Escalation
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the recently promoted Utada asked for what had to be the ninth time since they had left Eientei.
Tewi did her best to ignore her and kept flying forward. Just because Eirin had decided to bump the girl up a rank didn't meant she had acquired pester privileges. All around them, the various members of Eientei's staff surrounded them in tight formation: the Guard forming the perimeter while those whose jobs were more practical in nature kept closer to the center. At the center itself, as protected as she was going to be, was the Princess.
Unfortunately she wasn't there willingly. Both her hands and feet were bound securely to her body and an all-concealing mask, usually reserved for prisoners, was covering her head. Four lengths of rope stretched out from her trussed up body to four of the most experienced of the Guard, who were looking all kinds of uncomfortable. Tewi honestly couldn't blame them. Overpowering and tying up the Princess against her will went against their very basic nature. But in the end, her safety came first. And considering the situation, if she was bound and determined to go anywhere near Rin Satsuki, it was their solemn duty do anything and everything to prevent that. Tewi just hoped that Kaguya won't hate them for any longer than a decade. Reisen's moping wasn't helping either. Though she was now following without being needed to be dragged along, she had been in a sort of daze ever since Ran had dropped the bombshell that her pet lunatic had gotten out of its cage. Now that was just plain typical.
And to top it off, they were on their own for this one. As soon as the Princess had been…subdued, Yukari's Shikigami had left them.
"Tewi?" Utada persisted. "Are you sure-"
Tewi's already thin patience snapped. "No, dimwit, no I'm not!" she barked. "This whole thing was Ran and Eirin's stupid idea, so I'm not sure about anything. All I know is that if we don't do it, we'll be down one princess and up one immortal bunny-eating psychopath. So leave me alone already!"
"Okay, okay!" Utada said, holding her hands up defensively. "I'm just worried, that's all!"
Tewi heaved a sigh. "Yeah, me too."
They continued in silence. Or at least, Tewi and Utada did. All around them, the staff muttered and whispered to one another. Tewi caught brief snippets of the conversations happening around her. Although the speakers and words were different, subject matter was more-or-less the same. They were screwed if Rin caught up to them, and they were screwed if she didn't. A few were wondering if Remilia Scarlet was hiring. Tewi's first impulse was to berate them, but truth be told, she had started to wonder how she would look in a maid's outfit herself.
That was when one voice rose above the others. For one thing, it was shouting while the others kept their tones hushed. For another, it didn't sound much like a rabbit. And finally, it was from someone coming towards their caravan.
Tewi blinked and looked in the voice's direction. A white-and-blue blur was flying up from the forest towards them. Not wanting to take chances, Tewi motioned for the nearest Guard to take aim.
It was then that Reisen decided to snap back into reality. "Wait!" she shouted, right into Tewi's ear.
Tewi flinched at the sudden loudness. "What? Why?"
"We know that girl!"
Tewi looked again and her heart fell. They did indeed know that girl. She had caused all kinds of trouble for them back during the flower incident. And not out of maliciousness either. No, she had gotten into both their ways through simple stupidity and recklessness. Things had turned out all right in the end, but by the gods she had been annoying! Tewi had left that situation hoping they would never have to deal with the idiotic ice fairy again.
Tewi dropped down to a few feet above the treetops to meet her, Reisen following close behind. Tewi scowled at the small girl. "What," she snarled, "the hell do you want?"
Cirno's day looked like it had been just as bad as theirs. Her clothing was torn and singed at the edges and her skin was filthy and covered with purples bruises. The girl herself was covered with dirt and had small twigs and leaves stuck in her hair. Small cracks ran through her crystalline wings. However, none of this seemed to register to the fairy herself. Her eyes were wide with nervous energy and she was shaking from the exertion of having pushed herself despite her condition. And from the look of things, she fully intended to keep pushing herself until she collapsed.
"Please…you gotta help me…" the ice fairy panted. "Need to…find Reimu…where is she?"
"Reimu?" Tewi and Reisen exchanged a look. "Reimu Hakurei? The shrine maiden?"
Cirno squeezed her little hands into fists and yelled in frustration. "Yes! Her! Where is she?"
Tewi scowled. "Haven't seen her, don't know anyone who has. Now go away. We're kind in the middle of something important here."
She turned away, but then the ice fairy lunged forward to grab her by the sleeve. Immediately the surrounding Guard snapped into position, right arms extended, left hand seizing their right bicep.
"Hold it!" Tewi shouted. "You wanna shoot me full of holes too?"
She grabbed Cirno by the head and pushed her off. As she did so, she was struck by how easy it was. The little fairy seemed to be flying on her final reserves of strength.
"Look fairy, you want Reimu, go find her yourself," Tewi said. "We're dealing with our own problems here."
Cirno, unfortunately, would not be deterred. "What about Marisa Kirisame then? I saw them all heading into the forest!"
Reimu and Marisa, heading into the Bamboo Forest of the Lost? If so, the pair must've gotten wind of the situation. Finally, Tewi began to feel some hope. Those two practically solved incidents such as these as a career. Maybe with them on the case, they had a shot.
Still, she shook her head. "Sorry, haven't seen her eith-"
"Yukari Yakumo then! What about Yukari?"
Tewi raised her eyebrows. She shot a glance at Reisen.
"Um, her Shikigami's at Eientei," Reisen said. "I think she said something about Yukari heading that way."
Cirno shuddered with relief. "Finally. Thank you! Which way's Enema?"
"Eientei. And it's that way. But I don't think you-"
"Okaythanksbye!"
Cirno dove back into the forest and was gone.
Tewi clouted Reisen over the head. "Idiot! Why'd you send her there for? She'll get eaten or caught in the crossfire!"
Reisen returned the blow. "Hey, I tried to tell her, but she took off before I finished!"
Tewi groaned and regained altitude to join the main group. Whatever, they had no time to worry about suicidal fairies now. Their only objective now was to get Kaguya as far as away from Eientei and safely to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Still, it took an actual conscious effort to avoid thinking of those still at the battlefield. Despite the fact that it had occurred several decades ago, memories of Rin's first rampage were still fresh in her mind, and she could only imagine how Reisen was feeling.
There was no going back though. Tewi could only keep the caravan moving forward and pray to anyone listening that those back at Eientei would be able to escape safely.
…
As the only known clinic open to youkai and humans alike, Hourai Clinic was often a bustling place, with Eirin's miniature army of rabbits running to and fro, seeing to the needs of the injured. Spellcard rules tended to be only loosely enforced in the more savage corners of Gensokyo, and even when they were the users tended to be rather rough on one another. And then there were all those wonderful pills…
Not today though. Even before everything had gone to hell, things had slowed to a veritable crawl, and most of the staff had wandered off to find something else to keep themselves occupied. But now that the place had been deserted in the wake of Rin Satsuki's attack, the emptiness of the bamboo-paneled corridors and still sterile rooms was positively eerie. If it weren't for the sounds of battle erupting from the outside, you could hear a feather drop from the opposite side. It gave the whole place a distinct haunted feel, one that Ran, even with her attention occupied with the situation at hand, couldn't help but notice.
She had left the rabbits soon after they had pinned Kaguya down and bound her up. Tewi seemed to have things well in hand, and Ran's place was here, assisting her master any way she could. Plus, there was no way she was going to leave Chen.
And that was the problem. Since Chen had been thoroughly sedated when this Rin person had arrived in the waiting room, Ran had taken the liberty of stashing the unconscious catgirl in the janitor's closet. Not the safest place perhaps, but it was the best she could do in a pinch.
However, now that she had managed to break away and return for her Shikigami, Ran was facing a most worrying problem. Chen was gone. The bindings were still there; handcuffs, bandages and ball gag, all lying in a small pile among the buckets and spray bottles. But the catgirl herself was conspicuously missing.
Ran felt a moan of despair threaten to rise up. It was bad enough that some sort of people absorbing monster had to appear toting the powers of the Shadow freaking Youkai, but now her Chen had vanished. Normally this would be annoying in a amusing sort of way (or was it the other way around?), but for it to happen now meant that Ran had to make an actual effort to banish pictures of Chen being skewered on the Shadow Youkai's sword, or being swallowed up by that Rin person.
And to top it off, Yukari had absolutely failed to answer her phone when Ran had tried to contact her with an update on their enemy's abilities. That in itself was almost panic-worthy. Unless she was asleep (which she was for an irritating amount of the time), Yukari always answered the phone. Ran didn't want to think of something that would prevent her from gaining knowledge that might just be vital to her survival.
"Um, excuse me?" a confused voice said from nearby.
Ran turned to see that she had been joined by a fairy. The blond girl was dressed in one of Eirin's hideous looking hospital gowns (further proof of the Lunarian's barely repressed sadism) and had various body parts bandaged up. Her face was also sporting several purple bruises.
Ran's eyes actually widened in surprise. With everything that was going on, they had completely forgotten the clinic's other patient.
"I'm sorry, but is something wrong?" asked Lily White. "I woke up and everybody was gone."
Ran sighed. She didn't need this. "Wrong? Yeah, I'd say there is. We're under attack."
Lily made an odd sort of hiccupping gasp. "Attack? From what? Marisa?"
"The witch? No, it's not Marisa, it's, uh…" Ran wondered exactly how to explain an unholy union between a life destroying abomination and a cannibalistic science experiment gone wrong without being barraged with endless questions. "…demon," she said lamely. "Evil…demon…thing."
"From Makai?"
"…sure, why not?"
Lily grabbed Ran by the sleeve. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get-"
The sound of electric guitars filled the hall. Lily yelped in alarm and darted into the janitor's closet, slamming the door shut. Ran didn't care. She was just relieved that Yukari seemed to be back on the board.
She flipped out her phone. "Master? Is that you?"
"Who else?" Yukari snapped. "What the hell is going on?"
Ran glanced around nervously. She lowered her voice. "Master, I think the situation is more complicated then we've been led to believe. The creature is more than just the Shadow Youkai. It's-"
"Some kind of crazy monster that eats people and steals their powers," Yukari interrupted. "Yeah, I know. Eirin just got done telling me."
Ran blinked. "Eirin? Is she okay? Kaguya seemed very worried about her."
"She's hurt, but she'll live. Now, about the princess herself, it seems that it's imperative that the monster is allowed nowhere near her. Something about stealing her immortality and thus making our job all the more difficult."
"I know. She's already been evacuated safely."
Ran could hear Yukari sighing in relief. "Good. One less headache. Okay, listen up. We just got our asses handed to us, but we're regrouping. Sort of. I need you to take Chen and get out of here."
"Um, yeah, small problem with that."
"Which is…?"
Ran sighed. "Chen's gone missing."
She could practically hear the scowl just from Yukari's voice alone. "Well, then find her and get her gone! I don't need a hyperactive catgirl gumming up the works."
"Understood, Master. I'll find her as quickly as possible."
"Good. Where are you now?"
"Hourai Clinic."
"Again, good. Stay out of the mansion. I do believe Suika's going ten rounds with our gluttonous friend in there and I would hate for you to get caught in the middle."
"…oh. Thanks."
There was a click, and the line terminated. No parting words, no goodbye, just a click.
Ran shook her head and put the phone away. Nice to know there were some constants in the universe.
Then she turned to see Lily White staring at her from behind the closet door.
"Is there someone in that box?" the fairy asked. "Like a really, really small youkai?"
"What? No, that was Yukari."
Lily's eyes went even wider. "Yukari Yakumo's in that box?"
"What? No! It's…" Ran groaned. Out of all the things she had time for, explaining the mechanics behind cell phones to a beaten and bruised fairy was not one of them. "It's magic. It lets me talk to her from far away."
"Oh. Okay." And with that, Lily's interest seemed to wane. Then again, to a fairy, something like magic boxes would seem commonplace.
"Now by any chance, have you seen a cat youkai anywhere?" Ran asked. It was a long shot, but she might as well ask. "About yay tall," she said, holding her hand a few feet above the ground. "Red dress, short brown hair and two tails?"
Lily frowned. She stepped out of the closet. "Uh, yeah actually."
Ran blinked. Hope flickered alive. "Really?" she said, trying not to sound too eager. "Where?"
"She's what woke me up with her yelling. I saw her running past my room when I went out the door."
Finally, some good news. Ran breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank whatever god's on shift. Which way did she go?"
Lily just shrugged. "I only caught a glimpse of her. She could be anywhere by now."
"Do you know if she was heading for the mansion?"
"Dunno. Didn't see."
Ran's left eyelid twitched. "Well then," she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. "Would you mind helping me search?"
Lily opened her mouth, presumably to refuse, but she caught the look in Ran's eye and changed her answer to "Uh…sure, why not?"
…
Given her constant state of drunkenness, Suika had become long accustomed to entertaining various voices in her head, and now was no exception. At the moment, one worried-sounding voice was noting that the enraged oni was doing a considerable amount of damage to the house and the Moon Lady would probably be mad at her. Another was concerned that the palm where she had gotten stabbed was losing all feeling and she should probably find out why. Yet another was pointing out that Suika's friends were still hurt and could probably use help. And finally, a fourth made the case that the Moon Lady was really rich and could afford to fix all damages, that the palm problem could wait for later, Suika's friends were really tough and could handle themselves, and finally that she should probably find the evil shadow person and hit it until it stopped being fun.
After carefully listening to their arguments and weighing their points, Suika came to the conclusion that the fourth voice was making the most sense.
She didn't even bother slowing down as she walked right through a wall into the room beyond. Flimsy material. What was it, paper? The room itself seemed to be a sitting room, with cushioned furniture made of some kind of dark wood surrounding a fire pit in the center. Shelves full of books and expensive-looking china lines the walls.
That is, that's what it was when she entered. Five seconds and three swipes of her mighty arms later, it more resembled a lumber yard.
"Where are you, you gutless little worm?" Suika screeched. She lifted up a couch, snapped it in two, and hurled one half through one wall and the other through the opposite. "Show yourself!"
No response. Suika growled and marched forward. How big was this place anyway? She was reasonably certain she had already demolished enough rooms to fill two average sized houses. Well, maybe one and a half.
She seized up a heavy piece of timber and heaved it over her head. It tore its way though one of the nearby walls. From the room on the other side came the sound of snapping wood and breaking glass. Now it was two houses' worth. Still, the evil shadow person, who henceforth shall be known in her mind as the ESP, had yet to show herself.
Growling, Suika stomped into the newly opened room, ready to tear yet another several thousand yen's worth of furnishings to pieces.
If she had the presence of mind to look over her shoulder, she might have noticed the indistinct figure of writhing darkness, skittering spider-like along the walls and ceiling, shadowing every move the oni made.
…
So…what do I do now?
Seriously?
Um…
Dear gods, you are thick. Get above the oni's head, wait for her to look up, and drop down on her.
…and then what?
Well, what do you think? Stab out her eyes.
…
Suika heard the faintest rustle of movement above her, barely more than a whisper. She glanced up.
The oni had just enough time to register a black shape moving directly over her before it released its hold on the ceiling and swooped down on her.
…
Do it now! Don't hesitate, do it now!
…
Suika roared in pain and clutched at her face. Ice and fire spread over her forehead, freezing all feeling in some parts while burning others.
She thrashed blindly, hoping to hit something. Instead, something twisted around her horns and yanked her headfirst into the floor.
…
Okay, just so we're clear, running over her forehead, grabbing her horns and throwing her down is a far cry from stabbing her in the eyes. You do know this, right?
…yes…
Gah, this is getting disappointing. I get one rage-driven bout of nonlethal force and now all you can manage are a handful of martial arts tricks?
Sorry.
Sure you are. Okay, last chance. If you're so concerned about hurting her, then just stab her through the brain before she gets up. Quick, painless, done.
But-
I do not care. Do it.
…
Suika braced herself against the floor and pushed herself up enough to glare through hazy eyes. The ESP was standing some feet away, sword loosely clutched in one hand and burning eyes watching the struggling oni with an unreadable expression.
Suika couldn't help but wonder why she was still alive. Certainly she wasn't complaining, but the ESP had her dead to rights. Instead, it had settled for just knocking her down and...
She felt her tingling scalp and winced. The thing's footsteps had left cold patches of numbness across her forehead, similar to that on her palm. Speaking of which, the stab wound had turned a nasty shade of black and purple which spread through both sides of her hand. Her fingers had ceased to move altogether.
Suika was starting to come to conclusion that touching the ESP with bare skin was probably a bad idea. But that was fine. She could adapt.
That was when the ESP took a page out of Suika's book and seized up a piece of broken lumber. Quick as a striking snake, it bolted forward and smashed it across Suika's face, the force of which physically lifted her off the ground and sent her careening backwards into one of the adjoining rooms.
…
Oh, come on! It's an oni, for crying out loud! What are you trying to do, massage her?
But it worked! It knocked her back!
So you took her off guard. Big deal. She'll be up in a second anyway.
I'm trying! I just don't think we have to kill her, that's all.
Really? Are you serious here?
Well, yeah! I mean-
That's it, you are officially an idiot. Kid, you are on your own. Have fun with your new friends.
What? Wait, don't! You can't leave!
…
Hello?
…
Judging by the thick clouds of steam that were billowing around her, the ESP had knocked her into a sauna or a bathhouse. Suika had to admit, the thing was strong.
She sat up and felt her forehead. Not strong enough to bruise though. Numb spots aside, it was barely even tender.
The need to avoid physical contact was a problem though. As big as this place was, there were only so many pieces of furniture and chunks of wall she could throw at the ESP. She preferred fist-to-fist combat anyway, and being deprived of her element was aggravating.
That's when her eyes narrowed and she studied the room around her. The wheels in her head began to turn.
There were several towels lying folded up in cubbyholes set in the walls, some of them full body. Suika snatched several and, using her good hand and teeth, managed to wrap up her numb hand and attached arm. Then, more slowly this time, did the same to the other.
She flexed her good hand and took a few practice swings. She nodded in satisfaction. Then she turned her attention back to the room where the ESP waited.
No doubt about it, it was clobbering time.
With a challenging roar, Suika burst from the room. She was expecting the ESP to dodge out of the way, but to her surprise it stood perfectly still, allowing her to connect with a solid punch that it flying through three consecutive walls.
Suika wasn't about to let it recover. She followed the hurtling monster and, just as it finally came to a tumbling stomp, began hammering down on it, clenched fisted blows with her good hand and vicious backhands with her bad one.
In her rage induced haze, it took her a moment to realize that the ESP was no longer there that and she had dug through the floor and was now burrowing through the building's foundation with her fists.
Suika forced herself to stop. Panting, she surveyed the room around her. Aside from herself and some truly interesting sculptures of Reisen Udongein that could only be described as "scandalous," the room was empty.
Suddenly a twisting rope of darkness shot up from between two of the floor slats. It wrapped around Suika's towel-covered right arm. Suika roared and tried to pull away, but as she did so another black rope seized her left arm.
Then the floor seemed to explode with dark ropes, like the tentacles of some eldritch abomination summoned from the depths. They coiled themselves around Suika's waist, horns and chest, holding her in place. Even though none of them actually touched her skin, she could still feel the deadly ice of their touch through the few layers of fabric. Suika bellowed and thrashed about, tearing several of the ropes in the process. But for every one she ripped in half, three more appeared to replace it.
Finally, physically exhausted and emotionally burnt out, Suika collapsed to her knees. She panted heavily, sucking in desperate gulps of oxygen.
A shadow appeared in the upper part of her peripheral vision. Suika squinted through blurry eyes. The ESP stood over her, sword held in one hand while the other seemed to elongate and disappear into the floor, likely the source of the ropes.
Suika bared her teeth. "So, gonna finish me off now, huh? Just chop off my head?" The oni gathered her will and forced herself to her feet. "Well, go ahead, monster. But don't expect me to make it easy for you."
The ESP's eyes narrowed. It took one step forward. Then it staggered, needing to brace the tip of its sword against the ground to keep on its feet. Suika allowed herself a bitter smile of satisfaction. So, she had managed to hurt it after all.
Then, for the first time that Suika could remember, it spoke. "You idiot, I don't want to kill you! You guys jumped me! I'm just trying to defend myself!"
Suika spat. "Sure, and I suppose you were just having a friendly talk with the Moon Doctor Lady, huh?"
"Yes! And then you came the heck out of nowhere and attacked me! What did I ever do to you?"
In the air behind the ESP, a tear opened up. Suika's massive heart leapt when she saw Yukari step into the room. The ancient youkai's eyes widened when she saw the situation. She raised a finger to her lips. Suika blinked and nodded once.
"You? Like we'd need a reason to beat the crap out of you!" Suika snapped. "I mean, look at you! Who wouldn't want to smash you flat?"
The ropes wrapped around her tightened. Good, it was getting angry. Which meant it wouldn't be looking over its shoulder any time soon. Which was fortunate, as Yukari raised a single hand. Orbs of different size and color began circling the air over her palm.
"I don't know why I bother," the ESP muttered. "Maybe the scary voice is right. Maybe I should just kill you all."
The orbs flew from Yukari's hand to hover behind the ESP. Yukari nodded to Suika and mouthed "Now."
Suika's body tensed. "Yeah, slight problem with that."
"What's that?"
"You're about to find out. Goodbye!"
Before the ESP could react, Suika shrank herself down until she was about a foot tall. The sudden loss of size allowed her to slip free from the ropes grasp. They convulsed in surprise and tried to grab for her again, but she ducked the thrashing vines and scrambled out of the hole.
Just as she did, Yukari snapped her fingers. One of the orbs shot forward to impact against the back of the ESP's head, causing it to stagger forward. Before it could recover, another hit it in the side, followed by another to the back.
It tried to catch the orbs before they struck, but they were too fast, even for it. The ESP was battered back and forth like a puppets swinging on its strings.
Suika grinned. Finally they were making some headway. She returned to her normal size and extended her good hand.
Yukari noticed what she was doing. "Wait, Suika! Don't-"
Too late. Suika unleashed three blasts that struck the ESP in its head, chest and stomach. As it was already off balance from Yukari's attack, this sent it tumbling head-over-heels to crash into the far wall.
Suika whooped in delight and pressed her attack, sending burst after burst at the thing. Shoulda done this from the beginning, she thought as she pummeled the evil thing with bullets. Behind her, Yukari was yelling something, but Suika didn't pay attention. Now was shooty time. Talky time could come later.
"Okay, that's enough!"
Someone grabbed Suika by the arm and jerked her back. Surprised, Suika looked up to see Yukari glaring at her. "Didn't you hear me? I said stop!"
Suika blinked up at her. She was not used to having brawl-time interrupted by friends. "What? Why? We've got it on the run!"
"That's the point, idiot! It absorbs bullet energy! Keep shooting with the same kind and it'll adapt!"
"It will?" Suika turned to look at the ESP. Sure enough, as it stumbled to its feet the bullets she had shot were sinking into its body.
Then it turned to look at them. Suika braced herself, but instead of attacking it began to shiver. Then its body lost form and slipped between the floor slats.
Suika and Yukari stared at where it had disappeared. Then they looked at each other.
"Um, oops?" Suika blushed.
Yukari sighed. "Never mind. Let's just find it before it gets away."
Suika nodded her horned head. She took one step forward and then her eyes rolled back into her head. The world turned dark and she fell into unconsciousness.
…
Hello? You there? I changed my mind! Hello?
As Rin slithered her way through Eientei's foundations, she tried time and time again to contact the voice that claimed to represent her darker self. While the voice's claim seemed unlikely, she had to admit it did know more about fighting than she did. And at the moment, she could use all the help she could get, even if the things it told her to do made her insides squirm.
Still, there was no denying that she was hating herself for going trying to go to the voice for help. Okay, so maybe she had made more than her share of mistakes, but she was no killer! It was that part that made her disbelieve the idea that the voice was actually a part of her mind.
Of course, she might be wrong. Of course, she might be completely insane. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
But in the end, she supposed it was a moot point anyway. The voice, whatever it was, wasn't answering. She searched every corner of her mind, and the only presence other than herself was Rumia's, which still hovered confused and afraid in the corner Rin had sent her. Yet another thing Rin hated herself for. After spending what felt like eternity by herself in the dark, who was she to condemn Rumia to the same fate?
But in the end, what could she do? Trying to defend herself and deal with the terrified little youkai at the same time was beyond her capabilities. She was barely holding it together at it was. That oni alone had come this close to beating her into submission, and that was with Rumia's amazing raw power coupled with her own adaptive abilities.
Rumia's power. She would have to ask her about that. There was nothing in the youkai's memories to indicate that she was aware of how much she was capable of. That in itself was very odd.
Ah, she didn't have time for this. Everything was falling apart. Her meeting with Eirin had ended with her being lied to and betrayed, her plan to get back at the doctor by absorbing the princess was a complete failure, and now she had some very dangerous people after her blood. It was time to get the hell out of there and find a place to hide. She could worry about apologizing to Rumia later.
Soon the consistency of the ground she was traveling through changed from wood and concrete to loose soil. She was outside. Good. Maintaining an amoebic shape was exhausting. Rin pulled her body to the surface. With a bit of mental will, she released a little of her control over the energies she controlled, allowing her body to resume Rumia's shape.
The outside still looked deserted. The oni and the youkai Rumia was so afraid of were probably still inside. And the others apparently had yet to rejoin the game. Good.
Rin hovered off the ground, intending to disappear into the forest. Then someone spoke.
"'Sup?"
Rin turned and her heart fell. Standing there were the witch and the ghost that had tried to fry her earlier. They were dirty, they were bruised (well, the witch was at least. Ghosts did have that whole incorporeal thing going for them), but they were upright and they looked pissed.
And, if for no other reason than to add insult to injury, Eirin sat behind them, back up against Eientei's wall. She was still hurt but conscious. Her eyes glared out from between swollen lids.
"So," the witch said. "Eirin here tells us that you can get used to and absorb shit. Nice trick, ze."
The ghost nodded. "Indeed. But I must admit, we're curious: how well would you fair if we switched spells every, oh let's say, two and a half seconds? Could you adapt to that?"
The witch grinned. She lifted a single fist, which began glowing with barely repressed force. "And just to let you know, between the two of us, we have over seven thousand and four hundred thirty-eight types of offensive spells. So what do you say, Smokey? Ready for round two?"
Rin tried to prepare herself for another onslaught, but then things got very, very loud.
…
One hour later…
Yukari had to admit, the whole operation had turned out to be much more difficult than she had originally anticipated. Of course, she had known that having to deal with the Shadow Youkai once again wasn't going to be fun, but with the added unknown element of Rin Satsuki had almost turned the whole thing into a disaster. But it had turned out all right at the end.
She looked around the room they were in. They were inhabiting one of Hourai Clinic's emergency rooms. Eirin and Reimu were occupying the beds. Suika was still unconscious. It took an excessive amount of punishment to knock out an oni, but from the look of things, she had suffered exactly that. She had telltale signs of the taint all over her face and covering one of her hands. But it was the open wound in her palm that was most worrying. From the look of things, some of the taint had worked its way into her bloodstream, which accounted for the unconsciousness. Yukari had spent an exhausting fifteen minutes hunting down the microscopic fragments of death and forcing them out.
However, Eirin was in even worse shape. She had been damaged almost as badly, and despite her great age and power, she simply did not have an oni's incredible stamina. If it weren't for Yukari cheating at the rules of life and death, she would have slipped away. As it was, it would be a long time before she would be at full strength.
The others weren't in great shape either. Marisa and Mima had fared the best, but still, being hit directly with their own Final Spark had roughed them up pretty badly. And Reimu…She wasn't in danger, but she had suffered a mild concussion. And she would be lame for about half a week.
Yukari grit her teeth. She wasn't usually murderous, but seeing her shrine maiden hurled through those bamboo stalks like that made her want to do questionable things to Rin Satsuki. And Suika's condition did absolutely nothing to help matters.
And then there was the fact that Eientei was more-or-less demolished from the inside. Yukari had to give Suika credit: she had done amazingly well despite having little knowledge of what she was up against. In fact, she might have solved the problem by herself, given enough time. But still, the property damage was astronomically high. Further relations with Kaguya were going to be…strained.
And to top it off, Ran was still out searching for Chen. Yukari had been seriously tempted to just tell her to forget the little nuisance until things were under control, but the last time she had done that Chen had ended up trapped in Makai, no explanation as to how. It had taken a solid week of negations with Shinki to get her released. To that end, the less time that catgirl spent wandering around during a crisis, the better.
Okay, so maybe things hadn't turned out all right. But at least they had survived and emerged somewhat victorious. In the end, that was the important thing.
As for the antagonist herself, she was receiving a little lesson on physics and acceleration. Yukari had dumped her into one of her portals, which connected to a second portal directly over the first. As such, it was a literal bottomless pit, the results of which translated into a dizzying black blur that was painful to stare at.
"So, uh, how does that work again?" Reimu asked. She was sitting in one of the chairs, with her bandaged foot propped up on a stool. "I mean, can't she just stop and hover?"
Yukari grinned. "Not the way I have it set up. They're too close together. Plus, the portals are designed to add just a smidgen of speed to her fall every time she passes through. And since they're so close together, well, in layman's terms: speedy thing goes in, even speedier thing comes out."
Marisa stopped her pacing to glare. "Yah know, you really coulda just done that from the beginning, ze. Save us a whole lot of trouble and property damage that I didn't get to take part in."
"Stop whining, little witch. Point is, it's over. We won. Now, all that's left is to decide-"
Marisa turned to face the others. "All in favor of killing the bloody psychotic risk to life and limb, say aye."
"Aye," Mima said without hesitation.
Reimu hesitated, then she looked down at her foot. She nodded. "Aye. Sorry Yukari, she's just way too dangerous."
Yukari leaned back in her seat, carefully crossing her arms over her bandaged torso. "Why are you apologizing? Aye for me too. Only problem is, I'm not seeing how we can. Ending Rumia the first time around was problematic enough, but now we're dealing with someone that can take just about anything we can dish out."
…
Oh gods, they're going to kill me. I knew this was going to happen. And Rumia too! What did she ever do to them?
Wow, tough luck. Bet you wish you had listened to me, huh?
…oh no.
…
"Speaking of which, what about Rumia?" Reimu asked. "I mean, she's still stuck in that thing. Is there any way we can get her out?"
"Are you daft?" Marisa snapped. "Have you been sleeping through that whole beat down? Even if we get her out, the ribbon thingy is gone, ze! Evil Rumia's back! Better to off them both."
Mima cleared her throat. "While the removal of the ribbon would return her to full power, we do not know if her memories would return as well. The wiping of her memory and the sealing of her power were two separate operations."
"So? I mean, no offense, Master, but is that something you really want to bet your life on? Well, erm, whatever ghostly equivalent you have, I mean."
"Hmmm, I suppose you're right."
…
Oh, this cannot end well. Poor Rumia. First you had to go eat her without permission, and now her doom is sealed as a result. Talk about a lousy day.
Please, you have to help her! I can't let her die because of me!
You mean help you?
Yes!
Even if it means killing?
Um…
You really don't have a lot of time to think about it.
…
"As much as it hurts to say so, I'm afraid I must agree with the witch," Yukari said. "It is my job to keep Gensokyo safe from threats such as this, and while Rumia could be said to be blameless in this situation, the risk is too great to allow her to wander free."
Reimu glowered. She shifted in her seat and folded her arms. "Look, I don't really care for Rumia at all, and I am glad to beat her up whenever she starts getting stupid, but I don't like the idea of killing her just because of something that might happen. Why can't we just seal up her powers again?" Her glare turned into a sneer. "Unless you've forgotten how."
Mima raised a single elegant eyebrow. "Hardly. But even if we somehow managed to extract Rumia from within that thing, and even if she has not regained memory of what she once was, and even if we somehow restrained her long enough to create another amulet of sealing, what's to prevent something else from unleashing her once again? Reimu, this isn't one of the incidents you're used to dealing with. This isn't a case of someone with too much power growing bored and causing trouble. We are talking of a potential massacre here. Maybe even genocide."
…
Things aren't looking good Rin. What's it going to be?
But I-
Look, if it's really that big of a problem, I'll do it.
…what?
Give me temporary control. I can break out of this thing for you. Hell, I'll even keep it clean if that bothers you. Just long enough to get us out of here.
…
"I don't know, I just refuse to accept that an execution is the only option," Reimu said. "This Satsuki person? Okay, that I'll give you. But Rumia, the Rumia we know, she didn't do anything. I hate to say this, but the annoying little twerp is a victim here."
Marisa glared at the shrine maiden. "Okay, are we forgetting where she tried to eat us once? Imagine if she suddenly started packing the sort of juice that just kicked our collective asses."
"And there still exists the possibility that her memories have returned," Mima murmured. "If we were to release her from Satsuki's hold, she would not hesitate to take us with her."
Reimu still looked troubled, but she didn't argue.
…
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the memory of Rumia. Taken from us because the spineless wuss who swallowed her in the first place couldn't stomach a little aggressive self defense.
All right, all right!
If only there had been someone willing to go the extra mile to defend her. If only there had been someone willing to stand up for the poor girl's right to survive.
I said all right already! Just get us out of here!
I knew you'd warm up to me. Now, just relax…
…
Yukari folded her hands in her lap and crossed her legs. "All well and good, but there remains the problem of how. I'm afraid that I don't have the first idea of how to-"
"Look out!"
Yukari turned to look at the eternally falling blur that was her prisoner. Her face paled when she saw the spear of twisting darkness heading towards her. Somehow, it had managed to line up a perfect shot, despite having a mere fraction of a second for its window of opportunity. Once again they had underestimated it. Once again it was going to cost them.
As quick as thought, Mima materialized behind her and yanked her out of the way; turning what would have been an impaling blow into a grazing one. The spear tore across her midriff, slashing the bandage and sending a shock of numbing cold through her torso.
It was enough. Yukari's attention wavered, and the two portals began to collapse. As they did so, the monster separated itself into six curving rays that shot out in six different directions. Each ray landed on the floor, forming a small lump of the shimmering black material. Each lump then coagulated back together to form a single body.
The embodiment of the Shadow Youkai once again stood before them.
It cocked its head to one side. "Hello again. Now, I'd love to stay and eviscerate you all, but I'm on a bit of probation here. So I'd just leave you with something to remember me by. Until next time, ladies."
With that, it fell to one knee and slammed a taloned fist into the floor. As hand met wood, the tendrils twisting around its fingers flushed scarlet. Energy pulsed down into the ground and exploded outward. The floor itself seemed to literally surge outward in a rolling shockwave that overturned and demolished all in its path.
Suika and Eirin were tossed from their beds and nearly thrown against the wall. Reimu fell from her chair and Marisa was knocked from her feet. Yukari was quick enough to take to the air before she suffered the same fate, though the effort nearly caused her to black out. Of course Mima remained unaffected whatsoever. However, it was enough to their attention, and during that split-second of distraction the Shadow Youkai had torn its way through the wall to the hall beyond.
Yukari landed in an untidy heap. She winced as pain stabbed through her unnumbed areas, but she didn't have time to worry about now.
"Stop her," she choked out. "Don't let her get away!"
"On it," Marisa said. She hopped to her feet and extended her hand. Her broom, which had been knocked to the other side of the room, smacked against her palm. She hopped aboard and, holding down her hat with one hand, took off in pursuit.
"I'm going with her," Mima said. "I trust you'll be fine?"
Yukari nodded and winced. "Yeah, we got it. Go!"
Mima vanished without another word, presumably to cut the fugitive off from the other end.
Yukari grabbed her overturned chair and hoisted herself up. At the other end of the room, Reimu was using the wall to pull herself to a standing position, leaning all of her weight on her good foot. Suika was still lying unconscious under her bed, and Eirin was lying facedown on the floor, mumbling something incomprehensible.
Yukari sighed. She was starting to hate this day.
Reimu started hopping across the room to assist those more gravely injured than herself. "Hey Yukari?" she said.
"What?"
"The next time you want me to go help Cirno and her friends, I'm going to tape your mouth shut."
…
There, you see? Got us out, nobody died.
I guess so. Thank you.
Glad to hear it. Good luck.
Wait, what?
Did my part. You're on your own from here out, girly. Head for the outside and just keep running. Use that slithering trick if you have to.
What? No, you can't-
Bye.
No, wait!
Rin tried calling again and again, but the voice had simply disappeared. Again.
Whatever. She could worry about her evil twin (or whatever it was) later. Now she had to concentrate on survival.
And judging by the massive explosion that suddenly tore up the hall she had just left, that was going to be difficult. She wasn't sure who was after her this time, but it couldn't be good.
Rin focused all her attention to a point directly in front of her and charged forward. Wall, furniture and other obstacles barely slowed her down. Then, with a final push, she burst into open air.
The dark clouds summoned by her anger had dispersed after her painful defeat at the hands of the witch and the ghost. Now the sun was shining brightly overhead. It was almost deceptively peaceful looking. If it weren't for the telltale scars left by their battle and the wreckage of the surrounding buildings, the scene could be described as a cheerful spring day.
Of course, the fact that she was being pursued by very powerful people who wished to brutally end her life and Rumia's as well sort of dampened Rin's appreciation of her surroundings. Some first day of freedom, she thought ruefully. I was better off in that box.
Well, there was no time to worry about that now. The only thing to do was to find some far-off corner of Gensokyo to hide. And then she could worry about making things up to Rumia. And maybe see to the problem of her "imaginary friend."
Of course, given the way the day was going for everyone involved, this proved to be impractical, as Rin was soon interrupted by a flying blue-and-white missile.
…
She had made it, she had finally made it!
Despite being Master Sparked twice in two hours, flying around like her butt was on fire all day, and pushing herself far past her limits to catch up with Reimu, Cirno had finally reached the Moon Princess' mansion. Her body was shaking with exhaustion and her wings felt like they were about to crack to pieces, but she had made it!
And, wonder of wonders, the first thing she saw upon arrival was Rumia herself. She must have found a way to escape the blob. Cirno felt relief sing through her body, giving her new strength.
"Rumia!" she called as she darted towards her friend. "Oh awesomesauce, I found you!"
She tried to wrap her arms around Rumia, but to her surprise her friend recoiled. "Wait…Cirno, right? Rumia's friend? Stay away from me."
Cirno's jaw dropped. "What the hellsicles are you talking about? I came all this way to find you! What happened to your voice? Have you been smoking? And why did you paint yourself black? I know you like darkness and all, but come on!"
Rumia kept nervously looking over her shoulder. "Okay, seriously. Not a good time. Can we postpone this until later?"
Inspiration struck. "Wait, are you Rumia's shadow?" Cirno demanded. "Did you…like detach or something and now you're going to get help? Is Rumia still being eaten or is she going to float off into the sky without you?"
"What? No! No, no, yes, no! Now please, we need to-"
Then the wall of the strange bamboo building exploded. Cirno yelped and covered her face as flaming shard pelted her arms. From within emerged a sight that Cirno was frankly getting tired of: an angry Marisa Kirisame, perched on her broom and looking to ruin somebody's day.
At the same time, the air on the other side of she and Rumia shimmered. The scary ghost lady that was always hanging out with Reimu appeared out of nowhere. Her mouth was moving at a mile a minute, but the words were so low that they were impossible to make out.
The ghost raised a single hand, index finger pointing at Rumia. Green light began to collect at her fingertip.
At the same time, Marisa thrust a fist into the sky. Crackling red lightning shot down from the sky and struck her hand, illuminating it was a deadly scarlet light.
"Spectacular Supernova!" Marisa howled. She hurled the ball of lightning forward, which erupted into a ball of rolling flame that surged forward, eager to devour all in its way.
As she did so, the ghost stopped chanting and gestured. Twisting ethereal arms flew from her fingertip, each one ending in a grasping, long-fingered hand.
Cirno suddenly realized two things. One, both attacks were heading straight for Rumia. Two, they didn't look like they were spellcard regulation. In fact, they looked downright lethal.
"No!" she screamed. "Rumia, move!"
She lunged forward and pushed Rumia out of the way. As her palms touched Rumia's dress, shocking cold, greater than anything even the ice fairy had experienced, shot through her arms. She cried out and recoiled.
Just as she opened her eyes, Cirno realized that she had accidentally moved herself right into the line of fire. She didn't even have time to feel afraid before both attacks hit her at the same time.
With a puff of white mist, Cirno evaporated.
…
Sorry about the wait guys. Had a bunch of schoolwork I needed to take care of.
And once again I'd hope to finish this arc in a single chapter, and once again I've failed. Bah. I'll try to wrap things up in the next two installments, three at the most, so we can move on.
Anyway, to answer Pyramid Head's question about Eirin, it's never actually stated that she drank from the same elixir as Kaguya and Mokou. She's certainly an immortal of some kind, but we don't know if she can regenerate like they can. So for story purposes, I'm just going to assume that she has eternal youth but can still be killed. Hope that clears things up!
Until next time, everyone!