Look to the Eastern Sky
Book One of the Clockwork Devils
Written by Achariyth
Under the shrine maiden's watchful gaze, a dozen soldiers stepped across the veil of Maya, and illusion became reality. As Momiji and Mokou lead the wolf tengu into Japan, Reimu sighed wistfully.
"Reimu," Yukari said. The boundary youkai stepped next to the shrine maiden and watched as the last soldier disappeared from view.
"I know," Reimu said, still staring at where the wolves crossed over. She looked at Yukari and flashed a wan smile. "It's all your fault."
The boundary youkai hid her shock behind narrow eyes and her ever-present fan. "Really?"
Reimu sighed. "I should have never listened to you when you told me to start training. I would have never had this power if it wasn't for you, and I could-"
"I seem to remember someone being so eager to learn," Yukari said, interrupting. She eyed Reimu coolly. "Stop pouting, it doesn't become you. Besides, we have work-"
Yukari's fan clattered to the floor as the youkai vanished in mid sentence. Reimu-holding-Yukari smiled as she channeled the essence of Yukari Yakumo in the center of her being. Yukari's training had proven useful after all.
That was rude, Yukari-held-by-Reimu complained, her voice and presence a buzzing ember in the shrine maiden's mind. Ask next time, or at least warn me.
The faster we fix this mess, the faster I can protect my people. You know, my other duty. Reimu-holding-Yukari snapped at the presence within. The shrine maiden sat down on the steps of her shrine, closed her eyes, and meditated. An image of their lands circumscribed in golden light filled her mind before slipping away into a rapidly shifting jumble of random images and sounds.
You're breaking my concentration. Channeler and channeled complained alike.
You've been using your power like that? Yukari-held-by-Reimu said bemusedly. Ooguninushi no Mikoto? Little priestesses might not want to spy on a god like that or they're going to waddle around their shrines with a belly full soon. Still, he is quite handsome, so I can't really blame you.
Stop snooping! Reimu-holding-Yukari snapped, her cheeks glowing as red as her clothes.
Shield your thoughts then. Yorihime should have taught you better. Yukari-held-by-Reimu said. Her mind glow turned to mock horror. Aren't we full of ourselves? What would Gensokyo do without its shrine maiden?
Whatever. Reimu-holding-Yukari said in a sullen manner. Let's just get to work.
Chapter 4 - Drawing Out Leviathan
Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
Its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
They retreat before its thrashing.
Arrows do not make it flee;
Slingstones are like chaff to it.
Nothing on earth is its equal-
A creature without fear.
It looks down on all that are haughty;
It is king over all the children of pride.
-Job 41:19, 25, 28, 33, 34
Lady Mokou Fujiwara crouched down behind a fallen tree trunk next to Momiji. Her eyes sought the wolf sergeant's, waiting for her cue. It had taken longer than she had expected to fly out of the shrine and onto the Japanese side of the barrier. Seeing the golden shimmer on the wrong side only added to the phoenix girl's fidgeting. Japan held too many vivid memories for the immortal; most of them she wished she could forget.
Momiji had chosen this ground, filled with stone and scattered trees and brush. With their backs to the barrier, the wolf tengu sergeant had selected a perfect spot to ambush a being traveling alongside Gensokyo's magical wall. All the squad had to do now was wait.
Mokou hated waiting. Staying in one place for too long tended to create those vivid memories that now plagued her mind. It did not help that she was alone with her dark thoughts; the squad was spread out and centered on Momiji. While she had better fieldcraft than to drum her fingers against the tree trunk, the phoenix girl quivered as she strained for any sight of the Blue Djinn or anything else to break the monotony and fell mood.
She felt the wolf warrior's presence next to her; Momiji had not made a sound as she drew near. "Calm down," the sergeant said in a low voice. A whisper would have been louder.
"Easy for you to say," Mokou hissed, turning to face the newcomer.
Momiji frowned at the phoenix girl, her lips in a moue of thought. She reached out and undid the tall bow-like charm the duchess used to hold her hair. "I could see that a kilometer away," she said, pulling Mokou's long pale hair together and retying the charm at the base of the noblewoman's neck. "Not only that, but you need to calm down. You're going to burn yourself out."
"Somehow, I doubt that," Mokou said, pointing to the charms in her hair and on her pants. "And even if I did, the elixir would repair it."
"That not what I meant. You're still human, and there's a still a price for flooding your system with emotion and adrenaline," Momiji said, crouching closer to Mokou.
"Gee, thanks, Sarge," Mokou said, ignoring Momiji's icy glare at the nickname. "But shouldn't you be checking on your troops?"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Momiji said, shaking her head. Her voice grew sterner. "As I said, I could tell you were emotionally burning yourself out a kilometer away. There's a price for that. You were summoning your adrenaline too soon, which will leave you tired during the battle. And in battle, fear and fatigue are one and the same. I can't have you scared or it may catch to my soldiers. Flee, and my girls will follow. Flee, and we die faster than if we stood in place."
"Okay, I get it," Mokou said, rolling her eyes. While it felt good to have someone to talk to, she always resented lectures.
Momiji snorted. "No, you do not. It gets worse. Adrenaline saturation makes you stupid. As in 'let me dodge this small danmaku by jumping in front of a Master Spark' stupid. Or 'I'm being chased by Cirno so I'm going to trample Yuuka's sunflowers in my escape.' "It happens to everyone at one time or another. Just push the 'I Believe' button and sit!"
Mokou rolled her eyes again. For some reason the wolves loved making dog jokes.
A trilling birdcall pierced the air. Momiji placed a finger against her lips and signaled for her squad to hide. "What is he up to?" she muttered, pointing towards a dark blue figure.
Mokou pulled a spell card free. She took a deep breath and parted her lips.
"Remember," Momiji growled, before Mokou could started the traditional screaming of the spell card's name. "Only an idiot shouts 'here I am' before an ambush."
The phoenix girl flashed a quick glare before resuming her vigil over the field. Spell card in hand, Mokou watched the Djinn walk through the field. She could all but feel Momiji's hand hovering above her shoulder.
The hand fell, gripping Mokou's shoulder. Immediately, the spell card in her hand glowed white, erupting into fire that washed over field and foe alike. Seconds later, ten danmaku sprays streamed through the gaps in Mokou's Phoenix Tail. Out of the corner of her eye, Mokou saw Momiji alone not firing. Instead, the wolf sergeant scanned the field, watching her squad and her enemy.
Caught in the middle of the field, away from cover or concealment, the Djinn stood in the center of an engulfing flame, a dark shadow seared within white fire.
"So, what are we doing here?" Alice asked, sliding off Marisa's broomstick and onto the grass.
"Nitori always has a few good gadgets," Marisa said. The witch stood up off her broom and used it like a walking stick. "She has to have something I can use on that Djinn."
"And how would you know this?" Alice said, setting her Shanghai doll on her shoulder. "Don't tell me you're stealing from someone new?"
"I used a couple of her gadgets when Utsuho was running rampant-" Marisa began, and then scowled. "Don't look at me like that. I used your dolls too."
"I gave you eight Hourai dolls," Alice said, walking along the water's edge. "That should be overkill for anything you could ever come across."
"You obviously haven't needed to get away from Koishi," Marisa muttered, as they approached a cave. "Hold on a moment."
Alice eyed the cave's mouth. A tall, thick berm of compacted clay had been built along the side of the entrance. Large craters dotted the earthen works at waist level. "Why?"
"Let's just say that the cave's entrance used to be much smaller…" Marisa said, pursing her lips. Her eyes searched the shadows. The witch took a ginger step towards the cave, and then another. She eased herself closer to the opening. "Hello? Nitorin?"
At the mention of the kappa's nickname, a thin red light lanced out of the dark, settling on the witch's apron. In the dark, servos whined and a ring of metal dropped into metal echoed loudly. Marisa's eyes widened, and she dove to her left. Dirt sprayed the cave from the new crater in the berm. Alice ran out to pick Marisa up, but the blonde rolled to her feet and waved the doll master away.
"Nitorin, it's me, Marisa!" she called out, scooping her witch's hat off the ground.
A mechanized voice chirped, "Engaging Kirisame protocols." The servos whined again, and a giant woven net flew through the air, pinning Marisa to the ground.
"Nitorin, whatever you think I did, it wasn't me," Marisa said, struggling to free her entangled limbs.
"Oh, please," Alice said as she cut at the net with her belt knife. The Shanghai had walked to the floor, cutting at the net as well. "And you wonder why Eki Shiki thinks you have a lying problem."
Marisa snorted, and turned her head. "Never told one in my life, Alice, and you know it. Alice-" The witch pointed to where another red light had settled on the puppet master's dress.
"Initiating rat elimination," the lifeless voice said tonelessly. Popping sounds echoed from inside the cave.
Alice dropped the knife, grabbed her skirts, and ran. An inferno erupted from the cave, chasing the doll master as she scrambled behind the earthen berm. The fire died down, leaving scorched earth in its wake.
"What the hell did I do to her?" Alice called out from her hiding spot. The Shanghai doll poked its head and a shaking clenched first out from behind Marisa. Parts of the net smoldered.
Marisa babbled as her mind rebooted. Settling down into coherency, Marisa yelled. "Damn it, Nitorin, your crap's gone bonkers again!"
"Oh, don't tell me the IFF's gone nuts again," a high-pitched voice said from inside the cave. "I hope it didn't made too much of a mess."
"The damn thing almost fried me, Nitorin," Marisa bellowed.
"Don't forget about me," Alice hollered.
"Marisa, is that you? Hold on, let me turn this thing off." The air filled with the cacophony of metal against metal, ending with a loud crash. "That should do it." A blue-haired kappa girl walked out of the cave.
"Are you out of your mind? Whatever that was almost killed me," Alice shouted, sliding down the earth works.
"Patchouli wanted something new for her library," Nitori said shrugging. The kappa inventor dug through a myriad of overburdened pockets in her denim dress. "She said she had problems with rats."
"I don't think she's worried about Nazrin," Alice said, glaring at Marisa. The witch's sticky fingers were legendary throughout Gensokyo.
Nitori cut through the net with a curved blade. The witch whistled as Alice pulled her to her feet. "This'll make the book raids even more fun."
"You're impossible," Alice said, shaking her head.
"Do come in," Nitori said, beckoning with her hands. "I have some tea brewing."
As the trio walked through the cave, Alice noticed an empty tripod surrounded by shattered plastic, metal, and circuitry. Something had embedded a wrench the length of her arm in the largest chunk of machinery. She looked up at the girlish kappa, who flashed a benign smile, and shuddered.
The white inferno dulled to red. The barrage of tengu fire slackened as flame spiraled into a ball around the head of the Djinn's mace.
"Get down!" Momiji shouted. Mokou dove to the ground, while Momiji tackled a nearby squad mate to the ground.
The first fireball caught a pair of wolf soldiers who heard the shouted warning too late. Only ash and shadow remained. The second blast caught another wolf that left a leg exposed while hiding. The leg vanished, mercifully cauterized by the same flame.
"Medic!" her partner howled, tying a tourniquet above her wounded friend's knee.
Mokou watched as a younger wolf tengu, Private Kaede, if she remembered right, dashed out from her cover. By this time, danmaku fire and actinic tears streaked across the field. Spell cards, lasers, and grapeshot patterns rippled towards the monster. Momiji's girls were going to get their own back.
Private Kaede, concentrating on the rush to the wounded, stumbled and fell. Mokou swore, flying out of her hiding place. The phoenix girl scooped the private up and shoved the girl to her feet and cover.
"Godsdammit, Mokou, get back here," Momiji bellowed. Rabies Bite, a thick swarm of danmaku that closed on its target like the jaws of a maddened wolf, tore towards the Djinn. "Let him have it! Pour it on!"
The Djinn deigned not to dodge the withering fire, but bore the brunt on his armor. Around him, silver disks multiplied rapidly as the phoenix girl ran back towards Momiji. An actinic teardrop shot out, catching Mokou center-mass in her chest. Between thermal bloom and hydrostatic shock, the phoenix girl's torso sublimed instantly into vapor.
An icy chill took hold of what was left of Mokou, then, darkness…
"I'm sorry, I don't often get human visitors," Nitori said, carrying an English teapot. She set it down on the long worktable. As she poured tea, she glanced at the Shanghai doll. "Or dolls. I'm sorry; I don't know the etiquette for this. Am I supposed to serve her?"
"There's no need to fuss over us," Alice said, taking a full mug from Nitori. "And don't worry about her. She'll serve herself if she wants any."
"Okay…" Nitori said, blinking.
"The little rascal likes heat," Marisa said, sipping from her own mug. "Just watch, that Shanghai'll cozy right up to your teapot and hug it if you let her."
The doll cut a porcelain glare at the witch and walked towards Alice, pointedly ignoring Marisa.
"I'm curious, Alice, just how do your dolls work?" Nitori asked, sitting down. She watched the Shanghai doll move with determined interest.
"A magician never reveals her secrets," Alice said, primly. "What would you say if I asked how that fire thing of yours worked?"
Marisa froze in mid sip, her mug resting against her lips. The smile on her face grew strained. "Oh, no."
Nitori sat forward, her eyes aglow. "Really? You'd like to know?"
"Not really-" Alice began, squirming under the inventor's intense gaze.
Nitori pulled out a blue roll of paper from her backpack, unfurling it on the workbench. Pointing to various parts of the design written on the scroll, she spoke. "I never know where to start. Power, timing, signals? Or maybe just the overall design? You don't know what it means to have a human take such an interest in my work. Even Sanae and Marisa-"
Porcelain clattered as Marisa's teacup was tipped over and tea flowed across the table. The Shanghai doll stepped lively, raising her skirts as she danced away from the growing puddle. Nitori hastily rolled her blueprints up.
"I'm sorry, Nitorin. I seem to be clumsy today. Can I help you clean up?" Marisa said, covered her mouth as her cheeks reddening. As the witch soaked up the puddle with her napkin, she leaned towards Alice. "You owe me for this. Big time."
When last of the spilt tea vanished, Marisa turned to Nitori. "So, what's new?"
"You only love me for my toys," Nitori said, smiling.
Alice choked on her tea. Her Shanghai doll scurried next to her and pounded on her back.
"Not 'only,'" Marisa drawled, batting her eyes at the kappa. "But you do make the coolest stuff in Gensokyo."
"It's a good thing you stopped by then," Nitori said, rushing into her workshop.
"Flatterer," Alice whispered, her eyes narrowing.
"Don't get jealous, honey, you'll get your turn again," Marisa cooed. "Besides, it's true. Just watch what Nitori brings."
Alice recalled the fire at the cave's mouth and scowled. "I will, I assure you."
"Oh, here it is!" Nitori called out from the jungle of metal and plastic. She walked out, holding what appeared to be a small straw-colored ring in the palm of her hand. A second glance at the ring showed that it seemed to be two woven bands intertwined so that it was impossible to see the beginning or end of either.
"An Endless Knot?" Alice said. Sure, it was a pretty design, but she failed to see how it'd be a great invention.
Nitori closed her hand over the invention, glaring at the doll-master. "Who told you?"
Alice shook her head. "I meant the pattern. That's the name of a Celtic weaving pattern. I'm surprised to see it in Gensokyo."
"Celtic?" Nitori said, showing her invention again. "I just found the name in the Voile Library. The rest was just imagination and first principles. Let me show you what it does."
The kappa pulled on a loop in the knot, drawing more chord out of the knot than could be reasonably expected. As her fingers slipped, Nitori said the most dreaded words any inventor could say:
"Oops!"
Marisa grabbed Alice, pulling her away from the engineer. Great loops of rope uncoiled from the knot, winding around all three girls. Nitori panicked, tugging on another loop. The coils retracted, pulling the snared girls towards the knot and each other.
Alice found herself face-to-face with Marisa. The witch grinned, rolling her eyes to a green sprig in the brim of her hat. "Look, mistletoe."
The puppeteer rolled her eyes and turned her head. "You never stop."
"All part of my charm," Marisa said. "Along with black snakeroot and hoodoo ashes."
"I get it," Alice sighed. "You've got your mojo working."
"It just won't work on you," Marisa pouted.
On the floor and outside the knot's tangle, the Shanghai doll took an inquisitive look at Marisa and Alice and mimed laughing. The doll master sighed. "I know this is funny, but get over here and help us."
"How did this happen?" Nitori said aloud. "Let me check my notes. Could someone get them out of my back dress pocket?" Marisa handed the kappa a short spiral notebook. "Could your doll hold this for me?"
The Shanghai doll stopped laughing and walked over to Nitori. The engineer flipped a page in the book, and started manipulating the ropes as a child plays cat's cradle. The coils slackened around each girl before dropping to the floor. The girls stepped away from the knot, each rubbing wrists or other raw spots.
"Sorry about that," Nitori said, twisting and pulling strings until the knot was the size and shape of a bracelet. She left the invention on the floor
"Interesting. Do you have anything flashier?" Marisa asked. The witch scooped down and pocketed the endless knot.
Nitori bit her lip. "That wasn't good enough?"
"There's an incident brewing, and our foe won't play by spell card rules," Alice said.
Nitori paused, pursed her lips and then nodded. "Why didn't you say so?" she said, perking back up and opening a thick metal door.
"Nitorin, darling, you've been holding out on me," Marisa said, whistling as she looked inside.
Somewhere in an inky black darkness, low sursurations of unintelligible noise murmured. As though the source rushed closer, the noise Dopplered higher and louder, the cacophony ebbing away until words finally made sense.
"Snap out of it!" Momiji said, shaking the duchess's shoulders. The immortal phoenix girl's eyes snapped open and darkness turned to brilliant light.
"Kaguya!" Mokou bellowed, jerking upright. As her vision cleared, she looked around at the pockmarked field. Seeing the wolf sergeant pallid and uneasy, she asked, "What happened?"
"No one should ever watch you resurrect, especially on a full stomach," Momiji said. She still kept her bearing, but her face held a greenish cast.
Mokou patted herself down and frowned. While the wards on her pants had kept them intact through the intense heat and flame, her shirt had been reduced to ash. Turning toward the Djinn, she yelled, "Keine gave me that shirt, you bastard!"
"Shut up! Can you move?" Momiji said, crouching low behind her rocky cover.
"Yeah, I can," Mokou said, covering herself with an arm.
"Good. I just lost two more of my girls. We're leaving," Momiji said, her face a stern mask.
Mokou looked down at her bare skin and frowned. "Gimme a bandage first, will you?"
"Wrap yourself up on the move," Momiji hissed, tossing the duchess a roll from her belt pouch. Mokou snagged the bandages out of the air with her free hand.
"Ready!" Private Kaede yelled. The private had treated her patient and worked her way back to her original cover.
"Set!" Momiji bellowed, jerking Mokou to her feet. The phoenix girl bobbled the bandages in her hand before catching the roll.
"Go!" Kaede said, popping up and unleashing danmaku hell.
Momiji ran, dragging Mokou with her. Twenty feet away, she pulled Mokou down behind a stony outcropping. "Ready!"
Kaede dropped behind cover and turned to face her next cover. "Set!"
Momiji growled as she stood up, firing dense patterns of danmaku. "And here's the fun part, trying to keep a retreat from becoming a rout. Go!"
"Nitorin, make these lighter next time," Marisa complained as she carried a pile of what looked like metal lanterns in her arms. The witch squinted as she stepped out of the cave and into the light.
The kappa shrugged. Five long tubes, each tipped with what looked like an elongated child's top, were strapped to her back. One was encased in a larger tube with a pistol grip and trigger. An automatic shotgun with a spring-loaded bayonet, an ammunition drum, and an even larger barrel slung underneath, hung from a tactical strap across the kappa's chest. She carried two bags of the not-quite lanterns in her hands. "I can make them light, or I can make them work, your choice."
"I'm not sure what they even do," Alice said. Her arms were also full of lanterns and what looked like plastic bricks. Her Shanghai doll carried one brick with the label "Front Towards Enemy" constantly pointed at Marisa.
"Well-" Nitori drawled. She clamped a metal hook to the broom, tying her two bags to it.
"The short version, please. Function only," Marisa said, setting the lanterns own next to her broom. She took a large span of cloth and began wrapping them into an improvised bag.
"I call them 'catches,'" the inventor said, checking the tightness of her gear straps.
Alice bagged up her armload. Pointing at the shotgun, she said, "And is there any reason why you brought that abomination?"
"'Abomination,'" Nitori chuckled. "Good name."
"I'd give it a cuter name," Marisa said. "But I'd use danmaku first."
"If they don't play by the rules, who says we need to," Nitori said, cradling her weapon. "I guarantee no one'll be able to graze or dodge this."
"Where's the grace and beauty in that?" Marisa complained.
"These aren't days for grace or beauty," a clear melodious voice replied. The three girls turned. Ran Yakumo stepped out of a blinking-eyed portal, her hands hidden in voluminous sleeves. Nine silky tails beat the air as the fox-woman stepped close.
"Hey, Ran-" Marisa said, and then noticed the frown on the familiar's face.
"Bad news?" Alice said, wrapping up the last bundle.
Ran nodded. "Momiji Inubashiri, that hotheaded bitch, attacked the Djinn hours ahead of the plan."
"Is she alright?" Nitori asked, chewing her lip.
"She's alive," Ran said. "But she's in full retreat, chased by the Djinn towards the Hakurei shrine."
Marisa swore. "We wanted to prevent that."
"Lady Yakumo has sent me to rally the defense. When this is over, I might just have a new wolfskin rug," Ran said. She stopped as metal slid against metal. "Put that toy down, Nitori. Your commitment to your friend does you credit, but it you wish to help her, you must come with me."
The portal behind Ran widened to let four walk through, side by side.
Nitori lowered her shotgun and stepped through the portal. Shrugging, Marisa floated through next, her broom burdened with heavy bundles. Alice picked up her doll and followed, accompanied by Ran.
"Well, this is disappointing," Marisa said as Alice came through the portal. The Hakurei shrine stood before them. "I thought that there'd be fighting."
"I thought there'd be more of us here," Alice said, massaging her temples. Portal transportation gave her headaches.
Ran sighed. "Chen's getting more, and I must leave to do so as well."
Nitori set a lantern-like device down at her feet. "Before you go. Which way is Momiji coming?"
Ran nodded in the general direction before vanishing. Nitori walked up to Marisa's broom, taking one of the heavy bundles hanging from the handle.
"What are these again?" Alice asked, carrying a few of the lanterns.
"Catches," Nitori said, activating one. The lantern spun once, and then the sides slid free. A faint yellow glow shone through the openings.
"These aren't going to blow up or anything?" Marisa asked, hopeful.
"No, that'd be the brick that doll keeps on trying to shove down the back of your dress," Nitori said, activating another. Marisa looked around at her feet, trying to spy out the Shanghai doll. "Little doll, could you bring that here?"
The Shanghai doll waddled over, handing the explosive to the inventor. Nitori stuck a blasting cap into the plastic and then slammed it into the ground.
"Since we're improvising like mad now," Alice stated, willing her doll to return. "Mind explaining a little more?"
"It's a catch. It catches," Nitori said, setting up more of her devices. "Danmaku mostly, but it'll pull anything shot or thrown towards it."
"Seems like cheating," Marisa said, scowling at the metal lanterns.
"If you aren't, you aren't trying," Nitori said. "I seem to have heard that from someone here."
Alice sighed. "That's great and all, but did Ran say how many more people'd be here?"
Marisa watched Nitori walk through the steps in setting up a catch. The witch then grabbed a free catch, and mimicked the kappa's actions. "It's not like we've needed numbers before. Strength, beauty, and clever tactics have made up for our lack."
"Forget clever, I'd rather have numbers on my side," Nitori said. "It'd be a nice change."
"Unfortunately, it hasn't helped Momiji," Alice said. The puppet master looked at her single Shanghai doll and shook her head. Taking out a deck of spell cards, Alice muttered an incantation. Three London dolls appeared in a fog, carrying a bound grimoire.
"Say, Alice, when are you going to let me take a look through that?" Marisa asked, setting up yet another of Nitori's inventions.
"Not now. Take that as you wish," Alice said. She flicked ten spell cards into the air. Each glowed incandescent before disgorging dolls from London, Orleans, Holland, Tibet, Kyoto, Shanghai, and Hourai. Of the various types of dolls, Shanghai and Hourai dominated in numbers.
Marisa whistled at the century of dolls lining up into ranks. "You did say you wanted numbers, Nitori."
"I changed my mind," Nitori said, staring out past where the shimmering barrier met the horizon. "I'd like Momiji here, safely."
Another of Yukari's portals opened. "Now, now, kitty girl, don't stare at me like I'm some sort of a snack!" Hatate said as she backed out of the portal into the field.
"Bye bye, birdie," Chen's voice purred from the portal. From her vantage point, Alice watched as the Black Cat of Ill Omens waved.
"Damn you, Yukari!" Hatate screamed as the portal blinked shut.
"What did she do now?" Marisa asked, walking over to the reporter.
"Someone had the idea for something called an 'embedded reporter,'" Hatate said. "I told her 'no,' but she didn't take that for an answer. Just for that, I'll write a searing expose about her."
"I don't think she can be embarrassed or shamed," Alice said. "And what's an embedded reporter?"
"A battlefield pest or so Momiji says," Nitori said. "She certainly complains when Aya tags along."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not Aya," Hatate said, haughtily.
"So you'll actually be helping us?" Alice asked.
"Haven't you heard of the neutrality of the press?" Hatate said, feigning shock.
Marisa stepped in front of Hatate, wearing her most winsome smile as she leaned in close to the tengu. Hatate stepped back, blushing and squirming. The witch cooed, "But you write the stories, don't you? No one will know but us." Her voice turned soft and husky, her eyes smoldering. "Let's call it our little secret. I'll keep yours, and in return, I'll share one of mind. It'd be yours. Exclusively."
Hatate's blush deepened, but the girl steadied herself. "Make it an interview-"
"Aw, you don't want me to pose for your camera?" Marisa asked hopefully.
"-only," Hatate said, pushing the witch away.
Alice stepped between the crow and the witch. "We have preparations to make, not negotiations."
"Pity," Marisa purred and flounced back to her stack of catches.
"Thanks for the lift, Ran," Suwako said, stepping through another of Yukari's portals. "Find Kogasa. No doubt my idiot granddaughter's playing kissy-face with her."
The portal disappeared, leaving a sullen frog goddess alone. She looked up, and counted. "I thought we'd have more of you here. So, we're making our stand here?"
"I guess," Alice shrugged. "I'm not sure; Ran didn't give us much time."
Nitori sighed as she cupped a hand next to an ear. "Listen."
For the first time since arriving, faint cracks and crackles could be heard in the distance. If she strained, Alice could see faint white flashing behind the hills and trees.
"Step towards me," Suwako commanded, slapping her hands on the ground. A span of earth some fifty meters long thrust itself up from the ground until it was a meter high, shaking the ground around the frog goddess. She smirked, brushing her hands clean. "I bet they felt that one in China."
Nitori ran to the earthen wall, and pulled a paperback-sized contraption from her dress pockets. The object split open and she put the spyglass up to her eyes. "They're coming."
"When you see them, start shooting. Keep the spell cards until they're closer," Suwako said. Noticing everyone's stares, she shrugged. "What? I've had to fight a few battles."
Sure enough, white and red specks could be seen scrambling over hills. At three-hundred meters distance, the figures were less than a centimeter in height.
"I should have brought a rifle," Nitori said, pointing at the blue figure chasing the white and red ones. Blue flashed from her free hand as single danmaku shots lashed downrange.
Marisa and Suwako followed suit, sending small clusters through the gaps between soldiers. Alice rallied her dolls to the wall's top, often by creating towers of dolls. She sent the command for each to fire only at what she herself shot at before adding her own flames and lasers to the growing barrage.
"Two hundred yards," Nitori muttered, dropping down against the wall and unlimbering what Alice glossed as an abomination. She waited, shouldering the shotgun and peering down the sights.
The fire intensified as the wolf soldiers drew closer. A loud staccato chattering interrupted the crystal chime of danmaku. Nitori paused, slapped another drum into her shotgun, and the stuttering resumed.
Alice covered her ears, but kept her dolls firing in more complex patterns at the blue figure. She could see the silver disks Aya reported lash out towards the fleeing wolves. No matter how much shot hurled toward the Djinn or his disks, his fire did not shift. Alice aimed instead at the ground in front of the Djinn, hoping to obscure its vision or force a misstep.
"Friendlies," a haggard voice bellowed, bounding across the last fifty meters. Four wolves bounded over the top of the wall, rolling as they hit the ground.
Momiji rolled to her feet and hit the wall. "I still have two more and Mokou out there. You have something to help them?"
"He doesn't seem to be paying attention to us," Marisa pouted.
"Give me a moment," Suwako said, sketching a small magic circle around Marisa.
Beating feet. The Mogadishu Mile. The Bug Out Boogie. While Mokou would not have recognized the terms, she would recognize the meaning.
Run like hell.
Momiji's orderly retreat under fire had fallen apart after another of her troops fell to the silver flame. Terror quickly seized the tengu survivors, and the wolves ran pell-mell towards the Hakurei shrine, some five kilometers away. Staying would have been death again, so Mokou ran after the fleeing troops.
Dirt and rock kicked up all around Mokou's feet as she ran erratically, scrambling over rock and fallen tree trunks. Her chest and throat burned, and her lips sought the cooling draught of water. Even with growing thirst and acid-burned muscles, she knew she could endure. At worst, she would wake up again, with the desire to work out a righteous mad on Kaguya,
The tengu, on the other hand, would not fare as well. Already, fear, fatigue, and heat sapped strength, and adrenalin overdose stole away skill and coordination. Steps were less sure, and occasionally, a weary wolf would pick herself up from the ground.
Another fell to the ground, rolling and staggering upright before falling down again. The Djinn's fire kicked up clumps of earth as destruction walked its way towards the fallen wolf.
Mokou ripped a spell card free. She had run out of Kaguya killers long before now. Only showy patterned cards used only for duels of beauty remained. Not counting the one in use, she was down to her last. Mokou prayed it would be enough.
The card glowed as Mokou rose off the ground. Clusters of danmaku appeared around her, their showering bursts obscuring the immortal and her protected with growing circles and figures. The return fire shifted away from the fallen, forcing Mokou to flitter about, avoiding the too-close trails of silver fire.
Beneath the barrage, Kaede reached her comrade. She draped an arm over her shoulder and stood up, staggering as the fallen hung from her back. She waddled towards the shrine.
Mokou's spell card faded. The phoenix girl swore, tossing fire by the fist full. Beneath the flame, Kaede stepped surely but ever so slowly. Any moment, and the ire Mokou had drawn would fade, and two more tengu would grace the Judge of Paradise's throne room. The other remaining tengu added their own powers to thicken Mokou's barrage.
If there were time to think, the immortal rival of the Moon would have weighed the use of her final spell card against the lives saved now and the lives potentially saved later. She might have considered the length of the fight with the likelihood the battle would rage onwards for even longer. She might have cursed her profligate squandering of precious cards earlier, leaving her little option but to eventually die in another's place.
Maybe.
In the heat of the moment, Mokou's final spell card flew into her hand. Landing between Djinn and fleeing tengu, she fed power into the card.
"Get down, all of you!" Momiji's voice boomed out across the field.
Over the shouts and cries of the battlefield, over the whistling of danmaku and the crackling of plasma, a single sound pealed out its tocsin warning.
OMMINOUSS HUUUUMMMM!
Mokou threw herself to the ground as power ripped the air above her, buffeting all in its wake. The light of millions of searchlights focused upon the Djinn, knocking it over and kicking up an opaque wall of dust and debris.
As Mokou ran to Kaede and helped both medic and patient run to the shrine, she found herself for the first and perhaps only time grateful to see a Master Spark.
Perched on the lip of Suwako's earthen wall, Alice peered out across the battlefield, shielding her eyes with her hands. All along the rim, a maniple of dolls copied her action as she waited for the dust to clear.
Next to the puppeteer, Marisa whistled and turned towards Suwako with a grin. "I need you to juice up my spell cards more often."
"Overkill much?" Alice asked. The dust wall finally began to settle
"There's no such thing as overkill," Marisa said as Alice groaned. "Only 'open fire' and 'I need another spell card.'"
"Where should I put the next one?" Marisa asked, turning towards the wolf sergeant.
Momiji squinted, blocking the sun's glare with a free hand. She waited, until shadow and then metal could be seen through the clearing haze. "A little left. He's standing up… Fire!"
Marisa grinned again, letting another overpowered Master Spark fly.
"I don't see why you all are so worried," Hatate said, scribbling madly into a small spiral notebook.
"Only the Divine Spark has scratched him, and we only have a couple more of them," Suwako said.
"It'll get harder," Momiji asked.
"Pessimist."
"No fair, I wanted to name the attack," Marisa said. "Another shot?"
Momiji shook her head, as Mokou and two tengu soldiers rolled over the crest of the raised earthen wall
"What the hell was that?" Mokou said, panting. An Orleans doll handed the girl a sealed canteen. The immortal drained the contents and handed the canister back to the doll. Other dolls took care of Kaede and her charge. She saw Nitori and her eyes widened. Mokou pointed at the inventor. "Strike that, what the hell is that?"
Nitori kneeled down next to the others, carrying a long metal tube with an elongated top tipping it. She looked behind her, saw no one there, and took aim. The top flew straight, fast, and true, impacting on the Djinn in a cloud of flame and smoke.
"Did that actually do anything?" Alice said, frowning.
"It looked cool," Marisa said, scrawling a magic circle around a spell card. As she drew, Suwako added ancient writing and intricate curly-cues to the circle.
Hatate crouched below the ridgeline, holding her cell phone camera above it. She shook her head as she glanced at the brilliant white screen. "Whatever's out there is too bright for my camera."
Multiple actinic streaks scythed to Nitori's position…
…and arced towards one of her lantern-like contraptions. The metal shone, showering sparks before dulling to a subdued cherry-red.
Four more catches showered sparks across the line, breaking the chalk symbols in the magic circle. Smoke sizzled from the chalk. Suwako's eye widened and the native goddess dove into the earth. Marisa rolled away from the circle, tackling Hatate and covering the crow tengu with her body.
Alice crouched behind a growing wall of shield-bearing French dolls. She caught a brilliant flash-
Something hard and ridged dragged itself across her breastbone, tracing waves of tingling fire from her neck to her stomach. She gasped, squirming away from the pressure on her sternum.
"Are you okay?" a familiar voice called to her. She sensed a shadow loom over her and yelped as something dug deeper into her chest bone. "Stay with me."
"Stop!" Alice gasped, opening her eyes. The weight lifted off her chest. Afterimages flooded her vision, but two long white leafy shapes slowly stood out from the blurs of purple and green. "Reisen?"
"Thank Chang'e," the moon hare said. Alice could feel two sets of hands patting her down in a repeating pattern of pat-pat-pause. "Are you hurt?"
"I feel bruised, nothing more," Alice said, her vision clearing. She felt a breeze. Covering her chest, she scowled. "Was that necessary?"
"I'm a medic, not a peeping tom," Reisen said, rolling her eyes. Eirin had always taught her the skin against skin rule of medicine as it was often the easiest way to check on injuries. Of course, the side benefits were quite enjoyable if the patient was shapely, male or female.
Behind Reisen, Alice noticed Mokou as she stepped over two dolls and crouched down to a sprawled prone figure. "She's breathing."
Alice laced up the front of her dress and shot the lunar hare a disapproving stare. It faded; however, as the puppet master noticed that once green hills more closely resembled a lunar craterscape. "What's going on? What happened?"
"Ask Ran," the medic said, as she stood up and made her way to another fallen form. "I need to check on someone else."
"Marisa?"
"Hopefully she got some sense knocked into her." The moon hare shook the fallen's shoulders.
The doll maker sighed, and then closed her eyes. Myriad dolls stood up, dusted themselves off, and saw to their damaged comrades.
Low tones peeled out, a mixture of a tympani drum's roll and a cymbal's crashing ring.
"What was that?" Alice asked aloud, rolling to her feet.
"The Djinn's attacking the barrier directly," Ran said, materializing next to the doll master.
"Why aren't we stopping it?" Alice asked, pursing her lips as she glanced at the barrier.
"With what? Yukari and Reimu are too busy to help, and it's just you, me, Reisen, and Mokou right now to try to beat him and take care of our fallen," Ran said, waving her hand across their surroundings. Bodies lay sprawled around a shallow crater where Marisa's magic circle once sat inscribed. Mokou helped a wolf soldier sit upright, before tying a twisted arm into a sling around her neck.
Soil fell into the earth as a small sinkhole grew near the fox. Suwako's hat appeared first, then the full goddess, as she climbed out of the hole wiping dirt from her purple dress. "Next time, I'll have to add a 'Zod' rune," Suwako muttered. "So, any gateways to nightmarish new worlds or fundamental changes in the laws of physics? We're all still sane, right?"
"As best as I can tell," Ran said, glowering at the goddess.
"Pity," Suwako said, exaggerating a flounce.
"Hatate's fine," Reisen called out from next to the fallen crow. "She's just sleeping. Alice, could we use your dolls to help with Marisa?"
With a wave of Alice's hand, six Tibetan dolls shouldered weapons and walked towards the lunar hare. "Give them simple commands."
"Twelve extra hands should be enough," Ran said, shaking her head as she latched onto Alice's arm. "We still have an attack to foil."
The trickster-fox pointed to the barrier. Silver flecks faded to black, marring shimmering gold. Occasionally, the black scars were swallowed by golden glow, but never enough to match the growing pockmarks on the surface.
Alice wondered how to stop the attack; Remilia's earlier suggestion of drawing the Djinn away had ever-growing appeal. "You said we didn't have enough to do everything."
"We still have to try. Reisen, send the hale towards me when you can," Ran called out, hurrying towards her enemy.
"What should I do with the wounded?"
"Take them away from the barrier and hide," the fox called over her shoulder.
"What are we going to do?" Alice said, rushing to keep pace with the vixen.
Ran shook her head. "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go."
Reisen Udongein Inaba shook her head as Ran left with Suwako and Alice in tow. She would have preferred not to move the wounded, but Ran was intent on making a stand.
Looking over the bodies of the fallen, she divided them mentally into three categories: those who did not need immediate help, those who would pull through with proper prompt treatment, and those who could not be saved even with heroic measures. Mercifully, there were none in that last group, and Ran had taken those few of the first. That left eight or so she needed to move to safety using only herself, her assistant Yukimi, Mokou, and six dolls.
"Start checking for spinal injuries first," she ordered, kneeling next to Nitori's head. She rubbed the supine kappa's breastbone with the knuckle of a closed fist.
The inventor's eyes shot open as she saped. "Ouch!"
"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Reisen said, checking the girl's earth-strained dress for obvious signs of bleeding. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her assistant, a snowy-haired twin of Tewi, helping Marisa stand. The witch took her hat, pulled her broom from the rubble, and mounted it sidesaddle.
"I'm fine," Nitori said, sitting up. "What about everyone else?"
Reisen put her hand on the kappa's shoulder, pushing her in place. "Whoa! You're not going anywhere until I check you out first. I don't know what the hell you just made, except more work for me."
Mokou walked up, an unconscious Momiji draped across her back. "Where do you want me to take them?"
"Into the tree line," Reisen said, searching the kappa's limbs for signs of fracture. "Get the dolls to help move patients."
"Momiji?" Nitori said, squirming against Reisen's grip as she tried to stand. "Is she okay?"
"Stop that," Reisen said. Her eyes glowed red. Sound and light frequencies shifted around Nitori, calming the agitated kappa. "She needs an IV and some rest, but she'll be fine. Relax."
Nitori met the moon hare's eyes. Tension left her body as she stopped fighting against Reisen's grip. The lunar exile was renowned for her beside manner, but unlike other doctors, she wasn't above cheating. The same power that could inflict madness could also induce calm.
"Well, you look alright," Reisen said, easing the pressure against Nitori's shoulder. "Can you stand?"
The inventor rose to her feet. "Yeah, what happened?"
Reisen shook her head. The hare watched the kappa, searching for signs of unsteadiness. "I was hoping you could tell me. When Chen dropped me off here, everyone was knocked out. But we need to get you to safety first,' Reisen said. She waved at a doll and then gave Nitori a small canteen. "Drink this."
Nitori wrinkled her nose as she smelled the contents. "What is this?"
Reisen shrugged. "Eirin calls it 'Balm of Gilead.' It's a general restorative."
The inventor paled at the mention of Eirin's name. "Do I have to?"
"It's your choice. You can drink it of your own free will. Or you can take it as an IV. Just be aware that Yukimi will stick you and there's no guarantee how many holes you'll have after she's done." Reisen suppressed a smile. The threat always worked. Yukimi was actually decent at sticking a vein, but no one ever wanted to find out.
Nitori paled and downed the elixir, gagging as she forced it down. One of Alice's dolls finally ambled over. Reisen placed one of Nitori's hands on the doll's head. "Take us to Mokou."
"Where are the others?" Nitori asked, coughing as the doll led them to the wood line.
Reisen pointed to the fireworks display near the barrier. "There. At least those who are up and moving. Whatever it was that knocked everyone out did a number on some people though."
The doll led them through the edge of the wood line into a clearing. Tengu soldiers were arranged in a circle, a makeshift IV stand next to each. Yukimi, the earth rabbit, moved from patient to patient, checking the vital signs for each. In the center, Hatate stood, working each of her joint in turn.
Kaede rushed up to the lunar medic. "We left one soldier behind in the mad run here. She lost her leg."
Yukimi paled. "Please tell me you at least put a tourniquet on."
"Of course I did!" the wolf snapped. Mokou stepped next to Kaede, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Why did you leave her out there?" Reisen said, aghast.
Mokou scowled, staring down the lunatic hare. "I didn't expect that from you. The wolves were in full panicked flight. I'd figured that you of all people would understand that."
Reisen bristled at Mokou's words. The lunar hare had fled her home on the moon during the Apollo invasions. "What I do understand is that we have a wounded soldier out there, alone. Where is she? I'll get her myself."
"No!" Yukimi said, looking up from the soldier she was treating. "This is too much for me to handle by myself."
Reisen sighed. The earth rabbits lacked a certain courage, but her assistant was correct. She was needed more here, which meant that she had to stick to her duty while the wolf girl suffered alone. Not for the first time, she cursed duty. It would be easier to walk away.
"I'll get her," Hatate said, finishing a hurdler's stretch. "I'm faster than you two anyway."
"That's no surprise, what with all the time you spend chasing Aya," Mokou said.
Hatate yowled as she beat the air with a closed fist. "Why so catty? Just tell me where you left her, and I'll bring her back. It's as simple as that."
The immortal rolled her eyes. "Fine." She walked over to a tree, brushed the leaves away from the earth by its roots, and crew a straight line in the dirt. "Here's the shrine, and here was the ambush site. There's a copse here where Kaede last treated her." Mokou drew an "X" as she spoke each new location.
"Got it," Hatate said, launching herself into the air.
As the crow vanished, Reisen palmed another small canteen. Tossing it to Mokou, she said, "Your turn. Drink up."
Nitori shouted from her side of the circle. "Run away!" she shouted, miming choking.
"What is this?" Mokou said, holding the canteen with her fingertips as far away from her body as her arms could stretch.
"Drink it. Doctor's orders," Reisen said, glaring at the obstinate noblewoman.
"But I'm immortal!" Mokou protested, backing away from the hare.
"That's no reason to neglect your body. Really, with the way you don't take care of yourself, I'm surprised you don't have major systemic failures," Reisen said, planting her fists n her hips.
"How can I? Your boss forces me to regrow all my organs twice a week!" Mokou shouted.
"What else is she supposed to do with a stalker of a suitor?" Reisen said, forcing the canteen back into Mokou's hand.
The phoenix girl laughed bitterly. "Why would I even be interested in her? I'd be content to leave her alone, but she had to disgrace my father-"
"Whatever. Drink," Reisen snapped. "Or I'll get Eirin to pour liters of the stuff down your throat the next time you get sloppy and we catch you slinking around the manor."
"No need to get nasty," Mokou said. She sighed and raised the canteen to her lips. Her eyes widened, and the canteen dropped from her hand. "What in the seven hells is that?"
"Really, Mokou, do you think I'm that gullible?" Reisen said, scowling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nitori and Yukimi as they both paled and pointed behind her. The lunar hare turned around.
The Hakurei barrier, once golden, glowed brilliant blue as a raging torrent of silver taller than the shrine itself washed over it. The bubble-like wall bowed inwards under the pressure, holding for a minute before rupturing under the strain. The barrier shattered into myriad fragments as the magics unwound, hurtling splinters of raw magical energy at the central focus of what used to be Gensokyo's boundary; the Hakurei shrine.
As the cascade of highly charged energy swept across the shrine, it imploded in a flash of lightning, kicking out clouds of dust across the field.
Immediately, her hand covered her heart. An ancient oath left her lips unbidden. "Chang'e preserve us."