I don't mind if you have criticisms about the story quality, character portrayals, etc. However, if you have any issues with what story arcs and elements I want to use, then please keep silent, because this is my story, and I have the right to tell it the way I want to. I'm saying this because there are a few people who have an issue with me using Touhou characters and bringing the entire series into this story, and so they complain about it and want to get back to pure DC stuff.
If you want to complain about this particular thing, then I say to you now: Get out and only come back until I'm done with it. Please let me finish this story arc and also let those who like it enjoy. The last I need are haters complaining that this story is not going the way they want it to and that they are seeing things they do not want to see. Again, this is my story, so I have to right to tell it the way I want to.
Chapter 27
Welcome to Gensokyo
After what happened at the Tower of Fate, the heroes there all went to the headquarters of the young heroes. The male heroes had just returned from one of their missions when they learned about what happened. Because Cyborg had knowledge and also the ability to travel between worlds, he was called to this place to see he can do something about it. Marisa was also there, not at all looking guilty for what she did.
Looking at Marisa, Cyborg said to her with a somewhat unimpressed look. "Geez... I heard you were quite a kleptomaniac, but I didn't think things would end up like this..."
"Does it look like it's my fault? All I did was decided to pay this place a visit!" she told him in an annoyed tone. "Who would've thought that a demon inside a rock would mess things up so much!"
"This happened because of your weak will combined with your desire to commit the crime of stealing!" Dr. Fate told her in a disappointed and even angry tone. "Such a heart is one of the things that cannot resist Mallus's temptations. Because of your actions, you have led your friend to be possessed by Mallus, and if nothing is done soon, he will be fully released from the Death Stone and take over your friend's body, thus effectively killing her!"
Marisa was shocked to hear this. "Seriously?! Why didn't you say that earlier?! Then we better get back to Gensokyo and save Alice ASAP!"
The students of 1-A were at the side, listening to everything. "Things look bad..." said Izuku.
"A very serious matter, in fact... If we do not do something, an innocent person is going to die! As heroes, we mustn't allow such a thing to happen!" said Tenya.
"If this means more action and villains to beat up, then count me in!" said Katsuki while punching his palm. "I'm still mad over our failure of a mission earlier!"
Hearing this, Momo asked him, "What happened?"
"You know we went on a mission with the others to stop criminals from transporting weapons and other illegal stuff, and that was when we ran into another group of... people... who were going to do the same thing as us," explained Izuku.
"Yeah, and you won't believe it!" continued Eijiro. "Villains were trying to stop those criminals! And not just any villains, but villains working for the government!"
"Villains working for the government?" said Tsuyu curiously.
"We found out that they're called the Suicide Squad," explained Tenya while doing his trademark karate chopping action. "They are villains who were arrested and given the opportunity to cut short their sentences by performing missions for the government. Apparently, they have bombs planted inside their bodies in order to keep them in check, as their leader, who is a soldier, will blow them up if they disobey orders, try to escape, or fail their missions!"
"Since they're technically considered on the side of the law, we allowed them to handle things," continued Fumikage.
"Yeah, and we would feel bad for them if they fail, so we let them resolve things..." said Izuku.
"Which totally sucks! We didn't get to do much in the end!" complained Katsuki. "I need to punch or blow up something in order to vent out my frustration, and I'm going to do it to one of you if I cannot find one soon!"
"Don't worry; you'll get to do it soon," said Cyborg as he approached them. "We're sending a small group to Gensokyo to resolve this whole demon possession thing as soon as possible."
Turning to Fumikage, Marisa said to him, "I think it's best that you don't come over, because your appearance is going to freak out everyone there."
A bit surprised to hear this, Fumikage asked, "I take that the people there all look normal and nothing like a mutant like me?"
"Actually... there are demons that look non-human like you, but they usually don't make themselves known," explained Marisa. "Demons there can either look human or completely non-human, and the latter are usually looked down on. Demons have bad reputations in our world due to their nature of attacking humans and craving their flesh."
"Craving human flesh...?" asked Izuku, sounding shocked.
"Indeed, books about Japanese mythology mention that demons do attack humans and even devour them," Tenya reminded him.
Marisa nodded. "Yeah, that is something you have to watch out for when in Gensokyo. From what I know, the situation is much better than compared to the past, but cases of demons attacking and eating humans still happen every once in a while. Pretty much only demons that resemble humans hang out in the Human Village, the largest gathering of humans in my world, as they are able to blend in. Humans in general prefer demons to look like them as much as possible, so I don't think they'll take likely to a bird guy like your friend here kindly... Before you go screaming racism or something, you should blame the behaviors of demons for causing this in the first place."
"It's all right," said Fumikage. "If my presence will be a burden there, then I will stay here and wish you all luck."
After much discussion, it was decided that the ones who were going were Cyborg, Dr. Fate, Raven, Izuku, Katsuki, Eijiro, Shouto, Starfire, and Kid Flash. Marisa, obviously, tagged along, as she has to go back to her own world after all.
Now that Reimu was able to communicate with John and Zatanna, the latter two were able to tell her properly everything that happened. The group of four were seated around the table outside cafe as they talked about this.
"And once the Death Stone is in your friend's possession for too long, Mallus will be able to escape his confinement completely. However, he cannot exist in the mortal realm without a vessel, so in order to get around that, he will take over the body of the host and transform him into his likeliness. Basically, the host becomes him entirely, and as a result, the host no longer exists. He dies," Constantine told Reimu.
Despite the fact of Alice dying if not rescued in time, Reimu didn't look at all shocked or even worried. Instead, she had a calm look on her face. "Okay, so we all have to do is separate the Death Stone or whatever from her. Sounds easy enough."
"You don't seem all that worried..." pointed out Ochako.
"Everything will turn out all right," Reimu told her. "I've managed to resolve every single incident here without anything bad happening in the end. This will be no different. Alice will be fine. We'll definitely rescue her."
"That's some positive thinking, but we better get moving if you really want your friend to live," John told her. "To my calculation, we have less than a day before Mallus takes over her entirely. I sure hope that pink-haired friend of yours found her."
"I'm sure Kasen can do something about it," Reimu assured him. "But... just to be sure, I think we might as well head over to Alice's house to check things out."
"Don't bother; I'm here," said a woman's voice. They all turned to see that Kasen had showed up at the place.
"Back so soon? Did you find Alice? How is she?" Reimu asked her.
Kasen let out a sigh and then said, "There's been a change in situation..."
A portal opened up in the middle of a bamboo forest, and the group previously decided to come here stepped out. It disappeared when they all came out. Looking around, all they saw were endless rows of bamboos with seemingly nothing else in the distance. When they looked up, the bamboos seem to reach infinitely into the air. "What is this place...?" asked Izuku.
"Well, of all the places to end up in, it just has to be the Bamboo Forest of the Lost..." said Marisa.
"Bamboo Forest of the Lost?" asked Raven.
Marisa nodded. "Yeah, it's a forest located pretty close to the Human Village. It's very easy to get lost here. In fact, you can even say it's impossible to get out of here without a guide. You can walk on and on forever and any find your way out and even walk in circles without realizing it. What's even stranger is that flying won't get you out of here as well! Seriously, I've tried to get out of here by flying before, but it seems that the bamboo will constantly grow alongside you to keep you from reaching the sky! This place is not normal, I'm telling ya!"
"So how do we get out of here?" Izuku asked her.
"Actually, I've been here quite a few times, so I have a good memory of the path to take! And in case it makes you feel better, there are people living here, so if you're lucky, we'll run across them and they'll help us! I know the folks here, so rest assure they're nice people! I think..."
Meanwhile, Cyborg had produced a holographic map of the place, and to his surprise, the map showed nothing but a blank screen and a bunch of dots representing them. "This is odd... The maps not showing..." said Cyborg. "In fact, I've been feeling electromagnetic activities in the air when I came here. It's definitely interfering with my systems and preventing a proper map..."
"There is also magic in the air," said Dr. Fate. "I believe this is the true reason behind the name of this place. The magic as well as the electromagnetic activity disorients one's mind so that he cannot find his place around properly. This is also what is interfering with escape attempts by flight, as the magic keeps you from traveling higher and thus giving the illusion that the bamboos are constantly growing alongside you."
"Yeah, I think that was the explanation the folks at Eientei said..." said Marisa. "Anyway, I know the way out of here, so just follow me!" Marisa began leading the way, and after taking only a few steps, she said to them, "By the way, there are... WHOA!" She suddenly disappeared from before them. To be precise, she fell down a hole that seemingly appeared out of nowhere underneath her feet.
Surprised, the others gathered around the hole and looked down to see her groaning in pain down below, which was about three meters deep. "Marisa! Are you all right?" Izuku asked her.
"Curse that Tewi..." grumbled the witch as she stood back up. "I was gonna tell you guys to beware of something like this..."
Dr. Fate and Raven then sensed something and so turned their eyes to a nearby bush. "Show yourself!" said the former as he pointed his hand at the bush. The bush glowed and then split apart by themselves, revealing a shocked black-haired girl in a pink dress behind it, and she had a pair of floppy rabbit ears growing out of her head.
"What the?! Caught!" said the rabbit girl in shock, and then she turned to run.
"You're not going anywhere!" said Katsuki as he released an explosion behind himself to propel towards the girl. He rammed into her, and together, they tumbled onto the ground, with him on top of her. "Gotcha!"
"HELP! I'M GONNA GET KILLED!" she screamed.
The others ran up to Katsuki as he stood back up, holding the struggling girl by her collar. Marisa flew back out of the hole as well. "Kacchan, maybe you shouldn't be so rough on a little girl..." Izuku said to him.
"Yeah! Hurting little girls isn't a manly thing to do!" Eijiro told him.
"Yeah! So let me go now!" the girl angrily said to him. "Or else I'll call my friends to beat the lights out of you!"
"You brought this on yourself, Tewi..." Marisa said to her in an annoyed tone.
Looking at the witch, the girl called Tewi calmed down a bit and said, "Oh hi, Marisa. Wasn't expecting to see you here..."
"You know her?" Raven asked Marisa.
"Local rabbit and prankster of this place," replied Marisa with a nod. "She went to your world as well a while back. Anyway, Kacchan, just drop her. I can handle her."
"Kacchan?!" said Katsuki in surprise as he let go of Tewi. "How dare you call me that?!"
"Your friend here called you that, so I assumed it was your name," said Marisa while pointing at Izuku, who had a sheepish smile.
"I'm the only who calls him that..." Izuku said to her.
Tewi dusted her dress and then looked at the people around her before saying to Marisa, "What's this, Marisa? You brought along a bunch of outsiders?"
"You can say that," Marisa told him, "though I have a feeling you should know some of them."
Tewi looked around again and then shook her head. "Sorry, don't ring a bell."
"Geez... You hurt me, even though I still remember you..." said Cyborg.
"So anyway, they came here to look for some evil demon who... Let's just say a powerful demon is on the loose here in Gensokyo, so we're here to stop him before all hell breaks lose," Marisa told Tewi.
Not looking shocked or anything, Tewi said with a slight nod, "Uh huh... Doesn't sound like anything different from the usual incidents here... Whatever, this has nothing to do with me, so see ya." She then turned to walk away, and it was at this moment another person showed up. It was a girl with long, white hair wearing red overalls over a white shirt. "Sup, Mokou," Tewi said to the girl. "You go and help those people out. It's your job, you know."
"What the...?" the girl named Mokou said as she looked at Tewi with a confused expression. She then turned to the ones in front of her. "Oh, it's you, Marisa. And these are?"
Marisa let out a sigh. "Do I have to say this all over again...?"
Within a forest somewhere on the hills, two fairies were flying side by side around the place with large smiles on their faces. They eventually caught sight of a gray-haired woman from behind, seated on a rock, seemingly dozing off in said position. Their cheerful smiles became mischievous-looking ones, and one whispered to the other, to which the latter nodded in response.
The fairy who whispered to her friend then quietly floated behind the woman as close as possible without grabbing her attention. Pointing her hands at the woman, the fairy intended to fire energy bullets at her. Since her projectile was harmless and only caused burns at worst, she figured that this would be a harmless prank. She never got the chance to fire, as the woman suddenly whipped out a large cleaver and turned around at a fast speed, swinging the bladed weapon at the fairy.
The other fairy reached out her hands when she saw something flying in her direction, and when she caught it, she screamed in terror. She was holding the decapitated head of her friend. Dropping the severed head, the fairy flew off in fright and tears. The headless body of the fairy as well as the head dropped onto the dirt ground, and a few seconds later, they both disintegrated into nothingness.
The woman who killed the fairy looked at where the body used to be without saying anything. If one were to look at her eyes, they would see that they were completely black, as if she was possessed.
TO BE CONTINUED
Do I want to make a chapter about their encounter with the squad? I'm not sure myself either... Maybe I'll come to a conclusion after I'm done with this story arc.