Hi everybody! Sorry this is a bit late, but I've been playing The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth like crazy recently, which has been playing havoc with my writing schedule. This, combined with my slight bit of writer's block, has caused my writing to slow down considerably, unfortunately. I still have a bit of a buffer, and hopefully I'll work through them soon enough, but it may result in some delays.

Also, Desert Bus for Hope is starting, so...I'm not actually sure if that will help or hurt, but I guess we'll see.

But in any case, thanks for reading!

They walked quickly, and made good time despite the distance. Along the way, they passed a couple of Kappa workshops, but the owners seemed to be either away or too busy working to pay any attention to them as they passed. The Pyro tried to run off and see what they were, especially the one that had an outdoor forge, but Mokou dragged them back into line relatively easily, explaining that the people probably didn't want to be disturbed, and when that didn't work, telling them that wandering off would delay "Terry's" reunion, which got them back into line pretty quickly.

After about an hour, they'd managed to make it to the edge of the Tengu Forest, where Mokou spotted a tree with a makeshift table under it. Surprisingly, she didn't see anyone there, and she wondered if it was a decoy guard post, meant to fool people into thinking it was unguarded. As they approached, however, she saw a tipped over mug on it, and the fresh stain made by whatever liquid had been in the mug. "This is odd," she said to herself.

"What is odd, bubble lady," the Pyro said.

"Well, calling me 'bubble lady' is, for starters. I did say you could call me Mokou, didn't I? But what's odd is that there should be a guard here, but it looks like they left in a hurry." She ran a hand through her hair. "And that's unfortunate, because to pass through Tengu territory we need a paper signed by a guard. Otherwise, we're considered trespassers, and that's not somethin' we wanna be."

The Pyro tilted their head to the side. "Why."

Mokou rolled her eyes. "Because they're pretty damn protective of their territory. Meaning we're likely to be taken off and interrogated, which would use up more time than I'd like." She decided against mentioning the other possibilities, as she guessed the Pyro wouldn't really understand them, and she'd rather not think about them.

"Then what do we do," the Pyro said, poking their pointer fingers together and looking downcast. If it hadn't been for the gas mask covering their face, their size, and the fact that their voice (or at least the voice she now associated with them) was completely monotonous, Mokou might have mistaken the Pyro for a child. As it was, the juxtaposition was unsettling.

"Well, if we don't have the passport, there's still one place we can go," she said. "The Moriya Shrine's located on the mountain, and since worshippers have to be allowed to come and go as they please, the path up there's considered neutral territory. Least that's what Keine tells me. It's not much, but it's worth a look. At the very least, it'll kill some time till the guard comes back, hopefully."

The Pyro clapped happily. "Ooh, that sounds interesting. Can I blow bubbles at the shrine. I miss the bubbles."

Mokou choked. "I, uh, well, you'd, you'd have to ask the owners. You might be able to do it at the shrine grounds, if you don't blow them at the building itself, but ask them first, ok?"

"Ok," the Pyro said, giving a thumbs up.

"Good," Mokou said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now we just need to find the right trail. I think Keine said it was more this way," she said, circling around the forest southwards. After a bit of searching, they found the path to the shrine, indicated by an arch with a sign reading: "This way to the Moriya shrine," with a couple hand-painted drawings of a young woman with long green hair and a snake-shaped hair ornament and frog hair clip, along with an older stern-looking woman with purple hair with a large circular structure made of entwined rope, and a young-looking girl with a large, hat with eyes and blond hair, winking and sticking her tongue out. The Pyro seemed fascinated by the drawings, and tilted their head to look at them from almost every angle. "You really like those drawings, huh?" Mokou asked, bending down for a closer look. "Guess these are pictures of the goddesses themselves, huh?" She chuckled. "Wonder who painted them."

The Pyro waved at the sign. "Hello goddesses. It's nice to meet you too."

"Uh, Pyro, these are just paintings. The real goddesses are up there," Mokou said, pointing up the mountain.

"But they waved to me," Pyro said. "Was it impolite to wave back."

Mokou was silent for a second, then sighed. "No, you weren't impolite, just kinda, uh," Mokou said, before trailing off, thinking. "You just had things wrong. They're not the goddesses. They're here to show people how to get to the real goddesses, that's their job. So they were beckoning you in."

"Oh. Ok then," the Pyro said, nodding. "Thank you welcomers."

Mokou, relieved that had worked, patted the Pyro on the back. "Alright, let's get going, shall we?"

"Ok. Bye welcomers," the Pyro said, as they began walking up the trail. Mokou walked slightly ahead of the Pyro, wondering, not for the first time, what could possibly have happened to them to make them like this.

After (yet another) long hike up the side of the mountain, during which Mokou had to stop the Pyro from wandering off once, saying something about cherubs in the forest, they made it to the entrance to the shrine. "Alright," Mokou said, stopping just below the stairs leading up to the shrine grounds. "Now, be careful. The people who live here are actual goddesses, and they are very powerful, or so I hear. I don't want to have brought you all this way only for you to piss some goddesses off and make this useless, ok?"

"I don't have any jarate, so I don't think I can piss them off," The Pyro said, tilting their head.

"What? What's jarate? You know what, never mind. Just don't anger them, ok?"

"Of course I won't. I never want to make people angry."

"Ok, good. Just…don't blow bubbles while we're here without permission." As she said this, she took out a cigarette and lit it, savoring what might be the last one she'd be able to have for a while.

The Pyro clapped excitedly again. "Yay. Bubbles."

Mokou exhaled, the smoke floating up to the sky. "Yes, bubbles. Now that'll have to tide you over for a bit."

"Awww." The Pyro said. "Fine."

Mokou nodded and, Pyro in tow, walked up the stairs to the arch denoting the entrance to the Moriya shrine grounds. "Remember, they could probably curse you with a thought, so be very careful," she whispered as they reached the top.

"GYAAAAH," they heard a voice yell as they passed under the arch, followed by a light clacking noise of bamboo hitting the ground.

"What the hell?" Mokou said under her breath, then took off running towards the sound of the voice, the Pyro following behind.

As they ran towards it, they heard the slam of a door opening, and another voice said, "Sanae, what is it? What's wrong?"

"M miss K-Kanako, I-I think a bug just j-jumped on me!"

"A bug?" The voice sighed. "Alright, just stand still and I'll see if I can get it. Where is it?"

"J-just on my back."

After a couple seconds, the second voice, apparently belonging to Kanako, spoke again. "Ok, I think I see it." Mokou and the Pyro rounded the edge of the shrine, their pace slowed due to what they'd heard, to see the purple-haired woman from the sign examining something on the green-haired girl's back. "Hold still," she said. Mokou and the Pyro saw the purple haired woman brush something off the green haired girl's back, then heard a squirting noise, and saw the two bend over coughing as a pungent smell filled the air.

"M-m-miss K-K-Kanako," the green-haired girl was saying, through her coughing, "t-that was a s-stink bug!"

"W-well," the purple haired woman said, through coughs, "I d-didn't know, S-Sanae! Besides, I t-thought you just w-wanted the b-bug gone."

"N-not if it was g-going to do t-this!"

"W-well then next t-time get the b-bug off yourself," the purple haired woman said, as she turned her head to the side and saw Mokou and the Pyro standing there. As they watched, her face, starting with her cheeks, slowly became redder and redder until it looked like she was about to explode, and she ran inside, sliding the door shut behind her with a slam.

"Wha-Miss Kanako?" the green-haired girl, whom Mokou realized was Sanae, said, as the door closed behind her. "Why are you-" she turned to see Mokou and the Pyro, who waved enthusiastically. "Ah," she said, her face coloring slightly. "H-hello. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Uh, sorry," Mokou said, rubbing the back of her head. "Did we come at an awkward time?"
"Hi, goddess lady," the Pyro said, still waving their hand wildly. "It is nice to meet you."

"Uh, yes, right. Nice to meet you too," Sanae said, bowing. "And in response to your question," she said, turning to Mokou, "could, I ask you to, um," she paused for a second, while her blush deepened. "Wait-in-front-of-the-shrine-for-a-second-while-I-get-changed?" she said as quickly as she could.

"Um, yeah, sure," Mokou said, grabbing the Pyro's waving hand and beginning to circle back round towards the entrance.

"Th-thanks very much," Sanae said, and fled in the same manner as the purple-haired woman, who Mokou realized was Kanako, had done.

The Pyro looked crestfallen. "Awww. Why are they leaving. Did I do something wrong."

Mokou patted them on the back. "Nah, we just kinda showed up at a bad time. We didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry about it."

"If you say so," the Pyro said, seeming unsure.

"She said she'd meet us in front of the shrine, didn't she? So she can't be that mad at us." This brightened the Pyro up a bit. Mokou realized it was surprisingly easy to tell the Pyro's mood, even though their face was always completely covered and they could only speak either in muffled grunts or in that weird monotone voice of "Terry." It was somewhat impressive. "In any case," she said, lowering her voice, "does uh, 'Terry' have any idea about where their buddy is?"

The Pyro looked slightly worried. "I do not know. Terry has been quiet ever since we entered the shrine grounds."

"Huh? But didn't he just talk?"

"No, that is, well healy man called it a 'reflex.' Terry normally talks to me in here," the Pyro said, pointing at their own head, "but they haven't in a while."

Mokou frowned. "That's…weird. I hope we haven't come all this way for nothing."

The Pyro looked like they were about to say something when the main shrine door opened, revealing Sanae, wearing what looked like the exact same outfit she'd had on before. "Sorry about that," she said, with a slight bow. "Now, how can I help-" she began before getting a good look at the Pyro, "youuuu?"

"Hello again, goddess lady," they said.

"Wha-why are you wearing a gas mask?" Sanae asked, then, turning to Mokou, a slightly worried expression on her face. "Why are they wearing a gas mask?"

"Uh, well," Mokou said, "I don't know," she said, shrugging. "They wouldn't tell me." She looked at the Pyro, who looked away. "But don't worry about it, they haven't attacked anyone or anything yet."

The Pyro looked slightly confused. "That's not exactly encouraging," Sanae said, before sighing. "But I'll take your word for it." She turned to Mokou, finger on her forehead. "And you're," she paused thinking, before snapping her fingers, causing the Pyro to jump, "Mokou Fujiwara, right?"

"Y-yeah. But how did you know?" Mokou said, confused.

"We were introduced at one of those incident afterparties, I think." Sanae said.

"Oh, were we?" Mokou said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, I don't really remember it."

"I-it's ok," Sanae said, waving her arms in front of her face dismissively. "It took me a while to remember it myself." She turned to the Pyro. "And I don't think I've met you." She tentatively extended a hand. "I'm Sanae Kochiya, the Moriya shrine maiden." The Pyro reached out and shook it.

"Hi shrine maiden," they said, shaking her hand vigorously. "I'm Pyro." Sanae winced as her arm was jolted around in its socket. Eventually, Mokou had to step in to stop the handshake, as the Pyro seemed willing to just continue it forever.

"So," Sanae said, rubbing her shoulder, "what brings you both here to the Moriya shrine? Did you come to pray or donate?" she said hopefully.

Mokou rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Well, um, uh," she began, trying to avoid looking at the shrine maiden's hopeful face.

"We're looking for my friends who fell from the sky, but first we're trying to find Terry's relative on the mountain," the Pyro said. Sanae hopeful expression turned into one of complete confusion.

Seeing her expression, Mokou tried to give a better explanation. "Um, were you looking up at the sky a couple hours ago?"

Sanae tilted her head to the side. "A couple hours ago? No, but I do remember hearing a loud noise," she said, voice trailing off.

"Right, well, that loud noise was because of some weird explosion in the sky," Mokou said.

"WHAT? There was an explosion and I missed it?" Sanae said, looking upset. "Was it from like a giant mecha or a missile or something? Was it awesome looking?" She leaned in towards Mokou, who took a step back. Sanae seemed to realize that she was acting a bit too excited, and she took a step back and coughed into her hand.

"I mean, um, what happened?"

"I'm…not too sure myself, actually, but Pyro here," she said, pointing behind her toward the Pyro, who was rocking back and forth on their heels and looking around happily, "was apparently shot out of the explosion."

"Merasmus unplugged the drain," they chimed in.

"I…see," Sanae said, still a bit confused.

"And some friends came with them, it seems, so we're looking around for them," Mokou said.

"And you came here?" Sanae said, frowning. "I hate to say it, but this place is pretty remote," she said, sighing. "We hardly get worshippers as it is, let alone ones that fell from the sky."

"Yeah, I guess it woulda been too convenient to have a couple of 'em land here," Mokou said, while attempting to ignore the weird feeling of the Pyro playing with her hair. "Well, there was another reason we came up here though," she said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "This is gonna sound weird, but have you seen anything like that blob on top of Pyro's head around here?"

Sanae leaned around to get a good look at 'the blob,' which wobbled on top of the Pyro's head as they giggled, making swirls in Mokou's hair. Looking back at Mokou and seeing the irritated expression on her face, Sanae stifled a laugh and shook her head. "I'm afraid I haven't. Although," she said, tilting her head to the side in thought, "it does seem familiar for some reason, but I just can't remember why," she said, trailing off.

At that moment, a small girl, dressed in a purple dress with loose white sleeves and wearing an impressive yellow hat that for some reason had eyes on the top of it, burst out of the trees and ran towards the group. "Sanae, are you ok?" she yelled.

"Eh? Miss Suwako?" Sanae said, confused. "I'm totally fine, Miss Suwako. What happened?"

"Pyonta told me that-" the girl, who Mokou assumed was Suwako, said, before sliding to a stop in front of the group, eyes focused on the Pyro. The Pyro had jumped when startled by the girl's sudden appearance, causing Mokou's hair to become completely tangled, and they were trying to untangle some of it as best they could. "You," Suwako said, narrowing her eyes at the Pyro. "Get away from her," she said, pulling out a strange metal ring. The Pyro instantly put their hands up (unfortunately pulling some of Mokou's hair with them), and shook their head in a panic.

"But I didn't create any bubbles," they said, looking at Mokou for assurance. "That was the rule, wasn't it."

Mokou, still wincing slightly from the sudden removal of some strands of her hair, reluctantly nodded. "Yes, it was. Though this seems to be because of something else," she said, frowning.

Sanae, holding her gohei nervously, spoke. "M-miss Suwako, what's going on?"

Suwako stepped in front of Sanae protectively. "That person is not in their right mind. They're being controlled by the creature on their head."

"Well, I can't argue with that first part," Mokou said, shrugging, while the Pyro looked at her, confused, "but right now I'm pretty sure they're not under 'Terry's' control."

"Terry?" Suwako said, a puzzled look crossing her face. "Who's Terry?"

"That's what they call that blob thing on top of their head," Mokou said. "But how'd you know things like this existed?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "And that there was one here?"

"As I said, Pyonta told me," Suwako said, patting her hat.

"Pyonta's your hat?" Mokou said, confused. "You know what, I don't know why that's surprising to me, anymore. But in any case, why does Pyonta think that Pyro here, or I guess Terry, is a threat?"

As she finished her sentence, she heard a muffled whisper behind her, and then felt the Pyro begin to stiffen and shake. Suwako readied her weapons, while Mokou looked warily at her, and Sanae looked between the two of them, confused. It was at this point that Kanako appeared in the main shrine entrance. "Just what is going on out here?" she said, causing everyone to look at her, save the Pyro, who was still shaking. Sanae began trying to stammer out an answer while Suwako tried to explain about Pyonta, and Mokou stared at her suspiciously. Suddenly, a monotone voice spoke, cutting through their explanations, saying "I believe I can explain." Everyone turned to look at the Pyro, who had stopped shaking and stepped calmly out from behind Mokou.

"Pyonta believes that I wish to change hosts to the 'Sanae' female. As their current host Suwako cares for this female, they alerted her to my presence in an attempt to stop me from taking her as a host. Is this not correct," the voice coming from the Pyro said, before turning to look at Pyonta, "parent?"