"Ah…What a relaxing nap…I feel like a new youkai!" Meiling said to herself cheerfully as she exited her room in the temple. "Hmmmm…I wonder what Flandre and Koishi have been doing to keep themselves busy…staying out of trouble I hope."
Meiling slowly made her way to the temple's mess-hall, whistling to herself merrily as she did. As she entered the massive room, she found Shou and Nazirin lounging at a nearby table, they looked like they were having a pleasant conversation.
"Afternoon Ms. Shou, Ms. Nazirin." She greeted to the pair.
"Yo." Nazirin replied simply as she leaned back in her chair.
"Hello Meiling, I trust you had a good rest?" Shou returned to the gatekeeper.
"An excellent one! I must say, the beds here are fantastic! Much better than the one I have back at the mansion!"
"I'm glad to hear that, Byakuren spares no expense in the comfort of our guests…sadly it leaves quite the hole in our pockets…"
"That's quite unfortunate…I'll have to leave a few donations, it's the least I could do after all of you have done for us."
"It's no problem; we get by fine thanks to Nazirin's treasure finding abilities, right Naz?" Shou asked, looking to her partner.
"Hey if the lady wants to give us donations let her. Sure makes it a heck of a lot easier on me…Not very easy finding any valuable treasure by yourself y'know." Nazirin replied.
"What are you blabbering on about Naz? I help you look for treasure all the time!"
"Feh…Some help that is…I swear your ability is more like losing treasure rather than attracting it…" Nazirin snickered.
"You misplace one priceless and irreplaceable artifact one time, and no one ever lets you live it down…" Shou muttered quietly, with her head downcast in shame.
"Nope. Way too funny to do that." Nazirin said as a smug grin crept onto to her face, showing off her pearly white teeth.
"Yes well um…Have either of you seen where Flandre and Koishi have run off to?" Meiling asked, quickly changing the subject.
Shou raised her head from the table and replied, "Yeah, they should be in the cemetery. They were asking about a youkai who had taken up residence there a while back, they probably just wanted to be friends with her. If I had to guess, they're all probably just playing together and having a good time."
"Hmmmm…Well I'm glad she's making some new friends…Maybe I should check up on her though…" Meiling trailed off, as she prepared to go to the cemetery.
"Oh don't be such a worry-wart; the youngsters are probably just playing like the boss said. They're fine…Why not just take a seat and take a load off? The boss and I were just about to start a game of cards, why not join us?" Nazirin said as she took out a deck of cards from her dress pocket.
"Well…I suppose you're right, I mean what's the worst thing that could happen? No need to interrupt their fun." Meiling said, taking a seat between the two at the table.
"See, there we go! Now let's get this show on the road here now, shall we?" Nazirin said as she started handing out cards to each of them.
"Ah, a game of cards, may I join?" Mamizou said as she entered the room, causing the three of them to look back at her.
"Of course Ms. Mamizou, the more the merrier. Naz was just handing out the cards, take a seat." Shou said, patting the seat of the chair next to her invitingly.
"Well don't mind if I do, I could use a good game of cards right about now."
"Alright, let's start out nice and slow for granny Mamy here…Ever play 'Go fish' granny?" Nazirin asked smugly, earning her a glare from Shou, which she ignored.
Mamizou took Nazirin's sarcastic attitude in good humor, chuckling at the mouse. "I do believe I have heard of the game my fine youkai."
"Ah good, don't worry, I'll go easy on ya." Nazirin said as she finished handing Mamizou her hand of cards.
"No need for that now, I may not look like it, but I used to be quite the card-shark in the outer-world. I do believe I can handle a simple game of 'Go fish.'"
"Oh I'm sure you were granny, I'm sure you were…Now…have any eights?"
"Why…Won't…You…Stay…STILL!?" Kaguya roared as she threw another punch at Flandre, who once again dodged her attack effortlessly.
Flandre took the small break in her attack to give one of her own to the lunar princess, horizontally slashing at her with laeveteinn, which landed successfully, causing the moon princess to yelp in pain.
Before she could recover from Flandre's attack, the vampire began to throw blood-red balls of pure energy at the lunarian in rapid succession. Kaguya screamed in agony as the shots made contact with her, being unable to dodge the attack. Flandre's attack didn't just injure Kaguya, but it also scarred the landscape of the cemetery, making it look like an oni had trampled through the area.
Despite the amount of punishment Kaguya had suffered from Flandre's attack, she still recovered, slowly rising from the ground with eyes full of anger and hatred. "Not bad vampire…But play time is over…You won't escape this time…"
Without warning Kaguya leapt right at the vampire with inhumane speed, and threw another clumsy punch at her, which was once again avoided. The vampire's quick reflexes only served to anger Kaguya further, as each punch became more powerful, and even clumsier than the last.
Meanwhile, Koishi was preoccupied with Eirin, who was busy shooting arrows at the satori with her large bow, sending arrows flying throughout the graveyard in great quantities and speeds. Koishi narrowly dodged yet another arrow, this one being aimed right for her heart. Koishi rolled behind a nearby tombstone and used it as a shield from Eirin's frantic shooting.
Eirin held her fire as she saw the futility in continuing to shoot at the satori. She laughed lightly at Koishi's tactic. "What's the matter little satori? Scared of little old me? Why not just come out from behind that grave and-" the brain of the moon's sentence was cut short by a powerful attack from behind, causing Eirin to fall flat on her face.
Eirin looked up in anger as she saw who had the audacity to attack her mid-sentence, and from behind as well. Much to her confusion, she saw that her attacker was the very satori she was shooting arrows at just moments before.
"That's enough you big bully! Now stop shooting those pointy sticks! You could poke someone's eyes out!" Koishi said as she looked down at the fallen moon-doctor.
Eirin growled in anger, she rolled away from the satori and loaded her bow once again, this time aiming an arrow right at Koishi's third eye. This time Koishi jumped into a nearby tree to dodge the arrow, it was dead, with all of its leaves gone and its bark being a sickly grey color. Eirin quickly shot a volley of arrows toward the tree-top, with Koishi once again dodging her arrows. This time she jumped from the tree and used Eirin's head as a landing-pad, which only served to infuriate the doctor further.
"What a pest you are. I don't think in all my years of living have I ever met a youkai who has ran away so much…Though I suppose that's all you're good at, aren't you Ms. Komeiji?" Eirin asked in a cold and even tone.
"Huh, you know who I am?"
"Yes, how could I not know of one of the greatest cowards in Gensokyo, Ms. Komeiji? You're possibly the biggest coward I've ever met…First you ran away from that third eye of yours, and now you're running away from my attacks rather than putting up a fight. Though I suppose once one begins to run, they find it difficult to stop. Am I right?" Eirin said as a cruel grin grew on her face.
"Sh-Shut up…" Koishi whispered, with tears beginning to well up within her eyes.
"My, we're beginning to run away from the truth now? Let me ask you Ms. Komeiji, does that sister of yours still love you even after you abandoned her and left her to suffer all by herself? What was her name again…Satori was it?"
"Shut up! Big sister loves me with all her heart!"Koishi shouted in denial, refusing to accept Eirin's words as the truth.
"Hmmmm, just can't accept the truth, can we? How pitiful…"
Tears were freely flowing from Koishi's eyes as she stared at the moon doctor hatefully. Suddenly without any warning, she vanished from thin air without a trace, surprising the moon doctor slightly. "Hmmmm…Invisibility? No…It's something else…I can't sense her presence at all…" Eirin muttered to herself as she scanned the area for the satori.
Eirin tried to listen for any nearby movement from her prey, but all she could hear was the grunts of struggle and roars of rage from Kaguya as she continued to engage the vampire. She was surprisingly much stronger than Eirin had first predicted…capturing her may be a much more difficult task than she had first thought.
Eirin was snapped out of her musings as the satori rematerialized right before her, with an angry scowl on her face that was wet with tears. "Ah, there you are." Eirin said before bringing her fist down right at the satori, but just before her fist could make contact with her face, Koishi disappeared once again, leaving Eirin baffled. "Hmph, running again? Perhaps history does repeat itself…"
Eirin quickly turned around just in time to see the slippery satori reappear right behind her, before she vanished just as quickly as she had appeared. Leaving Eirin both frustrated and slightly unhinged. Eirin then let out a gasp as the satori rematerialized before her, and lifted her up from the ground by her collar with a surprising amount of strength.
Eirin remained silent over Koishi's hateful gaze, looking her right in the eye, with her usual calm and cool demeanor. Though her poker face was broken after Koishi gave her a hard punch to the gut, knocking the wind from the lunarian's lungs. Koishi continued to punch the lunarian with as much strength as she could muster, before slamming her into the ground forcefully, imprinting a human sized crater into the ground.
Eirin retreated from the satori as quickly as she could, she didn't desire to be struck again by the satori's ferocious amount of strength. The satori perplexed Eirin to no end, first she inexplicably vanishes, and now she displays strength and agility not known to be a trait of satoris. She had never been so interested in a youkai in her hundreds of billions of years of life. If she had the chance, she would have liked to observe this satori, perhaps even dissect it if the opportunity presented itself.
But now was no time to think of such ideas, especially when said satori was very much so angry with her. Her attempt at psychological warfare has back-fired; she now had a very powerful and very angry satori out for her blood.
Eirin was snapped out from her thoughts after a fierce kick in the head from Koishi, who had an emotionless expression as she attacked, though her face was still wet with the tears she had shed earlier. The force of the attack sent Eirin barreling across the temple's cemetery; she only stopped flying until her head very painfully made contact with the hard surface of a gravestone. The impact caused a bit of blood to spring from her head, not to mention bring up some very painful memories of a certain were-hakutaku's head-butt.
Eirin groggily rose from the ground, with her vision blurred from the blow her head received. Eirin took a moment to get a grasp on her vision, but that moment allowed the satori to once again creep up on her, as in the blink of the eye, Koishi was once again standing right before her. Her emotionless expression was unsettling to say the least, as Eirin quickly jumped into the air to avoid being caught by the satori's grasp.
Eirin decided to go back on the offensive, taking advantage of her new altitude over Koishi as she shot arrow after arrow in succession at her. Raining the area with arrows, Eirin also gave her arrows a small boost in power, sending danmaku bullets down along with the arrows, shooting down a storm of projectiles at the satori. Surely even she couldn't avoid such a large radius attack. Though Koishi didn't show any trace of fear, she just stared up at Eirin's array of attacks with that same blank expression she had been wearing.
Eirin's attack scarred the immediate area, causing plumes of dirt to rise from the ground from her various attacks slamming into the earth with such force. Eirin didn't want to cause so much damage to the temple grounds, but it couldn't be helped, this satori needed to be stopped as quickly as possible.
Just as Eirin began to feel certain that she had finally finished the satori, her eyes went wide as Koishi once again appeared before her, and without a single scratch or other indication she had been scathed by her barrage. Koishi didn't hesitate for a moment as she raised both of her arms above her head and slammed them downward at speeds that even a tengu would have been impressed with. Her attack sent Eirin flying downward screaming before finally crashing into the ground, causing another crater sporting her shape to be carved into the ground.
"D-Damn…This…This isn't going all too favorably for me…Udonge! Assist me in wiping this pest out from Gensokyo!" Eirin shouted. Eirin waited a few moments for a response from her apprentice, but didn't hear anything from the lunar rabbit. "Udonge! Speak when you have been spoken to! Now help me eliminate this pest!"
Once again, there was no response. Eirin looked around for the moon-rabbit, but found no trace of her. Eirin finally realized that she hasn't seen her at all since the battle had broken out; she had been too preoccupied with exterminating the pest before her to take notice of Reisen's absence.
"Damn it Udonge…Where did you run off to…" Eirin growled. Before dusting her dress off and getting back to her feet. Soon enough Koishi landed on the ground gracefully nearby the lunarian, and stared at her in silence. "Hmph…I suppose I'll have to take care of you by myself…" Eirin managed a grin despite the situation she was in, "Ready whenever you are, Ms. Komeiji."
"Dang it! This can't be possible! I'm calling bull-crap!" Nazirin yelled across from the table at Mamizou, who had a pleased grin on her face.
"Say what you want my friend, but I truly don't have any fives. Go fish." Mamizou replied.
"No way! Show me your cards!" Nazirin demanded, pounding her fist onto the table in outrage.
Shou sighed at her friend's childish tantrum, "Naz…Just go fish already…"
Nazirin groaned in defeat, and reluctantly took a card from the deck in the middle of the table, adding it to the massive hand of cards in her hands. Nazirin took a glance at everyone else's cards, and groaned even louder when she saw that everyone else had a much smaller amount of cards than her, with Mamizou being in the lead.
"Don't look so down Nazirin, go-fish is mostly a luck based game anyways." Mamizou said reassuringly.
"Whatever…Go-fish is a dumb game anyways…" Nazirin muttered under her breath, as she pounded her head into the table in frustration, inciting some laughter from Meiling and Mamizou and an exasperated sigh from Shou.
"Say, Ms. Mamizou, I've been meaning to ask you about that little meeting you had with Flandre yesterday…" Meiling began, breaking the momentary silence between the group.
"What about?"
"Well…Specifically what you spoke to her about. I'm just a little concerned is all."
"Oh nothing much…Just a brief discussion about some of her family problems…Unfortunately I cannot say any more than that, I swore to confidentiality, and I would be a lousy tanuki if I were to break my word."
"I understand, thank you."
"Not a problem, I must say I admire your devotion to your friend. It's rare to see such strong bonds of friendship these days..."
"Thank you, we go way back." Meiling said happily.
"I thought so, that Flandre seems to put a great amount of faith than you, more than I've seen some humans give to their gods around here." Mamizou said with a hearty laugh, "So do be sure to take care of her, and her little friend too, I imagine those two will get themselves into quite a bit of trouble together."
"Y'mean Flan's shadow?" Nazirin spoke up.
"Nazirin, again, don't be speaking poorly of our guests." Shou chastised.
Nazirin rolled her eyes at the tigress, "Oh whatever boss, you call her that too."
Shou's eyes went wide and her cheeks turned a rosy hue of red, "I-I don't have any idea what you're talking about Naz!"
"What, don't you remember?" Nazirin asked as a snide smile grew on her face, "Just today you said, 'look at that girl go, if she followed Flandre and closer, I might've mistaken her for her shadow.'"
"Please forgive Nazirin everyone, she's obviously spewing falsehoods about me to attract attention to herself, please ignore her." Shou said as she covered her face in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
Despite Shou's excuse, the three of them burst into laughter, which only made her even more embarrassed than before. The three's laughter was cut short by the sudden appearance of a newcomer entering the room.
"Meiling!"
"Huh?" Meiling turned around to look at who was calling her and saw a familiar face. It was the moon-rabbit that she and Flandre had met during their visit to Eientei, before they had found themselves being hunted down by its owners…the rabbit didn't look very well, her eyes were dull and almost lifeless, and her skin was deathly pale. Her face also had signs of guilt traced on it.
"Hey it's you…Reisen right? What're you doing here?"
"Please, you must hurry! Your friends are in trouble!" Reisen screamed, startling everyone in the room from her sudden outburst.
"What?" Meiling asked in disbelief.
"Hurry! There isn't much time, they're in the temple cemetery, they're battling Master Eirin and Princess Kaguya! Please, help them!" Reisen pleaded to the gatekeeper.
"Flandre…Hold on Flandre, I'm coming!" Meiling shouted, jumping out of her chair and going into a dash towards the cemetery.
"Wait, Meiling!" Shou called after the gatekeeper, but she was long gone. "Dang it…" she growled in frustration.
"Eh…What the heck is going on here?" Nazirin asked, scratching the back of her large ears in puzzlement.
"Nazirin, go get Byakuren!" Shou ordered, leaving the mouse youkai's question unanswered.
"But-"
"Just do it Nazirin! I don't know what's going on here, but it's nothing good!" Shou bellowed, causing Nazirin to scurry out of the room as fast as possible in search of the monk. Shou turned towards the moon-rabbit to question her, but found that she had disappeared. "What the…Where did she go?"
"To answer your question, she left the room just a few seconds after Meiling." Mamizou answered.
"Why didn't you stop her?" Shou growled.
Mamizou shrugged, "Forgive me, I was caught up in the moment and the thought of stopping her completely slipped my mind…How embarrassing…"
Shou grunted in response, "It's too late now; she's long gone…All we can do now is wait for Byakuren to show up…she'll know how to handle this."
"Gwah!" Kaguya yelped as she struck by another powerful blow from Flandre, sending her across the cemetery with great momentum. Her flight was finally stopped after she hit a dead tree. Any normal human would have been knocked out cold from such a hard hit, fortunately for Kaguya, she wasn't a regular human.
Kaguya slowly got up from the ground and wiped the blood from that was freely flowing from her brow and spat out some blood from her mouth. She glowered at the vampire with frustration, how could such a youkai that was so childish in appearance be so powerful?
Flandre began to charge at Kaguya with inhuman speed, Kaguya almost didn't manage to dodge her attack, the tree she had sat before however wasn't so fortunate. The ferocity of the pint-sized youkai's attack managed to topple the tree over, falling over with a loud crash. Kaguya sighed in relief that she had managed to avoid the vampire's attack; she had no desire to suffer the same fate as that tree.
Kaguya took a glance towards the other battle that was occurring within the graveyard. Eirin didn't seem to be faring any better than she was, she was barely holding on against the satori. That little satori girl was getting the upper-hand, with her attacks overwhelming the lunarian doctor.
"I will not be bested by two children! I REFUSE TO!" Kaguya roared in fury, this time going on the offensive once again. She lunged at the vampire with a magically enhanced punch, striking the vampire right in the face. Kaguya continued to throw magically enhanced punches at the vampire in succession, quickly overwhelming her.
"Lights out brat!" Kaguya shouted as she pulled her fist back and swung at her opponent's face, preparing to finally put an end to this fight.
Kaguya's mouth went agape with shock as her fist was caught by the palm of the vampire's hand. Flandre began to crush the moon princess' hand in her hand, causing Kaguya to scream in pain. Kaguya tried to get out from the vampire's powerful grip, but to no avail. The childish vampire stared at her with an emotionless glare for a moment before releasing her grip on the princess and thrusting her in the stomach with laeveteinn, sending her stumbling backwards.
Kaguya jumped back a few feet to put as much distance between herself and the vampire as possible. Kaguya took a moment to examine the hand that the vampire had crushed with her oni-like strength; fortunately it had begun to recover and was reforming back to normal from its disfigured state. The moon princess gritted her teeth and glared at the vampire with anger. She couldn't believe what was happening; a child was besting her in combat! She had spent hundreds of years battling one of the most stubborn and not to mention powerful being she had ever had the misfortune of knowing, and had developed reflexes and strength that even an oni would have admired. Yet here she was, being beaten by a vampire who hasn't even lived half of the amount of time she has. It infuriated her to no end.
Kaguya refused to let this child defeat her, not without a good fight. Kaguya charged at the vampire once again, this time determined to beat her to an inch of her life. Kaguya prepared for an upward kick aimed right for the little vampire's stupid little head, but Flandre's reflexes kicked in again as she bent her entire body over, causing Kaguya to miss her completely. The moon princess would not give up so easily however, she refused to let this wretch make a fool out of her again!
Kaguya charged her hands with pulsing energy, making both of her hands glow a furious hue of red. Her two palms crackled with power, Kaguya grinned in satisfaction of her efforts before beginning to commence her assault, throwing punches at the pesky little vampire repeatedly. She managed to strike Flandre in the stomach, causing the vampire to spit out some blood from her efforts. Kaguya's grin grew, and began to throw more wild attacks at the vampire to keep her attack's momentum up. The little vampire was losing ground; she kept getting hit more and more often by her attacks, at this rate victory would belong to her, not to this pitiful youkai!
Kaguya's thoughts of victory were knocked out of her as the vampire lashed out at her with a powerful kick to the stomach, causing the moon princess to skid back a few feet from its strength. Kaguya winced in pain as she gingerly felt the wound; the little brat had broken some ribs. Though fortunately for Kaguya, such wounds were only a slight inconvenience thanks to her immortality, and she refused to let such a wound keep her from showing this vampire her place.
Kaguya leapt into the air despite the amount of pain she felt from the movement and began to rain danmaku down on Flandre. The sky was soon filled with orbs that glowed of a variety of colors; it would have been a very beautiful sight if it weren't for the lethality of the barrage. Flandre soon jumped off from the ground and began to pursue her foe, veering out of the way of danmaku bullets that flew around the sky aimlessly.
Flandre soon enough closed the distance between herself and the moon princess and prepared to reengage her. Flandre began to swing at her with laeveteinn. Kaguya blocked the attacks with her arms, as the vampire's wild attacks were too quick and unpredictable to avoid, forcing her to take the hits. Kaguya couldn't take the vampire's hits for long, as Flandre swung laeveteinn in a down-ward arc, landing a blow right on Kaguya's head. The strength from the vampire's attack sent the moon-princess barreling down back to the ground.
Kaguya had miraculously managed to land on both feet, but Flandre's attacks had taken their toll on her. Immortal or not, even she had her limit of how much pain she could take, and she was nearing hers. She prayed Eirin was faring better than she was, they may still be able to defeat these brats and finally get their money.
This fight was not going at all how Eirin had calculated…With her nearly endless amount of knowledge and the Princess' combat skills, this battle should have ended long ago. Yet the battle still progressed, and they were losing. Eirin continued to run away from the satori. Even in the situation she was in, Eirin couldn't help but appreciate the irony.
Eirin quickly loaded an arrow into her bow and shot it at the satori as she continued to retreat. It was to no avail however, as Koishi just plucked it out of the air just as it was about to pierce her skin. Koishi gave the arrow a thoughtful and curious look for a moment before tossing it behind herself dismissively and continuing the chase.
Eirin furrowed her brow in frustration; this battle was beginning to turn into a hopeless situation. It seemed like nothing she threw at the satori could stop her, much less hinder her. It wouldn't be long before the satori finally caught her and…well; she preferred to not think of what fate might befall her if that happened. So she continued to run, shooting the occasional arrow at the satori in an attempt to slow her down.
Eirin suddenly skidded to a stop, with her eyes wide with rarely shown surprise. The very satori she was being chased by was now before her, with her facial expression being as indifferent and emotionless as ever. Eirin tentatively look over her shoulder, and saw nothing, she cranked her head back to face the satori, who was slightly cocking her head as if she were puzzled by the moon doctor's action.
Eirin refused to let this satori defeat her without at least trying to put up a good fight. She quickly loaded her bow once again and shot another round of arrows at her as quickly as she could. To her dismay however, Koishi was unfazed by them, she simply stepped to the side and avoided them completely. The satori watched as the arrows flew past her bounced off a nearby grave before falling to the ground. Koishi stared at the fallen arrows for a moment before returning her attention to the moon doctor. Koishi slowly began to make her way to the lunarian, staring at her blankly.
Eirin's cool began to fail her, as she began to feel something she had thought she abandoned long ago, she felt fear. Her usual calm demeanor began to crack and was slowly replaced with an utterly frightened expression. Eirin slowly backed away from the satori, as a nervous sweat began to run down her face.
"N-No…Back away…Back away I said!" she roared as she quickly loaded another volley of arrows into her bow and shot them in a last attempt to save herself from this monster.
Her arrows harmlessly flew by the satori as kept on approaching her in a slow pace. This time Koishi didn't bother to even acknowledge her arrows as she didn't pause to stare at them for a moment as she had done before.
Eirin began to make a run for it again, but her retreat was short-lived as she clumsily tripped in her panic, falling to the ground face first. She slowly got up and turned around, only to find that Koishi had finally reached her. Eirin stared her right in the eye, refusing to show anymore fear to this beast and accept her fate with her pride still intact.
Koishi grabbed her by the collar of her dress, pulling her up face to face with her. Eirin took this as an opportunity to spit in her face as one last sign of struggle against her. Koishi didn't seem to notice that Eirin had spat on her, as she didn't once show any sign of agitation or anger from the action as the mixture of blood and saliva slowly slid off her face.
Koishi then raised the brain of the moon up while still holding her grip on her head with her great amount of strength. Koishi stared up at her with eyes devoid of any sort of emotion before smashing her head into the ground. Koishi continued to bash Eirin's head into the ground repeatedly with great vigor, the point of contact the lunarian's head was smashed into slowly formed into a small crater in the shape of her face.
Eirin's face soon became a bloodied mess, she was certain that the satori had broken her nose, and possibly knocked out a few of her teeth as well. Miraculously, she managed to hold consciousness despite the brutality of Koishi's attack. She didn't see the satori taking any breaks in her remorseless attack in the near future. She prayed that the Princess was faring better than she was right now…
Kaguya panted for breath as her stamina slowly began to diminish, her hatred for this vampire had grown ten-fold, why wouldn't she just go down!? Kaguya was ready to jump back into the fight and show this pitiful little girl just how pathetic she truly was, but her fatigue was too great to even move. Fortunately, the little pest didn't seem like she would launch another attack at her, as she just stared down at her as she floated in the air. How could she fly with wings like those anyhow, especially a girl that pathetic?
Kaguya was snapped out of her thoughts and back into reality as the vampire began to do something strange. She held out one of her arms with all of her fingers out-stretched, as her hand slowly began to glow with a red aura. Flandre began to slowly close fingers, as she did so Kaguya began to feel a burst of pain in her chest; she quickly grabbed her chest in reaction to the sudden sensation. The pain began to grow so much that she began to scream in agony, her pain gradually growing stronger and stronger the more the vampire closed her fingers.
Kaguya began to fear the vampire, just what in the hell was this girl? Kaguya began to wait for her imminent death at the hands of the vampire; she would just resurrect and continue the fight until she finally defeated the little wretch. Kaguya never felt the familiar sensation of death however, as she was saved by one of the most unlikely of people.
"Flandre!"
Flandre stopped what she was doing and turned around at the sound of her name, and found Meiling run towards her. "China…?"
"Don't worry Flandre, I'm here now! I'll protect…you…?" Meiling said as she noticed the condition Flandre's attacker was in. Kaguya was a shadow of her former self, her hair was a black mess, her face was covered with dirt and blood, and her dress was ripped in several places. Kaguya glared at the red-haired gatekeeper as she took in her sight, "…Or perhaps that's not necessary…"
"N-No…It is very much so n-necessary…" Kaguya growled as she wiped some blood off of her face, "She'll need…all the protection she can get…I'll tear her to pieces…and then her pieces into pieces! I'll see each and every one of you peasants bowing down to me, begging for mercy!" she roared.
Meiling didn't look at all impressed by the moon princess' words and smirked at her, "I don't see that happening anytime soon, judging by your appearance. If anything, I think you're the one who needs protection from Flandre."
"Wh-Why you…I don't need any protection from some brat…I'll…I'll destroy you all…" Kaguya said weakly.
"You'll do no such thing."
The three of them turned their attention to the newcomer and saw the pair of Byakuren and her right-hand woman, Shou. Byakuren's warm and nurturing smile was gone, she now wore an expression neither Meiling or Flandre had ever seen the monk wear. She wore an expression of anger. The monk slowly approached the badly beaten moon princess, with Shou walking at her side with a spear in hand.
"Oh y-yeah…? I beg to differ…I'll destroy each and every one of you if that's what it'll take…I refuse to be defeated by this…this…child!" Kaguya screamed.
"Will you now? Are you certain of that? Judging by your looks, I would say you're in no condition to battle any of us." Byakuren said, inciting a feral growl from Kaguya. "I implore you to leave at once, Ms. Houraisan. I have no desire to fight you, or your companion."
"Oh really now!? I'll show you, you pompous bitch!" Kaguya shouted, "Eirin! Come here and help me teach these fools that no one crosses me!" she called, but the moon doctor didn't reply. "E-Eirin…Come over here, NOW!" once again there was no response. Kaguya turned around to see where the moon doctor had gone off to; her eyes went wide with shock as she found out why her friend had not replied.
Lying on the ground unconscious was Eirin, with her face covered with blood, and her body and covered with scratches and bruises. The one who had put the pharmacist in such a terrible state was standing nearby her body, as she emotionlessly stared down at her fallen foe. Kaguya stared with her mouth agape with a combination of fear and shock, how could have that little nothing of a satori have defeated Eirin?
Kaguya turned back to contend with her company, she stared them all done with hateful eyes. She looked like she was considering whether or not she should take her chances against the group or not.
"If you try anything, I guarantee that you will be in the same condition as the moon doctor." Shou growled as she pointed her spear at the lunarian threateningly.
Shou's threat seemed to make Kaguya forget any thoughts of continuing this battle. Her face went downcast as she uttered a simple word, "Reisen…"
At Kaguya's beckoning, the moon rabbit appeared from behind a nearby grave. She looked nervous as she fidgeted with her hands and avoided eye-contact with everyone in the vicinity as she slowly walked over to her master.
"Y-Yes Princess…?"
Kaguya gave a loud grunt before answering her pet, "Go get Eirin…We're…Leaving." Kaguya spat out angrily.
Reisen gave her a quick bow, "Yes Princess…"she quickly ran over to the unconscious doctor, and timidly picked heaved her up onto her back, all the while looking at Koishi with caution. She quickly trotted away from the satori silently and reported back to Kaguya.
"Sh-Shall we be going now, Princess?"
"Yes…Let's go, this place is beginning to make me feel ill." Kaguya huffed before returning her attention back to Flandre and Meiling, "You got lucky this time whelps…Don't think this is the last you've seen of me! I will defeat you…and I will get my money! So enjoy your pitiful victory while it lasts, for it will be the last time you ever get a taste of it!"
Kaguya jumped up off of the ground, flying away from the temple. Reisen gave the group one last look of guilt before following suit with Eirin in tow. The group watched them fly away until they were out of sight and absolutely sure they would not return.
Byakuren sighed sadly to herself as she looked towards the horizon that Kaguya and her allies flown off towards. She soon noticed the unconscious karakasa lying motionlessly on the ground nearby now that the immediate threat was dealt with. Her mouth opened slightly from surprise and disgust, she didn't require any explanation of who had done this to the youkai, for she already knew the group that was responsible. She recovered from her initial shock and ran towards Kogasa, gently picking her up from the ground.
"Shou, prepare a bed for this one. She is in critical condition, we need to work quickly." Byakuren ordered.
Shou bowed to her, "Yes Byakuren, it will be done immediately!" she shouted before sprinting back to the temple as quickly as her legs would carry her.
Byakuren followed after with Kogasa in her arms, quickly making it into the temple, leaving only three individuals left in the graveyard's vicinity. Flandre gave a concerned frown as she looked at Koishi silently, who was just staring at the ground blankly with her back turned to her, seeming completely oblivious to the events that had just transpired around her. Meiling frowned sadly as she put a hand on the vampire.
"Just give her a few moments to herself Flandre, it looks like she could use some time alone…"
Flandre ignored her and shrugged off the gatekeeper's hand. She began to run to her friend. Meiling frowned sadly but did not object to her actions and walked back to the temple.
As Flandre reached Koishi, the satori turned her head back and stared at the vampire with a blank expression before turning to face her. The usual cheery expression that the satori had worn around Flandre was gone without a trace, and replaced with an expression of nothingness. Flandre looked at her friend sadly for a few moments before doing the only thing she could think to do to help her friend.
Flandre wrapped her arms around Koishi and squeezed her into a tight embrace. Koishi stood limply at her embrace, remaining completely still before slowly wrapping her arms around the vampire and returning the affection. Koishi rested her head on Flandre's shoulder before beginning to sob quietly, with hot tears trickling down her face.
"Come on…don't fail me now…" Byakuren muttered to herself as she began to heal the heavily wounded karakasa, with Ichirin lending her assistance. Their efforts remained mostly fruitless however, as little progress was made. Eirin and Kaguya had done quite a bit of damage to the youkai, expected of two of the strongest beings in Gensokyo.
Shou remained silent as she watched Byakuren and Ichirin try their hardest to heal the youkai, with Nazirin standing at her side faithfully. "Y'think she'll be alright boss…? She doesn't look too hot…" Nazirin whispered quietly.
Shou paused before answering, "I don't know. She should make it out of this fine, youkai die and resurrect every day in Gensokyo…But even so, she isn't exactly in the best of conditions…"
"W-Well why don't we just give that moon-doctor a call and have her help fix her up?"
"Because Nazirin that doctor is one of the people responsible for the condition she's in." Shou replied flatly.
"Oh…Good reason…" Nazirin replied, "So does Kyouko…?"
"No. Mamizou and Unzan are keeping her busy, if she were to see her looking like this…it could overwhelm her."
"Hmmmm…I see…that's good…but we can't keep her out of the dark forever y'know. We have to tell her eventually."
Shou sighed sadly, "I know that. I'll tell her once Kogasa is in a better condition."
"Well, we've done all that we can. She should be fine for now…" Byakuren announced in a somewhat relieved manner as she wiped the karakasa's blood off from her hands with a clean rag.
Ichirin finished wrapping fresh bandages on Kogasa's wounds and gave a relieved sigh, "That should do it…I hope Kyouko won't be too shaken by what happened to her friend…"
"I'm sure she'll be fine, Kyouko's a strong girl. I'm sure she'll just be relieved that she made it through this alright." Byakuren said with a small smile on her face.
"Well, I suppose I should break the news then…I pray that you're right, Byakuren." Shou said before leaving the room, with Nazirin hesitantly following behind her.
A/N: Yeah, know how I said I'd wrap this whole Myouren temple thing up this chapter? I lied. Unintentionally of course...I just decided to end the chapter here, as it felt like it was getting a little too long personally, and I like to keep chapters decently sized, not too long and not too short. So the next chapter will be the one that really wraps things up, and will answer the questions that remain unanswered.
This chapter got pretty heavy honestly...But still fun to write regardless. May have to take a shot at writing something darker in the future...That'd be interesting to try to say the least. Well, I hope you got a kick out of reading this, next chapter will hopefully be up soon. Until next time!