Doing more already because I'm bored. Feel free to comment.
Part 1
Highly Responsive to Power
Chapter 1
Preserving Secrets
Reimu looked toward the gate. "The demon world huh?" Supposedly, the gate that she stood in front of led to Makai. "Well, I suppose I'm gonna have to deal with it. They'll overrun the shrine if I don't put some fear into them before the seal breaks... So annoying." She sighed.
Of course, she had another reason... If she didn't exterminate youkai, then her god would turn against her. She wouldn't be allowed to stay at the shrine, or use the yin-yang orb... Not to mention, part of the reason that she didn't have extremely powerful things constantly trying to kill her was because they thought that she was keeping the border up. If she lost her powers, they would know... The rule of the Hakurei bloodline over Gensokyo would end.
And so, that was why she was here. She'd already fought her way through a number of minor Youkai to get here. Dealing with this orb was annoying, but she wasn't powerful enough to affect even the weakest of Youkai without using it. It really would have been easier if the power of her bloodline would just activate all at once... Whatever. She could still deal with it.
Just as she was about to step through, something strange happened. Was the orb... Glowing? It looked as if there was much larger version floating in front of her. She sighed. "What now?" A voice... Or, was it just one? It seemed almost as if both a man and a woman were speaking at once. "Your skill must be tested before this ordeal. I cannot allow you to go before you are ready."
Reimu sighed. "What am I supposed to do. Unless you or the shrine's god plans on intervening more than just this 'test,' I can't sit back and wait either way. They'll overrun the shrine!" The response was cold. "That is not my concern. I am merely to test your ability." What came next still held no emotion, but quite a bit of force. "Now, irreverent 'maiden,' we shall see if your bloodline is still worthy of serving the great Hakurei!"
The larger orb began spinning, and Reimu saw a thick spread of white spheres of energy coming toward her. "Dammit!" she swore, as she sent the orb into the air using her gohei, so that it obliterated most of the shots that were headed her direction, and went up to hit the one that was attacking her.
Reimu knew this servant of her deity. Its name was Shingyoku, and was always a pain when it appeared. It had never attacked her before though! Hmph... Well, at least she would be giving it some pain back for how annoying it had been.
...Though the amount of pain she might be getting in return could be a good deal. "...Crap." was all she managed to say when she saw it coming straight toward her. She barely managed to run out of the way, and her own orb was still bouncing around. She took out a piece of paper, and tossed it toward the orb, specifically, the bottom, as that should get it coming back toward her. "Come on..." she muttered.
...Nope. Shingyoku was rising into the air again as well, and then charging toward her, forcing her to run back past it to catch up with her yin-yang. "Stupid thing..." There was a crash behind her as Shingyoku once again barely missed her, the impact sending her flying forward a bit, as even without actually hitting her, the impact it had was powerful. Was it trying to kill her?!
...Well, it may just succeed. Reimu was unable to regain her balance after her awkward "landing," and she tripped to the ground. As she tried to get up, she then realized that her yin-yang was coming straight for her face. "Gah!" she cried, as she brought her head down reflexively... Only to have it simply bounce off of her upper back instead of her skull, sending her flat on the ground again. "Ow..."
At this point, Shingyoku was sending out its shots again, and she was barely able to get up and deflect a couple that were coming toward her with her gohei. She didn't managed to block them all however, and she cried out in pain again as they hit her. Very unpleasant thoughts were in her mind about what she wanted to do to both of these stupid orbs, but she really had no time to get distracted.
Her weapon was lying on the ground, waiting for her to send it into the air again. She ran toward it, and delivered a sliding kick... Shingyoku happened to be right where the orb was sent flying. "Take that!" she said... Even as she realized that it was coming right toward her again. She flung several amulets as she ran again in a futile attempt to slow it down, but it didn't change anything. She was however, able to keep her balance this time.
Now, as it went into the air, it seemed to be changing. It was changing into the form of a woman... Reimu stared at it. No, it couldn't be... No, it was just trying to trick her. And there was no way she was going to stand for such a trick. Even as it began sending a stream of white shots toward her, she was already running after her yin-yang. She got to it immediately before it hit the ground, and, using her gohei, she sent it flying viciously toward Shingyoku. And again, when the orb came toward her, after having obliterated the attack coming toward her.
Shingyoku looked visibly annoyed, as if it had been hoping to win this battle. Now, it shifted into yet another form, this time male. She recognized this one as well... No, there wasn't any chance she'd let it get away with this. It began rapidly sending waves of energy spheres at her. These seemed less organized, more random than what it had been sending before, and while there were thick clusters of bullets, those were small, and more often, there were spaces with barely anything.
Reimu quickly figured out where thin spaces would be, and moved just as quickly, flinging away what little was there with her gohei. Soon, her orb rolled toward her again, and she viciously sent it into the air once more. Unfortunately... It missed. ...Wait! It was coming back? Oh yeah, that mysterious property that kept it from going too far away... She never thought that it would have acted quite like this.
Shingyoku was hit in the head, and fell to the ground, shifting back into orb form. "Is that it?" Reimu taunted. "Some test!" ...Maybe she shouldn't have done that. It was rising into the air again and now... Splitting into two.
The white half of the enemy yin-yang transformed into the male form, while the black half became the female. ...And from what they were doing now, it was only truly becoming serious at this point. The female appeared to be sending a criss-crossing maze of black bullets throughout the area. It was nothing that would be at all difficult to avoid on its own, but it didn't leave a lot of space for what the other was sending... Dense, wide clusters of bullets, aimed straight toward her.
Reimu did her best to dodge one wave after another while trying to get back to her orb. However, she found that... She might actually be outmatched. She ended up dodging into a stream of black bullets several times, each time feeling quite a bit of pain and exhaustion as their cruel energy went through her. Truly, this certainly was the yang part of the yin-yang...
...And then she managed to get to her orb again. Though it didn't seem to want to stop moving at this point... She flung it into the air, right toward the male half of Shingyoku. It vanished in a flash of light as it was hit, and the orb kept going, though sadly not hitting the other one.
...And then the light went into the remaining half of Shingyoku. Immediately followed by a lot of random white bullets being sent out in all directions in addition to the maze that was already there. "Crap." Reimu desperately attempted to weave her way through everything that was coming at her, but this was worse than before.
Exhausted, and barely hanging on to consciousness, Reimu finally got to her yin-yang again. One last time, she sent it up in the air, toward her accursed annoying opponent. It dissipated into darkness as it was struck, and the orb came back to Reimu.
"Whew... It's over." she said, relieved. "That was tough..." ...Wait. No, was it seriously reforming? ...Yes. It had just appeared again, and was descending to the ground. "Not more... That's it." Reimu sent one last attack to where she knew the other orb would be once hers got there, and then she jumped into the air, ready to strike what she was reflecting.
"You did we-" Shingyoku was cut off as it was hit with another attack. And then another, as Reimu struck one final time. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" Time seemed to slow as that last attack connected. Indeed, it was nearly stopped, the flash of light and darkness exploding from Shingyoku in incredibly slow motion... And then it was over. Shingyoku was truly gone.
"Finally..." Reimu barely managed to gasp out, as she collapsed to her knees. "So much trouble..." What in the name of the Great Hakurei was it doing taking the forms of my parents...?
Whew. That took a while. Not sure how great it is either...
Chapter 2
Eyes in the Darkness
Reimu rested for a few minutes, trying to recover her energy from that fight. She wasn't sure how long it was before she finally forced herself to get up... Though certainly, it was some time after she had finished recovering. She looked around, making sure that no other surprises were coming.
Idly, she wondered if she might have time to leave, rest, and come back... No. Not only did she have this to deal with, there was also the gate to Jigoku which she'd have to go into later. The seal was already so weakened that some of the more powerful creatures might be able to break it anyway. Really, it was possible that she should have been going in there first, but she really didn't want to deal with whatever jerks had been sent to hell.
Well... Time to go in. She couldn't afford to keep waiting, no matter how annoying it was to work like this. She reached out toward the gate, and touched the seal. Focus... Focus... ...Nothing. Well, it was a vain hope, thinking that she'd be able to pass through a barrier with her current level of power. After all, she couldn't even really do much more than annoy most enemies without the stupid yin-yang yet.
Sighing, she stepped back, toward where the orb was. "Well... Better this than letting it shatter on its own." After all, there was no other reason that outside youkai would have been attracted... Immediately, she smacked her yin-yang toward the barrier. Sure enough, it smashed, and Reimu immediately ran through after it.
Reimu emerged into a large chamber, which looked as if it had simply been dug out of the ground. There were a number of youkai around. "The seal has been breached!" yelled someone. "Int- AAAHH!!!" The youkai was interrupted by an orb to the face, as the yin-yang orb was still bouncing around the room, smacking youkai in the face. "Dammit!" another voice yelled. "What the hell is that thing?!"
Reimu very quickly found herself under fire from many directions, as shots from many different youkai came toward her. Oh how she wished she could fly, that would make this so much easier... She threw ofuda toward what was coming toward her as fast as she could, but she realized that there was no chance she could get away quite like this. No... Right there...!
Reimu ran toward a cluster of bullets heading toward her, but then went to the ground, sliding underneath. At the end of said slide, she found that the orb was right next to her feet... Good. Instead of simply standing up, she pushed herself from the ground, doing a flip. The first downward strike didn't do much, but another backflip, kicking it up toward a number of nearby youkai who were huddled close together in the air, did a lot. Even as she did this, she continued to throw her ofuda as best she could, desperately attempting to counteract all the shots coming toward her, and perhaps slow it, stunning the enemies.
Reimu found that... This wasn't really that bad. All of them seemed to be weaker youkai, not capable of sending out a large amount of danmaku. There wasn't a total lack of danger, she did get hit once... And then again by her yin-yang... Soon enough though, she had killed all of them, and she then got a chance to examine the chamber a bit more.
There wasn't a lot of lighting, now that the danmaku had faded. A few torches at the edges were all that had allowed her to judge the state of the room earlier, though strangely, their flames appeared to be more of a bluish gray than any color that would be expected of fire.
...Wait, what was that? Reimu whirled around, having seen something move in the corner of her eye. Had something managed to escape? ...No, it was just her imagination. Strange though, it had looked almost like a large eye, floating in the air... She was just seeing things, that had to be it.
Reimu headed toward the only exit she saw, a large metal door in the wall. It seemed to be locked... Oh well. A few smashes of the orb later, she went into the next room... Huh. Just a hallway. This seemed to be better constructed than the last room, the stone appearing to have been worked skillfully, rather than roughly carved. Apart from the same variety of strange torches that had been along the edge of the previous chamber, there didn't appear to be anything here however.
Reimu walked down the hallway, which was long enough that she couldn't see the end from where she was, in the somewhat dim light. She could have sworn that she kept seeing those strange eyes out of the corner of her vision, but they had always disappeared by the time they looked... Some weird hallucinations... Finally, the end came into sight, though notably, there had been no other doors along this hall. Another metal door, but above it, there were two large crystals floating there.
Just as Reimu was about to smash the door, she heard a voice. "What business do you have here? If there is none, please leave." Reimu was startled. "Wha- Who's there?!" The voice responded. "If anyone should be asking it, it's me. Answer the question or leave immediately." Reimu stomped her foot. "Why should I let some stranger order me around?!" The voice was very cold as it spoke one last time. "Lethal force shall be used if you attempt to continue without providing a satisfactory answer."
Reimu realized that the voice was coming from the crystals... She didn't bother giving an answer. Why should she bother anyway? No doubt it was nothing but a youkai either way. A vicious swing of her gohei, and one crystal was smashed by a black and white orb. The remaining crystal began shooting a large amount of danmaku toward her... However, it couldn't even come close before the orb returned, and Reimu sent it toward the crystal, destroying everything in the way.
She then proceeded to obliterate the door, and stepped through. There was another large chamber here, this one more well-lit. A huge set of steel double-doors was on the other side, but nothing else could be seen. As Reimu stepped into the center, the voice from the crystals spoke again, seemingly from nowhere. "You were given your chance. Now you shall pay the price."
"Activate defense protocol, YUUGENMAGAN!"
Chapter 3
Not even Hell yet
As soon as the voice spoke out the words, strange things came out from the walls. There were five of them, appearing to be brown and black spheres... And then the eyes opened. For that was what they were, huge eyes... So this was what she'd been seeing.
The eyes gathered in a circle in the air, and what looked like an arc of lightning connected all of them, creating a field of electricity between them in the air. They stared down at Reimu. "...Crap." she said. "This isn't gonna be fun, is it?" ...Most definitely not.
The eyes stared down at her, and many thin beams of light shot out from them, creating a criss-crossing maze of laser beams. And then, the shots came... WAVES of them. "Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!!!!" Reimu continuously exclaimed, as she simply tried to deflect all the bullets away using her gohei, being rather trapped. ...She did not escape unscathed. At all. On top of that, she hadn't paid attention to where her orb had gone, and now it was bouncing around everywhere.
Once the attack ended, Reimu really wished that she could just get the hell away right now! Unfortunately, that wasn't an option. And she hadn't even got to hurt it yet... There wasn't even time to rest. Two of the eyes began aiming shots at her, or rather, around her, while another two spun around, sending dense waves of bullets everywhere. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" cried Reimu in frustration. There was no way that this was even possible...
"...This is a cruel joke, right?" Suddenly, the eyes that were aiming the bullets released... Knives? Were those knives? SERIOUSLY?! ...And then, the final eye started sending lasers out. Lots and lots of them. ...This was officially ridiculous.
Some immeasurable amount of time later, which felt like eternity for Reimu, she finally lost her patience. This was ridiculous. She'd only managed to hit any one of them ONCE by now. At this point, she was cut, bruised, burned, sore, exhausted... And very much wanting to kill someone. Or a lot of someones. But especially whoever had set this thing on her. Oh yes. She was going to crush them. But first, these...
It was time to use it. The ONLY thing she could do besides sending the orb that could damage anything. She held up one of her ofuda... But this was a special one. Yes, it was special. She put as much power as she could muster into it, and then... Tossed it into the air. Where it exploded, filling the entire room with energy. Finally, this assault ended...
And another one began. This time, the eyes started doing something different. Shooting lasers again... But this time, the lasers formed into star shapes. Stars which began spinning, sending out lots of bullets... Though these she could deal with. They were just- WAY TOO MANY CRISS-CROSSING STREAMS OF BULLETS!!!
...And the stars were falling. They just kept coming, and they were falling to the ground. Continuing to send out many, many shots. She somehow managed to avoid colliding directly with any of the stars as they got to the ground... Well, beyond accidentally brushing one with her arm, which caused searing pain as it burned her.
Finally, she hit one of the eyes again... And it exploded. A small explosion, but still, an explosion. ...But the stars didn't stop. Oh no. Instead, the remaining eyes began releasing huge amounts of shots in all sorts of random directions. Fast ones. As if she didn't have enough to deal with. However... This time, the orb had come back to her rather quickly. She smacked it upward with her gohei, toward the nearest eye. Which proceeded to explode as well.
...And now the three remaining eyes were doing more. They each sent three lasers around her, and she found herself practically trapped in a cage of lasers. ...They looked like they were charging up for something. The string of curses that went through Reimu's mind right now were very unfitting of a "pure maiden" that served a shrine. However, all she got out was: "Crap."
Reimu managed to spot the largest opening between the lasers... This was her only chance. She jumped up, trying to get out... And she did. However, the ribbon on her head was cut in half by the laser. She landed outside even as a huge beam took up the spot she'd been standing in, and certainly would have obliterated her had she still been standing there.
However, now it registered in her mind. And time seemed to slow down. "It cut... My ribbon." Everything went red. "YOU CUT THE RIBBON!" Immediately, she got out every single one of her special ofuda, and held them in her hand. She charged them with power, and flung them all into the air at once. The ensuing explosion shook the building.
Reimu stood there, panting with exhaustion and rage. It was over... There was no way it could have- ...No. There was one eye. And now, it was in the center of the field of lightning in the air that had once connected all of the eyes. It stared down at her, still cold, emotionless. Reimu and her yin-yang were reflected in its red pupil...
It looked to be charging up for something again. Well, she wouldn't let it. She flung the yin-yang into the air, straight toward the eye! ...Even as the eye unleashed its attack. One huge lightning bolt. But it didn't stop Reimu's orb. No, not a chance. Instead, the two lightning charged orbs collided, and there was one final explosion.
...I have no idea how I am going to top this fight. Seriously.