Entry 5: Disliked Divinity


Sai Argyle let out a melancholic sigh. This was not the sort of thing anyone expected from him.

Over the past twelve hours, form when he came running back carrying that helmet to this morning, he had sat in the lunch room, staring off into space, or at least, at the wall.

From just outside the room, the heads of Dearka, Miriallia, Flay, Takane, Nitori, and Mu peeked around, spying on the youth in his stupor.

"What the heck's gotten into him?" Dearka whispered. "He's been like that ever since he got back yesterday. Hell, he barely reacted to Badgiruel lecturing him."

"This doesn't look like general relief, too," Mu commented. "Miri's expression hearing that Kira might be alive was relief. That's something I've only seen a few times in my life."

"So you know what's going through the kids head?" Nitori asked.

"Yeah," Mu answered, looking both sly and knowledgeable. "That, my dear ladies and Dearka, is the face of a man in love."

Everyone looked between Mu and Sai. "You sure about that, Lieutenant?" Flay asked. "It really feels like you're pulling that out of thin air."

"Actually, I see where the old man's coming from," Dearka said. "That wistful, glazed look in his eyes, the slightly parted lips wondering what the first kiss will feel like..."

"... the sigh that mourns being apart for even a second longer," Mu continued, "the fact that he's ignoring everything in the world, solely so he can fantasise. There's not a doubt in my mind."

The girls looked at the two males in bewilderment. "They're weird," Takane said. "Outsiders are weird."

"Don't lump us with them," Miriallia said. "Those two are outliers. We can pretty much guarantee that all other guys we know are far more normal."

There was a brief pause, as if someone was waiting for something stupid to happen to disprove that point. Something like Murdock running around with his head on fire.

But, that didn't happen, and Miriallia's point stood.

"I wonder who it is," Flay said. "The person he's fallen for."

"Feeling a little jealous, Flay?" Miri teased.

Flay gave the brunette a sharp look. "Miri, I already know I burned that bridge. You don't have to rub it in."

"There, see?" Takane said. "We're learning how to communicate again!"

"My god," Flay muttered. "You still think you're a therapist."

"Well, one way or another," Nitori spoke up, voice dark, "it won't end good for him."

"What do you mean?" Mu asked.

"Think about it; we're at the base of Youkai Mountain," she explained. "If it's a human, they're insane, a youkai hunter, or either Reimu or Marisa. We can rule out all of those, because the former two know better than to challenge the mountain, and the later two don't often visit the mountain outside of an Incident. That means he's fallen for either a lesser god or a youkai. Those romances... never end well."

"So... we should intervene?" Miri asked. "Tell him not to pursue it?"

"I don't think he'd listen if we did," Flay commented. "It's... a comfort for him, I think."

"Then, we'll keep an eye on things," Mu decided. "If it starts getting too dangerous, we'll pull him up on it. Deal?"

There was an almost unanimous response of agreement, followed by the group disbanding, save for Nitori and Takane.

"You're not going to tell them?" Takane asked. "That you have a hunch who it might be?"

"I didn't want to mislead them," Nitori responded. "If it comes back to bite me, then so be it, but... Hina deserves something good in her life."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were showing your human side," Takane commented. "But you do know that this is quite literally a 'worse case scenario', right? The Hakurei won't sit quietly when word gets out."

"I know," Nitori whispered harshly. "Gods, do I know. But, is it so wrong to want something good for a friend?"

"Well, we will be needing to keep a close eye on him," Takane said, seeing Sai fidget with the nagashi-bina doll he picked up yesterday. "Too much exposure, and he will, inevitably, become a youkai himself."

Nitori nodded. "Still, why was Hina in a place where she could be noticed from the bridge?" she asked herself. "She doesn't usually stray away from the mountain-bound river, and when she does, not by that much. Something's going on, Takane. Something ominous."


Up on the bridge, Murrue stared long and hard into the cracked face-plate of the helmet Sai had brought back after his impromptu expedition. It was a highly dangerous, objectively stupid thing to do, but the fact that he brought back news that was rather uplifting, Murrue was inclined to forgive him.

Speaking of the helmet, there was something almost surreal about holding it like this. Usually, when the helmet of a missing pilot comes back, it's a sign for closure; that they're gone for good. However, given the supernatural nature of Gensokyo, and the added fact that aside from the face-plate, the helmet was in pretty good condition, meant that it had been removed and tossed aside, or at least innocently fell off the person it was previously on.

She pressed her forehead against the helmet. "I truly hope you are doing alright, Kira," she muttered. "I must be a pretty rotten adult, having to rely on you for so much since Heliopolis. This time, I can only hope we can pay you back for all you've done for us."


It was coming up to midday when Kira and company, comprised of Athrun, Cirno, Wriggle, Mystia, and Rumia, found themselves heading up to Moriya Shrine. The three fairies of light had chosen to go home on their own, which, more power to them, really.

How were they going to get to Moriya Shrine, located at the top of Youkai Mountain? Simple: a cable car.

When Kira and Athrun first saw it, they were... more surprised by it than anything else they'd experienced to this point. Yes, more than the fairies and flying without external propulsion. Somehow, a cable car in a fantasy world made less sense than the mere existence of the fantasy world in general.

At the very least, thanks to Byakuren's last minute training, if the ground fell out from underneath them, Kira and Athrun wouldn't plummet to an untimely death.

"Well, if you needed a way to get the faithful safely up a youkai infested mountain," Athrun said, "there are worse ways than this."

"But it's still weird," Kira muttered. "I mean, we've got all this supernatural stuff going on, a nuclear reactor in hell, and yet here we are, riding a cable car."

"What, have you guys never seen one before?" Wriggle asked. "I'd have thought there were many of these things in the Outside World."

"There's no shortage," Kira said, "but... we went the whole way suspending our disbelief, accepting magic, and suddenly, our trip up Youkai Mountain is shortened through the most mundane way possible. It's... a bit of a buzz kill."

"Who's kill the bees?" Cirno asked.

Athrun felt his had strike his face. "No one's killing any bees, Cirno," he said. "He's just saying that he expected something a bit more grand than just taking public transportation."

"Ah! Look," Mystia called out. "We're reaching the end!"

Kira let out a small sigh. "Well, guess I'll just have to put up with it," he said. Then, another rumble from up above roared.

"That sound again," Athrun muttered. "Thunder without clouds. What do you thinks causing it?"

"Don't know," Wriggle said. "The only thing up higher than Youkai Mountain would be Heaven, but those Celestials are too pompous and proud of themselves to be fighting among each other."

"So there's Heaven as well, then," Kira said. "Somehow, not surprised that's here as well."

For now, though, he just hoped that the protests were going peacefully.


Turns out, they were less 'protests' and more 'civil debates'. Rather than shouting and waving signs, both parties, one consisting of the 'smallfry' youkai and fairies, with a few of the lesser gods mixed in, and the other 'party' consisting of one purple haired woman in red with a sort of mirror on her chest.

"So, that woman," Kira spoke, directing his question to Wriggle. "That's Yasaka Kanoko?"

"That's her," Wriggle replied. "Mountain god and patron deity of the Moriya Shrine."

"Huh. I was expecting someone more... diabolical looking," Kira said. "She looks more like a mother, if anything. Must be a trend here."

"I can hear you over there, young man!" the goddess in question shouted out all of a sudden, surprising everyone present. Kira quickly stammered out an apology in response, which at least got a laugh out of her. "Well, at least you can remember your manners," she said, before turning back to the youkai. "Sorry about that. Now, as I was saying, there is only so much I and the Moriya Shrine can do to help you. In order to fix what our arrival did, there's the relocating of all this water," she gestured at the lake that surrounded the plot of land they all sat on, "as well as filling up the space with soil, replanting trees, and all that business. To make matters worse, the Tengu seem to not want to cooperate with the resettlement plans I've provided."

"So, there's nothing you can do?" Eternity Larva asked. "After all this?"

For what it was worth, Kanako bore a rather sad expression. "Even though some of you have been living here as long as the Tengu themselves, they have elected to turn their backs and play hands off, even going as far as to hamper our own prospects to aid. Honestly, what was that Yakumo thinking? She could have brought only a tenth of the lake, and I'd be able to live with it. And they claim I have no sense of moderation."

Kira and Athrun... really didn't know what to make of Kanako now. They expected an egotistical tyrant, and instead got someone both wise in their years and remarkably empathetic to the plight of her supposed enemies. Just goes to show that you should hear all sides of a story.

"Perhaps we should break for lunch now," Kanako stated, raising from her seat. "Sanae should be returning before long with word from the Tengu and Kappa."

The 'mob', if it could even be called that anymore, seemed to agree, and disbursed lightly around the area. Kanako then turned her attention to Kira's group. "How about you lot, then?" she called out. "Will you be joining us as well?"

Cirno and Rumia agreed almost instantly, with Wriggle and Mystia sharing a shrug before going along with it.

Athrun and Kira shared a brief look. "Well, if you'll have us," Athrun said, "then we might as well, ma'am."

"Ma'am, he says... Am I really that old?" Kanako muttered dejectedly. "Well, I can't say I've seen you boys before. New to Gensokyo?"

"By about a week," Kira answered, as they approached the god. "We've been... spending the most of it recovering from some injuries."

"Must have been a pretty big fight," Kanako said. "I am Yasaka Kanako, god of this shrine, but I'm sure you already knew that, didn't you?"

"We guessed as much," Athrun responded. "I'm Athrun Zala, and this is Kira Yamato."

"Athrun... and Kira, huh?" Kanako mused. "Strange. Those names are somehow... familiar."

The two boys tilted their heads, but before they could ask anything further, a voice called out from above, and a green haired girl dressed in white and blue shrine maiden attire landed.

"I have returned, Kanako-sama," the girl said politely.

"Welcome back, Sanae," Kanako responded. "How'd it go?"

"The Tengu are being as inflexible as ever," replied Kochiya Sanae, "as for the Kappa... well, I couldn't find them."

"Couldn't find them?" Kanako repeated. "Were they not in Genbu Ravine?"

"Not at all. Their settlement was completely deserted."

Another rubble echoed high above.

"It feels like they're getting more frequent," Athrun said.

"It really does," Sanae responded. Then, she finally took notice of the two boys, and did something akin to a double-take. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you two!"

"It's quite alright," Kira said kindly. "I can tell there's a lot going on. It's hardly your fault."

"A well mannered one, he is," Kanako said. "Sanae, these two are Athrun and Kira; Outsiders who have been in Gensokyo for little over a week."

"Kira and Ath... EHH?!" Sanae exclaimed suddenly.

This time, even Kanako looked puzzled. "What is it?" she asked. "You're acting like I just announced the second coming of Jesus."

"Oh! It's... it's nothing!" Sanae stammered, clearly flustered about something. "I just... I need to check on something real quick! Excuse me!" And with that, she quickly ran off into the shrine.

Kanako blinked in bewilderment. "That was... odd," she said. "Even for her. Wonder what's bothering her."

Another rumble from above came, this time shaking the very ground.

"Okay, that's definitely bad!" Athrun shouted.

"What on earth?!" Kanako shouted, eyes locked on the sky.


Within Moriya Shrine itself, Sanae dug through mountains of old items in search of something. From the table in the middle of the room, a young looking girl with blonde hair, dressed in blue with a hat that had an extra pair of eyes, watched the shrine maiden.

"What's up with you, Sanae?" asked the original god of the shrine, Moriya Suwako. "You're digging through your old stuff like a crazed conspiracy theorist."

"I'm starting to feel like one, in all honesty," Sanae responded. "But I need to make sure I'm not just imagining things. That, or I'm getting old."

"I don't follow," Suwako said.

"Just... give me a minute, please," Sanae said. "If I can just find... ah! There it is!"

From the pile, Sanae took out an old DVD case. Suwako leaned over and read the title on the box. "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed?" she read. "Man, that takes me back. What was it, '02? Didn't you crush hard on one of the characters for a time? What was his name again?"

"That... That's not important right now!" Sanae stammered, as she quickly opened the case, and flicked through the disks.

"Ah! There he is!" Suwako exclaimed. "With the hair that's almost like Kanako's!"

"But, this has just confirmed my suspicion," Sanae continued, ignoring Suwako briefly. "Athrun Zala, and..."

"That was his name!" Suwako said. "See? You still like your husbando, even after all these years!"

"That's not the point!" Sanae yelled, clearly flustered. "My point is that I literally just saw him and Kira Yamato with Kanako-sama not even five minutes ago!"

This, at least, caused Suwako to look confused. "You serious?" she asked. "It wasn't just a guy that looked like him, was it?"

"They introduced themselves by those names, too," Sanae answered. "You can't mistake voices that distinct."

"How the H-E-double hockey sticks?" Suwako asked. "Gensokyo attracts odd things, sure, but anime characters? That's a new one."

Then, the very air itself began to shake, as the rumbling from above shook at its worst to date.


Alarms blared throughout the Archangel. All personnel rushed to their designated stations.

"Status report!" Captain Ramius called out. "What's going on?!"

"Unsure!" Sai shouted back. "A large object has been detected high above Youkai Mountain! It's... descending at a rapid pace!"

"Descending?" Ramius questioned, before tapping a button on her console. "Engineering, get me Kawashiro on the line!"

The comm-link went live, and Nitori responded. "I hear ya, Murrue!" she shouted. "What's going on?"

"Tell me, is there anything that is both higher than Youkai Mountain, as well as directly above it?"

"Higher and above?" Nitori repeated. "The only place like that could be Heaven."

"Heaven? You kidding me?" the voice of Murdock shouted from somewhere in the hanger.

"Murdock, can we take off?" Ramius asked.

"She's ready to fly at any moment, boss!" Murdock yelled.

"Acknowledged," Ramius said, as the comm was cut. "Neumann, take us up!"

"Aye, captain!" the main pilot, Arnold Neumann, responded. "Archangel, lift off!"

The engine roared with the ferocity of a dragon. All thrusters burned hot as the Archangel, once dormant, took to the skies once more.

"Let's just hope we can stop this coming catastrophe," Murrue muttered.


Throughout the village, all looked up in horror at the cataclysm descending from the sky like a rain of fire.

From Suzunaan, Kosuzu kept the doors shut and hid under the counter, quivering in fear.

From the home of the Hieda family, Hieda no Akyuu watched in shock as a event never before recorded began to unfold.

At Myouren Temple, as the main building was quickly being converted back into its original form as the Palanquin Ship, Byakuren spoke in small prayers, dearly hoping they could avert the tragedy to come.

In the Forest of Magic, a witch in black and white clothing looked on in intrigue, as she planned her next course of action.

Finally, in a shrine far removed from the previous locations, a black haired maiden watched on. She hated it, but there was little she could do at this point; Youkai Mountain was too far away for her to get there before it was already over. She might have been the best Incident solver in Gensokyo, but even that takes time. Time which she did have.

So for now, all the shrine maiden of Hakurei could do was protect the things in arms reach. It was certainly better than nothing.

And finally, from the gap between realities, Yakumo Yukari watched. She would not say she was shocked that something was happening, but the magnitude of this event certain blew her expectations out of the water.

Because of her hands-off policy of dealing with things, she elected not to inform a certain new friend of hers about this.


Kira, Athrun, Kanako, and all the youkai, looked up in sheer, abject horror, at what had broken through the few clouds that dotted the sky above them.

"What... is that?" Kira asked, voice shaking. "It's... huge..."

"Bhavaagra..." Kanako muttered. "Khamadhatu, Rupadhatu, and even Arupyadhatu... All the realms of Heaven, and they're... falling right on top of us..."

"That's... Heaven?" Athrun said. He couldn't quite get the words to form in his throat, but it was so much like someone took one of the PLANTs and tried to throw it at Earth. More than just that, though, was the fact that it wasn't just one or two big objects falling; there were innumerable amounts of flaming boulders and building sized hunks flying off in many directions. The spread of the damage would be unlike anything Gensokyo, or even the Outsiders, had ever seen before.

Sanae and Suwako exited the shrine, and quickly noticed the oncoming catastrophe. "What on... What's happening?" Sanae questioned. "Why is Heaven falling?!"

Clenching her fists, Kanako stepped up to take action. "Suwako! Sanae! Set up as many barriers as you can! The rest of you, find somewhere to take cover!"

"Take cover where?!" Athrun called out. "All of Gensokyo is in danger! There's nowhere 'safe' to go!"

Before Kanako could say anything, she waved a hand, and one of the large black pillars that was dotted around the shrine shot out of the ground, and pulverised a few large boulders as it flew. "Then find somewhere!" she shouted. "I can't have you try to carry this burden for us!"

In response to this, however, Kira held up one hand to the falling Heaven, palm out, and recalling some of what he'd learnt, managed to fire a decently small ball of magic, which, while not destroying an oncoming rock, at least diverted it away.

"We can't just sit around and do nothing!" Kira shouted. "Not while people are at risk of getting hurt!"

"Yamato-san..." Sanae said quietly. "Kanako-sama, I don't think we can do this alone."

Kanako looked at her shrine maiden, and let out a sigh. "Fine then, but you two are keeping your feet on the ground, understood?!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Kira and Athrun shouted.

"The rest of you: form up!" she continued, addressing the youkai and fairies. "Shoot down as many as you can! If it doesn't break in a few hits, get backup!"

Kira and Athrun quickly got back to back with each other, and began firing what shots they could muster at the oncoming meteors (because let's face it, that what they were, even if they weren't from space). Their shots, in comparison to even the fairies, probably didn't amount to much, but 'not much' was better than 'nothing'.

As Sanae dodged through the air, putting up barrier after barrier to deflect boulder after boulder, she chanced a glance at the two Coordinators. "What amazing synergy," she muttered. "Seeing it on TV was one thing, but in person... They must have been brought from after the first war!"

She noticed Athrun glance her way, and before she could even contemplate the idea of waving to him, he shouted. "Kochiya! Behind you!"

"Eh?" Sanae looked behind her, and saw a giant hunk of land heading straight towards her. She managed to erect a barrier, but the force had knocked her from the sky.

Cursing himself, Athrun broke into full sprint, before leaping high into the air, catching Sanae bridal style, and gently floating back down to the ground. "Keep your wits about you!" he yelled. "We don't have the luxury to drop our guard!"

"R...right!" Sanae stuttered out, trying not to sound too flustered.

Kira allowed himself a small smile upon seeing their exchange. Athrun really was doing better now, wasn't he? It was nice to have him on the same side. "Eyes up, Kira," he told himself. "You heard what Athrun just said. Can't drop our..."

He froze. Something in the far distant sky caught his eye. What was it? Focusing his vision as much as he could, Kira could just barely make out blue hair, arms, legs, and what could have either been a trail of fire or blood.

That was, unmistakably, a person amongst the raining fire and brimstone.

Kira took a hasty step forward, and felt something incorporeal hold him back.

"You'll never make it," a voice not unlike his own said. "You've never been able to protect anything. Not once."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try," Kira said back.

"You couldn't protect Heliopolis. You couldn't protect that little girl. You couldn't even protect Tolle."

"Shut up," he spat. "I know I've failed before. I know I've hated myself for it! But..." A familiar sensation washed over Kira, as the mental image of a seed bursting open played in his head. "I won't stop trying!"

An unnatural strength coursed through Kira Yamato, and with a push, he shot through the air like a bullet.

"What the hell are you doing, boy?!" Kanako called out, only for it to fall on deaf ears.

Kira was now in a state of hyper-fixation. He dodged past oncoming hunks of land with the ease of a trained professional. Were he not focused on both saving this person and the literal apocalypse raining down, he might have appreciated this feeling of 'grazing' past opposition.

A large chunk broke off from one of the larger masses, and with its trajectory, it would hit that person.

Kira forced himself to go faster. He had to do this. He could do this. He would save this person.

"I..." he muttered, struggling to breath through the wind that felt like it would tear his skin from his face. "I...!"


'Ah. So this is how I'll die,' Hinanawi Tenshi thought. 'My home... gone. Mum, Dad... I don't even know if they're still alive...

'What the hell have I even been doing? What the point of any of this? When that metal giant showed up, I just thought I'd be killing some time breaking it down. Do my good deed of the day by recycling that eyesore.'

"...!" Something carried itself on the wind, yet its sound didn't quite reach her ears.

'Why is life either boring or hateful? I... Why does it feel like everything's my fault? I wanted to join in on that whole 'Incident' craze, and suddenly I'm a spoiled brat? I just...'

"...ou!"

'I just don't want to be alone anymore!'

"I've got you!"

Tenshi's eyes shot open. All around her, she could see nothing more than the fragments of Heaven as they fell. So, who's voice did she just hear?

Flying was never one of Tenshi's strong points, so she couldn't just halt her momentum and look around. All she could do was turn her head to the side, and hope to see something.

And see something she did, or rather, someone.

A young boy, maybe around 16 years old, flying towards her with his hand stretched out. She didn't know who this person was (heck, she could count the number of guys she knew of one hand with fingers to spare), but there was still something... unusual about him

The eyes. There was just something about those violet eyes of his. They were strangely glass-like, in that they didn't seem to be taking in too much information, yet they seemed entirely fixed on one thing; her.

Those eyes, like amethyst, were fixed solely on her. That hand reached solely for her. At her lowest, here, suddenly, was someone reaching out to her. Offering her the help she so desperately wanted.

So, naturally, she reached back.


The moment Kira grabbed the hand, he quickly pulled the girl in, and shifting his weight, and put himself between the girl and the oncoming meteor.

It impacted him like a truck, and Kira grit his teeth so as to not let out a cry of pain. He attempted to correct his trajectory, but the combination of lack of training and added weight meant that, rather than flying clear around them, he was crashing into and dragging himself against the surface of each rock, tearing up clothing, skin, and muscle.

By the time he could say he was in the 'clear', Kira Yamato looked more like a zombie than a person. His left arm had taken to one surface like a belt-grinder, leaving it a bloodied mess that should have fallen off. A large chunk of rock struck his head with the sort of force that would have normally removed that part of the body, yet all it did was open a wound and pour blood into his vision.

"Who the hell taught you to fly?!" the girl yelled at him. "It's like you're trying to hit everything in the path!"

"I'm new to this!" Kira yelled back. Then, from above, he noticed the oncoming force of an exceptionally large chunk. His options were non-existent at this point. He couldn't reasonably get out of the way, nor did he have a free hand to try and shoot it off. All he could do was turn his bloodied back to it, clench his teeth, tighten his grip, and brace for death.

What he didn't expect, however, was for the familiar sound of beam weaponry pierced the air, striking the boulder dead in the centre, and reducing it to ash in a fiery explosion.

Kira looked on in shock. "What... where did that come from?" He scanned the sky, until he saw a familiar and welcome sight.

An FX-550 Skygrasper jet fighter, equipped with the Launcher Striker, zooming through the skies and laying down fire on targets at a speed even Kanako couldn't quite match.

"Ha HA! How's that for a heroic entrance!" a familiar voice shouted from the Skygrasper's comms. "That's the raw power of the Hawk of Endymion!"

Like a man who had lost his last thread of sanity, Kira barked out a laugh. "Mu!" he shouted happily. "Mu La Flaga!"

Another Skygrasper came into view quickly, this one equipped with the Aile Striker pack, and was immediately followed by the GAT-X103 Buster, which landed on the ground and began firing at all the targets in sight.

"The Buster?" Athrun muttered. "Then, that means... Dearka!"

"Yo, Athrun!" the voice of Dearka Elsman came from the mobile suit in question. "Looks like you folks could use some heavy firepower!"

Finally, cresting over the edge of the mountain like Moby Dick breaching the ocean, came the all too recognisable red-white-and-grey battleship.

"What... is that?" the girl in Kira's arms asked.

"A saving grace," Kira said weakly. "We... we'll pull through this!"

There was a slight crackling from the battleship. "This is Captain Murrue Ramius of the Archangel speaking," the voice spoke. "All personnel currently airborne, please clear out. The sky is about to become a splash-zone."


Onboard the bridge of the Archangel, Murrue watched the camera feeds as the small dots that were people made for the ground by the shrine. "CIC, how are our weapons?" she called out.

"Every missile is loaded, and all beam cannons are hot!" Sai called out. "Ready to fire at any moment!"

"Natarle?" Ramius said. "Make the call."

"Aye, captain!" Natarle shouted. "All cannons, open fire! Mobile personnel, take care of all MS sized targets! I don't care if this is Heaven or some designer space colony! Don't let a single spec of dust past our altitude!"


Every port where a gun existed on the Archangel lit up, and the sound akin to a stampede echoed throughout the land.

All 16 vulcan cannons, the two high-energy beam cannons, the linear cannons, all surface-to-air and surface-to-ship missiles, and even the vastly powerful Lohengrin positron cannons on the legs of the ship, fired and blasted away everything that threatened the ground below. Anything that couldn't have been targeted by the Archangel itself, was quickly dispatched by the might of the two Skygraspers and the Buster. The most imposing chunk, the one Kanako had called 'Bhavaagra', was reduced to a cloud of smoke in seconds at the hands of the Lohengrin cannons.

What gods and youkai struggled to do over the course of an hour, the Archangel did in little under ten minutes.

"Holy..." Suwako muttered. "That was... wow."

"Is that... the power of the Outside World?" Wriggle asked. "No wonder they don't fear youkai anymore!"


Dearka breathed out a sigh of relief. That was, without question, an amazingly over the top way to make yourself known in a new land. He leaned forward, resting his arms on the console.

"Gotta wonder what the hell caused this," he said to himself. "If Heaven was above the mountain since the dawn of... whatever, then why'd it fall now?"

Casually, he turned the Buster's camera skyward. The sky... wasn't looking too good, all things considered. Dust and debris was being picked up in the atmosphere, and already, light was struggling to get through. Then again, despite all their efforts, the land wasn't looking too pleased itself. Fires seemed to dot the far off lands, and the village in the distance had smoke billowing out of it.

Then, something caught his eye. Two figures, one bigger and one smaller. Whether that meant one was a giant or one was absolutely tiny, he could tell, but one way or another, even at max zoom, he could only see small silhouettes of the two.

Dearka pressed two buttons on his console. "Buster to CIC, you seeing my feed right now?"

"This is CIC, we read you," Miriallia responded from the bridge. "Any idea what you're looking at?"

"Not a clue," he replied. "Either it's a person and a giant, or a person and a midget. Can't get the zoom close enough to tell."

"Noted. Lieutenant La Flaga, can you afford to investigate?"

"Negative, Miri. Energy on the Skygrasper is very low. Same on your end, Allster?"

"Affirmative, Lieutenant," Flay Allster responded, sounding rather out of breath.

"Good work today, girl," Dearka said. "You'd never have guessed that this was your first day piloting."

"Try not to sound too patronising," Flay shot back, to which Dearka laughed.

Then, when he looked back at his camera feed... "What the... they're gone!" he shouted.

"Checking back on footage!" Sai shouted on the line. "Nothing. It's like they disappeared as fast as the camera can capture it."

"You're telling me they poofed out of existence in under 1/90th of a second?" Dearka asked. "This may be a fantasy land, but speeds like that are a bit..."

"Save it for later, you lot," Natarle interrupted. "Lieutenant La Flaga, Ensign Allster, return to the Archangel immediately. Elsman, see if any of the locals need help. We have the Kappa and Yamawaro on standby with the first-aid equipment if needed."

"Roger that," Dearka responded, as the comms switched off. "Geez. Imagine if the me from a few months ago saw this. He'd absolutely flip." He flipped a few switches, turning on the outer speakers of the MS. "Can y'all here me?" he spoke. "If you'd kindly make your way to the safety of the safety of the red and white spaceship, that'd be grand! Anyone injured, please shout out now, so we can get you immediate medical attention!" The external mic picked up a faint 'thud'. "Well, guess that's one."

"Oi! Kira!" he heard Athrun yelling. The Buster's head turned, to see Athrun leaning over two crumpled forms on the ground; one a blue haired girl who, despite having mild-to-serious injuries herself, was remaining conscious, and a brown haired boy who looked like death warmed over.

"Jesus Christ," Dearka muttered in disbelief, as he moved the Buster forward as much as he could. "How is that guy still alive with those wounds?" 'Those wounds' entailed a torn up back that, if Dearka didn't know better, would have sworn he could see bones through, a left arm that looked as if it had been flayed of all skin, as well as a rather large cut across his left brow. Also, just generally a whole lot of blood. Putting the Buster down to its knee, he moved the hand next to Athrun. "Athrun! Get those two up here, stat!"

Athrun didn't waste time speaking his response, and lifted the two figures onto the hand, before climbing up himself. "You hold those two on tight, ya hear?" Dearka called out, before igniting the thrusters on the Buster and launching towards the Archangel.

It wasn't 'flying' in as many words; if anything, it was more comparable to a very large jump. But, it was all the Buster needed to reach the Archangel.

From elsewhere around the shrine, Wriggle watched for a moment as the Buster took to the skies, before following along herself.

"Ah! Wriggle!" Cirno called out. "Wait for us!"

From the roof of the shrine, Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae all looked on at the damage that Gensokyo had taken. The worst of this cataclysm had been localised to the Youkai Mountain area, but the rest of Gensokyo hadn't quite gotten off scott-free.

"What horrors," Kanako muttered. "Could Gensokyo have something so powerful as to do this to it?"

"Seems the folks at Myouren were able to protect the village, for the most part," Suwako noted. "I can see their Palanquin ship from here."

"The Bamboo Forest and the Forest of Magic look to have been hit the hardest," Sanae said. "And it seems both the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakurei Shrine were mostly untouched."

"Lucky them," Kanako said. "Sanae, I want you to go with the people from that ship. Suwako and I will go around and check up on locations."

"Are you sure, Kanako-sama?"

Kanako nodded sagely. "We owe these Outsiders for stepping in when they did, but... I can't help but feel somewhat sceptical. They have the power to destroy the metric equivalent of a small continent; I'd rather not let that sort go unchecked." The god of the Moriya Shrine looked up at the sky above. "Looks like... things might be a bit dark for a while, huh?"


The Buster came to a screeching halt in the hanger. Considering its size at weight, it was quite the impressive achievement.

"Need medics! Now!" Dearka shouted, as he lowered the hands of the Buster to the ground before leaping from the cockpit.

Flay Allster had yet to leave the confides of her Skygrasper. Her first sortie, and it was to stop the equivalent of a colony dropping onto the planet. A part of her was really starting to regret her new life choices.

At the same time, though, she felt something... new. A sense of pride, maybe? No, maybe not quite that extreme, but she felt kind of good about herself for stepping into such a difficult, dangerous role. As she climbed out of her cockpit, she absentmindedly wondered what Kira would have thought if he saw her right now.

"Get me as much disinfectant as you can!" an unfamiliar male called out. "And somebody get a damn IV drip into him!"

Flay looked over at the crowd that had formed at the Buster's hand. She saw Takane fly off to the third floor of the hanger carrying some unconscious blue haired girl that looked pretty beaten up. So, if she wasn't the one worse off, who was?

"Damn it, keep your eyes open!" that voice shouted again. Through the crowd, Flay could just barely seen someone with dark blue hair hunched over a bloodied figure. "You are not allowed to die on us! You hear me, Kira Yamato?!"

And with that, Flay felt her stomach drop like a rock.


A/N:

Right then, the gloves come off.

I'm sure no-one quite expected it to kick off with a quasi-colony drop, huh?

Also, shoutout to TTKDagwon97 for confirming the whole Kuzzey thing. Of course, we're already at a point where it won't change much in the story, but it does help to remember it.

Well, enough about that. Let's press on.