Sunday, February 28, 2010

Paradise Sukima 2

Marisa sits by the donation box next to Aya, both covered in bumps and bruises and smiling sheepishly, Aya softly asking “all that for three photos?” Marisa’s mouth is a little swollen, and seemingly mumbling she says “at leasht she zidn’t ushe the shpell c-hardsh.” Meanwhile, Reimu and Rika stand next to the still open gap, Reimu getting a better look at Rika and saying “I’m so glad to see you’re ok! This thing on my hand started glowing and I SWEAR I thought you were dying!” Rika twitches and turns her head away while biting on her nails, and noticing this, Reimu asks “what?” Rika smiles and unknowingly flaps her wings as she says “no, it’s nothing my lady!” Reimu finally realizes Rika has small angelic wings, and in surprise she asks “wait a minute? WINGS!? And a bandage over your eyes!? Rika, what happened!?” Rika flinches, thinking her mistress is repulsed by her looks, but she steels herself to say and softly says “i-it’s nothing, my lady. It’s a long story, but I don’t think you’re interested.” Reimu proves her concern for Rika by asking “are you sure about that?” then gets closer and looking suspicious she says “wait a minute! Someone hurt you, didn’t they!? That’s why those wings were glowing! GRRR~! Rika, you tell me who did this to you! I’ll RIP him apart!” Miraculously recovered, Aya and Marisa grab hold of Reimu’s arms, Marisa shouting “Reimu, calm down! You’re scaring her!” Aya adds “calm down already, she’s home! Isn’t that enough!?” Reimu swings her arms and effortlessly sends both Aya and Marisa flying to the back of the shrine, revealing her golden whistle in her pocket to Marisa, who stops screaming and thinks “she has one too!” Aya, however, screams for the both of them before they crash on the ground. Again, Reimu approaches Rika and asks “now, what kind of degenerate monster would want to hurt you like this!?” A small tear escapes Rika as she turns her head to the ground and away from Reimu, filling her mistress with even more concern, but calming her down. Softly, Reimu says “Rika... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Rika lifts her head, revealing a big smile along with her tears, then she launches herself to Reimu and after clinging on to her neck she says “I’m so happy, my lady! You really do care!” Reimu blushes and trembles a little, noticing Yukari staring playfully at them from her gap, but she ignores Yukari’s stare and hugs Rika back. Yukari opens her fan to hide her face underneath it, then Rika says “oh, miss Yukari!” Surprised, Reimu opens her eyes wide and says “whoa! Those are some sharp senses there.” Yukari chuckles and says “sorry I took so long. I was just having a little word with her friends. You know, it’s almost unfair. They love Rika so much, and she’s all the way over here, and they are all the way over the-“ Reimu rushes to Yukari and raising a fist she says “she promised she’d stay here, and I’m making her keep her word, you understand that!?” Sweating, Yukari backs away and says “calm down, I was just saying... Anyway.” Yukari composes herself and says “I brought her back here safely, so now my job is done. Now if you don’t mind, I have some sleeping to catch up to. Good day!” With that, Yukari enters her gaps and closes it immediately, but Reimu manages to whisper “thank you” to which Yukari’s “you’re welcome~” echoes around the shrine. Suddenly, Rika gasps and rummages all around her clothes looking for something. Before Reimu asks, Rika pulls a scroll from inside her shirt and says “this is for you, my lady!” Curious, Reimu opens the scroll and quickly eyes it, then excitedly exclaims “ah, how nice. A barrier manipulation scroll” A glint escapes Reimu’s eyes as she says “this will come in handy!”, while Rika bows with a smile and says “you’re most welcome, my lady.”

A little while later, with some help from Reimu, Rika made some tea for her mistress and all present, as well as a little for herself. Without spilling a drop, Rika takes the 6 cups of tea on a small plate, then places it on the table, getting some help from Mima, who pushes the plate away from the table’s edge. They all pick their teacups while Reimu picks hers, saying “Rika, really, you could have let me help a little more.” Rika replies “my lady, what kind of a servant would I be if I allowed something like that? Even blind, as I am now. Besides, if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get used to the shrine.” Mima sips on her tea, nodding and saying “she’s got a point.” Aya sips on hers and adds “agreed.” Suika stares at her and says “she’s a strong kid. Let her show off that strength” then softly mouths “this could use some sake, though.” Reimu sighs in defeat and says “alright, fine! I’m sorry for being worried!” Rika panics and faces Aya, saying “no, no, my lady! Thank you so much for your concern.” Aya stares back with a little embarrassment and mouths “wow, I suddenly feel so old.” Reimu immediately and casually says “that’s because you are old, you hag.” Aya magically springs her wings out of hiding and rapidly says “I’m not old! I’m 17!” Reimu calmly replies “yeah, yeah.” While Reimu and Aya have their discussion, Marisa stares at Reimu’s left pocket and thinks “I only saw it for a second, but I’m sure it’s the same whistle the kid has... So now I got two to choose from, but both are pretty well guarded... Maybe I could trick Reimu into letting me see it, then I could make a copy... but then she’d suspect something, and if I ask Budou, Sanae’s going to be all over me... and I really want those goddesses on my side.” Reimu notices Marisa’s focused stare and concernedly asks “Marisa, are you alright?” Marisa smiles and says “oh, it’s nothing, ze. Just started thinking there.” Reimu relaxes and with a light smile she says “well go home and get some rest. I am fine now.” Rika spits her tea and shouts “my lady is not well!? Oh no! Miss Reimu, let me take your temperature!” While Reimu and Rika have a light struggle, Reimu insisting she’s fine, Marisa thinks “Alice...! She can help me! I’m sure she can memorize the summoning spell that’s embedded on it.” Marisa snaps out of her thoughts and realizes Rika has Aya in a headlock, saying “miss Reimu, please stop struggling!” Reimu is standing just behind Rika, peacefully drinking her tea, while Aya shouts “I’m not REIMU, I’m AYA! I got wings!” Rika lets her go and while blushing she says “oh my. Sorry~!”

That afternoon, after leaving the shrine, Marisa heads straight to Alice’s house to ask for her help. Immediately after landing next to the house, Marisa notices the door is open and asks herself “Alice has visitors again?” She gets shocked and her heart almost stops when Alice shouts at the top of her lungs “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU USELESS SAGGING HAG~!!!” Marisa recovers and comments “well, seems someone’s in a good mood.” Inside the house, Yuyuko is haunting the place, going through walls with that whimsical smile of hers, making objects move on their own, possessing other dolls, and even pulling on Alice’s underwear whenever she gets the chance. Alice’s abdomen looks unusually expanded as she runs around the house, looking for Yuyuko. From inside her shirt, Hourai says “mama, get that mean ghost!” Alice says “Hourai, sweetie, you’re distracting me.” From behind her, through the wall, Yuyuko pops out looking translucent while smiling widely and saying “those souls don’t belong there, little girl. Why don’t you just hand them over and get this over with?” Alice turns around, summoning one of her regular dolls and having it shoot colorful petal-shaped danmaku and shouting “why don’t you got BACK to the netherworld and leave us ALONE!!?” Before the bullets reach her, Yuyuko gets inside the wall again, then says “you stole those souls for my garden and I want them back.” Alice snaps back “WHY!?! So you can boss them around!? Besides, I already told you I didn’t steal ANYTHING! They came to me and I’ve grown to love them. I WON’T let you take them without a fight!” From inside her shirt Shanghai says “I love mama Alice too!” Alice smiles and blushes, then says “you see? You can’t take them away!” Yuyuko’s whimsical voice echoes “ah, that’s really sweet, but if it’s as you say, you should have reported this to the Yama, or to myself. What if those souls were tainted? What then?” Alice can’t answer back. She opens her eyes wide, looking inside her mind for any possible answer, and while she does this, Yuyuko pops out from under the floor right in front of Alice and reaches for the two dolls inside Alice’s shirt. Shanghai and Hourai scream as in agonizing pain, which snaps Alice back from her mind and immediately she grabs the ghost princess’ arms and pushes them away from her dolls, shouting “I’m not... letting you... take them AWAY!” Yuyuko smiles wickedly, her maroon eyes glow red for a second, then she says “guess I’ll do this the hard way, then.” Yuyuko grabs Alice’s arms and starts to drain her very soul through them, saying “don’t worry, I won’t kill you. But you’ll be in bed for a few days.” Yuyuko looks to her left with her usual whimsical face, and right in front of her face is Marisa’s Hakkero, and next to it is Marisa’s smiling face, saying “what a troublesome ghost... MASTER SPARK~~!!!” Yuyuko gets blasted by a wide and colorful beam that breaks a large hole on Alice’s house, and shortly after the beam stops, both Marisa and Alice fly out and head straight to the Hakurei Shrine.

Mid-way to the shrine, Marisa finishes explaining herself to Alice. “...but I want to surprise her with this, so I can’t let her find out. Think you can help me there?” finishes Marisa. Alice looks at her, rubs her head, then says “look, I would gladly help, but you saw what’s going on right now. She almost took them away and I can’t have that happen again. I’m asking Reimu for help. Now, if you give me some time, I could be able to help, but right now I’m too preoccupied with this.” Marisa looks away, hiding her saddened expression. Alice knows this tactic all too well, so she reaches into her shirt and gently pulls out Shanghai, then says “LOOK!!” Marisa turns her face to look at Shanghai. The little doll looks as though she’s having a lot of trouble breathing, her face looks greenish and she suddenly speaks, sounding weak an almost unable to. “Ma-mama... it’s cold...” Alice immediately takes her doll and places her inside her shirt, saying “Sorry, sorry. You rest now. The shrine maiden will help. Don’t you worry.” After Alice hides Shanghai again she looks with an angry and determined face at Marisa and says “I care about these dolls... these girls too much, Marisa.” Marisa’s expression changes, and with a smirk on her face she says “I never thought you’d actually care about someone.” Alice shouts “and what is THAT suppose to mean!?” Marisa chuckles but doesn’t answer, and to distract Alice, she points in front and says “look! The shrine’s over there.” Alice looks ahead as Marisa continues “might as well say hi again, ze.” Alice stares back at Marisa a little curiously, but ignores her and looks forward again, then comments “hey, is that the shrine’s maid? She looks so different now!” With a smile, Marisa asks “you can tell from over here?”

At the Hakurei Shrine, even though she’s blind, Rika has proven to be able to take care of the chores without a single problem... maybe except for picking the wrong bags of garbage, or picking a mop instead of a broom. At the shrine’s grounds, while Reimu takes care of the food inside, Rika sweeps the snow outside, revealing the path hidden underneath. From the bushes, a shadow lurks, looming around Rika, making no sound as it moves around. It’s Kogasa Tatara, and thanks to Aya’s quick report (blabber mouthing), she knows about Rika’s blindness. Hiding under the bushes, she says to herself “there she is, Karakasa. The blind girl. Surprising her will be EASY. Heh! She’ll never see us coming.” The eye on her umbrella looks down to her, showing it’s glee as they slowly make their way to Rika. She crawls through the snow, making light crunching sounds, then positions herself behind a tree. Rika starts to hum to herself while sweeping, which makes Kogasa hold her mouth as she giggles quietly, then whispers “she’s humming now! This is going to be so easy... Ready Karakasa?” The umbrella blinks once, then Kogasa nods, looking back to Rika with a determined face, then counts “1... 2...” She flies away from the tree and approaches Rika, shouting “BERO-BERO-BA-AAH~~!” Instinctively and effortlessly, Rika grabs Kogasa’s long sleeve and sends her flying to the shrine’s stairs, where she opens her karakasa and slowly drifts down the stairs, sobbing and saying “that’s impossible! How did she see us!?” The karakasa and Kogasa drift quietly the rest of the way down. Back at the shrine’s ground, Rika’s face shows confusion as she holds her position after tossing Kogasa like that, then as she composes herself she asks “what just happen?” Marisa and Alice land next to Rika, Marisa shouting “oy~, Rika! I’m back, ze! Where’s Reimu!?” Rika gets startled for a moment, but composes herself again, bows and says “welcome back miss Marisa... and guest.” Alice looks at Marisa suspiciously and whispers “I thought you said she was blind.” Marisa just smirks then Rika answers “I am blind. I just smelled your perfume, miss...” Alice immediately twitches, then says “it’s me. Alice! Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need to see Reimu!” Rika nods and says “please, don’t mind me. Miss Reimu is inside. Please take your shoes off before you enter.” Alice sweats a little and says “yes, yes. Th-thank you.” While Alice heads to the shrine, Marisa approaches Rika and says “you’re holding the broom upside-down.” Rika yelps and twirls the broom on her hand, and feeling a little ashamed the rubs the back of her head and says “heh heh... thanks.” Marisa heads straight to the shrine now and climbs the porch, where Alice’s boots are. Inside she sees Alice has placed the weakened dolls on the table while she explains her situation to Reimu, who says “they won’t die, so don’t worry... I’ll place these charms on them for protection, though.” Reimu goes to a small cabinet and rummages inside, revealing the golden whistle in it. Marisa spots it and thinks “there it is! So, she doesn’t keep it with her at all times after all. This could make things a little easier.” Marisa takes one step inside the shrine and in that instant, Rika appears right next to her and bashes her head with her broom, puffing her cheeks and angrily saying “didn’t I ask you to take your shoes off?” Before falling on the floor, Marisa grunts “s...sorry.”

High above the clouds in Heaven, Tenshi Hinanai walks around with a bored expression on her face, letting her heard and arms hang limp in front of herself. Iku Nagae, who’s casually passing by, can’t help but notice and worry. Standing in front of her and making her stop, Iku concernedly asks “miss eldest daughter, are you alright? You look so sad today.” Tenshi raises her head, revealing an expression of undeniable boredom in her face, and seemingly uncaring she says “meh, I ‘unno. I’m just bored. Heaven is such a boring place. Nothing ever happens here... Iku, make something happen!” Iku backs away, a sweat drop hanging on the side of her hat as she places one arm on her chest and replies “er, no, I don’t think I can do anything to cause excitement around here.” She runs away from Tenshi and kneel beside a peach tree and whispers to herself “besides, if I do something, I might get in trouble.” Iku composes herself again and rushes straight back to Tenshi, who asks “who were you talking to back there...?” Iku sweats and says “err... I didn’t say anything.” Tenshi’s eyes hide under her hat as she places a hand right above the left side of Iku’s chest, and with a terrifying ominous voice she says “Nagae~... I feel something coming from the Hakurei Shrine...” Iku stares frightened at Tenshi for a moment, but before she can comment Tenshi clenches her teeth, and speaking through them she says “I feel disgusted! Iku... IKU! Can’t you feel that disgusting presence?” Iku shivers as Tenshi’s hand rises to her shoulder and grips tightly, then says “m-miss Tenshi, you’re hurting me!” Tenshi loosens her grip, and while a very dark shadow covers her eyes, one small white circle, accompanied by a jagged crescent smile, she stares straight at Iku then says “I am going to the shrine. Come with me if you like!” Iku is afraid to say no, even though she really doesn’t want to be near Tenshi at all, but she thinks denying her now would be far worse, so she reluctantly bows, then follows after Tenshi after she quickly flies down to Gensokyo.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu has helped Shanghai and Hourai recover, and while Rika holds them both to her chest, saying “you poor dears, there’s nothing to worry about. You’re mama will protect you, and we’ll protect your mama.”, Reimu is instructing Alice on how to place each charm around her house to keep Yuyuko away. Marisa, who had her shoes forcefully taken off, stares as the two little dolls sob on Rika’s chest, while Rika brushes their hair with her hands, and with disgust in her face she says to herself “this is getting too mushy. I’m out of here.” It takes her some time to put her winter boots on, and after finally putting them on she summons her broom and says “see you later, ze!” She sits on her broom and flies away, only to get knocked off the air by Tenshi, who accidentally knocks her broom right from underneath her as she lands. Tenshi manages to catch Marisa before she falls to the snow, and with a smile on her face, she says “please, stay a little longer.” From inside the shrine Reimu asks “what do you want, you annoying celestial?” Tenshi doesn’t respond as she looks around, then spots Rika holding the two dolls, also noticing a faint glow on her arms. She tosses Marisa to the side and storms inside, but the second Rika feels those boots touch the floor she stands up and in a commanding tone she says “please, take your shoes off before entering!” Tenshi stops and sits on the porch, grumbling as she takes off her shoes, then stops and realizes what she’s doing. She stands up and storms inside, and giving Rika no chance she pushes her hard, making her tumble all the way to the broom closet. From outside, Marisa looks in shock, and Iku just arrives, asking “is miss Tenshi here already?” Marisa points inside. Alice gasps and shouts “Shanghai! Hourai! Miss Rika!” Holding a pack of amulets on her left hand and her gohei on her right, Reimu rushes in front on Tenshi and grunts “you just made the WRONG move!” Before Reimu attacks Rika shouts “no, wait! Miss Reimu, it’s ok! We’re fine!” Rika holds the dolls tightly on her chest, making sure they aren’t hurt by softly asking “are you two alright?” The dolls nod, then Rika smiles, but her smile quickly turns to a frown as she gets up and faces Tenshi, saying “you must be... Tenshi Hinanai, right?” Pulling her sword out of its sheath, Tenshi defiantly points it at Rika and says “you scum! I knew there was something about you... Never thought it would be this.” Hourai exclaims “you big bully! You leave her alone!” Shanghai quietly flies away from Rika’s hand and toward Tenshi, then stares for a moment. She lifts her little left arm as if ready to slap Tenshi across the face, then Reimu’s and Alice’s faces contort with a mixture of terror disgust as the sound of fast and continuous smacking, crunching and Tenshi’s horrible screams of agonizing pain echo through the shrine. By now, Aya is watching everything from the trees outside, Suika glares from the roof, readying herself to attack if anything happens, and Mima hides underneath the floorboards, crescent staff at hand and ready. Marisa is about to pull her Hakkero, but Iku holds her hand and bows with a sad expression on her face. Back inside, Tenshi is hog-tied with her arms and legs stretching behind her back. She jumps on her stomach toward Rika and says “no matter how many you send to assassinate me, I’m still coming for you, and I WILL kill you!” Rika turns her face down and doesn’t respond, however, Reimu’s had enough and rushes straight to Tenshi, and using her gohei like a golf-club, she strikes Tenshi’s face and sends her flying right out of the shrine against the trees. Somehow, Tenshi is no longer hog-tied, but she is in a little pain. She looks toward the shrine as she stands up and looks at Reimu, whose eyes are surrounded by an ominous shadow as she glares furiously back. Tenshi smiles and sweats a little and speaks “this doesn’t concern you Haku-“ “you get the HELL out of here before I really get mad.”, interrupts Reimu, with a most furious and ominous tone of voice. Tenshi smiles and says “Reimu, you are defending a despicable spawn from the deepest bowels of the netherworld. Her KIND seems nice, but they are truly demons in disguise! Before you know it, she’ll be ripping your eyes out and dancing on your graves!” Reimu’s body starts to shake as she clenches her teeth and her arm, seemingly on its own, reaches for the ribbon on her head. Marisa notices this and with incredible fear in her face the thinks “she’s going for her ribbon... this is not good! The beating Sukima took will be nothing compared to was this stupid celestial is about to get.” From inside the shrine Rika’s voice calms Reimu down as she says “I thought that by now the Hinanai might be a little more enlightened, but I see you are as narrow-minded as ever... What makes you think you are better than me in the first place!? What makes you think I am going to hurt those whom I love, and love me back!?” Shanghai and Hourai hover above Rika’s shoulders holding a sword each. Alice has surrounded herself with many dolls, all bearing lances, Suika glares down from the roof, and from above Tenshi on the trees, Aya holds her fan, ready to attack. Just beside Reimu is Mima, powering her staff with yellow energy, and Reimu, who retreats her hand from her ribbon, but holds her gohei with both hands now. Tenshi knows she can’t win, but hides her fear by sounding confident as she smiles and says “you are all being deceived by this demon in angel’s clothes! Let me free you from her! I, and only I can kill this being!” Iku continues to get in Marisa’s way as she stares worriedly at Tenshi, thinking she’s going to get herself killed ten times over before it’s all over. Rika walks outside, almost falling when she climbs down the porch, but manages to stand firmly next to Reimu, and while facing Tenshi, she says “if you want to fight me so badly, then you give me no choice but to accept your challenge. However, this is Gensokyo, so we’ll use our spell cards and nobody kills nobody.” Tenshi smiles widely, then starts to laugh harder and harder, until it turns into an insane cackle, then just stops. She continues to smile widely as she says “Bhava-Agra, in heaven, 4 weeks from now! 5 spell cards! If I win, you will leave these lands and rot in whatever hovel you came from!” Rika feels aggravated by Tenshi’s words, but she controls herself and says “fine! If I win, you have to accept that I am just like everyone else, and to respect me as an equal!” Tenshi smiles with great confidence and says “fine, whatever. Just pack your bags before the fight. You’ll be leaving as soon as it is over.” With that, Tenshi flies away back to Heaven. Iku stays behind and just watches worriedly toward Tenshi, while everyone else stares back at her.

A little while later, tension is still high in the shrine. Suika is still a bit on edge, and after taking a big gulp of sake from her gourd she angrily says “that sobered me up...!” Mima floats next to her, crossing her arms in front of her chest, then says “at least she’s gone. Let’s be thankful of that.” From the doorway, Aya comments “aren’t you two forgetting something?”, and points at Iku, who sits next to the kotatsu while Reimu continues to stare at her. Angrily, Reimu kneels, bangs hard on the table with her hands and shouts “tell me already! What the hell is the matter with that celestial this time?” Iku winces, covering her head from Reimu with one arm, then says “I really don’t know myself. She was bored one minute, then the next she acting all weird and rushing all the way down here.” Reimu stands up, then turns to Rika, who is sitting next to Iku, and shouts “and you should have kept your mouth shut! Tenshi is too powerful, and I doubt she’ll exercise mercy... She wants to kill you Rika!” Rika springs to her feet and bravely raising her fist she shouts back “I couldn’t just let her get away with that!” Unknown to her, she’s facing Iku while she says that, so the dragon youkai turns her to face Reimu, and after a quick “thanks” she continues “my lady, the Hinanai have always looked down on my family, all because of our blood.” Sighing with despair and sounding frightened, Reimu replies “Rika, you can’t even see. How are you going to beat her like that!?” This fact hits Rika hard and very suddenly, so she’s only able to stutter a few words before sitting down next to the table, then whispering “I.. don’t know.” Reimu sighs loudly again, then drops on her knees on front of the table, saying “see? Look, just say the word and I’ll call this whole thing off.” Inside her mind Rika battles with herself. One side of her heart is telling her “Rika, don’t give up! Besides, this blindness is temporary, and that fight is in 4 weeks! You can do it.” The other side says “don’t do it! You may not see it, but you KNOW Reimu is worried about you. Don’t do this, set her mind at ease... Besides, what would VIVIT say to all of this?” Shanghai comes from outside, followed shortly by Hourai and both float right in front of Rika’s face. Their presence brings Rika back from her mind, then Shanghai says “miss Rika, thank you for protecting us.” Hourai adds “mama is very grateful too. And you know, I am impressed. You are blind, but you still protected us.” Shanghai covers Hourai’s mouth then whispers “Hourai, don’t say it like that!” Rika raises her head, and with a determined tone of voice she says “the battle is in 4 weeks, and this blindness of mine is only temporary, miss Reimu.” Reimu gets surprised and asks “what? Rika, how can you be sure?” Rika continues “that girl will learn humility by my hand, my lady! I promise you that.” Reimu stares at Rika with her mouth open, wanting to say something to her, however she decides to keep quiet. Tension is too high, and she believes it’s keeping Rika from seeing thins rationally. Meanwhile, Marisa sits by the donation box, thinking “what the hell is going on here? This ‘paradise’ is going to drive her mad! Dammit, I have to work faster... but that gate won’t be ready for a month. Reimu...” Alice approaches Marisa, then asks “what’s wrong?” Marisa snaps out of her thoughts, then says to Alice “ah, it’s nothing... I just need some rest.” Alice smiles and says “well, I’m ready to go home, so I’ll accompany you part of the way, ok?” Marisa pulls a smile, summons her broom, then lifts to the air alongside Alice, Shanghai and Hourai. After they reach the Forest of Magic, they split up, saying some quick goodbyes. Marisa reaches her house, makes some dinner, and prepares herself for a nice bath, and while she’s relaxing inside the water, she gasps, opening her mouth and eyes widely, then shouts “CRAP, I FORGOT THE WHISTLE!!!”

One week later, at the Moriya Shrine. By the gates of the shrine, two figures can be seen jumping all around. Though the snow has just begun to melt, making the footing a lot harder, these two figures move about as if nothing is holding them back. Upon a closer look Kyo can be seen, shouting “you call that an attack!? My GRANDMOTHER hits harder!” Using her claws to cling on to a tree, Budou shouts back “I’m just being merciful!” Kyo immediately gets mad and angrily shouts “Your enemy will NOT show Mercy! Don’t show any mercy yourself!!!” He shoots medium-size fireballs at her from his sword, then tosses his shield to the left. Budou jumps to the sky to avoid both attacks, then shrieks at Kyo, sending wide waves of sound toward him. From her right, Orin suddenly materializes and shoots a single blue orb at Budou, who uses her right wing as a shield and sends it straight back, making Orin fly away. From her left, Suwako takes off her hat, and from inside large water bubbles jump out and head straight to the little bat, who takes a dive straight at Kyo. Kyo expects a frontal attack and prepares to counter it, but Budou takes a sudden incline, falling on the ground and sliding under Kyo, and while underneath him she pulls out her spell card and shouts “Wave Sign Shapeless Mind!” Kyo yelps and panics as blue colored beams take the shape of a giant hand that grabs him and tosses him straight at Suwako, who shrieks and waves her arms and legs, forgetting to move away, and as they fly to the lake, they intercept Orin, then all three fall straight to the lake. Budou gasps and flies after them, and after they pop their heads out of the freezing lake, she starts to cry and shouts “I’m sorry~~!”, while Phredia flies from under her hair, smiling and trying to cheer Budou up. Kanako sits by the donation box, staring at them with a bored expression, and beside her is Koishi, who says “look, she beat them again. And she’s crying again too.” Kanako looks at Koishi, but says nothing, then from inside the shrine, Aya sprints away leaving a white trail behind, then Sanae shouts “hey everyone! There’s a party at the Hakurei shrine! And we’re invited!” From inside, Luna shouts “Great! Kyo~! Let’s go home and get ready!” From inside, Medicine adds “GREAT, I can show off my new dress.” Outside, by the donation box, Kanako looks to the gate, and with a bored expression and resting her chin on the back of her hand, she says “it’s too busy here.”

That night, at Ayalina’s house in the outside world. Ayalina just arrives back to her home after driving all over, looking for Ail. When she arrives, her husband, an old plump, bald man with a little white hair on the sides of his head, sporting a thick white moustache and wearing a blue plaid shirt and black pants approaches her and worriedly asks “did you find him honey?” Ayalina sighs, letting her head sadly drop as she says “no... I searched everywhere... I even risked flying when no one was looking.” Her husband sighs and says “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before, honey! I just... I mean, how could I believe all of that?” Ayalina smiles, though showing exhaustion on her face, then says “it’s alright darling. The important thing is you believe now! And besides, that’s not important now.” From the living room, in front of the television is a girl a little shorter than Ayalina, who has her same hairstyle, though hers is black, like her father’s used to be, and is longer than her mother’s, and has maroon eyes as well. She is wearing a white shirt under a small pink jacket and a pair of short blue jeans. The girl suddenly shouts with excitement “mom, dad! Ail’s on TV!” Both Ayalina and her husband exclaim at the same time “WHAT!?” then rush to the TV. The female reporter on the news says “...and so, the police have the alleged ‘magician’ surrounded. Remember, this is the boy who used those alleged ‘magic tricks’, which turned out to be dangerous experimental special effects, and injured a few dozen people, including 5 children, in the restaurant he was working on.” She turns to a portly man on a white suit that’s sitting next to her and asks “now, you are a special effects technician, correct?” The man nods and says “Correct. This young man seems wanted to play some prank that went wrong long before he started. You see the...” The woman stops the man and listens to a headset on her left ear, then says “this just in, the boy seems to have tried to use the SAME special effects and got shot by the police, yet he somehow got away. We got exclusive footage, here on News 9!” The scene changes to a large courtyard with a large statue on the center of it. Countless police cars surround the area and one of them shouts “we got you surrounded. Put your hands in the air and drop to the ground.” Ail’s blurry image can be seen next to the statue, nervously looking for a way out. There is a strange sound, like the ones from Yukari’s gaps opening, then gunfire. There is another gap sound, then the police saying “where’d he go?” Another man shouts “SEARCH THE AREA! He can’t be far!” Ayalina screams then says “they’re shooting at my son!!!” She runs to the door or her house, even though her husband is shouting “Lina, WAIT! Ayalina, wait for me!!!” When she opens the door, various police officers have her house surrounded, and three of them, dressed in suits and showing off their badges stand near her door. The big-looking one in the middle says “you are all under house arrest.” From a distance, Ayalina’s voice can be heard as she shouts “no! My boy! What have you done to my boy!!?”

At the Hakurei Shrine, the “Rika Welcoming Party” is quite lively. Orin, Parsee, Yuugi and Satori enjoy a dip in the hot springs, away from the multitude. By the right side of the gate, Reisen, Tewi and Eirin enjoy themselves, having very light snowball fights occasionally. On the left side of the shrine are Medicine, Hina, Budou and Chen, while at the back of the shrine are Marisa, Alice, Shanghai, Hourai, Yuki, who is actually uninvited, and Mima. Even though it’s still cold, the guests all seem to be enjoying themselves. Inside, Kanako and Suwako stare at Rika, seemingly surprised by her appearance, while Sanae helps her and Reimu tend to the other guests. Rika looks a little sad and says “please, miss Sanae. You are a guest. You don’t have to do this.” Sanae smiles and waves her hand, saying “nonsense! I’m glad to help! Besides, I can’t just let you do everything by yourself, right?” Reimu places a third plate of freshly baked peach pie on the table, then smiles and says “Rika, don’t be rude. Be thankful Sanae is helping out.” Rika sighs in defeat and says “you’re right... I’m sorry miss Sanae. I truly appreciate your help.” Sanae covers her mouth with her fingers as she giggles, then says “anytime.” Sanae turns around and notices the two goddesses sitting under the kotatsu now, but still staring at Rika. Sanae quietly signals both to stop staring, and reluctantly they do. Kanako whispers “oy~ Suwako. Do you notice something oddly familiar about Rika?” Suwako whispers back “yeah, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Between them, on the other side of the table, smiling and sticking out her tongue, Koishi says “that’s because I tied a red string on them.” Kanako and Suwako both twitch and look at each other in shock, and when they try to pull apart, all the manage to do is pull on each others’ pinkies. Koishi giggles and says “another happy couple!”, then stands up and skips back outside. Outside, Kyo is boasting about how he’s defeated many wild youkai, while Luna stares at him contempt, thinking “he’s like a brat with his new toy, geez.” Suddenly, her expression changes to a mischievous smile, then she wraps her arm around Kyo’s neck and in a soft and seductive voice she says “Kyo~. Why don’t we go to the house and work on that family, huh?” Kyo freezes, his entire body turns to stone, and while Marisa, Yuki and Mima laugh at his expense, Luna looks annoyed away from him and disappointedly says “my man...” At the hot springs Orin says “ahh, these waters are so nice, nya~!” Yuugi smiles and says “yup! Nothing like a nice warm soak, ain’t it!” Satori just shrugs, then Parsee glares at her and says “don’t just shrug us off like that! Smile already, geez!” From above Yamame hangs down from one of her silk threads, looking annoyed and angrily saying “honestly, you all go to the parties and never let me or Kisume in.” Satori stares back with an uninterested expression and calmly says “what are you talking about? She’s right there.” Kisume sits between Orin and Yuugi, looking very content and hiding most of her body underwater while her bucket lies just next to her, outside the water. Yamame shrieks, then says “Kisume, you little traitor!” Kisume replies “aww, pipe down and join in already.” Yamame smiles and says “good idea.” Now inside the water while her clothes hang by her thread, Yamame looks content while she soaks, but then looks at Satori, then asks “hey, where’s your other pet? Utsuho?” Satori calmly replies “she refused to leave petal behind.” At the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Okuu and Petal, the little hell raven with the white zigzagging stripe around her neck, fly all around the inside of the palace, flowers and grass growing everywhere Petal pecks, and Okuu smiling and saying “that’s my little girl! Let’s do Koishi-san’s room next!”

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, inside the shrine, Reimu and Sanae are eating a piece of pie each, and in the kitchen, Rika is enjoying hers so much, little hearts pop out of her head and hover around her as she unwillingly flaps her little wings and says with a smile “MMM~ It’s even tastier than I remember~!” Sanae comments “it’s a peaceful night, don’t you think?” Reimu nods as she takes a bite out of her piece of pie, then Sanae sweats and adds “you know something is going to happen, right?” Reimu chews on her pie and simply shrugs, and as if waiting for her queue, Remilia and Sakuya fly straight inside to the shrine, Sakuya bowing and saying “please, excuse our tardiness.” Remilia laughs and says “Sakuya, it’s fashionably late. Patchy says it’s the best way to make a party entrance.” Sakuya bows and says “I’m terribly sorry, my lady.” Rika approaches Remilia and Sakuya, bows elegantly, then says “welcome to the Hakurei Shrine miss Remilia and miss Sakuya. Party favors are on the kitchen table, please help yourselves, and if you need anything, just ask... I’ll be tending to the other guests now, so please excuse me.” Sakuya stares in surprise and asks “is that Rika?” Sanae giggles and says “yes, that’s her alright.” Sakuya looks surprised and says “she’s so adequate now. Wouldn’t you agree, my lady?” Remilia looks uninterested as she waves her hand at Sakuya and says “yeah, yeah... I’ll go mingle with the others for a bit...” Remilia exits the shrine, and Reimu, who is now holding a teacup casually says “here it comes” and takes a sip of her tea. Remilia approaches Kyo and Luna, waves her hand at them and says “hi everyone, Remilia has arrived, so now the party can start.” A golden washtub falls on Kyo’s head, and instinctively, Luna kicks it away when it bounces to her, sending it straight to Remilia, who punches it upward and shouts “what you do that for!?” The washtub falls on Chen’s left tail, making her scream, which summons Ran out of nowhere, screaming “CHEN~~~!” and accidentally knocking Budou’s head. Budou lets out a shriek that heads straight to the washtub, and with the vibrations of the sound waves, the washtub flings to the shrine’s gate, bouncing off one of the large red logs and on to Reisen’s head, making her flip and activate her powers wildly, causing Tewi to try and help Reisen, however gets caught on Reisen’s waves. She gets dizzy and before Eirin can reach her, Tewi accidentally kicks the washtub on Eirin’s face, making it bounce off toward the spring’s entrance, where Satori just got out and gets knocked on the head, making it bounce upward. Orin rushes to Satori and worriedly asks “Satori-sama! Are you alright!?” Parsee spots the washtub in the air and runs away from it, shouting “NO WAY I’m falling for that!” Yamame walks out of the spring’s gate and asks ‘What’s going on?” and gets knocked on the head with the washtub, causing her to release her miasma, making Kisume sick, just as she exits the springs, knocking out Orin, and making Yuugi feel dizzy enough to sit on the ground. In the center of it all stands Rika, who asks “what’s going on around here?” Parsee stands a few feet away from Rika and shouts “it’s such a mess... I should be causing it!” The washtub flies from the springs and makes its way to Hina, who turns around a little too late and gets struck by it on the side, making her spin out of control and spewing out curses all over. Her spinning hand strikes Medicine, sending her flying straight to Rika, but the blind maid senses this and jumps out of the way to the right, just as Medicine flies by, headed straight toward Remilia and spewing poison everywhere. Remilia screams her head off as the poison surrounds her, then runs straight to Kyo and Luna, who try to run away, but Remilia easily tackle them toward Mima and Alice. Shanghai gets mad, and so does Hourai, but Remilia runs blindly at them and knocks them apart, Shanghai knocking Marisa down, while Hourai knocks Yuki, who in turn knocks Mima down one more time.

Standing in the middle of the entire mess are Rika and Parsee, who stands a few feet away from Rika. Rika shouts “my lady! Something happened here!” Casually, from inside the shirne, Reimu replies “yeah, yeah. Just let it go.” Parsee approaches Rika, about to say something, but one of Budou’s sound waves reach her from behind, startling her and making her fire her beams of jealousy all around, sending one straight to Rika. The maid ducks just before the beams hits her and asks “what was THAT!?” The beam heads straight to the blinded Remilia and hits the gem on her chest, bouncing off it and heading back to Rika, hitting its target this time. Rika yelps, startled by the beam, then suddenly her wings grow the same size of her own body, and a belt appears around her waist, carrying her family sword... however the Japanese sword looks different. The hilt is red and on its tip it has a diamond with the kanji for “bond” in it, and within the jewel itself, it looks like it has its own ocean inside. Rika instinctively pulls out the sword, revealing it’s sky-blue color on its unsharpened edge, then she points it at Parsee, who watches in horror as she stands paralyzed from Budou’s shriek. Rika says “nullify” and a light-blue beam shoots from the sword and heads straight to Parsee, surrounding her entire body. The cloth on Rika’s eyes drops, revealing brighter light-blue eyes with hints of clouds coursing through them. She takes a look at Parsee, just as she recovers from her paralysis and shouts “hey, what the meaning of this-KYAAAAH~!” Rika sheathes her sword just as Parsee falls to the ground, then looks around, realizing what’s happened, then asks “oh dear... what happened here?” She looks around, noticing all the knocked out guests, then suddenly realizes it and shouts “wait.. I can see!? I can SEE~!!!” She turns to the shrine and shouts “My lady, I can see again! Look, look, I can see!” From the shrine comes Reimu, Sanae, Sakuya and Koishi, then Rika rushes to her mistress, happily flapping her wings, hopping around and shouting “my lady I can see again!” Reimu exclaims “really!? It’s a miracle!” Rika, Reimu and Sanae hop in place, squealing happily, Rika flapping her wings while doing so. Sakuya looks away, smiling sheepishly and saying “so much for elegance.” Rika gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, then bows to Sakuya and says “I’m so sorry~! I just got overexcited.” Sakuya peeks through her right eye, then turns to Rika and smiles while rubbing Rika’s hair and says “it’s alright. It happens to the best of us.”

Koishi heads toward Parsee while the other 4 girls celebrate Rika’s recovery. She kneels next to the fallen youkai and while helping her up she asks “are you alright?” Parsee stares at Koishi, then smiles and says “you are such a kind-hearted person. So sweet and cute. Thank you.” Koishi blushes and places her hands on her cheeks, giggling with glee, then Parsee looks behind and sees the other underground dwellers knocked on the ground, then rushes to them. Immediately she helps Satori up and says “oh my, miss Satori, are you alright? We can’t have you ruin that precious hair of yours on the snow.” Satori asks “err, are you ok?” Parsee ignores Satori and rushes to Yuugi, then says “oh my, such a powerful gas. It even knocked someone as strong as you down, but please, don’t blame Yamame as she is too kind and accidents do happen.” Yuugi stares at Satori with an annoyed expression, and while pointing at Parsee she says “this girl is annoying.” Parsee ignores Yuugi and skips away, spinning in place after stopping, then shouts “everything is so BEATUFUL!” Meanwhile, inside the shrine, Kanako and Suwako stare angrily at Rika. Suwako says “she’s one of the Onkamiyamukais” while at the same time Kanako says “she’s one of the Kurashikamis.” Both goddesses stare at each other, then nod and stare back at Rika while saying at the same time “those Onkamikami traitors.” Outside, ignoring the fallen guests, Reimu asks “Rika, what exactly did you just do to Parsee?” Rika stares at her mistress with an innocent smile, then says “I got jealous of her powers, so I nullified them.” Large sweat drops fall from the back of Reimu, Sanae and Sakuya’s head as they stare awestruck at Rika’s bluntly honest answer.

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Kyo, Budou, Phredia, and Luna were created by Willie G.R.
“Wave Sign Shapeless Mind” spell card was created by Willie G.R. Any similarities are strictly coincidental.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot2010

FEB 28 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Paradise Sukima 1

It’s a dark winter day in Gensokyo. The cold weather dampens everyone’s fighting spirits, youkai and human alike. Everyone is either sleeping, or just relaxing in front of a warm fire. All seems calm and peaceful... except at the Hakurei Shrine. Rumia flies aimlessly by and hears Reimu shouting “Suika, stop it! If you want sake, drink from your own gourd!” Suika replies “hai~!” while Rumia says “I-i-is th-that s-s-s-so~?” Two days have passed since Rika left to her annual checkup in the outside world, and Reimu is excitedly preparing a small welcoming party for her return. Inside the shrine, Reimu has prepared food, drinks and party favors, banners with the words “Welcome Home” hung all around the inside of the shrine, the floor sparkling clean, colorful ornaments hang from the ceiling... and Suika, who once again tries to taste the bottles of sake Reimu has neatly placed on the table. Reimu is in her room and she figures it’s her chance, so she goes for it. Her hand is mere inches away from her prize when she is struck on the head with a solid gohei. Reimu glares down at Suika and says “you greedy little oni! You have you OWN unlimited supply of sake, so stop trying to steal the sake for the party!” Reimu rushes away to the kitchen, mumbling happily to herself “great, the pies are done.” With a childish expression on her face, Suika stares at Reimu and says “you need to calm down.” Reimu places a second pie on the table at the kitchen then stares at Suika with a most natural smile, then suddenly laughs and in a fast fashion she says “Ha ha ha! I am calm! Can’t you see, ah hahahaha I’m so calm I’m laughing? HAHAHAHA!” Suika scratches her cheek as a small drop of sweat courses through it, listening to Reimu laugh manically, claiming to be calm when she clearly is not. Suika sighs and asks “Reimu, are you lying to me?” Reimu stops on her tracks and turns her face to Suika, twitches, then says “well I AM CALM! If I weren’t, I’d be hunting naughty youkai that cause trouble!” Suika continues staring at Reimu with that childish expression of hers, then thinks “thank goodness. For a moment there, I thought you were lying.” Reimu turns toward Suika, and clenching her hands below her into a pair of fists, she shouts “hey! I heard that!” Suika’s face fills with undeniable surprise and shock, and sounding frightened she says “Reimu is a satori maiden!” Reimu places one hand on her face and says “*sigh* look, I just want this to be a very special surprise for Rika. She promised she’d come back tomorrow, so I want to surprise her... And you’re not helping me at all!” Suika sighs, then says “of course I’ve been helping. I’ve been making sure the sake tastes good!” Reimu gasps and rushes to the bottles of sake and picks two of them up. Empty... Fire rises from all around Reimu, her eyes turn dark yellow as she clenches jagged teeth. From outside the shrine Reimu’s voice is heard shouting “Suika~~!!!”

Suika runs around the shrine, crying as Reimu follows and smacks her repeatedly with a broom repeatedly while shouting “you see? I was calm earlier! NOW I’M MAD!” Suika cries “I’m sorry- OW~! They were just so tasty!” Suika and Reimu run to the shrine’s gates where they stop the moment they see a bright yellow flash just above the village. From the flash, the dark silhouette of an adult woman emerges, then quickly flies to the Forest of Magic, landing in one of the clearings. The dark clouds and the snow make it harder to tell who it is, however. Shortly after, she flies to another spot in the forest, then again to another spot, then heads toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Suika, holding her head with both hands and with small tears clinging on her eyes comments “must be sight-seeing...” The figure now lands in the village and seems to stay there for a moment. Reimu looks curiously and calmly asks “do you think it’s an incident?” The figure flies fast out of the village, then heads straight to the shrine. Reimu pulls out some needles and charms from under her sleeve and says “Suika, get ready!” The woman gets close to the shrine at great speeds and long before they attack, Reimu says “Suika wait! That’s Ayalina!” Ayalina’s faint voice calls “Reimu~~! Hakurei maiden~~!” There’s urgency in her call, so without hesitation Reimu shouts back “OVER HERE~!” waving an arm in the air. Ayalina’s face is puffy and red, her eyes even redder and dark, seemingly crying. Concerned, Reimu asks “Ayalina, what’s the matter!?” Urgently, Ayalina asks “Reimu, have you seen Anilan!?” Both Reimu and Suika look at Ayalina with confusion on their faces, and as Reimu slowly shakes her head Suika says “sorry, but no, we haven’t seen him since he left 2 months ago.” Quickly, Reimu asks “what happened!?” Ayalina starts to shake violently, then sniffles uncontrollably. Reimu gently pats her shoulder and says “let’s go inside... I’ll make us some tea!”

Under the light of the shrine Reimu gets a better look of Ayalina. It’s obvious she’s been crying for a very long time from the terrible look on her face. Her hair, which is usually kept in a neat bun is now lose and unkempt. She’s wearing her usual plaid-green dress, but it’s all crumpled and dirty, even under her apron. Reimu hands over a cup of warm tea, which Ayalina drinks while trembling very violently, almost spilling it. Reimu places a hand on Ayalina’s shoulder and gently says “please, calm down... sit down, it might help-“ Ayalina quickly finishes her tea and pushes her cup on Reimu, hurriedly saying “I can’t! I have to find him!” Reimu asks “what happened!? Is there’s anything we can help with?” Ayalina takes a few desperate breaths, then says “y-yesterday’s s-solar... *gulp* After yesterday’s strange solar eclipse Ail called home. He-he said he loved us and that he was fine... that he had to hide...” Reimu and Suika look at each other with fright and panic, then Reimu says “that... The solar eclipse that was caused by Flandre’s spell*...” As if not listening to Reimu Ayalina continues “I’ve been looking for him ever since, Reimu, but I can’t find him! I can’t even sense him! I thought he was here, but nobody has seen him over here either!” Without saying another word and with a determined look on her face, Reimu walks outside the shrine, but Mima stops her and says “I heard that last part!” Mima floats inside the shrine and sits on her ghostly tail next to the table, then closes her eyes and concentrates. A minute passes by and Mima seems to be trying to concentrate harder than usual, then opens her eyes and says “he... Reimu, he broke the link. There’s no way I can contact him.” Ayalina feels a heavy tug in her heart and her desire to cry takes over all her senses, but she steels herself and manages to stop from crying. Saddened, Reimu walks to Ayalina and says “I, I’m sorry but we can’t do anything.” Ayalina lets a single tear escape her left eye, allowing it to tread across her cheek as she says “it’s alright... you tried.” Ayalina turns to Mima, bows and says “thank you for everything... If you find anything, please contact me. I’ll continue looking for him outside.” Before Reimu can ask how to contact her, Ayalina gives her a red rose that looks like it’s made of glass, though feels like a real rose, then says “if you find anything, call my name through this, and don’t worry, this rose will know when it’s to contact me... so there are no accidents.” Reimu takes a little while to absorb all that, then says “please, if you find him out there you let us know.” Ayalina smiles and says “I know. You all care about him too.” With those last words, Ayalina glows green and white for a moment, then there’s a loud poofing sound. Mima rushes to where Ayalina was standing and looks with surprise at the flowers that now grow on the floorboard. Reimu kneels down and touches one of them, then they all turn to magical dust that vanish in the air. Suika, sounding a bit saddened, says “I hope she can find him.” Reimu looks at the rose Ayalina gave her, then says “me too, Suika.” Mima floats by the shrine’s porch, wondering what could have caused Ail to cut their link like that, and hopes she is able to ask him that herself.

At a secluded house in the Forest of Magic, the house of Marisa Kirisame, not a single light was on, even in a day as dark as this. Outside on the roof of the house, the snow is piling up, the windows look dirty, the path leading to the house seems non-existent, in short, the house looks as though it’s been abandoned. However, that is not the case. Burring her nose inside a few books, Marisa continues to work inside her new basement, drawing countless magical circles and looking dreadfully tired while doing so. Her eye-lines are dark, her face and her eyes look as though she’s had her face scrunched up by a raging youkai, her clothes are very dirty and even her hair looks like it’s lost some of its shine. After reading one of the many open books one last time, she goes back to the center of the room, where she has drawn a large star encased in a thick circle, surrounded by symbols and runes and MORE magical circles, all in different colors, some with thicker lines, others fully painted inside while others look plain, and in front of it all, white stones that make the shape of a door, all magically adhered to the wall. Marisa finishes drawing one last rune, and triumphantly she raises both arms in the air and shouts “I DID IT! I’m FINALLY DONE!!!” She grabs the last book she was looking at and raises it above her head while saying “thank you miss Hijiri! Without these, I’d have never figure that out!” She sniffs around, quickly lowers her arms, twisting her face in disgust, then says “ugh! I need a bath...” After a bath and a nice warm meal, Marisa heads to her room in the attic, carrying one of the books she borrowed from Byakuren. Wearing a thin white shirt and her bloomers, she gets under her blanket and reads the book she brought with her. She slowly lets her eyes drop as she reads the last pages of her book, then she suddenly opens them up round and wide. From outside the house she can be heard shouting “NO WAY! Now what am I gonna do!?”

The next morning, refreshed, rested, and a little lost about her next step, Marisa walks out of her house, wearing her usual winter outfit, navy-blue hat, dress and skirt, pink shirt and undergarments, a large pink bow on her hat, and a white petticoat and a light blue shawl over her shoulder. She takes a deep breath and says to herself “ah~, this isn’t going to be easy.” She rubs her chin with her left hand and says “Sukima won’t help, and if I ask her she’ll just blab it all to Reimu. I want this to be a surprise, ze!” She snaps her fingers and smiles, but before she says anything else she frowns and says “ah that’s right. That dummy left to the outside world. Hmm... Maybe I could try a...” Marisa’s train of thought is interrupted by a pair of familiar voices in the distance. She looks to the sky and comments to herself “whoa... it’s pretty bright today... wait, aren’t those Budou and Kyo?” Above the forest, a wild vampire youkai tries to fly away as fast as possible, but she is stopped by a fireball that comes from Kyo’s hand. Budou exclaims “nice one! Now let’s bring her to justice!” Kyo wears a pink muscle shirt under an unbuttoned blue shirt, wooden sandals, and long black pants. He hovers next to Budou takes a brave and heroic pose, pointing his red sword at the vampire and saying “you’re gonna pay for clawing that kid!” Budou wears a brown dress that no longer needs the two large black buttons to held it closed, however she’s kept her teal apron and changed her small white bow for a much larger white bow with black linings. She’s also wearing a pair of pink socks that seems to allow the claws on her feet to go through without actually breaking. The little bat youkai covers her mouth while she chuckles and bluntly says “so says the man in pink, tee hee!” A large vein pulsates on Kyo’s forehead and says “careful, you are talking to your MASTER!” Budou replies “you’re the one who made fun of my socks! They were a gift from papa!” Kyo turns to face Budou and says “it was just an observation!” Budou replies “you were giggling!” Kyo growls loudly, then says “let’s just get this over with!” Budou simply says “hmph” as they turn to face the vampire, who surprisingly enough just floats there and stares awestruck at the two. She points at them and asks “this is what the village sends to deal with me? Anyway, that was an ACCIDENT! I was aiming for the dog! Geez, I never thought the kid would get in the way like that!” Kyo and Budou both get angry, fire rising from behind them as their eyes turn red, then Kyo asks first “what do you mean by that!?” Budou adds “I’m strong, you meanie!” The vampire starts to laugh, then says “this is RICH! A clown in pink that shoots fire... and a speck of dust that thinks she’s so~ great! What’s so great about a cute little baby bat youkai that eats FRUIT and befriends humans?” Kyo whispers “Budou, she’s desperate. Don’t let her taunt...” Budou sniffle, making Kyo turn his head to look at her. Her eyes are already watery and her face is all red from holding back her tears. Her entire body twitches as she quietly sobs, her eyes getting more and more glassy with every passing moment. Kyo panics and quickly says “Budou! Budou, calm down! Come on kid, don’t do this! You’re strong! Just let her have it!” The youkai continues “let me have what? A laugh? Oh look, she’s starting to cry~ Oh, boo-hoo!” while she mocks Budou, faking she’s rubbing her eyes and making kissing sounds. Budou is doing her best to steel herself, but then the youkai adds “you little cry-baby. Who’s going to save you when you’re out in this cold and cruel world..? Your mom... or perhaps... your daddy~!?” Her words echo inside Budou’s head and the young youkai can’t take it anymore. She clenches her eyes tight and rubs them with her little fists as she cries so loud she unsettles the entire forest. Kyo panics even more and says “no, no Budou! C-come on, be tough!” Out of nowhere, a loud and powerful female voice makes the land below rumble as she shouts “Kyo~~~!!!”

The vampire panics, Budou continues to bawl and Kyo trembles with great fear. He looks at the vampire with terror in his eyes and says “Sanae...” The vampire raises an eyebrow and confused she asks “Sanae? Is that some sort of spell or somethi-GAH!!!” From behind the youkai, a dark female silhouette with bright angry yellow eyes raises its arms while holding a square weapon on her right hand and just as her hands strike down on the vampire Kyo gets in front of Budou, covering her sight while looking toward the violent scene himself, where constant smacking and crunching sounds come from. The vampire screams in agony and Kyo exclaims “by the GODS! That’s not suppose to DO THAT!” The vampire gurgles then Kyo gasps and shouts “inverted hell’s wedgie~!!” He covers his eyes until the sounds stop, then watches as the vampire, who looks like a ball now, falls to the ground, where Orin catches it in her wheelbarrow, shouting “thanks sis~! This should do NICELY!” Kyo looks back up and Sanae’s silhouette is now gone. He looks around with horror still present in his face, then, as if realizing something, he turns around and there is Sanae holding Budou in her arms, humming a lullaby and saying “shh, it’s ok now. It’s ok.” Kyo keeps his distance and thinks of flying away, but long before he can move Sanae turns her glare his way and asks “you were picking on her again, weren’t you!?” Kyo exclaims “I WASN’T picking on her, EVER! It’s TRAINING! She’s never going to get stronger if you keep butting in!” In an instant, Sanae is face-to-face to Kyo and while glaring straight into his eyes she says “she... is a little... girl. Not a brute or a tomboy! You either help her train appropriately, or you’re going to be in trouble with ME!” Kyo stares back with a frightened expression and simply nods without saying a word. Sanae smiles and says “glad we understand each other.” While Sanae deals with Kyo, Budou pulls out the golden whistle Ail gave her before leaving, then takes a deep breath. Sanae feels this and sounding a little sad she says “are you sure about this? You know, maybe it would be best if you wait just a little longer.” Budou sobs then softly cries “I don’t care. I want to see him. I want papa back.” Sanae pats her head, but before she says anything, Kyo, sounding very serious, says “you know, you could blow on that now and have Ail come back... In fact I’d love it if you did that because I miss him too. But think about it a little more. You wanted to become stronger for him, for when he came back. Tell me, do you really believe you are ready?” Budou continues to hold the whistle close to her lips for a moment, her eyes hidden in shadow. She drops it on Sanae’s back, however the lace around it, which is bound to Budou’s neck prevents it from falling to the ground. She sobs again and without looking back she says “alright... I’ll wait. I need to become stronger... so I can help him. I want to help him.” Sanae tilts her own head and rests it on Budou’s as she brushes her hair with her fingers, then softly says “let’s just go home for today... and Kyo... Thanks, and sorry. I know you have your own training methods, but you have to remember that she is a child, regardless of her age.” Kyo quietly nods, and after floating there for a few more seconds, they leave.

From below, with a smile on her face and a glint on her eyes, Marisa stares at Budou’s whistle as it hangs on Sanae’s back and says to herself “so~ a magical whistle that can call papa Ail back here... I see it. Summoning properties embedded on the mouth piece. This is it! Oh, but wait! I need those goddesses on my side... this is one tough puzzle. Hmm~” Marisa closes her eyes and rubs her chin while she thinks, but she quickly gets bored and says “well, something will come up. Something always does!” She raises her hand to the air and her magical bamboo broom simply materializes next to it. She grabs it and sits on it, and while smiling with confidence she says “while I think of something I’ll go pay some visits. I’ve been cooped up inside that basement for a while. I’m sure they all miss me!” At the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s library, Marisa has sneaked her way in again. Patchouli happily greets her, saying “Sun Sign Royal Flare!” Marisa replies this happy greeting, shouting “Love Colored Master SPARK~!” Patchouli’s density-defying magic is quickly defeated by Marisa’s fast beam of light, and the librarian finds herself on the floor, covered in burn marks before she knows what hit her. Almost on top of her to her left, Marisa grins widely and says “long time no see, ze!” Before Patchouli can answer Flandre tackles Marisa and while hugging her on the ground she shouts “MARISA~! Where have you been!? I’ve got so many things to show you!” A silver washtub falls right on top of Flandre’s head, making a very loud clank and even bending out of recognizable shape. Flandre looks a little confused, letting out a soft “huh?” as she looks around. Marisa stares with surprise and asks “Flan! Are you ok?” Flandre giggles and rubs her head, then says “well of course. Come, come! I want to show you something!” Marisa chuckles as Flandre drags her away and says “alright, alright, don’t pull so hard.” Hiding behind a bookcase, Koakuma pouts as she stares at a spell card on her hand whispers to herself “drat, it still needs work.” Patchouli stands to the right of the mischievous assistant and asks “so you were aiming for me, weren’t you?” Koakuma’s hair stands on end as she yelps in surprise.

Flying back to the Forest of Magic, Marisa smiles as she says to herself “that Flan got a REALLY nice toy there. Hmm~ I wonder what kind of magic holds that saucer thing up in the air like that...? Oh well. Next stop, Alice. I’m sure she must miss me a lot, da-ze!” At Alice’s house, Shanghai finishes dusting around the windows and proudly says “mama Alice~ I cleaned the windows!” From her room, Alice replies “you are such a good girl, Shanghai. Thanks!” Shanghai smiles with a very please and content look, placing both hands on her cheeks. Hourai comes from the kitchen, hugging herself and shivering. Shanghai asks “Hourai, how can you be cold?” Hourai sneezes, then says “because of the ghost.” Shanghai doesn’t believe what she’s hearing, and sounding a little annoyed she says “Hourai, there’s not ghost in here. Besides, we are strong enough to deal with one.” From the kitchen, a whimsical voice says “oh, is that so? Perhaps you’d like to show me how strong you are?” Shanghai and Hourai twitch and slowly turn around, finding Yuyuko standing right behind them, smiling whimsically. The two little dolls yelp and immediately fly away to Alice’s room, Shanghai screaming “mama, she wants to eat us!” Just as the dolls enter the room Marisa bursts in through the front door, shouting “hay-a~, Alice! I come to play with... eh?” Marisa notices Yuyuko in the kitchen, who continues to smile as she waves at the witch. Marisa waves back and says “now this is a strange sight. Alice has visitors?” From the corridor, Alice angrily says “un-WELCOME visitors! Two of them, even!” Marisa is going to reply, but Yuyuko beats her to it, saying “aww, don’t be like that.” Alice immediately points her finger at Yuyuko and asks “what are you doing here, and what is this about eating my dolls.” Before Yuyuko replies, Alice points at Marisa, who raises her hands while smirking widely, then asks “and what are YOU doing here? Not planning to steal more books, I hope!” Marisa sweats and says “I don’t steal them, I borrow them. I told you already, I’ll return them after I die.” Yuyuko excitedly says “ah, I can arrange that for you now if you like.” Marisa smiles and casually replies “no, no. It’s not my time yet.” While Yuyuko and Marisa continue a most lovely conversation about death, Alice slowly loses her patience, then suddenly shouts “could the both of you PLEASE get out!?” Yuyuko says “certainly. Just let me take these two little souls with me” while pointing at the two dolls. Shanghai and Hourai quickly whimper and cling on Alice’s shoulder. Alice smiles dangerously and asks “why in the HELL would I ever hand these two to you in the first place!?” Yuyuko thinks for a moment, then says “because it’s the right thing to do.” Alice takes a deep breath, but Marisa speaks before her “whoa, that’s a tough one to beat.” Yuyuko smiles and bows, saying “thank you.” A large vein pulsates on Alice’s forehead as she smiles and pulls a spell card from her pocket, and before Marisa and Yuyuko can convince her to stop she shouts “Curse Sign Shanghai Doll!” Shanghai positions herself on Alice’s hand, and combining their powers they fire a large thick purple beam that sends both Yuyuko and Marisa flying out the door and on to the cold snow outside. Alice stands on her door and says “good day to you!” then slams the door shut. Marisa gets up from the snow and while Yuyuko stands up afterwards, she says “well, that went much better than I expected, ze.” Smiling, Yuyuko says “oh, I agree.”

That afternoon, Marisa flies straight to the Moriya Shrine, and upon landing she looks around and notices Sanae and Budou aren’t there. She scratches her head under her hat, then thinks “darn, the kid isn’t here... but at least Sanae is gone too.” She snaps her finger, winking to the air and smiling as she says “I came by at just the right time, ze!” Marisa jumps with a fright when Suwako, who sits like a frog on the snow, asks from behind “the right time for what?” Marisa Quickly recovers from the fright and with a smile on her face she says “Suwako, how are ya!? Say, Kanako wouldn’t happen to be around, right?” Again, Marisa jumps in fright, though this time she falls on top of Suwako, when Kanako comes from behind and asks “now why would you need to speak to two goddesses in such a beautiful winter afternoon?” Suwako forcefully pushes Marisa off her back, and the witch manages to fall right on her feet, already holding a book with its pages open, and with a confident smile she says “ladies, you wish to help Gensokyo thrive and advance a little, right? Well here’s your lucky day!” Marisa shows them the book, to which Suwako asks “do you even know where this leads to?” Marisa confidently says “of course! To a REAL paradise. One filled with enough resources to literally sky-rocket progress AND turn Gensokyo into an advanced world that balances both magic And technology... What do you think?” Kanako takes the book away from Marisa and stares at it for a while. She bends down when Suwako lightly taps her thigh, allowing her to see into the book some more. They whisper something into each other, then Kanako asks “alright, before we give you our answer, tell us exactly what are we supposed to do.” Marisa sighs and says “well, being a human, I am only capable of drawing the symbols and the circles and those stars, but it takes the blessing of a god to make this work as it should... so what I need you to do is to come to my home and bless the room, the circles, the symbols, the stones...” Marisa places both hands together in front of herself as if praying, winking and bowing her head, then asks “so, will you help?” Kanako and Suwako raise an eyebrow at each other, then look with suspicion at Marisa, though by the time they look to Marisa, she’s all the way at their shrine, donating three one thousand yen marks and offering a prayer. From there Marisa shouts “so, will you help!?” The goddesses approach Marisa and return her book, then Kanako loudly says “I’M SORRY LITTLE WITCH, BUT YOU’LL HAVE TO FOOL SOMEONE ELSE, YOU HEAR ME!?” Marisa frowns and sounding disappointed she says “o-oh... I see. Well, sorry to have bothered you. I’ll see you later then.” Marisa hides her disappointed look in her eyes with her hat as she climbs on her broom, but before she lifts off, Suwako pulls her arm and winks, then whispers “tomorrow.” Marisa continues to hide her eyes under her hat, but her smile is so wide it’s impossible to hide. Shortly after Marisa leaves, Sanae and Budou arrive to the shrine. Sanae asks “what did she want?” Kanako shrugs and looking uninterested she says “don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention.”

The next morning, Marisa wakes up with a sprint, sweating and breathing heavily. She is still only half awake as she says “no... Tha-that’s not...” In her mind she sees the faint traces of a nightmare where she has taken Gensokyo’s barrier in her hand and literally pulls on it and pockets it. Shortly after, then entire land of Gensokyo gets covered by concrete buildings, the trees replaced by metal poles with round lights on them, the fauna and flora disappears before her eyes and replaced by black rivers where vehicles pass by, emanating dark clouds that makes breathing a chore. As she looks on she suddenly finds herself at the Hakurei Shrine, where an aged Reimu stares at her with contempt and asks “are you happy?” just before collapsing and turning to dust. Aged as well, Marisa reaches for Reimu’s remains, calling “Reimu! Reimu, no! I want to save you! Come with me. Come with me!” Back in her house, Marisa yelps, this time holding both hands against her face, sweating even more and breathing with effort. She finally wakes up and realizes she is still young, Gensokyo is still a beautiful paradise... and realizes it was all a nightmare. She rushes to her bathroom where she has accumulated water and dunks her head into the sink, pulling it out almost immediately and looks at herself in the mirror. Her frightened expression slowly changes to powerful determination and while staring straight into her own eyes she says “Reimu, I will save you! Once I finally open this gate... You’ll see, Reimu. I’ll save you.”

Later that morning, Marisa arrives to the Hakurei shrine and after spotting Reimu sweeping the front yard she smiles widely and waves her hand, shouting “OY~! Reimu~!” Reimu doesn’t respond, which confuses Marisa, then she says to herself “whoa, maybe I should have visited earlier...” Marisa lands next to the gate, away from Reimu, then repeats “oy, Reimu!” Reimu slowly turns to face Marisa; her face looking casual, though in her eyes the sadness she’s feeling becomes obvious to anyone. Speaking softly, as if devoid of energy or will, Reimu says “oh, Marisa. It’s been so long. How are you?” Marisa quickly approaches Reimu, realizing her friend isn’t mad at her at all, then asks “Reimu, what’s the matter?” Reimu turns her head away from Marisa and continues sweeping the same spot she was sweeping before, and by the looks of it, she hasn’t been doing a thing there as the snow continues to pile up. Marisa exclaims “Reimu! You are sick!!!” She grabs Reimu by her elbow and drags her away from the broom, which continues to sweep slowly on its own before it finally falls on the ground. Marisa drags Reimu all the way inside the shrine and notices Aya and Suika sitting under the kotatsu, and sounding aggravated she asks “hey, you’ve been here all the time and didn’t even notices!? What kind of friends are you!?” Aya and Suika stare at Marisa and the really weakened Reimu, and Aya asks “whatever do you mean?” Marisa pulls Reimu closer, making her looks like a rag-doll, then points at her with her right hand and says “THIS!! Reimu is THIS sick and you let her out in the snow like that!” Both stare back a little saddened now, then Aya manages a weak smile as she says “she... She is not sick, Marisa.” Suika lowers her head and says “she’s sad.” Marisa raises her right eyebrow, grabs the limp Reimu by her waist and stares at her, then asks “sad, you say? And why is that?” Drooping on Marisa’s arms and looking away, a few tears escape Reimu as she says “she never came back... And she promised... Bus she’s not back. She left too. I was bad, wasn’t I?” Marisa narrows her eyes as a large sweat drop forms right on top of her hat while staring at Reimu, then looks at Aya and Suika, then asks “did I miss something, ze?” Suika takes a few gulps from her gourd before answering “Rika was supposed to come back yesterday...” Aya sighs and continues for Suika “but she didn’t come. Though what’s strange is that gap hag didn’t come either.” Marisa lets out a quiet “oh” when Suika suddenly comments “maybe that old hag ate her.” Like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, proud roaring flames around itself and singing it’s powerful song, Reimu springs back to full life and screams Yukari’s name in a rage. Marisa covers her head and backs away as she says “WHOA~! She’s a whole new person now!” Suika stares on with her usual childish face as Reimu shouts “don’t just sit there! Help me find Yuk-“ Reimu stops speaking and just looks around, then lifts her right hand. The symbol left the night Reimu made the master-servant pact with Rika is glowing, and Reimu suddenly feels Rika’s life slowly drain away somewhere. She trembles and whispers “Rika...” Marisa stares back at her friend as Reimu’s face loses all its color and her eyes fill with dread, and with great worry, she asks “Reimu, what’s wrong!?” In a flash, Reimu flies straight out of the shrine, shouting Yukari’s name over and over. Worried, Marisa quickly summons her broom to her hand and flies after her friend, Suika and Aya following shortly after.

Suika is left behind, while Aya and Marisa follow an orange trail left behind by Reimu. Aya and Marisa look at each other, then Marisa comments “she’s going too fast. She might end up hurt!” Aya nods and says “you take the left, I’ll take the right!” They split apart, increasing their speed in hopes to catch up to Reimu and manage to trap her... unless she decides to attack them. Further ahead, Reimu shouts “YUKARI~~! Yukari where is Rika~!?” She stops for a moment and looks around, then heads toward the Misty Lake, thinking “last time I entered Mayohiga I went through the lake. Maybe it’ll work again!” Before she can reach the lake, Marisa and Aya surround her, then Marisa shouts “Reimu, slow down! You’re going to drain yourself if you keep flying this fast!” Reimu shouts “I don’t care! Rika’s in danger, I just know it!” From her right, Aya shouts “you are using too much energy! You’re going to crash!” Reimu shouts back “I said I don’t care! I’m finding that Yukari and she’s taking me to Rika, whether she wants to or not!” Marisa reaches for Reimu’s arm and grabs hold of her just as Reimu’s mind shuts down and she falls. She struggles to keep herself balanced while pulling Reimu, avoiding some trees as she loses altitude, but thankfully Aya grabs Reimu’s other arm and helps Marisa with the load. Holding Reimu, they make an u-turn to the shrine and while on mid-flight, Aya position Reimu behind Marisa on her broom, and after they flip their thumbs up, they speed up, hurriedly taking Reimu with them. At the shrine, Reimu lies on her futon feeling completely drained and exhausted. Marisa and Aya kneel to her left while Suika and Mima kneel to her right, Suika placing a damp cloth on Reimu’s forehead. Weakly, Reimu says “she’s really gone. Marisa... she left.” Marisa sighs, patting her head, wanting to say some comforting words to her friend, but can’t find the correct ones. She gasps suddenly after feeling a warm wind course through her body, then says “Reimu, I’m going home and pick up some things, then I’ll come back soon, I promise. You just rest.” Mima looks at her former apprentice, then says “hey...” Marisa stares at Mima for some time, then Mima says to her “you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Reimu has lots of friends to care for her already.” Marisa smiles, feeling relieved, then stands up while putting on her hat, then says “I’m not leaving Reimu like this. I’m her friend, ze; and I haven’t been around for a while... She needs my presence in the right dozes or she’ll flip!” Sweating, Aya and Suika stare at each other while smiling sheepishly. Mima simply smirks and says “that’s my girl. Bring some sake on the way back, will ya?” Marisa tips her hat to Mima, then turns around, leaves the shrine and flies away to her house in the snowy afternoon.

Kanako and Suwako are already waiting inside Marisa’s house, though the door was still locked when Marisa herself walks in. They exchange some quiet smiles, then Suwako breaks the silence when she says “now I understand the real reason is because you want to help Reimu, however...” Kanako switches to a serious expression as she says “...understand that our reasons for helping you is to help Gensokyo flourish to a new era. Not for Reimu.” Marisa smirks as she hides her eyes under her hat and walks past the two goddesses, saying “this way, ladies. Be careful with that first step.” Marisa leads the two goddesses down a small narrow passage to her new basement, where the gate she has prepared awaits activation. Wasting no time, the two goddesses walk to the larger star at the center of the room and begin with their blessings. The entire room shines so bright Marisa has to use her hat to cover her face so as not to end up blind. There is a loud magical whirring sound, and then the loud sound of a door being unlocked. Suwako days “done” and Marisa lowers her hat. The magical circles now shine in various colors, the stars, symbols and runes have turned to pure gold, and the stones on the wall make the shape of an archway and shine bright pure white. Kanako looks around herself, seemingly impressed and says “amazing. For a human to actually make this work. You must have poured your all into this.” Marisa smirks as she places her hat back on her head and says “I’m doing this for someone very special. After this she won’t have to resolve another incident... ever!” Suwako stares seriously at Marisa and says “those are pretty big words there. In any case, you have to wait a month before the gate is ready to open. After that, take all the time you need.” Kanako adds “you better be right about this Paradise because from now on, you are on your own, and if something happens, it’s YOUR own fault. We never came here, and we most certainly never saw into that book... you understand?” Marisa stares back with a most serious face, then nods. Kanako and Suwako nod back, then quietly walk out of the room, but not before Suwako smirks mischievously Suwako says “you should clean up this house. It’s a complete mess.”

The next morning, at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu wakes up inside a futon next to Marisa’s and slowly sits up. She looks around and sighs, then notices Marisa, still in her normal winter clothes and blowing a nose-bubble while snoring lightly. She stares for a moment, then suddenly smiles and mouths “thank you, Marisa.” Marisa wakes up a few hours after Reimu, and after she realizes Reimu isn’t in her futon, she panics and springs up, shouting “Reimu! Where are you?” From the kitchen Reimu calmly replies “it’s alright. I’m here.” Marisa feels as her heart slows down back to a healthy beat, then says “phew! For a moment I though you left looking for Sukima again... How are you feeling?” Reimu smiles back at Marisa and says “thank you... and Aya and Suika too. All of you.” Reimu walks to Marisa and gives her a hug, saying “I’m so glad you’re back! I really am.” Marisa blushes and lightly pushes Reimu away, then Reimu stares at her seriously, then says “and if you tell anyone about this I’m going to kill you!” Marisa sweats and smirks, backing away from Reimu, then says “my lips are sealed!” The shrine doors suddenly slide open, and behind them is Aya, holding her camera on her right hand and bearing a wide crescent smile, Suika with a mischievous look on her face, and Mima smiling and blushing just slightly. Reimu mysteriously holds her gohei on her right hand and bangs it on her left hand while smiling at her friend with a blood-thirsty look on her. Aya sweats and asks “eh... Reimu? Why are you looking at us like that...?” At the front of the shrine, a lone female villagers reaches the top of the shrine, approaches the donation box and holds a few coins in her hand to toss in, however, the screaming of Aya, Mima and Suika, accompanied by loud smacking sounds and Reimu shouting “GIVE ME THAT!” startle the girl to a run back to the village just before she tosses the money in. Later that day, Marisa is about to leave the shrine, but before she does, she wants to make sure Reimu is ok. She finds Reimu sitting by the shrine’s porch, facing the hot springs while enjoying some tea and just thinking to herself. She approaches the maiden and before she asks Reimu says “if you’re worried about me, don’t. I’m fine. It hurts that she left like she did... and now I’m not even sure she’s alive... but at least I got you, Aya, Mima... Sakuya...” Marisa sits down next to Reimu and says “you still sound depressed to me.” Reimu springs to her feet and shouts “well of COURSE I AM!” She calms down again and drops on her knees, holding her teacup again, then says “but I’ll get over it. So it’s ok-“ A voice in front of the shrine calls “hello~! Reimu~! Are you actually working today?” Yukari floats inside her gap, looking casually around the shrine. Nobody answers her so she shrugs and says “oh well, I can come back later... GYAH!” She is knocked out of her gap, which quickly closes up, and she feels a heavy object pressuring her back, pressing her entire being on to the snow, then in an ominous voice Reimu says “give me ONE good reason why I shouldn’t seal you for GOOD, you useless hag!” Forcing a nervous smile Yukari replies “my-hi~, well aren’t we in high spirits?” Reimu presses harder on Yukari’s back with her foot, then Yukari says “ow, ow, ow! Geez Reimu, all this because I forgot!?” Reimu backs away and angrily asks “forgot WHAT?” Yukari mouths “geez, you even sealed my gaps” and quickly realizes Reimu is staring curses straight at her, so she flinches and backs away, then nervously says “that Rika was going to stay home for a few more days, and that she’d be back soon. In 4 days... well actually, in 2 more... 1 if you don’t count this glorious afternoon.” A giant vein pops on Reimu’s head as the maiden shouts “WHAT DID YOU SAY~~!?” From the side of the shrine, Marisa says “oh boy.... it was nice knowing her!” Marisa rushes away from the scene, looking terrified and pulling down on her hat, and just afterwards Reimu shouts “Divine Spirit Fantasy SEAL!” Yukari shouts “no, wait. REIMU!” Before the first set of explosions finish Reimu shouts “Treasure Tool Yin-Yang Demon God Orb!” Yukari shouts “no, wait! Reimu I can explain. KYAH!” Reimu shouts “Divine Skill Foot of the Wind God Champion!” There is a crunching noise along with Yukari’s yelp, then Reimu shouts “Divine Arts Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!” Yukari’s scream echoes through the air all the way down to the village, then Reimu shouts “Amulet Youkai Repelling CHARM~!” Marisa peeks from the corner of the shrine, but immediately jumps away as fast clouds of dust blow by, then Reimu shouts “Dream Land Super Duplex Border!” Yukari shouts, though this time seemingly out of energy, then there’s silence. Marisa raises her head from the floor and finds Aya, Suika and Mima, all hugging beside her, trembling with a look of terror in their faces. The next day, at Eirin’s clinic, Yukari lies bed-ridden and completely covered in bandages with Reimu standing beside her, crossing her arms around her chest while staring angrily at her. Yukari sighs, then says “I’ll go get her tonight.”

The next morning, Reimu paces around the gate of the shrine, saying “I’m going to completely murder her... Murder, murder, murder.” Marisa sits by the donation box and says “calm down, Reimu. After that overkill I doubt Sukima will let us down, ze.” Reimu stops pacing around and looks at Marisa, then says “wait, this scene is vaguely familiar...” From behind Reimu, the familiar sound of one of Yukari’s gaps opening makes her opens her eyes with expectation, so she quickly turns around, but there’s nobody there but the lone gap. Reimu gets closer and hears the faint screams of a girl. The screaming rapidly gets closer, and then a girl falls from inside the gap face-first to the snow, holding her arms up while making the love symbol with her fingers. Reimu gasps contently and smiles widely as the girl stands up. She has wavy brown hair that reaches to half of her back, and wears a common-style shrine maiden kimono, with a long-sleeved white top that’s broken at the back to allow her small white wings with the scar in the middle through, a long skirt that’s white with red strips from both sides that go to the bottom end of her skirt, a red scarf around her neck that has the words “Will of” on one of its end, and on the other end the word “Fire”, and wearing a most familiar sapphire yin-yang around her neck on a necklace. Unnoticed by Reimu yet, is the bandages around her light-blue eyes. The girl looks around and says “wh-where am I? M-miss Yukari, I can’t see! Miss Yukari?” Reimu jumps from where she stands, extending her arms in the air, ready to give Rika a bone-crushing and shouting “RIKA~! You’re back~!” Just before Reimu falls on her, Rika asks “my lady?” From the donation box Marisa smirks and says “I hope Aya’s getting all this. This is GOLD!” There is a thud coming from where Reimu and Rika are, then Marisa smirks widely and says “oh yeah... pure gold... da-ze~.”

To Be Continued...
Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Kyo, Ayalina and Budou were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010
FEB 26 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Dollhouse Mishaps Featuring Shinki

It’s a quiet wintery dawn at the Forest of Magic. The snow is slowly beginning to melt away, nourishing the land with plenty of water and minerals for the return of spring. Alice Margatroid exits her house on her own, leaving the door slightly open so that Shanghai and Hourai can follow her after waking up. The magician puppeteer heads to the forest with a small brown basket on hand, her black grimoire inside the basket, and a smile on her face, and right after she’s out of sight, Shanghai and Hourai exit the house. Shanghai hurriedly says “Hourai, you always take too long! Mom’s already in the forest! Come on!” Hourai yawns as she flies out the door and somberly closes it with a strong push, then yawns and says “I saw a kitty the size of the house in my dream.” Shanghai stares blankly at her for a moment, then snaps out of her surprise and says “come on, we have to catch up to mama Alice!” In a small clearing hidden between tall trees and bushes, Alice is happily collecting leaves, twigs and some really rare mushrooms with magical properties. There’s strange chirping around her, but she disregard it, thinking it’s just some passing birds. She blinks and says to herself “wait a minute? Why’s my sight turning dark so sud...” She quickly stands up defensively, taking her grimoire in hand and pulling a spell card from under her capelet then shouts “what do you want with me, miss eel-cart vendor!?” There is no reply and the bird’s song only gets louder. Alice’s vision diminishes, but she manages to sense where the night sparrow is, so she summons 5 dolls around her, points at the trees directly in front of her and shouts “Curse Sign – Hourai Doll!” The 5 dolls position themselves in front of Alice’s hand and all fire a single purple beam each, destroying many branches from the trees and successfully quieting the bird and regaining her full vision. The dolls fall on the ground as Alice calms down and stands up straight, pushing a few strands of hair away from her face and saying “well that’s that.” She turns around to pick up her basket, and the moment she touches it, the Rabid Karate Night Sparrow flaps its wings and furiously chirps as he flies out of the basket, holding a pair of bloomers on his little claws. Alice yelps and falls on her seat, then starts to shiver as the little melting snow on the ground seeps through the fabric on her skirt. She looks at the bird and it’s prize then exclaims “wait! What in the name of...” Alice pats her thighs, gasps, blushes beet red and shouts “gi-GIVE THOSE BACK you pervert!!!” The RKNS flies in a circle, chirping contently and victoriously, displaying his prize with pride. Alice stands up in a rage and shouts “I’m going to COOK you for that!” Alice lifts both arms above her head, and there’s a ripping sound. Alice looks at the bird with surprise, then in complete shock. The little sparrow now has her underwear and her capelet, showing them to Alice with a smirk on his face. Shanghai and Hourai are just about to reach the clearing when Alice runs away past them, her face bright red, her eyes hidden under a shadows as she covers them with her forearm, crying and shouting “I’ll get back to you for that~!” Shanghai shouts “wait, mama!!” Shanghai looks to Hourai but quickly realizes she’s gone. She calls “Hourai, where did you go~ *sob*! Why did you all leave me alone like this!?” From the clearing, Hourai calls back “over here!” Shanghai nervously flies to the clearing and desperately looks for Hourai, spotting her on a tree branch, wrapped in a white cloth along with the night sparrow. Shanghai asks “Hourai, what are you doing?” Hourai looks very content as she wraps herself around Alice’s clothes some more, and with a smile on her tiny face she says “mama’s clothes are so warm.~” Shanghai gets annoyed, prepares a small beam, then shouts “mama Alice just ran away crying and you’re sleeping!?” She fires a beam at Hourai, misses, and breaks off the tree branch instead, and successfully and miraculously avoids getting crushed under it as it falls. Hourai falls down hard, still wrapped around Alice’s clothes, however the little sparrow is now gone. Shanghai asks “and where’s that bird?” Hourai replies “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Shanghai and Hourai wander aimlessly around the Forest of Magic, diligently searching for the bird. Shanghai asks “Hourai, did you find him yet?” Hourai shakes her little head and says “all I could find was this rubbish.” From her pockets she pulls a ten thousand yen mark, a golden ring that after touching the ground it revives the entire area, making the place look like spring has just arrived, a picture of Kyo, Agava, who shouts “I’m free!”, then flies away, and finally she drops Shinki on the ground. Shanghai quickly exclaims “GRAMMA~~! Hourai, you found gramma!” Hourai stares at Shinki for a moment, smiles, then says “no wonder she looked so familiar!” Shinki stands up and says “Shanghai, Hourai, where’s Alice?” Shanghai takes a deep breath and says “mama Alice was crying because this bird took her underwear while she was still wearing it and after waking Hourai up for the second time we decided to hunt him down and make him apologize to mama Alice so she can stop crying again!” Shinki and Hourai stare with blank smiles at Shanghai for a moment, then Shinki suddenly frowns, scowls, and shouts “Alice!? Underwear!? Crying!? HIM~!? A boy saw my baby Alice’s unmentionables while she screamed for mercy!? This is an OUTRAGE!” Shanghai softly says “um, that’s not exactly right.” Shinki continues “alright girls! Let’s hunt this boy down and beat him up REAL GOOD! After that we’ll make him take responsibility and marry Alice!” Hourai asks “a wedding?” Shinki crosses her arms across her chest, closing her eyes while nodding and saying “why of course! If a man takes a woman’s innocence away, it’s only appropriate for that man to TAKE responsibility, and marry that woman, so they can live happily ever after in an enchanted castle full of flowers, and slowly fill it with lots and lots of darling grandchildren for me to visits and cuddle and care for. It’s going to be GREAT!” Shinki now holds her hands clapped together against her right cheek while her eyes twinkle with excitement. Hourai adds “Ooh~!! That sounds GREAT! So who’s the husband!?” While Shinki and Hourai elaborate, Shanghai stares at them, face palms herself, then sighs and says “somehow, this has become something completely different.” An 8 foot water wave courses by where Shinki and Hourai are, and now both wave their arms and scream for help as the watery wave drags them away. Shanghai stares casually and simply follows after them. Hiding behind the trees, the three mischievous fairies, Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire, watch as the event takes place. Sunny’s eyes glint with a mischievous crescent smile and Star asks “when do we strike?” Sunny, in a wicked undertone replies “on the next scene *giggle*.” Luna looks away from the others and in a dreamy tone she says “let’s not fly away now. We might end up hurt.” A large block of ice falls next to Luna, scaring her into flying to the sky with a scream, and from the sky Cirno’s voice says “courtesy of the strongest!”

Alice walks out of her house wearing a fresh set of clothes and looking more relaxed. After closing the door she sighs loudly and says “what a mess. I left Shanghai, Hourai and my basket behind. Poor dears must be so worried. I better go pick them up.” Alice’s eyes open wide, her pupils shrink and her entire body shivers the moment a familiar chirp reaches her ears. She thinks of going back in, but she bravely faces away from her door, raises a fist in the air, then says “you leave me alone! I have to look for my girls!” Without Alice’s notice, a small beak reaches her left ear, and in a suave voice, the RKNS says “chirp, sweetie.” Alice yelps and jumps right out of her clothes, and like a blur, crashes right through the roof of her house. The little sparrow flies away toward the forest with a content look of accomplishment.

At a narrow road of the forest, Sunny says “I know I said ‘on the next scene’ but we had to pick Luna up. Star, are they coming?” Star looks around and says “they’re just ahead.” Sunny turns to Luna, who has her head full of bumps, then says “Luna, make sure they can’t hear a thing!” Luna looks annoyed and sounding even more annoyed she replies “I know what to do already!” Luna smirks mischievously and says “then let’s have a few laughs *giggle*” Meanwhile, Shinki leads the two dolls across the narrow road, saying “well, whether he has feathers or not, that monster still has to marry my Alice. It’s only the right thing to do.” Shanghai stutters “but, but gramma, it’s not like that-“ Hourai interrupts Shanghai, saying “I hope the cake is tasty!” Shinki stops right below the branch where the three fairies are, looks curiously at the two dolls, then asks “you two can eat? But aren’t you dolls?” Hourai hovers closer to Shinki, opens her mouth, then says “I have a tongue, so I can taste things!” Unheard by the three below, Sunny shouts “NOW!” Shinki feels as though something hits her left shoulder. When she looks, she has a white snake with a pink mouth hissing at her. Shinki’s hair stands on end as she shrieks and shouts “A SNAKE! Get it off, get it off! Yumeko, get it off!” Hourai suddenly screams “AHH! Your legs! My legs! Our legs!” Shinki is stepping on many of those white snakes while others are coiling their tails around Hourai’s waist and tiny legs, and at the same time, more snakes fall from the trees, one coiling around Shinki’s neck. The goddess from Makai panics and shouts “HELP! They’re going to eat me, HELP~~!” Hourai shouts “MAMA~ I’m scared! Mama, where are you!?” Shinki shouts along with Hourai “Alice! Alice, where are you!?” The three fairies giggle, then Star says “hey, why not throw in a black python!?” Sunny exclaims with excitement “great idea!” Before they can do anything, they notice Shanghai floating right in front of Sunny’s face. Sunny sweats, then asks “Luna, Star? Can this one see us?” Star shrugs and Luna says “well it’s not my fault! My powers are working just fine.” Shanghai smiles and waves her little hand at the fairy, who gasps and says “she can see us! How is that even possible!” Shinki and Hourai stop screaming after the snakes suddenly vanish, then Hourai exclaims “they weren’t real gramma!” Shinki takes deep breaths of relief and says “thank goodness. I wasn’t sure how to explain that one to Yumeko.” Both girls hug each other in a sudden fright when quick and continuous smacking sounds, along with three girls screaming in pain, fill the forest. Shinki and Hourai look up, then Shinki says “oh my, SHANGHAI!” Hourai exclaims “my goodness! Mama never taught us that!” From far behind, Shanghai asks “taught us what?” Hourai and Shinki double-take various times before looking up again, then back at Shanghai, then Shinki asks “how are you doing that!?” The three fairies fall from the branch and fall on top of Shinki and Hourai, and the ground below them rises to the heaven. Shanghai looks up as the large round chunk of earth flies away and is quickly replaced by another round chunk of earth that whirs its way back up, sealing the hole that had been left behind. Shanghai stares at the patch of ground and shrugs, then casually continues her way.

Back home, Alice finishes patching the hole on the roof of her house with a few boards. She wipes her forehead with her arm and says “well, that was a hassle, but it’s done. Now time to look for my...” Alice’s stomach growls so loud, the ladder she stands on shakes a little. Alice blushes and says “guess I’m a little hungry. Alright, a quick apple and I’m off to look for my girls.” As she goes down the ladder she says to herself “oh, I know they are strong, but I can’t help but worry for them.” Alice goes to her kitchen, grabs and apple from a basket on her table, then says “this should do... whoops!” Alice drops her apple on to the sink which is full of dirty dish water. She tries to grab it before it falls in, but misses. The apple bounces on the water, then goes back to Alice’s hands. Alice stares at the water with shock and curiosity, and nervously she pokes it with her finger. It sinks right in. Alice stares at the apple, then says “maybe I’ll have another apple.” She places the apple on the table and as her hand reaches for another apple, Alice yelps and her hand disappears, followed by a loud crunching sound. From the roof, Sakuya’s voice says “ooh~! I fell through the roof again.” Alice storms into the kitchen, gasps when she notices the hole on the roof, then shouts “what the hell!? But I just fixed the roof!!”

At the forest, on a wide road full of bushes and tall trees, the three fairies prepare another trap. Star and Luna stand on the left side of the road, looking worried and a bit tired. Luna asks “Sunny, are you sure you want to try again? That doll saw right through us!” Sunny stands on the right side behind a bush. She peeks her head from under it glaring daggers at her two friends, then shouts “that was a random mishap! Nothing more! Now GET ready, you two! STAR!?” Star flinches, then says “th-they’re coming, they’re coming!” Sunny glares at the two fairies and says “good, now HIDE!” Sunny sinks back inside the bush while Star finds a bush next to her and hides under it, and Luna runs behind a tree. From the distance, Hourai shouts “GET HIM!” The RKNS flies right through the path where the fairies are at such speeds, the fairies aren’t certain if they saw something. Shinki and Hourai fly after him, Shinki shouting “come back you fiend! You have to marry my daughter!” From father ahead the sparrow can be heard chirping rapidly, then Shinki replies “ALICE IS SEXY you fool!” Just as Shinki and Hourai fly by, Sunny shouts “GOT YOU!” In the blink of the eye the trees around the area fall down hard, trapping under them Shinki, Hourai, Sunny and Star. Away from the wreckage, Shanghai and Luna stand on the ground, staring at their fallen allies with neutral expressions. Shanghai prepares to speak, but the ground in front of them explodes, sending all the fallen trees and youkai flying to the air. The trees all fall upright in place, then fall Shinki, then Star and Sunny, and last is Hourai, each on top of the other. Shanghai and Luna continue to stare, then the RKNS swoops down, grabs Shinki and the girls, then tosses every single one of them away like a bag of garbage, and with that he chirps contently and flies away. Luna and Shanghai’s bellies rumble, then Luna asks “you like coffee?” Shanghai nods and says “some sweet bread would be nice too.”

Alice has finished patching the second hole on the roof and is now running as fast as she can back to the forest. As she runs with a determined face, she thinks “Shanghai, Hourai, I’m so sorry for leaving you behind like that! Don’t you worry, though! Mama’s coming for you!” Alice feels as though her face and her entire body is being crushed against two walls, then falls on her back on the ground. She rubs her head and says “ow, ow, ow, ow. What just happened?” In front of her is an elegant dual-door cabinet that’s making many bumping sounds from within, as well as jumping in place. Alice flinches and quickly backs away then gets annoyed and shouts “what in blazes is going on around here?! Where did this THING come from, and WHY IS IT SO NOISY!?” Alice grabs the doors and quickly pulls them open. The RKNS burst out from within, follow by the cackling Remilia, who holds a fork and a knife and wears a bib with a cooked chicken picture. Remilia chases after the sparrow and shouts “HOLD STILL! This will only hurt the first three bites!!!” The sparrow stops in mid-air and confidently points above toward the sun. Remilia narrows her eyes as she glares at him, then growls and says “you win THIS round!” Remilia flies back down then enters the cabinet, which closes right behind her. From inside she screams “WAH~!!! Get me OUT of here!” Alice quickly opens the two doors and out bursts Alice, wearing a light-blue swimsuit with white frills around the thighs. She looks around disoriented and asks “am I finally home?” She gently passes her hands around the ground under her and sounding crazed she shouts “I FINALLY MADE IT! I’m HOME~!! Shanghai, Hourai! I’m home!” A watery wave quickly passes by, trapping Alice in its watery currents, but the puppeteer stands on a board and surfs the wave as it heads inside the forest. Excitedly, Alice shouts “Oh-ho YEAH! This is just like Mai-Waii!”

Lost in the deepest parts of the forest, Shanghai, Hourai, Shinki and the three little fairies look for a way back to the road. Shinki, Hourai and Star are having an argument about a proper wedding for Alice and the little sparrow, which Shinki still believes is a young youkai in disguise. Sunny is lost in her own thoughts, trying to figure out how her powers keep failing around Shanghai, and Shanghai and Luna are quietly following, since every time they try to suggest something they are either ignored, or Shinki turns a simple word into another wedding argument. The party stops on their tracks when the song from a bird reaches them. Shinki exclaims “it’s him! Alice’s fiancĂ©!” Sunny grabs Luna and pushes her in front, saying “don’t let that thing near me!” Star says “I can’t sense him anywhere! What’s going on!?” Hourai asks “what’s a ‘fiancĂ©’ gramma Shinki?” Shinki smiles motherly toward the curious doll, but before she can answer, Sunny shouts “he’s in front!” The RKNS swoops down using all his speed, ready to strike the entire party; Shinki prepares a spell card, Hourai readies herself with a large lance, and the three fairies embrace each other, trembling in fear and cheering on Shinki and Hourai. Everyone is ready, the sparrow is in reach, then a large water monster passes right between them, carrying a screaming Remilia spinning in its belly, then casually leaves the scene. Everyone stares awestruck, then an 8-foot wave passes by and drags the party along with it, all screaming for help and waving their arms in the air. Shanghai stands 2 inches away from all the mess and looks at the RKNS from across the road. The bird shakes of the shocked face, then points at Shanghai menacingly and then flies away, chirping victoriously. The little doll sighs, now holding a first-aid kit on her hands, and as she casually flies after her friends she says to herself “it’s alright, Shanghai, it’s ok. Someone’s probably practicing a new spell. Yeah, that’s it... A runaway spell.”

Meanwhile, Alice Margatroid, who somehow changed into her regular winter clothes, walks into the clearing where she first met the perverted little sparrow. She finds her basket and quickly looks all around, but can’t find Shanghai or Hourai anywhere. She takes a deep breath of air and as loudly as she can she calls “Shanghai~!! Hourai~~!! Where are you!?” There’s no answer. Alice’s heart beats heavily as she asks herself “where could they be? I swear, if something’s happened to them I’ll never forgive my...” A few peaches roll by from the left to the right in front of Alice. She stares on as the very last peach, a really small one, rolls away, seemingly whimpering as it does. Alice sweats and stares at the mushrooms she had picked up earlier inside her basket with fear. She casually picks them and with a smile on her face she tosses them away and in a crazed tone of voice she says “ah-hahaha! I don’t need this!” The second the mushrooms touch the ground, a red and dark-grey mushroom with purple dots the size of a house grows under Alice, sending her airborne in an instant. The RKNS flies by and notices she’s wearing a swimsuit under her clothes, so after blowing some blood out of his nose, he takes a few pictures, then flies away with an elated look on him and without being noticed. While on the air, Alice looks around the forest, then points and shouts “ah-hah~! There they are!” She impulses herself to fly to them, but the water monster, which still has the screaming Remilia trapped inside his belly, falls from above and gobbles Alice up as well, then continues his fall.

Deeper inside the forest, Shanghai, Shinki and Hourai continue on their search. Sounding suspicious and slightly annoyed, Shanghai says “those three fairies were too eager to leave, if you ask me.” Hourai replies “I know. They didn’t even want dessert!” Shinki adds “just let them be. We have Alice’s husband to hunt!” Shanghai sighs and slumps as she flies closer to Shinki and says “and would it help if I tell you that’s not what I said in the first place?” Shinki smiles and says “once you see the bright smile on Alice’s shining face you’ll see this is all worth it.” Shanghai sighs again, but both she and Shinki shriek when Hourai screams a bloody scream. A giant bear youkai the size of the trees threatens to claw the little doll as it swings it’s large claws in front of itself and roars menacingly. Shinki shouts “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BEAST!” Shanghai shouts “no wait! That’s not.... GRRR~!” Shinki grab Hourai and bravely gets in between the doll and the bear and shouts “you-you-you l-l-l-leave her alone, you big... big... WAAAAAHH~!” Hourai and Shinki try to run away from the bear, only to realize there is a giant black python blocking their escape. Shinki shouts “WAIT A MINUTE! I am the goddess from Makai! There is NO WAY two bulking monsters like you can scare me!” The bear roars loudly and the snake hisses menacingly. Shinki shrinks the size of Hourai and says “er, nice lungs mister bear.” Chibi Shinki and Hourai hug each other tightly as the two monsters get closer, then stop and vanish. Shinki regains her size and shouts “for the love of nature, what IS all this!?” Behind them are Star and Luna, both looking terrified at Shanghai, who is dealing great pain to Sunny. Shinki and Hourai share the terror of the fairies, then Shinki comments “oh-no! That’s a figure-4 leg-lock! How is that even possible!?” There’s a loud crack and Sunny’s bloody scream. The other four cover their faces with their hands, then Hourai peeks through her fingers and says “oh my goodness! That’s the Camel Clutch! She’s going to break her in half!” There is another loud cracking sound and Sunny’s bloody scream. Shinki gulps as she looks, then says “HOW HORRIBLE!!! She’s finishing her off with a three-story pile driver! Oh my!” Everyone looks away just before there is a very loud thud and another crack. Shanghai hovers above the unconscious Sunny, dusting her hands and saying “I’m getting REALLY tired of this, so please, follow my lead! I wish to go home already.” Shinki is about to complain, but Shanghai glares at her through the corner of her eyes, so she keeps quiet and follows behind the little doll along with the others, who are carrying Sunny Milk with them. Shanghai closes her eyes, thinking everything will be well now that they are headed home. Behind her, short swords spring from under the ground, missing the party by mere inches, the ground flips around, then there’s an explosion underground. Shanghai sighs and shakes her head, then says to herself “let’s just go home already.” At the Palace of the Earth Spirits, the three fairies, the doll and the goddess from Makai sit around the long table enjoying a cup of tea each, and Satori, looking slightly annoyed, bangs her hands on the table and asks “again, could you repeat how exactly did you get here?!”

It’s now noon and Alice walks back to her house. She’s tired, her clothes are dirty and in tatters, part of her swimsuit is showing through the large missing chunk form the right side of her skirt, she keeps hearing clicking camera sounds but finds nothing, and she lost the swimsuit contest at the village. She says to herself “I couldn’t find them *sob*. My poor dolls.” She arrives to her house and looks at it, saying “this isn’t going to feel like home anymore... not without them. Oh well. There’s not much I can do now, but pray for their safety.” She reaches for the door and is immediately blown away by Shinki, who opens de door form inside and shouts “ALICE~~! Your home~!” Sitting on the ground, Alice says “ow, ow~! Mom? When did you get here!?” Shinki sweats and honestly says “oh, I’m not sure. But please, come in! We got a surprise for you!” Alice rubs her head as she gets up and annoyed she asks “another surprise...?” She opens her eyes wide and gasps, then asks “wait, did you say ‘we’? Are Shanghai and Hourai with you!?” From inside the house both dolls burst out, shouting “MAMA~! You’re home!” They hug Alice’s neck and rub their cheeks against hers, making Alice giggle happily. Alice looks confused for a moment, so she pulls them away then looks at them and asks “and where have you been all day? I was worried sick after I... um... I... I’m sorry I left you guys behind like that. Please forgive me.” Some tears escape her eyes, and the dolls simply hug her tightly and Shanghai says “it’s alright mama! It’s not your fault!” Hourai adds “it was that mean birdie!” Shinki winks at Alice, then points at the house and shouts “but do not worry, Alice-chan! WE have caught that monster and he’s waiting to MA-“ Alice and Hourai yelp, then Shinki looks at where they were just standing, but they are gone. She notices Shanghai playing tag with Luna Child, giggling contently while tagging each other continually. Shinki asks “Shanghai, where are Alice and Hourai?” Shanghai and Luna shrug, then continue playing, while Shinki thinks “this is no good. The chapter isn’t over, but there’s little light of hope.” At the Palace of the Earth Spirits’ garden, Alice and Hourai lie on a flower bed, smiling contently while closing their eyes. Satori stares at them with a slightly annoyed expression, then shouts “AGAIN!?”

While entering Alice’s house, Shinki says “and so, we caught your husband-to-be!” Alice opens her eyes wide in surprise and says “whoa-whoa-whoa!!! Husband!?” Shinki says “didn’t you get your innocence stolen this morning?” Alice shouts “MOM!? Who the hell told you THAT!?” Before Shinki answer, Shanghai grabs a large hammer and knocks Shinki out, then says “I only told her that bird took your underwear. That was all!” Shinki gets up, rubbing the bump on her head and crying “but I didn’t do it on purpose.” Alice asks “so what happened?” With a quick “RIGHT” from Shinki, Hourai, Shinki herself and Shanghai stand straight on the ground beside each other, then Shinki says “we have caught the dreadful monster and we are going to MAKE him apologize to you RIGHT now!” Behind them are the three mischievous fairies, who hold the golden cord to a pink curtain. They pull on the cord and reveal the dual-door cabinet, bumping and jumping in place. Alice tries to run away, but Shinki grabs the doors with a smile and says “and now, it’s WEDDING TIME!!” She opens the door and out bursts a party inside Alice’s house, with all her friends invited too, including Marisa and Patchouli. At night, after the last party guest leaves, Shanghai asks Alice “mama, did we forget something?” Shinki gasps and says in surprise “you’re RIGHT! I didn’t tip that nice eel-cart sparrow for the delivery!” Shanghai’s eyes hide under a dark shadow as she stares at Shinki, who suddenly falls down a hole. At the Underground Cave entrance, Yamame finishes wrapping a large fresh catch inside a cocoon, then happily crawls away, saying “I’m saving you for breakfast.” From inside, a pair of claws quickly cut free from the cocoon, then Ran lands on the ground and sounding very angry she says “SERIOUSLY! How did I EVER end up in there!? I’m not even in this one! I mean, am I Alice? Am I one of her dolls? NO, I’m not! Stupid story *grumble grumble* No base, now flow... It’s all a BIG mess!” Ran exits the cave, blowing off steam from her ears and grumbling some more.

Midnight at Alice’s house. Alice, wearing a light blue pajama with pink frills around the sleeveless arms and the lower trim, walks somberly out of her room for a glass of water. As she walks to the kitchen, she is unsettled by the sound of scratching just above her head on the ceiling. She rolls on the ground and bravely faces up, then says in a commanding tone “who’s there!? Show yourself!” There’s a soft chirp, then Alice rushes to turn on two lights in the living room and gets a good view of the RKNS, perching on a lose board on her ceiling. She growls and says “you better apologize for what you did to me!” The little sparrow lifts his right leg and lifts the middle finger, while pulling down on his left lower-eyelid with his other claw, managing to somehow stand on the wooden board. Alice’s face turns red in rage, then she somehow holds her grimoire now and shoots danmaku directly from her own hand at the bird. The little sparrow flies all over the ceiling, making Alice miss all her shots, waking up Shinki, her dolls, and the three house guests. Worried, Shinki asks “Alice, what’s wrong?” Alice yelps and there’s a crunching sound. They all look up and find Alice upside-down on the roof with half of her torso stuck on it. Alice grunts then shouts “s-someone help me!” The little sparrow swoops down and breaks through a window. Sunny asks “what’s he doing now?” From outside, many clicking sounds and flashes make Alice cry and shout “no~! You mean bird, that’s not FUNNY! Waaah~! Stop that!” Shanghai causally flies up to Alice and says “this has gone long enough.” The tiny doll pulls Alice down, breaking her free, but causing her to crash on her head on the ground. She flies up the hole and for some time, there is silence. Shinki and Hourai rush to Alice to make sure she’s alright, and from outside the sparrow starts to chirp. There are smacking and ripping sounds, as well as loud chirps and feathers that float from the hole. Star flies to the hole, peeks outside, then quickly flies back down, her face turning green and holding her mouth with both hands as she rushes to the bathroom. More smacking sounds and loud chirps as a few pain-stars fall through the ceiling. Hourai casually floats close to one, touches it, then winces in pain and says “ow! That’s painful!”

It’s the crack of dawn. Shanghai holds the RKNS tied to some rope and in a strict and commanding tone she says “what do you say!?” Looking depressed, missing some head-feathers and wearing a few bandages around his tiny legs, the sparrow chirps sadly at Shinki and the fairies while bowing his little head. Shanghai turns him to Alice, then says “AND...!?” Again, the little bird lowers his head, bowing to Alice as he chirps sadly. Shanghai loosens her grip and the rope, then says “good. Now I’m going to let you go, but if I find you causing more trouble, I’m going to beat you up. Did I make myself clear?” The little bird nods and chirps sadly, then Shanghai keeps her word and releases him, letting him fly through the hole on the roof, which magically fixes itself after he leaves. Alice sweats and says “I swear, there’s something wrong about that.” Shanghai sighs and says to everyone in the room “and that’s that! That mean bird apologized, mama’s not crying anymore, and all is well.” Shinki adds “but now Alice is no longer pure. She can’t get married.” Alice’s face turns blue and asks “MOM!? What the hell are you saying there!?” Shinki is about to explain, but after blinking she realizes she’s inside a dark room, wearing Alice’s sleeping robes instead of her own. She notices a futon in the middle of the room with someone snoring in it. She cautiously approaches the futon and asks “Alice... i-is that you?” The covers pulls themselves off, revealing Yuugi lying sideway on the futon and resting her head on her arm as she asks “you want sake at these hours? You’re a REAL party animal!” Shinki’s hair stand on ends, her face turns a bit red, her eyes expand and her pupils shrink, then she screams a bloody scream that echoes all over the subterranean.

Early morning at the Youkai Mountain. Aya stands on a solitary corner, hiding behind some rocks and looking around expectantly. The Rabid Karate Night Sparrow manages to fly erratically with what feathers are left on his wings, then crashes on Aya’s head, knocking off her tokin. Aya says “ayayaya~! It seems you got caught. So does this mean you failed?” The little sparrow lifts his left wing and from underneath he pulls a large pack of pictures. Aya smirks and sounding impressed, she says “well~ you really did it! I am very impressed.” Aya pulls out a thick stack of money and says “here’s your pay.” The little sparrow takes the money and immediately hides it under his wing, then bows at Aya. The crow tengu flips through the pictures, and with a wicked grin on her face she says “very nice. With this, I am one step closer to completing my youkai-girls of Gensokyo issue!” Aya and the little sparrow laugh maniacally, then the little sparrow swoops down under Aya’s skirt, takes a few pictures, and long before she realizes what happened, he flies away. From the mountain, Aya’s raging voice echoes as she shouts “come back here you little traitor~~!” Meanwhile, at Alice’s house, Alice, Shanghai, Hourai and Shinki are preparing to bake a very special apple pie. While Shinki happily peels the apples, Hourai cuts them into pieces while Alice prepares the pan and sauce and Shanghai prepares dough. There’s a small tap on one of the windows and Alice asks “what was that?” Hourai replies “ooh! It’s the tooth-fairy!” Shanghai sweats and says “right... um, mom, let me go check. You guys keep making that pie, alright?” Shinki says “go ahead. We’ll just finish up here.” Shanghai flies out the front door and suspiciously looks around before heading toward the back of the house. She lands on the ground, then whistles softly. The RKNS flies from the trees, bearing a few pictures on his claws, then drops them at Shanghai, whose eyes glint brightly as she smiles widely and says “excellent. With these, I’ll make sure that pervert leave mom alone.” From inside, Alice calls “Shanghai~ Is everything ok?” Shanghai calls back “y-yes, everything’s ok!” Shanghai hides the pictures under her apron and heads back inside the house, however, the entire house falls down underground before she can enter it. She looks at the empty clearing, sighs, then says to herself “I’m so not believing this.” At the Palace of the Earth Spirit’s backyard, Satori looks extremely annoyed and surprised as she shouts with all her might “WHT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?” Alice’s entire house now lies right in front of her mansion. From farther away, Parsee watches and bites on her thumb, then says “a mobile home? I’m jealous!!”

The End
Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Kyo, Agava and The RKNS were created by Willie G.R
FEB 18 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N
Just a quick reminder... I love all the Touhou characters. These mishaps are just a fun way to show my love for them *angelic smile*
Yes, I know. Shanghai is just pure win. She even owns that poor, evil, defenseless Rabid Karate Night Sparrow. Anyway, don’t worry, I’m not done here. There are still more mishaps to come, however I’ll first be working on Rika’s chapters (made by my friend) AND one my next Sukima. Been writing up many notes and I KNOW it’s going to be good, and... well I digress. Well, see you on my next mishap AND Suika.