GENSOKYOBOUND

by SKOOLATOON

Hikari Hakurei is Reimu's own daughter of eighteen years. Her quiet demeanor's brought by social inexperience and natural introversion. Night of Gensokyian New Year party, Hikari wakes to a strange meteorite falling from the sky. While many of Gensokyo's finest are in drunken comas in the shrine, Hikari takes it upon herself to investigate. It'd be a long time before she gets home.

14. Hakurei: Microwave on High

==== GENSOKYOBOUND: HIKARI'S VIEW ====

On the manor's inside, Hikari and her friends got to enjoy a bit of the luxury they had expected previously upon entering the manor.

"Dude, that meal, was like, the meal." Osamu patted his stomach.

The three sat in the library, which was now devoid of noticeably homicidal flying tomes.

"I don't know. Too much fancy food, to be honest." Hikari had mixed feelings.

'Unlike Mom, I'm a bit of a picky eater when it comes to 'real food'.'

The two sat at a table in one of the library's many clearings.

"Too much fancy food!?" Osamu looked at her as if she grew a second head. "Who are you, and what've you done with Hikari?"

"Is it really that big of a surprise…?" She asks back nonchalantly.

He nods exaggeratedly. "Yeah! You eat almost as much as I do!"

Hikari raises a finger. "But… they were all mostly snacks."

"And? Food's food, dude." Osamu shakes his head.

Meanwhile, Marigold was using the table's other half to fiddle with the Broken Cylinder and the Broken Barrels.

"...I'm not sure such a design would work." Patchouli, who was seated across from Marigold, told her daughter. "Are you certain you know what you're doing?"

"Hey." Marigold pointed a detached barrel at her. "Experimentation's kinda part of the process."

"So many a novice magician have said…" Patchouli comments. "...And Marisa."

Hikari gave them a glance, as did Osamu. She took note of the metal she was fiddling with...

'I still don't know where she gets these ideas.'

Marigold pouted. "Well, unfortunately, back-alley magical weapon assembly happens to not be a well documented trade. That, and the things I'm working at are of such a basic level that nothing should really explode or go horribly."

Patchouli nods. "Fair enough. Minus the flame crystal you're currently working with."

Marigold pauses for a moment. "...Yeah."

"I don't even know how it might work on activation." Patchouli reflected. "For this reason, please inform me of tests ahead of time so that I may properly ward myself."

Marigold snorted. "Oh, trust me, you'll know."

She had her mother alchemically produce a wheel to attach to the edge of the crystal's cylindrical container, able to fit the four barrels.

'Okay, I'll bite. That looks nothing like her other guns, except for the rods at the end.' Hikari tilted her head, attempting to discern how Marigold was sure simply attaching the metal would do something.

"...H-how is that going to work?" Hikari asks.

'I should clear my throat more often.'

Marigold looks over at her, taken off guard for a moment. "A-ah, well… The way I was thinking, was that I was gonna have mana go in through one end and hopefully come out the other, with the metal and barrels acting as ways for the output to be received and shaped. I don't know what the output will be, exactly, though."

'...Ah.' Hikari nodded. "...So what goes in, must come out?"

"Basically." Marigold nods as well.

"Hopefully." Patchouli adds.

Marigold glances at her, smiling ironically, as she looks back down at the device. "I need an easy way to activate whatever distributes the mana charge, though."

"...I would suggest a magical trigger," Patchouli shrugs, "But I don't think you could activate such a thing, being unable to feel the flow of mana at all…"

"Why not something pressurized?" Marigold suggests. "Like a trigger, or a plate. Something that activated by physical means."

Patchouli sighed. "I am a mage, not a metalsmith."

Marigold rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be a metal smith. Even a material that reacts a bit excited when smacked would be alright with me. I would prefer something automatic, but…"

"...That could work." Patchouli agrees. "Allow me to locate the materials."

Patchouli raises from her chair, and floats away.

'Most of that was greek to me.'

Osamu nods and grins. "...Well. I have no idea what the hell you two just talked about, but it sounded smart, so I'm confident you know what you're doing."

Marigold snorted. "I see…"

After the discussion died down, all was quiet for a few moments, barring the noise of Marigold tinkering with metal parts.

'...I feel like we've been facing more enemies lately than normal.' Hikari stares up at the upper levels of the library, and the far away ceiling. 'The last time there was a brainwashing thing, there was a very obvious source of it. Here… nothing felt very different about everyone affected.'

She looked over at Marigold, who was focused on the parts.

'That, and those machines near Mom's shrine…' Hikari began realizing the scale of things. '...This might be a bigger thing than I first anticipated.'

Hikari then looked to Osamu, who was picking at his nails…

"Ow!" He shakes his thumb, then glares at it. "Stupid fuckin' hangnail…"

Hikari decides to beckon his attention. "Say, Osamu…"

He's instantly alerted, looking up at Hikari. "Yeah- huh, what?"

"Don't you feel like we're starting to see more and more stuff geared against us? Like, those robots, and the increasing amount of brainwashing?" Hikari questions.

He shrugged. "...Now that ya mention it, yeah. Also, who the hell's this Giggly Gas guy?"

Hikari snorted. "Someone who really wants to ruin our day. Days, rather."

Patchouli floated back down. "Here we are…"

She laid down a orange, rectangular gem on the table, which was encased by a frame of metal.

"It's a garnet." Patchouli states.

"I can see that." Marigold observes.

"I've enchanted it to serve two purposes for you. One is to hold an immense surplus of mana, an easy task. The metal borders are to help it retain that charge, as well. The second was to make it react violently on contact, and exude the mana. If you were able to feel the flow of magic, I doubt you could hold the gem proper."

Patchouli, herself, had only been touching it by the borders, as observed by Hikari.

Marigold furrowed her brows. "Why might that be?"

"The simplest touches can make it emanate slight amount of mana. It feels and acts as though it's constantly vibrating, giving it a slippery quality, though only to biological beings. For example…"

She held it by the borders again, and held it towards Hikari and Osamu.

"Touch it." Patchouli requested.

Hikari leaned forward and put her hand on it.

'W-woah.' She held her hand on it. 'My hand's all tingly…'

Osamu reached out, and put his hand on it.

"Yo~! Kinda feels like my hand's numb, except not…" He retracts it, clamping it shut a few times. "Wei~rd."

She holds it closer to Marigold. "Now, for you."

Marigold grabs it, and holds onto it. "...It feels like a regular crystal."

Patchouli nods. "To you, maybe."

Marigold attaches the garnet to the free end of the cylinder, or tries to. "...I assume you planned for this?"

Patchouli gives a small grin. "Yes, yes. Some simple magnetism with the ambient mana should do wonders."

'Magnets…' Hikari furrowed her brows. 'Now, just how do they work?'

Patchouli moves around the table to reach the gem, and swipes her hands across the metal, pressing it to the bottom of the cylinder.

"There." Patchouli nods. "That should hold. Should it ever fail, you may ask me to reapply it, if only because you're at a disadvantage."

Marigold nodded. "I mean, I'm sure some tape could've done the job, but this works too."

Her mother's brow twitches. "Right…"

Marigold stood up, holding the new machine. "Alright… Could you make some large rocks for me to shoot, Mom?"

"Mmm." Patchouli hummed.

She held out her hand, and three pillars of rock erupted from magical circles on the floor.

Marigold held the unwieldy cylinder with both arms, keeping her rightmost one near the back to access the garnet.

She aimed at the central rock, and slapped the garnet. Her hold on the device tightened as it shook, the other end of the device outputting a blast of raw heat. The table's corner was caught by the heat blast, and ended up getting pushed back somewhat.

"Woah!" Osamu jumped, surprised.

Patchouli stared. "Hmm… Perhaps try being a little more gentle? I made it quite sensitive."

"Mmm." Marigold acknowledged her advice, and instead pressed on the garnet.

A low hum was produced by the gun, a shimmering orange beam expanding to meet the stone ahead. Nothing visibly happened to the stone.

Marigold took her hand off the garnet, and the ray fizzled out shortly after.

"...That was underwhelming." Marigold declared.

Patchouli sighed. "Need I remind you that it's a fire crystal?"

Marigold paused, furrowing her brows. Then, she began blushing. "...Shut up."

Patchouli smirked. "Would you like something that might actually burn, instead? Wood, perhaps?"

"...Actually," Marigold had a different idea, "Do you think you could summon a homunculus?"

Patchouli thought on it, for a moment. "...A shoddy one, yes. That's likely all we'll need, though. Give me a moment..."

Hikari rose a brow at the term. 'A what?'

Osamu looked curious. "A what? A hoe, mun…?"

"Please refrain from hurting yourself." Patchouli monotoned, floating to the side of the clearing with the rocks. With a wave of her hand, they retracted back into the magical circles. A new circle formed, and she began focusing on it…

Osamu folded his arms.

After a few moments of focus from Patchouli, a human figure was created in the middle of the magical circle. It was, however, faceless, featureless, and uncannily smooth.

"The best I can come up with on a whim's notice." Patchouli admits.

"S'that a dude?" Osamu stood up, leaning to look past Marigold.

Patchouli stared at him blankly. "...It's technically genderless, but you could call it whatever you want. It's not even sentient, though sentience is a whole different science."

Osamu nodded. "...Wazzat mean?"

"Does it have organs?" Patchouli poses the question to him.

"Not that, the other part. With the sentiment stuff."

"It doesn't think." She abbreviates. "It cannot feel, either. It hasn't a working mind."

"...Oh." Osamu nods, again. "Alright, I getcha."

'It looks kinda creepy.'

Hikari stares at it, unsure what to really think of it.

Marigold aims the device at it, and presses on the garnet.

Once again, a low hum is made audible as an orange beam of energy expands to meet the homunculus. The skin and flesh of the homunculus begin to boil on contact, the entire body swelling up. After just a few seconds of exposure-

Splash!

The homunculus burst into a torrent of blood, spilling across the carpet under it, its flesh and parts flowing uselessly to the floor.

...

'Yick.' Hikari winces at the display. 'That was… messy.'

"Pff-fft…!" Marigold grins incredulously. "Wow. Al~right, then…"

Osamu gaped. "What the fuck!? Woa~h! That guy just came apart!"

Patchouli grimaced at the mess. "Tch. The carpet's going to need some deep cleaning."

...Marigold held her device in front of herself. "I like this new weapon."

Patchouli snorted.

"I shall call it the Fire Laser Gun." Marigold decides.

…

Patchouli stares at her tiredly. "You will not."

Marigold jerks her head back, as if surprised.

"For one thing, it seems to produce microwaves, and not exactly fire. I'm not familiar with any technology that would normally be able to replicate microwaves on a level of weaponizable capability, but such a weapon should prove to be vastly powerful against anything biological." Patchouli explains. "As such… at the very least call it the Microwave Gun if you're to be unoriginal."

Marigold pouts. "...Alright."

Marigold has obtained the Microwave Gun!

'I'm not sure how to feel about that.'

Marigold brings her backpack from the floor to the table, and opens a flap. "...How am I going to store this in my backpack?"

Patchouli held up a metal plate. "You're probably going to want a cap, for that."

Patchouli floats over, and attaches it. "It's lockable, and has fake hinges."

Jerking her head back, Marigold looks at her mother. "Fake hinges?"

"Magic ones. They're finicky, but work well if used sparingly and combined with inactive states, like locks or latches." Patchouli explained.

"I see…"

"Although, as your mother, I have the obligation to tell you to not point that thing at people." Patchouli states, half in jest. "It may or may not gib them."

Marigold nodded. "I'll keep that in mind…"

"Unless it's in self defense." Patchouli adds. "Then you can go nuts."

With the cap now attached to the Microwave Gun, Marigold was able to slip it into the backpack.

Patchouli and her both sat back down, and the discussion died down.

'I should probably ask her if she knows anything about the recent events…'

Hikari turned to Patchouli. "Would you happen to know anymore weird things lately?"

"...Where is this coming from?" Patchouli rose a brow. "I'm not sure if I follow."

"I-I mean, with like…" Hikari pauses. "Robots?"

...Patchouli nods. "That does remind me… Meiling has been complaining about a sudden surge of combatants at evening. They don't seek to invade the manor walls, but when they see her they typically attack her. She reports things such as status ailment inducing machines and laser-firing robots."

'That sounds about right.'

"They're scarce during the day, only roaming in large at night. For Meiling, groups of ten-twenty laser firing robots aren't a huge concern, even with status afflictions, but for you three, it might be more than you're willing to bargain for."

'Ten to twenty!?'

Osamu's eyes widen. "Ten to twenty? Are you serious?"

Patchouli's expression was deadpan. "Does this look like the face of a jester?"

"Dude, the last time we saw them was around the freakin' shrine, and it was like, two or three!" Osamu argued. "There's no way there're a horde of the tin cans!"

"Two or three sounds about right, for day time." Patchouli tilted her head back and forth. "Nights in Gensokyo are becoming more perilous. I would dread to be caught somewhere far from any form of abode, as even during the day there may be more. It would seem some sort of mechanical presence is taking the land by storm. In the end, it's not my problem, though." She folded her arms.

Hikari slowly turns away from her. 'Well, when they come knocking on your door, you can't say you didn't have the chance to do anything.'

"Currently, they're all coming from one distinct direction." Patchouli provides. "Youkai Mountain."

Osamu snorted. "Oh, yeah, that place. S'it actually got a shitton of youkai, or are people just bein' superstitious like usual?"

Patchouli gazes at him. "It does, infact, harbor a large majority of youkai homes in Gensokyo, along with various larger communities, such as the kappa or tengu."

"...Oh." Osamu nodded. "Well, uh, why're there robots coming from there, then?"

Patchouli shrugged.

"Maybe we should check it out." Hikari decided. "Finding the source of the robots would be a good step in stopping that… Giygas thing."

'I can't believe I'm actually calling it by the name. I have to call it something, though.'

Marigold smirked. "You say that, but considering ten to twenty are a nightly thing this far from the mountain…"

Hikari cringed. '...This might be a little beyond our capabilities.'

Patchouli stood. "Well, I'm not one to tell mikos how to handle incidents, but I would recommend you travel during the silence of the daylight. Considering even Meiling is beginning to feel uncomfortable with combat at night, I would dread to think what might befall you three if you were caught o-out at n-night."

...Patchouli coughed, clearing her throat. "Ahem. I a-appear to have been talking too long…"

Hikari smiles. 'And people call me new to talking.'

Standing, Hikari stretches. "We~ll… I think it might be time for us to head out."

"Very well. Do make haste, as it's already noon." Patchouli begins floating away. "...Think carefully, Marigold. Don't let that wit of yours dull. It is a valuable asset."

Marigold smiled. "Love you too, Mom."

Caught off-guard by the blunt statement, Patchouli turned away quickly. "I love you, too, daughter."

With that, she floated away.

...Osamu sighed. "Dude, we just got here…"

"Stuff's not just gonna wait for us to sit around." Hikari states. "While it'd be nice to stay and eat stuff, we've really got to get going."

"Where, though?" Marigold tilted her head. "I don't think we'd have luck if we just marched up the mountain, with how things were described."

"Hmm…" Hikari put a hand to her chin.

'Where could we go?'

"...We could try my mother's house, and ask her." Marigold thinks aloud. "She might know a good course of action. We can't approach the mountain, so~..."

Hikari shrugs. "We might as well."

With that, the three teenagers rose from the table and began to navigate out of the library.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

At the front gate of the manor, Meiling moved to converse with the party.

"Hey! I didn't get to see you guys in yesterday's madness. I was kinda whipping the fairies back into shape…" Meiling stands before them, smiling casually. "Are you heading out already?"

Marigold nods. "Yeah. We're heading to my other mother's place for advice, and stuff."

"Ah. Alright." Meiling stares off at the nearby woods. "...Be very careful, and travel at day."

'So we've heard…'

"If you see anything that looks strange, just run from it, alright? Come back here, if you need to." Meiling tells them. "I'll take care of anything!"

"I'll remember that." Marigold smiled at her, nodding. "...Well, have-"

"Also, before you guys go…!" Meiling grins. "How about telling me about that thing you did when you got here?"

'Oh, yeah. The teleportation…'

Hikari looks to Marigold. "I think we could do it again, if you really wanted."

Marigold shrugged. "It's not a long walk, to be honest. Well, it kinda is, but…" She scratches her head.

Meiling holds her hand up. "Relax, relax, I was only kidding. It was pretty cool, though. I didn't even detect you guys coming at all!"

'Yeah, funny story, that.' Hikari grinned to herself. 'I don't think there's any way you could have. In any case, I don't really feel like potentially breaking my limbs just to avoid this walk. I can see the lake from here, so it shouldn't be a very lengthy one.'

"Have a good one, Meiling." Marigold waves at her as the three set off.

"Next time I come back here, I'll be able ta' armwrestle ya!" Osamu calls out to her. "Just you wait!"

Meiling smiles in an ironic way. "I'll hold you to that…"

With that, the three teenagers had left the manor grounds proper.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Walking along the snow-crested lakeside, the three began discussing.

"So, in recent news, it's fucking cold." Osamu hugged himself. "Shit."

"You have robes on." Marigold criticized. "You're in no place to be complaining."

"Yeah, well, they don't do their job!" Osamu whines. "Stupid discount, village robes…"

'I don't understand how a wearable blanket couldn't be warm, either. I mean, this rubbery stuff in my current outfit really doesn't do me any favors. That, and the exposed armpits.'

The design choice mystified Hikari, but she's learned to not think much of it.

"I kno~w, right? It's fucking freezing!" A female voice sounded from beside Hikari.

'...!'

Hikari whirled to face the woman, who was the orange haired fairy maid from earlier.

"Wha-!?" Marigold jumped. "Koi, where in blazes…?"

Koi reached her hands out, and groped Hikari's breasts.

"A-ah…!" Hikari fidgeted.

'Th-this is…'

"I'll keep you warm…" Koi smirked as she addressed Hikari in a sultry tone.

Marigold reacted quickly, pulling the appropriate armament from her backpack.

Zazazap!

"Egegadageguh!" Koi released Hikari, jittering violently.

Hikari hugged herself, blushing. 'We-weird! That feels weird!'

Thud. Koi collapsed on the ground.

Marigold turned off her Stun Gun. "...Seriously?"

"I-it was worth it…" Koi held her arm up. "Mi-miko breasts… are soft…"

'Perverted fairy…' Hikari readied her gohei, preparing to smack Koi's head as if it were a golf ball.

…

SMAAAA~SH!

"Aaaauu~gh!" Koi slowly clutched her head.

'She survived?' Hikari blinked.

Osamu snorted. "Wow. Fairy just got freakin' owned."

'Huh.'

Koi writhed a bit on the ground, before sitting up again. "O-ouch…"

"...Let's get going." Marigold decides, as she begins walking ahead. Osamu and Hikari follow her.

"D-don't leave me…!" Koi calls out to them, getting back onto her legs.

Once Koi catches up, she makes an attempt at conversation. "Alri~ght! Where're we going…?"

"Home." Marigold tells her.

"House." Hikari elaborates.

Koi pouts. "...I see how it is."

They continue in silence, the lapping of waves against the lake's shore, and the billowing of wind the only audible noises.

"Awfully quiet…" Koi notes. "I don't even, like, see any fairies."

'...Come to think of it, I don't think the woods around the shrine had an unbroken silence this long. We've been walking for...' Hikari paused to think about the time, only to realize she had no way of comparing it. 'Awhile.'

"Then again, some days are slow like that." Koi shrugs. "What can ya do?"

'Yeah, that too.'

No one responded to her out loud, however, even if they pondered her words.

"...Alright, you guys're creepin' me out." Koi muttered. "Let's get hyped! Sing songs!"

"Please, no." Marigold monotoned.

"They're finally here! Preformin' for you!" Koi began.

"Stop." Marigold futily monotoned.

"If you know the words, you can join in, too!" Koi does a little dance.

"Desist."

"Put yer hands together-"

Osamu spins around to face her. "Enough already!"

"-n' up yer ass…" Koi trails off, glaring at him.

Suddenly, a unnatural noise was heard from the nearby forestry. "Euh-uuh-euh-uhja!"

Hikari instinctively gripped her gohei tighter. "Company."

"The hell kinda noise is that?" Osamu furrows his brows at the bushes adjacent to the party's path.

The foliage rustled, and a tall figure emerged.

'It's… not really a figure.' Hikari takes in its appearance.

A hunched, large blob of wool had two large, red bulbs which emitted similarly colored light. The facial features of this creature ended there. For arms, it simply had two tiny tentacles, and for legs, there seemed to be orbs of some sort under the mass of fur.

Koi chuckled. "Thaha~t is one ugly fucker."

"What even is that thing?" Osamu practically double-took. "S'that like a youkai?"

Marigold shakes her head. "I'm not sure what that's even supposed to be."

"Uuh-euh-munj." The shambling, wooly creature stated.

Wooly shambler tried PSI Shield α!

Wooly shambler was protected by the psychic shield of energy!

"It's a~pparently a mage, or something." Osamu notes. "Good to know."

Marigold drew her Microwave Gun. "I… don't like being compared to this thing, for some reason."

Koi blinked. "Hang on, are we really gonna fight it?"

"...Yes." Marigold nodded.

Osamu stretched his fingers. "Alright, time to shut down that shield of his!"

Osamu tried PK Thunder ß!

Thwaa~sh!

The bolt struck a snowy tree, and the snow fell from the branches.

Thwaa~sh!

The bolt struck the shield of the shambler.

Bam!

It didn't acknowledge the absence of its defenses- at least, not in a language anyone knew. "Euha-muna-munj!"

A laser shot from one of its bulb eyes, drilling into the snow before it. It slowly progressed along the ground towards the party, who moved out of the way of the creeping laser.

Koi attempts to dance around it, but ends up stepping on it instead.

"Fuck!" She clutched her foot, and fell over. "G-gaa~h!"

'...Should I bother healing her?' Hikari considered. 'I mean, fairies respawn…'

Marigold pointed the Microwave Gun at the wooly shambler, and pressed on the garnet.

The low hum was made audible, as a beam expanded to meet the wooly shambler.

"Euhj! Euh-munj-uuh!"

It lit on fire. Marigold sustained the beam on it, but past the miniature inferno it developed into, progress wasn't being made.

"Dude, what if I freeze something that's on fire?" Osamu asks Marigold. "Can I like, freeze the fire?"

Marigold spares him a glance. "No- well, if it's metal it could help, but-"

She was forced to release the garnet, moving to the side to avoid a creeping beam fired from the shambler.

"Guess we'll find out!" Osamu grinned.

Osamu tried PK Freeze ß!

KaKa-KaKaKling!

Rapidly freezing and thawing ice crystals formed in and around the wooly shambler.

Kra~ck!

The final blast of icy wind finished off the creation, a blast of raw energy emitting from the shambler itself, triggered by the contrasting elements.

Boom!

In layman's terms, it exploded.

The fluff and metal parts floated and fell to the snow, respectively.

Marigold nodded in satisfaction. "Not what I was expecting, but… that works."

Osamu pumped his fist. "Yeah! Fuck whatever that was!"

'I feel like we have too much fun killing things.'

"Paa~in!" Koi wails. "Do something, you idiots!"

'I don't entirely mind, though.'

Marigold turns to her. "I will end your suffering."

Koi jerks her head to look at her. "What? Oh, don't you fucking dare…"

"It's something." Marigold argues.

"I didn't go on this miko-molesting crusade just to get executed out of pity!" Koi shouts. "...You know what? Fine."

Marigold tilts her head.

"But on one condition."

Marigold sighs. "That is…?"

Koi points at Hikari. "I get to squeeze your tits one last time!"

Hikari scoffed. "You're not really in a position to be making demands, here."

"I'm a dying girl! A dead girl walk- well… groping, I should say." Koi shrugged. "Still! It's perfectly within reason!"

Marigold and Hikari glower down at her.

"...O-okay, look. I'm gonna die here, and-"

Sploosh!

Something absolutely massive shoots straight up out of the lake's water, soaring into the air.

Hikari's eyes widened. "W-woah!"

She, along with her other party members, retreated along the shore to escape the large object.

Koi, however, was not so lucky.

"Holy shit!" She yelled. "...Quick! Someone, pull me-..."

She notices no one around her, and sighs.

"For fuck's sa-"

Thu~d!

Pi~chun!

"Rooaaaah!" The creature roared.

It was a bear. An absolutely massive, house-sized, blue bear.

"Du~de!" Osamu gaped. "That's the biggest damn bear I've ever seen!"

'U-uhm…' Hikari felt a little skittish around something that blatantly huge and powerful.

The bear lumbered towards the woods, and slashed at the trees.

Bam!

Trees were outright slammed out of the way by the beast's mighty paws.

Behind a few trees were strange, tentacled beings. With two eyes on stalks, the rest of their body were tentacles that helped them walk, for the most part. Two seemed to act as 'arms'.

"Eeoorgh!" One wailed, frightened.

Two more came from some further back trees, and focused their attention on the beast.

Lesser Mook C tried PK Freeze ß!

Ice crystals assaulted the bear, but it only seemed to make it angrier.

One of the purple, tentacled beings turned its attention to the party. It looked back and forth between the bear and the party, before making a decision.

Lesser Mook D tried PK Freeze ß!

KaKa-KaKaKling!

A pattern of ice froze and thawed around Osamu.

"Woah-oh-woah-shit!" He convulsed violently, before-

Kra~ck!

Osamu was solidified!

"Well, that happened." Marigold was slightly alarmed, aiming her Microwave Gun forward. "Who should I shoot…?"

Hikari looked to Osamu. 'Considering he's our source of offensive spells, I should probably help him…'

Hikari tried Healing ß!

...Osamu quickly shook the ice from himself. "S-so fuc-king c-co~ld…!"

Lesser Mook A and B glared at the large bear, with their eerie eyes…

...The bear simply glared right back.

"Rooooh!"

"Eooorgh!" One of them wailed, flailing away from the bear.

Lesser Mook B tried Hypnosis α!

...The bear swept its paw across the forest floor, flinging the creature away.

"Eeeoo~h!"

Thud. It smacked into a tree, slowly peeling off of it.

"I think we should focus on that bear." Hikari decided. "They can't seem to do anything to it with those freezing spells."

Osamu furrowed his brows. "Th-then how the hell're wh-we gonna do anything to it?"

...Marigold looks between him and the Microwave Gun. "We're gonna cook it."

With that, she aimed her Microwave Gun at the bear, and held her hand on the garnet.

The beam hummed softly, and connected with the bear.

"Rouh!?" It felt the effects immediately, but knew not the source, and began flailing its limbs and biting at the air. "Raah! Roouh!"

The mooks fell back further into the woods, in an attempt to evade the bear's massive reach.

Mook C tried PK Freeze ß!

The magical ice crystals did nothing to alleviate the bear's pain, and did nothing to hurt it, either.

Mook A tried Hypnosis α!

The bear was wailing. "Roo~h… Raaoo…"

After moments of futile spells slung by the mooks, and sustained cooking for up to five minutes on high by Marigold, the bear began showing signs of affliction.

Scorch marks began lining the beast from the points of where the orange beam swept across it.

'It certainly seems to be working…' Hikari warily watched the beast flail wildly, sand, dirt, foliage, and other assorted assets of nature being flung about as it went ballistic.

Before long, its fur began burning, and large boils began popping where the Microwave Gun was pointed. "Rooaa~h!"

The mooks eventually caught notice of the beam, and began turning their sights on Marigold.

Osamu, who had been paying further attention to them after the previous cooldown they had enforced on him, chose this moment to act. "Yeah, n-no fuckin' way!"

Osamu tried PK Thunder ß!

Thwaa~sh!

The bear was struck, and it did absolutely nothing. "Roooahooh!"

Thwaa~sh!

One of the mooks was struck, lighting up brightly from the lightning as it courses through its slimy body. "Egegehuhuhgh!"

After intense focus on the bear, a result was finally achieved.

Boom-Sploosh!

Like a large balloon, the bear had exploded, its back being the first part that blew open before its entire corpse was ripped asunder by the microwave's heat.

With this monumental explosion, came gibs. Lots, and lots of gibs. Bone fragments, chunks of flesh, and blood rained across the lakeside, staining the sand, grass, trees, and even the party, somewhat.

A fine, thin rain of red speckled the party with blood.

Hikari froze. 'I-I've… never seen that much blood before.'

At the ground-zero of the bloody blast was the bear's carcass, lying on the ground with a huge portion of its back and torso missing, two separated parts of the spine exposed and dripping. Blood pooled around it, and began flowing into the lake.

...She raised her white sleeves, which were speckled with blood drops. 'That thing better not have had diseases, though. Yuck, yuck, yuck…!'

Marigold shared similar sentiments. "O-oh, dear. It's... all over my clothes…"

Osamu grinned widely. "That was the coolest thing ever!"

Then, they were reminded the mooks were still there, albeit thoroughly terrified.

Lesser Mook C tried Hypnosis α!

Marigold blinked. "I… I'm tired…?"

Hikari was getting some similar vibes from this. 'I wonder…'

Sitting down, Marigold yawned. "A-ah…"

Hikari tried Healing α!

…

Marigold looked around, shaking the sleepiness from herself. "What am I doing…?"

She stood back up, holding her Microwave Gun up again.

"...Should I wait for a clear shot, or just shoot?" Marigold asked.

"Fuck 'em up!" Osamu barked.

She shrugged, and held onto the garnet again.

The beam extended outwards, hitting nothing, but she slowly dragged it across the length of the woods ahead.

One of the mooks was in the open, and got caught by the beam. "Eeeuuu-oooor…!"

Plop.

It exploded into purple and green goop, its flesh melting away, leaving the puddle of acidic goop to eat away at the nearby plant life.

'They're apparently made of acid.' Hikari tilted her head. 'Our enemies just keep getting more and more abstract. I'm pretty sure mother's incidents were never quite this outlandish.'

Marigold continued dragging the laser across, until the next mook hid behind a tree.

Osamu used PSI Shield α!

Marigold was protected by the psychic energy shield!

"There. No more mumbo jumbo magic bullshit getting in the way of our slow roast goin' on here." Osamu nods.

"Thanks, but uh, he's kinda managed to hide behind a tree." Marigold grins. "But can this thing cook trees!?"

…

A minute of little progress confirmed that it couldn't in fact, cook trees. It could cook plants, but not cook through plants.

"Apparently not…" Marigold sighs.

Osamu glared forward at the woods. Then, he had an idea.

"How about this?"

Osamu tried PK Hydro ß!

Fwwiish!

A spinning shuriken of water was generated behind the tree. The mook was eventually flushed out, shielded itself from the incoming water, only for the beam to focus on it.

Plop.

The water ended up spreading the acid blood further, steam emitting from the plant life it came into contact with.

Lesser Mook D tried PK Freeze ß!

KaKa-KaKaKling!

Marigold jittered, intensely gripping her Microwave Gun as the frost shards froze and thawed around her slowly in the shield.

Kra~ck!

The final blast of ice had little impact, thanks to the shield.

'...I feel useless at long range.' Hikari reflected. '...I wonder…'

The next mook hid behind a tree, as well.

"Oh, come on!" Osamu yelled. "Really!?"

Hikari tried Hypnosis Ω!

Noticeable ripples of psychic energy went rampant in the forest ahead. Moments later, both hiding mooks stumbled out of cover, wobbling around on their tentacles.

Marigold easily caught them in her beam.

Plop. Plop.

The last splats of acid on the bloodstained plants signalled the end of the encounter.

…

"We~ll." Marigold looked down at her bloodied clothes. "It's a good thing we're visiting my mother, because my outfit is probably ruined."

Osamu stared at his robes. "Dude, this shit is going to smell. Like, even worse than usual."

Marigold scoffed at him. "Yes, Osamu, I know you smell like you just rub yourself in food and let it rot. Those robes really don't help things."

'...I don't think any of us had any real chance to bathe, recently.' Hikari reflected. 'It's just kinda been one thing after another. We probably should've bathed back at that mansion…'

…

"We should probably get out of here before we get assaulted by behemoth bears again." Hikari proposed.

"You know, that sounds like a plan." Osamu agrees.

"Mmm. I… think I need a bath, too. All of us, too." Marigold realizes herself their state of hygiene.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

In the sunset, three teenagers stepped up to the door of a rather quaint house in the midst of a large, magical forest.

Marigold knocked on her mother's door. "I'm home, Mother!"

Osamu walked into it, flailing his arms at it. Hikari assisted by giving the door a good smack, and their combined efforts made it sound like the house was being assaulted.

'Mother freak out moment in three… two…'

It swung open, and Alice peered out. "What on earth- wawawa- Ma-Marigold!? What happened to you!?"

"Eheh…" Marigold scratched the back of her head. "It's a long story."

"Y-you're covered in blood…" Alice, expression still in shock, breathes out.

'It does look pretty bad, I'm not gonna lie.'

"...Well, the good part is, it's not my blood." Marigold puts her arms up in a compromising shrug. "The bad part is, my costume is soaked. That, and potential bloodborne illness, but I that's what we have Hikari for."

'I don't know myself if that status healer move heals crippling disease. I think it'd be best not to try.'

Alice looked over to the other two. "...I-I see. You three look like you've been busy."

Osamu folded his arms, and gave a cocky grin. "Well, when you fight bears the size of houses, things tend to get a little messy."

"It turns out bears explode when microwaves are concentrated on them for ten minutes or longer." Marigold discusses her discovery. "At least, bears that big."

...Silence set in as Alice thought over a plan of care.

"Why... don't you three get out of those awful, bloody clothes? I have a few spares in the back. You can wear those until I've cleaned your outfits properly." Alice proposes. "Also, Marigold, I've actually been working on something for you. I'll tell you about it a little later."

Marigold smiles, visibly excited. "Cool."

Alice moves inside, gesturing for the party to follow.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

After a quick bath in Alice's tub, Marigold and Hikari were squeaky clean.

"...Seriously?" Marigold dryly asks as she slips on a pair of pajamas. "We're both girls. I don't see the big deal."

"I-it just feels weird." Hikari hugs her chest. "I'd prefer if no one touched them…"

Marigold shrugged. "Alright, alright. No need to get worked up about it."

Hikari slips on a pair of Marigold's pajamas, which are roughly the same size as her's. The sun was down, now, and through the window the two could actually make out creatures roaming the night.

Osamu was in the wash himself, now having his turn to take a bath.

"Du~de, you have rubber duckies!?" His voice was heard from the guest bedroom. "They still make these!?"

Marigold sighs.

Alice walks into the room. "...I suppose pajamas work, for now. I'll probably be up late, tonight. For some reason, your outfits have dirt in very confusing places. Aside from being caked in blood, of course." She added the last part with a scoff. "...I still want to know just what you three even could have even done to lead up to that."

Hikari chose this moment to speak. "Actually, that's kinda related to something we wanna talk to you about."

Marigold and Alice turned to her, curious. Alice rose a brow. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Hikari nodded. "We wanna get to Youkai Mountain, but it seems like there's a ton of new, powerful monsters going around and disturbing the peace."

Alice jerks her head back. "That… sounds like an incident, actually. I've noticed some new creatures myself, and I won't lie that they worried me a little. I'm starting to see less fairies, too."

"At night, they apparently attack the manor gates in hordes." HIkari notes. "Meiling says she even has trouble sometimes, or so we heard."

Alice's eyes widened. "Genuinely?"

Marigold nodded in agreeance. She then glanced at Hikari…

'I don't think we should tell her the 'everyone trying to kill us' part of when we got there.'

"...I'm not certain if I really want to let you go, then. The mountain sounds completely unreasonable." Alice put her hands on her hips.

"I have guns." Marigold refuted.

Alice furrowed her brows. "Marigold, that toy gun we gave you-"

"No, I mean, I have guns." Marigold asserts.

She moved over to her backpack, which she sat in the corner of the room, and took out the NF Burst Gun.

"I actually used the Pop Gun to make this." Marigold tells her. "...Do you have anything for me to shoot?"

Alice sighs, and a featureless doll floats into the room.

Marigold aims at it.

PoPoPoPoPop!

Thu-thunk-thunk-thu-thunk!

"It's pretty much automatic." Marigold adds. "It makes up for being extremely weak."

Alice tilted her head. "...Interesting. But-"

Marigold pulls out her Air Gun. "This is for the heavier opponents."

She aimed it at the featureless doll.

Klack!

Thwack!

It jerked back in the air a bit.

Alice nodded. "...That's still pretty low-key." She frowned, dissatisfied. "Though, I am impressed… A-are you using your magic to power these?"

Marigold shook her head. "No, I just know how mana works, even if I can't feel it. All these guns have their own power sources."

"Huh. That's rather innovative of you." Alice smiled. "...But still rather underwhelming in actual combat."

"Okay, look…" Marigold went to her backpack, and pulled out the Microwave Gun. "This. This is my new weapon."

Alice was immediately intrigued by the odd, washed-out metal design. "Hmm…"

Marigold aimed it at the floating doll, and pressed on the garnet.

A slight hum, accented by a cackling orange death beam, lit up the guest room as it impacted the doll.

Crackling and popping occurred immediately, the metal joints of the doll flashing brightly, forcing Hikari and Alice to look away. Sparks danced off of it, onto the floor, before dissipating. The doll lit on fire.

Marigold, blinded herself, released the garnet. "U-uhm… I didn't expect it to be that good."

Alice, rubbing her eyes, eventually gazed at the burning doll. "...That's a rather stark contrast, don't you think? Danmaku, danmaku, and death laser?"

She opened a nearby window with a wave of her hand, and had the burning doll base escort itself out. It was laid to rest on a patch of dirt outside.

"Yeah. I take what I can get." Marigold shrugs. "I can't deny its effectiveness…"

'You also got the parts from the bloody corpse of a dead, mechanical man.' Hikari realized. 'That was probably a sign it wouldn't be anything pleasant.'

"...Now I'm more worried you might go around indiscriminately killing people." Alice held a hand to her mouth.

"Don't worry." Hikari speaks up. "I make sure we don't actually harm anyone."

'Blatant lies. I'm sorry, Alice.'

"Ah. Thank you, Hikari." Alice smiles. "You truly do take after your mother."

'I'm pretty sure my mother would be just as nonchalant about accidentally blowing other people to pieces as I am, but okay.'

…

'As long as it's an accident, or they're trying to kill us.' Hikari mentally adds. 'I-I don't want to feel like a murderer.'

With that, Alice begins to leave the room. "Tell me if you three need anything. I'll be in the main room sewing, and cleaning your outfits."

"Before you go," Hikari raises her voice. "I was wondering if you knew of a safe way we could get to the mountain. We know marching up it's a totally bad idea, so…"

...Alice put a hand to her chin. "Hmm. You can fly, right, Hikari?"

Hikari shook her head.

Alice blinked. "Oh. I was going to suggest going to heaven and working your way to the mountain from above, but…"

Hikari tilted her head. "...Heaven?"

'I'm sorry?'

Alice nodded. "Mmm. It's above the clouds, and usually hidden. It's a mass of land with particularly stuffy people on it. I only went there once, myself."

'...Oh. Heaven exists, then.' Hikari takes in this fact. 'And it's a material place.'

"...Maybe London could get there." Alice decides, glancing at her daughter. "Where did you leave her, anyway?"

Marigold froze. "...U-uhm…"

"She parked it at the clinic." Hikari told her. "We should be able to retrieve it."

'I think.'

Marigold twitched, and then turned to Hikari to glare at her.

'...What?'

Alice nodded. "Well, then. I suppose that will be your next stop?"

Hikari shrugged.

Alice began walking off. "I'll be in the other room, if you guys need me."

She closed the door.

…

'Well, that's going to be an experience.' Hikari stared at the door dryly. 'Literally just going to heaven.'

"I'm pretty sure it's broken." Marigold argued. "Why did you tell her it was okay?"

"Ah. I feel like you could fix it, or something." Hikari reasoned.

"There's a- well… maybe, actually." Marigold pouted. "But still…"

Osamu then strutted into the room, in a bathrobe that was slightly too big for him.

Marigold looked at him. "...Is.. that my Mom's?"

He shrugged. "Grabbed the first one I could find."

"Ah…" Marigold was slightly offput.

Hikari looked to the beds. "...There are only two." She observed.

Marigold hummed. "Mmm. I have my own room here, you know."

'Oh.'

Osamu's jaw dropped. "What!? For real?"

...Marigold nodded. "It's comfy."

Osamu folded his arms. "Dude, lucky."

"It's called owning a house." Marigold countered. "I didn't complain, when I was in your little bum hut."

Osamu looked offended. "Hey! It's not a… okay, maybe you're right." He scratched his head. "I mean, it's okay by villager standards."

"Villager standards." Hikari noted.

"...Good point." Osamu folds his arms.

"Look on the bright side." Hikari focused on him. "You actually get a bed, this time."

Marigold grins.

"Yeah, yeah, be quiet…" Osamu rolls his eyes.

The simple, double-bedded guest room was where Hikari and Osamu would later sleep.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Hikari blinked awake in the midst of the night.

Thu-thud, thud, thud!

She heard the front door getting assaulted.

'U-ugh…' She rolled over. 'Someone else can get that…'

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"The fuck…?" Osamu groans.

...Bam!

"I'm kicking their ass…" Osamu clambers out of his bed, marching for the front door.

He reaches the main room, where Marigold seemed to have a similar idea, her Air Gun ready.

"O-Osamu?" She aimed at him, only to pull the gun away.

"Razzum frazzum." Osamu groaned back, as he swung open the front door.

...A cyan-haired fairy maid was on the other side. "Hello, Mari-chan! I came to-"

Whack!

She fell back onto the porch, and Osamu shut the door.

"We don't want any."

Then, he marched back to the bed, and flopped on it.

…

Marigold slowly opened the front door, and dragged the fairy maid's body inside.

She gave a thumbs up. "I-I'm okay!"

"Hey, Ha-chan." Marigold greeted her. "...We were kinda sleeping, so I'm just gonna go back to doing that. I'll talk to you in the morning, though."

"Mmm!" Ha-chan smiled. "I'll just sing songs to pass the time!"

Marigold, detecting imminent misfortune, attempted to intercept it. "Yeah, uh-"

"Si~nging in the ra~in…!" Ha-chan began.

Marigold facepalmed. "Ugh…"

'For crying out loud…'

"Oh, fuck me…" Osamu groaned, clutching his head.

"Raindro~ps… they give me pa~in!" Ha-chan began making lyrics up.

Hikari sat up, and got out of bed.

'It's cold…'

She walked into the main room.

Ha-chan turned to her. "Oh, is this one of your friends, Mari-chan?"

"Die." Hikari monotoned.

Hikari tried Hypnosis α!

Energy rippled around Ha-chan…

"A-ah…" Ha-chan stumbled about, drowsy. "I-I'm… getting sleepy…"

She fell onto Marigold, who grabbed her.

"G'night, Mari-chan…"

With that, Ha-chan began snoring.

…

Marigold was slowly pressed to the floor by Ha-chan's weight. "He-help."

Hikari nimbly power-walked back to bed, and slid under the covers.

'Aa~h… still warm…' Hikari felt herself melt into the blankets.

"...Help!" Marigold calls out.

"Gaa~h!" Osamu roars, not bothering to get out of bed.

...

After some struggling, Marigold managed to wiggle her way out from beneath her fairy friend. She got up, and moved to the front door, closing it.

"There…" Marigold spoke under her breath. She began to move back towards her bedroom door-

...Vrrr!

Suddenly, a laser impaled the front door.

All the lights in the house flipped on, and dolls began moving to respond.

"Ho~ly shi~t!" Osamu roars, again. "I just want to fucking slee~p!"

'What's even going on…?'

Dolls mobilize from all parts of the house, flinging the door open and throwing an innumerable amount of spears and sharp projectiles at a robot that was just outside.

Loud clanging and combat was heard.

Bam!

It exploded. The dolls, then, went to engage every enemy that was in range around the perimeter of the house.

"Aaaa~h!" Osamu was livid, flailing his limbs as he got out of bed. "I'm gonna kick some ass!"

'...I'm just going to lie here until someone calls for me.'

Alice swung her door open. "Wh-what's going on out here!?"

There was little rest to be had that evening.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

The next morning, Osamu sat with his head down on the main table, now wearing his newly cleaned robes. His face was in his pancakes.

Hikari blinked at the pancakes before her, and slowly began working at them.

Marigold was energetic, having received a brand new outfit.

Alice clapped her hands together. "So! How do you all like your outfits, now?"

Osamu's was virtually unchanged, but now looked fresh and clean. "Mmmph."

Alice looked at him. "Your robe was difficult to clean. It was made of cheap materials, and seemed to have never been cared for before. It was actually too difficult to clean, so I just had the dolls make an identical one from the same materials."

Osamu still sat with his face in his pancakes, looking dead inside.

"That hat of yours was easy to clean, though, knitwork and all that. My only gripe is that it looks like an absolute disaster even when clean, but, what can you do?" Alice looked dissatisfied.

She then looked to Hikari. "Your… hakama and leotard combo was interesting. I didn't have any problems cleaning it. What I did have a problem with, though…"

She held up the Yukkuri Ribbon. "...This thing. I don't know where you got it, or why, but it's a catastrophe. I mean… it looks like a christmas ornament. A Yukkuri christmas ornament."

Hikari was wearing a new ribbon at the moment, a deep, royal red one, with subtle flower illustrations in a different shade on it.

"I also added some more material to the, ahem… exposed portions. I know your outfits seem to be on the combat side, but I don't think you're some elite martial artist. Besides, the original fabric layout was clearly intended for someone a lot taller." Alice spoke, addressing some general changes to Hikari's outfit.

'That works, I guess. I didn't personally mind it, myself.'

Osamu looked up from his pancakes. "...Great." His head flopped back down.

'...Nevermind, I'm happy with the change.'

Alice, then, turned to Marigold. "Your last outfit had blood in all the wrong places, so I had to ultimately make you a new one. It should feel about the same, although, I've made a few minor adjustments, if you haven't noticed already…"

Marigold nods. "Mmhm… I noticed the skirt's a bit shorter, to my knees, this time."

"The fabric's also a bit more flexible." Alice noted. "So you should be able to have spills and things without fear of ripping it. Dirt should come out easier, too. Blood… try not to get caked in blood, again. That stuff doesn't come out easily."

'Duly noted. We'll try not to make anymore house-sized bears explode.'

Hikari obtained Royal Ribbon!

Marigold obtained Custom Adventure Dress!

Osamu obtained Dated Villager Magician Robes!

Hikari's Combat Miko Outfit has been repaired!

The morning slowly came to an end as the party finally fully woke up from their drowsy state.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

"I suppose you'll be off, now, then?" Alice inquired.

"Yeah." Hikari nodded.

"Well, don't let me stop you." Alice sees them off. "...Be safe, Marigold."

Marigold grinned. "I will, Mom."

Osamu grinned, too. "Don't'cha worry, blonde lady, my na~me is Magic Man, and I shoot magic spells from my magic hands!"

…

"My name's Alice, by the way." Alice tells him, before closing the door.

Osamu half-deflates. He turns to Hikari. "C'mon, that was cool, right?"

Hikari chuckled. "In what way would you think that was cool?"

"How was it not cool?" Osamu folded his arms. "Dude."

"It was cheesy, creepy, and, pardon my french, crappy." Marigold explained.

Osamu is now fully deflated. "Well… shit."

Hikari stretched. 'No~w… Eientei…'

She looked to her party members. "I think we'll be doing another teleport."

Marigold nodded. "Yeah. Eientei's pretty far, and I'd rather not have to cook a trail there."

"Fuck that forest, man." Osamu contributed. "That thing was a mess."

Hikari looked around.

'There's not a lot of room to run, here…'

She begins walking into the woods. "Come on. We're gonna go to one of the main paths."

Marigold agrees. "Yeah, I don't think we can run fast enough with all these roots and trees around."

The party begins walking into the Forest of Magic, clumsily navigating the meshes of large roots that ended up cluttering the way they chose to access Alice's house.

A thought came to Marigold. "...Should we bother to visit my... other mother's house? It's really close, and she might have some more of those bottle rockets for me. Those things were pretty powerful."

Hikari paused. "...That's not a bad idea, actually."

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Visit Marisa's house, they did. It was a tiny cottage, of a sort, with only two rooms. A glance into the windows revealed they were covered up by books.

'First we went to a mansion, then to a regular house… and now to a shack. I'm glad it's still day.'

Marigold took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

"Are we like, goin' down in quality or somethin'?" Osamu scratched his head. "Do you have a fourth mother who just lives in a cave?"

Marigold turns to him. "You're gonna live in a-"

The door swings open, and Marigold cuts herself off.

Marisa takes a moment. "O-oh, Marigold! He~y! Stoppin' by to pay me a visit?" Marisa smiles widely.

"Bottle rockets." Marigold states simply.

"R-right…" Marisa blinks, and pulls out a bottle rocket. "Check this one out! I was kinda workin' on it a bit, earlier."

It was bigger than the other one, and instead of a red cap, it had a blue one.

"This one'll explode better, go farther… It's basically just better, ze." She grinned.

Marigold folded her arms. "I assume it costs twice as much, too?"

Marisa cringed. "Well… I know you stole those other ones offa me. Some strange sleep magic. I'll consider those on the house, 'cause yer my daughter, but… One thousand yen per rocket."

Hikari felt around in her pockets. '...Still three-hundred ten yen. Uhm…'

Hikari tried Hypnosis α!

Energy rippled around Marisa…

A necklace around her neck began to glow.

"Ha!" Marisa grinned, and held up the necklace. "I got myself a charm that repels sleep inducing spells!" She held it up, and it was a purple positive symbol of some sort. "I mean, it does that by repelling sleep altogether, but uh… still. I equipped it just for this moment!"

"...Why was it on before we got here?" Marigold asked.

…

"Well…" Marisa scratched her cheek. "Y'see, I was kinda gettin' tired of having to sleep when I was workin' on spells and stuff, so uh…"

"You've just been wearing it for days on end." Marigold folds her arms.

"Yeah." Marisa shrugs. "S'no big deal. I just take it off when I wanna sleep."

Osamu looked interested. "Where'd'ya get a necklace like that from?"

Marisa thinks about how to word it. "Well, I went ta' Reimu, but she said she didn't do sleep stuff, so I just went to the gods on the mountain. Kinda."

'Kinda.'

Marigold tilted her head. "Kinda…?"

"Yeah- it doesn't matter." Marisa shook her head. "I'm sure they'll give ya one if you ask, too!"

'For some reason I'm not sure about that.'

Marisa clapped her hands together. "So! Them rockets, ze? You interested?"

Marigold looks to Hikari. "I guess…"

'I do not have the funds for this.'

…

"Can you bill my mom?" Hikari grins sheepishly.

Marisa grinned back. "Hahaha… she'd kill me, ze."

'Apparently not.'

…

"I think I'll be right back." Hikari announced. "Stay here, guys. Actually, someone, time me."

Hikari applies her wind buffs to herself, and dashes towards the exit of the forest.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Reimu sat at the kotatsu, drinking tea.

"...Cold day."

…

The shrine door slid open.

"Hahh… hahh…"

Hikari power-walked towards the kotatsu. "H-hey…"

Reimu blinked. "Hikari? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing… I-I just ran all this way…" Hikari took a deep breath. "...Did my dad send in a new allowance yet?"

Reimu nodded. "Another ten thousand. Do you want it now?"

"Yeah."

Reimu got up, and went to grab it from her room. She came back out, and handed it to Hikari. "Here you go. Nice bow, by the way."

"Thanks, Mom." Hikari takes it, and runs back to the door, sliding it shut as she left.

…

"Better than that last one…" Reimu spoke under her breath.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

'I wonder…'

Hikari stared down the hillside.

'I think I could get back with that…'

Focusing on Marisa's house, she ran down the hillside, boosting herself with gravity and wind.

Hikari tried Teleport α!

Kra~koom!

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Kra~koom!

Hikari skids to a stop in front of Marisa's house.

"H-holy crap!" Marisa jumps. The party members jump as well, but they half expected something loud to just happen.

"Hey…" Hikari slips three yen bills from her stack, and looks at Marigold. "You want three?"

"Sure." Marigold accepts.

"We'll take three." Hikari hands the money to Marisa.

Marisa smiles. "Thank you, and thanks for doin' business! I'll bring 'em out in just a sec…"

She sets the first bottle rocket down on the ground, then retreats inside for a moment. Then, she comes back with two more.

"Here ya are, Mary."

Marigold slipped the big bottle rockets into her backpack.

Marigold obtained three Big Bottle Rockets!

"...Thanks." Marigold mutters.

Marisa beams. "No problemo!"

After that exchange was said and done, the party began departing.

"Don't be a stranger, Marigold!" Marisa waved them off. "Come back and play, ze!"

Marigold simply smiled and waved as the party departed.

It wasn't very long before they escaped the Forest of Magic, and were back on the trail just outside the Hakurei Shrine.

Hikari prepared herself for another run. "Okay, guys…"

She held out her arms. "We're forming up, again."

Osamu and Marigold shifted into their respective positions.

"On three." Hikari announced. "One…"

Everyone got ready as the wind swirled around them.

"Two…"

Osamu and Marigold mentally prepared to sprint.

"Three!"

All three of them broke into a sprint, the wind ripping past them as they gradually sped up.

"I-I almost forgot how fast this wa~s!" Marigold shouted.

The thundering of their footsteps and the dirt kicking up in their wake both gradually grew, until-

Hikari tried Teleport α!

Kra-Koom!

A trail of flames was left in their trail as they were transported elsewhere.

…

Reimu floated down, again. "Seriously, what is that…?"

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Kra-Koom!

The party clumsily skidded to a halt, but no one fell over, this time.

...Osamu momentarily lost his balance, and fell on his bum.

"Oof." He promptly got back up.

Almont no one fell over, in any case.

'Good job.'

They were now right outside Eientei, at the front sliding doors, which slid open once they walked onto the small pads in front of them.

...Osamu stepped off the pads, and the corresponding door slid shut. "Du~de."

"It's probably simple magic." Marigold shrugged it off. "We saw these last time."

"But dude!" He stepped onto the pads, and off them again. "...Doors!"

"...Sometimes you worry me." Marigold scoffs.

"Sometimes?" Hikari grins.

Marigold follows. "You're right. He worries me all the time."

Hikari walks forward, the door opening for her, and she walks in. Marigold follows.

"Awwh…" Osamu slumps, marching after them.

Inside, Reisen stood at the main desk. She jerked her head back, noticing the approaching party and recognizing a few faces.

"...Quite a group, you have there." She notes, speaking to Hikari, who had arrived at the desk first.

Hikari nods. "Yeah."

She then realizes that she's spoken to Reisen before.

'She isn't lynching me for the demise of her medicine stand, so I'm going to assume she's forgotten about me.'

"Do you happen to know of a room with a smashed doll thing in it?" Hikari gets straight to the point.

Reisen blinks. "...Something like that happened a little while ago. We haven't found time to clean it up, considering we've just had one assault after another, recently."

Hikari furrowed her brows. 'One assault after another…?'

Osamu jerked his head back. "What, you mean you guys're still gettin' attacked?"

Reisen nods. "Yeah. It's no big deal, but a majority of our staff is on guard duty at the moment." She sighed. "It's kinda made the work pile up recently, though…"

"...In any case, we need to see that wreckage." Hikari stated.

"Very well." Reisen moved to get out of the desk. "...You guys speak as if you were here before."

Marigold nods. "We were here for the great zombie mania."

"Oh! Master told me about that, actually. Three kids came by and fixed it, she said." Reisen recalled. "I didn't think it'd be you guys, though."

Reisen lead the three down multiple halls on the way to the wreckage.

In the hall, they passed a familiar face.

"Oh? What a choice time for the shrine maiden to show up."

Eirin paused, and moved to walk along the party. "I take it you've come to fix our robot invasion problem?"

Hikari nodded. "I think it's actually an incident, this time."

"O~h." Eirin monotoned. "I almost thought we were just having an extreme string of bad luck. How silly of me."

'She's all rainbows and sunshine.' Hikari snorted.

"So, do you know the source of our problem?" Eirin dug for information.

"Some factory on Youkai Mountain." Hikari provided. "The ground path is too dangerous, so we're gonna try an aerial route."

"Oh?" Eirin nodded. "You know flight, now, I take it?"

"Nope." Hikari shook her head.

…

"Good luck with that, then." Eirin dryly jeered.

'Yeah, thanks…'

"...What's heaven like, anyway?" Hikari asked.

Eirin grinned. "Contemplating death already? How pessimistic of a shrine maiden…"

"...I mean the place. You can fly there." Hikari added, annoyed.

"Simply teasing you. I sent a shipment there, the other day." Eirin supplied. "It's a curious place, to be certain."

'...That doesn't tell me much.'

"What kind of drugs did you send there?" Hikari inquired.

"Oh, basic anesthetics, among other things." Eirin offhandedly lists. "At least, that's the bulk. There were some hallucinogens included, too, but they only ordered five crates of those."

'Five crates…?' Hikari wasn't sure what to make of that.

They eventually reached the room, with the large, gaping hole in the wall.

"Here you guys are." Reisen gestures to the wall.

Eirin frowned. "I thought I told you to staff cleaning and reconstruction here, Udongein."

Reisen fidgeted. "There's no one to staff, Master…"

…

"How disappointing." Eirin sighs. "Well, nothing can be done, then. It will have to wait. The protection of our goods and the princess is more important."

"Yes, Master." Reisen salutes, as Eirin wanders off.

Hikari and her party members climbed through the hole in the wall, and into the room. The rubble and debris were untouched, but it seemed the snack machine was restocked, with a sticky note on the side.

Hikari walked up to it, and read it…

'You may wanna get this machine checked out, Mina S. P.S, the glass is broken.'

...Hikari shrugged, and took a bag of chips from the machine, since the glass was still broken from when they were last here.

Marigold walked up to the smashed, somewhat charred, and broken form of London. "Ohh~ boy. I… have my work cut out for me."

Osamu nodded. "This is probably gonna take forever."

...He looked outside, but both Reisen and Eirin had fled the scene.

"...I was gonna ask if they had any cool shit to mess with." He slouched.

Hikari tossed him a bag of chips.

"...Thanks."

'These are some pretty good chips.' Hikari reflects, tearing open the bag. '...I'm probably going to eat until I can't stand the sight of them, again.'

Marigold kneeled next to her machine, beginning to work at it, while Hikari and Osamu consumed processed junk food and talked about life.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

END OF CHAPTER 14

Protagonist: Hikari Hakurei, Disciple of Paradise

-Inventory-

Weapon: Magical Gohei - Ability to whack stuff really hard. Amplifies whacking power, too! Able to deal magical damage. Critical hits enabled.

Arms: Iconic Hakurei Arm Sleeves - Keeps arms warm. A Hakurei tradition. How they stay on is a Hakurei family secret.

Body: Combat Miko Outfit - A black leotard and hakama combination worn by the previous-previous Hakurei miko. Designed to be suitable for excessive physical activity and close combat, it slightly improves physical combat prowess. Now with less sideboob!

Misc: Royal Red Ribbon - A ribbon made with rich materials, with a floral pattern.

-Skills-

Attack: Quickly! Swing your gohei at them for massive damage!

PK Fantasy α, β - Bombards the enemy with pain in the form of flashing colors. Deals magical damage. Heavy mental strain that increases with each tier.

PK Flash α - A bright flash that distributes very random status effects to enemies. Usually makes people cry.

Hypnosis α, Ω - Puts weak enemies to sleep for a short time. Works better on tired or exhausted foes. Can also be used in a far more costly form that works on multiple opponents.

Shield α, ß - Halves damage the target takes. Only works against physical attacks, and enough strikes, or powerful strikes, will dispel it. Higher tier turns it into a power-shield that protects even better and even reflects a fraction of protected damage.

Lifeup α, ß - Heals target a little. Higher tiers heal more grievous wounds, like bone fractures.

Healing α, ß - Heals basic status ailments. Higher tiers can cure more dire effects, like burning alive.

Teleport α - Allows instant transport to the general location of an area remembered by oneself or one's party members. Requires a long, fast run-up to execute, however.

Ofuda Toss - Throw a holy ofuda that does massive holy elemental damage to youkai and dark elemental foes. Effect lessens the more holy the thing you're attacking is, to the point of healing holy things. Only works if you actually have ofuda, though.

β-β-β-β

Mage: Osamu Katsumi, the Wannabe Mage

-Inventory-

Weapon: Fisticuffs!

Arms: Nothing

Body: Dated Village Magician Robes - An old robe from the days when the village respected the medium of magic. Now actually looks navy blue, instead of black!

Misc: Yukkuri Beanie - Resembles a really tacky tablecloth, made in the Yukkuri theme. Lime green and has tons of fun yukkuri decals!

-Skills-

PK Thunder α, ß - Very random thunder attack that deals limited damage. Higher tiers increase number of bolts, and sometimes power.

PK Hydro α, β - Gets everyone wet. Usefulness with PK Thunder and PK Freeze depends on whether you hit yourself or not! Creates whirling water spirals at higher tiers.

PK Freeze α, β - Generates ice crystals at the target's location. Medium damage and effect; may freeze some targets, especially wet ones.

Fireball - Manipulate mana to make a shoddy fireball. Low damage and effect.

Static Hands - Not a real spell. Result of a very undercharged PK Thunder that can accidentally go off.

PSI Telepathy α - Speak to friends you haven't met yet! Unstable connection and only works if they have the skill or are asleep.

PSI Shield α, Σ - Halves damage from magical and psychic attacks. Thunder spells fry it instantly, and harder blows dispel it. Second tier applies basic shield to entire party at higher mana expense.

PSI Magnet α - Costs no mana to use, and steals a very tiny amount of mana from the enemy. Enemy has to have mana in the first place for it to work, though.

Offense Up α - Get pissed! Boosts strength and confidence depending on caster's power and receiver's power.

β-β-β-β

Inventor: Marigold Knowledge, the Tri-Magi Love Child

-Inventory-

Weapon: Microwave Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Constructed with a controlled flame crystal and metal parts, it fires a beam of sustained microwave energy that cooks biological foes alive. Fire-elemental at its core, it's also very inefficient against machines.

Arms: Nothing

Body: Custom Adventure Dress - A custom dress made by Alice. Provides slight defense against magical and psychic attacks. Now allows freer movement with a shorter skirt, and a more flexible material.

Misc: Swirly Glasses - Lets Marigold not be blind.

Backpack - Allows extended inventory. Aged relic from the Kourindou.

Unnamed Lock Opening Device - Opens locks very precariously. Made with steel, burnt cloth, packaging peanuts, thumbtacks, string, and wooden wheels. Don't even ask…

Ruler - Lets you measure the world around you!

Protractor - Lets you find the angles of anything ever. Totally overpowered.

Deck of Cards - Allows Marigold to play Strip Poker with the party. Just kidding… or am I?

Stun Gun - Electrical device used to subdue harassers. Has settings ranging from Tickle Torture to Arse Blaster. Able to stun and inflict paralysis on certain foes. Deals electrical damage, and on the highest setting can fry shields, at the cost of temporarily shorting itself out.

Air Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Uses air to propel moderately powered danmaku particles at high speeds. Bland, but efficient. Filled with foil chip bags to conduct the mana, and it is transmitted into a wind stone. Recently upgraded to draw mana from a simple wooden block filled with immense magic reserves, giving it virtually unlimited ammo.

NF Burst Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Uses a Pop Gun as the base, but amplifies its power with an array of random batteries jammed into the base with the Pop Gun. The more batteries, the better, but the typical yield is about five bullets per trigger. Spamming the trigger doesn't make it go any faster, unfortunately. Has no foreseeable ammo limit, and the batteries are only there for mana circulation, meaning their power is really inconsequential.

Holmes Brand Designer Hat - Village swag! A retro village hat that ceased production ten years ago. Sells for a pretty penny nowadays, but it's pretty useless otherwise.

Slime Generator - A bulky box that shoots a small splat of slime. Doesn't seem good for much.

Counter-PSI Device - A weird device Marigold found from a flying saucer. Works in strange ways, and seems to disrupt everyone's concentration. Marigold is immune to its effects.

-Skills-

The MacGyver Of Our Time - But can she create an atomic clock from mud and sticks?

Skill Level 2 Firebug - Microwave Gun Unlocked!

Secret Agent - Except with arts and crafts!

Sometimes Eats Cookies In Bed - Beware of crumbs!

Microwave Warfare Specialist - Served with Barrie Trower in the Queen's Royal Microwave Submarine Warfare division.

β-β-β-β

Author's Note:

fun chapter; a lot of BUSYWORK but still had its good moments

writing gore is always fun because i can just feel the "woah where did that come from" factor seep into things

outfit updates! more bottle rockets! fwwwsshh boom!

as always, see you all next time!