Chapter 21: Preparation
October 20, 2011
The Diabolic Wave has begun!
The End is Nigh at Okinawa Shopping District!
KABOOM!
"How'd I get into this?" The human frowned.
"Why are you all running away? I just want to play..." Flandre frowned.
KABOOM!
"Enough." The human sighed, standing up from his hiding place, "Stop this now, Flandre."
"Who are you?" Flandre smiled, "Are you going to play with me?"
"Mind as well." the human sighed, pulling out his spellcards, "That's how everyone in Gensokyo listens."
"Kyu~"
The human jumped to the side as the air exploded, sending him flying.
"Come on! Play with me some more!"
"Fine." He gritted my teeth and threw his spellcard into the air, "Crush Sign-Debilitate."
The human grabbed the sword and jumped back slicing through the explosion that erupted at where he was standing. He drew close to Flandre and quickly begun to circle her, trying to keep out of range of her Lævateinn.
"Are you still running?" Flandre smiled as she created explosion after explosion at his tail.
The human ignored her and focused on how he could get her unconscious. Because of that he couldn't react fast enough to block the explosion she aimed in front of him.
"HAHAHA! Are you broken already?" Flandre laughed.
…
"Evolution Sign-Everworld Half-Soul Cannon."
The blast of energy cut through the smoke and caught Flandre by surprise, forcing her to take a step back. As she cried out, the human charged through, calling out another spellcard,
"Strike Sign-Instant of the Unified Tiger and Dragon."
The human landed 2 punches full of chi on Flandre. She slumped and lost consciousness. The human let out a sigh. He knelt down and picked up the Lævateinn,
"Confiscated."
He was going to confiscate Flandre's spellcards too before he noticed the humans watching him.
…
He stabbed Lævateinn underground rupturing a pipe.
"Gas leak." The human said before disappearing in the gas.
"What was that for you jerk?" Flandre snarled once she was back at the human's home.
"You were going to destroy the building."
"So?"
"That's bad."
"I was only playing!"
"Can't you play without breaking things?"
"I can't help it!" Flandre frowned, "Everything I play with breaks."
"..."
"By the way where's my Lævateinn and my spellcards?"
"Confiscated."
"What? Give them back!"
"No."
"Why you! You let me go right now!" Flandre cried, pointing at the human angrily.
Flandre looked at her own hand.
"I didn't tie you up."
Flandre coughed before she brought her hands from behind her to settle in a more charismatic pose,
"Return my Lævateinn and spellcards, human scum."
"No."
"Hey! You didn't let me get to the 'or else' part!"
"Oh what are you going to do? Blow me to smithereens?"
"I'm invincible!"
"You're a child."
"I can easily kill you!"
"Who do you think won the battle last time?"
"Me!"
The human took out a spellcard. Then with a flick of the wrist, he fanned out 7 more spellcards.
"Tis but a scratch."
The human turned all 8 around to show her the spells on the reverse side.
"Just a flesh wound."
The human added a 9th one.
"Alright. We'll call it a draw then."
"So what are you going to do?" Flandre sneered, "Are you going to lock me in this room just like my sister?"
"Do you really think I'm that cold hearted?"
"Y-You mean..."
"I could. But I think it's safer if I can see you. Even if that means that you're free."
"...Free?"
"What?" The human turned around at Flandre's tone, "...It's not complete freedom. I'll be watching over your shoulder to make sure you don't kill anyone. Well, I guess that's more freedom than your sister gave y-"
The human was taken aback when Flandre suddenly hugged him.
"But I can go outside right? I can see the light, I can breath new air! Right?"
"...Yeah."
"What is this place?" Flandre asked, hiding behind the human.
"It's a park." The human explained almost sarcastically, "It's where kids your age gather to play."
"So they're all 495 years old?" Flandre cried, wings flapping excitedly.
"Well...your visual age."
"Oh." Flandre came out from behind the human and was about to run off before she stopped and turned around, "May I play with them?"
The human raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
As Flandre played with the kids, he sat on the nearby bench and watched.
"What are those?" The kids asked, prodding her wings.
"They're my wings!" Flandre cried.
"Are they real?" The kids asked, excited.
"Nope!" Flandre said, following what the human had told her.
"Aw."
"Hey, do you want to play soccer?"
"What's soccer?"
"You don't know what soccer is?"
"Oh, I know that ball! I'll play!" Flandre smiled, "I don't have my Lævateinn though, so I don't know how good I'd be."
"What's a laviathan?" The kids asked.
"It's my sword!"
"Wow, you have a sword?"
"Yep, but my brother took it from me!"
"Aw."
The human looked away when the kids glared at him once Flandre pointed him out.
"They're cute aren't they?" A girl asked as she sat down next to him.
"...I suppose."
"Where's the mother?"
"...Off."
"On a trip?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Are you sure you should let her have those wings of hers?"
"...I can't get her to part with them."
"Aha. I guess all girls want to become a magical girl now."
"Relisa." A boy called, "Time to go."
"Okay, Mana!" The girl cried, "Well, see ya."
The human watched the 2 walk off before he sighed and looked up at the cloud. The sounds of Flandre's game echoed to him,
"Flandre! Go for it!"
"Okay!"
KABOOM!
"Whoa! The ball exploded!"
"So that's what happens if you pop it!"
"Today was fun!" Flandre cried.
"Glad to hear it?" The human said, sliding tonight's dinner on the table.
"The Human Realm is fun!" Flandre cried, stabbing a steak with her fork, "Hey, hey, can I go there again?"
"That's fine, but are you sure you don't want to visit a Zoo?"
"WHAT'S A ZOO?"
"I'll take you there if you be extra good and not use your power at all."
"DEAL!"
For a few days, the human accompanied Flandre to see many fun things. Flandre kept to her word and managed to...at least break things that they could easily explain away. The human was actually mildly surprised by her restraint. But he knew what was happening. And he knew what he'd have to do.
"Kya!"
The human dropped the ice cream he was buying at Flandre's cry, running off towards where he had left her in the amusement park. He found the bench that he left her at, only to find it empty. For a moment, he panicked.
"Calm down." He said to himself, "She probably won't kill them. Probably."
He pulled out a spellcard and flipped it around, "Chi Sign-Fierce Tiger Energy Release."
Engulfed in Chi, he closed his eyes and focused. Ignore everyone else. Ignore the rides. Focus on Flandre. For a long moment, nothing came to him. Then he picked up a muffled crying. He jumped up, landing atop a merry-go-round, hiding behind decorations so he wouldn't have to explain himself later. He focused on Flandre's cries as the merry-go-round spun, picking it out from the Northeast.
"The next problem is determining their position and figuring out how to move stealthy from there." The human frowned, "But If I stay here for too long, they'd get out of range of my sword. Tch."
The human brought out all of his spellcards, fanning them out,
"I can't use Danmaku. Too destructive and causes too much attention."
Then he flipped them around.
"...Oh...right..."
"Energize Sign-Kappa's Grand Invention."
The cannon appeared at once, poking out from the roof of the merry-go-round, forcing Kyosuke to lean back and point the gun at the sky to remain hidden.
"Tch. Hiding like this is annoying. But...it's better than having to cover up Flandre's murders."
A small panel flipped out from the side, a computer screen that triangulated Flandre's cries to determine her position.
"Taking into account the arc that the shot'll have to take...plus this merry-go-round's spinning...Switch to a singular shot and connect the frequency of the energy to the on-board computer. Set current frequency to minimum so it can pass through air. Suggested time of readjustment, height of 18...I'm talking to myself again aren't I? Screw it, just fire."
Flandre's cry was muffled by a cloth that some humans kept over her mouth.
"How much do you expect we'd get for her?" One of them asked, worried.
"She's dressed nicely." The one holding her sneered, "We'd probably make a killing with this one."
Flandre squirmed at the word "killing".
"Gah, this child still isn't asleep?" The one holding her snarled.
"Do you think those wings are real?" The other one asked.
"What do you think you idiot?"
Flandre kept squirming, and jolted with she heard something get fired from far away. The humans didn't seem to notice, but Flandre turned around to find a blast of energy fly into the sky and begin to arch down. The air that is broke through began to merge with it on it's decent, the energy eventually disappearing leaving a bullet of wind that smashed into her captor. The resulting wind blasted the other kidnapper into a car, smashing his head against the door. Flandre quickly wriggled out of her kidnapper's slacked grip and sat there for a moment, calming down.
"Flan!" The human cried, running towards her.
Flandre got up and quickly ran over, hugging him and began to cry.