Step Into Gensokyo

by Dragon Seraphim

An otaku on break from college finds his world turned upside down by the entry of a certain Border Youkai. Relunctantly, he accepts an deal to do a "trial run" of the world he once considered fiction. However, actions speak louder than words, and before long, his interactions with Gensokyo's denizens set off a ripple effect...but where will his journey lead him?

10. A Game Of Gods

Author's Note: Thank you again to everyone who has stuck with me to this point. I'm especially
grateful that you're all so patient with me and these updates. Now than, let's kick this incident into
high gear, shall we? XD

---

Chapter 10: A Game Of Gods

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Its light spreading across the land and waking the creatures of the day
from their slumber. Humans and Youkai would go about doing what they normally did. Humans working and toiling, looking
after their loved ones, and just trying to make it one more day. Youkai would go about either trying to scare or eat humans, or
some mix of the two, as was their job supposedly.

...That is, if today was actually going to be just a day like any other.

As the light finally reached the peak of Youkai Mountain, a certain blond-haired girl stood on an outcrop, overlooking the scenery
before her. Parsee, arms folded, let her eyes open as she looked out over the land, "Today is the day, it seems...I'm so jealous that
the sun gets to shine so bright..." She suddenly peered over her shoulder and sighed, "I know you're there, Suwako. Get out here
already before I drag you out."

"Aww, you and Nitori are no fun, you know that?" Suwako remarked as she poofed up from her hiding place in the ground, snickering
and looking quite amused, "You know, you need to learn to relax more. Getting all tense and moody with everyone is only going to get
you into trouble, you know that. I mean, I heard you got pretty mouthy at Yukari-san last night."

The youkai of envy rose an eyebrow, surprised, "And how exactly do you know about that?"

Suwako winked playfully at her, "I have my ways. Anyhow, that's not the important thing right now, is it?" She came over beside
the girl, now looking a bit more serious, "...Are you sure this is what you want, Parsee? You go through with this...you might end up
making some powerful enemies, and I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect you-"

"I don't recall ever saying I needed your protection," Parsee snapped while turning away with a huff, "I only need you to do your
job. Just play your role and stay out of my way," She pulled out the Amplification Comb and inspected it carefully before
frowning, "...As long I get my wish fulfilled, I don't care what happens."

"Parsee..." The earth goddess quietly muttered as her companion's words sunk in. Finally, she put a hand on her shoulder, "You really do
plan to stake everything on this, don't you?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice," The blonde-haired youkai grunted though there was barely any disdain behind it, "It's either this,
or be stuck for the rest of my life as the guard of some stupid bridge.." She sighed and pocketed the comb, "I am not going to be forgotten,
and if I have to make everyone in this world hate me to accomplish that...so be it."

Suwako took a little while to ponder what to say. The youkai seemed so...resigned to her role, which was honestly quite sad. For a moment,
the Moriya goddess debated just dropping this whole thing...but then remembered she couldn't. No matter how much it hurt, it would all work
out in the long run. Hopefully, at least. She sighed and removed her hand, "I see...in that case, there's no point in arguing further."

Parsee's skepticism went up another notch, "Really? I always figured goddesses could get people to do whatever they wanted for them
if they nagged enough."

Instead of getting annoyed, the Moriya goddess giggled while covering her mouth, "Perhaps once upon a time, but times have changed,
and when they do, even gods need to adapt. Besides, it's obvious to me you're going through with this regardless of what I or anyone else
say..." She did look off to the side though and remark in a more solemn voice, "I only hope you don't bite off more than you can chew..."

The youkai of envy frowned and looked down at the ground for a moment, as if contemplating what to say. Was she really making the
right decision here? Maybe. Maybe not. After all, it's impossible to always tell whether every decision you make is the right one or not.
Finally, she just turned away, "I know what I'm doing, Suwako..." With that, she was engulfed by green mist and was gone.

Suwako only shook her head, "For your own sake, I hope you do..." She then waved her hand and a sinkhole formed up beneath
her. She dropped down and it closed up above her, leaving the area empty once more...

Except for one figure who'd been listening from a distance, protected from being seen by some shade, "Looks like it's starting...guess
I can't stand on the sidelines anymore.." Flapping could be heard and several black feathers were left behind.

Today was certain to be a busy one indeed...what a headache.

---

Well, this was it. The day had finally come. Regardless of what could happen today, the girls and I were going to solve this incident
once and for all. Who knows? If we were lucky, we would settle this before it could even get off the ground. One can hope, right? Of
course, there was the matter of what came after...it was obvious to anyone with two functioning brain cells that this was no ordinary
incident, and that Yukari AND Suwako had bigger roles to play then initially thought.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they'll talk...especially if a certain shrine maiden threatened to shove a Fantasy Seal down their throats. I
mean, just what was their endgame? Was there even one at all? I didn't buy for a moment that the ONLY reason I got brought here
was just to help stop a potential war...ok, that was part of it but if I knew anything about those two, there was always something
"more" going on. I only hoped once we reached the end of this, everything would become clear...

And after that?...Well, I would deal with things as they came. No point in worrying too much about stuff that haven't happened yet, right?

All these thoughts and more swirled around in my head as I stood outside the Visionary Requiem's headquarters, leaning against a
column with my arms folded and waiting for a certain Red Bomber to show up. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Cirno and I had
slept surprisingly well and we were ready to face the day with renewed strength and determination.

"So Cirno, you think we can do this?" I asked my fairy friend, hoping to strike up a conversation while we waited.

Cirno laughed and put her hands on the sides of her waist, "What are you talking about? Of course we can! You're talking to the Strongest after all!
With me here, our chances of losing are virtually zero!" She rose a single finger and winked, "Absolute Zero, I should say." Ok, that was pretty
funny. I chuckled at that one.

Suddenly, one of the building guards, a red-haired girl dressed in a white shirt and skirt piped up, "Hey Mister!" I glanced over in her
direction as she gestured to the HQ, "Why ain't you waiting inside? It's really hot out here."

I shook my head, "I appreciate the offer, but I'm just waiting on a few friends. We kinda got some business to take care of today." Yeah, calling
it "business" would be a vast understatement. It was nothing less than a potential WAR. No biggie at all.

"Waiting on Boss Barean, ain't ya?" The guard chuckled, "She might be late, y'know. Best enjoy the cool air inside than stand out here and
sweat with the rest of us."

"Well..." I glanced over to see Cirno wiping the sweat from her brow. I could feel my own forehead getting rather wet too, "I suppose five
minutes in the cool air wouldn't hurt..." Me and my fairy friend nodded to each other and headed inside..only to return not a minute later
with a couple of trays carrying cold water, "There you go. Don't need you guys collapsing from the heat too."

I set the tray aside and looked up, only to see all the guards around me wearing shocked expressions. "What, you guys never seen glasses
of cold water before?" Cirno quipped while folding her arms.

The head guard, the one wearing a helmet, spoke up, addressing me in a rather stern manner, "We appreciate the offer, but we must decline."

"Why? Is it against the rules or something?" I asked, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

"Very," The red-haired girl chuckled only to be silenced by a look from the head guard. As a result, she turned back around and resumed her post.

The guy in charge sighed before turning back to me, "Please, just stand inside and wait for Miss Alyss. She'll inform us if something bad
delayed her." With his words given, he turned and resumed his own post.

I sighed and turned to head back inside, glancing back long enough to see Cirno throw a final glare in the guard's direction which he
ignored but the girl giggled behind her superior's back.

Just as we stepped inside, guess who should show up, running to meet us? "James! Cirno! Sorry I'm late!" Alyss ran up to us, wearing her
usual red witch outfit, panting like she had just run a marathon. Cirno fetched her one of the glasses of water and she took it graciously, downing
the whole thing in a matter of seconds, "Phew...thank you, Cirno."

"So...bad traffic?" I asked half-jokingly and half-serious.

"Like you wouldn't believe..." Alyss took in several deep breaths to try and steady herself, "Do you have...ANY idea how crowded Japan's subways
and trains can be?! I mean, would it kill them to make the cars just a LITTLE bit bigger? I swear, I felt like I would suffocate at several points...It
really doesn't help I need to get off at Tokyo Station..."

Me and Cirno exchanged worried looks before facing the bomber girl, "Are you alright, Miss Alyss?" Cirno asked.

Alyss gave a dismissive wave, "I'm fine...it's just typical Metropolitan Tokyo mornings..."

"Umm..." I scratched the back of my neck nervously, "So, your guard buddies out there...they certainly seem like they're fun to
have at parties..."

In between her sighing and panting, Alyss got out a few chuckles, "Ah, don't mind them. Akiakane, the head guard, she's just got standards
to uphold..." She shook her head, "She doesn't mean to be unpleasant or anything. She's just...really strict, and who could blame her when
you're guarding a protection organization HQ?"

"For some reason, they act like they've never seen glasses of water before." Cirno remarked, folding her arms and puffing out her cheeks,
annoyed."

The witch girl put up her hands defensively, "No, no, they have. It's just protocol. She probably thinks if they accepted drink offers that
they would start getting lazy. Don't worry, I'm positive they make sure to properly hydrate themselves before their shifts."

Deciding it was best to focus on more important things right now, I opted to shift the topic, "Well, let's get down to business...today's the
day, right?" I looked to Cirno who nodded, her wings fluttering excitedly.

Alyss beat her hand against her chest proudly, "I got everything I need!" She then proceeded to start counting off on her fingers, "C4's, check...RPG's
check...H.A.N.D definitely check...oh, and of course Spell Cards..." She added that last part as more of an after-thought, it seemed.

"H.A.N.D.?" Me and Cirno asked simultaneously.

The leader of VR giggled mischeviously which immediately put me on edge, "Let's keep that a surprise, shall we?"

All of a sudden, a new voice cut in, "Yo! Anybody home!" We spun around in time to see Marisa leaning against the door frame, broom perched
up beside her, munching on a cookie, and tossing her mini-Hakkero up and down. Even on the verge of what was sure to be something that
required absolute seriousness...Marisa was still Marisa.

Alyss rose an amused eyebrow, "Ohohoho, you dodged a bullet coming when you did. You remember what happened the last time you broke in?"

"Nope. Don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about ze." Marisa retorted, smirking and turning her head. You are almost as bad at
lying as I am, Marisa.

The red witch seemed to share my sentiments, "After you broke our windows and almost traumatized our librarians? You're so callous, Marisa,"
Despite her words, Alyss smirked in return.

Marisa gave a dismissive wave of her own, "Eh, you know you love having me around. Besides, not my fault your libraries are full of so many
interesting books to borrow," She grabbed her broom and strode on over to us, "And I think I did you guys a favor, livening up your day the
way I did."

Alyss only snickered, "Oh yes! In fact, we got so excited, I shot you in the face and then Aria launched you out of the Holy Crap Inducing
Roof Buster! You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Despite her words, it was obvious it made the girls happy. I won't lie, that was a funny scene too.

Before I could offer my two cents, another someone decided to jump in, "Yes, yes. I'm sure it was good times for all involved," Reimu herself
walked in, sighing while adjusting her head bow, "Now, can we please get serious for five minutes? The sooner we resolve this incident, the
sooner I can go back to doing more important things."

"Like waiting for someone to donate to your donation box?" I quipped. At the glare she threw at me, I put up my hands, "Ok, ok. Serious time, got it."

"Everyone's walking in all of a sudden..." Alyss shook her head before refocusing on the shrine maiden, "Alright, so what's the plan, Reimu?"

Reimu nodded and folded her arms, "I've come up with two plans...or more like I came up with one, and Marisa came up with the other. The
first involves us splitting up into two teams. One can disable the transmitters in the Underworld. The other will infiltrate the Kappa Valley and
get back James' weird techno thing."

"Laptop," Alyss stated flatly.

"Laptop. Weird fancy techno thing. Makes no difference to me." Reimu remarked with a shrug.

"The other plan is we all go directly to the Moriya Shrine and kick the butts of a few gods with as much firepower as we can muster ze" Marisa
proclaimed with a little too much glee, grinning from ear to ear. At hearing this, the shrine maiden facepalmed.

"I vote in favor of the plan that requires us actually being smart and tactful," Alyss, again, stated rather flatly.

"I second that motion." I added.

"I believe Reimu-san's plan will yield better results myself," Reisen added as she too walked in.

"I think so too. We gotta save our strength for the big boss after all," Cirno threw in her two cents as well.

"Sorry, Marisa. Looks like you're beaten four to one," Reimu remarked with a shrug while smirking victoriously at her best friend.

"Meh, as long I get to blow something up, I don't really care too much," Marisa shook her head, though still appeared a bit miffed at her
plan not being accepted. Tough luck, magician girl.

"I also immediately vote myself for joining the team that...ahem...disables the transmitters.." The way Alyss smiled as she said that
showed she was going to have some real fun with this part of the mission, "I didn't pack C-4's for nothing, you know.."

"I will go too. I am after all one of the only people here who can detect where the transmitters are located," Reisen added, ears twitching
in anticipation.

"And I.." I took a deep breath, "I volunteer for the Kappa Valley mission." Automatically, I noticed the two veteran Incident Resolvers
wincing at my declaration.

"Hey, it's your laptop, after all," Alyss laughed at first but then got rather serious-looking, and asked, "You sure you're gonna be fine?
Kappa may not be the fastest or the strongest kind of Youkai, but their technological know-how still means they're no slouches."

It was now my turn to shrug, "Hey, gotta take responsibility for my actions, correct?"

"Well, I more meant do you think you'll need anything extra?" She winked at me, looking like she wanted to give any help she could.

I took a moment to ponder her offer...before dropping my travel bag to the ground and opening it, "Think you can spare a few explosives?"
Hey, doesn't hurt to be prepared, right?

Alyss grinned and whipped off her hat, "Thought you'd never ask.." She took out a few C4s with detonators along with a number of
grenades, "Please don't use your teeth to pull the pin. We're not in the movies, after all,"

I smiled at her as I stored the explosives away, "I'm pretty sure I would break my teeth if I tried that," I'd accomplished and been involved
in some pretty crazy stuff over this past week...but there were some things you just did not even attempt, no matter how easy or cool it looked
on television.

"Wait," I stopped and turned at feeling a hand on my shoulder, seeing Reimu looking at me in a worried manner, "James...you certain you
wanna go through with this? From here on out...I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect you. You're gonna have to watch your own back from
this point. I'm not trying to discourage you...I just want you to know the risks you're taking."

Seeing just how serious Reimu was looking made me pause for a moment. For a moment, I actually considered sticking behind with
Suika and letting the folks who knew what they were doing settle this matter. I didn't want to play into the Sage's games anymore than
I'd already had...and I didn't want to suffer a similar fate to those other Gappies...you all know the ones.

But..I couldn't explain it rationally but...somehow, I got the feeling I couldn't just stand by and do nothing either. Regardless of what
happened, I needed to see this through to the end with my own eyes, "..I appreciate the sentiment, Reimu...but we started this little
trip together, it's only fair we end it together, right?"

"Huh, sounds like you've made up your mind," Marisa smiled and adjusted her hat, "You certain you don't mind playing along with whatever
game the gap hag has going on?"

I shook my head, "I'm not playing anyone's game...I can't explain it but I feel if I don't go, I'll regret it for the rest of my life...and I don't
just Need to go...I Want to go too. It's a bit hard to wrap your head around, I know."

"That's how faith works, actually," Alyss chimed in, smiling, "You can't explain it away using science or reason, but you know it's there.
Driving you forward on the road to wherever your dreams will lead you. It's one of the things that keeps us going even when all else is
lost..." She gave me a playful punch in the arm, "Besides, our friend here survived Mokou, Suika, and whatever other horrors I wasn't told
about. He'll be fine."

"Especially since he'll be going with me," Tenshi marched in, looking as proud as ever, sharpening her sword on a small keystone, "Figured
you could use a little more firepower on your side..." Huh. Well, with Cirno, Tenshi, and myself together, we might actually be able to pull
this off.

"Yeah, this will be loads of fun..." Reimu sighed in resignation before looking my way, "Alright, I hope you know what you're doing though..."

I adjusted my fedora and tightened my gloves, "To be honest with you...I hope I do too..." I scooped up my knap sack and turned to
Tenshi, "So, ready to go?"

"Yep. I been itching for a good fight for a while now so sticking it to those Kappa is like killing two birds with one stone," Tenshi sheathed her
sword and produced a pile of peaches from her pockets, "But first, a bit of luck. Everybody, take one." We each took one of the heavenly peaches
for ourselves and digged in. Sweet, juicy, succulent, almost melted in your mouth levels of delicious. For some reason, I could feel a surge of...something
going through me.

"Alright than.." I rolled my sleeves, "Time to fly!" I ran forward and leaped into the air while singing, ""I believe I can fly!"

...Only to end up faceplanting into the ground,"...I totally meant to do that." I could hear the girls snickering all around me,"...Really, I did."

"Yeah, yeah, sure you did," Tenshi snickered as I could feel her grabbing my arm and hoisting me to my feet, while smirking, "Come on. I'll
give you a lift." She snapped her fingers and a pair of keystones floated in before us. I blinked in surprise at seeing Tenshi actually
being nice, "No need to thank me. I'm already aware that I'm pretty great."

Both Reimu and Marisa groaned loudly and rolled their eyes while I chuckled, "Yeah, though I think I recall you being defeated by
a certain shinigami, right?"

The celestial actually recoiled in shock, "H-How did you-I mean..." She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself, "I don't have the
first clue what you're talking about...anyways, let's get a move on, we're burning daylight."

I did a small bow while grinning, "As you wish, my lady." I climbed onto the keystone as Cirno floated up beside me. I looked over to
the girls who each nodded in turn. We each had our roles and knew what needed to be done, "Well...guess this is where we part ways.."
It was an odd feeling just saying that aloud. I mean, in the course of a week, I got the feeling we had grown rather close to one another.

As cheesy as this sounded, these guys weren't just friends to me now...they were like an extended family, in a way.

"For now," Marisa acknowledged while climbing onto her broom and hovering next to me, "Listen...no matter what happens...you all make
sure to come back, got it?" She stroked her chin before smirking deviously, "Oh, and to give you a little incentive..." She grabbed me by my
collar and planted a kiss on my cheek before backing off, giggling, "There. Now you gotta make sure you come back ze!"

I stood there, totally flabbergasted, opening and closing my mouth repeatedly as it sunk in what had just happened...Marisa Kirisame...one of
my all-time favorite Touhou characters...had just kissed me! Like...oh my gosh, my brain was having trouble computing this! "M-Marisa...you..eh...hehehe.."

"Yo, anybody home in there?" Reimu tapped my noggin several times with her gohei but I barely felt a thing,"...Huh..."

"I think you succeeded in breaking him, Marisa," Alyss commented while covering her mouth to possibly keep herself from bursting
out laughing.

"No fair! Let me kiss him too!" Cirno tackled me from the side and I could feel her kissing me on the other cheek. Oh my gosh, Cirno,another of my
favorite characters just kissed me...I...I... I proceeded to become so giddy I ended up falling off the keystone, "Uh oh...was my kiss really that strong?"

"I think it's more like he's just not use to being kissed by a girl," Marisa remarked with a grin as she helped me up, now getting a bit more
serious, "But yeah...make sure you come back, got it? We're going to have a party afterwards, and it won't feel the same if even one of you guys
aren't there.." Her gaze went from me over to Cirno and even Tenshi, getting her point across.

I took a deep breath to compose myself, "Right..." Yeah, if the fanboys weren't gonna tear me limb from limb before..."Thanks again, you guys...for
everything...and...sorry if I was a bother at times..." I bowed in apology.

"Eh, don't worry about it," Reimu waved it off, "In all honesty, compared to some other freeloaders I know of...you could've been a lot worse.." A
look of curiosity came over her face suddenly, "Listen, I know from experience that Nitori is no pushover so...you want some of our Spell Cards as
extra insurance?" For a moment, all went dead silent, causing her to frown, "...What?"

"You of all people willing to part with your Spell Cards?" Marisa did her best not to burst out laughing, "Ok, I need to ask, are you really Reimu? Or her
twin from a parallel dimension?"

"Shut up!" Reimu whacked her friend over the head with her gohei, "They're MY Spell Cards and I'll decide what I want to do with them! So butt out!"
Geez, with all the times the shrine maiden whacks Marisa, the latter must have had a skull made of steel or something.

"Umm...actually, that's not a bad idea," I held out my Capture Card as those present laid their hands on the card, eyes closed as they focused
their powers. All of a sudden, another hand joined us, "Suika?"

She opened an eye and smiled at me, "Don't worry, I'm not here to stop ya. I just want to make sure my drinking buddy comes back in one
piece is all." With a nod, the card flared with power as the design on the front split into four smaller pictures, each depicting one of the girl's
abilities. When I saw what I got, I blinked,"...Whoa...you guys aren't pulling any punches..."

"Well, of course, what did you expect?" Reimu folded her arms and hovered into the air, "Well...be seeing you soon, I guess?"

"Yep!" Tenshi hopped up on her own keystone, "Shall we get a move on, Mr Hero?" She winked in my direction, causing me to blush.

"Yeah, yeah" I climbed onto the keystone as we each lifted up into the air, "You guys stay safe, you here?"

"You got it," Alyss adjusted her hat, "Once we take out the transmitters, we'll come join you, so if the going gets tough, just...hang in there, alright?"
She handed me a slip of paper, "My number. Use it if you feel you need me."

I nodded in thanks and typed in my own number on hers in return.

"Wait, one more thing," I looked over to Marisa as she fixed me with a stare, "James...if you end up having to face Nitori...promise me you won't
be too hard on her, ok?" She scratched the back of her head, "I know that sounds odd coming from someone like me who loves blasting stuff..and
I know she's pulled some stupid stunts in the past...but..."

"But you still believe she's not a bad person?" I asked her.

"I KNOW she's not a bad person, James," She exclaimed before turning away, "It's just...she gets very full of herself at times, and if she sees a
way to make a profit, she's not going to think twice of the consequences...but she's young, she'll learn," Marisa turned back to me, "All I'm gonna
say is...do what you gotta do...but at least get the full story before you start making judgement calls, alright? The moment you don't do that..you
risk becoming as bad as the people you're trying to stop."

I listened to her words as they registered in my brain. Marisa was not normally this serious about anything, to my knowledge, and by the looks
on the girls faces, even they were caught off-guard. Judgement calls were never a good thing, no matter who you were or what your position
was, and everybody was guilty of the act at some point or another...especially yours truly.

I looked her in the eye and nodded, "I understand...and I promise I will do what I can."

With one final agreement, we each turned and headed off. I glanced back one last time to see the girls waving as the sight of the shrine got
smaller and smaller...and before long, it disappeared altogether...

I wondered if I would ever see them again...

---

"There they go..." Alyss sighed as she watched the other team vanish from sight. She really hoped the lad knew what he was doing and wouldn't
get into too much trouble...but considering the target was Nitori of all people, there were no guarantees trouble would be avoided. Regardless, there
was a mission that needed doing and she had to play her role.

She looked around at those remaining and laughed, "So I get to hang out with the A-Team, huh? Awesome! Where are the transmitters again?" At this,
she glanced over to Reisen.

The moon rabbit's ears twitched, "In the Underworld. We best move quickly. I don't know how much longer we have until they're fully operational.."

Not wishing to waste anymore time, the group took flight, heading for the hole that led deep underground, "So, I take it you're the only one who can
find them?" Alyss quizzed as they flew along. She didn't doubt Reisen's abilities for a second, but it never hurt to be sure.

"Well..yes, actually.." Reisen stuttered out, poking her fingers together nervously, as shy as ever, "D-Don't worry...I won't get in your way...at least,
I hope I don't..." There was those self-esteem issues of hers cropping up again. The Red Bomber knew one of these days she'd have to sit the girl
down and have a long talk with her.

"Don't worry about that," Alyss smiled in a comforting manner, "Just tell me what I need to do, and how. I gotta know how much demolition
we're allowed to actually cause."

Reimu let out a long sigh, "I swear, if I didn't know any better, I would say you and Marisa were twins or something with the way you both
love blowing stuff up."

"You mean you didn't notice that already?" Alyss remarked in return while also laughing a little louder.

Before long, the group arrived in the Underworld once more and touched down on the flat earth. Marisa's gaze wandered over the area and
onward to the horizon before stroking her chin, "Huh, everything seems pretty normal down here.."

"As normal as the Underworld can be.." Alyss commented, more to herself than anyone else.

Reisen's ears twitched before seemingly moving on their own, almost as if they were acting like a compass, "This way..." She led the
group onward.

"So, what's been happening with you lately, Alyss?" Marisa quizzed as they headed along, hoping to strike up a conversation to tie her
over until the next interesting event happened.

"Huh?" Alyss looked over at her fellow incident resolver with a raised eyebrow, "Do you mean that in the "you look weird" sense, or the
"how have you been?" small talk sense?"

"Both." Marisa shrugged.

"Oh," Alyss shrugged back as they kept moving along, "Busy as usual. Back home, I'm still just an overworked student. And in EE- um, that's
the other dimensions by the way...everything's just completely crazy and whacko," She shook her head, "Not much has happened here besides
this incident," She rose her head as something came back to her,"Well, I WAS in the middle of helping to relocate some Youkai, but Yukari
took over for me."

Needless to say, this caught Reimu's attention pretty quickly, "That's unusually generous of her..."

"She really wanted me to see the new guy in action," Alyss rolled her eyes, it seemed she too never could completely understand how that Sage worked,
which like many people, frustrated her to no end, "Though than again, this time it was just some docile Kijimuna and Akateko. Hey Marisa,
bet you would love some of those as pets, right?" She laughed.

Marisa giggled and adjusted her hat, "You know me too well...so, what brings you back here?"

The Red Bomber was silent for a few seconds, "..I don't know. Just kinda...felt like checking up on what was going on," She sighed, "It's
really funny that other places seem so hectic Gensokyo at its craziest still looks peaceful in comparison..."

Reimu and Marisa could only nod in agreement, knowing from first-hand experience that some of the places Alyss visited made Gensokyo,
at its worst, look like Candy Land in comparison. Alyss, however, tried to smile again and looked to Reimu, "So, you miss your cute and
adorable student, Seth?"

Reimu recoiled in disbelief before looking away, "O-Of course not! He's a grown man, anyhow. He can look after himself.." Despite her tone
of voice, there was not much sincerity behind them.

"Sounds like a certain someone's not being honest about their feelings again," Marisa remarked in a sing-song tone of voice, causing
her friend to fume even more.

Alyss giggled in return,"Don't worry. You still have the Three Fairies to do your bidding, right?" It was always fun to mess around with
the girls like this. Really felt like she could just kick back and be herself at times like this.

"S-S-Shut up, both of you!" She swung her gohei at them, causing the two to split off and dance around her, laughing.

"Hey, I'm still the one with the fan boy, you know?" Marisa teased as she grinned evilly causing her friend to facepalm.

This caught the Red Bomber's attention, "You actually have a fan? As in..." When it sunk in for her, her eyes widened to the
size of dinner plates at knowing who she was referring to, "Oh dear..." It was her turn to facepalm, "Let me guess...autographs and
everything?"

"Autographs, spazzing out, the whole nine yards," Marisa remarked while twirling her broom, remembering with some fondness
of their first encounter at Kourindou.

"Why am I not surprised?" Alyss rolled her eyes, "I still wonder how the series got so popular outside of Japan.."

"My guess is it has to do with those fancy weird techno things both James and Yukari love ranting about," Reimu commented in
a matter of fact tone of voice.

Alyss wagged her finger, "Games. Reimu. They're called games," She then gasped and went all dramatic, "Oh no! If James doesn't get
his computer back from Nitori, that means no more Touhou Project games for him! No more making Marisa move around, blasting fairies
and bosses with Danmaku!"

"That would be a disaster far worser than any incident!" Marisa covered her mouth to muffle whatever laughter slipped out.

Suddenly, the Red Bomber stopped them as something occurred to her, "Wait a minute, hang on.." She turned to the girls, "I was gonna
say I prefer playing the fighting games, and Nitori's one of the best to play as..." She poked her fingers together, "But she has like...a flying
backpack, rockets, a giant...boxing glove of all things...water guns, and who knows what else?"

"...Is James going to be fine facing her?"

At hearing those words, the group slowed down as it only now dawned on them just what kind of mess they had allowed the new guy to
get himself into. Cirno as well, but as a fairy, she was immortal...the human? Not so much.

Alyss herself was silent and worried for several seconds...but once she saw everyone else was the same, she immediately threw her right
arm back casually, "Ah, he has Cirno, Tenshi, a bag of explosives with him. He should be fine." Hopefully, she said to herself.

"Yeah, but this is still Nitori we're talking about here," The Ordinary Magician commented.

The Red Bomber only shrugged, "Well, Kappas are Kappas. Either way, there's no point in worrying about the doofus. He has a job and
we entrusted him with it." Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Reimu giving her a critical gaze, as if she were questioning whether
Alyss was just putting on a tough front. The girl called ahead, "Hey Reisen, how close are we to the transmitter?"

The moon rabbit snapped out of her daze at being called and turned, "Oh, right, hang on..." She began pacing around a particular spot
on the ground, her ears twitching, "Strange...the transmitter should be right here..."

At hearing those words, Alyss automatically tensed up, "Don't tell me we walked into a trap..."

Reimu and Marisa followed suit, weapons at the ready as they stood back to back, scanning the area around them, "Anybody see or
detect anything?" The former quizzed, gohei and amulets at the ready to blast whatever jumped out at them.

"Nothing on my end. You don't think someone figured out we were coming and decided to move the transmitters, do you?" Marisa
commented as she stood poised and ready.

"How do you move a flipping transmitter?!" Alyss all but yelled, "Isn't that the kind of thing that normally requires at least two
people to move?" It was obvious the poor girl was now getting just a little miffed at this whole situation.

"I'm pretty sure any of the Youkai down here could've moved them with little effort," Reimu admitted before sighing, "Although
that brings up even more questions. By the Hakurei God can I just blow up the source of all this and call it a day already..."

Reisen scanned the area one more time...before stopping and pointing, "There!" When everyone looked, they saw nothing...until
Reisen fired a single Danmaku bullet and it pinged off something in the air, "Someone tried to cloak it so we couldn't see it..."

"Hey, you actually did it, bunny girl!" Marisa patted the pink-haired girl causing her to blush before pulling out her Hakkero and
taking aim, "Alright, now let's get to work blowing stuff up ze!"

Feeling a disturbance, Reimu suddenly called out, "Get down!" The group all dove every which way as blades of wind descended
from above, slicing through the landscape and leaving deep trenches, along with splitting boulders in half like a hot knife through
butter. A testament to the power that the user must have at their disposal.

"Ok..would someone mind telling me what the heck was that?!" Alyss exclaimed on her end, taking a quick scan to make sure no
one was hurt in any way.

Reimu, the de facto leader, glared over at what looked like empty space, "We know you're there. Why don't you save us all some
trouble and get out here already? Hiding only makes you look more suspicious..." Suddenly, the last proclamation anyone expected
to hear came forth.

"Ayayayaya! Nothing gets past your keen senses, Reimu Hakurei," A tornado formed in the air before them and out from it burst the
last person anyone expected...a certain tengu reporter, who looked uncharacteristically serious this time.

"A-A-Aya?!" Marisa stammered out in disbelief.

"...Why are you here?" Alyss asked with barely hidden annoyance, now looking at the tengu with a face that spoke trouble if she
didn't get some answers and soon.

"You tried to bend the air around the transmitters so as to conceal their presence..." Reimu realized, still pointing her weapon and
ready for a fight, "Didn't you?"

"Very good deduction, Reimu!" Aya clapped for the shrine maiden briefly before narrowing her eyebrows, "Unfortunately...I need to
ask you guys to leave. It's not safe here for any of you.."

"What the heck is going on?" Alyss stepped forward, now deciding to be more straightforward, "Are you Tengu involved in this...operation
too? Why exactly?" The Red Bomber had no intentions of going anywhere until she got a few answers.

Aya looked around at all those present, each of them staring her down with a great deal of suspicion. It was obvious she couldn't afford
to beat around the bush if she wanted to convince them, "It's...It's complicated, ok? I know this looks really bad but you just gotta trust
me on this one."

Alyss only answered her with one word,"...Why?"

"Are you really that desperate for a story that you would pull a stunt like this?" Reimu snapped, now looking like she was seconds away
from pulling out a Spell Card.

"Wait, wait, wait, guys, stop!" Alyss began to panic as she saw Reimu and Marisa readying to attack. It wasn't like she could blame
them but she at least wanted to hear what the tengu was here to say, "Let the tengu lady speak, please - they don't mess around."

"Alyss, the more time we waste twiddling our thumbs, the worse things are gonna get. We don't have time to screw around!" Reimu
argued while sounding like she was practically growling.

"Well, what if she isn't screwing around?!" Alyss fired back, "Look, just let her speak one more sentence first, and maybe we can tell
if she's lying or not!"

"She tried to attack us, Alyss. Unprovoked, might I add? That makes her awfully suspicious.." Reimu added, still keeping her weapon raised.
Marisa on the other hand looked less than certain.

Alyss was growling now as she glanced over her shoulder at the reporter, "Aya, why should we trust you? If you don't speak, bad things
are gonna happen."

Aya looked between the Red Bomber and the two Veteran Youkai Hunters, now getting the sinking sensation she may've goofed up,
choosing to now chuckle nervously, "Hehe...sorry about that. I wasn't trying to attack you, just...scare you off, I guess. I suppose I panicked."

"Panicked about what?" Alyss retorted, now quickly losing her patience.

It appeared everyone's attitude was rubbing off on Aya because when next she spoke it was with a bit more aggression than before,"You
don't think I been sitting on my butt or snooping around for stories the last week or so do you?" Before they could offer a reply she went
on, "I mean...I get it, you guys aren't fond of my stories, that I'm too much of a snoop or can't leave well enough alone...but.."

She started wringing her hands together, "But...well, Gensokyo's my home too, and I'm only doing what I can to help you guys, the
real heroes, protect it..."

"Like we said, if you just tell us..." Alyss words drifted off as it hit her that maybe she herself could show a bit more respect to the poor girl.

'I mean, as annoying as my snooping can be, it's helped you guys out before, right?" Aya remarked, looking down a little and scuffing her
shoes on the dirt.

The Red Bomber, seeing how the tengu was behaving, sighed and nodded before looking over to the others, silently hoping they
would agree and at least give her the benefit of the doubt.

Reimu and Marisa locked eyes, studying each other's expressions and acting as if they were having a mental conversation. It was
almost as if they were waiting for the other to make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity though, they both sighed and
lowered their weapons, "You got five minutes...start talking." Reimu ordered.

It was Aya's turn to breathe a sigh of relief, "Thank you," She motioned to where the transmitter now lied, "This thing here...it's not
for what you think it is...well, it is but at the same time it isn't.." The girls all raised eyebrows at one another, "That whole "amplifying
waves of envy" thing? Just a smoke screen for what it's really suppose to do."

"You have ten seconds to start making sense. Use them wisely." Reimu warned her, raising her spell card once more.

Aya decided she need to cut to the chase, "Well...take a look around...despite these things being down here for DAYS...nobody's
gone crazy, have they?" She folded her arms and tilted her head, waiting for an answer.

It was Alyss turn to tilt her gaze downward and scuff her shoes, "Did we...did we overlook something..?"

"Oh no, did I do something wrong again..?" Reisen murmured, looking down.

"No, no, no!" Aya quickly stomped that train of thought, waving her hands frantically "You did everything right! You're not at
fault here! This thing here though.." She glanced at the device with a downcast expression, "It doesn't just transmit the waves..it
absorbs them too.."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed at once, causing her to cover her ears.

"...Well than...that both simplifies things and yet complicates them beyond measure..." Alyss remarked while trying not to facepalm, "So,
is it absorbing or transmitting Parsee's waves?"

"Both," Aya stated simply, "Parsee had a certain someone implant parts of her youkai essence inside each transmitter. The waves bounce
off anyone who feels even a hint of jealousy and then goes back to the source, making our Bridge Princess stronger," She looked up, focusing
on the shrine maiden, "And I'm sure you can put two and two together and realize who else is helping her."

The group all announced at once, "Yukari."

"As usual, the gap hag ends up playing both sides," Reimu rhymed off, knowing that this was nothing new for the sage.

After yet another moment of worry-filled silence, Alyss asked, "But why though? And more importantly, what does the Moriya gang have
to do with this?" To herself, the bomber wondered what exactly Yukari's end goal could be. She was becoming more and more certain that
this whole incident only served something bigger, but what?

"Now that is the real mystery, isn't it?" Aya remarked while nodding with a smirk, "And once we solve it, it's bound to make front page
news. I, of course, will add my own little flair to spice things up, of course." At hearing this, pretty much everyone groaned loudly.

Reisen, however, was inspecting the transmitter carefully and scowling, "So, if we had destroyed even one of these transmitters..."

"You would've given Parsee one heck of a power boost," The reported confirmed with a nod before grinning in Reimu's direction, "She'd
probably be strong enough to take on even you, Hakurei Miko."

The shrine maiden scoffed in a haughty manner, "Yeah, right, that'll be the day that pigs fly."

"Regardless how likely," Alyss interjected, "Someone's going to have to answer for this...and I get the feeling we should go knock
on the door of the Moriya Shrine for that."

"Right," Reimu nodded in agreement, getting ready to pocket her cards, "And afterwards, I think I'll have a few words with a certain
border youkai. She's not getting off scot-free this time."

Alyss only response was to lean against the cave wall sighing, "The one time I come back to Gensokyo, and it's another game of
chasing our tails..."

"How you think we feel? Unlike you, we've spent the last week running around Gensokyo on a wild goose chase," Marisa admitted
as she too leaned against the wall alongside Alyss.

"...There's something about this that still bothers me though," Reimu spoke up, once more glancing in the tengu's direction, "Aya, how
did you come by all this information anyways?"

Aya put her hands on her hips and stood proudly, "Why, it's all thanks to my amazing skills as a reporter, duh! There is no mystery I
cannot solve! No scandal I can't uncover! No stone I can't unturn!"

"I'd buy it," Alyss laughed, causing Reimu to raise an eyebrow in her direction, "Um, your skills, not your paper."

Finally seeing she had wore down everyone's patience enough, Aya relented, "Ok, ok...I may've snooped on Suwako and Kanako during
one of their meetings. As you can imagine, I wanted to get as much info as I could before I went public."She ruffled the back of her hair,"They
caught on and tried to let me in but as you can imagine, I refused and now here we are."

"...She let you escape, didn't she? Suwako, I mean," Reimu asked, stunning all those around her.

"Eh?" Aya froze in place as those words registered in her mind.

"If those blokes wanted to catch you, I'm pretty sure they would've done it long before now.." Reimu commented with finality.

At those words...everything went deadly silent.

"...We've been set up since the very start, haven't we?" Marisa said with a long sigh and a shake of her head.

As if to answer her, the entire underground began to shake and rumble, cracks spreading out all over the place...as from deep
beneath the earth emerged a series of gigantic white serpents with beady red eyes. There were so many that they quickly blocked
off any avenue of escape.

As one might expect, perched on the head of one was a certain frog goddess, riding on the snake like it was a horse and waving
cheerfully, "Hi Reimu! Hi Marisa! Hi Reisen! Hi Alyss-chan! Wow, you guys look so tiny from up here!" All those present facepalmed.

Alyss had only one thing to say now,"...Moriya Shrine Conspiracy, huh..."

---

The three of us, Me, Cirno, and Tenshi, speeded through the sky towards the mountain which loomed in the distance. I will be the
first to admit that just seeing it there was enough to get my heart racing, both from fear but also anticipation. I knew I shouldn't start
getting a big head but after everything I had to endure over the last week...well, I guess I was feeling some spark of confidence I
could get through this.

Just gotta go in, grab my computer, probably blow some stuff up, and then get out. Easy as pie, right?

"So, think you're ready for this?" Tenshi's question snapped me back to reality as I looked over to her, an expression of curiosity
etched on her features, "I know Reimu and the others already told you this, but from this point onward, there's no backing out. It's
a one-way trip."

"In other words, the only way out of Wonderland is to go even deeper into the rabbit hole, right?" I quipped, causing her to raise an
amused eyebrow, "I figured as much...whether I think I'm ready or not makes little difference at this point. We got a job to do after all,
and regardless, we need to succeed..." I leered down at the card in my hand which held my friend's powers. I was doing this for them,"And
no matter what...we WILL succeed.."

Tenshi actually snickered at me, "Geez, are you always this overdramatic? Than again, I suppose saying that's like the pot calling the
kettle black..." I tilted my head at hearing the celestial actually being a little critical about herself. She looked over at me with a surprisingly
friendly smile, "By the way, I never got a chance to properly thank you for those sweets you provided me when we first met. Being able to
dine on delicacies from the surface world is frowned upon by most of my kind, but as you can imagine, I don't really care too much."

"Yeah, you made that plainly clear during our first encounter," I commented, remembering how reverent she became over something as
simple as a bag of potato chips. Hearing her mention all that though got me thinking so I posed the question, "Say,um, Tenshi? You don't
mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead. It's gonna take a while before we reach the Genbu Ravine anyways." Being surprisingly reasonable, she agreed.

I took a deep breath and looked her in the eye, "Do you...ever regret becoming a Celestial?" For the next few seconds, I got only
silence on her hand, causing me to panic a little, "I-I'm sorry! I should've known that was way too personal a question! Forget I said anything!"

Instead of getting mad though, Tenshi...actually giggled? "No, no, don't worry. To be honest, I'm the one who should apologize. Your question
just...caught me off-guard..." She brushed a lock of blue hair from her face as she leaned back on her keystone, "To be frank with you, you're...probably
one of the few people who's actually bothered to ask me something like that,"

She closed her eyes, "I guess you probably know about the incident I caused just to relieve my boredom, and if that ended up making you think I
hated my life at the time...I couldn't really fault you," After taking a deep breath, she looked over at me, "But I guess I'm...somewhere in the middle
on that," The celestial unsheathed her sword and inspected its sharpness, "Being immortal and having all this power is great...but if you're a celestial,
you got all these stupid rules and obligations to follow," Oh great, here it comes.

"I mean, celestials are suppose to be "above worldly desires" and nonsense like that, but I like to think why can't you have the best of both worlds?"
She gave a dismissive wave at the area below us, "Mortals down here don't have the first clue how good they got it, yet they spend so much time
whining about their problems and how unfair the world is that they lose sight of what good things they have."

"Mmm..." I could only nod in agreement, "I have to agree with you on that, at least to some degree. Often times, at least back in the Outside, I tended
to hear people and philosophers talking about how this life is nothing but suffering, a test, meant to prepare us for something better in the following lives..." I shook my head as I spoke.

This...did not go unnoticed by my accomplice, "And I suppose you got your own perspective on that, huh?"

"I do, yes," I nodded, "But considering we got more important things to do then listen to me rant, I'll make it short and say...whether this life can
be a good one or not is a matter of perspective. Just because one person sees only the bad things in living...doesn't mean everyone else is obligated
to listen. That's stupid, ruins the whole point of having free will, and I would like to be the one who writes his own life story."

Tenshi blinked in surprise before smirking a little, "My, my, you're certainly opinionated, aren't you?" She sheathed her sword and returned it to
the belt, "Perspective really does influence a great deal, doesn't it? It's so easy to judge things based on our own point of view without considering
the bigger picture, after all..." She ran a hand through her hair and leered in my direction, "I just hope you don't get too wrapped up in that kind of
mindset of yours. I mean, I'm sure you've learned by this point there are people here who will take advantage of sentimentality..."

"Don't worry, I've learned my lesson," I shook my head, "Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop though."

"And I'm not saying you should either," She responded in turn, "Just...be a bit smarter about who you trust, ok?"

Before I could reply, Cirno cut in, "You guys sure love to talk, don't you?" If this were an anime, both of us would likely be sweatdropping right now
at seeing the Ice Fairy floating beside us, arms folded, and looking quite bemused by our discussion, "Shouldn't we like be discussing a battle plan
or something? I'm sure more philosophy can wait till later."

"Hate to admit this, but the fairy has a good point," Tenshi conceded, chuckling at seeing Cirno get all pouty for a moment before turning to
me, "There's a river at the foot of the mountain, and if we follow it, it should only be a hop, skip, and a jump to where those kappa are hold
up."

"I guess if they or even just Nitori is in cahoots with the Moriya Shrine...they'll have a welcoming party ready for us, won't they?" I asked while
adjusting my scarf so it fit bitter.

"Most likely," My celestial companion acknowledged with a sigh before perking up, "Oho...seems we got some company..."

"Huh? What do you-" Before I had a chance to finish what I was saying, I felt something, or rather someone, slam into me, "Oof! Sorry about that!"

"No worries, it's my fault for not watching where I was...going.." The figure's voice drifted away as she backed off and I finally got a good look
at who it was, "...Mr James? Is that you? And Cirno-san too?"

"Wriggle?" I remarked, shocked to see the first youkai I'd encountered since arriving in Gensokyo here of all places, "Hey there...listen, not that
it ain't great to see you again but...what are you doing here?"

"Hmm?" Wriggle looked over at me in the middle of hugging Cirno, "Oh right!" She backed off as a swarm of assorted bugs fluttered around
her, causing her to sigh and wave her hands, "Alright, alright, calm down! They're not here to hurt us! They're friends!" Within a few seconds,
the swarm settled down enough to splinter off and fly into the forest.

Tenshi, surprisingly, actually whistled at the display, "Not bad. Not bad at all..." Seeing us looking at her with perplexed expressions, she rolled
her eyes, "Oh come on. Don't tell me neither of you have thought of how useful it could be to control insects just through sheer will? Granted, it's
nowhere as awesome as MY powers..." Wriggle fumed in her direction, "...But it's got plenty of good uses, I'll admit."

"Anyways..." Wriggle turned back towards us, smiling though it looked a tad forced, "Some of my bug friends mentioned there's been a lot of
loud noises going on around here lately, so I thought I'd come here to investigate. What about you guys? Oh, by the way, did you ever learn
what was causing those earthquakes?"

I cleared my throat as I began, "As a matter of fact, that's part of the reason we're here. Long story short, certain individuals are trying to
plunge this world into an all-out war and we're on our way to stop them once and for all. In fact, we're almost certain they're somewhere
on that mountain." I pointed at the landmark for emphasis.

"And with the Strongest here, there's no way we can lose!" Cirno declared proudly with her arms folded and wearing a smug smile. If this
were an anime right now, I'm pretty sure I'd be sweatdropping.

"Well, of course! Cirno-chan is amazing!" Wriggle clapped for her friend which I'm pretty sure would only succeed in causing my fairy friend's
ego to inflate even moreso. Ah well, whatever floats their boats. The one with power over insects looked over at Tenshi and tilted her head,"Um,
I'm sorry, I don't think we've met...you're one of those Celestials, right?"

"Oh boy, here we go." I facepalmed as I knew what was coming next. Cirno, as if reading my mind, plugged her fingers in her ears.

Tenshi actually smirked and threw back her head laughing in a haughty manner, "Hohohoho! That is correct, my adorable little bug
friend, but I assure you that I am no ordinary Celestial!" She once more pulled out her sword and stood tall and proud, weapon
raised to the heavens, "I am Tenshi! Eldest Daughter of the Hinanawi Clan! Sole Wielder of the all-powerful Sword Of Hisou! I command
the sky, the earth, and I have, for the most part, never known defeat! Compared to mortals, I am a goddess! Feel free to worship me!"

For added effect, wind picked up all around her, blowing her hair about as she winked at us, "What you think? Not bad, eh? I worked on
that one all week."

I did the "meh" gesture with my hand, "Eh, I give you a...3 out of 5. I definitely give you an A for effort, though."

Wriggle tilted her head and folded her arms, "Sorry...your name still doesn't ring a bell."

Tenshi facefaulted and proceeded to sulk about for the next little while. After realizing we were still standing there, Wriggle turned
to face me of all people, "Say, um...if you're going that way, is it ok if I go with you?"

"You want to help us?" I quizzed while poking my hat up, "I'm all for more help, but are you sure? The people we're going up against
are not the kind you can afford to mess around with. It's going to be dangerous."

"I'm aware of that," Wriggle sighed before smiling brightly, "But I still owe you for helping me the last time we met, so this is as good an
opportunity to repay the favor as any, right?"

"I suppose you make a good point," I nodded in agreement and looked to the others, "Well, shall we take on another party member?"

"Of course!" Cirno nodded with quite a bit of enthusiasm, "Wriggle's powers are really neat! She can be a big help!"

"I'm curious to see what she's capable of myself," Tenshi consented while folding her arms, "Besides, Reimu's team has four members,
so it's only fair we get the same," She gave a surprisingly warm smile to Wriggle, "So yeah, count yourself in, kid."

"Yay!" That seemed to make her day as the green-haired girl spun around on the spot, clapping her hands, "Thank you so much! I
promise I'll do my best, now come on!" With that decided, we the new group of four set off along the river, flying deeper and deeper
into enemy territory.

Before long, the area around us changed from vast plains to tall trees bordering on both sides of the river, and with the lack of light
from the sun added in, our trip suddenly seemed to have a more darker mood to it. I even felt a chill go down my spine, and it was
not thanks to Cirno's aura.

Tenshi took notice of this first, "Are you alright, James? Do you need us to stop for a minute?"

"N-No, I'm fine..." I pulled out my water bottle and downed a third of its contents before screwing the cap back on and sighing in
relief, the burning quickly subsiding, "Sorry about that. Just got a shiver down my spine. I usually get it when bad things are
about to happen. Nothing to worry about though...besides, not like we got the luxury of resting when we're readying to enter the belly of the beast..."

The blue-haired girl frowned at me, as if she were briefly questioning the sincerity of my words...before nodding and turning
away so we could focus on heading to our destination. I put a hand to my chest and breathed. Pull yourself together, James...you
can do this. You just gotta!

Before long, we finally arrived in a wide plain with rivers running over cliffs not far from us. Giant pools of water dotted the
landscape and smooth, circular rocks could be seen everywhere. The only odd thing were the pipes running along the faces of
the cliffs. The Genbu Ravine.

Spotting what looked to be a complex built into the side of a cliff, we landed on the ground not far from it, me disembarking and the four of us heading
on over, "Strange...you think someone like Nitori would have turrets, machines, or some sort of defense mechanism set up around
here."

"From what I know about this place, if you can't fly it's very difficult for most people to get in here, so the kappa probably just
didn't even bother," Tenshi scowled and put a hand on the handle of her weapon, "Be careful though. She could also be waiting
to spring a trap on us."

Silently agreeing, we moved towards the door where I saw a comm system attached to where the door bell usually might be. Looking
to the others for the go ahead, they nodded. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the button and spoke into the mic, "Hello? Nitori? Are
you home?"

On the other end, there was only static for a few seconds and what sounded like clunking metal before a small screen lit up on
the comm, depicting an irritated-looking Nitori with smudges of grease on her face, "What is it now, Suwako? Unless you've come
by about my payment, I suggest yo-wait a second..." She wiped the grease and dirt from her and focused on who was looking
at her, "James?...Is that you?"

"Yo," I waved in greeting, "It's been a while. Listen, can you step out here for a few minutes? There's some things we need
to discuss." Remember what Marisa said. Give her a chance to explain herself before you start judging her on anything.

The kappa seemed to wince as she nervously chuckled while poking her fingers together, "Hehehe...well...actually...look, sorry to
do this to you but you picked a bad time to show up. I'm kinda in the middle of something important, so if you could come back
later, like maybe tomorr-"

"Sorry, but we need to talk right now," I cut her off in an admittedly rather rude fashion but I wasn't in the mood to mess around
or sugar-coat stuff, "You can drop the act, Nitori. We know you're the one who built those transmitters that are emitting the envy
waves for Parsee...so why don't you come clean already and tell us what's really going on?"

"Not to mention that you're using James fancy techno thing in your plans too!" Cirno butted in, "I don't know what you're planning,
but if it's something that'll hurt my friends, I'm gonna give you a taste of my Perfect Freeze straight to your face!"

Nitori actually looked like she had frozen stiff as a statue for several seconds, looking downward from the screen. We waited for her
reaction...only to see her start chuckling in an unnervingly dark manner, "Ahh...I suppose you're right. Perhaps it IS time we start
taking off our masks..." When she looked up now...her eyes were hard and cold like steel. A far cry from the normally sweet and shy
Kappa I'd seen on my first trip up the mountain.

"You are correct. I did indeed build those transmitters for Suwako-san, and I did indeed use that device of yours as a blueprint," She
adjusted her cap, "I gotta hand it to you people from the Outside. You have some truly wonderful toys...though you're a bunch of morons
when it comes to knowing what they're truly capable of," She rose an amused eyebrow at seeing me growl, "Aww...did I hit a sore spot?
Well, it serves you right for being dumb enough to hand over something so valuable to a complete stranger."

Before I could offer a retort, Tenshi squeezed my shoulder, "Easy there. Take a deep breath. She's trying to get under your skin. Don't
let her have the satisfaction."

I took in several deep breaths and let them out, relieving some of the tension in my shoulders as I nodded in thanks before turning back
to face the girl on the screen, "Nitori...you're Marisa's friend, correct?" Nitori rose an eyebrow at me in suspicion, "Well...she asked us to
go easy on you so for her sake, we're gonna give you a chance to end this peacefully. Just give me back what's mine and help us put an
end to this madness before it starts."

The genius inventor's expression softened a little, a hopeful sign, before she sighed and shook her head, "Ah, Marisa...even with your love of
magic and blowing stuff up, you're too soft for your own good sometimes. Never willing to do what needs to be done to realize your ambitions..."

"Perhaps, but that just goes to show she actually has standards and lines she won't cross, unlike you," Tenshi spoke up, defending the
magician, "Now, are you gonna be a good kappa and do what we say? Or are we gonna settle this, Gensokyo-style?" She put her hand on
her sword to illustrate her point as Cirno and Wriggle psyched themselves up.

Nitori only glanced at the nails on her hand, not taking us the least bit seriously, "My, my, so it seems even the high and mighty Celestials are
capable of becoming feeble and pathetic too. Well, sorry to disappoint but I got no interest in doing either. Now please leave." She gave a "shoo shoo"
gesture with her free hand.

Tenshi actually did an eyebrow twitch, "This brat's attitude is really starting to get on my nerves..."

"You and me both," I agreed with her before refocusing on our target, "Nitori. We are not going anywhere until you give us what we're
after. We're coming in...whether you want us to or not."

The kappa seemed to get a bit ticked at hearing this as she turned her head and I felt myself swallow a lump at her glare, "..You know, I
think you been hanging out with Marisa-san too much. When she says or does things like that it's kinda cute, but coming from someone
like you...it's just annoying and pretentious,"

"...And you do not want to threaten any Youkai within their own territory, human," With that, she pushed a button and we braced ourselves
for anything...only to hear what sounded like jazz music playing in the background.

We each looked at each other with totally bemused expressions before facing Nitori, "...Seriously?"

"D-Don't judge me!" She snapped, turning red from embarassment, "Work gets stressful at times, so I need something to unwind
with, ok?" Trying to rectify the situation, she quickly adopted a more serious demeanor, or tried to, "Anyways, that was your one warning.
Leave before I decide to get real-"

The screen suddenly exploded as an ice missile lodged itself in the comm system, "Ha! Eat that!" Cirno rose an eyebrow, "What? She
was annoying me..." Suddenly, the sound of loud sirens echoed throughout the area, "Uh oh..."

I sighed and massaged my temples, "Well, looks like there's no other option. We're gonna have to fight our way in."

"Ah, don't look so beat up. This is gonna be the fun part." Tenshi pulled her sword from its sheath and slashed the door to pieces with
two diagonal cuts. Stepping inside, we saw a giant metal corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. Several metallic spheres rolled out
in front of us and opened up into robotic turrets and started spewing bursts of danmaku at us.

"Let's go!" Cirno waved her arms and sent out a blast of frigid air that froze all the Danmaku in solid blocks of ice before thrusting her
arms forward and sending the entire barrage flying right back, smashing all the turrets to bits in one fell swoop, "Ha! How you like that?!"

"There'll be more of them coming soon, so we need to find Nitori and fast." I ordered. With one of Tenshi's keystones carrying me, we
flew onward into the complex. Ahead of us, panels shifted on the walls to expose more drones that began spewing lasers in our direction.
What looked to be mini choppers descended from the ceiling too, firing off even more stuff for us to deal with.

I cast one of my Spell Capture Cards and the shield it generated absorbed all the Danmaku at once before firing it all back in one
all-out attack, blasting them all to bits. About a dozen more flying turrets took their place but Tenshi, with a smirk, flew in front of
me and did several lightning-fast slashes with her sword, each slash generating a crimson crescent wave that cut through the drones
like a hot knife through butter, even destroying the next sealed door in front of us.

"Next wave's coming up! Be ready!" Tenshi ordered us as her sword still crackled with red lightning.

Not even a few seconds later, panels shifted on the floor and up out of them rose what looked to be giant green turtle mechs only with
beaks on their faces and mounted with heavy weaponry on their backs, including turrets and rocket launchers of all things. The air around
us was soon filled with explosions and laser fire, causing me to huddle low on my ride and stick a hand into my knapsack, "If I can just grab
a couple of these grenades...!"

"Don't worry, Mr James! I got this!" Wriggle zoomed in front of me before I could stop her and started her descent in the style of a
bullet dive towards the walking tanks on the ground. Showing no fear whatsoever, she angled herself up and down, left to right, dodging
the onslaught with a surprising amount of grace. Finally, she gave her cape a toss and out from it spewed torrents of bugs of every
variety you can imagine.

Caught off-guard by the attack, the mechs began trying to shoot them all but, as you can imagine, insects are extremely hard targets to
hit, especially with massive weaponry, and before long, they were being swarmed from all sides. Their sensors quickly getting blotted out
as the joints and vents and other openings were soon filled up with the little critters. I spotted Wriggle making some hand gestures and a
expression of intense focus flashed over her features briefly.

Next thing we knew though, we spotted sparks and static popping out of the machines as they suddenly began behaving erratically, some
even beginning to blast each other to bits. As Wriggle's critter friends finally exited the machines, they started collapsing one after the
other, the glow in their eye lenses shutting off. The green-haired girl sighed and lowered her arms, panting,"There...that should do it."

"...Whoa..." We each nodded to one another and did a small clap in approval, "It's official, insect powers are awesome!"

"Ha, I'm always telling you that your power doesn't stink, and now you got the proof right in front of you!" Cirno folded her arms
and nodded in pride, looking quite proud herself.

Wriggle blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, evading her gaze, "Aww...thanks you guys...we should probably get moving though.
I think we still got a long way's to go before we reach that Kappa girl."

Echoing that thought, we each took off once again, heading ever deeper into the complex, hoping that we wouldn't be too late...

---

Nitori slammed her fist down on the desk in frustration, "Those idiots! Don't they have the first clue how much time, money, and
effort goes into building a half decent defense system?!" She began hitting buttons on her desktop to activate Level 2 defenses, "I
swear, you try to be reasonable and yet, as usual, the ignorant masses can never appreciate true genius..."

"Um, Nitori? Don't you think you should try to calm down?" Sanae asked from her position behind the kappa, watching her go
about her work.

"Do not tell me to be calm!" Nitori snapped in her direction, causing the shrine maiden to flinch, "I am completely calm! Now make
yourself useful and go deal with our intruders!"

The green-haired girl looked at the screen and narrowed her eyebrows, "I don't know...some of those people there are Miss Reimu's
friends. I don't think she'll be too happy if any harm comes to them...maybe we can just prepare some tea and talk things out?"

Nitori had to resist the urge to facepalm at this girl's ignorance. How this girl could claim to be the descendant of a goddess baffled
her some days, "As of right now, they're our enemies. You don't want to get your hands dirty, fine, but they need to leave soon or
I can't get my money! I've come too far to be stopped now!"

"Is money all you care about?" Sanae retorted with a sigh and folding her arms, "I'm only here cause Suwako-san and Kanako-san
asked me to help you, remember?"

"Yes, and in case you forgot, while you're here you need to do everything I say," Nitori replied while smirking in her direction,"You
don't want those two to find out you were a disobedient brat while they were away, do you?"

Sanae actually recoiled a little and even averted her gaze from the kappa's. She wasn't an idiot. She knew she couldn't disobey
the goddess whose blood she shared, but at the same time she had her friends and that boy from the Outside to think about. Which
was more important?

There was something she needed to ask, "Nitori...what are you hoping to get out of all this?"

"That's a silly question. All I want is for everyone to realize and remember my genius! To appreciate it!" Nitori proclaimed
with a great deal of enthusiasm, "And the incident we're about to cause will do just that! Plus bring me in a wonderful profit
too..."

Sanae could hardly believe what she was hearing. This kappa...all she cared about it seemed was profit, profit and more
profit, and it seemed she would stoop as low as hurting the shrine maiden's friends just to get it. Her time in the Outside had given
her a glimpse at just how greedy and selfish some humans could be...but were youkai like this much different from the humans
who stopped believing in miracles?

...It was food for thought, that was for sure.

Before they could continue though, a green mist began leaking through the vents and quickly filling up the room. "Huh? What the?"
Sanae glanced around the room looking for the source...only for sirens to start going off through out the complex. "Uh...what's going on?"

Nitori turned and spotted something on one of the cameras that made her blood run cold, "Oh no...come on!" She strapped on her knapsack
and activated its flight mode, taking off down the hall with Sanae in close pursuit. After descending several flights of stairs, they spotted
a certain sealed door open, "No...no,no,no!" They flew inside and spotted the culprit, "Parsee! Stop!"

However, a green shockwave surged forth and slammed both girls against the far wall with enough force to knock the air from their
lungs.

Parsee looked over the two other occupants and shook her head before heading for the desk and taking a seat, flipping open a glass
lid with a big red button on it. "W-Wait..." She turned and spotted Nitori struggling to stay conscious, "W-What...are you doing? Suwako-san
said...we were partners..."

"Yes, Suwako said that.." Parsee turned back to the controls, "...I did not...besides, your role in all this is finished.." She lifted her hand
and slammed it down on the button to start the machine. The moment she did, the whole room, no, the whole complex began to shake
and shudder, like a great beast were about to awaken...

---

Back in the Underground, the girls were furiously fighting off the wrath of the two Moriya Goddesses in a rather intense Danmaku
and Spell Card duel. Suwako laughed while riding about on top of her giant snake friend, causing earth pillars to shoot up from the
depths of the earth and be launched like missiles at the others.

Reimu ducked and swerved through the attack before spinning in mid-air and producing a large stream of talismans and homing
amulets from the sleeves on her arms. They streaked forward at the earth goddess who only laughed as she vanished into her hat
to hide from the attack as the Mishaguji dove into the earth. Suwako popped back out and conjured her rings, spinning about in
the air while releasing a rotating outpour of blue energy orbs.

Kanako had a giant magic circle surrounding her as she flew backwards from Marisa who followed in pursuit while releasing a
constant stream of star-shaped energy blasts. The goddess countering with an rain of red criss-crossing lasers that quickly filled
up the entire area. Marisa being Marisa though didn't bother to slow down and instead revved up while zooming even faster towards
her target. She dipped and dived through the first couple of laser walls before diving though another gap and slotting in her
spell card.

"Stardust Reverie!" With power surging through her broom, she turned into a guided missile that rocketed towards Kanako
who was forced to conjure a crimson barrier around herself. However, the power behind the magician's attack was great enough
to actually force her back and to make her put actual effort into maintaining it.

"Haha! I must admit, dear Marisa, you are as capable as ever!" Kanako praised with a grin.

"Thanks! You're not too bad yourself, granny!" Marisa replied while wearing a cheeky smile.

That actually made the woman's eyebrow twitch, "Granny?! I'll have you know I'm only a few thousand years old!" She glanced
over at her partner after repelling her opponent, "Suwako! Does being a few thousand years old qualify you to be called old if
you're a goddess?"

"How should I know?" Suwako retorted while ducking under a rocket from Alyss and countering with a blast of energy, "If you feel that
bad about your age, maybe try being a kid once in a while?"

"Oh, so be like you?" Kanako countered while clapping her hands and letting loose a destructive cyclone that tore up the landscape
only to have it be blocked by more lasers from Marisa, "I do that, and our followers will stop taking me seriously!"

"It's not like they take you seriously now anyways," The hat-wearing goddess chuckled at her partner's expense as she called up
slabs of earth to block a rain of missiles from the Red Bomber.

"I don't suppose you're gonna tell us what this is all about, are you?" Alyss questioned as she landed and conjured more rocket launchers
with a wave of her hat.

As expected, the goddess with the nice hat giggled, "Aww, now where would be the fun in just telling you?" She twirled one of her rings
around on her finger, "It doesn't matter too much, as you'll find out very soon, so how about we keep playing for a little longer?"

Alyss readied to resign herself to battle...only to stop as something clicked for her, "...You're stalling for time, aren't you?"

Suwako stopped her twirling and tilted her head at the girl, "Excuse me?"

The Red Bomber sighed and looked off to the side, "Why would you guys come all the way down here to fight us when you knew that we
couldn't destroy the transmitters without making Parsee more powerful? You could've just as easily destroyed them and been on your way."

Instead of getting annoyed, the blond-haired goddess only snickered, "Ah, as perceptive as ever, dear Alyss. I guess that's one of the many
reasons Yukari-san likes you so much." She wagged a finger at her, winking, "I can tell you this much. There's much more at stake here than
just the gathering of some faith."

"More at stake?" That rose the girl's suspicions even more, "...What does Parsee have to do with all this? Youkai feed off of fear so I don't
know how much good faith would do for her."

"Maybe that's a question you should ask Yukari the next time you see her," Suwako remarked cryptically, "You of all people knows she loves
playing loose with the facts, but at the same time, if you ask the right questions, she'll tell you what you want to know."

Just as the Red Bomber was about to ask what she meant, the entire area seemed to shake and rumble, throwing everyone off
their balance, "O-Ok, what the heck is going on now?!"

"Guys! Look!" Reisen pointed to where the transmitter lied, which was now emitting an unnatural green glow. The lid on it flying off as a
large orb trailing with emerald mist floated out of it. In the Ancient City, one could spot multiple green lights flying up and heading for
the surface one after the other. The rumbles and shakes growing ever louder.

Suwako only frowned, "Oh dear, oh dear...it appears sweet Parsee couldn't wait any longer, could she?" Despite the situation, she seemed
more disappointed than upset.

"What?!" Kanako flew over to her, all frantic, "We need to contact Sanae right now!" She pulled out a cellphone of all things and started
dialing. Several rings went through as the group could only watch in disbelief as the sky goddess began increasingly frantic, "She's not
picking up!"

At that moment, all the pieces started clicking for Marisa, "Oh no...guys.." They turned and were shocked to see the magician's face as
pale as a ghost, "Those orbs are heading back to where Parsee is...and if she's on Youkai Mountain...then James, Cirno, and Tenshi are
heading right into a trap!"

"...She only wants him.." Everyone turned to see Suwako patting the now frantic Kanako on the back, "From the very start Parsee only
wanted him..." She looked over with uncharacteristically sad eyes, "You need to hurry if you wish to save him...though...by this point,
you're probably too late anyways.."

"Oi!" Reimu snapped, brandishing her gohei and trembling, "What are you talking about? Start making sense already!"

Suddenly, a deep womanly laugh echoed in everyone's ears, "Now, now, dear Reimu. You best save that energy of yours...after all,
the show's about to start."

"Yukari!" Reimu exclaimed as she started looking every which way for the Sage, "Where are you? Get out here right now and start
explaining yourself!" It was obvious by this point that the shrine maiden had lost almost all her patience and one could not fault her.
"If anything happens to those three doofuses, I'm holding you responsible!"

There was that laugh again, "Ah, my sweet, naive Reimu. You've grown quite attached to someone you've known for so little time,
haven't you?" Reimu's response was only to fume, "Well, I just wanted to drop by and pick up Suwako-san and Kanako-san. I suggest
the rest of you do as told and make haste to where the rest of your motley crew is."

Suwako sighed and looked over to the others one last time, "Take care of Sanae-chan for me...and tell James if he lives through what's
to come...I'm sorry...I only did what I needed to do for Gensokyo..." With that, a gap opened up beneath her and her partner and they
vanished from sight.

"Wait!" Alyss called after them but it was already too late. She stomped her foot and called out, "Yukari! Whatever you're planning, don't
do it! It's not worth it!" No answer. "Darn it..." She pulled out her cellphone and tried to contact James, "...Just like Kanako-dono, I can't
get through."

Reimu gripped her gohei tightly before whirling around and taking flight, her Yin-Yang Orbs materializing on both sides of her, "We're
going to Youkai Mountain, and we're gonna end this once and for all!" The others followed suit and quickly left the Underground while
the shrine maiden thought to herself.

Everyone...please be safe...

---

"Heaven Sign! Sword Of Divine Justice!"

"Red Eyes! Lunatic Blast!"

Standing back to back, facing down a series of giant, oversized turtle mechs, we activated our spells and let loose. Beams of scorching red
light seared forth from my pupils, cutting through the machines like a hot knife through butter. Behind me, Tenshi drew her sword and
did several slashes so fast all I caught was her turning away while sheathing it again...once the hilt met the sheath, the mechs that were
her target broke apart and fell in a heap. "And that's all she wrote."

I rose my hand for a high five and, surprisingly, she returned it, "Nice one. You know, we don't make a half bad team."

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself," She gave her hair a toss, "If we get out of this in one peace, perhaps you and I can duel some time?"

I chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of my neck, "Hehe...tempting but after this, I might take a break from fighting and getting
into dangerous situations. It's not good for my health."

"Is that so?" Tenshi tilted her head in an amused manner, "For someone who gives off the impression of not liking to fight, you certainly
seem to not mind getting your hands dirty," At her words, I winced and turned my head. "...Hey, if you're worried about being a hypocrite,
don't be," I looked at her from the corner of my eye to see her smiling, "If you truly cherish something with all your heart, you will fight without
hesitating to defend it. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but to take pride in...because it shows just how much you treasure what you have."

"What I treasure...?" I glanced over to Cirno who was high-fiving Wriggle and the celestial's words sunk in. Almost all the fights I'd taken
part in up till now it had been out of a desire to help, to protect. I didn't enjoy them for the most part...but at the same time, I didn't
mind them either. "...I suppose you have a point...thanks, Tenshi."

"Don't mention it, kid," She walked forwards to the sealed door, "Now let's go have a chat with a certain kappa, shall we?" We each walked
up beside her and Tenshi readied to kick the door off its hinges...only for the door to fly open and two figures to come flying out crashing
into us and ending up a giant heap, "O-Oi!"

"Ouchy..." Sanae sat up, rubbing her head before spotting me, "Oh James!" Before I knew it, I was hauled to my feet, "You need to get out
of here right now! It's not safe here!"

"Yeah, I kinda got that!" I exclaimed in the middle of her shaking me, "Also, please stop shaking me before I throw up!" She let me go while
apologizing profusely. "Are you guys alright?"

"Showing concern for those you came to punish...you're a strange human, you know that?" Nitori sat up while dusting herself off and looking
annoyed.

I shook my head at her, "Don't get the wrong idea. You and I are gonna have a long talk later...I've just decided there's more important things
to worry about right now, like saving the world?" I glanced around the shaking complex, "I don't recall my computer being able to cause
earthquakes either.."

"Oh, how cute, you're playing the moral high ground, like every other "holier than thou" human," Nitori remarked sarcastically while rolling
her eyes, "You want your answer, look in there. I'm done with all this anyways.." Despite her attitude, the look on her face seemed to hint
at some measure of shame or disappointment.

"Guys! Look in here!" Wriggle waved us over to the open door way.

We walked inside...and were automatically floored by what we saw,"...Whoa..."

The room...was huge, let's put it that way, and covered in a sheet of metal. All over we could see large wires traveling every which way
and leading up to a series of huge consoles at the end. Behind it, I spotted what looked to be the upper torso of some sort of metallic
humanoid, massive in size and scope, and its armor colored a very dark shade of green and onyx with a head shaped with demon horns.
Two glowing green slits for eyes stared down at us as in the chest, one could spot a large green crystalline orb. Likely the power source.

"S-Scary..." Wriggle ducked behind Cirno for cover, and even the normally fearless ice fairy seemed frozen to the spot she stood on.

I myself wasn't much better. For some reason, when I looked at that thing...I felt something trying to come to the surface inside of
me. Dark thoughts, unpleasant memories. Ugly stuff that I'd thought I had suppressed and dealt with yet still haunted me. I clenched
my head as I gnarled my teeth, the memories causing me physical pain, surprisingly.

Reimu, Marisa, Cirno, Alyss...they're all amazing people and they got all those cool powers and stuff. They're always so confident and
can deal with anything...I'm so jealous of them...what right does a nobody like me have hanging around them?

"Oi, James! James!" Cirno and the others started shaking me, startling me out of those thoughts, "Are you ok?"

"I...I'm fine.." I took in a deep breath as the thoughts subsided and the pain faded. I then turned and glared up at the machine, "We need
to destroy that thing right now."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that," At hearing that voice, we turned our gaze skyward...and there she was, surrounded by a veil of
green mist. A girl around my own age with curly blond hair and green eyes. Her skin unusually pale yet with a tint of green to it as well.
Her attire was rather odd too, looking like a mix of a coat, a blouse and a skirt all cobbled together. The top part was brown with purple
borders and the skirt was blue and fading into purple with red lines hanging off the edges. She also wore arm socks and had a scarf tied
around her neck.

It was her. The one who instigated this whole incident. The one who caused Mokou to go on a rampage and had caused so much trouble
for everyone, "...Parsee Mizuhashi..."

She tilted her head at me, "You know my name...I'm jealous of that, you know..."

"So, the instigator behind this whole mess finally decides to show herself, eh?" Tenshi twirled her sword before pointing it at the
youkai, "I gotta say, it was awfully nice of you to save us the trouble of having to track you down." Parsee merely shrugged in response.

"So you were waiting for us this whole time?" I quizzed, readying one of my cards.

"More like I was just waiting for you," She stated, surprising me, "I'm jealous that you can make allies with so little effort, Mr James,"
As she spoke, the green mist around her seemed to intensify, the room beginning to shake a little, "But then again...all the allies in the
world cannot stop what has been set into motion.."

Cirno was the next to speak up, "Why are you doing this? Haven't you stopped to think of all the innocent humans and youkai who are
gonna get hurt cause of you?" Way to go, Cirno. Ask the right questions.

Parsee seemed to stare at us blankly before sighing, "I'm jealous of your naivety, little fairy...if any of you bothered to look around once
in a while, you'd realize that when it comes to the conflict between humans and youkai...there's no such thing as innocence.." She began
pacing back and forth, "Youkai cause incidents and install terror into humans by whatever means necessary to keep themselves alive...and
humans in turn resolve the incidents while exterminating the youkai, even those who aren't part of the problem...also to keep themselves alive..."

The youkai of envy came to a stop and looked over her shoulder at us with a weary eye, "It is in both our species nature, when we're pushed
far enough, to do whatever we must in the name of self-preservation...It's a cruel reality that we all must learn to live with if we are to survive."

Her words were...particularly hard-hitting for each of us, especially with the looks of uncertainty I could see and feel on my own face. As much
I hated to admit it, she did have a point. Both our races were locked in this cycle and there seemed like no escape from it. Both were driven
by fear and destroyed by it, and what was it wise Yoda said about Fear and what it does to you and those around you?

However, it was Cirno of all people who challenged her, "So that's it?" Parsee and myself turned to face the ice fairy as she folded her
arms and huffed, "Ok, I'm not gonna lie, that...sounds like a really lame way to live, and it kinda sucks, sure..but that's not the only
answer, you know. I.."

She flashed a warm smile at each of us before facing Parsee again, "A lot of the youkai and the humans I've met are my friends, and they
don't go around trying to hurt one another. We argue and fight over a lot of stupid things, but we come out of it stronger, and we appreciate
each other better cause we were willing to overcome what separated us."

"I'll admit that I'm not too fond of humans myself," Wriggle admitted, "But as long as they leave my bug friends alone...I guess they can't
all be bad."

"There's a lot a Celestial like me can learn from surface dwellers," Tenshi conceded with a shrug, "So, my apologies, but I'm not gonna
let whatever you're planning come to fruition."

"And as for me..." I removed my hat long to scratch my noggin before slipping it back on, "That maybe how the world is...but that's not
how the world SHOULD be, and plenty of folks don't agree with it. I know you and Yukari think your grand plan is what's best for Gensokyo..but
I respectfully disagree. We'll find a better way and-DO IT NOW, GUYS! MASTER SPARK!"

"Hidden Bug "Hermit of an Endless Night""

"Cold Sign "Perfect Freeze"

"Scarlet Weather Pressure"

"Sea Opening "Moses Miracle""

"Heavy Rain "Great War Beneath The River""

All of us casted our spell cards at the same time, an overwhelming onslaught of magical energy surged forward to destroy the massive
machine and put an end to all this...except for Parsee to float in front of it and hold out her hand, a strange green light emitting from it.
Regardless, our attacks hit with the force of what seemed like several dozen tons of TNT, the blast wave being enough to knock everyone
on their backs, me included, and generating a huge cloud of smoke.

"Ha!...t-that's what you get...for screwing over a kappa...hah..hah.." Nitori proclaimed with pride despite looking as if she were coughing
up a lung.

"Did...did that get her..?" I asked while panting. Geez, Reimu was right. Using other people's spell cards takes the good out of you.

"I highly doubt that even myself would be able to withstand a barrage of spells like that without sustaining some form of damage.."
Tenshi conceded, looking a bit winded herself but otherwise fine.

I looked into the smoke as it cleared, waiting for the sign of an unconscious Parsee and a destroyed war machine...only for the smoke
to settle, and..."Oh, you've got to be kidding me.."

The Youkai Of Envy floated before us, arm still outstretched and her body emitting that nasty green aura. Even with all our attacks
together...she looked like she had barely even received a scratch. "...I'm jealous of your valiant efforts..but even with all your power combined, you
cannot defeat me as I am now."

"You wanna bet?" Tenshi scowled and rose her blade into a combat-ready stance,"Alright than. Let's see what you got! Come on, guys!
This is not the time to be chickening out!"

"R-Right!" I swallowed the lump in my throat and joined the girls in our charge. I'm pretty sure I heard a battle cry in the background
as we all closed in. Wriggle twirled her cape and sent out swarms of bugs while Cirno called down a giant rain of icicles and and Tenshi
began swinging her sword and triggering a bunch of sword beams. I conjured one of my Spell Bombs and hurled it.

However, even with this second onslaught, Parsee had a counter. The green mist intensified as it pulled around her and built up into
what looked like a cyclone. Our attacks impacted only to harmlessly dissipate, "What the?!" Next thing I knew, the barrier pulsated
as several incredibly long arms made of mist rocketed forth and impacted both my Youkai friends, sending them flying into the
wall hard enough to create indents, "Cirno! Wriggle!"

Diverting my attention for that one moment though costed me though as I felt one of the arms crash into my chest with enough
force to knock the air from my lungs and lift me off the ground before hurling me like a toy through the air and impacting against
a certain goddess, causing us both to tumble into a heap,"Owww...that smarts.."

"James!" Sanae, seeing me hurt, stood up and pulled out her own gohei, raising it up as the winds picked up around her, "Winds!
Come to my aid!" She waved her staff forward and a bunch of miniature cyclones flew towards Parsee's defensive structure, only
to dissipate too upon meeting their target, "Oh, come on! That's totally unfair!"

"Unfair? UNFAIR?!" Parsee's voice seemed to echo all throughout the chamber as the mist vortex seemed to grow even larger.
"I'll tell you what's unfair! Seeing all of you ungrateful fools taking for granted everything you have!" I watched as orbs of green
energy began firing out from the cyclone in all directions, forcing Sanae to scoop me up and take flight.

Despite my pain, I spotted Tenshi readying for an attack...only to hear an ear-splitting scream and the cyclone seemed to pulsate
with power as a wall of green exploded forth from it, slamming into all of us and sending everyone flying every which way. I felt
myself slip out of Sanae's grasp...and tumble right in front of the vortex...

Oh crap...

I looked up and spotted the silhouette of Parsee standing in the center and her eyes drilling into mine. In that moment...I could feel
it in my gut...this was the sensation ants had to get when staring up at something that could crush them with merely a
thought. This...was Fear.

"Finally..." The youkai girl grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and lifted me up high, "You have...no idea how much I been
looking forward to this...Mr Hero..." Unlike with Tenshi, her use of those words was filled with venom and malice. She lifted
me up high and squeezed, cutting off the circulation to some degree.

Despite the pain, I tried to focus on her, "Parsee..." I coughed, "..Why...are you doing this?"

Parsee seemed to pause for a moment...before kneeing me in the ribs and letting go. I found myself collapsing to my
knees and looking up at her as she glared daggers, "...You want to know why?...The answer should be obvious by this
point, you stupid human..."

I felt my chest burning up as I did my best to stay conscious. Parsee scooped me up once more, "Think carefully...this world
has treated you well since you came here...has it not? Making friends, going on adventures...compared to many Outsiders, you
got a good deal going on..."

I got a hand in my pocket and managed to pull out my Capture Cards...but before I could invoke them...I felt Parsee's hand
gripping my wrist and squeezing, causing me to wince, "I wouldn't do that if I were you...it's rude to interrupt when someone's
talking after all..." Not able to bear it anymore, I felt my cards fall to the steel floor.

"And yet...you haven't bothered to ask yourself one question...Why?" At her words, I froze, "Why you? Because of...oh right..what
was that? Love? That you had some "miraculous gift" that this false paradise needed?!" I felt my blood run cold at hearing that. The only way she could've known that was...no, it couldn't be...

"So naive...I almost pity you...a few honeyed words and a little prodding and you jumped at the gap hag's offer like a bee
to honey...thinking you were gonna change the world, didn't ya?" Parsee brought me in close, "Did it not occur to you...if she
wanted to fix anything, she would've done so a long time ago?!"

I was finally dropped to the ground, panting heavily, my body sore. The wheels were turning...and I didn't like the
conclusions they were making..."Y-You mean...no...YOU'RE the one..? The one...Yukari wanted me to meet?" My head was
spinning at all this.

"And he finally gets it!" Parsee clapped mockingly while rolling her eyes, "Seriously, that took you long enough.."

"That's not true!" Through the mist, I could spot the limping form of Cirno, "If that's the case, then he was brought here
to stop you!"

"Silly fairy..." Parsee looked down at me with some degree of pity, "...You don't think I got this powerful on my own, do you?"
She pulled out an ornamental comb, "No fancy artifact could give me this kind of strength...my power comes from how much I
envy someone...and right now..." She glared down at me, "Thanks to the gap hag...there is nobody I envy in this world more...than
you."

I shook my head in denial, "No...no..no..that can't be...I...I.." I looked to my friends who seemed just as shocked at all
this, "Guys, I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean for...I...no..." I couldn't take it and I just looked away out of shame and guilt.

All my meetings up till now...all the adventures and the battles...all the friends I'd made...all of it was just meant to
help this girl with her own plans...to help Yukari...and now...I'd let them all down, hadn't I?

The ceiling above us began to split open, exposing the sky as the eyes of the giant machine began to light up. Parsee
scooped me up once more and flew up to the machine as it lifted up to the surface. The girls trying to follow only for
the mist to spread even more so..some of it spilling onto the surface.

Parsee then said the words that would haunt me forever:

"Whatever becomes of this world before the day is done...know that you were the cause of it."

---

Author's Note: Well...there you have it...things are not what they seemed after all, are they? James' arrival was not
all sunshine and rainbows...and it gets worse from here...I don't know if any of you expected this. Maybe you did.
All the cheery light-heartedness you saw in those early chapters...not what it seemed either. At least compared to the
roleplay that originally inspired this...

I don't know. Maybe you like this twist. Maybe you think it's too serious, who knows?

I apologize for the lateness on this latest chapter, but the last month or so has been pretty crazy when it came to
college work. That, and I had to run several parts by Kigurou-Enkou to make sure everything flowed well.

Next chapter...will be out soon, hopefully. Until then, you guys have a good day, alright?