It has been two days since Shikieiki's visit to the shrine, and when Ail walks out of the shrine that morning he realizes it had snowed quite a lot during the night; but regardless of that he is ready to begin his next lesson in spell cards, but that's when he notices three frozen girls on the ground right where Reimu had left them the afternoon before; Sanae, Keine and Rumia.
"Reimu" calls Ail. "Hey Reimu, you better come out here" he insists while looking both worried and somewhat disappointed.
When Reimu and Kyo come out of the warm living room they see the three frozen girls. The shrine maiden laughs, and then says "they'll have to wait until Marisa comes by. I don't think my spells are hot enough to thaw them out."
Kyo looks at her indifferently and says "then how about just doing the usual and just blast them out."
Ail facepalms hard, and before anything else Reimu is already shooting danmaku at the frozen guests and blasting the ice away.
Inside the shrine the three shivering girls drink the warm tea offered by Reimu and Ail while Kyo and Mima are outside on the front of the shrine training with their danmaku and abilities.
Shivering, Sanae says "th-th-thanks A-Ail" as he hands her a warm towel.
Rumia stares at them as they eye each other, and then says "i-i-i-is that-t-t s-so?"
Keine finishes her tea then says "that was one nasty trick, Reimu. You too Ail!"
Ail forces a smile to hide his shame, but ends up looking at the ground, and then Reimu says "well, he either joined me or you. He's a smart boy and chose correctly in my opinion."
Keine looks a bit annoyed, but she knows further complaining will get her neck-deep in trouble.
Sanae then gets up and says "I feel much better now so I best be off home. I'll see you next time."
Just as she is about to fly away, Reimu grabs her shoulder then looks at Ail and says "Ail, why don't you accompany her home?"
He looks puzzled at Reimu at first, but then he sees hidden purpose in the girl's eyes and nods then "yeah, you're right. Come on, Miss Sanae. Oh, let's fly above the trees, ok?"
Sanae looks a bit confused and is blushing a bit, but she nods and casually says "sure."
Reimu gets closer to Ail and says "if anything happens, send the signal."
Ail nods and then takes off to the air, accompanied promptly by Sanae.
After they are gone Reimu calls Keine and Rumia inside and says "you two listen up, you need to go back to the village with Rumia. Rumia, you need to keep the area around you as dark as a shadow."
Keine looks confused and asks "Reimu, what's going on?"
The shrine maiden looks seriously at Keine and says "I am not exactly sure. Just keep an eye on any strange shadows, and if you're going to fly, do so above the trees. For now, that is all I can tell you. When and IF I know more, I'll let you know."
When Keine looks at Rumia she sees her smile vanish as it's replaced by worry and purpose.
Halfway to the Youkai Mountain Ail realizes they have a long path with no trees to fly over and gets a bit worried.
Sanae suddenly asks "hey Ail; why are you accompanying me? I can get home on my own."
The boy smiles and says "I just want to make sure you're safe; it's all."
Sanae smiles back, and after he looks back down she blushes a bit. Suddenly he notices a shadow wriggling rapidly toward their own shadows.
Ail grabs Sanae by her waist and she shrieks, her face turns completely red, and then asks "what are you doing!? L-let go!"
Ail shouts "Sanae, cover your eyes!"
Suddenly Ail speeds up, matching Aya's quick speeds. The impact of the speed forces Sanae to place her face on Ail's chest.
The boy moves fast enough to lose the shadow so he relaxes and slows down, though he is still holding Sanae who recovers and bangs him on the arm while shouting "what's the big idea!? Let me go right now!"
Ail lets her go after he panics, and then says "sorry, sorry... look I can explain, but we have to get to the Moriya Shrine as fast as we can. Let's go!"
When they start moving again Sanae yelps and shouts "Ail, I can't move!"
Ail looks down and sees the snake-like shadow wrapped around Sanae's shadow by the leg so he takes a charm out of his pocket and from there a violet beam shoots to the sky that writes the word "HELP" on the clouds while Ail desperately tries to pull Sanae free.
She starts screaming "OW! What's happening!? My leg feels... like it's breaking. HELP ME!"
"Sanae!" shouts Ail. He tires harder to pull her free but he can't and shouts "Sanae! Sanae!"
He tries shooting danmaku directly at the shadows, however nothing happens.
Ail despairs as Sanae starts to scream louder, and while still holding on to her the boy closes his eye and in his mind he hears himself shouting "somebody help!"
A second later, another voice; a woman's voice, replies "there is no time. Help can't come in time. Use your powers, Ail. Use them to your heart's content."
Suddenly a spell card appears on Ail's hand and he instinctively lifts it above his head and declares "Earth Sign, Forestall Heartbeat!"
Countless green and white crystals come from Ail in the pattern of a heart that beats at a steady rhythm, and then the bullets fall slowly while accompanied by randomly expelled blue danmaku balls that fall faster.
They explode in mid-air and make the snake-like shadow let go of Sanae; who gasps with relief; after it is hit with the shadow of the bullets.
Ail, still holding on to her, wraps her arm around his neck and flies toward the Moriya shrine as hastily as possible.
From inside the shrine Kanako spots Ail and Sanae and causally says "hey, Suwako, you were right. She's with... Ail-Sanae?"
Suwako comes from her room asking "what did you say?"
Kanako jumps to her feet and shouts "SANAE!?"
Suwako panics and asks "what; what's going on!?"
The blonde girl gasps when Ail lands with the unconscious Sanae, and without warning a large wooden pillar with charms tied around it flies straight at Ail's face.
The boy dodges out of the way, looks angrily forward, then blocks Kanako from reaching Sanae with a strange-looking blue barrier.
"What did you do to my Sanae!?" yells Kanako at the top of her lungs.
Suwako rushes from inside the shrine and kneels next to her wind priestess and calls out to her.
Kanako looks like she's aiming for blood, but then Ail shouts back "we were attacked!"
The angry goddess drops her guard and calms down, and then, with a blank expression she says "I'm... I'm sorry. I thought..."
Ail signals Kanako to get closer, and then says "it's her left leg. It may be broken."
Both Kanako and Suwako look at Sanae's leg, then let out a loud sigh of relief before saying at the same time "it's not broken."
After everyone calms down they carry Sanae to her room where she wakes up. While in her room Suwako grabs Ail by his neck, looks furiously into his eyes, and then quietly asks "what happened?"
Ail looks back at her equally angry and says "remember that evil energy from the other day? Well before we could stop it something escaped from its very source, and it's now running around as a snake-like shadow. At first Reimu though we could catch it or something, but..."
Suwako lets go of Ail then backs away, and then heads to Sanae after the satisfying, yet disturbing answer.
Ail is about to leave the room, but before he does he asks "is Miss Sanae going to be alright?"
Sanae says "oh, I'm alright, really;" but then Kanako says "it's a bad bruise. She'll be limping for some time."
Suwako adds "whatever did this to her is going to pay!"
Ail thinks to himself "I'll make sure of that!" He then turns around and says "for the moment the only information I have about that thing is that it's evil and it's trying to get out to the outside world. I can safely assume it's going to do anything it can to accomplish that goal; even kill."
Suwako and Kanako look at each other, then back at Ail, and then Kanako says "head directly to the Hakurei shrine, do NOT hunt it down."
The boy looks back with a smile, but his eyes reveal fury. He then closes the door and heads outside.
Kanako knows of his true intentions so she quickly bends down close to Suwako's ear and says "Suwako, go to the tengu, look for that reporter and tell her to get Reimu. He's going after that thing; whatever it is."
Without saying a word, Suwako nods and heads out.
Back at the Hakurei shrine Reimu lies on her back on the porch of the shrine, hanging her right foot on her left knee while swaying it around.
Kyo and Mima are still training when Marisa arrives. The shrine maiden gets up thinking it's Ail, but when she sees it's Marisa she sounds very disappointed when saying "oh, it's just you."
The witch backs away and says "whoa, so cold. Is that how you greet your guests?"
Reimu growls and says "he's late! Oh well, it's not my training."
Marisa looks a bit confused at first, and then says "oh, you mean Ail? He was flying above the Forest of Magic a while ago."
The shrine maiden looks at her friend, then says "no sense of responsibility, that kid. He's neglecting his training."
The witch turns her face away and speaks as quietly as she can. "Reminds me of someone I know."
Reimu flares at Marisa and aggressively asks "what was that!?"
Just then, Aya flies over to the shrine with her wings bare as she rushes in at full speed. She crashes but gets up quickly and talks so fast that Reimu can't follow her at all.
"Reimu,Reimu it'shorribleSanae'shurttheMoriyagodismadand-!"
As casual as ever, Reimu pulls a glass of water from her pockets; Marisa looks shocked and amazed while pointing asking "how the hell did you do that?"
Ignoring her friend Reimu splashes the water on Aya's face to shut her up and help her calm down, then the shrine maiden calmly asks "now, what was that you were saying?"
The tengu takes a deep breath and says "that was COLD!"
The shrine maiden is getting angry so Aya takes a few steps back and says "oh yeah. The Moriya goddess came to me and told me that Sanae was badly injured by some shadow, and that Ail and Kanako almost killed each other, and now Ail is hunting that thing down!"
Reimu gasps and looks up at the sky, and there she sees the "help" signal slowly disappearing from the sky.
Desperate, Reimu asks her friend "Marisa, when exactly did you see Ail?"
The witch, looking a bit scared says "about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes ago."
The shrine maiden turns to Aya and hurriedly says "you; fly above the trees and head home. Tell the tengu and the kappa to be careful... in fact, use your paper for something good and warn EVERYONE about that shadow. I'll give you more details later!"
Aya salutes Reimu then flies away so fast she looks like a beam of light.
Sounding even more desperate Reimu shouts "KYO~! You and Marisa come with me. We HAVE to stop Ail!"
Kyo jokingly says "heh, what's the matter? You sound-"
"No time to explain, just go," barks Reimu before he could continue, then flies she ahead.
Marisa calls Kyo to sit on her broom and then they both follow after Reimu while Mima looks at them as they leave, and then says "ooh, the shrine's all mine now!"
When she enters the shrine she looks around, and then spots Reimu's clothes. Her eyes glint as she stares at the red and white shrine maiden attire.
Ail is close to the village where he shouts like a loon "come on out already! Stop sneaking around and come and FIGHT ME!"
Keine, from the village's entrance, worriedly calls "stop this! Come in here, it's dangerous out there. Didn't Reimu tell you!?"
The boy looks at Keine; who gasps when she sees the fury in his eyes; then he says to her "I know it's dangerous. I'll make SURE to make it dangerous for that thing! Stay back or you might get caught in the battle!"
"This can't be Ail, can it?" thinks Keine as she wonders whether or not to go and force him back into the village, but just then a shadow in the shape of a large snake appears right in front of the boy.
Keine gasps and begs Ail to get into the village, but he stands firm in place.
He is smiling; however his smile seems twisted and bloodthirsty as he says "at last, I found you!"
He takes an offensive stance as he readies himself for battle, while the shadow stands on the tip of its tail and tries to take a human-like shape; however it can't maintain it for too long and turns back to a snake-like figure, then launches itself directly at Ail as fast as it can.
A large blue square suddenly appears on the floor and gets in between Ail and the shadow, shocking said creature and forcing it to slither away.
The boy is about to chase after it, but then Reimu shouts "what the HELL are you trying to do, you idiot!?"
Ail tries to go after the shadow, but the shrine maiden tosses various charms right in front of him.
He glares up at Reimu and says "either help me, or get out of my way. I am going to DESTROY that thing!"
The girl descends slowly and gets right in front of the agitated boy, holding more charms on her left hand, and her gohei on her right.
They both stare at each other, then Kyo and Marisa arrive, however the witch doesn't land, and just hovers above them.
"What are you doing? Land already" demands Kyo
Marisa gives him a serious glance and says "you don't want to be doing that now. Those two are going to have a duel, ze."
Kyo despairs and says "no way! We gotta stop them, now!"
Marisa lowers her head and says "it's too late. It already started."
Kyo looks at Reimu and sees her determination, then looks at Ail and sees his anger.
"Whoa, what happened to Ail? He's furious," exclaims Kyo, to which Marisa simply replies "just watch now."
Ail shouts at Reimu "get out of the way! I'm going to stop that thing!"
Reimu shouts back "you idiot; that thing is too powerful for you! You're only going to get hurt, or worst, killed!"
Ail doesn't reply and just looks back at the shrine maiden, and then the girl says "you are way over your head, if you think you can beat me!"
Ail starts shooting his danmaku at Reimu, who simply blocks them with her charms and shoots back with focused shots that home in on the boy, but he shoots his own focused shots and blasts the shrine maiden's homing charms in mid-air.
Reimu charges up another barrage of homing charms while Ail shoots his focused shots again, but this time they only slow Reimu's attacks.
He dodges them just as they are about to touch him, but then Reimu lunges to him and kicks him hard to the air, then shoots more of her charms at him, however the boy spins in mid-air and shoots countless bullets, breaking her charms before sending more her way.
She back flips to avoid Ails shots, then pulls out a spell card and declares "I'm not holding back anymore! Divine Spirit, Fantasy Seal!"
About ten colorful balls of light spread out and home in on Ail. He know this spell; and he also know there's no chance of escape, so instead he quickly summons a blue barrier that protects him from Reimu's attacks.
The barrier breaks just as the last ball of light impacts it and saves him from direct contact. Reimu gasps and says "how did you-?"
She readies herself for another attack but before she can continue Anilan pulls out his own spell card from a pocket, and then sounding incredibly surprised she asks "how the hell did you get a spell card?"
Ail smiles and declares "Earth Sign, Forestall Heartbeat!"
Again the bullets beat in the rhythm of a heartbeat, and the many green and white crystals surround Ail, shaping a heart before flying slowly toward Reimu, and then they are followed by large blue round bullets that home in on said girl.
The shrine maiden grits her teeth and gets out of the way of the bullets, doing her best to avoid the blue danmaku balls that keep following her.
Ail takes this chance to chase after the shadow, but four charms appear right in front of him and then a blue battier materializes between them.
He almost crashes against it but stops in time, missing the crash by a mere cat's hair.
He turns around and sees the Reimu has escaped his spell card and watches as she pulls out another spell card and declares "Dreamland, Duplex Great Barrier!"
Two square barriers form around her, though they aren't for defense. Ail notices this and starts shooting her, however before his shots can reach her she shoots a barrage of red charms, followed closely by a barrage of white charms again, and again.
Ail notices they disappear for a moment then appear inside the other barrier, and then disappear again before going straight at him from the last barrier.
He has so little room to escape he despairs and thinks "dammit! I need something... something to defend myself against her bullets."
Very suddenly another spell card appears around his chest, right where his heart is. He looks at it, grabs it, and quickly declares "Brightness, Blinding Heart!"
Ail's chest starts to shine white, and then large white rings expand in random positions around him.
Some are horizontal, others vertical, and others set themselves sideways, creating an almost perfect defense, protecting Ail from Reimu's charms.
It doesn't stop there as the rings keep expanding, pushing Reimu back and to the air. The rings almost get Marisa and Kyo too, but the witch is quick enough to get out of range.
Reimu rubs her head as Ail's spell finishes, and then she shouts at Kyo "HEY, I thought you said Ail was funny when he got angry... I'm not laughing!"
Kyo shouts back "it was funny when he was playing video games!"
Reimu gets up and pulls out another spell card and says "alright Ail, if you're not listening to reason, then I'll have to beat some sense into you!"
Ail just stares back at Reimu as she lifts her arm with the spell card on it and loudly declares "FANTASY~ HEAVEN~!"
Seven white yin-yang orbs surround Reimu, then without giving Ail the chance she rushes to him and beats him up; kicking him hard to the air where she does a variety of combos on him.
All 7 yin-yang balls begin to shine after said beating, and then suddenly start spinning around Reimu violently and shooting innumerable amounts of charms at such speeds, Ail can't even summon his barrier in time.
So many of those charms keep hitting him at the same time that after a bit of punishment the boy explodes, and ends up spinning in the air, screaming as he spins on and on. He is unable to recover at all.
After the spell cancels Reimu sighs and says "let's go."
Kyo can't hide he's feeling surprised when exclaiming "but shouldn't we go looking for him?"
The shrine maiden rests her gohei on her right shoulder and says "I know where he fell. Don't worry," and then she smiles as she looks at Kyo and Marisa, who are now close to the ground.
Back at the shrine they hear Mima laughing hard and saying "you really challenged Reimu? HAHAHAHAHA! Talk about living dangerously. Ahh, but don't worry, I know just how that feels."
Kyo looks at Reimu in disbelief and says "so you sent him flying back the hard way huh?"
With a very satisfied look in her face the girl nods and replies "that's what happens when you mess with me."
Kyo's face turns ghostly pale and he shivers a bit when Reimu says those words so casually.
At the hot springs to the right of the shrine Mima floats just above the water while wearing Reimu's shrine clothes; and just above her, hanging from a tree branch, is the singed and really messed up Ail.
He lifts his sights, smiles and weakly waves at them while weakly saying "hey..."
Reimu casually floats to Ail and asks "so, you calm down yet?"
The boy lets out a quick "yeah" then the shrine maiden tries to free him from the branch, but he is too heavy for her, so she lets him go.
He gets out of the hot springs saying "wow that was refreshing" then laughs.
Mima smiles at Reimu and asks "so what happened?"
The girl stares at the evil spirit for a bit then says "he just needed a good beating is all. And what are you doing wearing those?"
The ghostly woman poses in such an alluring manner that Kyo gets a nosebleed, and then she says "don't these look good on me?"
Kyo gives her a thumbs up, and Ail just says "yeah, but I think blue suits you better."
Reimu facepalms hard, groans, and says "at least she's wearing a sarashi over those."
Mima merely smiles and giggles.
Back inside the shrine Ail explains everything that happened, how that shadow got Sanae, how his despair to help her unleashed his first spell card, and Kanako's and Suwako's reaction.
"And then all I wanted to do was hunt that thing down and turn it to dust," he finishes saying.
Reimu bangs her hands on the table and shouts "that was the STUPIDEST thing you could have ever done! That thing's powers are beyond your own! Even my trap merely scared it away!"
She winds down after a sigh then says "I don't think even I can stop it that easily."
Ail lowers his head then says "I did notice that when the shadow of MY danmaku hit its own shadow, it made it let go of Sanae, so I thought that... maybe if I aimed at its shadow, I could destroy it."
Reimu sighs and says "I don't blame you for getting angry, but risking your life for revenge? I thought you were smarter than that!"
Ail knocks his head with his right fist softly, then smiles as he says "I can be hard-headed sometimes."
The shrine maiden rolls her eyes and replies quite calmly "no joke."
She then stands up and loudly says "listen you; ALL of you! Until we know what we are dealing with none of us is to hunt that thing or go out alone, got it!?"
Reimu sits down looking quite mad and grumbles "whatever it is, it's not using spell cards, and it's aiming for no less than killing. That pisses me off."
Kyo, Mima and Marisa look at each other with worry however Ail and Reimu look at each other rather seriously, then Reimu nods, and then Ail heads outside and sits by the shrine's porch.
Four days later the snow is covering most of the shrine, the sun can barely shine through the thick clouds, and the days are colder and colder; although this doesn't seem to bother Ail at all.
Somehow, Reimu convinced Mima of getting off the shrine clothing, but the woman didn't care much. She was just having fun.
Marisa tries to stay in her house, but she keeps getting bored too easily and constantly visits the shrine, even knowing of the dangers of traveling alone; although there have been no reports on any more attacks so far.
"Come on Reimu. I need to keep training. I almost have that barrier mastered," whines Ail from outside at the back of the shrine.
From inside Reimu shouts back "yeah, you're doing great. Keep it up."
The boy sighs loudly then starts to summon his barrier, and keeps it active for as long as he can.
Reimu sits on the porch to watch him train and almost falls asleep, but she notices Ail stops training and gets curious.
Ail keeps looking to his left and turns all his attention to the darkened skies, then starts to fly in that direction. The shrine maiden shouts "what is it?"
The boy comes back down with Ran on his arms, whom is holding a frightened Chen that keeps calling for her master.
Inside the shrine is now a big bag with a note that reads "please take care of my shikigami" attached to it, and is full of clothes. It appears from within one of Yukari's gaps.
"Please, save Ran-sama!" shouts Chen.
Ran is unconscious, her face is turning blue and Reimu rushes to see if she can help, and then Mima comes from the shrine's roof as well.
"What happened to her, Chen?" asks Reimu, but the nekomata is too distraught to answer while still calling for Ran.
Ail, without saying a single word, flies away toward the Bamboo Forest with haste. Reimu tries to stop him, but he is going too fast to catch now.
The shrine maiden groans with frustration and then says "Mima, help me get her inside."
Reimu grabs Ran's shoulders while Mima grabs her legs, then they place her in a futon.
Ran starts to cough a little, and then Reimu asks her "Ran? Can you hear me? What happened to you?"
Sobbing, Chen says "she *hic* was being squeezed by this *sob* large black snake monster."
Reimu's eyes fill with fear, then the touches around Ran's torso and says "I-I think there's something broken in here!"
Chen starts to cry just as; from the doorway; Eirin's voice is heard saying "then let's fix her up right away." She and Anilan stand by the doorway while the Lunarian scans the shrine with her eyes.
After an hour or so, Ail finds himself pacing outside the shrine when Kyo arrives from town with Suika.
"Hey Ail, what's the matter, bud?" asked Kyo as soon as he sees his friend's worried face.
Ail sighs and says "It's Ran. She was badly injured. Eirin's inside treating her right now."
Suika asks in a very serious tone of voice "was it that thing again?"
The boy nods, then Suika rapidly takes a big gulp from her gourd, then says "dammit! It's breaking the law. It has to be stopped, now; before it kills!"
She punches the floor very hard, and then sits down equally hard. Kyo tries to cheer her up, but he can't find the words for it.
After pacing for some time the doors to the shrine's living quarters open up, and Ail rushes to see and asks "How is she!?"
Eirin lifts her hand and says "she's resting now. It was tricky. The only way I could treat her, was if there was a shadow of her on the wall."
Ail ponders for a second then says "so... that thing is damaging their shadows... is that it?"
Eirin frowns and says "somehow, it's breaking the laws of restrain, danmaku and spell cards. This is very dangerous."
Suika punches the ground again, even with Kyo still trying to cheer her up.
Inside the living room Chen is still sobbing and rubbing her face against Ran's while Reimu heads outside, grabs Ail's shoulder and says "we're taking Eirin home now. Come."
Eirin smiles, and then all three lift off and head toward the bamboo forest.
Just as they say their goodbyes to Eirin, Reimu says to Ail "come. We have to find Shikieiki. This is getting way out of hand."
They arrive close to a river, and then Reimu says "careful not to fall in. This is the Sanzu River. You fall in, then a fate worse than death will befall you." A bit shaken, Ail manages to nod.
They find Komachi hiding behind a rock, sleeping soundly. Ail stares at her massive nose bubble and says "wow... there must not be much to do here, huh?"
Reimu grins then shouts "oh my, what a LAZY shinigami; she's been sleeping here all day!"
Komachi wakes and springs up then grabs the shrine maiden by her shoulders, shakes her and yells "what do you think you are doing!?"
From behind them, Shiki uses her rod to bang Komachi on the head, and then says "you know Komachi, this behavior cannot continue. What if I were to fire you and get someone else to do your job? Why, maybe a fairy could do your job better than you do, or maybe I could add an automated motor to the boat, let IT carry the spirits instead. This behavior of yours is..."
She continues on, scolding and lecturing the shinigami while Ail gets close to Reimu and whispers "what have you done to her... poor girl."
The shrine maiden whispers back "don't worry about that."
Reimu gets close to Shiki then says "Miss Yama, what's going on with the other Yamas? Are they going to do something about that thing?"
Eiki looks at Ail and Reimu then stutters a little, but then she clears her throat and says "Reimu... I'm sorry, but all I have is bad news for you. The other Yamas and I had decided to come and seal this soul and take it back with us, however we got word from a higher source that this soul is to stay here. It is needed here for a powerful reason, so I am sorry to say, but..."
Ail steps up and says "how can that be the decision? That's not even fair. That thing is out there and it's hurting loved ones. It's just a matter of time before it kills someone. Come on, ignore those stupid orders and-!"
Shikieiki points her rod at Ail and looks dangerously mad while saying "you will keep your mouth shut, or I'll make sure you repent! Those orders are imperative. We Yama cannot disobey them."
Ail sighs and drops his hand while Eiki lowers her gold rod and says "it seems you have been training hard. Look, don't worry; with souls like Reimu's and your own here, that shadow will be dealt with. Trust me when I say, it won't kill a single soul."
The yama turns around and lets out a smile, which she covers with her rod, and says "go back home now. Don't worry; just keep training, take care of each other, and it'll all become clear soon."
Ail sighs then sits down on the ground. Reimu pats him on the shoulder out of pity, and then signals him to head back.
Just as they leave Komachi looks at them both with worry, then turns around and notices the countless spirits waiting to be ferried across and changes worry for dread.
Shikieiki shakes her head softly then says to her "you better quicken your pace. I'll be waiting for each and every one of these souls to reach me before nightfall."
Komachi whines and wants to complain, but starts calling one spirit at a time to her boat.
The next day Ran is up early and feeling like a new shikigami. "Ahhh~ I feel like a new shikigami."
Reimu yawns while stretching, and then sounding slightly annoying she says "hey, didn't they say that just now in the narration?"
Ran flaps her hand in the air saying "hey, that's a dangerous comment."
"Ran-sama, you're all better" shouts Chen as she jumps on Ran and gives her a hug.
The vixen pats her head and says "yes, Chen, I am much better now."
Mima and the others wake up and look at Ran while waiting for explanations, and so the nine-tailed fox sits down; with Chen falling quickly asleep on her lap; then tells her tale.
"This... snake's shadow... it came from nowhere, and so quickly too. I wrapped itself around my own shadow and I couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to be split in half from the way it was squeezing me, but Lady Yukari came to rescue me just in time. She shot her danmaku at the direction of the sun and hit the shadow with the shadow of her own danmaku, and thus freeing me."
Reimu and Ail both say "so THAT'S how we hurt it then."
Ran continues "that's not all. It spoke to me in my mind. It told me it wanted to get out of the barrier. That it knew killing a shrine maiden or one powerful youkai would be enough to get out. Reimu, it's hunting for you."
Looking quite serious the shrine maiden says "well, it can look for me all it wants, when we meet I'll be ready and I'll make it answer for all it's done."
Ran lowers her head then says "there's also, err..."
She takes the three letters out of her pockets and hands them to Reimu, then backs away with Chen on her lap.
Reimu stares at them for a moment, then furiously asks "where did you get these?"
Ran, hesitantly answers "umm... L-Lady Yukari had them."
"H-HEY, that one's for me!" shouts Kyo; and then Reimu quickly gives him the letter.
Kyo opens the letter and reads it, then after he's done he says "argh, they used my full name. I TOLD them to call me Kyo!"
Reimu and Ail look curiously at the muscled boy, and then he says "alright, fine, it says: 'Dear Kaizo Yumeda; These two girls came here one day and told us you were alive in some place called Gensokyo and told us they could deliver this letter. We hope you are alright. Ail's parents are dead worried for him, so I hope you are taking good care of him as well. We love you and hope you come home soon. Love, Mom and Dad.'"
Ail looks a little embarrassed, and then Reimu says "you have one too;" and then hands him the letter which he immediately opens and reads out loud.
"Let's see, it says: 'Son; we hope you are well and we hope you understand that we miss you bunches. These girls say you are doing just fine, but we can't help but worry. Hope we get a response from you soon. Take care of yourself and Kyo too. Together you can overcome any obstacle so you can come back home to us safe and sound. Loves, Mom.'"
Ail chuckles lightly and then says "heh, if she saw me now, eh?"
He looks behind the letter and sees there's something written in gold; a small message saying "Just do it! No regrets!"
Ail doesn't mention that to anyone but wonders what the message means.
Reimu opens her letter and decides to read it out loud as well.
"Look, it's from those girls, Renko and Maribel. It says: 'Dear miss Hakurei Reimu, we hope that everything is well. We wanted to let you know that we contacted the families of those boys. At first the Yumeda family didn't believe us, but by some miracle they suddenly did believe us and had us deliver a message. Then there was the Inmodo family. The father and sister almost called the police on us, but the mother, she's an angel. She believed us from the start. She didn't want to worry Ail, so she said she wouldn't send any messages for the moment. But Miss Reimu, what about that new portal; for us to go in? Your friends, Maribel and Renko.'"
Reimu looks at Ran then says "since when did Yukari have these?"
The blonde shakes her head and softly says "I'm not sure. She just asked me to deliver them to you."
Reimu thinks for a moment, then pulls a piece of paper, ink and a feather from under her right sleeve, and then writes them about the current dangers in Gensokyo, and that once this matter was settled she will do her best to get them into Gensokyo.
This time, after signing, she asks Kyo and Ail to sign as well, and then says "and with this they'll have proof that you are well."
Ail and Kyo both smile and then the spiky-haired boy gives Reimu the thumbs up.
Ran gets up, gently leaving Chen next to the kotatsu, and approaches Ail and says "and you Ail, I was instructed to train you to and teach you how to manipulate barriers; just like my master."
Ail looks at Ran suspiciously at first, but then he opens his eyes wide and smiles.
Ran smiles back then says "alright then, shall we begin?"
Ail gets a bit worried, but before he asks Ran tells him "don't worry, I heal fast. My injuries are completely gone, now come on and let's start your training."
For three straight hours they train. Ran is very tough on Ail; shooting her best shots at him from the second they begin, leaving Ail out of breath by the time they finish.
"Alright, that's it for today" says Ran with a very satisfied look on her face.
Ail drops to the ground on his back and breathes heavily, while Ran looks at him and says "you are pretty amazing; being able to last this long and all. But don't think it's gonna be this easy every day. Tomorrow we start getting serious."
Ail takes a very deep breath and says "I can't-I can't wait, heheh..."
Ran grins then says "well, you better rest up... and get out of the snow, or you'll catch a cold!"
She helps the boy get up then they all have a good lunch and rest up.
For five weeks they keep on training; Ran intensifying the training each day; and they even get Reimu to join in twice, however she simply beats them both, and then leaves to drink some tea afterward.
Ail has already mastered summoning powerful barriers at will and is slowly but steadily learning how to open gaps, cutting through distance barriers.
"Ail, you have to be careful with this particular power" says Ran as they both meditated inside the shrine.
"When opening a gap between two locations, you have to make sure you don't open them in dangerous places, like say a lava pit, or under the water. The results could be disastrous, so I want you to keep opening them in close locations, like the village, or the lake. Once you have mastered these close locations, then you can start opening gaps to farther locations, or on to different domains even."
Ail asks "like different dimensions and such?"
Ran then says "just concentrate on close locations for now."
The next day Ran says to Ail "for today, your training will be... to rest."
The boy looks at her funny as she continues "everyone needs a break once in a while. However, don't think of this as just rest, alright?"
Ail doesn't get it, but he nods, then Ran gets under the kotatsu and starts helping Chen with her math.
There have been no reports of any more attacks so everything is slowly going back to normal, although both Ail and Reimu can feel its presence; the shadow keeps getting stronger each day.
Since it's a rest day, Ail decides to go and visit the lake, and after landing at the Scarlet Mansion's island, he starts rubbing frozen shore to enjoy the soothing feeling, then Meiling comes by.
She is going to try and scare him as she tiptoes closer, however without even turning Ail says "oh, Meiling. Day off?"
Meiling has a vacant expression when she asks "how did you...?"
Ail says "I could feel your presence."
Meiling then smiles and says "Ooh~! Yeah, Sakuya said I could take a little break for today. Can I join you?"
Ail smiles then says "sure".
They talk and talk for about thirty minutes, talking about their trainings and their masters and friends, then Ail tells Meiling something rather peculiar from the outside world.
"And there was this game called Youhou, where you played as either a crazy blond shrine maiden, who was the main character, or her genius scholar friend that would fly using a small rocket, and they would battle all these crazy characters, all with amazing abilities. They lived in a place called Ginipokyo, where all sorts of beings lived together in harmony, supposedly."
Meiling looks on with anticipation, and then Ail says "and all that came from the mind of a genius drunken programmer. Funny he worked independently on those games too. Normally when something gets too good bigger companies will try to take it somehow."
Meiling, still looking impressed says "the outside world sounds so complicated. I think I like Gensokyo, just as it is."
Ail looks toward the frozen lake then says "you know, so do I. You could say... I love Gensokyo just as it is."
Just then they hear Cirno calling them "Hey! I'm going to freeze you!"
Short after, two icicles miss them as they land just in front of their feet, then they both fly to get closer to the ice fairy that is next to another woman.
She has lavender eyes and curly pink hair, and wears a blue and white dress with a golden brooch that resembled the alchemic symbol for silver, a white cape, and a scarf that is almost invisible.
The woman looks friendly so Ail decides to get a little closer, but Meiling holds him back and whispers "be careful of her."
Ail stays where he is and asks "hey Cirno, who's your friend?"
The boastful ice fairy says "this is my very best friend in the whole world, Letty Whiterock. She's the only one that plays with me when she's awake."
Ail bows his head a little and says "a pleasure to meet you Miss, I am Ail."
Letty remains where she is and just smiles, but doesn't respond him; Meiling then hears Sakuya calling her and says "Ail, Sakuya's calling me. Why don't you come with me? Flan would love to see you again."
Without turning his sights from Letty, the boy slowly backs away and says "sure, umm... Miss Whiterock, it was a pleasure."
Just as he turns around the woman tries to sucker-blast him with an ice danmaku shot.
Ail reflects it back then says "oy, Miss, that's not very nice!"
"Young man, I cannot let you leave this place; even if you are Cirno's friend" finally says Letty.
Cirno tries to complain, but the woman gently pushes her back and whispers something to her, then the ice fairy pouts cutely and goes to sit on a tree branch.
"Meiling, you better go to Sakuya, before you get in trouble," says the boy.
Meiling nods and asks "are you going to be ok?"
Ail winks and smiles at her, and then says "I'll be at the mansion in no time."
The gate guard hesitantly leaves, and now it is just Ail and Letty flying above the frozen Lake while keeping their eyes locked on each other.
"Young man, I hope you came prepared to accept your destiny;" says Letty as she extends her arms and readies herself to shoot danmaku.
Ail simply looks at her calmly and says "nah, I'm not ready yet. I still want to see spring in Gensokyo!"
Letty smiles and says "what cocky attitude. I better do something about that, human."
Suddenly green crystals and medium sized blue balls danmaku bullets fly all around her. It looks like a snowstorm of danmaku, and yet Ail dodges and grazes the shots as if they were nothing, then he shoots a few focused shots at her, knocking her back a bit.
The woman glares at him and says "young human, you really are pushing it. I'm going to have to get serious."
Letty pulls out a spell card and declares "Cold Sign, Lingering Cold, Lunatic!"
She starts shooting aqua colored danmaku in straight lines; the first danmaku ball is larger than the ones behind. The smaller ones spread out and make the shots look like large birds, while around her Letty starts shooting mid-sized blue balls paired in trios that spread at random.
Ail has some trouble dodging but manages to beat her spell card without a scratch.
Letty backs away once more, then smiles and says "young man, you sure are annoying. Let's see how you handle this? Mystic Sign, Table Turning!"
Suddenly, ghostly lasers fly around Letty, unleashing a barrage of blue petal-shaped danmaku that scatter and flying everywhere at random.
Ail is overwhelmed. He immediately pulls out his own spell card and shouts "Brightness, Blinding Heart!"
White rings spread quickly from his heart and cut through Letty's own danmaku, reaching her almost immediately and blasting her out of the sky and down down to the frozen lake.
The ice breaks the moment her body hits the ice, and then Letty goes down fast.
Ail quickly rushes down and grabs Letty's hands, pulls her out of the icy waters, and flies back to the island where Cirno waits for them.
"Young... young man" begins the out of breath woman, "even though I am your enemy, you save me from the ice waters?"
Ail says "it's not my style to leave others in distress; particularly if they are Cirno's friends."
Letty smiles and says "well, the icy waters won't kill me, but I could still drown. Thank you. Cirno picked a good friend for sure."
Ail smiles back, and then Letty says "I'm sorry I attacked you like that, I just needed to get to know you a little better, that's all."
The gives her a thumbs-up, then pats Cirno on the head and says "I better go and visit the mansion. Take care you two"
At the Scarlet Devil Mansion Ail is greeted by Koakuma, who takes him to Patchouli's library, and when in there he sees Sakuya, Remilia and Patchouli looking over some plans.
"Ail," says Remilia "so glad you came. We need you to tell us what's with that shadow thing."
Just then Flandre comes from behind and jumps at Ail and shouts "big brother!"
She then hugs him tightly as she lands on him so hard and makes his bones crack, his eyes spin, and yet he pats Flandre on the head and says "how are you little Flan?" then faints.
After a miraculous full recovery he explains to them how the shadow attacks and how it can be repelled with the shadows of bullets. He also explains to them how that thing aims to kill, and can attack without the need of spell cards. "...And so, I suggest you station more fairies with Meiling... just in case."
Remilia nods, then Flandre adds "don't worry, big brother. I'll be with big sister Meiling the whole time! She will be safe always!"
Ail pats her on the head and says "also remember to keep the others inside safe as well, ok?"
Flandre smiles and nods, then runs back outside. Ail opens a gap to the village and says "take care, and if anything happens, let us know."
They all nod, and just before he leaves Patchouli says "let's have another little duel next time." The boy nods and enters the gap to the village.
At the village, everybody is in their houses when the boy arrives; there are just a few kids playing in the snow while Keine looks after them from her school.
Ail waves at the teacher and then she waves back at him, but before they can exchange greetings he hears a loud, bloody scream and says "Mystia!?"
He runs outside the village to the path to the shrine and finds Mystia half-way there; Keine follows closely behind him.
Mystia is twitching on the floor, her eyes open and empty. Ail shouts, hoping to get a reaction from her, but it's as if she can't even hear him, so he lifts her up, but then Keine shouts "wait, her wing!"
After Ail gently places her back on the ground and turns her sideways, he sees her wing has been impaled and broken at the joint.
"Keine" says Ail "go to the shrine and tell Reimu to meet me at Eirin's Clinic. I'll get you there safely."
He opens a gap for her but she hesitates, so Ail forces a smile and says "it goes straight to the shrine's entrance, I promise."
Keine nods and enters immediately, and appears at the back of the shrine, right next to the entrance and looking a bit surprised, and then she calls Reimu.
Ail opens another gap, gently picks the youkai girl up, and says "well Mystia, this one goes pretty far... to the Hourai clinic... I hope."
And so he enters, holding Mystia as gently as he can and immediately pops in front of the Hourai Clinic.
Kaguya spots him going through the gap then shouts "YOU! What do you-!?"
"Shut it, princess! Where's Eirin!?" shouts Ail looking almost angry.
Eirin comes out of the clinic then sighs and says "get her in here, quick."
Inside the Lunarian looks at the wound and says "it's another shadow wound... I'm am going need light to treat this."
Without wasting a second, Ail grabs a spell card and declares "Brightness, Blinding Heart" and around his heart a bright light shines, giving Eirin a perfect view of Mystia's shadow, however no rings come out.
Reimu comes in then sees Ail concentrating on keeping the rings inside of him and shining the light.
Eirin eyes Reimu, who reaches for the bandages and hands them to the woman, then holds two small wooden planks on Mystia's wing as Eirin wraps the bandages around them, then injects the wing and then says "it's alright Ail, you can stop now."
The boy expels his held breath as the light vanishes, then he gasps for more air while Reimu calmly asks "what happened?"
After catching his breath the boy says "I don't know. After I got to town Keine and I heard her scream and then found her unconscious on the snow."
Reimu and Ail get closer to Mystia, who with a blank stare looks at Ail and mouths the words "thank you", then closes her eyes.
Reimu then says "this was a shadow wound, I see... but she wasn't squeezed, was she?"
Ail says "it's probably taking other shapes now."
Eirin adds "and dealing considerable damage. Why is it doing this?"
Reimu shakes her head and says "I'm not sure anymore. All I know is that it wants out of here."
After Ail pays, Reimu says "it'll be safer if we walk, or we might hurt her again."
The boy grins and responds "no worries. I can open a gap to the shrine now."
He opens a blue colored gap with many eyes inside, and then Reimu peeks inside and says "wow... you're really getting good. Right in front of the entrance, too."
They wave at Eirin who shouts "take care, alright," then they enter the gap, appearing at the shrine's entrance, where Ran already has a futon ready for Mystia near the kotatsu.
Ail gently places her in the futon and under the kotatsu where the night sparrow sleeps soundly.
Ail Sits on the porch and seems is lost in thought. Shortly after Ran, Chen and Reimu join him.
The blonde fox looks at him worriedly and says "what's the matter? You should be happy. You saved Mystia, and expanded the reach of your gaps. You even learned to control the power of your spell card."
Reimu quickly adds "look, even if you had been there, there was probably nothing you could have done. Maybe it would be you with the hole, eh?"
He looks at them and smiles, and then Chen says "are you thinking something else, mister Ail?"
Ail looks up at the clouded sky and spots a snowflake, follows it with his sight as it falls, and says "I wonder... what would have happened if instead of me and Kyo, those two girls had entered the gap that day?"
Ran and Reimu look at each other while Ail continues "what would have happened if Remilia never attacked me, if Flandre had never experienced her own power? What would have happen to Mystia and Sanae, if I weren't here?"
Reimu pats him on his right shoulder and says "who knows. It's better not to ask these questions. The answer could be quite dangerous, you know that right?"
The boy smiles and laughs, then Ran places her hand on Ail's left shoulder and says "besides, you were there, and you saved them both. That's what is important."
Chen then jumps on Ail's lap and says "Yukari once told me that even without that portal, that you would still come here, because there is no such thing as coin... coinci-dence. That there is a reason why you two came here instead."
Reimu, Ran and Ail open their eyes widely, then Ran says "that's my Chen; a very bright and wonderful young girl."
The cute nekomata smiles at Ran; who gets a nosebleed out of that before she grabs Chen and hugs her tightly.
Right after that Mima, Kyo and Suika arrive from the lake and the muscled boy says "you stop thinking those stupid things, and just live in the moment, alright? We are here and things were dealt with!"
Ail smiles, then says "you're right... you all right. I'll just be thankful I was here to make a difference!"
They all laugh, and then Ran realizes she doesn't have Chen anymore. Mima has grabbed the little cat girl and has started hugging her and calling her an adorable little cat girl.
Ran gets shocked and then gets up and chases after Mima, who will not let go of Chen, and shouts "give me back my Chen! Let her go. Chen! Cheeeeennn, I'll save you!"
The nekomata only giggles, making Mima stop to give her a hug again, and then start running away from the angry vixen again.
Kyo and Suika look at them casually then the muscled boy says "one month at it..." then Suika adds "...and still going."
To be continued...
Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Kyo were created by Willie G.R.
The "Earth Sign - Forestall Heartbeat" and "Brightness - Blinding Heart" spell cards were made by Willie G.R. (any similarities are strictly coincidental, since I'm an average Touhou player yet, and haven't seen all the spell cards there are) Assistance with creating these spell cards: Snapshot2010
JUL 2 2009
Written by
Willie G.R.
-Edited on JUN 27 2013 by Willie G.R.-
