RPG - Waking Up From the Dream (Story Thread)

[Kojiremi]

Opposite Mansion - 11:30pm - Day 2 (staring my team and Onii-san)

the situation was awkward the air was tense2 girls with snacks standing rather perplexed at how they were actively trying to beat each other only to be undermined by the 3rd. And that 3rd was drunk and off her rocker.

remilia: WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!

Koji: Minoriko is drunk from the party and....well THIS happened

Minory: eh? do you guys smind? go away shoo shoo.

Youmu: *sweatdrops* well that does happen i suppose when you have too much to drink. *puts the stuff on the table* you're behaviour isn't acceptable. Its not right for a goddess to do such immoral acts!

Remilia: indeed! get up this instant!

Youmu and Remilia was trying to pull Minoriko up however she latched her arms around his body and wasn't letting go at all.

It was then that Zei and company came in. They must have gotten here after Koji did as all he felt was Gpop and his team here initially.

Minoriko saw her older sister and immidiately sobered up. Even though her elder sister is weaker she still held many a responsibility to her. Much like how Flandre respects her sister despite being much more powerful

Zei: G'evening and g'evening all--...what the fuck?

Minoriko noticed that her sis was in the room as well and stopped right away.

Shizuha: ONEE-CHAN!

Minoriko: .//////.' I-i can explain..

Zei: Drunk huh..?

Minoriko: NOPE! .//////.'

Zei: So you blame Koji huh?

Shizuha: ._. -Lip trembles at what happens-

Minoriko: NUH-UH! I was just...uh...going to sleep. ^_^

Shizuha walks up to Minoriko, her eyes were glowing with anger and betrayal.

Minoriko: ....eh? ^_^'''

Shizuha: ..you....you.......

Zei & Youmu: say it already..

Shizuha: ..you....BITCH! (OOC: Ok ok. I'm sorry for this but, I can't help but put that in, it only fits in the mood she;'s in. XD) -Slaps her across the face as hard as possible-

Minoriko: !!?

Koji: O_O?!

Everyone in the room except for Zei and Flandre that just walked in: O_O!!!

Shizuha: How could you?! I thought you promised to never even try that to ANYONE. But NO! You lied! -Slaps her across the face again, only this time, her cheek was......bleeding?!- Don't ever talk to me again! D< -Runs off to her room-

Zei: G'job Shizuha.

Flandre: .....

Minoriko: .......what....just happened?

Zei: About damn time you get back to your senses. -Leaves- Koji, you can thank me later.

Flandre: ..wow. Shizu-chan was upset. ^_^' -Leaves as well-

Remilia sat behind Koji holding his head from behind....Youmu had her arms crossed and sighed exuberantly....Minoriko was on the verge of tears since disappointing her big sis and felt like trash.

Minoriko: I'm....sorry. I'm so sorry.

Remilia: *squeezes his head* yes I hope you are sorry. that act was not called for nor desired in the end by anyone

Minoriko sobs and weeps from her transgression. Koji felt sorry for her though. I mean a friend of yours does soemthing that they really didn't mean and was under some sort of influence. Those kinda things can destroy friendships sometimes. A single act can destroy a mountain of faith that was built up over time (OOC: lol)

He sat up. remilia was still holding him. He held Minory's shoulder

Koji: its okay minoriko. no damage was done physically at least. I didn't want to hurt you to restrain you so i kept off that. The act was committed but its okay. you wasn't in your right state of thinking and we all know that. Just be more careful in the future okay?

She held her cheek and looked at him. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears.

Minory:T-thank you...I'm so sorry

Remilia watched as he comforted the goddess for her actions youmu stood in the dorrway with her arms crossed still.

Youmu: well anyway how about we all have a snack? some food will get this thick air out of the room.

Remilia: excellent idea! Koji i made a great sandwich for you. I hope you enjoy it. *Squeezes his head to her again*

Koji: Ah cool i can't wait. Never had a sandwich made by you before. .....come on MMinoriko lets get some food okay?

Minory: Y-yes. that would be nice.

At that Youmu handed Minoriko the sandwich and drink she originally made for Koji to her instead
Remilia was slightly puzzled but she handed him her sandwich and drink.

Youmu: i actually made a bunch of sandwiches by accident...I forgot i was makin it for you instead of Lady Yuyuko

Koji: hahaha really? well at least we can save them for later then ehhe.

They ate together in Minoriko's room and chatted amongst themselves. They were starting to feel like a family instead of a group of friends or associates fighting for the same cause rather.  Minoriko felt better about what happened.

Koji: alright time for bed now. Its well past midnight.

Youmu: indeed we have a search to do in the morning afterall.

Minoriko: yes lets...although i don't feel too tired at the moment....I think i'll head to see sis...i need to make up for what i did *holds her former slapped cheek again*.....Its the 3rd time she ever hit me before...ever.

Youmu: well then *stands up* if i may excuse myself. good night everyone

All: night

Minoriko: *Stands as well* i'm off to see sis. i'll see you later *says with a sassy tone* And thanks again for forgiving me. *bows and leaves*

Koji and Remi were alone....again.

Koji: well i'm gonna head to my room and see play a game i guess *sighs* i'm not that tired now either....i KNOW yoru not tired Remilia right? hehe

Remilia: ditto, let us leave.

She stands next to him and walks out of the room with him towards his room.

Remilia: " I'm glad to see nothing went on with Minoriko. If she was also goin to interfere with me i woulda-"

She stopped midthought and corrected her line of thinking

Remilia: "no...such thoughts and actions are not befittin of me. I don't need to use such means. Its all depending on.....trust."

They reached his room and entered. Koji's room was full of...nothing. There was a bed in the corner, an entertainment center across from it and a small table and lamp on both sides of the bed. The bed had a large structure that held a red veil over it as well. There was a desk on both sides of the tables as well. Remilia went to his bed and lifted the veil to look at it. Kojiro then went to it as well.

Koji: this bed i made with some friends in another world a while back. *pulls a string that dangles on the side that raises the veil with each tug like a curtain.

Remilia: interesting.

Koji: its also a waterbed too so its very interesting

Remilia: water!?

Kojiro: there's water in the bed. sit on it

She did and it sways passively as she moved on it. The look on her face was priceless. She loved it and continued to move around on it and let it move her up and down in a lazy fashion.

Remilia: this...is VERY nice! I must get one for myself when we get back! I will get one of these! ^_^

She was loving the bed.  It was large and spacious easily sizable for 3-4 people as well. He sat down next to her and noticed his book on his pillow.

Koji: oh yeah i was reading that.*grabs it and starts to read*

Remilia was still enjoying the waviness of the bed to the fullest that she even rocked him a bit as she played on it. After a while she noticed him reading and scurried over to him.

Remilia: This is one of the most impressive things i've ever seen!

Koji: haha cool i'm glad you like it

Remilia: ITs decided! i'm sleeping here from now on!

Koji: hahahah xD you serious? (not feeling a bit ursurped)

Remilia: yes! and your not gonna stop me!

Koji: hehe i won't stop you i don't mind sleeping with you remi. Its big enough anyway and if you like it that much its fine with me hehe

Remilia grabbed a pillow and huggled it. She thought how great it would be to sleep with him from then on.

Sleep....sleep....sleep

Unlike him her thoughts were getting slightly perverse, he was so unconsciously defensive on such thoughts that it didn't bother him at all. She however was thinking something opposite.
She looked at him and felt her fangs erecting again. Her breathing was a slightly deeper than normal.

Him? he was reading a book, totally not thinking of any "funny stuff". Probably almost incapable of thinking such things given the lives he lived. He lost his sensual side long ago it seemed. Sad but twas his reality.

Remilia was trying to break that reality with her own or at least alter it slightly.

hmm...its that called Fate manipulation?

Remilia: Koji?

Koji: yes Remilia?

Remi: I'm....*thinking* sorry for my actions earlier today.

Koji: of what? *stops reading and looks at her*

Remi: when you fought with Taka, and he stabbed you. I didn't even think about if you were hurt or not at all. All i wanted was your blood.

Koji:.......*tilts head slightly*

Remi: i knew you was in pain but all i saw was your blood. I...yearned it...i desired to drink it. And i was upset that my servant did that to you even if he wasn't in his right state of mind.

Koji: i see....

Remi: *heart beats quickly*...Are you....angered?

Koji: *pats her head* no way...your being honest and i respect that. We hardly ever did anything together when we were in Gensokyo. I'm learning more about you ever since the border collapsed...and I'm glad for it. I wanted to be a good friend to you Remilia, people-human or not, don't have to be alone there are always others reaching out to you. You just have to have the heart to reach out is all. Not everyone is scheming to harm you.

Remilia's heart was picking up speed, she enjoyed being petted like this. It reminded her of the happier moments of her life before gensokyo. Her mother was so kind but so pained from their father's behavior and she did that when she was a "good girl"....that was 200 years ago.

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her cheek. He was surprised and even blushed a little as she made him rub her cheek

Remilia:....what if...I didn't want you as a friend?

Koji: h-huh?

Remilia:....what if...I wanted something else? something more?....something....selfish?

She released his hand put her hands on his knees. (he was sitting down indian-style) Koji backed  up slightly as she advanced at his face and stared at him intently with those scarlet red eyes. Her wings were twitching back and forth showing that she was also nervous.

Remilia: unlike that goddess i'm not drunk but in my right state of mind and i've made a decision.

Kojiro felt like he knew what she was gonna say and he was so in shock as to what was happening he couldn't say anything but watch her. He couldn't believe that she-

Remilia: I....I love you

With those words she kissed him. It was her first kiss after 505 years. Koji couldn't remember when was his last kiss much less his first. thoughts were racing in his head.
He didn't know to return her kiss (which happen to be light and soft btw), decline her affection, or do something else. No matter what he had to give her some sort of response soon or things could be very bad very soon.

She ended her kiss and placed her head on his chest and did nothing. Was she waiting?

Koji: *speaking softly* R-remilia....

Remi didn't move still her face was red and she held onto him like he was a teddy bear

Koji:.....I....don't...know. I-i'm glad for your affection...your trust....I didn't think that it would have turned out like...this...

Remilia: *looks up at him* Do...you love me?

Koji: .....I don't...know. I do care an awful lot about you huh? much more than a bodyguard or caretaker would allow...

Remilia: your such a hypocrite Kojiro.

Koji:*nervous*..w-why do...you say that?

Remilia: you tell me...that no one should be alone...and yet you constantly stay alone yourself. You try to make me realize something that you yourself actually haven't yet. You said yourself that you have to have the heart to reach out. I felt your heart but can you feel it yourself? How can you reach out to help others...without being able to help yourself from the very same problem. I'm not scheming, not plotting. You reached out to me and yet you don't reach out for anyone else. you don't let others help you. Why is that?

Koji:............

she spoke softly and with concern. However those soft words betrayed the strength that they hit him with. It was totally true. From his life of constant reincarnation he knew that there are good and bad people in the world worth keeping and even dying for. But his constant struggles for his own happiness was never fulfilled to the point of it becoming a dream never realized. his heart was closed yet it unconsciously reached out for others to help them NOT become like him.

He stared at her as she spoke those words. He realized the Epiphany and it took the form of Remilia Scarlet. It was too painful. too overbearing. He started to cry. The tears started to fall like waterfalls of regret and sorrow,  Hundreds and hundreds of years of loneliness had caught up and hit him in that one moment.

She sat there looking stared at him as he teared up. She held his hands and continued to look. They felt each other's pain. There was no words that could convey how they felt.
.......................

He kissed her
As his answer to everything and to her he kissed her. For her she gained a companion who cared for her but didn't realize his mistake and for him he could finally escape a vicious circle and start over.

He placed his trust in her and she placed it in him. IN the form of an imperishable kiss they reached for each other's hearts and succeeded.

Remilia:...I...look forward to sleeping here with you every night.

Koji: y-yeah. Starting...now.

He hugged her. If he was Koishi his 3rd eye would have opened up. But he decided to at last night be so distant and pessimistic. It may be hard but together they would learn how to cope with their former issues and grow....together, through thick and thin... Together....they slept without a sound, without a care. They slept.

Opposite Mansion - Koji's room - 12:30am Day 3 (end)

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Sky Ray- Deck 7:25 AM Day 3

The Orcas landed on the Deck of the Sky Ray. Ria's want of a mobile fortress became more apparant as the pirates were running out of space.

Frank: Get the others to Sick Bay. Caboose, are you sure you're ok?

Caboose: Yeah, I've had worse.

Austin, Nitori and Momizi stood near the doorway observing the fruits of several hours of laboring away in the War Factory.

Nitori: Looks like the Orcas worked. *Yawn* man, I'm tired.

Austin: I would imagine, you and Momizi were working very hard.

Momizi: I still don't understand why you had to go somewhere else.

Austin: Ah, yes. I was supposed to help the Orcas takeoff, but I go relegated to reorganizing the cargo holds.

Frank: I think we can safely say that this has been a rather exausting 5 hours. Honestly, I'm ready to just fall sleep right n-*snore*

Caboose: *sigh* I'll get him to bed. Later, Etch.

Austin: Ok, later man. *stretches* MAN, I've gotta hit the sack.

Nitori: Ok, we'll see you a little later then.

Momizi: Rest quickly, I hear we've got more to do later on.


Sky Ray- Austin's room


Austin: *sigh* I feel like I've been awake forever.

It had been a rather exausting 24 hours for Austin. First he got stuck in the wrong bath, then had to run away from a mad Scottsman, go back to town and get food only to have that stupid rock make things go bad, got recruited by Pirates, reorganized a cargobay, and finally help Orcas land.

Austin: Still don't know why Ria gave me THIS room.

Three beds were set up in the room. It wasn't very spacey, but with the addition of the Orca fleet, there wasn't a lot of space anywhere.

Austin: *yawn* Might as well get some shut eye.


Sky Ray- Caboose's and Frank's room


Frank: ...and that's pretty much what you went and did.

Caboose: Seriously? Uh... whoah...

Frank: Are you actually having a nosebleed?

Caboose: Loocs likuh ich.

Frank: *sigh* I don't get you sometimes.


Sky Ray- Austin's room


Austin was in a deep sleep. So deep, he really didn't notice Nitori enter the room. Nitori crept into the room, holding the "luck rock" in her hand.

Flashback

Nitori:... So this rock is supposed to help you with love?

Momizi: Yeah, but it's superstition as far as I know. He probably got it from some cheesy street vendor.

End Flashback
Nitori: (thinking) If this rock really does what Momizi said it does, then he won't wake up, right?

She walked over to the snoozing Austin and bent over. She stared into his sleeping face, heart racing.

Nitori: I-I-I can't do it.

Austin: mnh...

Nitori: !

Austin: rgh... you stop dat...

Nitori: (thinking) Whew, he's just dreaming.

Nitori closed her eyes and bent further over Austin.

Nitori: (thinking) Come on, you can do it, Nitori! Just do it!

A sound in the hallway started Nitori. It was just a pirate, cursing out loud as he had dropped a crate of questionable reading material on his foot.

Austin: *yawn* what's with all that racket? Hmm? Nitori, what's up?

Nitori: Eh? Oh, n-nothing?

Austin got out of the bed.

Austin: Now that I think about it, you've been acting wierd since we were at Tourist Helpers.

Nitori: Ah, the place where we... *blush*

Austin: *blush* Ye-yeah.

Nitori: It's nothing, really!

Austin: Really?

Nitori: Really...

Nitori began to fall forward, but Austin caught her, holding her close so that she didn't fall face forward onto hard metal.

Austin: Nitori!

Nitori: I'm just...a little...tired.

Austin: Alright, let's go to bed.

Nitori: !!!*blush* Wh-what?!? I-isn't it too soon?!?

Austin: What are you talking about? I'm sleepy, your sleepy, and Momizi is probably sleepy. We're going to sleep.

Nitori: Wha-bu-I...

Austin brought her to one of the beds and laid her down

Austin: Now you get some rest. I'm going to go find Momizi and get her to bed.

Nitori: O-ok.

Austin didn't have to go far to find Momizi, as she was sound asleep. He picked her up, brought her back to the room, and put her in bed.

Austin: Now, time for me to sleep.

Team Shakin' finally began to head to a sleep well deserved for the first time since the fall of the border.

[Gappy]

The Sky Ray's Bridge, All-terrain Battlecruiser Sky Ray, on the Saniwa Lake, enroute to the military base and the all-terrain battlecruiser mobile fortress Dauntless, 9.25 AM, Day 3, Featuring anyone and everyone in team Gensokyo and the pirates.

"....how on earth did we get involved in this?" Jeremy muttered bitterly. All their carefully laid plans had been dashed in an instant. How on earth could they have let this happen?

One moment they were enjoying their morning bath, making casual plans for the day....the next, they've been Shanghai'd onto a pirate ship? How? Why? Here they were, standing, against all the laws of probability, in the command bridge of a pirate battlecruiser, one that seemed far too advanced for their day and age. Every surface was sleek and gleaming, showing off meticulous care. The control surfaces boasted holographic screens and touch-pads straight out of sci-fi movies. Theirs was an organized lot, especially for pirates.

.....and why are there pirate ships in this day and age? An entire battlecruiser no less?

"I knew a confrontation with the government would come sooner or later, but this is too soon." Sumire said. "Besides, this isn't our fight. We would gain nothing from this."

"Mitaka simply said yes." Gpop muttered darkly. "Idiot deodorant..."

"Look, you saw what they can do. And they attacked us first to show just how nasty it could get if we said 'no'." Mitaka reasoned. "Would any of you had done otherwise? All things considered?"

"....coward..." Gpop said.

Mitaka bit back a retort. He still owed Gpop an apology after all. He promised himself to get around to that, when and if they get out of this....

"He has a point." ThirtyFour said. "If it was just us men we'd fight tooth and nail, but at the moment there's more at stake." He looked around at the assembled girls.

"You're saying we're weak and we need your protection? Is that it?" Sunny Milk protested.

"You all hold the memories of Gensokyo." Alex said. "If anything happens to you, the point of fighting is lost."

"Thus why we're playing along, at least for now." Hiroko said, shrugging.

"What I still don't get is why she wants us" Mitaka said. "I mean, she has an entire army of thugs at her command. Why would she need us, exactly?" Mitaka nodded over at Ria, who was standing at the head of the bridge, surveying the many control tiers spread before her and all her crewmen at their battlestations, preparing for the impending battle.

"Because of her." Ria said, turning around and pointing at Marisa. "I need her Master Spark."

"...heh, chose the wrong times and place for its, ze..." Marisa sighed. "This thing's nothing more thans a simple paper-weights nows." She said, taking out her mini-hakkero. "If I had the powers to do thats, I'd have Master Sparked yous from the very beginning."

"That's not an issue." Ria said. "Come." She gestured for them to follow her out of the bridge. The steel blast door opened with a soft pneumatic hiss as they approached it.

She led the group down a set of corridors, all boasting similar blast-doors.

"Mitaka, you think we can overpower her and take her hostage?" Jeremy suggested in a whisper. "We can turn the ship around and get out of this."

"Then what?" Mitaka whispered back.

"Look, we really can't fight." Owlbear whispered. "We're supposed to be in hiding."

"We'll be attracting unwanted attention this way." Sanasan said, nervously.

"Who is she anyway? Why does she know...?" Kojiro began.

"Who you all are?" Ria asked, causing them all to jump in surprise. "At first I didn't. But I could recognize that 'ze' anywhere." She said, nodding at Marisa.

"I thinks I'd remembers if I ever met someones as annoyings as yous ze." Marisa said, cooly.

"No, you wouldn't." Ria said. "For good reason. Anyhow, I know where you all came from. I assure you, my intentions are not far from yours. I too have lost a home to Kikuri's foul schemes."

"A home? You mean, a sanctuary?" Amarillo asked.

"Yes. My sanctuary was destroyed about 2 months ago." Ria said. "We barely escaped."

"So you're an outsider then?" McWallace asked.

"Otherwise, there's no way you could have survived..." Eirin began.

"I was." Ria said. "But I've been exposed to sanctuary environments for too long. My body has become dependent on mana, much like yours. But I...have my own methods." She said, as they stepped out onto a bridge spanning a huge hall. The bridge led up to what looked like a gigantic metal sphere the size of a four story building suspended and supported by many columns. It too had a blast door on its side, and it was towards this door that they were walking.

"Is this really....?" Rika asked in awe. "I think I've ever only seen pictures of this...but it's only a legend...a children's folktale for engineers..."

"A simple replica." Ria answered. "Yes, this is..." The door to the sphere slid open to reveal a spherical room with a car-engine-sized spherical machine in the middle that was slowly spinning, suspended in mid-air in what looked like a force-field. "...one of the world's few functional mana generators."

"...." Everyone gaped.

"So...cliche...." Jeremy muttered, weakly.

"...yeah...a power core...." Gpop said.

"So the ship will go kaboom if I..." Flandre began.

"...no, don't try it..." Zei whispered urgently. "Stay close to me, hold my hand, yes, good girl."

"But...that's Lunarian technology...how...?" Eirin began.

"No, it isn't." Ria said. "The Lunarians were the first to reverse engineer the technology after it was lost for many millenia. Anyhow, this is one of the originals, or so we believe."

"It's fully functional?" ThirtyFour asked.

"...no, not fully." Ria said. "It was designed in an age when the world was swamped with mana. Now, with the world devoid of mana as it is now, the generator somehow only functions at 10% of its optimal capacity. However, it's still enough to take care of all your mana needs for your Master Spark." She said, looking at Marisa. "But don't get any funny ideas. I have my insurance and you don't want to make me use it."

She walked over to a console by the core and punched in a few buttons before stepping back. With a hiss and a dramatic burst of white steam, a smaller device underneath the core opened up to reveal a small comparment.

And floating in it, suspended in mid-air, was....

"...My Hakkero!" Marisa gasped, looking at the one in her own hands, before looking up at the exact double floating in the core.

"That is the original hakkero." Ria said. "Unfortunately that one in your hand is a mere replica I left behind."

"....you stoles my hakkero?!" Marisa asked angrily.

"I had no choice." Ria said. "I needed it. And the replica was sufficient for your Master Spark. There's more to the hakkero. You waste its potential by using it as a laser gun and a portable stove."

"Give it back!" Marisa demanded hotly.

"I will." Ria said. "When I'm done with it. However, I now need you to perform a Master Spark for me in the upcoming battle. And no funny business. Otherwise, things can get very ugly."

"....ugh..." Marisa gritted her teeth. "...fines..." She spat.

"Good. Now, I will hold onto the hakkero until we get to the Dauntless, then...." Ria said, taking out the hakkero from the core...

...but before she could turn around, she felt a sharp impact in the small of her back. She lost hold of the hakkero, which sailed up...and up...and up...

"MARISA!" Reimu shouted from where she was holding Ria down onto the floor. "Catch it!"

"YEAH!" Marisa snatched the hakkero out of the air as Reimu scrabbled to get up, aimed one last kick at the downed Ria, before running towards the group.

"Everyone, out!" Kojiro shouted. "NOW! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

"You little...." Ria breathed. "You won't...."

"Sleep for a while, will you?" Amarillo said sweetly, applying a small bit of ESP on Ria's weakened mind, knocking her out. "Guys, that will only last a few seconds."

"Pick her up." Mitaka said. "We need a hostage to get out of here."

"Cowardly tactics...I like your style." Yukari said, with a smile.

"Whatever it takes." Mitaka said, grimly. "I don't care what we do, as long as we get the girls out of here."

"Take her radio." Gpop suggested.

"Good idea." Mitaka nodded.

They half-carried, half-dragged an unconscious Ria across the bridge as they made their escape.

However, a sudden shock ran through the entire ship, knocking them all off balance and onto the stainless steel floor.

"...what...?" Taihou began, before the lights suddenly flickered dangerously, before giving out, plunging them into pitch-black darkness.

"It wasn't me!" Flandre declared innocently.

"Darn...have we been discovered...?" Zei breathed.

"No..." Hiroko looked back at the reactor core which had died out. "They wouldn't shut down the reactor core just to capture us. Something's wrong..."

"could it have something to do with the hakkero?" Alice asked. "Marisa, maybe you should put it back...?"

"No ways, ze!" Marisa protested.

"But Ria removed it herself. She wouldn't have removed it if it would cause the entire ship to stall." Rika reasoned.

"Captain!" A voice crackled on the radio, causing everyone to jump. "I-I-It's the Dominion, the Dauntless, and the Suzaku! General Tao Qwai is online. I'm patching him through."

"Captain Ria." A calm, cold voice came over the radio, carrying solemn overtones. "I assume I'm speaking to you now."

Ria slowly came to at the mention of her name. "...that voice..." She gritted her teeth. "Tao Qwai!"

"I apologize for interrupting your little cruise. I never expected you to escape the collapse...with my Sky Ray no less."

"Who is he?" Jeremy hissed to Ria.

"Another man from my home sanctuary. A dangerous, twisted attrocity of a fleet general." Ria muttered, shrugging off their hold on her. "Let go of me. If you all want to live, you have to help me get back to the bridge."

"I can just Master Sparks him now." Marisa said, brightly.

"No, you can't. I don't know how the old badger did it but he managed to shut down my mana generator." Ria said. "You'd just kill yourself and your benefactor."

"You have been a thorn in my side for long enough. I will acknowledge that you were at least a significant enough irritation to necessitate my own personal intervention. Now, I will show you a glimpse of hell."

The transmission cut off.

"...a glimpse of hell...?" Taihou raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, the darkness became a whole lot darker. It was the sort of darkness that clung onto you, the sort of darkness you didn't just sense with your eyes, but also your ears, nose, and skin. It smelt cold and dry, chilling almost, like sniffing a waft of dry ice. It drowned out all other noises, plunging you into a cold, dark silence. It clung like slimy ethereal seaweed from the depths of the abyss on your skin. worst of all, you sensed it with your mind, the sort of mind-numbing fear that true, primordial darkness instills in every man's heart of hearts. 

"....he learned how to induce dark-storms." Ria said, a hint of panic in her voice.

"What's that?" Sho asked. "Tell us!"

"Stay together and listen well, if you want to live." Ria said. "I only hope my crew can hold out too. Look, you know how all the sanctuaries of the world have collapsed, yes?" She said quickly. "The collapse left a lot of dimensional rifts behind. They are small random pockets of imploded dimensions, with large amounts of corrupted mana circulating within them. They carry memories of the sanctuaries....but not your sort of memories. These are the evil twisted sort, remnants of all the anger, hatred, and sorrow of those who were left behind to die."

"...you mean....?" McWallace began, before he was interrupted by a strange sound.

It was almost inaudible at first. It flickered at the edge of their hearing. They strained their ears to hear it. But soon it became louder, and louder and before long they found themselves fighting to keep it out of their ears and their minds.

It was a high-pitched chattering noise, accompanied by a furious clattering of something cold, dead, and stiff on the stainless steel surfaces. There were many of them. And they were coming this way.

"Come and stay quiet." Ria breathed as loudly as she dared, leading them back to the core as quietly as possible. As they made their way light slowly crept back into the room....but it was an unnatural, unearthly light. It was a ghastly grey light, turning everything into horrific shades of black and white. There were stains and shadows everywhere. What the stains were nobody wanted to know. Huge cracks and stress marks ran down every surface, as if the ship had been shattered with a huge hammer.

A few of the girls squeaked and gasped in terror, causing Ria to curse between her teeth. "I said quiet! They'll hear you!"

But too late. There was a pause in the clatter....before suddenly they grew louder at an alarming pace, as if they were homing in on the sound.

"UGH! Hurry!" Ria abandoned all attempts at quietness and began running at top speed towards the core. "And don't step on the cracks. Those are stress marks in the fabrics of reality." She hissed.

"Everyone, grab something! anything!" She shouted at them, opening up many steel compartments lining the inside of the core. They contained weapons of all sorts, apparently stored for emergencies. "And don't hesitate! These aren't living beings! they are merely twisted memories of them...but they can kill you! Don't let them!"

And they came....

Ghastly and twisted they were, creatures that were on the border between life and death, as if shrugging death, they clambered towards them, dragging their carcasses and torn skin behind them. Thin, gangly, twisted limbs jerked violently and wildly around, tugging them all forwards at alarming speeds. What was most alarming was their chattering, their jaws and rotted teeth clattering together as if trying to voice some hidden anger or pain.

They weren't fairies or youkai, kappa or tengu, human or gods, they were simply twisted nightmarish perversions, mere rotting corrupted memories of something that was once pure and good.

And they wanted blood.

"Captain!" A voice crackled over the radio. "Block 2A is falling to the Creeps! We can't hold them!"

"Captain! Squad 4 is trapped in the lower storage! We can't move! CAPTAIN!"

"Captain! They're breaching the bulkhead on level 3! We won't be able to hold them!"

"Captain! The hangar is falling! We're mobilizing the tanks! But we might not..."

"Captain! CAPTAIN! AAAAAARRRGHHH..." Ria turned off the radio.

"....focus." She muttered darkly.

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Sky Ray-Corridor 9:30 AM



Caboose: Yaah!

Frank: Just hit them with everything you've got!

Escapee 1: There's too many of them!

Escapee 2: We've lost contact with the Captain!

Frank: Shit, everything is going to hell!

Frank ripped out two of the hand rails and threw one to Caboose.

Frank: We're getting them out of this hell-hole right now!

Caboose: How? Nothing works!

Frank: Think you can use the radio to activate one of the transports?

Caboose: I'll need a bit of time, but yeah!

Frank: Alright! Everyone, follow me!

(Play this for effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWo-azI6eL0)

Frank and Caboose began swinging away, smashing the nightmarish horrors away. The other escapees fought as well. The small battle raged all the way to the Orca Bay.

Escapee 1: I can work to get the Orca working! Just give me a sec.

Frank: As soon as it starts up, I want everyone to get in!

Escapee 2: What about you?

Frank: I'll hold them off until you get out!

Escapee 1: Got it!

The turbines whined to life and he Orca began to take off.

Frank: Caboose! I told you to get on the transport!

Caboose: You're not going anywhere, so I'm not going anywhere! If we got out of that place, we can get out of this mess!

Frank: Now that's more like it! Alright you guys, there's IDs in the Orca. Activate the OC as soon as possible

Escapee 1: Thank you, Frank, Caboose.

The Orca roared as it flew away, vanishing into thin air.

Frank: Well, Caboose, looks like this could be it.

Caboose: Not yet, we stil need to help Etch!

Frank: Oh yeah, that. Well let's go!


Sky Ray- Corridor


Momizi slashed wildly. Screw sword techniques, she thought, there were so many of these things that it really didn't matter where you slashed.

Austin was hitting the creatures with the Laptop.

Nitori: Shouldn't you use one of those guns of yours?!?

Austin: They don't work! Don't worry, I've hit things with this before, and it never breaks!

It was in the midst od the fight that Austin saw a wierd sword stuck in the wall.

Austin: That's a better one!

He grabbed the sword and begun swinging at th creatures. As opposed to simply dying, the creatures suddenly disintergrated upon being slashed.

Austin: Nitori! Momizi!

Both: What?!?

Austin: We've gotta get to the bridge! The others are there!

Caboose: Etch! Come on!

Austin: Caboose?!?

Frank: Move those asses of yours! Go!

The five fought their way to the bridge as the creatures assaulted them from all sides.

Nitori: We're almost there!

Austin: AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!

Austin yelled in pain as one of the creatures chomped on his arm. He killed the creature with the sword, but more seemed to come after him. Caboose and Frank fended off the creatures as Nitori and Momizi carried Austin into the Bridge.


Sky Ray- Near the reactor


Ria: ...focus... Ra! Kai! Shi! Tau! Crios!

Ria ripped off her eyepatch to reveal an eye of a different color. It had a wierd pattern in it.

Ria: Access Imaterium!

A bright light appeared around Ria's forearm. It became a large gun with a bayonet-like

Ria: Man, I'm out of practice. Alright, Jack, show me your stuff!

Ria began firing into the darkness, but seemed to miss.

Ria: Rrgh! Piercing Eye! Sight of Pathways!

Ria suddenly became a lot more accurate as she mowed down many of the creatures. It still wasn't enough as more of them got into the bridge.

Ria: Fight for all your worth! They won't stop until the storm subsides!


Dominion- Bridge

Qwai(?)- So why did you have me do it?

Qwai: No reason. I've decided to give you a special mission along with you're regular, Subject 5

Qwai(?): My name is Marx.

The false Qwai suddenly transformed into a blonde girl with a wierd pattern in her right eye.

Qwai: The girl who you just heard is your target. Knowing her, she'll get out of it somehow.

Marx: So what do you want me to do about it.

Qwai: Kill her.

Marx: Understood. Stand up Cirno. You look weak on the ground like that.

Cirno: At least give me mana enough to live.

[trancehime]

(( aight guys I'll be yer co-ordinator for this duration! This one will be short because this is transition. ))

????? (Altered Sky-Ray), 9.27 AM, Day 3
Featuring: Everyone

THE UNKNOWN

Through the radio of Ria, one could only hear the cries of help, the desperation of Ria's men, their fruitless struggle to defend themselves from what one had called the "Creeps," amalgamations of hatred and the corruptions of memories that once lay dormant in the destroyed worlds. Hirowaza himself just called them damnable spirits, and stared at the long path that led to the bridge that Ria was harping everyone about. Nearby there were several steel compartments containing weapons of various kinds.

"....focus." Ria muttered darkly.

The black creatures traversed the path to cross everyone at an alarming rate, and if nothing was done, they would be dead for sure.

Marisa piped up. "Hey, quickly, get somethings, ze! Do you want to die here?!"

Hirowaza wondered what on earth was going on here, and how he found himself wearing an exact replica of Meira's clothing, but that was just minor compared to what was happening right now. Meira kept a close grip on her katana, while Hirowaza shuffled around through the compartment for an extra weapon or two. Hirowaza pulled out a rifle with a bayonet on it and hefted it on his shoulder.

"Well, this should do..." Hirowaza said. Meira tilted her head at Hirowaza and chuckled.

[Demonlord Pichu]

=== Outside Tourist Helpers - 2:00 AM ~ Day 3 (Early) ===
-Previous Event-

Tonight was stange for the sleep patterns of Owlbear, for some reason or another, he just couldn't stay asleep no matter what he did. At first he imagined several things that would invoke sleep (many of which were boring things he didn't like) but found they only had a temporary effect on his current state of insomina. He awoke around 1:59 in the morning and proceeded to just sit outside and stare out into space, something was on his mind...and it had something to do with his dream yesterday night. Something about Shinki's words to him sounded awfully familar to the dream...but his memory was still fuzzy on it.

"Oh there you are..." Came the soft, a half asleep voice of Shinki. "I saw you weren't in bed and came looking for you..."

"You really are a Mother to us aren't you?" Owlbear chuckled a friendly smile on his, otherwise tired, face. "I suppose your something like our Team Mom, huh~"

"Of course, someone has to make sure you wash behind your ears, and eat your vegetables while we're staying here~" Shinki said with one hand on her hip, and her other wagging it's finger to the overlord in front of her in a lecturing manner. The both of them exchanged a short-lived laughter at one another before a silence befell the area. Something Shinki ended up breaking, for Owlbear made no real inititive to.  "Anywho, what seems to be troubling you, your usually a very heavy sleeper."

"...You remember that dream I was (supposed to be) telling you about?" Owlbear asked his head still focused on the moon above him. "...Back there, when I was gearing up to beat the crap out of that Taihou fellah, you stopped me...something about that seems...very familiar to the dream I had."

"Oh yes, you were about to tell me about that dream, that is before Yuki interrupted." Shinki recalled joining Owlbear's side. "What was it about, do you remember?"

"Ah...a lil' bit, I remember everyone from Makai was in it, heck even that Mikata fellah was there (although it was really just a hunch that he was), and I was kicking noteable amounts of ass." Owlbear began before his expression darkned and his tone fell grim. "But...something happened at the end, you were saying something about me getting hurt...and after that everything kinda gets fuzzy..." He glanced to the demon god and stared her right in the eye. "Shinki, I dunno where this is coming from but, do you not like it when I fight?"

Shinki remained silent as she looked down, she knew he spoke the truth, she did not like to see him fight. She was happy he was so selfless to try as hard as he did to protect her and her 'children', but deep down Shinki did not want to see him suffer for her, it...just didn't seem fair. "...To be honest...I don't." She finally answered. "You put yourself under so much strain for us; risking your life for Makai, letting us share the vast wealth of mana you hold in your body, I...I can't begin to imagine how painful all this is for you..."

"Shinki..."

"...I don't want to see you suffer because of me, I want you to retain the life you had before all of this happened. All of this is something I should take responsiblity for, that includes the destruction of Makai long ago." Shinki says "Please...let me bear this burden on my own, you shouldn't have to worry with something that's all my fault."

"Shinki," Owlbear says taking Shinki by the shoulders and giving them a light squeeze. "I can't allow the woman I care so much for let herself be crushed by the weight of something she shouldn't have to face on her own...I...can't imagine how you must have felt when Makai was destroyed...twice even...but I'm willing to give it my all to make sure you can smile like you used to again." He gazed into her shimmering blue orbs, his face loosening into an emotion he rarely showed to any one up until now. "I fight to make sure you all can be happy, and safe. The world I came from before...I didn't care about anyone, everyone seemed so selfish and the same, but when I met you and everyone else in Makai...something in me changed, I was given something I thought I'd lost forever..."

"And what was that?"

"...The will to love another." Owlbear spoke softly to her. "Yeah I will admit I probably grand standed a couple times in the past before...but, I only do it because I want you to think of me as a worthy Overlord to rule by your side."

"Owlbear..." Shinki embraced him once again, bathing him in her maternal warmth that had existed as long as she had. "You don't have to prove to me that you're worthy of ruling by my side...you've already done a splendid job as it is, I wouldn't think of a better man to be beside than the one I'm hugging right now."

"Sh-shinki..." He felt his eyes moistening, why were they doing this? It was because he still was not used to having his feeling returned. HIs mind no longer itself, his hands returned the loving embrace Shinki gave unto him. "We have been so distant lately, and I could never understand why...but tonight, I see the both of us were really just keeping ourselves from coming close to each other."

"Shall we...work together?" Shinki asked softly to Owlbear. "Work beside one another to restore the paradise we lost?"

"Of course," Owlbear answered just as softly his arms wrapped tightly around Shinki never wanting to let go of her warming body. "Together, we'll both be Badass Freakin' Overlords."

=== Sky Ray - 9:27 AM ~ Day 3 ===

"I'm fine with using my body as a weapon." Owlbear said cracking his knuckles a border-line maniacal smirk spreading on his face as the urge to fight rose up within him. "Alright grab a weapon girls, this is about to get messy."

Everyone seemed to hesitate, not sure on what to take, Luize however didn't have much trouble choosing her death dealing tool; A simple billhook. "I'm fine with this~"

"You sure?" Yuki asked rather nervously "Those things look awfully vicious..."

"Don't you worry Yuki," Luize said to Yuki, her once closed eyes opening halfway to reveal a sinister gleam in them, a gleam that screamed of absolute madness and murderous intention. "I can be just as vicious..."

"I shall use this...rather strange gizmo." Shinki declared looking at what appeared to be standard handgun. She had no idea as to how this thing works so she looked to Owlbear for assistance. "How do you use this...there doesn't seem to be any sharp ends to it..." Shinki then pointed the barrel of the gun into her eye to examine it, an act Owlbear quickly put a stop to as he redirected it to the darkness up ahead.

"Just pull that lever at the bottom." Owlbear instructed pointing to the trigger. "It'll take care of the rest."

Shinki did as she was told and was shocked to hear the gun fire off a shot into the darkness. For a short moment she stood in surprise at what she just did. "...A-amazing...so these do not require mana?...Interesting"

"Oooh, I want one of those too~" Yuki mused as she dug into the comparment and pulled out a larger gun, a machine gun like weapon actually. Immedieatly she followed the instructions Owlbear had given Shinki and unleashed a barrage of hot lead into the jet black abyss, laughing as she did so.

"Hey! Hey! Don't waste ammo!"

"S-sorry..." Yuki apologized a nervous chuckle following afterwards. The witch then looked to her friend who was empty handed and handed her a weapon of the same calibur. "Here Mai, you can have one too~" Mai didn't seem to protest, but was somewhat distraught about the decision Yuki made for her.

"Yumeko, you alright with your knives?" Owlbear asked swiftly to the maid who pulled a set of said weapons from the garters on her legs.

"That I am," Yumeko answered. "This maid's prized weapon shall always be with her in the midst of battle."

"Alright then if everyone's ready then let's get going!"

[Tapsa]

HELL SKY-RAY, 9.27AM, Day 3
------------------------------------

Thirtyfour took a M60 standing in the rack and threw a belt with a bunch of clips over his neck. He slid a few grenades on his belt. He clearly wasn't going to save ammo for these abominations.

"Who of you filthy maggots wants some 7.62mm NATO sponsored AA batteries to power your vital organs!?", he asked.

Thirtyfour pulled the safety off from the M60. The closer one of those creatures got, the closer his finger was to trigger.

Then one of them got too close, leaping towards Thirtyfour. He immediately reacted, holing the zombie midair and sending it to the back of shadow creature crowd, spazzing until dissolving into nothingness. Thirtyfour quickly pulled a grenade out of his belt, pulled the pin off, and threw it into the very back of the crowd. He started firing and herding the zombies with his M60 as near as possible to the nade to minimize amount of shrapnels. The grenade exploded, sending zombies 40 feet in the air in a nice arc and severing almost all of their limbs. Thirtyfour dodged a chunk of zombie flying towards him, but got splattered by... black.

"Let's get moving before something falls apart!", Thirtyfour yelled to Rika.

Thirtyfour fired at the still moving bodies and approached a corridor. He peeked and ensured it was safe, and then entered it.

It was quite empty.

But not just empty in a sense.

It was TOO empty and quiet.

He approached towards the T-interjection at end of the corridor. It was still dead quiet. Suddenly, he started hearing something on the background. It was too weak to make out of, though.

Thirtyfour was now halfway through the corridor. He could hear better the sound. It was the noise of... helicopter blades?

Thirtyfour stopped. A helicopter. He noticed that the corridor started slowly tinting to red, and he heard the noise of metal bending. The T-interjection was slowly tearing open. Thirtyfour was scared to death. It was that one again. He trembled at the Apache on the end of the red-tinted corridor. He heard a sound of Sidewinder launching, and on that moment, he was pulled suddenly into a vent in the wall.

Thirtyfour's vision was blurred as hell. He couldn't make up who had pulled him in the vent.

"What the hell were you doing?", the person asked.

"Ehh... nothing."

Thirtyfour turned around and peeked outside of the vent. No Apache. Just an empty dead end.

"There's nothing wrong about walking to dead ends. I'll make a mental note of that.", Rika said.

She had a Mosin-Nagant strapped to her back. A good choice for a weapon.

"Well, let's use this shortcut as our advantage then.", Thirtyfour proposed.

An advantage. What a damn lazy pun. Even though I've never seen Rika's ass this close, not even those cramped russian tanks.

Thirtyfour proceeded in the vent, but started to hear groaning of sheet metal.

Not again.

The vent cracked and split half, dropping both Thirtyfour and Rika into oblivion.

"AAAAHHHH! FUCK!", Thirtyfour yelled midair.

Splash.

A moment later...

Thirtyfour rose to the surface of water and took a deep breath. Rika also did the same. They had landed into what appears to be bottom of a large silo. There was a huge fan blowing on side of the silo. Rika saw a sign above on a metal platform.

DANGER: COOLANT

"Looks like we're on bottom of a coolant tank with water.", she stated.

They climbed up the ladders to the platform.

"I'm quite sure we could be here until the storm ends.", she was being optimistic.

Thirtyfour climbed another ladder to another platform.

"Maybe, but anything can happen during this storm. Let's get a little bit closer to escape before shit hits the fan...", Thirtyfour suggested.

Suddenly, the fan stopped working. Veins of darkness creeped into the blades, starting to rust and bend them over until the whole fan fell with a gigantic splash into the bottom of silo. A bellowing cry of wounded animal could be heard in the distance, getting closer every second. When the cry was really close, it was interrupted by clattering and clicking sound of chitinous legs. A giant, mutated black zombie caterpillar with protruding tentacles and one huge green eye came out of the fan vent. It made high-pitched, bird-like cries while searching for prey. It noticed Thirtyfour and Rika, letting out an alerted scream.

"You and your horrible puns!", Rika said.

"But come on, I was right, IT WAS shit.", Thirtyfour defended himself.

The creature's eye started glowing and sparking as it charged it's laser.

"TAKE COVER!", Thirtyfour interrupted Rika's argument.

They both leapt behind some metal crates as the caterpillar fired it's horribly inaccurate green laser. It cut through control panels and machinery flanking the silo wall.

They heard a loudspeaker announcing inside the silo: "Warning: Coolant pump override activated. All personnel, please evacuate this area immediately."

The water was pumped out. Coolant started slowly rising from the bottom of the silo.

"That sounds like a bad thing. Let's climb up.", Thirtyfour suggested.

"And get cut half by that oversized worm? Sounds like a plan.", Rika questioned.

"But it's the only way out. Come on. We'll have to rendezvous with rest of us.", Thirtyfour grabbed Rika's arm and started climbing a ladder as coolant slowly creeped up...

[Helepolis]

- - -

[AJC]

9:26am, Sky Ray unknown area

apparently the men decided that they couldn't trust people of questionable origin with so such heavy equiment and firepower to just leave the gensokyo  escapees alone so they decided to accept their leader who called herself Ria
offer but soon they learn that these pirates were acually from another realm much like gensokyo and that like gensokyo it too had been brought to a end when its mana leylines were drained by the scheme of Kikuri's but it was done in 2 months before gensokyo's destruction.

they also learned that while Ria was orignally a outsider to the realm she was from she had been in it so long that her body had become like that of a native and was dependant of a steady abundance of mana judging by the fact she's still around and apparently without a partner she must have managed to obtain some mana producing thing to keep herself intact in the outside world.

While Alex heard talk of others to try to ambush her to try and leave this land cruiser alex wanted no part stating that being not only still injuryed and on THEIR turf puts them at a disadvantage his talk fell on deaf ears as apparently the others rather wanted to get out now.

but their plans for escape were cut short when a the landcruiser grinded to a halt and apparently they had be found first and the leader of the forces on them was someone from Ria's own world..who apparently decided it was best to Work for Kikuri like Yagi a man named Tao Qwai.

"yet another who has been promised power by her and fell for her bait" Alex thought to himself but didn't have much time to ponder it has apparently he has somehow be taught to somehow bring the twisted remains of the collapsed realms to a sort of manfestation in the outside world has horrific looking zombies and like zombies these manfestations seemed to be out for blood another part of it make it the fabric of reality seem to be on the verge of breaking and they were told by Ria to not step  on the cracks.

"What will happen if we do?" Lily Black asked

Alex replyed "i don't know but i don't want to find out."

Ria opened up a bunch of weapon lockers that contained just about every weapon known to man ranging from melee weapons to full blown firearms

"Grab something anything arm yourselfs we'll need to defend ourselfs now from them do not worry they aren't living things just twisted perversions of things that used to be." Ria shouted

normally alex would be against the girls being involved but they are beings swamped and secondly alex is still not at 100% fighting shape his wound is now much smaller than when he gotten it but it still hurts alot and its still is a very vunerable spot on him.

"MY dear Lily Black Daiyousei Star Luna and Sunny you girls are gonna need to get yourselfs something i alone can't defend you all we are all gonna have to defend each other." Alex said but he knows that other than Lily who only has had very limited training from him the 4 other fairys in his care only have minimal combat experince at best and what little they had was with danmaku based.

"Alex..." said Lily Black as she looked into alex's eyes she couldn't see any look of fear in alex's eyes but she could tell even alex wasn't sure about the outcome of this.

Alex had grabbed some Spiked Knuckle Dusters and various melee weapons  but had also grabbed a gun the a big nasty looking Handgun with a large barrel that looks like it shoots a very big slug that can easly go though serveral skulls it made her cringe a bit bringing back memorys of the yakuza attacker that almost killed Her and then almost killed Alex in his effort to save her

Alex replyed morbidly about her looks toward it "just in case i'd rather have us go out quick then to go out suffering slowly and painfully my dear i care too much about us to let us suffer."

Lily didn't reply she picked up a staff and stood by Alex the 4 fairys dug in the pile of weapons alex brought till they found something they liked.

Alex and the fairys then readyed themselfs for the onslaught.

[Sana]

9:26 AM, Sky Ray, Day 3

Sanasan and Renko stood there, horrified at what had just appeared.

"W-w-what in the..." Sanasan stuttered with fright. Renko said nothing, a look of fear on her face. In the background, they heard someone say "Hey, quickly, get somethings, ze! Do you want to die here?!", and the sound of everyone gathering weapons.

"...We'd better get something to defend ourselves." Sanasan said, hands shaking.

Silently, the two went through the weapons rack. They both ended up taking handguns, and Sanasan also took a short knife which he put on his belt. The two rejoined the others, who were ready for the impending attack.

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Sky Ray- corridor 9:30 AM Day 3

Ria: Damn, never thought I'd get lost on my own ship. Where is everyone anyways.

Kaguya: Ria!

Ria: Kaguya? Are you alright?

Kaguya: Yeah. I managed to use some light Danmaku to fight them off.

Ria: Well, that explains my handicap. Here, take this.

Kaguya: Huh? A rifle?

Ria: You can't rely forever on Danmaku, you know.


Sky Ray- Bridge


Caboose: There, this should stop the bleeding.

Austin: Thanks.

Frank: While we're safe for now, how do we get out?

Austin: We should probably stay put. None of those creatures can get in.

Nitori: Thank goodness.

Austin: Let's see... this console still works. If I can get into the system with the Laptop...

Frank: You could contact the others, drawing attention to yourself.

Austin: I'm in. I can see all the others! I'll try contacting them.

Frank: Don't all those creatures will go berserk and try to attack us again.

Austin: Then what do we do?

Frank: I don't know, distract those things with the ship functions.

[Nemo★Ma]

9:25am Sky Ray, Day 3

Amarillo realized that there are people more terrible than FARGO.

FARGO act in secret, capturing people with abilities secretly into their base.

And this ... no matter if it's a person or an organization, simply want to destroy things.

She couldn't let it happen.

Facing the creature of darkness, she drew her lightsaber.

And she called Lily White.

"Be prepared, to defend yourself or to hide!"

"Eh?" It seems Lily is still in shock of the capture.

"I thought that I can protect you, but it seems I'm .... wrong." Amarillo sighed "What if that situation happens again? Here." Amarillo handed Lily her 2nd lightsaber.

"Eh? You want me use this to defend myself?" Lily White seems more confused. "can I do it?" she looks at the metal stick in her hand.

"Hah, well, to use a lightsaber, the most important thing is "believe", you must believe in yourself in order to use it. A Force-Sensitive only can handle it more easily. Actually, for you, there is a special Duel Form only you can utilize to the best."

"What?"

"Well, merge with me for two minute and I'll show you... in real combat!" She quickly dodged one attack from the shadow, "We have no time."

"But...."

"I know you were filled with doubt of yourself, throw it away! At least for now."

"OK."

Lily White returned the lightsaber back to Amarillo, then concentrates.

And she is now on Amarillo's perspective. With the lightsaber in her hand.

"Are you ready, now watch it yourself. Now I have your wings, so I can attack at any height, thus...." Amarillo flew up, and to one zombie's surprise, appeared in its back "Utilize the art of Form IV: The Aggressive Form!" She waved the lightsaber with a downward charge, slice the zombie in two.

"I see! because of the wings we can attack in everywhere, and also because of the wings we can strike in high speed! That's why you say it's best for ME. "

"I'm happy that you understand," Amarillo flew back to the bridge, "Now De-Merge before I ran out of stamina, you strike above me when I clear out the way for you."

After a bright light, Lily White appeared again beside Amarillo, and take the lightsaber.

"Is that really alright?" she asked.

[Insert BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn9JmMBK1H0 , and ignore everything besides the Music, it's  called "Spica" by Lia, who is also the singer of "Tori no Uta"]

"I know the fairies aren't supposed to fight, however." she looks as the other fairies get ready for combat "We have no choice, I'm sorry."

"Is that so? Then, FOR GENSOKYO! I'm going!" Lily shouted, ignited the lightsaber and charges upward.

"YEAH! FOR GENSOKYO!" Amarillo jumped up and disabled another zombie which was trying to attack Lily from behind, "The way is clear, now strike the one on your left!"

"OK!"

And then another zombie was to attack from Lily's rear, but was strike down by Amarillo with a perfect Saber Throw.

"Heh, if you want an ambush on my partner, you'll eat down my saber first."

"Lily, to your right!"

"Woah!" Lily quickly dodged a black ball which was flying towards her. "What was that?"

"Don't know, but must be something bad."Amarillo replied.

"The weakness of Form IV is the lack of defense, if somehow I can borrow a fairy from Alex..." Amarillo watched as Alex commends his group of fairies. "I may form a more better defense for Lily White, As for now..." She shouted toward Lily "Stay in my view so I can clear out your way!"

"OK!"

"If you are tired just head back, we will retreat."

"Not before we all do our best!"

"That's the spirit!"

Amarillo only hope this fight will over soon, they both are forced to fight and she believes that Lily didn't want to fight too, but they have no choice.


[Explanation: An aggressive style, Form IV was fast-paced and effective against single opponents, though weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces. Form IV was characterized by Force-assisted acrobatics, both for attack and defense, and fast, powerful strikes.
One single Form IV user is weak in multiple enemy combat, however, if teamed up, this is the best way for ending a battle. (If one use Form III or Form V to defend the user of Form IV)
The reason why Amarillo knows Form IV even though she cannot fly in normal circumstances is that the memories of all seven forms are a part of "Operation System Standard" in all the Chrnon Agents, and it's like BIOS, which is a part of their memories, Amarillo only didn't use that most of the time.]

[Gpop]

9:26 AM, Sky Ray, Day 3

Gpop and Koishi were running for their lives.

Koishi placed a subconscious barrier around herself, Gpop, and Satori, and ran anywhere BUT where those things were.

"Wait!" Gpop tells Koishi. He finds a room with a sign on top displayed as "Armory". "We'll go in here!"

The Komeiji sisters followed them inside, avoiding the cracks on the way. Inside they found multiple machine guns, sub-machine guns, and pistols, along with the correct ammo located beside them. Gpop went up to the weapons and grapped a pistol for Satori and a sub-machine gun for Satori, while Gpop grabbed a rather large machine gun, inserting the ammo in guns before lending them the weapons.

"What in the world is this thing?" Koishi asked.

"It's a gun. It shoots bullet like danmaku, except much faster and much more brutal. You could kill someone with one properly placed shot." Gpop told them. Then he points at the trigger. "The trigger right there will shoot one bullet for Satori, while Koishi's will shoot bursts. But don't waste the ammo. I can only carry so much. BUT if you have to use magic, USE IT. I have quite a bit of mana, so don't worry about me!"

Then they heard an explosion coming from the door of the armory, and a large group of the creatures were there ready to charge. Then Gpop aimed his gun at them and began to fire, and all the Komeiji sisters could see is that the creatures were quickly collapsing within impact of the weapons. The sisters were amazed at how fast the bullets could travel, and how effective it is.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME OUT AND SHOOT AT THEM!" Gpop yells at them.

The two sisters, barely able to hear him over the loud noise that the gun was making, pointed their guns at the door and also began to shoot. They creatures were dropping in a huge pile at the door. Finally, the creatures ceased to continue through the door. Gpop stopped firing, followed by the girls.

"Okay, we have to escape while we have the chance now! Keep your guns! You'll need them to defend yourselves! Let's go before more comes in to attack us!" Gpop told them.

The two sisters nod in agreement and followed Gpop out the door and continued to run through the corridor.

"We'll have to head for the bridge! We'll be better off there!" Gpop yelled, and they continued to run through the corridor, hoping to find they're way without getting lost...

[mad]

Sky Ray-corridor 9:30 AM Day 3

Jalal and Eirin were wandering around looking for Kaguya and Reisen. One of those bad memories appeared in front of them. Jalal glared at it and it shrank away and wimpered. Eirin looked at him in surprise to which he replied "What? It's only a memory." That said, he carried an automatic shotgun and a bolter. Odd choice for one with poor marksmanship. "Hey, it's simply more dakka."

Eirin checked the map. "The bridge is this way." She pointed down a corridor.

A huge one blocked the path. It does not fear you, Jalal. It was a large four-legged beast.

"Weeeeell, I guess I do have to fight." He dropped the guns and drew his claymore...Why did you take the guns if you were going to use your sword anyways? "I have a plan."

He gestured at the memory. Eirin ran around to its side while he charged for a frontal assault. He dodged a swipe and grabbed onto its arm. He swung up onto it's shoulder, while Eirin launched several drug-tipped arrows into its back. He stood on those arrows and twisted it. The thing screeched in pain and tried to shake him off. He held on while Eirin fired the arrows in such a pattern as to build a platform.

Eventually the thing stopped struggling and fell over. Jalal and Eirin quickly set up an entrenched position on top of it using metal bars and the guns.. Eirin jabbed it with a stimulant arrow and it got back up. It shook some more and Eirin kept jabbing it with arrows. Jalal stomped and the beast gave up on shaking. He stomped again and it marched forward towards the bridge. "Memories are only as dangerous as you let them, of course."

[Demonlord Pichu]

=== Sky Ray: Unknown Areospace - 9:28 AM ~ Day 3===

The Beginning is The End ~ Metal Slug 7

Ahahaha! This is so awesome~!" Yuki yelled as she unleashed another rain of hot led into the zombified monstrocities that lay before the Makai group. Owlbear only seemed to facepalm, because in actuallity she was showing off...

"Yuki, please stop showing off..." Owlbear lamented pulling face from palm to see some more of the monsters coming out of the woodworks all of which were soon sliced and cut into ribbions by the swift reflexes of Makai's own ninja maid Yumeko. A few others managed to creep in on them from behind but they soon fell prey to Luize who had no qualms with cleaving a the black creatures in half, while a few fell at the hands of Shinki, who had managed to get the hang of using her firearm albeit she still closed her eyes when she shot.

"We can't stay here for long-!" The maid shouted plunging her knife into the hissing body of a carcassed nekomata, before kicking the monster back and crushing it's head under her heel. "Hurry to the bridge, that's our best chance of survival now!"

"Right." Owlbear nodded before turning to his harem er, I mean-crew. "You heard the lady, let's get a move on!"

"Wait!" Yuki shouted to Owlbear as the lot of them ran behind him and Yumeko, the both of them pushing through the monsters using their own brute force to do so. "Do we even know where the bridge is?"

"Oh that's easy its..." Owlbear's sentence flew short of a conclusion as he trailed off and fell silent. "Fuck..."

"Ah, don't worry about it~" Luize mused which managed to raise a few eyebrows at such a response. "I'm a traveler, so I should be able to find it easily."

"She is right..." Mai spoke up. "Her sense of direction is beyond that of any demon we know, she is well suited for this type of thing..."

"Well...alright, but be careful up front, if you see anything let us know" Owlbear said to Luize as she ran ahead of him and the others.

"Of course, but there won't be any need to worry about enemies." The demon tourists eyes open, the same murderous glow burning within them just like before. "For I'll be sure to kill them myself, if they challenge me..."

Owlbear blinked for a moment before her glanced to Shinki a look of concearn in his eye. "Uhm...is it just me or does Luize go all Axe Crazy when her eyes open..."

"No, she's just...unique like that." Shinki chuckled nervously, partly because she could take some of the blame for she was the one who made Luize. Why would she give Luize such a creepy 2nd persona anyhow? Then again, why would she even make a demon tourist in the first place?

[AJC]

9:27 AM, Sky Ray, Day 3



Alex remembers that Amarillo has some sort of special link with fairys and wonders if with her the fairys under his care a chance to get out of this spot.

"crazy idea but its worth a shot." says he thinks to himself in his mind while mowing down what looked liked the animated rotting corpses of some of the people he once knew from the human village under Keine's protection.

"better not dwell got to push on ahead." he thinks to himself

Alex and the fairys make head way to Amarillo after a while and some close calls He manages to spot Amarillo tracking her down via Lily White's spirital presense which is similar yet diffrent from Lily Blacks.

"need a hand?" he asks.


elsewere on Sky Ray 9:30 AM

Yagi was steamed about this open attack using such low tactics like gassing people but orders were but he had told the Rai members taking part in this one simple order one to be followed on pain of death.

"if you see a martial artist with serveral fairys who look like little girls and one in particually a blonde almost carrot shaded one whos bigger than the rest of them leave him be he is *MINE*
I will deal with him and him alone if i find out someone else has killed him before can get to him that man/woman will be hanged up side down in my quaters and subjected to a long *slow* and *painful* death."

Yagi and Yuka had gotten on the Sky Ray along with Shinjiro.

"Pityful creatures" Yagi said seeing some of the "Zombie" memorys

one tryed to attack him but it just got its head knocked off with one powerful swipe from Yagi who didn't give a damn about what it was.

"Knowing Alex he's not gonna go down to these things with ease...Come Yuka we have mission to complete if any of these things get in your way you know what to do." Yagi says.

"Yes master." Yuka replys with that hollow souless sounding voice the condtioning gave her.

[trancehime]

THIRTYFOUR and RIKA

Altered Sky Ray, Coolant Area, ?.?? AM, Day 3

The water was pumped out and coolant was being released simultaneously. This was a pretty dangerous situation to be in, at the same time, some sort of amalgamation of a worm and some icky things was also on the lookout for Thirtyfour and Rika, it had already let loose some sort of death ray, fortunately for the pair it had horrible aim and failed to hit them despite destroying everything else in the vicinity. The worm was right around the area of Thirtyfour and Rika climbing up the ladder, but they had no choice, as Thirtyfour had said. They needed to get back up, and fast.

The worm itself could see the two climbing up the ladder, it had some sort of proboscis that started charging up a laser.

AMARILLO and LILY WHITE

Altered Sky Ray, Hallway, ?.?? AM, Day 3

Amarillo had activated her Form IV, an aggressive phase of attack, and was trying to defend herself and Lily from the apparitions that had appeared. The two believed that they had no choice, as reluctant as they were to fight, it was the only way to survive. However, just as they thought they were doing well in the fight, something had happened mid way.

Rrrgharahroaaaar!!

There was a bellowing cry in the distance as a bigger, larger, faster and stronger apparition in the shape of a bear started rampaging through the hallway, knocking out many smaller apparitions that were also charging. It wanted blood and the first sentient beings it saw were Amarillo and Lily White. As it approached, it slowed down and stopped in front of them.

Rrrhgharrr!!

TAIHOU, MOKOU, KEINE and SAKUYA

Altered Sky Ray, Unknown?, ?.?? AM, Day 3

Sakuya had advised Taihou not to engage against those devilish things. He was curious about what Sakuya had in mind but in the end obliged to her request. Keine had lectured everyone about what those things were. Taihou had lent Sakuya some of his mana energy and this allowed her to see things that many others could not - the mana trails of other people... At least, those that still had mana. They could use this leak to trail other people and find a quick, easy way to the bridge with little conflict. If the four were to engage, they would lose energy fast. This was when they found the trail of two people.

OWLBEAR, SHINKI, YUKI, MAI, LUIZE and YUMEKO

Altered Sky Ray, Unknown Aerospace, ?.?? AM, Day 3

This crew of people had no trouble fending off the beings, as it were, however, they had the complication of not knowing how to get to the bridge. That's where Luize came in. Indeed, she had an excellent sense of direction and could probably find the bridge easily. However, there were numerous rooms with busted doors, and in them were shiny things that were too hard to discern from the distance and the lighting of the area. There were numerous demons in the distance both to their front and to their back, so they had to decide quickly which way to go or, even with their power, they would be overwhelmed by numbers.

ALEX and LILY BLACK, other fairies

Altered Sky Ray, Hallway, ?.?? AM, Day 3

Alex recalled about Amarillo's link with fairies, and used this opportunity to track her down with Lily Black and the other fairies under his care. When he had reached Amarillo, the pair had been assailed by a bear-like apparition that roared constantly and was several times bigger than Alex himself. Looking serious, he had asked Amarillo "Need a hand?"

***

Altered Sky Ray, Unknown?. 9.33 AM, Day 3

Hirowaza kept his switchblade hanging from somewhere on the clothes he was now wearing, since Meira had somehow gotten her extra set on his person and he was now wearing it for some inexplicable reason. He kept the rifle with the bayonet close to him and Meira had a close hand on her katana, Hirowaza had already mowed down several black images with his rifle, and he was already running low on ammo. "Damnable things," Hirowaza said. "These things are hard to kill, this would be a terrible place to use my mana!" Meira nodded and whispered into his ear what she had seen in the distance. Hirowaza had sensed it too. The two ran quickly to their destination and then they saw Taihou.

"H, Hey!" Hirowaza cried out. "Taihou-san! It's me! Let me go with you!"

[Helepolis]

- - -

[trancehime]

Altered Sky Ray, Sector F4 Restaurant, 9.45 AM, Day 3

At last, we're not alone in this fight... Hirowaza mused in his head as there was a comical exchange between an excited Mokou and a peturbed Keine. He hefted his nearly-empty rifle on his right shoulder and sighed. They had to head to the bridge and try to do something about this. And they were separated from everyone else, which complicated things to a dangerously high degree. Hirowaza had mentioned that they needed to get to the bridge, but the question was how. Meira knew this and thought about something for a moment. She had an idea of where to go, but then, there was a ripping noise that could be heard. Hirowaza made a small yelp as he looked underneath him. There was no dimensional crack, so nothing could've possibly penetrated through the ship. It was then and there that he felt an excruciating pain in his head. "Would... argh... love to tell you how to get there, but my..." Hirowaza was struggling to say anything that made sense. "Head... explode... rrgh..." He kneeled down. "Well, I think..." Hirowaza dropped his rifle to the floor, making a very audible clattering sound. He quickly got the switchblade. Meira was alarmed. "Y, Yoh-kun?! You aren't gonna?!" However, it was too late. Hirowaza had practically gutted himself with the switchblade. However, no blood came out. The pain immediately subsided from his head. "Did I scare you guys?" Hirowaza said, panting. Meira facepalmed and shook Hirowaza fiercely. Her face was visibly irate.

"Don't do such crazy things! You could've kill yourself!!!" She said indignantly. Hirowaza sighed and made a sign to tell her that he had no choice, and put away the switchblade. Taihou and the others were visibly shocked instead of angry. The switchblade had ripped through Hirowaza's clothing, revealing his skin, where there WOULD have been blood, but there was none, in its place was a slit, however, nearby it there was a bruise. Using the switchblade to exorcise is actually virtually harmless. The mana charging is necessary in order to minimize visible wounds and pain, as disgusting as the act actually looks. The bruise was something everyone in the room noticed. Mokou seemed curious by it.

"Eyyy, what's that bruise?" she said with disbelief, still dumbfounded how anyone would willingly do what Hirowaza just did. Hirowaza looked down at himself and noticed the bruise was in plain view, before covering it with the long sleeves from his kinda-new set of clothes. Hirowaza shook his head profusely, implying and saying that it was nothing at all. Taihou, Sakuya and Keine could all tell that he was clearly lying. Meira already knew this and kept quiet about this. "A, a, a, anyway!!" Hirowaza said. "We, we need to get to the bridge! Enough about me. We should formulate a course of action." he continued. Meira smiled and stepped forward.

"If we go out that door," Meira said, pointing to the door they just entered, "We're going to have to face lots of those things. However, we can easily get to the bridge by..." she said as she approached a shelf of drinks and pushed it aside. "Using this door. There shouldn't be many cracks, if at all. This should take us to the hallway where we can make a beeline for the bridge and perhaps find others or valuable things to help us." she said. Hirowaza tilted his head. Everyone paid attention intently, but there was still something in one of their minds.

"H, hey..." Mokou said. "Hirowaza, why are you wearing... The same clothes as Meira-san?" to this, Meira couldn't resist laughing. Hirowaza looked very embarrased. He shook his head again.

"I, i, it's... It's nothing, okay? We have more serious matters at hand! We should get going!!" he said, as he motioned to the door that Meira had revealed. Mokou crossed her arms and smiled while nodding. Sakuya started being suspicious, too.

"...Are... you?" she asked.

"Am I what?" Hirowaza said as he went to the door.

"...Nothing. Those clothes fit you strangely well."

"Uhm... Well, thanks and felicitations back at you, Miss Sakuya... But, I honestly don't know how I found myself in these either."

Taihou simply just laughed.

[Helepolis]

- - -

[Nemo★Ma]

9.27AM, Day 3 Amarillo's Team & Alex's Team

"Shoot, on this rate I can't clear for Lily for too long, only if I have wings......" Amarillo thought.

Then Alex came "Need a hand?"

"Woah," Amarillo thought "That's fast!"

"Well, I want to borrow one of your fairies...... For helping Lily White out there."

She looks at Alex's team of fairies and thought of possible outcomes.

In that situation the best one is Cirno for firepower, however she's not there....

The light fairies must be merged in three, and she have not enough stamina to support all three.

For Lily Black, Amarillo have not been merged with her, and she believe that she have more link towards Alex.

So there is only one left.

"Dai-chan!" Amarillo called "Remember how long was it since our last merge?"

Daiyousei replied "Seems like several month ago, so that means..."

"Sorry, guys, I can only support Dai-chan with my current stamina, however if you stick with me you all can use 100%of your power, I need you to create a field so there is no one can see our teams. " she said to the light fairies.

"Yeah!"

"And, Alex, be careful, I got the feeling that someone is watching on you." Amarillo warned. "You two, stay on guard and try not step out of the field."

"Yagi?" Alex is confused.

"Don't know him, I can only alter minds, not to read them." Amarillo closed her eyes, and grabbed Daiyousei's hand. "Whatever, just stay on guard, that's a woman's instinct."

"A WOMAN? You looks like far from a woman." Alex laughed.

Amarillo looks down on her wearings and smiled, "guess so, then, a girl's instinct."

Then she do the merge, unlike with Lily White, this merge cause her appearance to change a lot.

Her hair become light green, and Daiyousei's wing can be seen.

She also become much... lighter.

"Well, the reason I choose her, is not because I'm in love with her or something. She is the only yousei that can actually LOWER my Control Index." Amarillo explained, then take off.

"What is a control index?" Asked Lily Black.

"Don't know." As Alex replied, the other three fairies cast open their field, that can made others didn't aware of Alex's team.

In the Air, Lily White

Lily White suddenly found that she was cornered by several zombies, and it seems a lightsaber swipe have little effect.

"Oh, no." She murmured. "Defense Stance, Defense Stance."

"By using that pose you may cut yourself." a voice comes from behind the zombies. Then the zombies was slide in two and a green haired Amarillo appears.

"That hair-- Dai-chan?" Lily White is surprised.

"Yeah, It's me. However this state cannot stay for too long, let's keep fighting and retreat back to the cruiser bridge."

"Okay."

"And you can stay back a little, switch to defense mode-- not suicide mode, not pose like that - yes, so defect enemy's attacks and cover me. got it?"

"Yes."

"Right, now let's charge backwards.." Amarillo did a circle in air and disabled three enemies that is going to shut their back.

"You didn't kill them?" Asked Daiyousei.

"No, what can you get when you treat other's hate with hate, anyways?"

"......"

"Whatever, let's get out of this quick." Amarillo muttered.

"I can feel your lifeforce draining fast- not your mana, your LIFEFORCE. Are you really OK?"

"Just.. hold on for now. I guess I'm Alright."

Amarillo calculated for a while.

Control Index = 20%+70%+40%-30% = 100% Control Percentage = 100%/50% = 200%

"She is right." she thought.

"Don't forget that I can hear your thought now."

"Ahhh, I know that, whatever, let's get out of this for now."

As they are close to the bridge, an arrow cames from far behind them.

"Ow!"

Amarillo loses her grip, but she quickly realized what had happened and adjust her pose so she didn't fell down.

The arrow, with a sunflower design on the last edge, was stick into her right arm.

she looks at it, then pulled it out.

"The bridge is near, and we will de-merge once we land!"

"But your arm..."

"Your safety is more important than me!"

"If you really insist..."

Lily White also noticed her wound, however, she knows that telling Amarillo about the wound is useless.

And they finally made it to the bridge when Amarillo revert to normal as Daiyousei emerges from her body.

"Now as my thanks, I'll heal you all...." Amarillo then poses her hands forward.

"NO!!"

But it's too late, as the yousei's wounds begin to mend, Amarillo's nose start to bleed.

Control Percentage = 200% + 80% = 280%

"We finally made it.... Ahaha~~" As the healing field disappeared, she collapses. on the ground, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

"Don't tell me she is going to sleep another 8 hours." Alex said.

"Seems so, she is just that type, she ONLY cares about OTHERS." Replied Lily White, "Now let's at least treat her wounds and found her a bed."

Alex sighed.

"only cares for others.."

[Gappy]

Engineering Deck, 9.35AM, Day 3 featuring Team FUBAR, Team Freud, Team TANK,

"Why on earth did you get us separated from the others?!" Alice cried.

"It wasn't me, they left US!" Mitaka said as they dashed down another random corridor. "It was dark and everyone just...well...scattered."

"And you got us lost! It was a straightforward route to the bridge!" Alice shouted. "Down the corridor, up the lift, down more corridors...and...err..."

"That's the thing! The main corridor was sealed shut by that bloody-ass blast door, in case you forgot!" Mitaka pointed out as they took another random turn.

"If only you weren't so weak, I could have artful-sacrifice'd that measly little door!" Alice protested.

"If you weren't such a scardy-cat, we wouldn't have had to run after you in the dark and get ourselves lost!" Mitaka shouted back as they climbed up another set of stairs.

"Well, if you didn't make such a big deal out of that fairy-zombie-thing trying to nip your head..." Alice began, hotly as they paused for a moment at an intersection.

"It was eating my head, ok!" Mitaka said. "How would you like it if some demonic apparition tried to suck your brains out through a straw!"

"How could it when you don't have any to suck out to begin with!" Alice shouted.

"....This coming from a blonde?!"

"Weakling nerd!"

"Mommy's girl!"

"Roast beef!"

"Blondie!"

"Deodorant!"

"Flat...."

"Will you two stop arguing?!" Reimu shouted from behind, interrupting Mitaka and Alice's sophisticated banter. "It's catching up!"

"I can feels its breath on my backs ze!" Marisa shouted from the tail-end of the group. "And it doesn't smells like a beds of roses eithers, ze!"

Its booming footfalls were indeed getting closer. They could feel its hot breath down the back of their necks.

"Wait...is that...?" Reimu began as a set of figures slowly loomed up out of the darkness ahead of them.

"Oy! Get out of our bloody way!" Gpop shouted.

"YOU get out of our bloody way!" Mitaka shouted back irritably.

"It's coming this way!" They both shouted together.

"WHAT'S coming this way?!" They both demanded simultaneously.

"Oh...." Both of their mouths curled into 'o's of horrific understanding as they finally saw what the other was speaking about. Gpop's group had a gigantic zombie-walrus rampaging through the corridor behind them. Team FUBAR had a giant monstrous panda.

"GET DOWN!" The two teams hit the floor, skidding dangerously towards each other, while the two monstrous apparitions leapt over them...

...before crashing violently into each other mid-leap.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Both teams screamed in horror, praying that the inertia will keep them going and prevent them from becoming one with the floor once those two huge monsters land.

The two gigantic monstrosities finally crashed violently into the floor, narrowly missing the two groups.

"...phew...." Marisa and Merlin breathed mutual sighs of relief.

"Next time, give us more warning!" Mitaka and Gpop shouted into each other's faces.

"What?! It was your fault!" They both shouted simultaneously.

"....What's up with them...?" Sanae asked Reimu.

"I feel friendship blossoming." Reimu chuckled as Gpop and Mitaka began pulling at each other's cheeks.

"Hey, guys....?" Alice began. "They're not dead..."

"...."

Sure enough, the creatures had merged into one huge super-creature with walrus flippers, fangs and whiskers, panda arms and belly, and two sets of huge rabid-looking jaws.

"....run?" Gpop and Mitaka, for the first time in a while, agreed on something.

They ran.

"This is your fault!" Alice shouted.

"I didn't tell it to merge!" Mitaka shouted back.

"If you hadn't led it to us, the wouldn't have merged in the first place!" Gpop shouted.

"But you lead it to US!" Mitaka protested.

"It's your fault, stupid deodorant!" Alice and Gpop shouted simultaneously. "Because we say so!"

KABOOM!

The wall on their left exploded inwards, filling the corridor with all manner of chaos including smoke, dust, shrapnel, bullet casings, coolant, a Rika and a ThirtyFour.

"Why'd you have to feed it the grenades!" Rika shouted, pulling ThirtyFour out of the pool of coolant and settling dust.

"Because it was better than feeding it MY ARM!" ThirtyFour pointed out. "Oh, you people again." He said, nodding at the group.

"A giant caterpilar....it's a giant caterpilar...." Mitaka whispered urgently.

"Oh, don't worry, it's dead..." ThirtyFour said.

"No, it isn't! It's chargin' its Laser!" Gpop shouted. "....and that Panrus is coming towards us!"

"Panrus! Walda sounds better!" Mitaka shouted as they leapt into a sprint once more, barely missing a jet of green laser that blasted a hole through the opposite wall behind them.

"Panrus!"

"Walda!"

"It's a Walterpirus now!" ThirtyFour shouted from behind as the caterpilar crashed into the Panrus and merged with them.

"Panrupillar!"

"Catterandus!"

"Why'd you lead that panru-whatever-chu-call-it into us anyway?!" ThirtyFour shouted.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT, TANK-HEAD!" Mitaka, Gpop, and Alice shouted in ThirtyFour's face.

"Shut up you idiots!" Rika shouted from behind them. "AGH! I've run out of bullets!"

"Me too!" Koishi said.

"You've been wasting it on that thing?!" Gpop and ThirtyFour gasped.

"People, stop speaking at the same time! It hurts my head!" Satori yelped.

"People, just shut up and RUN!" Reimu cried in exasperation.

They reached a giant blastdoor that was only slightly ajar, with a gap just big enough for them to squueze through.

"Get in there!" ThirtyFour yelped. "Getingetingetingetingetin!"

Alice, Rika and Sanae leapt towards the gap simultaneously....and got stuck...

"....we're stuck..." Rika pointed out as they struggled futilely.

"...." Everyone looked back up the corridor, saw the giant catterandus coming, blinked, before exerting superhuman strength on the human roadblock to get through.

"Ouchouchouchouchouuuuuuuuuuuuuch!" Sanae yelped as, with a rather painful and wet popping noise like a champagne bottle, they were dislodged from the door and thrown half-way across the hangar bay on the other side.

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" The rest of the crew yelped as they landed on the floor of the hangar bay just as the giant panrupillar bashed up against the blast door on the other side.

"...You've been Gp'awned!" Gpop aimed a finger at the monster who was glaring down at him through the gap, earning him a green laser zap. "Yeouch! h-hey!" He yelped as it missed him by mere inches.

"Where are we?" Satori asked.

"A hangar by the looks of it." ThirtyFour said. "Oy, Rika, anything usable?!"

"My legs and arms are!" Rika shouted from where she had landed behind a trashed APC. "Dunno about my head...or, ouch...my butt..."

"Find something!" ThirtyFour shouted back. "Looks like that door's our only exit. The hangar bay doors's hidden behind that junk!" he said, gesturing at the huge pile of crashed Orca tranports piled up against the hangar bay door.

"There's a robert class tank here!" Rika shouted back. "It says 'Lagann' on the side."

The group trooped around the seemingly-functional tank as Rika dropped inside the personnel hatch. 

"What on earth....?" Rika's eyes widened perceptibly as they swivelled across the control panel. "....what sort of moron was in charge of piloting this?!"

"Why? What's wrong?" ThirtyFour asked as he slid down the hatch ladder into the command deck.

Rika gestured at all the labels. 'This lever makes it go faster.' read one label.

"...." ThirtyFour rolled his eyes. "Suits you fine. Shut up and drive."

"HEY!"

[Tapsa]

Hangar, Hell Sky-Ray, 9.39AM, Day 3, featuring the above
--------------------------------------------------

Rika turned the tank to face the smoking and flaming pileup of defunct Orcas.

"All clear!?", Thirtyfour asked.

"Right!"

Thirtyfour swivelled the turret and aligned the barrel in under the Orcas to blow them completely out of the way. The autoloader started working.

Thirtyfour heard metal framework bending and groaning, and clanking of gears that haven't been greased for a long time. He opened the hatch and slowly looked behind. The same veins of darkness started rusting the door out of condition and widening it to the size of the caterpillar.

"GODDAMN IT. WHY WON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP!?", he yelled at the top of his voice.

Thirtyfour closed the hatch and started beating the main gun.

"Come on, work faster!"

He heard intense beating of metal in background, even though the autoloader was even louder inside. The autoloader was nearing it's last phase, but at the same moment he heard a massive explosion of concrete debris flying in every direction. A loud bang echoed inside the tank as one of those chunks hit it.

"ARE THESE PARTS PRODUCED IN CHINA OR RUSSIA!?"

The autoloader let out a final clank as it had finished it's job. Without checking through sight or giving any warning, he fired to the underside of Orca pile, sending them all in the air with spectacular smoke and fire trails.

"Full speed ahead!", Rika yelled.

A green laser punched a hole through the tank and burned the cramped inside, making everybody shriek, yet hitting nobody in exception of valuable electronics.

The tank drove with a stressed 60mp/h through the hole which was just a moments ago a functioning door, leaving the caterpillar behind and making it crash yet again and leaving a huge dent on the wall.

"Just wait and it's on us again.", Rika ruined the fun.

"Concentrate on driving. Millions of people die in traffic and to world hunger because of people like YOU.", Thirtyfour spoke with an angry tone.

"HEY! That last remark was completely unrelated!", Rika objected

The tank came to a screeching halt. The hangar was massive, like every hangar. Lots of half-assembled Orcas and helicopters filled the hall, most remarkably, functional Chinooks. Best of all, bright daylight flooded in from square pattern at the wall above the massive hangar door. Rika turned the tank sideways.

Again, Thirtyfour heard framework snapping and bolts loosening and metal groaning loudly.

"Uh oh. It still hasn't gave up. Prepare for another wave!"

[mad]

Hanger Sky Ray 9:39 AM DAY 3

"I thought you said the bridge was this way?" Jalal asked

"Why don't you try reading this map? It's all covered with blood from this creature," Eirin replied.

They saw the huge panda-walrus-caterpillar chimera.

"Wow, now THAT's big game. I wonder whose memories those are? Let's capture it," Jalal said as he drove his beast toward it.

The tank fired into it then crashed in the chimera knocking it over.

"I told you to drive it not crash into the beast!" Thirtyfour yelled.

"I'm trying! This idiot Mitaka won't get his ass out of my face!" Rika yelled back.

"But...There's not enough room in here" Mitaka replied while trying to shift to a more comfortable position.

"Get your heavy ass off me, ze!"

The creature growled as Eirin covered its side with drugged arrows. Jalal prodded his mount and it climbed on top of the chimera.

"You're mine!" he cried while his mount began merging with the beast.

The result of this merger was a metal bar entrenched position on top of the now larger chimera. The chimera got up and tried to shake off the fort, but the barbs were too deep.

Eirin continued sticking arrows into it.

"Damn, wont this thing ever give up?" Jalal began.

You have aquired a "narrator's displeasure."

"Shit"

Upon hearing that news, Jalal began slicing out his former mount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3PRXFLJYcw begins.

The tank manages to get disentangled and starts opening fire while circling the beast.

His mount falls from the thing's back along with a large chunk of the chimera.

"No matter how big it is, it's only a memory. Cover me Eirin, I'm seeing just what memory is in here."

Flashback some time in Gensokyo

I can't believe it. I never thought Kaguya was like that. Mokou is going to be literally eaten alive. I'll eat this history so it never happened!

Flashback took 15 seconds.

"So how was it?" Eirin asked.

"It's about that time the princess got constipated."

"Oh, when I gave her that extreme laxative? I never really learned why Mokou decided to attack her from the toilet."

Bridge Sky Ray 9:30 Day 3

A snowman sat in the captain's chair. If you've played Shin Megami Tensei, you would recognize him as a Jack Frost. Only, he was wearing armor styled like a Knight Hospitallier. He was Prince Boheemond, the accumulation of the bad memories of winter, and he waited.

[Jana]

(I'm sort of in a hurry, so here's a condensed story to get Jan in the same place.)

En Route to the Saniwa Shrine, 9:30 AM, Day 3

Having had finished their breakfast, Jan and Patchouli had been preparing to go when a mysterious form of darkness seemed to be in the air, around the same area that the lake would be. Not one to move in unprepared, Jan convinced Patchouli and Koakuma of the need to come prepared. Now, they were back on their way to the lake, but all three of them were armed.

Jan was carrying a spear, as ordinary as most spears would be: A smallish metal point and a six-foot wooden shaft. At the other end of the shaft was a metal buttcap, meant to be used as a blunt counter if anything came too close. To be safe, Jan also had a simple longbow strapped to his back, and a full quiver of arrows hung at his right side.

Koakuma was carrying what looked like a medieval knight's shield, as well a concealed knife if the need to defend went away.

Patchouli had a short sword, likely of European origin. It's light weight meant that she could swing it with a minimum amount of Mana, and that she could team up with Koakuma's shield to take on most enemies.

Shores of Lake Suwa, 9:35 AM

Arriving at the location of the darkness, Jan could see a ship being surrounded by it, but no sign of the allies he had seen last night. He could recognize it as the same vessel that had been at the Opposite Mansion when he had first arrived the evening before. "Chances are that the other people from Gensokyo are on there, but we'll need to find a way onto the ship..."

"What about this over here?" Koakuma said,pointing to a small motorboat, aka a rowboat with a motor. "...If we can get it running, this might work."

Jan pushed the back of the boat a little so it would be in the water while Patchouli and Koakuma pushed the sides. As the trio got on board and Jan began pulling at the starter, the engine came to life and the began moving at a reasonable pace. "...I don't really know how to work this aside from starting, steering, and stopping, so let's just take the chance to figure out what we're doing."

Discussing a few things, such as how far away they could stay from each other and how to get on deck from the motorboat, Jan kept track of how close they were to the large ship. However, to get up onto the boat, Jan would need the help of both Patchouli and Koakuma... Until a small explosion created a hole in the hull that they would fit through without having to climb on top of each other.

Steering the motorboat closer, Jan could see what looked like a mass of zombies and a larger rottern-looking animal moving about. "Chances are it was that big one that made the hole... Wait here."

As the boat came to a stop, Jan took aim with his bow. "I'm not that great, but I've had some practice..." Letting an arrow fly, it lodged itself in the side of the animal. When it turned around, Jan could tell that it looked like the rotting carcass of a giant possum.

As the roadkill zombie lumbered towards him, Patchouli yelled out."It's giving off some magical energy... I think it's charging something!"

Surprised by the fact that Patchouli was yelling, Jan hastened to nock another arrow and let it fly. This time, it lodged itself in the skull of a humanoid that was between them and the possum.

"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap-" Jan muttered as he quickly got another arrow. The possum let out a roar (Do possums really roar? Jan thought to himself) and fired a sizable fireball from it's mouth. "Hit the deck!"

As the trio got down, Koakuma raised her shield to keep the fireball from hurting them. The flames hit the steel, and the ball broke up into scattered flames. Most of it hit the water, but some made it back onto the boat and hit some of the humanoid zombies, causing them them to groan loudly. Wincing at the terrible sound, Jan got back up and let his third arrow fly.

This time, his aim was true, and it hit the zombie possum in the left eye socket. It continued moving into the brain, and the possum let out a shriek before collapsing. "Now!" shouted Jan as he jumped into the hole, spear in hand to drive back the zombies.

Bottom Starboard, Sky Ray, 9:39 AM

As Jan thrust with his spear and Koakuma combined her shield with Patchouli's short sword, the library trio was able to make it through the small wave of zombies. Jan had managed to knock a few into the water with his spear's length, leaving them to flounder about in a way that let him pick them off with well-placed thrusts. Koakuma's shield kept a few zombies at bay, but close enough for Patchouli to swing her short sword into their necks.

Having finished off the group, the group made their way up a flight of stairs. "Miss Patchouli, how did you handle yourself so well? It looked like you really got in there..."

"Of course I could, Jan. I'm a youkai magician. I've seen and fought far worse, and even if I cannot use magic, I still know how to fight." Patchouli responded. Koakuma nodded heartily as she brought her shield ahead to open a door.

Engineering Deck/Hanger Floor, Sky Ray

Koakuma quickly opened the door and stood to block with her shield, but nothing immediately came at them. Steeping into the open room, Jan could see a massive entity some distance away, engaged with what seemed to be a pair of tanks. Motioning for the other to follow him, Jan stuck to the sides of the open room and moved closer. Seeing the massive flesh ball firing lasers and taking fire was enough to convince him that they had no need to engage just yet, but Jan passed off his spear to Koakuma and drew his bow to be safe. Nocking in an arrow, Jan waited to see what would happen.

[Sana]

Sky Ray, 9:36 AM, Day 3

Sanasan and Renko ran down the hallway, not daring to look back. After running around lost for a few minutes, they came across a map. However, it was almost illegible due to stains of blood on it.

"...What's that noise?" Sanasan said, hearing the sound of something shrieking. Seconds later, the rumble of a wall being smashed shook the floor.

"Sounds like it's coming from over there." Renko said, pointing to a what looked like a large rusty door. The two peeked in and saw multiple broken doors, and at the end, a giant black thing shooting lasers at a tank. Besides that, the hangar seemed mostly empty.

"...Think it's worth going in there?" Sanasan asked Renko.

"Probably safer than here. At least it looks like there's a way out there." Renko said, noting the sunlight streaming in.

"I don't know...a place with giant black things shooting lasers doesn't sound like great place to be."

"How about this then? It's in there, where you can at least see the thing shooting lasers at you, or here, where it's so dark you can barely see five feet in front of you. Now come on!" Renko exclaimed, already halfway through the door.

"You know, that's an excellent point." Sanasan said, and followed her.

Hangar, Sky Ray, 9:40 AM, Day 3

Sanasan and Renko examined the hangar. Broken machines were strewn about, but there seemed to be no evidence of any enemies except for the huge one fighting a tank. Hidden behind some machinery, they saw what looked like someone with a bow at the ready.

[Gappy]

Command Bridge, Sky Ray 9.45AM, Day 3 featuring Team Shakin' (Austin, Nitori, and Momiji), team TOURIST, and team Fairy Harem

"Austin! Stay awake!" Nitori shouted, her breath hanging in huge white puffs before her as she slapped a rigid Austin silly. "It's no good, Momiji!"

"How dare you!" Momiji barked at the mysterious being sitting casually on the captain's seat, watching them with an expression of mild interest. The same heavy darkness that plagued the entire ship hung over the bridge like a storm, but along with that the bridge had been assaulted by a biting frost.

"Merry are the ignorant, as they dance about their willows, oblivious to the penitent poor hanging outside their windows." The strange smiling being said. "While Jack Frost plays in the cold, the homeless decay with nothing to eat but mold."

"What have you done to Austin!" Momiji demanded.

"My icicle jolts are as deadly as lightning bolts, but only twice as painful and thrice as long. Nobody remembers those who die in the cold." Prince Boheemond's smile grew ever wider as Austin's impending death came ever closer. The darkness in the room seemed to circle around him, before gathering above him and shaping itself into a humanoid form...a scythe-wielding specter dressed in black and silver. "Death by Frost, Jack Frost, but dark and twisted is he." Prince Boheemond said as the specter leveled its hooded face at team Shakin'.

"...C'mon, Austin..." Nitori whipped her own thermal-protection-unit off her back and wrapped it around Austin. "Don't give in now!"

Momizi leapt forwards with a snarl, her blade held high overhead. The specter took a stance. Sparks exploded as cold steel struck cold steel. They traded blows, slashing and parrying, neither giving the other any respite.

A sizzling noise came from behind them as the noxious smell of something burning filled the air. Nitori looked around at the sealed steel-blast door of the command bridge in time to see the tip of a laser cut through the last inch of the door before some monstrous force blew it inwards.

"Well, that was fast." Alex said, stepping over the stricken metal door. "...jeez, it's chilly in here. Who turned down the air conditioner?"

"It's an ice spirit!" Daiyousei said, identifying the mysterious beings as kindred-spirits, though twisted ones.

"And a nasty one at that." Alex nodded, noticing the evil energy emanating from the scythe-wielding specter and the Prince. "And looks like he's downed some victims. Aren't you three the new group members we met last night?"

"We have to defeat him fast! Austin's freezing to death!" Nitori cried.

Alex cracked his knuckles. "Hmm, I see. Sunny, concentrate what little light and warmth we have to warm him up. Lily..." He looked around at the two Lily sisters behind him. "Well..err..both of you, get some spring in here, we need the warmth. Daiyousei, Luna, Star, take care of Amarillo."

"Hey, wolf-tengu!" He shouted over at Momiji as he walked up towards the Prince. "I will respect your fight, but if you need any help, it's just a holler away!" He shouted, before launching himself at the bemused-looking prince.

"Hmmph, concentrate on not getting yourself killed first." Momiji growled, stepping out of the way as the specter slashed through a set of computer consoles.

"Austin!" Nitori cried in relief as colour slowly flowed into Austin's cheeks under the combined ministrations of the Lily sisters and Sunny.

"Ugh...." Austin muttered, clutching his head. "....I want aspirin..." He began, before his eyes narrowed on the prince. "...and revenge!"

Engineering Deck, 9.45AM, Day 3 featuring Team FUBAR, Team Freud, Team TANK,

"Go, go, go!" Mitaka shouted as team FUBAR leapt off the tank with team Freud following close behind. "We need to draw its attention away from the tank while Rika and ThirtyFour get that reloader unstuck!"

"AGH!" A bad curse echoed from inside the tank as it drove backwards as fast as possible from the advancing chimera. "THIS IS WHY PROPER TANKS LIKE MY CHALLENGER II USE GOOD OL' MANUAL RELOADERS!"

"I told you we shouldn't have tried pasting paper charms on the rounds!" Gpop shouted over yet another explosion as the Chimera threw a wrecked chinook at McWallace and Eirin.

"But...but...but..." Sanae blurted.

"DIE DIE DIE!" McWallace roared from atop his own demonic ride, ducking slightly as the chinook sailed clear over his head, all the while swinging his claymore in a wide arc above his head while unloading another clip from his machine gun into the chimera.

"Why us! Why are we always dodging bullets, knives, huge evil vehicles of war, pirates, and giant monster bits!" Alice shouted in exasperation as she ran after Mitaka.

"Because we're team FUBAR!" Suika shouted cheerfully.

"Do you even know what that means?!" Alice shook the little oni by her shoulders, rattling her skull.

"....hey, we're doing quite well." Koishi said cheerfully.

"What makes you say that?" Gpop asked.

"Because..." Koishi began. But before she could finish her sentence, the chimera had landed with an almighty crash right in their path. "....I think we have its attention..."

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH!" The chimera opened all three of its jaws and roared at the group, bathing them in spit and phlegm.

"....grand." Gpop nodded, wiping some goo out of his eyes.

"I think it remembers you." Satori said. "It remembers that you gave it the finger."

"...." Gpop blinked. "Oh, well, y'know, it was a...a friendly thing...."

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!"

"It wants to have you for lunch today, dinner tomorrow, and breakfast the next day." Satori said. "...and it insists."

"Sorry, but I'm a vegetarian!" Gpop shouted, swinging his machine gun out and firing an entire clip into the chimera's mouth.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hangar bay...

"TIME TO FIX THINGS, MIT STYLE!" ThirtyFour's voice echoed from the recesses of the tank. CLONK! BANG! CRASH! CLUNK! TINK-TINK-TINK-Plink....

"Oy, you done yet?" Rika asked as she watched the scene unfold from the safety of the hatch.

"Still...." CLANG "...won't...." CLONK "...budge..." PLINK-TONK-CLANK "...AGH! DAMMIT! MY FINGER!" The voice inside cursed.

"The thing is, any longer and we won't have much of a diversion left." Rika said. "Oh, the chimera breaths fire." She added.

"What makes you think that?" ThirtyFour asked from inside the tank. "THIS IS HOW WE FIX THINGS IN RUSSIA!" He bellowed as another loud CLANG reverberated through the tank.

"....the fact that Mitaka and Suika's butts are on fire." Rika shrugged. "Why?"

Back to the other side of the hangar....

"Putitoutputitoutputitout!" Mitaka and Suika yelped as they ran around wildly like headless chickens...or people with butts on fire for that matter.

"Stop running away from us then!" Reimu shouted after them.

"They need help!" Renko shouted.

"Sssh! Get down! They'll hear you!" Koakuma cried, pulling Renko back down.

"Why? We're supposed to help them!" Renko said.

"Are we that desperate for the monster's attention?" Koakuma asked.

"...no..." Patchouli nodded in agreement.

"Too late." Jan said.

"Stop! Don't bring it here!" Sanasan shouted at the approaching Team Freud and Team FUBAR. "AGH! RUN!"

[Jana]

Engineering Deck/Hangar, Sky Ray, 9:45 AM, Day 3

Jan knew that the monster was no going to be drawn to them, and waved Patchouli and Koakuma to him. He tried to account for the other two people that had come in as well. "You two, do what you can, but I have a plan for the three of us. If it wants to attack us, then I think we can make the most out of it. Okay, here's what we're gonna do..."


"Ready, team?!" Jan yelled at the top of his lungs from his little corner of the hanger.

"HOO-AH! HOO-AH! HOO-AH!" Yelled Koakuma (and Patchouli, although it was not very audible).

Jumping out from behind a wrecked Orca, Jan fired an arrow and began strafing to his right, already loading in another round. At the same time, Patchouli and Koakuma, covered by the shield, began moving somewhat more slowly in the other direction.

Letting his next arrow fly, Jan could see that both had landed in the creature's side, causing small spurts of what Jan could only hope was some type of internal fluid. Even though Gpop had already been firing directly into its mouth, it was still moving, giving Jan a clear sign that he either needed to find a weak point or pierce through its body with more force.

As the monster got closer to him, he waved his arrow in the air before loading it as a signal. Patchouli and Koakuma, still behind the shield, began to move back to him, staying behind the monster. They needed to stay close so that they could benefit from Jan's Mana, but still had one more role to perform in Jan's plan.

Suddenly, Koakuma dropped the heavy shield and began running to the monster as quickly as she could. It could now be seen that she was holding Jan's spear, freeing him up to use the bow. As Jan fired another shot at the monster's eye, Koakuma launched the spear into the air. As it arced downwards, it became embedded in the creature's back.

Koakuma skidded to a stop before turning around to pick up the shield. The slow monster tried to turn around and fire at her, but Jan fired yet another arrow into it's face, causing another spurt of fluid. Roaring in pain, the monster turned back to Jan, leaving Koakuma to run to safety.

Ducking back behind another wrecked Orca, Jan loaded another arrow into his bow. However, he waited to hear the sound of laser hitting the Orca before popping out to fire. I've used just over a third of my arrows, and this is thing is only starting to slow down... "Get that cannon working!" Jan yelled in the general direction of the tank as another laser impacted his cover.

[E-Nazrin]

(OOC: COMPLETELY IGNORING EVERYTHING FROM THE PAST LIKE FOUR DAYS

Attempt at a dual-author post. Talked with Xan on dejatoons IRC: Found him in #touhou.

Also, ☢CAUTION ☢CAUTION ☢ HUGE FUCKING WALL OF TOTALLY POINTLESS FLUFF TEXT INCOMING)

Streets of Karuisuwa, ~9.37 AM, Day 2
Participants: Team Drillkumo, Team Ghostbusters: E-mouse and Xan

We left the shrine in a bit of a hurry. I wanted to catch Renko, and Yuyuko really wanted to get to those restaurants (apparently). That was enough to get both groups moving.

The town seemed rather sleepy. Apparently most of rush hour was over, since I didn't see many cars on the street or people wandering arou...

Oh, right. Trains, not cars. I'm in Japan. How silly of me.

We avoided the train station. Fortunately, it wasn't on the way to the nearest thrifty clothes store.

Along the way, Yuyuko regularly complained about food (well, once she ate all the fruit we'd brought as snacks), Sho and Youmu struggled with comforting her, Yukari never stopped smirking, and Chen strayed a fair bit from strictly following us, darting ahead and sniffing around at some of the landmarks on the sidewalk.

Hmm. I forgot about the enhanced sense of smell they'd have. That could come in handy.

Ran just trotted alongside us, never really making a fuss or...

Just as the store came in sight, I realized something, and stopped. "Wait, hang on."

The others looked over at me.

"We can sort of get away with the suspicious clothes in there, but I'm not sure stores would allow a fox inside."

Ran snorted.

I glanced at Youmu. "Or swords."

Youmu paled, and took a step away from me. "You... you can't be serious. The sword is a samurai's life!"

It was at about this point that Yuyuko yanked both Youmu's swords out of their sheathes, dashed over to an open garbage can nearby, and stabbed them into the mound of trash.

She paused.

"Ooo, leftover manju!"

"Yuyuko, don't eat that..." Sho muttered.

Youmu basically drowned him out with a shriek. "Yuyuko-sama!! What are you doing?!"

"Huh. That's a good idea, actually. People don't rifle through the trash, usually." I muttered.

Youmu was not comforted. "TRASH?! Roukanken is not garbage!!"

"It isn't." Yukari said, calmly, "But making it look that way is a good way to keep it safe when we can't afford to have it seen."

Youmu gave me and Yukari a look of mixed despair and disbelief, then back at the trash can that contained her swords, and moaned painfully.

"This is so disrespectful to them..."

"Don't worry, they'll forgive you~" Yuyuko sang, draping herself over her servant's back. Youmu blushed slightly.
---
"Right, then." I turned to face Yukari. "Next problem."

I felt something poke at my shin, and looked down to find Chen pawing at it. I bent down and picked her up.

Yukari put a hand to her lips, pondering. "Weeeell... we can't afford to let them go too far away, given our mana situation..."

"That's what I figured."

In the background, Youmu was bemoaning having to clean her swords once we were done. Sho was tied up with trying to calm her down and stopping Yuyuko from eating the garbage can's contents.

I was suddenly reminded of Earthbound, and smirked slightly.

Yukari probably noticed, but she just continued musing. "However, right now I think we do have a little bit to spare..."

"Enough for Ran to return to normal? We could get away with a cat, maybe..."

Yukari snorted. "Don't be absurd. The tails would stand out too much, anyway."

"... she can't just hide them?"

"It's easier to stay in a form you've used often. She could, but it would take even more mana."

"Joy."

"But a minor change from their current forms wouldn't be difficult... we could go with disguises that don't require much size change."

"Plushies?" I suggested, a little too eagerly.

Yukari smiled. "My, that would work well, wouldn't it?" She bent down, picked up Ran, and looked her in the eye. "You heard the boy."

There was a small pop, but I'm not sure if it was Ran transforming or my hip joint deciding to spontaneously dislocate. I yelped and fell to my knees.

"Ah, yes, perhaps I should have warned you it would hurt a little."

Yukari was, naturally, smirking down at me. The Ran in her arms now looked like a stuffed doll of sorts, although she looked disturbingly realistic. It'll do.

"I suppose I should have expected that from you." I muttered, through grit teeth. I took a deep breath and started to stand up. Chen pawed at my leg again.

"Oh... this... is just one of them?" I asked, nervously.

Now Youmu was crouched down, tracing circles on the ground with a finger. Sho and Yuyuko were fighting over a half-eaten, obviously-stale chunk of bread.

"You DID say we could get away with a cat..."

I glanced at Chen. Considered.

"..... I'd rather not risk it, if we can help it. Might as well try... if you think we can spare it?"

"It'll hurt some more."

"Much to your amusement?"

"Maybe~"

I sighed, and nodded at Chen. "Go."

She stared at me for a moment, the nodded back slowly. She closed her eyes and--

POP.

Shoulder started hurting that time. I fought down another yell, and knelt for a moment, panting.

"You okay?"

Sho'd noticed my predicament, having apparently given up on keeping Yuyuko from getting some horrible bread-borne disease and stopping Youmu from moping.

I looked up. He looked concerned. I gave him a pained grin. "Been better. But I think I'll live."

I picked up plushie-Chen with my less-painful arm, took a deep breath, let it out, and slowly stood up. I was sore all over, but functional. A quick glance told me Yukari's face was a little pale, but if she was in any pain, she wasn't showing it.

"Okay. Let's go."

-----

Miscellaneous Clothing Store, Karuisuwa, ~9.45 AM, Day 2
Participants: Team Drillkumo, Team Ghostbusters: E-mouse and Xan

We were delayed a little by having to forcibly drag Youmu into the store, but we made it in within a sane amount of time. It was a thrift store of sorts, selling second-hand clothes... and a damn huge variety, at that. A lot like the Salvation Army, I thought.

There was a single changing room in the back.

The cashier was rather... surprised by our entry. "Ah..... welcome! How may I help you?"

I raised an arm - ow - and waved dismissively. "We'll take care of ourselves, but thank you."

He smiled nervously. Sho and the rest of the Hakugyokuro crew walked off and started browsing, Yuyuko rather noisily commenting on how several of the... odder outfits would look on Youmu.

The cashier was not calmed.

I tried to come up with an appropriate explanation for two guys and three girls to wander into a thrift store with ruined clothes, lugging along a pair of hyper-realistic plush dolls and one with enough idiosyncrasies to challenge any boke.

Yukari saved me. She held up the Ran-plush, smiling, and said, "There was some trouble at the convention, and we wanted to pick up some replacement clothes on the way home."

NOW the cashier 'understood.' He smiled, and nodded. 'Otaku' is a good explanation for harmless insanity.

I followed Yukari over as she started rifling through the racks of dresses. "Good one." I whispered.

"Not even a lie, technically," she whispered back, "It was just a convention to escape Gensokyo."

I chuckled. "Gotta love that."

She grabbed one of the dresses off the rack and put it over her arm. I realized Ran would get in the way of this.

I stopped, and shifted Chen over to rest on one arm. Glad she'd managed to stay lightweight for the transformation.

"Here, I'll carry her."

Yukari looked back at me, and blinked. "Ah, certainly."

I took Ran into my arms, carefully, and locked my hands together to try and keep my arms from shaking. Damn soreness. I kept my focus on keeping up with Yukari and not letting the shikigami fall. Didn't keep track of what outfits she was collecting. I'd have to make my selections later, though that'd only take a minute or two at the longest.

After a while, Yukari stopped me with a palm to the forehead. "Oi."

I blinked, looked up, and saw that I had just tried to follow her into the changing room. Yuyuko and Youmu were already in there, with Youmu struggling to keep her top from getting pulled off while I was still looking.

"Er. Right then." I looked around and saw Sho sitting against the wall next to the changing room. I slowly sat down next to him, put Ran and Chen in my lap, and let out a long sigh.

There. Much less sore now.

A small shriek from Youmu came from the dressing room. I glanced over for a moment, and sighed.

"Oi, keep the abuse low, all right?" I called over.

Sho put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't bother."

We were silent for a bit as the changing room rustled and let out quiet giggles.

"..... so." I finally said, "How's life?"

Sho shrugged. "Good enough. I need work though."

I raised an eyebrow. "'Work?' I think there's going to be plenty to do to get the shrine up and running again..."

A nod. "Yeah. But... wouldn't having so many people congregating around the shrine seem... suspicious?"

I frowned. "Hmm. Maybe. I mean, there's the inn and dojo to fix up, too, but our army is still a little large for that... especially as an inexplicable restart without corporate support."

"I don't suppose we could start some sort of fake company to hold our money for us...?"

I shook my head. "And then where would THAT come from? We're on that Sano or whatever guy's property, and he's apparently the CEO or something of an industry giant. Any official explanation for our presence would have to go through him."

I paused. "Besides, an offbeat CEO pulling together an army of new recruits from nowhere and throwing money at them is more believable than that army showing up, getting it from him somehow, and proceeding on their own. Doing it ourselves wouldn't help."

Sho tapped his umbr... Kogasa against the wall. "Fair enough."

"... although, since he wanted us to get started, maybe he's already..."

Yuyuko's voice came, rather clearly, from the changing room. "Go on, go on!"

A panicked objection from Youmu was soon followed by the door suddenly opening, and Youmu staggering out, wearing nothing but a blue school swimsuit.

It was a little small for her.

"... I, uh." I managed to say.

Sho let out a gurgle. I turned and saw him attempting to stop the flow of blood coming from his nose.

Wait, what? I thought nosebleeds were supposed to be...

I felt something wet on my upper lip. Damnit.

I wiped at my nosebleed with a hand, and transferred the results to the side of my pants. "Well. You've got something for sex appeal, at least."

"Shut up!" Youmu squealed, covering herself up with her hands.

Yuyuko walked out of the changing room, smiling. She was wearing a dark red kimono. "Oh, but Youmu, it's so cute on you!"

Sho coughed. "I rather agree. Not quite appropriate clothing for going outside in, but still, we'll probably have plenty of chances to go swimming. We should probably keep a hold of it."

I gave him a withering, deadpan scowl. The loud clicking of high-heeled shoes and a chuckle from Yukari made me turn back around.

The businesswoman outfit really suited her, actually. Not my style, of course, I hate being formal, but it looked really good on her.

I raised an eyebrow. "That fits you surprisingly well."

She smirked at me, and stood up straight, making a bit of a point of her assets. "I'm rather surprised they had a suit my size."

I forced my eyes back up to her face. "I meant more attitude-wise, but that too."

Her smirk deepened. I felt something wet on my upper lip again.

God damnit.

Sho tapped my shoulder. There was a small smile on his face. "I wouldn't worry too much about that," he said, soothingly, "I suspect this will be happening a lot. Just enjoy the moment."

I shifted my shoulders uncomfortably, turned away, and snorted a little. Well, of course I'm appreciative, but I don't want to be just a shallow, perverted...

I realized Yukari and Yuyuko were giggling.

"Oooh, he IS cute when he's flustered!" Yuyuko said, grinning.

I felt my face heat up. Son of a...

... wait, that "ooo" reminded me of something. Now if I can come up with... ah!

"So, does this mean I'm the mascot of Border Inc?" I asked, forcing myself to sound calm. It sort-of worked.

Yukari shook her head. "Nonsense, you're only cute sometimes." She pointed down at the cat... cat plush in my lap, as a counterpoint. "You'd fit more as spokesman or something."

I nodded. "Works. Though, I guess this is rather beside the point, isn't it?"

Yukari smiled. "Come on, let us have our fun!"

"Renko." I countered. She hesitated.

"... well, what do you think, then?"

"They're all usable somewhere, at least. Now go on, I know you've got more in there."

Youmu was, somewhat surprisingly, eager to get back into the changing room. A predatory glint passed between Yukari and Yuyuko's eyes, and they followed her in. The door locked quickly, and apparently Youmu realized her mistake. The rustling and giggling started up again, with the occasional piteous whine.

I sighed. "... so, speaking of Renko. Any idea where she is?"

Sho shook his head. "I wish I knew. She's probably more familiar with the area than we are, for one thing."

"Among many others..." I replied, darkly. "Given her interest in Gensokyo, I think she'd be willing to act as a mana battery if we explain things... especially considering the little magic she's capable of, even out here."

Sho was uncertain. "Do you really think she's capable of that? Whatever is going on is targeting magic users with connections to Gensokyo. Is it possible that she might have been affected?"

I raised an eyebrow. "She's from the outside world, not from in Gensokyo. Like us. The ones that are providing, after living there for a while. And I think Patchouli said that regular humans outside COULD provide mana, but they wouldn't be as good at it. I don't follow."

He hummed. "True. I'm probably just being paranoid."

"Yeah, it'd make more sense, but..." I frowned. "Now you've got me worried."

I leaned back on the wall a little more - ow, neck - and sighed. "Of course, if we're really going to kick up mana availability, we'll need more than just her..."

"I may have found a possible solution to that..." Sho began, but was cut off by the changing room's door getting kicked open.

Heels clicked again as Yukari walked out, not so much 'dressed' as 'barely covered by' a small collection of black leather items, several adorned with wildly unnecessary spikes.

I didn't want to know where she found it. Especially not the whip.

"No."

"Aw, but,"

"No. You've freaked me out, you've had your fun, now stop it before you make me pass out from blood loss or something!"

Sho made a sort of half-wheezing, half-choking sound. I wasn't sure if he was trying not to laugh or not to suffocate on his own blood.

"Ah, he gets wise quickly?" Yuyuko asked, backing out of the room as she pulled on a pair of hands, "That's a pity."

She was in another plain kimono, blue this time. I was hoping she wouldn't continue the pattern.

A whimper came from the owner of the arms Yuyuko was pulling on.

She sighed. "Oh, Youmu, stop being a baby."

One particularly hard yank later, and Youmu stumbled out of the dressing room again, this time in a schoolgirl gym outfit, bloomers and all.

I lowered my head and put a palm over my eyes. Well, at least it was the right size this time...

I heard Sho's clothing rustle as he stood up. He walked over to Youmu and gave her a big hug. For a second there, I thought he was trying to comfort her for all the abuse.

"You're so moe~"

Youmu turned bright red.

Face, meet palm. Again. I groaned. "I take it this is standard procedure?"

"Pretty much." Yukari replied.

Sho was a bit indignant about my response. "What, I'm not allowed to compliment her?"

I blinked. Glanced aside. "... touch?."

"Honestly, if I wouldn't have felt incredibly awkward with two wives, I'd have married her as well." Sho went on.

Youmu's face could not get any redder, so instead it spread to her ears.

... cute.

Yukari whistled. "Goodness, playboy!"

Yuyuko spun a lock of Yukari's hair around a finger. "Yukari, don't be silly, he's been saying that for months! You know that!"

I remained silent. I didn't want to torture Youmu any further, if I could help it, but I didn't want to lie about my take on that matter, either.

So I changed the topic.

"While this is very cute and all, I'm not sure how useful a gym outfit is going to be..."

I was a bit half-hearted about that statement. I knew it'd happen anyway. Just hope it actually DOES get used...

Sho was not concerned. He detached himself from Youmu, but took a parting tweak at her bright-red ears. "We'll find her something more practical eventually, I'm sure."

"'Eventually.'" I pointed out. "And we don't exactly have infinite money, either."

He nodded. "True, but I do have some money, and it doesn't look like we're going to be spending much on housing... Or on cars, for that matter."

"What about food?"

Sho paused. "Well, yes, Yuyuko wouldn't be happy about that..."

The (former?) ghost in question frowned.

 "... but that's why we're getting cheap clothing here, yes?"

"And how much cheap clothing do we need?"

"Since we don't have the convenience of magic for cleaning clothes, quite a bit." He shot back.

I considered for a moment. "Wonder if a washing machine would be too much to splurge on..."

"Unless you want to keep wearing the same clothing for days on end, that is." Sho went on, clearly irritated.

I bowed my head. "Okay, you've got a point. Just make sure they're USEFUL, okay?"

Yukari tapped her whip on my shoulder. "You like to be practical, I see."

"It's a bad habit."

"This isn't Gensokyo. Logic is actually useful here." Sho said, agreeably.

I stared at him for a moment. Ran my tongue over my front teeth.

"Can I be an asshole for a second here?"

Sho shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Please." Yukari agreed, smiling.

I nodded. "If part of the point of getting these clothes is to not look like a cosplayer convention, why are we picking out otaku fetish outfits?"

Silence.

"Uh... Good question..."

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead. "... look, I'm fine with a little playing around here, but I don't think we can afford to get stuff you can't wear in public.

... well, maybe one outfit. But this is getting rather silly. All right?"

"Father knows best~" Yukari sang. She walked back into the changing room. I knew she'd just been playing with me.

Sho looked rather sheepish.

Yuyuko, however, was fretting over whether she should take the swimsuit or the gymsuit for Youmu.

"Oh, oh, they reacted more to the swimsuit, but this one you can pass as wearable in emergencies, or at least not swimming..."

"And I'm afraid we don't have all day, either." I said, pointedly.

... hm, there's an idea. "How about letting Youmu decide?"

"That sounds reasonable..." Sho added, hesitantly.

Youmu's decision was instantaneous. "This one."

Not surprising.

Yuyuko didn't seem to mind, though; she just dragged Youmu back into the changing room for another round of mysterious dressup abuse.

Sho stood around for a moment, still looking embarrassed.

I patted the ground where he'd been sitting earlier. He hesitated, but walked over and reclaimed the spot.

"So, where were we?" I asked.
---
Sho cleared this throat. "I believe I was mentioning a possible solution to the problem of obtaining magic."

"Ah, right." I turned to face him, and nodded. "I'm listening."

"The basic idea is that I'm pretty sure there is an intersection of leylines around here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Leylines?"

He went on: "Those things are supposedly charged with magic, and where they intersect it's possible to tap into them. I believe that would be why Kanako was interested in taking over the area from Suwako."

"We are in that region, aren't we..." I muttered. "Any idea where? Or how we'd find it?"

"Well, I'd assume Tenshi would know. That's traditionally where keystones would be placed."

I blinked, slowly. "Tenshi? You lost me."

"Tenshi's family is supposedly in charge of the placement of keystones," he explained.

Understanding dawned. "Oh, keystones. I missed that part. I take it those are where you can draw power from intersecting leylines?"

"No, but they do allow you to control them. Leylines are associated with earthquakes."

That makes sense. Okay, I can live with--

"Also with dragons, though that's less relevant." Sho went on.

I froze.

"... dragons."

Sho was merely puzzled by my shock. "Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Where were Gensokyo's dragons?" I hissed.

"I don't know, I certainly never saw any." He paused. "Not counting Meiling's hat."

I just ignored the second part. "That's exactly the problem! The dragons of Gensokyo are supposed to appear during times of crisis! The destruction of the Border can't be anything BUT that!"

He frowned. Looked like he was catching on. "That's a rather large problem. But what if the threat came from outside Gensokyo?"

"Well, that implies that whoever it is found a way to get rid of the dragons. Which intimidated all the youkai of Gensokyo into submission long before the spellcard rules were set up.

We are dealing with something VERY dangerous..."

"Well, I think we knew that already, given our welcoming committee..."

I gave him a deadpan look. "I'm inclined to think that a government SWAT team can't destroy small universes on a whim."

"No, but the very fact that a government SWAT team was involved says something about the person behind this." Sho pointed out. "They have government connections, or are capable of brainwashing people into doing their bidding. Either is very bad."

He paused. "They also expected there to be survivors. That means that they either were not aware of the effect being deprived of magic would have on people from Gensokyo, or they knew we'd be able to stop them from disappearing."

"Kikuri..." I reconsidered. Likely, but not certain... right? "Well, at least that voice we heard, said that she wanted us all to die there. Actually, given that she sounded like an omniscient voice, and WE knew, I wouldn't have put it past her to just overhear it. Knowing about it isn't unusual.

... although, if she DID intend to just kill us, why send the SWAT team?

... and for that matter, why have them kidnap people, rather than kill?"

I rubbed my forehead. "It doesn't make sense..."

"Very little about this makes sense." Sho countered. "The Border's destruction is strange enough. I mean, how do you destroy something that is powerful enough to maintain an entire world?"

"With a lot more power." I replied, darkly. "I can understand that part. It's the motives that confuse me."

Sho nodded. "Yeah. I can't think of any reason to do so."

"Well, she suggested one... sheer spite. I'd kill her for that. There's also just seeking even more power by going through the mana spring..."

I blinked. "Actually, that explains how. She did say it was an incidental consequence of getting the spring, not a primary focus... it's more likely she just worked around the barrier and made it run out of power, rather than overpower it.

Still pretty shitty reasons for it, though. And trying to kidnap the refugees still makes no sense whatsoever..."

"Yes. And that still doesn't tell us much about her motives."

I sighed heavily. I couldn't think of any way to make headway on this one...

During the pause, I realized that the changing room had started to emit moans somewhere along the line.

Hm.

The silence extended itself for a while. Sho finally broke it. "Hmm, is there really something going on in there, or is it just mindgames?"

I didn't let the blood reach my lip this time. "I think the best option there is to not try to find out, and let them have their fun either way."

"Yes..." Sho grinned mischievously. "Hehehe, I think I may get some revenge on Yuyuko for this..."

I stared at him. "... and how would you be intending to do that?"

He shrugged. "I'll think of something."

Well, I guess it's fitting that Yuyuko's plaything would be as good at taking it easy as she is...

The moans quieted, and the changing room's door opened again. Yukari stepped out, in a rather plain but fashionable dress. And carrying a white parasol.

I noticed that she made a point of standing against the changing room's door, to hold it open.

I wasn't about to fall for that, but keeping my eyes on her was more difficult than usual. "So, you CAN be serious, I see."

She shrugged. "We spent a little longer trying on clothes that would actually work."

I nodded. "Thanks. You'd be the one with decent judgment about that."

Youmu squeaked from the changing room.

"Youmu, come out, I promise you nothing bad will happen." Sho said, soothingly.

After a few seconds, Youmu walked out - on her own, for once.

My hopes of her being dressed in something normal were in vain.

Although, I shouldn't have been surprised that the place had used regular schoolgirl outfits, as well. They could have actually picked out one with a decent-length skirt, though...

"Interesting choice of clothing there." Sho said, smiling.

Youmu whimpered. Yuyuko walked out in ANOTHER kimono, smiling as well. Birds of a feather...

"I suppose you can get away with that one." I muttered. "Still feeding the fetish line, though..."

"To be fair, she does look about the right age for it." Sho pointed out.

I drummed my fingers on the floor for a moment. "Good point."

I glanced at Yuyuko again. Then Yukari. "I don't suppose she picked out anything that isn't a kimono?"

Yukari shook her head. "Unfortunately, no." She noogied Yuyuko lightly. "But she's going to be choosing some now, isn't she?"

"But Yukariiii~" Yuyuko whined.

"You can get away with wearing a kimono occasionally, but they're mostly worn for special events, these days." I explained. "If it's comfort you're worried about, I'm sure there's some loose dresses around here that wouldn't be far off."

Sho smirked slightly. "While you're doing that, I've got something I want to go look for."

Hm. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that.

But, I might as well leave them to their devices for now. I waved the ghost crew off. "All right, you guys get looking. Me and Yukari should go pay for hers..."

"And what about your clothes?" Yukari asked, eyeing the mud caked onto my pants from last night.

"... good point. We'll grab some on the way."

I glanced down at the shikigami-turned-plushies on my lap. This was going to take some juggling.

-----

Well, we managed it. Yukari took Ran and Chen off my hands while I picked out some clothes - all loose, casual stuff, as is my wont - and we took about a half-dozen outfits each to the register.

I felt a little clammy from the mana overexertion (well, that's the explanation I could come up with, at least) but bringing it all over and paying for it was doable. The price was actually pretty good.

I was about to excuse us and head outside with the clothes so Ran and Chen could turn back and I could stop feeling like I'd run a marathon through brambles, but Yuyuko and company chose that time to show up at the register as well.

Yuyuko and Youmu were both in schoolgirl outfits.

"You can't be serious."

Sho's grin was enormous. "Oh, I am."

"I don't suppose you'd like to explain, then?" I asked, heavily.

He shook his head. "It can wait. Let's not make a scene."

I noticed the cashier staring. Yeah, gotta cut this short.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. I would have thrown up my arms, too, but I was rather weighed down by four full shopping bags I was carrying, one with a definitely-uncomfortable Chen lying on top of the clothes.

"Okay, fine, add to the cosplay collection. We'll wait outside."

And so we did.

-----

Streets of Karuisuwa, ~10.10 AM, Day 2
Participants: Team Drillkumo, Team Ghostbusters: E-mouse and Xan

Yukari and I walked over to the trash can (still) containing Youmu's swords, and put down our bags. We pulled Ran and Chen out of the shopping bags.

I glanced at Yukari. "Is changing back going to hurt, too?"

She smiled. I took that as a yes, and knelt down again.

"Okay, one at a time."

One pop. I grunted, but the pain was brief; I actually felt a little better after. After a second, I nodded. Second pop. Managed to only flinch.

I felt something rub against my leg, and scratched Chen behind the ears.

"There, that's much better."

"I see it must be inconvenient having someone who actively uses their powers connected to you."

I looked up, to see Sho looking sympathetic, Youmu and Yuyuko alongside him. Still in the schoolgirl outfits.

"Can only imagine what the superhuman guys are putting up with, huh?" I replied, standing back up.

I tilted my head to one side, provoking a small cracking sound from my neck. "So, mind explaining yourself?"

Sho smiled. "Just a little punishment for Yuyuko's behavior. Nothing major. I did say I'd get a little revenge. Besides, it'll be easier to pass of Yuyuko as my sister than as my wife, given her apparent age."

I glanced at her. Well, the cup size was a little abnormal, but aside from that... and considering marriage age issues...

I nodded slowly. "I guess that's true. Acting the part may be a little tricky, though."

I paused. "And she doesn't seem to be taking it as much of a 'punishment.'"

Sho shrugged. "Well, I wasn't too irritated by her behavior, either. And as for acting... well, Yuyuko is a master of it. She's nowhere near as idiotic as she usually acts."

Yuyuko was proving his second point by holding up the back of Youmu's skirt like some sort of royal cape as she walked over to retrieve her swords, red-faced.

I stared for a second, then faced Sho again. "I was worried more about YOUR acting, but I guess we'll make it, either way."

He smirked. "Don't doubt my abilities."

Youmu pulled her swords out of the trash and looked them over with a mournful expression. I could see some sort of grease on them, and what was probably some sort of hot sauce. Poor girl.

Sho spoke up again. "So, I assume we had better find Renko?

Yuyuko turned and presented him with the classic puppy-dog eyes. "But Shoooo, you promiiiised!"

"To go to a restaurant?" I guessed, deadpan. She nodded.

I swear Sho sweatdropped. "Well, looks like I have other commitments, then. But I'll be stopping back home to drop off our clothing first. Shall I take yours as well?"

I glanced at the three bags he was carrying, the two Yuyuko had dropped to pester Youmu, and the three Youmu had dropped to mourn her swords.

"Do you have eight hands?" I asked, sarcastically.

He paused. "Fair enough. I'll be off, then."

"'We.'" I corrected, grabbing my own bags again. "I'm not lugging these all around town, and there's probably more leads on where Renko went at the shrine, anyway."

He agreed.

[Sana]

Hangar, 9:46 AM, Day 3

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sanasan shouted as he ran. "I knew this would be a bad idea!"

"Just keep running!" Renko shouted back to him as she ran too.

They looked back again. It seemed the monster was busy with Jan and company, seeing as it had multiple arrows embedded in its face.

"I'd say this is a safe enough distance now. Ready to give these handguns a try?" Sanasan asked, as he aimed his gun. He pulled the trigger and the force from the gunshot almost knocked him over backwards. The bullet went completely off course, hitting the far wall instead of the creature. Renko laughed.

"Hey, it's harder than it looks!" Sanasan said. "Why don't you try?"

"Alright then." Renko replied, as she pulled the trigger on her gun. Her aim was a bit better, actually hitting the creature...but at the cost of falling flat on her back. She picked her hat back up and scrambled back up to her feet, blushing.

"Told you." Sanasan said, smirking.

"Ok, ok. Maybe it IS hard. Let's just focus on helping them out, shall we?" Renko said, embarrassed.

"Oh, alright. But next time we have to decide between a hangar with a laser beam monster and a dark hallway, I am totally choosing the dark hallway." Sanasan replied, as he tried firing again, this time hitting the monster in the leg.

"What?! I think we both know that the hangar was a much better choice!" Renko argued, as she shot the monster in the arm. "At least we knew what to expect in the hangar!"

"Oh yeah!? Well...WOAH!" Sanasan shouted with surprise, as a laser bounced between his feet, and continued on to the other room. The laser ricocheted off a few walls, then somehow hit the few leftover creatures in the hallway they had just left, destroying them.

"See?! We would've had to fight those things off if we had stayed in that hallway!" Renko exclaimed, pointing at the door.

"...Fine, you win. But mark my words, one day, I'll be right for once, and I'll just rub it in all day long!" Sanasan declared, shooting the monster in the chest.

Renko laughed. "Oh, I'm sure. Right about what? Whether to use pencils or pens? What kind of snack to buy?"