As Kyo and Youmu size each other up; ready to start their sparring match, Ail sits next to Yuyuko, who whimsically smiles at him as they wait for the fight to begin.
Kyo lunges toward Youmu with the energy around his right hand looking like a small blade, while the energy at his left arm looks like a small round bubble.
Youmu jumps high up in the air and comes down holding her sword tightly, virtually cutting the air as she comes down hard on Kyo who dodges her attack at the last second.
Ail opens his eyes wide, then looks at Yuyuko and asks "that sword she has... it just cut the air, didn't it?"
Yuyuko's whimsical smile remains as she answers "well of course. That sword is the... err, what did she call it now...? Oh that's right, the Hakurouken. It can cut through anything, even a person's thoughts. And there's the long one is... err... Roukan~... Roukanken... yes, Roukanken. That one can even cut ghosts."
Yuyuko keeps smiling at Ail, who now has a pale face filled with panic as he shouts "PLEASE, you must stop them! She's gonna kill him! Eh?"
Yuyuko sits behind Ail, smiling whimsically as she shushes him and says "don't worry; this is just a sparring match. Nobody is going to die."
As she finishes saying that she positions herself behind Ail, pressing her chest against his back.
The boy's face shines red and his nose starts blowing off steam, then Yuyuko, as if holding a new pet, starts petting Ail's head, playing with his hair as she does, then says "just relax and watch."
Ail can't relax so easily since she keeps squeezing him against her chest constantly, making him feel as though he is going to have a massive nosebleed soon as his nose keeps blowing hot steam and his face keeps burning bright-red.
Outside the ghostly shrine, Youmu is very frustrated as she fails to cut through Kyo's energy, and then says "argh! What's the matter with me!? Am I really this weak?"
Kyo smirks and says "ready to give up? Go on, I won't stop you!"
"NO!" shouts Youmu as she unsheathes her long sword and continues "I'm just getting started with you"
Kyo's smirk widens as he says "good. Cuz I was just warming up."
After saying this the right hand energy expands and the energy blade takes a more solid form.
Again they clash; Youmu's swords fail to cut through the energy that comes from Kyo's arms and feeling even more frustrated she thinks "dammit, what the hell is this? I can't cut through this energy! Am I really this weak... or is he that strong?"
Youmu and Kyo keep their eyes locked on each other during their lockup; Youmu growling a little as she and Kyo keep pushing back against each other, making him grunt as well, then break their lockup and after landing safely few feet away she points at him and says "I underestimated you, Kyo! I might as well use a little more power on you, then."
She starts shooting danmaku at the muscled boy, however he simply smirks again and uses the bubble-like shield around his left arm to block and reflect her shots.
Youmu's eyes open wide when she realizes her own shots are coming back to her.
She has some trouble dodging them but manages to dodge in time, and now though a little winded, both fighters size each other up once more before lunging at each other yet again.
Back at the ghostly shrine, Yuyuko says to the nervous Ail "I'm hungry!"
Ail's face is still red, however something about her tone of voice brings great fear to his heart.
"I wonder what you taste like?" asks Yuyuko while she's drooling all over the boy's shoulder.
Without a second thought, Ail jumps away from her, but she slowly floats toward him with that whimsical smile of hers as she says "you can run all you want, but I'll keep coming at you~!"
Ail somehow knows she isn't lying, so he starts to back away, facing her as he does and shooting his danmaku at her, however she just keeps coming and saying in sing-song "I'm still coming for you~~!"
Ail tries to fly again, however he falls down hard after every three or four seconds of hovering, then Yuyuko taunts him by saying "ooh, so close, yet so far. I'll just have to help you a little"
Still smiling her sweet whimsical smile, Yuyuko unleashes many butterfly-like bullets at Ail.
He, of course, realizes they are quite dangerous and does his best to dodge them all, then continues running and shooting, however without realizing, his flying is lasting a little longer each time he tries.
By now, Hakugyokurou is the sight of two great battles that look like a fireworks display all around.
A blonde girl with short hair, golden eyes, wearing a black uniform with white and red trims, a black hat with a crescent moon decorating the peak, and a violin floating around her, floats close by and notices the spectacle.
"Merlin, Lyrica, come quick, check this out!" excitedly shouts the girl.
Two more girls come by; one has blue eyes and short light-blue wavy hair, wears a pink uniform with blue and black trims similar to the blonde girl's, and a pink pointy hat with a blue sun decorating the tip, and has a trumpet floating around her.
The other has short brown hair and brown eyes, a red uniform with pink and black trims, similar to the others, a red pointy hat with a green shooting star decorating the tip, and a winged keyboard floating around her.
"What is it, Lunasa? Whoa... Lyrica, Lyrica, look, look!" exclaims the girl in pink.
The girl in red looks in awe at the spectacle then says "wow... We should play something for this."
Lunasa and Merlin lift their arms up happily agreeing, but then Lunasa asks "but what should be play?"
All three think for a bit, then Merlin excitedly says "why not play our favorite theme, Phantom Ensemble!", then all three cheer, grab their instruments and begin to play.
As both battles go on, it looks as though they are fighting at the rhythm of the music being played, and very suddenly the ghosts around the playing sisters build a small stage under the three girls, and after building it they all sit in neat straight lines listening to the music and enjoying the show.
By now Kyo and Youmu have reached their limit.
"You... you're pretty good" says Youmu while trying to catch her breath.
"You... aren't so bad... e-either" replies Kyo, who is almost out of breath as well.
"Decisive blow!" shouts Youmu. Kyo nods while staring back into her eyes.
Both rush toward each other and strike while passing by each other, then both stand still for a moment after stopping, and without turning both say at the very same time "you're good", then the fall to the ground, panting.
Meanwhile, a little farther away, Yuyuko slowly and whimsically chases after Ail who is now starting to sweat as he continues to flee.
He is still shooting danmaku at her, but she just keeps coming, making Ail get tired and frightened for his own safety
She looks really hungry; drool keeps dropping from her smile as she continues to pursue the human.
Suddenly Ail feels something strange; as if his body has become as light as air, so he jumps up and shouts with excitement "I-I'm flying, I'm FLYING!", after quickly realizing he's up in the air.
He starts to spin and twirl in the air, completely forgetting about Yuyuko and right then the music stops playing and the three players head to the ghostly shrine after taking their bows.
Yuyuko smiles at Ail and floats up to meet him, and when he realizes she's within reach he panics, but she lifts her right hand saying "that's enough for today. You have done admirably!"
He looks confused at the ghost princess, then Yuyuko grabs his arm and says "come on, let's go eat now. I am so hungry." And so she pulls him back to the ground and drags him back to the shrine.
"Youmu, you better get up and fix up some dinner... I'm hu~ngry~!" says Yuyuko in a very sweet tone just before she enters the shrine's living room.
Just outside the shrine Youmu and Kyo struggle to stand up from the ground, then look at each other and laugh as they see their messed up and dirtied clothes and faces.
As Youmu heads to the kitchen Ail tries to run to her saying "let me help you," but Yuyuko grabs his shirt and pulls him to her lap, embracing him like a mother would embrace her child and says "no, no. Guests shouldn't cook at the host's house;" and then begins to comb his hair with her fingers, making Ail's face turns bright red again as he melts within her grasp.
Kyo enters just a bit after Youmu, bows to Yuyuko, then asks "may I be allowed to help Youmu, with all due respect?"
Yuyuko looks at Kyo seriously, and then opens a fan saying "go ahead then. You may."
Ail is about to complain, but again she embraces him tightly and softly says "rest. Even half-youkai needs rest after that," then suddenly, as if under a spell, Ail falls completely asleep while sitting on Yuyuko's lap.
After some time passes Yuyuko wakes Ail up as soon as the meal is served and presents the Prismriver sisters to him.
Lunasa, Merlin and Lyrica bow down as Ail bows his head to them, and before leaving Merlin says "I hope we get to see more fireworks around here!"
"So?" asks Ail "why exactly are you helping us like this; out of the blue like that?"
Yuyuko swallows two rice balls, chewing them contently while looking at Youmu.
Youmu gasps and says "because idly would Yukari send live humans over here, unless there was some reason... is that right Yuyu-sama?"
"Good girl, Youmu" replies Yuyuko right after gulping, and Youmu immediately thanks her mistress for the compliment after a quick and nervous bow.
After eating Yuyuko pats her belly and sighs contently, then looks to Ail and Kyo and says "the moment I felt your presence I knew there was something to you two, but after knowing it was my friend Yukari that sent you here in the first place, then I was certain. She sent you here to learn to use your hidden abilities."
Ail looks at Yuyuko a bit puzzled... she won't stop eying him as she speaks and continues to do so, then she suddenly grabs Ail again and makes him sit on her lap, embracing him once more.
Kyo smirks and gives Ail the thumbs up, however when Ail tries to flip him off Yuyuko slaps his hand and tenderly says "no, no, no. Don't be rude."
Ail lowers his head as Kyo quietly chuckles and heads outside.
For two more days they train hard, Yuyuko making Ail fly with weighs all over his body, and other... more unrealistic items of incredible weight hanging on his feet.
Kyo and Youmu spar harder each day; both increasing their strength and agility, not to mention that Kyo is now able to expand and shoot the energy from his arms at a desired target, and even better, it also homes in to the target he thinks about while shooting.
Every day while they train, the Prismrivers come over and play music for them, and the last theme they played they called "Border of Life", and made Ail feel very uneasy around Yuyuko for some reason.
On the morning of the third day, Ail and Kyo are saying their goodbyes to their new friends.
Yuyuko pats Ail on the head and says "I am very proud of you. You passed all the tests with ease. You should be able to take care of yourself from now on. And you Kyo should be able to take care of yourself as well. Just don't forget to practice as much as possible."
Youmu stares at Kyo, and with a confident smile she says "I'll be training hard too, so make sure to be ready when we meet again, got it?"
Kyo smiles back and waves, and then nods at Youmu.
Meanwhile Yuyuko holds on to Ail's shoulders and looks at him in the eyes, then lets him go while smiling at him.
They reach the gate between the Netherworlds and Gensokyo, and then Ail grabs Kyo by his arms and flies in, and now both descend back to the world of the living.
Kyo looks up to his friend's face, then says "Hey, Ail."
Ail snaps out of a trance and looks at Kyo who continues "what was the deal with you and that ghost-lady?"
Ail keeps quiet for a moment while thinking about what Yuyuko said to him one of the nights when she held him like a child again; that's when she said to him "if I had a child, I am sure he would be like you. Please don't die too soon and come visit sometime, alright?"
After his thoughts end, Ail answers Kyo, though still lost in thought "that's what I'd like to know..."
After about 30 minutes they arrive to the Hakurei Shrine and land softly on the front yard.
Reimu comes out of the shrine with her gohei at hand, then sees the two boys and seemingly surprised she says "oh, it's you... is it?"
Kyo rapidly replies "well of COURSE it's us. We're right here, aren't we?"
Sounding almost disappointed, Reimu says "as rude as ever, I see."
Kyo clenches his fist, but before he says anything else Reimu continues "so the ghosts give you a hard time?"
Ail is still lost in thought, so Kyo answers for both, saying "it was rough training, but we mastered it. Something happened with him..." points at Ail "...and the ghost princess. He's completely lost inside his world now."
Reimu looks at them with a face that says "What a Pain" however she will not really say it.
Ail is suddenly alerted by something moving around the bushes that surround the shrine, so he slowly gets closer to the bushes, feeling a strong power behind them.
Far behind Ail, Kyo and Reimu argue about the chores, then the shrine maiden ends the argument saying "well if you're going to stay here, you know the drill... here, sweep."
Kyo angrily replies "what! You lazy shrine maiden, we just came back from heavy training! Give us a break!"
They continue arguing on, however Ail is more interested in the power behind the bushes and completely ignores them.
Suddenly, a little girl who is reeking of sake jumps from the behind bushes, shouting "HI~~!", and Ail just stands there looking back at her with both curiosity and surprise.
She has two large brown horns; one adorned with a blue bow, the other with a ribbon; and knee-long orange hair done into a ponytail at the bottom.
She wears a tattered pink blouse, a long purple skirt and wears three chain accessories, one a circle, another a triangle and the other a square.
To Ail's eyes, she looks like a child.
The boy stands there and smiles while saying "you must be Suika, right? Suika Ibuki? Reimu's told us all about you!"
Suika stares confused at Ail, who stutters for a moment, then says "oh, forgive me. I am Ail, and that one arguing with Reimu is Kyo, my friend."
Smiling, Suika extends her arm saying "nice to meet cha, Ail! So, Reimu talked about me, huh?"
Ail smiles back, and while shaking her hand he says "yes. She said you were a crazy little drunkard powerhouse that annoyed her to no ends."
Suika laughs hard and says "oh yeah, that's me alright."
After he finishes arguing with Reimu, Kyo walks by and asks "who's the little runt?"
Ail sweats and nervously says "err... you shouldn't have said that", then quickly moves away.
Suika's eyes are covered in shadow as she leers at Kyo, then says "runt, huh? I'll show you runt."
She punches Kyo right in the kisser, sending him spinning toward Reimu and falling on top of her in a very suggestive manner.
Reimu panics and shouts "HEY! Get OFF ME!"
*Click, click* A camera shutter is heard, then two large crow wings stretch as a woman yells "ayayaya!" and flies above the shrine trees.
She has semi-long black hair, red eyes, has a red tokin adorned with white feather puffs and wears a white blouse and a short black skirt.
With a confident smirk she shouts "Ha-ha~! With this, I'll show all my readers the TRUTH about the shrine maiden and the two handsome men from the outside world, WAHAHA~!"
While struggling to get Kyo off of herself, Reimu says "Aya, you BITCH! Just wait 'till I get my HANDS ON YOU!"
Aya smirks wickedly and says "now that's not the way to talk to your betters, Miss Shrine Maiden. See ya", and with that, she signals them goodbye, then flies away at great speeds, and without thinking Ail lifts off after Aya.
As she flies away, feeling safe and victorious, Aya says "Hehehe, that was just too easy. And now I shall report the truth!"
Ail gets beside her without her notice, and with a cocky smile he says "and what kind of truth would that be? Perhaps it's a little white lie, or an entirely made up story?"
Aya smirks and says "well, you think you can keep up with me that easily? Let's see about that!"
Magically her wings vanish, leaving a few feathers fluttering down to the ground.
Ail calmly says "well if you try that, all you'll achieve is flashing me with your panties for a few seconds... while I catch up, that is."
Aya gets a bit annoyed "tck! Cocky aren't we!? I'll be so far ahead, you won't get the chance!"
Suddenly Aya takes out a card-like piece of paper and mouths some words, and then starts flying so fast she looks like a white lance flying in the sky.
After a minute, she goes down to some trees and lands on the higher branches, snickering and saying "that slowpoke will never find me now."
She takes out the photos from her pockets and starts looking at them while giggling and saying "how juicy" and then someone pulls the photos from her hands saying "thank you very much."
It is Ail, and as he smirks he puts the photos into one of his pockets; quickly zipping it close; and then asks "What took you so long? I thought you said I wouldn't be able to keep up!"
Aya stutters for a moment, then smiles after shaking off her surprise and says "for a human, you really are something else. Fine, you win."
She's going to take out one more photo; however Ail already has it, along with her camera.
Aya despairs and excitedly says "no... Not my camera! Give it back!"
"Fine" says Ail, throwing the camera back to her while looking at the picture.
It is a picture of himself on Kyo's arms with the three large gashes on his chest, right after Remilia had attacked him, and all his friends surround Kyo and him while looking quite worried.
Staring at the picture he says "you really are everywhere, aren't you?"
Aya chuckles as Ail continues "I really worried everyone, huh? It was after all this... that I started to truly learn what I am capable of."
Ail's expression turns very serious, so after noticing this Aya says "you can go ahead and keep it then. I wouldn't know what to write about that anyway. It's not really an interesting story"
Ail nods, and suddenly intercepts a large sword that splits the picture in half after Ail claps the blade between his hands.
Holding the large sword is a girl with short white hair, dog ears and a white tail, wearing a red tokin like Aya's only without the accessories, a long detached-sleeved white shirt and a large black shirt under it, a black skirt with red at the bttom, and also has a large round white shield with a red leaf print that looks like Aya's fan.
"Miss Aya, are you alright?" asks the girl as she keeps pressing her sword against Ail, who keeps holding it back with his hands, however it's starting to slip.
Aya desperately says "Momiji, stop, he's a friend!"
Momiji stops just as the blade is about to slip and cut Ail's face in half, then backs away and bows while saying "sorry about that; can't be too careful."
They get off the trees and back to the ground where Momiji apologizes once more, then Ail says "it's alright, I'm well, and you were just protecting your friend is all, so no hard feelings."
Momiji's tail starts to wag rapidly, and then she blushes when she realizes this.
After saying their goodbyes and fly back to their homes, Ail decides to take a more scenic route and notices a field of sunflowers under him, and then suddenly he can't fly anymore.
He feels as though something pulls him down, then he falls hard on the ground damaging various sunflowers.
From behind another sunflower patch a woman ominously watch Ail as he gets up.
She has shoulder-length green hair, red eyes, a red plaid skirt and matching waistcoat over a plain white shirt, and carrying a parasol with her.
She stares at Ail with a friendly smile on her face, however the atmosphere around her suggests otherwise.
She slowly walks to where Ail is, however stops on her tracks and looks very surprised.
Ail gets up and realizes he landed on the bed of sunflowers, damaging many of them.
He exclaims "crap, the sunflowers..! Oh no, what have I done?"
He backs away a little and points his hands at them, and then suddenly they spring back to life.
He dusts his hands and says "well, that should do it" then he spots the woman standing behind him.
"Oh... hello there" says Ail, but is interrupted by the woman quickly asks "boy, how did you do that?"
Ail looks at her and says "I just shared some of my own energy with them. I'm not sure how, but I did."
The woman looks impressed then suspiciously asks "and why did you do that? They're just flowers after all."
Ail calmly replies "they may be JUST flowers, but they still have life and feel pain as well."
The woman opens her eyes wide and says "it's not every day you meet someone so... special. My name is Yuka Kazami. What is your name, young man?"
"My name is Anilan Inmodo Leuch, but please call me Ail. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Yuka" says Ail while bowing his head, then continues as he lifts his sight "now I better head back. My friends are probably starting to get worried about me."
Yuka stares at him saying "wait a moment. Before you go... could you help this little plant come to life?"
"I'll try" replies Ail as Yuka forcefully hands him a dry potted plant she pulls out of her skirt's pockets.
He concentrates for a moment, then suddenly the plant starts to come to life before Yuka's very eyes.
The plant is a beautiful blue flower with long petals on a large stem.
Ail opens his eyes and hands the plant over to her, then flies back to the shrine again.
Yuka gazes blankly at Ail's direction, blushing a slight bit, then she looks at her plant and smirks.
"Just a moment," exclaims Ail as he stops and turns around, looking seriously at Yuka and asks "you wouldn't happen to know why I-?"
"No." interrupts Yuka quickly, with a friendly smile on her face.
Ail looks at her with suspicion, but just waves his hand at her and flies away, then Yuka heads to the plants Ail had just revived and says "you sure caught a special one."
Back at the shrine, Kyo and Suika have made peace with each other and are drinking sake, while Reimu thanks Ail for retrieving the photos from Aya.
Soon after, it's night already; they all eat, have a few laughs, then go to sleep.
The next morning, Cirno, Mystia, Rumia and another girl that has very short teal hair, bug-like antennae, wears a white shirt with stylized short sleeves, knee-length baggy pants and a black cape that is red inside, who is named called Wriggle Nightbug, are all gathered by Kyo and Ail at the shrine's stairs to hear about the outside world.
Ail has drawn for them a Famsys DS and is telling them how it works, while Kyo tells them about sports cars, gyms and action movies.
After they boys are done, Cirno puffs her chest and boastfully says "I am a genius, so I'm going to build my own Famisys DS!"
Just as the girls leave the shrine talking about all that they had just heard, Reimu walks to them and without saying a word she hands them a note that reads:
"Dear boys,
You must go to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and resolve an incident that's been occurring there for almost 500 years.
You favorite lady of the world,
Yukari Yakumo"
Reimu adds "and she made me promise not to butt in. Not that I would be able to. There's something fishy going on in the subterranean caves again and me and Marisa are going to investigate... I was hoping Ail could go... but... it's such a pain, really."
Ail and Kyo look at each other, then they look at Reimu, and then Kyo asks her "this wouldn't be that crazy vampire's home, would it?"
Reimu smiles while saying "why yes, I'm so glad you remembered. Now you won't let down your guard for a second, right?"
Kyo gulps; however Ail looks dead serious and his eyes are filled with great determination.
Kyo looks a little worried, however Ail says "don't worry, we're not going to die", but now even Reimu looks a little scared of Ail at that moment.
Marisa arrives on her broom shouting "Reimu, come on, let's go play underground, ze!"
Reimu sighs loudly then flies away with Marisa.
Ail looks at Kyo and says "you can stay if-" but Kyo places the palm of his hand right in front Ail's face and says "and let YOU get stronger still, and probably have all the fun and glory? No way!"
Kyo smiles at Ail, who nods then grabs Kyo by his arms and both fly away toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Suika, still yawning, gets out of the shrine and after looking all around she asks "where is everyone?"
She then looks inside and sees Reimu's spare clothes, then smiles as she heads back inside, humming a tune to herself.
Cirno once told Ail that she lived by a lake, and that there was a big red building on an island where vampires lived, so it was easy for Ail to find the Scarlet Mansion once he found the Misty Lake.
Kyo and Ail land near the lake's shores and see Cirno working diligently on something on a tree stump.
Curious, Ail asks "Hey, Cirno. What are you doing there?"
The little ice fairy replies "I told you, I am a genius."
She continues working while saying "I am building that Dees you told me about."
Kyo and Ail both look at each other, then head to the direction of the mansion just as Kyo finishes saying "Cirno, it's not Dees, it's D-S."
Pausing for a moment Cirno turns and glares at Kyo, then seeming absent-minded she says "I knew that", and continued working on her project.
Once the two boys reach the mansion's gate they see a woman with aqua eyes and long scarlet hair wearing a green beret with a star on it that reads "Dragon", and wears a green dress that looks just like traditional Chinese clothing.
Before the boys get too close the girls happily says "hello there humans. Don't you know it's dangerous for you around these parts?"
Ail steps up and says "hello! My name is Ail and this is Kyo. We've come to solve-"
Ail abruptly stops as the girl smiles at them and says "you may not pass. Please turn around and leave;" then she prepares a fighting stance "or you'll have to deal with me."
Ail stands his ground and says "we don't wish to cause any harm, however we cannot go back."
The woman surrounds her hand with very colorful energy and repeats "please, turn around and leave. I do not wish to harm humans now."
Kyo balls both hands into fists and surrounds them with white energy, however he keeps the energy formless around his arms and says "Ail, you go inside. I'll handle Miss... err..."
The woman smiles; her eyes filled with excitement at the sight of Kyo's energy; then says "I am Meiling Hong, and you look like a worthy opponent. Are you really humans?"
Kyo smirks, stances and says "maybe."
Meiling eyes her opponent, smirks back and says "good, then I won't feel bad for not holding back!"
Suddenly both run toward each other throwing punches at each other's faces when in range, and blocking just in time.
The fight is incredibly fast. Ail has a hard time following them both.
Meiling tries to surprise Kyo with a kick; however Kyo surprises them both by blocking her kick with his own; which was surrounded by energy as well; revealing her leg to be surrounded by that colorful energy that was around her arms as well.
Meiling and Kyo back off for a moment then the guardian girl says "not bad. This might be interesting. I haven't had an interesting match ever since my special training."
Meiling flies up and Ail thinks this is bad for his friend, however Kyo jumps to the highest branch of a nearby tree, then nods at his friend.
Ail walks to the mansion's entrance, but Meiling shoots many colorful crystals at him, however he glares at them, then somehow they turn around.
As soon as he does this an image of Yukari appears smiling at him and fills his head, however he ignores this and enters.
Meiling dodges her reflected shots then Kyo says "so dishonorable, ignoring your opponent like that. Your devotion for your job is ADMIRABLE though!"
Kyo jumps from the branch and reaches Meiling, who blocks his punches and kicks, however the impact from one last kick sends her crashing down.
She lands on her knees, smirking back at Kyo as she gets up, and just as soon as Kyo lands she lunges forward for her next attack.
Inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion Ail realizes the mansion is a LOT bigger inside than outside.
"Interesting" he says while admiring the surroundings. "They use magic to make the mansion bigger than it really is."
Ail spots three fairies and a devil girl wearing a long black dress with white long sleeves, a pair of black bat wings on her back and a smaller pair of wings on her head, and with long red hair and red eyes.
All of them notice him as well and immediately attack, surrounding him in smoke.
Just before the smoke clears he says "my name is Anilan Inmodo Leuch, however call me Ail, please."
The smoke clears revealing a blue barrier just like the one in Satori's mansion, only smaller, surrounding him again as he continues "I am here on important business and wish to speak with the mistress of this mansion."
As he speaks, again an image of Yukari smiling, and now laughing, fills his head once more, however he just ignores it, looking rather serious at the maids and devil girl.
The barrier vanishes and from the next floor a voice says "I am sorry, but the mistress is not available at this time." It is Sakuya, the chief maid of the mansion.
As she slowly comes down the main stairs she looks at the devil girl and says "Koakuma, lady Patchouli needs you in the library."
As if something has just struck her, Koakuma shrieks then flaps her wings with force, flying away as speedily as she can while almost singing "Co~~~mi~ng!"
Sakuya gets close to Ail and asks "and why would you come here? You know what will happen if the Mistress finds you!"
Ail smiles, however his smile seems twisted for a second but then goes back to his regular polite smile, and then he says "we were asked to come here and solve an incident that has been occurring here for nearly 500 years. Any ideas what that might mean?"
Sakuya stares with confusion for a moment then composes herself quickly and says "I haven't a clue... but from the looks of it, you're not leaving until you're done, am I correct?"
Ail nods just as Kyo enters a little battered up saying "what, you still here? I thought you'd have this solved by now~~hello Miss Sakuya..."
Kyo gazes upon Sakuya and blushes, his eyes turn into pink hearts, then bonks Ail's head while asking "you're not bothering Miss Sakuya, are you!"
Ail rubs his head looking rather annoyed while saying "of course not!"
Kyo backs up saying "whoa, whoa, calm down, I was just joking. What's wrong with you?"
Ail apologizes saying "s-sorry. You just caught me by surprise is all."
Sakuya looks at Ail suspiciously and then says "look, why don't you go to the library first? Just follow the same path Koakuma took and that will lead you to the basement where the library is. I need to go have a word with the gatekeeper, so I'll trust you'll be on your best behavior."
Kyo smiles and says "well of course. We would never do anything bad, right Ail?"
Ail looks a little pale, his eyes turning dark, but hides this with a smile and says "well of course."
Once outside Sakuya finds Meiling trying to stand up, but she is in a complete daze and is unable to do so.
The chief approaches her then gently pushes her down and says "calm down Meiling. I need you to recover as fast as you can. Something's not right with that Ail and I am going to need your help..."
Ail; who has been very quiet; and Kyo reach the library and enter through the doors, immediately admiring the walls of books everywhere.
Kyo looks to Ail suspiciously and asks again "bro, are you sure you're alright? You've been acting strange ever since you read that letter."
Ail smiles and says "it's nothing to worry about."
They reach a desk at what they suspect is the center of the library.
"Hello~" calls Ail loudly, and from behind comes a woman with long purple hair and purple eyes with lots of ribbons tied to her hair and clothes.
She wears what looks like light-purple pajamas and a matching night-cap with a golden crescent moon on it.
With a soft and calm voice the woman asks "what are you doing in my library?"
Ail bows his head and says "my name is Ail, and this is Kyo, my friend. We came here looking for clues to an incident."
Staring neutrally at the two boys the woman says "well, Ail and Kyo, my name is Patchouli Knowledge, and this is my library. Please don't touch any of the books here without my permission."
Kyo scratches his head and looking surprised he says "that was blunt."
Ail quickly says "we were sent here to solve an incident that has been occurring for almost 500 years. Any ideas what this means?"
Patchouli looks at Ail saying "you should be resting, you know? Yes, I know what it means, however in your current state, you shouldn't get involved."
Kyo looks at Ail, who is starting to emanate red energy and smiling in a twisted way, then asks "Ail, bro... are you sick?"
Ail's red energy disappears then he looks normal again and asks "I'm fine. Why?"
Suddenly Ail feels massive energy coming deeper inside the basement and starts to run to it.
Patchouli and Kyo look at each other surprised, and then Patchouli opens her eyes wide and exclaims "we have to stop your friend, NOW!"
Kyo doesn't even ask and just runs to Ail, however just as he reaches his friend an invisible barrier forms, blocking all paths to him.
With great concern in her usually calm voice Patchouli says "this isn't good. Your friend is not in the best of states right now... he could get killed!"
Kyo punches the barrier with his energy while shouting "Ail! Ail, come back!"
Ail gets out of the library; his eyes turning dark as he continues down the basement, then a peculiar door catches his attention.
It has many locks on it, but there is also something banging loudly from inside and then suddenly, a cute blonde girl bursts right through the door.
She has vampiric scarlet eyes, and wears a red dress and vest with a pink shirt underneath, a pink mop hat with a red ribbon attached to it, a side ponytail under the ribbon, and her wings look as though are made black of iron bars and prism shards of different colors.
Ail returns back to normal while saying "whoa; what a strong little girl!"
The girl looks at him and giggles, then says "wow, you're new. I like you. Wanna play?"
Ail looks very surprised and says "err... I can't now... My name is Ail and I-"
The little girl interrupts him mocking him by saying "blah, blah, and blah. Look I've been locked in there for almost 500 years. You are strong, and I want to play with you. You look like you don't break; just like the witch and the red and white one."
From very far away a faint voice screams "don't call me red and WHITE~!"
Ail looks at the little girl and asks "break? What do you mean, little girl?"
The little girl pouts and says "don't call me little girl. My name is Flandre... Flandre Scarlet, and I want to play danmaku with you!" then she starts shooting very powerful blasts at Ail as soon as she finishes her sentence.
He jumps away from them, letting them explode all over the floor, then his eyes darken as he shouts "HEY, that's not PLAYING. If you just want to battle then just say so!"
Flandre looks at him funny, and says "but this is playing. It ends when you break" she finishes saying with a smile on her face.
Ail's eyes turn blood-red, and then he smiles a very twisted smile toward Flandre and says "well then... game on!"
Sakuya and Meiling hear the blasts from outside, causing Meiling to recover in seconds as Sakuya shouts "dammit, something happened sooner than hoped," and as both run inside Meiling thinks of Flandre for some reason.
In the library Kyo and Patchouli work together to bring down the last barrier blocking the door, both trying to hurry as the blasts get more intense.
Ail and Flandre battle fiercely; however to Flandre it all seems like her game is going well.
She giggles and laughs until one of Ail's red magic orbs hits her on the chest, blowing up on impact.
Flandre stops in place as the smoke from the blast sizzles from her clothes, then says "ow~, that hurt! You play rough, huh?", then she gestures her right hand as if she is grabbing something.
Suddenly, Ail feels great pain in his head and shouts "gah! What the HELL!?"
Flandre giggles, and with a wicked smile on her face and a scarlet glow in her eyes she says "now, when I close my hand you will break. It was fun playing with you, but now... wh-?"
Ail gestures his right hand as if he has just caught something in the air, then suddenly Flandre gasps, holds her chest with both hands, and then starts screaming in pain.
Ail's eyes turn black, his pupils glow blood-red pupil, his teeth become jagged, and his fingers now have very long sharp claws.
He squeezes an unseen energy on his hand, and every time he does Flandre screams louder.
In a twisted and warped tone of voice Ail shouts "I don't hear you giggling, LITTLE GIRL! What's the matter, does it hurt!? DOES IT!?"
Soon-after, Patchouli and Kyo manage to break through the barrier on the library door, and as soon as they run out, they are joined by Sakuya and Meiling, then hear Flandre's screams and move fast.
"What's going on!?" asks Sakuya, and both Kyo and Patchouli answered at the same time "Ail's gone mad!"
Flandre screams again, this time she starts to cry as well making Meiling despair and run faster than the others and arriving at the scene quickly.
Ail has Flandre begging to stop, however all he does is laugh in a warped, twisted manner and repeats "I thought you said this was FUN! WELL! IS IT!?"
Flandre cries out loud "no~! It hurts! Sakuya~, Meiling, it hurts!"
Ail, his voice sounding more ominous, says "when I close my hand, you will break. That's what you said, didn't you?"
Flandre sobs and now keeps calling "onee-chaaaan~! IT hurts~!"
Meiling is going to punch Ail, however he twists his head without moving his body, and while facing her he says "go on... I'll just clench my fist and punch you back. Oh, but wait, if I do that, the little monster dies doesn't she?"
From behind Meiling, Kyo shouts "AIL! What the hell are you doing!?"
This shocks Ail, making him turn his sights back to Flandre again to ignore his friend.
He's about to ball his hand into a fist but Kyo gets in the way, making Ail release the energy; letting Flandre go in the process.
Meiling immediately rushes to her yelling at Ail "IDIOT, look what you did to her," then embraces Flandre and softly says "I'm here little sister" then Flandre weakly hugs Meiling back, letting the gate guard know she is alive.
Sakuya says "Meiling, take her to the mistress' room on the double! I'll teach this monster a lesson."
Meiling rushes back to the first floor with Flandre in her hands, then Sakuya takes many daggers into her hand and turns to Ail, however Patchouli holds her shoulder, shaking her head lightly, then Sakuya realizes both Kyo and Ail are fighting each other.
Ail's eyes look emptily toward Kyo, who fights with all his might to subdue his friend while shouting "c'mon Ail, wake up, what the hell is wrong with you!"
Even after Kyo lands a punch on Ail's face, his blank stare remains, then suddenly he lunges at Kyo, who grabs hold of both his arms.
The muscled boy keeps yelling at his long-time friend, trying to make him snap out of it, but Ail continues to stare blankly, then suddenly, as if using his last breath, Ail says "K-Kyo... H-help... me."
Suddenly a blue portal opens behind Ail and sucks him inside.
Kyo tries to hold on to Ail, however he slips and lets him go.
Kyo almost enters the portal behind Ail, however it closes too fast for him.
Inside the blue void, Ail can only see the image of Yukari, laughing softly with her fan covering her mouth and looking straight at him as he floats away inside the portal.
Back at the mansion's basement, Kyo bangs his fists hard on the floor, screaming Ail's name and shouting angrily.
After he calms down, Sakuya places her hand on his shoulder and asks him to follow her, however when all three turn around, there is Yukari, covering her mouth with that fan, hiding a very sad look on her face.
Sakuya grasps Kyo's shoulder the second she feels he is going to charge at Yukari, and then they all look toward Yukari, hoping for answers.
Inside the portal Ail floats on, aimlessly; his eyes blank as he stares nowhere, however his mind spins with countless thoughts.
What Yuyuko had told him, what Satori and he spoke of when he went underground, what had happened when Remilia tried to kill him, how he almost destroyed Flandre just now, and how he felt hatred toward his friend, even if it was for just a second.
Subconsciously, he closes his eyes and suddenly feels ground underneath him.
After what feels like hours to him, he opens his eyes and sees three peculiar silhouettes, one looking like a giant frog, another like a young girl, and the other like a shapely woman.
"Shh, shh, he's waking up. Suwako, get out of the way." says the woman.
"Sorry" says a childlike voice, and then the frog-like silhouette backs away.
"Sanae, how's it coming?" asks the woman's voice.
"Almost. Just a little bit more" replies the young girl.
The woman then says "young man, you better sleep some more," and then Ail feels very sleepy and everything goes dark once again.
Again it feels as though hours have passed, and then, finally, Ail fully wakes up.
He is inside a small room inside a shrine, but it isn't Hakurei Shrine, nor Hakugyokurou.
"Where am I?" softly asks the boy as he rubs his eyes, then a young woman comes in saying "you are at the Moriya Shrine on top of the Youkai Mountain. You've been unconscious for over a month now."
Ail's eyes open widely, and then he asks "a month?"
Ail looks up at the girl; she looks like a shrine maiden.
She wears a blue and white outfit with detached sleeves, and light-blue polka-dots and stripes covering the blue areas and her long blue skirt.
She has dark green eyes and long green hair adorned with a snake shaped hair clip and a frog's head clip.
The girl smiles angelically at Ail and says "you must be Ail, correct? I am Sanae Kochiya, wind priestess."
Ail lightly bows then asks "what happened to me? I remember... doing something terrible, then everything went black after that."
Behind Sanae a tall woman enters carrying a jar with something red glowing inside.
She wears a red shirt with long white sleeves and a mirror on the chest, has a long black skirt with a red flower print on it that is held by a rope belt, and has puffy intense blue hair and dark red eyes.
Sanae says "this is Miss Kanako Yasaka, and what she's holding is a little spirit that was trying to control you."
Kanako looks at Ail who lowers his sight, and sounding casual she says "you were lucky, young one. If the Hakurei Maiden had found you, you'd still be in the hospital breathing through tubes. She is still furious though. I would suggest hiding."
Outside the shrine the trees have turned orange and leaves are falling in great numbers. It is now autumn and the days are growing quite cold, and Ail stands just outside the shrine's porch while speaking to Sanae and Kanako.
Ail asks "How can I ever repay you for all you have done?"
Kanako, who is a bit drunk, places her hand on Ail's shoulder and says "now don't you worry about that. We took some of your money and bought many drinks... to drink for your QUICK -hic- recovery."
Sanae looks appalled saying "Lady Kanako!" however Kanako just flaps her hand in the air at Sanae and says "now, now, Sanae. The drinks worked, he's fine now, see?"
Ail laughs when Sanae scolds Kanako again, then a small blond girl comes by and asks "what's going on... oh, the boy woke up!"
She wears a small purple dress with frog prints on it and large white sleeves stitched on to the torso.
She has green eyes and wears on her head a light-brown wide-brimmed hat with two frog-like eyes on the top and wears high white stockings and black shoes.
"Lady Suwako" exclaims Sanae. "Welcome home."
Ail looks at Suwako, and to his eyes she looks like a small child, however he can feel there is more to her.
Sanae continues "Ail, this is Suwako Moriya."
Ail opens his eyes wide, and immediately bows down and says "forgive me; I didn't know you were the goddess of this shrine!"
Suwako giggles and says "so polite... however there are three gods here," and then she points at Kanako, who is now sitting on the floor and waving at Ail, more drunk than before, then at Sanae, who smiles and waves.
He bows to her and Kanako wraps her arm around his neck before he straightens up, saying "come and join me in a drink."
Ail sweats and says "Err... n-no sorry, I'm weak to drinks. Please forgive me."
Kanako releases Ail and looks disappointed as she says "eh? You too? Look Sanae, just like you... you two need to drink more... Here's to that!" and she drinks another full extra-large cup of sake.
Ail and Sanae look at each other, then they blush and turn away.
Suwako notices this and calls Ail to her, then she jumps as soon as he's in range, wraps her arm around his neck and lowers him to her height, then smiles and whispers "if you want to earn the rights to date my Sanae, you better start behaving, alright?" She then lets him go.
Ail's eyes do not lie. He is completely surprised about what Suwako had just said, and then Suwako looks at him a little annoyed and says "hey, I'm a goddess, not a kid!"
Ail, still looking at her, starts to laugh hard and apologizes, however the laughter is ended abruptly by a witch in black and white, who threateningly says "and so, here is where you have been hiding all this time, ze? You know, we've been looking for you ever since that little mess at the mansion."
Ail looks up and right above him he spots Marisa smiling and saying "daze!" then she continues "I don't know what happened exactly, but I do know you made the little sister Flan cry... and I'm here to collect some payback, ze!"
Ail knows that smile. Marisa is aiming for a battle; a real battle.
Suwako and Sanae are going to say something; however Ail raises his hand and says "it's time I paid for the damage I have caused... even if it wasn't fully my fault."
Ail smiles back at Marisa and says "besides, I've been dying to see her Master Spark, first-hand."
To be continued...
Characters, scenario and theme songs belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Kyo were created by Willie G.R.
JUN 19 2009
written by
Willie G.R
-EDITED on MAR 23 2010 and MAY 29 2013 by Willie G.R.-