"Yeah, so people came out of a portal and attacked us! They said they were called Yuki and Mai." Wriggle said.
Upon hearing those names, Reimu's face fell.
"It's worse than I thought if those two have already shown up. We need to prepare. Now. And everyone needs to be on the same page about what's about to happen." Reimu says, sounding serious, before several others flew onto the same group of rooftops Reimu was on, some familiar, some not so.
Marisa was the first one to land on the roof, and she landed next to Reimu, and had been fully expected to show up by Rumia and the others. However, the next one to show up was not.
"Why is she here?!" Wriggle exclaimed, hiding behind Mystia as Yuuka Kanzami landed on the rooftop.
"Oh my, I wasn't under the impression you were the type to approve of using cannon fodder Reimu." Yuuka says sweetly.
"Just because they're nowhere near your power doesn't make them useless Yuuka..." Reimu says. "They managed to beat Yuki and Mai together."
The ancient youkai simply raised an eyebrow, and stopped talking, as Sanae landed, folowed by an unfamilar being with two swords, white hair, and a white spirit following her landed on the rooftop. She was unfamilar to everyone except Mystia, who looked sheepish.
"Youmu Konpaku. Half-Ghost servant of Yuyuko Saigyouji." the stranger said, with a small bow.
"Y-y-y-uyuko isn't here, is she?" Mystia said.
Youmu looked confused. "Why would you be scared of Mistress..."
"She ate me back during the Imperishable Night incident!" Mystia cried. "I didn't die because she was a ghost, but I was in a coma having nightmares for a week after it, and trembling for two more as a side-effect!"
"Oh my. I always wondered what actually happened to those Yuyuko 'ate'. She can't really eat anyone, after all, she is a ghost." Youmyu says, as Sakuya also turned up.
"Don't you have something to say to my sister?" Satori said to the maid.
"I have nothing to say, but no intent to harm her anymore. She was trespassing regardless." Sakuya says coldly.
"Was was outside your gate." Satori retorts, with her two eyes on her head closed, in a pose she took when reading Rumia and the other's minds earlier.
"I suggest you stop reading my mind there, or else you will not survive another minute." Sakuya threatened.
Satori stopped, and simply muttered, "Yes, I just saw the mental example you had of what you could do. Time control is not something I can easily combat."
"Time control? Sounds like fun." Yuuka says, looking at Sakuya.
"Yuuka, we're not here to fight each other..." Reimu said, bopping Yuuka over the head with her Gohei, and receiving a death-glare for it, which Reimu replied with.
The tension between the two was clearly high, but Utusho just flew over.
"We're supposed to fight the bad guys who wanna hurt us!" Utusho said. "That's what Rin said!"
"You don't have any idea who that is, do you Okku, ~ze." Marisa says, tipping her hat. "She *is* a bad guy, and she probobly *does* want to hurt us."
"Unyu?" Utusho replies, tilting her head.
"She's just not the bad guy we are here to stop. 'An enemy of an enemy is my friend.'" Youmu explained, and Utusho nodded.
Reimu and Yuuka stopped their staring contest, and Reimu sighed. Byakuren had now also arrived, and she had brought Yuugi and Suika with her, the two bantering between each other. There was also a kitsune, who instead of sitting or standing on the rooftop, was floating a way off, as if keeping her distance from the others.
"Anyway, now that everyone is here, I shall explain to you all what we are up against. To understand that, think back to ten years ago, when Gensokyo was flooded with strange monsters before." Reimu says.
Mystia suddenly looks shocked. "Oh yeah, this happened about Ten years ago!"
"Yes, and the culprit is the same. You see, Ten years ago, Me, Marisa, Yuuka, and a fourth being, who didn't return, went to investigate, and went through the only portal that had formed during that incident. We ended up in a different world altogether, called Makai. Makai is a world of daemons and magic, the maisma of it being many times stronger than the Forest of Magic. However, Makai, and almost everything inside it, was created by one person. The Goddess of Makai, Shinki." Reimu says.
Rumia notices that Marisa looked saddened briefly when Reimu mentioned the 4th person. Even Rumia could tell this 4th person was important to Marisa.
"Anyway, we fought Shinki, and together, all four of us managed to defeat her, only for her to reveal she was only using a fraction of her power, and was completely invincible in her realm. Still, she agreed to close the portal, for the entertainment we gave her. However, as we raced out of Makai, to escape before the portal closed, we were ambushed and attacked by someone who we had met and defeated on our way in. That someone... was Alice." Reimu said.
"Alice?" Rumia asked.
"She's Marisa's best friend, a puppeteer." Youmu mentions.
"Anyway, Alice was fighting with her full power, power she's not used since, and was attempting to stop us leaving Makai, so we would be sealed inside. The fourth one with us scarified herself, locking herself in Makai, to let us past, and Alice was also knocked through by her attack." Reimu says.
"What does this have to do with now?" Wriggle asked.
Marisa raised her hat, and it was clear she had shed a couple of tears. "While we fought Shinki, she claimed that almost everything in Makai was her creation, and that everyone in Makai was her child. Shinki probobly... wants her child back."
"The anger of a mother who has lost her child, combined with the fury of a Goddess. That is what we are going up against... and that is why we couldn't explain this to you with Alice there Marisa." Reimu says.
"I was also sealed in Makai for 1,000 years." Byakuren said. "It may be that the actions of my followers breaking into Makai weakened the barriers, even when they were repaired afterwards, enough to allow this to happen."
"Yukari has been attempting to stop Shinki breaking through for the last few years, but Shinki has been breaking barriers faster than Yukari could make them, so she redirected Shinki to the Underground instead of above ground." the Kitsune explained.
Suddenly, a large portal, far greater than any before, opened in the sky, above the City, and out of it, came a single person.
The stranger wore a segmented red dress, with various black and white hemlines. Her hair was light blue, heading towards white, and long, tied with two cherry-like orbs, which formed a long side-ponytail in addition to her flowing hair. Her eyes were light blue, and she looked down on everyone.
Rumia could feel nothing from the stranger. No feeling of power, or presence, like with anyone else.
The stranger looked around.
"Where is Alice?" she asked, simply and quietly.
There was no answer. No-one dared answer.
"Maybe you do not understand. Where is MY CHILD!" she roared. Suddenly, Rumia could feel the power of this stranger. It felt like it would drown her and smother her completely, and she could tell it was the same for Mystia and the others, even most of the strong ones on the rooftop looked intimidated. Rumia's head also started throbbing heavily, as if it was going to split.
The stranger looked around again, before she pointed her palm to an area of the city, and the buildings vanished, only a crater left.
"I will turn my power on you if you continue to refuse to answer, and then I will turn my power to all of Gensokyo until Alice is returned to me." she said.
"Shinki... in case you've not noticed, we're miles and miles under the ground. Alice is above ground." Reimu said.
Shinki looked up, and formed a small sphere in her hand, before throwing it through the rock above her, doing no damage to it. She continued to look upwards.
"Indeed. It is reasonable to assume she simply has not made it down here yet." Shinki said calmly. "Very well. I shall give you two hours. Then I shall return, bringing others with me. If you do not return Alice then, I shall destroy Gensokyo, and kill everyone other than Alice and one small daemon who is here on a magician's contract from Makai. Can't have you just stalling for time without intent to give me Alice and forming some hopeless plan, after all."
Shinki then looked at the gathered people.
"Ah, you three, I remember you three now. Ten years ago, your time, I believe. And Hijiri! I wondered where you went!" Shinki said, almost pleased. "As much as it would pain me Hijiri, you are not excluded from my warning, and as for you three, I will not simply be toying around, I will be fighting with my full power."
Shinki then turned towards the portal, before looking over her shoulder.
"One of you should be leaving to get Alice already, if you value this world."
Suddenly, a huge beam of light headed towards Shinki, the roar of the blast drowning out everything else.
Shinki just smiled, as the beam washed around her, as if being blocked by an invisible sphere around her.
"My my, Kanzami. Can't wait, can you?"
"Sorry, not one for words. Just wanted to see if I could take you by surprise." Yuuka said, her umbrella's tip smoking.
"Well, you'll have to wait. I'm not breaking my word and killing you for that transgression now." Shinki said calmly, as she entered the portal, and it shut behind her.
Rumia's headache stopped, and Satori looked at her seriously.
"... The darkness youkai is having some sort of reaction to the maisma of Makai. Something inside her mind." Satori says. "Something... violent and evil."
The kitsune's face fell, before she formed a barrier around Rumia.
"Stay away from her. She needs to be sealed, for everyone's safety, until this is over." the kistine demanded.
"Ran! What are you..." Reimu began, before Ran flew over to her.
"Yukari needs to explain to you. Some... family history."
Reimu and Ran then vanished into a gap.