A.N: Recently, someone named Dr. O has reviewed Scarlet Pain for me. I appreciate your help, Dr. O, but I think you're a bit too late. Stevo and Waddle Dee already reviewed that fic on Youtube, and they pointed out the stuff that was wrong to me there. Still, I think you did a good job of finding what was wrong, and making it a little funny in the process. I hope you continue to review fanfiction and help people learn what they are doing wrong. Thank you and bless your heart!

~Talos Angel, the Fanfiction-Writing Yukkuri~

CHAPTER FOUR: A LEAD!

The girls had woken up to the cacophony of Sanae bashing two pans against one another as the sound reverberated from the walls and flew about everywhere.

"Get up! get up! Get UUUUUUUUUUUP!" Sanae squealed, "Momma Kanako wants to talk to you, grandma!"

Suwako and the fairies slowly got up amidst grumbles and sighs, reaching for their daytime clothing, stacked neatly in front of their ground mats.

"Ugh...I get we need to be up early," Star moaned, "But were the friggin pans necessary?!"

"Yes!" Sanae beamed proudly.

"Well, at any rate, I should see what she found out." Suwako suggested, "That is, after I get cleaned up a bit."

Suwako and the fairies stretched, washed up, and got into their daytime clothes before appearing before the still meditating Kanako in the middle of the dark, cool shrine. The lights were dimmer than usual, and a draft permeated the whole room.

"Hey, why is it so cool and dark?" Sunny asked, her arms crossed.

"It helps her concentrate, sometimes." Suwako responded.

"Whoever animated those vegetables was very clever indeed; they were able to erect some sort of magic signal scrambler that prevents me from identifying exactly who they are." Kanako stated solemly.

"Wait! But you're a god!" Cirno gasped, "How can you not identify them?!"

Kanako shook her head. "On top of not being very experienced with this power myself, there are some magicians who possess the ability to evade the eyes of gods. I fear our 'botanomancer' is likely one of them."

"You said that you couldn't identify them exactly," Suwako pointed out, "So what did you find out, exactly?"

"I found out that the caster of that spell was most likely some sort of animate doll," Kanako explained, "I would suggest starting with someone who knows about living dolls...someone like Alice."

Suwako raised an eyebrow while stepping back. "I doubt Alice would ever want to do something like that! She just wants to be left alone."

"I do not sense any resentment against the villagers within her," Kanako replied, "But maybe one of the dolls she created decided to go renegade against the humans for some reason. I wish I could say for sure."

Suwako tilted her hat forward and whistled. "Looks like I'm paying Alice a short visit." She muttered.

"You mean WE'RE paying her a short visit!" Cirno chirped boldly.

"No, I mean 'I'm.'" Suwako protested, "I don't think taking on this culprit yourself would be a very smart idea."

"C'mon!" Cirno shouted, "I can kick that bitch's ass with my sweet ice power!"

"And we're always there to help!" Star sheepishly blurted as the other three fairies struck a dramatic pose.

"I'm afraid not." Suwako sternly said, "It just isn't safe. If those vegetables overwhelmed you, then imagine what their controller could do."

Cirno crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "You need us and you know it!" She mumbled.

Suwako shook her head as she left without a single word, blasting through the air with the pump of her legs. Sanae approached Cirno from behind and placed her hand on Cirno's shoulder, smiling a little bit with a bit of a sparkle in her eyes.

"Grandma just wants you to be safe," Suwako told her, "She says I can't go fight indic...inciend...indecent causers until I finish my training."

Cirno huffed before stepping outside and spreading her crystal wings. She jumped several meters into the air before she turned in the direction of the Magical Forest and zipping away.

"Wait!" Sanae shouted as she ran out of the shrine, just in time to see the last glimpse of Cirno's azure air trail.

"I wouldn't worry about her," Sunny chirped, "She's the toughest one of us four!"

"Yeah!" Star chimed in, "I once saw her kick this bear's ass...right before the bear got mad and chased her off...But she still kicked the bear's ass!"

Luna gave an obviously forced smile as she nodded and pumped both of her fists into the air.

"I hope you're right." Sanae sighed as she went back inside, gesturing to the other fairies to follow.

Meanwhile, there was a quiet little cottage in the middle of the Magical Forest. The cottage's pearly-white paint colour made it stand out clearly from the various shades of green and orange that composed the curious forest around it. On the front porch of this cottage sat Alice Margatroid, gently combing the hair of one of her Shanghai dolls, who was humming pleasantly to herself. Alice opened her eyes slightly as she caught a glimpse of a spark headed her way, so she backed up slightly. the spark got bigger and brighter as it approached by the seconds, causing Shanghai to notice the figure's approach. Both Alice and Shanghai shielded their eyes and looked away as Suwako slammed into the ground foot first and standing up perfectly, scattering dust and dirt every which way. Alice and the doll blinked several times before looking at Suwako standing before them.

"You know, you could've slowed down a bit before landing." Alice grumbled just barely loud enough for Suwako to hear, "You mussed poor Shanghai's hair."

Shanghai squeaked a bit as she ran her tiny, jointed fingers through her messy, stringy corn-yellow hair.

"Sorry about that," Suwako said, rubbing the back of her head with her right hand, "But I have some very important questions to ask you."

"How important?" Alice asked, cocking her head ever so slightly while she placed her hands on her hips.

"Do you know anything about any dolls casting animating magic on a bunch of innocent farmers' vegetables?" Suwako asked.

"I don't know about any one of my dolls being able to do something like that," Alice responded, "You'd have to be pretty damn powerful to do somethin' like that, and I was done makin' dolls like that a LOOOOOOOOOONG time ago."

"Wait," Suwako interrupted, holding up her hand, "You USED to make dolls...'like that?'"

"That's what I said, lady," Alice huffed, "But I DON'T Make em' 'like that' now!"

"Do you think one of your older dolls may still be around?" Suwako inquired.

"I doubt it," Alice laughed, "A friend of a friend killed em' all in her little war against my ma."

Shanghai began to shudder and whimpered a little bit. Alice patted her head and hummed slightly.

"But that mean old miko isn't going to get you, little Shanghai, don't you worry." She whispered to the cowering doll.

Suwako tilted her head to the side and scratched it. "I don't think that's what she's worried about." Suwako stated.

"And why is that?" Alice asked, glaring at Suwako, "Did YOU spend your whole life making sentient dolls?"

"No," Suwako replied, "It's just that-"

Suwako ducked as she was suddenly cut off by a Shanghai doll crashing through the window, enveloped in an ominous dark-purple aura and holding a kitchen knife in front of her, barely missing Suwako's face by a centimeter. The doll circled around, growling menacingly as she foamed at the mouth.

"I was thinking THAT may be a more immediate concern!" Suwako shouted as she pointed back at the crazed doll. Just as Alice got up to see what was going on, several dozen more possessed dolls crashed through the windows, snarling and armed with knives, small lances, and any sharp, dangerous object they could find inside the house.

"What in the...?" Alice asked, firmly holding the panicking and crying doll in her arms before several of the dolls dashed towards her at breakneck speeds, their weapons pointed forward in an arodynamic suicide charge. Alice ducked just in time toavoid being skewered, and instead the dolls lodged their weapons into the side of the house.

Suwako's hands glowed with a bright golden light before Alice pounced at her and grabbed her arms.

"Don't you dare hurt any of them!" Alice screamed, "I don't care how crazy they're actin'! They're my children!"

"Then what AM I supposed to do?!" Suwako shouted back at her.

"I don't know!" Alice yelled, dodging another attempted impalement, "Something must be making em' mad!"

WHIZZ

SLASH

The dolls kept rushing like miniature hurricanes into the girls, cutting them with each swipe and slash as Suwako tried to throw Alice off of her. One of the dolls seized the moment to dash directly at Suwako's throat. Suwako desperately tried to shake out of the way before she heard a large gust of wind. Suwako and Alice looked over and saw that all of the possessed dolls had been frozen completely solid in jagged chunks of shimmering blue ice. Suwako looked upward and saw Cirno floating right above her, a smug grin planted upon her face.

(TBC in CH. 5)