I figured I'd do something different today, since we've hit chapter nine. I'll be doing this every nine chapters. What it is? Read and find out.

Disclaimer - Everyone knows that ZUN owns Touhou. I am not ZUN, I am Zeph. There is a difference.

Chapter 9 ~ End of Daylight

"Are we there yet?" The brunette sighed, floating alongside Reimu and Genji on board a smaller, floating tank that bore a resemblance to the evil eyes they've been shooting down for the past few minutes.

It had been only a few hours since the tank girl had been subdued, but to Reimu it felt like months. All the other girl did was whine and shoot down whatever the miko missed. The latter was appreciated, the former... not so much.

"You've been asking that question for the last two hours!" Reimu said in an exasperated tone, "And you still haven't told me WHY you wanted my power to begin with! WHAT, exactly, does holy power have to do with artificial ghosts or tanks? Don't answer that."

"She didn't say it was holy power, or that the possessor was a shrine maiden." Rika frantically explained, absent-mindedly shooting down enemies as they came along, "All she said was that I would become powerful and prove the worth of my machines if I killed someone named Reimu Ha.. ku.. rei..."

"And my surname didn't tip you off? Boy, you're dense."

"In my defense, no one in the village cares about the shrine."

"..."

"Reimu...?"

"Those dragon-damned SONS OF-"

/-\-/-\

TECHNICAL DIFF-

Nope, not today.

/-\-/-\

After letting out a stream of curses that would make a sailor cringe-

/-\-/-\

Meanwhile, the captain of the Palanquin Ship cringed for no apparent reason, but she's not important to this story. Rather, she was helping a mouse find an artifact that a tiger lost.

It should also be noted that a certain shinigami crashed her nice boat into a rock.

/-\-/-\

-Reimu, eventually, managed to calm down.

"Are you- ?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Reimu stated, catching her breath, "Yukari's going to kill me, but I'm fine."

"Oh, that hag is the least of your worries," a woman said, slowly walking into view, "because Lady Mima sent me to kill the two of you. The Hakurei miko, and the traitorous mechanic."

"Why? Why do we need to die? And why did Mima order this? I know she isn't one to order wanton death and destruction about, so why try to kill us? There's nothing to gain." The miko said, readying her weapon.

Rika said nothing, shivering in fear. Fear for her life. But she started up Lambda's; that is, her tank's; weapons systems.

"Why?" the swordswoman asked, drawing her sword. "Because I wish to test myself against the last Hakurei, and to eliminate a spineless, sniveling coward of a traitor. Let the name Meira be the last thing you hear!"

/-\-/-\

She isn't as skilled as Konngara, but she can move quickly. Reimu thinks to herself. And the orbs themselves are next to useless. Mima's caught on, so I can't use them as effectively.

This was true. Every attack Reimu attempted either had no effect or was simply deflected by the swordswoman. The only reason even those attacks hit was because Rika was providing cover fire. She had since stopped, telling the shrine maiden to "keep her busy, and wait for the signal." As all hope was fading from Reimu's mind, and her death was upon her-

"MOVE, YOU LAZY MIKO, MOVE!"

-Rika gave the signal, and Reimu jumped out of the way. Lambda fired out a large laser beam that hit Meira dead on, leaving her unconscious and charred.

"And d-don't come back..."

"You okay?" the miko asked the mechanic, treading lightly.

"I'm f-f-fine. I was j-just a bit scared for my life there."

"I know. I was too, this was the second time I was completely outmatched. The first time was courtesy of a sword-wielder too, come to think of it." Reimu said, as a look of horror appeared on her face, "I hope this doesn't become a regular thing, me being almost killed by a swordsman or swordswoman."

"Gotcha." Rika said unenergetically, "We should probably leave before she comes to..."

And so they did

A Day in the Life of a Nineball

/-\-/-\

Cirno was bored, so she froze a frog. Then, she decided to pester two immortal humans.

She died.

She saw a strange figure, so she went to investigate it. It was Koishi! The later made Cirno subconsciously want to jump in the lake.

She was eaten by a fish, and died again.

Finally, she went to sleep, only for Suwako to punish her for her actions against frog-kind.

You get the idea.

Yeah, I got nothing. Dona- I mean, Reviews, please!

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...A follow is fine, too...