Paradise Sukima 22

Marisa stands next to the sealed door, staring toward the end of the room large blue room, where Mima seems to be in suspended animation while trapped inside an orb of light. Marisa tightens her grip on Mima’s crescent moon staff and fills herself up with courage and says to herself “the sooner I do this, the sooner we can save Wriggle and get out of here.” She runs down a set of steps that suddenly appear before her, though she ignores their sudden appearance and continues to run through a narrow, rocky path surrounded by stalactites and other rock formations. When she reaches the bottom, tiny black, purple, blue and green imps, wearing helmets with sharp spikes on their heads, straw vests that cover down to their thin legs, and bearing jagged sharp teeth under their glowing green eyes, jump right out of the dark spots in the surrounding area. A total of 5 get on Marisa’s way, startling her for a second. She clenches her teeth, disguising her fear with courage, then grips Mima’s staff tight and says “out of my way, little creeps!” Two of the creatures jump straight at her, aiming their spiked helmets at her, but Marisa instinctively swings Mima’s staff, and the moment it strikes their tiny bodies, they turn into a dark mist and disappear. Marisa watches as the remaining 3 imps hesitate, and smirks with mischief, then swings the staff and strikes one, twirls her body along with the staff and strikes the second one. The third imp tries to run away, but Marisa somersaults in the air while holding on to the staff and lands it right on top of the imp as soon as she drops to the ground on her feet. As she lifts herself up, she admires what she did, then says “whoa, that was impressive... Even for me, ze!” Marisa look to Mima, then frowns and starts running again, swinging Mima’s staff, twirling around, avoiding attacks, one after another, defeating imp after imp, all popping out of the dark spots in the room, increasing in numbers every time, yet Marisa continues forward, her eyes set on her goal. Finally, 20 imps stand in her way, blocking what seems the end of the narrow, rocky path, all giggling and snickering amongst themselves. Marisa narrows her eyes and scowls, then says “get the hell out of my way!” The little imps jump in groups, all pointing the spike on their helmets straight at Marisa, but she continues to swing Mima’s staff with great skill, as though she’s done something like this before, eliminating the imps by the numbers, until the last one tries to hide back in the darkness, so Marisa throws the staff at it, striking it hard with the crescent moon end and eliminating it immediately. After she picks the staff up again, she takes a few well-earned breaths, then realizes her right arm is throbbing, however the sharp pain that rendered her useless is gone. She clenches her right hand twice, then looks at her palm and says “finally, It’s healing!” She looks forward and says “Mima-sama, I’m almost there!” Though feeling a little fatigued, Marisa start to run again, but the moment she step out of the rocky path, and on to the smoothed, wide-open floor, the entire cave behind her collapses, and the floor turns to glass tiles. Marisa twitches and stiffens her body after the sound of rocks crumbling behind her seems to surround her, but as soon as everything settles down again, she relaxes and looks ahead. Even though she’s been running, it seems as though she hasn’t even begun to get close to Mima. She looks curiously as the fact sinks into her mind, however, she tightens her grip on the staff once more and thinks “whatever kind of magic is this, I’ll overcome it! Somehow!” She takes two steps forward, then the third step makes the tiles underneath her illuminate, blinding Marisa while making an annoying whirring sound, covering her eyes by wrapping her arms around her face, then everything stops in a second. Marisa slowly uncovers her face and takes a look, immediately gasping in horror after looking ahead. The tiles glow in a set of colors, these ones glowing red, white and brown. Marisa stares at the colored glass tiles for a moment, then whispers “Reimu!” From above, the color formation reveals the tiles depicting a faceless Reimu, and while Marisa stands at the lower part of the image, at the head stands another figure. Marisa’s eyes widen as her body trembles, staring at the figure with great terror in her face, then asks “is that really you... Reimu?” Ahead, stands a figure of a faceless Reimu, holding on to her gohei and quietly staring back at Marisa.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu tosses and turns around her futon, clenching her eyes tight while mumbling in her sleep, as if having a nightmare. In her dream, she stands far away in front of Marisa, trying to call out to her though her voice doesn’t come out. She suddenly loses all feelings in her heart, and her mind fills with the desire to murder her friend. She sees herself rushing straight at Marisa, who smiles back and waves at her, just to get struck on the head as soon as Reimu reaches, however the second Reimu’s gohei touches Marisa’s head, the dream shifts. Now she’s a young girl, training inside a dojo, surrounded by various other girls, all holding wooden Japanese swords and swinging them downward repeatedly. A woman approaches Reimu, smiles tenderly, then says “you’re doing very well ****. I think you’re ready for the next level.” Reimu blinks, then the woman turns to Marisa, who says “keep it up, and you might surpass me one day, ze.” Reimu springs out of her futon and on to the solid floor on her face, then slowly realizes she was dreaming. It’s a bright summer morning, and outside the only noise that can be heard is the sounds of a few birds chirping as they fly all around and some annoying cicada. After taking a few breaths, Reimu realizes she’s covered in sweat, so she rubs her face and says to herself “what a weird dream. This time it was mixed with... Marisa...” Reimu sits on the floor and holds her knees with her arms as she continues “geez, what is she doing? I thought she was just looking for a way to seal that thing, but...” Reimu stares at the tatami floor between her feet and thinks “that’s right. She has no magic, all because of what I had to do. Great, now I’m feeling guilty. Geez, I need a bath.” Her thoughts suddenly stop when she hears a girl speaking in the living room, saying “and it looks like that kappa was here. This fan is definitely her work. Oh, and you’re even, like, smiling now.” Reimu sighs and whispers “that tengu’s back.” She exits her room, carrying a towel and her every-day clothes, and says “well, I see you’re back, miss tengu.” Hatate smiles, expanding her chest and striking it lightly with her bandaged arm and says “well of course. I told you I’ll make sure Rika-sis gets well.” Reimu lets out a quick smile, then says “well, I need a bath, so please take care of her for me, and I’ll make us some breakfast afterward, is that alright?” Hatate jumps with excitement and exclaims “YEAH”, revealing all her limbs are completely bandaged. Reimu raises her right eyebrow and asks “err, what’s with the bandages?” Hatate blushes with embarrassment, then looks away while saying “i-it’s nothing. Nothing at all.” A few minutes later, While Reimu takes her bath, Momiji whispers through the window “pst! Hey, Reimu.” Reimu loudly asks “who the heck is there?” Momiji shushes Reimu and tosses a rolled-up newspaper through the window. Reimu complains “I’m not going to subscribe, so just take-“ Momiji interrupts, saying “just read the middle pages. I guarantee, you’ll be very glad you did.” With that, Momiji can be heard rushing away. Reimu curiously opens the newspaper, starts chuckling, then suddenly starts laughing out loud.

Back at the crystal-tiled room, Marisa takes two steps toward the faceless Reimu and says “Reimu! Why are you here!? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” Reimu’s voice echoes all over the room as she replies “you should know, you traitor! Selfish BRAT!” Marisa gasps and takes a step back, then softly says “Reimu. Reimu, I’m so sorry. I swear, I never meant to cause you any kind of trouble. I just wanted to help you.” Reimu replies “oh, so that’s your newest excuse!? You know, I made a mistake back there. I shouldn’t have sealed you magic. I should have killed you instead!” Marisa’s face turns pale, her heart seems to break at the harsh words from her friend, feeling as though a cold needle has just entered her heart through her very own bloodstream and is slowly killing her form inside. Marisa looks at Reimu with longing eyes and says “you-you can’t mean that!” Reimu laughs and says “why don’t you just go back home and make some more dangerous experiments? Or better yet, why not just summon death and get it over with.” Marisa hides her eyes under her hat, thinking hard about the situation. For a moment, doubt takes the best of her and she’s about to go back, but she suddenly grips Mima’s staff tight, then take an offensive stance. As she glares back at the faceless Reimu with resolute eyes, a woman’s voice inside her head says “Marisa, you have to fight that guilt. Fight, win! Don’t be afraid!” The faceless Reimu giggles, then suddenly rushes toward Marisa, raising her gohei above her head, then Marisa screams out loud as she rushes forward, meeting with the maiden in the middle of the image, then both strike at each other as hard as they can, sparks flying off Mima’s staff as the fake Reimu’s gohei strikes against it. Marisa manages to strike down at the fake with her staff, making her kneel down, then says “my real friend would never speak to me that way! Even having to seal my magic was a task for her! A task I wish she never had to go through, but she did, and all because I wanted to help.” Marisa swings her gohei sideways, and although the fake Reimu blocks the attack with her gohei, she is pushed away and knocked on to the floor. Marisa walks to the creature and points the crescent moon end of the staff at the creature’s empty face and says “it’s true I didn’t pay attention to the warnings, and it’s true, in the end, all I’ve caused is more trouble for Reimu, and all my friends.” The faceless creature manages to kick Marisa away as it springs up to its feet, then rushes to attack the witch. Marisa manages to jump to the side and avoid a direct gohei to the abdomen, then twirls and strikes the back of the creature as hard a she can, then follows up by grabbing the top part of the staff and striking the creature on its legs, making it fall to the ground once more, then says “I could have just ignored everything, let THEM handle that vortex, let them handle Ail. Heck, I could have just moved to the village!” The faceless Reimu tries to kick Marisa’s ankle, but the witch jumps away at the last second, allowing the creature to stand up and pick its weapon up again. It rushes after Marisa once more, this time attacking more aggressively, so Marisa ups her efforts and attacks back using as much strength as she can, managing to block the creature’s attacks, however she gets pushed back hard to the head of Reimu’s image on the crystal tiles. Marisa feels her right arm throbbing again, but ignores it and continues to stare at the faceless Reimu as it rushes toward her again, then somehow summons great energy to herself, jumps over the creature, and right after landing, she flips and strikes the creature’s head with the staff’s thin end, turning it to white ashes after it screams in agony. Marisa takes a deep breath, then calmly says “but I decided to take responsibility. I decided to help and to set everything right again. I may have failed Reimu then, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just stand around and do nothing. I’ll fix my mistake!” The colored lights in the crystal tiles shut off, and some random tiles fall off, though presenting no danger for Marisa, who looks toward Mima and immediately continues her way. At first she just walks, but quickly quickens her pace, then finds herself running again. After running for a while, she suddenly feels as though she being pushed back, yet she manages to continue forward, and the moment her foot touches the next set of tiles, the room glows light-pink, and the tiles turn black, and glow purple and brown. Marisa stands on the image of Ail, all the way down on his shoes. On the head, the faceless figure of Ail stands staring menacingly at her, with two imps standing right next to him.

Mid-day at the Human Village. Kyo stands on the porch of his house, staring toward the sky with contempt. Medicine walks out of the house with Su-San hovering over her shoulder, then looks at Kyo’s face, then says “why the ugly face, Kyo?” Kyo raises his left hand and says “wait for it~...” 3 seconds later, there is a loud explosion coming from the Bamboo Forest, then the Rabid Karate Night Sparrow flies straight inside the house with a note from Reimu. Kyo sighs and says “I know the drill, just give me the letter already.” The RKNS tosses the letter at Kyo, who immediately opens it and reads “dear Kyo, today you have a very special mission. You’ll be going to Entei to find out what’s the deal with those explosions.” Kyo stops reading and looks at Medicine, then asks “what’s so special about that?” Medicine and Su-San shrug at the same time, then Kyo continues reading “by now you are wondering what’s so special about Entei. Well it’s not Entei that’s special, so don’t make that face.” Kyo stops reading, revealing a very annoyed face, then asks “how the hell did she know?” Medicine quickly replies “she knows you’re an ape.” Kyo grabs Medicine by the back of her neck and starts waving her around the air, and amongst her complaining, he finishes reading “now, let Medicine go and open the door. Your backup should be there by now.” Kyo places Medicine back on the floor and asks “backup? We need backup?” There’s a knock on the door, so Kyo immediately reaches for it, and after he opens it up, he gasps and exclaims “AIL!!! Is that you!?” On the porch are Ail and Budou, both smiling as they look back at Kyo’s surprised face. Ail finally chuckles and asks “Kyo, how are you buddy?” Kyo grabs Ail and gives him a bone-crushing hug, making his back crack as he squeezes the air out of him, then exclaims “Ail! Buddy! You’re back! It’s great to see you back to normal!” After Kyo places him back on the floor, Ail coughs and gasps for air, then says “as normal *gasp* as I’ll ever be, buddy.” Kyo turns his attention to Budou, then exclaims “Budou! How are you? Where have you been? You haven’t come to training in a while.” Budou scratches her cheek and looks away while saying “well, um, that is... I’ve been busy.” While Luna walks down the stairs, Kyo looks at Ail and Budou, then asks “so you’re going to be my backup?” Ail nods and says “that’s right. Reimu even said something about this rabid... night sparrow helping out, but... A little sparrow?” Kyo and Luna panic, then Luna says “shh, you fool. Careful what you say about him! You’ll be sorry!” Ail and Budou look at each other with confusion, then stare back at the terrorized faces of their friends. Before Ail can ask any more, the RKNS swoops down from the second floor and chirps rapidly, while Ail automatically offers his finger as a perch. Ail stares at the bird as it lands on his finger, then looks into his cute little eyes. His face turns blue, his eyes hiding under shadow as he sweats with fear, then says “sorry sir! I won’t question you again, sir!” The RKNS chirps once, then salutes Ail, who salutes back, then flies away, heading toward the Bamboo Forest. Budou looks up at Ail, then Kyo and Luna, then face palms and says “oy. And they’re supposed to be the mighty warriors here.”

Back at the ample pink lit room, Marisa stares at the faceless Ail and the two imps next to him, then readies herself for another fight. Ail’s voice echoes all over the room as he says “you tricked me! You said you were my friend, then used me to open up that gate. I died, but you, oh, you just came out of that like nothing happened!” Marisa shouts “I tried to save you!” Ail’s voice scoffs, then continues “for what? So my body could roam around without a soul? So that the ones who care for me so much wouldn’t shun you? So that you could be at peace with yourself!? Don’t piss me off!” Marisa raises the staff side-ways up to her face, glaring at the faceless Ail as she says “maybe at first, but a demon like you would never understand. I care for my friends, and my reasons for saving Ail’s life goes beyond petty feelings like that!” The faceless Ail and the two imps rush toward Marisa, who rushes forward as well, and the second they meet on the image of Ail’s violet shirt, Marisa swings the crescent staff and immediately strikes out the two imps, however, the faceless Ail manages to jump away in time. Marisa clenches her teeth and growl, ignoring a tickling sensation in her right arm, then says “I never would have gone along with the opening of that gate if I had known it had such high stakes!” Ail’s voice echoes as he says “don’t make me laugh, little witch! Even knowing the dangers, you would have gone along with it. You are too selfish! The only REAL reason you did all that was to show off! To prove others what a great magician you are!” Marisa chases after the creature, swinging the staff with all her might, but missing miserably since the creature keeps reading her moves and flees accordingly. A woman’s voice inside Marisa’s head says “don’t let him provoke you. Calm down. Use your head!” Marisa realizes the creature is leading her toward the unlit tiles, and out of curiosity, she approaches the edges of the violet tiles, then pokes the outside tiles with the staff. The crystals tiles shatter and break apart immediately after being touched, making Marisa gasp with surprise and backs away, however the faceless Ail is already behind her, ready to push her away from the safe tiles, but Marisa manages to twirl away, using the staff itself to build momentum, and when she’s behind the creature, she unleashes her attack, but the creature quickly ducks and jumps away. After he lands back on the image of Ail’s head, he points at Marisa and says “relying on that staff. Pheh! You always rely on the power of others! Die with dignity! Use your own!” Marisa grumbles, then runs straight at him, raising the staff high in the air. The creature stands still, confident that Marisa will miss him again, and as soon as she swings the staff, he jumps away once more, however Marisa sticks the staff firmly on the crystal tile and uses the momentum to swing around and land a kick on the creature. As she swings, her right foot is surrounded by a blue light, gaining even more strength and speed, striking the faceless Ail right on its abdomen and turning him to shards of glass after a loud groan. Marisa lands on her left knee while looking at her shoe, then thinks “so the magical mushroom paste is still active, I see.” As she stands up, she grabs the staff and says “I saved Ail because I care about him, as any friend! The thought may have crossed my mind, but saving his life was my main concern, and not just of what Sanae and Budou would think of me. And just because I ask my friends for help doesn’t mean I rely on their power! I have my own!” She pulls the staff free, then the tiles turn back to clear, and the room turns blue once more. After Marisa takes a deep breath, the woman’s voice that speaks to her mind says with glee “ah, so glad to hear that. Good, that means you won’t be needing this staff anymore.” Mima’s crescent moon staff disappears right out of Marisa’s hand, making Marisa feel a little nervous. She looks around, her heart suddenly racing as a cold chill runs through her spine, then she shouts “hey, wait! That’s not what I meant! What if those things come back!?” The woman’s voice echoes all over the room, saying “don’t be afraid, child. You have all you’ll ever need to keep yourself safe. You might even possess the power to protect, and even save others.” Marisa runs a few steps and jumps up while shouting, hoping her voice will reach whoever is talking back to her as she says “my magic is sealed! I need help!” When she lands back on the tiles, the fear she was pushing back creeps itself over her once more. Marisa looks around, hoping to find Mima’s staff somewhere, but instead, when she looks back, instead of finding Mima’s staff she realizes the tiles are all falling down, threatening to take her with them if she doesn’t move. She moves quickly, breathing heavily as she runs as fast as her feet can take her, however the speed in which the tiles fall is much faster than the speed she can run at, so in one last ditch effort, Marisa jumps high and lands on a solid, glass platform. She opens her eyes and slowly gets back up on her feet, realizing she is still on the crystal tiles. As she looks forward, her face turns blue, filling up with great terror when she realizes the glass tiles are now depicting herself, and sure enough, her faceless self stands on the head of her image, standing sideways and crossing its arms across its chest, hiding its empty face under its hat, accompanied by what seems like hundreds of the little imps. Marisa starts to tremble, wanting to run away, while her own voice echoes all over the room, saying “welcome, useless witch!”

Late noon at Entei. Ail walks into the courtyard on his own and calmly approaches the Mansion’s entrance. He stands on the porch and is just about to knock on the door, when Kaguya startles him as she comes from behind and asks “oh, it’s Ail. Are you still a mindless zombie?” Ail twitches in fright, then suddenly turns around, looking as normal as he can, then says “I wasn’t a zombie. My body was just acting on subconscious. Um, anyway, err, hi, how are you?” Kaguya stares at Ail, then blinks twice, flips her hair at him, then asks “what’s it to you? In any case, what are you doing here?” Ail sweats and mumbles “so unfriendly. Guess I can’t blame her”, then says “I came here to investigate the recent explosions. Know anything about that?” Kaguya smiles, then says “I haven’t heard any explosions.” From farthest rooms of the mansion, there is a loud explosion that rocks the entire courtyard, then Reisen screams “ah~! I’m sorry!” Eirin screams back “stop moving already!” Reisen shouts back “stop being so unreasonable!” Eirin shouts back “Udonge~! Don’t make me use the syringe again~.” Reisen screams “no~! Please, Master, have mercy~! KYAH~!” After everything quiets down again, Ail smiles very friendly-like at Kaguya, who sweats and smiles back while giggling nervously. Still smiling, Ail says in a very friendly tone “you have two choices. Either let us in and investigate peacefully, or we’ll go in the usual way.” Even though Kaguya smiles back, a vein pulsates on her forehead as she raises a spell card and says “you have no chance against the princess of the Moon, mister.” Ail smiles back, raising his own spell card, then says “I would have been so disappointed if we didn’t get to dance today.” Kaguya’s smile turns to a confident half-smile as she flies up to the sky and shouts “New Impossible Request! Seamless Ceiling of Kinkaku-ji!” Ail flies up to meet Kaguya and smiles as he says “looks interesting. Alright guys! Go inside while I take care of this.” Kaguya shoots two yellow beams in straight lines beside herself, and repeats the beams, all in different sizes, then unleashes a barrage of random light-blue, blue, green and red orbs at Ail. While Budou, Medicine, the RKNS, Kyo and Luna run inside the mansion, Kaguya gasps and exclaims “hey, that’s cheating!” Ail carefully dodges as many of the attacks he can while smiling and saying “hey, hey, focus on the battle, alight. Mad Waves, Raging Waves.” Ail unleashes 6 sets of 8 blue extra-large orbs beside him, two of those lines lying horizontally underneath him, while the rest set vertically around him. Underneath the large orbs scatter countless blue shard bullets that move fast toward Kaguya, wiping out her danmaku as they move along. Afterward, the extra-large orbs move toward Kaguya, trailed by watery waves that release more scattered shard bullets. Kaguya is overwhelmed, her face filled with both fright and disappointment, however she intensifies her own spell and shouts “I’ll teach you not to mess with me!” Meanwhile, on the farthest end of the rooms corridor in the mansion, Kyo and company continue to walk down the quiet corridor. Kyo is about to ask if they really are in the right place, but a sudden scream form Reisen gets his attention, then Luna beats him from saying “it’s the room up ahead!” Ignoring the grumbling Kyo, the girls all rush to the room and immediately pull open the sliding door, finding Reisen with half of her skirt burned away, her upper shirt turning to ashes on her shoulders, and the left sleeve of her undershirt is completely gone. The moon rabbit yelps and shouts “wait, look away!” The RKNS rushes inside and immediately some loud angry chirps accompany smacking sounds, along with Eirin and Tewi’s grunts and calls for help. A few moments later, Eirin, Tewi and Reisen, who covers herself up with a blanket, all kneels on the ground with apologetic faces, then Eirin says “you didn’t have to beat us up like that.” Tewi adds “yeah! We did nothing wrong!” Kyo sighs angrily, then ask “so that’s it? That’s the reason for all the explosions?” Eirin nods and says “what’s the big deal anyway? Just because there are continuous explosions, doesn’t mean there’s an incident.” Luna and Medicine sweat, then Luna smiles and says “you really need to check that brain of yours, miss genius.” Kaguya’s scream reaches all the way into the room, followed by a splash and an explosion, then Eirin springs to her feet and shouts “it’s the princess!” She pushes Medicine, Budou and Luna out of the way as she rushes to the entrance, then Kyo comments “and she was just talking about explosions, wasn’t she?” Everyone in the room, even the RKNS, nod at Kyo’s statement.

Inside the ample dark-blue room, Marisa stands at the very end of the crystal tiled path, the tiles depicting an image of herself, and on the head of that image, a faceless version of herself stands accompanied by hundreds of little imps, all eager to attack. The fear in Marisa’s face is undeniable; she wants to turn back and run away, but the path behind her is gone. Marisa turns her attention to her faceless self, as her own voice echoes all over the room, saying “how typical. You rather just run away instead of facing your fears. Well, go ahead. Jump. Down there, you’ll find freedom from this wretched life. I mean, a magician without magic? There’s nothing for you to live for anymore.” Marisa starts to breathe with effort as those words slowly sink into her heart. She tries to fight it and shouts “that’s not true! The yama said I-“ Her own voice sounds like thunder as it echoes in the room, saying “and you believe that!? You fool! She only said that out of pity from how WEAK and pathetic you truly are. Face it, without your magic, you are just a faceless worm in an endless desert.” Marisa drops to her knees and covers her face with her hands, despair taking over her body, the imps slowly approaching her, some looking hungry, while others have a look of bloodlust on their faces. Marisa’s voice echoes around the room as she says “now die as the nothing you are. Your sacrifice will be an amusement for the master’s wedding, and after that, he’ll send your precious maiden friend to hell with you. Who knows, maybe he’ll be merciful and send all your friends with you.” The words echo inside Marisa’s mind, then Reimu’s voice speaks loud inside her mind, loudly saying ”Marisa, look at what you did! You got me killed! Thanks a lot!” Before even Marisa herself realizes what happened, she stands on her feet and shouts “Instrument Signs! Orrery’s Sun!!” Four magical orbs, red, blue, green and yellow, circle around Marisa, and without realizing it, she unleashes multi-colored stars from her hands, and the orbs react accordingly, and long before the stars hit their targets, Marisa joins her hands together and says “taste Narrow Spark!”, and unleashes a thick beam of light, and the orbs around her react accordingly, eliminating more than half of the surprised imps. Marisa’s faceless self reacts with surprise, her own voice echoing, saying “n-no! This is impossible! You’re not supposed to have magic!” Marisa raises her right arm, the make-shift bandages from Wriggle slipping off and revealing the gash properly healed and sealed, though still in need of some treatment. Marisa ignores this and simply glares at her faceless self. With righteous fury in her voice, she says “oy! Why don’t I send you and your precious master to hell instead! Leave Reimu, and all my friends alone, ze?” Marisa’s broom rushes to Marisa’s hand, coming from deeper within the cave, however Marisa doesn’t seem to realize what’s going on yet, and subconsciously mounts her broom and takes flight. She looks down on her image on the tiles, the still countless imps, and her faceless self, then says “meet my... Stardust Reverie!” Marisa rushes toward her faceless self, flying close to the ground and releasing countless bright multi-colored stars, eliminating many of the imps, making the remaining imps run away and jump down to the abyss, and just as she reaches the faceless creature, she veers our of the way, surrounding it with stars. Marisa hovers on her broom just above the tiles, then says “I’ve already caused Reimu enough trouble! I won’t allow you to cause her any more! Comet, Blazing Star!” Marisa and her broom are engulfed in a bright and powerful aura, then Marisa flies at the speed of a comet and strikes her faceless self hard, sending its body flying several feet in the air. Marisa lands on the tiles, ahead from where the creature is falling to, then says “I’m not done with you! Take Miasma Sweep!” She rises to the air while holding her broom upright, and the second the creature’s body makes contact with the broom, Marisa shouts “Star Sign, Escape Velocity!” The energy on the tip of the broom intensifies and Marisa flies higher in the air, splitting her faceless self in two and making it turn to a white ash as it falls to the glass tiles. Marisa lands back down on the glass tiles with her broom at hand, then looks toward where the ashes fell and says “I made many mistakes, and I paid dearly for them. But I promised myself, even without my magic, I am going to fix all of this, for Reimu and all my friends.” The glass tiles start to tremble, threatening to fall in unison and take her with them, so Marisa jumps on her broom and avoids plunging to the void, then smiles as she looks toward Mima, who seems closer, and says “but before I do that, I have to save my teacher, ze.” Marisa flies at great speed toward her mentor and reaches a stone path, however she doesn’t stop and continues her flight. While she does, countless imps, some even riding on giant bats, creep out of the darkness, all aiming to take her down, however she just smiles confidently at them, and without hesitation, she unleashes a barrage of magical spells, turning them all to bits of glass, sand and ashes, doing so casually and naturally.

Late night at the Hakurei Shrine. Hatate, with her bandaged limbs, and Aya, with her bandaged butt and legs, scheme of ways to take out Momiji, all while caring for Rika and helping Reimu, though Hatate does so for Rika herself, while Aya does so for Reimu. Reimu stares at them and calmly says “look, the only reason she posted that in her paper, is because you attacked her first, so why don’t you just leave Momiji alone.” Aya and Hatate stare at her for a moment, then ignore her and continue their plotting. Kyo, Luna and Medicine land right in front of the porch, Luna immediately calling “evening~! Miss Reimu~” Reimu walks out of the shrine with a worried and surprised look on her face as she says “well, finally. I though you guys were waiting for an invitation or something.” Kyo growls and says “aw, give us a break already.” Reimu sighs, placing her hands on her hips, raising her left eyebrow, then asks “so, did you manage to find out about the explosions?” Medicine smiles and giggles, then says “oh yes. But we can’t tell you here.” Before Reimu can ask, Luna points at the two tengu right behind her and says “because certain crow-like parrots might blab.” Both Hatate and Aya frown and angrily say “hey~!”, then Hatate says “I’m a crow, not a parrot!” Aya adds “black feathers! I see no green or blue, sister!” Reimu shuts the doors behind her, completely ignoring the complains from the tengu, then walks along Kyo, Luna and Medicine, then asks “so, what was it?” Once they reach the back of the shrine, Kyo laughs and says “those idiots were trying to turn their danmaku into fireworks for some celebration. A surprise, they said.” Luna giggles and says “they were using Reisen’s powers to try and aid them...” Medicine finishes “but it turns out they were just lacking some control.” Reimu stares at them with both disgust and disbelief, then asks “that’s it? All those explosions for that?” Kyo, Luna and Medicine laugh, then Kyo says out loud “yeah, can you believe them!?” From the roof, Suika says “those aliens sure seem like fun. Who knows, I might go and help them a bit.” Kyo and Medicine both twitch and sweat, while Luna neutrally stares back at Suika and says “no, miss oni. Please keep quiet about this.” Suika drops from the roof and says “don’t worry, I won’t let them know you told me.” Reimu ignores them all and rubs her chin while thinking, then snaps her fingers and asks “hey, whatever happened to Ail and Budou... and the little sparrow?” Kyo, Luna and Medicine look at each other for a while, then drop to the ground to laugh hard, while Reimu and Suika stare at them with great curiosity. At Entei, Ail wears an apron over a black kimono made especially for him, while Budou wears an aquamarine kimono with pink cloud designs on it. Eirin angrily calls “mister rough brute, the princess needs your help.” Ail looks at Budou with a very saddened expression and says “next time remind me I need to hold back.” Budou nods and says “sure thing, papa. Now let’s go before she starts crying.” After walking to the corridor, a sealing arrow stuck on Ail’s back becomes evident for all to see. Kaguya sits in her room on a concentration of pillows with her left leg in a cast, and her right shoulder completely bandaged. She smiles at Ail and Budou, then says “get me some tea and snacks in under 5 seconds.” Ail bows and says “immediate, miss Kaguya”, then as he and Budou turn around, the little bat sweats and whispers “but that’s impossible.” Ail smiles back and says “thank the gods, my little girl.” Outside, on the courtyard, Tewi and the RKNS have Sanae hanging upside down, tied by her ankle, angrily saying “let me GO! I want Ail back, right NOW!” Tewi wears large sunglasses and bites on a grain stem and says “sorry madam, but I’m gonna have to ask you to calm down.” From the left comes the RKNS and chirps angrily, then Sanae shouts “I DON’T GIVE DAMN! I WANT HIM AWAY FROM THAT PRINCESS!! And stop taking photos of my underwear!” From far away, Mokou watches the situation, but simply shrugs as she shakes her head, then she hears Sanae screaming “ACK! No my underwear, you mangy bird! AAHH~”

Marisa is now mere feet away from reaching Mima. She doesn’t realize this is her 3rd day inside the cave, as she feels as fresh as from the moment she entered. The few imps that remain behind her peek at her from the shadows, but not one dares approach her as she looks up to Mima, who floats above a large round room lit with prism colors, inside an orb made from light. She jumps from her broom and thinks “there has to be danger nearby, or my magic would surely be sealed again by now. Need to stay focused. I have to save Mima.” She walks toward the large round room, and the moment she sets foot in it, the room expands and the floor lights up, showing the images of a black and white dragon, sitting next to a small, sad human, a large shrine with a crying maiden and an angel caring for her, and a vast forest with a destroyed house in the middle of it. She recognizes the images as the void between paradises, the Hakurei Shrine, and her own, destroyed house in the Forest of Magic. She gasps and whispers “Reimu... my friends. I have to fix this. But first, I have to save Mima!” She takes a few steps toward the center of the room, her steps sounding like she’s stepping on metal. From the roof fall a few stones that sound like shattering glass when they hit the floor, and the pieces that break from the rock sound like wind-chimes. When she reaches half-way of the center, the floor starts to shine, making a loud whirring sound, then stops. When she opens her eyes again, the image on the floor changes to a faceless picture of Mima, and the small oil presser standing on the head of the picture. Marisa narrows her eyes as she stars at him, then says “wait a minute. You’re the master of this cave!” The creature nods and calmly says “that’s right. Now, if you’d be so kind as to return me my ring, so I can marry this surface dweller and my revenge on that accursed yama and her world of light.” Marisa looks at the small creature with confusion, then it says to her “that’s right. The ring is inside that hat of yours, so please give it back.” Marisa unconsciously asks “what will you do to Mima-sama!?” The creature calmly replies “I see. She’s your master. Well, I’m afraid that once we’re married, she’ll have to stay here in my stead until I return. And honestly, I have no intension of returning soon. Maybe a few thousand years.” Marisa scowls and clenches her teeth, then says “I’m taking Mima back with me.” The creature stats to chuckle, then his voice suddenly gets louder as he says “my, so confident, just because some of your powers have returned to you. It seems I have no choice. You know, I really like you, since thanks to you and that magical shockwave you sent my way, woke me up and gave me amazing powers.” Marisa twitches and backs away, thinking “no, not again! Marisa, what have you done!?” The creature’s voice turns monstrous as he calmly says “now, miss Marisa Kirisame, since you won’t cooperate willingly, I’ll have to destroy you. Farewell.” The creature gets consumed in darkness and suddenly, it’s body starts to grow a hundred times its own size, roaring furiously, taking a monstrous shape, then the darkness around it lifts away like a curtain from a theatre stage. He now has the head of a wolf, the neck of a dragon, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, the tail of a demon, and on the tip of the tail, a threatening snake-head that hisses at Marisa, showing it’s many times her own size in comparison. At first, Marisa is overtaken by fear once more, but after seeing Mima floating behind the monster, she steels herself. The monster roars once more, sending a powerful magical gust of wind that almost blows Marisa away, however she manages to keep her footing. She smirks with confidence, then scoffs and says “I’m not gonna let you win, I’m sorry to say.” The monster shouts “once you are dead, I plan on eating your delicious-looking body!” Marisa places a hand on her chest and jokingly says “I am delicious, ze.” The monster roars again, then swings its claws and flaps its wings, sending 2 massive white shockwaves of energy toward Marisa from the left and right, so Marisa flies closer to the creature and shouts “Love Sign, Master Spark~!” She pulls her Hakkero right from under her hat and chants into it, then a powerful multi-colored beam flies fast toward the creature’s head, making it cover its face and roar in pain. Once the beam dies out, Marisa flies higher, then smiles confidently at the monster. The creature screams, then says “you wretched little human. I’ll make you suffer for that!” Marisa confidently replies “I’ve heard that one before, ze.” The monster raises its body and expands its arms and wings, and from all over his body, massive petal bullets, orbs, shards, and snowy bullet pellets rise and head straight to Marisa. She frowns, then grabs on tightly to her broom while carefully swaying left and right and up and down, trying her best to avoid being hit, then the monster swings its claws and flaps its wings, sending 4 white energy shockwaves at her, then suddenly opens its mouth and start spitting out a stream of intense blue fire. Marisa yelps and looks around herself, then closes her eyes as she concentrates, then shouts “Love Sign, Non-Directional Laser!” 4 orbs of red, blue, green and yellow surround Marisa and start firing an intense beam while circling around, eliminating all the bullets and protecting Marisa from the fire, while she concentrates on dodging the energy shockwaves, and once she’s clear, she flies up to the monster’s head with her spell still active. She smiles and winks at the monster and says “specialty of the house!” As soon as the spell cancels out, Marisa shouts “Star Sign, Dragon Meteor!” She aims her Hakkero downward toward the beast’s head, then unleashes a powerful multi-colored beam that hits the monster so hard, it falls on all four limbs. After the attack finishes, Marisa lands in front of the creature, breathing with difficulty, but still smiling with confidence, then says “and now, to put you back to sleep. Perverse Love, Easy-Harvest Master Spark!” After declaring her spell, Marisa winces and groans, but keeps her footing while holding on to her Hakkero with both hands. First, a thin beam flies straight to the creature, penetrating and going right through its body, then the beam violently expands, making the creature scream so loud the entire cave trembles. Marisa tries her best to hold her footing, but at the last moment, the force of the beam pushes her back and sends her flying a few feet away. She manages to quickly stand back up, then finds the oil presser back to his feeble shape, knocked on the ground and sleeping like a log. Breathing with effort, Marisa approaches the little youkai, pulls her hat off, then rummages through it, finding a circular stone in the shape of a ring, yet large enough to be a bracelet, then looks at it. She takes a deep breath, then says “there’s gotta be a reason the yama sealed you all the way down here, so...” She tosses the stone ring to the air and fires a tick blue beam from her hands, shattering it in the process. After it falls in pieces to the now rocky floor, she looks at Mima and says “I’m coming, Mima!”

Marisa looks like is in bad shape, tired and dirty, yet she pushes forward. She flies toward Mima and touches the orb of light. For a moment, it shines brighter, then dims down, revealing a smiling evil spirit floating in front of her flying apprentice, then expands her arms and gives Marisa a hug, saying “Marisa, you did it! You finally unlocked you magic! YES! I knew a good incentive might trigger this!” Marisa is barely able to open her eyes, but the surprise is evident in her expression as she asks “wait, what? You mean this was your...?” Mima giggles and smiles, then says “yup! This was your test. And you passed! Congratulations!” Marisa starts to tremble as the rage rises from the pit of her stomach, all the way up to her head, but before she can scream her head off, the cave starts to rumble violently and the roof start collapsing. Mima gasps and says “oh crap! I was afraid of this.” Marisa angrily asks “what now!?” Mima smiles nervously and says “now don’t panic, but since you knocked him out, a good chunk of this cave is going to collapse on top of our heads.” Marisa screams “WHAT!?”, and in seconds, she and Mima are flying as fast as they both can, trailing back the way Marisa came through. Marisa shouts “wait! The path is closed! Wriggle!!” Mima shouts “it’s ok! The magical effects of the cave should be dissolving!” The door in which Marisa came through is open, and on the other side, Wriggle waves at Marisa, shouting “HEY~! What happened!? Oh, miss spirit!” Marisa flies first through the door and grabs Wriggle by the back of her shirt and places her behind herself on her broom, then shouts “Wriggle, I thought you were dead!” Wriggle shouts back “oh, you mean the giant bats! It turns out those fangs weren’t that hard. They broke real easy!” Marisa shouts back “that’s great, Wriggle! Very glad to see you’re alright. Now let’s get the HECK out of here!” Marisa, Wriggle and Mima continue their way through the lime-green passage as it loses its light and start collapsing, then they reach the center of the cave, which in reality is one gigantic abyss. Marisa shouts “stop gawking Mima-sama! FLY!”, then both continue to speed through the cave. After a small while, Wriggle comments “miss Marisa, this is where that bridge...!” Marisa shouts “not now, not now! We have to... OH NO!” Marisa and Mima need to take a sudden turn as gigantic rocks fall right in front of them, however the detour costs them some time, and the back of Marisa’s broom is hit by one of the large falling stones, knocking her and Wriggle right off the broom. Wriggle Manages to grab the broom and Marisa and fly for a bit along with Mima’s help, but they slow down too much and the few lights in the cave die out, then the only thing they can hear in the darkness is the crumbling of the ceiling, the walls and the floor. After some time, everything quiets down, and inside the darkness, Wriggle asks “hey... miss spirit, miss Marisa, are you guys alright?” Marisa groans, then says “I... think so.” Mima adds “um, I swear, this wasn’t part of the plan.” Marisa angrily says “oh really? What a relief!” There is a moment of awkward silence, then Marisa suddenly says “well, whatever. I’m just glad you’re alright. And... thanks. If it wasn’t for this experience, I probably wouldn’t have seen what was truly holding me back.” Mima giggles and says “aww, you’re welcome kiddo~!” Wriggle groans and says “hey, you’re crushing me.” Marisa weakly chuckles, then suddenly gasps, startling Mima and Wriggle, who asks “what? What is it, miss Marisa?” Marisa whispers “someone’s singing...” Marisa summons a white orb of light to her hand and says “it’s coming from outside! Come, follow me!” Mima and Wriggle stand up, looking at Marisa with curiosity, then Mima says “oy, your overexerting yourself. Take it easy with the magic.” Marisa replies “not now~! Follow me!” At first, the two youkai think Marisa’s lost her head, leading them through tight corridors and over collapsed sections, but when they start seeing the light of the exit, they also hear a soothing voice, singing a beautiful song. Mima exclaims “whoa, what a beautiful voice.” Wriggle asks “is that Mystia?” Marisa suddenly stops and asks “Shanghai, is that you?” Shanghai suddenly calls “mama Alice, I found them!” From outside, Alice says “good job, sweetie. Bring them back. Hourai, don’t stop singing.” As the song continues, Marisa, Wriggle and Mima slowly follow Shanghai, who says “keep your eyes on me. Don’t even blink, or you could get lost. Finally, after some time, on the afternoon of the 3rd day, Marisa, Wriggle and Mima exit the magical cave. Hourai stops singing and gives Shanghai a hug, then the tiny girls give Alice a neck hug and Hourai exclaims “we did it! We got them out of there at last!” Marisa, who looks very tired, turns around and asks “what do you... mean... at last? We were only in there a few... hours.” Alice sighs and says “wow, you really lost track of everything, didn’t you.” Marisa, Mima and Wriggle look confused at Alice, then Shanghai says “you were in there for 3 whole days!” Alice giggles and adds “but it’s alright. The important thing is you guys are safe now. Anyway, miss Komachi said she’d be waiting for us at the Entei Clinic so... Marisa, are you alright?” Marisa’s body trembles and sways, yet Marisa still smiles and says “I’m fine. Just fine, z...” Marisa drops on her knees, then face-first to the ground, exhaustion finally getting the best of her. All the girls gasp and call for her, then Mima sighs with relief and says “silly girl. She pushed herself too far. She’s still weakened from the seal.” Alice asks “even when it’s this weak?” Mima nods, then grabs Marisa, lifting her on her shoulder, then says “let’s get her to the clinic. We have to go there anyway, right?” Wriggle sighs, then says “that’s excellent. I’ll make sure she’s alright, then I can go back home for some rest.” Alice stares at Wriggle for a moment, then looks at her pants. Wriggle shrugs and asks “what? Never seen a girl wear...” Before she can finish, Mystia flies above them and sings “chin-chin~! Chin-chin~!” Wriggle clenches her fists, raises them at chest height, then shouts “I’m a girl already!” A silver washtub falls right on her head, making her antennas bend, and her eyes spin, as she tries to keep herself on her feet. After she recovers, she realizes Alice, the tiny girls, and Mima, who carries Marisa, are already on their way. Wriggle sighs, then says “geez, after all that and I still get no respect.”

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Budou, Kyo, Luna and the RKNS were created by Willie G.R.
Ail’s Mad Waves, Raging Waves spell card was created by Willie G.R.

May 10 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
Phew. Took a bit longer than I thought, but it’s done. Heh, weekends and its distractions. What a pain. Anyway, I am sure some of you may have noticed it, but for those who didn’t, a lot of the inspiration for this chapter, particularly the first parts, was Kingdom Hearts. Even though there is a strong reference to this, I made sure to keep it original as well. I must say, that game has such an amazing story. OMG! Thi... this is impossible!!! No goddess abuse? I must be losing it. Oh well, at least I messed someone up.
Also, thank you very much for showing your support once more. Really, the comments/reviews REALLY are great for me and I welcome them, so keep sending them my way. Heh, some of those even helped me improve my writing from before. Ah well, again, thank you for showing me your support. See you next chapter, if the spirits will allow, and take care.