My computer is busted. The blue screen of death shows up randomly to ruin things, and it has gotten to the point that it happens shortly after I'm fully logged in. As a result, I had to continue work on this chapter on my younger brother's computer.

Let's all hope that my computer gets fixed soon!

Chapter 11
The Oldest Trick in the Book


The Resistance returned from Gensokyo to their base hidden underneath Tokyo without problems. When the van parked at the garage, Ran came into the room to see them stepping out of the vehicle. "Welcome back, Mistress Hakurei," she said to parallel Reimu. "Is everything successful?"

"Yeah, we got everything, but the blaster is damaged and needs fixing," said parallel Reimu while handing the briefcase to her. "Can you fix it?"

"I will do my best," said Ran as she took the briefcase from her.

"Has anything happened while we were gone?" the shrine maiden asked her.

"Nothing," replied the nine-tailed fox. "Everything is fine. During your absence, we also looked up blueprints of Eiki's palace in order to infiltrate it."

"Good, we need to know the details of that place if we want to go in there to rescue the Yukari from the other world, who I have a feeling is locked away somewhere in there," said parallel Reimu. "We'll have to come up with a plan on what to do next, and in the meantime, you get the blaster fixed as soon as possible."

"I will," said Ran.


After this, the girls went into the meeting room to talk about what to do next. Miko was also participating in the meeting via a laptop from her room.

The white screen in front of the table was showing the blueprints for Eiki's palace, and a deformed 3D Yukari was seen on the screen, pointing at a certain location on the blueprint. "According to the description," said the 3D Yukari, "there is a prison room located in the basement."

"It's true," said Miko. "Eiki imprisoned the other Yukari there, so I was able to visit that place when the former invited me. I seriously had no idea about the prison down there at all until that time…"

"Is that place heavily guarded?" asked parallel Reimu.

"You bet it's heavily guarded," replied Miko. "Our Yukari was very powerful and not someone to be underestimated, so they assumed the same applies for your Yukari. The room is filled with seals that can nullify most attacks coming from demons with ease. Yukari is injected with the suppressant every fifteen minutes before it runs out to keep her from having the opportunity to break free, and even if she does break free, she'll have to face the large amount of guards standing outside, all of whom are armed with the suppressants as well."

"She's probably going to escape through a gap rather than busting down the door," said Marisa.

"Which is what the seals all over the walls in the room are for," Miko told her. "It keeps demons within radius from using their powers, at least not at full power."

"They sure went through a lot to keep her confined…" commented Reimu. "But then, this is Yukari we're talking about… She's not to be taken lightly when she gets serious…"

"So how are we going to break her out?" asked Youmu.

"Disguises won't do either," said Miko. "They check thoroughly anyone who is heading down the path to her cell. Even Eiki allows herself to be checked."

"How about beating up everyone in there and then breaking her out before it's too late?" suggested Marisa.

"Right… That's totally going to work…" said Miko sarcastically. "Anyway, I have a plan that involves Seiga's help."

That was when Sanae was reminded of something. "I know! You're going to let her use that wand of hers to create holes on the walls to get to Yukari, right?"

"Exactly!" said Miko. "I've studied the palace carefully and found out that at the back of her cell, there is a sewer. We'll have to make our way to that part of the sewer, and then Seiga will make a hole leading into Yukari's room to rescue her."

"How about the seals? Wouldn't they keep her wand from working?" asked Sakuya.

"Seiga's wand isn't demon-related, so the seals should have no effect," Miko told her. "The only problem is setting off the security when someone breaks into her cell… We'll have to turn off the security if we want to get in there without setting it off."

"How do we do that?" asked Reimu.

"I can deal with that," said the 3D Yukari on the screen. "Just hook me up with the wires of the alarm system and then watch me do some magic tricks!"

"It's really that simple?" asked Kana in slight doubt.

"Technology is wonderful if you know a lot about it!" said the 3D Yukari.

"So what do we do after we rescued our Yukari?" asked Sakuya. "I assume we sneak over to where Eiki is and use the suppressor on her?"

"With your Yukari's power, we may be able to pull that off," replied parallel Reimu. "Even so, we have to take a lot of caution around Eiki. We may easily get killed if we are too careless around her."

"Yeah, I can imagine that being the case…" said Reimu.

"Because of this, it would be preferable that we end things without having to get into conflict," said parallel Reimu.

"Yeah, we can sneak up to Eiki from behind using Yukari's gap and shoot her in the back with the suppressor! Easily done-da ze!" said Marisa.

"But like I said earlier, we still have to be careful and get ready for possible conflicts in case things don't go as planned," said parallel Reimu. "Anyway, let's start looking at the sewage system around the palace so that we know how to get to your Yukari."


Back at her palace, parallel Eiki was not pleased to hear that attempts at capturing the Resistance and the counterparts had been unsuccessful so far, and after encountering them in the underground, they went missing and had yet to be found.

"I'm going to make them regret crossing paths with me when I get my hands on them!" the judge angrily said while pacing around her room.

"Can't blame those who failed to catch them, since this is Reimu and company we're talking about," Komachi told her. "Their counterparts are probably just as powerful, so if dealing with one Reimu is no easy task, imagine how hard it must be dealing with two of them at once."

Seemingly ignoring what the grim reaper said, Eiki said, "If they refuse to let us find them, we'll make them come out to us instead, and I have just the idea on how to get this done!"

"Sounds like a good idea!" commented Komachi. "How are you going to get them to come out?"


That night, parallel Reimu walked into the workshop of the base where several gadgets and electronic devices were made and fixed. Ran was at the table, trying her best to get the blaster fixed. The shrine maiden walked up to her and asked, "Everything going smoothly?"

"It can be fixed by tomorrow," replied the nine-tailed fox. "The damage is mostly on the outside, so the whole thing isn't damaged very much."

"Good to hear that! Tomorrow is going to finally be it… The day we bring down Eiki and free the world from her grasp once and for all…" said parallel Reimu.

"I'm afraid that things won't be as easy as it seems," said Ran.

"I know," said the shrine maiden, "but let's hope for the best that everything will indeed be resolved tomorrow. I have to say… this is the biggest and longest incident I've gotten involved in in my life… I sure don't want to get involved in something like this ever again…"

"I'm sure nobody would want to live through something like this again," said Ran without raising her head. "Five years… All these years, people live lives of being very careful with their actions, and those you break the law live in fear of being unsure whether or not they would be able to live to see the next minute… Even evildoers don't deserve to live a life like this…"

"All this may very well come to an end tomorrow," said parallel Reimu. "I still find it hard to believe that our hard work is finally getting paid off… Let's all hope for the best tomorrow!"

"You go and turn in for the night now, Mistress Hakurei," Ran told her. "You need energy for tomorrow, so please rest as early as possible. I will finish fixing the blaster tomorrow for sure."

"Don't push yourself too hard. Take a rest if you have to," parallel Reimu told her as she began to turn around to leave.

"Do not worry about me, Mistress Hakurei," Ran told her with a smile.

"Well then, good night," the shrine maiden said to her.

"Good night and rest well!" Ran said to her before the latter left the room.


Reimu had awakened and cleaned up herself for the morning of the next day. She went into the dining room and sat down in front of the table, while Ruukoto prepared breakfast. As soon as the robot placed a plate in front of Reimu, Marisa's voice called out to her. "Reimu! You've got to see this!"

Marisa rushed into the dining room and dragged the shrine maiden out of the room by the hand, telling her that there was something she had to see on the television. Their counterparts, Sakuya, Youmu, and Kasen were all in front of the television, looking at it with nervous expressions.

"What are you guys watching?" Reimu asked as she turned to the screen.

Eiki was seen on the screen, making a speech. "If you people value the life of your friend, then appear before my palace at once!" The camera then shifts over to Yukari, who was chained to the wall.

Reimu was surprised to see this, and after the broadcasting was over, parallel Marisa said, "That's the oldest trick in the book… Can't deny that it's very effective, though…"

"What are we going to do?" asked Youmu. "She clearly wants us lured out in order to get rid of us, but we can't leave our Yukari alone and not rescue her!"

"Of course we're going to rescue her," said parallel Reimu. "However, if we don't show up at all, she'll likely become suspicious about what we're doing. She isn't aware of Miko and her followers being on our side, and that is our biggest advantage."

"Right, we'll use Seiga's wand to slip into our Yukari's prison and rescue her!" said Marisa. "Eiki will never know what happened-ze!"

"This is also a good opportunity to get close to Eiki to use the suppressor on her," said Kasen. "We'll appear before the palace and cause a ruckus to keep them occupied, while the others go and rescue Yukari."

"That's exactly what I'm planning," said parallel Reimu. "If that's the case, we'll need as much help as we can in stirring up chaos. The chaos may allow us to get close to Eiki to use the suppressor on her."

"Going to call Yuugi and Suika?" parallel Marisa asked her.

"I'm sure they'll bring their friends along for the ride too!" said parallel Reimu with a smirk.


TO BE CONTINUED