Paradise Sukima 18

It’s late noon, the sky is dark-golden, and at the farthest edges of the Bamboo Forest, flying many feet above the ground, Rika glares toward Kanako and Suwako, protecting Hatate from falling into their hands again. She looks to Kanako and asks “why didn’t you warn miss Marisa about that gate? Why didn’t you tell miss Reimu about it? Why hide it? Why pick on poor Hatate like that!?” Kanako lets out a simple “hmph” and Suwako says “we don’t need to explain ourselves to traitors like you, Onkamikami!” Kanako quickly adds “besides, what’s it to you!?” Rika’s anger rises, though she keeps her calm voice as she says “because of you, Gensokyo, and every other world out there is in danger! Why would you do something like that!?” Kanako laughs and says “it’s like listening to a broken record! You fool, we did it for the good of Gensokyo! In that world there are never-ending supplies of minerals and materials essential for progress!” Suwako adds “with that, we could bring Gensokyo up to modern standards! Don’t you see? This place is outdated! Kanako and I only want what’s best!” Rika shouts “all you want is to ease you own lives, so don’t lie to me!” Kanako glares dangerously at Rika and says “you are in the presence of two gods. Show respect!” Suwako immediately adds “besides, it’s not OUR fault that witch didn’t read the warnings. And all for what?” Kanako laughs and says “because she wanted to help Reimu. Is that it?” Suwako laughs and replies “she doesn’t get it anyway! There’s no way that maiden will leave this place!” Rika angrily says “y-you’re making fun of such commendable feelings? Just like that!?” Kanako says “that Marisa is just a fool!” Rika shouts “and you are gods, meant to help humans! Not send them on misguided ventures!” Kanako’s eyes glow when she opens them wide and says “it’s not our fault humans like her are so thick-headed!” Suwako adds “and so hasty too!” Rika trembles with fury, then says “you two are going to the shrine with me, and you are going to help my lady Reimu...” Suwako speaks louder than Rika, saying “pipe down, you traitor!” Kanako quickly adds “if those ancestors of yours had only stayed and fight! We could have won that war with ease!” Suwako adds “hey, yeah. Why are we explaining ourselves to traitorous blood like yourself? Heck, I’m sure you’ll betray your precious Reimu someday.” Rika’s eyes hide under shadow as her rage escalates even higher, then says “forget about that already. That war is long over. Let’s concentrate on now!” Kanako replies “you fool. If they had stayed with us, they could have easily mowed down our opponents armies!” Suwako adds “because of their betrayal, we had to sacrifice so many human lives to recover some of our lands.” Rika clenches her fist, then calmly says to Hatate “my friend, please hide.” Hatate looks at Rika with fight and concern and asks “s-sis? What’s the matter? Are you alright?” Rika grumbles “I am going to teach these two a lesson they will never forget. Please hide, or you might get hurt too.” Hatate stutters, then says “n-no, Rika! I’ll fight alongside-“ Rika grabs Hatate by her shoulders and smiles, though showing fiery rage in her eyes as she calmly says “I don’t want you to get hurt because of these two, or myself. Please, don’t worry about me. Just hide and watch. When I’m done with these two, they are going to apologize to you!” Hatate silently nods, then flies away, then Rika turns to the goddesses and says “five spell cards. If I win, you will apologize to Hatate; you will go STRAIGHT to the Hakurei Shrine, BOW before my lady Reimu and apologize for what you did, explain yourselves with GREAT detail, and help her with ANYTHING she asks!” Kanako and Suwako smirks, then Suwako says “fine, little girl. Just don’t start to cry when we beat you without mercy.” Kanako then says “if we win, you traitor, you will face the punishment your ancestors escaped when they abandoned us and hid away from us. You understand what I’m saying?” Rika brandishes her sword and pulls out a spell card and says “Oath Keeper”, then glares at the goddesses as the golden gate appears right next to her, and says “first you’ll have to win. But I highly doubt you will, even with your combined efforts.” Suwako and Kanako growl, bearing their teeth, then Suwako angrily says “we’ll enjoy teaching you proper respect toward the gods!”

Meanwhile, above the Hakurei Shrine, Sakuya flies back home, followed by a sleepy-looking Reimu. Sakuya growls, then says “I still can’t believe you! Falling asleep just as you take off, and 3 times in a row, even!” Reimu yawns and says “I already told you, I’m fine now! I just needed to rest!” Sakuya sighs and says “well, whatever. Just help me with these kids. You have better relation with the Moriya Shrine than I do.” Reimu replies “yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time.” Sakuya sighs again and says “and look at the time. I hope my mistress hasn’t been too inconvenienced by my sudden leave and tardiness.” Outside the SDM, Remilia’s voice can be hear shouting “Flan, come on~! I’ve been sitting here for HOURS! Give me that toilet paper!” Flandre can be heard giggling, then replying “say ‘please’, and promise me you share of cake, and then I’ll let you have it.” Remilia screams, then Flandre yelps and shouts “wait, you can’t run around like that!” At the gate, Meiling and Koakuma sigh, then Koakuma smiles and says “Sakuya’s still not back.” Meiling nods and says “probably another incident.” Koakuma nods, then both girls sigh at the same time. At the Moriya Shrine, Sanae paces left and right while staring at Budou and Koishi, then stops, holds her head, then asks “so, he turned to a vampire, then to Momiji, then killed a vampire, all while running on top of water!? Look, I know this is Gensokyo, but even so, that’s a little hard to believe! He’s a subconscious body!” Koishi springs to her feet and angrily says “subconscious, not useless!! I already told you, being in that state allowed him to learn how to do all that!” Sanae angrily asks “and why is that?! Why not while he was fully conscious!?” Koishi anxiously replies “because, if he WAS conscious, he’d probably think doing those things were impossible!” Sanae face palms and whispers “well, at least that explains the tail I saw on him.” Budou sighs and says “alright then, now that the debate is over...”, she stands up, then says out loud “let’s go to the forest! He’s waiting for us at home!” Sanae snaps back “don’t you take that tone of voice with me, young lady!” Budou drops on her seat and pouts while holding back her tears of anger, then Phredia flies straight out from Budou’s heart and flies directly in front of Sanae’s surprised, face, then places her glowing index finger on Sanae’s forehead. Sanae hears Phredia speak inside her mind, with a sweet, yet stern voice, saying “you heard their story, yet you don’t fully believe them. I will respect your decision to stay here, but I will not allow you to call these girls liars. If you won’t help, I’ll... wait.” Phredia raises her head and turns her sight toward the Bamboo Forest’s direction, then turns to face Sanae and says “change of plans. You will all sleep now. Tomorrow, we all head down to the forest. Now sleep.” Just like that, Sane, Budou and Koishi all fall to sleep right where they are, then Phredia places her crystal barrier on the shrine’s entrance, promptly entering Budou’s heart afterward.

Back at the Bamboo Forest, the goddesses waste no time and are already using their first spell card. Before declaring, Suwako points at Rika and says “you can’t take on two goddesses and hope to win! We’ll take you down with this!” Kanako shouts “Divine Festival, Expanded Onbashira!”, and Suwako shouts at the same time “Native God, The Red Frog in the Fourth Year of the Houei Era!” Kanako claps her hands hard and generates a small shockwave, while Suwako claps her hands twice, then turns red and splits into two more selves. Rika jumps into the golden gate beside her and comes out with her wind sword already unsheathed, holding a spell card on her free hand. The three Suwakos smirk and take impulse to attack Rika, then Kanako’s holy logs strike each Suwako in succession; first the left, second the right, then the real Suwako, who yelps and shouts “Kanako, you idiot!!” Even though she struck all three, they still trail their frog-shaped bullets, all headed straight to Kanako, exploding violently on impact, Kanako shouting “argh! My head! Stupid frog!!” From below, Hatate laughs and takes pictures, saying to herself “hah, if this is how this starts, Rika-sis has no problems!” Rika smiles, trying to contain her desire to laugh, however she still lets out a quick chuckle, and while still giggling a bit, she says “Wind Sign, Neppa Snepuujin!” Rika sheathes her wind sword and holds the hilt while it charges up. In a flash, she unsheathes her sword and swings it so fast, Hatate or the goddesses can’t see the move. All they can see is a crescent wind wave headed straight toward the goddesses, trailing countless light-green bullets along with it. Rika is suddenly to their left and repeats her attack, sending another wave, then sheathes her sword and moves to the right to repeat the attack in fast successions. The quarreling goddesses watch with fright, but stay in the same spot, letting the waves and bullets hit them straight on. Rika continues her attack for 30 seconds, then her spell cancels out, leaving a thick cloud of smoke where the goddesses were. She sheathes her sword and loudly says “you see? You are already losing! The spirits are telling you how wrong you are, so do us all a favor, accept you’re wrong, and properly apologize!” Rika suddenly gasps in fright, then Kanako’s voice comes out of the smoke, saying “I’ll admit we almost blew it, but don’t get ahead of yourself, you traitor!” The smoke clears, revealing Kanako and Suwako completely unharmed, then Suwako says “we’ve already seen your spells, girl! We know what we’re up against. You, however, don’t got a clue!” Kanako chuckles, then says “I think Ail was more of a menace to us than you’ll ever be.” Rika growls, then calmly replies “you seem to be underestimating me. For a pair of gods, you sure seem to be a little full of yourselves. What about listening to the spirit of the world around you? The hearts of humans and youkai? What about Gensokyo, your home!?” Kanako scoffs and says “we don’t need to listen to traitorous blood.” Rika shouts “could you stop thinking about that war!?” Suwako’s eyes glow red, then she says “Kanako, let’s take turns with our spells. I really want to beat this traitor up.” Kanako nods and replies “agreed.”

Kanako backs away, letting Suwako have the next attack, and while she pulls a spell card from under her hat, she glares at Rika and says “if that ancestor of yours had only stayed. I could have had so many opposing armies eliminated, so many lands would have remained safe.” Rika jumps inside her golden gate and emerges with her fire and water swords, then she angrily says “what’s the MATTER with you two!? All you care about is how many my ancestors could kill! How could you devalue life so much!? My ancestors left for that reason! To escape the needless bloodshed!” Suwako growls and says “now you’re making excuses for them. What fitting punishment I’ll have for you when all of this is over.” Suwako raises her spell card and shouts “Scourge Sign, Mishaguji-Sama!” Suwako claps her hands hard, and from behind her, a translucent white snake rises from the ground and merges with a frog aura that surrounds Suwako. Suddenly, Suwako emanates leaf-like light green bullets in circles around her, all swaying between each other in a tight formation. Rika sees very little room to dodge, but she still braves the spell and unleashes blue needle danmaku bullets that spread widely and trail far, almost hitting Kanako, who watches from behind Suwako. From below, Hatate cries out for Rika, who misses her chance to go through the swaying bullets and gets hit hard by 5 of the bullets, making her feel her insides burn up. Suwako smiles and in a sinister voice, she says “do you like it? Especially made for you, little traitor. Instead of just burning your skin, these bullets will also burn what’s underneath it.” Rika winces in pain as she holds her abdomen, managing to dodge the waves of bullets, then suddenly pulls a spell card and shouts “Fire and Water Sign, Embarco Endo no Zeppa Juujishou!” Rika unsheathes her fire sword and slashes the bullets directly in front of her, sending fiery waves of danmaku at Suwako while cutting through her bullets and slowly getting close. Suwako frowns and stops her spell to get away, just as Rika gets close enough and quickly switches swords, taking her ice sword and swinging in arcs, making crescent swings and making Suwako go down to the ground, where the ice created by Rika’s sword traps Suwako’s feet. The goddess glares at Rika as she backs away and starts to chant, making a copy of herself that holds the fire sword. Both Rika and her copy rush toward Suwako, who continues to quietly glare at them, then says “I’ll make you apologize to both Hatate and Reimu!” Suwako replies “we’ll see about that! RAH!” Rika and her copy slash through Suwako, making an X of fire and ice that can be seen from the sky. Hatate celebrates for Rika, saying “amazing, a direct hit!” Rika, on the other hand, looks disappointed and a little angry. She and her copy sheathe the swords, then merge together again. Suwako stands behind her, holding her hands in front of her, successfully blocking Rika’s attack, and with a quick laugh, Suwako says “pa-ha-thetic! What a pathetic attack! I was expecting a bit more from someone with YOUR bloodline. But I guess that’s what traitors get in the end.” Rika growls loudly and says “enough with that! Why are you so obsessed with that war anyway!? All you did with that was take away innocent live and shed their blood for lands!” Suwako lowers her head and closes her eyes, then says “we had no choice, you fool. You ancestors could have helped us finish all quicker. We could have avoided much bloodshed, but they just abandoned us.” Rika shouts “oh, is that right!? You just wanted someone to kill others faster! What about their lives!? What about their families, their dreams!? All taken away by that needless war! W-wait a minute! Grr, this isn’t about the war! This is about Gensokyo, the pain you caused to Marisa and lady Reimu!” Kanako takes Suwako’s place, saying “when they see the great advancements we can achieve with that small sacrifice, they’ll understand it was all worth it!” Rika shouts back “the only sacrifice worth taking is to protect LIFE!” Kanako shrugs and says “hmph! Whatever. Get ready, and hit me with all you got already! I want to see your face when you see how futile your efforts are!” Rika unsheathes her family sword and says “you keep underestimating me. Fine, I’ll hit you with all I got! And then some.”

Kanako takes flight, positioning her legs as though she’s sitting with her legs crossed, then summons 4 sacred logs that set themselves on her back and immediately showers Rika with large orbs of blue energy, then disappears and sets sacred knives all around her. While Rika dodges the orbs, Kanako launches all the knives straight at her, hoping to finish her off quickly, but Rika manages to use her sword and deflect most of the knives while still dodging the orbs. Kanako disappears again, and the second she reappears, she unleashes various blasts of massive green orbs. Rika gets stabbed in her thigh, yelping out in pain, but manages to quickly pull it off and dodge the green orbs, though one manages to graze her shoulder, making her yelp out again and hold on to her shoulder, clenching her eyes and teeth. Kanako smiles and says “now all I have to do is finish you off. Offer me your faith, and I might consider this part of you punishment.” Kanako raises a spell card and shouts “Sacrifice Sign, Misayama Hunting Shrine Ritual!” Various orbs and red ritual knives set up all around Kanako and quickly launch themselves toward Rika, the knifes homing directly to where she is. Rika starts to breathe heavily, anxiety taking her mind, then she suddenly hears Hatate’s faint voice, calling “Rika-sis, you can do it!!” Rika shakes her head and realizes she only has seconds to make her move, so she swings her Family sword to deflect the closest knives, then finds a gap between the orbs to move away, then pulls a spell card out of her pocket and shouts “Rite of fire and Water, Spiral Flare no Makoujin Fuuen!" In a quick fashion, Rika chants a spell to her family sword and quickly stabs it on the ground, generating a magical circle. The power emanating from the magical circle cancels out Kanako’s orbs and flings the knives back to the goddess herself. While Kanako screams as she’s stabbed by her own knives, Rika unsheathes her fire and water swords and a seal forms up around the first magical circle. Inside the first circle, she swings her swords, unleashing bands of oval fire and ice bullets. When they touch the first circle, they disappear and reappear behind Rika between the circle and the seal, the bullets growing to large meteors and ice pillars, spreading around at random and increasing in numbers, some crashing against each other to create a thick mist of steam that hinders Kanako’s view. After pulling off the last knife, Kanako exclaims “that’s a new spell! Drat, I can’t see!” Before Kanako can react, various meteors strike her from the front, then various ice pillars strike her from each side. The goddess screams with both rage and pain, then falls down to the ground after an ice pillar and 3 more meteors hit her hard from the front. When Kanako crashes on to the ground, Rika smirks and asks “why do you refuse to apologize for what you did!?” Kanako gets up from the ground, grunting in pain, then shouts “we did NOTHING wrong! We only helped that witch!” Suwako steps in and asks “and why are you so upset about that? Gensokyo’s always in danger due to its chaotic nature!” Rika’s rage escalates and tears of fury fills her face as she shouts “You two just don’t understand! Gensokyo is already a great place to live. Nature, the magic that keeps us, you and the youkai alive! You betrayed my lady’s trust when you tried to open a portal to another paradise, and for what!? Because you don’t like it here!? Because you miss technology!? You are free to leave!” Kanako and Suwako look at each other in surprise, then scowl at Rika, but before they can speak, Rika’s tears dry up as she says “you don’t know the sacrifice she has to go through, the burden of this job to protect this land she loves so much! Besides, you yourself said so once, didn’t you, miss Suwako. Nature provides. Well, we’re surrounded by nature!” Suwako twitches, her eyes open wide, but Kanako snaps her out of her thoughts when she says “traitorous blood will say anything to justify itself!” Suwako glares back at Rika, then says “hmph! You’re right, Kanako.” Rika’s anger escalates to new heights, her eyes glowing with righteous fury, yet she manages to keep a cool face and a calm voice, and says “again with that war. You two can’t think of anything else but your own selfish desires, can you?”

Night has crept over while they battle, a beautiful full moon illuminating the bamboo forest with an eerily soothing blue light. Suwako’s eyes glow blue under the darkness as she glares at Rika, anger creeping into her heart after listening to Rika’s words. She approaches Kanako and whispers “we’ll attack together. You from the left, I’ll take the right.” Kanako nods, then positions herself to the farthest left, while Suwako takes the right, then Suwako says “you don’t understand anything, Onkamikami. When our plans see fruition, everyone, even Reimu, will be glad we did what we did. As for you, the first I’ll do is take that horrible mouth of yours and wash it with soap!” Rika sheathes all 3 swords and says “it’s a pity I couldn’t read the book Patchy lent me, but I believe her teachings will suffice for now.” Kanako sighs, then pulls out a spell card and shouts “Heaven’s Stream, Miracle of Otensui!” At the same time, Suwako pulls a spell card and shouts “Native God, Lord Long-Arms and Long-Legs!” Kanako is surrounded by 6 streams of light that come from the sky, all showering petals and shard bullets in different formations and speeds, all headed straight to Rika, who takes flight at that moment. Suwako extends her arms and legs, and from her limbs, trailing colorful beams rush straight to Rika, who dodges them by quickly swaying left and right. Before Kanako’s bullets reach Rika, and join with Suwako’s beams, Rika shouts “HATATE! Stay behind me and whatever you do, DO NOT touch the ground!” From below, Hatate obediently rushes behind Rika’s position and sits on the tallest tree branch she can find, then waves and shouts “go get’em sis!” Rika glares at the goddesses, trembling with rage, and says “I know you don’t really give a damn, but I am so angry at you right now! If you won’t see the light, then do enjoy the darkness... Water and Darkness Sign, Cocytus: Gessenkohou!” Rika grabs the hilt of her water sword and begins to charge it with energy, and while she does this, Kanako’s and Suwako’s bullets finally reach her and hit her hard, however in her state of rage she wills herself to take on each and every bullet, wherever they may strike, and simply sucks in the pain. After finally charging the sword with much power, she unsheathes it and swings it, summoning a tidal wave that covers a large area underneath herself and the goddesses, creating a magical lake. Hatate watches with awe and exclaims “whoa! Sis made a whole lake! But what for?” Kanako and Suwako intensify their attack, Kanako shouting “take her out now!” Suwako shouts back “I know, I know! Kanako, where the HELL did she get this much power!?” Kanako shouts back “I don’t know! Just keep at it, we need to knock her out NOW!” Rika grabs the hilt of her family sword with her other hand and begins to charge it with dark energy, taking on the goddesses attacks head-on, then quickly unsheathes it and launches a wave of darkness that expands and turns a large area completely dark, leaving the goddesses blind to everything, however Rika herself can still see clearly. In a cold and stern voice, Rika says “look what you made me do! You made me so mad, my attribute switched to darkness! And you want to know something else?” Kanako shouts “where are you!? Show yourself!” Suwako shout “Keeps you eyes peeled, you fool!” Rika ignores the goddesses and says “this spell I’m using right now becomes stronger during the night, and the ironic thing is, it increases in power even more during a full moon. Now, enjoy twice the power of this spell and repent as the pain flows through you!” Rika unleashes many watery waves with her water sword, all toward the darkened night sky, and when they reach a certain height the waves shatter into watery oval bullets, each wave unleashing a random amount of bullets, which also fall down at random, making it impossible to predict where they might fall. Kanako and Suwako can see the glow of the bullets, but can’t determine where to move to as the bullets are already covering behind them, and since it’s both night and a full moon, the intensity of the attack is doubled, making the attack to look like a wall of danmaku. Unknown to them, Rika is using her water sword to direct the bullets in order to maintain a certain degree of control, and forces the goddesses to descend, hoping either will hit the water below them, where the power of the spell is at its full force. Kanako shouts “we’re trapped!” Suwako yelps and before Kanako asks what happened, she yelps and realizes the second her foot touched the water, and half her torso becomes trapped in ice. Kanako shouts “what the hell is this!?” Suwako shouts “look up, you old hag!” Rika laughs and says “and now, we end this battle! REPENT FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! To Gensokyo, to Marisa, to my lady Reimu, and all those precious lives you took from that horrible war!” Rika grabs her family sword and draws a dark moon that becomes the center of a wave of danmaku. The real full moon appears right behind Rika, shining brightly and giving the dark moon a powerful glow. All the goddesses can do is watch in horror as the waves of dark bullets strike them without mercy. The goddesses scream out in excruciating pain, making Hatate herself wince at the sight of the glowing blasts. Finally, the spell finishes, the darkness lifts away, the water disappears, and the two goddesses fall hard to the ground, groaning and rolling in pain. As Rika slowly floats back down, Suwako says “Ka-Kanako. We... weren’t careful.” Kanako groans and manages to sit up and says “I... I can keep going, and I still have two more spells!” Suwako manages to sit up, letting her hat drop to the ground as she rubs her head and says “m-me too. She only has one left!” Kanako looks at Rika, whose eyes hide under a dark shadow as she stares at them, then says “dammit! She’s supposed to be weaker than Ail! How can we beat her now!?” Rika suddenly drops to her knees, the pain from taking on all those bullets reaches her, coursing through her entire body like needles through her bloodstream. She starts to shake, hugging herself and bending her body, then thinks “I was too careless! Now I can’t even move! They are recovering... as expected from a pair of gods!” Kanako smirks and says “in the end, she’s only mortal. Suwako!” Suwako finally stands up and says “another unison attack, Yasaka! We won’t underestimate her again!” Kanako nods and shows off a spell card on her right hand, then Suwako picks up her blinking hat from the ground and pulls out a spell card, then winks. Rika continues to tremble on the ground and thinks “I can’t allow this. They have to learn the truth! They have to see the error of their ways! Wait... Ars Magica. It’s a great risk, but it might be the only way!” Rika remembers herself reading a few books on great magic in Patchouli’s library, then remembers when she and Patchouli studied a book on the ultimate magic, and the hours she spent practicing her magic and magical seals. She takes a few deep breaths to accustom her body to the pain as best as she can, then she pulls out a spell card and stares at the goddesses as they take flight and ready themselves to attack. She hears Hatate screaming with concern “sis, get up! Come on, Rika! Don’t let them win, you have them on the ropes already!!” Rika manages to smile, though the pain makes her frown almost immediately, then she whispers “I’m sorry my lady, but it’s the only shot I got left!”

Feeling a little weak, Kanako weakly declares her spell card along with Suwako, who seems to be equally weakened. Kanako shouts “Mountain of Faith!”, and Suwako shouts “Cu-Curse God, Red-Mouth Mishaguji!” Kanako surrounds herself with all her collected faith in the form of seals, making the shape of a giant flower, with her as its center, while 4 white, gigantic snakes rise from the ground around Suwako, making it look as though the 4 snakes are protecting the giant flower. Rika stands firmly on the ground and takes a deep breath, then shouts “Ars Magica: Rensa Hotsudou-Extention-!” The moment Rika finishes her declaration, a giant magical seal forms on the ground around her, and around this magical seal are five smaller magical seals, each representing an element; water, earth, fire, wing and lightning. The moment the magical seals form up, Suwako and Kanako’s spells cancel out, Kanako exclaiming “what the hell!?” Suwako exclaims “dammit all! That’s a wasted spell!!” Rika chants for a moment, then shouts “Dual the SUN!”, and Kanako exclaims “wait, is that another spell card!?” Suwako stares with great focus and says “no... it’s a linked spell. Kanako, keep on your toes!” From behind, Hatate watches and asks “sis... what are you doing?” The fire seal glows and above Rika’s head, a giant orb of energy gathers up, turning into a miniature sun, then flies up to the sky and starts to shrink as it unleashes medium-sized orbs all around, destroying the ground, burning bamboo shoots in an instant, and giving the goddesses a hard time as well. Suwako shouts “KANAKO! We have to attack, NOW!” Kanako shouts “ON IT!”, but can’t get close enough to attack Rika directly. While this happens, Rika finishes chanting and shouts “Aquarius Sphere!” Rika unsheathes her water sword and raises it above her head, causing the water seal to glow. Moisture from all over the battlefield is collected, drying up the ground, and all the plants, then the moisture turns to bubbles that scatter randomly, striking Suwako and Kanako, popping seemingly softly, yet pushing them with great force. While this happens, Rika sheathes her water sword and begins to chant again.

At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya bows to Remilia and apologizes over and over, while Remilia angrily shouts “that’s enough already! I said it’s alright!” Sakuya replies “but my lady, I took too long! I’m sorry!” Remilia shouts “it’s alright already! Geez!” While this happens, Reimu sits on a couch, placing her elbow on the armrest and her chin on her hand, taping her fingers against her check while looking at Remilia and Sakuya with a bored expression, and sounding even more bored than she really looks, she says “really, why the hell did you ask me to stay? I could be home right now you...” Remilia and Sakuya watch as Reimu’s expression slowly changes to concern, then fright, then Remilia asks “what? What’s... Wait, what is that? That power!?” Reimu raises her terrorized sight to Remilia and says “it’s Rika...” She gets up on her feet and walks to an open window, then takes a deep breath and shouts “this is RIKA! What the hell is she doing! DAMMIT RIKA!!!” Reimu jumps out the window and immediately flies straight to the Bamboo forest, leaving Remilia and Sakuya staring with curiosity and concern. Meanwhile, at Pandemonium, Mai, Luize, the reluctant Sara, Yumeko and Shinki are enjoying after-dinner tea, giggling and speaking casually, then suddenly Mai comments “you know, I haven’t seen Yuki around here for a while!” Sara angrily says “well, she’s over at Gensokyo. Seems she can’t get enough!” Luize looks with concern and says “oh my. She could cause trouble.” Yumeko quickly says in a strict tone “relax! We’ll just have to go look for her!” Shinki giggles and says “really, I think you’re all exaggerating. Yuki’s a good girl, though admittedly energetic.” Mai scoffs and says “more like an annoying wart!” Yumeko can’t help but laugh, then clears her throat, regaining her composure, then says “admit it! You miss her!” Mai gasps and flaps her small angel wings, saying “I do not!” While the girls argue some more, Shinki giggles and raises her teacup, pressing it against her lips, then suddenly lets it drop to the ground, getting the attention of everyone at the table. Yumeko jumps off her seat and rushes to Shinki after noticing her pale face and blank, terrified expression, and sounding panicked, she asks “lady Shinki, what happened!? What’s the matter!?” Shinki looks at Yumeko with her blank eyes, but recomposes and smiles, then says “I-I’m sorry about that. It seems I’m more tired than I thought, so... um, I’ll head to my room now.” Yumeko exclaims “I’ll take you there immediately!” Shinki giggles and says “no, no, it’s alright. I’ll enjoy the walk on my own, thank you.” Yumeko hesitates, then says “well, ok. P-please have a good sleep, my lady!” Shinki gets up and bows while smiling, then says “thank you. May you all have a good night’s sleep. See you all in the morning, sweeties.” All the girls look at Shinki with concern, but wave back at her and wish her a good night as well. After arriving to her room, Shinki closes the door and immediately start to sob. She slowly walks to her bed, then drops on her knees right beside it, then whispers with a cracking voice “Rika, why are you dying?”

Back at the battlefield at the far edges of the Bamboo Forest, the destruction is evident from the sky. Hatate flies around the tree she was using to hide, using small wind spells to turn off the fire that threatens to consume the dried up tree. The whole area around the battlefield looks like it’s becoming a small desert, the dried up plants all burning up, and the dried ground cracking up. Rika’s moisture bubbles continue to punish the goddesses as she continues to chant, then Suwako shouts “Kanako, this is the same as with Ail!” Kanako shouts “I know, she’s using too much power! She’s going to die!” Suwako shouts “we have to stop her!” Before Kanako can reply, Rika shouts “Shining Gate!” All 5 seals glow brightly and a large gate of light, invisible to anybody else but Rika, unleashes a hellish wave of light oval danmaku that bounce off the surfaces, destroying anything they touch! Even Hatate finds herself having to dodge a few of the bullets, as they can bounce anywhere at any given moment. Kanako and Suwako are hit once each, and already fall to the ground with a loud thud. They try to get up, but just as the first wave vanishes, another wave forms up and continues to destroy everything around and blowing up on the goddesses’ bodies, leaving them just barely conscious on the dried ground. Rika finishes her next chant and shouts “Prismic Stars!” Rika grabs her family sword and unleashes multi-colored oval danmaku bullets from it while the magical circle and magical seals all spin fast. Suwako and Kanako quickly recover, and when they see the next attack they drop back on the ground and hold their heads, Kanako shouting “brace yourself!!” 5 seals form up around Kanako and Suwako as the bullets come through, then they all start bouncing off against the seals, turning into stars that shine brighter than the oval bullets themselves. As the spell progresses, the stars keep bouncing off the seals, some exploding very violently, destroying the ground around the goddesses and striking the goddesses themselves, and the stars that don’t explode continue to bounce off the seals, increasing in speed, brightness and destructive power. Finally, Rika finishes her last chant and shouts “BLUE EARTH!!!” The remaining bullets from the last spell stop moving as the magical circle under Rika stops spinning and turns blue along with the seals. The bullets start to shine white, then spread all around the battlefield, falling like snow and restoring everything around them. The trees, the ground, the bamboo shoots, even the ground around the goddesses, however, it doesn’t heal them, or Rika. After the spell finishes, Rika drops on her face on the ground and her fire and water sword get absorbed into the golden gate, which closes up immediately after the swords are safely inside.

When everything gets quiet, Hatate opens her eyes and gasps with admiration as everything, even the burned and dried up tree is fully restored. At first she can’t believe her eyes, but when she touches the tree she realizes it’s no illusion. Rika feels dizzy, her consciousness slowly drifting away, however she uses every ounce of her will to keep herself awake and away from the darkness. She manages to get up, feeling her head spin in place and the world around her swerve and sway right under her feet, however she manages to walk up to the goddesses, who lie defeated on the ground, their clothes broken and in tatters. She takes a deep breath and turns back to her Soraogan mode, regaining her composure and balance, the dizziness leaving her. She looks at the goddesses and her eyes start to glow as she whisper “blessing. Where are your blessings?” From Rika’s point of view, she can see the beautiful soul of the misguided goddesses, then she sees a swirling white energy and exclaims “there we go.” Kanako and Suwako slowly stand up, groaning as they do, then Rika start to emanate a soft and soothing energy. Kanako whispers “th-that’s...” Suwako finishes “our own blessings. But how?” Rika takes a deep breath and says “I have copied the magic of your blessings and linked it with my own... I want to show you something.” Rika takes another deep breath, then suddenly starts to sing her own family’s blessing song, mixing it with the power of the goddesses’ blessings. Her song emanates an essence of faith, struggle, hope, defiance, honor, love and accomplishment that moves the goddesses to tears. Her song echoes all over Gensokyo, and all who hear it feel their hearts beating stronger, tears involuntarily coming out of their eyes as they smile. Even Yuka at the Garden of the Sun. Remilia and all her servants, her family, Eirin and Kaguya and the rabbits, and Reimu, who is flying close to the Bamboo Forest now. After the song reaches the farthest edges of Gensokyo, the land begins to glow, all the flowers blooming, even those that aren’t in season. Even Lily While, who is with Ail at his house, feels a surge of energy, making her shout “SPRING~!” and shoot danmaku all around the inside of the house. When Kanako and Suwako look around, they are overcome, tears falling from their eyes non-stop. Rika ends her song, looks at the goddesses with a soothing smile, then says “this is what Reimu fights to protect. This is what you are about to destroy. Can you live with yourselves, knowing you are about to destroy all this beauty?” Suwako cries “I... I’m sorry!” Kanako drops to her knees and cries “you were right! Rika we’re so sorry!” Rika smiles and says “it’s not to me who you should be apologizing to.” With those works, Rika falls on her knees, and before she falls on her face, Hatate rushes to her and catches her, saying “got you, sis!” Suwako and Kanako stare with tears toward Rika, her sword’s diamond glowing bright blue, twice as bright as ever, then Suwako cries “we’re so sorry, miss Hatate, miss Rika. Please, forgive us!” From the sky, Reimu shout “RIKA! What happened here!? Rika, speak to me!” Hatate jumps away after Reimu almost tackles her to get Rika, then shakes her maid, shouting “Rika, wake up! Rika, what happened here!? Rika!” Hatate and the goddesses silently watch as Reimu tries to unsuccessfully wake Rika up, then Hatate walks closer to Reimu and places a hand on her shoulder.

Early morning at the Hakurei Shrine. Kanako and Suwako kneels on the floor next to the sliding door, looking on with saddened faces. Meanwhile, Eirin places a transparent liquid on a thick plastic bag with a thin tube that seems to connect to Rika’s arm on a tall metal pillar. To their left is Hatate, looking with both concern and curiosity, yet taking no pictures, and to the right is Reimu, hiding her worried eyes under her hair. Eirin sighs and says “she’s not going to wake up for some time, so I’ll have to leave her with this serum.” Reimu and Hatate nod, then Reimu asks “will she need that forever?” Eirin giggles and says “my, no! Just until she wakes up. And when she does, you take her straight to me. I’m going to have to run some tests on her.” Both Hatate and Reimu nod, then Eirin gets up and says “please, Reimu, you let me know when she wakes up! I mean it!” Reimu lifts her head, revealing her puffy eyes, to look at Eirin’s truly concerned eyes, then nods and says “don’t worry. As soon as she wakes up I’ll let you all know.” Eirin smiles, feeling some relief from Reimu’s words, then says “good” and walks away. Reimu slowly gets up from the floor and approaches the goddesses, and sounding suspicious she asks “and what is it you wanted to tell me?” Suwako and Kanako exchange worried glances, then Suwako says “we... better go outside.” Once out of the shrine and away from the door, Suwako and Kanako drop on their knees again and bow to Reimu, making her feel extremely uncomfortable and ask “what the hell are you two doing?” Suwako cries “we’re sorry Reimu, we really are!!” Before Reimu can ask, Kanako says “we’re the ones that helped Marisa open that gate!” Reimu stares at them with a blank expression while the information sinks in, then her eyes hide under a dark shadow as she asks “what did you say?” Kanako continues “we wanted to help the kappa advance a little more with their progress, so we helped Marisa open that gate.” Suwako adds “we always knew what was behind that gate, and we knew the risks, but we thought we could take care of things after we took care of our own goals first, so we didn’t tell her about that!” Kanako quickly adds “please don’t be mad at the witch. She truly wanted to help you.” Suwako adds “yeah. She kept telling us she wanted to help you, so you could be happy, and... well we didn’t really warn her about the dangers, so...” By now, Reimu’s face is red with rage, yet a single tear escapes her eyes as she says “do you know... what I had to do to Marisa for that? How FURIOUS I was at her because of that stupid experiment of hers!? The one I thought she was doing for herself, only to find out it was for me, and in THIS manner as well!” Suwako and Kanako bow down and says “we’re sorry~” at the same time. Suddenly Reimu smiles angelically at the goddesses and says “Kanako, Suwako, could you be so kind as to hold this for me?” Suwako and Kanako rise up and notice Reimu’s smile, holding in her hand the ribbon she usually wears on her head, her now lose hair swaying with the wind. Kanako and Suwako exchange curious glances, but nod at Reimu and extend their hands and say “sure.” The second they touch that ribbon, they find themselves trapped inside a round barrier each, then Reimu shouts “DIVINE SPIRIT! FANTASY SEAL!!” From a distance, the goddesses’ scream echo all around, accompanied by various explosions, and right after they stop, Reimu shouts “BARRIER! EXTENDING BARRIER!” There is a shocking sound accompanied by more screams from the goddesses, then Reimu shouts “TREASURE TOOL! YIN-YANG DEMON GOD ORB!!” The goddesses scream again, then there’s a loud explosion and Reimu quickly shouts “DIVINE ARTS! OMNIDIRECTIONAL DEMON BINDING CIRCLE~!” Suwako screams and Kanako lets out a loud “uwooooooo~!”, as a golden beam of light rises from the shrine to the sky. Kanako and Suwako can be heard taking desperate breaths, then Reimu suddenly shouts “DREAM LAND! SUPER DUPLEX BORDER!!” Electrical noises and explosions accompany the goddesses painful screams, then Reimu shouts “A-HAHAHAHA~! This is for Marisa! DREAM SIGN! EVIL SEALING CIRCLE!!” More explosions accompany the screams, then Reimu cackles one last time and says “and this one’s for RIKA~! BOUNDARY! DUPLEX DANMAKU BOUNDED FIELD!” The sound of bullets, electric shocks and explosions accompany the goddesses’ screams all the way to Remilia’s mansion, where Remilia herself, along with Flandre zip under a couch, hugging each other and tremble in fear, Flandre saying “onee-sama, save me!” Remilia replies “she won’t find us here!”

Meanwhile, at the Moriya Shrine, Budou stretches her arms and wings as she wakes up and gets up from the ground, looking at Phredia, who flies in front of her, and says “good morning, Phredia.” The fairy smiles, kisses Budou’s nose, calls off her barrier from the door, then promptly enters Budou’s heart. Sanae calls from the kitchen “Budou, come and have breakfast. We have a busy day today and you need your energy.” Budou looks to the kitchen, where Koishi is smacking her lips and saying “that was just amazing!”, and Sanae wears an apron and smiles widely, saying “thank you. Now Budou, please come and eat.” Budou rubs her eyes and looks with amazement, then asks “mama Sanny, what happened?” Sanae giggles and says “it’s a surprise! I promised Phredia I wouldn’t say a word, but I will let you know you’ll love it!” Budou stares at Sanae with curiosity, but quickly smiles and rushes to the table, saying “alright then. I don’t know what’s going on, but seeing mama Sanny so happy makes me happy too.” Koishi smiles and says “and somehow, her cooking’s improved as well!” Sanae giggles and says “thank you.” Koishi bows her head, and a golden washtub falls right on top of her head, making a loud clanging sound when it lands on her head, and after it falls on the ground and rolls away. Koishi stays in place, still bowing her head, then Sanae hurries to her and asks “a-are you alright, Koishi?” Koishi lifts her head, revealing her eyes swirling in place as she speaks with a wobbly voice, saying “cooking, so nice, with syrup from apples and... whoa.” Koishi finally falls with a loud thud, then Sanae sighs and says “someday, we’ll beat those blasted washtubs.” Budou giggles and nods while her cheeks look inflated from the food she has stuffed into her mouth. After swallowing, the little bat youkai raises an eyebrow, and sounding very surprised she asks “wait a minute! You can talk to Phredia!?

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail Budou and Phredia were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami and her spell cards Wind Sign Neppa Senpuujin, Fire & Water Sign Embraco Endo no Zeppa Juujishou, Rite of Fire and Water Spiral Flare no Makoujin Fuuen, Water and Dark Sign Cocytus: Gessenkohou, and Ars Magica Rensa Hotsudou-Extension- were created by Snapshot 2010
Assistance by Snapshot 2010

MAY 01 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
OMG! This whole chapter in just 1 day!!! I swear, my muse is just on hyper mode! I hope she stays the way! Seriously, I thought this chapter would take me longer to finish, since I had to work with Rika’s scenes and spell cards, and that required a lot of help from Snapshot! Also, the reviews/comments also help with my inspiration, so thank you for leaving your reviews and comments and showing your support.

I was speaking to my friend about the goddesses. Man... I just keep picking on them. I mean, I LOVE these characters, ESPECIALLY when they get perverted, But for some reason, I just LOVE messing them up. My friend says I go “sadist mode” on them. Thing is, I can’t deny this. I mean, look at that punishment! 7 spell cards! Ouch! And I’m not done yet, as Sanae still has one more thing to do to them before this Sukima ends. Geez, maybe I’ll give them a break next time, and just pick on Satori, Parsee, or who knows, maybe Kaguya. Oh well, see you next chapter if the spirits will allow. Take care.