Author's Notes: I actually made this chapter on the same "night" as Chapter 3. (It's actually on the next day, but it's so freaking early, I'm barely into the day.)
Disclaimer: I do not own any officially licensed Touhou characters.
"Another Maverick signal has vanished... Whoever this hunter is, I'm impressed. Anyway, we're working on improving our tech to reach this unknown area, but no such luck. It's like it's blocked off by some kind of barrier..."
Illuminated only by the light coming from above, X was walking across the river floor of the Youkai River, which was coming from the Youkai Mountain. The storm had not fully stopped when Iku died, leading X to believe that another was involved in it. The only Maverick with that kind of power was Nitori. It was fortunate that X's Reploid body was built to withstand high water pressure, and that Reploids had no need for oxygen.
Along the path were many fish-like Mechanaloids. They weren't really dangerous, just annoying because of their numbers. 'Wouldn't be surprised if Nitori built these herself.', X though to herself. Before Gensokyo had become high-tech, Nitori was one of the few scientists that had lived there. While her creations were "new" to Gensokyo, they had already existed for a long time in the Outside World. Of course, now that everything was high-tech anyway, she had begun to focus on new types of creations that didn't exist in the Outside World.
This time around, there weren't any capsules, so X worked her way all the way to the undersea battlefield where Nitori was, floating above it. "I was wondering when you were gonna get here.", Nitori said. "Nitori... It doesn't have to be like this." "There's no choice in the matter, X. We were destined to fight, right here and now!" Nitori then condensed the water into a very high-pressure spear and tossed it at X, who barely dodged. Instead of giving Nitori the opportunity to attack, X switched over to Iku's power, changing her outfit to a red-n-pink style, and sent a concentrated bolt at Nitori, while keeping it from spreading through the water from conductivity. Nitori dodged it, but X kept the pressure up by firing more bolts, all of which Nitori dodged.
"You might as well give up. I'm too fast to hit in the water.", Nitori said, beginning to form another spear in her hand. "True, but I had a backup plan.", X replied. Nitori was confused for a bit, but by the time she realized her plan, it was too late. Behind her were spheres containing the previously fired bolts, and one of them broke, releasing the bolt, and letting it spread throughout the battlefield, though that was as far as it went. Both of them were injured, but Nitori had taken more damage than X. Nitori was still able to fight, but it didn't mean much as another sphere broke, electrocuting the both of them again.
Marisa kept it up until Nitori began to fall onto the floor, and then ran up to her, or at least tried to. Nitori looked very weakened, clearly unable to fight, but was barely alive. "X... listen... it wasn't... our choice... to go... Maverick... it was... a virus... made by..." Nitori wasn't able to finish before the after-jolts finished her off. X looked over her now lifeless body, once again saddened by the fact that she had killed another one of her close friends, but it wasn't the only thing on her mind. 'A virus... so someone was controlling them? But... who? Dammit, if only she lasted a bit longer...' X then placed her hand on Nitori's forehead, and began absorbing her power. "Nitori... please forgive me...", she said just before Nitori's body shattered and dissolved into the water. '... I wish I could have avoided this... Cirno, Iku, Nitori... please, rest peacefully.' "... This is X... I'm heading back to the base..."
After receiving repairs and recharging her energy, X went off for the underworld to confront Utsuho, the Hell Raven who had the power of the Yatagarasu, a sun god. Back in her Youkai life, she wasn't very bright, but like Cirno, she got smarter as a Reploid. X knew this would be harder than the last time those two fought. Regardless, she had to deal with the situation before it got out of hand.
The underworld, more specifically, the Hell of Blazing Fires, wasn't exactly bad, but X knew she had to be careful of the lava. She could stand the hot air, but burning magma was too much, even for a Reploid. To top it all off, there were many Mechanaloids based off of Nuclear-powered crows flooding the path. "Well, that's just great..." Regardless of the situation, X pushed on through the Mechanaloid army, fighting her way to a stadium made out of molten rock. They were cool enough for a Reploid to stand on without any problems, but a human being would most likely have burned alive or sweat to death long before even reaching the area. Of course, there was Flare, but still.
"I see you finally came, X. What do you think of the battlefield I made?", Utsuho said, floating above the stadium. "Utsuho... We don't have to do this." "That's true... you could just stand there and let me melt you into scrap metal!" Utsuho pointed her arm cannon at Marisa, and sent a wave of Nuclear energy at her. X dodged it, and changed over to Nitori's power, turning her outfit blue, and summoned a blast of high-pressure water at Utsuho. Utsuho almost dodged, but her left wing got hit, causing her to flinch. That gave X the perfect opportunity to strike her again, which she did.
The second one was much more condensed that the first, making it seem more powerful, and struck right through Utsuho's chest. "Y-You... How... dare you..." Utsuho fell to the ground as her eyes blanked out. X walked over and kneeled by the dead Reploid, once again upset that she had to kill another one of her close friends, but grabs Utsuho's hand and begins absorbing her power. "Utsuho... please forgive me...", she said as Utsuho's body shattered into millions of pieces, each one bursting into flame and burning to ash. "... This is X... I'm returning to HQ now..."
Author's Notes: Two Mavericks in one chapter?! Having just one seemed a bit short, so... yeah.
