Paradise Sukima 10

It’s early morning, and a red UFO-like vehicle flies out of the SDM and heads straight toward the Youkai Forest. Driving the round vehicle with no roof is Flandre, smiling contently and humming. On the passenger seat is Mima, looking around in awe, acting as if this is the first time she’s ever flown. On the back seat, crossing her arms and legs and looking a little bored is Marisa, who yawns and sounding a bit annoyed says “you know, we didn’t have to get up so damned early.” Flandre happily replies “I’m sorry, I can’t understand lazy~!” Marisa grumbles and tightens her arms, then Flandre loudly says “don’t forget, you need to give that paper to the kappa girl and tell her Flandre sent you.” Marisa replies “I got it already.” Flandre sighs and says “I’m sorry Marisa, but there’s no chance I’m leaving Sakuya’s alone. When she recovers, I’ll get the girls and come and find you.” Marisa relaxes and loosens her arms, then sighs and says “I’m sorry Flan, I didn’t mean to get upset like that. I just want to get this over with and get my magic back.” Flandre smiles and giggles, then says “and that’s why we’re up so early, dummy. Now, let’s speed up!” Mima cheers and shouts “alright! Give it all she’s got!” Marisa panics and says “no, no, WAIT! I forgot my seat-“ Before she can finish, Flandre accelerates the machine and Marisa falls right out the back and straight to the ground. While falling, she remembers the events from the night before.
-FLASHBACK-
The night before, Marisa and Flandre walk to the room on the basement, accompanied by Mima, who immediately rummages all around Flandre’s room the second Flandre opens the door and says “try not to snoop around too much.” Looking slightly annoyed, Flandre turns to Marisa and asks “so you need my help in order to fix a really big mess you made?” Marisa smiles and nods, then says “since I can’t fly, I was wondering if you could lend me your flying machine... Or maybe come with me too! I’m sure you’re help will be more than enough.” Flandre rubs her chin, then looks at Marisa, smiles, then walks to her bed and sits on it, crossing her legs and holding to her knee. Marisa smiles back, unsure about Flandre’s reaction, then asks “so... will you help?” Flandre continues to smile and bluntly says “no.” The left side of Marisa’s face twitches for a moment, and sounding a little annoyed she asks “no? Why not?” Flandre sighs and drops down on her bed, staring at the ceiling and saying “you saw how bad Sakuya got it. I can’t leave like this. And before you ask, I can’t lend you my saucer. Even with the kappa’s help, they’ll charge way too many cucumbers if I’m not driving that thing when it crashes... stupid Koishi.” Marisa blinks twice, then hides her eyes with her hat and sounding very disappointed, she says “I see. Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll have to get used to walking for a little longer.” Flandre sits back up and waves her finger at Marisa, clicking her tongue while doing this. She leaps off the bed, then says “don’t go giving up so easily. Geez, it seems you were hit harder than I thought. Look, since my machine helped the kappa build a few prototypes, I am sure she can lend you one without question.” Flandre turns her head and smiles mischievously as she whispers “of course, those girls are also looking for more test subjects after all.” Marisa curiously asks “what was that?” Flandre flaps her wings and smiles, turning her face to Marisa and saying “nothing. I was just saying that we’ll have to go really early. While all of this happens, Mima rummages though Flandre’s closet, drawers and under her bed, then suddenly finds a small book with a violet cover, then asks “oh, what’s this?” The book suddenly grows teeth and a pair of wings and starts chasing after the screaming spirit all around the room, trying to take a bite off her. Flandre and Marisa laugh at the sight, then Flandre casually says “well, I’ll see if dinner’s ready. I’m starving.” Marisa smiles and says “me too, ze. Mima-sama~! Let’s go grab a bite.” There is a loud chomp, and sounding very annoyed, Mima says “ha-ha... very funny!”, then she floats outside with the book biting down on her butt, going through the wall and successfully getting the book off herself.
-END FLASHBACK-
Marisa screams her lungs out as she rapidly falls straight down to the unforgiving ground, but is saved by Flandre as she loops and flies right underneath Marisa, catching her in the backseat of the UFO. With a smile on her face, Flandre says “and that’s why you always wear a seat-belt.” Shivering, all the color gone from her face, and staring with terrorized eyes, Marisa trembles as she nods, sits back on her seat and buckles up. Mima looks back and with curiosity in her eyes she asks “whoa, Marisa. What happened to you?” Marisa looks back to Mima, her face still pale and still shivering violently as she says “a-a-and you-you’re sup-p-posed be help me?” The saucer speeds up again, however, nobody falls from inside this time.

Meanwhile, inside the dark void, Ail is in the shape of a small grey flame as he floats left and right, waiting for the dragon guardian to return. Just as he sighs out of boredom, the black and white flame enters the void with a loud roar and immediately takes the shape of a humanoid dragon, the calmly says “so they were right. You remembered your life out there, didn’t you?” The little flame slowly flies up and down, signaling a yes, then Ail says “and if it wasn’t for Kyo... and mom, I’d probably not be here at all.” The dragon nods and says “little human, perhaps it would be best if you don’t dwell in those thoughts too much. No come and tell me, what do you remember?” The small flame twirls for a moment, then takes the shape of a human child, yet still sounding normal, Ail says “I remember when I was a child, I could see a few creatures living around my house. Fairies and small dragons. I swear I think I even saw an unicorn once... but.” Ail’s flame turns dark grey as he says “when I told my father about it, he tells me that’s all ‘girl’s stuff’ and that I should be a man and focus on manly things, so being a fool I ignored all that I saw. That is...” Ail’s flame turns to a very light blue, the dragon guardian watching silently, waiting for what Ail has to say next. Ail’s flame turns dark blue as he says “after ignoring those creatures, I started seeing shadows everywhere. Silhouettes of humans and winged demons roaming all over my house. I was surprised... but not scared. At that time I thought that was normal, until my first day of school. I saw one of those shadows roaming about the classroom while some other kids and I were playing with blocks... and when I told my teacher about it, she smacked me and told me never to say lies like that to the other children or another teacher again. That I might scare them all.” Ail’s flame starts to turn bright red, and that’s when the dragon guardian stops him and says “Ail, please, calm down. I understand you are angry at them for not believing, but hating them will only hurt yourself.” Ail suddenly turns back into a small flame and turns pink once more, then he takes a deep breath and says “so-sorry. P-please, just let me continue... I want to get this over with.” The dragon nods and says “just make sure not to allow these negative emotions to fill you. It might be dangerous for you in this state.” Ail takes another deep breath and nods, then continues “anyway, when I grew older, the shadows and creatures all disappeared until one day, after falling asleep in the classroom... I think I was 10... anyway, I woke up and found myself surrounded by little fairies, all keeping away a large demon-shaped shadow away from me. The vision suddenly disappeared and I found myself face-to-face with the teacher, who kept yelling at me and telling me to stop day-dreaming. After that, thought... I told mom about it.” Ail’s flame turns aquamarine, then light yellow and shortly after, dark blue. The dragons hums, seemingly roaring softly, then Ail continues “she started to whimper and hold her head, then tells me that she doesn’t remember. I didn’t understand, and when I asked her what was wrong, she just turns back to normal, smiles at me, then tells me dinner is almost ready. After that, I started having many dreams and seeing many more things, but I was too frightened to tell anyone... I isolated myself from the world, and for years the same scene of going to school, suffering hours in there, then going back home repeated itself over and over. That is, until those bullies made me their target... until the day I met Kyo at the age of 13.” A loud roar from the dragon’s paradise enters the void, and Ail exclaims “whoa... that sounds urgent!” The dragon guardian looks to Ail with surprise and asks “you understood that!?” Ail nods, which surprises the dragon even more, but before he can say any more there is another loud roar and the dragon guardian excitedly says “I’m sorry little human, but this is important.” Ail nods and says “I guess I can wait here. Anyway, seems that little whelp is in danger. You should hurry.” The dragon guardian sighs and jokingly says “you know, sometimes I befriend the strangest of people, including you. Anyway, I best rush now. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With those words the dragon turns into a ball of fire that exits through the bright gate at great speed, then large wings can be heard flapping just outside. Ail takes a humanoid shape again, then sits on the dark ground, crossing his legs while going into meditation.

Above the darkened Youkai forest hovers Flandre’s red UFO-like air-craft. Marisa looks down from the sides and sounding a bit nervous, she says “oy, that forest seems unusually dark, ze.” Mima smiles and says “oh, come on! Where’s your sense of adventure.” Marisa glares back to Mima and says “you do know I don’t have magic anymore, right?” Mima looks seriously at Marisa and grabs her by her shoulders, then seriously says “and that’s why I am here. I’ll make sure you are safe!”, and while saying this she takes Marisa off the vehicle and takes her down. Flandre says out loud “I promise, once Sakuya is safe, I’m getting some friends and come looking for you!” Marisa sighs and says “thanks, Flan. You be a good little girl now!” Flandre gets a little angry, but by the time she looks down to Marisa, she and Mima are already inside the darkness that claims the forest. Flandre sighs, blowing a small puff of air, then says to herself “I’m not a little girl! Bah, whatever. I think I’ll take the scenic route back home now.” After saying that, she speeds off on her saucer, flying toward the Garden of the Sun. Meanwhile, inside the Youkai forest, even though it’s daytime, it looks as dark as night, black clouds hovering ominously on top of the dead trees. It’s cold and the atmosphere feels thick, and the few creatures, including fairies, that roam about the forest seem out of energy and joy, all looking sick, depressed, others just sleep away in plain view on the ground, ignoring the dangers if being caught. Close to the river, Nitori stands to the right of Medicine, a loud snore echoing all around them. Nitori looks to Medicine and says “we tried alarms, you jumped on him, I poked him with a fork, and we even went as far as to tickle his feet, but...” Medicine looks annoyed toward the ground and angrily says “this lummox keeps sleeping like a LOG!” Right in front of their feet Kyo sleeps soundly, snoring so loud his snore echoes all over the forest, while Su-San pushes his shoulder, trying to wake him up. Medicine smirks wickedly, then says “let’s draw on his face.” Nitori giggles and pulls out a black marker from one of her pockets, then says “try this. It’s my latest model. It will help you draw faster with its integrated motor.” Medicine’s eyes shine brightly as she marvels at the marker, then kneels next to Kyo, but stops upon hearing rapid chirps heading her way. The RKNS comes swooping down and drops a white card to Medicine’s and Nitori’s hands, then hangs a scroll on a branch, revealing a large picture of Luna Rivers on a silver bikini, twisting her body as she looks back to the camera with a surprised stare. The little bird stands on Medicine’s shoulder, then gently pecks her ear, then points at the card with its claw. Medicine reads out loud, sounding unconvincing as she says “oh look, it’s a very revealing picture of Luna in a... bikini?” She looks at the bird with curiosity and whispers “what’s a bikini?” The little bird ruffles its feathers, points at the picture, then goes to Nitori and edges her to read her card. Nitori stares at the card for a moment, and sounding very realistic, she says “oh, you’re right! It’s very tight and small. Oh my, I think I can see through it!” The words “see” and “through” play inside Kyo’s consciousness for a moment, then he suddenly opens his eyes and sounding very serious, he raises his fist and says “I SAW HER FIRST! She’s MINE I tell you!” When he looks around, he realizes he’s inside a dead-looking forest, but before he gets mad, he spots Luna’s picture and Medicine staring at it with pink cheeks. Kyo quietly walks to the picture and takes it away, rolling it up before inexplicably pocketing it perfectly. Medicine sighs and sounding disappointed she says “aww. I really liked that picture.” Su-San flies to Kyo’s shoulder and points reprehensively at Medicine, then Kyo asks “that’s enough of that. Can any of you tell me why are we in this forest? And why is it so damned dark in here?” The RKNS flies from Nitori’s shoulder and pulls a scroll twice its own size from the feathers on his chest, then chirps angrily as he opens it up for them to read. Kyo approaches the paper and reads “dear Kyo. This is your lovely friend, Reimu Hakurei. This tiny sparrow has agreed on helping me guide you through some mayor incidents that are happening that you promised to help with. Your first mission is to find out what’s causing the steady decline in the Youkai Forest. Oh, and don’t think of backing out. This sparrow is prepared to beat some sense into you, should you even think of walking away. Your truly wonderful friend, Reimu Hakurei. PS: The bird knows martial arts, so don’t get any funny ideas.” Kyo looks bored as he finishes reading the paper, and with that same expression, he looks to Medicine and Nitori, then smiles and says “so who wants to get that lazy maiden off her butt and down here as backup!?” Before anybody answers, the RKNS flutters angrily in front of Kyo’s face, flapping its wings threateningly as a black bandanna floats along with its wings. Kyo raises his fist and says “so, you wanna go at it. Al right then... GET READY!” Medicine and Nitori stand next to each other, clench their eyes shut for 3 seconds, listening to rapid smacks and quick chirps, and when they open their eyes again, Kyo lies on his knees full of bruises all over his body, then says “so, let’s solve this incident as soon as possible. Reimu needs our help after all!” Smiling mischievously, Medicine looks at Nitori and says “well that didn’t take long.” Nitori smiles and nods while Su-San rummages through the kappa’s backpack.

Back inside the void, after waiting for an hour, the guardian dragon returns, taking his humanoid dragon shape immediately upon arrival. Before the dragons peaks, Ail says “heh, it seems that shadow dragon needs to be watched constantly.” The guardian dragon laughs, then says “and it seems that in your empty-minded state you have learned our language... and quite fast I might want to add.” Ail’s flame starts changing colors as he chuckles and says “there are a few things I still don’t understand, but yeah, I understood most of what was going on out there.” The dragon and Ail look at each other for a while, then the dragon says “you were telling me something before I had to leave. Care to continue?” Ail takes a humanoid shape and turns light yellow, then says “Kyo. If it wasn’t for him, I would probably be dead. Before I met him I constantly thought of death and about being free through it. Anyway, every time someone would try to bully me, he’d come, scare them away, or beat them up, smile, then always tell me ‘you ok there, buddy? Remember, if you’re ever in trouble, you call me’ then walk away as if nothing ever happened. I didn’t trust him, thought... and how could I? I felt even my family had turned their backs on me. To me, to my mind, everyone was against me.” The dragon nods and calmly says “I understand all of that, my tiny friend. Before finding this paradise, I constantly found myself in that same position over and over. But please, do continue, Tell me, when exactly did you finally trust your friend?” Ail turns pale green, then says “well, unknown to us, there was this gang of thugs around the area, and I foolishly entered one of their old territories in a park out of curiosity. They had me surrounded in just moments and were ready to kill me, but Kyo appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly, the gang leader and Kyo started speaking about their past. I kept a calm face, but I was truly frightened now. Kyo and that murderous monster were actually very good friends since childhood, so I thought to myself ‘this is it, Ail. This is the end’, however I was surprised when Kyo asked them to back off and leave us alone. This... infuriated their leader, so he pulled out a gun, and that’s when I snapped.” Ail turns red and says “I hate guns... The sight of one gives me both rage and terror. I ran to Kyo and tackled him just before the weapon was shot, and to both our luck, we fell on the ground, so the bullet hit one of the thugs instead. Their leader was furious and the other thugs closed in on us, however all I wanted to do was take that gun away from that monster, so while Kyo took care of 3 of those thugs on his own, I looked for an opening and tossed a very heavy textbook at that thug, knocking that damned gun away.” Ail turns light-blue, then continues “but while I did that, I didn’t notice the one thug behind me had a knife and was ready to stab me with it. Kyo jumped out of nowhere, head-butts the guy, then we take the chance to run away. After that, for months Kyo and I were constantly looking over our shoulders for any sign of that gang... until one day Kyo just disappeared.” The dragon takes a deep breath, seemingly roaring, then says “those ‘thugs’ you speak of were not truly human. So that truly is a memory, not a fabrication.” Ail gasps and turns bright violet and says “so the horns and wings I saw on them were actually real?” The dragon nods, then Ail turns a brighter-violet and says “then I guess there are some demons living in the outside world.” The dragon takes another deep breath, seemingly growling, then says “just because there is little faith and belief in magic outside of your Gensokyo, doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t spirits out there. There are creatures the feed off the negative feelings of other. Those can live on, even when magic and faith dry out.” Ail gasps, then excitedly says “so that’s why that gang of thu-, er I mean, demons, was so strong. They pick on the weak and use that fear and hatred to feed.” The dragon nods, then says “but please, let’s continue with your tale.” Ail turns grey, and sounding surprised he says “oh, right. Well, I couldn’t just leave things as they were, so I snooped around for a bit and accidentally found the gang’s hideout between some isolated buildings, and there was Kyo. They had beaten him up very badly, and were ready to kill him with one of those disgusting guns while he was tied up to a pole. That’s when I saw the wings on horns on the gang’s leader and quite a few of his followers again. In the end, the only way to save Kyo was to startle them, so I ran into some luck and found a little sound machine with a siren sound and played it for them.” Ail turns violet again, then says “I did my best to mimic a cop speaking through a megaphone, and while they ran away, I managed to reach Kyo and free him, but before we were able to get away, the demon leader started shooting at us... that’s when...” Ail turns light orange, then the dragon, noticing Ail’s worry, says “go on. Hardships through life are what shape us into being.” Ail sighs, then says “I died.” There is some more silence in the void for a moment, then Ail says “I remember something hard hitting my head, then everything went black, and then I saw it. My body, lying on the ground while Kyo fought off his old friend. Beams of light coursing thought the skies I started chasing, and when I flew high above, all the way out to space, I found myself in a silver platform, looking down to Earth and seeing more and more beams of light of all colors and sizes, all coursing through the planet, some faster than others, and I swear I even saw a few black ones. And when I looked behind me, that’s when I met Komachi, whom at the time I didn’t know. She told me it wasn’t my time yet, that her boss gave her permission to send me back, and was sorry she couldn’t tend to me at the time, then Komachi pushed me back to my body while telling me she was glad I’d be going home soon. I didn’t really understand her then. Anyway, I tell you, getting back into my body felt like being fitted into a very tight body glove.” The dragon takes another deep breath, this time humming, instead of growling, then says “I see now. That’s why you started to trust Kyo, and your own mother more.” Ail nods and turns indigo, then says “yes. Right after that, I woke up back home, with Kyo and mom standing by my side. They told me that right after the doctors treated me, they had to take me away from them. You see, for those doctors, I was a ‘discovery’ and a ‘marvel’. A ‘miracle!’ I survived a bullet to the head, and was left without a single scratch on me.” Ail turns violet again and proudly says “my mom and Kyo saved me from those doctors and religious fools. They were planning on using me, they even offered us ridiculous amounts of money... but Kyo and mom knew I wouldn’t like that, so they refused all that and took me home, where I fully healed in peace. Ever since that day, I started seeing spirits everywhere again, and this time I really liked it, and was no longer afraid.” The dragon looks to Ail, then says “and so, you became the Ail everyone knows and love.” Ail turns pink once more, and calmly says “yes. That... is when I became ‘me’, no more fears or doubts. All thanks to my best friend and my mother.” Ail loses his humanoid shape and turns back into a flame, then suddenly grows 4 times in size, and sounding surprised he asks “what just happened?” The guardian dragon smiles and says “and so you finally recovered yourself. Now we can go into your memories of Gensokyo, however, I want you to first rest, then meditate. The first step has been taken. Your healing is well-underway and making good time.” While the dragon says this, Ail turns light-blue and yawns, then suddenly turns white and drops to the ground, falling asleep as soon as the dragon stops speaking.

At the darkened Youkai Forest, Kyo, Nitori, Medicine and Su-San, walk upstream by the river’s shore, then Kyo says “I think this stuff is getting to me. I’m feeling sick and very depressed for some reason.” Nitori sighs and says “yeah, I know. It’s hard to resist it for long. Bunt once we find Hina, we can sort this out.” Medicine curiously asks “and who is this Hina person?” Nitori smiles, though showing sadness in her eyes, then says “she’s a really doo friend. A goddess who absorbs misfortunes so that humans can live in peace.” Medicine exclaims in wonderment, then suddenly gasps when they hear a woman’s voice from behind a tree up ahead, who says “well, I was wondering when you guys would show up.” Another familiar, softer girl’s voice says “for a moment, I thought we would have to handle things by ourselves.” Another voice, this one sounding mischievous, says “heh, we might as well. I mean, the big man got beat by a bird, twice!” Kyo growls and casually says “Agava, you useless shadow blob, how are you!?” Agava reveals herself form behind a tree in front of the small party and angrily says “watch your mouth, or I’ll pound you!” Kyo presses his face against Agava’s and angrily says “I’d love to see you try, little miss wobbles!” Luna and Momiji reveal themselves from behind the same tree as Agava, then Luna smiles and sounding strict, she says “stop it you two, or I’ll be beating the both of you up!” Momiji adds “Hina won’t help, you guys.” Medicine runs to Luna, smiling as she says “yay~! Finally, someone dependable!” Ignoring both Agava and Medicine’s comments, Kyo raises his head to look at Momiji’s eyes and asks “what do you know?” Luna hugs Medicine like a child as she sadly says “you friend, miss Hina, IS the cause of the incident.” Momiji continues “she’s expelling insane amounts of curses and misfortunes, and if this keeps up, this could easily cover Gensokyo in days.” Kyo pushes Agava’s head as she tries to approach him, swinging her arms around with her hands balled into fists, and while he does, he seriously says “I see. Then we better go and stop her before that happens.” Nitori yelps, then says “wait! Hina’s not bad! There’s got to be a reason she’s doing this, right!? Momiji, you know her, right!?” Kyo releases Agava, letting her run straight to a tree, where she crashes and falls on her back on the ground, then says “fine. We’ll go and talk to her, THEN beat her up.” Luna smiles and says “sound like a plan.” Medicine adds “ohh, this could be fun.” Momiji nods and says “sounds reasonable enough.” Agava gets up and smiles as she says “sure. Best idea I’ve ever heard!” Nitori stares at all of them with distress on her eyes, then runs after them after being left behind, complaining about their plan to beat up Hina.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, Marisa and Mima walk slowly around the forest, looking spooked, Marisa feeling a little sick, and Mima looking around with terrorized eyes. Mima trembles as she says “y-y-you don... thing g-g-ghosts would come out to s-s-spook us... right?” Marisa stops walking and turns her head, looking quite annoyed, then says in a matter-of-factly tone of voice “Mima-sama... you ARE a ghost.” Mima yelps and rushes to Marisa, then says “don’t remind me of that! What is there’s a mirror around!?” From Mima’s direct left, a girl says “oh, I have one right here, if you want it!” Mima screams at the top of her lungs, her tears showering like waterfalls as she rushes behind Marisa, then loudly says “get back you evil ghost! I have a magician, and I’m not afraid to use her!” She looks at Marisa and whispers “go ahead, show her your stuff.” Marisa sweats and feeling depressed, she says “I don’t have any magic...” A cold wind blows in front of the two, then Mima nervously laughs and says “ah, that’s right... Um, sorry.” The girls voice sounds excited when she asks “so what are you doing here? Are you here to solve this incident!?” Marisa focuses her eyes in front of herself and asks “is that you, Aya?” From behind Marisa, Mima angrily says “that wasn’t funny, you pillow stuffer!” Aya shrugs, lifting her hands beside her body as she reveals herself from the fog and says “ayayaya~! And I was just trying to be helpful.” Marisa bluntly asks “what do you want?” Aya pulls out her little notebook from her pocket and points it at Marisa, then says “two things. One, I want to hear the story as to why you don’t have your magic, and two...” Aya opens her notebook and starts to scribble something with a pen she pulls form the side of her ear, and sounding a little sad she says “I was wondering if you could help me handle little miss curses. She’s the cause of all of this after all.” Marisa smiles, then says “first of all, I won’t say a word. Second, I can’t help. I need to find Nitori and ask her if she can help me out. I mean, even with Mima-sama here, I still need to look out of myself, ze.” Aya smiles widely, then says “that’s GREAT then. Nitori should be where Hina is, so that means if you want to find her, you’ll have to find Hina... so...” Mima flies to Aya, gives her a hug, and while rubbing her cheeks against the tengu’s she says “of COURSE you can come. The more people we have with us, the less scary this place seems! Isn’t that right, Marisa?” Marisa stares annoyed toward the two youkai, then sounding even more annoyed she says “ugh, whatever. Let’s just get this over with so I can get to Nitori, then go to Yuka, THEN go to Entei and then... Geez, why am I telling you all of this?” Aya walks besides Marisa, smiling and taking notes of all Marisa says, while Mima continues to float as close as possible to the other girls while looking around in fright. Watching both parties move on, the RKNS suddenly tweets out loud, alerting both parties, then flies away, heading toward the Moriya Shrine.

At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae quietly sweeps the shrine grounds behind the large red gates, and in the meantime, Budou, Lily, Chen and Koishi fly around Ail, making him pounce like a cat as he tries to catch them. Ran and Yukari sit on the shrine’s porch, drinking tea as they watch the 5 “children” play. Ail suddenly start to run around on all fours and Ran swears she sees a tail and a pair of cat ears at that moment, but she rubs her eyes, blinks twice, then thinks “I’m just tired. There’s no way I saw that.” Yukari’s mind links with Ran’s and playfully says “never disregard the impossible~.” Ran smiles and thinks “think we should keep an eye on him, then?” Yukari covers her mouth with her fan, and sounding mysterious, she says “I think we should come visit more often. The tea is simply delicious.” Ran sighs, looking down and sighing in defeat, and with a small smile she says “fine. But if something happens, let’s help for a change.” Yukari closes her fan and taps Ran’s head with it, then smiles and winks, leaving her right eye closed. A silver washtub falls on Yukari’s head, however Yukari stays still and doesn’t say a word. Worried, Ran asks “Yukari-sama!? Are you alright?”, however Yukari simply stays as she is, so Ran shrugs and continues drinking her tea as if nothing ever happened. Meanwhile, Suwako approaches Sanae and asks “hey, Sanae, are you sure you should be sweeping under the sun like this?” A sad tune that sounds like that out of a music box starts to play, making Suwako feel unsettled as she looks around for the source and ask “Sanae, do you hear that? Where is that coming from?” Sanae stops sweeping and smiles, then sighs with a saddened look in her eyes and says “you know, last night... I was sitting on the porch with Ail.” Sanae suddenly swings her broom and smacks Suwako’s right ankle, making the goddess jump on one foot while holding her other leg in pain, then Sanae uses her broom and locks Suwako’s neck against it and her own body, and while chocking the goddess she sighs and continues “he started to stare at my breasts with the outmost of curiosity. At first, I thought of smacking his face... but then I remembered he doesn’t mean it... so I explained to him how some women have a chests like mine...” Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu twitches and trembles in rage, then crosses her arms across her chest, clenching her teeth while softly growling.” Back at the Moriya shrine, while Sanae says this, she releases Suwako from the choke-hold, however she grabs the goddess and lifts her above herself, contorting her body like a pretzel, then sighs and says “then you know what he did? He started measuring his own chest with his hands while looking at mine. The poor thing. I thought I should get a book and teach him about it, but miss Koishi came by and told me a more direct approach might work.” Suwako, out of breath, shouts “Sana-Sanae! You... you’re KILLING ME!” Sanae has Suwako on the ground, placing her foot on the goddess’ back and pulling back on her arms as she sighs and continues “I thought of scolding miss Koishi, but maybe she was right. Anyway, it didn’t matter, since Budou came out of the house with Chen, then the 4 of them started to play *sigh*.” Sanae holds Suwako against herself and starts squeezing the goddess with all her strength as she says “I shouldn’t have called him a lecher. Now I feel so bad about it... oh well.” She finally releases Suwako, the sad tune stops playing, then she picks up her broom and looks to the ground to her left and exclaims “lady Moriya! What happened to you!? Oh my goodness, I better get the first aid!” Suwako lies on her stomach on the ground, her legs and arms bent above her back and tied up with a red string. She looks to her right and groans in pain, then says “Ka... Kanako? You too?” Kanako lies on her face, unable to move at all, her legs censored by squiggly blocks, and after moaning a little, she says “she got me with the hedge trimmers.”

Back at the Youkai Forest, Kyo’s party reach a thick concentration of dark clouds, and in the center of this concentration it looks like more and more dark clouds continue to be born and spread around as quickly as they rise to the sky. Momiji and Kyo are up front, looking on to the sky, then Momiji, sounding serious, says “it’s Hina. We have to go through those clouds, but if we touch even one, who knows what kind of misfortune could fall on us.” Kyo smiles confidently, then says “you leave that to me, my friend.” Momiji stares at Kyo with curiosity, then takes a step back as Kyo pulls out a spell card from his pocket. From behind, leading the others is Luna, who approaches Momiji and asks “what’s he doing?” Sounding bored and uninterested, Agava says “he’s probably just showing off.” Excitedly, Medicine points to Kyo and says “look, look! He’s doing something!” Kyo summons his white energy shield to his left arm, then raises his spell card, allowing it to float in the air in front of him, then he positions himself, ready to throw his shield like a disk and shouts “Gales of the Bouncing Orb!” Kyo throws his shield, and right after it enters through the clouds, it starts drawing an octagon, creating a parameter. Inside the octagon, 4 large tornadoes from up as soon as the shield disappears, and start vacuuming the dark clouds and sending them away, creating a large opening for the party to go through. As soon as the spell stops, Momiji signals the others to move, then they all run after Kyo as he rushes toward the center of the concentration of dark clouds. After for running for just a few seconds, Kyo stops, signaling the others to stop, then summons his red energy sword. In front of them, Hina stands on the center of a flat stone in the middle of the river, spinning counterclockwise with glowing yellow eyes and an face completely devoid of expression. Kyo takes a step forward, then Nitori pops out in front of him, stretching out her arms, preventing them from getting closer as she says “no, please! Let me talk to her!” Luna and Momiji walk next to Kyo, and Luna curiously asks “is there something you haven’t told us, little kappa?” Nitori clenches her teeth and trembles as she looks back at the party with fear in her eyes, then says “the other day there was this awful magical shockwave. I was having a friendly chat with Hina when that thing touched her. She started convulsing and spit out this purple goop, so I tried to use my new invention on her, to suck out all the misfortunes she had absorbed, but that shockwave made it so my machine amplified the power of those curses and misfortunes. She screamed for help, but when I tried turning the machine off, this purple spirit came out of nowhere and pushed me away, then possessed Hina after that. I really tried to help her, but all I tried only made things worse. Please, give me one last chance. Maybe talking to her will help!” Momiji gets mad, unsheathes her sword and points it at Nitori, threateningly saying “what!? And you didn’t even tell me!? I thought you were my friend!” Nitori cries “I’m sorry~! I was just so scared. It’s all my fault this happened! I just wanted to fix it before it got out of hand!” Angrily, Momiji shouts “well they got out of hand! You should have told me about it! Regardless of my ranking, I can help! I could have...” Kyo raises his left hand, signaling Momiji to stop, then calmly says “Nitori, I am giving you the chance to make things right. Go and talk to her, but the moment she attacks, we are going to attack back, understand?” Nitori looks worriedly back to Kyo, then nods and runs closer to Hina. Hina stops spinning, then glares straight at Nitori, then smirks. Nitori winces at the sight and thinks of running away, but the kappa steels herself to stay in place and says “Hina! Don’t let that thing use you anymore! Come on, wake up! Let me help you fix this! J-just, let me get my machine and turn it off!” Hina frowns, making her face look twice as terrifying, then rapidly spins counterclockwise and releases a thick concentration of black and purple clouds straight at the little kappa.

On the other side of the river, Mima, Marisa and Aya find themselves trapped by the dark clouds. They try going back, but something moves the clouds so they block their path. Aya turns around again, then says “nowhere else to go but forward now. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.” Marisa hides her face under her hat, then says “s-sure. Go ahead. I’ll just watch...” Mima places a comforting hand on Marisa’s shoulder, then says “don’t feel bad. Remember that many things happened to you and you are working to fix it. That’s the importance of this. So don’t give up or-KYAAAAH~!!!” Mima turns pale and screams when a spirit floats next to her and Marisa, cutting her pep-talk short and making her hide inside Marisa’s hat out of fright. Marisa sighs, unable to believe Mima, a spirit, is so afraid of other spirits, however her expression changes to alert when she realizes she and Aya are being surrounded by 8 more spirits, all flying in a circle around them. Marisa panics and sounding frightened she shouts “Aya, if you’re planning something, better do it now! I don’t think they are here to dance, ze!” Hurriedly, Aya says “don’t worry, I’m ready!” Aya raises a spell card and shouts “Tornado! Guidepost of the Advent of the Divine Grandson! HOLD ON TIGHT!!” As soon as Aya says that, Marisa jumps behind a large boulder to her right and holds on to her hat. Aya gets surrounded by a tornado, and the force of the winds she creates makes the dark clouds spin around her for a while, then rise to the sky, opening a path in front of them to go through, however, the spirits notice what is happening and charge to attack. Marisa makes a run-for-it as soon as Aya’s tornado begins to die down, but as soon as she passes by Aya she realizes the tengu won’t have time to recover and escape, so she braves the still strong winds and grabs Aya by her sleeve, pulling her out of the tornado and cancelling her spell. Sounding tired, Aya says “th-thanks. Now what? They’re coming from everywhere!” Marisa stops, realizing she has 5 spirits in front of them, cutting their escape. While standing still, clenching her teeth and growling softly, she thinks “if only I could fly. Dammit, what did I get myself into!? What should I do?” Aya suddenly recovers, grabs Marisa, then jumps high in the air, being careful not to touch the dark clouds above them, and lands away from the spirits, which explode into a purple curse cloud the moment they come in contact with each other. Marisa, realizing they are ok, gives Aya a sudden hug out of impulse and says “thanks. Th-that was too close!” Aya feels a bit awkward, and with a sweat drop on the left of her head she nervously says “ayayaya~, y-yeah, sure. Take it easy there.” As soon as Marisa lets Aya go, Mima peeks her head from under Marisa’s hat, then Marisa angrily says “look, I understand you’re afraid of spirits, even though you ARE one, but if you’re not here to help, let me know so I can stop counting on you.” Mima cries and says “I’m sorry,” but she stops from saying more when they hear battle cries coming from the river. Immediately, Mima leaves Marisa’s hat, then leads on. When they look to the river, they find Kyo, Luna and Momiji battling Hina, while Nitori lies on her face on the ground, being protected by Agava and Medicine from various spirits.

From the other side of the river, bits of darkness cover Nitori’s clothes as she lies unconscious on the ground, while Agava and Medicine do their best to keep many cursed spirits away from her. Medicine spits a large cloud of poison at the spirits and manages to paralyze 6 of them at once, however she uses a lot of power doing this. Agava rushes to the paralyzed spirits and fires shadow danmaku at them, making them explode with ease. Agava turns to face Medicine and says “take is easy, girl. You are using too much power. You’ll tire out.” Medicine pouts and turns her face away, saying “hmph! You’re just jealous of my powers.” Agava face palms, but quickly points behind Medicine toward two more spirits, and their battle continues. Meanwhile, Kyo uses his shield to defend Luna and himself from the many curses Hina is releasing at them, while Momiji tries to approach Nitori’s machine, which lies next to the possessed Hina, conveniently hidden under the goddesses skirt. Luna taps Kyo’s shoulder, then whispers “when this wave is over, cover me!” Kyo nods, kiss Luna’s cheek, then says “good luck... Go, NOW!” Kyo pushes back the last of the curse danmaku shards, then Luna jumps high above Kyo, holding her spell card, and shouts “Momiji, distraction! Disturbance, Multi-Colored Death!” Momiji looks to Luna and nods, then unleashes amazingly large danmaku waves from her shield at Hina, distracting the curse goddess while Luna waves her arms around so fast she looks like she has 8 arms on her. While waving her arms she dances and twirls around Hina, releasing countless multi-colored danmaku knives. The knives fly in groups of 5, homing in on the goddess at the rhythm of time, while Luna herself constantly tries to cut the goddess with her own swords, whoever Hina spins fast and releases thick clouds of misfortune, along with curtain of curse bullets to keep Luna away, at the same time as protecting herself from Momiji’s and Kyo’s attacks. From the other side, Marisa, Aya and Mima watch with awe as the battle goes on, then Marisa clenches her right fist, and with determination on her eyes she says “I’m helping them!” Aya jumps out of hiding and heads toward Momiji, saying “I’ll help too!” Marisa jumps out of hiding and is followed by Mima, who says “I won’t let her touch you!” Hina looks around with this dangerous-looking glowing yellow eyes and realizes she’s surrounded. In a rage, she expels so many curses at once, she pushes the machine into the water, however, being a kappa-made machine, it’s impermeable and continues to work. Kyo notices this, even while defending himself and Luna, then shouts “AYA!! MOMIJI!! IT’S IN THE WATER!” Aya uses her fan to blow away the curse clouds and danmaku, while Momiji uses her shield to defend herself, however both are unable to move. Marisa realizes Hina hasn’t seen her yet, so she runs as close as possible to the river, then pulls out a bomb from under her hat, then whispers “miss Mima, can you turn this invisible along with yourself?” Mima looks curiously at the bomb, then says “I don’t think so, but I can carry it while invisible.” Maria smiles and says “please, put this right under her feet.” Marisa flicks two metal rings together, creating a small spark that turns the fuse on, then Mima salutes Marisa as she pick the bomb and turns invisible. Careful but quick, Mima takes the bomb and places it right in front of Hina’s feet, and just before leaving, she reappears with a smile and her tongue out, playfully saying “enjoy~!”, then disappears again. Hina looks confused in front of herself, then double takes at her feet, then kicks the bomb away just before it explodes.

Hina yelps when the bomb explodes so close to her, and realizing this Luna jumps on Kyo’s back and shouts “FLASH BOMB!!!” Kyo, Aya, Momiji, and Agava cover their eyes in time as Luna takes one of the two pins on her head and throws it with force toward the rock where Hina is standing on. The moment the pin touches the rock, a bright flash of light illuminates the entire area in a second, then stops. Marisa and Mima walk around, blinded by the bright flash, while Medicine stumbles on to Agava, who holds her hands and says “you should have closed your eyes.” Kyo, Aya, Momiji and Luna uncover their eyes and find Hina on her knees, looking around herself in confusion, asking “huh? What? What’s going on around here!?” She looks toward the collapsed kappa and notices the trace of curse clouds on her clothes, then shouts “Nitori!? Who... how did...?” Kyo suddenly shouts “ABOVE!!!” They all look just above Hina, where a large curse cloud with big yellow eyes hovers just above the curse goddess. It takes a dive back to Hina, then Kyo suddenly shouts “NOW~!” Kyo tosses his shield as Aya reaches the curse cloud, grabs the shield and spins around the cloud twice, as fast as possible, creating a powerful tornado, and after she flies away, Luna, with her dual blades, and along with Momiji, they jump and cut the spirit into 4 uneven slices. Meanwhile, Marisa jumps to the water with another bomb in hand, this one lacking a fuse. She swims with the current and finds Nitori’s machine expelling curses under the water, next to the rock Hina is on. She presses a button on the underside of the bomb and stuffs it into the machine’s opening, then tries to swim away, but her skirt gets caught by one of the machine’s handles. She fights with all her might to free herself, and when she realizes she can’t escape in time, she covers her face with her forearms. To her luck, Kyo saw her enter the water and swims after her, freeing her from the machine just in time before the bomb explodes, thus destroying the machine. As soon as Kyo and Marisa come out of the water and take desperate breaths of air, they notice the sky and the forest rapidly returning to normal, Hina spinning on the flat rock in a clockwise fashion, singing “misfortunes come to me~!”

It’s dinnertime by the time Hina finishes absorbing all the misfortunes on the forest, so both parties decide to have a large picnic close to the river to celebrate. While the tengu drink sake, Medicine and Agava watch them, Agava desperately saying “come on~! I’m old enough!” Mima flies between the two and says “no way. Sake is not for troublesome little girls.” Agava stomps on her right foot and pouts as she crosses her arms and looks away. Medicine looks curiously at the drinking girls, then looks at Su-san, shrugs, and says “I don’t get it either, Su-San.” On the other side, Hina is making sure Nitori is completely curse-free, looking all over the kappa’s body, while Marisa asks “and that’s my story. So you think you could help me?” Nitori pushes her skirt back in place after Hina tries to take a peek underneath and sounding annoyed she says “I told you, I’m alright now!”, then looks at the piece of paper Marisa gave her, then looks at Marisa and says “well, I can help you, but... not right now.” Marisa opens her mouth wide, but before she complains Nitori says “first, I’ll need to teach you how to use each item I lend you properly, or you might end up hurting others or yourself. Also, maybe I could help you get a little~ bit of your powers back with my new invention, so you and miss Mima can stay at my resort for a while, no charge. What do you think?” Marisa shivers at the thought of the proposal, but sighs in defeat and says “fine. Just promise me I’ll get out of there alive, alright?” Nitori smiles, then bluntly says “no guarantees of that, sorry.” Marisa’s face turns blue, then her body turns white as she sweats and trembles. Away from the picnic, Kyo and Luna sit side-by-side at the river’s shore, holding each other closely, resting their heads together. Luna sighs, then says “so, we solved this incident thanks to a lot of help from many friends.” Kyo nods, but says nothing, and sounding worried, Luna says “Kyo, I’ve asked Momiji and Aya to help us train, and I don’t want to hear you complaining about it!” Kyo stays quiet for a moment, then pulls out from his pocket Luna’s bikini shot. Luna stares at it and asks “so... what do you think?” Kyo smiles and says “simply beautiful.” Luna giggles with glee and jumps on Kyo, hugging his neck and giving him a big kiss. Aya approaches the couple while a little drunk, then says “whoa... maybe I should get a picture of this too.” Immediately after saying this, Luna hands her a note written in red that says “I know where you perch!” Aya twitches, smiles nervously, then backs away and says “please... carry on.”, then flies away. Meanwhile, at the Moriya Shrine, the RKNS watches on as Budou, Ail and Koishi enter the shrine, Budou giggling along with Koishi. The tiny bird places all his attention on Ail, and right after Ail looks back, the little bird flies away toward an unknown destination.

To be continued...

Characters, Spell cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Budou, Luna Rivers, Agava and the RKNS were created by Willie G.R.
Kyo’s “Gales of the Bouncing Orb” and
Luna’s “Disturbance, Multi-Colored Death” spell cards were created by Willie G.R.
APR 5 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
Wow, what a long chapter. I really enjoyed the battle here, but I just can’t explain exactly why. You know, when someone grabs you and contorts you like a pretzel... it hurts. I TRULY does hurt! And I want to say this. In all honesty, though I DO feel sorry for the goddesses (Kanako and Suwako), I am enjoying these “quality” times they are going through with Sanae. They are very heart-warming.
Also, very glad to hear/read you are enjoying these chapters. As of that “certain valley girl,” she’ll be getting a few more scenes soon. Maybe next time? Maybe... I’m still deciding what to do with next chapter. Ah well, see you next chapter. On a side-note, please, do pray for those that are undergoing many life trials, including those that are suffering from the many earthquakes that have been happening. Remember, faith and belief can go a very long way, and it would help both the spirits AND this planet too.