Chapter four of this series.
*Snip, snip, snip*
Marisa woke up to the sounds of Alice cutting cloth with a pair of scissors.
"Da~, ze, what happened to me? I feel like…"
"Crap?"
"Nope, you got it wrong, ze. I feel as if somebody gave me a shot of energy."
Alice remembered the human that was lying next to her in that icy wasteland that used to be a clearing near the Forest of Magic. She was suspicious of him. Well, what else do you expect from a strategist thinker who may be misguided in her thought train? She had thought of ending his life right there and then with a doll-propelled lance to the head, but his humanity and the fact that he was accompanying Marisa, as well as a vague voice in her mind telling her not to and Shanghai pulling on her sleeve, prompted her not to. Maybe it's the weather that's making me think like this, pondered Alice. After all, it had been whirling twisters outside her door for the past two days at the beginning of each single hour.
"Huh, I wonder what or who did that." She continued to cut the cloth that she was using to repair Marisa's torn miko outfit. "Oh, and why are you wearing Reimu's clothes?"
"Long story, ze. Maybe you can follow me back to old buddy-buddy Reimu's shrine so I can tell the full story. Oh, and where did Teddy go?"
Alice looked confused. "Teddy? Who's Teddy?" she mused to herself.
Marisa stared at Alice's face. "Uh, what did you do to him?"
"I didn't do anything to… wait, is Teddy a human?"
"Da~, ze, isn't it obvious? Now where is he? I remember telling him to hide behind a rock 'cuz there was this weird misty thingy in front of me…"
"'Weird misty thingy'? Did it look slightly humanoid?"
"Yeah, ze. Didja see it?"
"Oh. I encountered Mokou. Apparently, she was tracking down these misty figures, and toasting them whenever she could. Apparently, they keep on sapping the life from the trees."
"Does that mean Mokou burnt it?"
"Well, "dissipate", as she said, though I wonder how a possible youkai, or creature for that matter, could end up beating you so easily yet get destroyed by a simple flame burst."
"Beats me, ze. Well, Imma go look for him now."
"Umm, you shouldn't be walking around with the condition you are in, should you? You could've gotten a frost bi—"
"Aww, a frost bite is nothing. Hmm, you should really come with me to the shrine. Seems as if those misty figures might be everywhere, if Mokou did get rid of a lot of them…"
"Don't get that uppity just yet, Marisa. I'm still repairing those clothes, you now, unless you want to walk out in the windy twisters in khaki shorts and a thin, blue T-shirt…"
"How long must I stay in this bed?" complained Marisa, clearly distraught that she couldn't go walking around. She looked around Alice's home, and saw a lot of dolls around. She even saw a Marisa doll holding hands with an Alice doll. "Creepy, ze," she muttered to Alice.
"Hm? Did I do something wrong with the layout of my home?"
"Naa, forget that I said anything. But what did Mokou do with Teddy?"
"She does what she would usually do with any injured human. Deposit them at Eientei."
SNIP, SNIP, SNIP
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SNIP, SNIP, SNIP
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SNIP, SNIP, SNIP
Marisa sighed. "Are you done yet, ze? I'm tired of waiting in this bed, being hyper as I am."
"Be patient Marisa. Patience is something that you aren't that good at. You often rush into things without looking ahead."
"Aw, come on Alice, you aren't good at taking initiative sometimes. And why don't you teach yourself some close-quarter combat and melee moves with that book of yours while you're at it, ze?"
POP!
"You dare…" Alice was smiling. Angrily. With a popping vein on her forhead. She dropped the clothes she was repairing.
CLANK! She smashed the scissors against the table.
"Whoa, Alice…" Marisa shrunk back into her, *ahem Alice's* bed.
"I bring you into my house with the goodness in my heart, and you start lecturing me on my battle skills?" Alice had a creepy pedophilic smile on her face. She seemed to be now grinning at the pile of being-repaired clothing on the floor.
"Aw, cra…" was what Marisa managed to say as Alice roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bed.
"Marisa, I'm going to force you to walk in this cold weather without anything but the khaki shorts and blue T-shirt that Yukari dropped off here a while ago. She said that she was emptying her house of some random stuff, and she gave me the names of these strange articles of clothing." She heaved a complaining Marisa wearing a light blue shirt that had the Aeropostale logo on its front and rather short pair of shorts.
"Eh? How am I wearing these stuff?"
*Creak* Alice grabbed the door and opened it. "And here's your mini-hakkero, broom, flip-flops, and hat. Now get out, and come back after an hour, if you're so bored."
"Hey! This is no fair, ze! I—"
*SLAM!*
"Aww. Brrrrrr. It's cold out here." Marisa shivered in her new, Outsider clothing, and was left holding in a neat bundle her hat, hakkero, and broom, while her flip-flops were obviously on her feet. "Better go find Teddy, ze.
"Did I really just do that?" wondered Alice to herself as she leaned her back against the door.
Shanghai drifted over to her and nodded her head.
Alice turned to stare at the doll pair that she set in plain view. "Ugh, I guess I'm getting depressed. Better get Marisa. I hope she hadn't done anything stupid yet." She turned around and opened the door. Nothing but dusty tracks was outside, meaning that Marisa must have left already.
"Argh! If that witch gets herself into trouble in this weather… no. I must follow her! Shanghai, follow me!"
Shanghai nodded, and flew after Alice while carrying a travel bag of doll repair items. Namely a sewing kit.
Inside, the slightly-torn, slightly-repaired miko clothing lay on the floor.
FLASH! A bright danmaku light globe floated over an operating table.
"Hold him still so I can extract the spike."
*SQUICK*
"Uh, Eirin-sama? You pulled it out before I was able to hold him down."
"Your fault for not obeying my directions, Udongein. This means you'll get an extra experimentation period."
"But Eirin-sama—"
"Hahaha, Reisen, you brought this on yourself, so deal with it, usa!"
The three occupants of Eientei, excluding Kaguya, of course, were leaning over an operating tabler that held a protesting, gagged Teddy.
"MMPHHH! MMMPPPHHH!" which translated roughly to "Let me go! Let me go, ya crazy doctor!" Teddy was struggling under the leather straps on the operating table. It looked more like a lethal-injection style person holder than an operating table. Other, similar tables were nearby, as well as cleanly-blanketed beds right outside the room. The blue-and-red clothed surgeon from the moon and the business rabbit were standing on both sides of the table. Tewi was hopping around the equipment cart. All of the new equipment came from the Outside world, but came from a box that was labeled "Fresh Supplies" and dropped there by Yukari.
"He sounds a bit too disruptive, don't you think, Tewi? Should we euthanize him?"
Teddy struggled even more.
"I don't think so, Eirin-sama. We're supposed to heal him, not kill him. Apparently, Mokou thinks that he has something to do with these misty beings that she was tracking." She grabbed a solar-powered system shocker. "I'll just zap him here-"
Teddy squirmed as the two tips of the system shocker came close to his throat.
ZAP!
Teddy stopped his attempts to talk. His eyes started glazed over and started rolling wildly in his eye sockets.
"-and we're done with the talking! Uh, oops."
"You just endangered our patient's state of being, Tewi. Try not to do that next time."
"Yes, Eirin-sama."
"But, if Tewi almost killed him, why does she get off easier than-"
"Stop complaining, Udongein."
Reisen stomped her foot in frustration, and stomped the operating table lifter button, which Tewi discretely slipped over.
VRRRRR!
BASH!
The table skyrocket up. The projecting arm holders gave both Reisen and Eirin a wooden-board style uppercut.
WHAM!
Eirin, who wasn't paying attention at the time and was bent over to inspect the large shard hole in the middle of Teddy's chest, got the most damage. She was sent reeling backwards by the impact, and her hat fell off. She tumbled backwards onto the floor, tipping the equipment cart (which was moved over by the resident prankster), causing bloody scalpels and shards to fly into the air. And as things fly into the air, gravity takes effect.
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK SHINK SHINK!
A multitude of blades stabbed the floor and almost sliced Eirin. Tewi made sure this wouldn't happen by bestowing her some good luck. Just for that moment.
Eirin, now sprawled out on the floor, put her hand onto her forehead. "Owww…" She removed her hand, and looked around, and spotted the glimmering scalpel blades glittering with a steely blue light besides her.
"Reiseeeeeeennnnnn…" was all she managed in a menacing voice dripping with restrained frustration, and reverted back to Reisen's first name.
Reisen, on the other hand, was resting her back on the other closest operations table. Her head had whacked into a small anvil, and she was now unconscious.
"Not my fault, usa." Tewi adopted a face of pure innocence.
"I know that, Tewi." Eirin responded. She got up, and asked Tewi to pick up the shards and scalpels. Tewi oblidged.
"Udongein, I'm going to inject you with soooo many experiments that by the time I'm done with you you'll look like a pincushion!" Eirin angrily vowed to the unconscious moon rabbit. She heard twitching sounds from the patient, and dropped the tone of voice to a more concerned voice. "Tewi, get the type-235 medicinal extract, please."
"Hear ya go, usa."
Eirin took the shiny gold bottle of some strange, blackish shape-shifting (not form-shifting, just moving into different visual shapes, all still same colored) liquid and uncorked it. She tipped the bottle and spilled some into a teaspoon. She then tipped the teaspoon's contents onto the wounds on Teddy's chest and head. The black stuff began to cover the exposed flesh, and the sounds of a knife patting a piece of meat were heard. Slowly, but surely, the wounds began to grow smaller and smaller. It seems as if the flesh was inching and growing slowly to close the wounds.
"Okay, operation number one of the day has been done," announced Eirin as she wiped her hands with a clean Shamwow cloth.
"That… was quite painful to watch."
"Oh, you're still here, Mokou? Aren't you afraid that Kaguya might come in here at any moment and blast you out of the window with one of her artifacts?"
"Hahaha, very funny. DO YOU THINK THAT THAT ROYAL ***** WILL HAVE ANY CHANCE AGAINST ME?"
"Calm down, Mokou. Or do I have to inject you with a shot of tranquilizer, or whatever this thing is called?" complained Eirin as she waved a hypodermic needle filled with clear elephant tranquilizer around.
"Guh. What happened? Where am I? Why do I hear the word 'tranquilizer'? Who's gonna stab who? Whadawah?"
"Shush, mister. You're a patient, and you need to rest."
"How am I supposed to rest if all I hear is shouting about some royal ***** and tranq's?" complained Teddy.
"Don't insult Kaguya-sama. You'll certainly die if you do, ya know."
"So? If I die, then I die."
Eirin interrupted, "My my, so my patient wants to die after what I did in this surgery? Such an ungracious human!"
"How am I supposed to be gracious if I'm tied down to this table as if I'm on death row?"
"Uhh, what's death row, usa?"
"Don't ask," muttered Teddy. "And who are you?"
Swish
"Mokou." A expressionless voice spoke out from the doorway. "What are you doing here in my residence?" Kaguya, the exiled princess from the moon was standing at the doorway and was holding a stone bowl filled with water, as well as wearing a fur blanket to cover from the frost outside the mansion.
"Kaguya." A seething voice was uttered from the fiery immortal.
"Uhh… patient in the crossfire?" bleated an innocent Teddy. Then, in a smaller voice, "Don't kill me."
"Huh, and I thought that you didn't care whether you died or not."
"Well, excuse me for having priorities on my mind! And being cannon fodder for these two, the royal ***** and whoever-the-white-haired-tomboy-is, while being mounted like a sheep cut out for a sacrificial ritual isn't my kind of priority!"
"What did you call me?" both Mokou and Kaguya intoned simultaneously, glaring at the puny human that was strapped onto the table.
VWOOSH!
Mokou lit up in flames.
Vwish!
Kaguya's impossible requests started floating around in a circle.
Tewi looked at the two ticked-off immortals, and then looked back at Teddy.
"Oh boy, do I really feel sorry for you, usa. You're screwed. A human against two immortals? No contest. Even with good luck, you'll probably never make the first few seconds of the fight. Especially with you stuck in the operating table like that."
"Oh, great. Two immortals. Just because I don't know what their names are. Now where's my backpack?" Teddy struggled to turn his head around. He saw his backpack in Kaguya's hands.
"You mean this thing? I think I'll make it a trophy."
"No, I wanna burn it!"
"No, trophy!"
"Burn!"
"TROPHY!"
"BURN!"
"YOU'RE ON!"
*Double Thwack*
*Beep, beep, beep* Two dark-shaped orbs about the size of tennis balls dropped out of an unzipped pocket of the backpack. They started faintly glowing, and some of Mokou's fire started being leeched off to go into the orbs.
The two immortals were too caught up in their argument to notice the primed Siphon charges at their feet.
"Take this, royal -!"
The two began to tousle at each other, now doing hand to hand combat instead of the regular spellcard duel.
THWACK!
Clink, clink, clink. Something hard fell onto the metal floor of the operation room.
"Hey, that's my tooth!"
Schurrschhh.
Plip, plip, plip, plop!
"How long must they continue fighting here?" complained Teddy.
"You're fault, you know. We operate on you out of the goodness of our hearts, and this is how you repay us?"
"You mean out of the goodness of your Socratic oath. And your desire for medical bills."
"What? Are you saying that I'm greedy?"
"I'm just saying from experience." Teddy closed his eyes and sighed, consigning himself to the inevitable.
CHOMP!
"HEY! MOKOU! THAT'S MY EAR!"
"MMRRRPPPHHHH!" Mokou grunted as she ripped Kaguya's ear off with her teeth, and then incinerated it using flames. She spat the ashes out onto her palm, and soon had Kaguya in an armlock.
"Ohhhh, Hime-Samaaaaaa~! I got one tasty dish that I know you would likeeee~!" Thus saying, she stuffed the burnt remnants of Kaguya's ear into the latter's mouth.
Kaguya's face widened in shock.
*Gasp choke choke gasp cough* Kaguya managed to smack Mokou in the mouth by her stone bowl of Buddha, and backed away to recover from the ashes in her lungs.
Ting, ting ting ting. Teeth rained out from Mokou's mouth. Kaguya quickly caught some, then proceeded to do the same thing to Mokou. Instead of fine ashes, though, Mokou would have her own teeth lodged in her pharynx and esophagus.
"RARRRGGGGHHHHHH!" half-choked, half-roared Mokou in rage.
VWOOSH! Blue flames danced around her. And she adopted, err, plagiarized a move from football. She ran leaning forward with her right shoulder aimed towards Kaguya for a tackle. She, while running towards the moon princess, accelerated in a flaming torpedo launch.
CCCCRRRUUUNNNCCHH!
The sounds of bones breaking, the splintering of wooden planks, the battering down of plants outside, and other, battle-like noises were heard.
SLUCK-SHUNK!
"That must be owchies for them, usa. They must have speared themselves on my bamboo trap." Tewi then happily ran off to do something, most likely prep some other traps for later.
"Uhh, I'll be leaving now?" asked an amazed Teddy. He was virtually untouched.
"You're not going anywhere until I get my due, mister," said a cold, malicious voice.
"Uh oh," Teddy thought to himself. "That does not sound good." He turned his head to face Eirin. She had a grin plastered on her face, and he could see her shiny, white teeth/fangs bared in a smile that would dazzle even the most smile-proof people.
Click, click, click.
The Siphon charges sprouted four metallic legs apiece and started half-climbing, half-striding their way out of the broken plaster-and-wood wall to the two immortals still slugging at each other. Apparently, both have been impaled multiple times by bamboo rods, and the rods still stayed stuck in them. Not a good idea to continue fighting with stuff in your body. At least they still could stab each other.
STAB, DUNFF, CRSCH. The two continued to stab each other, leaving large, bloody holes. The two charges decided to get nearer.
Doink. The first of the charges poked Mokou. A bamboo rod charged with flames fell onto it.
Doink. The second of the charges poked Kaguya. It was promptly mashed into the stone bowl.
And the fight continued on and on and on, until there was nothing else to stab anymore. Eirin just stared out of the window, and sighed. "Another day, another day, another day, down to waste. How long must they fight each other? It seems rather childish right now. Yes, they do seem to be acting like children, arguing over the smallest petty things." She turned away from hole in the wall and placed her attention on Teddy. Who was still struggling to free himself from the operating table. She smiled, and pulled out a vial. It said, "Transformation potion."
Teddy just thought to himself while struggling, "Ah well. At least I got to see some action. Those two immortals do seem to hate each other, but more likely from some bickering from back then. Man, I just don't get why they don't just put their differences aside." He sighed, and closed his eyes.
Tha-dump!
"Here I go again," muttered Teddy to himself as chains began to reappear.
"Here we go!" sang a delighted Eirin as she tilted the vial and dripped a glassy blue liquid onto Teddy's forehead. She turned around, and produced another vial, and poured that self-developed potion onto Reisen. She then started carting the operation table into a dark guest room.
"Shame that I didn't get more of this so-called 'Transformation potion'." Eirin recalled the simple wooden stand just outside the human village. It had some strange table (urban steel contemporary table), along with vials and potions. A sign was mounted above the table. It read, "Jetless Corporations: Potions Branch numbah 21", and a masked man was manning the table.
Flashback
"Yes, miss?" a cheerful and gruff voice called out as Eirin and Reisen neared the table."
"Um, what kind of stuff does this stand sell?"
The man running the stand stared at her, and then said, "Experimental mixtures, as well as general-use regeneration potions." He flourished to Eirin, and pointed at the experiments section. "I can tell that you create your own experiments, don't you? And that you like using them on your… lab youkai?"
"Hmm," thought Eirin to herself. She eyed the glittery blue vial.
"Uh oh." Reisen already knew about what Eirin was going to do. She was going buy one and possibly use it on her. She stepped a good distance away from the contemplating surgeon.
"Okay, I'll buy that nice-looking liquid over there." Eirin pointed to the afore-mentioned blue vial. The man lifted the vial up via telekinesis, and made it float over to her.
"Here you go. You can have it for free."
"Thank you." Eirin took the vial, bowed, and walked over to where Reisen was at. The inaba backed away fearfully.
"Don't worry, Udongein. I'm not going to use it on you. I only use my experiments on you."
The two walked away. The masked man sat down, and stared into deep space, imagining some other job than manning this stand.
End of flashback
"Well, I guess I'll just check in on him tomorrow, to see what has happened."
She strode into the operation room, and stopped. Marisa was leaning against the wall, grinning and waving.
"Uh, Marisa, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I've come to check up on Teddy. Where is he?"
Eirin couldn't help but look at the clothes that the witch was wearing.
"What the heck are you wearing, Marisa?"
"Oh, stuff that I got from Alice, ze." Eirin could see a lump stuffed in Marisa's khaki shorts' pocket. She was also wearing Teddy's backpack.
"What did you take?"
"Nothing of your concern," Marisa shot back. She then said, "Shouldn't you pull those two immortals back in here? It seems as if someone, or something, has drained their energy."
*Sigh.* Eirin turned around and shouted into the hallways. "TEWI! GET HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"
A couple seconds elapsed before Tewi came hopping back with a garden trowel and barbed wire. "Yes Eirin-sama?" she asked.
"Guard this kleptomaniac for me, will you? Make sure she doesn't steal anything. I'll be going to pick up Kaguya. Keine should already have grabbed Mokou." She cautiously stepped over the splintered wood, and ran towards the bloody bamboo wall that had instestines stringed onto it, as well as a liver, stomach, and a heart spiked on the tops of several shoots. A tongue was wallowing in gastric acid and bile, which was in Kaguya's stone bowl. Eirin stooped to pick up the bowl and emptied its contents into the dirt. She then grabbed the half-dissected Kaguya, whose kimono had a lot of rips and shreds of clothing were scattered everywhere, and pulled her in like a leg of mutton back into Eientei. Without respect. She whispered to the frozen breeze, "When will they ever grow up?" The frozen breeze responded by slapping her face with a thousand icy pins. "Guh, better get back inside before I freeze. And to think that Marisa came here in that skimpy outfit…" She stepped back inside into the relative safety of the mansion.
…
Plop, plop, plop.
A misty form was hunched over the intestines, organs, and flesh. The flesh gradually began to disappear into a regular cloth bag. After the flesh was gathered, the misty creature threw the bag into the air. A frozen wind picked it up and began carrying it away to darkness on the horizons.
Touhou and its characters belong to ZUN. Teddy belongs to my cast. Jetless Corporations belongs to Jet Less, who is part of my cast. The backpack and its oddities belong to my bag of tricks. Comments and Reviews, plz! And here's some fresh cookies! (Please tell me what you think is going to happen to Teddy. Would be nice if I could hear each of you readers' thoughts! Oh wait, I'm not Satori, so I can't. No, i do not want to be Satori. I don't want to listen to every single thought. Uh, don't murder me Satori?)