東方要塞 ~ The Western Impact
Touhou Yousai ~ The Western Impact
Touhou Project / Team Fortress 2 crossover fanfiction by FinnOtaku
I don't own the games that are being used as the base of this work of fiction. Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice and Team Fortress 2 is owned by Valve.
Chapter 6: Done-Mac-U
The Miracle Mallet Incident.
Not many are familiar with the event or even with the name, but those who are, they remember it mostly as the weaker youkai's attempt to turn the society upside-down.
During that time, the usually quiet youkai had suddenly began to act more violent and sinister towards those who were stronger than them. And for a while, it seemed like they might've actually succeeded with their social upheaval, given a bit more time.
Though oddly enough, the weaker youkai's rage had vanished nearly as quickly as it had settled in, to the extent that from your average human's point of view, that period of time went by like pretty much any other that had came before.
...But that wasn't all that took place back then, far from it.
While the youkai were rampaging all over the place, many failed to notice the sudden disappearance of their tools and other artifacts. Although, anyone who had lost something would've had little to no time to even realize that, since all of them had their hands full with these strange youkai that were claiming to be taking revenge on them for - as the youkai oddly put it - "abusement". However, despite the claims, these attempts to settle the score didn't end up to be that serious, and they were mostly ensued by hilarity and mild confusion.
And it was only after the incident that the people involved realized what these particular youkai actually were; tsukumogami, spirits of these lost objects, prematurely brought to life by the power of the Miracle Mallet. But as the weaker youkai had begun to calm down, these tsukumogami slowly began to lose their power, and many slowly reverted back to their original forms, as inanimate objects...
Many, but not all of them.
"Don't give up... Fiiight..." Kourin shoddily cheered for his troubled companion, still struggling with Mystia's guitar.
"S-Shut up, I've almost got it!" Tokiko shouted back, her face shining red with embarrassment, since it had taken her almost five hours to get this far.
She had finally managed to tune all but one string, and with all the experience she had learned these last couple of hours, she slowly began to adjust the final string. Slowly, she kept turning the final knob, and plucking the string next to the final one to hear whether they match or not. She kept turning and plucking, repeating this simple pattern, until she finally...
"Hiya, all!" a voice shout out, as the front door was suddenly slammed open.
"Kya!" Tokiko yelped, shocked by the sudden interruption. But as she did, she somehow managed to get her right-hand thumb under the final string, and with a downward swing of her arm - out of surprise - she snapped the string in half. "...Ah."
"Yo, we're back!" another voice called out through the door, as the two entered the store.
"Ah. Yatsu, Raiko", Kourin said, as he turned his gaze towards the door and recognized the two. "Welcome back, glad to see you're safe... Hm? Where's Benben?"
"Huh, Benben?" Raiko asked as she turned around, and after a moment, she went to the door and took a look outside. "...Hey, Benben! If something had been following us, it would've shown itself by now!"
A moment later, the flustered tsukumogami teeter-tottered her way inside the store, and firmly closed the door behind her.
"S-sorry, I was a bit too nervous", Benben said, as she lifted a shopping bag on the counter in front of Kourin.
"Nah, it's okay. Anyone could be on edge after something like that", Raiko tried to comfort her.
"Huh, really?" Yatsuhashi blurted. "'Cause I'm not really that-"
"Yaaa-tsuuu-haaa-shiii-san", Tokiko suddenly called out, putting her hand slowly on the oblivious koto girl's shoulder. "Can I have a moment with you, please?"
"Hm? What's wrong, Tokitoki? ...Hey, are you still working with that guit-OWOWOWOW!"
"Don't you know how to knock, you dumbass?! I almost got that last one!"
"Uuh, Benben, Raiko, how about we go and take the groceries to the kitchen?" Kourin proposed, as he tried to ignore the nasty sight, that was the bookworm's armlock.
"Yeah, it would be bad if the food were to get spoiled", Raiko bluntly agreed, as she silently grabbed the bag brought in by Yatsuhashi.
"Yes, really bad", Benben agreed, as she followed the other two through the doorway.
"H-Hey! Don't leave me beh-ugh!"
"I still have some business with you!"
"Nooooo-"
Benben closed the door behind her, muffling the two's quarrel.
"Forgive me, my dear little sister. I shall avenge your downfall... Someday..."
"Relax, she'll be just fine, Tokiko's just letting out a bit more steam than usual", Kourin said, as he was emptying one of the shopping bags on the table.
"But still, why is she that determined to tune that thing?" Raiko asked, as she was taking some vegetables out of other bag. "She doesn't seem that good at it, really. Did that night bird blackmail her or...?"
"Free meal times three", Kourin replied, while he was checking the refrigerator for a spot for a chunk of meat.
"...Huh. Figures..." Raiko noted, as she began to pile the vegetables in a small basket.
"...So, what happened out there? Since you all got back here safely, that light show wasn't apparently that much of a deal."
For a moment, Raiko seemed a bit unsure whether to tell him or not, but as Benben didn't seem as uncertain, she decided to fill Kourin in.
"Well, we were pretty much done with our shopping, when that light thing began to crash down towards the village. But by the time I was ready to fend it off, it suddenly split into these even smaller pieces halfway down. I couldn't really see how many though, since there was this huge flash when they got separated."
"Ooh, so that's what it was. It filled the whole shop with light for a moment here."
"I wouldn't be surprised... After that, since nothing seemed to happen after those light things crashed, we finished our shopping and began to walk our way back here. Prepared for an assault, of course."
"Yes... It was rather nerve-wracking..." Benben joined in. "We kept looking around, trying to find anything strange, not knowing whether there would be any strangers lurking around..."
"Hmm... Well, seems like you all made back here just fine without any strange encounte-"
"We did find something", Raiko interrupted.
"...Huh?"
"A red wooden warehouse. It had appeared quite close to the Human Village, next to that little river that flows towards the Misty Lake..."
You... You have to be kidding me, right?
"Puppeteer Sign: Maiden's Bunraku!" Alice shouted.
How can they be still going this strong after so many hits?
"Rain Sign: A Rainy Night's Ghost Story!" Kogasa replied.
Is... Is this really how you're supposed to use these cards?!
For artifacts that appeared no more than pieces of paper with some foreign scribbles, Engineer had found himself quite baffled... No, shocked by the way that these things seems to be used.
As soon as one got "activated", the user was engulfed by this strange... aura-y thing, and the user began to create these strange lights out of thin air, using them as some form of ammunition. The first thing Engineer was able to ascertain about these lights was rather plain to see. There were a lot of them.
A lot.
But as he kept observing this strange battle, he eventually noticed something much more peculiar. These strange clumps of light. Had a pattern.
For every row of light shot, there was another row just like that ready to follow up. With the exact same number of lights and in the exact same formation.
For every action taken by one red light, the exact same action is immediately repeated by another red light. Such as shooting out smaller red lights that in turn shoot out even smaller red lights.
But how is that possible? Creating anything from thin air should be an impossibility in itself, but creating these waves of light in such a calculated manner to make such symmetrical patterns... For Engineer, a man of science, such a feat is nearly as incomprehensible as the concept of magic.
Another thing that had caught Engineer's attention was the two's durability. They've both taken some considerable damage from each other's bombardments, at least from his perspective. And yet, neither of them has shown any sign of as equal wear, and they've just kept shooting their light clumps and-
"Danmaku!" Kogasa suddenly shouted, pointing at Engineer.
"...Uh? W-What?"
"The clumps! They have a name! Hey, you, dumbo", Kogasa kept going, now pointing at Alice, "what's the big idea, covering only half of the basics like that?!"
"Wha-?! Who're you calling a dumbo?!" Alice shouted back as she grabbed one of her dolls and threw it straight towards the umbrella girl's face.
"Bugah!"
And it hit the target.
"Ugh... But isn't it obvious? Danmaku is as important part of these battles as spell cards!" Kogasa replied, taking the doll in her hands.
"Explaining that would've been much harder than explaining the spell cards! How would you describe danmaku, if you're so certain about that?!"
"Huh, what do you mean? Bullet hell, what else?"
"...Oooh, that makes sense", Alice suddenly admitted.
No, no, no, no, what you're playing with are definitely not bullets! Engineer thought to himself, with an equally dumbfounded expression to reflect on that. Although, it does seem like hell to dodge them all.
"K-Krhm!" Alice coughed, as she decided to return to the real subject at hand. "Anyhow, you've certainly shown some determination with your attacks now, but I'm afraid I can't fiddle around any longer. Prepare yourself, the next attack will settle this!"
Kogasa was quick to react on the claim, as she took out the umbrella, opened it, and set it up in front of her. As Alice was observing her opponent, she began to ponder what spell card would be the most effective against this girl. But as she kept observing the umbrella girl, she slowly became to realize quite a major error in her judgement.
Crap, it's been so long that I had forgotten about this trait. If I were to launch a trickier spell card and try to overpower her with bullets, she would just begin to spin that umbrella, deflecting all the bullets and giving her a pretty good chance to counterattack. But if I try to get around it and shoot with a curve, I might put mister Dell in danger by stray bullets... Seems like I shouldn't have said that out loud.
"Hmm, what's this? You're not taking your turn?" Kogasa inquired, peeking behind the umbrella with a huge grin on her face. "If you won't come for me, then I guess I'll come for you!"
"Aah, n-no! I'm still doing this!" Alice said, trying to look prepared to attack as she slowly moved her free hand close to her cards, held by the other hand.
This is bad, I can't let her use any of her trickier spell cards either! Nearly all of them shoot to the sides with a curve, I'm the one who has to take the initiative now! Calm down Alice, there must be something that can take her out without...! Huh?
As Alice was gazing upon her cards, her attention was oddly caught by a certain card in the middle. At first, she wasn't quite sure why that particular card had caught her attention, but the more she thought about it, the more she understood that this was her best chance to end this duel without human casualties.
...Hm, a bit underhanded, but I have no choice, Alice thought as she picked up the card.
"Here goes!" Alice shouted, making Kogasa retreat back behind the umbrella. "Magic Sign: Artful Sacrifice!"
The card glowed for a moment, until the glow evaporated from the card, and began to engulf Alice instead. Ready to counter, Kogasa began to spin around her umbrella, with enough speed to make it look like a purple circle, with a line of red and a bit of white in the middle. But as she kept doing that for a moment and two, she quickly realized that something was off.
...Wait, where are the bullets? I don't hear anything, and I don't feel any pressure coming from Alice-san... Was that a bluff?
"Since you know so much about danmaku, allow me to tell you something about spell cards", Alice shouted over the whirling sound of the umbrella, making Kogasa concentrate on her defence again. "When activating a spell card, the user is able to perform certain attacks that could otherwise require much more concentration and magical power due to the complex nature of some of these attacks. But you know this already, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah! What's your point?!"
"But did you know this; the spell cards aren't bound to danmaku alone!"
Huh? What's that supposed to-?!
Kogasa suddenly noticed the doll - the one thrown at her earlier - cuddling her vest. But as soon as she had noticed it, the doll began to emit strong bright glow, rapidly consuming the whole doll.
Wha-?! It can't be-!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The doll exploded, sending the umbrella girl straight to the ground, and knocking her unconscious on the impact.
"...Game, set, match, and apologies", Alice stated, as she floated back down, and put the rest of her cards away. "And that, mister Dell, is how you battle with spell cards. Any questions?"
"...Questions?" Engineer said, as he crawled out of his shelter. "Heh, miss Alice, you just fought this girl with magical cards, light bullets and dolls. While flying. Even if I were to ask ya somethin', I'm pretty sure I wouldn't understand a thing you'd say in return."
Hmm, figures... Alice thought to herself, giving out a bit of a sigh. But can't really blame him, he's just driven by human logic.
"...Although, that being said... Is the girl going to be all right?"
Alice turned her head back to the steaming umbrella girl, now twitching on the ground.
"Uuh... Now that you mentioned it, that might've actually been a bit too much for someone like her", Alice admitted with a bit of a guilty tone, as she walked up to Kogasa. "...Hmm, I guess there's no helping it. The antique shop where she hangs out isn't that far from here, we should take her there to heal up."
"W-Wait, what, really?! After all that trouble ya just went through?" Engineer asked, as some of Alice's dolls flew down beside the umbrella girl, crawled their way underneath her, and lifted the girl up on the puppeteer's arms.
"Mister Dell, would you leave a child in the woods, if one were to trip over and hurt their leg while playing hide-and-seek with you?" Alice asked, walking past Engineer.
"...I see", Engineer mumbled, taking the question as a human equivalent - as absurd as it sounds - of what had just occurred.
And now, after the battle was over, the three of them began to head for Kourindou.
"And that pretty much covers it, nothing else has really happened since then", Wriggle concluded, after she and the other two had finished their briefing about the morning's incident.
"Awawawaa... All that happened while I was asleep?" Kyouko weeped. "That's scary!"
"W-Well, I was woken up by these strange noises, but I wouldn't have thought it had been something like that", Mystia agreed with an unsettling look on her face.
"Wheeeh... Now I don't want to go alone out there..." Kyouko mumbled, as she handed her empty breakfast plate back to Mystia. "What if something happens to me on my way back to the temple?!"
"Yes! Yes! I know the feeling!" Daiyousei agreed, while nodding with quite an enthusiasm. "Wriggle-chan, we should stay here until the situation settles down!"
"Dai-chan, we just established that there is no situation to settle down..." Wriggle said, with a bit of an embarrassed tone. "And I think someone needs to take Kyouko-san back to her temple, I think that was a little harsh on her..."
"K-Kyouko-chan, I'm sure no one would eat someone as cute as you", Mystia tried to comfort Kyouko, leaning on the table while covering her face.
"That's right Kyouko-chan", Wakasagi joined in. "The worst that could happen would be them going after your ribs."
"W-Waka-chan!"
"Eh, that's not it? Umm... Ah, thighs. It must be the thighs, right?"
If there ever were to be a comic of these events, this would be the part where the yamabiko is oozing with depression.
"...Huh? That's not it either?" Wakasagi asked, when everyone else had suddenly fallen silent.
"And they say ignorance is a bliss..." Wriggle mumbled, as she walked to the yamabiko and grabbed her shoulder. "Kyouko, it'll be okay, I'll take you back to your temple."
"Eh?" Kyouko wakened from her depressive slumber, not sure whether that should make her feel safe or not. "B-But if something tries to attack us..."
"Then I'll just have to hit that something so hard it'll poop out it's skull", Wriggle tried to reassure the yamabiko.
...But she quickly noticed that her choice of words didn't exactly bring reassurance. To anyone.
"Ah. I-I meant... That I'll subdue that something... Or something..." Wriggle tried to rephrase it. And once she thought she had done it well enough, she took the yamabiko's hand in her grip. "A-Anyway, I'll protect you, so let's just get you back to the temple, okay?"
"O-Okay..." Kyouko replied, as she was still pondering, whether this is truly a good idea or not.
"I wonder if she's going to be all right?" Wakasagi wondered, as the two opened the front door.
"T-There's no need to worry, Wriggle isn't like that, really", Mystia said, as she finally handed the mermaid her salmon dish, "And she may not look like it, but her kicks pack nearly as much power as miss Meiling's from the Scarlet Devil Ma-"
"Wheeeh! What's with this smoke?! It's scary!"
"K-Kyouko! It's just mist! Come back here!"
"...I wonder if she's going to be all right?" Wakasagi repeated, now chewing down her meal.
"F-Fine, I get your point..."
"Hm? What point?"
"And... huff... and that's not all. Come out now, and I'll call off the deal about... puff... about me sticking my bat up your... huff... up your... puff... Oh man, this isn't good..."
The bizarre act was slowly draining away Scout's quirkiness and strength. Or rather, the way he has been conducting it. He had been running around and shouting his demands at the same time, all while being under an intense sunlight from a cloudless blue sky.
At first, he thought he was ready to take on anything this odd situation had to offer, as long as he had the bottle of water in his bag. But as the first time to take a gulp had finally turned up, the realization finally struck him as he reached his hand into an empty bag.
Had he given it more thought, it probably would've made sense to him, since he was just minding his own business at a humid facility before suddenly ending up here. Dehydration by sweating wasn't really one of the major threats to be considered at the time.
But not being one of those thoughtful guys, he completely skipped that train of thought, and proceeded with the next step: Paniclike search for friends and a heavy metal album worth of screaming. And eventually, he reached the step number three; realization of his idiotic actions.
Damn, I need to get to a shelter, Scout thought as he was slowly walking towards a nearby building. I need to save my energy. If I keep doing this any longer, I might just end up like fried chicken in this heat. But if there really isn't anyone out here, I might actually...
"Here you go", a voice suddenly called out. And as Scout looked up, the first thing his eyes came across was a full plastic bottle of water, right in front of him.
"Ah! Gimme!" Scout grabbed the water bottle, opened it, and quickly emptied its content down his dried out throat. The relieving results were almost instant. "Oooh, thank you. You... huff... you just saved my ass here. This heat was literally killing... meee?"
But as Scout was handing the bottle back, something finally occurred to him: There was someone. Standing there. In front of him. A girl. With a box hat.
"Uuuuuuuh...? Where...? Who...?" Scout tried to find the right words, until the girl spoke up.
"Good morning to you, Mr. Infomercial!" the girl started, along with a smile and a firm shake of hands. "I'm the pure and honest tengu news reporter Shameimaru. Aya Shameimaru. Nice to meet you."
"A-A repor-? Well, hello, nice to meet you too", Scout replied at first, but the introduction wasn't quite enough to shake off his earlier confusion. "...No, wait, no! Where the hell did you come from?! Where the hell have you been hiding?! And... where the hell did you get this bottle, anyway?"
"Ah, I found it in a resupply room by that one huge pit. You seemed to be in a bit of a pinch, so I thought this would help you out."
"...But that room was locked, I checked the doors twice. How did you manage to open such a sturdy do-?"
"Anyhow, this might be a bit sudden, but can I have a bit of your time for a little interview?" Aya interrupted with a smiling face, making the Scout fall silent on the spot.
"...Well, what would you like to ask? Babe", Scout said, with eager gleaming in his eyes.
Boastful. Talkative. And most definitely dumb. Hmm, so far so good, Aya thought to herself in the back of her mind. But it would be best to keep him away from the pit, I don't want him to see the door I smashed in.
"First, I'd like to know who you are, mister...?"
"Please, just call me the Scout. Babe."
"Mmmh... I've never understood the restriction around here", Marisa mumbled, as she landed before the entrance to the Great Youkai Forest, at the foot of the Youkai Mountain. "Why can't people just ask whether they can fly over this forest? Those tengu just attack anyone on sight that try that, it's so dumb."
The Youkai Mountain. As the name implies, the area is inhabited mostly by youkai. But if it ever were to be renamed after it's more prevalent residents, the most likely candidate would be the Tengu Mountain. Or the Kappa Mountain, if technological proficiency were to be accounted for.
Anyone familiar with the mountain are usually familiar with this following warning: To get to the mountain, you must pass through the Great Youkai Forest. Outsiders flying their way in will be struck down by the Tengu Patrol... Although, even if one is not familiar with the warning, they most certainly will be.
It is not fully known why tengu guard the mountain like this, but the most common interpretation is that it prevents your usual youkai from leisurely coming in and getting themselves killed by their own ignorance. It is told that some of the tengu aren't really that fond of smartasses.
But if you enter through the forest, you can enter the mountain without any hassle. However, you must get through the forest's dark maze and past the residing Curse God, one that's rumored to bring misfortune upon anyone that dares to trespass it's lands.
...Is what they say, but from Marisa's perspective, the people that keep chanting that haven't probably even visited the mountain, let alone the forest. Although, for first-timers, she would recommend bringing sweets along with them. Lots of sweets.
"Upsy-daisy..." Marisa muttered, as she took a good grip on the bag, and began to advance into the woods. "Well, let's just get this over with."
But little did Marisa know, that had she been a bit more gutsy that time, she would've reached the Untrodden Valley by air quite easily, with no intervention. In fact, it would've been much safer for her, as she was soon about to find out.
"A warehouse, huh?" Kourin muttered as he took some more tea, sitting by the counter. "And you're certain that there wasn't anyone there, Raiko?"
"I haven't been around that long, but I do know how to sense the magical power of others. The amount that building was emitting was practically zero."
"But that wouldn't work with normal humans, right?"
"...Huuuh. You know, I didn't really think about that."
"No, no, Tokitoki, that's a C sharp, you're going the wrong way here!" Yatsuhashi pointed out, with her left-hand sleeve rolled up and the hand band-aided. "And you're holding the wrong part on the fifth string, you're supposed to hold this fourth one."
"Ah! I-I know that!" Tokiko claimed, changing the positioning of her left-hand fingers, her right hand strumming the newly attached guitar string. "But if you're so sure about this, why not just tune this yourself?"
"I can't, I don't know how."
"...Huh? But you know the note by merely hearing it, how do you not know how to tune a guitar like that?!"
"I don't know, but I know that you're doing it wrong."
"Damn you, Yatsu..."
"...Raiko, remind me, what exactly did you do with these two?" Kourin whispered, while pointing at the confusingly all-know Yatsuhashi, and then Benben, doing dishes in the kitchen. "Especially Yatsu, she was practically devastated after that whole upheaval thing cooled down. How on earth did you cheer her up?"
"...Haa. Kourin, she wanted to keep this newfound freedom no matter what, and I helped her and Benben to achieve that", Raiko whispered back. "Is it that strange to be happy about it?"
"P-Pardon me... But didn't that require leaving 'themselves' behind to find a new source of energy from the outside world? How did it go with them?"
"Well, with my past experience, we managed to do it surprisingly smoothly. Now, along with her original koto, Yatsu possess an outside world instrument known as electric guitar, while Benben is in possession of her biwa and an instrument known as acoustic bass. And by the looks of it", Raiko pointed at the corner of the room, "the past experience of these instruments has passed onto them in a form of common sense."
"Aah! Now you went too far! Now it's up to G!"
"Then tell me how much I should turn this thing!"
"I don't know, it just happens!"
"...And like common sense, it seems to be nearly as hard to put into words", Raiko noted, as the book-lover and koto girl kept quarreling in the corner of the room. Kourin consented with a nod.
And it was then when the front door's bell suddenly rang.
"Oh, welcome to Kourind- Huh, Alice-san?" Kourin said, as he recognized the incomer. And after Kourin let his gaze drop, he noticed a familiar girl being carried on the puppeteer's hands. "And Kogasa? What happened to her?"
"Good morning, Rinnosuke-san, and... Sorry about this", Alice said, as she walked to the counter. "We ended up having a rather heated battle of wits, and I just couldn't leave her like that out there."
"Danmaku, huh?" Kourin said, taking the unconscious girl and putting on a couch behind the counter. "...A bit strange time to play around though, if you ask me. What did she do to earn this, exactly?"
"Uhm, well, that's-"
"So these battles are just a form of 'playing around' here, I see", a voice suddenly called out behind Alice, making Kourin and Raiko flinch for a bit. And a moment later, a peculiar looking man walked from behind Alice and to the counter. "By the way, do you mind if I put this down for a moment, this toolbox?"
"Uh, oh, sure", Kourin managed to say, clearing some space on the table. The strange man put the red toolbox down, and began to do some stretches on his shoulder.
"Kourin, seems like you made a really good point about normal humans", Raiko spoke up, making the strange man's attention turn to the red-haired girl by the counter. "I didn't notice him at all before he spoke up, this guy has even less magical presence than the humans at the village."
"Uuuh... Thank you?" Engineer replied with a bit of a confused look, but nevertheless tilted his hardhat in a sign of appreciation. His eyes wandered around the shop for a bit, until he noticed that the two behind the counter were still staring at him with curiosity. "Oh, sorry, allow me introduce myself. The name's Dell Conagher, and I'm an engineer... Though, a job title like that might not be that common around here these parts."
"Hm, so you're like Nitori-san, then?" Kourin suddenly stated.
"Eh? W-What...?"
"Ah, pardon me, my name is Rinnosuke Morichika. I'm the owner of this antique shop... Well, that being said, I don't really remember when was the last time I've actually sold anything..."
"Then that would make two of us... And my name is Raiko Horikawa, a drum tsukumogami, and the proud leader of the movement dedicated to set the tools free from the evil clutches of the-!"
"Rinnosuke, was it?"
"Well, that or Kourin, I'm fine either way."
"...H-Hey..."
"Okay then, mister Kourin, can you tell me a little more about this... Nitori Sun fellow?"
"Buuu... Fine, I didn't want to share my ambitions with you anyway..." Raiko pouted, as she climbed back down from the table.
"Oh, that's right, I haven't told you about her yet", Alice took part in the conversation. "When I said that Marisa was going to see a friend of hers, I actually meant Nitori-san... And, now that I think about it, I kinda understand why Marisa was so eager to go to her and show off the things she had found."
"Krhm!" Engineer coughed, while clearly facing the puppeteer with a bit of an angry look.
"...Stolen. Things she had stolen", Alice corrected herself.
"...So, if Marisa had done her thing with mister Dell here", Kourin said, as he opened one of the drawers of the counter and picked something up, "would it be safe to assume that this belongs to you?"
Kourin placed an odd looking wrench on the table, the one with a spiked knuckle guard.
"Ah! Th-That's one of my wrenches!" Engineer exclaimed, taking the wrench in his hands and cleaning the bit of dirt it seemed to have gathered. "Where did you get this?"
"Marisa came here on her way to the mountain, she dropped a bag of mushrooms here while taking another one with her. Seems like she dropped that on her way."
"I see... thank you", Engineer replied, putting the wrench away in his pocket. "...So, now that we've brought this girl here", Engineer pointed at the girl lying on the couch, "I'd say we should keep going, Alice. So, how long do you think it takes us to reach there that mountain?"
"Well, let's see, first we need to go towards Remilia's mansion, then there's a path that takes to the Great Youkai Forest, and then we'll be going through that dark maze..." Alice mumbled, before she abruptly stopped.
Waiting patiently, Engineer kept staring at the puppeteer, but as he did, he slowly began to notice the sweat drops gathering around the puppeteer's face, and that her face had taken an unnaturally stiff posture. The longer the puppeteer kept silent, the more time the Engineer had time to put the pieces together, and finally settled with an unsettling deduction.
"...Miss Alice", Engineer started.
"Y-Yes?" Alice replied, with the stiffness still evident on her face.
"Have you ever been to that mountain, by yourself?"
"N-Not really..."
"You've always gone with that Marisa girl, right?"
"P-Pretty much..."
"...Do you know how to get through that dark maze?"
"...I'm sorry", Alice finally moved and crouched on the floor, covering her face out of shame. Again.
Well then, I reckon that's that, Engineer thought to himself, making a little palm on his face. For a monster she's supposed to be, she really does act like a human being.
"...You know, if you need help to get to that mountain, you can always ask her", Raiko suddenly spoke up, and when Engineer faced the red-haired girl, he noticed that she was pointing at the umbrella girl lying on the couch.
"...Uuh, if you haven't figured it out already, this isn't really a time to be joking around, missy. I saw what happened to her, I'm pretty sure the girl's unconscious."
"No she's not, I just checked, she was smirking like crazy just now."
"Ah! Raiko, shhhhh!" Kogasa suddenly moved, now making hushing motion towards the drum girl. Needless to say, the sudden motion from the supposedly blacked out girl made the Engineer a bit jumpy. But as soon Kogasa noticed Engineer, she quickly turned her head back to face the couch, apparently assuming that this way everyone would think that this was just part of their imagination.
Wha-? She was smashed straight to the ground head first and she's fine?! Just how durable is that girl?!
But as he had just finished the thought, he suddenly got an idea. Ever since that strange Done-Mac-U battle, there has been one thing that Engineer had wanted to verify.
His gaze moved to his red toolbox.
"Uum, Kogasa was it? If I show you what's within this red toolbox, will you show me and Alice here the way through that maze up in the mountain?" Engineer said, tapping the toolbox on the table.
"Huh?! But mister Dell", Alice said with a confused look, as she stood back up, "I just fought her so you wouldn't have to show what's in the-!"
"You promise?" Kogasa called out, slowly turning her head to reveal her excited, and completely healthy gaze.
"Yeah, I promise."
"Yay!" Kogasa celebrated as she jumped off the couch and stood in front of the toolbox. "Serves you right you puppeteer, I got exactly what I wanted!"
"Why you little..." Alice mumbled with a bit of a frustrated look on her face.
"Miss Alice, could you stand behind me for a bit?" Engineer whispered, seeming to calm her down a bit. "Also, mister Kourin, could you go stand behind this missy over here for a moment, please?"
"Hey, I have a name, you know..." Raiko noted, with a bit of an annoyed tone.
"Hurry up, hurry up, I wanna see it!" Kogasa demanded with excitement.
Engineer opened the box's socket, and the thing inside the box suddenly began to move on it's own. The thing kept spinning around, apparently putting itself together, and after a while, the little contraption eventually stood tall.
Be-beep!
Pow! Pow! Pow!
"Hey, wha-?! Ow! It stings!" Kogasa wailed, when the little thing suddenly pointed at her began to make strange Pow! noises. And every time it made that sound, she felt a stingy feeling on her body. "Why-?! Ow! Make it-! Ow! Make it stop! Ow!"
Engineer pressed a button on the top of the little thing, and the thing quieted down.
"...Alice, would it be safe to assume that this girl is among the weakest beings around here?" Engineer asked.
"Uh, well, yeah. Basically, I guess", Alice said, seemingly uncertain whether she should be either afraid or amused by this little thing now standing on the table.
"I see... Then, I guess my weapons would be most ineffective against someone like you. The amount of bullets shot to this gal here should've made her fall on the ground by now."
Kogasa was still standing, but instead of showing any signs of falling over, she was coughing. The bullets, that is, every single one of them. Engineer could tell, since the girl was facing the other way. Her back was completely missing the exit wounds.
"Ow, hot..." Kogasa mumbled, as she took another one off her tongue.
"...That was it?" Alice asked with disbelief. "That was your plan B? But how are you going to protect yourself now if some strange monster comes and tries to-?"
"Apparently with nothing, I'd be completely helpless if I were to come across something like that out there..." Engineer said, leaning on the table with a slightly frustrated expression. He soon faced the puppeteer again. "I hate to admit it, but that means you're my only hope to get my weapons back now. I hope you're being sincere about helping me with this."
"...I see. I won't let you down!" Alice ensured. "...Hopefully."
"Just... Just try to get me there alive, okay? Let's start with that."
"Bleagh!" Kogasa sounded, when she finally managed to spit out the last one of the bullets. "That was terrible! Why would you do something like that?!"
"Hey, it was you who wanted to see inside the box", Engineer noted. "And now, will you be so kind to show us the way up on that mountain?"
Kogasa looked rather unwilling. Not really an odd thing, though.
"Kogasa, a promise is a promise", Kourin noted. "And as unfair as it seems, he did reveal his only way of self-defence just for the sake of your curiosity."
Kogasa flinched a bit, out of quilt.
"And they did go through all that trouble to carry you all the way back here", Raiko added, with bit of a teasing tone. "And that puppeteer was generous enough to play with you, even though she was busy guiding this guy back to his precious tools, stolen by that wicked-"
"Okay, okay! I get it, I'm going!" Kogasa let out, and with a pouting frustrated face, she stomped her way to the front door. "Come on! Let's just get this over with!"
"Much obliged", Engineer tilted his hardhat, following the umbrella girl outside the store.
"Haah, I hope this works out..." Alice sighed, following the two and closing the door behind her.
"...And there they go", Raiko said, sitting back on the chair. "If something like him is all this whole thing has to offer, I'd say we're more than safe."
"Hm, seems like it", Kourin agreed, as he took another cookie off the tray.
"...Uuh, I think this is good enough", Tokiko stated, as she strummed the last two strings.
"I don't know, it doesn't sound that right to me", Yatsuhashi said.
"I just can't get this any better than this. I just hope that Mysti finds this good enou-"
The door suddenly opened again, accompanied by Engineer, and he quickly walked his way to the troubled corner of the room. And before Tokiko could even react, the man snatched the guitar out of her hands.
"Young girl, these ain't some things you can just do by glancing through a book!" Engineer grumped, as he strummed the guitar and turned it's nods. "You can't just settle with a 'kinda' similar sound. No, you just have to turn, turn, and turn, until ya get the sound just right!"
But before she could even reply, Engineer handed the guitar back to Tokiko, and walked his way out of the store again.
It took a little while for her to shake out her confusion, but once she did, Tokiko slowly strummed the guitar's strings, comparing them to one another. But once she had strummed all of the strings, all it took was one glance on the koto girl's gleaming face to confirm it.
"T-That... Is... Perfect!" Yatsuhashi cried out of admiration, holding her face like a girl who's being carried by the prince of her dreams.
...Huh, seems like I will be getting some free meal tickets after all, Tokiko thought, as a small smile slowly spread on her face.
"...Found him", Momiji mumbled, as her farsighted gaze finally came across her target, hiding within the Great Youkai Forest. She took out one of the inventions given her by Nitori, a device called a 'Ray-dio'. "Monji, the target is about 600 meters to the right of your team. Search through the bushes."
"Understood", the voice called out through the device. "What's your status?"
"My team's about 3 kilometers away from the target, but you should be able to subdue him pretty easily. By the looks of it, he's merely a human."
"So we need to go easy on him, then. What's our target's characteristics?"
Momiji concentrated on her eyes again, making her gaze dash through the darkness of the woods, and stopping by the spot he had found this mysterious figure. One of the Tengu of her team took a good grip on Momiji, navigating her from branch to branch as she tried to get a good look on their target.
"...As I stated, the target is a male... With a brown hat, sunglasses... A scar on his nose and cheek, under his left eye.." Momiji listed, as her own team dashed through the woods. "...He's on the ground, lying on his stomach and..."
Something suddenly flashed near this stranger, making Momiji accidentally blink and lose her focus on her eyes. And as she adjusted her eyes to her own surroundings, a loud Bang! suddenly echoed through the woods, coming from the direction her team was heading.
Momiji waved her hands to halt the team.
"Monji, did you hear that? What was that?" Momiji asked through the device.
...A moment passed. And another. But no one called back.
"Monji! Do you hear me?!" Momiji asked again, getting quite nervous.
"...Y-Yeah, I hear you. We're fine, kinda..." the voice called out through the device, easing Momiji's fears. "He got us, seems like our target has one of those 'guns' that some of those kappa are so excited about back at the valley."
"What happened?"
"We were going in a straight line towards him... It was a mistake, he shot and managed to hit every single one of us. My team have to call this off, we can't keep going with only one leg per patroller."
"...And the target?"
"By the sound of it-Ow! ...He's making a run for it, further within the woods."
"I see..." Momiji said, as she put the device away, and waved to her team to advance again. "Monji's team is just up ahead! Half of you", Momiji waved her left hand, "will help them to get back to the valley and get them treated properly, and the other half", she waved her right hand, "will come with me to pursue the target. Is this understood?"
"Yes!" the other patrollers called out.
"And the ones coming with me, we better spread out. We're dealing with long-range weaponry here, and we don't know whether our target's intention was really to just immobilize Monji's team or not... Keep an eye out for the Sniper!"
Chapter 6 Afterword:
Hey, it didn't take half a year. Yay! :-D
But if this keeps going with this speed, I don't think I'll reach the half-point of this arc in about... Another year or two, hopefully not. X-(
But I hope you enjoyed this chapter, looks like it's the longest one so far. Well, until next time, see ya. :-3