I do not own Gate or Touhou
Purification is not an easy task. The Impurity by its Nature is extremely tenacious. And, as the desertion of the Eagle Ravy proved, the Rabbits are rather unproductive when left unsupervised. The sisters had to check up on them regularly to ensure their work had steady progress. But that wasn't all that bad. No lunarian other than them actually had the will to step into the lands beyond the Gates. That allowed the LDF to have almost unquestioned authority in the matter. As long as they removed the Gate from the surface of the Moon and punished those responsible for their creation and the subsequent invasion, they'll be happy.
And so, in a week, the hold was constructed, and a considerable piece of land around the Gate was purged, ensuring their defensive capabilities. Now it was time to start up the Lunar Emissaries's work.
«So, how many of those Recon teams you want to send out?» Toyohime leisurely asked her sister while enjoying a peach, lying on her back on a comfy sofa.
«Four will do for the time being. Consisting of 5 team members at most. The Rabbits are still mostly unprepared to perform tasks independently. For now, scouting the surroundings will be their main objectives. They should be able to do it even without our direct control,» Yorihime neutrally replied. She was walking around the table at which most of the intel they've managed to gather at this point was placed.
There wasn't much. The humans should not be responsible for the opening of the Gates, as is evident by them not closing them after their first army was deatomized. But their preparedness for the invasion showed that they knew it would open. Whoever their enemy is, they should have no idea their forces were wiped out. They were too much primitive for that, lagging behind their Earth counterparts for a thousand years at least. They had some magic capacity, at least. So they still could have something unexpected in their arsenal.
The Gates themselves were a peculiar thing. Being able to withstand the destructive power of the Fan of Purging as well as functioning as a stable corridor to the other world, far far away from their own. Entirely unreachable even for them by conventional means. But in itself they had no Impurity. Whoever created them should actually be Pure.
«That sounds reasonable. Although I really think only one of these teams will bring us anything truly insightful,» from her position, she leaned her head to look to the room's exit, where her second-favorite pet stood guard. «Right, Reisen?»
Reisen didn't reply. She seemed tense for some reason, focused. Toyohime assumed she was conversing with other Rabbits. She rolled over and waited warmly for Reisen's focus to return to this room
«Um. Lady Toyohime, if I may…» she started talking, carefully addressing her superiors.
«Of course, Reisen! What's wrong?» Toyohime beamed with friendliness towards this little rabbit girl. It was in its own right wonderful how her fellow Lunarians didn't realise how cute the Rabbits are most of the time.
«Th-the sentries at the posts are feeling some radio signals. Nobody else heard anything like that previously. It's coming somewhere to the east from us.»
«Radio, you say?» Yorihime pondered on the possibility of locals having access to this kind of technology. «The humans should not have that. They tried to fight us with spears and swords. The vanguard of their forces had even more crude means of war in their disposal. Might be some other faction of this new world. Troublesome.»
«Do you remember what this unfortunate commander of the first army spoke of?» Toyohime switched her position into sitting. Her face turned more serious than before. «He proclaimed their Empire to be the most advanced force in there. It's strange to have someone that far more versed in technology than them so close the Rabbits are able to hear it.»
«Hmm. Reisen, can the sentries make out anything from these radio signals?» Yorihime asked their rabbit for more details. Figuring out the most they could with their limited capabilities in this realm was a task of utmost importance.
Reisen focused once more, but soon responded.
«No, they cannot. They hear only the remnants of the signals. Barely even noticeable, but unmistakably radio.»
«They're either high frequency and rather close to us or low frequency and very far away. The terrain would make it very hard for the former to reach us without breaking down, while the latter would need to lose most of its power while coming through the atmosphere to end up with the same result…» Toyohime theorised out loud.
«We'd certainly prefer them to be as far away from our hold as possible. But if they're close, we must know about that,» Yorihime made a decision. «Reisen! You're our best asset. You'll take command of one of the Scouting squads. You'll move to the east from us, trying to find out where the signals are coming from. You are to avoid conflicts as much as possible.»
«Also, try to establish contact with the locals and get to know them a bit. We can't charge in blindly like these fools did with us. Gather as much information as possible, but try not to reveal anything about yourself. If an emergency happens, contact us immediately. We'll get you out,» Toyohime was now much more serious than before. She was usually like that only when the safety of the Capital was at stake. Hearing generally carefree and gentle older sister talking like that made everyone realise the importance of the situation.
«Now, go prepare for your mission. Get some good rest. I'll arrange your unit in a couple of days.»
Being dismissed, Reisen hastily left the room.
After some time, the Scouting Squads were arranged. Their equipment was assigned and the protocols for actions in different situations were established and given out to those partaking in the reconnaissance operation. The sisters completed the report to the Lunarian government in case it'll even be interested in their progress. They doubted it will be.
Despite the end of their work, Toyohime was still seemingly troubled by something. Yorihime questionably looked at her.
«The humans we've met are indistinguishable from the ones on Earth. I wonder if the Gates opened before there. Master Eirin wouldn't allow whoever created them to invade the Capital back then,» Toyohime shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she spoke.
«That's a good thing to consider. If the Gates opened and closed before, that could explain why there's humans. But what would cause them to advance so much slower? The humans of Earth may be primitive, but they do advance, even with our interventions. If not the Apollo 13, they could've become interplanetary species by now. Yet, in this world something hinders the advance so much more,» Lunarians tend to underestimate those who live in the filth. But the Watatsuki sisters, being in contact with them constantly due to their operations, understood the humans much better than anyone else on the Moon. Yorihime knew how much they've been detrimental to their development like almost no one else.
«But that's not the only thing troubling me,» the older sister rose up from her place. «The commander said something about the Gates on Alnus being much less promising than ours when he witnessed the greatness of the Frozen City. That means there's actually another gate being there right now. And the radio signals, possibly being rather near us. I'm certain we'll meet someone familiar, and very soon.»
«I'd rather prefer we didn't. If the nobles find out, it'll cause unrest. The society is at the edge from the last crisis. I've heard from Sagume, many Lunarians start to think the continuation of our Isolation is not the right cause. The extremists claim that only by purging all the Impure beings will we be able to ensure peace in our lands.»
«Oh, by the Luna, that's horrible. They have no idea about the actual power of those outside our little Civilisation. By trying to take on all of them at once, we'll end up the ones to be wiped out.»
«There's no point in speculating as of now. We'll see when scouts find something. But we better resolve this as fast as possible…»
«You're right, of course,» with a deep breath, Toyohime removed all the unease from her face, returning to her ordinarily easygoing self. She immediately produced a couple of peaches seemingly out of thin air. «Want to have some peaches?»
«No, there's still work for me to do. Arranging guard shifts and trainings and such,» Yorihime answers with a sigh.
The scouting soon started. Yet, due to unfamiliar terrain, culture and language, as well as reconnaissance being something entirely new to the LDF, first weeks brought little information. Parties didn't wander too far away from the Gates, exploring mainly the territory in close vicinity of it. The rabbits tried to communicate with some settlements. Learning a new language from a scratch was an extremely difficult task for them. Reisen in particular extremely envied her masters in this regard. They could understand any language spoken simple due to their partially divine nature. But they realistically should not perform a field work.
What was insightful is that the radio signals were repeating, and Reisen's party was feeling it a bit more clearly the more east they traveled.
Interestingly, there has been a surge in their activity lately. That was worrying. Watatsuki sisters decided it was paramount for them to know if the source was nearby or not. So now, Reisen's team was preparing to depart on a much larger expedition.
Yorihime had come to personally debrief them on details of their mission. At the end of it, usually strict and harsh princess, had come to Reisen put her hand on her shoulder, and gently said:
«But most importantly, stay safe. Please.»
Upon their departure, Toyohime gave them a basket full of peaches.
They were traveling for several days now. Reisen doubted the unit could actually reach their intended destination. Her comrades were tired and bored, no doubt they'll soon enough will abandon their task. The only thing that still had her focused was the fact that the signals were almost readable from there. If not for it, she'd led them back herself. She didn't see too much of a reason to push themselves too far.
They traveled high in skies, concealing their movements with stealth capes. Landings were only for rest and for interactions with the locals. In case of latter, they had to land at a good distance from them and walk to not arise any suspicions. They also had to hide their ears and tails. The possible enemy should have as little as possible to recognise them with.
At the last briefing, Lady Yorihime had said that, if possible, they should move towards a landmark called the Alnus Hill and survey it. Asking locals for the way there was rather unfruitful, as they seemed to not know the exact path. They kept guiding them to other villages which were in the general direction of their destination, but they doubted they would be able to actually find a way there. Yet, the last village promised the best chances to reach that place, still. They had given them instructions to find two places, the Elf Village and the Coda Village. The former was inhabited by wise elves who should know the way. The latter had a sage living there among with his apprentice. They could have an accurate enough map.
She deemed securing a map to this landmark would be enough for the first mission. And her hopes were really high as they neared the Elven Village. Which were crushed by the dark smoke rising amidst the forest.
«What happened here?» Selene was first to enter the burnt village. She could not help but look around in horror.
«Stay put, girls. We don't know what had caused it and if it's still there,» Reisen was quick to assume her commanding role. This could be a danger lurking nearby, and the lives of her comrades may be at the stake.
They carefully searched through the burning hellscape. Seeing charred, crushed and mauled corpses has brought great grief to their hearts.
«By the Moon, I've never seen such mutilated bodies. Even on the plains around the Gate, they weren't twisting in agony... This is so horrible…» Astral was looking through the remnants closely, in disbelief that such injuries were dealt in the Impure lands. «I didn't know death could be so much more filthy…»
«Hey, chief. Look at that,» Nebula had called out for her commander. She had found something truly curious on the ground.
«The trails?» Reisen was quick to see what the experienced navigator had found.
«Not just trails. Look at the sole imprint. It's humanoid for sure. But it's not from a boot we have yet seen in this place.»
«So, someone not native to these places. You think they're responsible for all this mess?» Eclipse voiced her observation.
«We can't know for sure. There's particularly much of them around the well for some reason,» following the trails, Reisen looked down at the well, seeing nothing but clear water at its bottom.
«Were probably cutting off the access to water for the inhabitants.»
«Then how do you explain this, Eclipse?» Astral shouted at her comrade, standing near a destroyed building. «It looks like something have crashed into it! And look where the corpses are! It doesn't seem like they were running away from the well. Look at this one trail for instance! It was running straight for the well. And nobody stopped them.»
«Hey, it's just a theory. What do you think Reisen?»
«I think we shouldn't jump into conclusions. Let's focus on the mission. We were supposed to search for a map here, but it's no use now. Our new goal is to locate the Coda Village and try our luck there.»
The Rabbits continue to walk through the destroyed settlement. They keep their guard up as they move in the direction the road to their new destination should be.
«Hmm… These non-native trails diverge there. Also, there's sets pointed in both directions. As if whoever was there had come from this direction and left there afterwards.
«That's why you're our observer, Selene,» Reisen liked to complement her subordinates. But as she tracked the trails further herself, she had noticed something truly unexpected. «What? Tires?»
Indeed there were. Foot trails were converging on the larger trails of unimaginably the tires. And from the directions on the imprints, it was clear they have ridden there from the direction of Coda Village and left there after walking through the conflagration.
«Now that's really not something we expected to see here,» the veteran in their ranks was speaking again. «From what I know, only the humans of lower Earth use such means of transportation. Our enemy might be more dangerous than we thought.»
«They have come from Coda. If they're indeed responsible for this slaughter, we might have already lost our chance to locate Alnus. I propose we follow the trail and find out who it belongs. We ought to bring something to their Highnesses.»
«Sure, you're the boss,» Nebula never seemed to doubt the orders she was given. Reisen was very grateful for that, as having such an experienced soldier agree with her didn't let much room for arguing for the other soldiers.
«Seems abandoned. At least, not ravaged this time,» Nebula's remark brought little solace to Reisen as their mission continued to become more and more complicated.
«There's a lot of traces of wagons we'd expect from these lands. I think they've run from there. The tire tracks seem to be along them. All those don't really differ in age, from what I can tell, so I think they're traveling together,» Selene was back at her forte. Tracking down the mysterious tires was their current objective and she didn't waste the time to find their new direction.
«One village burnt, the other abandoned. Something is happening in these lands, and it's not good. No use wasting our time here. Let's follow them further. Fly carefully and don't lower your guard. But most importantly, don't let yourself be spotted.»
At Reisen's command, they lifted off and began traveling once again. They have found some troubling images along the road. Burned down carriages and wagons, dead horses. Judging by the remnants, there was a lot of stuff packed as if people were trying to save as much property as possible, ending up with nothing at all in the end. But eventually they started to hear people further ahead. They've put on their cloak and lowered to the trees to become even more concealed and were really surprised at the sight.
«These are the lower Earth's military uniform and vehicles,» Nebula was first to comment on it.
«I don't see anything heavy on them though. I doubt they could be responsible for the previous carnage,» Astral though out loud.
«Yeah, my bad then,» Eclipse shrugged, accepting her mistake.
«Do you think we'd be able to get down there and question them on where they're from? Maybe since there's Coda Villagers we could even find that damn map? What's are orders, Reisen?»
«Hold on, Selene. I'm thinking…»
These people weren't traveling in the direction of the signals they were sent to investigate it the first place. It all seemed really confusing. Maybe this was somehow related, maybe not. But they for sure had to find out something about this before leaving. Lady Yorihime wouldn't forgive them otherwise.
But as Reisen was making her mind about their course of actions, looking around the valley deep in thoughts, she noticed something large approaching their position really fast.
«Scatter!» faster than any of them could speak, she issued a command through telepathy.
The Rabbits jumped into action immediately. They knew where to fly, but even then, all of them ended up grazed by the scales of a giant flying lizard. The contact made their cloak fall, revealing them to the beast that was now fully focused on what it just rammed through.
«Fire! Fire! Get this thing off us!» Reisen quickly accepted her commanding role as combat ensued.
Lasers and plasma rounds flew through the sky, finding their targets at the Dragon's body. Yet, it only charred the scales and didn't seem to halt it in the slightest.
They tried to gain distance, only to be horrified at the fact that it flew faster than them. There was no escape. They had to fight off this threat somehow.
«This is Recon team Rei. We're under attack by the magical beast! Cannot disengage. Firepower not sufficient!» Selene send the distress call back to the base, hoping they would react fast enough.
But then, in the chaos of the sudden fight, gunshots rang through the air, and the bullets have bounced off the scales of the Dragon. Reisen turned her head to see that the mysterious men in green have engaged the monster alongside them.
«Don't stop firing, get this thing off them!» Itami shouted as his squad drove towards the Flame Dragon they though they managed to escape. Yet now, it was right upon them, the only reason it hadn't hit the villagers was a seemingly unknown group it had run into on its way.
The group itself was really strange, even for this world. They flew in the air, seemingly freely and without any devices visible that would allow them to do so. They had their own guns. Guns that spewed light, as in some sci-fi movie. But even those weren't enough to stop the monster, so now they all were occupied trying to fight it off.
Suddenly, one of them diverted from them, and swiftly landed on the external wall of his HMV, right beside his window. He could now clearly see who he was dealing with. A Rabbit girl, which was evident by the white Rabbit ears sticking out of her short blue hair. Not too much higher than a Goth Lolita they have picked up not so long ago. She wore a black jacket over a white shirt and a short skirt of similar colour. On her neck was a red tie, and up above her knees were dark stockings. The girl focused her determined red eyes onto Itami's own, holding her rifle towards the sky. Without uttering a word, she turned her back to his door and trailed her weapon at their mutual adversary, resuming her shooting from a position nobody in the JSDF would ever consider.
Itami decided, it's better to focus on the battle now and ask questions later.
Their combined efforts were quite successful in holding off the beast. Despite its overwhelming firepower, it struggled to actually land its hits on the combatants due to their mobility, on the ground and in the air. The combat situation was proceeding rather smoothly after the elf girl they had saved in the burned village conveyed to them to aim for the single remaining eye of the monster, which allowed them to fire a Panzerfaust on it, which they barely missed, but the Gothic Lolita surprised everyone by jumping out of the vehicle and landing a powerful hit with her halberd on the giant lizard, throwing it onto the still flying rocket. The explosion took out the beast's arm, and caused it to lower its guard temporarily, which resulted in the shot fired by the Rabbit that was accompanying them to land directly in its eye, melting it in an instant.
The blinded monster roared horrifyingly in pain, and started to breathe fire whenever it could, without much care for its own stamina or anything else. The underdog was desperate to save itself.
The fires grew more erratic and unpredictable, flying too close to the vehicles or the flying girls much more often than when it deliberately tried to aim. It seemed random and unpredictable patterns were the weak spot for all of them.
The battle kept raging on and on, with no clear sign to break free from the rampaging enemy. It would seem as it was their end for Itami, as the monster has opened its mouth directly at them, and they had no place to evade it to.
But the deadly flames never came. Instead, a sudden silence has fallen on the battlefield. The silence that was broken by the loud crashing sound. Itami had opened his eyes to see the Monster's head being completely sliced off and lying on the ground as its body was still falling down. Then, right beside the lying head, he noticed a humanoid figure. He snapped out of his shock to look closer at her. The first thing he noticed was the sword she was wiping from the blood in her hands. Has she really been the one to do it just now?
The figure appeared feminine. She had some sort of chest-high dark red dress over a white sleeveless piece of clothing. Her long purple hair was flowing in the wind behind her, being held together in a ponytail by a yellow ribbon.
The rabbits, seemingly coming out of their own shock, had quickly flown towards them. Was she some kind of their superior? The one who accompanied them on top of his own HMV spared only a single glance at them before leaving them as quickly as her battle sisters. In seconds, all five of them were assembled beside the mysterious swordwoman as she finished cleaning her blade and sheathed it on her belt.
She then remarked the picture around her. Her eyes suspiciously moved over all JSDF vehicles and personnel.
Itami was trying to come up with how to proceed. Should he try to communicate with her? Probably. But didn't she just clearly sliced off the beast they all had so much trouble fighting? As the commanding officer, he had to ensure the safety of his squad members at all times. And risking confrontation with this strange woman didn't look like a right course of action. And with how clearly she made it seem that she doesn't like being this near to them, it was obvious he should be extremely careful with what he will do.
But, luckily for his lazy self, he wouldn't have to, as in a flash of light, they all were gone in an instant. One moment, all six of them stood along the giant corpse, the other there's no hint of them ever being there.
While trying to make sense of their encounter, Itami realised he likely didn't have any images of the strangers, promising one hell of a report he would need to present with only the his squad's testimonies about what has transpired.
But at least something good had come out of this ordeal. The villagers were left unscarred, untouched even. And the legendary Flame Dragon was killed on this day. That had to make the lives of these poor people even a little better, right?
They would forever remember the Men in Green and the Heaven Rabbits that have saved them this day, and brought an end to the calamity that has plagued their lives, once and for all.
Reisen was surprised to find herself embraced by Lady Toyohime the moment she stopped reporting her findings. Which didn't include anything they were sent after, but it seemed their more cordial master was simply glad they all were unharmed.
The princesses soon dismissed the Recon team, to have an uneasy discussion over the real findings of the expedition.
«The Japanese. Red circle over a white rectangle is the national flag of Japan,» Toyohime concluded with lament upon hearing what her sister saw at the humans that helped their rabbits to fight the dragon, and were seemingly the reason none of them got hurt, or worse.
«That's a dangerous situation we're finding ourselves in then. Can we prove how they got into this world?» Yorihime's voice was cold and collected. She couldn't allow herself any kind of slack when the stakes were this high.
«I'll send Emissaries to investigate it, but it wouldn't give us answers immediately. As I would really not like the nobility to know about it this early, when we're still in the dark. It would take some time to get the reliable information without arising suspicion,» the normally carefree older sister was once again focused on solving the problems they have found themselves in.
«Then we shall maintain operational security. We can't allow them to see us until we know more. I'm calling out all of the Recon teams,» Yorihime suddenly closed the distance with Toyohime and whispered into her ear in a much more urgent tone. «I really did it. I summoned a god there. In this world. With no problems at all.»
Toyohime knew what that meant and how troublesome it actually was for all of them. If their gods could be so easily brought in this world, then who else might have followed there, without them knowing it?
Sadera. The beating heart of the Empire that has claimed most of the continent. It was a representation of all this country has stood for. Ruthlessness, control, domination, but majesty, glory and stability. In a place like this, everything had to be grand and imposing. From the Emperor's palace and the Senate, to the Plaza along with its many darker districts. Yet, in the vast, grandiose capital city, there was a humble temple.
The temple wasn't dedicated to any of the gods that inhabited this world and spread their influence through the immortal apostles. Instead, it was dedicated to a relic of the Empire's past. It is said that when the Empire had only appeared, it had its own pantheon of gods, but as time went on, most of them were forgotten, as different, much more apparent gods have claimed their followers. Yet, cult of one Goddess prevailed. The Goddess who promised protection to the household, guarded against sorcery, ruled over the Underworld and many more. In a strange way, her relatively few fiercely loyal followers appealed to her as the symbol of justice, of equality. It was considered a miracle her cult still existed in this time, as all her peers were forgotten long ago. But it seemed her long existence was at its end.
Several weeks ago, their temple was visited by an apostle of Hardy. She has claimed that her goddess would tolerate another Underworld god no longer, and that if the temple wouldn't be disbanded over a month, she will have her apostle hunt down every single one of them, showing them who hold the power over their afterlife.
But no follower was afraid of it. None has abandoned their goddess. In contrast, they were moving into the temple, to show the Hardy their defiance. All of them knew this was the end for them, yet their loyalty to their idol was unwavering.
It was the day before the apostle promised to return and purge those of them who would decide to stand by their beliefs till the end. The priest was conducting one last ritual, praying for the fairer fate for the souls of those who, despite all the odds, were still standing by the name of Hecate.
Yet, suddenly for everyone assembled, they heard a voice in their heads.
«Oh? Someone there actually remembers me? My, my… How intriguing… I guess I should reward the loyalty of those separated from me for multiple centuries. But let me get something out of the way. My name has changed a little since when your ancestors have worshipped me. Along with some other things.»
The bewilderment of the Hecate's followers couldn't be described. They could hear their goddess. For the first time in generations. But what came next, cause them to drop on the ground in prayers.
In the centre of a temple, in a divine flame, a feminine body appeared. It was dressed rather unconventional. The loose black shirt and a short skirt. Red hair flew in the air behind her as she hovered over the ground, and her soft eyes of the same shade watched over those gathered. On her head was a crimson orb, and on the chains connected to the collar on her neck flew two more, blue and yellow.
«Rise up, for you need not to bow to me,» she said, coming to the floor and kneeling herself to her amazed audience, «for it is I who must bow to your loyalty. Fear not, my faithful worshipers. For Hecatia Lapislazuli is finally reunited with you. And I would gladly Welcome those who think they could harass you, in Hell.»
