Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I own nothing of touhou and familiar of zero, all character belongs to their respected creator.
Author's note: So my readers should have already noticed that my story have a lot of grammer mistakes, I sincerely apologize since I typed to fast and didn't do proof reading. I'll try to do my best to adjust it; meanwhile I hope the mistakes don't affect your reading too much. Now on with the story!
Louise POV
Once again everyone from the Tristain academy gathered in the large briefing room aboard the vessel.
"I'm surprised that there are still that many of you that would like to try. Perhaps you thought that because it is daytime you would have a better chance?" Yumemi said in a genuine surprised tone, while she sat on her spot just like yesterday.
In the end it was decided that Professor Colbert and Miss Longueville will bring the group of volunteered students to look for help. The rest of the staff will look after the students aboard the vessel to ensure their safety and no harm is done to them. Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche, Malicorn and a lot of other boys joined the expedition, while the majority of the girls stayed. Out of the servants, a girl named Siesta volunteered, at first Professor Colbert refused but because she won't give up asking she was allowed to join. It turns out the girl desperately want to see her family, something that Louise can sympathize with.
"You know there is a saying, those that go up mountain despite knowing there is monsters are either idiots or hunters; I hope you guys aren't the idiots." Yumemi said in an amused tone, while spinning controller in her hand.
"Enough talking Miss Yumemi, give us back our stuff!" Professor Colbert said to Yumemi in an impatient tone. Louise could feel the tension building up in the room, everyone was worried whether this expedition would succeed or not. Fear built up inside of her and she wasn't the only one. But despite this, she wanted to see her family again, to be able to tell her sisters and her mother that she is okay.
"Very well then. Chiyuri bring the same stuff as last time." Yumemi told Chiyuri, and just like last time she came back leading the chained up familiars back out and handed the supplies and their properties back to them.
"You know, since you guys seem quite prepared this time I think I'll give you guys a word of advice; walk east, there is a village there." Yumemi said while she opened the door towards outside once again.
"Why do you tell us that?" Louise asked, this action was very suspicious of her, after all she didn't tell this to the last group of people who went out.
"No reason really, it is just more entertaining to have you guys not running around like a bunch of headless chicken; plus it would provide more interesting data." Yumemi answered, and as the door finally opened everyone part of the expedition ventured out.
"Everyone we'll be back!"
"I'll bring help Montmorency!"
"Stay safe Guiche!"
"Take care Siesta!"
As the door into the ship slowly closes, the sound of people wishing for each other's safety died down. Louise and her group then turned their head to face the unknown forest of death. She did not know what horrors lies within there but she pray to Brimir that they could safely find this village and go back home.
Yumemi POV
As the group left Yumemi once again closed the door leading to the outside.
"Since they left for help the rest of you would help in my research, but for now you can all go back to your rooms." She then dismissed all of them and had Chiyuri lead them out. She waited for Chiyuri's return and soon she came back.
"So Chiyuri, what do you think of our little group of heroes' expedition? How long do you think it would take for them to reach the village?" Yumemi asked, she was deeply interested in Chiyuri's thought on the whole situation.
"I'm not too sure; there are multiple problems that stop me from making a good guess."
"Oh, what are they?"
"First of all, I reckon that it would take them about a day and a half to reach the human village if they walk the direction you tell them; but then again it could be a bit more or a bit less. This land is impulsive just like its residents, someone could have tempered with the directions or the distance between these two points." Chiyuri explained to Yumemi. It is true, Yumemi thought, the shinigami or other beings in this world could cause a space distortion during one of their spellcard battles, though the distortion eventually does return to normal they could still be caught in it.
"What's the second problem?"
"I have no idea of their magical abilities, they could be really weak, or they could be pretty strong. If they are weak I hope they don't attract too much attention, a group of weak outsider is like a free all you can eat buffet."
"All good points Chiyuri, but this is why I let them go. You see, nothing works better in determining a person's abilities than crisis." Yumemi pressed a button on her controller and the expedition team was shown on screen, filmed by one the surveillance globe she sent outside.
"They could luck out and meet someone from the village, Yumemi."
"If they do, all I can say is they sure are lucky."
Louise POV
Ever since they walked into the forest they had been very cautious, they tried to not make any loud noises and carefully looked around to make sure there isn't any danger out there. Louise was placed in the middle of the group while the stronger students and Professor Colbert stayed at the front and the back holding their wand ready to attack at any time.
At first they thought of having Tabitha ride Sylphid to journey from air, but the idea was shot down by Professor Colbert.
"Some of the monsters we seen last night could fly, we can't have Miss Tabitha attracting any attention to her. Sylphid is too large and obvious, this would make her a target; it would be a bit safer to journey through land, it's still dangerous but still safer." Professor Colbert explained to everyone. In the end, flying only became the final solution; if they are attacked Tabitha would have Sylphid carry a couple students and make a run for it.
They kept on walking east, on the way whenever they spot something vaguely humanoid, they sneaked past it and hoped that it didn't notice them. Soon the sun began to set and everyone was tired.
"Are we sure that girl didn't lie to us?" Miss Longueville asked. Louise had felt like asking this question as well, they had been walking for a whole day with only a lunch break, but still had seen no sign of people living anywhere.
"We don't have much choice, we can only hope she said the truth." Professor Colbert answered in a tired voice, "Anyway it will be night time soon, we will have to be quick it will become more dangerous once it's nighttime."
After that they had a short break to eat dinner and kept walking, no one wanted what happened last night to happen to them. But even as they kept on walking, they didn't see any sign of settlements and soon the night had come.
"Dear Brimir, it's night already, everyone be on your-" Professor Colber said, but before he could finish his sentence the night sky was consumed in an explosion of lights.
"IT'S THE BLACK-WHITE!"
"What's that she doing out here!"
Suddenly Louise and everyone heard people yelling in the forest, and then suddenly it was as if the entire forest sprung to life, they could see shadows of figures flying into the sky. Large amount of balls of light appeared all around the sky and blocked the moon and stars from view.
"What happened?" Kirche Shouted.
"I don't know!" Louise suddenly tensed up; she can see everyone else doing the same thing, what was happening was outside of their comprehension. What were those globes of light? Who were those figures? And she thought she heard something about a black-white?
But now is not the time for thinking, the group did one thing, they ran for it. They may not know what was happening but they did not want to stay and find out. And as they ran they saw globes of light falling from the sky and randomly hitting the ground and trees destroying whatever they hit.
"Holy Brimir!" She could hear the prayers some of the people in her group is muttering, and she prayed as well that whatever was firing those balls of light did not notice them.
Yumemi POV
"Damn it! Why did Marisa have to appear just when I'm doing an important experiment? Read the atmosphere you idiot!" Yumemi muttered angrily.
"Don't know, but those people sure are lucky. Marisa may have awakened up the entire forest, but on the other hand she caused the majority of the forest to notice her instead of them. If this keeps up they might actually make it to the village without casualty." Chiyuri remarked.
"Yeah, but it would totally ruin my experiment! The plan of forcing them to demonstrate their potential is totally ruined if they aren't in a crisis. Come on, I want to see them getting their arms ripped off or something like that. How am I supposed to collect their combat data if they aren't in a battle to the death?"
"You might have just gotten your wish."
"Why do you say that?"
"Cause, it looks like Marisa is about to finish her fight."
Louise POV
The night sky was still filled with explosions and beams and balls of light, it was as if they were caught in a war zone. Every once in a while one or two balls of light fall to the ground and Tabitha or Professor Colbert would block it with a wall of wind or fire. They could hear sounds of shouting and yelling in the forest, but luckily no one seemed to have noticed them.
"We're in luck, if this goes up we might be able to get to the village without attracting the monsters of the forest." Miss Longueville said.
Louise was glad soon they will be out of this forest; they will find the village, contact the crown and be safely home in no-
Before Louise could finish her thought she was distracted by a figure in the sky; it looked like a person riding on a broom. And then she heard the sound of the figure shouting from far away.
"Love… master spa…rk."
The sky was consumed by a titanic beam of rainbow light; that was the only way Louise can describe what was happening. The titanic beam of light swallowed up all the balls of light in the sky; even on the ground everyone can feel the enormous amount of energy behind such an attack. They all cowered to the ground, the enormous sound of the attack and the heat coming from above them made Louise wonder for amount whether they were going to die. Soon the beam of light disappeared and there were no more explosions, the forest returned to its peaceful form again.
"Is everyone okay?" Professor Colbert asked.
"Yes." Louise answered like everyone else. She looked up there were no more explosions shrouding the sky, but now clouds have gathered blocking the sky from view causing everything around here to look darker.
"This is bad we are going to have to be more careful now, that the sound of conflict is gone." Professor Colbert said.
This sounded bad, Louise said, they were now in a dark forest with nothing between the monsters and them. So wasting no time everyone kept on walking, but unlike during the day or during the unknown phenomenon in the sky, this was much more frightening.
"Wait what's that?" Siesta pointed into the woods on her right, and when Louise looked she saw a bunch of red glowing orbs. No wait, those were EYES!
As soon as she realized that, a bunch of strange wolves that they saw last night jumped at them.
Yumemi POV
"Things are moving back on track, Marisa left, and the group seemed to have encountered their first threat; the (not yet) youkai wolves" Yumemi remarked, she is certainly pleased with this outcome.
"I guess it is a good thing for them and for us. The wolves are not fully youkai, yet they possess a certain degree of power that far surpasses regular animals." Chiyuri added.
"Let's hope they don't underestimate their opponents or they would end up as dog chow."
Louise POV
Professor Colbert instantly sends a large area flame spell at the wolf pack, which dodged with unnatural speed and agility. She and everyone else took out their wand as well and began running and chanting.
"Fireball!" Louise shouted, but only an explosion happened. Normally she would be upset by another failure of her spell but now, while she was running for her life like the rest of her group, she didn't care.
All around her, she can see people are firing spells at the wolves. Some got blasted by multiple spell and died, some dodged, but the truly terrifying thing is that some kept coming after them even as a wind blast punched a hole in their torso and they were losing blood. She quickly realized that these are not normal wolves; whatever these are they are no mere animals. What's worse, as they fired spells to stop the wolves, they were making more noises.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" She then heard the scream of one of the male students. He was tackled down by one of the wolves, and soon the wolves surrounded him.
"Jeramy!"
"It's too late for him, keep running!" The group kept running, abandoning the screaming boy. Louise tried her hardest not to look behind her, but she could still hear the faint scream and the sickening sound of flesh getting ripped off. She felt sick.
But she then realized that she is not feeling sick only because of that scene, her willpower is draining and it is getting harder and harder to cast spells. What's worse she can see she isn't the only one, Kirche was now panting a lot more, and the the size of Tabitha's spell is getting smaller. They were firing spell for too long, soon they wouldn't be able to do it anymore. But the good thing is the wolves have stopped chasing them.
"There were ruckuses over here."
"Is someone having spellcard duel over there?"
It was too late, Louise realized, the noise the made have attracted the other humanoid monsters here.
"Miss Tabitha, when the worst comes take as many students as you can with Sylphid and run!" Professor Colbert said to Tabitha, these words caused Louise despair. Even Professor Colbert was uncertain they would live.
"Wait those humans are dressed weirdly, they have a different smell on them!"
"They're outsiders!"
Just as the sound of that shouting is finished, half a dozen shadows showed up within the forest.
Yumemi POV
"Finally, the main event has started." A sinister smile showed up on Yumemi's face.
Louise POV
We are doomed. This thought began to come up in Louise's head, they are low on will power and are really tired from all the running, now they are surrounded by the humanoid monsters from within the forest. They are in serious danger; the only thing that could save them is a mir-
Before Louise could finish her thought a large barrage of light orbs struck between them and the shadows.
"That's it for now, these people are under my protection, I'm sorry but I can't let you guys eat them."
Louise and everyone else looked at the source of all those light orbs, it was a long-haired young lady dressed in blue wearing a weird hat. She was floating in the air and doesn't appear to have a wand.
"Hmph, let's go." One of the shadows said this and they vanished in to the forest again.
"Are you guys all right? Don't worry I'm from the nearby village." The young lady said, and after Louise heard those words she is suddenly relieved. They finally got out of that nightmarish forest, they will be home soon.
Yumemi POV
"Well that was anti-climatic." Yumemi said as she turned off the screen, she has no further interest in following them anymore and the surveillance orb can't go any further.
"Is it okay to let them go that easily? You aren't mad that we haven't gotten a lot of data?" Chiyuri asked.
"I'm not worried," Yumemi said as she proceeds to leave the room. She tilted her head and said to Chiyuri, "After all, this isn't their world. They would have to come back whether they want it or not, because I am the only one in this world who knows which world they are from."
Author's note: Louise and co travelling through the forest, also what Yumemi did is the shaft head tilt. Also Louise and co didn't know they are on a different world cause the sky is always blocked by something so they couldn't see the single moon. Next chapter the reveal.