"Morning Cole!" Monika cheerfully greeted. "I finished taking down notes on the book you wrote."
"Already?" Cole was skeptical. "I figured it would have taken you at least a week. But this is great, thanks." He continued, moving over to her desk to inspect the book sized folder of notes. "I included page references and everything. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to write a full review, sorry."
"No no, this is perfect." Cole reassured her, as he skimmed through the notes with amazement at the level of detail in the summary. "You told me this was yours, if I'm not mistaken." Cole of course remembered his lie, and covered for it like a natural. "Yes, that's right. I'm hoping this is my big break." I just wanted to make sure all the major plot points-" "Cole, do you have any idea how talented you are?!" Monika practically jumped out of her seat, as if to pounce on him and claim him as her own. "I...uh, well, it's something I've been working on for a few years now." Cole explained.
"This is seriously good, Cole, you've gotta join the literature club!" Cole kind of felt on the spot. It wasn't like he was going to be anywhere else in the foreseeable future, and he did kind of feel bad about the idea of leaving the girl here on her own...he did have business to attend to.
"I'd love to, honestly, but-" "but what?" Monika questioned. "Busy with your investigations, I guess. Wouldn't that be right, detective?"
"That's...basic-" Cole stopped. "How did you know I was a detective?" Monika smiled. "You just told me!"
Cole nodded. "Of course. I did, didn't I?" The logic checked out alright. But something in the back of his mind told him otherwise. "Anyway, what made you say that?"
"Detective?" Monika asked, with Cole nodding to confirm. "I don't usually go out into the village much; But whenever I do, I hear at least one person talk about the man in the funny clothes asking questions. I figured that'd have to be you!"
Cole thought nothing of the villagers gossiping about him, but there was still something unsettling about Monika. She was still smiling, as if nothing was amiss. Cole fixed his hat. "And...do they say what I ask about?" Monika shook her head. "Though I figured it was maybe some small tasks around the city for money, y'know?"
Cole weighed up his options. There was no way he was telling her about everything that happened, that was for sure. But a girl so smart was hardly going to leave it at that. He better keep her happy.
"How many members do you have?" Cole asked. "Right now? Um~, I'm afraid there aren't any..."
"Make that one." Cole smiled. "I'll join." Monika's eyes lit up. "Really?!" Cole nodded, only to be immediately crushed in an vice like grip from Monika. "Thank you!"
"It'd-be great if you-" Cole struggled to get out, before Monika realized what she was doing. "Oh my God, I'm really sorry! Are you alright?" She asked. "I'm fine." Cole stood up, having regained his breath. "I'll be back. We can talk about whatever you'd like."
"Alright, I'll gladly agree to it!" Monika smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, Monika." Cole tipped his hat as he left the room.
Cole looked over to the commotion. He decided to stop a passerby and ask. "Excuse me." He spoke, in Japanese. "What's the crowd gathered there for?"
"Haven't you heard?" The man asked. "Four teenagers went missing a few days ago, and no one knows where they are. Now, I don't know much about it, but I'd say they've been kidnapped, strictly between you and me."
"Kidnapped?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "Do you have reason to believe this?"
"No." The man shook his head. "Just a hunch I have." With that, he was on his way. Cole's detective instincts kicked in however, and he found himself walking over to where the crowd had formed to gather more information.
That was when the screaming started.
Rather, it didn't start, but it instead became louder. Two men were dragging a third back who was having a fit, spasming and babbling on about 'faces' and 'gone from us'.
Cole quickly made his way to the front, being the first to get to the two men who had ran into a house, presumably belonging to the panicked man, as they got him to bed. He didn't stop talking, but he at least calmed down enough to stay in bed.
"What happened to him?" Cole asked. "Hey, I recognize you." The first said, pointing to him. "You're the man of questions."
'Is that my nickname?' Cole thought to himself. 'I gotta meet up with my PR guy.'. The odd thought of levity didn't last long though, as he was proving he earned his nickname, asking questions straight away.
"So who is this man?" Cole asked. "Takashi. Hideo Takashi. His son was one of the four teens that went missing a few days back."
"I don't suppose he was looking for his son when you found him?" Cole asked.
"That's right, he was. He himself had been gone for five hours before we found him, but he was inconsolable. It was as if he'd seen a spirit."
"I see..." Cole wasn't a medical expert, but he could tell that this man, Hideo, had seen something that shocked him into this state. He remembered similar expressions on the faces of his men back in...never mind. He wasn't going to talk about that. "Is it possible he..." Cole coughed. "...found the body of his son?"
"We considered that too." The second man interjected. "There was no sign of a body there though."
Cole paused. He looked at Hideo, still having his panic attack. "I don't suppose you could show me where you found him?"
"His feet have been dragging in the ground since we tried to move him." The first man commented. "Follow those and you'll easily find where he was."
Cole nodded. "Thank you. You've been a great help to my-" He stopped himself. 'Investigation' was no longer an appropriate term. "-research."
"Take care. We wouldn't want for our new sheriff to be rendered useless too." The second man joked. Cole smiled and walked out the door. The crowd was still there, but they payed little attention to him as he made his way out. There was a good amount of chat amongst the crowd, who all had their own theories and ideas. As for Cole, he was already following the faint trail back along the dirt path. It was highly unusual that something that terrified him so much would have caused him to have such a reaction to it.
More troubling to Cole though, were Monika's comments...
The Jack of Blades awoke again. The first time in a long time he had ever been incapacitated by anyone. Maybe even his first time full stop.
He was in a grey, metallic room. "Where...where am I?" He muttered to himself. "Welcome." A voice called out from all directions. "Who calls out to me?!" The Jack demanded. "Show yourself at once!"
One of the metal walls began to raise, as if on cue, revealing a reinforced window, sealing off his cell from an observation room. The Jack recognized the man on the other side as Death's Hand. He who he had lost too...arrogant human! It made the Jack's blood boil. He would soon learn the wrath of the court!
"We require your services." Death's Hand explained. "That is what we were trying to-" "save your words, human!" The Jack spat, swinging at the windows with little success. "I assure you, you will not break those windows." Death's Hand informed him. "Did you not hear me?! Silence!" The Jack demanded.
A minute passed where the Jack attempted a variety of creative ways to break the glass, with none of them even making a scratch. "Bah! You must have done something!" The Jack glared accusingly at Death's Hand. "If you'll let me explain, I would gladly tell you..." Death's Hand muttered. "Very well." The Jack ushered him along. "Explain. And hurry up, will you?!"
"We were looking for a valuable addition to our team." Death's Hand explained. "Inspired by the glory of the Court. We resurrected you, as we knew you were the ultimate solution. We request your compliance only so we can restore your former glory."
"Well..." The Jack paused. "That changes things. If my subjects seek advice, then they have made an uncharacteristically wise choice. Bring me these subjects and I will give them my advice."
"Right away sir." Death's Hand nodded, going off to get Cortana. He sighed in annoyance. That was supposed to be help? What an arrogant bastard. If he was truly 'a valuable part' to the team, then really, they might as well have just thrown down their arms to Green Heart then and there.
"It is not a matter of 'wanting', I assure you, it is a matter of needing!" Richtofen tried to protest to the other three, but he was getting nowehere. Only Takeo would take his side. "That stone and the little golden thing? Forget it." Tank dismissed any protests. "Those things put us in this mess in the first place!"
Richtofen paused. The Focusing Stone. And the Vrill Device. Were they really just-no. No, they were most certainly not mere distractions. They were as important to the pursuit of the Shadowman as the Summoning Key, or the Kronorium.
But where would they find the two items? Not like they were going to pop out of the ground. He especially remembered how challenging it was to get the Focusing Stone especially...
Arriving at the jungle shrine only meant more questions for Richtoden, specifically from Tank Dempsey.
"You said you were gonna explain to us why we're here?" Tank reminded him. "Unless you were lying like the-" "I will fulfill my promise, Dempsey." Richtofen sighed.
"You remember the device at the castle?" Richtofen asked. Tank nodded. "The pyramid." Takeo remembered. "Ja, the pyramid. It is a device known as the MPD. Within it, there is the power to control the undead populace."
"So that is why it interests you." Nikolai muttered. "It concerns me!" Richtofen corrected him. "That is where Maxis is. I had assumed Monty put enough measures in place to prevent an occurrence such as this..." Tank and Takeo looked at each other, realizing it was a longer story than they had time for. "Alright, so we have to look for that thing, but tell me, why are we here?"
"It is not as simple as finding the MPD and then killing the Shadowman. We need more. There is a meteorite here which will provide us with one of three pieces to the puzzle.
The undead weren't as numerous as they had been in previous locations, but they didn't need to be. When the passageways were as narrow as they were at Shangri-La, 5 zombies seemed like 20. But that couldn't deter them, they needed to be strong enough to hold off the undead that followed them this far, and to retrieve the focusing stone.
I see them staring back at me,
They know my name,
Takeo ran past the doorway to the now ruined village where worshippers of the shrine once lived, watching as spikes which had just jutted up out of the ground impaled several undead, turning them into rotting skewered kebabs. Nikolai was accompanying him, cracking open the skull of a straggling corpse with the butt end of his PPSh before signalling to Takeo they needed to move on, moving into the caverns which the locals had used as a power source.
The faces in the sky are
Looking for something more,
On the other side, Dempsey and Richtofen crossed a very treacherous bridge hanging over a waterfall. Erosion had lead the water to create a second basin high up on the mountain, which was where the two were headed, but if they dropped where they were, it would have been a rough encounter with some very tough looking rocks and an even tougher drop of several thousand feet before they hit ground again. Thankfully they made it across with little difficulty and were down a tunnel leading to the basin in seconds. The tunnel was going to be important, but not now. As Richtofen ran ahead, a zombie managed to claw its way down from above, jumping onto Tank. Richtofen quickly sliced open its throat, causing it to recoil and fall to the ground, lifeless once more.
My friends have paper smiles and
Laugh at me in all my trials
In the middle, two wooden wheels lay dormant, opposite one another, with two levers to be pulled resting next to them. The four met up in the middle, with Richtofen powering up both wheels while Takeo used the nearby mystery box. He came back with exactly what Richtofen needed. A gun with a complex design and a lense on the front instead of a barrel.
"Der 31-79 jGb215! Wundebar!" Richtofen exclaimed. The other three scratched their heads in confusion at the complex name too, but fully understood what it was when Takeo fired it at a lone zombie, shrinking it down to the size of a baby before Takeo kicked it into a wall, killing it.
"Shrink Ray." Nikolai corrected Richtofen as the four moved out.
Their eyes are everywhere
And see everything
Back in the place where they started, the four lined up with four stone buttons to be pressed, which appeared to be ancient in design, like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. "Now, we must all press them together. One, two, three!" The four pressed the buttons on the count of three. There was a flash of light and all of a sudden the shrine appeared...younger. It was darker, thanks in part to a now obvious solar eclipse. The most notable thing however was the giant meteor which had appeared on top of the shrine, filled with element 115.
What do they
"An eclipse...but-" "No time to explain Dempsey, we must hurry!"
"Nikolai and Takeo, are you ready?!" Richtofen called out. They needed to match up symbols from opposite sides of the shrine, Richtofen having to yell at the top of his lungs while Takeo and Nikolai endeavoured to get there in time. Sure enough, they did, and soon, the eclipse was gone, and things were as they were before. No meteor or anything.
Need me
And I need them
Meeting back at the starting point, a pressure plate of sorts was jutting out of the ground, much higher than anything any of them had seen. Richtofen knew what it was though. "I will stand on this." He explained to Takeo. "You then may run up to the altar und use the Pack-a-Punch machine on the...Shrink Ray." He expressed slight dejection, but was helpless against popular vote.
See me
And I see them
Takeo did exactly that, returning with a newly upgraded weapon which shrunk a group of zombies, making them not only small enough, but light enough, to kick away by simply running through them.
Within
The lines they've been
Without another word, the four activated the eclipse again, Tank, Takeo, and even Nikolai following Richtofen's lead. He may have been crazy in some of their minds, but he was their only way out. Regardless of their personal opinion, it was obvious he knew what he was doing.
Burned in my mind
The four made their way past the mud room where Tank and Richtofen had been, with a large chunk of the undead following them having been slowed down in said mud. "Remember, stay on the grate!" Richtofen instructed as the three slid down. Richtofen followed them, but was able to fire a shot from his MP40 which flicked a switch, completing the next step.
It all ends so violently I know
My sweet Pareidolia
The eclipse ended again, with the four making their way back to the start again, marred by the aptly named 'Shrieker Zombie'. It was a noise that, in terms of pain, ranked somewhere between nails on a chalkboard and Yoko Ono's Greatest Hits. Once his head was gone, he shut up. Regardless, the four made it back and activated the eclipse once more.
It all ends so painfully and slow
My Pareidolia
The serene and graceful jungle night was interrupted by a small meteor smashing into the waterfall by the slide. "Over there!" Takeo called out. "We need something from that meteor, let's go." Richtofen instructed.
Having made it over, the group saw a green diamond lodged on top of the cliff, hanging close to the waterslide. Nikolai used his Ray Gun, the force of the shot dislodging it and letting it fall to the ground. "Takeo, use your sword to send it down the slide!" Richtofen ordered over the sound of gunfire, as the first big horde they had seen in a while got a little too close. Tank ended up using the Wind Staff to blow them all away, and the four were able to chase the diamond down the slide.
My friends have hollow eyes
It's momentum had carried it to a man made geyser, pressure sensitive. The diamond then rocketed up the geyser, and didn't come back down.
They're made of shapes and curvy lines
The four raced up the tunnel to the water room, back to the part of the shrine where Takeo and Nikolai once were. On his way, Nikolai found a gas valve, and began turning it, hoping to create a distraction to deal with the undead. Once again, the eclipse ended.
Their eyes are everywhere
"There's our prize." Tank pointed to the diamond, nestled nicely on a pedestal high above the geyser. Much too high for any of them to safely reach. "It must stay there, so we can use it later." Richtofen explained. "Now, we need to find the other special zombie."
And see everything
Activating the eclipse again, the toughest step of them all was underway. The 'other' special zombie was dubbed 'Napalm Zombie' by Dempsey. He was entirely covered in flames, and even being within ten metres of him made it feel like your skin was burning. Nikolai's gas leaks had not been without use, as the four lead him down the tunnels, past all the leaks, igniting them.
What do they
Need me
They eventually lead him back to the room where the wheels turned, igniting the final leak and then safely killing the Napalm Zombie, as the eclipse ended yet again, a sign, according to Richtofen, that one of the steps had been completed. Takeo then noticed some claymores resting on a crate near one of the entrances, with spikes on them, more unusually. He looked at Richtofen who nodded back, signalling for Takeo to take them.
And I need them
See me
And I see them
Within
The lines they've been
Eclipse time again, they were in the tunnel that lead down to the waterfall, almost as if you were to approach it from the other side, it wouldn't appear to be there at all. The claymores with the spikes attached were lined up opposite four holes that were leaking water, each receiving a spike that perfectly clogged the hole as the undead ran by. Dempsey then walk into the middle of the basin and press a button supposed to be a trap for unsuspecting explorers. He pressed it, but the waterfall was nowhere near as strong as it once was. The next thing they knew, the eclipse was over.
Burned in my mind
It all ends so violently I know
My sweet pareidolia
Activating the eclipse again, empty stone tablets started appearing all around the shrine, and revealing mysterious designs when touched.
It all ends so painfully and slow
My pareidolia
Being on their own meant zombies were a tougher challenge to deal with, but at least they found all the designs. Their proof? The eclipse ended. As the four met up at the wheels again, Richtofen raced towards the jungle part of the shrine, arriving at a tunnel down a minecart track. He saw a snare trap nestled in the bushes, definitely out of his reach. He didn't need to reach it though. Nikolai shot it with the Ray Gun, making it disappear.
The loneliness
Is only missed when
I am alone
"We are almost done. Just do what I do, und try not to die." Richtofen instructed.
Oh
The next few minutes saw the four back under the eclipse, fighting off the Shadowman's desperate attempts to reac their remote location, having very much success. Even having to turn dials in the mud pit was easy, especially with Richtofen's instruction.
Yeah
I might try to find my light tonight
Hide my sight from eyes I try to fight
My nine eyes die of light die by the blight
Ride white knight unite my plight tonight
They're inside me
Starting up the eclipse for one of the final times, Richtofen looked up to see two crystals. The one where they had put the diamond on the pedestal, and one above the mudpit.
They're inside me
He ran off to the side where they had placed the diamond, sounding a gong on the side of the 'eclipse station'. Going to the other side, Tank did the same with another gong.
I'm inside out
It remained in the eclipse, but the two crystals started to emit an orange vibe as the four ran to the one they had placed.
I'm inside out
"Fire the Ray Gun, Nikolai!" Richtofen ordered. He did it without answering back, knocking a stick of dynamite out of the crystal. Exactly what he needed.
They're all around
But that did make him wonder. Nikolai following his instruction so well. Was it a sign of hope? Or of desparation?
Within without
Was he warming up to Richtofen? Or simply refusing to abandon the only other humans around?
Within without
He wanted to ask, but a bitey zombie cut him off as it tried to go for his neck, with Richtofen quickly using his Bowie Knife to put a stop to that.
They're inside
As the four continued the undead began to increase in numbers, hoping to stop the four at their final hurdle.
I'm outside
Seeing the crystal in the eclipse, that was all they needed, even with the flesh eating maggot bags on them, they were able to clear a space in the eclipse station.
They're all around
They're inside me
I'm inside out
"Now, Takeo!" Richtofen ordered, as Takeo shot the second crystal. The shot was amplified by the crystal, focusing on the meteor and shrinking it down to a size where none of them could see it on top of the building.
They're all around
Richtofen looked at the wall where Pack-a-Punch should have been. He took the stick of dynamite and lit it, pushing it through the hole in the wall before he realized what he had done. It wasn't like he had time to think about it though.
Within without
Richtofen was forced back down the slide by a wave of rushing water, finding himself back at the foot of the altar, knowing there was only one thing to do. He ran towards the cavern path, watching another zombie run into the spikes and get impaled.
It all ends so violently I know
He could see victory, it was well in sight.
My sweet Pareidolia
The eclipse had ended, not that it matteted much to Richtofen. He had done as much as he needed to with them, and all that was left now was to retrieve that which he had set out to.
As he fired at the quickly diminishing hordes, he stepped on the pressure plate for the last time, knowing that this would be enough.
It all ends so painfully and slow
Richtofen took a moment after shooting the last zombie through the head to appreciate the work he had done.
At long last, all the undead were killed at the shrine. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked up the steps, back to the wall.
My Pareidolia
The wall was gone, revealing in it's place a small altar, on which the shrunken Focusing Stone was placed. While the other three found a few stray zombies loitering around, they took their time to kill them. Leaving just the four at the shrine.
La lalala
Lalala
Lalala
Lala
La lalala
Lalala
Lalala
Lala
Richtofen took the stone in his hand, feeling an incredible warmth pulsating from it, as if it was too much for the stone itself, which was more than likely the case with it being shrunk to a fraction of its original size.
As Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo walked up the steps to him, Richtofen showed them the meteor. "This is the Focusing Stone. Group 935's first encounter with Element 115, und by far the most potent.
"So why's it still here?" Tank asked. "If your group was supposed to uncover the mysteries behind the stuff, I figured something like this would be the jackpot."
"Various reasons." Richtofen replied. "Not least that the locals insisted on keeping it. We may have tried to persuade another tribe to hand it over, but this one...out of the question. We were lucky to be treated as well by them as we were."
"I see. Even you respected their power this time." Takeo cut in, putting two and two together. "Yes. It was Maxis who made the decision. He knew better than to upset them."
Richtofen looked just beyond the altar where the shrunken meteor had been placed, seeing the ever familiar teleporter waiting to be used.
"Where are you going next, German?" Nikolai finally spoke up, plenty of demanding in his tone. "A cosmodrome in Siberia. There, we will find the following pieces to the puzzle, before we can attempt to dethrone the Shadowman." Richtofen explained.
"A cosmodrome...so they finally got to space...excellent." Nikolai felt a slight grin on his face, before it fell again and he stepped onto the teleporter. "We have come much too far for failure to be an option." Richtofen muttered to himself. "I'll soon get you to safety, Maxis."
With that, the crew were teleported from the exotic jungle shrine, ready to face one more earthly challenge.
"Hey, Richtofen!" Richtofen snapped out of his daze. "Uh?" He looked around puzzled at the other three. "I'm just thinking. They have to be here somewhere. We'll find them again, I know we will. Und together we can finally secure a better tomorrow."
Despite everything that had happened over the past few weeks, Gensokyo remained pretty much the same as it always had been. No one had to make any major adjustments to the new outside, partially due to the insanely powerful beings that resided there, serving as a more than sufficient reason to stay away.
One youkai wearing a red plaid skirt, a matching waist coat and a white blouse, with green, wavy hair and red eyes knew that better than anyone.
Those that didn't understand at first were starting to learn that Gensokyo was sealed off from the rest of the world initially to protect the rest of the world, not Gensokyo. For the more important people in Gensokyo, this meant they had to assert their own authority.
For one Yuuka Kazami, life had certainly been more eventful as of late. Spring had brought with it not only its flowers, but robotic invaders. Dinosaurs too, some of which tried to eat the flowers. Yuuka was on hand to stop them though, and prevent any harm from coming to them.
Oh?
Someone had come to see the flowers. A man wearing a face guard, with, more worryingly, a sword on his back. No doubt he was looking to take some home with him. Yuuka could tell by looking at him, he was nothing but a human. Tch! He should have known better than to be out this far from the village on his own.
She dropped down behind him, hoping to startle him with a sudden noise.
"Hey you!" But he didn't jump. He had clearly stopped enjoying the flowers, but he wasn't alarmed at the voice coming from behind him. He did turn to see what it was though, still interested to know who he was sharing company with. He said nothing though. Perhaps out of spite, Yuuka thought.
"What's a lowly human like you doing out here on his own?"
"I mean no harm." Jago responded. "No harm? I'm not interested in that. I wanna know exactly what it is you're doing out here. Unless you'd prefer I beat it out of you."
"I told you I meant no harm. But if this is what you want, then I shall oblige."
Jago said nothing, but tensed up, anticipating a brutal fight.
Yuuka began to fly above Jago, attempting to take advantage of his inability to do the same, and began firing danmaku at him, watching as he expertly dodged the first few waves of fire, before firing a blast of his own in retaliation.
"Endokuken!" Jago shouted as he threw a fireball, burning through the flower based danmaku and making its way to Yuuka. The youkai was fast enough to avoid it though, and she did exactly that, hoping to catch Jago off guard at close quarters.
However, Jago already anticipated such an attack. He tensed his knees as Yuuka flew in, and launched his attack with perfect timing. "Enkuken!" He shouted, the rising uppercut connecting with Yuuka's gut to send her sprawling to the ground, winded.
"You must let me on my way." Jago spoke. But Yuuka had no interest in a proposal like that. Her pride was wounded, and now, there was no way she'd let the human get away with that. "You..." She growled. "The nerve...insulting me like that...I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" She screamed, lunging in with her umbrella.
Jago was ready to use his sword to counter the umbrella, but realizing that it was, in fact, just an umbrella, he decided against it, and went with a wind kick instead. To his surprise though, the umbrella was more than met the eye, as it turned into a giant rose and smacked Jago across the torso. The weight alone dealt some damage, not even factoring in the thorns along the stem which cut into his skin, opening up several gashes for blood to pour out of.
Jago steadied himself again, realizing how important his sword would be to him in this fight. He drew his blade and launched a counter attack, only for the flower to change again. It sprayed him with a sap which assaulted his uncovered torso and eyes. Jago cried out as he dropped his katana, blinded by whatever flower Yuuka had used. "You like it? I had to look pretty hard for that one. Guaranteed blinding in seconds!" She taunted, as Jago looked around confusedly for his attacker.
Yuuka readied the next wave of danmaku, and began firing relentlessly. He was not so fortunate as he was the first time, being hit by every single blast and feeling all of it. He dropped to his knees, exhausted and wounded by the battle, but Yuuka had one more attack. She took out a strange looking rock and pointed it at Jago, waiting for it to charge up.
"You're pretty lucky for a human. Most don't even get to see my-oops, my bad." Yuuka giggled, realizing the irony of the comment. "Anyway, the Master Spark, which is my invention, not that thieving human's!" She cleared her throat and continued. "It should kill you instantly. I'd consider that lucky. You were punching way above your weight, so your punishment should be way more severe. Oh well, can't be helped."
She fired, Jago screaming as the blast hit him like ten thousand freight trains all hitting at once, and keeping up the pressure for at least ten seconds before stopping.
The Master Spark had done its work. No human would have survived a blast as devastating as that.
Jago appeared unscathed, despite the almighty beating he took, but he was sprawled out, appearing lifeless on the ground.
"Well, I guess I'll have to pay more attention to the new humans." Yuuka muttered, turning to walk away. She began walking down the path that lead back to the flower fields, close by, so no reason to fly.
"Hehehehehe..." Yuuka raised her eyebrow. Nothing.
"Gargos...will punish you..." The voice informed her. "What?" Yuuka was confused. It was obvious now where the voice was coming from. But she still had a hard time believing it. Jago was definitely out for the count, last time she checked. Obviously, she was wrong.
Turning around, Yuuka saw Jago standing back on his feet, an aggressive expression on his face, ready for round 2. But that wasn't the only thing weird about him.
Yuuka stared bewildered at Jago, who's darkened skin, glowing blue irises and jagged blade gave him a far more intimidating vibe than before.
"IF YOU EXPECT MERCY. I WILL DISAPPOINT."
Yuuka tried to lunge in to finish him off, but it was the warrior monk who beat her to the punch, ducking to avoid Yuuka's umbrella flower, and all of its sap, and then using his outstretched leg to sweep Yuuka off her feet and then quickly slamming down on her unguarded head with a scissors kick.
Her reflexes were fast enough to dodge the next swing of his leg, and get back on her feet and launch herself into the air, unleashing more danmaku on Jago. The Tiger Warrior didn't even try to avoid this time. Effortlessly, he walked through it, like every shot taken at him was a snowflake gently falling down from above. He stopped in his tracks and took the sword off his back, brandishing it like a madman. Yuuka grew frustrated, hoping more power behind her attacks would help finish Jago off.
"So, you're tougher than most humans, eh?! Well, it's gonna take a lot more than-" Jago had trown his sword like a spear, piercing Yuuka's chest like a hot knife through butter, remaining lodged there.
She was shocked into silence. The human had not only scored a hit, but a severe one at that. Yuuka began to fall to the ground, hurtling towards the earth as Jago got in position to catch her.
Catch her with an uppercut, that is. "ENKUKEN!" He yelled, jumping into the air and connecting with Yuuka's jaw, sending her into the air again. When she came down a second time, Yuuka was barely able to steady herself, getting her umbrella up to block a punch from Jago, sword still lodged in her chest and putting her in extreme pain. It was almost impossible to concentrate on blocking his onslaught of attacks,
She slammed into the tree, feeling something break as she did so, and she wasn't talking about the tree.
Jago slammed his serrated blade through her again, pinning her to the tree and setting her up for his most devastating attack, as she had set him up for the Master Spark.
Yuuka found herself in an unusual position. Fearing for her life. She had always picked on those she assumed to be weak, and she had always been right in her predictions. But this time, she was wrong. Very wrong, and it could very well be the death of her. Pinned up against the tree, she felt like a dummy used for archery practice, and there was nothing to say Jago was anwhere close to reconsidering his decision. Yuuka hoped that he would calm down, that he would forgive her and let her get on her way.
But Jago didn't. The Endokuken became larger and larger in his hands, beginning to incinerate the nearby flowers. Yuuka could only watch on in horror as the ball of fire became bigger and bigger, before being released from Jago's grasp, along with his chilling final remarks.
"ASHES. TO ASHES."
Author's Note
The biggest challenge when writing for Touhou is the cast of characters. I spend a lot of time trying to decide what characters are gonna get featured, and obviously, I can't feature them all. But I think with the 10 I have, and maybe a few cameos here and there, it should be enough.
Shangri-La had by far the most bizzarre and cryptic easter egg of any map in zombies. I, to this day, am not entirely sure if anyone was supposed to figure it out so soon, and I am aware I didn't depict the EE with full accuracy, but only because I thought Brock and Gary would've taken up just a bit too much space. Pareidolia is one of my favourite songs in the series though.
Also, if you're wondering why I'm giving Cole so much spotlight, I recently finished LA Noire, and I was completely enthralled by his character. Brilliantly acted, scripted and written, though LA Noire might not be the best Rockstar game, it does have the best protagonist. I also do realize there are probably no dudes in Gensokyo, but eh, not like any of them are gonna play a big part.
Same reasoning for Monika too. O_o.