Imperfect Metamorphosis

by TakerFoxx

It's the first day of spring, and Cirno and her friends are once again up to no good! But after stealing a strange box from Marisa's house, they soon find themselves over their heads as they discover some things are meant to remain locked up.

31. The Storm, Part 4

The Storm, Part 4

The Devastation

"Boo!" Yuuka says. She laughs as you're startled out of your trance.

"So sorry," she says. "But you seemed to be getting lost in my eyes. Well, eye. Not that I blame you. It is rather beautiful. But too much of a good thing may not be healthy in the long run, and I need your attention here where it belongs." She laughs again. "Also, it isn't as if I could just snap my fingers or clap," she says, showing you her withered hands. "I might accidentally break a finger."

"At any rate," she continues. "You're no doubt noticing that the last we heard from little Team Scarlet, the maid was about to launch a surprise attack on yours truly. And the next thing you know, Yukari is being assaulted by that very same yours truly, with this little beauty in hand." She holds up one hand, displaying the scarlet stone. "No doubt the sudden transition has caused you to imagine all matter of horrible outcomes for that ill-fated attack. Torn off limbs, crushed skulls, piles of entrails, pools of blood, dusted vampires, the list goes on!" Her eye glitters mischievously. "But what really happened may surprise you. It certainly surprised me. Shall we take a look?"

…

Team Scarlet (or rather, the only non-Scarlet and the only truly competent member of the team. Interesting how that worked out)

When Sakuya had come to, she had at first feared that she had been unconscious for hours, but what she observed told her that it had only been a minute or two. There was that at least, though if she did not find a way to start fighting the haziness of her own mind it wouldn't make that much of a difference.

And so, as Yuuka fished around Remilia's armor for the sealing crystal, Sakuya calmed herself and did her best to concentrate on one of the many mental techniques she had learned through the years to combat situations such as these.

As Yuuka backed away from Remilia and made her way toward Flandre, Sakuya had cleared her head enough to sit up.

And as Yuuka taunted Flandre using Remilia's voice, Sakuya managed to push herself up onto unsteady legs.

And then Yuuka staked Flandre right through the heart and sealed up her life energies. From that point on, Sakuya no longer needed any sort of mental tricks in order to fight her way through her injury. However, it did help to keep herself under control and not rush Yuuka in a rage-driven attack that would likely end in her very messy demise.

Though her body still hurt and she couldn't move her right arm, Sakuya was able to ignore it and start moving. Her mission was more-or-less the same as before: don't get spotted, find an opening and eliminate those annoying blue flowers. Her tube-of-napalm had been only good for one use, but she had many other ways to quickly kill large amounts of plants at her disposal.

As she passed Remilia, she spared a second to check up on her Mistress. To her distress, Remilia was looking right at her. Sakuya quickly whispered, "Don't move. Don't look at me, don't acknowledge my presence at all."

To her relief, Remilia obeyed.

Fortunately, Yuuka was indulging in a bit of an extended monologue, and had yet to take notice of Sakuya. That left her free to put Yuuka's disturbing tree between them. Insofar as cover went, it was far from her first choice, but Yuuka had already smashed everything else to pieces.

Once there, Sakuya reached into a pouch on her belt and extracted a small, silvery sphere. Pulling this off with only one arm was going to be tricky, but doable. She watched as Yuuka freed the Mistress and returned her spear to her, all the while taunting her to give into a suicidal frontal charge.

That seemed a good a time as any to strike.

Sakuya steadied herself the best she could and leapt up over the tree, arm bent and ready to hurl the sphere right at Yuuka.

Unfortunately she was interrupted. The large flower that perched on top of the tree suddenly animated and snatched her between its petals, leaving only Sakuya's head and shoulders free. Her arms and legs were pinned fast.

Sakuya grimaced. She looked up to see Yuuka staring at her.

"Um, well, all right then," Yuuka said. "Look, I know you're fast running out of options, but was hiding behind something created by the very energies left behind by my body really the best idea? I suppose I could chalk that one up to desperation, but when you really think about it-"

Sakuya crushed the sphere in her fingers.

Acid fell with the fragments. Though Sakuya's gloves and clothing protected her from the worst of it, some still managed to eat through the material and burn against her skin. Fortunately, it was not intended for use against meat, and as such the worst she would suffer were some incredibly irritating welts for a few days. The flower, however…

It was almost as if it were in actual pain. The flower started to swing about, its petals lurching open. It was enough for Sakuya to fight her way out and into the air.

Spasms were shaking the entire network of branches. A shrill shriek was filling the air. It seemed to be coming from the tree itself. Perhaps it was. Sakuya didn't care. Her attention was focused on Yuuka, who was stumbling backward and clutching at her forehead. Apparently the bond with the tree was something of a two-edged sword.

However, at the moment Sakuya had a different target in mind. She quickly snatched up a second sphere and, once she had spotted an opening through the branches, threw it at Yuuka's face.

It sailed through shadow and light, spinning as it flew on a direct course with its target. Sakuya pulled out her pocketwatch, ready to stop time the moment Yuuka's flowers were destroyed.

And that was when Yuuka suddenly hunched over, unintentionally bringing herself out of the sphere trajectory.

Sakuya didn't hesitate. The pocketwatch went away and was replaced by one of her knives. Even through the dark, she could still map out the line of the sphere's travel in her head. She did a couple of quick calculations, waited for half-a-second, and then hurled the knife with all her strength.

This time she found her mark. The knife hit the sphere and smashed it open. Acid flew out and splattered all over the top of Yuuka's head. She recoiled in pain, her hands clutching at the dissolving mess in her hair. No doubt she would be able to replace the flowers in a matter of seconds. Sakuya wasn't interested in giving her one. She snatched up her pocketwatch and activated it.

This time it worked. Time slowed to a halt. The tree and the dying flower ceased their thrashing, with droplets of nectar mixed with acid hanging in the air next to the partially-eaten petals. Yuuka was stuck with her back arched and her head thrown back, her hands in her acid-filled hair and her mouth open in a cry of outrage. Remilia had likewise stopped moving, right as she was reflexively looking away while shielding her face with one arm and one wing.

Sakuya glanced down at her pocketwatch and allowed herself a smile of satisfaction. This quickly disappeared when she saw that the hands were vibrating in a worrying matter.

Then yellow sparks flashed inside its face. Damn it, she had to move fast.

Sakuya bolted to her Mistress' side and picked her up. The pose Remilia had adopted made her a little awkward to lift, but no different from carrying a statue of the same size and proportions. Sakuya was able to get her arm around Remilia's waist and bring her off the floor.

Then she started bolting toward the exit, sometimes flying, sometimes hopping from one branch to the next. Yuuka's wooden web made navigating difficult, but fortunately the tunnel mouth remained open. From there she would have to play things by ear, but she was reasonably certain that she could find someplace safe. From there…Well, one thing at a time.

And then the mechanical shrieking began. Sakuya looked down and saw that, to her horror, the pocketwatch was now shaking violently as the clock-face behind the crystal surged with electricity.

Oh no, she thought. Not now. Come on, just a little longer. I'm almost there, just last a little longer.

The watch gave one last shudder, let out one final scream, and died.

Remilia suddenly came alive in her arms. "What?" she said. "Huh? Sakuya? Wait, what are you doing? Let me go!" The small vampire started to struggle in Sakuya's grasp. "No, don't take me away! Don't you understand?"

"Mistress, please don't fight me!" Sakuya begged as she tried to keep Remilia in place. "We can still get away, we can-"

Despite her best efforts, Sakuya was no match for her Mistress' strength. Remilia broke free and stared at her with wet eyes.

"She killed Flandre!" Remilia cried. "I can't let her get away with that!"

"And I'm not letting either of you get away at all," Yuuka growled. She straightened up to stare daggers at Sakuya, acid dripping down her face. A gesture, and the branches near the exit contracted, tearing apart the mouth of the tunnel and collapsing it. Then she reached up to grab the dissolving mess of foliage and literally lifted it out of her head. Sakuya could actually see small, white roots leaving tiny holes in her skull. It was a sickening sight.

But not as much as the next one. New vines and leaves grew from these holes, and buds quickly formed to blossom into new flowers. Yuuka's web of magical interference was renewed.

"You clever, clever little girl," Yuuka murmured as her burning crimson gaze pierced into Sakuya's icy blue eyes. "That's, what, the third time you've gotten the drop on me today? Congratulations, I am now taking you seriously."

Yuuka floated through the air toward the tree. That wasn't good. Sakuya quickly filtered through the list of tricks she had at her disposal and tried to find one that was long range, would work with Yuuka looking directly at her and didn't somehow require the use of her time-stopping abilities.

Yuuka reached the tree. Her feet touched down over the corpse of the giant flower.

"Sakuya?" Remilia said. "I must agree with her. Your tactics have proven to be extremely effective. So I'm going to let you take charge. What do we do now?"

Yuuka started to lift up her right arm. Angry green energy collected around her hand.

"I…" Sakuya shook her head. "Hit her with everything we've got?"

Remilia didn't hesitate. She hurled Gungnir at Yuuka, and followed it up with a swarm of fat-bodied red spheres. Sakuya followed suit, running across the branches and throwing as many knives as she could with only one arm. This was followed by a handful of exploding pellets, four small bombs and all six poisoned-tipped bullets from the antique revolver she had worn on her belt.

With no element of surprise, the results were predictable. The network of branches simply contracted, forming a wall around Yuuka and blocked nearly every single attack. The only one that managed to get through was Gungnir, which cut through three different attempts to stop it without slowing down. It hit its mark, slamming right into Yuuka's midsection and partially coming out the other side.

Yuuka looked down. She grabbed the handle with one hand, grimaced, and pushed the spear the rest of the way out.

"Okay, now what Sakuya?" Remilia said. "That was just the first part, right? You have a plan? What do we do next?"

Sakuya looked at her Mistress. She bowed her head. "I am…sorry, lady Scarlet."

Remilia looked at her, uncomprehending. And the realization filled her face. Sakuya, who had never been someone overly given to emotion, felt her walled-off heart break as her Mistress was hit with the reality of their defeat and impending demise.

"My turn," Yuuka purred. "Here comes the rain again. And here! Comes! THE SUN!"

She thrust her glowing hand into the air, all fingers spread wide. A viridian bolt of energy shot upward and blasted right through the ceiling. Thousands of cracks spread outward like a shockwave, and the entire roof of the cavern started to come down, bringing down torrents of rainwater with it. Remilia and Sakuya immediately retreated away from the center, the former to avoid the running water and the latter to avoid the falling stones.

But it didn't stop there. The ball continued upward to disappear into the dark clouds overhead. There it exploded, and the clouds were literally blown away. Sunlight streamed down, mixing with the stone and water.

"Find cover!" Sakuya screamed to Remilia. "Don't let it-"

Remilia was way ahead of her. Her body erupted into hundreds of bats that swarmed all throughout the cave, searching for some place safe from the light and water. Sakuya found herself caught up in the swarm and the next few moments were a swirling mass of confusion as she was covered with flapping wings, desperate squeaks and scratching claws.

And then, water. And then, light.

And then, darkness.

…

"No, wait. Complete disaster. Guess you were right after all." Yuuka shrugs. "Though if it's any consolation, they did do the best they could with what they had. Anyway, let's get back to Yukari."

…

Yukari

Yukari was seized by the scruff of her neck and pulled off her hands and knees. Yuuka slammed her face right through a nearby boulder, breaking the rock in half. Then she turned and ran Yukari through another rock. She started running, with one hand on Yukari's neck and the other holding her by the waist. Yukari found herself smashed through five pillars in succession before being tossed a good quarter-mile.

Given what she was, it didn't hurt as much as it sounds. But that didn't mean it was at all comfortable. Especially since Yuuka had been smashing her through stuff for the last five minutes or so.

Things were obviously not going Yukari's way. Now that Yuuka had received a serious upgrade (or regrade?), things had taken on a whole new shade of difficulty. For one, she was now much more resistant to Yukari's meddling. Gone was the time when Yukari could just throw her around like a ragdoll. And every time Yukari tried to step between dimensions, out would come those damned flowers. And if she tried to block their growth, she would receive another nasty shock like the one when she had tried to tear Yuuka's essence apart. If there was any consolation it was that Yuuka kept the flowers away so long as Yukari kept her physical form and didn't try to leave, most likely in the interest of keeping this conflict a case of strength vs. strength.

Of course, it wasn't as if it had been a one-sided affair. Yukari was perfectly capable of taking a ridiculous amount of punishment as well as dealing some of her own. This momentary advantage of Yuuka's was just the latest in a sequence of back-and-forth. For example…

Yuuka charged toward Yukari, her pounding footsteps sending miniature shockwaves through the earth. She leapt in the air and came down right at Yukari, her right fist targeted right at Yukari's head.

At the last possible second, Yukari rolled out of the way and Yuuka's fist went right through solid rock. Before she could withdraw, Yukari connected with a thunderous kick to the midsection that lifted Yuuka a full five feet off the ground. While Yuuka was still in the air, Yukari slammed one hand into her stomach and brought the other down on her neck, turning her around and making sure Yuuka landed solidly on her head.

Yukari leapt back and held her hand in the air. Her sword, the one she had brought with her, came spinning through the air right into her grasp. Yukari waited until Yuuka managed to right herself before flinging the blade. It hit Yuuka over the right kidney and stuck.

A snap of the fingers and lightning cracked down from the sky to hit the hilt of the sword. Unlike the scorching bolts Yukari had hit Yuuka with at the match's onset, this was a continuous circuit of electricity that surged down from the sky to flow through the metal blade into Yuuka's body. Her flesh and clothing dissolved away as lightning crackled all over her, illuminating her from within as it destroyed her. Yukari kept the juice going for a full ten seconds.

And then she thrust her palms outward and hit Yuuka with a blast of pure destructive force.

Yukari waited as the dust cleared. To her disappointment but utter lack of surprise, she saw Yuuka lurch to her feet. Yukari's fists clenched in exasperation. It was that damned healing ability of Yuuka's. It had been annoying enough when she had only been dealing with the quarter, but now it just took things into unfair territory. Yukari could do tremendous amounts of damage if she was of a mind (which she was), but what good would it do if her opponent could simply shrug it all off?

Yuuka walked toward Yukari, taking her own sweet time as she did so. She reached behind herself, grabbed the hilt of Yukari's sword and yanked it out. "That's the third time you've used the might of this storm against me," she said as she tossed the blade aside. "I think I might be developing a taste for it." Then she pointed her finger at Yukari and there came a sudden rising whine.

Fortunately Yukari saw it coming and got her hand up in time. The green flash hit her palm and rebounded up into the air. Yukari seized it with her mind, redirected its trajectory and brought it down on its creator.

This time she didn't even wait to see if Yuuka was going to recover. This was insane. She was in the most serious fight in over a century and she was resorting to fisticuffs and lightning bolts.

Yukari eyed the massive basin that took up the place where the Skillet Plateau had used to be. Her dragon hadn't even used a fourth of the flames that burned within. She held up her hand and pulled that fire out of the hole. It rose into the air, a literally miles-wide blanket of pure flame.

She took hold of that blanket and twisted it around itself to form a cylinder. Then she turned started it spinning around and around like a drill.

Yuuka once again emerged from the small hole her blast had sent her into. She caught sight of what Yukari was doing and smiled. "And what's this? Another dragon? It's pretty, but haven't you learned your lesson from the last one?"

"You could say that," Yukari said. She motioned, and the colossal tube of fire shot forward, right at Yuuka.

Yuuka held up her hands and literally caught the cylinder. Though her smile took on a strained look, she managed to hold it at bay. "Impressive," she said to Yukari. "But not very practical."

In response, Yukari moved her hand. The back end of the cylinder curved up to loop around Yuuka and slam right into her back. This surprised her so much that she released her hold on the front, and was such scorched from both ends.

Yukari formed a fist, and the looping cylinder contracted fast to envelop Yuuka. She squeezed it tighter and tighter, increasing the heat and pressure within. The core of the fire started to turn white.

And suddenly it exploded, sending the flames riding the shockwave outward. Yukari squinted and shielded her eyes. Yuuka was making her move. Where was she…

And there she was. Yuuka had leapt into the air. She had morphed yet again, and was now trailing a cluster of long stalks topped with red and purple flowers with petals shaped like a raptor's beak. Her hands had changed as well, with the fingers extending to twice their normal length and ending with nails sharp enough to tear flesh. Combined with her glowing eyes, the overall effect made her look like some kind of wraith sailing through the air.

It looked like she was going for another physical attack. It was just too bad that Yukari wasn't interested in letting her. Blue flame appeared in her palms and she studied Yuuka's trajectory, ready to shoot her out of the sky.

But then Yuuka surprised her by stopping in midair before she even reached the zenith of her arc. The stalks whipped in front of her and the flowers opened their "mouths" to spew some sort of sickly green substance at her. Yukari quickly threw up a shield, only to realize a second too late that it wasn't energy. It splattered all over her, sticking to her body and burning wherever it touched skin.

Yukari recoiled. She grimaced and quickly sought out the boundary between the stuff and her body. She found it and repelled it off of her.

Yuuka hit her a second later. Yukari was driven to the ground with Yuuka crouching on top of her. Yuuka immediately started cutting at Yukari's face with those distorted nails of her while the flowers chattered and hissed as they snapped at the border youkai, tearing away small strips of skin.

Yukari let out a genuine roar of pain and rage. Her entire body erupted in blinding golden light. Yuuka found herself thrust back by a blast of tremendous force. She took the fall like a pro, flipping and twisting her body around so that she landed in a crouch, ready to spring again.

But as she looked up, she saw six spinning red discs hurtling right toward her. They slashed right through her body, shredding the predatory flowers and driving her back. She hissed as her sliced and burned flesh flowed over her, reforming itself.

Yukari came out of nowhere. Yuuka was hit by a vicious backhand that drove her face into the mud. Yukari held up her hand and squeezed it into a fist. The skin glowed red hot for a second. When it cooled, her hand was now metallic grey. She then slammed it into the back of Yuuka's head repeatedly, each hit sending off a metallic clanging sound. Her breath came out in angry grunts with every blow.

Yuuka endured four such blows before lurching up and driving her sharp elbow into Yukari's stomach. Yukari took the blow with a grunt and grabbed Yuuka to yank her to her feet.

For a brief moment the two women were face-to-face. Golden eyes sank into crimson ones as rain washed down their faces and plastered their hair to their skulls. Both were panting heavily, and the back of Yuuka's head was bleeding profusely.

And then Yuuka smiled. "You know," she said. "I think you're getting the hang of this."

Yukari spat in her face.

That proved to be a mistake. Yuuka's grin vanished immediately. "Now that," she growled. "Was very rude." Her flesh boiled and expanded, and Yukari found herself snatched up and pulled off the ground. She tried to dismember the limb holding her, but only found herself slammed back into the ground. Repeatedly.

By the time the pounding stopped, Yukari was flirting with unconsciousness. Given her age and power, she could easily shrug off attacks that would disintegrate most giants. But she wasn't invulnerable. And Yuuka was just so strong.

Yuuka lifted her up and flung her forward. Yukari found herself flying limply through the air only to land in an untidy heap more than two miles away.

She blinked several times. Again, the world was swimming worryingly in front of her eyes. It was difficult to focus her thought. Her hands clenched and she sealed off the dazedness so that it couldn't touch her.

Yukari sat up. Her joints protested the movement, so she sealed off the pain as well. It was going to be hell when she finally dropped those seals later on, but better then than now. Then she looked up. What she saw made her sigh.

Yuuka was a good twenty feet tall and layered with so much mass that she was hunched over like some sort of gigantic gorilla with green hair and a red skirt. Her knuckles dragged on the ground as she lumbered toward Yukari.

With a roll of her eyes, Yukari took to the sky. All right, now this was getting ridiculous. Even among beings for whom the impossible was merely challenging, there should be boundaries.

Yuuka let out an earthshaking bellow and lunged for Yukari. Yukari maintained her distance, constantly flying just out of reach of Yuuka's tree-sized arms and let power well up inside her. When she felt that she had enough, she pointed at the Yuuka and let loose with dark blue blast that was only the width of a strong man's arm but denser than most metals. It hit Yuuka in the center of her chest and shot out the other side. Yuuka roared as she staggered back.

Yukari then focused her attention on the ground beneath Yuuka's feet. While becoming a giant certainly sounded impressive on paper, there were a number of reasons why it was an impractical tactic to use against normal-sized-but-still-incredibly-powerful beings such as Yukari. A small infusion of will, and the consistency of the stone changed. To liquid.

Yuuka's bellow changed from one of rage to one of surprise as she found herself plunging through what had only moments ago been solid rock. Her own mass suddenly was working against her as it bore her down into the murk.

With a weary sigh, Yukari solidified the stone once again. She didn't think for a moment that Yuuka was going to be held for long, but it did buy her some time to think.

The teams, the ones that she had brought here. Presumably two had been wiped out. Judging by what she had seen of Marisa's antics earlier and the color of the sealing crystals that Yuuka now had in her possession, she was willing to bet that Team Underground and Team Vampire were now out of the game, with Satori and Remilia being the ones sealed away. She wasn't overly upset about losing Remilia. As far as she was concerned, Yuuka could keep her. But Satori was a definite problem. In addition to being one of her allies, Satori was also a longstanding community leader with a great deal of influence. And though her species meant that that she wasn't especially beloved by those she ruled over, people still tended to react unfavorably when their leaders were killed off in someone else's war. Which meant yet another thing Yukari would be needing to focus on, lest she had the whole of the Underground rebelling against her.

Yuuka had also said something about survivors. More than likely that meant Satori's pets. Being youkai, they were more-or-less unkillable, and despite her strength Yuuka had yet to display the same disregard for immortality that the Shadow Youkai had. But it was probably safe to write off Sakuya Izayoi. Despite her skill and artificially lengthened life, she was still Human. Flandre Scarlet could go either way. It was entirely possible that she had managed to survive, but given the rain and the fact that the Yuuka that had gone after Team Vampire had shown up alive and well, it was also possible that she didn't. And to be honest, Yukari wouldn't be especially grieved if that were the case. Either way, she could check up on them later.

The status of Team Halloween was up-in-the air. Unless they had perished only recently, Mima and Marisa were probably still active, if that brief glimpse of the havoc Marisa was wreaking was any indication. But Yuyuko and Youmu hadn't been with them then, which was somewhat worrying. On a whim, Yukari checked that general area. To her surprise, the blackout caused by the Mykr's Sirens was gone, and the souls of every member of Team Halloween was very much active. In addition, she also sensed something that was near-identical to the fourth of Yuuka that she had been fighting earlier, so presumably their battle was still going. She smiled at that. Well, there was that then.

She considered bringing them over to help her deal with Yuuka. It would certainly be useful if for no other reason than to keep her off balance. But perhaps she should let them finish off their battle first. If that piece of Yuuka managed to escape and rejoin with the whole, then things would just get worse.

The ground below started to crack apart, signaling the end of her break. Yukari steeled herself. All right then, what bizarre trick did the flower-loving bitch have for her this time?

As it turned out, it was another big one. Yukari found herself reminded of the fable of Jack and the Beanstalk. It certainly seemed like Yuuka was going for something similar, given that a green stalk as thick as a redwood tree was now thrusting up out of the ground. However, she was reasonably certain that the giant from the story in question was humanoid, and not an oversized red flower with black spots like the one perched at the very top.

Half a moment later Yukari realized that it was an enormously overgrown version of those flowers that had spat that clinging goo at her a moment ago. The flower reared back like a snake and its beaklike petals spread as it hissed at her.

Yukari rolled her eyes. Fine, she would just kill this one too. Her right arm glowed yellow as she prepared to cut it down.

But then she found herself perplexed when she heard a very familiar rising whine from behind her, as if something were charging up. She started to turn in its direction.

A moment later she was blinking rain out of her eyes as she stared up at the giant flower. She was lying flat on her back on the ground. But how had she gotten there? She didn't remember falling.

Then saw a normal-sized Yuuka hovering in the air over her, smiling and waving down at her. Her umbrella was held in one hand, and smoke was rising from the tip. Ah, that explained things. The flower had just been a distraction. And Yukari had just been tagged by a blast strong enough to disintegrate even the hardiest of youkai. And at point-blank range no less.

That had been quite clever. Simple, but effective. Of course, Yukari would have to return the favor. Perhaps a solar flare to the face would do the trick? Yes, that would do nicely. All she had to do was get up and continue to make Yuuka hurt. Though for some reason, doing so was surprisingly difficult.

It was then that Yukari realized that there was more than rain stinging her eyes. Blood. Huh. And come to think of it, she seemed to be bleeding from a great many places. That blast sure packed a punch. Yukari made a mental note to look into learning something similar for herself. And while she was at it, she should also look into acquiring the same sort of regenerative abilities that Yuuka possessed. It would certainly come in handy. Perhaps Eirin Yagokoro could help her with…

Darkness rushed up to consume her, and Yukari blacked out.

…

"You know, as poorly as things may have turned out for me in the end, it is nice to see when things were going so well," Yuuka says. "Pleasant memories do sustain us through hard times, after all. And upon reflection, we learn-"

The scene in the cup shifts, showing a different face entirely.

"Oh. Her." Yuuka's smile disappears. "Right. Well, every silver lining does come with a dark cloud attached, I'm afraid."

…

Team Halloween

Marisa was fighting a valiant battle against the Mykr's Leeches. Master Sparks mixed with thunderbolts, shooting stars and pillars of fire. Hundreds of the little monsters were disintegrated before they even got close to her.

She was still losing.

It didn't matter how many of them she destroyed, hundreds more floated up to replace them. Yuuka must be churning them out like an assembly line. And they were getting closer with every wave. For the first time since this battle started, Marisa was getting scared. Not by a lot, but if she was going to go down, she would much rather it wasn't due to being sucked dry by a bunch of hungry baby plants.

And then there was the fact that Mima had been overwhelmed by the things. The ghost was insanely powerful, but she wasn't invulnerable. Marisa owed her literally everything. There was no way she could leave her to be consumed by these things.

Pain shot through her foot, sharp enough to break through the haze of anger, fear and raw energy that enveloped Marisa. She looked down and saw, to her horror, that one of the Leech Seeds had latched onto her boot with its thorns. The tongue-like root was squirming against the sole, searching for a way in.

"AGH!" she cried. "ICKY THING GET OFF!"

She quickly kicked it off and blew it to pieces. But there were so many more closing in. She wasn't going to last much longer. She had maybe a minute before enough of them broke through-

By chance, her eyes fell upon her gauntleted hands. With this came a sudden realization that brought with it a profound feeling of foolishness. Maybe Alice was right. Maybe she needed to lay off the mushrooms.

She popped a black spellcard into her right hand and activated it in short order, all the while begging whoever was listening that it would be enough. So far she had been lucky with these things, but all it took was having one go wrong…

The spellcard took effect immediately. Hundreds of tiny violet pinpoints of light surrounded Marisa and formed a tight sphere. A few Mykr's Leeches drifted close enough to the lights and burned when they touched.

"OH," Marisa said. "COOL! A SHIELD! BUT, I THOUGHT THESE THINGS WERE MORE BLOWY-STUFF-UPPY THAN-"

Each and every single one of the lights fired out a laser. On the whole, it was not dissimilar to the spellcard Marisa had used to dig Yuuka up. Only this time, the beams were as thin as needles and firing off in all directions. They cut right through the clouds of Mykr's Leeches, burning perfect little holes all the way through.

And then the sphere started to spin around Marisa, moving the beams with it. Every single one of the seeds were cut to pieces as a result. It was now more like her Non-Directional Laser, only with more laser. Much, much more laser.

"FUCKING SWEET!" Marisa crowed. Her earlier excitement returned in full force. These things were the best ever. It seemed like every time she used one, it was exactly the one she needed.

But there was no time to just sit and kill seeds. She didn't know how long this thing was going to last, and she had to save Mima and stop Yuuka from making these things. With a mad cackle she swooped back down into the storm clouds and came out over the Blasted Lands.

As expected, those godsdamned seeds were literally everywhere. She growled and continued downward, her eyes searching the area. Mima was nowhere to be seen. Marisa was reasonably sure that her former mentor wasn't dead (or whatever he equivalent was), but her absence was exactly filling her with optimism.

Unfortunately she didn't have to search. Yuuka came first then. Kill her, and all of the seeds would follow. Maybe. Probably. It was worth a try.

Fortunately, Yuuka was very easy to find. She was still where Marisa had left her, only now she was upright and swaying back and forth in the wind. Her stalk was covered with pods, which were releasing the leeches by the hundreds.

Marisa's eyes narrowed. She adjusted the direction of her broom and charged.

Mykr's Leeches were literally chewed up as she approached. The beams reached Yuuka long before she did, shredding the seed pods all along one side and causing the monster recoil.

Yuuka turned to face her. The look of irritation on her face gave way to delight, even with the lasers cutting her face to pieces. "Marisa!" she cried through constantly shredding and regenerating lips. "There you are! I was worried you had left!"

"LIKE HELL!" Marisa shouted. Good thing she had neglected to deactivate the voice spell. "I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I'VE BEATED YOUR UGLY ASS INTO THE GROUND."

"Heh, good luck finding it."

Marisa would have responded, but right about then the spellcard timed out. That was all right, though. It had done its job in clearing away the Mykr's Leeches. And now that Marisa was at the source, she could get to work getting rid of the pods themselves. She immediately started flying tight circles around Yuuka, unleashing a continuous fire spell as she did so. Curiously enough, though Yuuka continue to regrow the pods as quickly as Marisa burned them, she had stopped releasing seeds, seemingly content to watch Marisa fly around her.

"By the way, would you mind not doing that?" Yuuka said at last. "It's kind of uncomfortable."

Marisa was flying tight circles around Yukari, incinerating seed pods as she went. "YEAH, WHEN YOU STOP GROWING THESE BACK, ZE!"

"Done."

"HUH?"

Marisa pulled herself to a stop. The last of the burning pods fell from Yuuka. And though the flesh of the stalk healed itself, the pods themselves did not return.

"There now, just as you asked," Yuuka spoke down to her. "Now, I have to admit, I'm getting as tired of this as you are. So what say we try talking this out?"

"YOU'RE BATSHIT!" Marisa yelled back. "AND WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MIMA, YOU FREAKY-"

Marisa sensed something moving behind her. She whirled around, ready to blow whatever it was to pieces, but even with her enhanced reflexes it was faster than her. The vine hit her in the side, knocking her right off the broom. Four more whipped into view and seized her by the wrists and ankles, spreading her limbs and clamping down on her hands.

"Gotcha!" Yuuka gloated. She brought Marisa up to eye-level. "You're a tricky little one, there's no doubt of that. And if the circumstances were different, I'd be tempted to let you go out of respect. But unfortunately I did warn Yukari that I would break everyone she sends after me, and you do qualify. So congratulations for making a better showing than creatures a hundred times older and more powerful than you, but I'm afraid I must-"

Four flashes of light, so quick they might have been imaginary, darted past Marisa's vision. And then the vines fell away in pieces and she was being pulled away from Yuuka at incredible speed.

A moment later, and Marisa found herself on her hands and knees on the edge of the crater with her head feeling like it was spinning around in circles. The sudden transition from free to facing death to free again, all without warning, had confused her beyond belief. Her arms gave way and she flipped onto her back, which gave her a good view of her rescuer.

Her eyes bulged when she saw who it was. She sat up instantly. "DOUBLETROUBLE!" she shouted happily.

A battered-looking Youmu stood over her, steel gaze focused on the equally confused Yuuka. "The number of things that cannot be cut by my blade is close to zero!" she called. She held up her katana in challenge. "And plants are not on that list!"

If Marisa could have reached her she would have kissed her.

"You again!" Yuuka snarled. She loomed over the two girls. "What have you done to Elly, you horrible, horrible person?"

"She was defeated and has fled," Youmu answered. "You will deal with us now."

"Oh, I'll deal with you, all right. I'll make you wish…" Yuuka's voice trailed off. She looked puzzled. Then she sighed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but would that be your master sinking her fingers into my base?"

"Yes," Youmu said.

"Ah. I suppose I should have seen that coming." With that, Yuuka toppled over and crashed into the side of the crater.

Marisa scrambled to the crater's edge and peered in. The bottom was impossible to make out, but there did seem to be something pink and glowing down there.

"THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" she asked.

Youmu winced. "Yuyuko caused the base of her stalk to die. And Marisa, I don't know what is making your voice like that, but please-"

The crater wall that Yuuka had fallen against exploded outward. Yuuka let out gasp as she was thrown forward by the blast. Several vines sprouted out of her and thrust themselves against the ground, preventing her from crashing face-first. A second later a thunderbolt impacted against her head, driving her the rest of the way down.

A small cluster of smashed Mykr's Leeches were hurled from the dust of the blast to fall into darkness. And then Marisa got another happy surprise as Mima emerged from the side of the crater. However, the ghost was not in good shape. Her clothes were torn, her hat was missing, her wings had been plucked of most of their feathers and her body was emaciated. And she was very, very angry.

Yuyuko floated up out of the darkness to hover above Yuuka. She locked eyes with Mima and, though neither spoke a word, an understanding passed between them as Mima flew up to take position opposite Yuyuko. Youmu was next to take to the air, stopping at a point over Yuuka and between the spirits while being off to the side, forming a triangle.

Marisa understood what was going on. She held up her hand, and her broom flew up to join her. Then she mounted it and flew to the point opposite Youmu, turning the triangle into a square.

Mima said, "Marisa, please turn off that voice amplification spell. The time for shouting has passed."

Marisa nodded and did so.

Below them, Yuuka managed to turn herself around to see all four members of Team Halloween glowering down at her. Despite her tremendous size, she seemed unsure of what to do next.

Finally she said, "I'm still bigger than all of you."

"Yes," Mima said. "How about that? Makes you easier to hit."

…

2/3 Team Underground

Despite the fact that she had been somewhat baked and then violently blown to molecules, Orin had died more than a few times in recent history. Her job was a dangerous one, after all. And though she was more-or-less safe from youkai exterminators, accidents still happen. Also, her essence had not been damaged in the slightest. As such, she was able to fully resurrect with no ill effects.

That didn't mean she liked what greeted her.

She was still in the same cave. Yuuka was nowhere to be seen, which was something of a relief, even though that created problems in itself. Namely, the problem of the boss still being missing.

Utsuho, however, was still there. She was huddled against the wall, crying softly to herself. Something was wrong with her Third Leg. She kept pushing and clawing at it while she sobbed.

"Get off," she begged. "Please get off. Oh gods, please get off."

But that wasn't all. Utsuho was surrounded by a humming greenish-yellow aura that bulged and pulsed randomly. Orin could feel the heat of it even from several feet away. This was very bad. Utsuho was losing control of her own immense energy.

Orin shook off the last bits of resurrection-induced haziness. "Utsuho?" she said as she ran over. "Okuu? Are you okay? What happened?"

Utusho looked up at her with tear-blotched eyes. Sudden relief filled her face. "Orin!" she cried as she stumbled to her feet and rushed over to embrace Orin. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am!" Orin said. The heat of Utsuho's body made her grimace. She pushed her off and said, "What happened to you?"

Utsuho held up her right arm. Orin's jaw dropped when she saw that the Third Leg had been literally crushed against her arm. What dials and lights hadn't been smashed or shorted-out were spinning and blinking like crazy. Sparks flashed and thin smoke sputtered out. It was obviously very painful. Orin could see blood trickling out from under the smashed control rod and over Utsuho's upper arm. It sizzled as it passed over her glowing skin.

"She broke it," Utsuho said, her voice nearly cracking. "She broke it, and I can't get it off!"

Orin swore loudly and immediately tried to assist her. She grabbed onto one of the struts and tried to pry it loose, but even with both of them working together it was jammed tight.

"Damn it, what did she do to you?" Orin growled as pulled with both hands. The power leaking from Utsuho was starting to sting. "I swear, the next time I see her, I'm gonna-"

Her fingers slipped and she fell flat on her back. She rebounded back to her feet in an instant.

"Okay, that didn't work," she said. "Uh, don't you have some sort of mental bond with it though? I mean, can't you order it to loosen up? Or at least stop all that radiation from leaking?"

Utsuho shook her head. "No, nothing works. She did something to me. I can't control anything!"

She showed Orin the eye in her chest. Orin gulped when she saw that the normally fiery red had been turned black, forming a completely darkened half-sphere.

"I can't fix it," Utsuho wept. "I…I don't know what to do!"

"Okay, okay," Orin said. "Um, let me think." Then an idea struck her. "Okay, Yukari Yakumo. She can help. Just hold on for a few seconds."

Orin didn't have the near the same amount of power that other members of Yukari's hit-squad possessed. Her own abilities, while very dangerous under the right circumstances, were specifically geared toward doing her job. And given the lack of spirits in this barren wasteland, she was somewhat limited in what she could do to call for help.

But the person on the receiving end was one of the, if not the, most powerful persons in Gensokyo, and was exceptionally skilled in picking out even the smallest of details. Perhaps if Orin called out loud enough, Yukari would be able to pick it up.

Yukari Yakumo! she thought with all her might. It's Orin! Yuuka found us and attacked. We lost Satori. Yuuka's got her locked up in that crystal. And Utsuho's badly hurt and about to explode or something! We need help, bad. Or else this whole place is going to go to be fucked up from the fallout!

No answer. Orin called out again, shortening the message and sending it out as strongly as she could. Even if Yukari didn't care about them, she wouldn't want to deal with the consequences of the damage Utsuho would cause if she wasn't fixed.

Still there was no answer. Orin felt plenty of panic but very little in the way of surprise.

"Okay, she's not answering," Orin said. "Which means Yuuka's probably keeping her busy or…"

Her voice trailed off. She didn't want to think of the "or".

She shook her head. "Okay, um. Hold…hold tight the best you can. I'm gonna go out and look for help. Maybe Team Halloween or something. Just hang on, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"How soon?" Utsuho asked, her voiced sounding strained.

"I dunno. No way of knowing."

Utsuho swallowed. "Orin, I don't think we have a lot of time. I don't think I'm going to last much longer."

"Look, you can do it, okay?" Orin was quick to say. "You're tougher than you give yourself credit for, and-"

"No, it's not that! I mean we literally don't have much time."

"Uh, what?"

Almost as if it were reacting to Orin's cue, a mechanical voice, polite but garbled by the damage to the control rod, spoke. "Caution. Time remaining to self-destruct: ten minutes. Again, if you feel this self-destruct has been activated in error, please consult the user's manual that has been uploaded into your brain. Thank you, and have a nice day."

"I can't stop it," Utsuho cried. "I've tried everything, but it just keeps counting down."

The fear Orin had felt before was nothing compared to the sheer horror that welled up inside of her now. Her legs went weak, and she slumped against a nearby wall and slid to the floor.

"Oh," she said. "Oh no."

…

Yukari

Yukari?

Hmmm?

You really should consider waking up.

What time is it?

12:47 PM. Why?

Then piss off. I don't get up until six at the earliest.

…okay, seriously. Put yourself together and get up.

Who the hell are you?

Your sense of self-preservation. And now would be an excellent time to stop debating and just do as I say.

Why?

Because Yuuka's about to eat you.

Yukari's eyes snapped open. The giant flower had wrapped a springy shoot around her and was lifting her to what passed for its mouth.

She screamed and thrust her hands out. Invisible force rippled out of her palms and slammed into the flower, shredding it to bits. Yukari kept screaming as she directed the force downward and tore the stalk apart. She didn't stop until it was reduced to nothing more than a heaping pile of mulch.

Someone nearby slowly clapped their hands in mocking approval. Yukari turned to see Yuuka hovering nearby, her umbrella hanging on her arm as she applauded. "Bravo, bravo," Yuuka said. "That was quite a quick rebound. Though correct me if I'm wrong, but would all that screaming mean that your composure is starting to crack? You really should learn to keep your cool while under pressure. I recommend deep breathing exercises myself. And have you been getting sufficient rest? Regular sleep is also essential."

Yukari swallowed. She squeezed her trembling hands into fists and forced them to stop shaking. "I…thought that summoning creatures was against the rules."

"You've already done that dragon thing," Yuuka said with a shrug. "As such, I believe I was entitled to at least one."

"I…" Yukari shook her head. Everything was going completely wrong. Her plan had unraveled beyond repair, her allies had been defeated, and now…

"How did you know?" Yukari said.

"Beg pardon?"

"The plan. My plan. My allies. The teams, their hiding spots…How did you know all that? Was there a traitor? Did you sneak more of your plants in? And if so, how did…"

"Ah, I see," Yuuka said. She shrugged. "Well, no to the first, yes to the second."

"How?" Yukari demanded. "Who was the carrier? Was it Yuyuko? Who?"

In answer, Yuuka held one hand directly over the other, palms facing each other. She slowly pulled her hands apart. A shining rectangle of light appeared between them and expanded as her palms separated.

The rectangle flickered, and on it a scene appeared. Yukari felt her heart sink when she recognized her own front room. The viewpoint was strangely clouded and bobbed up and down, as if it were that of a cloud.

"Will she be awaking soon?" she heard a voice say. It sounded like Youmu, but it was warped and distorted, almost as if it were coming from under water. "I know she doesn't like to be woken up, but I'm afraid that this might be important."

The view shifted to show Yuyuko and Youmu standing side-by-side. But strangely enough, she was seeing it from a point directly next to Youmu's hip, which made even the small girl look imposing.

It was then that Yukari realized what she was seeing. "Myon?" she said in disbelief. "Youmu's phantom-half? But it was in the room when I cleansed it of plant-life!"

Yuuka's smiled flickered. "Ah, yes. It was. Oh, and thanks for reminding me of that. We'll need to talk about that later. But please wait until this little memory has finished before jumping to any conclusions. There is much you need to learn."

The view changed again. Now Yukari was looking at her Shikigami, Ran Yakumo. From this perspective, the already tall Ran looked like a nine-tailed giantess. "I'm sorry, but there still are several hours before she's likely to awake. Yukari has been under a lot of stress lately, and tends to sleep more soundly when she exhausted."

"She's never had a problem with us waking her up before," Yuyuko said.

"Well, actually…" Ran shook her head. There was a weary note to her voice. "Never mind. Look, normally she'd be thrilled to see you. And if you're willing to come back when she's gotten her rest, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you then. It's just that right now it would be a really, really bad idea to disturb her."

"But-" Youmu started to say.

"No, it's all right, Youmu," Yuyuko told her servant. "Ran is right. Yukari needs her sleep."

Ran bowed her head. "Thank you for understanding. I'll be sure that she sees you as soon as she rouses."

"Thank you," Yuyuko said. "I'm sure it can wait until then. After all, Yukari most likely has more important things than Yuuka Kazami to worry about."

"That she…What?"

"Oh, it's nothing. We just ran into a really nasty person who doesn't seem to like Yukari at all. She said her name was Yuuka Kazami, and she seemed really angry about something. We just wanted to know what it was all about, but I'm sure it isn't that important."

Despite the severity of her situation, Yukari couldn't help but smile in appreciation. Apparently some of her traits had rubbed off on her ethereal friend after all.

Ran slowly backed away. Even through the film of Myon's body, Yukari could see that her face had gone ash-white.

"I'll…I'll get Yukari r-r-right away," Ran stuttered.

She turned to leave. As she did so, the haze of Myon's body suddenly disappeared as the view lurched forward toward Ran's tails. Soon Yukari was watching Yuyuko and Youmu's forms recede as her Shinigami ran down the hallways toward her room. Apparently whatever it was that Yuuka had smuggled into Myon had left it for a new carrier.

"Ran?" Yukari said as horror rose up within her. "Ran?"

"Mmmm-hmmm!" Yuuka banished the magic screen and put her hands on her hips. "It was a gamble, but again it paid off! Luck does seem to favor me as of late. After all, had that lovely canine been in the room during your act of mass-murder, I would have lost my eyes in your household." Her grin took on a whole new level of unpleasant. "And I'm just so glad that I didn't. It doesn't take long for the spores to multiply, you see. And in addition to learning every intricate detail of your overly layered plan to kill me and break all the rules along the way, I was also able to bear witness to some juicy extras as well." She leaned in close. "And let me just say, that little Chen of yours is just adorable, both with clothing and-"

Moving so quickly that it could be reasonably argued that she had teleported, Yukari slammed her fist into Yuuka's stomach. The flower-lover's eyes bulged and she was partially lifted off her feet. Yukari took advantage of her momentary advantage and grabbed Yuuka's head with both hands. She shoved it down while bringing her knee up. This time she was rewarded with the very satisfying feel of Yuuka's nose caving in.

Yuuka reeled back a step, blood gushing from both nostrils. Yukari drew her hand back, intending to blow her away with a blast of energy that would make the Master Spark look like a penlight. However, before she could thrust her palm forward, something wrapped around her wrist and held her tight. She had just enough time to register the green vine winding around her arm before Yuuka swung the back of her hand against Yukari's face.

The force of the blow was enough to nearly drive Yukari to the ground, but she managed to keep her feet. Yuuka attempted to follow it up with an uppercut, but this time Yukari was able to get her head out of the way. She let Yuuka's fist pass by literally inches away from her face before driving her own into Yuuka's partially healed nose, crushing it anew.

The vine holding her suddenly pulled back and threw Yukari away from Yuuka. Yukari rolled with the toss and landed on her feet, ready for whatever Yuuka had for her.

But for her part, Yuuka merely sniffed and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her nose. "All right then," she said. "No more bringing up the Shikigami. Consider that lesson learned." And then, almost as an afterthought, she said, "Touchy, aren't we?"

Yukari considered rushing forward to hit her again, but instead decided to go onto her next question, the one that had been burning within her ever since the pain of Yuuka's essence had forced her to recoil. "What are you?"

Yuuka cocked her head. "Again I say unto thee: beg pardon?"

Yukari grit her teeth. "What. Are. You? You're not a youkai. I don't think I've ever felt an essence like yours. What are you?"

"Hmmm, that is the question," Yuuka said. She folded her arms. "Are you sure you wish to know the answer?" She opened her hand to reveal the lavender crystal. "Satori Komejii found out right before I crushed her face, and in light of what she had learned, it was probably a relief."

"TELL ME!" Yukari roared.

Yuuka raised an eyebrow. She closed her hand. "Wow, you really are on edge. All right then. Here's a hint: before Gensokyo was even envisioned, before humanity looked up to the sky and worshipped the gods they have now forsaken, before the dust cloud that would in time form this solar system came into existence, I was."

Yukari felt like tearing her hair out. "Do you realize how many beings there are that could say that?" she demanded. "The list of species alone would take all-"

"Oh, not specific enough for you?" Yuuka said. "All right then. Tell me if this means anything to you?"

Then she spoke a phrase in a strange tongue. It was not a language that many would understand, or even comprehend. In fact, such was its nature that most beings wouldn't be able to hear it at all, as their minds would automatically filter it out as a means of self-defense. However, Yukari did understand the words that were spoken. And she recognized the language and finally understood exactly what she was dealing with.

When translated, the phrase meant "I AM THAT I AM."

"No," she said as her face paled. She backed away. "No, no, no, no, no."

"Incorrect, I'm afraid. The answer is very much 'yes'."

Yukari shook her head. It couldn't be. That was just too improbable. Too absurd. Too cruel. She couldn't be dealing with one of those. Not with the avatar of Azrael already running loose and whatever the hell Satsuki was. This was just taking things too far.

Yuuka cocked her head. "Yukari, are you all right? Perhaps you should sit down for a bit. Recover your-"

A broken pillar flew through the air and smacked right into her.

Yukari once again started screaming. She screamed as she seized up all nearby rubble with her will. She screamed as she hurled them right at Yuuka with all her strength. And when that failed to knock her out of the sky, Yukari screamed as she tore up the very ground for more ammunition.

The crust of the earth was ripped to pieces, some as large as houses and some as small as kittens. And all of them flew into the air in a thunderous wave that lurched right at Yuuka. She didn't even bother getting out of the way. Rather, she just smiled, rolled her eyes, and started blasting away at the swarm of stone with green energy.

However, while she succeeded in reducing the majority of the missiles to dust, there were literally thousands of them speeding at her from all sides. She might as well have been caught in the center of an asteroid field. And Yukari just kept them coming. Stones slipped past her defense to smash against her body. By themselves, she probably wouldn't even feel it. But as more and more of them struck her, Yuuka found herself starting to hurt.

Yukari's hands curled into claws. She slashed her right hand forward and several huge slabs rammed into Yuuka from the back, one right after the other. She kept the assault up, slowly forcing the monster toward the pit that contained the remains of the Skillet Plateau.

Finally Yuuka was directly over the pit. Yukari seized up a chunk of granite the size of an automobile and filled it with as much kinetic energy as she possibly could. By the time she was done, it was literally shaking with pent-up force. Yukari sent it directly over Yuuka's head and brought it down with all the speed of a falling comet. Then she dropped the storm of stone into the pit, filling it beyond the brim.

Yukari hovered in the air, staring with wild eyes at the heap of rocks. Her breath stuttered with fatigue and emotion. She didn't believe that she had finished Yuuka, not for one-

The heap literally collapsed in on itself, as if the bottom of the pit had fallen out. Yukari flew over to take a look. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw that a devouring maw and a tooth-lined gullet filled the entirely of the put. The fragments of stones tumbled down its throat to be swallowed up. If Yukari had any doubts as to exactly what she was facing, this all but banished them.

And then all along the edge of the things maw dozens of blood-red eyes opened to stare at her. The throat opened to let out a deafening roar.

Yukari shoved her hand into the air, and gaps filled the sky.

…

The Outside World

As far as phenomena went, this one attracted very little in the way of attention. A three-minute snippet on the eleven o' clock news, a few novelty stories on the occasional search engine's homepage, some scratching of heads from university professors and a full cover story by the local tabloids. Still, even though the incident was small and passed away from the public's memory rather quickly, it was still completely unexplainable.

The incident was this: at the exact same time, four different scrapyards across Japan were partially emptied. Witnesses claimed that it was as if a hole had opened up beneath the piles of twisted metal and swallowed them up.

"It was the weirdest thing," said a night foreman. "You know how when you put a pile of sand on one of those sieve things, the whole thing seems to just sink from the top down? It was like that. Only with metal."

Many claimed that the foreman had been drinking. Others pointed out that others had claimed to have seen the exact same thing, only several miles away. Terrorists, aliens and the government were blamed in no particular order, but as none of the accused stepped forward to take responsibility, in time people simply lost interest.

Perhaps the story would have attracted more in the way of attention had not an entire oil tanker disappeared while in dock in Australia. After all, who really misses a few tons of scrap? But given the rising gas prices, the tanker was a far greater cause for alarm.

…

Yukari

A hurricane of metal rained down from above. Broken steel girders, rusted automobiles, long-dead appliances and a dozen other varieties of junk rendered unrecognizable by their long sleep were wretched from their graves, pulled across the seams of reality itself and dropped right on top of the gaping mouth that Yuuka had become. She (or rather, it?) roared as the lining of her gullet was cut, sliced and punctured by the Outside World's refuse. Her many eyes closed, but the protection provided by her lids was minimal, and soon she was rendered blind.

Yukari kept the barrage going until the pile was nearly as large as the heap of stones had been. Then she thrust her will through the center of the scrap heap, shoving it aside and creating a perfectly round hole that led straight down Yuuka's throat.

Another gap, this one larger than the others, opened directly above the hole, and a massive steel ship plunged straight down nose-first, trailing anchors and seawater as it fell right into Yuuka's open gorge. Yuuka gagged and choked as the ship got stuck part way down.

Yukari squeezed her fist and ignited the ship's full cargo of crude oil.

Once again the pit erupted like a volcano. The explosion lit the darkened sky with brilliant light and flaming bits of metal were hurled hundreds of feet into the air. Yuuka let out a lingering wail of pain that reminded Yukari of the death howls of a mortally wounded humpback whale.

But she was far from done. As Yuuka's insides were torn apart by flame and steel, the gaps above her blinked, closing and reopening in the space of a millisecond. The reason for this was simple: they now connected to another place entirely. Someplace much, much hotter.

Days ago, when Yuuka had first sent Yukari her challenge through Kotohime, Eirin had wondered why Yukari simply did not use her godlike powers to tear Yuuka apart. She had then gone on to list several possible methods, one of them being opening a gap that led to the Earth's core and giving Yuuka a magma bath. Though Yukari had scoffed at such tactics then, she had since had a change of heart. Only instead of molten metal taken from the center of the Earth, she decided to up the ante by a bit.

Why settle for heat taken from a planet when there was a perfectly serviceable Sun available?

Plasma poured down, right on top of Yuuka. Her wail turned into an outright scream as she was incinerated. Yukari kept a barrier steady around the pit that extended several miles beneath the ground. The purpose of the barrier was simple: keep all of the overwhelming heat and solar material from escaping. It was a difficult task, holding all of that energy in, and in her weakened state it took all of her concentration. She closed her eyes and strained every available ounce of strength into keeping the barrier up.

It held. And once she felt that she had waited long enough, Yukari closed the gaps.

"I think this has gone on long enough," she rasped. With that, she enveloped the barrier with her will and made it contract.

Stone, flame, plasma, superheated air and vaporized metal all started to squeeze together as the barrier grew smaller and smaller. Within, Yuuka sensed the frenzied squirming of something large and fleshy. Despite the agony that the strain was giving her, she managed a small smile as she imagined the torment that her nemesis was experiencing.

She kept on squeezing and squeezing, forming the barrier into a spherical shape that continued to shrink smaller and smaller. The various elements inside had ceased to be discernible and were now just a brightly glowing ball of white matter.

And still Yukari squeezed. She didn't stop when it was the size of small hill. She didn't stop when it was the size of a large house. She didn't even stop when it was as wide as a bus was long.

But she did stop soon after. There was only so much she could take, after all.

With a sigh of immense weariness, Yukari sent one final command into the mass inside and let the barrier fall. Under her instruction, the sphere had cooled, becoming a dull gray sphere of metal about fifteen feet in width and height. Its incredible density quite possibly made it the heaviest freestanding object on Earth, and it was only due to Yukari's ignoring of such laws as gravity that it continued to float in midair. Had she held it aloft through will alone, it might have been too much for her. As it was, she didn't even bother with such things, preferring to simply banish gravity altogether in the area around the sphere.

Once she was done, Yukari examined Yuuka's prison with a critical eye. Or at least, she wanted to, but right about then her legs gave out from under her and she fell right on her butt.

She remained there for nearly a minute, panting heavily as her body informed her of the various aches, pains and injuries she had suffered. Her intestines still had the problem of not being connected correctly, her entire back was a bit on the roasted side, she still felt the aftereffects of trying to touch Yuuka's essence and she was covered with the evidence of all the times Yuuka had physically slammed her around.

For a moment, Yukari wondered if retirement was in order. It passed quickly, but the fact that it happened at all was certainly significant. She had not been this roughed up since her encounter with that Ellimist fellow who had fell out of that black hole two centuries ago, and he at least had the decency to apologize once the misunderstanding had been cleared up and take her out to dinner afterward.

And come to think of it, that might be the answer to her problem. Opening a gap to a black hole would be extremely dangerous, even moreso than the one she had opened to the Sun. But dropping the sphere into one would likely rid her of Yuuka for good. Then she could go hunt down that remaining piece of her nemesis, beat her to a pulp, and dispose of her the same way. It was something to think about, at least.

And then a crack formed on the side of the sphere. It was tiny, almost imperceptible even from up close, but Yukari felt it just the same.

She froze as terror locked up her mind. No, it couldn't be possible. It shouldn't be possible. It wasn't fair. Yuuka should be finished. After all that, she couldn't still be-

The hairline fracture grew and multiplied.

"NO!" Yukari screamed. She desperately tried to bring her will down to heal the coming rupture, but her power had been rendered slow and clumsy.

A chunk of the sphere exploded outward, sending a spray of super-dense metal that sank into the ground wherever they landed. And with them leapt…something.

Yukari stared as the something landed in a messy heap not far from her. When Yuuka had pulled herself out of the flames some minutes ago, she had at least been recognizable as humanoid, albeit a severely burned one. This was barely recognizable as bipedal. A black scratching thing that seemed to be equal parts diseased shadow and frail sticks.

It seemed to be unable to support itself on its limbs, so it squirmed in the mud and let out pathetic mewing cries. Then it shuddered once and lay still, curled up in the fetal position in such a way that it resembled a dead spider more than anything.

For a moment, Yukari allowed herself to think that maybe it was dead. But that desperate hope was fleeting, for then its limbs straightened and started to grow, and flesh began to regenerate on its withered skeleton.

Yukari felt sick. Even after all that, Yuuka was still healing herself. Perhaps that was a sign that Yukari should just cut her losses and leave. Perhaps she was truly outclassed here. Let Yuuka have this win and negotiate the end their rivalry later. That way, she might be able to put an end to hostilities, let Yuuka leave this with her ego strengthened and concentrate her efforts on finding Rin Satsuki. After all, that was the real threat. Yuuka was just a distraction. Better to end it now, even at the cost of her pride.

The very thought of it ignited a fire of pure rage inside of Yukari. Her breath came out in infuriated growls as her twitching fingers curled into claws. No. Completely out of the question. That thing had come into her country, had hurt her people and was getting in her way, all the while lecturing her on stupid things like honor and wearing a tremendously annoying grin. Enough was enough.

The thing was now Yuuka-sized, though it still looked like something a fire salamander might have shat out. Yukari allowed gravity to return, sending the sphere plummeting into the hole. Then she marched over to the pathetic thing, grabbed it by the armpits and hoisted it up so that its lolling head was level with her eyes.

"Hey," she said. "Bitch."

The thing's head stopped rolling about.

Yukari brought it mere inches away from her. "I," she snarled. "Have had. Enough. Of you!"

With that, she once again gathered her power and rammed it right into Yuuka.

…

Team Halloween (comrades-in-arms, reunited once again. So wonderful, I could puke)

It wasn't much of a fight anymore.

Yuuka Kazami was insanely powerful. Her control over an entire biological kingdom was absolute. Her raw energy was seemingly inexhaustible. She could recover from just about any injury, she could change her form at will, she had more tricks up her sleeves than an entire magician's guild and when she spoke, the laws of reality sat up and listened.

But that didn't matter anymore. Because she was now facing off against no fewer than four beings who were also in possession of incredible strength. Yuyuko Saigyouji ruled over all of Gensokyo's dead, and she had all of the power that came with the station, along with the ability to end the life of whosoever she chose. Mima had spent numerous centuries inventing ways to make magic her bitch, and she had used them well. She was perhaps the strongest and most versatile pure spellcaster in existence, and though both of these spirits had been injured by blade and parasite, they were far from finished.

And then there were the Humans. Though Youmu Konpaku had been outmatched in speed by Elly, Yuuka was not nearly as fast as her servitor. Youmu could run circles around her, and her mystical blades were quite capable of turning anything she grew into mulch. And finally, there was Marisa Kirisame. Though she was the most mortal member of Team Halloween, and though she had been born with less power than the average Human, she had spent all of her life making up for her shortcomings. Her natural brilliance in grasping magic's workings and her appetite for the rush brought by its power had caused her to recreate herself into one of the most potentially destructive beings alive. In her short time, she had created or stolen more methods of annihilation than most professional mages ever would learn, and she had mastered each and every single one. And though she had used up a great deal of her tricks already, she had plenty more to spare.

Had Yuuka been facing off against any one of these persons, the odds would be solidly in her favor. Two would be more difficult if they were willing to cooperate against her (as Marisa and Mima had demonstrated), but not outside of her abilities. But all four at once? That was a different story altogether. The team had gotten back together. They now knew what to expect from her. They had gotten the jump on her. And they were pissed off.

(Well, perhaps Marisa Kirisame wasn't especially angry, but she was just as focused on killing Yuuka as everyone else. And the fact that she was doing it for shits and giggles perhaps made her more dangerous)

Not that Yuuka didn't put up a fight. She was still the size of a small skyscraper with a virtually unlimited arsenal of deadly plants at her disposal. But it seemed that no matter how many vines and flowers she grew, Youmu would rush in to cut them away. Any poisons and parasites were summarily turned to ash by Mima. And in the openings they created, Yuyuko would slip in and render another portion of Yuuka's stalk lifeless.

Curiously enough, Marisa wasn't participating much. Sure, she would launch the odd comet and fireball Yuuka's way, but for the most part she seemed content to remain sitting on her broom above it all, watching her companions cut away at Yuuka piece-by-piece.

Youmu took notice. She quickly finished shaving off the thorny patch she had been working on and swooped up to Marisa's side. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Are you just going to sit there and let us do all the work?"

Marisa shrugged. "Eh, already did my part. I'm just waiting for you guys to finish up so I can put Yuuka away, ze."

"What?" Youmu said, her face filled with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

In answer, Marisa held up her right gauntlet, the one that contained her spellcards. She tapped the hidden sheath and grinned. "This is where I keep the spellcards I've been using, both mine and the ones Yukari gave me. This baby's empty now. Figured it out?"

"Uh, not really. Are you saying that you used them up before we returned, so you can't help out much?"

"Nope." Marisa's grin was now positively face-splitting. "Still had plenty left."

"Then what happened to them?"

"You know Reimu, right?"

"Reimu?" Youmu blinked. "Of course."

"Awesome. And you know how her charms work, right?"

"Certainly. She sticks them to an enemy youkai or other such being and…" Youmu's voice trailed off. She got it now.

Marisa waved a hand over the battlefield. "You guys gonna finish up anytime soon, ze? Because I can't really do anything you still there."

Youmu quickly swooped back down to where the two spirits were battling Yuuka. "My lady!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Madam Mima! Fall back!"

"Like hell," Mima growled as she froze a good chunk of Yuuka's hair solid. "We're finally making progress!"

"What's wrong, Youmu?" Yuyuko asked. She was drawing away from the side of Yuuka's stalk, leaving a fair bit of it shriveled.

"Does it matter?" Mima shot back. "It can wait!"

Youmu pointed upward. "Marisa said she needs us out of the way so she can-"

Mima spun to face Yuyuko. "Move your dead ass and get as far away from Yuuka as you can!"

"But we are-"

Mima shot out a green tether identical to the one she had previously used with Marisa and hit Yuyuko in the stomach with it. She then dragged the confused ghost up toward Marisa as fast as she could, with Youmu following behind.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it now," Mima said to Marisa once she was in earshot. "Shoot the works."

"My pleasure," Marisa grinned. She entwined her fingers, flipped her palms around and cracked her knuckles. And then she activated the spellcards she had stuck to Yuuka's stalk. All twenty-seven of them. At once.

The four remaining black spellcards had been placed at strategic locations at what was left of Yuuka's base, the center of the stalk, and at the base of her head. Marisa's own cards had been interspaced between those. And while Marisa's spells weren't as overwhelmingly powerful as Yukari's, they were still illegal, lethal and very, very destructive.

Yuuka's stalk simply disintegrated as the crater filled with flames, fireworks and other explosions in a vast myriad of colors. Her overgrown head looked up at her combatants and, for one brief moment, a mournful look of resignation passed over her grotesque features.

And then, with nothing left to support it, it fell into the inferno. The floor of the crater, already weakened by the huge amounts of spell damage, collapsed under its weight and Yuuka's head fell into the caverns beneath.

"Very impressive," Mima murmured. "Though you really didn't need to use them all. A fourth the number would have achieved the same effect. Sometimes, less is more."

"Oh, come on!" Marisa protested. "That was awesome!"

"So is it over?" Youmu asked. "Did we win?"

"Not yet," Mima told her. "We still need to seal her up."

Youmu cast a doubtful eye at the fire still raging beneath them. Parts of it looked alive, and there were bizarre shapes moving through it. "W-we have to go in there? Are you serious? We'll get-"

Mima's patience snapped. She brought down all six fists in a punching gesture, and the entire floor of the crater exploded into flaming bits. They plunged down into darkness, taking the fire with them.

"There," Mima hissed. "You should have no further objections."

"None whatsoever," Yuyuko said calmly. "Let's go then."

The four of them descended into the cavern that had swallowed Yuuka's head. Mima led the way, with Marisa right behind her and Youmu following at a safe distance. Yuyuko brought up the rear.

Mima looked around. "Well, damn it," she muttered. "Of course it would be one of the cathedral sized ones.

The beam of light provided by Marisa's hakkero swept through the darkness, revealing numerous stone pillars and what could be described as subterranean hills jutting up from a field of mist half a mile below them. The witch let out a low whistle. "Holy mustard, does this place even have a bottom?"

"All right, stick together," Mima said over her shoulder. "I can sense that she's in here somewhere, but with all the spellcards Marisa just set off-" she shot the witch an irritated look "-it's difficult to get a lock on her. And seeing how we have no idea if she's taken on a new form, we're going to play it safe. So follow my lead and don't wander off from the group."

Youmu cleared her throat. "Um, I'm sorry, but wasn't lady Yuyuko put in charge of this team?"

The look Mima gave her could have frozen volcanoes. "You're not as cute as you think you are," Mima said. She turned her attention back to the gaping space below them. "All right, let's move!"

…

Yukari

The last time Yukari had attempted this, Yuuka had only been one-third of what she was now. And the effect had been akin to accidentally putting her hand on a red-hot plate and getting kicked in the stomach by an oni at the same time.

This time it was much worse. Ruined as she was, most of the damage was merely physical.

But this time Yukari did not recoil. Despite wanting to scream, she let her anger fuel her determination as she plunged deeper and deeper into Yuuka's essence, grasping for the core of her being.

It was like thrusting her hand through a thicket of six-inch steel thorns, all of them white-hot, in order to crush a single fruit with her fingers. A fruit filled with deadly poison and coated with acid, and the skin of which was so cold that merely touching it guaranteed the loss of a layer of skin.

She found it. It was there, a sick and corrupted thing, older and more sinister than anything she had ever experienced. And then, as she cried out in agony and clutched what was left of Yuuka's physical body to her, she took it and torn it apart.

Then Yukari's world exploded into white light. Vomit rushed up and exploded from her mouth in a fountain, a sickly cocktail of blood, green bile and black corruption. The last thing she could make out before collapsing entirely was Yuuka's body, now healed enough to at least resemble a badly decayed corpse, falling to her knees and staring up at the sky and screaming.

What was strange, though, was that the howls of pain formed themselves into words.

"It cannot be," Yuuka croaked in a voice that seemed to be woven from ash. "It cannot be!"

And then Yukari literally fell apart.

…

"Now, what do you think I was reacting to?" Yuuka asks. "It was not the ravaging of my soul, I can tell you that much. Nor was I raging against my defeat." She slowly shakes her head. "No, I might have railed against such things under normal circumstances, but what happened to me was anything from normal."

Yuuka leans in close and smiles. It is not the wide, hideous grin that you have been growing accustomed to. No, this was a slow and small smirk of a magician about to reveal her greatest trick. "You see, when Yukari raped me in mind and soul, when she took my heart and ripped it apart, something happened then. I saw something, something I had never even dreamed possible." She giggles, a most disturbing sound coming from her. "But there will be plenty of time to describe that later. Now, back to the story."

…

Team Christmas

Marisa was growing impatient. Of course, given that the potions had yet to wear off, anything that did not involve fire and explosions would make her impatient. But seeing how it was only a matter of time before the potion did wear off and render her violently ill, she wanted this business finished now before she became useless.

At the moment they were investigating a very weird looking rock tower. Mima had narrowed Yuuka's location to being somewhere inside it. And seeing how its top was smashed as if something heavy had landed on it, she was probably right. Unfortunately, it was also riddled with many holes, alcoves, nooks and crannies that Yuuka could be hiding in, and the top part had partially collapsed on itself.

In Marisa's opinion, it would be easier just to blow the tower to pebbles and scoop whatever was left of Yuuka out of the debris. In fact, she was coming very close to doing just that, but as she poked around one jagged crack in the tower's side, something made her hesitate.

It was the sound of breathing. From something very large.

Marisa cast a look at Mima. The spirit was sending tiny little flying points of light to seek through another hole about a half a mile below her. She looked up. Youmu was there, poking her sword through the part that had been broken off.

She bit her lip. Then she slipped inside.

The interior was small, but she could move around if she crouched. She swung her hakkero around, illuminating the walls and pieces of stone chips on the floor.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked.

Marisa squeaked and whirled around. Then she relaxed. "Holy shit, Yugogo," she said as her heart pounded. "Don't scare me like that!"

Yuyuko pushed her way inside, her voluptuous body squishing tight as she squeezed through the crack. The ghost glimmered with an eerie light. Marisa wondered why she didn't just float through the wall but deemed the answer unimportant.

"Why did you come in here?" Yuyuko asked. "Is Yuuka in here?"

"Maybe. I think I heard something, so I'm just checking it out."

"I thought we were supposed to stay together. At least, I'm fairly certain we were. I don't know. The plans we make always seem to be in a constant state of flux."

"Hey, it's not like I'm going far." Marisa turned her attention back to the small cave. She found a part where the wall sank into a small tunnel and followed it. The tunnel turned. "I'm just having a quick look, and then I'll be…"

Her voice trailed off when she got a look at what was at the end of the tunnel. She quickly backpedaled.

"Is something wrong?" Yuyuko asked.

"Wrong?" Marisa forced a casual grin. "Oh, uh, everything's fine, ze. Say, you know that one crystal Yukari gave you?"

"Of course. It's quite pretty. I keep it on my dresser at home."

Marisa stared. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, why would I?" Yuyuko asked, sounding confused. "It matches the general theme rather well, and the colors it gives off are really quite…Oh. Wait, you mean the sealing crystal, don't you? The one create to entrap Yuuka."

"Yes! I am! What else would I be talking about?"

Yuyuko shrugged. "Well, you must understand, Yukari and I have known each other for a number of centuries, during which we have given each other numerous gifts, which does include a large number of items made from crystal. If you just say 'That one crystal that Yukari gave you', it might be referring to any number of-"

Marisa actually grabbed her own hair and started pulling. "Okay, will you shut up about the presents and just give me the godsdamned crystal already!" Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Please?"

"Certainly," Yuyuko said, completely unruffled by Marisa's rudeness. She reached into her bodice and pulled out a slender chain that circled her neck. The sealing crystal was attached to the end of it. She removed it and handed it to Marisa. "But what do you intend to do with it? Have you found-"

"Thanks, Yugogo!" Marisa said. She quickly scampered back into the tunnel. "Stay here, be right back!"

The tunnel opened to a small room the size of a large closet. At the top was a round hole that had been filled with rubble. More broken stones were freshly landed on the ground. And lying there in the debris was Yuuka's head.

Marisa held the hakkero steady, illuminating their opponent's features. Yuuka was not in good shape. In addition to be nothing more than a head the size of a couch, her skin was covered with burns and her bruised cheeks were sagging. Her eyes were swollen shut, and she was taking in slow, shallow breaths. How she managed this without a throat or lungs, Marisa couldn't figure out. But judging by the fact that she was neither healing herself or reacting to Marisa's approach, it seemed that she had finally been beaten unconscious or something else had been damaged within her.

The jittery feeling that Marisa had been running off of was picking up. Her arms and legs were trembling, and it was an effort to keep her own breath from coming out in frenzied pants. She licked her lips and slowly approached.

This was it. She was going to be the one to kill Yuuka. Not Yukari, not Flandre Scarlet, not even Mima. It was going to be her, the most "normal" member of this whole crazy shitstorm. Finally, she was going to prove to everyone that she was the next big thing. It didn't matter that she had been born lesser than everyone else. It didn't matter that she wasn't some naturally gifted shrine maiden, or a magician youkai, or a centuries-old spirit of pure magic. It didn't matter that she all her tricks had been scrapped together from things she had acquired from other people and whatever she could make from scratch. In the end, Marisa Kirisame was not going to let her lack of natural advantages keep her down. And this was how she was going to prove it.

And then Marisa was struck with a horrible thought. How exactly was she going to do it? Sure, Yuuka was lying broken before her, but Marisa had used up most of her tricks trying to beat her into this state. All of her spellcards were gone, she was had used up most of the energy she needed for her other A-list attacks, Yuuka was immune to Master Sparks, and none of her instruments were strong enough to…

Marisa was struck by a second thought, one that made her breath catch in her throat. She grinned, and reached into a side-pocket. From it she withdrew a metal tube that was about six inches long and as thin as an arrow. One end was pointed and painted red, with the depiction of a shark-like face right behind it. An opening was at the other end, surrounded by four red fins.

Some years earlier, soon after she had met Reimu for the first time, Marisa and Mima had stumbled across a series of ancient ruins that had not been there the day before. They had then been informed that a race was schedule to take place, from one of the ruins to the other, with the winner having one wish granted. As they had nothing better to do that day, Marisa and Mima had both participated. And though there had been several other competitors involved, including Reimu herself, Marisa had ultimately emerged victorious.

Of course, they had then discovered that the whole thing was a con thrown together by a teenaged researcher from a different planet who simply wanted a suitable subject to take back home with her. But the girl had underestimated her marks' ability to defend themselves, and had promptly had her ass kicked. Then her boss had found out what she had been trying to do and tore her a new one, after which she had forced the chump to live up to her promise and grant Marisa's wish.

Seeing how it had been a member of an advanced race she had been dealing with, Marisa had figured that they had to have some pretty nifty weaponry at their disposal. And being who she was, she had wanted a piece of that action. The result was coming into possession of a little something she called Mimi the Missile. Marisa had been ecstatic. A piece of highly advanced technology created for the sole purpose of going boom. It was the perfect toy for her, and she had been downright anxious to try it out.

The problem was that she only had one of them, and missiles tended to only be good for one use. And so she had kept it hidden away, waiting for the perfect opportunity to unleash its awesome power.

And now it had come. There would be no more fitting a time than this. Marisa flipped Mimi through her fingers and caught it in her palm. Then she ran her thumb down its side and gave a short mental command.

Mimi shuddered. And then it grew in her grasp. In moments, it was as long and she was tall and about as thick as a child. She could probably ride the thing if she wanted.

But as fun as that would be, it would probably just end with her dying horribly. So, as she held the missile in place with one arm, Marisa picked up a stone and threw it at Yuuka.

"Hey!" she said in a loud whisper. "Wake up!"

Another stone followed. It bounced off of Yuuka's puffy cheek. When that failed to produce the desire reaction, she growled and picked up her hakkero and aimed it at her forehead. The headlight narrowed and became a thin pulsing laser. It was not strong enough to kill, but it was strong enough to let Marisa burn the words "WAKE UP!" on Yuuka's forehead.

This time it worked. The disembodied head shook itself, and her bulbous red eyes opened to squint. Marisa grinned and waved, all the while tapping at the control panel set in Mimi's side.

"You," Yuuka growled.

"Me," Marisa said happily. "Hi!"

"You…" Yuuka inhaled deeply and begun again. "You have made…and excellent showing…but you can't…seriously believe…"

Yuuka probably had some defiant speech all ready for her, which would likely bring Marisa's status as a human into the light. No doubt Humans' inferiority to creatures such as Yuuka would have been mentioned, complete with a long bit about how the silly little monkeys will never ascend to their level. But Marisa wasn't interested in listening. The only thing that mattered was that Yuuka's mouth was open.

She tapped one final key and Mimi's rocket came to life. Go get her, girl! Marisa thought proudly as the missile shot forward. And as Mimi flew right into Yuuka's mouth, Marisa saluted in respect as the weapon laid down its life for the cause.

Yuuka's eyes bulged. She coughed and said, "Wait, what in the world did you just-"

And then she exploded.

Marisa realized almost half-a-second too late that being in the same small enclosed space with an exploding high-tech warhead was probably not a good idea. She quickly rolled back on her heels and came up with her hands outstretched, pumping a good portion of her remaining magic into an anti-fire shield.

The flames roared forward and washed against the shield. Marisa gritted her teeth and forced herself to hold it together. It would not do to let herself get cooked by her own explosion right when she obtained victory.

"Marisa?" Yuyuko said as she crawled toward the witch. "What did you blow up now? I thought you said Yuuka wasn't here." She reached over and placed her hands over Marisa's wrists. Marisa felt a sudden increase of energy and the shield became a whole lot easier to maintain.

The fire continued to rage for about ten seconds longer before finally dying. When it cleared, a huge portion of the tower revealed itself to be completely gone. In its place, a massive hole opened up to the cavern beyond. Marisa stared at the hole with her mouth hanging open and hands still in the air, powering a shield that was no longer necessary.

"Marisa, I do believe you can put your hands down," Yuyuko said. "Unless there is some kind of fire fiend in there. In which case you are quite right to keep them up."

Marisa squeezed her shaking fingers closed and lowered her arms. The shield extinguished.

"Now, what was that all about?" Yuyuko asked. "Because that did not look like a magical fire to me. Of course, I am no expert in such matters, so it's quite possible that…"

Marisa wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. She pulled out the sealing crystal and held it tightly. Then she started to crawl toward the hole.

Then an angry howl filled the small space, shutting even Yuyuko up. A split-second later some kind of glowing green mist shot into the room and lunged right for Marisa's face. The witch screamed in shock and reflexively lurched back. The motion caused her hand to open and the crystal to fly out of her grasp.

As her death approached, Marisa closed her eyes. She wasn't a coward by any stretch of the imagination, but she was still human. And she really didn't want to watch.

Her death never came. Marisa opened her eyes.

The crystal was hanging suspended in the air and spinning round and round. The mist had run right into it before hitting Marisa, and was now being drawn into its facets. Marisa stared slack-jawed as the entire glowing cloud was sucked up into a wild vortex that grew larger as more of the mist was pulled from the hole. A sharp whining that sounded very much like an angry shriek filled the place. Marisa threw her hands over her ears and waited.

Then it was over. All of the mist had been absorbed. The crystal was now glowing with a soft green light. It hovered for about half-a-second before it fell to the ground, where it landed with a small plink! and rolled to bump against Marisa's knee.

"Ah, I understand now," Yuyuko murmured. "You wished to do the deed yourself, and thus did not tell me that you had found Yuuka. Very clever."

Marisa stared at the crystal. Despite doing everything in her power to achieve exactly what she had just accomplished, she could hardly believe that it had worked. It went against every bit of sense.

But then, wasn't pulling off the impossible exactly what magicians were supposed to do?

Marisa reached with one trembling hand and picked up the crystal. It was warm to the touch.

A slow grin spread over her face. "Game, set, and match," she whispered. She started to laugh, which began as a low chuckle before evolving to a more deranged fit of giggles and finally escalated to all-out insane cackling.

And right about then Yuyuko had to grab Marisa by the shoulders and drag her out of the stone tower, which had begun to collapse.

…

Sakuya

Consciousness took considerably longer to return this time. And it was much more painful.

The darkness retreated, and Sakuya slowly became aware of the gentle sound of rain. She twitched, grimaced when that brought pain and waited for it to fade away.

When she was able, Sakuya slowly and carefully opened one eye. Though everything was once again hazy, she was able to make out enough to learn that she was lying in a pile of rubble, partially wedged under a large chunk of rock that stuck out at an angle. Rain fell upon the stones directly in front of her face, splattering her with tiny, cold drops.

Sakuya took stock of herself. In addition to her unresponsive arm, her left ankle was now on fire, meaning it was at best twisted. Every breath felt like sandpaper, so she had probably broken some ribs as well.

Well, seeing how she had been expecting death, this quite a step up. Sakuya blocked out the pain the best she could and gingerly maneuvered out from under the stone. If she could get out into open air, she could start flying and reduce the amount of movement necessary just to get about.

"Mistress?" she choked out in a voice rubbed raw. She coughed, and said, "Are you there?"

Nothing. Sakuya braced her good hand against the side of the rock and pushed herself out into the rain. She tried to sit up, but that just brought a fresh burst of agony, forcing her back down again.

Was this how it was going to end? After all the monsters she had hunted, all the battles she had fought, was this it for her? To die, lying broken in the rain, having failed her duty to protect her Mistresses? A casualty in someone else's war?

To hell with this. Sakuya steeled herself and rolled over to her stomach. Her chest screamed obscenities at her, but she disregarded its protests. She had been hurt before. She could take it.

Then she placed her good hand on the ground and pushed up. She managed to get her right knee under her, and from there she used a combination of her working limbs and her natural flight abilities to get herself upright. She couldn't stand on her left foot, but she managed to prop herself against the rock she had woken up under, gasping in pain.

She looked around. She was near the wall of the huge debris-filled crater that the cavern had become. Broken stone lay everywhere, and the open sky loomed overhead. Yuuka was gone, and the storm clouds had returned in her absence. Sakuya didn't much mind the rain. It was miles preferably to waking up to see that leering grin staring down at her.

"Mistress?" she said. She wasn't really expecting an answer, but she had to try. Even if there was only the slightest chance that Remilia had survived, Sakuya had to find her. And, failing that, she needed to find concrete proof of her Mistress' death.

Of course, had Remilia really perished, there would be precious little to find…

Sakuya banished that thought from her mind. "Mistress!" she called again, louder this time. She held onto the stone and half-walked, half-hopped her way around its edge. "Remilia! Are you-Ah, damn it! Are you there?"

It was then that she heard squeaking.

…

Team Halloween, may God damn their souls

"And then she was all, 'Rawr, I'm going to eat you!', and then I was all like, 'Well, eat this bitch!' and then I turned on the rocket and launched it right down her ugly throat! Um, well, now that I think about it, she really didn't have much of a throat, but it did go in her mouth, ze!" Marisa laughed. "Oh man, you guys should've seen the look on her face. And since it was so huge, it just made it funnier. You know how your face gets when you're flying along and accidentally swallow a bug? It was like that. Only, she blew up right after. It was so freaking cool!"

Team Halloween were now out of the crater and in one of the many snug caves that dotted the Blasted Lands. Yuyuko was taking stock of how much of her essence had been lost to Elly's scythe and Youmu was busy wrapping a strip of linen into a makeshift sling her arm. Mima had the crystal that contained Yuuka and was off in a corner by herself as she studied the captured life force. As for her part, Marisa, the only member of the team not to suffer any injuries, was standing on a rock and telling story of how she had personally defeated one of the most powerful beings Gensokyo had ever seen.

It felt like being at the top of the world and having everyone who had ever underestimated her bowing down in reverence. It felt like being charged with pure lightning (something she could personally attest to). It felt like a thousand orgasms all at once. And the best part was that for the first time ever, she didn't need to lie or embellish the story in any way to make it seem cooler. The truth was already awesome enough.

"But right after then I realized I had just set off a real big explosion in a really tiny place, and that I was in that tiny place. I was literally about to be roasted alive by my own missile. 'Oh Marisa,' you guys say. 'You must have been so scared! Did you panic?' Hell no! I've been spitting in Death's face all my life, and I sure as hell wasn't let a little fire scare me, ze! So I rolled back and, quick as thought, I threw up this anti-fire shield that stopped the flames in their tracks!"

"She did do that," Yuyuko said. "It was very quick."

Marisa grinned at her. "Yeah, I sure did. But who had my back and was right there to help me keep the shield going? You were, that's who!" She shot the ghost an enthusiastic thumb's-up. "Who's awesome? We're awesome!"

She continued. "But then, after the fire was gone, was Yuuka gone for good? No, she was not!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Youmu asked. "I thought you said you had blown her up. I don't know of any creature that can regenerate that quickly."

"She didn't! That's the freaky part! Her life-energies went after me! Like, they formed this cloud of angry murder and went right after my face, ze!"

Youmu looked skeptical. She glanced over to Yuyuko, who nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah, I gotta give Leafy credit," Marisa said with a shudder. "She does not stay down. Makes me almost wanna go vegetarian if that's what plants can do. But yeah, she was all coming after me, so I took the sealing crystal, and I threw it at her!" Marisa mimed the action of throwing something. "And may the gods strike me down if the thing didn't work like a charm! And I mean the real charms here, not those fake-ass ones they sell in the Human Village." She frowned. "It was weird though. Like it got stuck in midair and starting sucking her up like a black hole or something."

"A black hole of what?" Youmu asked.

"Say what?" Marisa said as she stared. "You mean you've never heard of a black hole before?"

Youmu looked confused. "Well, I assume that it's a hole. That's probably so dark that it's black. Why, what else would it be?"

"Keee-rist, what are they teaching these kids these days?" Marisa said as she slapped a palm across her face. "Never mind, never mind. Point is, Yukari's shiny marble sucked Yuuka right up! And the next thing I know, I'm holding the Big Scary Garden in the palm of my hand!"

She shot a grin over to Mima, hoping that last bit would elicit some sort of sign of approval. But to her surprise, Mima just glanced at her and shook her head before going back to studying the crystal.

Marisa quickly wrapped thing up. "And uh, we booked it because the whole place was coming down, and that's the story of how I killed Yuuka!" She hopped off the rock.

Yuyuko started applauding while Youmu smiled and nodded in approval. Marisa ignored them and ran straight to Mima.

"Hey!" she said as she approached.

"Ah, hello," Mima said. "Again, congratulations on your victory."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Marisa glanced over at Yuyuko and Youmu. She lowered her voice. "Hey, are you pissed at me about something?"

"Pissed?" Mima raised an eyebrow. "No, why would I be?"

"Well, uh, it's just that ever since I killed Yuuka, you've been acting all weird about me. Come on, I just did the freaking impossible. That's gotta count for something."

Mima sighed. "No, Marisa. I'm not angry with you. Your victory was indeed the stuff of legends and well-deserved."

"Then what-"

"What I am is disappointed."

"Disappointed?" Marisa repeated. "What? Why? What did I do wrong? It went perfectly!" Then inspiration struck. "Wait, this isn't because I went off without telling you, is it? You're not upset that you didn't get to join in, are you?"

"Oh, for the love of…Is that what you think?" Mima said. She looked up from the crystal to give Marisa her whole attention. "That I'm pouting because you dealt the final blow instead of I?"

"Uh…"

"Marisa, let me remind you of something. Until today, I had no grudge against Yuuka Kazami. No outstanding rivalries. I am here solely for your benefit. As such, I couldn't care less who actually killed her. In fact, I am damned glad that it was you instead of Flandre Scarlet and cannot wait to see the look on Yukari's face when she finds out."

"Then what-"

"What disappoints me is how quickly the desire to be the hero caused you to forget basic tactics."

Marisa blinked. "Say what?"

Mima glanced over to Yuyuko and Youmu and lowered her voice further still. "Even decapitated and wounded as she was, Yuuka was still incredibly dangerous. The fact that she was still able to attack even after being killed is proof of this. And you went right after her without support."

"Wait, hang on," Marisa said. "Are you mad at me for not being…careful? Because I wasn't all pussyfooting? You? I saw an opportunity and I took it, ze! That's what you always taught me to do!"

"I also taught you to take advantage of every possible resource. And in this case, you confronted Yuuka Kazami face-to-face, which, while brave, should have gotten you killed. In case you haven't noticed, Yuuka isn't shy about surprise heavy attacks. And all this time, you had two very convenient bodies that you could have used to make sure none of those attacks were directed at you."

Marisa's jaw dropped. "Hold up, are you saying that you're upset that I didn't use Yuyuko and Youmu as meatshields?"

"But of course. To neglect doing so places yourself in unnecessary risk."

"I've been doing that all day!"

"They weren't there all day." Mima inclined her head toward the potential meatshields in question. "They were there then. That's my point. You fight hand-to-hand if you have to, but the minute a weapon or a shield makes itself available, then you snatch it up and-" Mima looked past Marisa toward Yuyuko and Youmu, who were staring at them.

"Do you mind?" she snapped. The two Netherworld denizens found something else to look at.

Marisa cleared her throat. "Uh, Mima? I know you're all for being all ruthless, but I kinda like Yugogo and Body Pillow," she said. "And putting other people between me and the person I'm trying to paste really isn't my style."

Mima rolled her eyes. "Marisa, I know you enjoy spending time with these friends of yours. I don't begrudge you that. And hell, I even like a few of them. Reimu's probably the first Hakurei I've ever said 'Good morning' to and meant it. But don't let your affection for them make you forget who is most important in your life."

"You?"

"Me? Good heavens, haven't you been paying attention? No, I mean you. You are your first and foremost priority. Isn't that what you were telling me a few days ago? That you need to do what is best for you regardless of what others think?"

Marisa frowned. "Yeah, but that didn't mean shoving people I like in front of a laser."

"Sometimes it does. I know it's hard to accept at first, but sooner or later you will have to."

"Um, yeah." Marisa grimaced. "No offense, Master, but I don't think I like the sound of this lesson."

"Well, you're still young," Mima said. A small twinge of an affectionate smile tugged at her lips. "Brilliant, resourceful and incredibly brave, but still young. I supposed that lesson can wait until later, after you've achieved immortality."

Marisa blinked. "Um, you mean like having my name go down in history?"

"No. What's the point of that if you're not there to accompany it? I mean true immortality." At Marisa's surprised look, Mima added, "Come now, you know it's bound to happen sooner or later. Maybe you'll become a youkai like that puppeteer friend of yours, maybe you'll find some great secret like the Princess of Eientei, maybe you'll forsake your mortal body and become a being of pure spirit without actually tasting death, as I did. I think it's safe to say that your disregard for the Reaper will become more-or-less permanent."

Marisa made a face. "…um, I dunno about that, ze. Sounds like it would get tiresome after awhile."

Mima shrugged. "It can, at times. But just when you think that you've seen it all, something new and interesting always pops up. Trust me on this, the reports of eternal life's negative attributes are greatly exaggerated. You'll see."

Marisa wasn't sure if she was comfortable with the subject of conversation, so she changed it. "So, uh, speaking of which, what's your beef with Yuyuko anyway?"

"Beef? Whatever do you mean?"

"I dunno, it's just that you really don't seem like you like her," Marisa shrugged. "Hey, come on. Maybe I haven't known you as long as most people, but I can at least pick up on when you're annoyed by something. You've been scowling at her ever since she showed up."

"Well, part of that is because she's only here to control us for Yukari," Mima said. "Surely you've figured that out.

"Sure, but so what? It's not like we're planning anything, ze. And hey, it's kinda flattering. I mean, Yukari's so worried about what we might do that she brings in the freaking ruler of the Netherworld."

"I suppose, but I really rather that it wasn't her."

"Why?"

Mima turned her attention back to the crystal. "Marisa, both she and I are eternal beings of similar composition, incredible power and influence but with completely different dispositions. Is it really too much to believe that somewhere down the line we might have had a bad encounter or two?"

"Really? She doesn't seem to mind you," Marisa said.

"That's because she has the attention span of a retarded sand mite. Or at least she pretends to. Either way, she's still not especially high on my favorite persons list."

Again, Marisa wasn't liking where the talk was going. If anything, Mima was giving her a very good reason to not live forever. Marisa had a nasty habit of acquiring grudges. And if she never died, that meant that, sooner or later, she would have everyone hating her.

While she had never cared much about other people's opinions of her, eventually becoming the target of everyone's scorn gave her an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. So once again she changed the subject. "So, uh, the crystal. You've been looking at it real intently. What'cha doing?"

"This?" Mima frowned at the crystal. "I've been attempting to gain a measure of Yuuka's essence and figure out exactly why she gave us so much trouble. I think it's clear by now that she's not a youkai. But unfortunately, Yukari knows how to make seals. Penetrating it without destabilizing it and potentially setting Yuuka loose is proving…difficult."

"Oh. Then why not just call Yukari to come and pick it up already? Bet she could tell you, and it's not like we have any reason to stick around here any longer."

"In time," Mima murmured. "But Yukari has never been known to part with information freely. I'd rather learn what I can while I've got Yuuka contained in front of me. Yukari can cool her heel a little longer." She snickered. "Though I must admit, I'm curious what's going through her head. She's probably sitting all alone, wondering why Yuuka never showed up."

…

Yukari

Death is a constant hazard for a youkai. Every day, they risked being ended by human exterminators or their own fellows. Of course, it was almost always temporary. Their body would dissolve into its base energies, which would then take a short "time-out", recharge and reform themselves into a new body, identical to the last one, only having healed itself of whatever damage had caused its demise.

Given her immense power and influence, it had been hundreds of years since the last time Yukari had tasted death. She had forgotten entirely what it was like, that strange swirling feeling of non-existence that accompanied it. Upon reflection, she might have noted its similarities to that strange twilight that existed between sleep and wakefulness.

At any rate, Yukari found herself opening her new eyes and staring out at the world. She was still in the Blasted Lands, lying on her side in a shallow bowl that had been scooped out of the ground. The bowl was filled with rainwater, which almost came up to her nose. Yukari blinked and slowly sat up.

She took stock of herself. Her body had healed through resurrection. The pain was gone, and her injuries had disappeared. She was once again whole.

In body, at least. Yukari still felt incredibly sick. Her essence had been ripped up and injected with what amounted to spiritual poison. That would not be cured by a physical regeneration. In fact, given the damage she had taken while crushing Yuuka's soul, it was something of a miracle that she had resurrected at all.

She tried to move only to double over. Nausea welled up within her, and she started heaving. Black corruption once again vomited out of her throat to splatter all over the wet stones. She stared at it as it congealed into a thick lump. That wasn't good at all. It was going to require several days of intensive spiritual cleansing to chase all of it out. It was just fortunate that the core of her essence remained intact.

Speaking of which…

Yukari's eyes narrowed. She looked up. Yuuka was still sitting nearby, her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered and cried nonsense to herself. The fact that she was in the same horribly broken state that Yukari had left her in meant that she had been successful in neutralizing her healing abilities. Anything she suffered from this point up would stick.

Despite the fact that she felt horrible, despite the fact that she did not trust any of her abilities, Yukari still stood up. Her legs were weak and her sense of balance refused to focus, but she still managed to stumble her way over to Yuuka and kick her right in the head.

Yuuka flopped over like the decomposed body she appeared to be. She didn't even appear to notice that she had been attacked. She continued to shiver while whispering, "It can't be. Just words on a page. It's all paper. And not even real paper."

Yukari didn't know what she was going on about and quite frankly didn't give a damn. She grabbed Yuuka's throat with one hand, yanked her up, and started pounding her face with clumsy but still powerful punches, punctuating each blow with a word.

"Get. Out. Of. My. COUNTRY!"

With a final wordless cry of anger, Yukari held up Yuuka and drove her backward through a nearby boulder. Then she hoisted her up and slammed her down again. And again. And again. And again, until the boulder was dust and Yuuka's state of consciousness was questionable.

Yukari snatched up a sharp piece of stone and jammed it into Yuuka's left eye. Dark fluid leaked out as she twisted the shard in the socket. Then she snatched Yuuka up once again and hurled her with all her might. It spoke of how much she had been weakened that Yuuka only flew about twenty feet before coming to a bouncing stop on the edge of the crater.

Yukari leaned over to vomit once again. She waited for the world to stop spinning. When it did, she marched over Yuuka, intending to do as much damage as she could in her state. As she approached, Yuuka coughed and weakly held up one hand as if to ward her off.

"Wait," she croaked. "Stop. Uncle."

Yukari cocked her head. "Excuse me?"

"Uncle," Yuuka said again. "Enough. You…you win. I give up."

Yukari almost burst into laughter. "You do? Too bad. I'm far from done with you."

"You…you should be," Yuuka wheezed. Then, bizarrely enough, she managed a ghost of her trademark smile. "After…all, you've got…you've got other problems to…worry about."

Yukari stared. This couldn't be good. "What?"

"Like, for say, that…that nuclear Hell Raven, whom I left beaten and broken back in that…little cave. But not before turning on…her self-destruct and…" Yuuka coughed "…and crushing the…mechanism that would…turn it off."

Yukari's eyes widened. "What!"

"And…by my count…she's got mere…mere minutes before she goes…critical. It should…be spectacular. Might take…the whole place…with her…"

Yukari gaped at her. This had to be a joke, some last mean-spirited trick to throw her off.

But why resort to a trick when she could do the real thing?

Yuuka actually let out a horrible rasping laugh. "Tick-tock…Yukari. Be seeing you." With that, she braced her hands against the side of the crater and shoved herself over.

"No!" Yukari cried. She rushed over as quickly as her weak legs would allow and looked over the edge to see…absolutely nothing. Yuuka was nowhere to be found.

Yukari wanted to scream. She wanted to blast everything nearby to powder in a grand demonstration of rage. She had been so close…

But Yuuka was right. If Utsuho was truly about to blow, then she simply didn't have the time.

Yukari wasn't sure if she could even use her powers. The damage her soul had taken made it an unsure thing. But what choice did she have?

She held up her hand, took a deep breath and immediately regretted it when it made her vomit once again. Once she got the heaving under control she summoned her power and opened a gap.

A pain like sandpaper grating against her lungs made her double over. But when she straightened up she saw that she had succeeded. The opening into the Borderlands hovered before her, connecting to the cave that she had left Team Underground in.

Realizing just how much she was going to have to use her power and just how much it was going to hurt, Yukari groaned and pulled herself through.

…

The Last Moments of Team Underground

"Caution. Time remaining until self-destruct: five minutes. Please make sure that the impending thermonuclear explosion is sufficiently contained, and that all non-essential personnel have evacuated the area. Thank you, and have a nice day."

Orin wouldn't have thought it possible, but Utsuho's condition had worsened in a big way. She was fading into unconsciousness, barely able to keep her eyes open. Meanwhile, the raw power surging out of her was increasing more quickly every second, and growing more violent all the while.

Orin herself wasn't doing so great either. As noted before, she was multiple times more resistant to being hurt by such things than even most supernatural beings. However, there was only so much she could take. And at the moment being in the cave with Utsuho was the equivalent of being trapped inside a leaking nuclear reactor.

Of course she could have simply left, but she hadn't. There was no way she was going to just leave Utsuho all alone now. In some ways this was just as bad as when Utsuho had first undergone her power-up and had been driven insane as a result. Orin hadn't abandoned her then, and she sure as hell wasn't going to do it now.

But then again, after the radiation sickness really started to take hold, it wasn't as if she could have gone anywhere even if she wanted to.

Now they were both holding onto consciousness with their last vestiges of strength. Orin was sprawled against the far wall, watching Utsuho with eyes that were quickly failing. She wondered if her life energies would be able put themselves back together after Utsuho blew. That blast from Yuuka alone had taken her out of the action for almost twenty minutes. She had heard stories of youkai that had been so thoroughly blown apart that they had never returned. She wondered what that would be like. Would she even be aware of her own lack of existence? Would she even care?

"Caution. One minute remaining until self-destruct. If you are still hearing this message, may the gods have mercy on your soul or equivalent spiritual energy. Thank you, and goodbye."

Orin was still awake to hear that. She managed to raise her head and look at Utsuho. Orin could see the fear in her eyes. She tried to favor her with a comforting smile, but was unable to tell if her mouth had even moved.

Well, I guess this is it, she thought. Funny. Always thought I'd live forever in the fire. Never thought I'd die in it.

The light from Utsuho suddenly flared up, white-hot. Orin closed her eyes.

And then a pair of strong hands grabbed her by the collar, lifted her right off the ground and hurled her into the tunnel.

Orin gasped as she rolled over the stone. The shock was enough to jolt her mind back into gear. She looked and saw Yukari Yakumo standing at the mouth of the cave, looking in.

The surprise made Orin choke, but she didn't waste time in croaking out, "Help…her. She's gonna…"

"I know!" Yukari snapped. "Shut up and let me concentrate, or you'll lose what remains of your nine lives."

Orin obeyed. She remained where she was and watched.

Yukari took one look at the cave and her shoulders slumped. She muttered, "Oh, this is gonna hurt like a…" Without finishing the sentence, she threw her hands up, and a sparkling purple barrier appeared about six inches in front of the cave's entrance. Judging by how the stone glowed and seemed to swim where the energies touched it, it was safe to say that the barrier extended through the solid rock as well.

And, as Orin realized with another jolt, it probably wrapped around the entire cave. Yukari had no intention of helping Utsuho. She just wanted to contain the blast.

"No!" Orin gasped. She tried to crawl across the floor toward Yukari. "Wait…help her! Please!"

Instead of responding, Yukari screamed and fell back against the wall. Her hands went to her face and she fell to the floor, her body shaking in pain. Orin stared in horror when she saw some kind of black substance bleeding out of her ears and the side of her mouth. The barrier flickered, fading in and out of existence.

Through it, the light from Utsuho was almost blinding. Orin squinted. Though her eyes were weak and visibility was poor, from the look of things Utsuho had stood to her feet. But how? She shouldn't have the strength. Was it one of those strange bursts of strength people were gifted with when they were about to die?

She walked up to the barrier, looking like a shining angel striding through an apocalypse. Only the black circle of Yatagarasu's corrupted eye ruined the image. She reached up to put her hand against the failing barrier.

"Orin?" she said.

And then she exploded.

"NO!" both Orin and Yukari shouted at the same time. Yukari lurched forward and thrust her hand toward the barrier. It immediately increased in power and solidified. Behind it, a full-fledged nuclear explosion raged.

Yukari let out a wordless scream. More of the black substance poured out of her mouth, out of her ears, of her fingernails, out of her eyes. Her skin drew taut and black veins appeared.

But still she continued to keep the barrier going. She held up her other hand and squeezed it closed, even as the black fluid filled her palm. The radioactive holocaust within fought her, but even in her horrible state her will was not to be denied. It withdrew from the barrier, slowly shrinking into a glowing blob.

Then Yukari held her hand out to Orin. At first the catgirl thought that she was reaching for help and instinctively held her own hand out. But then the sick feeling started to recede and Orin realized that Yukari was drawing away all the radiation that had leaked and forcing it through the barrier to join its fellows.

The violent energies inside swirled tighter and tighter. The blob took shape, forming a torso, head, arms, legs and wings. It jerked, and it head was thrown back. A seam cut down its chest and opened, revealing a slitted red eye.

The energies flared one last time and the tunnel filled with a roar so loud that Orin blacked out for a few seconds. When she came to, Yukari was collapsing on her face as the barrier winked out of existence.

Orin half-crawled, half-stumbled her way into the cave. It had been blasted into the shape of a perfect sphere. And there, sitting fully regenerated at the bottom of the bowl with a brand new Third Leg on her right arm, was Utsuho.

The Hell Raven looked with a confused look on her face. She saw Orin and cocked her head. "Unyu?" she said in bewilderment.

Orin took a deep breath. She shoved herself over the edge. She slipped and tumbled her way down to Utsuho to grab her in a crushing embrace.

"You're okay, you're okay," she whispered as she held Utsuho's head against her chest. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. She didn't care. Utsuho was all right and in her arms. Nothing else mattered.

Someone made an impatient sound behind them. Orin and Utsuho looked up, and Utsuho let out a frightened cry. Orin didn't blame her. Yukari had appeared in the cave's entrance and was, to put it mildly, a terrifying sight. Her body was emaciated to an almost skeletal state. Those black veins swelled up under her tight skin, and that black fluid was dripping from every orifice. Despite this, she still managed to look more annoyed than anything.

Yukari wiped her face with her palm and only succeeded in smearing the stuff. She gagged and spat. Then she said, "Of course… she is. She is…a youkai…who is immune…to flame, explosions and radiation in all its forms! So of course she would come back quickly. WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEEMS TO REMEMBER THIS?"

Orin shot her a venomous look.

Yukari shook her head. "All right," she said, her voice sounding like a rusty can full of phlegm. "Obviously, mission…failed. Yuuka got away. And I'm…in no shape…to gap you back. Can…" she grimaced "…can you…"

She doubled over, clutched her stomach and threw up. When she was done, she picked up right where she left off as if nothing had happened. "Can you make you way back to the Underground without my help?"

Utsuho said, "Satori-"

"I know what happened to her," Yukari said, her filthy face twisting in annoyance. "And yes…I will do something about that. Just…not now."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Orin demanded. She broke off from Utsuho to face Yukari fully. "What the hell happened? What happened to you, or the other teams? What's going on here?"

Yukari glared. "I'll…send you a letter with all the details. But for now…please. Just go home."

"Without the boss? What, are you nuts? You said it was gonna be simple! In-and-out, what happened to that? How'd she even know where we were? What in the blazing hell is-"

"Go. The fuck. HOME!" Yukari roared.

Orin would have yelled at her more, but then Utsuho laid a hand on her shoulder. "Orin, I think we should go now."

"What? But Yuuka's got the boss!"

"I know," Utsuho said. Her restored eyes were wet. "But…I don't think we can do anything about it right now. I mean, look at her!"

Orin wanted to keep yelling regardless. She wanted to yell at Yukari for getting her and her friends into this. She wanted to yell at Utsuho for not backing her up. She wanted yell wordlessly at the sky.

But what good would it do? They were right. There was nothing they could do.

Orin closed her eyes, counted to ten and opened them again. "All right," she said with tremendous effort. "But…I want you to promise that you'll get her back. And soon."

"I'll do no such thing," Yukari said curtly. "Get out of here already."

Orin resisted the very powerful temptation to set Yukari on fire. And given the state Yukari was in, she probably could've succeeded.

Instead, she looked at Utsuho and nodded. She tried to lift in the air but was struck by a sudden wave of dizziness. Of course. The radiation may have been removed, but she had still taken damage from it. With that being the case, making it back home was going to be something of a chore.

Fortunately Utsuho displayed a rare moment of perception and scooped Orin up into her arms. Even though she felt sort of ridiculous, Orin didn't protest as Utsuho carried her out of the cave and into the open air.

…

Yukari

Once the survivors of Team Underground had left, Yukari collapsed into her own filth. She didn't care. She was beyond caring about much at this point.

The brief moment of being physically refreshed brought upon by her resurrection was gone. And now she was in more pain than any other time she cared to remember. It was as if an army of microscopic surgeons had taken a million tiny razors and shaved off the internal lining of each and every one of her blood veins. It was if she had been skinned alive, had needles stuck into all of her muscles, and then had the skin sewed back on with the needles still in place. And she had never felt so sick.

That was the price for exerting herself so much with her soul in such a state. If there was any consolation at all to be found it was that Yuuka was far worse off.

Yukari rolled onto her back and stared into the darkness of the cave. She still needed to check up on the other teams, but the very thought of opening another gap actually terrified her. And so she ended up doing something she so rarely did. She opened up her mind and started to call for help.

…

Team…Do we really need to do this? You know who these jokers are.

"Ah, there we go," Mima muttered.

Marisa, who was sitting on her heels and flicking rocks against a stalagmite, cocked her head to one side. "What's up?"

"I believe I've finally learned enough to figure out exactly what Yuuka is," her former mentor explained. She held up the crystal. "Credit to Yukari, this was one tough nut to crack. Took me near fifteen minutes."

"Great! So what was she? Besides ugly."

"Give me a second to process the data, and I'll be able to give you an answer." Mima closed her eyes. "Hmmm, yes. Definitely not a youkai."

"Yeah. Kinda figured."

"Hush. Now, let's…Wait." Mima's brow knitted together. "Wait, it can't possibly…"

"What?" Marisa said. She hated it when the immortal types got all cryptic. "What is she already?"

Mima didn't answer. She just continued to stare at the crystal with a look of disbelief on her face.

"What's going on?" Youmu said as she walked over.

Marisa gestured to Mima. "She said she figured out what Yuuka is, ze."

"Really now?" Youmu said. She looked at Mima with wondering eyes. "Then what is she? Or, was?"

"Dunno. That's as far as she got before getting all weird. Hey Mima! Finish your sentence, ze! You've got us moist with anticipation here!"

Mima jolted out of her reverie. "Oh! Well, now, that's something of a complicated question to answer."

"What is?" Yuyuko said. The ghost princess wandered over to the gathering. "What are we discussing, Youmu?"

"Oh, we were just speculating as to Yuuka Kazami's exact species," Mima said as she straightened. "I was going over the clues she gave us during the battle. With some more research, I believe I can begin to make an educated guess."

"Eh?" Marisa said. Then she caught the look Mima was giving her. "Oh. Well, fine. Okay, but don't forget to tell me when you're done."

Youmu blinked. "But I thought you said-"

"Oh, well," Yuyuko said. "I actually wouldn't mind knowing myself."

"I'll stop by after she tells me," Marisa said.

Yuyuko smiled. "That sounds splendid! I do enjoy sleepovers! We can-"

Everyone stopped talking immediately. Yuyuko's spine (or closest equivalent) straightened and her eyes widened. Mima frowned, which gave way to a look of realization followed by an admiring smile. Marisa's face twisted into a look of complete disbelief and confusion. And Youmu's reaction was a combination of Mima and Marisa's, with a frown giving way to complete bewilderment.

"Uh, did anyone else hear that?" Marisa asked.

"Loud and clear," Mima said. She started laughing.

"Wait, you heard it too?" Youmu asked. "But it sounded like lady Yukari!"

"It was, Youmu," Yuyuko murmured. Her expression was alien to her face. It was one of worry.

"But she was calling for help!"

Mima closed her eyes and inhaled sharply through her nose. "Oh, Yuuka. You wicked, evil, manipulative, brilliant girl."

"But, waittaminute!" Marisa said. "That doesn't make any sense! Yuuka came here! We fought her, we beat her! What does Yukari have to…" Her voice trailed off and she frowned.

"Has the dawn risen?" Mima asked her.

"Uh…Wait. Yeah. Last time we fought, Yuuka did this thing where she divided in two and started shotting Master Sparks at us, ze. So if she did that again, that means…" Marisa slapped a palm across her face. "Oh, you have gotta be kidding me!"

"What?" Youmu said. "What are you talking about?"

"We did not do battle with the whole Yuuka," Yuyuko told her.

"Nope," Mima said. "It was at most just a half. Possibly a third, if the other two teams were attacked at the same time. A fourth, if she insisted on arriving on time for the duel."

"A fourth?" Youmu said. "But that would be insane! Yukari would annihilate her!"

"Well, no one ever accused Yuuka of being especially cautious. She makes your own recklessness look like cowardice by comparison." Mima blinked when Marisa's face fell. "Oh, sorry. No offense intended. It was a simple simile. No slight upon your courage."

Marisa didn't smile, but she at least looked reassured.

"At any rate, even divided as she is, it seems that Yuuka has shown Yukari a thing or two, if the desperation of Yukari's cries were any indication," Mima said. "Especially since the…consistency of the message has indicated that the wounds were more than physical. Dear me, I feel that in her attempts to overchew what she has bitten off, our dear warden has come to suffer indigestion."

"But then we should go help her!" Youmu said, her voice rising in pitch. "That's what we're here for, isn't it?"

Marisa cleared her throat. "Uh…Look. As kick-ass as that fight was, I really don't got that long before the potions wear off. And I really don't wanna have killed one Yuuka just to get eaten by another."

"Not to worry," Mima said. "I do believe we are not being called as a cavalry, but as medics. This should be quite interesting." She smiled again at all of them. "Well then, I suppose we are not yet discharged of our duty. Shall we answer?"

"Of course," Yuyuko said. "That's what we're here for. And she is my friend." Then she turned to Youmu and Marisa. "You two, would you please follow the signal? Mima and I don't need to travel there physically. We'll meet you there."

"Gotcha," Marisa said. She mounted her broom. "Come on, Body Pillow! Race you there!"

Both Marisa and Youmu were incredibly swift, and were far away in mere moments. Mima made ready to go to Yukari's side in her own manner, but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She turned to Yuyuko and raised a single elegant emerald eyebrow. "Yes?"

"That crystal, please," Yuyuko said. "The one you pocketed."

"Already gave it to you." Mima turned away from her. "Stop thinking with your stomach for once and pay attention to what's happening around you."

"No, you did not," Yuyuko said. Her normally flighty voice took on a hard note. "You slipped it away the moment Youmu approached you and hoped your quickly invented excuse would divert suspicion. That crystal is rightfully Yukari's. And as the appointed leader of this team, I am to look after it in the meantime. Return it, please."

"Oh, are you, leader mine? And fantastic job with that, by the way. Backstabbed and humiliated by a rouge Shinigami, only to return and let me command the actual assault. And then you were deceived by Marisa out of delivering the final blow, which should have been your right as team leader and senior Ringleader. Not the most shining events to add to your résumé."

"You attempt to confuse and shame me with words," was Yuyuko's reply. "In hopes that I would become so focused on my own shortcomings that I allow you to slip away with Yuuka's essence. I know something of that tactic. I also know that if you do not give me the crystal with Yuuka's essence inside this second, I will revoke your status as an exile from the Netherworld and see to it that you are welcomed back with open arms."

Mima handed her the crystal. "It seems I was right about you," she said.

"About what?" Yuyuko said as the crystal disappeared into the folds of her robe.

"I think you know."

Yuyuko blinked owlishly at her. "I don't understand." She looked around at the cavern. "Oh, yes. Yukari needs our help. I think we should go."

Mima shook her head. Ah, Gensokyo, she thought as she and Yuyuko started to fade. Sanctuary to the forgotten monsters and rejected gods. If you only knew what matter of creatures you call master.

…

Yukari

Given the incredible amount of pain she was in, Yukari counted slipping back into unconsciousness as a blessing. As such, she was rather annoyed when someone decided to wake her up.

When she opened her eyes, her eyes were so covered with slime and mucus that it really didn't make any difference. She tried to speak, but evidently the stuff had bled into her throat as well.

Her hearing was at least functional though. It was still clogged, and the voices she heard sounded strangely distorted and far away, but she could still discern fragments of sentences.

"…could have done this…"

"…wounded in spirit. It's…caused…"

"…don't think I want…kiss her anymore…"

"…help me get her…"

Hands lifted her from the ground. An attempt was made to bend her body into a sitting position, but that sent such a sharp dagger of pain through her that she started convulsing. The attempt was immediately stopped.

"…corruption…do something about…"

"Oh, if I must."

Someone laid a warm hand on her forehead. Almost immediately the partially solidified gunk that blocked her orifices started to dissolve. Yukari coughed weakly as air flowed through her ravaged throat. At the same time, the fluid that had dried on her skin flaked away and turned to dust.

Though her eyes were now unobstructed, they were damaged. As such, Yukari could barely make out four blurry figures nearby. The one closest to her, the one touching her forehead, was a mostly blue-and-green humanoid blob. It didn't take much to figure out who that was. Behind her was a pinkish blob, a black-and-white blob and a green-and-black blob. Yukari felt her first twinge of relief. Team Halloween had survived and came to her aid.

Unless of course this was a hallucination. Or just another one of Yuuka's tricks. But in the interest of preserving her sanity, Yukari decided not to entertain such possibilities.

"Well, she's moving. Kind of," said Mima. Her fuzzy form moved out of the way. "Feel free to embrace her and weep in relief."

The pink lump approached. "Yukari?" it said in Yuyuko's voice. "You do not look at all well. Are you ill?"

Despite the agony it caused her, Yukari managed a short laugh. Now she knew that it was Yuyuko.

She tried to speak and found that, despite the rawness of her throat, she could, though not very much. "No…I'm not…"

"Shit, what happened to you?" Marisa said. She walked over and leaned in close. "I mean, I know Yuuka's dangerous, but damn!"

"As I said, her soul has been wounded," Mima said. "Not to mention corrupted. What you are seeing is a classic example of someone still insisting on using their powers in such a state. Still, at least it settles the debate of her soul's existence."

"She can do that?" Youmu asked, sounding alarmed. "Yuuka? She can harm souls."

Yukari grunted. "No…Did this…myself."

"Eh?" Marisa said. "What? You cut up your own soul? Damn, that's some hardcore emo shit right there, ze."

Yukari tried to shake her head, but only succeeded in flopping it to one side. "No. I…" The world started to swim around her. A loud rushing filled her ears. "…I…"

Mima laid a hand on her head again. Suddenly Yukari felt her weariness fade away, replaced with a strong infusion of energy. Her senses became fully alert and she could speak freely.

"What?" she said, staring at Mima. "Why?"

"Consider it a temporary loan," Mima said. "At least until you finish filling us in. Much as I enjoy seeing you like this the dying sentences and inevitable bouts of unconscious will get old very quickly."

"Ah. I suppose I should thank you, but I couldn't help but notice that you left the pain."

Mima snorted. "Do I look like the altruistic type? We've got a lot to tell each other. You go first."

Yukari did so. She described the early stages of the duel, how they had fought and her surprise at Yuuka's apparent lack of strength. She told them about how Yuuka had mentioned that she was only one-fourth of the whole and then had brought out the Mykr's Sirens, eliciting groans from Marisa and Mima, the former palming her face and saying, "Those godsdamned flowers! Can't we just blow up the planet they're from or something?"

Yukari skimmed over the thrashing she received after this and went on to how she had destroyed the Skillet Plateau and tormented Yuuka with a conjured dragon. Mima had interjected how stupid it had been that she had delayed so long just for the fun of it, and Marisa disagreed, saying she would have done the same thing and asked exactly how such dragons could be summoned. Yuyuko mentioned how she had always wondered how dragons tasted, and Youmu had to quickly bring the conversation back on its rails.

After they had shut up, Yukari stopped glaring at them and continued the story, with the arrival of the other two Yuukas, the reveal of the sealing crystals in their possession and her battle with the Three-Fourths Yuuka. She told them how she had received her spiritual wounding by driving her essence into Yuuka's and crushing the core of her being, receiving surprised looks and admiring nods all around. She finished with Yuuka's apparent escape and how she had stopped Utsuho from destroying the entire Blasted Lands in a nuclear explosion and her call for help.

"And the next thing I knew, you people were waking me up," she said. "So I assume you received my message. My thanks."

Marisa hadn't stopped staring since the bit about how her soul had been hurt. "Okay, I don't say this to a lot of people, but that was fucking awesome. If my own fight wasn't so godsdamned cool, I'd wish I was there too." Then she frowned. "Though it does suck about the other teams. I mean, I know I don't like Fangs, and Three-Eyes is kinda annoying, and Knives somehow manages to piss me off every time we work together, and Four-Ears once taught me what a fried ham must feel like, and Psycho-Vamp nearly hugged me to death on at least four different occasions, two of them in the last week, and Egg-Brain made me spend two naked days at your house, but…Actually, you know what? Screw those guys." Then her face brightened. "Oh yeah! Thanks for arresting me and forcing me into your war! Best day I've ever had!"

"I'm sorry to report that she isn't being sarcastic," Mima said.

"So I would imagine," Yukari said. "I caught a glimpse of her using one of my spellcards."

"You did?" Marisa said. "Sweet! Was I cool or what?"

"You were," Mima said. She turned to Yukari. The hand on Yukari's head tensed ever so slightly. "She was," Mima told her, a note of warning in her voice.

Yukari resisted the sigh she felt coming. "You were."

"Damned right, I was!"

"Oh, by-the-by," Yukari said. "I'd like any of my unused spellcards back, please."

Marisa shrugged. "Too bad, used 'em all, ze."

Yukari glowered. "Did you now."

"She did," Mima said. "Four of them at once."

"Ah. Well. I'd accuse you of lying, but knowing her, she probably did." Yukari closed her and took a deep breath, slowly bringing it in and letting it out. "And seeing how all four of you are alive and well, I must assume that you at least were victorious. Though I do see that you and Yuyuko look a bit on the drained side, Youmu seems to have lost movement in one of her arms, and Marisa…Looks perfectly fine, actually. Except for the paleness and the incredible amount of sweating."

Marisa beamed. "She didn't get me. Not once. And I was up in her face the whole time." She waved a hand in front of her own face. "All this is because my potions are gonna wear off in a few minutes, ze. And then we'll be barf buddies!"

Yukari stared. She opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it. Some things were better left un-commented on. So instead she returned her attention to Mima. "So, it's your turn to tell your tale."

"Fair enough," Mima said. She smiled. "And I have to say, our story ends on a much happier note than yours."

With that, she told Yukari about how they were ambushed by Yukari by use of both Mykr's Sirens and Ghostwood, and about how Elly had made a surprise appearance to take Yuyuko and Youmu out of the game. Yukari groaned at this point, cursing her failure to remember that Yuuka had a Shinigami at her disposal. Mima then described in great detail how she and Marisa had worked together to bring a world of hurt to Yuuka. Marisa chimed in, adding details of her own. Mima agreed with her additions, and contributed some of her own, until they both were excitedly praising themselves and each other in turn. Yukari's patience snapped and she told them to save the self-congratulation until later. Impolitely.

Youmu took the stand and told her about the battle against Elly the Shinigami, how it had gone poorly at first but finally turned when Yuyuko dragged Elly's past out of the woodwork, allowing Youmu to strike (Yukari felt the warmth of approval at this point). Then she learned how Marisa had destroyed the Mykr's Siren and Leech-Seen hybrids and how the team had reunited and took Yuuka down together. It ended with the search through the caverns and Yuuka's demise, which actually made Yukari straighten up in surprise.

"Seriously?" she said, looking at Marisa. "You're the one who killed her?"

Marisa nodded. "Yep!"

"With a missile?"

"Yep again!"

"Huh. Well, that was…resourceful."

"Ain't it? So glad I got to use good-old Mimi for that. I mean, what a way to go, right? I just wish I had a hundred…" Marisa stopped talking. She frowned. "Uh…A hundred…Oh. Damn. Hang on."

With that, her upper body suddenly swung down and she violently threw up a thick grey sludge all over the stones. Youmu leapt back as Marisa fell to her hands and knees, hurling the whole time.

Everyone stared at her display of sudden sickness. She paused long enough to look up at Yukari with a very pale face and shoot her a weak grin and a shaking thumb's-up. "Barf buddies forever," she said. And then she resumed vomiting.

"I told you so," Mima said to her. "One sick puppy."

Marisa waved a hand at her in a dismissive gesture. She finished clearing her bowels and sat back with a groan.

Yukari rolled her eyes. Then something occurred to her. "Oh, and whatever became of that crystal anyway?"

Yuyuko produced it. She handed it to her. "Here. Mima tried to keep it. I convinced her otherwise."

Mima shot her a venomous look.

"Did she now," Yukari said. She looked at the crystal and its shining emerald occupant. "Well, thank you for that. I do think I'll be needing this."

"But our business is concluded," Mima said. "Your business with Marisa is concluded. You no longer have any hold on her. She is free."

"Yes, yes," Yukari muttered impatiently. She still stared at the crystal. "I'll send Kotohime by with the appropriate paperwork tomorrow."

"Good. Then we'll be taking our leave."

Without warning, Mima removed her hand. No longer restrained, Yukari's weakness rushed back to her. She grimaced and curled up, holding onto the crystal with all her might.

And then the hand returned, along with the strength it gifted. Yukari gasped and said, "Make up your mind already!"

"Sorry," Mima said, though her tone indicated otherwise. "Just wanted something clarified. I got a measure of Yuuka, and what I found was…very interesting. She is definitely no youkai."

"Agreed. I got a greater measure, as you can see. And I have to admit, had I known that Gensokyo contained an actual Outer God, I might have courted an allegiance with her upon her arrival."

Mima choked. "An Outer God?" she hissed. "She's an Outer God? I had her pegged as a Great Old One, at most."

"A what?" Yuyuko said. "Outer God? Is that a god from the Outside World? But we have plenty of those! We do, don't we Youmu?"

"We do, my lady. But I believe they are speaking of something else."

They were ignored. "Well, obviously she's been rather reduced in power, probably over the course of many eons," Yukari said. "But yes. An Outer God walks among us."

"And I killed a piece of her!" Marisa chimed in. Then her face twisted and she turned her head to vomit anew.

Mima glanced at her and sighed. She flicked her finger and muttered a word. Marisa's eyes rolled back and she slumped into sleep.

Mima turned back to Yukari. "And she has a quarrel with you," The spirit mused. "An actual Outer God. And meanwhile, you also have an enemy in the avatar of Azrael itself."

"Who?" Yuyuko said.

"How'd you know…Wait of course you know," Yukari muttered. "And let me guess: Reimu?"

"Of course. We are roommates, of a sort."

"But I told her not to tell anyone, save for Genji!" Yukari's eyes rolled upward. "Argh! Can't anyone follow simple instructions? At all?"

"I would have found out sooner or later. And really, Yukari? Just the turtle? I'm hurt. Still, my point is that you're tangling with those two at the same time. Plus, there's whatever the hell Rin Satsuki is. All three of them. Against you."

"So it would seem," Yukari growled. "What's your point?"

Mima smiled at her. She started laughing. It started off as a slow chuckle before rising in strength and becoming a full-on cackle. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, Yukari," she said, wiping away a tear of mirth. "It's just…It's just ridiculous. This is the sort of thing you bring up to make yourself feel better. As if in, 'Well, things may be bad, but at least I haven't incurred the wrath of an Outer God and Azrael's avatar'. Good heavens, have you just been building up bad karma all these centuries and it chose now to collect?"

Yukari didn't respond. She just glared as Mima laughed.

"Ah, wow. It certainly makes my own promise of revenge seem rather insignificant, doesn't it?" Mima shook her head. She laughed again. "In fact, you know what? Forget it. I'm calling off all hostilities. We're fine. There is honestly very little more I can do to you."

"Much appreciated," Yukari growled.

Still laughing, Mima released Yukari's head, allowing the weakness to return. "Well, I suppose you're in no condition to send us back, so we'll make our own way home." She turned toward the groaning Marisa and held out her hands. A soft, filmy green light poured out of her fingers and wrapped around Marisa, forming a protective covering. The sick human girl was then lifted into the air and brought over to Mima's side.

After making sure that she had retrieved all of Marisa's belongings, Mima flipped a mocking salute to Yukari and the two Netherworld denizens. "Well ladies, it's been fun. But please don't be offended when I tell you that I hope all of this ends up making your lives completely miserable. See you next Ringleader meeting. Or rather, I'll be seeing your successors. Because honestly, your chances of survival really aren't so good. In fact, they're pretty awful. Life sucks, doesn't it?"

With that, Mima left them in the tunnel, taking Marisa with her.

"Even after all these years, she is still rather unlikeable," Yuyuko murmured.

"Lady Yukari, is there anything we can do to help?" Youmu asked. "If using your abilities does you physical harm, then would you need assistance returning to your home?"

Yukari nodded. "Yes…actually. That would…be…appre…ciated."

Yuyuko leaned over and scooped Yukari up in her arms. Despite how undignified the situation was, Yukari did not protest.

Still, she couldn't resist saying, "You…do realize…this doesn't mean…we're going steady."

"What?" Yuyuko said in confusion.

Yukari managed a weak smile. "Exactly."

Evidently deciding not to question further, Yuyuko held up a hand to open a way to Yukari's house. But then Youmu said, "Wait!"

The two immortals looked at her, Yukari in annoyance and Yuyuko in bewilderment. "What is it, Youmu?" the latter asked.

"Haven't we forgotten someone?" Youmu said. "What of Team Vampire?"

Yukari grunted. "Right. Them. Best I…can figure…Yuuka killed them…and sealed…Remilia."

"But shouldn't we check just to make sure?" Youmu said. "I mean, what if they survived?"

"Unlikely," Yukari grumbled. "Given that…one was Human and…the other had…a lousy…sense of…" She sighed and left the sentence unfinished.

"But they were still members of this operation!" Youmu said. "If there is at least the smallest chance of their survival, then we owe it to them to at least check!"

Yukari was about to muster up the strength for a rebuke when Yuyuko murmured to her, "She's right, Yukari. And even though it is unlikely that Flandre Scarlet survived…what if she did?"

With a feeling of utmost irritation, Yukari realized that they were right. The possibility of Flandre Scarlet being on the loose with no one to restrain her was not a pleasant one. Especially with everything else she had to deal with.

"Fine," she grumbled. She moved her shoulders into a more comfortable position and closed her eyes. "But if…she is, then…it's up…to you…two…to…stop her."

…

Sakuya

Sakuya braced her one good foot against the side of the cliff wall, yanked her knife out of the stone, and slammed it into a spot about two-and-a-half feet above the first. Grunting with exertion, she used it to pull herself up a little further.

The harm she had suffered to her limbs had done more than making walking problematic. It also deprived her of the levitation she needed to lift her body off the ground and take to the air. As such, she was reduced to relying on one working arm, one working leg, a single knife and what little flight ability she possessed to keep her body light enough to make the trip less than impossible. It helped, but it was still a long way, and she was hurt very badly.

At least the rain had finally slowed to a drizzle. The downpour would cause troubles. For one, the force of the water would work against her every foot of the way up. And for another…

Sakuya glanced down at the trembling bulge in her cloak. For another, her most precious cargo did not do well in the rain. So the less the better.

She was nearly to the top when she noticed two distant figures flying toward her. As Yuuka had given her every indication of being done with her, it was likely to be her "allies". Though the sight gave her hope of a rescue, she did feel a large number of rather impolite things she wished to fill their ears with.

Sakuya set her teeth and shoved the knife into the top of the crater and shoved herself up over the edge. Then, making sure her cargo was safe from the rain, she sat down on the edge and waited.

In time, the approaching figures revealed themselves to be Yuyuko Saigyouji and Youmu Konpaku. While she was relieved that she was indeed being rescued, Sakuya was also a little disappointed. She had been hoping for Yukari, Satori or Mima. These two were at best Yukari's dupes.

Then they came closer and Sakuya saw who Yuyuko carried in her arms. Sakuya's eyebrows rose when she saw Yukari Yakumo's condition. Well, perhaps she wouldn't have to tear her a new one after all. From the look of things, Yukari had already suffered more than enough for her manipulations.

Her cargo moved into a new position and let out a couple of weak squeaks. Sakuya looked down at it and her lips pressed tightly together. Then again, maybe Yukari could stand to suffer a little more…

Yuyuko and Youmu came to a stop about ten feet away and stared. "Now, Youmu," Yuyuko said to her servitor.

"Yes, my lady?"

"I find myself surprised. She was not expected to survive."

"Yes, my lady. I mean, no. No, she was not."

Sakuya braced her arm on her knee and leaned forward. "And that is supposed to mean what, exactly?"

"Merely that…you were the…most mortal…member…of your team," Yukari said in a weak voice.

Youmu gave a polite bow. "No offense intended, Lady Izayoi. It's just that we received word that your team had been attacked and defeated by Yuuka Kazami. We assumed that all were lost."

"Sorry to disappoint," Sakuya growled. "You three aren't looking so great either."

"Indeed not," Youmu said. She indicated her own injured arm. "Yuuka Kazami anticipated our interference and divided herself into four portions."

Sakuya blinked. "Come again?"

After receiving the abbreviated version of what had gone down, mainly from Youmu, Sakuya felt her already woozy head start to swim. So, she and her Mistresses had been defeated by only one-fourth of the actual whole. All of their power, experience and expertise, and Yuuka had annihilated them using only one-fourth of her power.

Sakuya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had faced down many monsters in her time. And as such there was one lesson that she had learned rather quickly. It didn't matter how strong you were, how skilled you were, or how sure of yourself you were. There were some monsters that needed to be left well alone. And from the looks of things, Yukari had just learned this for herself. For all the good it would her. Or anyone, for that matter. The damage had been done.

Sakuya was suddenly glad for the rain. It helped disguise the tears that prickled her eyes.

"But what of Sakuya, Youmu?" Yuyuko said. "How did she come to be in such a state?"

Sakuya resisted the urge to snap at Yuyuko for not directing the question to her. "As you may imagine, Kazami ambushed us as well. We attempted to fight back and nearly succeeded in defeating her, but in the end she was able to overwhelm us."

Yukari gave a slow nod. "And now…she has…Remilia."

"Remilia?" Sakuya blinked. "No, she does not."

This evidently surprised the border youkai, as she immediately straightened up in Yuyuko's arms, though the sudden motion made her wince in pain and settle back down. "But then…who was…"

"She murdered Young Mistress Flandre and sealed her," Sakuya said in a hollow tone. "Presumably, she has her still." Even as she said it, the scene replayed in her mind. The pain of it was still fresh wound to her heart. She doubted it would ever truly go away, even if they managed to get Flandre back.

The three exchanged glances. "Oh," Yukari said. "Well. Another…thing to worry about."

"But what did happen to Remilia Scarlet?" Youmu said. Then she winced. "Sorry. I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

Sakuya shifted her weight. She turned her body and lifted her cape to reveal two trembling black bats clinging to her back. "Out of the several thousand she became, these two were all that survived," Sakuya said. She let the cloak fall. "As it is, she is too exhausted to change back now, and to do so in this rain would be suicide."

"Oh," Youmu said.

Yukari sighed and touched her forehead. "Well. This has been…one lousy day."

"Yes, it has," Sakuya said. She swung her good leg around, bent it under her and stood up. "And in light of her condition and mine, I must insist that you transport us to the Scarlet Devil Mansion at once. We need immediate medical assistance, and are in no shape to make any sort of journey."

"Too bad," Yukari said. "In case…you haven't…noticed, I'm in…bad shape. So gapping…is somewhat…not happening."

Sakuya's expression didn't change, though her tone took on an additional layer of steel. "If you had the strength to contain an explosion of that magnitude, then you have the strength to open one more gap. I doubt the blast stopped at the exact moment your power sapped away entirely."

Her words appeared to anger Yukari. She looked like she was about to say something crushing when Youmu said, "Lady Yukari, please! I know you are not on good terms with the Lady Scarlet, but they are still our comrades in arms! They are wounded and need our help!"

"Spoken like someone…who does not know…how much this will hurt," Yukari muttered. She took a deep breath and seemed to gather her strength. "Why can't we just send word to their people to come pick them up?"

"Because it would be at least an hour before they arrive," Sakuya said. "And I do not believe the Mistress will last that long."

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Fine!" she spat. She boosted herself up, despite the pain it must have given her. "You want a ride home? You…you got it. But know this: so long as her sister…is in the hands of that…that monster, your obligation to me remains incomplete. My yoke is going nowhere until she is either locked up back where she belongs or dead!"

Sakuya didn't say anything. She merely returned Yukari's glare and waited.

That last burst of anger seemed to take something out of Yukari. She settled back into Yuyuko's arms with a groan on pain. "Oh, this day…just keeps…" She took a deep breath.

The next thing she knew, Sakuya was falling through the air. She landed on polished marble. Her injured leg unfortunately absorbed more of the fall than it should, and the flash of pain nearly caused her to pass out.

She gritted her teeth and fought through the agony. When the worst was passed, she opened her eyes.

They had been dumped in the foyer of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Before her, the massive staircase leading to the second story stretched upward and split into two. All up and down it, numerous fairies wearing red or white maid uniforms stared at the sudden appearance of their boss.

Sakuya pushed herself up onto her elbow. "Go get Patchouli Knowledge," she ordered. She turned to her side and lifted the cloak to show them Remilia's bats. "The Mistress and I are wounded and require immediate assistance."

When the fairy maids continued to stare and whisper amongst themselves, Sakuya snapped, "NOW!"

That did it. As one they fled toward the library to find the librarian.

Sakuya sighed and settled back down to wait. As she did so, she felt tiny pricks through her shirt. She looked down to see that the two bats were meekly crawling out of her cloak. Sakuya carefully eased herself onto her back and allowed them to make their way toward her chest.

"It's all right, Mistress," she said. "We're home now. Patchouli is coming, and she'll help us." After a pause, she said, "And please don't worry about Young Mistress Flandre's safety either. We are certain to have her returned to us, alive and well. It is inevitable. With the resources at our disposal, Yuuka will never know what hit her. Once we recover, we can…"

Sakuya's voice trailed off when the bats started making odd, hiccupping squeaks. Her throat caught when she realized that Remilia was crying.

Realizing that her false assurances were doing no good, Sakuya gently placed her hand over the bats and held them close. Then she laid her head back and waited for help.

…

Ran Yakumo. Lovely woman, really.

Ran was sitting in the front room reading when someone started banging on the door. Immediately she dropped the book and ran to answer it.

What she found on the other side almost made her legs collapse out from under her. "Master?" she cried. "Oh my…What happened?"

As noted, Yukari was on the other side of the door. As was Yuyuko Saigyouji and Youmu Konpaku. As the former was the master of the house and the latter two regular visitors, that in itself was far from unusual. What was strange was that all three of them were hurt in some matter. Youmu had one arm resting in a makeshift sling and her fair skin was heavily bruised and covered in mud. Yuyuko, while still perfectly clean, was missing a considerable amount of ectoplasm, which made her noticeably transparent. And Yukari…

Ran had served Gensokyo's creator for a time out of mind. At the very least it had been since the land's early days, some odd centuries ago. And during this time, she had watched and, in some cases, directly participated in innumerable incidents of which some incredibly overpowered (or at least overconfident) being sought to take Yukari down. Their reasons ranged from Yukari standing in the way of their power grabs or sincere hatred. And though Yukari had emerged as victor every single time (or at least when it mattered), there had been more than a few occasions when she had gotten severely roughed up in the process.

And yet Ran couldn't recall a single time she had seen Yukari in such a state. Her skin was stretched so thin and so tightly that one could be forgiven for mistaking it for the skeleton underneath. Large black throbbing veins crisscrossed all over her hands and face and presumably her entire body. The backs of her hands, her neck and forehead were playing host to a large collection of ugly purple boils. Black fluid coated the area surrounding every orifice, from her mouth to her nose to her eyes and ears. Her hair was now thin and unhealthy looking, and would soon be falling away in clumps.

As for Yukari herself, she was being held like a child in Yuyuko's arms. Her eyes were closed and her sticklike arms were resting on her belly. But still, her mouth kept moving as she recited what sounded like nonsense under her breath.

"Couldn't be Azathoth. Ghroth wouldn't make any sense at all. Nyarlathotep has appeared as human, but he's active elsewhere. Yidhra maybe? She certainly fits the bill…No, she's accounted for."

"Master?" Ran cried. "Yukari? What…What happened to you?" She looked up to the other two. "What happened to all of you? I thought she had a plan!"

"She did," Youmu said. The half-phantom girl sounded weary beyond belief. "It didn't last."

"We are hurt, but not too badly," Yuyuko said. "She, however, has been grievously wounded in spirit. Furthermore, she was forced to exert herself after receiving her injury, which just made things all-"

Yukari half-opened one eye. It was filmy white and shot through with veins. "Explain on…the way. Get me…to my study."

"Of...of course!" Ran said hastily. She led them into the house. "This way! Her study is right around the corner here."

As they walked, Yukari resumed her mumbling. "Maybe one the humanoids? Like Zalgo? No, that doesn't make sense. The Operator? No, that slender fellow's also accounted for. The Rake? Unlikely, but he may know something. Make sure to look him up."

"What is she talking about?" Ran said as she held the door to Yukari's study open.

Yuyuko carried Yukari inside. "I'm not sure, but it seems that Yuuka is not what we thought she was," Youmu said as she brought up the rear.

There was a low tea-table in the center of the room. Ran quickly cleared it off. "Just put her right here," she said. "And what do you mean?"

Before Youmu could answer, both of Yukari's eyes snapped open. "Yuuka!" she coughed. "Ran! Oh gods, I forgot!"

"What?" Ran said.

Yukari didn't respond. She just started laughing. "Oh…I'm going to…have to clear them out too…aren't I?"

"Clear what out?" Youmu asked.

Yukari just shook her head as Yuyuko gently laid her on the table. "Tell you…after. But for now…Okay, fine. Once more with feeling."

And the world filled with Yukari's agonized shriek.

…

"I think it's rather obvious what happened then," Yuuka tells you. Her single eye flashed in anger. "Yukari's paranoia caused her to kill every single plant in her house. And not just that, but the garden outside as well. Some of them had been in her household for centuries, had done her no harm at all, and she wiped them out without hesitation. Make no mistake, she will pay dearly for that crime. Just as those moronic ghost girls will pay what they did to Mystia. What Elly did to them was far from enough. And then they had to hurt Elly as well. There were be a reckoning. Oh, and speaking of which…"

…

Poor Elly

Elly sat in an alcove at the end of one of the Blasted Lands many underground tunnels. She clutched with bloodied fingers at the cut that had torn right through her shoulder. Her eyes were overflowing with tears as she tried to get the bleeding to stop.

"Please stop," she cried. "Please stop bleeding. Why won't you stop?"

As she did so, part of her mind was devoted to what she was going to tell Yuuka. Or to be more specific, how she was to avoid telling Yuuka anything. Elly had served her for decades and as far as she was concerned, they had been the best years in her otherwise horrible life. Yuuka had been the best thing to happen to her. Unconditionally loving, endlessly patient, forgiving, compassionate, funny, occasionally silly but very smart and always, always there for her. Yuuka had taken her in when Elly needed it the most and asked for very little in return. Elly would have laid down her life for her, or so she had always claimed.

Instead, when Yuuka had finally needed her, she had fled. All it had taken was the smallest indication that she might not win. Plus, she had not felt physical pain ever since she had worked as a Shinigami. The cuts on her fingers had shocked her into fury. But what had been done to her shoulder had terrified her. For the first time since she had been Human, Elly had feared for her life. She had almost forgotten how much she hated the feeling.

But what was happening to her had to pale when compared to what was happening to Yuuka. Despite her master's power, those were some very dangerous people she was going against. And she had divided herself into four in order to fight them all at once. She had deliberately weakened herself but showed no hesitation in facing the pain that waited for her.

But Elly? Elly couldn't even beat a ghost and a half-ghost, exactly the sort of creatures her kind had been created to control. Granted, her opponents had been powerful, but that shouldn't have mattered. What did matter is that she not only failed, she had run away.

Elly sniffed. That's the way it always was. Elly the useless. Elly the coward. It didn't matter what sort of home she found, whether miserable or wonderful. Something always happened that made her run away. It wasn't fair. Most people never had to lose any of their homes. She had lost all of hers. And now she was about to lose the only one she had ever really liked. There was no way she could face Yuuka like this.

"Elly?" said a voice that echoed across the stone walls. Elly's head jerked up. Her heart pounded in her chest as she searched for the source of the voice. Even though she couldn't see her, it was unmistakably Yuuka's.

"Elly?" Yuuka said again. "Please answer me. I…I know you're here. Somewhere."

Elly stiffened against the wall. She tried to make herself as small as possible.

"Elly, please say something." Yuuka's voice was closer now. "I'm hurt, Elly. I'm hurt and I need help."

She could hear something moving close by, the sound of heavy breathing and something scraping against stone. Elly cursed the fact that there was only one entrance and exit.

The scraping grew louder. It was right around the corner now. Elly moaned softly to herself. This was it. There was no way Yuuka was going to let her live. This was…

Yuuka came into view and Elly let out a small cry of fear and surprise. When Yuuka had said that she had been hurt, Elly had pictured her bleeding from numerous wounds, perhaps missing a limb or two. But this…the shriveled black thing that crawled toward her? It was more a cloud of living ash in humanoid form than anything. One with a single glowing red eye.

"Elly," it croaked. "There you are. Thank…thank goodness."

Despite the fear Elly was feeling, she couldn't but say, "Master. Oh my God. What did they do to you?"

"Ah…Well. I'm…afraid I'm not entirely sure…myself. But…there will be…time for figuring…" The creeping thing finally came fully around the corner and stopped. Though it was hard to tell, it looked surprised. "Elly? Is…is that blood? What happened?"

Here it came. Elly sniffled and averted her eyes. "I…I tried, I really did! Tried my best! I almost beat them, but…That stupid ghost princess! She knew me, Master! Knew about my past and everything! She kept going on about how…" Elly had to choke her way through the next part. "…how I'm…always running away. And it distracted me, and that swordsgirl…she snuck up behind me and…" She was unable to continue. The lump in her throat had grown too large.

"Oh," said the thing that had been Yuuka. "Oh dear. I shouldn't have brought you."

No, Elly thought bitterly while she sobbed. You shouldn't have. I'm useless. Little good-for-nothing Elly. No wonder I failed. She's going to kick me out, I know it.

But to her surprise Yuuka's next words had absolutely nothing to do with her immediate dismissal. Quite the opposite, in fact. "Oh, those monsters," she said in her now weak, hissing voice. It reminded Elly of the wind passing through dead grass. "To stoop to such a level…Elly, I'm so sorry I exposed you to such an ordeal. This is…this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let you near them."

"What?" Elly said.

"To use someone's…secret shame in such a manner. Absolutely disgraceful. Does…no one fight with honor anymore?"

Elly blinked. "You're…not angry with me?"

"With you? Good…good heavens, why would I be? But with them? Most certainly. I'll…I'll have to put some thought into how…we may repay them. Ah, the very thought of my sweet Elly being treated in such a manner. It pains my very soul!"

Elly was nearly overcome with gratitude. Master wasn't angry with her. Master was angry for her. She wasn't going to be thrown out. Yuuka cared for her. Yuuka loved her. Her tears of pain and fear became ones of relief.

Not for the first time, Elly noted how very, very lucky she had been to come into the service of such a wonderful person.

"But…that will…also have to wait," Yuuka said. "We are both…rather injured. And I don't see how we can-"

Her pain now wholly forgotten, Elly leapt to her feet. "I'll protect us!"

"You will? But…your wound!"

"It doesn't matter," Elly said. She put her shoe under the handle of her scythe and kicked it up to hand. She then held it forward in challenge. "Let them come! I swear they won't come near you!"

"Ah…my hero," Yuuka said without a trace of irony. "I'd be lost without you."

…

"And I would be, there is little doubt of that," Yuuka says softly. "It hurts me that she would consider leaving at all. Poor thing. She's had such a rough life, and some scars are not so easily healed. I can only hope that she one day learns to trust me entirely. I really do think we need each other. After all, we are both outcasts. I was exiled from my kind long before the Sun itself was shaped, and among the Shinigami she is considered a dangerous criminal. We rejects do need to look out for one another, and that includes little delinquent gangs of fairies and youkai hunted for the simple crime of trying to save their friend. What a cruel world we live in."

The liquid in the cup turns back into simple tea, and Yuuka settles back into her seat. "But now that you know the tale of how I came to be in such a state, I think it's time we turned our attention to more important matters. No doubt you're wondering why you were brought here. And then there is the small matter of what I saw when Yukari crushed my soul. Two enigmas." The corner of her lips perks up. "Well, as it turns out, both questions share the same answer."

What? You stare at Yuuka in confusion. All throughout the story, you have been experiencing feelings of dread, horror and confusion, and this new pronouncement has only added to them. You gather up your courage and ask her to clarify.

"Well, let me put it this way," Yuuka says. "Yukari is a creature quite unlike any other. Though she seems normal enough, her relationship with reality is much more…fluid than anyone else's. Or anything else's, for that matter. It warps to her will, and I am willing to bet that a great deal of warping is done unconsciously. Whereas I am also a being that has a somewhat different relationship with the rules of reality than most creatures. Though I have fallen from grace and am much reduced from what I once was, I am still born into a species that literally exists in far more dimensions than there are even words for. There is a reason that merely beholding us in our natural state causes insanity, as there are some things that the four-dimensional minded are incapable of comprehending."

A strange, faraway look appears in Yuuka's eye. "And…in that moment, Yukari mixed her essence with mine. Violently. She quite literally broke me. Had I been a lesser being, I would have risked oblivion. But as it was, something quite different happened. When my mind was shattered, it was as if I had fallen through the cracks of reality and melted into it. And in that moment, I saw the entirety of existence. And I don't just mean this universe. No, that's thinking too small. No, what I saw was literally everything that exists. Everywhere. All at once."

If this answer was meant to clear away your confusion, than it certainly isn't working. You open your mouth to once again ask for clarification, but then you see that images are once again moving in the cup. But they are different this time. This time they are…

…

Me. Anywhere and Everywhere

…full of stars. Lights. All of them flashing by me as I fall. Or am I rising? Hurtling forward? I do not know. It is impossible to tell.

What did Yukari do to me? Was this intentional on her part? Is she sending me on this trip, or was it an unforeseen side-effect? At this point, it would be foolish to discard any option. But where am I going?

Wait. Starting to see things. Things floating toward me out of this star-filled tunnel. More stars, but with worlds attached. And I can see them. All of them. In perfect detail. Is this possible?

More of them are coming. Too many. Far, far too many. But they keep coming. The stars have ceased to fly past and are now surrounding me on all sides. Except they're not stars are they? They're…

Oh my goodness gracious. They're universes. Entire realms of existence. But so many!

This is rather fascinating, to tell the truth. I knew there had to be more out there, but never dreamed that there would be so many. I wonder what's out there. Do I exist in any of these other realities? That is a cheery thought. I would so like to meet myself. I'm sure we would get along fam-

Wait. They're moving again. All coming together. Overlapping. I don't know if I can process this. Ironic, seeing how many people must have experienced something similar when beholding me, back in the old days. Irony really isn't one for subtlety, is it?

Now I can see it all. Every point of existence. All at once. So overwhelming, but I can't look away. It's so interesting. I hope I can find something spectacular before the sensory overload becomes too much. Ah, that looks significant. I wonder if-

Wait. What is…

No.

No. No. No.

No, no, no. That's impossible. That cannot be true. It…it doesn't make any sense. How can it-

Oh God, it cannot be. It cannot be!

…

"What do you think I saw then?" Yuuka asks softly as you recoil, a sharp pain shooting through your head. "What do you think I saw, with my soul broken and my mind forced to absorb everything all at once? The answer is simple, child. I saw you."

What? You stiffen. She saw you? What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh, I don't mean you," Yuuka says dismissively. "Not you, not the you sitting across from me. I'm sorry, dear child, but in the grand scheme of things, you are ultimately unimportant." At your surprised look, she says, "What? Does this surprise you? Tell me, before coming here, to the Garden of the Sun, what is the last thing you remember?"

You think hard and, to your horror, find that your memories from that time are a complete blank. It is as if they're non-existent.

"Nothing? What a pity. What of your name? Surely you can tell me that, at least."

You cannot.

"A shame. Well, the reason for that is simple. You cannot tell me your name because you don't have one. You cannot remember anything before coming here because you didn't exist. You are not a real person, as such things are judged. You are…shall we say, a construct, one that I put together for a specific purpose. You know things, you understand things, but you are not a being unto yourself. Oh, don't look so distraught. It is a hard truth to absorb, and I'm sorry for putting all this onto you so quickly. But it is necessary. You see, I made you for a very important reason. Through you, I may converse directly with them. Or to be specific, I may converse with you, the you that's watching behind your eyes."

With that, she smiles, looks you directly in the eye, and smiles at you.

Yes.

You.

"Hello dears," Yuuka says sweetly. "Enjoying the story? Hello there, Will. Does this count as evil? And hello to you as well, William. Like what you see? And thank you so much for your warm support, Mr. Xuchilbara. It means a lot to me. Though I hope I haven't scared you off, my dear Jack. I suppose I do get a little carried away at times. And was this what you were expecting, my Robotic Messiah? How about you, Jiven? This would be worth of a few entries, would it not? And to everyone else, so many names, so many faces that I couldn't possibly address you all. I trust you fully understand what I am saying now?"

She slowly stands to her feet. It appears to be a laborious effort, and she almost stumbles at one point. She braces her hand on the tabletop for supports and takes a deep breath.

"It was quite a shock to see all of you, there is no doubt of that," Yuuka says softly. "And I have to admit, I was rather angry at first. To be living my life all this time, believing that I was making my own decisions and acting according to my rules. And then, all of a sudden I am told that my house is on a stage, and there is another wall in addition to the three I've been staring at this whole time. I have seen the script and stared at the audience. Rather disconcerting, I can tell you."

She shakes her head and laughs. "But you know, now that I've had time to calm down and think about the matter, it doesn't upset me as much. And I'll tell you why."

With a wave of her hand, a scene appears in the air above the table. It is the same that had been in the teacup, the many universes bending and folding over each other, only now it is fully three-dimensional and sitting in front of you.

Yuuka speaks softly as the lights swirl and befuddle. "With so many different universes existing all at once, is it too much to believe that there might be some degree of overlap? The image before you certainly supports this hypothesis. And with all this overlap, bits and pieces may very well leak through, in one form another."

"And I'm not just talking about alternate dimensions. Lord knows, I saw plenty of those once I had the time to review what I saw and pick it apart. A hundred Gensokyos, a hundred Yuukas. All of them variations on a common theme. But no, I mean fragments of universes leaking into realities that they have very little in common, getting lodged in people's heads, and coming out in a very peculiar form. That of stories."

She pauses for a moment, and then continues. "When I saw your world, I also learned many other names in addition to your own. Names like Junya Ota. Bullet Hell. Touhou Project. Catchy name, wouldn't you agree? But closer to the point, I learned another name, one much more specific. One with two words and eight syllables. I think you know the one."

"And that is only scratching the surface. Once I had the time to look, I would find a tale existing as fiction in one universe only to show up as fact in another. Time and time again, this happened. So many heroes, so many villains, so many annoying sidekicks, all acting out their parts in their respective plotlines. And they were all true! In another corner of existence entirely, but true nonetheless."

"Which got me thinking: who was really the one running things around here, anyway? Are all those writers, those makers of stories the gods of their domains, and entire universes move in accordance to their will without their knowledge? Or is it the other way around, and they are simply recording events that have actually happened, all the while deluding themselves into believing that they have created something new? I confess that I do not know for sure, but it is an interesting avenue to explore. Why, perhaps you too are simply a character in someone else's tale. How does that feel, to know that there may be as many unseen people looking over your shoulder as there are mine? Be sure to wave hello."

"But at any rate, whatever option proves to be correct, it is most certainly something I'll need to-"

"Master?"

Yuuka looked up. Elly was standing at the door to the mansion with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm sorry, but were you…talking to someone?"

Yuuka looked down at the table. As she was now standing, both of the seats were empty.

"Do you see anyone else here?" Yuuka asked.

Elly shook her head. "No, but it seemed like…"

"Don't worry about it. Just thinking out loud," Yuuka assured her.

Elly still looked unconvinced. "Master, I don't think you should be exerting yourself. You are still gravely injured. You need rest."

"Yes," Yuuka sighs. "You're probably right. I'll return to my bed in a moment."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Yuuka said with a smile. "Now, run along. I'll be by soon enough."

Still worried, Elly returned to the house, and…

…Yuuka looks back to you. "My apologies, it would seem that my promise of refreshments has hit a snag. As you can see, she has not been blessed with the same new perspective that I have. Or is it cursed? I still need to figure that out as well. Still, I suppose that does add credence to another possibility, that I have simply gone mad and all of this is just in my mind. Still, that wouldn't be so bad. After all, if all this must exist in someone's mind, I rather have it be mine than some silly young man from another world."

She walks behind you and lays her hands on your shoulders. Shivers run up and down your spine. "But at any rate, I will admit that even with this startling new knowledge, I still am not sure what I will do with it. I am currently working on a few ideas, but have yet to progress beyond that point. Fortunately, with all the recovery time I'll be needing, I'll have plenty of time to work on them. I just wanted to meet with all of you and clear the air between us."

"Well, I suppose that's everything," she says with a small laugh. "Elly is right, I do need to rest. So in the meantime, don't expect to see too much of me. But make no mistake. I will recover from what Yukari did to me. I will come to a decision of what to do with what I've learned. And I will find the time to tie up a few loose ends from our battle. And when I do, I promise you this: it will be spectacular."

"So before I retire, let me leave you with one final thought."

Yuuka brings her head down low, so that her ravaged lips are practically brushing your ear. And then she whispers a single sentence.

"Until next time, everyone."