To say Flandre and Meiling were surprised to see none other than Remilia, would be an understatement, they were completely shocked, much to the point they couldn't formulate any coherent sentences. Koishi, however, wasn't so much surprised as she was confused. She stared at the older Scarlet sister curiously, taking a good look at the Scarlet devil from her violet hair, down to her pure-white shoes.
Remilia simply shrugged off the satori's curious gaze as she eyed her younger sibling, Flandre. She remained silent, as if trying to think of what to say to her sister, as she kept her unblinking gaze fixed on Flandre. Her staring only caused Flandre more worry, as thoughts of the harsh words and actions from her recent nightmares filled her mind. She only wished that this too, was nothing but a nasty dream.
Breaking the silence *was an unusually bold Meiling, who nervously cleared her throat, "M-Mistress…Umm…I know this kind of looks bad…But I uh…Oh, who am I kidding? I was never one to be able to talk my way out of a situation…Let's hear it. Tell me all about the horrid punishments you'll put me through…But please don't punish Flandre, this was all my idea. I accept full responsibility."
The Scarlet Devil grinned at the gatekeeper before finally bursting out into laughter, confusing Flandre and Meiling greatly. Koishi, however, just grew more and more perplexed by Flandre's elder sister, whose laughter didn't look to be ending anytime soon. Remilia's laughter echoed across Youkai Mountain with how loud it was. She wouldn't be surprised if all, who called the mountain home, could hear the vampire's laughs.
When Remilia's laughter finally desisted, the vampire turned her gaze back to the gatekeeper. "Oh China, I see you haven't lost your sense of humor…How fortunate. I'm so glad to have found you and you too, of course, my dear, precious sister! I was so very worried about you! Now come and give your big sister a hug!" Remilia opened her arms, inviting Flandre to embrace her.
Flandre didn't seem to know how to respond to this turn of events, as her face still didn't look any more collected than when Remilia first greeted them. In fact, she almost looked even more worried than she was to begin with. The younger vampire just couldn't shake the fears of her nightmares coming true.
"What's wrong sister? I hope you won't be making me come all the way over there for my hug…"
"Ummmm…Mistress? Not to mean any offense but…are you feeling well?" Meiling asked cautiously.
"Why, of course, China! I assure you I am quite healthy, I'm at the peak of my condition even. Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" Remilia replied.
"Erm…well…Y-You see…How do I put this…?"
"You paid crazy people to chase Flanny around you big doofus!" Koishi cried out, causing Flandre to snap out of her fear induced trance, and Meiling to cringe at her words. "Big sisters aren't supposed to do that! They're supposed to hug them and give them kisses and bake them cookies and tell them bedtime stories and, and…You didn't do that at all! Y-You did… you did the exact opposite of what a big sister is supposed to do!" Oddly enough, the blue orb, that was Koishi's third-eye, seemed to bulge as if it were a beating heart with each word that left her mouth.
"K-Koishi…" Flandre stuttered out in disbelief; she was amazed by the satori. She had never seen the satori be so defensive of her, it was a stark contrast of the usually carefree and sometimes air-headed Koishi, she was used to being around with.
"Ack! K-Koishi…P-Please, just let me handle this…" Meiling whispered with worry of what repercussions the satori's harsh words might have. They were fortunate enough for the mistress to not be angry with them, she would prefer to keep this piece of luck with them if at all possible, and throwing insults towards her definitely wouldn't improve their chances of survival. "S-So sorry about that mistress, our friend here often times doesn't know when she's being rude..."
"Ah, I see…But I assure you Miss Koishi, all that I did was out of love and concern for my dear, little sister! I just wanted her home safe and sound behind the walls of the Mansion, where she wouldn't be hurt! I admit I may have been a little drastic with my actions… but I assure you, I meant no harm or misfortune to befall you." Remilia explained calmly, "Now sister, let's be going home now, you've worried so very many people!"
"I…I have…?" Flandre asked with disbelief.
"Why of course, silly! Patchouli, Sakuya and everyone else have been worried sick about you ever since you left with China! They'll be so relieved to see your smiling face again! We'll even celebrate with the finest of desserts!"
Remilia's words touched Flandre's heart; never had she ever thought that the rest of the mansion's residents would have missed her. In fact, she almost thought they were indifferent to her presence altogether. But they must have cared if they were looking eager to see her once again! This revelation almost put Flandre to tears; she couldn't believe they actually cared about her.
Koishi, however, wasn't moved in the least by Remilia's words; in fact, she seemed completely sickened by Remilia's words, as she just pouted at her with crossed arms. Remilia ignored the stink-eye that Koishi was shooting at her, as she continued to plead with her younger sister. "Now come along Flandre, let's go home, I'm sure Sakuya has prepared her finest meals for your return. And we could really use our gatekeeper, Meiling, it wouldn't do to have any intruders prowling about the Mansion, would it now?"
"S-Sis…A-Aren't you mad? I left without even saying goodbye…A-Aren't you gonna yell at me like you always do when I do something bad…?" Flandre asked timidly, not looking any less fearful of her sister than she did even with all the reassurances she gave her.
"Why on earth would I ever be angry with you, little sister? I love you all the way to the moon and back! You could never do anything to make me upset with you!" Remilia said lovingly.
Just as it looked as if Flandre was about to run over and give her elder sister the biggest hug of her lifetime, Meiling stopped the small vampire right in her tracks, grabbing her by the back of the collar of her dress. "Hold on for a moment Flandre…that isn't your sister." Meiling said, staring directly into the regal vampire's crimson eyes.
"Wh-What? Yeah she is China! That's big sister Remi! Is something wrong with your eyes?" Flandre asked in disbelief of Meiling's words.
"I can assure you my eyes are in peak condition, Flandre. The person you're looking at is not the Mistress, she's an imposter." Meiling said sternly as she glared at the purple-haired vampire, who returned a glare of her own to the gatekeeper.
"What on earth are you babbling about, China? I'm no imposter, have you gone mad? Perhaps you should get some rest…" Remilia asked in almost a hiss as her eyes furrowed in displeasure.
"No, I'm quite as sane as I was yesterday and the day before that. After all, if I wasn't all there, how on earth would I have been able to see past your ruse?" Meiling asked.
Remilia gave the gatekeeper a rather dark look, "Oh…? Would you like to explain just how exactly, I am not the Scarlet Devil?"
"Gladly." Meiling replied happily, "To begin, allow me to ask you a question, Mistress, where is your umbrella?"
Remilia's already pale skin seemingly became even paler at the question, with her mouth ajar she asked, "M-My what?"
"Your umbrella. In all my years of service to you, you've never once gone out while the sun was still in the sky without your umbrella in hand to shield yourself from the light. In fact, you've taken the same umbrella with you for the last few decades every time you've gone out." Remilia glowered at the gatekeeper with each passing word, looking quite impatient with Meiling. "It's actually quite a marvel seeing you out in broad daylight without any source of shade from the sun, I distinctly remember you being quite repulsed by the sun, being a full-blood vampire and all. You even made it very clear how distasteful you find the sun to be, considering you went through the trouble of releasing a Scarlet Mist to blot it out."
"Y-Yes well, you see I was so overcome with joy from the news of my dear, little sister's whereabouts that I forgot all about it and rushed over here to bring her home. I endured the sun out of love and concern for my sister, you see, not that I'd expect you to understand, Meiling…" Remilia said defensively, not even bothering to hide the harshness behind her words. "Now unless you're done making a complete buffoon out of yourself-"
"I'm afraid I'm not, mistress. Now on to our next piece of evidence…As I'm sure you're aware of, Mistress, I possess the ability to use and sense chi."
"Yes, yes…I'm sure we're all aware of your little parlor tricks, just get to the point or stop wasting my time, China." Remilia replied venomously as she began to tap her foot as if to emphasize her thinning patience with the gatekeeper.
"Very well, straight to the point it is then. Your chi is certainly a familiar one, but it most certainly isn't my master's. After years and years of service to the same employer, I could pick her chi out from an entire horde of vampires easily. You can disguise your appearance, but you can't hide your essence from me." Remilia snarled at the gatekeeper in anger, she looked like she was trying to keep her anger at bay by balling her hands into fists at her sides. It looked like she'd draw blood if she clenched her hands into her palms any further. "I must admit, you'd make a wonderful actor, you certainly did nail Remilia's personality…although your performance did have a small flaw…Remilia never calls me 'China'." Meiling concluded.
"Wh-Why y-you…I…I…I should rip out that cheeky tongue of yours for such…such…Impudence! You…Y-You…Disrespectful cur! You ought to learn…your place! You-You dog!" Remilia screeched, losing all of the composure she had.
"Laying it down a little thick, aren't we?" Meiling said mockingly, "Enough games, you're not fooling anyone."
Remilia's cursing and her screams of obscenities at the gatekeeper halted to a stop, and was replaced with an eerie silence. Remilia simply stared down at her unblemished shoes furiously; she was staring at her shoes so intensely that one would have thought that they had wronged her in one of the worst possible ways. Flandre looked at her sister warily as she began to cling to Meiling's dress like a small child would. Koishi, however, didn't seem to have any sense of caution, rather she looked like she was intrigued by the older vampire's fury. She had an air of anticipation in her eyes, as if the satori was expecting Remilia to burn up in an anger-fueled explosion. And considering the satori's emotionally driven words at the vampire, it would probably be exactly what Koishi was hoping for.
But instead of a great explosion, Remilia looked up from the ground with a huge smirk on her face, with a light, creepy giggle to compliment her smile. There was almost a manic look in her eye, one that you'd expect to see in a feral animal. Meiling didn't like the look Remilia was giving them; it was an unsettling sight, whatever she had in store for them, it certainly wouldn't be something pleasant.
"Well, looks like the cats out of the bag then…You know Red, you're a lot brighter than you look." Remilia chuckled, "No use trying to worm my way outta this one, may as well come clean…" as Remilia finished her sentence, the vampire's body began to go through some unusual changes…
Her violet colored hair turned as black as night, and her small pair of leathery wings seemingly retreated into her spine. Her back began to bulge before six completely different appendages burst out. It would be a stretch to call them wings, as they didn't look like they could offer any sort of flight capabilities. In fact, if anything they resembled some-sort of weapon *more(more like some-sort of weapon?). Three of the appendages protruding from her spine looked like they were some kind of bizarre looking scythe while the other three were best described as a cross between a spear and a tentacle. To complete her transformation, her light-pink dress turned as black as her hair and became much shorter; much to the point that her stocking covered legs were revealed. The only thing that didn't change in the slightest, was her eerie grin and her pair of scarlet-red eyes.
"Wait…I know you...I knew your chi felt familiar…" Meiling muttered under her breath as she took in the sight of the imposter's new form.
"H-Hey! You're that grumpy lady from the temple who wasn't watching where she was going in the hallway!" Koishi proclaimed, "What'cha doing up on the mountain? Are you sight-seeing too? Why were you posing as Flanny's sister? Is it some sort of weird hobby of yours?"
The imposter simply huffed in apparent disgust at Koishi's questions, scowling down at the satori spitefully. "I always remembered you as the annoying one…always so loud and obnoxious…Just count yourself lucky you don't have any money on your head, kid." The imposter sneered before turning her attention to Flandre and Meiling, "Now, why don't you two just come along nice and quiet and make things easier on yourselves, hmmm?"
"Sorry, but I'm afraid we can't comply with that request." Meiling said venomously as she prepared herself for the battle that was likely to ensue, "Though I have to ask, does Byakuren know what you're doing, Nue?"
"Shut up, she doesn't have anything to do with this." Nue hissed, "Last chance Red, just come along nice and quiet and no one gets hurt. Nue's honor."
"Sorry, but I have no intention of forfeiting my friends into your hands. If you want to collect the bounty on our heads, you had best believe I'm going to make you work for it!" Meiling cried with a strong sense of conviction. Her eyes burned with determination, making it clear she wouldn't be swayed by Nue's words. But then again, action always did speak louder than words…
"Well, that's a shame…" Nue groaned in disappointment, "I was hoping this would be an easy job…just my luck…Oh well, we'll just have to do this the hard way then! Just remember I gave you a choice!"Nue's six appendages then stabbed the ground, raising the black-clad girl off the ground making Nue look like some-sort of six-legged spider. The shape-shifting youkai, without warning, charged towards the small band of youkai ferociously.
Acting quickly, Meiling grabbed her two dazed companions and leapt out of the way, avoiding being trampled by Nue by just mere seconds. The nue grunted in frustration and leapt after the three, using the strength behind the six appendages protruding from her back to launch herself after her prey.
Meiling gasped in shock at her foe's demonic speed, jumping out of the way just at the nick of time. Nue, realizing she had once again missed her targets, used her strangely shaped wings slowed herself down. The shape-shifter bolted after Meiling in another attempt at making a hit against the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper growled in frustration, shape-shifting obviously wasn't Nue's only impressive skill, her speed was overwhelming. Until today she had only seen the bothersome reporter, Aya move that quickly. Her insane amount of speed combined with her tenacity was a bad combination for Meiling. At this rate, she'd be overwhelmed, losing the fight before she even got the chance to strike back. She would need to formulate a strategy if she hoped to defeat this troublesome foe.
"Flandre, Koishi, you two stand back. Let me handle this." Meiling said as she released the two from her grasp.
"Awwww…You steal the spotlight every time…" Koishi groaned, puffing out her cheeks in outrage, "Just don't mess up…C'mon Flanny! Let's go find some seats and enjoy the show!" Flandre remained unresponsive as the satori took ahold of her hand and began dragging her off out of harm's way.
Meiling gave the vampire a concerned look; there was no telling what could be going through the vampire's mind after this sudden turn of events. It was little wonder she was in this state of silence…There would be time to rectify the situation later though, there was a much more immediate, and dangerous problem she would have to take care of first.
"Y'know, I don't get you Red." Nue said with a bit of confusion on her face, "Isn't that vampire supposed to be insanely powerful? Heck, I saw what she and the air-head did to the Lunarians…Yet you insist on fighting their battles for them?"
"Good question, I'm a gatekeeper. It's my job to protect. Simple as that." Meiling said with a shadow of a grin.
"What use is a guard for a wall that can't be breached though?" Nue snickered, "Ah well, I guess it doesn't matter in the end. You'll be a nice appetizer for the main dish…" suddenly, a pitch-fork manifested into Nue's hand, it made the already intimidating shape-shifter look even more fearsome than before.
Without any further notice, Nue resumed her assault with renewed vigor, closing the distance between herself and the gatekeeper at even faster speeds than before. Meiling however, was prepared for the attack. Making use of her inhuman amount of agility, Meiling leapt into the air gracefully and delivered a powerful drop-kick to Nue's head. The blow caused the mischievous shape-shifter to howl in pain as she held her head in agony. This left Nue vulnerable, and Meiling refused to waste the opportunity. The gatekeeper charged forward and threw a chi-infused punch right into her opponent's gut, causing Nue to fall over onto her back from the force behind the blow.
Just as Nue was about to recover from her fall, she found herself beset by Meiling, who was about to land another chi-powered punch directly in her face. Luckily for the shape-shifting youkai, she blocked the attack by using her several misshaped wings as a makeshift shield.
Nue wasn't about to stay on the defensive for long though. She used her wings to swat Meiling off her like a fly. Meiling, being one of the more graceful youkai in Gensokyo, landed on her feet no problem. The gatekeeper watched as Nue picked herself up using the tendrils coming from her back. Though she looked roughed up a bit, it didn't look like she would give up collecting the bounty anytime soon.
Meiling sighed; she had hoped she would have been able to keep this battle brief, but that didn't look like it would happen. She had to admire Nue's craftiness, not only had she come close to tricking her and Flandre to going along with her to the mansion willingly, but even the way she fought was quite clever, by using the six tentacles coming from her back to stand, she gave herself extra leverage against her opponent, but her form was something to be desired. While she certainly had strength and speed to spare, her attacks often depended on brute strength alone, making her attacks clumsy and inaccurate. This was something Meiling could use to her advantage in bringing the mischievous shape-shifter to her knees.
Nue grinned ear to ear at the gatekeeper with ragged breath, "Not bad Red…Not bad at all…But this is where the gloves come off!" the shape-shifter shouted almost gleefully. Gripping her trident in both hands, the nue leapt forward, intending to bring down an attack from above.
Meiling saw the attack coming though. Just as Nue was about to bring the butt of her trident down on her, Meiling grabbed the weapon right out of her hands and gave her a fierce palm to the face, causing the black-clad youkai to go flying across the battle damaged landscape.
Nue recovered from the blow quickly, spitting out the blood the impact had caused to flood her mouth. Despite this, Nue was grinning, as if she had the upper hand and victory for her was eminent. The shape-shifter without warning launched herself at the gatekeeper for another attack. Meiling, having grown accustomed to Nue's repetitive attacks, was prepared to evade and counter her assault. However, rather than pounce on the gatekeeper as she had done several times before, she, instead, transformed herself into a large python mid-flight. Meiling, too shocked by Nue's change of strategy wasn't able to avoid being constricted by the crafty youkai.
"China!" Flandre cried out from her perch atop a cliff next to Koishi as she watched her loyal companion become ensnared by the monstrous-sized snake that Nue had become. The satori next to her had a look of concern on her face as she bit her lower lip.
Despite the great amount of strength Meiling had under her command, she couldn't shake herself loose from Nue's grasp. In fact, the more she struggled, the tighter Nue wove herself around her. She quickly found her lungs being cut off from their oxygen supply as Nue continued to constrict around her. "Heh heh heh, not so tough now, are we Red?" Nue taunted in a distorted voice, it sounded as if she were in a tunnel of some sort as her voice had an echo to it. "You could have avoided this you know, but you just had to play the hero bit, didn't you? Don't worry though; I won't rough up your little friends too much, just enough to incapacitate them long enough to get my money."
Meiling tried to respond to Nue's taunting, but all that came out was a frustrated growl as she tried to break free of the shape-shifter's grip unsuccessfully. Her vision was beginning to darken, she wouldn't remain conscious much longer at this rate. Meiling cursed herself for letting her guard down, she should have expected such dirty-tricks from a nue…she only prayed that Flandre and Koishi would run…she didn't want them to pay for her mistake…
Just as it seemed that Nue was about to snatch victory with little effort, the most unexpected thing filled Meiling's ears. "Wriggle…KICK!" a rather high-pitched voice cried out. The battle cry was soon accompanied by Nue's cries of pain, as the shape-shifter took a rather painful looking kick to the face from a rather oddly dressed person.
The blow caused Nue to not only lose her suffocating grip on Meiling, but also caused her to revert back into her original-form as she clutched her face in pain and began to scream obscenities. The gatekeeper had never been so grateful for a fresh breath of air as she began to pant for it, it was fortunate this newcomer came when *they(That's plural, but I'm not sure how to correct it... He? She? It?) did, otherwise things would have taken a turn for the worst…It was a nice change of pace after the trying amount of trials the world seemed to be insistent on giving her as of late.
The gatekeeper soon found her two companions at her side, helping up off of the ground with concern wrecked faces. "Ch-China, are you alright?" Flandre asked in concern as she pulled the much taller woman to her feet with Koishi's assistance.
"Y-Yeah…J-Just peachy… Th…Thank you…"
As Meiling caught her breath, she was able to take her first clear look at her savior. Her rescuer was admittedly shorter than she had previously expected, in fact, she was about the height of Flandre and Koishi, if not shorter. Her clothing was strange, even by Gensokyian standards; she wore a red cape that looked like it had seen much better days. She also wore a black button-up blouse that had a strange insignia printed on it and a pair of black-matching pants. Though even stranger was the fact that her rescuer wore a pair of red-tinted glasses of some sort that hid her identity quite well, and had a small pair of what looked like antennas coming out of her cranium. She was also accompanied by a few fireflies strangely enough, they jittered around her mindlessly.
Koishi seemed to be enthralled by the short-girl's attire, in fact her eyes seemed to gleam as she stared and took in even the smallest of details on her outfit. Though it wasn't much of a surprise, sometimes Meiling questioned just what went through that brain of hers… "Who're you? And where can I get that outfit!? It's so dark and brooding…" Koishi asked suddenly, seemingly forgetting that Nue was still a very large and persistent threat.
The enigmatic girl looked back at Koishi, her expression unreadable. "…I am the one who protects those who need protection; I am the one who answers when the forces of evil come knocking, I am the light that pierces the darkness… I am justice…I am…The Firefly!" the oddly-garbed girl then thrust her hand into the air, with her index finger pointed up towards the heavens. "Have no fear fine citizens, for Gensokyo's savior has come to protect you!"
While Koishi seemed to be completely and utterly enthralled with the Firefly's theatrics, Meiling looked more dumbfounded if anything. Flandre however seemed to have a nagging suspicion that needed to be answered. "…Wriggle? Is that you?" Flandre asked with a smidge of doubt in her voice.
At Flandre's question, the Firefly lost all composure and became completely flustered. "Wh-What? I-I have no idea who th-this Wriggle character is! I am the Firefly, protector of all that is good and just in the world!" the Firefly fervently denied, "N-Now stand back fair-maiden that I have definitely not m-met before! I shall dispatch this evildoer in a flash! You may want to flee, for this clash just might be so intense that it'll melt your face clean off!"
Meiling wasn't sure how this Firefly character and Flandre were connected, but there wasn't any time to ask questions. If she were willing to stall Nue long enough for them to escape, she had nothing but praise for her. As deeply as it shamed her to retreat, she had to think of her friends before her pride.
"We'll do that…Thank you, Miss Firefly. Your actions today won't be forgotten." Meiling said gratefully, "Flandre, Koishi, let's go! There's no time to waste!"
Flandre, looking reluctant to leave the odd-girl to battle Nue by her lonesome gave the Firefly a concerned look. "Wriggle or whoever you are, thanks for the help…Good luck!" she said before doing as Meiling had said and ran off.
"Awwww! B-But she still hasn't told me where she got her outfit!" Koishi cried in disappointment, stomping her feet into the ground as if to show her displeasure before being tugged along by her collar by Meiling.
As the three disappeared from sight, the Firefly gave a sigh of relief. Taking a sideward glance over to where they had vanished, the girl grinned. "Good luck, Flandre." She was then snapped back into reality as Nue finally recovered from her nasty kick to the face.
Nue's nose was dripping blood; she tried to stop its flow with her hands, but to no avail. "D-Damn brat…Who the hell do you think you are!? No one kicks Nue Houjou in the face…without facing any repercussions!" Nue howled in anger as she picked up her trident and pointed it at the girl threateningly.
The Firefly let out an audible gulp, before replying with as much bravado as she could muster. "I-I am the Firefly! And you shall fall here fiend! P-Prepare yourself, for your reign of tyranny ends here, evildoer!" She cried, jabbing a finger into her direction for good measure.
Nue didn't feel threatened at all, she saw right through the girl's act. She let out a laugh, "Ha, funny kid. But playtime's over…Tell me which direction the vampire and her friends went and I'll let you off easy."
"N-No! Your fight is with me, villain! Learn to fear the name, 'The Firefly'!"
Nue growled in anger, she had her prey on the ropes just moments ago, only for some brat to swoop in and ruin everything. It infuriated her to no end, someone would have to pay dearly for this, and this someone was right in front of her. "Last chance kid…Tell me. NOW." Nue roared in a distorted voice.
Her voice sent shivers down the Firefly's spine, she wanted desperately to run away and hide like she had always done in the past. Yet those days were behind her…Heroes never ran away, they always fought for truth and justice and bright future… "N…N-No! The Firefly shall never cooperate with brigands as nefarious as you! Prepare yourself, the Firefly has no mercy for such horrid fiends like you!" she refused once more.
"Fine…Just remember, I gave you a choice, brat. I'll try and make this quick…" Nue said as she cracked her knuckles together fearsomely.
Despite being horribly outmatched, the Firefly stood her ground and took on an offensive stance, prepared to meet her foe in combat. Though despite the courage she was displaying, her heart was beating uncontrollably, and her entire body was shivering nervously. She steeled herself as a nue began to march her way over to her, slowly closing the distance between them. She was seriously beginning to think she was way in over her head with this hero business…
AN: See? I had a plan for that all along. :P Well, again I take a year and a half to post a new chapter, and then apologize profusely for it. I'm sure many of you are getting tired of it, but you know, that's how things go. It was mostly due to a nasty case of writer's block, and me starting a new story. Just to keep things fresh and all. It's a lot different from where this story is going, but if you're interested enough, feel free to check it out...or something.
Aside from that, I don't have much to say this time...Except a special thank you to Rambo3RD for doing the proof-reading for this chapter! So if they're are any errors, it's totally not my fault! :D Joking aside, thanks to his help, I've been able to do a lot more with him picking up the slack, while the chapter gets a more thorough search before its posted. So thanks once again Mr. Rambo.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long this time.(The keyword being "Hopefully") So until next time!