To Catch a God
All is lost, but the game is still on. Eyes to the horizon — it's time to believe.
"Stop gawking, Merry! We don't got much time to lose. Hop into the damn unstable interdimensional space portal!"
"It's Yukari now. You knew that—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever! Let's just get out of here."
"Right, but how in the world did you manage to grab her? Thought she bolted at the first sign of—"
"Seriously? You're asking about shit like that, right now? Save your questions for after!"
"Hey! Don't push me— Woah!"
ONE HOUR POST ASCENSION.
Yukari tumbled out of the gap with an unceremonious flop. With a groan, Yukari propped herself up by her elbows and surveyed her surroundings.
The first thing she saw was a moon rabbit, crouched nearby with a rifle clutched in her hands and aimed toward the horizon. Upon hearing Yukari fall to the ground, she stole a quick glance behind her. As she did so, three satori scrambled over her shoulders to get a look at Yukari, too: presumably Eirin, Kaguya, and Patchouli.
"Immediate area looks secure." She slung her rifle around her shoulder and rushed to Yukari's side to help her up. From here, Yukari could get a closer look at the moon rabbit — cut up and bruised, with a right eye that had been reduced to a bloodied empty socket. Even so, she remained no less professional and curt than she was an hour ago. "We should get moving as soon as we can. I heard gunshots nearby — maybe five klicks out west. Judging by the groupings… I'm guessing a small group. Three to five combatants as a lowball estimate. Rapports sounded like… some form of Lunarian weaponry. Possibly rifle fire, possibly repeater fire."
Shortly after, Mima hopped out from the gap, which sealed itself behind her. "Alright, alright. Do we have everyone?"
"This isn't Gensokyo," Satori said, looking around the clearing that they found themselves in. She looked to the sky to see the giant blue form of Koishi in the sky, but the moon was nowhere to be seen. She limped up to Mima and glared at her. "This isn't Gensokyo. Where in the world have you gapped us? We need to go after her. She's somewhere in Gensokyo — we can't let her get away!"
"Hey, hey! This is all very new to me, alright? We might've gapped a bit off the mark. Cut me some slack, will you?" Mima said, throwing her hands up in the air.
"'Cut you some slack?'" Satori echoed. A red tentacle shot forward and seized Mima by the collar before pulling her in close. "Cut you some slack!? My sister just turned into a fucking monster, the bitch that did it is still out there, and you're telling me to 'cut you some slack!?'"
"Um… news flash — I just saved your life. So how about you stop throttling me and act like an adult?" Mima snapped back.
"Ah? How about I just—"
"Both of you!" Yukari wedged herself between the two and pushed them apart with what little strength she still had. "Lord, as if we don't have enough problems already."
"Miss Yukari is right. If Lady Toyohime was being truthful about even half the things she said…" the moon rabbit trailed off. "We need a plan. And quick."
Yukari looked to Mima, and then to the writhing mass of tentacles that hung far above in the atmosphere. "... I have an idea. Renko. Pass her to me, right now." Yukari stuck out a hand to Mima.
"Pass her…" Mima looked at Yukari's outstretched palm and then back at Yukari, who's gaze was directed firmly toward Koishi. "The hell you mean, 'pass her?'"
Above them, the skies darkened as the setting sun was consumed by a veil of flesh mass. "Are you serious? Quickly! Hand her over!"
"What, like a baseball!? Use your damn words!" Yukari, frustrated and in a rare occasion of sheer panic, seized Mima's hand in her own. Between the two, an inexplicable transfer of power took place — and not a moment later, a familiar horned girl in red robes materialized in Yukari's field of vision. Wasting not another second, Yukari made a mad dash (or at least, as mad of a dash as one could manage, cut to hell and injured beyond reason) to the highest point that she could see — a hill in the distance, jutting out of its surroundings and presenting as the closest point between Yukari
Sticking to her vision as if she was glued to Yukari's eye, the Hakurei Shrine floated along with Yukari. As she floated by, she started to nervously twirl her hair. "Sooo… How've you been?"
"Not now." Yukari sliced a gap open in front of her and stumbled in. When she stumbled back out, she found herself at the top of that lonely hill, under the overwhelming shadow of quarreling giants. "There… with Koishi. Can you get me there?"
"Uh, Maribel? Don't take this the wrong way, but…" The Hakurei Shrine God — known to none but those who counted themselves among the Hearn family as Kyokai Hakurei — brought a hand to itch the base of the horns that protruded from her head. "Okay well, first of all, I'm doing fine as well, thank you. Look, I know what you're thinking, and it's stupid. I can't do that. No way, no how."
"Can't? Or won't? Is the only thing you're good for running away?"
"First of all, ouch — we meet each other for the first time in centuries, and the first thing you do is make fun of me? That stings. It really does. Second of all, can't. Full stop. The distance isn't the issue. It's more about the fact that sucking air is good for you, and that's a little too high for that kind of thing…" Kyokai pinched the bridge of her nose. "And like… can we talk about the second part of the plan? Are you serious? Yeah, I'm a god, but that doesn't mean I can just make whatever swirls around in that cute little head of yours a reality. It's not happening."
"Why not? Why isn't it possible?" A little desperation snuck into her voice. She looked up to the sky and waved her hand in such a way to slice a gap between her and Koishi. Anything to get them closer. But it never materialized. Kyokai made sure of that. She crossed her arms and let out a sigh as Yukari pleaded to her. "The world is ending, for crying out loud! You have to make it happen. There won't be another chance!"
"Maribel, it's… you know? Come on, don't make me say it. You know how I am with sincere emotional investment," Kyokai muttered, her gaze drifting elsewhere, refusing to meet her own shrine maiden's eyes. She cracked a half-hearted, facetious smile. "Ha… I don't want to be painted in human guts. That's gross, you know? Might catch something. Ha… Not to mention you're wrecking absolute prime real estate when it comes to body possession. Think about the market, man."
"... No. That's not it." Kyokai's smile fell. "I… Damn it! I care about you, alright? Fuuuck, you really made me say it — but damn it, if that's what it takes, I'll do it. You are not throwing away your life here. You hear me, Maribel? Maribel?"
"Maribel!?"
"Yoohoo? Earth to Maribel! Come on, you're embarrassing us in front of all of your weird military friends. Please wake up from your flashback sequence already to tell them to go away. I'm not going to lie — some of them are ugly as hell. Weird creeper vibes from that dude over there, especially. Can't even see me, but I can tell the dude's ogling me. Creeping me out."
"Is she… alive?"
"No clue."
"No, no. I know this look. She's fast asleep."
"Seriously? With her eyes open? Holy shit… I don't know if I should be impressed or creeped out right now."
"Yup. Perfected the technique back in undergrad. You have no clue how many lectures she slept through, looking just like this. There truly are no bounds when it comes to Merry's capacity to take naps."
Yukari's eyes fluttered open and closed as she came back to consciousness. Around her was a small crowd of people which included Kyokai, who was busy obnoxiously waving her hand in front of Yukari's eyes in an attempt to assess consciousness; Mima, who was very intently studying Yukari's expression; and a few officers, who crowded around her in curiosity.
Behind the crowd were a few important characters: Satori, Orin, Kaguya, and Patchouli — as well as other high ranking members of the Coalition. Some of them were chatting amongst themselves, giving dirty looks to the apparent disruption, or fast asleep themselves. Completely unamused, Eirin stood in the front of the room with her hands folded behind her back.
"... What? What are you all looking at?" Yukari mumbled. Instantly, the crowd dispersed, save for Mima, who smiled.
"You haven't changed a bit, have you? Well, not your sleeping habits, anyways," Mima said, draping an arm over Yukari's shoulder and pulling her in close.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."
"Alright everyone, settle down," Eirin shouted over the din of the briefing room. In an instant, conversations died down and attentions were held. Eirin Yagokoro, who found herself as the impromptu head of all space operations, walked over to a central console at the front of the room and fiddled with the controls. At once, a holographic image of the Earth and Koishi, two massive planetoids of equal size that now found themselves orbiting each other, flickered on and became clear. In a few more moments, various blue symbols and icons were placed in the spaces in between and around the two stellar bodies, denoting landmarks, active military assets, and other areas of interest. The lights dimmed.
"At 0738 today, we received information from satellite telemetry and operatives currently active in orbit that leads us to believe that the Love-type Space Kaiju is rapidly becoming active again after its one-year period of dormancy," Eirin said, blowing up the hologram to focus on the form of Koishi. A nervous bout of whispers and mutters broke through the room. "We've identified a sudden increase of reality bending, paracausal phenomena that we have identified as Base Logic Errors, or BLEs. They're usually associated with Divine Action, and often precede massive creation and destruction events such as the one we saw a year prior. No — what we might see will make what happened last year look like a proverbial drop in the bucket. That's why we're currently mobilizing all available assets for an emergency sortie."
"Here's the plan," Eirin started. The hologram once again zoomed out to capture the Earth and Koishi in the same image. She pointed to a location that lay in the exact middle of the two — the point which the two planetoids orbited around. "As previously discussed, a small team will launch with Yukari Yakumo into the gravitational dead zone between the Earth and the Love-type Space Kaiju. That point will be here."
"No need to worry over assignments, since the team has already been chosen. Yukari Yakumo, Satori Komeiji, Rin Kaenbyou, Mima, Kaguya Houraisan, Patchouli Knowledge, and myself will be launching in the CSC Argo. All remaining ground personnel will either be working mission control, standing by for rapid deployment, or piloting remote weapon platforms in orbit according to standard protocol." Eirin fiddled with the console again, which caused the image to shift and change — a short launch path drew itself out, and hundreds of little blue shapes surrounding the body of Koishi became highlighted. "These are the weapons platforms that will be active in today's operation. When the Argo reaches the AO, all weapons satellites will be ordered to direct all fire toward the Love-type Space Kaiju. This will provide a distraction for the main operation, which will be conducted by Yukari."
"Once in position, Yukari will slice a gap in reality that will match the dimensions of the Space Kaiju, with a little bit of room to spare. All further actions of the Argo and her crew will switch to directing attention away from Yukari and engaging as needed to ensure the success of her action. To this end, they will collaborate closely with the Anti-Love Combat Frame to provide mobile fire support where needed. Make sure to adjust fire solutions as needed to avoid unnecessary blue on blue, especially with unguided weaponry." Suddenly, two arcs of flashing blue symbols — one on the face of Koishi closest to Earth and the other on the opposite side — became highlighted by the hologram. Eirin pointed to these two areas. "After the formation of the gap, the second phase of the op will commence."
"In these two areas, we have manned Kinetic Kill Vehicle satellites — old Amanosakahoha-class Divine Spear weapons, modified for the purposes of this operation." Eirin took a step back as the hologram zoomed in on one of the symbols. Schematics and targeting data, as well as the general silhouette of the machines were shown. They were massive things, giant cylindrical tubes loaded with tungsten rods in a mechanism that fed into a ramshackle electromagnetic rail system to maximize kinetic energy. Brutal. Efficient. Desperate. "By operation time, ten of them will be on the side facing the Earth and three of them on the opposite face. The ones on the opposite side will launch flared rods accelerated to a significant portion the speed of light, meant to hook into the Space Kaiju and push it into Yukari's gap. But first, the ones on the side facing the Earth will fire rods modified to act as tethers and hooks. They will latch into the objective before activating thrusters, pulling it downward toward Earth and into the gap. Teams manning these satellites will have to abandon ship after confirmed hits, so I want ground teams on standby for a concurrent re-entry search and rescue op."
The hologram zoomed back out to show an overview of the area of operations. "These assets are critical to the operation. The loss of even one or two of these satellites will dramatically hurt the chances of operational success. Defend them at all costs."
"Additionally, please note that we have recently made contact with our European branch, and they have agreed to mobilize a small complement of previously mothballed spacecraft for combat, resupply, and electronic support purposes. Please watch your fire when they enter the AO." The hologram zoomed out and refocused on a small cluster of green arrows, just slightly out of the way. Disparate would've been an understatement — what was shown could hardly be considered a proper military force, what with a majority of craft being largely old machines that looked as if they were only recently made spaceworthy… "That concludes the main details of the briefing. Are there any questions?"
"... Is this the best we have?" An officer piped up.
"Most active military assets were destroyed in the incident one year ago. Everything you saw on screen represented everything we were able to salvage and repair for use," Eirin reported. "As you know, even the Argo was a massive feat of engineering to restore. We simply do not have enough time or resources to mass a larger force. We'll have to make do with what we have."
The room settled into a somber silence.
"This will likely be our final operation. After its success, we can finally set about healing the Earth. Let's make it a clean one." Eirin gave a salute. "You are all dismissed. Set to work immediately. Good luck to you all."
The next hour was a blur.
A whirlwind of prelaunch checks, light conversation, nervous laughter, equipment donning, and obligatory inspirational speeches passed Yukari by. She did not catch a single second of it. Her mind wandered, not to the operation ahead, but to the past. Where all of her mistakes lived. Where they all festered.
As if unconscious for the entire process, she passed from scene to scene, catching only bits and pieces of information, here and there. Before she knew it, she was in a space suit, strapped into one of the crew seats of the Argo, across from Mima. When their eyes met, Mima smiled at her. Yukari's lips curled into some vague, twisted semblance of a smile in response, which garnered a giggle from Mima.
Mima might've said something — surely some witty line or sarcastic remark to bring some levity to the situation, but Yukari was already a million miles away.
A voice came over the intercom. "T-minus five seconds to launch."
Yukari looked down to her hands.
"Four…"
All of those years ago…
"Three…"
When Yukari wasn't able to do anything…
"Two…"
She was a being that lived in the past, you see. Obsessed over it. Every day.
"One…"
She looked back up to Mima, who gave another reassuring smile. For reasons Yukari could not fathom, she hated her for it. At that moment, the act seemed cruel and hostile. Contemptuous. Mocking.
"Launch."
She didn't deserve it. Not when things were left as they were. There would be more work to be done. And dying would be a small price to pay, she thought.
To atone for her sins.
The rumble of the engines, the force of the ascent. Yukari caught a glimpse of the forward viewports, little windows that showed the sky in front of the Argo. Slowly, the deep blue of the sky gave way to darker and darker hues, until it turned to inky black.
"To the CSC Argo and her crew." A radio transmission crackled in on the built-in communication sets of their helmets. "You carry with you the hopes and dreams of all living beings. Go forth clad in the toughest armor, armed with the strongest weapons, assisted by the bravest warriors that humanity, whether they are from the Earth or the Moon, can offer — and secure a better future for us all. We will be waiting with bated breath for your triumphant return, and hope that when you do, we will all be living in a world freed from monsters. In a world that we, and all those who will come after us, can call home. Godspeed."