"Did you deliver it?"
"Uh-huh."
"Is he coming?"
"I guess?"
"'You guess'? Why didn't you check?"
"Because he's evil!"
Remilia sighed loudly, glaring disapprovingly at the green-haired youkai before her. "Well, what if he doesn't come? Then I'll be waiting for nothing! You should've made sure!"
"Well, excuse me for not wanting to become Heartless food!" Wriggle argued defensively, glaring back at the vampire. "You should be glad I even delivered your message! What, was it too hot out for you to do it?"
Remilia narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Funny, for a little scaredy-cat, you've got quite a mouth. Why don't I remind you who you're talking to?"
Wriggle faltered slightly as Remilia advanced, but stood her ground. Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia's head maid, chose this moment to intervene. "Mistress, perhaps you should concentrate on preparing for your duel? I'll discipline the child."
Remilia and Wriggle glared at each other for a few seconds, before the young-ish vampire grunted and turned heel, leaving Sakuya to guide Wriggle out of the main hall and into a corridor leading to the west wing.
After a few steps, Sakuya halted, facing Wriggle. "So, tell me, what was this 'bringer of evil' like?"
"Huh? Um..." Wriggle recalled meeting with that boy and his weird-looking friends. "Well... they were a lot less mean than I imagined..."
"Oh? Anything else?" The silver-haired maid asked, and Wriggle shrugged.
"I kinda left before something happened. I think he said he was a good guy?"
Sakuya looked thoughtful for a minute. Something didn't seem quite right to her. Maybe it was because Yukari Yakumo was involved, but the maid felt that there was a misunderstanding somewhere.
Then again, what did it matter to her if there was? If that boy was good, then it was bound to work out. If not, then Sakuya would defend the mansion and everyone in it. That's all there was to it.
Glancing at the green-haired youkai, Sakuya said, "Well, that boy's coming here very shortly. I'd advise sticking around if you want to see what he is really like."
"Do I want to?" Wriggle asked, mostly to herself. After a moment of pondering, Wrigle asked the maid, "So... I'm not getting disciplined or something, am I?"
Sakuya grinned teasingly at the little youkai. "Why, do you want me to?"
"N-no! Never mind!" Wriggle hastily protested, backing away nervously.
Sora twisted the map/challenge letters in several directions, as if the directions would magically make more sense that way. A thoughtful frown was on his face as he studied the crude sketch, trying to determine where he had led the group exactly.
"Sora, you got us lost, didn't you?" Donald asked, and Sora laughed nervously.
"No, we're not lost! I'm just... trying to figure out if another clearing was put in this map!"
As Sora had said, they had found yet another clearing. There weren't any houses or lakes within sight, but there was some sort of food cart nearby, which was unmanned.
Sora turned his attention back to the map, mentally retracing their steps from Marisa Kirisame's house.
Okay, if we left in this direction... and we walked for about five minutes, then we should be... Sora waved his finger over the general area he suspected they had reached, before sighing and giving up.
"So, I say we keep walking forward!" Sora announced to a sceptical Donald and a somewhat curious Goofy, who was eyeing the food cart closely.
"If you're confused, we can wait for the owner of that stand," Goofy suggested. "She might not take long."
"I dunno, I kinda want to get this sorted out right now..." Sora muttered. "Wait, how d'you know the owner's a girl?"
Goofy shrugged. "I just kinda figured."
Sora opened his mouth to speak, but a scream overrode his reply. It was fairly close by, and accompanied by a lot of rustling.
"Stupid monsters! When I shoot you down-" A girl dressed in a brown dress, with wings sprouting from her back, burst onto the scene, pointing her palms at the trees she emerged from and firing bullet-like objects at her pursuers. "-You stay down! That's the rule!"
The girl landed several feet from the group's position, apparently not having noticed them quite yet. Several of the fairy-species heartless from earlier bobbed out of the trees, shooting their own bullets in the girl's general direction.
Sora, Donald and Goofy immediately sprung into action. Weapon's flashing into existence, Sora ran forward, leaping high above the girl, who realised with a start that others were present, and charged at the Heartless.
Quickly closing the distance, Sora took another leap, swinging his keyblade at the Heartless, destroying them fairly easily. As Sora began his descent, Goofy wound his arm back in a circular motion, before launching his shield at the group of Heartless. After pin-balling through several of them, and blatantly disregarding common sense, the shield boomeranged its way back to Goofy's hand.
Donald targeted the last three remaining Heartless with his Thunder spell, which quickly made short work of them.
With the threat eliminated, Sora's Keyblade returned to hammer space and the wielder turned to the surprised girl, who Sora noted had claw-like hands and, apparently, rather avian ears. "Hey, they're gone now, little girl. It's safe."
"Don't talk down to me like that!" the girl said in an annoyed tone, surprising Sora. "Treating me like a kid... But... thanks anyway."
Glancing at the group, the girl then said, "So, who are you guys? Never seen ya before."
"Oh, well..." Sora pointed to Donald and Goofy, naming them as he did, and introduced himself.
"Name's Mystia," The bird-like girl introduced herself, and sighed. "Sorry for snapping at you, but I'm a little frustrated right now. What with the monsters driving business away and stuff..."
"Oh, so you own that cart!" Goofy asked, glancing at said cart.
Mystia nodded, and began walking to it. "I guess I can give you guys a free meal, even if I didn't really need your help..."
Donald rolled his eyes as the group followed Mystia, who entered the cart and began to prepare a meal.
"Aw, you don't have to do this, you know," Goofy said modestly. "But, we're kinda lost. Would you happen to know where that big lake is? We need to go to the mansion there."
Placing something inside the stove, Mystia replied, "Eh? You wanna go to that vampire's house? Why?"
"Vampire?" Sora gasped in surprise, and the others glanced at him. "You mean, that Scarlet Devil person's a real life vampire?"
"...Yeah?" Mystia sounded confused about Sora's enthusiasm, said boy now grinning widely.
"First Santa, now this..." Donald sighed.
"So why're you guys looking for her anyway?" Mystia asked.
"Oh, well we received a letter of challenge!" Goofy informed the young youkai. "She seems to think we're bad guys!"
Mystia chuckled and shook her head. "Really? Seems like everyone's mistaken for a villain at least once... so, what'd you do?"
"Nothing, actually," Sora said, looking like his excitement had calmed down a little. "We only just got here, and then everyone acted like we were the bad guys! Well, except for that Marisa person..."
"Eh?" Mystia looked at the group, surprised. "Wait wait wait wait! Marisa Kirisame? Kleptomaniacal witch? Incident resolver with the twitchiest trigger finger in existence?"
The group gave each other a confused glance before Donald replied, "Um, well, she's a witch."
Mystia continued to stare with wide eyes for several seconds, before giggling to herself, returning to the cooking.
"Funny, of all the people, she should be one the first gunning for you!" Mystia said. "Well, you guys lucked out. That person's crazy strong."
"We noticed." Sora replied, remembering the magic show she put on when dispatching the Heartless. She certainly seemed formidable there, and Sora had the feeling that she wasn't really trying.
There was a few more minutes of idle banter. Sora had began asking questions about the vampire, while Donald and Goofy listened with amusement. Truth be told, they were quite curious about their night-walking adversary as well.
Finally, Mystia handed each of the trio a dish, which they eyed hungrily. They never got much of a chance to eat such good looking food, and the three of them were eager to dig in.
"Hm, that smells good!" A small voice said, and Mystia glanced around, confused, before noticing movement directly in front of her. A small bug wearing a suit and carrying some sort of book bounced onto the counter, studying the meal.
"Hey Jiminy! Want a bite?" Sora asked the cricket.
"Well, if it's all right with you..." Jiminy replied, and Sora carefully cut a chunk of his fish-like meal small enough for him to eat.
Mystia stared at Jiminy for several seconds before asking, "And he is...?"
"Ah, my apologies!" Jiminy faced the sparrow-youkai and bowed low, tipping his top hat to her. "Jiminy Cricket's the name! Chronicling the travels of Sora and his friends!"
Mystia stared at Jiminy for several more seconds, before looking up at Sora and saying, "You have a cricket who writes stories?"
"Is that weird?" Sora asked.
"Honestly? No. Just rare."
"Ugh, filler." Ran yawned, watching the current scene with disinterest. Couldn't that boy get on with it already? The sooner this silly little game of Yukari's was resolved, the sooner that boy could pitch in with eliminating the real threat to Gensokyo. This whole ordeal seemed rather pointless. Then again, Yukari always knew far more than she let on. There was clearly an ulterior motive to having that Keyblade Wielder fight five rather strong opponents.
"Ran~! What'cha doing?" An enthusiastic voice asked from behind, which Ran recognised immediately as her own shikigami.
"Nothing Chen. Just doing Yukari's more mind-numbing work." Ran replied dully. "I'll bet this is why she snuck of to bed..."
Chen, a cat-like girl with two-black tails and light brown hair, skipped to the crystal ball and peered inside, her face awash with curiosity.
Grinning widely, Ran pointed at the scene, "Hey look! Mystia!"
"Yep."
"Who's she hanging out with? Oh! Don't tell me that's her boyfriend!"
"Nope." Ran told the giggling Chen, who didn't seem to listen.
"Ha ha ha! Mystia's got a boyfriend! Ooooh, I can't wait wait to tell Cirno! She'll be all like, 'But he's a boy!' and I'll be like, 'I know! It's weird!' And-"
"I get it, Chen, boyfriends are rare here," Ran sighed, massaging her temples. "Now, please quieten down. I'm trying to concentrate here."
Chen did quieten down, but only for a moment. Glancing at the ball again, Chen asked, "So, why are you watching? Oh! Oh! Are you spying on their first date?"
"No, I'm making sure something doesn't go wrong here." Ran sighed.
"Wow, that was great!" Sora complimented the sparrow-youkai, patting his stomach contentedly. Donald and Goofy also looked rather pleased. Mystia smiled slightly, always happy to hear how awesome a cook she was.
"Eh, it's nothing special." She replied modestly.
"What was it anyway?" Sora asked.
Lamprey."
"Huh. Never heard of it. Well, thanks for the food, but we really gotta reach that mansion..." Sora replied, getting to his feet. "Hey, could you point the way for us?"
Mystia thought for a moment, before shrugging and exiting her cart. "Might as well come with, I need to check up on someone anyway."
"Great! I bet Sora would just forget where to go!" Goofy chuckled, and earned a scowl from Sora.
Jiminy hopped onto Sora's arm, skilfully making is way back to his usual position, nestled within Sora's hood. There, he opened his journal to jot down a few more details of their experiences in the world.
When it looked like everyone was ready, Mystia led the group in the mansion's direction. It was at least fifteen minutes before they saw the mansion through the trees, along with the nearby lake.
"So, who do you need to see over here?" Sora asked conversationally.
"My friend. She's been having a bit of trouble with her... um..." Mystia frowned as she tried to think of the most fitting description. "Her... well, guardian?"
Sora, Donald and Goofy gave her a questioning look. Which went unnoticed, since they were behind the sparrow. regardless, she continued, "Well, it's an on/off thing they have. I dunno why they even see each other, really. It's always 'She spiked my tea' this and 'she tried to tickle me to death that'..."
"Now I'm even more confused..." Sora mumbled.
"Forget it, then. 'Sides, I'm not spilling any details," Mystia replied as they reached the mansion grounds proper. "Well, here we are."
the group looked at the towering mansion, closed off by a large, stone wall and steel gate.
So this is the vampire's house...? I'll bet he's rich. Sora thought, boyish excitement taking over once again. Stepping forward, the keyblade wielder stated, "C'mon, let's go!"
"Will the vampire even be awake?" Donald asked doubtfully, shielding his eyes as he stared at the sky. "It's bright daylight out here!"
"Oh, she will be," Mystia said reassuringly, following after Sora. "Remilia's kinda weird like that."
"Oh, she's a girl?" Sora said in mild disappointment. He had been imagining a tall figure cloaked in shadows, with glowing eyes and glinting fangs. but if Sora were to consider everyone that he had met so far, then that Remilia person as probably a young girl as well.
Is that the major theme of this world, by any chance? Sora wondered.
Mystia approached the gate, peering into the mansion's grounds with a small frown. "Huh... I don't see China anywhere. Weird, she's usually sleeping right over there..."
"China?" Goofy repeated.
"The gate keeper. Eh, whatever, let's go!"
Mystia pushed the gates open and led the group towards the mansion's entrance. Sora, Donald and Goofy glanced all around them, taking in the huge grounds and building with wonder.
Mystia knocked on the door, and awaited a reply. After several seconds of silence, the doors creaked open slowly, with no one on the other side.
"... Is this place haunted as well?" Sora asked with an amused smirk.
"Maybe, but I guess Remilia's being all show-offey for some reason." The sparrow shrugged. The group progressed inward, staring at the sprawling foyer with interest. Sora couldn't help but compare it to Beast's castle, or that mansion in Twilight Town.
A high pitched cackle echoed around the area, startling the four. Sora drew his Keyblade in anticipation, looking for the source of the laugh.
"I see you made it, boy," The voice said, before chuckling maddeningly. Donald and Goofy placed their backs to Sora, covering each other's blind spots. "Heh, I told them my directions were perfect!"
"Uh, Remilia?" Mystia spoke up. "Whatever you're doing, can it wait? I wanna see if Wriggle's here."
"Hush, you!" The voice demanded angrily. "I'm trying to be all cool and mysterious here!"
"Look, we don't wanna fight you!" Sora yelled to the ceiling, having not much choice in where to direct his voice. "We didn't bring any heartless here, there's been a mistake!"
Another irritating chuckle that sounded like it was trying too hard to be sophisticated was heard. "As if I'm going to believe a liar!"
"Sora!" Donald pointed to a flight of stairs several feet in front of them, where a silver haired woman dressed as a maid had suddenly appeared. She stared blankly at the group for several seconds before speaking. "My mistress is interested in a duel with you, supposed villain."
"Yeah, I heard," Sora replied, facing the woman. "So, where's your mistress?"
The fluttering of many wings began to fill the foyer, and the group stare at the ceiling once again, where a flock of bats had suddenly appeared, converging at the roof until they suddenly flew at the silver haired woman.
"May I present to you..." the maid spoke, stepping aside and lifting her hand in the direction of the flock, which seemed to be piling onto each other. "The mistress of the mansion, the Scarlet Devil and most beloved entity of the forest..." Even the maid didn't sound too sincere, as if she was merely reciting some rehearsed line
The bats had begun to glow a pale crimson colour, and the group watched entranced as a rough, humanoid shape began to emerge. Scarlet eyes blinked to life, followed by a fanged grin, and finally the 'Scarlet Devil' emerged.
"Remilia Scarlet, your final opponent!" The young vampire declared in a booming voice, pointing dramatically at Sora, who watched in bemusement.
No one said anything for several seconds, until Mystia cleared her throat nervously. "So uh, hi. Miss Izayoi, is Wriggle here?"
"Ah yes, you'll find her watching from the crack of the door down there. " Sakuya replied, pointing at a door to their right, where a slightly ajar door was located. A green-haired figure hastily retreated upon being referenced.
"Thanks!" Mystia left the scene, disappearing behind the door to look for her friend.
"Well?" Remilia said, wondering why the boy and his strange looking friends hadn't commented on her awesome entrance yet.
Eventually, Sora replied, "You're not as scary as I'd imagined, to be honest."
"Ha ha ha ha ha! The weird boy has a giant key!" Chen laughed at the current scene, and Ran sighed as she nodded in agreement. "How funny! I mean, what's a key supposed to do?"
"Defeat the Heartless, apparently."
"Oh. Well, why can't he use a cooler weapon?"
"Because swords are too violent or something. Now Chen, please go wake Yukari. I believe she wanted to see what's about to take place."
Chen saluted the kitsune dutifully. "Sure thing! One wake up call coming right up!"
Quickly darting from the room, Ran continued to watch the confrontation between Remilia and the Keyblade wielder. Remilia seemed a tad more interested in theatrics than actually defeating the 'source' of Gensokyo's current plight, but that was to be expected, really.
After a moment of what seemed to be Remilia crying over her opponents lack of reaction to her entrance, Ran felt Yukari arrive through one of her gaps, apparently not bothering with a ten second walk. "Hey, Ran. Chen's being loud again. So, they fighting yet?"
"Just about to," Ran replied, getting to her feet to allow Yukari her seat. Chen rushed back into the room at that point, sitting by Ran's side as Yukari began to watch the crystal ball again. "So, what's gonna happen now?"
Yukari smiled brightly as she leaned back in her chair slightly. "The first test, Chen."
"Look, I'm sorry! It's just-"
"You have no respect for your opponents, do you? No wonder you're evil!"
"But I'm not-!"
"Mistress, the duel."
"What about it? Oh, right..." Sighing, Remilia faced Sora again, glaring reproachfully at him. "All right you, I'm gonna defeat you here. Prepare for humiliation and stuff!"
Sora opened his mouth to protest his innocence again, then decided it was pointless. That girl wasn't going to listen. For now, it looked like he would have to get the fight over with and clear the misunderstanding when she wasn't in such a battle-ready mood.
"Oh yes! And before we start..." Remilia turned her attention to Donald and Goofy. "You two! Don't butt in! This is a one-on-one!"
"Why is that?" Donald challenged.
"Because I'm not allowed help either!" Remilia stated grudgingly. "So it's only fair!"
"Guys, I don't really need help here," Sora told his friends with a small laugh. "Sure, she's a vampire, but she's still a kid."
Remilia's eyes flashed dangerously at Sora's remark. "A kid, you say? Ha! You haven't learned much, have you?"
The Scarlet Devil leaped into the air, where she floated several feet above Sora, grinning confidently down at him. "I'll show you what that line of thinking will accomplish!"
"All right, but don't cry when I win!" Sora replied with a small smirk. Donald and Goofy, while rolling their eyes at Sora's overconfidence, where sure that he didn't need back up. It wasn't like he was a horrible weakling on his own, after all. Besides, they could at least watch out for any Heartless or some other outside interference.
When the two had placed themselves by the mansion's entrance, Remilia chuckled loudly.
"I'll end your reign of terror here, boy!"
With an exasperated sigh, Sora replied, "I really hope everyone in this world doesn't have a listening problem..."
"It's times like these that I wish music would spontaneously start up," Yukari sighed wistfully. "All our battles would be so much more awesome that way!"
"I suppose they would." Ran replied,, watching the crystal ball display its scenes.
"That's it!" Yukari declared suddenly, startling Chen. "We need to find those Prismrivers! They can sit in the background and play epic battle themes!"
"Is that really necessary?" Ran asked.
"Yes! It is imperative!" Yukari declared excitedly, before sighing and slumping back in her chair. "Oh, but who knows where they went... and the fight's about to start..."
Nice to know she's having fun with this... Ran thought as she and Chen went back to watching the battle. The kitsune shikigami was slightly nervous of the battle's outcome. After all, what if Remilia went too far? What if the keyblade wielder went too far? Just how many problems could possibly arise simply because Yukari thought it'd be interesting to withhold certain bits of information? In fact, the boy probably could have done something about the source of the Heartless problem by now!
Meanwhile, Yukari herself was thinking; Well Sora, show me what power you possess on your own. Give me a reason to continue the game.
Smiling in anticipation, Yukari watched as the battle started.
Hm... Is it me, or does this chapter seem a bit off? Maybe I'm just fretting too much over characterisation...
Anyways, next chapter will be the highly anticipated battle between Sora and Remilia. Can our Keyblade Wielder triumph over the loli vampire? Is there any doubt about the resolution of the battle? How does Jiminy not fall from Sora's clothing when he's jumping all over the place? Find some of these answers in the next update of the yet-to-be-horribly-titled-chapter 4!
