9: One Piece of a Whole

"CReimu, return." I called.

"Are you sure about that?" The businessman smirked, "Are you really going to use a Doll that you just met?"

"CReisen, Double Team!"

CReisen ran forward, surrounding the 2 Dolls with afterimages.

"It's listening to him?" The scientist cried, "Even though he didn't catch it yet?"

"Gh. China, Spinning!"

China spun around, her tendril lashing out at all of the CReisens. All of them disappeared. The real CReisen was above CHina.

"Confusion."

CReisen sent out a blast of psychic waves, knocking CHina out of her Spinning. CHina stumbled and fell to the ground.

"CHina!"

"CHina is a Poison type. CReisen is Psychic. Psychic is super-effective against Poisons. Be careful."

"I know that." The businessman grumbled.

"Then leave her to me." The scientist smirked, "Go, CNazrin, Tackle!"

"Double Team."

CReisen dodged the attack, CNazrin going right through an afterimage.

"Confuse Ray."

CReisen brought her hand up like a gun, a small sphere of light glowing on the tip of her pointer finger. With a bang, she fired the light towards CNazrin. It flew around her for a moment before it shot itself into CNazrin's forehead. CNazrin immediately became dizzy.

"Pound."

CReisen punched CNazrin in the face and sent her stumbling back.

"Ah, you bastard! CNazrin, Quick Attack!"

CNazrin, still confused, looked around and charged at CReisen's general direction. CReisen stepped to the side, tripping her and punching her again once she fell.

"CNazrin, Tackle!"

CNazrin fought her headache as she slowly got to her feet. CReisen kicked CNazrin's knees in, making her fall to her knees. She placed her finger on the back of CNazrin's head and fired point blank.

"Just you now." I said to the businessman, "Still want to fight?"

"Do I need to?" The businessman smirked, recalling his CHina, "Do realize, this forest is large. Even now, it's quite easy to get lost and we're still pretty far from an exit. Luckily I know my way. A beginner like you will be finished off by the wild Dolls for me."

With a snap of his fingers his partners scrambled up and followed him away.

"...Typical businessman." I frowned.

"Shouldn't we follow?" Maribel cried, "If we let him go we'll be stuck here!"

"Like he'd let us."

"That's true." Maribel bit her lip.

"Puu..." CReisen collapsed, tired from her fight.

"If we don't get to a Center soon, we really will be in trouble." I said as I walked back to the tent.

"We can't even defend ourselves. All our Dolls are too weak."

I gave CReisen the Fresh Water that I took from the tent. She took it and began drinking it with a relieved cry. I sat and tried thinking, but it I already knew it was hopeless. Without a Doll in good condition, we won't be surviving for long.

"Maribel."

"Hm?"

"Why do Dolls attack Humans?"

"...I think that question can be better answered by Reimu."

"Cann't you answer anything?"

"...Sorry."

CReisen looked at us, concerned.

"Thanks for your help." Maribel smiled, petting her, "You were amazing."

"Puu!"

"We should get going." I said.

"Okay." Maribel agreed, getting up.

"Puu?" CReisen looked concerned again.

"You should get going." I said, "You might get attacked by wild Dolls if you stay with us."

"Bye." Maribel waved sadly as we turned around and began to walk away.

…

"Puu!"

I jolted as CReisen suddenly jumped onto my shoulder, "R-Reisen?"

"Puu~"

"...Y-You want to follow us?" I guessed, surprised.

"Puu!"

"Are you sure?" Maribel asked.

"Puu!"

"...I guess it's fine." I sighed, "We're going to need you to fight for us though."

"Puu."

"Do you know how to get out?" Maribel asked.

"..."

"Oh."

"This isn't going to be easy huh?" I sighed.

"Luckily he didn't count on one thing." Maribel smiled.

"What?" I asked

"I've been through this forest before."

"Are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Yeah."

"What was that?"

"What?" Maribel asked.

"You just said 'Yeah'."

"Yep."

"But last time you said 'Yep.'"

"Yep." Maribel smiled, "What's wrong?"

"...Maybe you don't know, but when people use 'Yep', they only use it when they're absolutely certain."

"Really?"

"Yes. And just now you used Yeah."

"Yep. Does it matter?"

"Yeah may mean the same thing denotatively, but much different connotatively. While Yep may be a perky way of saying Yes, it also reflects the speaker's confidence. But Yeah, while more oftenly used has a different meaning when you said by a person who uses Yep. It's a sign of lowering confidence."

"H-How do you know that?"

"I learned it. Somewhere."

"I thought you had amnesia."

"I do. I can only remember random information."

"Random Information?"

"Yeah. Did you know that Mapmakers will often insert a tiny piece of incorrect information in their maps to prevent the illegal reproduction of their work. Called a "copyright trap," the fake text might be a bogus street name or even the mapmakers' initials hidden in the corner of a city park."

"...Okay fine. So what are you implying?"

"You don't actually know where we are."

"Y-Yes I do!"

"Then are we lost?"

"...Yes."

"There we go." I sighed, "So much for having gone through this forest before."

"I did go through this forest...in a sense."

"How?"

"I...went around it."

"...Really?"

"The rumors were scary!" Maribel pouted, "I didn't want to meet an Alien!"

"Puu?"

"B-But you're just adorable!" Maribel cried, grabbing CReisen off my shoulder and hugging her.

"Well what now?" I asked, "We're lost with no idea where to go."

"...Pick a random direction?"

"Sure why not?"

We walked for long time, careful to avoid the wild Dolls as much as possible. We were getting nowhere and night was coming. The only thing heralding it being the slow reveal of the crescent moon in the sky.

"Tell me." I frowned, "How can we not see the sun, but able to see the moon perfectly?"

"Will you take moon princess as an answer?"

"No."

"Too bad. If you want the science, you're going to have to ask Rikako."

I sighed.

"Hey, CReisen." Maribel said.

"Puu?"

"Are you going to follow us?"

"Puu."

"Even when we leave the forest?"

CReisen jolted and looked away.

"Oh...I see." Maribel said sadly.

The moment was cut short by the rustling of grass. A wild Doll burst out, eyes red with rage.

"Dammit. CReisen!"

"Puu!" CReisen said as she jumped down from my shoulder to face the opponent. She noticed it's red eyes and looked surprised.

The Doll charged at her, arms out for her neck. CReisen jumped over her, grabbing her from behind and throwing her to the ground in front of her. As the Doll got up, CReisen pointed at her and shot her with a blast of psychic wave.

"Whoa!" Maribel cried, "That was amazing, CReisen!"

"Puu!" CReisen cried.

"What's wrong?" I frowned.

"Puu~!" CReisen waved frantically towards a part in the forest.

"You want us to go that way?" Maribel asked.

CReisen suddenly looked worried and shook her head, jumping back up to my shoulder, "Puu..."

Maribel looked at me.

"...Let's go."

CReisen looked surprised as we set off in the direction she pointed out.

"The trees are thinning out." Maribel said, surprised, "Look, we can see the moon perfectly in the sky. Are we finally leaving the forest?"

Not long after she asked that we reached a clearing. There was no exit. But there was a crater.

"What's that?" Maribel asked.

"Let's see."

But CReisen was already off and running towards it. She jumped down and reached the center. There was a rock in the center and it was that which CReisen began to try and break.

"CReisen?"

"Puu!" CReisen hardly looked up from her work.

Maribel frowned, "She's not going to be done soon."

"...Let's give her a hand." I said, rolling up my sleeves.

CReisen looked surprised as we came down and began helping her break the rock.

We weren't working long before we were interrupted. All of us jumped when an arrow suddenly lodged itself in the rock. A...very small arrow.

"Kuu..."

We looked up to see a Doll. In it's hand was a bow. She tossed her hair back as it smirked at us. Maribel got out her Dolldex.

"Chibi Eirin. A genius from the moon. Able to create all types of medicines."

"An alien?" Maribel said, "Ah. It's a Poison Type! CReisen should be effective against her!"

CReisen gulped and stepped forward. CEirin smiled and snapped her fingers. Red eyes appeared all around us. Walking out of the shadows, an army of CEirins smiled down at us. CReisen backed down.

"We're surrounded." Maribel squeaked.

"We should run." I said.

CReisen looked at me when I said that, worried. She glanced towards the rock. She looked sad for an instant before she shook her head.

"...I get it." I said.

CReisen looked surprised.

"I'll try and hold them off. Maribel, help CReisen break open that rock."

"Are you insane?"

"Let me help."

I jumped as my orb began to rattle.

"C-CReimu?"

The orb opened on it's own and CReimu collapsed outside.

"Let me help." She winced.

"No way. You're poisoned."

"It doesn't matter." CReimu said reaching into her sleeves.

"You're in no state to fight!"

"I know!" CReimu cried, pulling out...her Oran Berry. She quickly consumed it and seemed to get better for an instant. CReimu jumped into the air and Jump Kicked the rock.

CReimu tumbled across the ground. The rock had been smashed into large pieces that CReisen was already sorting through.

I would have worried about CReimu if the CEirins weren't done waiting and aimed at us. Gritting my teeth, I called to Maribel and returned CReimu to her orb. We began to run. I scooped up CReisen and a piece of the rock with me. Almost an instant too late, arrows began to rain down.

I could barely see Maribel keeping up with me as we raced through the forest. The CEirins had continued to follow us, shooting arrows that usually grazed us or hit trees instead. Neither of us had managed to get a serious injury. But we were running out of breath quickly and the CEirins didn't look like they were going to stop soon. I tried to concentrate on the only good thing: the feeling of the cool wind buffeting me from the side. Wait.

"Maribel!" I cried and turned, running towards where the wind was blowing. In my head, I frantically held onto my hope. Wind is weaker when it has to go through various obstacles. The less defined the terrain, the stronger the wind. Sure there are other factors, but right now I have to hope that this wind will lead me to an exit. Any exit.

THE EXIT!

We burst out of a few bushes onto a worn down road, the exit mere feet away. With our last effort, we burst through the exit.

We continued running for a good distance on momentum alone, collapsing once that ran out. We turned around to see the CEirins glare at us from the forest edge, eventually turning back around and slinking off.

"We're safe." Maribel gasped, "But where are we?"

I pulled out my Dolldex and opened the map, "Route 4. We got out on the right side."

"I don't care which side we got off on!" Maribel cried, laying down, "As long as we're out of that damned forest!"

"So you're saying if we ended up on Route 3, you'd be happy even if you had to go through the forest again later?"

"I'm not going to worry about that. We got out on Route 4 anyway."

"...Puu?"

Oh sorry." I said, letting go of CReisen.

She collapsed to the ground, as tired as we were. Now was as good a time as ever. I looked at the piece of the rock that I picked up. And to my surprise, something glinted underneath it's surface. I smashed it against the floor, breaking off even more pieces until what was left was a orange stone.

"Is this what you were looking for?" I asked, giving it to CReisen.

CReisen looked up and looked shocked. She got up and slowly took the stone in her hands.

"...Where are you going to go now?" I asked.

CReisen looked at me.

"I don't think you'll be safe in your forest anymore. If you want, you can travel with me."

CReisen looked away, back towards the woods.

"I haven't found what I was looking for either."

CReisen looked surprised.

"I've lost my memories. I may have just started out, but I will find it someday. But in order to do that, I need your power. What do you say? That stone may not be something you were searching for. Not even something you were expecting. But what if that is something that can replace what you're looking for?"

CReisen smiled. I held out my hand and we shook. Maribel sat to the side smiling. Then our Dolldexes began ringing.