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.

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