Chapter 6: The Fire and Moon Princesses
The winds blew a gentle and soft breeze, gracefully brushing against the leaves in a deep forest surrounded by nothing but nature. The smell of fresh tree bark and berries hiding in the bushes below the trees blessed the air everywhere the wind took it, however the green leaves were starting to change its colors to tell the world that autumn is here and now. Deep within this dense forest held an abandon old shrine where people used to come to pray and donate to the gods.
Sitting before the old shrine in Indian-style was a green-haired young man with his hair spiked up looking like a broom, tied with a blue headband, a grey collar short-sleeved shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, brown gloves, baggy tan pants, and black sneakers. Next to him was a black backpack as he stares intensely at the old shrine, like he was waiting for something as he lays his chin on his hands.
The sound of rustling movement is heard behind, but he paid no mind. He knew who it was, and the figure wasn't too happy with him.
"How long are you going to sit there, every day after school Alvin-kun?" asked the red-haired girl as she eyes the boy with her sea blue eyes.
The girl was wearing an orange Chinese vest or shirt, a simple blue jeans, and white sneakers as she approach the boy and sat next to him always looking at the shrine in front of them.
"As long as it takes… I'll be here waiting for Chris when he comes back," said Alvin, not taking his eyes off of the shrine with a determined and serious look etched into his features.
"Alvin…" said Raine as the edge of her mouth arc in a downward cast with her eyes deepening into a sadden expression, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I told you… this type of gateway opens up every three months after the last time when someone forces it open," called out another voice as the figure crept closer to the two teenagers sitting together near the shrine, "There's no need to come here every day."
The two teens turned their attention to the man before, who is known as Vincent Dirge a great friend of the Corona family and Chris's uncle and godfather, with his diagonal-slashed scar etched from his left to right side on his face staring down on them with his maroon red eyes. The tails of his long grey trench coat gently danced with the wind as the breeze passed by them on its travel, with his brown scarf as playing along.
"You never know, I'm going to wait every day until my best friend is back!" Alvin rebuked.
"There's no need to fret or whine, I've train Chris before in some martial arts and Ki arts and I have put him through surviving training in his youth to help maintain his anger issues. He'll be alright, he's a survivor," Vincent said nonchalantly as he turned his back.
Survive training? More like training in hell! How could you do that to a 3 to 4 year old kid! Raine gave a nasty glare at Vincent as she thought about the kind of training he put Chris through.
"I doesn't matter to me, Chris saved my life once and I'm forever indebted to him and I'll always wait for my best friend to return home. I'm not going to abandon him, I'm going to wait here every day to make sure to greet my buddy when he comes home," stated Alvin not once taking his eyes off of the old shrine.
"If that is what you wish, I will not stop you," spoken Vincent as he left the area leaving the two teens alone.
Raine got her and walked a few feet where Vincent once stood and stared in the direction where he went, the branches of the trees swinging back and forth to show the path he stood.
"Honestly… he says he's not worried yet he comes back here every day as well even though it's been a few days Chris has disappeared," sighed Raine as she shakes her head.
"We're the only ones who are worried about him, except our folks though they're worried about him too, but everyone in the city do seem to care much. Even some of the girls that liked him aren't worried… not the best girlfriend material there for my bud… oh well. But I'm going to wait for my bud no matter how long it takes," Alvin reconfirming his determination.
"Alvin…" Raine looked back and gave Alvin a sympathetic happy smile.
"But seriously… wherever Chris is right now I bet there's a whole lot of super hot babes there! Probably manage to grab one of the lovely mountains of paradise already… That lucky sunnuva gun.…," sighed Alvin wishing to be where Chris is right now as he looks down with a discouraged face.
Raine glared at Alvin with such disbelief and an outraged look on her face as she screamed out the top of her lungs and smacked him against his head. "ALVIN!"
The shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine sips her green tea inside her shrine as Chris explains how he got into Gensokyo and where these mysterious creatures, called 'ECHOES', originated from and why they're here in Gensokyo which all connects to a person called 'Levin'. She listens to every word the boy spoke, though he did avert on some of the parts, and her face remained neutral throughout the entire conversation, but on some of the parts her face tighten up with an unpleasant expression like how Chris was brutalize by Levin and the explanation of how the ECHOES are born.
Reimu elegantly places her cup of empty tea onto her plate in front of her on the small table she placed in the her room as she could enjoy something to drink as she listen to the end of Chris's tale. She hardly said a word or asked a single question unless it deem relative to her.
The boy in red and black seem nervous or disinclined about explaining his story, though he did comment out how the entire fight between him and Levin and mention about Levin's abilities.
"So that explains it," said Reimu nonchalantly with her eyes closed.
"Yeah, that's how I got here and that's all I know about Levin and the ECHOES," stated Chris as he rubs the back of his head in a nervous gesture.
"So let me get this straight, this 'Levin' person is an evil god of unknown origins and has the ability to control and use other gods," stated Reimu, her eyes still closed.
"Yes," said Chris getting a little more nervous.
"And these ECHOES monsters are under his command and they are born from emotions of all living things and sometimes carries the owner's abilities with it?" said Reimu clearing her throat.
"Yes," Chris re-confirmed for her again, feeling a tad more uncomfortable.
"And he plans to take control of Gensokyo with these hordes of black beast?" cooed Reimu giving Chris a small narrow glare.
"That's right," replied Chris sensing a danger in the air.
"And when were you planning on telling me this?" asked Reimu, her voice sounding slightly annoyed as she got up and walked over to Chris, who was sitting on the other side glaring at him.
"Ummm…" Chris blankly stares at Reimu.
WHACK!
"Ittaaaai!" winced Chris as he rubs the top of his head where Reimu whack him with her gohei.
"That's for not telling me this! Honestly, what did you hope you could accomplish taking this task on your own!" scolded Reimu.
"This is my fault and responsible to take! Since I couldn't stop this from happening I need to correct my mistake by fixing it myself!" rebuked Chris still rubbing his wound.
"Are you stupid or something? Anyway since these ECHOES are running amuck I have to deal with it, I am the Shrine Maiden of Paradise and it's my duty to prevent or fix incidents throughout Gensokyo," sigh Reimu, "Though honestly I rather sit at home and drink some tea while waiting for some donations."
Didn't you just scold me for doing this on my own? And what's with the not wanting to do it? Chris raised an eyebrow as he thought that.
"And another thing…" said Reimu.
WHACK!
"ITTAAAIII! What was that for!" yelled Chris as he got struck again in the head with the gohei as he rubs another bump on the same spot on his head.
Reimu gave him a small smile and an innocent expression on her face. "That was for destroying my donation box earlier, even though you did build me a new one I still needed to punish you for destroying it though I did lesser the punishment since you made me happy with a new box and my first donation in a long time!"
Chris's eyes twitched a bit. Are you kidding me! Seriously! Didn't you completely forgiven me earlier today about that? Well I did get off easy… but still, that hurts!
"Anyway it looks like I have to get ready to teach this Levin a lesson when he gets here," said Reimu as she puts away the tea set.
"What!" Chris's head shot up in shock. This girl doesn't truly understand how powerful and dangerous this evil god, Levin, is and Chris is pretty sure Levin wasn't even using ALL of his abilities in his skirmish with him. "Hold on! You can't beat this guy! You don't know what he's really capable of!"
"Does it happen? This guy unleashes these creatures into Gensokyo and now I have to clean up this mess! I'm teaching him a lesson when he gets here, besides it's my job to keep Gensokyo and the Hakurei Border safe and nothing you will say or do will change that." Reimu declared with her hands on her hips.
Chris sighed, there was no way to change her mind. It looks like both of them will be fighting Levin when he arrives in Gensokyo, hopefully Chris's worrying is for not.
"Anyway we have to get going," stated Reimu looking back at Chris.
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Chris tilting his head in curiosity.
"What else? You're going to take me to where these ECHOES are so I can exterminate them," Reimu stated a matter-of-factly.
"EH! Right now? The only lead I got was them being spotted in the Bamboo Forest recently," said Chris as he got up.
"I see, well I guess we'll be taking a trip to Eientei, but first we're going to meet with Keine to guide as there as she knows how to get there," said Reimu stepping out of the room.
"You don't know where the place is exactly?" Chris asked.
"Of course not! It's not the 'Bamboo Forest of the Lost' for no reason, besides I hardly go there unless I need to! Now come on," said Reimu as she yanked Chris with her to the Human Village.
"Hey! Reimu… wait, hold it! I can walk you now!" Chris complained as he was being dragged by the cute shrine maiden girl.
Back at the Human Village, a certain school teacher was sitting at her desk inside the village's school and gave a small sigh of relief as she finishes looking over and correcting her students' previous homework to hand them back to them tomorrow and had help earlier today with today's homework as well.
She looks out the window and sees the bright sun shine through the window, a colorful display of white in the clear blue sky for a perfect day to relax and enjoy the peace. Though she couldn't help feel it wasn't peaceful at the moment.
Hearing rumors and sightings of strange black creatures where the Youkai lived and the Youkai themselves saying they are not what they seem nor are they Youkai as well has made Keine quite uneasy about the whole situation and fears what these 'black creatures' would do if they approach the Human Village. Though she will protect the humans here as she always has, because she loves the people like a family and to her it's her sole duty to protect them despite not finding true happiness in the end for her due to her 'uniqueness', but these creatures still make her nervous about the whole thing.
Her thoughts soon drifted back to a certain young man she had the pleasure of talking to recently, a strange boy from another world dressed in red and black. She told him about the black creatures, though she wasn't sure why she did in the first place as it would put him in danger if he knew about it or try to take them out by himself but believe he would tell Reimu about it since he was heading to her shrine.
Why did she tell him that? Was it because of the swords he had on the back of his waist, a sign that he was a warrior that can take care of himself? Or was it… that he KNEW what these black creatures were and can deal with them? She rubs her head in frustration, why did she tell him that? Now she was overtly worried about his well-being and wanted to make sure he was OK. The thought of sending a human, humans whom she swore to protect no matter what, to endanger their lives against these creatures has painfully pulled on her heartstrings and feels regret telling him this.
"I'll have to talk to him, I can't let such a sweet boy investigate this on his own and put his life at risk!" Keine said to herself as she puts away the children's assignments inside her draw and leaves the room.
Just as she exits out of the building and locks up the school, a couple of footsteps came closer to where Keine was.
"Good evening Keine-san, sorry to bother you but I request a small favor of you," said a female voice.
Keine's eyes lit up, she recognizes this voice!
"Reimu-chan?" said Keine as she twirled herself to see she was greeted by the shrine maiden and her companion whom happens to be the boy in red and black from before, Chris Corona, and her eyes widen in surprise, "And Chris-kun!"
This was quite the surprise to say the least, but this helps a lot as she wants a word with the boy.
"Greetings Keine-san! How are you? All done with your work I presume? Need any help?" said Chris with a goofy grin on his face with his arms behind his back.
"It's good to see you two! I'm fine thank you, and what is this small favor you need of me Reimu-chan?" asked Keine turning her attention to the miko before her, but still keeping an eye on the boy at the same time.
"You see I need you take us to Eientei so we can…" Reimu started but Keine's eyes widen in shock upon hearing the word 'Eientei' and gave Chris a small glare at him which caused him to jump a little.
"You! What did you do? Did something happen! Did you went into the bamboo forest already and got yourself hurt! What happen, show me where it hurts now!" shouted Keine like a frantic overprotective mother as she hovers over Chris, pulling him closer, looking to see any wounds on him, her beautiful feature etched with worried and angry.
A huge anime sweatdrop appeared on Reimu's head as she looks on as Chris bugs out a bit, with the same anime sweatdrop, with his eyes widening, he wasn't expecting this kind of reaction from Keine.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! H-Hold it Keine-san! I'm fine, I'm fine really! Reimu-chan and I wanted you to guide us there to talk with the residents of Eientei to ask them about where the ECHOES are so we can take care of them," responded Chris as he tries to break free from Keine's sudden grip.
"Eh? ECHOES?" Keine tiled her head in curiosity as she lets go of Chris, "And are you sure? I can't forgive myself if something happens to you because of me!"
"Yes… I'm fine! I think it's better if I explain what the black creatures are to you," said Chris.
He gave a small, but detail description of what the ECHOES are and where they come from and explain that Reimu wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible and that he was going to help since he has experience fighting them and knows more about them than anyone else.
"So that's what they are…" ponder Keine to herself digesting the information before her. So he does have a connection with these monsters… I wish he wasn't…
"Are you done? We need to take care of these things as quickly as possible as I can go back to the shrine and wait for another donation," pouted Reimu as if she was the one being dragged around.
Chris perked a brow upward. Honestly this girl…
Keine blinked, thinking she misheard something. "Excuse me? Another donation?"
This time Reimu gave a genuine smile and yank Chris to her side. "Yup, when he came back to the shrine he gave a donation to the shrine! My first one in a long while!"
Keine had to do a double take, giving a slight disbelief expression to both Reimu and Chris. "That's a bit hard to believe… but that's awfully sweet of you do Chris-kun."
"Thanks! It's no big deal, really!" Chris gave a small shrug, he was a little embarrassed now for some reason.
Reimu gave him a slight look saying 'It is a big deal for me!' and shake her head to remember why she was here.
"Anyway can you take us to Eientei now? I want them to tell me where these ECHOES are popping from so I can exterminate them," said Reimu returning to her usual gesture.
One-track mind, but we do need to hurry and get rid of them… Chris thought to himself. "And Reimu, what makes you so sure they know where they are? The ECHOES could avoid them or haven't been found yet or the people over at Eientei having seen them at all."
"Does it matter? I'm going to get the answer out of them, whether they want to tell me willingly or not," declared Reimu as it is the most naturally thing to do.
Chris rubs his forehead with a worried expression. Why do I have the feeling I might need to restrain her in the future?
Keine shared in Chris's sentiments as she sighed, apparently this isn't the first time she's done this. "Very well, shall I lead you there?"
"Eientei is over in that direction, correct?" said Chris as he pointed in a north-east direction. "Seeing how we came from the Human Village over in that direction, and the few left and right turns, it's pretty deep inside this place but it's very interesting!"
Both Reimu and Keine stopped in their tracks, blinking, and both looked at each other with curious and surprised looks on their faces.
"Chris-kun? You know where Eientei is?" asked Keine a bit of disbelief in her voice.
"No not really, but I can sense them over there in a great distance. Please I can sense the strange pattern in the bamboo forest so I can tell which way leads toward the Forest of Magic, the Human Village, and to this Eientei place. I have to say, no wonder people can get lost in here the pattern in the bamboo is nearly the same so only people who have lived here for a long time can navigate through here or are familiar with energy sensing abilities," explained Chris like it was easy all along.
Reimu placed a hand on her forehead and sighs. Just when I think I've seen everything with this boy, he surprises me again with another trick up his sleeves! I hope there isn't any more.
"That's very interesting! I didn't know humans from another world could do that!" exclaimed Keine with a delightful tone.
"Well not all humans can use Ki, some have little to no Ki abilities or don't have the ability to use it, and my skills are pretty mediocre. I still have a lot to learn as my Ki control is perfect yet not so perfect," said Chris.
Reimu raised her eyebrow giving Chris a curious expression. "What do you mean by that? The way you can use your abilities seems impressive already."
Chris gave a sheepish smile as he scratches the back of his head. "Well… how do I explain this? What I mean by perfect control is for using Ki without harming the body in anyway, however I can only do that for my Neutral Ki only as my Element Ki does cause harm to my body when using it. And for not so perfect control is that I burn up too much Ki then necessary to use a certain skill even though I have slightly above average stamina than most people."
"Excuse me? You harm yourself by using your Ki?" Keine glared at Chris, she apparently didn't approve of such practice.
Chris gives a nervous laugh as he scratches his nose. "Well yeah, but recently it doesn't hurt as bad or barely harms me and my control over Ki is getting slightly better since arriving here."
"That's still no excuse of practicing such power if it harms you!" Keine scolded Chris.
"I suppose, but I have my reasons learning Ki and I still need to learn elemental powers better as I never had any teachers of different elementals to help," said Chris looking at his hands. "My elemental powers are actually quite weak."
"What do you mean? I've seen your Fireball shooting, it looked like it could do some serious damage," pointed Reimu at Chris.
"Hahaha… I guess I'll have to show you," laughed Chris as he held out his right hand with his palm opened and a small sphere of Ki started to form slightly above his hand.
Both Reimu and Keine's eyes widen upon the small display of energy shown before them.
"This here is normal neutral Ki that everyone has, as Ki is life force energy, as such is a pure and unaltered form of power. Now when I do this," said Chris as his eyes narrowed focusing his powers to change the sphere of light into something else.
The Ki sphere slowly changed the aura it was emitting into a more fiery appearance, a yellow fire, until the Ki sphere turned into a small fireball.
"I have Fire element Ki, which I have to have my body to familiar the change of Ki to do this without causing problems to my body, however you notice that something's off isn't there?" said Chris as he gave the girls a small smile.
Reimu was the first one to speak up. "Off? It looks fine to me."
Chris shakes his head. "I see, but let me explain. To change energy into another form of energy I have to use energy to do it so and constantly keep at it so…"
Instantly Reimu knew. "Your power becomes weaker… so despite it becoming a mass ball of fire, in reality it's…"
"Yeah, it's weaker than it looks no matter how big it gets. That's why I have to put even more power into my Ki to increase its powers to make up the lack of understanding how fire is made, and if I want to increase it even more I gather the energy from nature all around me as well to increase the input of power," said Chris as he dispenses his fire Ki sphere and pointed a finger into the air.
"So that's how you can do those other attacks, wait a minute… in that small duel with Marisa did you also gathered natural energy around you to increase your beam's power when it collided with Marisa's Master Spark?" questioned Reimu eyeing Chris suspiciously.
Chris gave a small chuckled and stick out his tongue with his right arm behind the back of his head. "Guilty as charged!"
Reimu let out a small sigh. "That explains it. It did seem odd that you could overpower Marisa so easily like that."
"Yeah, if I didn't have the ability to gather natural energy or increase my Ki's power then Marisa's Master Spark would've overpowered my attack as I was losing power over time," said Chris, "Marisa's little device doesn't run out of energy as quickly as I do despite being evenly matched!"
"Wait, you had a Spell Card duel with Marisa and won against her?" Keine asked with a pondering look.
"Well it was a sparring duel actually so I don't have any Spell Cards as I don't use Magic. I have even less potential of using Magic more so than Ki," said Chris.
"Less so you don't have a lot of talent of using Ki? Then why did you learn it? To fight your enemies?" asked Reimu.
Chris's face flared up with a blank expression then slowly melted into a melancholy look on his face as he looked up into the sky.
"No… my reason, my abilities were never meant to use in a fight. I never intended to use them for fighting, but circumstances have me using them for such… I wanted… I needed to learn about using Ki so I can save someone's life," stated Chris never looking down.
"Chris-kun?" asked Keine as both she and Reimu looked at each other with a worried expression, though Reimu was less worried as Keine, as Chris snaps back to reality and shakes his head before looking back at them with a smile like never was wrong.
What was he hiding?
"Anyway don't we have to get going to Eientei? I'm worried about the ECHOES lurking around here," said Chris recalling their mission here.
"I suppose you're right, but I like a word with you after about your Ki abilities. I don't like the thought of someone hurting themselves, intentionally, for the sake of others like that," said Keine as she gave a disapproving glance at Chris.
"Don't worry! I'm always fine, I never went to the hospital back home while practicing my abilities," said Chris with a goofy smile.
"That's not the… huh? Is that an ECHO over here?" Keine pointed pass Chris, as he looked behind his left shoulder to spot the little black monstrosity.
Before them, for the basic form of all ECHOES the ECHO Vocals, as the little black creature gave them a toothy smile and waved at them with a friendly expression until its eyes narrowed into a more prankish and sneaky gesture as it hurled an energy blast from its hand at them.
The group jumped out of the way, dodging the attack with ease and glared back at it.
"So this is an ECHO, perfect. Now I can start exterminating these things," said Reimu as she pulls out her gohei and spell cards.
The ECHO Vocals suddenly vanished, sinking itself into its own shadow or the ground below, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"What the! Where did it go!" Reimu scanned the area looking for the ECHO that disappeared.
"Below you!" screamed Chris as he grabbed Reimu away from her spot as the ECHO launched a surprise attack from below.
"ECHO!" the ECHO screamed as it swirled itself around midair and landed gracefully on the ground and charged at Chris and Reimu.
Chris launched a roundhouse kick at the ECHO, but the ECHO blocked it with its arm however Reimu pulled out her spell card and aimed it at the ECHO's head.
"Spirit Sign: Fantasy Orb!"
Several orbs of different colored lights, red, blue, and green, appeared around Reimu and shot off, locking onto the ECHO itself.
The ECHO gave a little smirk and its head bounced off of its body and avoided the close-range danmaku blast and its body backed off several feet away with its head hopping back onto its body spinning like a wheel before stopping and laughing at the people in front of it.
"I-It… it can detach its head off of its body and move separately!" pointed Keine verbally surprised by the ECHO's odd ability and movements.
"How is that possible? I've never fought anything like this before! What gives!" complained Reimu getting annoyed about not hitting the black creature before her with her hands on her hips.
"Give up, echo! You can't beat me, echo!" cheered the ECHO as it stick its tongue out at them and swirling around sticking its butt at them while patting it, mocking them with pseudo-mooning.
Chris's eyes widen in shock and looks over to Reimu's direction as he senses a dangerous aura emitting off of her.
A small angry pulse appeared on Reimu and she sneered at the black creature. "I see someone needs to be punished thoroughly."
Reimu pulls out another spell card and the ECHO opens its mouth and gathers small energy particles, growing into a small energy sphere.
"Wait a minute… Reimu!" Chris shouted.
"Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!"
The spell was like her previous spell, the Fantasy Orb, except that they were bigger and there were more of them.
"Go!" declared Reimu as she sends her orbs at the ECHO, circling around it to prevent it from escaping as the ECHO launched an energy beam from its mouth.
That's not going to work! It's going to just dive again! mentally shouted Chris as he pulls out his swords. I'll have to suck up the surrounding energy from the forest and slash up the ECHO in close-quarter when it resurfaces.
As Chris begins using his swords to gather the natural energy from the forest, plants, and water his swords begin to charge up… however something unexpected happen. Reimu's Fantasy Seal and the ECHO's energy beam also got swallowed up by Chris's energy manipulation ability.
Everyone's head snapped back in surprise, even Chris was taken aback by the sudden turn of events.
"What in the world!" Chris looked up and noticed the blade was encased by a silverish light and the length of the sword grew as more energy was absorbed. Chris had done this before, but his swords only had a translucent aura around it.
The swords continue to swallow Reimu's danmaku and the ECHO's beam attack until they're completely gone as Chris's swords have become super long charged with natural, magical, and ECHO energy. The sudden changed caused the swords to become heavier making it harder for Chris to keep it steady and holding it up.
" Chris! What did you just do?" Reimu pointed at Chris with disbelief as she couldn't believe that Chris 'ate' her danmaku with his swords.
"I'm not sure… this is a first for me!" said Chris looking at his sword in his right sword with awe until a sly and cocky smile etched onto his face. "But this is going to be awesome!"
Chris pulls his swords over his right side together, like he was wielding a two-handed sword instead of twin swords, and sprinted with all of his might at the ECHO. The ECHO glared at him as it dived into the ground once more and a small shadow puddle appeared and the ECHO shot its arm right at Chris in front of him from the shadow as Chris leaps into the air.
The ECHO pops out of the ground to blast him with two energy sphere in its hands as Chris hurls himself forward and makes a quick slash at the ECHO knocking it back down and pummeling back from the force of the attack.
"Rebound…" shouted Chris as he spun himself around midair, "Right back at ya!"
With one slash Chris shot out Reimu's Fantasy Seal and the ECHO's energy beam, however as energy spheres this time, in front of him at the ECHO. However they were different this time as the previous attacks that Chris swallowed up earlier before were now bigger than before, but there were less bullets then before as well, and the attacks moved even faster than before at the ECHO as the creature let out one final scream before it was dissolved by the attack.
"That was awesome! I learned something new about my Ki Manipulation powers!" exclaimed Chris as he sheathes his swords. "Though I don't think I'll be using this too often."
"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" said Reimu with an annoyed look on her face as she walked over to Chris with Keine by her side.
"Sure am! Even I was taken by surprise by my Ki manipulation stunt back there!" said Chris with a goofy smile as he rubs the back of his head.
"Are you alright Chris-kun? You didn't stress yourself too much from using your Ki power like that?" asked a concerned Keine, with eyebrows arc in a sad expression.
"Nah! My swords make it easier for me to gather Ki energy without stressing myself too much, but I'm capable of doing the same but to a lesser extent as my swords can hold more energy. However I need to practice using this new technique… it has several problems with it I've noticed," stated Chris as he ponders about his newly-found ability.
"What do you mean? You never absorbed another people's powers before?" asked Reimu giving Chris a curious look.
"Well you see back home they were hardly any Ki users to meet and we have to hide ourselves away from prying eyes so this is the first time I've manage to suck up other people's energy, since I didn't get much of a chance fighting other people," said Chris with a wryly smile as he scratches the back of his head. "Plus I've never thought about absorbing other people's energy before as it never occurred to me."
Reimu sighed. "Well that figures… now what was the other things you noticed? Like how wide-open you were gathering the energy like that?"
Chris's face perked up and smiled. "So you did notice!"
Reimu's face tensed up and glared at Chris. "Of course! Did you think I was stupid or something? I rather have things explain to me that's all! At least you're not Yukari!"
Chris chuckled a bit. "I see… well then I shall explain what I noticed about my new technique. First off is the gathering part, as I collect the surrounding energy I cannot stop the flow which leaves myself wide-open to all attacks."
"Why is it that you can't stop the flow of energy to avoid any attacks?" asked Keine.
"Well the reason being is that if I stop the flow of energy gathering midway the balance of energy within my swords will implode… which isn't very good for me," cringed Chris thinking about what would happen.
"Wait… you mean?" Reimu pointed out.
"Yup… the energy gathered in the swords would explode like a bomb and it would blast me in the face, which I'm not too keen about," said Chris shaking the thought off, "And another thing about the energy gathering part is the swords become longer."
"How is that a bad thing, wouldn't the extra range be a good thing? True that Spell Card battles are long-range fights, but even with that you can still hold you own with your swords techniques. I know a certain someone with swords in Gensokyo," said Reimu.
"It would… if the swords didn't become super heavy with energy which forces me to burn up Ki energy of my own to increase my body's strength to lift the swords up with its new weight," said Chris rubbing his right arm, "Which, despite the swords brimming with energy to power it up, it hinders my speed a lot and consumes a fair of my energy just to maintain the state!"
"I could see why that's a problem then," said Keine with a pondering look.
"And lastly is the counter attack which has its pros and cons which isn't too bad," said Chris looking up into the sky with a pondering look.
"What do you mean? Throwing back your opponent's attacks isn't a drawback! Are you sure you're not kidding yourself?" said Reimu pinching a curious brow.
"Actually there is… your Spell Cards have pattern to its attacks that make it hard to avoid and dodge as it covers many different areas, correct?" Chris stated.
"Yes?" Reimu said more as a question than an answer.
"Well when I threw the attack back at the ECHO… was it in a pattern or a straight line?"
Both Reimu and Keine's face lit up as the realization slowly sink in.
"You're right… your attack went in a straight line!" Keine spoke up.
"Yup… I can't replica the attack pattern and there's less bullets with this move opting to use a straight forward assault. However it's not that bad as I double the speed and power of the attack! But if someone side-steps out of the move, they can safely dodge it if they're fast enough or anticipated the attack," said Chris, "If I don't find a way to safely stop the flow of energy gathering without the swords blowing up in my face or if I learn to gather the enemy's power faster I cannot use this move without giving myself away plus with my stamina and burning my Ki away too fast it's not good to use every battle."
"I see how that could be a problem, despite having promising capabilities," said Keine, "But at least you're foolish enough to endanger yourself like that."
"However I want to perfect this… the endless possibilities with this technique… hehe… I really want to master this new move now!" Chris mused to himself with childish delight thinking what he could do with this move. "I can use Ki and Natural energy to power myself up to a small extent, but I can't do that with Magic so all I can do it throw it back. This is an interesting discovery."
So he can absorb other people's powers or spells and redirect at them? I can safely say this is Gensokyo's most dangerous resident in front of me… as long as he doesn't cause trouble I don't care what he does… Reimu thought to herself with disinterest. Wait… I believe Sakuya said something about something not working against him too… what was it?
"ECHO!"
Everyone's face turned behind Chris and another ECHO Vocals appeared before them.
"Another one? Usually they're in groups, but it's better this way! Get some experience fighting them while there's a few of them!" said Chris taking out his swords once again.
"Don't let it get away! I want to get this over with so I can enjoy my afternoon!" said Reimu pulling out her gohei as Keine as readies herself with her Spell Cards.
The ECHO bolts away as Chris gives chase to it with Reimu and Keine following them in hot pursuit.
"ECHO!" a cry came to the two girls' right.
They both looked over and saw another ECHO Vocals sticking its tongue out at them and running off in another direction.
"Another one? Great… let's go after it!" said Reimu as she chases it.
"Wait! What about Chris-kun!" said Keine looking off at the direction where the boy went as he disappeared from sight along with the ECHO.
"Don't worry about him, he can handle that one on his own. Let's just take care of these things as quickly as possible!" said Reimu not turning around.
"Oh dear," said Keine with a worried expression as she continues to follow Reimu. I do hope he'll be OK…
Meanwhile further away where the girls are Chris looks around the area with his swords put away with an agitated look on his face as he looks left and right.
"Great… I lost it! Hey Reimu-chan and Keine-san! Did you see where it went!" said Chris without looking behind him.
Silence.
"Eh… girls?" said Chris, this time turning behind him to see no one except endless rows of bamboo.
"What the? Where did they… erm… well I did chase after that ECHO… oops," said Chris with a goofy grin as he scratches the back of his head.
"Sheesh… I can't believe I ditch them like that! I do hope Reimu-chan and Keine-san aren't angry with me," said Chris with a nervous smile as he continues through the bamboo thicket looking for the rogue ECHO.
Chris's Ki sensing power is strong, but he's range isn't very impressive, but he could tell where he's friends were somewhat and he can sense a few others in the forest thinking it would be other Youkai.
"Now where did that ECHO run off?" said Chris.
"Having trouble finding our little creature of darkness?" said a voice.
"Yeah I am Virus it's just… eh… Virus? Virus!" said Chris. "So you can talk to me while I'm awake! Why didn't you say so earlier buddy?"
"What? I can't surprise my friend with a little secret or have him guessing what I can or cannot do?" said Virus inside of Chris' head. "And for the record I was busy fixing your body's Ki Network… I hope you've notice that your Ki doesn't burn you as much as before now and I'm still working on it."
"Yeah! I'm grateful Virus, it's much easier on the body! Thanks a bunch!" exclaimed Chris with a happy grin.
"Well I'm here talking to you… I've been also re-working on abilities I have and yours as well," stated Virus.
"Really? That's interesting! Care to share what those are?" asked Chris.
"Nope," grinned Virus from inside of Chris.
"You're no fun… guess I'll learn in due time. I have that ECHO to find!" said Chris as he continues to search for the ECHO.
Instantly a black shadow appeared in the ground in front of Chris and the ECHO quickly popped itself out and the dark shadow reverted back to its usually faded color as the ECHO grins at Chris.
"There you are!"
The ECHO gave him an air raspberry and quickly jumps behind a bush next to some bamboo trees.
"You're not getting away!" declared Chris as he gives chase.
"Huh? Wait I sense… hold it Chris! There's…!"
Chris leaped over the bush and tackled the being behind the bush with all his might.
"Alright got'cha! You're not… ummm… huh?"
Chris looked down and saw it wasn't the ECHO he jumped on, but a girl instead that he pinned down to the ground.
She had ankle-length very light violent hair that looked like it was white instead and red eyes, wearing a white or light brown long-sleeved shirt, dark red overalls which was oddly decorated with red and white paper charms randomly placed on her pants, and her hair was also tied up in the same red and white paper charm.
The girl had a very tomboyish appearance, but despite that she still somehow has the grace and elegance of her feminine charms with perfect white skin and beautiful hair, though the look on her face is mixed with shock, astonishment, and 'what the heck just happened' face as she stares into the boy's eyes.
Chris's eyes widen in surprise and has a grim look on his face, complementing what he just done. I just tackled this poor girl with no reason… just become I was chasing an ECHO! Stupid me!
The girl's eyes slowly looked down to her chest as Chris follows suit as both of them sees Chris's right hand on her left chest. Chris's face quickly turns into an anime 'worried' face as the girl looks back up to him with one of most nastiest of glares Chris has ever seen mixed with angry and embarrassment.
Oh no…
"You…" gritted the girl as she closed her eyes.
"GET OFF OF ME YOU PERVERT!" she screamed with an anime face of anger as she kicks Chris in the stomach sending him into the air and back down to the ground a few feet where they were with an explosion of anger.
"Gck… *cough*… that hurt…" Chris bellowed rubbing his stomach and looks back up to see the girl glaring at him but this time standing up.
Chris falls on his butt as he shakes his hand in the air, in a pleading manner. "W-W-Wait! That was an accident… I can explain!"
"Save it! I don't want to hear it!" said the white-haired beauty as she pulls out a card and a red aura surrounded her. "Just get out of my sight!"
"Immortal Flame: Phoenix Hell Riser!"
Her body lit up with fire and spread out into wings like a Phoenix, and the flames twisted itself around her arms, as many fire-red bullets appeared before her as she twisted the bullets together into a giant flame and shot it at Chris, or more precise at his Chris, as he jumps out of the way.
"Hold on! Can I at least explain!"
The girl aimed her attack once one at him, but this time Chris was ready as he performed a hand sign.
"Guess I'll have to fight Magic fire with Ki fire! Fire Style: Fireball!"
Chris spit out a massive fireball from his mouth and collided with the girl's own flamethrower attack, the two attacks burst into an explosion as traces of the flames hit the ground setting the ground on fire.
"You… you can use fire too?" said the girl with a surprised look on her face until she noticed the flames on the ground. "Oh no… not again!"
"I guess I'll clean it some mess as it was my fault," said Chris as his places his hands in front of them, their palms facing each other, and gather the fire on the ground into a small sphere of flames in front of him and clapped his hands together and dispensed the flames.
"What the! How did you do that!" asked the girl clearly she never saw someone put out flames like that before.
"This? Fire is energy still so since I can gather energy and dispense it, it was a small task for a Ki user. It's a very basic skill," said Chris with a goofy grin but turning into a serious face. "Besides I don't want to endanger the people living here because of my carelessness."
The girl gave him a hard look though it look in her eyes were soft, but scoffed it off and turned away as she ran in the opposite direction.
"Whatever! Just stay away from me… you pervert!" she screamed as she bolted away, spitting out the last word with a venomous tone.
"Wait… hold on… I…" said Chris as he stretched his arm out towards her.
However the girl was already gone, disappearing behind the bamboo thicket, as Chris brought his hand to his forehead and looked up to the sky. "Well hot damn to the max! That could've gone better! Seriously… twice in one day? What is wrong with me!"
"You have such a way with the ladies Chris! Hehehe…" chuckled Virus.
"Can it! I have to apologize when I see her again… what I did was really disrespectful," said Chris with a dishearten look on his face.
"Come on! I know you enjoy feeling her like that!" Virus playfully teased.
"Wha-Wha-Wha-What! ABSOLUTELY NOT! A gentleman should never… do that to a lady!" yelled Chris crossing his arms together in a comical anime fashion of embarrassment.
"Not even in…"
Chris gave him a dark thought since he can't glare at him where he is.
"OK, OK, I got it! I'll leave you alone, I'll be going to be fixing your body," said Virus.
"Thank you," said Chris breathing easier now, "I got to find that girl and apologized to her."
"Then again I bet you prefer groping Yukari… since you're thinking about her right now," said Virus with a mischievous tone. "Have a crush on her?"
"VIRUS!" Chris yelled in anime fury. "And NO, I do not have a crush on her! I just met her today!"
After ending the little conversation with Virus, Chris continues down the path the girl took to properly apologized to her even though his primary goal to rid the ECHOES of this area.
"Seriously… this day just got from good to bad in ten seconds flat," sighed Chris with a deject air around him. "Now where do I go… huh?"
Several feet away Chris spotted another girl, which hardly surprises him anymore, and walks up to her and notices a few things about her as well.
She has long light purple hair, which almost looked silver in a way, passed her shoulder going down to her waist, bunny ears, which didn't look fluffy, which has buttons on the bottom of them which made it looked like she attached them on her head though Chris suspects that isn't the case, a white short-sleeve short with a red tie while wearing a blue skirt with a bunny tail sticking out with black stockings and brown shoes.
Chris couldn't get a good look at her face as he walks over to her as she was busy picking up some nearby flowers, not even noticing his presence.
"Excuse me miss! Sorry to bother you, but I need to ask you a question," called out Chris to the girl.
The girl appears startled as she bolts up and looks over to Chris's direction, her red eyes locking with his blue eyes which oddly enough her eyes were glowing red.
"Huh?" said Chris with a deadpanned look.
She continues to stare at him, with a somewhat fearful and determined look on her lovely face, as Chris looks back and forth to his sides wondering if something was suppose to happen.
"Excuse me… what are you doing? Why are you staring at me like that?" Chris said as he folds his arms and gives the girl a friendly curious look.
"What? How are you… you're not going mad!" the bunny girl pointed at Chris with a finger with a shocked and bewilder expression.
Hey don't point! Pointing is bad you know!
"Mad? What do you mean?" said Chris as he walks over to her.
"Wait… stay back… argh!" said the girl as she walks back, but trips over a rock behind her landing on her butt. "Ittai…"
"Hey are you OK!" said Chris as he rushes over to her side and lends her a hand.
She looked up with a fearful expression, but slowly melts into a more comfortable expression as she begins to realize this boy means no harm to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Who are you anyway?" asked the girl as he grabs his hand as he helps her up.
"My name is Christopher Trevas Corona! It's nice to meet you! You can call me Chris!" said Chris a smile.
"My name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, it's nice to meet you too. Though I'm a little surprise that my eyes don't affect you," said Reisen as she places her hand on her chin pondering it.
"That? What does your eyes do?" asked Chris curious about her eyes.
"Ah! Well you see my eyes hold the power of the moon's madness so when people look into my eyes they are struck with lunar madness, driving them insane, and I'm capable of doing that to others if they look into my eyes long enough or if choose to inflict it causing them to see insane to frightening or simply strange illusions. It's my special ability," said the bunny girl called Reisen.
"I see… your manipulation of wavelengths is actually twisting and refracting the waves to confuse your victims. That's kinda a nasty little trick there, but if it protects you from harm then it's only fair," said Chris as he shrugs in a worriless manner.
"Whoa! You understood that I twist the wavelengths with what I just said? You're very perceived than you look," said Reisen with a humble surprised look.
"Thanks… I'll take that last part as a compliment… wait a minute. Lunar madness? Hold it, are you from the moon!" said Chris realizing something amazing.
"Ah… yeah, I'm not an Earth Youkai Rabbit from this planet, but a Lunar Rabbit from the moon," said Reisen looking away shyly.
Chris looked at her blankly until it broke into a smile. "Really? That's awesome, a rabbit from the moon! Just plain cool, there must be other people besides rabbits living on the moon as well! The universe is just full of surprises and wonder!"
Reisen gave him a confused and hard look. Huh? What's with this boy?
"By the way… why didn't my eyes work on you?" asked Reisen remembering about her eyes powers not working on the boy before her.
Chris gave her a sheepish grin and he pulls his arms back behind his head. "Well you see I have something called 'Ability Cancel'!"
"Huh! Wait… you mean you're got immunity to other people's ability!" Reisen said with a ghostly pale look. Apparently that bit of information took her for a loop!
Wow! This girl catches on!
"Yup! Pretty slick, huh? I can even temporarily take away other's abilities too! Though I can't turn off my immunity at well… so it's problematic in way," sighed Chris about the 'turn off' part.
"I see… no wonder. I've never heard of an ability like that! Wait… aren't you a human?"
"Yup! Oh! Sorry to spring this on you Reisen-chan, but have you seen a light violet-haired girl run passed here? I'm looking for her," said Chris narrowing his eyes in a serious manner.
"Huh? Why are you looking for her?" said Reisen tilting her head in wonder.
This time Chris's face switch to a blank expression than slowly turned into a worried cautious look. "Ummm… to apologize for tackling her into the ground… hehe… he…"
"You… attacked her?" Reisen looked at him with a surprised and astonished look on her face.
"It was an accident! I was gunning for an ECHO that ran through the bushes where she was and…"
"ECHO?" said Reisen pointing at the word that was strangely placed in that sentence.
Chris sighed. "Let me explain…"
It only took a few minutes to explain what the ECHOES were and how he came to be here with the aid of Reimu and Keine seeking Eientei if they know of the creatures that were lurking about. Reisen listen carefully to what Chris told her and her face etched into a thinking expression.
"So that's what they're called… they've been causing master and the princess, even Tewi-chan is agitated by them," stated Reisen, "Though we don't know as much about them as you apparently do."
"Well I had my run-ins with these little creeps and have studied their behaviors a bit. Anyway what have they done to you guys?" asked Chris curious about the mischievous antics the ECHOES have caused them.
"Nothing really major, but they put graffiti on the walls and throw water balloons at the rabbits and even sometimes messing with my master's medicine and attacking us with their danmaku. They haven't really hurt any of us, but they somehow manage to sneak into our home without us knowing! It's become stressful for us, we don't know where they're coming from and why they're attacking us!" exclaimed Reisen vetting out her angry, "Sorry! I didn't mean to yell at you, but even when I'm sent to gather herbs for my master's new medicines these things attack me! Their pranks are even worse than Tewi's!"
"I know why they're doing… they're making you all flustered with different emotions, happy when they're gone, but angry and worried when they come. I forgot to mention they 'feed' on emotions, so you're a good meal to them and that's how they create more of them," said Chris.
"Are you kidding me! That's why!" said Reisen and she started to look dishearten, "Why have to put up with this torture everyday now? Just to feed them!"
"I'm actually looking for the nest of these things. They have to have a home to go back to, and if I get rid of it…" stated Chris.
"Then we can get rid of them!" chimed in Reisen happily.
What a quick-witted girl she is! I can't help but smile, makes me happy to see people get it!
"You're quite smart! And you take mental notes perfectly too, you're master must be proud!" said Chris cheerfully as he places his arms behind his head.
Reisen looks away shyly and blushes a bit. "N-Not really… though master is happy at what I done I'm really just a useless little rabbit, only good for my sex appeal."
Sex appeal? Chris echoed that last part in his head as he instinctively looks at her supple beautiful body, but shakes his head as he tries to prevent his thoughts from getting any mucky intent.
The way she said it too causes Chris's face to heat up. "N-No-no! I think you're impressive! You're ability to cast illusions to your foes is very helpful to protect people and you venture to dangerous territories to help your master's research! You're a very dedicated and a kind person, you should take pride in that!"
Reisen looks back at Chris with her eyes widen a bit and looks away blushing again. "Ah… thank you…"
An awkward silence assured as the both of them stood there, in chibi form, without anything to say.
"Ummm… anyway, can you help me find her?" asked Chris breaking the silence.
"Sure thing! I've got what I needed, so I'll help you… hopefully master won't be too mad for me being late…," said Reisen.
The pair continues to walk through the bamboo thicket looking for the white-haired girl in the red pants so Chris could apologize for what he did earlier.
As the two of them walked Reisen looks back at Chris, who is walking by her side, from time to time as she cannot get the piece of information about him out of her head.
Ability Cancel, I know that Reimu, Sakuya, Sanae, and Marisa are the only know humans with special abilities too but this human is different. How did he get that kind of power, especially against my eyes? Humans aren't born with something like that… pondered Reisen with a thoughtful look, He gives off this strange aura like it belongs to him, but at the same time it doesn't. I wonder what else this power can do, I must have another hidden features…
"Hey Reisen is there something wrong?" asked Chris looking over to Reisen.
"Eh? Oh… oh nothing's wrong, just wondering about your special ability. It's very unique," said Reisen darting her eyes away.
"I guess, it is rather unique. Truth there's things I like to able to experience without it but at other times I think it's great to have!" said Chris with a smile.
"Like what?" asked Reisen curious about his answer.
"Like, if it wasn't for my Ability Cancel, I wouldn't be able to look into her beautiful red eyes, I like them a lot! They're very pretty!" said Chris giving Reisen a heartwarming smile with his honest answer.
Reisen's face turned beet red and her eyes widen in shock. "Eh? EH! Y-You… you like my eyes!"
"Yeah! Why? Did I say something wrong?" said Chris blinking, thinking he offended her in some way.
"No… it's just that," stuttered Reisen as she plays with her hair with her hands, "I've never had someone say that to me, well since my eyes cause nothing but trouble."
"I don't think so," Chris simply replied back.
Reisen's face perked up, a hint of red still lingers on her face. He's… he's very straight-forward and honest while sharing his opinions with others.
"There you are!" called out a voice.
Both Chris and Reisen turned their heads in the direction of the voice and saw both Reimu and Keine coming out from behind a bush, both looking exhausted and tired with slightly tattered clothes.
"Reimu-chan! Keine-san! Are you two alright! Don't tell me that ECHO hurt you that bad!" said Chris franticly looking over his two friends.
"As if, I got it… finally… that thing kept on running and running and launching sneak attacks. I have never meet a more infuriated monster than a Youkai, actually makes me appreciate Marisa always coming to bug me!" sighed a tired Reimu as she places her hand on her forehead.
"I wouldn't say it's very powerful, but its speed and the way it uses dirty tactics make it a hard opponent to beat. Now that I know how these things fight, I'll have better preparations to face these creatures if they choose to attack the Human Village," said Keine as she bushes off the dirt from her hat and placing it back on her head.
Chris gave a reliving sigh. "That's good to know, come here for a sec you too."
Reimu and Keine, as well as Reisen, looked at each other and walked over towards Chris as he holds out his hand in front of them.
"Light Style: Ki Cure!"
A green aura emits from Chris's hand and slowly covers Reimu and Keine's body as the slight wounds they sustain from their fight with the ECHO completely heals. The three girls' eyes widen with surprise as both Reimu and Keine look at their body, their clothes still tattered, but the dirt and scratches were gone.
"You… you can heal people!" Reisen pointed out.
"Somewhat… I can only heal minor wounds, broken bones and deep gashes are near impossible for me to do at this level," stated Chris as he started to breath heavy, "Plus this does consume a fair bit of my Ki powers."
"Chris-kun! Do not overwork yourself like that! That also puts stress on your body when you do that, does it not?" growled Keine glaring at Chris with a disapproving glance.
"No worries! You're alright, right?"
"Not at your expense it does," this time Reimu chimed in, "As useful as it is, I also don't like the idea of using power that causes harm to the user."
Chris's eyes lit up at their concern and gives them a warm smile. "Well, then I guess I'll have to improve so my Ki doesn't harm my body anymore!"
The two girls shake their head, but Chris notices the both of them smiling a bit. Reisen on the other hand tilts her head in wonder.
"You have Ki manipulation powers like that gatekeeper at the Scarlet Devil Mansion? Consider the swords with you I suspect you're a close-range fighter but sometimes tells me you're good at all ranges," said Reisen with a knowing smile.
"Yup!" said Chris.
Chris smiles at his friends until he spots a black shadow behind Reimu and Keine, and sees an ECHO Vocals' head peek out of the hole grinning at them as Chris's face twisted with shock as the ECHO launched its head at Reimu.
"Reimu-chan! Look out!" cried Chris as he shoves her out of the way before she could make heads or tails of what just happen.
"Poison Fang!" yelled the ECHO as it sink its teeth into Chris's side and stomach causing him to wince in pain.
"Gck!" Chris growled as the ECHO let go with blood following it to the ground where it disappeared into the shadows.
"Chris?" Reimu's eyes widen in horror as she sees Chris fall on his back with blood spitting out from his side.
"Chris-kun!" Keine cried out as she and Reisen rush over to his side.
Reimu ran over to Chris's side too as his face twitches with pain, groaning as well as he holds the wound with his hand. "Chris! Why did you do that! What were you thinking you idiot!"
"Reimu-chan…," Chris said with a slightly weak voice, "Are you OK?"
The girls' eyes widen in surprise, despite being in pain and poison, he's more worried about his friends than his own life.
"Y-Yeah! Of course I'm fine, because of you!" cried Reimu.
Chris simply gave her a warm smile. "Good… I'm glad."
Chris passes out, due to the poison in his body and possibly from the blood loss, as the girls' eyes widen in horror. His eyes began to have dark circles around, indicating that the poison was working at a steady pace.
"This isn't good! I'm not sure what type of poison that ECHO hit him with, but that gash is pretty deep! I don't know how long he'll last!" said Keine as she tries to patch up Chris's wound.
"Chris…," Reimu's mind replay the scene in her head, Chris shoved her out of the way to take the attack meant for her. A person, the same person who rebuilt her donation box, who even donated, and called her cute, was lying in front of her in pain and endanger of dying because she was careless about these creatures.
"Let's hurry! We have to take him to Eientei! Master will patch him up and he'll be better in no time!" said Reisen as she and Keine lift Chris up.
"Yes…" whispered Reimu with a deadpanned expression as she takes Reisen's place of holding Chris and rushing him over to Eientei.
This is my fault… Reimu thought to herself as her glare intensified… Chris I'm sorry, I'll make sure not to let this happen to you again…
"Ittai! Ittai! That really hurt! Didn't think ECHOES were capable of poisoning people, but then again they burrow abilities from others," said Chris standing back up in a familiar white void of space.
"Honestly, can you be anymore self-sacrificing? That was really reckless, you know you could've grabbed her in jumped out of the way without getting harmed yourself," said Virus who was sitting over on the opposite side of Chris sipping some tea.
"Sorry!" said Chris giving a goofy grin and scratching the back of his head, "But I didn't think ahead and did that instinctively… plus I wasn't sure if it would go for Reisen-chan if I did that!"
"Seriously Chris… unless you were trying to impressive the girls and trying to steal their hearts by displaying a selfless and noble act I say you did a splendid job," smirked Virus giving Chris a mischievous look.
"What! No of course not! I just don't… I just don't want to see my friends hurt right in front of me that's all," said Chris as he hangs his head.
Virus gives a small sigh and looks at Chris with an encouraging smile. "It would've been you if you didn't… lucky for you the Ability Cancel is well-equipped with handling ailments like poison to your body."
Chris shook his head twice, he did hear that correctly right? His Ability Cancel makes him immune to aliments as well or…
"Are you saying that I'm not affected by aliments as much as before now?" Chris asked with his eyebrows perked into a curious manner.
"Now don't go on thinking that you're totally immune to aliments, the Ability Cancel gives you extra protection so the effects of poison and such will have half of the regular effect it should on your body and gives you extra time to live until properly treated. Poison is an ability of creatures, but it's a natural ability which Ability Cancel simply halves it," explained Virus.
"Seriously? Wait, if it's a natural ability…" pondered Chris until he realized something.
"That's correct, you can always use the Ability Cancel to halve someone else's natural strength and abilities by half. For example those Onis, Suika-chan and Yuugi-san, will have their Oni strength reduce to half by the Ability Cancel," stated Virus giving Chris his full attention.
"Impressive! I didn't know that the Ability Cancel could do that too! I thought just special abilities only," said Chris marveling over the true intent of the Ability Cancel.
"Hold on, I'm not done that. In order for the effects of someone else's natural ability to half it also removes their weakness too, to allow their bodies to be stable after the Ability Cancel reduces their strength," explained Virus.
Chris gave a thinking expression with his eyes closed. "Wait, so for example if I cast Ability Cancel on Lady Remilia, she would lose her weakness to the sun if, the vampire stereotype is correct, along with her vampire strength cut in half?"
"Yup! Catching on aren't we? You can also simply remove their natural weakness alone, which causes them to have no weakness longer than simply halving their strength in the process, which is helpful for teammates and allies," said Virus floating in the air with his legs crossed.
"Intriguing," said Chris.
"However, do note that you have to charge the Ability Cancel to affect special abilities or natural abilities when you use it. You cannot do both effects at the same time, so if you use Ability Cancel to take away someone special abilities you cannot halve their natural abilities until the Ability Cancel's effect wears off on them and not only that they have lingering effects from it as well so you have to wait at least ten seconds to recast the Ability Cancel once more," explained Virus.
"And another drawback… I have a feeling there's one more thing…" said Chris deadpanned.
"Indeed, to use Ability Cancel to affect natural abilities it cost more Ki energy to work more than using the Ability Cancel to affect special abilities. And due to your stamina and the way you burn energy too fast you have to time and plan your techniques accordingly to surprise and disability you foe to end the battle," said Virus pointing his finger up in a similar manner like Chris.
"Sheesh and I thought the Ability Cancel couldn't be any more surprising. I have to practice using this effectively without leaving myself wide-open," said Chris.
"That is true, if you had three times the amount of stamina and better control Ki control you would be one of the strongest Ki users out there," said Virus, "Like your uncle Vincent, if he had your abilities, he would definitely be more powerful than you. I remember you used your Super Human form against and he still beat you, though you did give him trouble."
"Yeah, that's true… I wonder if my Sis was Ki user too, if she had my abilities how strong would she be?" asked Chris looking down to the floor, his body trembling. "You knew my little sister to an extent, right Virus? If she was here now with my abilities, what would she be like?"
Virus gave him a solemn look and spoke. "She had at least five times the amount of stamina you have and would definitely have excellent Ki control due to her Ki Network being perfect and if she has the same abilities like you have with mine… she would no doubt be the strongest Ki user in the universe. If you and she fought in a battle with the same abilities and powers… she would have taken you down in ten seconds flat."
Chris gave a wryly chuckled, a sad and painfully tone in his throat. "Sis really was something special…"
"You're strong Chris, but compare to the other Ki users and due to your lack of understanding of elements and Ki which deprives you of your full potential and given the state of the world you came from… it's expected," consulted Virus, "Chris… I know you hate fighting when it comes to killing someone and really hurting someone. You're too kind and gentle, but you have a side of you that does like fighting but only when it comes to testing your skills and want to have fun challenging someone."
"Even with you fighting the ECHOES, your heart trembles. Despite being energy creatures, you try to convince yourself that they have to be taken down and put the thought of 'they're hurting people and they must be stopped' notion into your head to ease the pain. But deep down, you're just too sweet and feel sympathy with these creatures."
"Nothing gets passed my alter ego, is there?" said Chris giving Virus a goofy grin while scratching the back of his head, however that smile hide lingering sadness behind it.
"Yes… you can't even fool me with that mask you, it's a brilliant act but it cannot truly hide your pain, sadness, and loneness… that's why you have to open up to people more. I know you tried and failed before, but there's people here will understand you. I know it," said Virus with gentle eyes.
Chris replied back with a simple smile.
"You are a strong fighter, but also kind and gentle. Which are excellent traits for you to have," said Virus giving Chris an honest and heartwarming smile. "Don't forget that."
Chris's body started to fade out of existence again. "Guess I'm waking up again."
"Take care, Chris," said Virus waving his hand.
"I will!" Chris smiled back.
"Oh! By the way…" stated Virus as Chris looks back with a curious look, "Get a girlfriend!"
Chris's face heated up, but shakes his head and gives Virus a playfully glare as he disappears.
"I have to have my own way to entertain myself while I'm inside of you, my little soulmate."
Chris, lying down inside a futon, slowly opens his eyes, blinking, a few times as he looks around at the corner of his eyes examining the room he was in and find out what kind of situation he landed himself in.
Now why does this feel familiar… Chris muse to himself as he slowly picks himself up until he noticed something was on him. He looked down and saw a bunny girl, with fluffy rabbit ears and a pink dress, laying on his stomach and there wasn't one but several other bunny girls inside the room with him.
Some of them were over at another corner jumping over and playing with each other, while others were sleeping and some of them were sleeping near Chris like the one on his stomach.
"Bunny girls? And lots of them! Where am I?" Chris said looking back and forth inside the room, a traditional Japanese room like Reimu's shrine but more refined and suited for taking care of people.
"This is the house of eternal, Eientei, and I welcome you honor guest," an beautiful graceful voice called out from behind Chris, which was a light and lilting sound to it yet carried the majesty of royalty in the air, as Chris looks behind him.
Sitting behind him was, as one could possibly describe in this situation, one of the most beautiful girls in the world that any man would have the pleasure to see who could top any guy's 'dream girl' material.
Her long black flow down to the ground where she sat, black curtains like a moonless night, her short bangs accentuating her soft elegant flawless white skin allowing her dark brown eyes to illuminate her features even more. This mysterious beauty was also wearing a pink shirt with long sleeves, which was covering her hands, with many white bows tied to it, a long dark red burgundy skirt with decorated yellow flowers and bamboo symbols on it, allowing her prominent features to appear even more unimaginably.
You could maim, you could throw trash on her, but it wouldn't be enough to tarnish her beauty even if she wasn't your type or interest in her you cannot deny her grace. Her regal aura encasing around her commanded the very air around her in absolute obedience entitling to her radiant brilliance like a thousand suns.
Chris looked back in awe to the girl before him, and only these words could come to mind to speak in this situation.
"Hello there! My name is Christopher Trevas Corona! Nice to meet you, you can call me Chris!" said Chris with a friendly smile, greeting the girl in the same fashion like all the other girls he's meet so far like it was the most normal thing to do. Apparently the girl's otherworldly beauty does not affect him like many man and woman before him who have succumb to her radiance.
The girl cocked her head in slight bemuse wonder with a playful smile. "Well this is interesting. Most men and women usually are so taken aback by my beauty that I've left them speechless and in awe, falling head over heels over my apparent beauty. You're the first to react in such a normal manner, that you've baffle even me. I'm quite intrigue, young man."
Chris scratches the back of his head with a goofy grin on his face and he picks up the sleeping bunny girl and places her to the side of his futon as he faces the girl before him in Japanese sitting style. "Hehehe… I'm not so sure, I am unusually in a way."
"Is that so? I like to hear more, from the human who can stop other's abilities," said the mysterious black-haired girl with great interest.
Chris perked his brow upward. "Reisen mention it to you, didn't she?"
The black-haired girl chuckled. "Indeed she did, she mention it when Eirin-san was fixing you up. I have to say, you have quite the abilities I've never seen in a human before especially one who supposedly comes from another world even beyond the outside. I like to know more about my special guest…"
"Well it isn't all that amazing, just a normal Ki user that's all. And you would be?" Chris asked realizing he doesn't know the girl's name yet.
"Ah! Where are my manners! I am Kaguya Houraisan, I am a Lunarian, and I once lived at the Moon Capital long ago as well as the former Moon Princess," said Kaguya caressing each word as each sound passed through her smooth delicate lips.
"Moon Princess! That's something! Wait… you couldn't possibly be the same Kaguya-hime from the 'Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'?" asked Chris racking his brain upon a similar name in an old legend.
"I am indeed the one and the same, though humans tend to mix up the legend as I was never found inside a bamboo shoot in a golden egg nor did I leave for the moon as I chosen to remain here on Earth in Gensokyo. Humans are quite silly with their folk tales sometimes, though I'm surprise the same legend is within your world as well," said Kaguya quite pleased, "It is quite a long story if you wish to know the details."
"I wouldn't mind! I would come over just to hear it!" said Chris with cheerful childish smile.
Kaguya gave a small smile that could melt any being's heart. "That makes me happy to hear! Normally no one comes to visit, but I do look forward to yours."
"Yeah! Wait… that means you're an immortal right?" asked Chris pointing out a small detail overlooked.
Kaguya gave him another smile, a knowing one. "Indeed I am as I've taken the Hourai Elixir to gain immortality as well as one other. Does that surprise you?"
Chris shakes his head. Giving her a simple smile in return. "An immortal? Seriously, Gensokyo is such an awesome place beyond awesome with many different people exist! I'm not surprise in the slightest though I'm curious why you took it."
Kaguya cocks her head to the side, bemused by the boy's answer. "You take everything as the status quo, don't you?"
"Yup!" Chris smiled back.
"I would love to tell you my tale but before that, I would like to hear yours first."
Chris scratches the side of his head. "Where do I begin?"
Chris begins to unravel the events that lead him into Gensokyo, with the mysterious god known as Levin and his abilities to control, and the rising of the chaotic creatures known as ECHOES, as well as explaining a bit about his Ki abilities.
Kaguya asked an occasional question or two during Chris's story and nod in response when he answered. At the end of Chris's tale, Kaguya is left with a smile as she closes her eyes remember each detail of Chris's tale.
"I must say, even your tale of adventure outshines my own endeavor! It's quite something else Chris-san!" Kaguya replied with a satisfied smile.
"I suppose, it's nothing too amazing," said Chris sheepishly.
"Still I curious exactly how this fight between you and Levin went down? You seem to skim through the details quite a bit there." Kaguya pointed out.
"Well you see…" Chris said.
"Perhaps if you give me a gift that pleases me, I will ignore the fact that you did," giggled Kaguya teasing the boy a bit.
Chris gave a pondering look on his face. A gift, huh? I could give her one, there's nothing wrong about that but what would she like?
A light bulb flickers on above Chris's head as he remembers something back home that Kaguya might like. Surprising he brought backpack with him, as he totally forgot he had it before, and grabs it which was on the another side of the futon and searching within its contents.
Kaguya looks on with playful curiosity, wondering what the boy had in mind. He should note it isn't easy to please her.
Pulling out of his backpack was a little robot-looking doll that was in the shape of a mobile phone. I was in such a rush to get ready to go over to Alvin's house to play video games I grabbed this without thinking it, and it seems I've grabbed a few other items without realizing as well.
"This is called a 'Mobile Doll', I won this in a game tournament way back at home. Do you at like it?" said Chris as he presents the doll to the moon princess.
The princess eyes the object with great significance and readily takes the gift offer to her, without saying anything about how much she liked it however the look on her face say otherwise. She giggle to herself in delight and scurried off away with her new gift in hands leaving the boy alone in the room with nothing but the sleeping earth Youkai bunny girls.
Chris looked back and forth to see if she would return with a confused anime face, only an awkward silence greeted him.
Okay… is she coming back?
"Well I have to say, I haven't see the princess look so delighted in ages! I suppose I should congratulate you for making the princess happy," said a cool and calm female voice, "Are you feeling better?"
Chris turns to his side and notices another woman standing near a newly-open slide door as she enters the room.
The woman had long silver hair, tied into a long braid, reaching her waist as her dark grey eyes study the boy sitting on the futon. Her red and blue dress had a unique pattern, as a checkers board pattern, and very faintly could you make out some constellation patterns on them which made her dress lovely along with the hat on top of her head which looks like a nurse's cap, which obvious means she's the doctor who nursed the boy back to health.
Another feature was that she had quite the voluptuous figure… though Chris did his best not to notice that, especially around the chest… as she smiles at boy walking towards him and checks his pulse. She had a lovely scent about her, like Kaguya's enchanting aroma.
"Hmm… you've made a complete full recovery it would appear," said the woman, though she seems displeased about it for some reason.
"That's great to hear! But why do you seem discontent about it?" asked a happy Chris curious about the woman's tone. "You're the one who healed me, right?"
"Indeed, you may call me Eirin. My precious little protégé, along with a shrine maiden and Keine-san, brought you here after you've taken vicious blow from those, ECHOES was it? A noble notion to say the least, but I hope you don't do something foolish like that again. Which it coated its teeth with a unique type of neurotoxin that was seeping into your arteries, causing paralysis to your nervous system and depleting your stamina. Normally this type of toxin would be fatal, but with other unknown elements mixed it which I couldn't even identify, your life wasn't in any life-threatening danger and the toxin would wear off within three hours. I did give you a serum while you slept to ease the pain and remove the toxin within two hours instead of three," said Eirin giving Chris the diagnosis of his previous condition.
"I see… it was spreading around my stomach and kidney areas first, and then reaching my heart, lungs, and brain soon after within a few minutes. Am I right?" Chris replied back rubbing his side where the ECHO bit him.
Eirin gave the boy a pleasant smile. "Quite insightful aren't you?"
"Yeah, I've studied a bit of 'Hyol Do Bup' from my uncle so learning about the body's circulatory system was something I had to pick up on… so I was here for three hours?" answered Chris.
Martial Arts focusing on the nervepoint system? He's full of surprises…
"No… you've been only out cold, and the toxin completely dissipated, within an hour and a half. For a human, such a recover feat is not possible. Honestly I was speechless that you recovered so fast and back to perfect health, considering the cardiac arrest to your heart and lungs. Even if this poison was a powerful immobilizer, you should not have recovered so quickly," stated Eirin in a somewhat cold manner.
I see… that's why she's upset… I have to properly thank Virus and the Ability Cancel… I'm sure they're the reason I'm fine right now… Chris thought to himself with an embarrassed look on his face as he scratches the side of his head.
"Though I expect it has something to do with your genetics and… this Ability Cancel power you possess," reaffirmed Eirin with his statement.
"Hehehe… well I'm not sure if my Ability Cancel can COMPLETELY do that," said a nervous Chris.
"Modest and humble are we? You're quite the intriguing young man," said another voice on Eirin's side.
Kaguya had completely appeared beside Eirin, out of nowhere. Chris's face perked up, when did she get back?
The moon princess giggled. "It seems your Ability Cancel is only limited to you, and not your surrounds as well."
That's true, unless I'm touching someone… Hmmm… what other limitations does the Ability Cancel have?
"Princess I ask of you to not tease our guests, especially one of my patients," said Eirin without even looking to her side.
"Oh please Eirin-san, can't I have a little fun from time and again? Besides he's caught my interest… a human with an ability to stop abilities so something speculator is it not?" said Kaguya casting a somewhat flirty look in Chris's direction which the boy tilted his boy in dumbfound curiosity.
Was it me or does she sound… less formal and more casual now that Eirin is here?
"I think I'm more amazed he isn't taken in to your beauty, I've never seen a boy unfazed by your appearance," chuckled Eirin.
"Huh? What… do you mean people have fallen in love with Kaguya just from her looks? They shouldn't do that," said Chris.
Both Kaguya and Eirin looked back at Chris as Kaguya gave him a mischievous curious look. "And why is that? Are you jealous… teehee?"
"No it's just that… I think outer beauty is second to what's only important. True people like beautiful, but I think it's the person's character that's important… I prefer to be with the one who I love not becomes of how they look, but become of the kind of person they are," stated Chris with a soft gentle in his eyes.
"Is that so? Even if they are the most beautiful in the universe?" asked Kaguya a little more curious about his view.
"Yup… even if she isn't, as long as she's by my side… that's all I need to be happy," smiled Chris.
"Hmm… you're very unusually, but so simple and honest. No… that's not a bad thing at all," said Eirin with a smile strangely pleased with his answer.
"…"
Kaguya looks on with an undetermined look in her eyes. She's not meet a man like this in her life before.
"You're… more strange than I thought, but I like you. My piqued my curious even more now," Kaguya simple said with a smile.
"Eh… thanks? By the way, where's Reimu-chan, Keine-san, and Reisen-chan? I don't sense them around here," said Chris looking around the room.
Sense? Oh yes, he's a Ki user like that woman at the Scarlet Devil Mansion…
"Reimu-san and Keine-san took my precious protégé to take care of those horrid beasts you called ECHOES deeper inside the bamboo forest. For some reason, Reimu looked extremely agitated as she left," answered Eirin.
"Yes, those vile creatures snuck into my room and arranged my items, I left in the order I like, in a chaotic manner. Such distasteful beasts…," said Kaguya with a venomous glare thinking about that event.
"Sorry, but I got to go! I'll be back!" exclaimed Chris as he bolts out of the room with his gear to aid his friends.
Kaguya looks on her delightful curiosity as humans don't move that fast, and Eirin looked on with disbelief in her eyes until she shakes her head.
"Honestly he just recovered… is he even human?" the doctor said with a wryly smile.
Chris rushes through the bamboo forest, putting up energy signals way up ahead, as he looks for his Reimu, Keine, and Reisen who went on ahead to look for the remaining in the forest.
He slows down his pace a bit, his body was still recovering from the poison attack earlier, and wipes the sweat off of his face.
I have to find them! I can't burden with this task of mine! Chris mentally shouted in his head. He wished nothing like this would happen, especially to the people of this world. It was driving him crazy, thinking about what ifs and don'ts is helping him. He can sense them where they are, but he wasn't sure what was the fastest route to get to them in this bamboo forest due to its nature and his lack of familiarize with his place.
He feels like playing a song to calm his nerves. He searches through his backpack, which he has forgotten he was wearing the whole time since he entered the bamboo forest and grabbed as he darted out of Eientei, and found what he was looking for.
It was a black and red ocarina, mimicking his color scheme, and as he holds the instrument in his hand he couldn't help but remember the day he got it… it was a special gift, a gift from his little sister…
"Hey hey! Big brother, look what I got you!" quelled a little girl about 3 years old with long black hair, her hairs spiking out, running happily towards a young boy with black hair with the tips all white-out holding a dual-colored ocarina. She wore a white jacket with a brown scarf, and a purple t-shirt, and a blue skirt.
The young boy wore a short-sleeve black jacket and a grey t-shirt underneath, wearing dark blue shorts and looks at the girl with an intense angry look, with a hint of distance, before turning into a more gentle passive look though still retaining that cold icy coloring.
"What is it Arianna?" the boy asked in a somewhat cold manner.
"Hey! Don't be mean big brother! I got something for you to play! I want you to play me a song!" said the little girl with childish delight as she hands out the ocarina to her brother. "I hope you like it!"
"I don't know the first thing about it! An ocarina! I'm not interesting in music! Besides what good would it do? For someone like me, I don't need this…," said the boy with an unusually cold tone and glare to match.
The girl's eyes swelled up with tears, hurt by his words. "But-But… I wanted you… to… I wanted my big brother to… ugh…"
"Hey! Don't cry! I'll play, I'll play! Just don't cry! I hate seeing people cry! Especially you!" said the boy in a panic manner as his cheek turned pink with embarrassment and glared at the object in front of him and brought the object to his mouth to play.
"Yeah! Got'cha big brother! I know you can't deny my wishes! Hehehe!" the little girl snickered with mischievous delight.
"Why you little…! Fine, if it makes you happy I'll play!"
"Yeah!"
The boy blew into the mouth piece of the ocarina and the sound that came out of it… sounded so dread that even a screeching cat was more pleasant to hear. The people on the streets covered their ears as the boy played a horrid sound that cannot be described as sound or even music.
The boy stops playing and looks around him, people gave him the most disbelief looks on their faces, as the boy slowly turns his face toward his little sister in front of him who does her best to give him the most innocent look of happiness on her face. However the scene was ruined as a bird falls straight down, knocked out by the sound the boy was playing before.
"Can I also buy an extra set of earplugs, please…," said one of the customers on the street talking to a vendor who nodded in agreement.
"Ummm… it was very horrible big brother! And it was the most awful thing I have ever heard in my life." said the little girl with an honest mischievous smile. The boy looked at her with an annoyed look on his face that was saying 'Really? Oh really?'.
"Stay here big brother! I'll buy you a music sheet so you can practice and I can hear you play! Because I love my big brother and I want him to be the best!" said the girl with such glee in her voice and as she runs back off to the store.
"Hey wait! Arianna!" the boy called out.
Hehehe! Yup, she was so mischievous but still she was a sweet and kind… and I love my little sister… Chris mused to myself as he brought the ocarina to his mouth to play.
As he blows into the mouth piece, a beautiful song breathes the air, its lovely melody even causes the bamboo to dance to the tune. However underneath the sweet gentle, there's a hint of sadness etched within the echoing sounds of the song as the boy marches through the forest playing the sound.
The song it seems to reflect the musician own feeling of his longing of the past, yet it also plays the hope towards a new future. At the song comes to the end, Chris moves the ocarina away with a satisfied smile on his face. It took him years, but he finally master playing the ocarina.
"That's much better! Wish I know how to play other song, but this one!" Chris laughed to himself!
RUSTLE…
"Huh?"
RUSTLE…
Someone heard that from far away?
RUSTLE…
"I thought I heard music somewhere…. What the! You again!" said the white-haired girl from before as she reappears from behind the bamboo thicket.
"You heard my playing? You must have sharp ears!" exclaimed Chris shock to see the girl before him once again.
"What do you want? Did you play that song to lure me out here to grope me again you perv!" screamed the girl.
Chris's face twitched into a sad anime depress face.
"No! Nothing like that! I felt like playing my ocarina all of the sudden! That's all!" said Chris defending himself.
"Well if that's it I'm…"
"Wait a minute! Please, I want to apologize to you!" said Chris bowing at the girl.
She looks back at him with a hard narrow look and folds her arms. She perks her brow in a curious manner eyeing the boy, judging him, registering his behavior.
"What I did was wrong, and I should've looked before I leaped, despite trying to catch the ECHO I… disrespected you… and for that I am sorry! I will make note to never do that again," said Chris still bowing before her.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Erm…"
"Lift your head… it's weird for you to do that," said the girl, "What's your name?"
"It's Christopher Trevas Corona, but you can call me Chris," replied Chris with a warying expression, not wanting to chance it with a smile.
"Mokou…" the girl answered back.
"Huh? Mokou-chan is it?" Chris said taking it as her name.
"I don't know if I like you adding –chan at the end, but whatever. Alright I'll forgive you, to be honest I was chasing that thing too," said the girl named Mokou, "My full name is Fujiwara no Mokou, but everyone calls me Mokou."
Wait… you mean? That bloody ECHO set that compromising situation up! I'mso going to strangle it! Chris mentally thought with detest.
"A clan name? So I take it you're a princess?" said Chris with curiosity.
"Ha! I wouldn't go that far! Anyway what are you doing here? Chasing those black things all day can't be what you really doing," said Mokou.
"That's exactly what I'm doing… with Reimu-chan of course, however she went on ahead to detain the ECHOES here so I'm looking for her to help," said Chris with a determine look.
"Why?"
"I can't sit by idly and abide to people suffering in front of me! I don't to lose those precious to me again! That's why I'm going, they're my friends and my job to take down the ECHOES!" declared Chris.
Mokou's eyes lit up to responds to Chris's determination and gave him a smug look. "So they're called ECHOES, huh? Alright I'll help you find Reimu and detain these ECHOES as well… I can't even enjoy my walks in the forest anymore because of them."
"Really? Thank you!" said Chris with joy.
"However I don't trust you…" she boldly stated with narrow distrusting eyes.
Oh... I figured as much... considering what I did early... friend count minus one... Chris thought as his face dropped a bit in a sad anime style.
The girl turned around to walk in the north direction, her hair swaying back and forth as she stops in place. "But that doesn't mean I hate you…"
"Huh?" Chris looks back up to the girl.
"Anyone that plays beautiful music like that, can't be bad… and you seem to be sad about something as well… so you coming or what?" said Mokou signaling Chris to follow.
"Of course!" exclaimed Chris and he follows Mokou.
Along the way navigating through the bamboo forest the pair encountered a few ECHO monsters on the way, including a new one Chris hasn't seen before which he calls 'ECHO Screech' which is a bird-type ECHO with a body similar to a Vocals with his detached wings and no legs with the upper part of the body extending to look like a bird's mouth with the ECHO's eyes inside its mouth. These types are the aerial combatants of the group as they dive at their enemies and shot energy blasts from their mouths.
Both Chris and Mokou took them down, but with a little trouble as they were nimble and quick with powerful team attacks.
"It's worse when they're in a groups… makes the fairies look harmless!" stated Mokou.
"I've never fought a fairy before so I don't know," said Chris brushing off the dust on him.
"You're something else… what kind of human are you?" asked Mokou noticing Chris's Ki abilities in the fights.
"Just your friendly neighborhood Ki user!" said Chris with a cheerful smile.
"Who gropes girls?"
"No! I don't…!"
Mokou laughs a bit at the face Chris displayed when she commented that. I'll admit he's not that bad… and his expression… are kinda adorable to poke fun at. I guess I can trust him a little…
Sheesh this girl… wait a minute! She has fire abilities and has a great understanding of it! I wonder… can I ask her? Chris thought to himself realizing that Mokou's a fire user.
"Hey Mokou… I was wondering, such you have…"
BOOM!
A huge explosion is heard close by where Chris and Mokou are at.
"Huh? Was that the shrine maiden?" Mokou said staring where the blast came from with disinterest.
"Let's hurry!" said Chris as he dashes in the direction in the explosion disregarding his question in an instant.
Mokou scoffs off Chris's antic with a smirk. Impatient isn't he? Can't blame him…
And with that she follows behind him and the two of them see Reimu, Keine and Reisen dispatching that last ECHO they were fighting.
"And that's the last one… I can't believe how tough these things are! I nearly used all my Spell Cards just on one of them!" panted Reisen catching her breath, her clothes tattered. Though this time she was wearing what appears to be a business suit, though she was wearing the same skirt still.
"It doesn't matter! I have to exterminate these things as quickly as possible!" stated Reimu brushing off the dirt on her clothes, which were slightly tore.
"I've never seen you so worked up Reimu! Was seeing Chris-kun getting hurt to protect you making you this worked up?" asked Keine who, too, wasn't unscathed. Though honestly she, too, was worked up over the thought that she let a human get hurt in front of her where she could have protect him from harm's way.
Reimu's face heated up a bit. "N-Not really… but he got my back while I couldn't do the same for him. Plus it was my fault I got him into that situation so the least I could do is lighter the work load for him, seeing as he's going to take these things on his own."
"I appreciate it Reimu-chan!" said Chris as he walks over to the group with Mokou in tow.
"Chris-kun! You're all better now!" said Reisen verbally surprise to see him until she remembered about his fast recovery abilities and slowly etches a smile on her face.
"Yup! Though Eirin-san did mention I healed unusually well for a human," said Chris giving a small mental nod to Virus who was smirking in the back of his head.
Reimu sighed. And here I was worried about him… sheesh! I'm going to smack him later!
"ECHOOOO!" a huge roared broke the sound barrier.
Everyone looked behind them as a giant humanoid ECHO jumped down right in front of the group. It had long trends of hair that covered its face, but leaving its eyes free to see and a grinning smile, gauntlets of some kind on its wrist with bandages wrapped around it and a sash or robe covering its legs with its ECHO symbol on its chest. In its right hand was a rock-like Axe or something that looked like one in a curved arc as it laid it on the back of its neck giving it a menacing appearance with its dark body.
"Is that an ECHO! That's huge!" cried out Reisen.
"I'm tired of this already! Just disappear will you!" said Reimu as she pulls out a spell card.
"Divine Arts: Omnidirectional Dragon Slaying Circle!"
Huge orbs of light appeared above Reimu, spheres Chris is well familiar with, and completely covering their view of the sky as it rains down onto the ECHO.
A large dust cloud kicks up where the ECHO once stood and Reimu pats the dust off of her shoulder.
"You used your strongest spell card on that? Good call!" said Chris.
"Yeah… well I'm tired and I want to go home now," said Reimu walking away from the field.
However everyone stopped and looked back behind them where Reimu blasted the ECHO with her spell card and their face etch with horror and the ECHO was still alive and standing.
The giant ECHO stood up, shaking off the dirt on its body as it shook off Reimu's Dragon Slaying Circle attack like it was nothing. This raw power and brute endurance, as well as amazing speed for its bulk, could this be a high-level ECHO!
"Hey Reimu…," asked Chris with a worried expression watching in horror as the ECHO grins at them with a playfully evil smirk.
"Yeah…," Reimu replied back with the same worried expression as the ECHO roared out a battle cry.
"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Chris echoes out Reimu's thoughts as well as the giant axe-wielding ECHO charges in at them.
"ECHOOOO!"
Author's Note: Finally it's done! I'm sorry everyone for taking so long with this chapter, but I had to work on some of my College projects as I was nearing the end of my semester and I also have my job to do as well so real life got in the way, but what doesn't it?
But seriously Chris? Twice in one day… first Yukari, and now Mokou? You naughty, naughty boy. :P
Anyway the chapter is up and we get more closure on Chris's Ki abilities as well as him picking up a new trick. I wanted to show that despite Chris's amazing abilities, he has quite a lot of shortcomings that he works around by inventing these little tricks which helped during his duel with Marisa, who is one of the strongest characters, as well as too show that he isn't all that powerful due to his Ki output control and his stamina levels. Plus Virus is helping fixing his body so he longer feels no more pain using Ki, Chris has high tolerance towards pain which is why is doesn't bother him.
And yes, Chris was beaten even in his Super Level or Super Human form during a small duel with Vincent before as Vincent outflank him and took him down (though Chris did put up a fight). Chris has lost all of his matches with his uncle. And if his sister was the main character instead of him, she will be more powerful and faster than him due to his body being less adaptive towards Ki unlike her. Hopefully I didn't stretch the power levels there too much, but I wanted to show Chris is weaker than you first thought. Also, though I didn't mention it, the fight between them was a hand-to-hand combat so Chris didn't use his swords for most of his bouts with Vincent (until the Super form) and the two of them simply used their own inner Ki to enchant their abilities so Chris didn't absorb his enemy's energy.
And once more the Ability Cancel got even more features, but I believe that's it. His Ability Cancel covers even natural abilities and toxins, however it makes him have higher resistance towards aliments not totally immunity, and he can halve natural abilities but he has to remove their weakness too to balance it out or he can solely seal their weakness only for longer durations to help his comrades in fights if they're in trouble. It also has a cool down effect so Chris cannot recast his Ability Cancel one after the another, just to give the ability a more fairness to it as well as it cannot stockpile his ability.
As you have noticed I gave Mokou a new Spell Card exclusive to this story, so as I remind to people there will be new Spell Cards just for this story to be on the lookout for them like with Marisa's Master Hand spell card earlier before.
And since we're on talking about Mokou a bit, I wanted to digress that I plan to have Chris get on some bad footings with some of the girls (wanted be so fun if they like him the first time) and that he has to spend time with them to gain their trust like Mokou. She doesn't hate him, though she doesn't like him yet, and she hardly trusts him which is good for Chris to work on his social skills even more.
And you get to see Arianna, Chris's little sister, was like and also how Chris was during his youth. Arianna loves her big brother and admires him, but she loves to tease him and get what she wants from him as a mischievous little girl with a loveable, adorable personality while Chris has a cold distant look in his face showing how different he was compare to the current him with his gentle friendly eyes.
Finally we have another boss fight with another ECHO! And it's one of the strongest one they have encounter yet, so I left it there to leave you all in anticipation for the next chapter is it will be one hell of a brawl! But it will probably be under 10,000 words since it's mostly a fighting chapter, but I do hope you look forward to it! The next two chapters will be out earlier than this one, so I conmen you for your patients and I hope you look forward to the next chapter!
I like to know what your thoughts and feedbacks are, even criticism is welcome (if it's welcome) so I can correct myself.
This is VirusChris signing off! Immense yourself in the world of Gensokyo!
Disclaimer: Touhou is property of ZUN, Team Shanghai Alice, and all characters, except for my own original characters in this story, to them.