't know what's your problem, but anyone that threatens my Alice, OR Ail will face severe consequences!" Completely ignoring Shinki, who angrily shouts "HEY! Are you even listening!?", Elly inspects Alice. She gasps as she holds her head and says "wh-wh-what is this!? Cute, blonde, blue eyes, cute clothes AND she's SEXY~!" Alice blushes and angrily says "he-hey! What are you talk-" Elly starts to cry and shouts "I can't compete with this~!" Kurumi shouts "Elly, stop it already! Please, everyone, we're sorry. I'll be taking-" Elly suddenly grabs her scythe from Shinki and points at Alice as she says "if I can't compete with you, I'll take you out of the competition." Elly's cheeks turn pink as she looks up to the sky with sparkly eyes, placing her left hand on her left cheek and says "then, miss Yukarin will only have eyes for me!" Alice, in a very dangerous undertone, says "this girl is getting on my nerves." Shinki and Kurumi walk toward Elly to grab her, but Elly makes a very sudden swing with her scythe and points it at Alice. She startles both Kurumi and Shinki, who trips and falls on her back on the ground. Alice looks toward Shinki, shouting "MOM!" Shinki gets back up, saying "owie. Rocks hurt." Alice gives Elly a very dark look, along with Shanghai and Hourai, both having their tiny eyes glow red as they stare. The youkai lowers her scythe, and concerned, she asks "err, did I make you mad?" Alice holds a spell card and in a dark and dangerous undertone she says "Curse Sign - Hourai Doll" Hourai and Shanghai fly by Alice's left and right, then both dolls unleash three thick purple lasers just as Alice points her hand toward the youkai. Elly smiles horrorstruck as the lasers get closer to her, then shouts "shit! Not aga~in!" After the spell finishes, Alice looks at Kurumi, who is holding her head as she ducks on the ground while trembling and whimpering. Angry, Alice says "take your friend and LEAVE, before I give you some of the same!" Kurumi shrieks as she springs off the ground and says "r-right away, madam!" Kurumi finds Elly full of cuts and burns, lodged on a tree with her eyes spinning in place as she dizzily says "you win this round Ai-Alice." Kurumi grabs Elly by her feet, pulls her out of the tree, then angrily says "you idiot, you almost got us BOTH killed!" then flies away, holding Elly by her feet, letting her dangle in the air. As this happens, Alice heads toward Shinki and checks on her thoroughly, Shinki smiling and saying "I'm fine, my child. I'm fine."

Meanwhile, at the Hakurei Shrine, Rika prepares a meal, while Renko and Maribel sweep the shrine grounds and Mima watches them while lazily floating in mid-air. Aya is on the shrine’s roof, holding on to her paper delivery bag as she listens to Mystia sing a song. Reimu sits on the shrine's living room surrounded by small notepads, scrolls and books, all with records on the Scarlet Lake. Rika approaches Reimu and offers her mistress a cup of tea, saying "my lady, here's some tea. Breakfast will be ready soon." Reimu replies "Remilia's intuitions were right on. If that red water had touched me, I'd be in trouble." Puzzled, Rika asks "my lady, is everything alright?" Reimu looks up to Rika with a serious face and says "Rika, do me a favor and bring my breakfast over here. I need to research some more." Rika looks concerned, but simply bows and says "as you wish, my lady." Rika turns around, but before she leaves Reimu says "oh, and could you do something about that noisy bird? It's hard to concentrate with all that noise." Rika thinks "aww~ And she was singing so beautifully too" but says "right away my lady." Mystia continues her song "Deaf to All But The Song", making Aya smile widely. Mima is also listening to the song, looking very entertained. Rika flies to the roof and loudly says "please, my lady needs silence, as she is researching some VERY important matter. Please take your singing elsewhere, miss Lorelei." Mima complains "hey~, I was having fun here. Go tell miss Reimu to research somewhere else." Rika's smile turns dark as she stares straight at Mima, then says "miss Mima, would you be so kind as to come over here for a minute?" Mima floats next to Rika, looking casual and asking "yeah, what is it?" Rika grabs Mima's shoulder with one hand, then her wrist with her other hand, then bends the spirit's arm all the way to her back, then lifts her forearm all the way up to the back of her neck. Mima screams in pain, shouting "ok, ok, I give! UNCLE! AAAH!" Rika wraps her arms around Mima's neck, then bends her backward as far as possible, and as Mima screams in pain, and in a dangerous undertone, Rika says "the mistress' word is law. Fail to comply and pain will be promptly served." Mima's eyes fill with tears as Rika wraps her legs around the spirit's waist, then grabs both her arms and pulls them back as hard as she can, making many unsettling cracking sounds that scare both Aya and Mystia right out of their skirts as they fly away as fast as they can. Mima screams "ACK! Ok! I GIVE!" Rika's natural angelic smile returns to her face as she lets Mima fall to the ground and says "glad you understand." Rika floats back down, dusting her hands as she happily lands and heads straight to the kitchen to finish breakfast. Outside on the ground, Mima's eyes look round and white over a blue shadow, and as her body twitches, she scratches the letters "Rik-" on the stone tiles, but is unable to finish before finally collapsing. Maribel and Renko hold each other tight, trembling and whimpering as the words "BAD END" write themselves in gold, just above Mima's body.

At Entei, one of Ail's gaps opens up just in front of the gates, and as he passes through, he complains "but I don't see why we have to come here? I'm cured. And what about Budou and Chen?" Sanae walks through the gap just before it closes, then angrily says "I want to make sure you are fully recovered. Besides, Ran is taking GOOD care of the girls." Ail sighs and slumps as he walks toward the clinic with Sanae right behind him, smiling quite contently. Before they can knock on the door, Eirin peeks her head from the mansion's living room and says "oh, mister Ail, miss Sanae. Udonge and I will be over in a minute. Please what a little bit." Ail replies "don't mind us. Take all~ the time you want." Sanae pokes Ail's rib with her elbow, and while still smiling she says "you're not getting away." Both are startled, when from behind, Kaguya says "well, what do we have here? The couple are back to Entei, yet everything seems to be in place, and no set of tails, ears or fur." Ail gets shocked and can't reply to Kaguya, but Sanae places her hand on her chest and after taking a small breath she says "oh, miss Kaguya. We're here to make sure there's no side-effects on him." Kaguya smiles and says "oh, how nice." Sanae turns around again, clinging to Ail's arm, and Kaguya's smile turns to a mischievous stare, and with jagged teeth, she thinks "I think I'll tease this fool for a bit." Kaguya walks closer to Ail and says "mister Ail, could you get me a glass of water?" Ail replies "oh, sure." Kaguya continues "do it in 5 sec-" Before she finishes her sentence, Ail hands her a glass of water, saying "here you go." Kaguya is completely awestruck. She drinks the water while thinking "what? Idiot's trying to make me look bad!" She throws the empty glass away, then says "still thirsty. Get me another glass in 4 sec-" Ail hands the glass, which Kaguya angrily accepts, then says "I meant 3 sec-" Ail hands yet another glass of water, now looking a bit annoyed. Kaguya drinks it and shouts "in one second!" Ail already has the glass in front of her, which she angrily drinks, then she rapidly shouts "BEFORE I THINK-" and another glass already in her hands. Annoyed, Ail asks "is that ENOUGH?" Kaguya drops the last glass of water as she thinks "he... he completed my impossible requests! Ho-how can this be? Oh no, what have I DONE? Now I have to marry this idiot!" She takes a good look at him and sees a light shining from behind him, then more calm, she thinks "this shouldn't be too bad." She grabs and clings on Ail's right arm, annoying him to no ends. Trying to keep his cool, Ail trembles, holding back his rage and disgust as he asks "what do you think you are doing, princess?" Kaguya bluntly replies "you and me are going to get married!" Fire lights up all around Sanae, while Ail turns as white as a ghost. Sanae pulls hard on Ail's left arm, freeing him from Kaguya's grasp, then shouts "what the HELL is wrong with you? You can't just marry someone just because you command it!" Kaguya stares a bit annoyed toward Sanae, then says "he completed all 5 impossible request. He HAS to marry me. His success has bounded us for eternity." Sanae turns to face Ail as he asks "impossible requests? I didn't do such thi-" Kaguya interrupts him and says "hey, you got the glass of water in my hand long before I stopped talking back there. You didn't even let me think about it." Again, Ail turns as white as a ghost as Sanae stares at him enraged, with steam blowing from her ears and nose. From behind him, Eirin, also looking slightly annoyed, says "so you got ANOTHER one of my girls falling head-over-heels for you? *Sigh* Well, I'll tell you now, you're NOT my type." Ail desperately grabs Eirin by her shoulders and shakes her violently, shouting "ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF!? Be-besides, she's NOT in love... NONE of you are!" Eirin points at Kaguya, who's already clinging on his arm again, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder. Sanae growls "Ail, you have some explaining to do!" Again, Ail turns pale as Eirin says "well it just so happens Udonge's shadow blabbed something about wanting to marry you. Something about being kind to my Udonge. Which means there's a little flame in her heart for you." Sanae shouts "WHAT!? Ail, what's the meaning of this!?" Ail trembles as Sanae slowly gets closer to him, and ask "why are you angry at me!? Besides, they MUST be joking. Yeah, you guys are just joking... right!?"

Sanae makes an enraged grab for Ail, but he manages to jump up just in time and while hovering high in the air, he angrily asks "Sanae, what's the matter!?" Sanae glares straight at him, making Ail feel a cold chill run through his spine. He says to himself "now why is she so angry? Ugh, that princess. Asking me to marry her, and then Eirin with that joke. Oh... maybe that's what has Sanae so angry. These aren't her kind of jokes." Clinging on his back and gently rubbing his chest with her hands, in a teasing tone of voice, Kaguya says "my, you are dense, aren't you? When we're married, we'll have to work on that." Ail panics and shouts "how the heck did you get back there!!?" Sanae flies up, looking even more angry and quickly reaches Ail and Kaguya. Without saying another word she pulls out her gohei and strikes hard, Aiming for Ail's head, but Ail manages to duck and fly away quickly enough, letting Kaguya take the hit. From below, Eirin shouts "HEY!" she shoots various arrows at Ail, who dodges them and ends up looking hieroglyphically. Eirin finishes shouting "take better care of your wife! And she's a princess, so I expect you be twice as nice to her!" Ail shouts back "Eirin, stop this joke already!!!" Sanae hovers right behind him, holding a pink charm on her left hand and her gohei on her right. Ail feels the steam from her nose on his neck, then opens and enters a gap just as Sanae tries to place the charm on him. When she realizes she missed him, she shouts "Ail, come BACK here and TAKE IT like a man!" Ail's gap opens inside Reisen's room, where he thinks he's safe, however, Reisen starts to scream "kyaaah! There's a man in my room!" Ail looks behind him and finds Reisen hiding behind her bed. He panics and stutters "w-w-wa-wait! It's not what you think!" but Reisen uses her lunatic eyes on him, then blasts him all the way outside the room, where Kaguya is waiting for him. She grabs him by the arms and drags him down the hall, happily saying "come on, let's have some fun before the wedding." Ail asks "fun? You mean like ga- WAIT A MINUTE! There's going to be NO wedding, because I am NOT going to marry you!" Kaguya smiles and says "it's too late. You already performed the first part of the ritual, now all we have to do is finish it." Sanae beaks through a wall, startling both Ail and Kaguya, and with red eyes, jagged teeth and breathing fire, she shouts "Ail, I'm going to KILL YOU!" Ail says "Kaguya, look! It's Ail!!" Kaguya lets go of Ail and looks around, saying "Ail? Where!?" Ail jumps to his feet and runs outside the Entei Mansion, with Sanae stomping furiously behind him; each stomp causing a small tremor in the house. Ail reaches the outside and rushes straight toward the gates of Entei, saying if I can get far enough from here, I can manage a gap to reach miss Kanako! She knows how to calm Sanae down" He's just one step away from reaching freedom, when the ground under him collapses, making him yelp out pathetically as he falls down one of Tewi's pitfalls.

Ail coughs and spits out some dirt as he looks up toward the top of the hole, when Tewi looks down and angrily says "hey you jerk! That was for the Udonge! Get your own holes!" Ail jumps out of the hole, grabs Tewi by her shoulders, and shakes the black rabbit while desperately saying "Tewi, you GOTTA HELP ME!" Tewi manages to free herself from Ail and a bit annoyed, she asks "what's the matter with YOU?" Ail desperately says "well, Kaguya wants to marry me, Eirin says Reisen wants to marry me, and Sanae wants to KILL me for some reason! What should I DO!?" Tewi smirks and says "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna watch all of this while drinking some of my nice brand of tea." She grabs a mug of beer from under her skirt and flies up to the roof, casually saying "don't die too soon." Ail whimpers as Sanae comes out of the mansion, shouting "Ail, get BACK HERE!" Ail tries to fly away, but he quickly realizes Kaguya is clinging on to his legs, making it impossible for him to get away. Kaguya shouts "wait, STOP! Why don't you want to MARRY me? I'm pretty~!" Ail pushes Kaguya from his legs while shouting "I DON'T like you like that! Besides, don't you know about soul mates!?" Ail manages to release himself, then flies away as Kaguya shouts "you won't FIND her if you continue being so THICK-headed!" Just as Ail reaches a high enough altitude, Sanae's gohei flies fast and strikes him hard on the back of his head, knocking him out to the ground head-first, but long before crashing Sanae grabs him by his shirt. She pulls him closer to her face, blowing steam from her nose and ears, while staring with fiery eyes. Ail nervously asks "Sa-Sanae? Wh-what's the matter? Why are you so m-mad?" Sanae smiles with jagged teeth as she raises her gohei, which miraculously appears on her right hand, and quickly swings to strike the whimpering Ail on the forehead, but Eirin shoots an arrow that breaks Ail's shirt, freeing him from Sanae's grasps, then shouts "come down, wind priestess. Let's talk!" The lunarian grabs the collapsed Ail on the ground by his feet, then slowly pulls him back to her clinic. Sanae blows a cloud puff from her mouth, but calms down and follows Eirin, but not before generating a small whirlwind that lifts Kaguya's skirt, making the princess stop and fight against her own skirt, keeping it from showing her underwear. Once inside the clinic, Eirin sits Ail behind her, then says "alright, listen carefully to what I say. Sanae, this idiot is too dense to even know what’s going on." On the background, Ail says "hey, I can hear you" but Eirin ignores him and continues. "Yes, Udonge seems to like him, but I don't believe it's to that point, but even if she did... Well, you get the idea." Sanae sighs and says "I... guess you're right." From the background Ail asks "what are you guys talking about? What's going on?" Eirin turns to Kaguya and says "princess, I want you to think hard about this. If you think about it, Ail has failed you final impossible request." Kaguya thinks for a moment, then gasps and covers her mouth with her sleeves as she says "oh my, you are so right. I asked him to marry me immediately, but all he did was run away." She smirks as she lowers her sleeves and points at Ail with her left hand and says "you FAIL, just like all the others! HA! I KNEW you couldn't do it. Humans are so stupid." then walks away from the clinic. Again, Ail looks dumbfounded, black question marks popping all around his head. Eirin looks at Sanae as the priestess places her hand on her chest and breathes deeply. Eirin asks "you really like him that much?" Sanae blushes and looks away while saying "err, umm- So-sorry for all the trouble. I don't know what got into me." Eirin smiles and says "it's alright. Now, why exactly did you come here for?" Sanae raises her head and says "Oh, that's right! I wanted you to make sure there's no side effects to the dog drug." Sanae looks to Ail and smiles with a quick giggle, then Eirin looks at him and says "I see." Ail stares back even more confused, then asks himself "first she wants to murder me, now she smiles at me. What's going ON!?"

At the scarlet depths of the Misty Lake, Kimi and Kali, both in their human forms, have a small conversation while inside an energy bubble. Inside the bubble, Kali kneels on one knee, while staring back toward Kimi, who has her arms crossed over her chest and stands tall staring angrily toward Kimi. Kimi asks "but wouldn't it be easier to just get rid of the maiden?" Kimi swings both arms in a cross and shouts "NO!" She grabs Kali by her neck and snarls, then says "you do NOT kill the maiden, or any of her friends!" Kali manages to hide her fear as she says "well you do know that as long as they are alive, you cannot restore this lake to what it used to be!" Kimi lets Kali drop as she looks away around the lake and says "we can. We just need to speed things up. As long as I keep channeling my powers to you, it should present no problem, however...!!!" Kimi paces for a bit while keeping her eyes on Kali, then continues "if you try to kill the maiden, or one of her friends again, I will swallow you whole. Did I make myself clear!?" Kali winces as Kimi finishes her sentence with a dangerous roar, and while trying her best to keep away from Kimi and using her arm to feel a little more safe, she says "y-y-yes. N-n-no one will die." Calmly, Kimi says "good" then looks toward the surface. Something gets her attention, but she keeps quiet and just stares. Kali takes a deep breath just as Kimi growls "dammit" and turns into a dragon, bursting the protective bubble they were just in. On the surface to the lake, a very stubborn ice fairy says "red water isn't so scary. I'm the strongest ever. This should be nothing to me." Daiyousei gabs Cirno's arm and says "Cirno-chan, please! I have a very bad feeling about this. It's dangerous! Don't go!" Cirno points at herself with her thumb, looking confident as she says "hah! I am the strongest. Not even this icky red water can-" Cirno hovers just above the red water, and immediately feels all her strength fail her. Daiyousei tries to grab her friend, but she quickly succumbs to the lake's effect as well and falls toward the water, but before either fairy touches the water, a colossal black blur rises from the underneath and takes the two fairies away. Both Cirno and Daiyousei lie unconscious on Kimi's snake-like back as the dragon says "you two fairies must be stupid or something, geez! I can't have you dying here yet, or that maiden might come and check. Hmm... There's a nice spot for two idiots like yourselves." Kimi flies past the island in the lake, reaching the farther shores, then turns around, flying upside-down, letting the two fairies fall on a tree, managing to drop them so well, they land as if they were sleeping on the branches. Cirno even accommodates her hands and places them on her abdomen, then quietly snores. Daiyousei falls as though sleeping sideways on a comfortable bed, using both hands as a pillow, a little farther from Cirno. Kimi smirks and says "if I had planned that, it wouldn't have worked."

Night falls, and at the Hakurei Shrine, a party is being held to celebrate the return of Reimu and Ail to their human forms. Kyo and Luna stand under some trees to the right of the shrine, talking to Aya and Momiji, laughing and enjoying themselves. On the back, Medicine sits next to Ran and Shinki as they watch over Budou, Phredia and Chen as they play danmaku with Suwako and fly all over the shrine. Ran smiles at Medicine and asks "don't you want to join them?" Medicine blushes and looks away as she pouts and says "I-I don't play kid's games. I'm a grownup!" Ran smiles and playfully says "oh, I see." Marisa, Mima, Suika, Renko and Kanako sit in a circle next to the living room's table, all with cups and plates filled with sake, all of them laughing and having a very loud conversation. Close by are Reimu, Ail, Sanae, Alice, Shanghai, Hourai, Maribel with her magical cat ears exposed and Rika, all enjoying tea instead of sake, though it's only a matter of time before Reimu switches drinks. Everyone continue to enjoy themselves until Kyo spots Yuka and Ayalina walking up the shrine's stairs and exclaims "Yuka? Miss Ayalina!?" Luna and Aya both ask "Ail's mother?" as Yuka raises her closed parasol, waving it in a friendly way toward Kyo, Luna and the tengu. Ayalina smiles and lightly bows, then says "well Kyo, what a surprise to find you here! Where's Ail?" By now, many curious faces quietly look straight toward the two flower youkai as they continue smile and wave, and head toward the shrine. Once in view from inside, Ail exclaims "mom? Miss Yuka?" Reimu says "well, this is a surprise." Sanae says "oh my, miss Ayalina and the flower youkai. Welcome." Yuka smiles at Sanae and says "it's Yuka. Yuka Kazami! Honestly, learn my name." Alice, Shanghai and Hourai stare outside, then Alice asks "wow, are you sure she's your mom? She looks way too young!" Shanghai nods as Ail sweats and whispers "you're gonna be sorry you said that." Ayalina blushes and laughs, then says "my, what a smart and well-behaved young lady you are!" She rushes to Alice and wraps her arm around Alice's neck and says "come, sit next to me!" Sanae asks "so, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?" Ayalina says "after I heard of the accident..." Ayalina stares daggers toward Kanako, who hides her eyes under a dark-blue shadow and hides her mouth with her sake plate. Ayalina continues "...I wanted to come and visit, but I just couldn’t. I was so glad to hear miss Reimu and my son returned to normal." Marisa turns her head toward Ayalina and bluntly asks "wait a minute! How do you even know all this?" Rika and Maribel looks curiously at Ayalina, who answers with a smirk "the flowers tell me all, miss magician." By now, Yuka sits beside Reimu and says "they say he looked cute like a dog. Last time he did look cuter. Maybe he should stay a dog." Ayalina smirks again, then pulls out a thick brown book and says "you won't say that after you've seen these!" Ail sweats as his eyes hide under a blue shadow, then asks "th-those wouldn’t be... my..?" Ayalina turns to Ail with a big, evil smirk and says "your baby pictures." Ail's mouth opens wide as he sweats and turns as pale as a sheet of paper. Budou enters the shrine alongside Chen and Suwako, then looks at Ayalina and asks "papa, is this your mama?" Still in shock, Ail manages to nod, then Budou politely bows after Ayalina walks to her. Ayalina excitedly asks "are you Budou?" Budou blushes as she nods, then looks away. Ayalina grabs her and gives her a hug and shouts "what a perfectly ADORABLE little girl!" then grabs Chen with her other arm and while hugging both, she says "oh my, and your friend is just so perfectly ADORABLE TOO!!!" While this happens, Rika can't help but stare at her mistress and Yuka. Reimu gets a bit annoyed and asks "what is it!?" Rika bows and says "my apologies, my lady, but you two look so much alike!" Yuka and Reimu blush at the same time, turn their faces away from each other, then say at the same time "I don't look like her at ALL!"

Ayalina is surrounded by the girls as they all look through Ail's baby pictures. Ail is lying on the ground, trying his best to hide under his own arms, hoping to be swallowed by the ground at any time. Ayalina points at one picture of young Ail looking infinitely angry toward the camera while in a bunny suit, then says "oh~ and this is his 4th Halloween. I made him wear the cutest little disguise." Mima grins while facing Ail and says "well now, how would you look like in a bunny suit now?" Ail opens his eyes wide while shouting "don't you DARE!!!" After that, Ayalina points at another photo of young Ail wearing his father's clothes, which were way too big for him, and even though the shirt was short-sleeved, it still covered most of his little arms. Sanae stares at this picture and says "aww~ he looks so cute~! I wonder what happened?" Ail hides in a corner, hugging his knees and with a dark aura surrounding him as he mumbles incoherently. Reimu exclaims "a-HA! I knew it. A naked butt picture!" Ayalina looks stranged toward Reimu and says "well, doesn't every mother have one?" Reimu giggles and says "possibly." Aya starts taking pictures of the album, making Ail snap and shout "alright, ALRIGHT, that's it! I want retribution! Reimu, where are YOUR baby pictures?" Reimu chuckles and says "I don't have any." Ail rushes to Aya and says "you! You have her baby pictures, don't you?" Aya looks away and says "ayaya~ I did, but since they weren't news, I threw them all away." Ail whines for a moment, then says "but wait a minute, wouldn’t someone pick those up?" Reimu says "if they did, it would probably be some heretic or something." At the hidden laboratory, Rikako sneezes on an important-looking piece of paper. S-Kyo casually says "cold medicine's in lab 6-B." Rikako's skin crawls as she sniffles, then says "I don't know why, but I THINK someone is talking about me." S-Kyo quietly arranges his small round glasses, then ignores Rikako and continues looking through a small microscope. Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Ayalina shows the very last picture of young Ail, eating rice with chop-sticks for the first time and making a mess, then says "oh, when I offered him a spoon he says to me 'mom, I'm a big boy now.' I was so proud of him." Alice smiles and says "what a messy boy he is." Ayalina smiles at Alice and says "yeah, he's quite messy." Sanae adds in secret "and a bit dense." Ayalina stares dangerously at Sanae for a moment, then sighs and says "I guess you're right." Outside, in the shrine's storage house, Rika enters and finds Ail rummaging through everything. Curious, she asks "what are you doing?" Ail furiously continues looking around without looking behind him as he says "I'm looking for ANYTHING to get back at Reimu. Baby pictures, a badly made gohei, a kiddy charm... anything." Rika smiles dangerously at Ail as she asks "why not do that to someone else. Alice? Sanae? Mima?" Ail casually replies "Alice's dolls already gave me the eye, Sanae says miss Kanako has HER baby pictures, but she's too drunk right now, and Mima... Well, she's already a mess, and her past is a mystery, even to herself." Rika continues to smile dangerously and says "well, maybe you should consider Marisa." Ail replies "she didn't make much fun of me back there... in fact, she seems distracted. But why not Rei-" Ail finally turns around and sees Rika staring at him with a murderous smile. His face turns blue and he starts to sweat as he says "you're so going to kill me now." Rika quietly nods with a smile on her face as she reaches for him. Kyo and Luna are having a small chat with Suwako when they hear a loud scream and see Ail flying in the night sky, looking like a tossed rag-doll, full of cuts and bruises and shouting "he~lp me~~!!!" Kyo laughs and says "now there's someone who knows how to party!"

Rika returns to the shrine and is caught by the drunk Marisa and Mima, each holding Rika by an arm. Marisa says "come on, little miss maid! Even that stock-up maid of Remilia's knows how to party, ze." Rika asks "but aren't I partying now?" Mima mischievously says "well now, if you think you're having fun now, wait 'till you try THIS!" Mima presents a tiny cup filled with sake to Rika. Innocently, Rika grabs the cup and sniffs the liquid, then asks "is this sake?" Mima and Marisa both nod and flip their thumbs up. Rika tries to return to tiny cup, saying "err, no thanks. I think I better not." Mima and Marisa both look disappointed at Rika, then Marisa says "so you bluntly refuse our gracious offer like that?" Mima adds "that's very... umm... rude. Very rude of you." Rika sweats and says "no... I guess you're right. I am being a little rude. Oh well..." Rika raises the cup above her head and says "...bottoms up!" Rika quickly drinks the sake while Mima and Marisa stare at her with mischievous smiles and unable to keep their right eyes fully open. Rika finishes drinking the contents of her cup and smiles while staring back at Mima and Marisa. She stands still for a moment, then Marisa waves her hand in front of the maid's eyes and asks "oy, Rika? Are you ok?" Rika's face progressively turns red, then something in her head explodes, making Mima and Marisa wince. Mima recovers and stares at the smiling Rika and asks "Rika... can you hear me?" Rika replies "miss Mima... miss.. *giggle* Marisa... You... are ladies, and sho-should behave as su-such." Rika is unable to keep steady as she stands there with her left eye slightly open, then a heart pops from her head as she says "I am such a good maid, I a~lways do what my lady says to me. Ahh, my lady!" As she says this, she blushes and places both hands clapped together against her right cheek. Mima and Marisa looks at each other, and with mischievous smiles on their faces, they place a hand on their mouths as they try to suppress their laughter. Meanwhile, at the shrine’s front, next to the hot spring's entrance, Reimu and Ayalina are having a conversation while Kyo stands under a tree close by. Reimu asks "so, aren't you going to tell me how you've been coming in and out of Gensokyo, even with the barrier in place?" Ayalina giggles and says "so you see more than you let on, miss maiden. I'm quite impressed." Reimu lets out a half-smile and continues to stare at Ayalina, who says "I'm afraid that's my own little secret, and it's a secret that will probably die with me, though... it's best that way." Reimu continues to smile at Ayalina, then says "I guess you're right." Ayalina smiles back, then says "I wish to speak to miss Yuka before I leave again, so, if you'll excuse me." Reimu and Ayalina lightly bow to each other, then part ways. Reimu approaches Kyo and asks "hey, Kyo, can I ask you something?" Kyo quietly nods, looking curiously at Reimu. She gets a bit closer and asks "what are your thoughts about Ail and Sanae?" Kyo laughs hard for a moment, then stops, looks seriously at Reimu, then says "he's quite dense." Reimu laughs and says "so we agree on something! Think there's any way to help him understand?" Kyo lightly shakes his head and says "the way I see it, it's only a matter of time before he figures it out, but it might just be too late by the time he realizes it." Reimu asks "think you can help, cupid?" Kyo glares at Reimu, then says "you leave that to me." Reimu chuckles, then ask "and what about Maribel and Renko's house? You ARE working on that, right?" Kyo growls and says "I am! I'm not as lazy as a certain maiden I know." Reimu smirks wickedly at Kyo and asks "are you sure you want to be saying that?" Kyo shouts "you wanna go at it? I'll kick your butt, red and white!" Reimu smiles even more wickedly and says "oh, you're going to regret saying that." Reimu lets her cup fall on the ground, letting is shatter in pieces, then starts sobbing and cries out loud "you mean, ugly man, how could you SAY such a thing to a lady as DELICATE as me~!" Kyo panics and says "I-I... I'm NOT falling for that, you FAKER!" Beside Kyo, the drunk Rika stands staring at him with a dark shadow over her eyes as she says, in a very dangerous undertone "you made my lady cry. Die, swine!"

At Eirin's clinic, Ail lies on one bed with curtains surrounding him. He has bandages around his head, legs and left arm. He hears Eirin and Reisen handle an emergency, Eirin shouting "no, NO, that arm goes HERE!" Reisen replies "sorry Master!" Eirin shouts "ok, ok, this is going to HURT!" Ail hears a loud cracking sound, then Kyo's voice echoing as he screams in pain. Ail asks "Kyo?" Eirin shouts "Ail, not now! This is SERIOUS!" Ail looks at the ceiling and thinks "whoa... what could have happened?" After some time passes and everything quiets down, Eirin says "phew, that was tough, but we solved that puzzle." Reisen says "all in a day's work, eh Master?" The door to the clinic shuts close, then Ail quickly opens the right side of the curtains, then sees Kyo bandaged from head to toes, with a hole for his left eye and his mouth in order to eat. Ail asks "WHOA!! Kyo, you too?" Kyo turns his good eye to Ail and manages to say "it's worse dude... MUCH worse." Ail gulps and shivers, thinking what could have happened to mess Kyo up so badly. Early morning. At the Hakurei Shrine, Mima and Marisa lie on the ground, covered in charms and some yin-yang orbs lie on the ground next to them. Sanae, Budou and Phredia, Alice and the dolls, Shinki, Ran, Chen, Maribel and Renko sleep close to each other inside individual futons in the shrine’s living room and Medicine sleeps with her back against Luna's abdomen, using her as a pillow. On the roof of the shrine, Suika, Aya and Momiji sleep soundly, spreading their arms widely while lightly snoring. Yuka and Ayalina have already left, and Reimu looks sleepy and annoyed, sitting with her back against the wall, and having her arm used as a pillow by Rika, who mumbles incoherently while blushing and lightly rubbing her face on Reimu's arm. Reimu manages to escape Rika, getting up and heading straight to the back of the shrine, where Remilia and Sakuya land just as she exits the shrine. Remilia looks seriously at Reimu and says "Reimu, I don't know how it happened, but the lake is almost entirely scarlet." Reimu face palms and says "no... I thought I had more time." Sakuya coughs a little, then says "we-we tried to look into this, but-" Reimu gasps and says "Remilia, how could you?" Remilia snaps back "she tried taking matter into her own hands an almost ended up dead, if it weren't for a certain... shadow." Reimu stares back at Remilia, who continues "so what are you going to do about it?" Reimu says "the records at the shrine say the lake healed by itself. They also state that while the waters are scarlet, no life can be sustained in there." Sakuya gasps for air, then begins to cough as she kneels on the ground, holding her neck. Remilia says "she's one stubborn maid, isn't she?" Reimu kneels down next to Sakuya and while placing an amulet around her neck, she says "Sakuya, don't forget you are human. Whether you like it or not, we have limits." Sakuya stops coughing the moment Reimu places the amulet on her, then stands up and says "I still wish to help, miss Reimu." Reimu looks to Remilia as she looks down a bit embarrassed and says "me too. I wish to help out too." Reimu sighs and says "Rika's going to be sore about this, but I'll have to leave her behind." Reimu pulls her gohei from under her sleeve and smiles as she lifts to the sky and says "well, better deal with this now before the damage is irreversible." Remilia turns to Sakuya and says "no matter what happens, Sakuya Izayoi, I want you to GET to the mansion if things get too out of hand, you understand?" Sakuya looks away, making Remilia angrily grab her chin and pull her face toward her and growls "that is an ORDER!" Sakuya sighs and says "as you with... my lady."

To be continued...

Characters, scenario and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Luna, Budou, Phredia, Ayalina, Kimi & Kali were created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by Snapshot2010

DEC 27 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

One Random Sukima 22 A Scarlet Shower 1

Three weeks have passed since the last shadow incident, which took place in the Human Village. Petal has made a full recovery and spends her days around the courtyard of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, bringing a large beautiful flower garden to life, even though the ground is solid rock. For some unknown reason, she hasn't been able to turn to human, but it seems she doesn't really mind. Okuu herself has taken a liking to Petal and treats the tiny raven like a child, constantly going into bird form and roosting with Petal under her wing. Though being Okuu's shadow, a hell raven, Petal is weak against the heat, so both Satori and Okuu prevent her from following into the deep caverns. Petal has already tried to enter 3 times, almost falling in the lava the last time, but thanks to Orin, she is saved. From that last experience, though, the little raven has given up on following Okuu into the depths of the former hell. Maribel and Renko, having had their home destroyed, yet again, have been living in the Hakurei shrine again, however, to the surprise of many, this has made Reimu quite happy, despite her constant denial. Everyone else's lives have gone back to normal... or as normal as lives get in Gensokyo, except for three cases. Reimu and Ail are still in their dog forms, making Reimu a little edgy about the whole thing, while Ail seems to be getting accustomed to his dog body. Both think of going to Eirin's Clinic, however, word has reached them that Entei has had it's share of trouble, and seems they still haven't recovered. After S-Reisen's last blow to Reisen, the moon rabbit has lost a lot of her physical strength and stamina. She has constantly collapsed while helping Eirin, so now she spends most of her time either sleeping, or just sitting in her futon. Eirin has tried all sorts of drugs, remedies and potions, but seems nothing is working. Desperate, Eirin has decided to ask Reimu for help in this matter, but without Reisen's help, she hasn't been able to find the right time to go to the Hakurei Shrine. Lucky for her, she is headed their way instead, accompanied by Sanae, Budou, Ail and Rika. As for the third case...

Morning at Entei. Eirin enters Reisen's room with a bowl of rice and some carrots along with some tea on a tray. After entering, she notices Reisen already awake, wearing a light violet robe, sitting inside her futon with her back against the wall right beside her bed. Eirin smiles and asks "still hurts when you use the bed, huh?" Reisen, looking dreadfully exhausted, nods and says "I'm no use to you like this, master." Eirin shushes her as she kneels down and places the tray on the floor next to her and says "eat up. I placed a new medicine in those carrots that might just do the trick." Reisen weakly smiles at Eirin, grabs a carrot, and slowly bites down the tip, chewing slowly and swallowing with some effort afterward. Eirin observers her for some time, then asks "anything?" Reisen's eyes turn light blue as she says "hmm... I feel a little ticklish." Eirin sighs in defeat, then says "well, I'll keep trying, just don't go giving up on me, ok?" Eirin manages to smile at Reisen, even though her insides burn with overwhelming sadness. She wishes she could let it all out and cry with Reisen, but she keeps a strong front, trying to keep Reisen from losing hope. Reisen smiles back, making her feel more soothed and at ease. Eirin gets up and says "I'll be back to check on you later." Without lifting her sights, Reisen quietly nods. Eirin says "don't give up, Udonge. You'll get better. I promise." Eirin walks out of the room, closing the sliding doors after doing so, then says to Tewi "please pick up the tray when she's done." Tewi quietly nods as Eirin says "I'll be at the clinic if you need me." Eirin walks out of the mansion and promptly heads to the clinic. The moment she enters and closes the door, she places her right hand on her face and says "at this rate, only the Hourai Elixir will save her." Eirin places her back against the door, crossing her arms across her chest and remembers when she hears S-Reisen say "your solar plexus. Enjoy your last moments in life... if you can." Reisen's scream, along with the blast from S-Reisen repeat themselves in Eirin's head, making her clench her teeth and desperately place her hands on her ears, hoping to make the sounds go away, and just like that, she takes a deep breath and says to herself "you are Eirin Yagokoro. If you can't save her life, then nobody else will, but you need to focus and regain control. Yes... I need to focus. I can find a way to save her without the Elixir; I know I can." From outside, Kaguya hears everything, and covering her mouth with her long sleeve, she quietly runs back to the mansion, where she quietly tells Tewi what's happening. About an hour pass and Eirin is just about to give up, almost falling asleep while looking through medicine books that might help her. Frustrated, she closes the book she has in front of her, then places her elbow on it and rests her head on her hand. Her frown disappears almost instantly when she hears Reimu's squeaky dog voice loudly calling "hello~~! Anybody there!?" Hope once again fills Eirin's heart as she rushes out to greet her guest.

After the shock of meeting the dogs, Reimu and Ail on Sanae's and Rika's arms, Eirin manages to prepare some tea and snacks, placing them on the table and saying "please, forgive me. This tea isn't as good as Udonge's" While Tewi pokes Ail's ears, Reimu, sounding as casual as ever, asks "so you didn't even know you were missing such a dangerous drug?" Eirin shakes her head and says "that is... was.., Udonge's job." Still being poked at, Ail raises his left eye-brow and asks "was?" Eirin sighs and sits down, crossing her legs under her dress, and placing her hands on her knees, she says "let me explain. Both Udonge's and my own shadow came here and caught us all off-guard." By now, Tewi stops poking Ail's ear and just backs away, looking away from the table and back to Reisen's room. After Eirin, Kaguya and Tewi explain what happened, Ail and Reimu look at each other for a moment, then Eirin finishes by saying "I tried all I can, but she's just not recovering. If this keeps up, she's going to die in just a few days." Tewi twitches after hearing Eirin say that, but keeps quiet and pretends to not care as she walks outside. Reimu and Ail both look at Eirin and Kaguya, then Reimu says "you do understand that in our current state, there is very little we can do." Both Eirin and Kaguya look at each other, then sigh while looking to the floor, but Ail adds "but don't go losing hope. Combining our powers, with Phredia's, I am sure there's something we can do." Phredia flies from under Budou's hair and takes to the table, where Reimu asks "can you help us?" Phredia smiles and nods at Reimu, then to Ail, then Budou says "I wanna help too!" Sanae smiles and says "well of course you are!" Ail adds "we need you to look at Reisen and tell us if you see anything bad inside her." Rika politely asks "miss Reimu, mister Ail, are you sure it can be that simple?" Reimu wags her tail and says "we just need to have faith, right?" She looks to Ail, then notices her own wagging tail. She growls and shouts "ugh, this STUPID tail! Get over here!!!" Running in circles after her own tail, Reimu barks madly as she tries to bite down on the still wagging tail. Rika grabs Reimu before she manages to bite down on her own tail and says "my lady, you need to take it easy." Reimu sighs and says "I'm sick of this dog body." Ignoring Reimu, Ail says "let's go and see Reisen now." Eirin nods and stands up, Ail and Budou promptly following her, then Reimu, Rika and Sanae follow afterward. Slowly opening the sliding doors, Eirin softly says "Udonge. You have visitors." Reisen, still siting with her back against the wall besides her bed, still inside her futon, slowly turns her neck to look at the door, spotting Sanae, Rika and Budou around her master. She manages to smile and weakly says "well, hello everyone. Thanks for visiting." Ail and Reimu stand right on front of Reisen, unnoticed by her, until Ail says "my, this is worse than I thought." Reimu, sounding preoccupied says "I hope it's not too late." Surprised, Reisen opens her eyes wider as she looks at the dogs and says "oh my goodness... Mister Ail? Miss Shrine maiden? I-is that you?" Ail looks at Reimu and asks "miss shrine maiden?" while Reimu looks at Ail and asks "mister Ail?" Reimu turns her attention to Reisen and pats her leg under the futon and says "you'll be flying again, little moon rabbit." Reisen raises her left crumpled ear and stars at Reimu with confusion and a bit of surprise.

Ail and Reimu look at each other, both holding their chests. Reimu asks "you feel that too?" Ail nods, then looks at Reisen, then asks "do you really wish to just die like this?" Reisen gasps and Eirin angrily asks "what? Reisen Udongien, you can't let yourself die!" Kaguya forces herself though Sanae and Rika, kneels beside Reisen, past her head, then looks at Eirin, seemingly angry at her, then says "Eirin, this is my order to you. Let Inaba decide on her own!" Reimu and Ail both look at Eirin and Reimu says "for this spell to work, the target must willingly accept it, or it won't work at all." Eirin know she can't refuse an order from Kaguya, so defeated, she sighs then ask "at least tell me... why?" Reisen smiles as she looks at her master, then looks toward the window and as a few fairies fly by, she says "being like this made me realize I am paying for all my misdeeds, Master. Abandoning my friends back at the moon, having such selfish feelings, wanting to be treated better just because I feel bad... and for trying to kill you. I really did believe all my shadow said to me." Eirin takes a deep breath through her nose, crossing her arms across her chest and closing her eyes. She opens them again, and looks sternly at Reisen, then says "if that is how you feel, then die like the coward you are!" Everyone, except Ail and Reimu, gasp at Eirin's harsh words. Even Reisen lifts her ears and opens her eyes wide, looking at her master. Eirin continues "if you were brave, you'd live on and better yourself as atonement for all of those misdeeds of yours. But... the princess is right. This is your choice. I can't make it for you, so die a coward's death, Udonge." Eirin turns her back to Reisen as she leaves the room and as she passes by Rika and Sanae, she says "know that you'll still be missed." then leaves. Reisen lets her crumpled ears drop as she quietly thinks, then Ail says "Budou, please take a look at miss Reisen." Before letting go of Budou's shoulders, Sanae asks "what for? You heard what they said." Ail smirks and says "loud and clear." Sanae looks surprised at Ail, then at Rika, who shrugs while looking equally surprised, then lets go of Budou's shoulders. Budou walks to Reisen and immediately, she starts staring just under her chest and above her abdomen. There, she sees a tiny black orb sending dark purple energies all around Reisen's nervous system. Budou screams and starts to cry "owie~! That hurts so much! Miss Reisen, nee-san, that must really hurt." Reisen looks surprised at Budou, who just by looking at her knows all that. Ail asks "what did you see?" Budou closes her eyes as she points at Reisen's solar plexus and says "small dark spot. It's sending a lot of painful darkness all over her body!" Sanae rushes to Budou, who immediately hugs her lightly around her waist, crying "it's horrible, mama~!" Kaguya pats Reisen on the head, then says "I'll go check on Eirin while you make your choice." Right after Kaguya, Budou and Sanae leave the room, Reimu gets closer to Reisen and asks "what's it gonna be?" Phredia comes from outside the room and flies by Rika as she heads to the living room, joining Ail and Reimu, who stare at Reisen as she looks to the floor, lost in thought. Ail smirks and says "let's get ready, you two." Reimu smiles at Ail, then Phredia nods with a smile on her face as well. Reisen asks "will this really work?" Ail and Reimu smile at Reisen as they aim their arms in the air. Reimu says "concentrate you energy on your hand. Phredia, mix your healing magic with my own." A light-green orb forms around the palm of their little hands, to which Phredia adds a large light-yellow orb to it, making it glow gold for a moment, then it turns green again. Reimu shouts "on three... THREE!" Reimu and Ail jump straight at Reisen and force the light orb inside her body, making the entire room glow with a powerful bright light.

In the living room, Sanae sits with Budou on the floor, embracing her as she continues to sob, lightly patting her back to calm her down. Eirin stands on the doorway, looking at the bright sky and says "autumn is almost here." Rika quietly sits on her knees, looking to the floor and trying to say something to Eirin, but she can't find any words for her. From Reisen's room, Reisen shouts at the top of her lungs "WHAAAAAAAA!!!" All in the living room get the shock of their lives. Even Budou stops sobbing and asks "what happened?" Eirin fears the worse has happened, but her fear turns to another shock when Reisen's doors bang open and smoke comes from inside. Everybody watches expectant toward the loud doors, when Reisen springs out of her room, surprising everyone, laughing loudly "WAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA~" holding Ail, Reimu and Phredia in her arms, all looking pale and about to die of asphyxiation. She shouts "I'm cured! I can jump, run, scream, fly! Uuu~ Even the pain is gone, woo-hoo~!" She spins on one leg, making her robe lift up, showing her bloomers to everyone in the room, but they all get distracted as she tosses the dogs and the fairy to the air, all landing safely on their respective companion's laps. Kaguya celebrates with Reisen, jumping and cheering with her, then Reisen lets Kaguya go and rushes to her still shocked master and jumps on her, letting her bloomers show yet again as she hugs her master, saying "I'm all better now! I'm ok! I'm not useless anymore, Master!" Reisen runs outside, skipping and twirling happily on her bare feet, enjoying the feel of the grass under them. She runs around back, where Tewi sits, hugging her knees while sadly looking at one of her pitfalls. She hides her face under her knees, but hearing her trap set off, along with Reisen's familiar scream, the black rabbit lifts her head up and sees Reisen smiling as she flies out of the hole and head her way. Reisen shouts "I must say, I REALLY missed that!" then grabs the shocked Tewi and gives her a tight hug, then lets her go, forgetting they are high in the air by then, Tewi screaming at the top of her lungs a she falls to the ground. After landing, Tewi rubs her head as she struggles to get up, then looks up to the sky toward the happy and crazy moon rabbit, then smiles and as a tear escapes her left eye she says "Reisen... *sniffle* Time to dig deeper holes, heh heh." Inside, while Reisen happily flies around, screaming her lungs off, Eirin bows to Reimu, Phredia and Ail, asking "I am ever so grateful to you. Please, is there anything you want in return?" Ail ponders, then says "I'm good." Phredia shakes her little head with a smile, then rushes back to Budou. Reimu wags her tail and rapidly says "make me human again." Eirin smiles and says "but... I still don't have an antidote." Reimu slumps and whines as she lets out an "aww~!" Eirin smiles, then says "I could have Udonge make you some nice dumplings. She's really good!" Rika looks upset and is about to say something, when Reimu, while drooling, says "that sounds nice!" Rika's eyes hide under a blue shadow as the scratches the floors with her fingernails and a blue aura surrounds her.

Meanwhile, at Mugekan, in the bushes surrounding the mansion, a black hat and a pair of pink wings tread along, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Popping her head from under the bushes with a mischievous smile on her face, Yuki points to the mansion and says "see, I told you. This huge mansion is totally deserted and ready for the pickings." Popping her head from under the bushes with a bored look on her face, Mai replies "are you sure about this? I'm feeling a small presence around here. Two... though the second one's back over there." Mai points behind some small mountains behind them with her thumb. Yuki continues to smile and says "ahh, you're just being paranoid. Come on, let's break in!" Looking a little worried, Mai asks "wait, what do you mean 'break in'? You just said this place is deserted!" Yuki points at the entrance of the mansion and says "so I was mistaken. Come on!" Elly walks out of the mansion, resting her large scythe on her left shoulder, and stretches under the rays of the sun, saying "oh, another sunny day. Oh, I hope miss Yuka comes back again soon. I want to surprise her with all the arrangements I've prepared." Inside in the mansion's dinning room, Elly has prepared a feast adorned with many decorations, including flowers of all sorts and colors, all in pots, of course. Elly continues to smile, then blushes as she thinks how Yuka would praise her. {ELLY'S IMAGINATION} Yuka smiles and says "oh my, Elly, what a wonderful surprise. Come here and let me give you a little reward." Elly blushes with sparkles around her eyes as she says "I did it all for you, miss Yukarin. There's no need for rewards as long as you are happy." Yuka places an arm around Elly's waist and looking passionately into her eyes she says "I never said this reward was for you alone." Elly stares back with dreamy eyes and opens her mouth as Yuka's face slowly gets closer to her own. As they kiss, Elly passionately says "miss Yukarin~" {END ELLY'S IMAGINATION} Elly stands staring blankly to the sky, blushing and drooling as she fantasizes some more, and doesn't realize Yuki and Mai flying past her, Yuki smiling widely and Mai staring at Elly, looking a bit preoccupied. After the two girls enter, Kurumi walks toward Elly, then snaps her fingers as she angrily stares at the gate guardian. Elly snaps out of her fantasy with a shock, shouting "KURUMI!" Wh-when did you get here!? What did you hear!?" Kurumi continues to stare angrily at Elly with a cute pout on her face, and sounding a bit annoyed, she says "didn't you just notice the two girls fly just above your head?" Elly looks confused at Kurumi and asks "the humans are back?" Kurumi sighs and says "let's just go get them out!"

Inside the mansion, Yuki and Mai arrive at the dinning room and look awestruck at the table with the feast and adornments of potted flowers all over. Yuki exclaims "whoa. A meal worthy of royalty!" Mai reluctantly says "Yuki, maybe we should just go back. I don't think we should be here." Yuki smiles and says "are you KIDDING!? Look at that! Cakes, meats, fish, potatoes *gasp* even sweet dumplings! Oh, I'm taking a few!" Mai says "wait, Yuki just stop!" Yuki replies "they won't notice if it's just a few." From the dinning room's entrance, a woman clears her throat loudly, getting Mai's attention, while Yuki simply grabs a piece of meat and a stick with dumplings and gorges herself, smacking her lips and throwing the bone and clean stick after finishing, then grabbing a large pitcher and drinking straight from it. Elly's skin crawls, and a dark shadow surrounds her angry white eyes as she shouts "BE MORE DELICATE! Use a cup, you fiend!" Kurumi enters the room and casually says "I think you're missing the point here." Mai says "Yuki, I TOLD you this was a bad idea!" Mai bows apologetically, but before she can say anything, Yuki shouts "ha-ha~! Watch who you're calling a fiend! I am a powerful warrior form Makai, and I'm here to punish evil creatures that steal from mansions!" Mai sweats and softly says "isn't that was you're doing just now?" Elly points her right finger at Yuki and shouts "how dare you!? I am Elly, and this is Kurumi, and THIS place is the house of my WONDERFUL master, miss Yukarin, and YOU are trespassing, so we're going to have to kill you." Yuki smiles, then pulls her hat off and says "let's see you try!" then pulls out a black orb with a string on it's top. She lights the string with a spark from her finger and while smiling widely she says "with this baby Marisa gave me, I am SURE to win.. eh? Wait..." Yuki remembers Marisa asking her for help whenever she visited Gensokyo again. Yuki gasps in horror and flings the bomb to Mai, who looks at it curiously and asks "what is this, Yuki?" Yuki rapidly says "I'm sorry, gotta run!" Yuki takes to the air as Mai desperately says "wha-WAIT A MINUTE! Yuki, you can't leave me-" Elly shouts "you're not getting away, fiend!" Kurumi sweats and says "I.. think I'll be heading out now." Yuki ignores everyone, then follows Kurumi, who nervously leaves the dinning room and heads outside the mansion. Yuki shouts "I promised Marisa I'd help. You can do it, Mai. Remember your training~!" Elly swings her scythe offensively toward Mai and says "well now, your fiendish friend has deserted you. Prepare for... *sniff sniff* Hey, is something burning?" Mai curiously says "I think it's this black thing." Elly points at it and casually says "oh, you mean that bomb?" Mai opens her eyes wide as her entire body stiffen and shrieks "BOMB!?" The entire dinning room explodes violently, and in just a few seconds, all of Elly's preparations become burnt ashes and rubble. Both Mai and Elly groan as they get up form the floor, their faces and dresses covered in black powder. Elly cries "no... my REWA~RD!" Mai shakes her head, then shouts "YU~KI~~!!!" so loud, her voice echoes all the way to the SDM, where Meiling looks to the east and asks "a siren?"

At the Hakurei Shrine, Rika mops the inside of the shrine, while Sanae, Mima, Maribel and Renko enjoy a dip in the hot springs, even though the day is still quite warm. Budou and Luna sit by the donation box, watching as Reimu manages to sweep the leaves from around the shrine while holding the large broom with her tiny hands. A small twig flies past Reimu's head, then Ail, knocking many piles of leaves while chasing it, catches the twig just before it reaches the stairs. Reimu growls and says "Luna, could you get that husband of yours to behave!?" Luna sighs as she flaps her hand around her neck and says "it's too hot." From the side of the shrine, Kyo laughs, unable to control himself as Ail comes back looking proud with the twig in his mouth and walking on four legs. Reimu growls and aggressively says "Kyo, if you don't cut the crap, I'm gonna--" Kyo points at the dog Reimu and says "what ARE you going to do, you cute wittle puppy with such a pwetty dwess!" A chomping sound makes Budou wince as she asks "whoa, large brother, are you ok?" Reimu bites down hard on Kyo's ankle, but Kyo looks as calm as ever and laughs as he strikes a manly pose, placing both arms on his waist and expanding his chest, then says "are you kidding!? I'm a man! I can take it!" Reimu lets go of his ankle and says "pleh! disgusting... and didn't have any effect." Rika instantly appears on Kyo's right and says "my lady, I might be able to help you." Rika takes a deep breath as yellow energy courses though her, then she points her hands toward Reimu, then she also gets surrounded by yellow energy, then all stops. Reimu asks "what just-?" Rika says "your teeth, my lady." Reimu bares her sharp teeth and all seem covered in metal. Kyo sweats a little, but keeps his manly pose as Rika says "I used an earthly defensive spell and modified it to surround your teeth instead of you. Go ahead, try it out." As she says this, a glint escapes her eye and Reimu flips her thumb up at her. Kyo defiantly says "go ahead and try little pup. I can take it!" Without question, Reimu bites down hard on Kyo's ankle. At first, he continues to look confident, holding his manly pose, but he suddenly takes a deep breath and as tears escape his eyes he starts running in circles, screaming like a girl. Rika laughs and says "that's my lady!" From the donation box, sounding worried, Budou says "miss Luna, I think you should go save him." Luna lazily replies "he's a man. He can take it." Kyo continues to run in circles around the shrine, screaming like a girl some more, until he crashes against a tree, knocking Aya from it and holding on to it tightly. He shouts "ok, ok, I give! Just let me go already!" Reimu miraculously complies, letting go of Kyo and standing on her feet on the ground. She looks at her stomach while holding it with her hands and says "whoa... I feel funny." A loud popping sound echoes all around the shrine and some white clouds surround Reimu. Rika shouts "miss Reimu are you alright?" When the clouds disappear, they reveal Reimu has returned to her normal body, and besides her on the floor, the shapr metal plating that surrounded her dog teeth. Reimu pats herself curiously while Rika exclaims "miss Reimu, you're back!!" Reimu says "I'm.. back to my old self! WAAA-HA~!! I'm back to normal!!!" Rika and Reimu hold hands as they jump around in circles, celebrating Reimu's return to her normal form." From the hot spring comes Sanae, wearing a white swimsuit and looking a little angry as Reimu celebrates, then says "wait, that's not fair. What about Ail?" Reimu and Rika stop celebrating, then Reimu looks at Ail, who is jumping around, saying "come on~! Someone throw the stick already!" Reimu casually says "he seems fine to me." Sanae growls softly, but sighs and calms herself, then says "I'm going back to the spring.

Flying at high speeds, Yuki cries "come on~, I said I was sorry~!" From behind her, small white orbs, larger white orbs, and sets of snowflake-danmaku bullets graze her all over her body, making her cry twin waterfalls as she screams "come on, I'm serious! I'm sorry~!" From behind, looking enraged and hungry for blood, Mai, Elly and Kurumi continue to chase after Yuki, firing their bullets as fast as possible, Mai shouting "you're gonna PAY!" Elly shouts "MY REWARD!" Kurumi shouts "trespassers but be PUNISHED!" On the ground close to toe Temple of Myouren, Byakuren's temple, Nazrin sits on the grass, surrounded by many mice friends as they all eat bits of foods from Nazrin's basket. An explosion startles the mice, making them all run away back to the temple. Nazrin looks to the sky and asks "what's that noise?" Yuki flies by, shouting "I'm serious, I have to help Marisa~! Waah~! Help me Ail!" From behind Mai flies by, still shooting snowflakes at Yuki and shouting "get BACK here!" Nazrin chuckles and says "well that's something you don't see every day." From her right, Elly clears her throat, then says "so YOU are Ail. Hmph! I don't see what Yukarin sees in you." Annoyed, Nazrin glares back at Elly and Kurumi and as she gets up on her feet she asks "who the heck are you?" Elly says "I am your executioner, Elly, and this is my side-kick, Kurumi. Angry, Kurumi flaps her wings as she hovers above Elly and strikes her head hard with her fist, saying "I'm nobody's side-kick!" Nazrin continues to stare annoyed and suspicious at the two youkai as Elly rubs the back of her head. Elly immediately recovers and points at Nazrin, shouting "well that doesn't matter, Ail! Once I take care of you, my Yukarin will be ALL MINE again, WAHAHAHAHA~!" Narrowing her left eye, still staring, Nazrin says "hey, idiot. I'm not Ail." Kurumi looks at Elly and says "told you~" Elly points toward the sky and says "that crazy girl called you Ail, so don't try to confuse me with your lies, Ail!" Narrowing both eyes and swaying her tail angrily from left to right, Nazrin says "I'm NAZRIN, not AIL." Elly laughs maniacally as she raises her scythe and shouts "DIE~~!" Nazrin flips, twirls and spins in place, using her tail like a whip, striking Elly all over her body and knocking her to the ground with thin red marks all over her face. Kurumi covers her eyes with her small hands, and when the cracking sounds stop, she peeks through her fingers and spots Elly on the ground with her scythe to her side, and smiling like a goof while looking toward the sky with empty eyes. Calmly walking back to the temple, Nazrin says "your friend's gonna be sore for a while. Make sure she doesn't scratch those. It'll sting like hell if she does. See ya." Kurumi sighs as she helps Elly sit back up and says "you idiot, you need to be more careful." Elly mumbles "stings... dance.... bloomers." Kurumi pats Elly's head and with a smile on hr face she says "so glad to see you're fine."

Having being persuaded by Reimu's needles, Sanae sits quietly on the Shrine's porch, still being resentful that Reimu reverted back to her human self, while Ail stays a dog, even though they both transformed at the same time. What makes Sanae even angrier is Ail's aloof attitude to the matter. Agava and Rumia land in the shrine grounds, both looking a little nervous. Before even Rika can greet them, Reimu calls them from inside the shrine "you two, get in here!" Both wince after hearing Reimu's voice, then slowly head toward the entrance, walking past Rika, who quietly bows to them, striking her own head with her broomstick. They walk past the pouting Sanae, who continues to pet dog Ail as he sleeps on her lap, and upon reaching the doorway, they slowly peek inside. Reimu is sitting on the floor with a large scroll that reads "Shadows" and various names checked. Only three names remain unchecked on the list. Reimu raises her head to the youkai and with a smile on her face, she says "welcome. Please, come in, sit next to me." Hesitantly, the two youkai walk closer to Reimu, and each sit beside Reimu, where she points them to sit. With a dangerously angelical smile on her face, Reimu tightly warps her arm around the two youkai necks and asks "did I ask you to take care of that lake?" Agava and Rumia simply cry "we're sorry~!" Reimu's smile turns to a dangerously happy grin as she says "now that I'm human again, I can't help but feel those vibrations coming from that lake, and let me tell you, they are VERY uncomfortable!" Agava says "Reimu, I swear, we really tried!" Rumia adds "but without Flandre, Kali kicked our butts!" Reimu asks "and where is Flandre?" Above the Scarlet Devil Mansion, a trail of white smoke quickly moves around the mansion's clock tower, then heads toward the human village. Remilia holds her hat while sitting beside Sakuya, while Patchouli and Meiling sit behind them. Remilia shouts "so this is why you were saving money!?" Flandre shouts back "uh-huh! It was steep, but that gap lady came through! Best part, this thing will fly all over Gensokyo 10 times over before needing a recharge!" Flandre holds the control of a roofless flying red vehicle that looks like a round saucer with seats on it. Flandre shouts "let's see what this baby can do!" Flandre jerks the steering wheel fast, making the flying vehicle spin, making Remilia scream in fear and making Meiling and Patchouli fall from the back. Giggling, Flandre pulls the steering wheel hard, making the vehicle loop in the air and catching the two girls in mid-air. Flandre shouts "OH YEAH~! This thing REALLY flies!" Even Remilia is trembling violently after those stunts. Flandre asks "are you ok, onee-sama?" Remilia answers "yeah... I'm just fine... URK!" Remilia holds her mouth as she feels a slight discomfort in her stomach. Flandre smiles widely and says "alright then, put on your seat belts and let's see what this baby REALLY can do!" All four shout "NOOO~!" but Flandre completely ignores them and speeds up and lowers so much, the underside of the vehicle brushes against a few tree-tops.

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu has released the two youkai from the headlock and is looking at the scroll for a moment. Rumia asks "what will you have us do, miss Reimu?" Reimu quietly continues to study the scroll, then sighs and says "I'm not sure anymore. From what you just told me, Kali's powers seem to have tripled since the last time. {FLASHBACK} It's night and Agava hangs limp on a tree branch while Rumia, holding her broad longsword in her hands, face off against Kali's human form right above the expanding red spot on the lake. Kali confidently says "if you run away now, I won't chase you." Rumia flaps her dark wings once, then lunges toward Kali, hoping to thrust the sword straight into her heart, but Kali sways to the left just as Rumia's sword is about to strike, then grabs her blade with her bare hands, fully stopping Rumia's attack, then says "your loss." then kicks Rumia's abdomen with her makeshift knee, spins in the air, and kicks her head downward with the back of her make-shift foot, then laughs as Rumia falls down to the lake. However, something dark bats Rumia toward dry land, where she lies looking toward the night sky as her ribbon magically sets itself back on her head. {END FLASHBACK} Reimu continues to stare toward the two youkai, however she is lost in thought. Rumia asks "want us to try again?" Reimu abruptly says "no! It's up to me to solve this incident. Besides, I hear Kimi lives around there... I need to ask her something." Rumia, sounding determined, says "I'll go with you, then." Agava adds "I guess I'm in too." Reimu smiles and says "good. We leave after lunch!" Rika rushes to the kitchen in just seconds and says "on it! I'll make you some rice balls and some dumplings, and with your FAVORITE tea, my lady!" Reimu smiles and says "ah, thank you. But I'm not that hungry, so could you make some soup instead?" Crying, Rika salutes Reimu and with a forced smile on her face she says "ON IT!" Meanwhile, Mima holds Maribel, who has her cat ears exposed as she sleeps on the supposedly evil spirit's lap. Mima smiles with a heart in her mouth and says "nothing could ruin this moment for me!" A cream-colored washtub falls right on top of her head, crumpling her pointy hat as small cat Maribels run in circles around her head. With a wriggled smile she says "ooo~ pretty kitty" then falls on her back.

It's noon, and Reimu, Rumia and Agava arrive to the island in the Misty lake. At first, the lake seems just fine, so Reimu asks "are you guys sure about this?" Rumia nods and says "it's behind." Reimu lifts to the air to get a better look, and is completely shocked when she sees half of the lake covered in scarlet. When she looks back down, she notices Cirno and Daiyousei on the shores, looking quite unhappy and weak. Reimu shouts "Rumia, Agava, take all the fairies you can find AWAY from the island!" From the mansion's clock tower, Remilia comes flying straight to Reimu, looking a little sick. Remilia looks to where Reimu is looking, and seemingly unsurprised, she says "I noticed that when Flan forced us to ride that new contraption of hers. What should we do?" Reimu says "we investigate." Reimu and Remilia dive toward the scarlet colored water when Kali gets in their way with a smile, and without waiting for another second, she switches to her shadow form, grabs a spell card from her white hair and shouts "Shadow Sign - Binding Darkness" Reimu shouts to Remilia "hold on to me!" then pulls out her own spell card and shouts "Dream Sign - Demon Sealing Circle!" Just after Reimu declares her spell card, Remilia desperately shouts "wait, what about me~!?" The area around them turns completely dark, but Reimu's spell makes everything bright again as a blue beam rises toward the skies right from where Reimu and Remilia are, surprising Kali and knocking her out of the air. Inside the the blue beam, Remilia trembles as the spell is unleashed, but quickly realizes she is safely surrounded by a barrier. Reimu scoffs and asks "though I was going to let you burn?" Angrily and with tears under her eyes, Remilia replies "don't scare me like that!" Reimu simply smiles, and the second her spell finishes, Reimu dives toward the lake once more, whoever, Kali floats back up with her eyes glowing scarlet with rage. She shouts "you think that was FUNNY don't cha'!?" The shadow turns to human form, her eye still glowing scarlet, as she expands her arms, making the lake under her react and a scarlet colored watery pillar rises right behind her. With a wicked smile on her face, she points her finger at Reimu and the pillar rushes straight to the maiden. Reimu readies her charms, ready to protect herself, but Remilia grabs her left sleeve and pulls her away from the water, just as something dark grabs hold of Kali, canceling the water pillar, then drags her under the scarlet water. Reimu struggles with Remilia, demanding "Remilia, let me GO!" Remilia pulls Reimu closer to herself, then says "that looks VERY dangerous. I have a very bad feeling about that water, Reimu." Reimu stares straight at the scarlet water, watching as the bubbles from where Kali disappeared under stop surfacing. She thinks for a moment, then takes a deep breath and says "fine. I'll back away for now. Do me a favor." Remilia lets go of Reimu's sleeve, and looking seriously at Reimu, she asks "what do you want?" Reimu calmly says "if you see Kimi... Meiling's shadow, please tell her I need to speak with her. As for this lake... I better find more information about it." Remilia asks "think there might be something in the Hieda records?" Reimu shakes her head lightly and says "no. I think there's something in the shrine's records." Remilia stares back at Reimu, as the shrine maiden continues to stare toward the scarlet colored lake, then Reimu says "The Scarlet Lake... yeah. I need information about that."

By the clean shores of the Misty Lake, away from the island, Agava and Rumia take the last of the weakened fairies to shore, where they instantly feel better and start to fly on their own. After they are done, Agava looks to Reimu, Remilia and Kali, then notices as something very large grabs Kali and drags her down. She rubs her dark-blue eyes then says "whoa, Rumia did you see that?" Rumia lies on her back on the ground and tired, she asks "i-is that so~?" From Agava's left, Koishi says "ooh, I saw that large dark thing. It was dark!" Agava gets shocked for a moment, but manages to recover, then says "so you saw it too? Sweet, let's tell Reimu!" Koishi smiles while sticking out her tongue, then says "there's no need. She already knows~. She's just playing with us." Agava narrows her right eye and says "you sure are weird." Koishi squeals and says "you're so CUTE!" then hugs Agava tightly as pink hearts pop from her head. Agava sighs and stares on in disbelief and says "yup... truly weird." At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae, Budou, Ail on Budou's arms and Phredia land near the entrance to the shrine, then Sanae storms inside and immediately locks herself up in her room. Budou lowers her wings and sighs as she says "mama Sanny is mad." Suwako is the firs to approach them as Phredia pats Budou on the head, then asks "what happened?" Budou says "miss Reimu turned back to human, but papa didn't." Ail adds "I told her to take it easy, but that seems to have made her even madder." Kanako comes from her room and after getting away from Sanae's room, she calmly says "it's probably that time, you know." Suwako strikes Kanako on the head with her fist and says "yes. That time where miss gramma shuts up and fixes this problem!" Kanako growls "or maybe it's time we had FROG LEGS for dinner!" Kanako and Suwako both grab each other in a head-lock, then stop as they notice Budou is sobbing. Ail, sounding a bit annoyed says "nice job." then turns to Budou and says "it's ok, Budou. Come on, cheer up. Chen's coming by to play tomorrow, but if you cry, she will get sad... so no more crying." Budou sniffles and quietly nods as Phredia pats her head, then Ail jumps from Budou's arms and says "look, let's just find a way to cheer Sanae up. Any particular food she likes?" Kanako suddenly stands straight and with an angry smile she says "I'll take care of that. You just wait for dinner." Later that night, Kanako walks out of her room to the living room and finds Ail sleeping on the floor there, curled up into a ball and holding his own tail as he whines while lightly snoring. Kanako quietly points her hand at him, then a light-blue orb comes from inside Ail's heart and straight back to Kanako's hand then expands and after the light dims, it reveals Kanako's real mirror. She quickly looks into it, then thinks "hmm... not enough to make Sanae forget about him, but still... Maybe I can make this work." She quietly heads back to her room, and after she closes the door, Ail mumbles in his sleep "miss Kanako... faith in you. Great... goddess Suwako... *whine* bones."

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Luna, Budou, Phredia, Petal, Kali and Kimi were created by Willie G.R.
Agava/Kali's spell cards were created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by Snapshot2010

DEC 20 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

Friday, December 18, 2009

One Random Sukima 21

Morning in Gensokyo. Satori and Orin fly toward the Hakurei Shrine as early as possible to ask Reimu for help in searching Okuu's shadow. Orin stares at nothing, very distracted and almost crashing against trees, or taking many wrong turns. Satori stares for a moment and Orin's thoughts of the party being held underground without her rush straight to Satori's mind. She sighs and says "Orin, why don't you go and enjoy yourself?" Orin looks back to Satori, seemingly confused, but she suddenly realizes what Satori said to her, then smiles and says "now way! I'd never leave you in a time like this, miss Satori!" Satori smiles back, then says "thank you Orin, but you seem so sad, and you did help them a lot with the preparations." Orin's smile vanishes, replaced with a sad expression as she looks to the ground, then says "I know, miss Satori. I really wish I could too, but you are very important to me, and I'd never leave you alone in a time like this." Satori smiles tenderly as Orin lifts her face with a goofy smile and saying "and if something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself for leaving you alone." A sweat-drop falls from the back of Satori's head as she forces a sheepish smile and asks "do I really look that unreliable?" Orin panics, waving her hands all around herself and saying "no, no, no, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Satori giggles, then says "relax. I know what you mean." Orin calms down and says "miss Satori is unexpectedly playful, I see." then thinks "I better keep my mind off that party. I don't wanna hurt miss Satori's feelings! That's it... I'll think of soup and boiled eggs." Satori sweats, as Orin's thoughts reach her as if she was talking directly to her, but keeps quiet about it. She looks up ahead and says "ah look, the shrine! Let's go, Orin! Maybe Reimu will let us have a break so we can go to that party." Orin is thinking "soup, boiled eggs, fish, boiled eggs... ah, I'm hungry." then Satori's words reach her, then she smiles and thinks "boiled party eggs with tuna soup." Satori just chuckles as they continue their way. Meanwhile, further ahead at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu says "...you know what you did. This is your punishment. Take responsibility for your actions and stop crying." Rika salutes and replies "as you wish, m-my lady *sniffle*" Reimu sighs and says "ok Mima, let's go." Mima says "you're so cute" as she turns back out and flies away. From Satori and Orin's point of view, it looks like Mima and Reimu enter the black gap willingly, until Mima flaps one arm, trying to push herself away from it. Satori shouts "Reimu, wait!" but it's too late. When she and Orin reach the shrine, Reimu is already gone. Satori looks at Orin, who has her cat ears so low, they look like they aren't even there. Satori pats Orin's head and says "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put your hopes up like that." Holding back her feelings, Orin's voice cracks for a second as she says "n-no, it's alright miss Satori!" From inside, looking glum, comes Rika and says "oh dear... visitors. Sorry, miss Reimu just left." When she gets a better look, she smiles and says "oh, miss Satori, miss Orin! What a pleasant surprise!" Satori says "ah, didn't meant to bother you, so well just be-" Rika reaches for Satori's hand, but before she even reaches, a sudden surge of magical energy courses through all their bodies. Orin's tails stand stiff and her hair and spine wiggle as the energy passes by. Satori and Orin look at each other, then say at the same time "Okuu's shadow!" Rika exclaims "a shadow!? Please, let me help you! I want to make it up to my lady, PLEA~~SE!" Satori and Orin look at each other with surprise, then look back at Rika, and with smiles on their faces, they both nod, making Rika smile happily, making sure her spell card is in her pocket and saying "let's roll!"

On the northern outskirts of the Human Village, Okuu's shadow, with her long black hair and wearing a pastel-blue plaid overall skirt, a light pink shirt underneath; over her long black wings, a light pink cape that looks like daylight skies underneath, and black knee-high boots, flies from tree to tree, trailing a small rainbow behind her wings as she moves, and bringing all sorts of flowers to life upon landing, whether on three branches, or the ground itself. She spots many hurt fairies and small youkai, and looks at them while curiously saying "unyu?" She gets closer to all and touches them lightly, brushing some with her wings, and others with her hands, all springing back on their feet, fully healed and feeling happier than ever. Some of the fairies feel so grateful, they fly to the shadow and either hug her neck, or kiss her cheeks before leaving, making S-Okuu say a happy "unyu~!" and waving at the fairies and youkai as they leave. Hiding behind some trees, S-Byakuren watches disgusted at the sight. She now wears a black bandanna with a skull design around her head in order to avoid being confused by another youkai again. She clenches her left fist tightly and growl to herself "this is not good. A youkai that can heal OTHER youkai! Those stupid villagers didn't heed my warnings, so I guess I better take matters into my OWN hands." She peeks around the tree once more, not noticing Minamitsu and the real Byakuren walking toward her. S-Byakuren uses her magic and touches a rock, turning it into a long lance. Still unaware of Minamitsu and Byakuren, the shadow says "alright. A quick thrust on the neck, and it's over!" She raises her lance as she reveals herself from behind the tree, aiming at S-Okuu's neck, though the other shadow is too distracted with the fairies around her to notice the threat. S-Byakuren, sounding mad and desperate says "an abomination like this must NOT be allowed! All youkai must die so humans can live in PEACE! Now die, you horrible abomination!" The real Byakuren shouts "how can you SAY such horrible words!?" S-Byakuren looks back and panics, lowering her lance for a moment. She recovers from the shock and says "and here's my copy. The one that spread lies about how youkai should be treated same as gods!" S-Byakuren raises her lance once more, then says "if I kill you now, I'll be saving this world from a terrible fate!" Byakuren shouts "you are a horrible person! Youkai, gods and humans CAN share this work in harmony!" S-Byakuren scoffs, then throws the spear, missing Byakuren by inches. Byakuren turns around and gasps in horror as she watches Minamitsu sitting against a tree, impaled by S-Byakuren's lance. Her eyes look empty as she gasps, then slowly closes them, expelling her breath as she does. Byakuren whimpers "Mi.... Mini-chan?" S-Byakuren takes advantage of the distraction and grabs a small rock, turning it into a dagger, then runs to Byakuren, but she magician turns around just in time, exploding with a magical aura. She grabs a spell card and shouts "Magic - Omen in Purple Mist" From all around her, Byakuren fires light-lilac droplet-bullets accompanied by intertwining lilac orbs. S-Byakuren gasps, then shouts "no! This can't be. You're one of them too, which means... I am..." She drops to her knees and starts to sob, then whispers "no. I... I am one of these monsters as well." Byakuren's attack reaches the shadow, but all she does is look up with hatred in her eyes and shouts "you can BURN in this hell with ALL your monster friends!" Byakuren's bullets reach the shadow striking her head and breaking her body, quickly turning her into black dust.

Byakuren cancels her attack once the dark dust vanishes, then turns around to look at Minamitsu. She kneels beside the youkai and pulls out the lance, discovering it hit her just under her arm. Byakuren stares at the small cuts under her arm and on her ribs and says "but.. this isn't lethal." Byakuren gets closer to the youkai and notices she's snoring very lightly. She sweats as she backs away from the sleeping Minamitsu, then a dark aura surrounds her as she smiles with a glint in her eyes, then raises her fist and in an instant, she strikes Minamitsu's head, waking her up with a throbbing bump on her head. Minamitsu rubs her bump while pouting and shouts "OW~ Hijiri, what's the deal!?" Byakuren continues to smile dangerously and says "well, good morning, you bad little Mini-chan!" Minamitsu pouts some more and says "please stop calling me that." She looks around, then gasps and asks "hey, lady Hijiri, where's your shadow!?" Byakuren sighs, pats Minamitsu's head, then says "she's gone now. Let's just go home." Minamitsu looks confused for a moment, but then she looks at Byakuren's smiling face and can't help but smile back. Both are just about to leave, when they hear a "nyu~?" from behind. They turn around and see S-Okuu, staring at them with her wide, sparkling black eyes with concern. Minamitsu notices she stares at her to most and asks "y-yes, what is it?" S-Okuu smiles and says "nyu! Nyu~!" Her smile widens as she extends her arm toward Minamitsu's wounds, then lightly touches them. A green light shines on the small cuts, and when the light vanishes, the wounds are completely healed. Minamitsu and Byakuren stare on awestruck as S-Okuu simply smiles and lightly bows, then flies away toward the village, trailing a small rainbow behind her wings and saying "nyu-nyu~!" Byakuren and Minamitsu continue to stare on, then Byakuren smiles and says "well that's one very special gift she has." Minamitsu adds "very special... Umm, lady Hijiri, can we keep her?" Byakuren chuckles and says "glad to see you are as well as ever." She pats Minamitsu's head again, then says "no, someone like her needs to run free. Help wherever she's needed." They start walking to the temple, Byakuren wrapping her arm around Minamitsu's neck, then Minamitsu asks "so... she's a policewoman?"

Flying above the village are Satori, Orin and Rika. Satori says "it's faint, but I think it's to the north." Rika smiles and says "yes. Once we capture this shadow, I'll be able to redeem myself to my lady Reimu!" Orin bends her ears toward the back, and with a naughty expression in her face, she asks "so~, you're THAT kind of maid, huh?" Satori strikes Orin on the head with her fist and angrily says "what have I told you about that!?" Orin rubs her head with a stream of tears running through her cheeks, then curious, Rika asks "what do you mean by that, miss Orin?" Satori smiles nervously and says "don't listen to her. Let's just focus here." Rika nods with a smile as they continue their way north. Unknown to them, S-Okuu is already in the village, staring at the people as they go about their daily lives. She smiles upon the sight of young humans running and laughing as they head toward the school, followed by some more mature-looking humans. Those look less amused than the younger ones. As she walks further in, letting out some curious "unyu?", she leaves a trail of flowers and green grass that grow where she stands. The children and the women are amazed by the many flowers growing all around the girl, and they all run and kneel to pick up the beautiful flowers, making S-Okuu look back and smiles with a quiet giggle. She continues to walk to the center of the village, where the school is, regularly flapping her wings and releasing some small blue sparkles that slowly float to the ground, making more flowers bloom. She finally reaches a large area with stone tiles set on the ground. The moment she sets foot on the tiles, she notices nothing grows. She taps with her left foot constantly, hoping to see something grow, but nothing happens. By now, many curious villagers come to look at the visitor. S-Okuu kneels on the ground and starts sniffing on the tiles. Just then Maribel and Renko fly from their house and away from the village, getting S-Okuu's attention, but when she gets back up, not even the blue sparkles could grow anything on the tiles. S-Okuu tilts her head to the right and asks "unyu?" She extends her left arm in front and away of herself, and points the open palm toward the ground. A massive orb of light blue energy quickly grows, and S-Okuu releases it, causing a large explosion that rattles the entire village, breaking away the many tiles from the ground, sending many flying all around, breaking roofs, walls and even some doors. She looks at the newly discovered patch of earth and quickly flaps her wings while walking all over it, filling the entire area with all sorts of flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors. Some of the villagers are surprised, but the rest are angrily waving their fists at the shadow, who doesn't understand what's going on and lets out a curious "unyu??" She shakes her fist back at them while smiling and giggling, but this only makes the villagers even madder. She looks around, still wondering what is going on, then notices the lack of flowers and trees inside the village. She smiles and flies up, trailing a small rainbow as she does, then points her hands to the ground and start shooting many massive orbs of energy, breaking up more tiles, making sure not to hit a single villager. The humans are now uncertain whether she is good, or just plain evil, then start screaming and running back to their houses. S-Okuu smiles and starts to scream too while flying around the new patches of dirt and making more flowers bloom. From the north, Satori stops, making the other stop as well. Orin asks "miss Satori, is something wrong?" Satori closes her eyes, then gasps, opening them again suddenly, then says with urgency "the village!" Rika shouts "Oath Keeper" and enters her golden gate, come back out with a sword on her belt, and with determination and courage, she says "let's go!"

At Maribel and Renko's house, Medicine and Su-San desperately shake the unconscious humans, Kyo and Luna, after having being blasted by Yukari's danmaku letter. Medicine, sounding a little scared, grabs Luna's shoulders while sitting on her abdomen and shakes her lightly, saying "come on! It's time to wake u~p! Please, wake up?" Luna start to moan along with Kyo, who is having his hair pulled hard by Su-San, who quietly struggles to lift him up. Medicine gasps with a smile on her face and hugs Luna as she gets up, asking "uuh... What just happen?" Medicine lets go of Luna, then gets back on her feet, then Su-San lets go of Kyo, joining Medicine as she angrily stares at the two humans. She stomps hard on the ground and says "you stupid humans! Don't do something like that again! I though you were dead!" Sitting on the floor Luna rubs her head and asks "dead? What do you mean?" Kyo groans as he sits up and in an angry undertone, he growls "Yukari~!" Luna springs to her feet and shouts "that's right! That letter exploded on us! Grrr, when I get my hands on that old hag, I'm gonna rip her hair off!" Kyo gets up on his feet as Medicine excitedly asks "can I watch!?" Kyo rubs his head some more, thn says "good luck with finding her first. And if you do, good luck keeping her in one place." Luna clenches her fists, glaring at the floor, but then takes a deep breath and calms down, then says "fu~ You're right. Let's just get cleaned up first." Medicine hands each a white cloth, then says "I don't know. You guys look funny with burned faces." Kyo and Luna look at each other through the corner of their eyes, then toss the cloths at Medicine, Luna saying "you and that doll are begging for a beating." Medicine just chuckles as she pulls the cloths off her face, but Su-San starts flying in circles above Medicine. Kyo points at Su-San, then asks "is that normal?" Medicine's face changes, and with a very serious expression in her face, she says "danger's close!" Just after saying that, a stray tile from the sky breaks through the roof of the house. Kyo asks "but it was so sunny just a second ago." Luna smacks the back of his head with a giant paper fan and angrily growls "stop being stupid! Somethings going on, so let's go check!" Medicine shouts "I'm coming with you!" Kyo pulls the amplifier he won off Agava some time ago, then places it around his waist and immediately activates it and takes to the air, followed by Luna and Medicine. Inside the house, the large fruits portrait, forgotten, falls from the wall and makes a loud noise as it falls on top of other ornaments, getting Kyo and Luna's attention. Both sweat and Luna, forcing a nervous smile, says "We'll tend to that later."

Above Keine's school, Keine herself faces S-Okuu, angrily saying "to be able to conceal yourself form me, even though you have this much power! What do you want? Why are you destroying the village!?" S-Okuu looks both nervous and curious toward Keine, letting out a whimpering "nyu~~?" Keine confidently says "oh, so you feign ignorance! There's no helping it. Evil youkai like you must be punished." Keine pulls out a spell card, which makes S-Okuu smile and say "unyu-nuhyu!" Keine glares and asks "are you making fun of me?" S-Okuu simply smiles, but Keine takes this as an offense and angrily shouts "Spiritual Birth - First Pyramid!" Keine summons 12 slaves that fire medium blue orbs around her, forming a large pentagram that after spreading, trap S-Okuu. Keine herself fires 9 extra-large blue orbs in three directions in straight lines, making S-Okuu smiles as she dodges and admires the bullets. Keine gets ever more angry, speeding up her attack. Various of the medium orbs explode on S-Okuu, startling her and making her turn around to face directly at Keine, who simply continues to glare back with anger. S-Okuu starts to sniffle and some tears escape her eyes, but her sad expression twists into a furious scowl, though the tears don't stop. She points her hands at Keine and shouts "NYU~~!!!" A massive light-blue orb materializes right in front of the shadow's hand, making Keine gasp and cancel her own spell to run away, but S-Okuu releases the blast before the teacher can get away to safety. Keine screams in pain as the large energy orbs reaches her, then the orb simply flies upward, exploding high above in the sky. S-Okuu stares awestruck as her own orb flies away, then tilts her head slightly to the right with a yellow question mark popping next to her face, getting her attention, making her let out a curious "nyu-ho?" When she looks toward Keine again, she realizes Kyo is in front of the teacher, aiming his white energy shield upward. She smiles and waves at him, then Keine says "do-don't let her fool you." Luna flies to Keine and helps her float back down to safety, then joins Kyo and Medicine as they face the shadow. S-Okuu smiles and flaps her wings, releasing blue sparkles that make even more flowers bloom on the ground, however, this time, even a tree starts to grow underneath her. She looks down and smiles, then claps while shouting "unyu! Unyu!" Kyo sweats and Luna asks "i-is she really evil?" Kyo replies "of course she is. She attacked miss Keine." Medicine looks curiously at the shadow and doubtful, she says "I don't know... She doesn't look too evil to me." S-Okuu smiles again, then starts blasting the ground, breaking away the tiles and even some houses. Kyo shouts "she's evil, alright! Attack!" Kyo rushes to S-Okuu while pointing his red energy sword on his right arm at her and holding a spell card and generating his white energy shield on his left. The shadow turns her head, curiously looking at the attackers, asking "nyu?" and just as Kyo gets close, he shouts "Fire and Wind Sign - Desert Gales!" Kyo's amplifier glows bright as the spell card activates. Getting close to S-Okuu, Kyo's sword and shield vanish as he starts to shoot a stream of fire from his right hand, and a stream of wind from his left. Both elements mix as they spin around Kyo and after generating enough speed, fireballs shoot out from the stream and home in on S-Okuu, startling her and making her fly away from them as fast as possible. Hot wind blades now accompany the fireballs, heading straight to the shadow, but S-Okuu manages to fly above these while still running away from the fireballs.

Kyo thought he was close enough, but seeing the shadow manage to run away from his attack makes him think "oh great, I though I had her. Guess I need more training with magic, then." He snaps out of his thoughts and shouts "Luna, Medicine, try and distract her." Luna flies ahead, saying "I'm on it!" then Medicine and Su-San follow after Luna, shouting "wait, let me help!" Luna fires many colorful danmaku daggers from her gun blades toward the shadow, making her stop, then Medicine spits out a thick cloud of purple poison, making the shadow stop and cough, and even so, S-Okuu manages to fly up high enough to lose Kyo's homing fireballs. Taking advantage of the situation, Luna rushes to strike S-Okuu with her swords, but the shadow feels the human get closer, and unleashes a protective energy field that knocks Luna right off the air. Kyo cancels his spell, just as a pair of wind blades and 4 more fireballs are about to reach S-Okuu. He flies as fast as he can to Luna, catching her before she hits the ground, and before she is able to follow, Medicine feels a pair of hands embrace her from behind, making her panic and ask "eh? Wha? What's going on?" S-Okuu presses Medicine against her chest while brushing her hair with her fingers and in a soothing tone she repeats "nyu, nyu, nyu." Su-San tries to pull Medicine free from the shadow's arms, while Medicine shouts "guys! Guys, help!" Luna and Kyo look back, noticing the little incident occurring now. Luna whispers "what do we do now? She's got Medi." Kyo whispers back "don't worry, we'll think of something." S-Okuu continues to hold Medicine in her arms while flying back to the school to continue her work, but upon reaching her goal she realizes Kyo's fire burned all the flowers away, and left the newborn tree looking like a thin black stick. Everywhere she looks, she only sees ash and burned earth. She hyperventilates, Medicine worriedly asking "hey, miss raven shadow? Are you ok?" S-Okuu starts to cry, shedding many tears for the burned flowers, but her tears become dry when she feels Kyo and Luna getting closer, glaring toward them as her eyes slowly fill with rage. Before either human can realize what's going on, a massive energy orb strikes them hard on the face, both screaming in agonizing pain as the orb burns them, then explodes right on their faces, knocking them both out and falling right out of the sky, luckily falling on a small haystack. Medicine shouts "no~!" and struggles to break free, shouting "let me go! Please, let me go! Kyo~! Luna~! Wake up!" She expels poison from her body, startling the shadow and breaking free, and quickly flies to the unconscious couple and starts to smack their face softly, whispering "be ok. Please be ok!" S-Okuu stares at her curiously, asking "unyu?" Medicine turns around and angrily shouts "you idiot, look what you did!" From behind the shadow, Orin says "whoa... Okuu? Look, miss Satori, it's Okuu without that nuclear god thing!" Satori softly growls and says "I... I can't read her thoughts. Orin, Rika, you two be extra careful!" S-Okuu stares at Orin and Satori with great interest and curiosity, while Rika lands on the ground and confidently says "time to honor my lady Reimu. I'll exterminate this dangerous shadow in the name of my lady Reimu and the Hakurei Shrine!" She unsheathes her japanese sword, which has a glowing yellow band on it's un-sharpened side, then she raises it to head-height, pointing the tip away from her face as she stares toward the shadow with confidence and determination, then runs toward S-Okuu with great speed.

Reaching the shadow, Rika swings her sword, trying to cut the shadow's neck in one swing, but S-Okuu's reflexes match Rika's speed, dodging every single attack as easily as breathing. After many attempts, Rika backs away, sweating and panting, then surprised, she says "this is incredible. She's matching my speed without even breaking a sweat." From behind, Satori shouts "Wait, Rika, stop!" Orin asks "miss Satori, what is it?" Satori trembles as she looks at S-Okuu, then says "this... this isn't right! We shouldn't be attacking like this." Orin asks "what? You read her mind? What did you see!" Satori looks serious for a moment, then says "no... I haven't. It's something in my heart.... I feel... I think we are doing the wrong thing here." Orin looks at Satori with concern, then lowers her ears and says "maybe..." Before Orin finishes, Satori says "no, it's not that, Orin. It's something else." As Rika continues her assault, S-Okuu smiles and dodges as if it were a game. While this happens, Satori says "it's not just because she looks like Okuu. There's something in her eyes... and my heart keeps telling me something, but I don't fully understand. I just have a bad feeling." Orin looks to Satori a bit confused, but keeps silent. Rika continues her attack, but again, she backs away then raises her sword, placing her left hand on the broad side of it, closing her eyes as if praying, then her hands start glowing yellow. She punches the ground 3 times, each punch unleashing a pillar, each taller than the next, then shouts "Tenroumetsuga Saiha" and quickly slashes the pillars with her sword, sending them toward S-Okuu, who manages to jump over the first two, but then gets hit hard on the stomach by the last one, falling on her back on the ground. She slowly gets back up, rubbing her stomach, then see's Rika headed her way, so in a frightened impulse S-Okuu shouts "UNYU~!" and unleashes a barrage of massive orbs that scatter all around, one of them successfully striking Rika and stopping her attack. S-Okuu looks around and notices her blasts destroyed more houses and even some plants. She forgets about Rika and walks to the plants, restoring all of them as quickly as she can. Rika's temper rises as she gets up and thinks "no, this can't be! I'm failing my lady! This is not fair, I've been training so much! No! I can't lose. I HAVE to win!" Satori reaches Rika and shouts "Rika! Rika, stop!" Rika tries to ignore Satori, but both she and Orin get in her way. Satori says "please, miss Rika, stop!" Orin says "let miss Satori and me handle this!" Satori stares at Rika and says "no, you won't be disgracing your mistress." Rika looks a bit surprised at Satori, then says "oh, mind reader... I forgot." Satori stands in Rika's way, looking back defiantly, Orin joining her promptly. Rika says "you two can rest. I'll take care of this." Rika's eyes suddenly glow purple for a moment, but quickly return to their light-blue self. Satori tires to stop her once more, but Rika quickly jumps over the two youkai, then chases after the shadow.

S-Okuu stands right in front of a house when she sees Rika headed her way. The shadow fires a few defensive shots, slowing Rika down a bit, but quickly realizes she's not stopping, so she tries to fly away. Rika angrily shouts "you're not getting away! Earth Sign - Ressaishouha" Rika forgets to pick her card form her pocket, making her skirt rise up as the card activates. Rika grabs her skirt and struggles to push it back down, making S-Okuu stop and look at her curiously, then mimics her by hitting her own skirt with her hands. Rika shouts "Stop making fun of me!" then jumps to the sky and lands just in front of S-Okuu, cutting her escape. Upon landing, the ground under her breaks when she bangs the ground hard with the broad side of her blade, making a small shock wave that sends many boulders flying straight at the shadow, who screams "UNYU~~!" while looking very surprised and shocked as she dodges each and every boulder with ease. Rika jumps once more, unleashing even more boulders after landing to the left and furiously banging the sword on the ground with it's broad side, and again to the right, then behind S-Okuu, sending more and more boulders every time she lands and bangs the blade. S-Okuu manages to dodge all the boulders with ease, now smiling as it all seems like a game to her. Rika gets mad and asks in a mocking tone "so it's fun you want?" Again, she jumps and lands, banging her blade, breaking the ground underneath and sending more boulders, this time accompanied by yellow danmaku orbs. S-Okuu smiles as she dodges the bullets and boulders with ease, but a loud cracking sound gets her attention. The house she's standing in front of now has many large holes on it's walls, caused by Rika's boulders. S-Okuu looks worried and says "unyu. Unyu!" and desperately points at the house, trying to make Rika stop, but Rika doesn't stop, so S-Okuu, her black sparkling eyes filled with determination and purpose, opens her hand and fires one large light-blue orb, but Rika bounces it back, making the shadow jump out of the way and avoid more boulders along with her own shot. After the orb explodes, S-Okuu unleashes an even larger orb that Rika is unable to send back, making her shriek and open her eyes wide just as the orb explodes on her. The shadow lands in the center of the attacks and looks around at the mess caused by the battle. By then, Satori and Orin arrive, startling the shadow raven, but Satori manages to calm her down, talking in a soothing voice and saying "it's ok... we're friends. We are going to help you." S-Okuu stares at Satori with great interest, and flinches a little when Satori extender her arm to her head, but she calms down when Satori says "we're not going to hurt you. I promise." Letting Satori pat her head, S-Okuu smiles contently as Orin looks around and says "what a mess."

Yukari opens a gap next to Satori and S-Okuu, then says "oh my... what's going on here?" She looks at Satori and S-Okuu and asks "a shadow? Are you going to exterminate it?" Satori shakes her head and says "no, no, there's no-" Satori gasps as both she and Yukari feel a tremor of magic. Yukari asks "i-is that y-y-you?" Satori shouts "Rika! Rika, calm down! RIKA!" Rika slowly gets up and looks at the mess to her right, noticing the holes on the houses made by her spell. She then looks to the left and sees burning roofs and more broken houses. The house close by crumbles and levels to the ground. Yukari looks at it and says "oh dear.. those girls are having a very bad day." Rika thinks "this... I did all of this? NO! It was that shadow!" Rage fills Rika's heart as she continues thinking "this... was all caused by HER. SHE made me do it. My lady! My lady Reimu, she made me FAIL YOU!" By now, Satori realizes her screams aren't doing anything. She looks at S-Okuu and shouts "run away, NOW!" S-Okuu simply smiles, then hops toward Satori, like a grounded bird that refuses to use it's wings. Satori shouts "miss gap youkai, make her go away!" Yukari stares at Rika, but says nothing. Rika's eyes turn purple, her hair starts waving on it's own, even though there is no wind. Her Oath Keeper card floats on it's own and opens up, it's energy as purple as Rika's enraged eyes. Rika quickly enters the gate and comes out with four swords on her belt. Two to the right side, two more to the left. She continues to stare at S-Okuu, then Satori, once again gets on her way and shouts "Rika, don't! Calm down! You haven't failed anybody!" Orin comes from behind Rika with her wheelbarrow, trying to knock her out, but Rika jumps out of the way, so Orin continues to run and shouts "GET ON!" Yukari continues to stare at Rika awestruck, covering half of her face under her fan, then narrows her eyes and says to herself "Yukari, you have to help those girls. There's no time for this!" After Orin knocks Satori and S-Okuu on to her wheelbarrow, she shouts "gap lady! Run away!" then continues on her way. Yukari looks some more at Rika, who glares back with her purple eyes, then quietly heads back inside her gap, sighing and saying "guess I can enhance a few apples." After everyone leaves the area, the enraged Rika floats up to the air and screams at the top of her lungs, emanating so much dark energy, it makes the ground shake. At the school, Keine's skin crawls as the dark energy and the scream reach her. Medicine helps Luna sit up, then asks "miss Keine, are you sure you're ok?" Keine nods, then says "help me gather the villagers. Keep them all as FAR AWAY from the eastern side of the village!" Kyo stands next to the confused Medicine and says "will do!" Akyuu sits quietly in her room, drinking some red tea, when the enraged scream reaches her. She spring up and runs outside, immediately looking to the sky, spotting Rika as she floats in the air. She continues to stare with great interest and then whispers to herself "that girl... Those eyes... I've... seen something like this. Cursed blood? No... that can't be." At the Forest of Magic, at Marisa's house, Marisa is digging under the house itself, making that basement by herself, when the dark energy waves reach her. Marisa drops the shovel and says "that maid! She's doing it again!" She grabs her hat and broom from the table, then lifts to the air, flying toward the village with haste. At Alice's house, Shanghai is bringing a plate with some tea and snacks for Alice, when the dark energy waves reaches, making her drop the plate and fly around in circles, looking very nervous. Alice shouts "are you alright!?" Shanghai rushes to Alice and clings on her right shoulder, then Alice says "oh, now I have a set." revealing Hourai clinging on her left shoulder and trembling in fear. Alice flies to the roof of her house and says "this is wicked energy... it's coming from the village." She continues to stare at the sky, spotting Marisa headed there, then says "hmm, seems Marisa's on it after all."

Exiting the village through the east, Orin continues to run as fast as her feet can take her. Satori manages to comfortably sit next to S-Okuu on the wheelbarrow while looking at the sky behind Orin. She gasps and says "Orin, she's here!" Orin turns her head slightly, looking at the enraged Rika through the corner of her eyes, then says "tck! She's keeping up like it was nothing to her! Miss Satori, what do we do if she attacks?" S-Okuu stares concernedly at Satori and Orin, and with a quick "u-nyun!" she jumps off the wheelbarrow and flies straight to Rika, trailing a small rainbow behind her. Satori desperately shouts "no, don't! Orin, stop! Turn around!" Orin lowers her ears a little, and sounding disappointed, she says "miss Satori, if there's anyone that can stop that girl now is that shadow. We can't do a thing now." Satori replies "I still want to help her! Rin, she's just like Okuu!" Orin twitches and stops running as her entire body trembles. She looks at Satori, who gasps and says "I-I'm sorry." Orin stays standing there, staring back at Satori with saddened eyes. Meanwhile, S-Okuu fires a few large light-blue orbs at Rika, who dodges them with ease, then grabs one sword and swings it so fast that not even a blur is seen. All the shadow manages to see is Rika placing the sword back, and a purple beam headed her way. The shadow grabs the beam with her bare hands, using her own energy to protect herself, then sends it skyward, where it turns to nothing after a while. Rika stops and glares straight at S-Okuu, then slowly pulls a dark spell card out of her pocket, and in a twisted and warped tone of voice, she says "Untitled - Darco Houryuu Zankouken" Upon hearing that voice, S-Okuu flinches, covering her head with her arms, but she peeks and notices Rika is right next to her now, then flaps her wings to back away. Rika grabs two swords, crossing her arms while doing so, then pulls them out. She looks around the area, then stops when spotting S-Okuu again. She glares at the shadow with her glowing purple eyes, then she strikes so quickly, all the shadow can do is protect herself by surrounding her body with her own light-blue energy. When Rika disappears, S-Okuu's make-shift barrier disappears as she looks around and sees cut marks in the air all around her. Rika reappears once more, and crossing her arms again, she sheathes her swords, and when they click in place the cut marks turn into dark bullets that scatter all around, confusing the shadow. Rika smirks and again she makes more cut marks around the shadow, disappearing and reappearing, sheathing her swords and turning the cut marks in the air into bullets. She repeats he attack, overwhelming the nervous shadow, who screams "UNYU~!" just as a thick concentration of bullets is about to strike her, but just before the bullets touch her, Satori comes from underneath and pushes her up and out of the way of the attack, screaming so loud her voice echoes far and wide as the bullets all explode on her. Crying, Orin shouts "miss Satori! I'll save you!" She runs with her wheelbarrow in hand, but she lets it go when she realizes she can't reach her master in time, speeding up and taking to the air, miraculously reaching Satori before her body strikes the ground. Satori's clothes are torn and cut, her face is full of burn marks, her left sleeve is completely gone, revealing many more burn marks on her arm. She trembles as she tries to keep conscious and asks "is she ok? Is Okuu ok?" then falls unconscious on Orin's arms. Desperately, the nekomata calls for her master as her eyes fill with tears. S-Okuu observes them, and inexplicably, a tear escapes her eye. Rika continues her attack without pause, unaware of what she's done, however, the shadow has had enough. Anger fills her heart as she watches Rika continue her assault. She crosses her arms across her chest, placing each hand on her shoulders, then from her chest, a small light-blue orb expands slowly, and in a sudden blast, screaming "NYUUU~~!!!" the orb expands long past the shadow's body, breaking away Rika's attack and striking the enraged girl hard and knocking her down to the ground.

S-Okuu grabs Rika before she falls, and gently places her sitting against a tree close by, then rushes to Satori and Orin. Orin can't stop crying as she holds her master, pressing her face against Satori's, then places her hand on her master's chest and gasps when she fails to feel a heartbeat. "No! Mi... miss Satori, don't go! I can't follow you there! Miss Satori, don't leave!" Despair is about to take Orin, when S-Okuu gently places her hand on her shoulder, softly saying "unyu." Orin asks "wh-what is it?" The shadow gently pushes Orin away, then places her hand on Satori's chest. Her body glows light-blue, while Satori's starts glowing green and Orin tries to ask "what are you doing?" but S-Okuu starts glowing so brightly, she blinds Orin, who covers her eyes with her forearms. Satori's body starts glowing more brightly as S-Okuu's silhouette shrinks fast, turning into a small white ball, then a blinding flash surrounds the area around them, reaching Rika as well as the sky, then vanishes. Orin continues to cover her eyes for a little longer, but the moment she hears Satori gasp for air, the uncovers her eyes and shouts "miss Satori!!!" and gives her a tight hug, almost choking her. Satori, out of breath, says "Orin... Orin you're choking me." Orin lets her go apologizing, then asks "but... how? Miss Satori, you weren't breathing, or moving." Satori gasps and asks "where's that shadow!?" Both Orin and Satori look around, then Satori notices a small raven with a white zigzag pattern around her neck lying to her right, and picks it up. The small raven lies limp on her hand, but quickly ruffles it's feathers,letting out a weak "caw" then accommodates itself on Satori's hand and falls back to sleep. Satori smiles and grabs the raven with both hands, placing it against her chest and saying "she used a lot of her power to save me." Orin looks curious and says "so that's why you're alive?" Satori nods as she gently embraces the little raven, then says "I can see into her mind now." Satori chuckles, then Orin curiously asks "what do you see?" Satori says "a field of flowers as far as the eye can see. That's all she ever wanted... that is, until she met us." Orin curiously says "so she likes us then." Satori sees herself and Orin at the end of the flower field in the shadow's mind and says "you could say that." Rika finally wakes up, holding her forehead in pain, then asks "wh-what happened? What are we doing here? What happened to the shadow?" Rika slowly gets up along with Satori, then Satori lightly smiles as Rika gets closer to them and says "you beat that shadow, miss Rika." Rika and Orin look surprised, and at the same time, Rika asks "I did?" and Orin asks "She did?" Still smiling, Satori closes her right eye as she looks at Orin and says "why yes. That last attack you did calmed this little one down, and now she's become very docile." Rika stares at the small raven, then smiles and says "so... I didn't disgrace my lady?" Satori nods, and Orin, having caught on, says "you really impressed me and miss Satori, miss Rika." Rika looks a bit confused, but then gasps when she notices Satori's state and shouts "oh my! Miss Satori, what happened to you?" Satori smiles again, then says "oh, you know... A little accident. But I'm ok now."

It's now dark by the time Orin and Satori arrive to the cave leading back to the underground. Satori continues to hold the small raven in her arms as they enter, then Orin, disappointed, sighs and says "the party's over already... Oh well. At least we are back in one piece, right miss Satori?" Many bright lights of different colors suddenly turn on, and many of the underground dwellers shout "WELCOME HOME!" At first, both Satori and Orin jump back, shocked an surprised,but Orin quickly recovers and smiles, then shouts "miss Satori! We didn't miss the party after all!!" Yamame gets closer with a grin on her face and says "after all your help setting this up, even while helping Satori out, did you really think we'd start without you!?" Orin smile widens as Yamame hands her a party hat and shouts "now let's party~!!!" Holding two confetti poppers in one hand and pulling the strings with the other, Yuugi makes a small oni beside her jump in surprise, while to her left, Parsee holds hers, but doesn't pop it, staring angrily at it. Yuugi asks "aren't you gonna pop it?" Parsee asks "why didn't I get two, like you?" Yuugi smirks and says "well, you can gi-" Before Yuugi finishes her sentence, a green washtub falls on Parsee's head, making her fall to the ground and mutter "didn't... stop... spell..." then her confetti popper pops on it's own, releasing the confetti straight to the floor. Yuugi smiles and says "now THAT'S the spirit!" Yamame notices the small raven on Satori's arms and asks "oh, a new pet? What's her name" Satori thinks for a moment, then says "this... is Petal" Petal ruffles her feathers, releasing a small blue sparkle that makes a small pink flower bloom right out of the rocks, making Yamame gasp in admiration, then Satori smiles and says "I did say I wanted a small garden for the palace." Yamame looks curiously, but then smiles and places a party hat on Satori's head and says "well, let's party now, then garden later!" She pushes Satori toward the partying oni as she says "wait, no... too many people!!!"

At the Hakurei Shrine, dog Reimu is greeted by Rika, who managed to clean the floors and grounds of the shrine to the point of sparkling. Reimu and Mima both say "wow~ so clean!" Rika smiles and says "yes, and I even helped subdue a shadow today, my lady! All in the name of you and the shrine!" Reimu and Mima open their eyes wide, then Reimu exclaims "another shadow incident!?" Rika nods, then says "but with the help of miss Satori and miss Orin, I defeated the shadow. Now she's a simple baby raven." Reimu looks suspicious and says "raven, huh?" Rika happily nods, then say "oh please, come in. Miss Marisa has been waiting for you all day!" Reimu jumps from Mima's arms and exclaims "Marisa is here!?" Upon seeing the witch, Reimu says "Marisa, what a surprise! We haven't seen you around here for some time! What have you been doing?" Marisa waves with a smile on her face and says "oh, you know... experimenting as always." Rika sweats and says "I-I'll go get dinner now. Please wait at the table." Mima sits next to Marisa and says "hope you're not experimenting with anything too dangerous now." Marisa chuckles and says "no... not particularly." Rika places 4 bowls or rice, soup and a large plate of steamed vegetables with cut fish in the center, then says "please, enjoy." Reimu commands "Rika, you sit here and enjoy with us. You've been punished enough, and I believe you need a break after beating a shadow." Hesitantly, Rika bows to Reimu and sits down. Reimu takes the smallest bowl and taking a chunk of tofu from the soup, she bites down, then asks "so, Marisa. If you're so busy, why did you come here? Did you forget to buy food again?" Marisa chuckles and says "no, it's not that." She looks at Rika and smirks wickedly, then says "I came to visit you... and ask little miss Rika about her spells." Reimu sips her soup, then says "I see. You do know Rika's spells aren't all that just yet, right?" Rika cries "that's what I've been telling her!" Marisa smirks again, then says "I guess... but I'm still interested, ze." Defeated, Rika says "FINE! I'll go get you the book I used to learn what I know!" Marisa smiles, claps her hands, then says "That's what I wanted to hear, daze!" Mima smiles while holding her chop-sticks in her mouth, wraps her arm around Marisa's neck, then says "that's how you do it!" Marisa continues to smile, but blushes while doing so. Back at the village, Maribel and Renko finally reach their house, only to find that other than their drawers and their beds, the entire house has been leveled. With their eyes cast in a black shadow, Renko says "Mary... our house... again." Maribel quietly nods, then says "at... least our clothes are... safe."

To be continued...

Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Kyo, Luna, Agava and Petal were created by Willie G.R.
Kyo's spell card: "Fire and Wind Sign - Desert Gales" was created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by Snapshot2010
Rika's spell cards: "Earth Sign - Ressaishouha" ((Earth Sign"Crushing Eagle")), and "Untitled - Darco Houryuu Zankouken" ((Untitled"Dark Dragon Glare")), were created by Snapshot2010
Some assistance by Snapshot2010

DEC 18 2009
written by
Willie G.R.