The rhythmic thrum of the chopper blades filled the air, drowning out almost all conversation. Ryusei, his face grim with worry, gazed out the open window at the approaching island. Lush greenery choked the central portion, giving way to jagged cliffs and a single, imposing structure perched atop the highest peak – the Zodiac temple.

Reimu, clutching her gohei tightly in her hand, leaned closer to Ryusei, her brow furrowed. "What did Mordecai call this… this metal bird we're riding in again?"

Ryusei glanced at her, a flicker of amusement momentarily chasing away the tension. "Chopper. It's a slang term for a helicopter."

"Chopper?" Reimu repeated, the word sounding foreign on her tongue. "That doesn't make much sense. Surely, it should be called something more descriptive. Perhaps... Sky Carriage?"

Ryusei chuckled, the sound barely audible over the roar of the engine. "There's something charming about your way of thinking, Reimu."

"This is the farthest I can go," said Mordecai. "The rest is up to you. If you guys need me, I'm just one call away. I'll be patrolling the area."

Ryusei nodded and along with Reimu lowered themselves to the entrance of the temple. Once they were safely down, Mordecai and his helicopter flew away, leaving the samurai and shrine maiden alone once again.

"Alright, this should be a quick one," commented Ryusei. "Just go in and come on out the same way we did last time."

"Just without Belloq right?" asked Reimu.

"Right," smiled Ryusei.

As they entered the temple, he got out his bow and fired an arrow at the overhead target he saw back at the replica and watched as the floor opened itself up to reveal its hidden passage. Once again, Reimu decided to go down first, dodging any tripwires and string traps as she floated down to the bottom.

There weren't any ladders this time and with all the wire-based traps before him, the samurai knew better than to use his symbolizer to create and lower one down the hole. Instead, he tied a rope to the nearest pillar and carefully descended down the passage. Just like the fake temple, Ryusei used his katana to cut and disable every rope based trap though this time, each trap still released one last poisonous dart or deadly arrow before they rested for good.

"Nice job getting down but the same wall's still here. What are we going to do?" asked Reimu.

Ryusei tested the wall by tapping his katana against it a few times before moving several feet away from it.

"Reimu, I give you permission to use one of your bombs."

Reimu gave him a puzzled look. This temple was extremely old so setting something as powerful as a bomb could quite possibly cause the entire place to collapse on them. Ryusei must have noticed as he quickly pointed at some exposed metal pillars and supports.

"The temple is full of these supports and they are more than capable of taking the full blast from one of your bombs," revealed the samurai. "This part of the wall is hollow so it will come down unlike the other parts."

The shrine maiden hesitated for a moment before pulling out a green square with a white capital b on the center.

"Alright, I trust you."

The explosion rocked the whole temple but just as Ryusei predicted, only that part of the wall fell revealing the rest of the passage.

Remembering what happened last time, Reimu floated over to the amulet while Ryusei tested a pressure plate before carefully making his way to Reimu's location.

At long last, the duo had finally found their target. Ryusei carefully checked the floating amulet before sliding the chain down his sword like last time.

"We got it!" exclaimed Reimu.

"One moment," commented Ryusei. He readied his sword while Reimu looked at him confused.

"What?"

Suddenly, the air shimmered, and a dozen small golden idols materialized in the chamber. Their miniature faces were etched with fury, and they brandished tiny weapons, their gleaming points directed straight at Ryusei and Reimu.

"Uh-oh."

Within seconds, the guardians were upon them. Ryusei and Reimu's weapons were useless against the metallic onslaught. His blade met only a clang against their forms, while her staff passed harmlessly through their defenses. Reimu gritted her teeth in frustration, her usual graceful movements hampered by the relentless onslaught. Thanks to his training and past experience though, Ryusei managed to take them out with ease, opting to send the idols flying into the wall or floor with enough force to shatter them into pieces.

Reimu on the other hand, had a bit more trouble with the idols as her weapons had little to no effect on them and since they were not sentient, they were unaffected by her blows. It wasn't until she had been covered by the statues that Ryusei noticed her trouble and activated his last resort attack: Blazing Strike.

Spinning the disk like guard on his katana, a stream of fire engulfed the blade and with one mighty swing, a wave of fire struck the idols and shrine maiden and sent them flying. Despite the flames, Reimu and the idols were unharmed and no damage was done to the temple. However, the idols had stopped moving and their eyes flickered several times before turning off for good. Reimu got up moments later.

"I think you should lead with that next time," commented Reimu.

"Yeah sorry about that," replied Ryusei. "That attack takes a lot out of me, and one wrong move could be disastrous."

Reimu picked up an idol and tried to pocket it but was stopped by Ryusei who broke off a piece to reveal some mechanical wiring and gears inside.

"Robots?" asked Reimu. "How?"

"The civilization who made the amulet was highly advanced in technology. They're long gone now," revealed Ryusei. "Also that's not real gold. It's brass and you won't get any money off of it."

"Aw man," sighed Reimu. "Well, thanks for telling me."

The two of them put away their weapons while Ryusei examined the amulet. Just as he raised it up, 12 swirls of green energy surrounded him for several seconds before entering the amulet.

"What just happened?" asked Reimu.

"The amulet's power has been restored," replied Ryusei. "I'm not exactly sure what the power is but all I know is that the previous users have had some odd encounters with giant snakes, dragons, and other creatures."

Right after he said that, they heard a loud rumble and the temple started to collapse.

"What's happening?" asked Reimu.

"No time to explain."

Ryusei tapped into his helmet's communication systems and radioed Mordecai for help. Immediately after, Ryusei grabbed Reimu's hand who flew them outside to the top of the temple.

"We've made it!" cheered Reimu.

"Not yet," commented Ryusei.

He pointed at their surroundings which were now teeming with the brass idols, their glowing eyes fixed on the two adventurers atop the crumbling temple.

"Not again," commented Reimu.

Within seconds, all hell broke loose as the duo pulled out their weapons and fought their way through the tidal wave of robots. Their weapons were useless but thanks to Reimu's creativity and Ryusei's pre-prepared paper amulets, the idols were unable to land a single blow on them.

Ryusei's paper amulets created powerful blasts of energy and sent out sparks of lightning that disabled the beings while Reimu toppled over several pillars and columns onto the robots before rolling some over on them.

However, the robots were getting bolder and learning more about them as the fight continued. They started grouping up to form a large tidal wave and began avoiding collapsible structures. Ryusei knew time was running out as he radioed Mordecai again, this time with panic in his voice.

"I see you guys but I can't land," revealed Mordecai. "You're gonna have to climb up with Reimu. I'll see what I can do about these idols."

Right as he said that, Ryusei looked up to see a Black Hawk Helicopter flying overhead with a rope hanging out of its doors. He and Reimu looked at each other and gave a knowing nod before he and Reimu headed up to Mordecai's vehicle.

As they did this, Mordecai squeezed a trigger from within his flying machine and sent dozens of rounds into the emotionless beings. Each round was more than enough to punch holes the size of a fist and went through as many as six idols at a time.

Just as he made it on board with his partner, Ryusei shut the doors and entered Mordecai's cockpit.

"We're in! Let's go!"

The pilot didn't need to be told twice. Immediately, he let go of the trigger and flew the bird away from the island. The idols tried to follow but stopped upon reaching the waters. None of them were capable of swimming and even if they were, they weren't waterproof. There was nothing they could do but watch as the midnight black helicopter flew away with their prized item.

"We did it!" cheered Reimu. "Now when can we get the reward?"

"As soon as we get back to our hotel and I make a few calls you'll have the money," informed Ryusei. "I need to make sure that whatever happens, we'll still get our payment even if the Guild loses the amulet themselves."

With that, Reimu took a seat and began to nod off.

"Wake me up when we're there then."