A/N: This is set during Road to Ultimate by Jexithehunter, as a one-shot
In the aerial fortress of the Unmei Force...
The entire team were relaxing on the bridge, as they looked out at the endless outer-space that surrounded them, as the starry view was dazzling in their sights.
"I guess that we're going to be having some R&R." Richard told his teammates. "We can afford to relax for a while in peace, before we go and find the next of the 'X-Stones'."
Soon, the image of Erika appeared in front of them in a blue holographic image, that was projected by the mounted projector on the roof.
"Is this our own ship?" She asked, as she looked around. "It looks so.. complex and advanced."
"That's right. This lady here is the pride and joy of the engineers and scientists of all of Gensokyo." Richard smirked back. "It is basically a space-bound fortress, with weapons, hangars and all the other crap like rooms to live in, and places that would normally exist in a structure. I welcome you, Erika, to the GFS Ryujin."
"Thank you for that." Erika responded back. "I'm sure that your partner and the others will enjoy being in the fabricated cyber-space that was created to the likeness of a DigiFarm. I'm surprised that a few people like Nitori Kawashiro would be able to construct such a bountiful and comfortable space for all of us."
"Nitori's the best of the best when it comes to tech for Gensokyo. Her and her kappa brethren." Gus replied to Erika's words, as several of the kappa crew members immediately let out a shout of 'Hooray for us!' when they heard that, with their hands raised. "We owe them our own lives for what they have done for us."
"Man, I wonder how Keisuke's doing?" Antonio wondered. "It's been a while since we left his world. After all that has happened there... I doubt that he would be happy for us to leave him."
"I'm sure that he understands we must go, like David and the others." Sanae answered back. "Still... They're dimension-travellers like us... And Richard and I recognise most of the people there... Are they sort of the 'protagonists' of this reality?"
"I think so. But even so... No matter how strong or powerful they might be... If they interfere... I won't hesitate to defeat them for the sake of our quest..." Richard spoke in a grim tone.
Suddenly the bridge began to blare with several kinds of alarms, which shocked everyone, as the team members looked around for any signs of what the alarms were set off by, while the bridge crew-members immediately refocused their efforts on doing the same thing.
"Sir!" A male kappa cried, as he was frantically typing commands into the bridge systems. "We've detected high-energy readings approaching our way at high speeds! The readings are aimed at almost everything here, including us!"
"What...!? Display footage!" Richard ordered. "We need to see what the readings are!"
"Understood! Deploying scout drones to obtain visuals!" Another crew-member, a human female, responded back, as she entered the orders for the teams.
Soon, from the fortress, various small-scale scouting drones were launched from it, as they sped towards the area, as the bridge screens began to show the views of every scout-drone deployed.
As they immediately rushed forward, they managed to reach the area where the high-energy readings were detected. Eventually, there was a shining light in the distance of one of the drones' vision, as it showed a increasingly bright light in the centre.
"What... What is that...?" Reimu asked. "It looks somehow... strangely familiar."
"The identification software is yielding no results from initial scans. Even the elements of the reading are scrambled. But all it can clearly state is that the reading is filled with... magic. Immeasurable amounts of it." The female crew member responded back. "It's... It's still approaching fast!"
Soon, the views of the drones showed a series of snaking rainbow beams that were large enough to engulf entire regions appeared, as they immediately slammed into the drones, destroying them in a instant, as the POVs of those destroyed immediately turned to static.
"Commander!" The male kappa crew member answered back with fear in his voice. "Our drones, from Number 1-6 have been destroyed on impact by the energy beam! By the looks of it, it might be heading for us!"
"Damn... Damn it!" Richard cried, before he then walked up to the bridge's main console, as he activated the broadcast systems inside, as he began to relay his orders. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Richard Liu speaking! We are on high-alert, with incoming hostile weaponry heading to us! All hands on deck! I repeat, all hands on deck! Prepare the defences!"
He then closed the broadcast, before he turned to several of his bridge crew. "What's the status on the warp drive? Is it stable at the current moment?" Richard questioned his crew members.
"It's..." A female youkai crew member, a fairy with her insectile wings, answered back, as she checked on the warp drive. "It's perfectly stable for the moment. If we have to evade, we can make a short-distance jump to avoid it."
"Good..." Richard then turned to his teammates. "Everyone, I want you to head to the safety pods. I don't know what those things might do the fortress if they hit, but if they're as strong as they look... You'll all need to be in safety."
"What about you, Richard?" Gus asked back quickly.
"I'll be staying here. As our actual ship captain is still in cryo-stasis..." Richard answered back. "I'll take lead of this fortress until the danger passes. Don't worry, you know that I'll flee when things are about to get impossible. I'll come back for you, so GO! Before we're assaulted!"
"...Good luck, Richard..." Reimu spoke in a solemn tone, as everyone left the room, by taking the bridge elevator, making their way to the safety pods.
"They'll be safe... The safety pods are placed in a pocket dimension, so even if these beams might be full-on annihilating, they'll be safe no matter what..." Richard said to himself, before he turned to Erika, who was still here as a hologram. "I guess you're staying here with us, Erika?"
"Not that I have much of a choice." Erika answered back. "I'll try to help to bolster the power of the systems here with my own touch."
"Thank you..." Richard said, before he turned to the front-view windows of the bridge. "Now then... Let's see what we got."
The beams soon came into view of the bridge, as they shot at the fortress, only to be stopped mid-course by a large purple transparent barrier.
"The unknown force has impacted with our Kekkai barrier!" A bridge crew-member reported. "We're still holding against the attack, but... it's stronger than what the system can take! The barrier will be shattered if this keeps up!"
"Do what you can to keep it up!" Richard barked his order out. "If that shield goes down, we'll have no defences to handle it! Our weaponry is useless if we have no targets to engage! Point-defence systems don't work against energy-type weaponry, and interception is impossible with the course of the lasers! Tell the kappa engineers to overclock the power systems if they must, or even reroute all power into the barrier!"
"R-Roger that!" The bridge crew member responded back, as he immediately entered the command to the engine and reactor room crew.
Richard watched as the barrier held strong against the onslaught of beams, as more and more attacked the barrier, as they wriggled and squirmed outside. While he watched, the barrier began to weaken, as cracks appeared where the beams were pushing against.
"Tch... It's still not letting up!?" Richard hissed, before another siren wailed across the bridge.
"Commander! The reactor has been overheated! We can't apply any more power while it's cooling down!" The male kappa bridge member announced. "I suggest that we immediately prepare the warp drive!"
"Do it. Reroute what remains of the excess power into the warp drive! Start it up!" Richard commanded.
The barrier began to crack even more, as the web of cracks were about to spread across the entire globe of the barrier.
"The barrier is at 5% intergrity! It's about to fall soon!" The female human cried. "4%... 2%... 1%..."
"We've held on enough! Use the warp drive!" Richard shouted.
The fortress then immediately began to glow with purple energy, as it began to move again, the beams moving towards it. It then picked up speed, before a large purple circular portal appeared in front of it.
"We're about to warp in 5...! 4...! 3...!" The male kappa bridge crew member cried. "2...! 1...! Launch!"
The fortress then shot through the portal, as it disappeared from the space, as the beams that were attacking it formerly, immediately proceeded along their path of destruction.
When the fortress returned to normal space, the fortress was back to normal, although the bridge lost all of its lights, before the red emergency lights turned themselves on, indicating that the fortress was now on reserve power.
"Did... Did we make it?" Richard asked in a worried manner, as he noticed that Erika was no longer there, since the projector was powered down. "Report to me! Are there any casualities!? Damage to the GFS Ryujin?"
"None... sir." One of the crew members answered back. "All systems are optimal, but we've lost all our power finishing the warp. Everything is on reserve power now."
"Thank god... No-one's hurt by this." Richard sighed in relief. "Scan the vicinity with reduced power... Is there any of the same power readings in the area?"
"...Checking..." The female human said, as she started up the scans, before the results appeared, as it caused to her to pale. "...No..."
"What... What is it!?" Richard demanded. "Don't tell me... there are more of those beams coming our way!?"
"...Not only that... But their number are near-endless!" The female human crew member shivered with fear. "And they're... all... aiming for us!"
"No... How could this be...!?" Richard cried in shock. "Who did this...!? How did they... How did they manage to find us when we warped using the chaos energy in the warp drive to ensure it can't be traced...!? Or is it that... the attack is reality-wide!?"
He then turned to the bridge with wide eyes, as the beams were rushing at the fortress, before he then fell onto his knees, as he clutched the console tightly with his hands.
"No... It can't end here..." Richard whispered with sorrow. "...Everyone... I'm sorry... You'll all going to be erased with me..."
However, before the beams could hit the fortress, a series of sukimas as large as the fortress appeared, as they immediately absorbed the beams that were aimed at the fortress, as everyone was shocked.
"What..." The male kappa member said, before he then turned to Richard with a relieved expression. "Commander, you have saved us-!"
He then noticed that Richard was on his knees, as he heard the crew member, as he raised his hand. "Saved you? What do you mean-" Richard asked back, before he then saw the sukima in front of them that was protecting them, as his jaw fell open. "...How...?"
Before he could say anything, a sukima that was big enough to fit him, appeared under his feet, as Richard dropped into it with a yelp of surprise.
"Commander!?" The female human crew member exclaimed, as she saw Richard disappear.
In a pocket dimension...
Richard fell on his feet, as he looked around, as the entire area around him was empty, as the entire space was purple, as eyes with red irises appeared along the background. He was surprised, as the place seemed familiar to him.
"...How did I end up here?" Richard questioned himself. "Unless...!?"
He then turned around, as he came face-to-face with a female figure that he knws, who was sitting on thin air, with her legs crossed over one another. Her dark golden eyes stared into Richard's brown ones with sharpness and slyness in them, and she wore a purple Chinese-style tabard with various Trigrams over a pale pink long dress. Her long hair flowing under her pink mobcap which had a red ribbon tied up top of it. She also wore red high-heels on her feet, as she gave Richard a fox-like smirk.
"...Yukari Yakumo..." Richard called out the name of the person in front of him with shock. "...Of course, ever since I saw those sukima... I knew that it had to be you. I was far too weak to be able summon sukimas of this scale, even at close-range... But you... You had no limits on that. But... why did you bring me here?"
"Fufufu, isn't it caring for one's master to check on their apprentice?" Yukari chuckled with a whimsical tone.
"I guess." Richard responded back, as he returned a thin smile back at Yukari. "Even though I wasn't officially your apprentice... I guess it still fits considering what your relationship is like... Master and student is the more casual way of saying that..."
"That's right." Yukari chuckled. "I found that you were in some sort of danger that was far beyond our control, and when I took a peek, while you and your friends did their best to defend each other, I caught a glimpse of the situation, and did some looking around, while you held your own. When I came back to check on you, you have warped to another place, and so... since you're out of defences, I may as well give my help, since it would be a shame for you all to be vaporised by some freak accident."
"Freak accident is lightly putting it." Richard spoke with a sour tone. "What was that..? It was chasing after us relentlessly, and it was trying to destroy us without any rest or give. If that attack was from someone... Who could have such power... to break a barrier that was forged from the use of your chaotic magic power, to form a pseudo-boundary...!?"
Yukari summoned one of her treasure fans, as it was closed, into her right hand, as she swished it open, covering her mouth and nose, as she looked at Richard with a serious look in her eyes.
"I have done my research, by tracing back to the source of magic that fired those beams, which have disintegrated everything." Yukari spoke in a stoic tone. "The one who has unleashed such beams... is Galeem, the Harbinger of Light."
"...Come again?" Richard asked back. "Is this... supposed to someone I should know?"
"It seems that ever since you have left, your fore-knowledge has been lacking, Richard." Yukari answered back, as she closed her fan, as there was a grim frown on her face. "Galeem is known to be one of the two latest antagonists of the Smash universe. The other... I have yet to know, since my time here was short. He is the one who has tried to purge the universe, by aiming for those who seek to fight against it. Under it, is a army of Master Hands. When I met it, I was barely forced to take things seriously, and destroy it, while I tried to escape from those beams of his. If they were to be in Gensokyo, those beams would be the kind of danmaku that would be considered unfair to dodge under Spell-Card Rules. The Smashers have already fell victim to it."
Richard was silent, as he listened to Yukari. She noticed his silence, as she sighed.
"I know, what you would be thinking, Richard." Yukari stated, as he put out three fingers. "First of all, what has happened to the two worlds that you have taken care of? The Underworld, and the Japan of the Sengoku BASARA universe. Second of all, why exactly have I managed to interfere, when I was a entire boundary of existence away? And finally, you are going to find Galeem, and destroy it before it ruins this reality."
She then threw her fan back in her sukima, as she clasped her hand together, interlocking her fingers between it, as she smiled again, although it was less mischievous and more humble. "To answer your two questions, those worlds are very much safe. I've been aware of what you have been doing, when I observed you, as per my codename within your organisation, 'Observer'." She continued. "As for the other question... You know very well that I'm not so weak that my own boundaries that are combating the threats that lie in the edges of our realm, Gensokyo, require constant maintenance from me. It'll take some times before 'it' manages to erode the barrier enough to destroy it. And for your last thought..."
Yukari then floated towards Richard, as her expression turned into a very strict one. "Don't even think about it." Yukari spat out with a cold tone. "This is non-negotiable. You are NOT to interfere with the events that will come to pass."
"...If you are saying this to me... Then there must be something that must have spooked even you, Yukari." Richard answered back, in a understanding tone. "Alright, I won't go, but at least, my mentor, tell me why exactly you tell this to me with utter seriousness."
"That's because..." Yukari answered back. "It relates to what Galeem does... Tell me, Richard, what would imagine someone who shares even a single portion of your true power?"
"A single portion of my true power?" Richard asked back. "Well, if I'm going all in... Then I would be able to devastate continents and slay gods... A portion of that, and it would be quite..."
Richard then suddenly realised what Yukari meant. "Shit... You don't mean..!?" Richard cried with dread.
"Galeem is cloning every single fighter that has been hit by those beams." Yukari answered Richard's question with a shake of her head. "To the fighters, the beams transport them to Galeem, in their intact and unconscious forms. To the other beings, it creates them as Spirits, those who share a bond with the fighters, and force them to fight for Galeem's sake, commandeering the puppet fighters that are created. Not only that... When I used some fore-sight thanks to a certain someone's ability... I learned that should one be hit by it... Even the original will be possessed by Galeem itself."
Yukari then looked at Richard again. "If you were to be hit by that, as well as the rest of the comrades, I doubt those who are considered the heroes of this multiverse, will stand a chance against your real power." She answered back. "Even if Galeem is unwilling to touch upon 'that'... The other being who is engaged in this war... It will be quite willing to bring that darkness out once again... The darkness that has almost destroyed Gensokyo..."
Richard merely clutched the place where his heart was with his right hand, as he was silent, and his expression was quite grim.
"Yes... That other being, the one that is opposing Galeem..." Yukari answered back. "It is a being of pure darkness, much like Galeem is of pure light. So... I know that you might not be happy with this, but you must understand. As I quote Hellsing Abridged with a few changed words... 'Let the heroes sort them out.'."
Richard then nodded slowly, as Yukari smiled.
"Of course, you're always a good little boy, aren't you?" Yukari teased, before he noticed Richard suddenly glare at her for saying that. "Oh. Just listening to my advice. Alright, you're not my pawn, and you want to stay that way, don't you?"
"Damn right. You forget what caused this to happen." Richard growled back, still glaring at Yukari.
"Ah right... 'That event' was a sore spot that refused to give." Yukari sighed. "Very well, it's time you head back. I've caught a few glimpse of the heroes, and let us just say... you're going to need to get more allies if you're going to fight even with them, when the time comes. Ta-ta~"
She then waved goodbye to Richard, giving off a smile, as Richard was dropped into another of her sukimas, as he disappeared from the pocket dimension. After that, she then summoned her prized pink parasol to her side, as she rested it on her shoulder.
"Oh... How I remember this place... Of all the beings in there, and the legacies shown in there..." Yukari smirked. "This will be another interesting experience for Richard."
At the bridge of the Unmei Force's aerial fortress...
Richard returned back to the bridge of the GFS Ryujin, as he looked around.
"I need to check something. Open up the latest footage of the hidden cams placed in the worlds we have been in!" He ordered his crew-mates.
The order was carried out swiftly, as live footage of Zeabolo's castles, and the plains of Sekigahara could be seen, as they seemed to be still there.
"So Yukari wasn't lying..." Richard said with a sigh. "I'm glad she did that for us... Otherwise... what can I do?"
He then sat down on the captain's char, as he summoned a cigar and a lighter, before he placed it in his mouth, and sucked it firmly while lighting it. After a while of letting it rest in his mouth, he then took it out, breathing out deeply with some of the tobacco's smoke flowing out of his mouth.
"This is truly... troublesome." He sighed to himself, as he waited for the safety pods to return with his friends.