Chapter 5: The House of Eternity
Not long after painting a big, bloody target on her guests' back, Remilia retreated to her cozy coffin bed for some much needed R&R. Her incredible and annoying ability to escape the reprecussions of her actions left Alex in a huff for a while after.
But, at the very least, she held true to her word. While Sakuya tended to the Scarlet Sisters' bed rest and Meiling patched up the hole in the wall, Patchouli guided their guests to her library. The two split up and looked over every nook and cranny while she watched over them, primarily Alex, like a starving hawk.
Alas, after an hour passed the two had seen everything the library had to offer, and didn't even have any leads to show for their troubles. Patchouli quickly shoo'd them right out of not just her library, but the mansion too. Needless to say, Alex was steamed by that point.
"Razza frazza vampire and her grghing frughing tricks..." Actual smoke rose out of his head while he remained hunched over so terribly that even a gargoyle wouldn't believe it.
With his air of negativity looming like darkened storm clouds, Shina decided it'd be in her best interests to be his lone ray of sunshine. She leaned down close to his face and proclaimed, "Don't worry about it Alex! I wasn't expectin' to find the Cosmos Drive right outta the gate either!"
But he paid her no heed, and tucked his hands deep down into his pockets. She hummed in concern and stood upright, contemplating what to do next to help. As the first idea popped into her head, Alex let loose a tired breath like he had just gotten out of bed and rubbed his scalp.
"They knew we were coming..." He murmured ominously.
"Huh? Whaddya mean?"
"They had to have planned the whole thing before we showed up...Everything happened way too fast and clean, even for Remilia," He reached for his chin and gave it a firm rub in irritation, "Not to mention the way she worded her challenge."
"Yer thinkin' just a teeny tiny bit too hard about this..." She said with fingers pinched before the chest just a few millimeters apart, "Ya heard Marisa, we both just plopped right out of the sky like meteors. Heck! Who knows how long we we were out for?"
Alex kept listening but wasn't following her logic in the slightest, "You're being too optimistic about this Shina. Remilia might as well have been one sentence away from saying..."
He put on his scarily good posh vampire impersonation, complete with copying Remilia's bridged fingers before the chest, "Hi! How are you doing, Phoenix of Destruction?"
"Eeeeh?"
Alex opened his right eye and felt the sheer bewilderment on Shina's face beaming down upon him. As he spread his fingers out and rubbed both sides of his forehead to get rid of the migraine, he groaned his thoughts aloud, "Forget it, doesn't matter now...Remilia's already shoved an even bigger thorn in our asses when the one we had barely fit."
"Yeah...Now all of Gensokyo's gonna be lookin' for a Spell Card duel..."
Shina laid a hand against the side of her face and sighed. But any concerns she appeared to have lasted only a second, for with both fists coiled up next her plump red cheeks she squealed in delight, "Ooooh...I'm so ex-CITED!"
"Yeah. Great. More Danmaku..." Rolling his eyes then sticking them up high, he let out a mute sigh of exapseration.
"Right now...Lets just try and check another place out before the crows come out to play."
"...Wait you mean figuratively or lit-"
"Yes." Alex bluntly cut her off right as they reached the front gate. Meiling, who had returned to her post, pulled away and intercepted the two and their conversation.
"Hey, you're heading out already?"
"Uh-huh!" Shina replied with a swift and pleasant nod.
Meiling forced a bit of a smile and rubbed the side of her head, "Heh...Sorry about the Mistress. Even I had no idea she was planning something like that."
She perked up optimistically, "But hey, she doesn't have any ill will towards you both. In fact, you're welcome to come back anytime if you want."
"I'll pass, thank you." Alex replied while Shina, sensing the tension surrounding him, went to change subjects.
"Say, Meiling, do ya know anywhere else where we might find the Cosmos Drive?"
"Somewhere else? Hmmm..." The gatekeeper went deep in thought, but Alex wasn't expecting any swift results. He just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
All of a sudden, Meiling's eyes widened as though on high alert, and her right arm sprung out like a cobra. Snatching an arrow the length of her arm right out of the sky, she was forced to take in a deep breath to stabilize her now shaking muscles.
The arrow had no presence until after it had arrived, masked by an air of mystery. The arrow was built with a smooth andsturdy wood, for it held up under the pressure of Meiling's grip. Curiously too, had she not stopped it, Alex's head would've, and he wasn't the least bit amused to realize that.
"Huh?" The ferocity of a dragon became tamed through a human-like curiosity, and Meiling pulled the arrow in and took a piece of paper right off the end. She gave it a quick glance then held it over shoulder.
"This seems to be yours..." She said to Alex, who took the paper with eyes crumpled shut.
"And so it begins..." He spread the paper apart and started to read it aloud.
"Dear Alex Whiter and Shina Aurora..." The letter's personal touch already gave him a massive conniption, "I am cordially inviting you to our residence in Eientei to discuss certain matters of importance to us both. You can decline if you wish, but you shall probably come to regret it later, I can assure you. So, I shall look forward to your timely arrival, yes? Yours truly, Eirin Yagokoro."
Scrunching the letter at its sides and lowering it out of sight, Alex's face turned into something you'd see on a Picasso as he contained a very nasty growl. What Meiling said after basically summed up Alex's thoughts on the matter in a PG rated format, "Wow, I never would've thought THEY'D be the first to respond to Remilia's challenge."
"No kidding..." Shina murmured in awe, followed by a gentle gulp.
"Well, I GUESS we're going to Eientei." Alex absolutely had to force himself to sound enthusiastic.
Meiling intervened with sound advice, "Well in that case you'd want to head for the Bamboo Forest, but-"
"We'll take it from here, thanks..." Alex brushed her off earnest attempt to help mercilessly and then hurried things along by flying off, forcing Shina to just wave farewell and mouth a quick 'Sorry!' before she scurried after Alex.
"O-Ok! Don't be strangers!" Meiling yelled, still taken aback by Alex's lack of manners.
Skybound once more, Alex gave the invitation one more look before throwing it back in a crumpled heap. Shina snatched it right up and unfurled it for her own perusal as she glided next to Alex.
"Can't believe THE Brain of the Moon of all people wants to see us..." She looked at Alex's bothered face and offered support, "Ya nervous?"
"Why would I be?" His voice was neutral, neither worried nor calm.
"Well...what if she tries to dissect us?" Her body became riddled with chills, "I don't think I'd do well under the knife..."
"I'm positive she's not that kind of doctor. The only dissecting she does is with her eyes."
Shina looked down at her body and then cuddled herself tight, the blood rushing to her face as she stared wide-eyed straight ahead.
Alex glanced at her and shook his head, then took a look at the ground. They were fast approaching the menagerie of Bamboo stalks, each of them as tall as small oaks, and inside of there lied their destination...
"Can't get to Eientei from the air...Pain in the ass it may be, but we'll just have to walk..." He already started to head down once he finished speaking, and pushed through the forest's stiff, stubborn canopy as though swimming in a vat of tar and rubber. The moment he penetrated inside, he spun to land on his feet and turned around to see how Shina fared.
Unfortunately, her 'blessings' were a curse upon her this day, as she could not squeeze through. After watching her grunt for a bit, Alex leaned aside and snapped his fingers out to move the bamboo.
Like a stone loaded in a slingshot Shina flew straight down, her trajectory landing her right on Alex's arm. Proud of his gentlemanly, calculated save, Alex was about to smile at her about it when he saw that Shina's chest was pressing against his triceps.
He pulled his arm right back in and turned away with a cough and red face. Shina landed on her feet and turned to him, saying with an innocent giggle, "T-Thank you..."
"D-Don't mention it..." Alex's voice trailed off into Wonderland before he shook those naughty thoughts free, "S-So...where do we go from here?"
"You don't know?"
"Of course not, its a maze in here," He replied so matter of factly, "Do YOU?"
"W-Well...No...But I DO have a plan!" Shina proclaimed, keeping her hopes and head held high.
"Fire away, I'm listening..." Alex replied, ignoring the dread feeling building deep in the pit of his gut.
"I heard that you can solve all mazes by just taking a right at every turn. So all we have to do is..." Shina looked around, her facial features drooping as she realized there was too much open space for there to be any corners, "Oh..."
"Haaaa...we should've gotten directions before we came here..." Alex slumped over in annoyance.
"I think Meiling was about to before you rudely brushed her off..." Shina was soft and blunt in her observation.
"Tsk, so I wanted to get the hell outta there, sue me..." He said while swinging his right arm up.
"Well, now would be a good time to use that stand-offish energy of yers to get us outta HERE."
"...Let me just try and sense the building." Alex closed his eyes and stood up, but everything around him became bright and fuzzy in an instant.
"Tsk...There's a ton of magic in this forest, its hard to see past it..." A glow of crimson broke through from behind them, hovering like a wandering spirit.
"Someone coming...with fire?" Alex, for the first time since coming to Gensokyo, was actually glad to be running into one of its denizens. He turned around and tried to act natural, and Shina caught his silent cues right away.
"I was wondering who was making all that noise at this time of day..." Speaking in a gruff feminine voice, the person makes an astounding first impression by cutting down a small row of bamboo with one swipe of her bare hand. By comparison, her appearance was lacking in pizzaz. The girl walked out with her hands tucked into the pockets of her red hakama pants, which were covered in a few paper charms. A few charms also helped keep her ankle-length hair from looking like a wildfire of pale blue silk ready to consume her body. Topping her clothing off was a light brown shirt discolored by fire, with the sleeves completely in tatters save for the shoulders. The girl's skin wasn't as pale as Remilia or Flandre's, but it might as well have been considering how dead her red eyed gaze was. Despite looking like a ghost, the girl wasn't exactly ugly. She had a certain air of regality and mystery to her, and her distant demeanor didn't do anything to hurt that image. At worst, you could say she looked simple, but even that had its charm.
"If you're lost, I can guide you out." The girl kept it short and on a professional level, at least at first. Once she actually lifted her head and took some time looking at Alex and Shina, a spark of life entered her eyes.
"Hang on...Those clothes you're wearing...You're from the Outside World?"
"Sort of...?" Shina kept her lips sealed on any further elaboration, but that little tidbit seemed to enough to entice the girl's curiosity.
"Huh, so just like that other girl..." She burrowed her hands deeper into the pockets and remarked, "Well, you're lucky I found you before it became night time. One misstep in Gensokyo and you'll be chow for the Youkai. I'll escort you to the Human Village, but that's about all I can do for you."
She turned around, but Alex cut her off from moving by mentioning, "We're not looking for the village. We came in here on purpose."
"On...purpose?" She tilted her head back and seemed so distant in spite of the presence of concern in her voice, "Are you serious?"
"Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm not." Alex daringly challenged her with a smirk.
"...Alright, suit yourselves." She shrugged and started to go back the way she came in, only for Shina to rush in front of her with a nervous giggle and a brief glare over to Alex.
"Actually...We could really use some help finding this place called Eientei. You seem to know your way around these parts, soooo-"
"Eientei?" The girl's brows perked then slanted, followed by her raising her voice a little to mention, "Look, I don't know who told you what, but the Human Village is an easier place to go for medicine, trust me."
"Do either of us look sick?" Alex firmly stated, then waved his hand around and decided he was done with these shenanigans, "Shina just give her the letter."
"Yeah, that oughta clear this up for ya!" Shina thrust the paper in the girl's face, who stumbled a couple steps back in surprise before snatching the letter in her right hand and looking it over with just that same eye.
"What the hell..." She murmured to herself in drawn-out disbelief before throwing the letter up in the air and tucking her hand right back into a warm pocket. As she watched Shina grab the paper, she pointed a finger at her face and said, "So you're Shina..."
Then she glanced back and did the same to Alex, "And you must be Alex."
"Huh...dunno why that doctor would be that interested in a couple of humans, but..." The girl pursed her lips and took another look at the boy with one eye open.
"Hang on a second here..." She pointed at him from beside the hip and asked, "You're him...That person the vampire was making a ruckus about earlier."
"You could tell that easily, huh?" Alex sighed upon realizing that his one hope of sneaking around Gensokyo unrecognize, his average joe appearance, had failed him.
"Your power's not exactly well-hidden..." She rubbed the back of her her and seemed a bit amused by his response.
"Does that mean you're rarin' for a fight now?" Alex asked, his stare turning aggressive in an instant.
"Nah, not interested." She said right away, her reasons surely being hid behind lock and key.
"...Fine, I'll take you both to Eientei. Follow me, it's not very far." She tucked her hands into her pockets and started dragging her feet eastbound with her escorts in tow.
Starting off, Shina realized that there was something the girl had neglected to mention, and ran up beside her to ask, "So hey...What is your name miss..."
"Fujiwara no Mokou," She responded in a way suggesting she was just getting it out of the way, then rubbed the back of her head and insisted, "But just call me Mokou."
Fujiwara no Mokou ~ Inferno Contained in Human Flesh
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Mokou!" Shina held her hand out past the side of Mokou's face, and she looked dumbfounded by that for a bit. She then raised her own hand and gave it a shake.
"Uh...same here..." It was a sincere if not awkward attempt to reciprocate her politeness.
They kept walking for a full minute without a word exchanged, for Alex was being Alex, and Shina was too busy admiring how cool Mokou looked. Then, the faint sound of someone could be heard in the distance. A little closer, and the sounds multiplied. Even closer than that, and some tiny rabbit-eared humanoids could be related to the pleasant melody. All of them were toiling away with tiny hammers at some stretchy white material, their cares a thing of the past thanks to their soothing voices helping each other out.
"The first strike is for Lord Daikoku~"
"The second strike is for Lord Daikoku~"
"And for all of the 180 children..."
"We'll keep pounding mochi, ha! Let's pound mochi~"
The rabbits repeated the song from the start in their squeaky youthful voices, ignorant to Mokou arriving in the clearing with her escorts. Their infectuous tune had already gotten to Shina, who began to hum it perfectly as though she was a rabbit herself.
Looking bored to the verge of falling asleep, Mokou looked at all the rabbits and remarked, "They're slavin' away for that festival of their's already? Damn, time sure does fly...Huh?"
She turned towards the center of the crowd, as did Alex. While most of the workers were sweet little carrots bouncing around the fertile field in their frilly pink dresses, one rabbit stood out like a stiff, dehydrated cornstalk.
This rabbit was about a few inches taller than Mokou and also had a bit more meat on her bones. She wore a black business suit over a white shirt and a beige skirt, white socks and red shoes. She had long light-purple hair with rumpled rabbit ears up top, and red eyes. As this short description would suggest, her appearance was simpler than simple, it was almost boring.
She was the only rabbit not singing, instead holding a clipboard and pen and tallying the amount of mochi the rabbits were working on. She looked away from her work and said in a low-pitch, modulated voice, "Great work everyone. We're just about to meet the rice cake quota for the festival."
That was the one time the rabbits stopped and let out a cheery 'Hoorah!', and with a stern, bossy look in her eyes the tall rabbit waggled the tip of her pen out and said, "Doesn't mean its time to slack off, ok?"
They scurried right back to their duties with increased vigor, while the tall rabbit dropped her arms down and let out a sigh of relief, "Everything's going smoothly so far..."
"Hey! Reisen!" Mokou's curt greeting sent a shiver through the rabbit's body as she murmured to herself, "Oh no, why now...?!"
Mokou trotted closer and swung her right hand up, being polite for the sake of politeness and nothing more. The rabbit looked her in the eyes and frowned with the clipboard under her arm, "You're earlier than usual today Mokou. Is...is there any chance you'd postpone your meeting with the Princess today? The Monthly Lunar Festival is tonight, and we still have preparations to make."
Reisen Udongein Inaba ~ A Doormat in the Kindest of Terms
"Calm down, I'm just here to drop off a couple stragglers for that doctor of yours." Mokou insisted.
"Huh?" The rabbit looked up and saw Alex making the most half-assed handwave greeting ever while Shina was still humming the song.
"I didn't know Master Eirin was having any company today." The meeky confusion in her voice meant she couldn't have been lying, and Alex was inclined to believe that. Thus, he snatched the letter from Shina's hand, snapping her out of that trance, and walked over to give it to Reisen.
She didn't even take it, saying with eyes wide for a moment, "Well, she only uses that kind of paper for writing. I guess you're telling the truth."
"Great, then I'll leave you to escort them the rest of the way." Mokou began to turn around and tried to cut out as soon as possible, but the rabbit spoke up in a brazen tone.
"I know you have your grudge with the Princess and all, but that shouldn't mean you can't come and enjoy the festival once in a while."
"Haaaa...I'm sure the festival's nice and all, but you don't get it. Its just difficult to be around-" Mokou peered over her shoulder and her pupils shrank and narrowed. Reisen suddenly had the undeniable feeling that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, as Mokou's burning glare melted right through her on its way towards another. Trembling with a haphazard, agape mouth, Reisen turned around, already knowing what awaited her.
Secluded amongst the cutesy rabbits was a vision of exemplary beauty. Walking at a gentle, glacial pace, this girl had had very long raven hair in a hime cut and dark brown eyes as pure and pristine as the reflection of the moon off the surface of a lake. She wore a smile that looked so natural it may as well have been a permanent fixture on her face. Her choice of clothing, which included a pink shirt with many white bows and an ankle-length burgundy skirt decorated in yellow bamboo and flower shapes, invoked an ancient period of Japanese regality and magnified an already beautiful girl to heights even goddesses could not hope to reach.
She bent down and petted one of the rabbits on their head, causing them to blush and lose focus for a moment. Some of the mochi splattered onto the girl's face, but she just brushed it off with her sleeve and left the offender with another pat on the head as she stood. Then she turned her gaze towards Mokou, whose fiery glare met the pure warmth in her eyes on even ground.
She folded her sleeves together up next to her chest and took upon a mild, silvery voice harkening to royalty long since forgotten to time, "My my, if it isn't Mokou. How are you doing today?"
"Fine, princess...And you?" Mokou fought to say through gritted teeth.
"Same old, same old, I'm afraid. Why, it has only been twenty hours, thirty-two minutes and nine seconds since we last saw each other." Her manner of speaking was a little odd in spite of how divine it sounded, but she seemed to be aware of that to some degree as she chuckled right after.
"P-Princess Kaguya..." Reisen stumbled upon herself as she got out of Mokou and the girl's way, "You rarely leave the house this time of day."
"Yes well...Eirin suggested I get some fresh air while she finished working on a new medicine. So I thought to myself...'Hmm, I wonder how my favorite rabbit Udongein is faring this day. Perhaps I should go and see her.'" With a bright and sunny smile Kaguya showered her favored pet with praise, "And here you are, so hard at work keeping the other rabbits in line as you always do! Good job, Reisen!"
Kaguya Houraisan ~ A Sinner Cursed with Immortality
"O-Oh..." Reisen's shakiness vanished in an instant, her master's praise carrying so much power that her demeanor did a complete 180, and she pressed her fists against her hips and raised her head up high, "But...but of course! Can't have a good Moon Festival unless everyone does their best!"
"Hehehe, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor bloom into the night sky once more. But for now..." Kaguya lowered her hands and looked to Mokou, who was being shockingly patient for how cross her expression currently was.
"It does seem time for us to kill each other." She said in a nonchalant tone of voice as she became surrounded in a pure, lunar veil.
"Yeah...Why wait for the usual time when I can kill ya right now?!" Mokou moved her head around to crack her neck as her body literally fired up, the heat raising her hair up like a pair of wings. With a ferocious smirk she proclaimed, "This time I'll kill you four times in a row Kaguya! Hope you've made peace with your rotten lunar gods!"
"My oh my...Four times? Whatever did I do to deserve that treatment this time?" Kaguya remained nonchalant and even humored by Mokou's drive to end her life.
"Heh, you know exactly what you did yesterday! Now quit stalling and pick your Spell Cards!" Mokou erupted off the ground and floated just a little over the forest. Kaguya sighed pleasantly and then slowly rose up after her, surrounded by five strange foreign objects.
During this whole unfolding feud, Alex crossed his arms, closed his eyes and thought to himself, "Why do I suddenly feel like a side character in someone else's story?"
He then noticed that the hard working rabbits dropped their tools all at once and stared up in the sky, which had erupted into a fireworks display of Danmaku from both parties. At the sight of this flagrant display of laziness, Reisen's head slumped as she bemoaned, "I knew this would happen..."
"Hey, long-ears." Alex bluntly called out to her and she turned right on the spot with her stature returned to normal, albeit with a small pout.
"Oh right, you two still need guidance to Eientei?" She said in a drained voice, "Well...I won't be doing anything better for an hour so..."
"Thank you SO much Reisen!" Shina ran up and gave the rabbit a firm shake of the hand, almost pulling her off the ground as she introduced herself, "By the way, I'm Shina, Shina Aurora! Pleasant to meet ya!"
"Oh...uh...hi, Shina." She was too mentally exhausted to formulate a better response.
She then closed her eyes and requested in a shrill voice, "C-Can you please let go now?"
"Oh sorry!" Shina let go immediately and backed off with a cheesy giggly. She then clapped her hands once and gestured them towards Alex, "And the grumpy gus beside me is Alex Whiter!"
"And need I remind you why I'm grumpy right now?" He glared her way and she straightened herself up.
"Right! Let us go see your master now, Reisen!"
"Ah...SHI-!" An explosion like fireworks went off above, cutting Mokou's mild panic attack short. All the other rabitts' eyes sparkled in awe as Mokou regenerated whole from the cloud of ashes.
Reisen saw how unfazed her escorts were as strange and whispered to herself, "Seriously, who ARE you guys?"
She guided them through the last bit of forest while remaining mute, and arrived at their destination within a minute. The true nature of Eientei is a lot simpler than one would think from its grandiose name. Ultimately, it was just a large, old-fashioned Japanese mansion. It didn't have any designer flourishes, no bright lights, nothing. ANYONE could have lived here, and yet the fabled Moon Princess chose to make this her home.
Aftter passing the wood fence surrounding the mansion, Reisen turned back and said, "Just let me go ahead and get-"
"Udongein, isn't it a little early to be away from your post?" A womanly voice that exuded with a mature patience lightly scolded the surprised rabbit from close by. Reisen turned around and jolted back, for there was someone already sitting on the porch with a hot clay tea cup in her lap.
She was the first person in Gensokyo who could be considered a woman in both age AND looks. She was as tall as both Alex and Shina, and a motherly, curvy figure. Her dark grey eyes and long silver hair, tied in a braid, were both nice representations of the colors the moon could take in the night sky. Her attire wasn't clothes so much as a large red and blue cloth made to look like a dress, complete with frilly sleeves and a white frilled rim at the bottom of her skirt, and a white belt around the waist to keep it looking practical. The cloth was covered in little sparkles made to represent certain constellations, while the trigrams for the complete Feng Shui set lined the bottom. Finally, to leave no doubt to the average passerby what she was capable of, she wore a simple nurse's cap with a red cross in the center.
She laid the cup down onto a simple stainless glass mat right in front of the center of two other cups, both of which were freshly brewed, judging by the thickness of the steam. A pair of pillows had been laid to rest with a fresh oriental scent similar to mint, and the woman didn't seem the least bit interested in inquiring her loyal apprentice about the guests. The scarily precise nature of her actions, her top-of-the-world demeanor, and a gaze that could pierce through diamond...There was no reason for her to introduce herself now. Even the lowest, primal Youkai could piece together her identity.
Eirin Yagokoro ~ Embodiment of Lunar Brilliance
"Sorry Master Eirin," Reisen made haste to bow in respect, and held that position all while explaining herself, "But I was asked to deliver these two to you."
"Ah, so our beloved Princess is partaking in her daily fight to the death. Splendid." Eirin smiled, disturbing and puzzling Reisen as she lifted her head up.
"Ummm, are you ok?"
"Udongein," Eirin turned her head aside and didn't even bother to open her eyes, "While I appreciate you offering to help these two the rest of the way, they could have made it here on their own."
"Huh? We could've?" Shina spoke up, finding a surprising ease in talking to Eirin.
Alex thought for a bit and then closed his eyes to try and sense the elements in the forest once more. As he suspected, the fuziness that had blocked him off before ended right at the edge of the clearing where the rabbits worked. He opened up right as Eirin smiled his way, her eyelids partway shut.
"...She's in a whole different ballpark of pains in the asses than Remilia. Best bet's just to go along with whatever bullshit she's got planned for now..." For now, he let the exchange between master and apprentice play out.
"Well, there's no point punishing you for this Udongein. Just go and make sure the rabbits are back in order when those two have finished killing each other." She took another sip of tea and looked straight ahead at the empty seats, while Reisen nodded her head twice in quick succession and said, "Absolutely! You can count on me!"
She sprinted off like a cheetah on the hunt into the thick bamboo, leaving her former escorts to the mercy of her master. Eirin didn't waste a millisecond patting the edge of her makeshift table and saying, "Please, have a seat."
Alex nudged ahead and let Shina take the lead. She pointed at herself and he nodded slowly, then she swallowed a nervous gulp and climbed onto the porch, sitting prim and proper down on the right cushion. Her legs settled right into place with the comfort reminding her of the couch back home, causing her muscles to melt like creamy molasses.
"Mmmmm..."
As she accepted eternal bliss, Alex plopped down on the cushion beside her and bent his legs so his right knee was up and the other had his toes leaning against the table. He raised his brows at Eirin, as though inviting her to do something about this.
But she smiled, and was already five steps ahead of him. As his butt melded with the comforting warmth of the cushion, his legs dropped into a more proper position and he had to fight every urge in his body to collapse into a puddle of goo.
"So, where shall we start?" Eirin picked up her tea and started the conversation as though many words had already been exchanged between both parties, "Alex Whiter and Shina Aurora...You came here to Eientei because you believed that I had information relating to the Cosmos Drive, correct?"
"Well if you're getting straight into the nitty-gritty then tell us one thing..." Alex scrunched his eyes up and swung a finger accusingly at the doctor's face, "How in the HELL do you know our names? Cause last I checked, that's the one thing Remilia DIDN'T mention."
With a gentle 'coo', a small white pigeon fluttered down onto Eirin's shoulder, and she calmly fed it a few sand grains sized pellets while saying, "I don't get to see normal animals very often in Gensokyo, so when a pigeon so happened to fly through the barrier, I just had to make it my personal pet. He's got a very good eye for things, and is more loyal than most cats or dogs. I've decided to give it the name...Omoikane."
"...I don't get it..." Shina murmured with a blank stare at the pigeon, who seemed to be enjoying itself. After Eirin grazed the bird's head, it parted for the sky.
"She's saying she enchanted that pigeon to keep an eye on us ever since we arrived in Gensokyo." Alex commented, trying his best not to sound pissed at his privacy being invaded.
"You picked up on that quickly. I'm...somewhat impressed." Eirin said with a humored half of a smile.
Shina picked up her cup and gave it a cautious whiff. The smell was a lot more pleasant than Remilia's brew, so she took a sip and was glad to find that it was sweet and easy to swallow. She held the cup in place and looked at Eirin, asking her hastily without trying to come across as desperate, "Miss Eirin...about the Cosmos Drive-"
"Like I said, you 'believed' that I had information regarding it. I regret to inform you that I know nothing about its location."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Alex sighed and crossed his arms to lean back.
"But I have heard of it before, and how its supposedly a power that can rival the gods. Though...to think its been right under my nose this entire time." A rare sight to behold, Eirin hung her head mildly in shame.
"You're...familiar with Aurian culture?" Shina peered into Eirin's eyes, imagining the big brain beyond that as a vault to her species' mysterious past. Yet without her usual bow and arrow strung to fire, the doctor shot down the girl's high hopes in an instant.
"No, can't say I am. They always lived far out of my reach, even during my more immature years."
"But you know about me. Or rather...The Elemental Overlord, don't you?" Alex directed his hot as iron gaze into her cold, calculating pupils as she gleamed at him with a hint of intrigue.
"I doubt anyone else in this mansion could've erected a barrier specifically designed to cloud my element senses, even if they knew I was coming."
"Right you are." She said without hesitation.
"Seeing how this was all a clever ruse to lure me out here, you better have a good reason for wasting our time Eirin."
She answered one riddle with another two words long, "A test."
"...A test," Alex was unamused, but closed his eyes and moved things along after taking in a deep, lung-filling breath, "Ok...ok...and just what is this 'test'?"
"Well, if you'd just be patient for one second..." Eirin lifted her head and turned to the left, where a body set ablaze smashed into the fence and then blew up. Completely calm in her assessment of the situation in contrast to Alex and Shina's heartbeat skipping surprise, Eirin stood up and remarked, "Ah, Princess, I hope it's not presumptuous of me to ask for your assistance in a matter I'm dealing with."
Kaguya walked out of the smoke without a scratch and a pleasant smile, reciprocating Eirin's request with a delighted, "What is it you need Eirin?"
"You're sickin' your princess on us?" Alex blurted, as he almost let out a chuckle at how crude an act that was.
Mokou came diving down, stamping her feet hard enough against the ground to create a small eruption, then scowled right at Eirin and said, "Yeah what's the big idea you shady doc? Your princess' already busy dying to me!"
"Right now I'm in the lead 3 to 1..." Kaguya remarked, hiding a slick smile behind her sleeve.
"Only cause you've been playing dirty." Mokou scoffed.
"And who was the one who so savagely punched me in the face? Why, my face could've been ruined forever, and I'd never be able to wed," Kaguya pulled her body back as though readying an Oscar winning performance, complete with fake tears and a whimpering of, "Oh...boo-hoo..."
"Well if you're worried about your face that much I'll gladly improve it!" Mokou turned and set her arms on fire, turning them as black as newly formed ash.
"Actually, I was hoping that you would work together with the Princess for this little test of mine." At that very moment, Eirin might as well have been laying her hand on the button to jump start the Cuban Missile Crisis.
All at the same time, with differing degrees of fury and curiosity, Alex, Mokou and Shina exclaimed, "WHAT?!"
Mokou dug her foot into the ground as the veins in her forehead looked ready to pop open like a geyser. Her eyes flaming red, she glared straight at the unflinching Eirin and threw her left arm towards Kaguya.
"You're crazy if you think I'd ever, ever, EVER, team-up with-"
"Actually, that sounds like fun." Kaguya remarked, her carefree attitude leaving Mokou dumbstruck and slackjawed.
"Huh...?"
Kaguya faced her mortal foe and pressed the tip of her sleeve against her lips, showing absolutely no animosity in her demeanor or words, "Mokou, I know you hate me with every fiber of your being...But its that same hatred that leads me to believe you're the only person in this world who understands me just as much if not more than Eirin. And...if that's the case, then wouldn't that make us the perfect partners?"
Mokou's cheeks turned bright red and she turned away in a huff. Kaguya giggled and continued, "For a Spell Card duel, of course."
"I know exactly what you meant, stop thinking so damn highly of yourself." She tucked her hands into her pockets and peered over her shoulder. With a quick sigh she then said, "But I guess you're not wrong...this time."
She face Eirin and told her bluntly, "Fine, I'll play along with your games this time doctor. So who do you want us to face?"
The doctor's smile creased out into an unnatural grin as she tilted her head over shoulder to look straight at Alex. It was at that moment he realized just what level of intelligence he was dealing with. Everything had been calculated down to the finest detail, from forcing Mokou to guide Alex and Shina to Eientei, to knowing when and where people would arrive at her mansion. This wasn't superhuman intelligence, it was borderline omniscience.
"Ok, maybe its time to skidaddle." His body and mind weren't on the same wavelength, as even as he commanded himself to stand, his legs only twitched a little at the knees. He faced Eirin and felt a cold sweat form on his back, but she hadn't done anything to him.
"We haven't even discussed what's really important, Elemental Overlord," She whispered with a smile, "So I'd suggest you not be in a haste to leave."
She gestured her hands out towards their guests and said, "These two will be your opponents. You'll be facing each other at the same time."
"A duo Spell Card duel? Heh, guess all that experience recently's gonna pay off here..." Mokou rubbed the back of her head and exuded confidence, beaming some of that straight into Kaguya's face, "Don't worry Princess, your 'Master' will carry you through this duel."
"Actually, I have plenty of experience working with a partner thanks to Eirin," Kaguya remarked, popping the hot air in Mokou's head with a single finger, but letting her down easily, "But I'll listen to any pointers you may have!"
Shina stood right up and proclaimed, "Yay! I'm already getting to team up with Alex!"
Ignorant to Alex's unmotivated slump, she licked the side of her lips and pointed a finger gun out towards her opponent, "Ya better watch out! Yer fightin' against the power of love here!"
Alex stood right up blushing red and reached back to lower her hand, pointing a finger up and whispering to the others, "Give us just one moment..."
He turned around and planted his hands firmly on her shoulders as he gave her his utter focus, "Ok Shina, here's the plan."
"Isn't it exciting Alex?" She closed her eyes and was grinning like a child after Christmas, "We're going to be blendin' our Danmaku together! It'll be like putting whipped cream on top of jalapenos! Or eating peanut butter with sriracha sauce!"
Her enthusiasm was a delight to behold, and that just pained his soul to have to crush it, "Well...not this time."
"...Awwwww, how come?" She took rejection pretty well, all things considered.
"I think it'd be better if we fought them one at a time. Danmaku doesn't hurt, but it does wear a person down over time. So while one of us attacks, the other will stand back and pay attention to their Spell Card's pattern."
"Oh! That's a pretty good plan!" Shina nodded a few times in quick succession, "Way better than mine was!"
"I have my moments, not to brag or nuthin'." Alex rubbed the bottom of his nose and smirked. Shina couldn't help but giggle and reply, "No comment."
Eirin whistled to herself off to the side as the two turned around to face the immortal duo, who hadn't budged an inch the whole time.
"What's taking so long? If you're ready to fight, then lets fight!" Mokou proclaimed, her skin itching with flames.
Alex wreathed himself in flames and caught Mokou by surprise, the matched her spunk with a premature declaration of, "What, you want to lose that quickly? Cause we're more than ready to take you on!"
"Now you're speakin' my language! Lets get this blood-boiling brawl started!" Mokou and Alex leapt high into the air and rammed each other's heads hard enough to make the flames around their bodies burst out in a shockwave. After scowling energetically, they pushed away and joined up next to their partners thirty feet back, who let out some rather humdrum sighs.
"I'll take the lead while you scope their Danmaku out Shina," Alex glanced over his shoulder and stared her in the eyes, "Got it?"
"Piece of cake!" She gave an approving thumbs-up and stuck the tip of her tongue out.
"You're gonna fight us one at a time?" Mokou raised her brows and extended her left hand out, creating a card wrapped in a white hot ember that left her palm searing red.
"You shouldn't underestimate this partnership! Our grudge'll make that love of yours look like a pitiful ember!"
Kaguya held her hand up to the flame, letting her skin burn away under the undeniable ferocity held within it as she bonded the power of a shapeless eternity into the Spell Card, "Yes...An immature love cannot even hold a candle to this bond of hatred that shall not die even as the universe crumbles around us."
"After you, princess."
"Oh no, I insist you do the honors." Kaguya waved her fingers out a couple times.
The two shared a laugh and then sandwiched the Spell Card between their palms, proclaiming with an undying vigor, "Rising Phoenix over the Moon!"
A bright pearl visage of the full moon wreathed in the fanciful wings and mane of a fiery red Chinese Phoenix appeared behind the two. They didn't let their hands make contact and split up immediately, with a rune appearing at Kaguya's back as she waved her sleeve out and commanded seven magic sphere to line up in a curved row in the center of them both.
Alex couldn't wait for the first Danmaku to come and covered his right arm with electricity to whip it out, sending a wave of it to strike both immortals. They took the brunt of the assault without flinching, and Kaguya immediately snapped her fingers to command the spheres to attack all at once. Each one unleashed a different colored burst of diamond jewels, all their colors lining up perfectly to form a rainbow.
Alex flew to the left and found a big enough gap between the bullets to slip right through, but as he did he got a face full of five or so fiery pellets bundled together near the tip of a stream extending from Mokou's body. There were two more streams of similar length to the left and right, all of them two feet apart.
Dazed for a moment, Alex grumbled and rubbed his face, pulling back while peppering the immortals with some of his own fireballs. While keeping an eye on Mokou's stationary bullets, Alex hadn't noticed the rainbow jewels were on the rebound, many of them coming right at him.
Right as one stuck out in the corner of his eye, Mokou's bullets began to disperse to join the jewels in covering a large enough space to surround Alex. The boy swerved his body around, kicking his right leg up and committing to a sideways somersault, but his lanky efforts to dodge just wound up getting him scraped by dozens of Danmaku.
In five seconds those bullets were gone, and Alex caught his breath by swiping his arms straight down and firing an X-shaped gale at the immortals. Neither of them felt like flinching, and began the next wave of their assault. Kaguya gesture at the spheres, who flashed with a pristine silvery light before firing a thin laser each in random directions. Through sheer happenstance, one smashed Alex in the gut and knocked him a couple inches back, forcing air out of his lungs.
At the same time, Mokou launched three large bird-shaped effigies made out light red Danmaku. Thanks to Kaguya's attack, Alex was out of the bird's path, but not its aftermath. For a second later, the effigies exploded and released a circular flurry of dark red bullets, with Alex caught up in the edge of one blast. Shina had to back off too, but maintained a collected focus on the pattern.
"There's just too many goddamn bullets..." Alex buckled his teeth down and scoffed, "Ah, to hell with this, one wave's enough..."
"Shina! I'm tagging out!" He zipped straight back beside her as she perked her eyes up and looked at him.
"Already?! But I haven't-"
"You'll do fine!" Alex patted her on the back to push her right towards open fire, giving the laziest thumbs-up of encouragement right after, "I'll cheer you on from here!"
"Doggone it Alex!" She yelled while just barely slipping between the rainbow Danmaku. She then slammed down on the Gunslinger Drive and came out with pistols' abalzing on both immortals.
"You're makin' all my love talk sound like a load-a bull!" She dove to the right to escape Mokou's spreading bullets, only to get many of Kaguya's jewels scraping off her back. She knelt down and exchanged her peashooters for a cocked double-barrel shotgun.
"You can do it sweetheart! I love you!" Alex yelled, getting very cheeky even though his words were genuine.
"Not! Helpin'!" Shina, on the other hand, was livid that he pulled this kinda stunt, leaving it hard for her to focus.
She squinted as the bullets dispersed and the spheres prepared their lasers. She had gotten a chance, at the least, to memorize how long they were and plot her spacing accordingly. So the very moment the lasers flashed out, Shina triggered her shtogun and let the recoil carry her to safety, all while a string of bubbled bursts were unloaded upon the immortals.
The left wing of Mokou's central bird clipped Shina in the hip and then burst behind her while she got stunned. Her hands quickly started to shake, forcing her to squeeze tighter.
As the pattern cycled to the beginning, Shina slanted her brows with a bull-like grunt and switched off to SMGs in order to better bombard her foes with bullets. She swung her body sideways to get between Mokou's bullets then floated away, unloading her guns' entire clips upon Mokou.
With a tense wince and tingle in the spine, Shina jolted back before the rebounding jewels closed her off. A couple of Mokou's bullets got to her before that, however.
"Focus...focus!" She licked the side of her mouth and lined her arms adjacent to each other, lengthening the barrels of her weapons until they resembled small cannons. She quickly took aim and fired a short beam that pounded into Mokou with the force of a sledgehammer.
Mokou grit her teeth as she was budged back, with Kaguya throwing some casual shade her way, "My my, you don't look so good..."
"I'm fine! I don't need you worrying about me!" Mokou prepared to attack in unison with Kaguya's lasers as her body sweated pure fire.
Shina flipped her smoking left gun back and held harder onto the other. Her vision wavered, a costly problem in this kind of duel, and led her to underestimate where the lasers would fire right as he launched hers.
Both her and Mokou took the full brunt of the attacks, but while Shina just got winded the immortal's reaction was a lot more violent. In tune with hers and Kaguya's Danmaku, Mokou exploded, forcing her to reform right in eye sight of her humored 'partner'.
"This just isn't your day, Mokou..."
"No kidding..." She growled bitterly to herself as she started to pant and sweat.
"See? Not a problem at all!" Alex proclaimed, forcing the enthusiasm through. Shina then laid her arms down, each of them stiff and heavy like lead.
"They...still gotta have one more card..." She murmured with mild duress in her voice. She glanced back at Alex, the weakness in her eyes begging him to swap out.
Biting his lower lip, he spoke up without thinking, "J-Just hang on a little longer! We can win!"
"You sure about that? Cause the worst is yet to come!" Mokou waved her hand up like before to summon a sparklier Spell Card, their Last Word.
Shina gasped then focused back on her enemies, while her will to continue left Alex feeling like a real piece of shit.
"Damn it all Alex...What the HELL are you doing?!"
"Prepare yourselves, love birds, for a dazzling display of fireworks more brilliant than the radiant moon!" Kaguya moved her hand over the Spell Card and smiled.
Alex stamped his foot down and yelled at himself, "You cowardly bastard! Stop hesitating...and do something!"
Next Time: The Infernal Eternity