RPG - Waking Up From the Dream (Story Thread)

[ES-Anthy]

(This is just to fill in the gap inbetween my day 3 stuff and when Nate [N.Theorist's character] gets back to the apartment, which is not too much really)

Nate's apartment 4:10PM Day 2

Nate and the lunar trio had just returned from their trip to the convience store and started putting stuff away.

"Oh Anthony, here's the thing the guy from the convience store gave me" said Nate, Handing Anthony a sealed box

"Ahh, I see it got through just fine, now to open it" said Anthony, who started to rummage through his bag, pulling out a crowbar

"hey, why did you have me tell the convience store guy Antonio sent me, since I know you're name isn't that, and why did he give me that box when I said that?" asked Nate

"Ahh, I see that I have yet to explain the ways I work in at times," said Anthony "I like to make connections, so I can always have help when needed, but then I don't just make them, I earn them, and it just ends up that the person that I make that connection calls me a different name, like a nick name," said Anthony, who then continued on with his prying open the box, which then he got open in a few miniutes

Nate and the others saw what was in the box, there were several bottles in it, each having a different looking liquid in it, one clear, one amber colored, one red, one that was even a black like color.

"I've been needing these for a while now" said Anthony

Everyone was looking at Anthony and the box with a weird manner, well except Nate

"What are in those bottles" asked Yorihime, "They kinda look nasty"

"These are some of the greatest drinks that you can only get in America," said Anthony "This clear one is a family made drink, no one else knows the recipe, it's our personal vodka, the amber one is verners, a Michigan original, very carbonated, the red one is Barq's red cream soda, also a hard one to find even in America, and the black looking one is just a bottle of coca-cola, I could have probably bought it here, but my family sends it over anyways, you guys can have some if you want, there's enough to go around"

Then they all started to drink and party, though Yorihime was disgusted with the drinks, complaining that they were too fowl, but the others were all fine with it, they went on into the night, most of the others went to sleep in the bed room around midnight, while Anthony and Genjii stayed out in the living room, Anthony himself couldn't get back to sleep, so he just laid there staring at the ceiling,

END Nate's Apartment 3:00AM Day 3

[ES-Anthy]

Dreamscape Between Anthony and Letty between Day 3 and 4

Anthony was actually able to get some sleep tonight, and he noticed that he was having a weird dream, which he appeared in a wide field, covered in snow, this place was untouched by the world Anthony knew, yet this place seemed somewhat familiar, like he's seen it before earlier in his life, and he was Letty off in the distance

"Wow, I never thought I would see a place like this," said Anthony, as he walked over to Letty

"This is the Gensokyo I once knew, which here, I only came out during the winter," said Letty

"So this is what Gensokyo looks like in the middle of winter, it seems really familiar," said Anthony

Then he noticed a someone else approach Letty, she was a little girl in a light blue dress, with a white triangle pattern around the bottom, she also had blue hair, and she also had wings made of ice.

"Hey Letty, do you want to play?" asked the little girl "oh, who's this guy here?"

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Anthony" said Anthony, introducing himself

"Ah, I guess I need to introduce you to Cirno, she's an Ice fairy that I always play with during the winter" explained Letty

"I see, well lets play, I always have liked to play in the snow" said Anthony

The three played around in the snow, playing all the usual games of snowball fights, making snowmen, all of those things,

"Wow, you're really fun Anthony, why don't you play with us tomorrow" said Cirno

"I'll see what I can do" said Anthony

which then Cirno went off back to where she came from earlier

"I see why you guys want Gensokyo restored, not only to get your homes back, but to also be together again," said Anthony

"thats pretty much it, and you do know that this is just a dream right?" said Letty

"Yea, but there's nothing aginst playing with others in their dreams right?" said Anthony

Then Letty and Anthony talked in their dreams, and played around too,

Anthony's Cabin 5:00AM Day 4

Anthony had just woken up, but the others were still sleeping at this time

"Well, since I'm up and the others aren't, I better start tuneing up that mustang I just got, it's gonna take alot of elbow grease to finish up this car" said Anthony, heading out of cabin and into the garage,

He started working and went on for hours, and the sounds of metal clanking on metal, the sound of bolts turning, was all that could be heard from the garage

Anthony's Cabin 10:00AM Day 4

"Hun, wheres Anthony?" said Letty, still grogy from just waking up

Letty then saw Anthony walk into the cabin, all covered in grease and oil from working on the car

"Ahh, I got it working like a beauty now, can't wait to drive it around for a bit" said Anthony "Oh, you're up Letty, I guess I should clean up and make some breakfast" said Anthony

"Ok then" agreed Letty

Anthony then went into the Bathroom and started to clean himself up, Letty could hear him in the shower humming a tune, she was thinking about how Anthony was, and she still had what happened yesterday on her mind,

then a bit later, Anthony came out of the bathroom and started to make breakfast, then the three ate, and conversed a bit, which then Letty brought something up

"Why, why did you do break that one guy's arms yesterday Anthony, it seemed kinda crule?" asked Letty

Anthony sighed, "Well, I... Theres only one way to say it, I was really worried about you two, because I can regularly handle the Yakuza no problem, even if they pull out guns, but I didn't want anything to happen to you two, I guess him pulling out a pistol kinda made something in me go off" said Anthony

Letty thought about it for a bit more, but then just decided to leave it at that, and the three finished up breakfast, and decided to go to town for a bit, just to kill some time

(OOC: Nothing really happens during this part, so I'll just get to the next part where something actually happens)

The Forest of Karuisuwa 4:00PM Day 4

Anthony, Letty, and Genjii had gone out for a walk through the woods for relaxing after getting back to Anthony's cabin and having lunch, they were strolling along when Anthony noticed a clearing to his left, but couldn't see what was it in, so he got closer to it and noticed it was the back side of the Saniwa Shrine,


"Hmm, I thought this shrine was deserted and run down, now it looks all new and I think there's people inside" said Anthony,

Then Anthony could hear alot of footsteps comming to the back door of the shrine, and saw all of the people come out of there, like he had set off an alarm or something, and decided to run for it

"ohgodohgodohgod, WE GOTTA RUN, COMMON YOU TWO" yelled Anthony, drawing even more attention to himself,

Anthony thought he may need some help to get out of this situation so while running, he pulled out his cell phone and diled up Nate's number

"comeoncomeoncomeon, ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE YOU IDIOT, I FREAKING NEED YOU" yelled Anthony once again out of rage

Then the phone connected and Anthony could hear Nate on the other end

"Hey Anthony, why are you calling?" asked Nate

"THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR QUESTIONS, I NEED YOU TO SAVE MY ASS BEFORE I GET CAP-" but before Anthony could finish his sentence, he was knocked out, and fell to the gound, and the same happened to Letty and Genjii

END:Behind the Saniwa Shrine 4:10PM Day 4


(OOC: I lefted it off like this so anyone can respond to knocking out my character, since I really don't know who would be the most sutiable for this situation)

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Saniwa Shrine 3:58 PM Day 4


As the competition was in full swing, Teams Pirate and Shakin' decided to patrol the shrine to defend against intruders, due to the malfunctioning alarm system.

"Anything yet Austin?" Ria called.

"Nothing ye- wait a second! I see something!" Austin yelled

"Is it government?!?" Nitori asked.

"I don't think so," Austin gripped the hilt of her sword, "but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"In any case," Momizi said, "We should investigate."

The teams barely got outside when the intruders began to run away.

"WE GOTTA RUN, COMMON YOU TWO!" The guy yelled.

"That must be the leader. Kaguya, let's go!" Ria said.

"We'll go after the others!" Austin yelled.

Momizi was chasing down the girl, sword drawn. Nitori, on the other hand, walked up to the turtle and picked him up.

"Put me down!" it yelled.

"Gah! Genji?!?" Nitori yelped in suprise.

"Course it's me! Now unhand me!"

Meanwhile, Ria and Kaguya were running after the man. He had a cellphone to his ear.

"Crap! He's calling for help!" Ria yelled.

"I got it!" Kaguya said, and she grabbed the man's neck. He promptly slumped down onto the ground.

"Was that the Vulcan death grip?!?"

"Actually the attack just stuns the target, though I'm suprised it actually worked."

"Anthony!" the girl yelled. Her path was blocked by Momizi's sword. She turned to flee the other way, but was blocked by Austin's sword.

"You not going anywhere." Austin said. Suddenly, the expression of realization could be see on Austin's face. "Letty Whiterock?"


Saniwa Shrine-Inside one of the rooms.


Anthony was lying in a bed while Letty and Genji were beside him.

"Well," Austin said, "He's government, alright, but he's not going to harm us."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Nitori asked. "You saw his gun!"

"Yeah, but it was only loaded with rubber bullets." Ria said. "Apparently, he's part of construction. Man, he must have been pissed off about that store."

"Eh? what store?" Momizi asked.

"It's nothing..."

"Well, he may not have come here to harm us. Rather, he could have came to help fix up the shrine."

"That would explain the toolbox," said Nitori, "but that still doesn't explain Letty or Genji. Why are they linked to the guy anyways?"

"Looks like we'll find out very soon." said Ria as Anthony began to wake up.

"Hey, sleeping beauty. You're finally up!" Austin said.

"Well, it's your fault he went to sleep in the first place." Letty said.

"Sorry" Kaguya muttered.

"So, who are you, and what were you doing behind the shrine?" Ria asked calmly, trying not to get the Anthony riled up.

[ES-Anthy]

Inside Saniwa Shrine 4:20PM Day 4

Anthony had just been taken capture along with Letty and Genjii, and is now within the Shrine, and started to wake up from being knocked out

"Hey, sleeping beauty. You're finally up!" said one woman off to the side

"Ugh, my neck, feels like it almost broke" said Anthony, in a groggy manner, "Where am I anyways?"

"You're in the Saniwa Shrine, and now tell us who are you, and what were you doing behind the shrine?" asked another woman beside Anthony,

Anthony noticed that he was in no possistion to make demands, since Letty and Genjii could get hurt, and he was outnumbered without any gear

"Ok then, I'll tell ya, but do you want the entire story, or should the narrator just skip it to make it easier" said Anthony, starting upwards

!
Damn, I've been found out,

"I always knew you were there, it's just that I decided to not communicate with you since you weren't giving me any trouble" said Anthony

I see, well lets just get on with the story, since I don't want to continue on banter like this


"works for me, now to explain everything for you guys" said Anthony "And I don't repeat myself, so clean out your ears"

"I'm Anthony Thrun, Age 17, the Repairman/Engineer/Architect of Karuisuwa, I do have connections with the government mostly because they give me most of my contracts, but then I'm not officially part of it, I live in the cabin due east of this shrine, it's a 15 minute walk directly from here to the my cabin, and the reason I was behind the shrine was because me, Letty, and Genjii were just taking a walk in the forest, and just happened to stumble upon this shrine"

"Wait, so you wern't here to help fix up this shrine?" asked the first girl

"Well, if the government didn't call me about it, then it's not of their consern, and the other people who want me to repair their builing call me" explained Anthony "and can you 5 please tell me your names, since it's rude to ask for one's name and not give your own"

"Oh, ok then, I'm Austin" said the first girl

"I'm Ria" said the one who asked Anthony the questions

"I'm Momizi," said the girl who had a sword and shield on hand

"I am Nitori" said the one girl with blue hair in dual pigtails

"and I'm Kaguya" said the one girl with long black hair

"Hmm, I wonder if Nate is still gonna come for me, oh well, if he does, he'll at least meet up with this group, so I think nothing will go wrong" thought Anthony

"so, now since you 5 have asked me questions, can a get a few of my own answered?" asked Anthony

"Ok then," said Ria

"Ok, I want to know is that, why are you people here" asked Anthony

"Well, we all are a part of this group of people who are fighting for the restoration of Gensokyo," said Ria

"I see, so we have the same interests" said Anthony

everyone in the room became confused at Anthony's statement, well except Letty and Genjii who already knew about what Anthony knew

"wait, how do you know about Gensokyo?" said Ria

"Well it's all because of these two, and my dad" said Anthony, pointing at Letty and Genjii

"It was my dad that told me about stories about Gensokyo, and it was Genjii that reminded me about these stories, and proved that Gensokyo was real to me, then a bit later I saved Letty from some military like guys" said Anthony

"That makes sense, and I'm guessing that these military guys must have been RAI Forces" said Rin

"Who are those guys?" questioned Anthony

"They're a secret military unit under the government that was made to capture anyone from Gensokyo, or areas like Gensokyo" said Rin

"I see, wait..." paused Anthony "They're other areas like Gensokyo?"

"Yea, but then they're all being destroied, one by one, and all of us are planning on stoping this" said Rin

"Ok then, well, you guys have just added on another member to your group" said Anthony "Because I won't just take this sitting, I'm gonna stand and fight" said Anthony "so, can I get my stuff back, if just feels weird not to have everything with me"

"Ok then, you can have your gear back, and welcome to the team, but you're probably gonna need to introduce yourself to everyone else later on" said Ria "Hey Austin, go get Anthony's stuff"

"Why me, that stuff was freaking heavy" said Austin

"because I said so, now do it" replied Ria

"Ok then" said Austin walking out of the room for a bit

"Oh, since you are going to join our group, can you repair this shrine, since it does kinda need it" said Ria

"I'll do it, but then I'm gonna need to get some more cash, since I've used up all of my extra revenue in the last few days" said Anthony "but don't worry, I'll get it done eventually, since it doesn't look like too much of a job other than replacing a few posts,"

Then austin walked in with Anthony's bag and the back holster Anthony was wearing with his sawed off shotgun in it, Anthony then put on the holster, and looked through his bag to make sure nothing was missing, which nothing was.

"well now, the only matter to handle is to introduce myself to everyone, but then I really don't know how to do that" said Anthony "can you guys help me out on this"

"We'll be glad to help," said Nitori

END: Inside Saniwa Shrine 4:40PM Day 4

(OOC: I'll figure out an introducton of my character to the others when there's more info on the time")

[mad]

Inside the shrine 4:21 PM Day 4

Jalal and Eirin overheard the previous narrator receiving some disrespect.

"And what that have to do with me?" he asked.

Well, I'm going to teach that punk lesson.

"So? Good luck."

Hold it. You're coming with me. And Jalal began walking.

"No really, why? We'd need some in character explanation."

You're crazy, thus it's perfectly in character for you.

"I'd rather watch the maids."

He knows where Toyohime and Yorihime are.

"So my students made it here," Eirin said.

"Your students, eh? Well, best go find out about them."

They entered the room. Jalal was wearing a hooded robe that concealed his face.

Oh yes, Anthony, you want to disrespect us narrators. Well, behold the power of a narrator. A giant metal finger doth descend from on high and poked Anthony in the face, knocking him flat.

"You are the chosen one! Chosen by the big metal hand in the sky!" Jalal cried out to Anthony.

Anthony was serious WTFing at this turn of events.

"Chosen one, what is the moniker that thou usest in thy travels of this world. Alas, I forget it is rude to ask another's name before telling mah own. Ah ahm tha holder of that thar technicolor dreamcoat. Vell, maybe neither technicolor nor dream coat. Call me Jalal."

"And I am Eirin Yagokoro."

Anthony realized that when he responded, he would be back to the other narrator.

[ES-Anthy]

Inside Saniwa Shrine 4:40PM Day 4

Anthony has just been punished for breaking the 4th wall and decided to not mess with it for a while, and Anthony was just getting back up from being poked from a giant metal hand from the sky, and still very confused, but still decided to roll with it.

"So, you two are Jalal and Eirin, nice to meet you two" said Anthony, acting as if what had just happened did not occur

"Yes we are, now answer a few of our questions" said the two

"Ok then ok then, I'll answer any questions to the fullest of my abilities" said Anthony

"whats with all the questions anyways, I guess this is just something that happens" thought Anthony

"Now, tell me about what you know about Toyohime, and Yorihime" said Eirin

"Oh those two, the last time I saw them, they were at my friend Nate's apartment above the Lair of the Mishaguji book store, which was about, I would say a bit less than 2 days ago, but don't worry, Nate's a good guy, he wouldn't let any harm come to those two," said Anthony, "which now I wonder, are you somehow related to those two?"

"Ok, I'll tell you, I was their teacher for doctoring" said Eirin

"Wait, you're the one who taught them how to treat wounds, there's one thing that I suggest, teach your students to treat their patients better" said Anthony

Eirin had a somewhat confused look on her face wondering what Anthony was talking about

"Oh, also here's an example of their work" said Anthony, lifting up his shirt showing his side all bandaged up and such,

"So, is there anything else you want me to answer?" asked Anthony

(OCC: I really don't have any other ideas for this situation, so I'll let madness take it away for the rest of this part)

END: Saniwa Shrine 4:45PM Day 4

[mad]

Saniwa Shrine 4:45 PM

"Well," said Eirin, "I focused more pharmacology. This should help with that."

She handed Anthony two pills, a red pill and a blue pill.

"The blue pill will help you heal faster over the course of two days. If you take the red pill, you will heal in one day," Eirin said while smiling a big smile, "Now, how did you come into their acquaintance."

Anthony told them the full story.

"I see, well it looks like they'll be fine."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's go see what those wacky maids are up to."

Jalal and Eirin headed back to the competition.

Ria stopped Anthony and said, "Wait, I took a look at the shotgun of yours, it's so weak. Perhaps you would like an upgrade."

She pulled out a rack of guns.

"Nice rack," Austin said before Nitori prompted swatted him on the back of his head.

"What did I say?"

"Like what you see? Take one."

[ES-Anthy]

Inside Saniwa Shrine 4:47PM Day 4

Anthony has just been given a choice by Eirin, of taking either a red or a blue pill to help with his wound,

"Hmmm, I'm not being too affected by this wound, and obviously I know from most movies, that the faster drug ends up having some pretty bad side effects, so I'll take the Blue one" said Anthony, gulping down the blue pill

"Weird, nothing's happening yet, I guess it may take a bit for the effects to kick in," said Anthony

"Oh yea, about your offer, I can't just go and grab another gun, the only one I use is this shotgun, it's sorta a family treasure, besides, I just need to give it's montly tuning to get it back up to it's regular strength" said Anthony shooing off the gun rack that mysteriously appeared out of the blue,

"Ok then, just don't be asking for any other guns when you need them" said Ria

"which reminds me, I probably should get to tuning it up right now" said Anthony, who proceeded to go through his bag, pulling out a metallic box, which he then opened, and had a bunch of small tools for tuning his shotgun, and Anthony proceeded to get  to work, then his stomach grumbled

"Man, I'm freaking hungry, do you guys know where I could grab a bite?" said Anthony

END: Saniwa Shrine 4:55PM Day 4

(OOC: Now I edited it again to make it fit a bit better, and to make it not annoying for some people, and to fit the current story better)

[Moerin]

Nate's apartment, 01:00, Day 3

Yorihime sat in the kitchen, unable to sleep and unwilling to talk to the others who were still awake.  Something had been bothering her immensely for a while now.  Ever since she'd came to Earth, her power to channel the gods had weakened so much that now only the most minor of spirits would heed her calls.

And I was just boasting about it to Nathanial earlier, too.

To be honest, she had expected something like this might happen.  This world was impure, and it's mana supply was much lower than that of the Lunar Capital.  She knew that there would be consequences for evacuating here, but she hadn't anticipated that they'd be this severe.

What made it worse was that, if her suspicions proved true, she would have to face Yukari in this state.  Even at her full strength, Yukari was toying with her.  In her current state, she'd likely be utterly annihilated by the youkai.

I can't let that happen.  I have to defeat her once and for all, not just for myself but for the sake of all Lunarians.

She sat on the floor in an almost meditative style, her sword placed on the ground in front of her.  She tried to think of some way, any way she could feasibly defeat that monster, but she couldn't concentrate.  Whether this was due to her powers being weakened, or because she had been forced to take up residence in an impure, corrupt world, or because of some other reason, she did not know, but she just couldn't keep her thoughts in track.  If she could, she'd be bound to think of a way to win.  She wasn't the leader of the Lunar Defence Corps for nothing, after all.

She got up and began pacing the room silently, racking her brain for some solution.  But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't think up a way to defeat Yukari's almost godlike power of boundary manipulation.

Maybe it was out of frustration, or maybe it was out of boredom, but for whatever reason, she ended up switching on the television.  At least this way I'll be able to focus my mind on something.  Nathanial had shown her how to use it earlier and, as she was a very quick learner, she was able to work it perfectly.  She turned the volume low and began to look for something to watch.  As she was flicking through the channels, she came across that ridiculous show she was watching earlier about the Moon Princess.

Gah, this again.  Was the channel trying to marathon the entire series, or was it just a rerun of what was on earlier?  Not that it really mattered.  I guess it's the only thing on, so...

And so Yorihime sat down and began watching.  At first, she still thought it was stupid, insipid and preposterous, but as time went by...

Was she just tired, or was being forced onto this rock beginning to take a toll on her sanity?  Not only was she beginning to enjoy the show, but she was starting to believe what the characters were saying, about love, justice and punishing those who do evil.  Wasn't it a Terran who said that "love conquers all"?  Maybe, just maybe, they were onto something.  She continued watching as the morning approached and the sun began to rise, completely drawn in by it's message...


Dreamscape between Nate and Toyohime, sometime between days 2 and 3[/u]

"Huh, this is weird," Nate thought out loud, as he stood beside a small peach orchard floating in space.  He looked around, and saw what seemed to be an inflatable globe hovering in a sky full of diamonds.  Literally, the sky seemed to be filled with precious stones floating a few feet above the trees.  "I mean, the diamonds are usually here, and I can put up with the globe, but what's with all the peaches?"

"Ah, those would be my addition," said Toyohime, as she stepped out from behind one of the trees.  "I do so love the Lunar peaches."

"I see..." Nate walked towards the blonde Lunarian. "So where are we, anyway?"

Toyohime shrugged, and picked a peach from a nearby tree.  "I'm not sure... Maybe it's your mind, maybe it's my mind... Maybe it's some amalgamation of both our minds.  I'm sure it has something to do with the mana connection, though."

"I guess that would explain those weird dreams I've been having about Reisen recently," pondered Nate.

"Oh, really?"  Toyohime cocked her head to the side, as though to look over Nate's shoulder.  "Were they anything like that one, per chance?"

"Huh?  What are you ta-" Nate turned around and saw, projected on what looked like a cinema screen, a very vivid image of himself and Reisen making love.  He instantly turned bright red.  "Th-th-that's n-not it!  Stop doing that, Toyohime!"

Toyohime giggled. "But I'm not doing it, Nate.  Those are your thoughts."  She took a bite out of the peach, and continued watching.  "So, that's how you see Reisen, then..."

"No!  I mean, I do like her a lot, but..."  Nate took a deep breath.  "Okay, I'll admit it.  I... I'm in love with Reisen."

"Obviously," the less-serious Lunarian leaned against a tree and continued eating her peach.  "So, is that an accurate representation of your current relationship, or...?" She again motioned towards the images being broadcast.

"N-n-no!  I mean, I haven't even told her how I feel yet.  I... I just can't find the right words... What am I supposed to say to her?"

The screen behind Nate suddenly switched to a large picture of Reisen wearing a school uniform.  The following text appeared below her:

Reisen: Nate-sempai, how do you feel about me?
1. Confess your love.
2. Change the subject.
3. Put it in.


"Yeah, if only real life was as simple as that," sighed Nate.  "I mean, I don't even know if she feels the same way."

With her free hand, Toyohime facepalmed.  "By the gods, they're both so dense..."

"What was that, Toyohime?"

"Oh, um, nothing."  Toyohime finished her peach.  "And please, don't call me by my full name, it sounds so formal.  Call me "Toyo"."

"Okay then... Toyo."  Nate sat down beside a tree.  "So... Why are you so concerned about this, anyway?"

"Well, Reisen is my pet,"  Toyo said as she sat beside Nate.  "I just want her to be happy, that's all."

"You keep calling her your pet... Is that really what she is?  I mean, isn't it kinda, y'know, weird having an intelligent humanoid as a pet?"

Toyo laughed.  "Ohoho, our definition of pet is slightly different than your Terran definition.  To us, a pet is more of a companion.  I'm sure you know that rabbits die if they become lonely, right?  Well, it's the same for Lunar Rabbits.  Because of this, they offer their services to Lunarian families in exchange for food, shelter and most importantly, companionship.  They generally leave after they find a mate, although sometimes-"

"I get it, you just want rid of Reisen, don't you?"

Although she continued smiling, it was obvious that Toyohime was slightly offended by Nate's remark.  "I'm afraid you're rather mistaken, Nate.  I love Reisen.  She's... Like a little sister to me and Yori.  I just want her to be happy, you see.  And I'm sure she'd be happy with you."

Nate blushed. "Well, it would be nice if that could happen, but... I'm still not sure."

Toyohime sighed. "Oh well... So much for that idea."

Nate got up from where he was sitting and began pacing the orchard.  "Toyo... What do you know about a woman named Yukari Yakumo?"

The air around Toyohime seemed to grow tense as she got to her feet with an oddly serious look on her face.  "So that's what you were talking to Yori about."

She sighed loudly.  "Yukari... What did Yori tell you about her?"

"Well, that she's a powerful youkai, they've fought before, and that she thinks Yukari destroyed the Lunar Capital."

"I'm not so sure about that myself.  After hearing what the turtle and the winter spirit had to say, it seems that Gensokyo was destroyed at around the same time as the Capital.  It wouldn't make sense at all for Yukari to destroy Gensokyo, she loved it far too much."

"Wait," said Nate, looking puzzled.  "If, and this is only a hypothetical, if Yukari didn't destroy the Capital, who did?"

"I... Have no idea.  I can't think of anyone who would benefit from it, nor can I think of anyone who loves wanton destruction so much to do it for no reason.  And Yori's too blinded by her hatred of Yukari to even consider another suspect."

"Isn't there anyone who could figure it out?  I mean, surely you can't have been the only Lunarians to escape."

"Well, maybe..." Toyohime thought for a moment.  "There is one person I can think of who could figure out something like this.  Our old Master, Eirin Yagokoro."

"Your... Master?"

"Yes.  She taught me and my sister everything we know.  And she's exceptionally intelligent, even compared to other Lunarians, so much that they called her "The Brain of the Moon".  But..."

"...But?" Nate inquired.

"She left the moon a long time ago.  She's been living in Gensokyo ever since."  She paced around the orchard.  "Then again, if Gensokyo was destroyed, she probably had to make her way here too..."

"So... If we can find this Eirin, she should be able to help us, right?"

"Exactly.  I can't think of anyone else who'd be of more help right now."

"Right!  But we'll need to find her first, and that won't be an easy task..."

At that moment, a loud ringing sound began echoing through the orchard.

"The alarm?  Damn, we'll have to continue this in the waking world.  Sorry to cut it short like this..." Nate said as he faded away from the dream world.

"Oh, that's alright."  Toyohime waved as Nate disappeared.  "He's gone now.  You can come out now."

From behind one of the trees stepped Reisen.

"See, I told you he felt the same way," said the moon princess, as she ruffled the rabbit's hair.

END: Nate's apartment, 07:00, Day 3

[untitled servent]

Khinsu's guest house, 12:00, Day 2

Energy: medium

Khinsu sat in the middle of his room, seemingly staring into nothing. He hadn't got much sleep last night, not with the events that occurred at the shrine last night. The main cause of his worry lay in the middle of his room having yet to wake up.

"This is troubling, people usually don't sleep this long, maybe she has a fever."

Walking over to what he believed to be a touhou fan cosplaying one shikieki his mind was brought back to the event that began this situation. Not many would expect to find a group of cosplayers being chased by men in black at a abandon shrine in the middle of nowhere.

He knelt down beside her small form. He had to admit that she had made her costume quite well, not many could pull a character off with such proficiency. He placed his hand on the girl's forehead to take her temperature when suddenly he felt the energy he had been so accustom to moving about his body draining out of him and into the girl. He instinctively pulled back as though he had touched a burning object.

"What in the world was th-" he paused as her eyes snapped open her face still a tad pale. "Well, welcome back to the land of the living. Care to tell me why you were dressed up as a touhou character at a shrine in the middle of nowhere being chased by men that looked like they came out of a bad movie?"

"I'm still alive." She sat up scanning the nondescript room, only bed, a dresser, and a cabinet occupying it.

"Yes that should be fairly obvious by now. After all you only bumped your head."

"But, I should have died without a mana connection"

"A mana connection... alright," he said in a bored monotone "Well your still alive from what I see, so would you mind answering my question."

"Not until I figure out who set up a mana share with me, if I get too far away from them I may collapse again. Who else besides you has been in a close proximity of me."

"Ah..." Khinsu's face screwed up as he tried to translate her words. "Could you say that a bit simpler? My japanese good but not that good."

"Oh, who has been close to me," she responded realizing for the first time that she was talking to a foreigner.

"No one besides me so far, I didn't think it was a good idea to go to a hospital when you have people after you, plus you weren't that hurt."

"You must be the one then," She shot up grabbing his hands in the process. He quickly felt the same drain as earlier but significantly less this time. Colour began to return to her face as the drain died down. "Yes, this is definitely a mana connection."

Khinsu's face was covered in a light blush but he quickly subdued it, "I can't say I've ever heard that pick-up line. So would you care to answer my question now?"

"It wasn't a pick up line but I guess answering your question will help you understand. You might want to sit down, this is going to take a while."

Khinsu's guest house, 16:00, Day 2

Khinsu sat in a contemplative silence. What he had just spent the past four hours listening to was quite a lot to take in, of course it wouldn't have taken quite as long if Shikieki would use more common words. The existence of the once thought fictional land of Gensokyo was quite a surprise to him but, as much as he wanted to believe it, he decided he had to take it with a grain of salt.

"Prove it," he said after a few more moments of staring into nothing. "Prove that what you say is true. Prove that you are in fact Shikieki Yamaxanadu, the judge of paradise, the judge of the dead ruling over Gensokyo."

"You were a compulsive liar as a child and you faked going to your old martial arts class and went to the mall because you thought they were boring and not teaching you anything," she said after a few minutes of looking into her mirror slightly irate after having spent the past four hours explaining to him only for him to disbelieve her so quickly.

"Good, good," any traces of anger not evident on his face, "with that I can definitely believe your story. Now having not eaten either lunch nor breakfast I'm starting to get hungry, you want anything?"

As if the sudden prospect of food caused the yama's small body to realize that she had gone without any form of sustenance her stomach let out a weak grown

"I'll take that as a yes then. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." Khinsu stood and left the room.

From the room over Shikieki could here him get a pot out and get water boiling. Thinking back this would be her first meal in a while, with all that had been going on she hadn't had time to eat. Deciding to go see what her meal would be she attempted to get up, only to fall down again as her legs gave out. Her mana connection with Khinsu seemingly severed without her notice.

"Khinsu! Khinsu!" her voice came out fearful and weak. Time passed and seconds felt like hours even without that maid in sight.

"What?" her worry was cut short as he opened the door back to his room, "didn't I tell you I was in the kitchen."

Mana started flowing back into her body little by little, the connection apparently re-established.

"You're mana flow disappeared and you've barely given me any mana to move in the first place." Shikieki got up and walked over to him "whats with this meager mana flow anyways?"

"Look I was only in the kitchen."

"Your range is that short? You should be able to go much farther then that. Tch, I guess this is going to be harder then planned, show me to the kitchen, it looks like I'm going to have to stay quite close to you."

Approaching the kitchen the smell of tomatoes and garlic reached her nose and upon opening the door she saw a boiling pot of water and a saucepan from which she could tell the smell was coming from. They were having pasta.

Khinsu's guest house, 16:34, Day 2

"Could you please move," khinsu said, attempting to reach refrigerator

"Ah, sorry." He started to shuffle through the fridge looking for some drinks.

"Ah, I need to get over there, please move" he said pointing to the spice rack Shikieki stood in front of. "Do you think you could possibly go back to my room, your kind of getting in the way."

It was true, the kitchen, although of decent size, was cramped due to bad design.

"No, you saw what happened last time."

"It'll only be about 10 minutes, you should be able to last"

"Your barely giving me enough mana as it is even at this range, I would probably pass out in half that time."

"Hmm, let me try something," Khinsu placed his hand on the yama's head provoking a slight blush but he followed her brief attempt at escape. He took a deep breath and seemed to concentrate on something. Suddently the judge of paradise's body overflowed with mana, barely able to keep up with the now rapid pace in which the mana transfer took place.

"W-what did you just do?" her body now saturated with more mana then it had ever been in memory.

"Please leave now," Khinsu swiftly responded his eyes now drooped and dull and his shoulders slumped as if he had been taxed greatly by whatever he preformed.

"Yes, of course, this should last me for quite a while," taking the hint that he was unlikely to answer anytime soon she returned to his room and waited, feeling shocked but as if all restrictions the outside world put on her body had been lifted, at least temporarily.

After 10 minutes of wait as he said the food was ready. The meal was eaten in silence, Khinsu's seemingly ignoring everything that wasn't his food, which he was devouring. Well devouring isn't quite the right word to it as that implied some sloppiness and well as chewing, he had neither and it reminded her of a certain ruler of the afterlife, only to a lesser extreme.

When finished Khinsu looked straight at Shikieki, generally looking better then he had after whatever he did to her, and paused as if waiting for her to speak.

"So would you explain what you did back there?" she asked after putting aside her fork.

"You need mana but I don't know much about mana. So I tried forcing some of my energy into you. Seems like it worked, I guess the energy I normally manipulate internally is mana or at least compatible with it. Anyways now that we've eaten, I believe we should plan what to do next."

"Ah yes, I think it would probably be best if we went to find other from Gensokyo."

"Sounds like a plan, let the search begin."

END: Guest house kitchen, 17:30, Day 2

Energy: mid to low.

(OOC: Ah I suck at writing this took me forever. That's it for today, I'll try to catch up to everyone else soon.)

[Pedonymous]

Outside Mokou's room, 12:10, Day 4

Arreku burbled as she toppled to the floor, something along the line of a seizure. Kaigomi had been sitting by the door wringing her hands, while Kisume wobbled back and forth in her bucket.

"A-Arreku!? Jeez, whad'ya do to him!?"

Mokou flipped her hair as she began walking down the hall back towards the competition. "Oh, nothing too bad... You can still steal it from him..."

Kaigomi snarled as she bent down to sit Arreku up, what was Mokou talking about? "Grrrr, if you pull a stunt like that again..."

"Ah, shuddap." Mokou scoffed, laughing to herself. She disappeared around the corner.

Arreku had calmed down, apparently able to think now...

"Whassa matter Arreku?" Kisume asked curiously, a glint of innocence in her eyes. "Did she strap ya to the bed?"

"Hau, I'm hungry." Arreku said with a straight and serious face.

Kaigomi sighed, deftly clambering onto Arreku's shoulders. Her feet sat on something soft... "G-godammit Arreku..." she whimpered, patting her own chest.

Kisume plafully clung onto Arreku's skirt as she was dragged down the hall.

[Jana]

While he had received clothes from Koakuma at long last, Jan was already changing once more... Into a maid's outfit. Somehow, he managed to stumble into a competition between the gender-bent team members, and he had even been chosen as the leader of his team. Aside from confusion at his new female body, Jan was confused by the fact that he had to suddenly massage somebody.

Shaking his head to get a clear view of things, Jan carefully watched the first three competitions. It looks like our team is behind... I have to win here, or this Hirowaza can end this whole thing early and gain the victory for them!

Smirking to himself, Jan hand-waved Koakuma and Patchouli over to him. "I have an idea..."


Eventually, Jan and his partners came forward to choose which judges they would massage. Jan gestured to Sakuya first. "We'll be giving you a full-body massage now. Please come to the bed so we may begin~"

Ugh, I have to talk like this... I know Patchouli knows her, but it's still weird... Jan swallowed his pride as Sakuya came forward and lied on the bed without giving away any emotions. Jan had no way of knowing her connection to his competition, but Patchouli had tried to give them a few bonus points.

Koakuma tugged on Jan's sleeve, and he leaned in so she could whisper into his ear. "I can handle the clothing, if you'd like."

Jan's eyes widened for a moment as he remembered that good massages were done with a nude customer, and he nodded. "I will return shortly. Please, let Miss Koakuma handle your clothes."

While Jan scurried away to find a white towel, Koakuma put a simple curtain around the bed so Sakuya could get undressed. When he came back, Jan tried to hand the towel to Kokauma without taking a look inside. Even if he was a woman now, Jan knew it would certainly count against him if he was caught looking at places he should not have been.

When Koakuma got the towel in place, she pulled away the curtain for the other judges to see. Sakuya was lying on her stomach, her head in a special pillow with the towel covering everything below her lower back. "Please relax and enjoy the massage." Jan said in as soothing a voice as he could muster.

Now, time to put my plan into play... As the best-read team, we shouldn't lose! As Koakuma stood aside and Patchouli came out of hiding, Jan began to give Sakuya an awkward shoulder rub. Patchouli slowly joined Jan, rubbing Sakuya's back. Both of them were not using any actual magic power, but Jan hoped that his knowledge of the nervous system would help him find the right spots to apply pressure to.

Jan tried to listen for some kind of a reaction, but Sakuya was as quiet as her demeanor suggested she would be. As the pair finished the massage, Koakuma came back out with the curtain and Sakuya's clothes. As Jan and Patchouli left, they exchanged hopeful glances. No reaction... Patchouli thought giving a massage to a friend of hers would work a little better, but I guess she's as professional as they come...


While waiting for Sakuya to finish dressing, Jan took his first good look at his opponents. There were only two of them, a tough looking woman with a sword and a meeker looking one in the maid outfit. Wondering what their strengths would be in such a competition, Jan knew that he was basically going in blind.

Patchouli got Jan's attention as Sakuya finished dressing. "Don't forget, we have to do one more. I don't know any of the other judges, so you should pick."

Nodding, Jan looked at the three remaining judges and tried to remember their names. Hmm... Well, all of them seem to be just as stoic as Sakuya- Wait.... There's one who's cuter than the others. Maybe she'll be more forgiving...

Stepping to the maid Jan thought was the cutest, Jan spoke as professionally as he could. "Miss Ruukoto, would you please come over to the massage bed?"


After repeating the same undressing stage from before, Jan and Patchouli got back to working. However, they both immediately noticed something was... Off.

Why is it so hard to get the massage done? I can't even find the tense muscles because her whole body feels too hard!

Wait a second... I recognize her now! Isn't this Reimu's maid?!

Patchouli shot Jan a quick worried look, and Jan's hands moved to the neck- Where he noticed what looked like mechanical parts. Jan's face blanched, he tried to increase the pressure of his massage. Why did the cute one have to be a robot maid? Of all the luck!


The pair had finished their massage, and left Ruukoto to dress with Koakuma. Sharing a quick look of sadness with Patchouli, Jan knew that he had quickly lost the advantage in the competition. It's going to take quite a bit for the other team to screw up... Looks like I can't end this early after all.

Koakuma came back to the pair, looking very pleased. "Did you two know that Ruukoto has sensors in her body for feeling pressure? I think you two may have done a better job than you thought~"

Jan's face lit up at the revelation. "With the increased pressure, maybe we actually DID do a better job!" Grinning as the trio walked off, Jan turned to sit down and watch Hirowaza and her partner go.

[trancehime]

Hiyori [Hirowaza] looked at what his "opponents" were doing. It seemed that they knew what they were doing in this little competition of theirs. A massage. Furthermore, the fact that they chose first meant that they had a slight edge. Hiyori and Meira were left with having to deal with Mokou, who already had advanced upon Hiyori in the first place, and Yumeko, who the two weren't really familiar with. The trouble and big issue here is that Jan's team already seem to know vaguely about how to massage people, whereas Hiyori has little experience in full-body massages and Meira only knows pressure points but little about how to actually use them to perform a stimulating massage. Aah... Meira-sama, we're screwed... Hiyori murmured, seeming defeated and resigned to the fate that they would lose. Hiyori propped her glasses and Meira whispered something quickly to Hiyori's ear. W, well... we'll see... Hiyori sighed once more and presented herself, Meira tagging along behind, to the first person they would massage - Mokou. "E, excuse me, Mokou-dono. Please do go with Meira-san so that she may handle your clothing while I get everything here ready!" Hiyori requested, curtseying and blushing at the same time. Clearly she was flabbergasted at this entire idea, but tried her best not to let it show. All Hiyori saw from Mokou was a smirk before she went off with Meira to get ready, that is, to get undressed and such. Meira led Mokou to another part of the area and decided to use the curtain that the previous team used in order to conceal themselves. Meanwhile, Hiyori was getting the massage bed and everything ready and prepped up.

A few moments later, Meira quickly took a towel from Hiyori and took Mokou to the massage bed to begin. As Mokou lay down on her stomach, and set down in the usual manner for massaging someone, Hiyori bowed again and assured her that it would be a, "sensual experience," verbatim. Hiyori began her massage with the back. Meira had little experience in actually massaging, so all she did to assist Hiyori was mention to her key points to tackle in order to make sure the experience was stimulating. Hiyori knew how to deal with the back, but the rest of the body was kind of a new experience for her. Using all the techniques she knew, she tried to apply a sensual massage to Mokou. Hiyori had little idea whether she succeeded or not but from the sounds she heard from Mokou, she was fairly confident that it wasn't bust. After some time, since Mokou apparently seemed to... want more, perhaps it was because Hiyori was doing it, or maybe it was actually good. Hiyori had no idea, it was time to wrap things up. Hiyori let Meira escort a stretching Mokou back to dress in her clothing again in the curtain. Hiyori eyed her opponents, the one in the maid outfit, and Patchouli and Koakuma. They seemed to have somehow massaged a robot maid. Well, it would be better for them to take on Ruukoto anyway, since she's mechanical. Meira would have no idea how to deal with her.

Hiyori sighed in relief as she saw Mokou stretching and flexing and seeming very... normal, overall. No signs of pain, no nothing. Meira smiled. "Well, it seems our first attempt wasn't too bad..." Meira said. Hiyori remained silent. Still Yumeko left, Meira-sama. Hiyori whispered and this time presented herself to Yumeko and allowed Meira to do the same thing she did with Mokou. After their little stint with the phoenix-girl, it seemed Yumeko would allow some leeway with this. Yumeko seemed very reminiscent of Sakuya in some way. Hiyori and Meira continued with standard procedure, but Hiyori immediately noticed something - Yumeko was much more fragile than Mokou was. So, Hiyori quickly adapted and softened her touch slightly, in order to apply some pressure but enough not to hurt her. After some time of this, Meira led Yumeko off to get re-dressed.

Hiyori sighed in relief. It's over... I hope we made it...

Yumeko returned, simply nodding off. She didn't seem hurt at all.

After Yumeko and Mokou returned to the area where the judging would take place, Hiyori and Meira looked rather perplexed at what had transpired. The two teams had done their part of the competition and now it was up to the judges to decide how things would fly. After the judges were done with their whispering and their conspiring and all that jazz, Mokou stood up to make the decision.

"Weeeeell..." she said. "The decision was quite tough!! Well, there was an unanimous deliberation on the winner of this competition." Mokou looked very matter-of-factly at both teams.

"We give the win to Jan and Miss Patchouli and Miss Koakuma! The score becomes, 2-2! So, I suppose we'll be bringing it to a 5th round to break the deadlock~!"

Hiyori sighed. Oh, we didn't make it... She walked away. Come on, Meira-sama. We're done here. Meira didn't really mind at all, but Hiyori seemed downtrodden.

[Gappy]

Round 5 of the Maid Competition, Saniwa Inn, Kitchen, 5.00 PM, Day 4, Featuring everyone, mainly team FUBAR, team Starlight, and the judges

Stereotypical army bootcamp marching song plays in the background?

?All right you maggots, listen up! This here?s no longer pre-k. The kitchen is the woman?s battlefield, it is her pride, her joy, her everything!" Sakuya roared as she walked up and down the ranks of nervous-looking girls in traditional Japanese maid costumes (kimonos with aprons, essentially).

?Here, women are free from oppression! Free to do whatever they choose! Free to cook as they see fit?.? Sakuya said, with a faraway expression. Everyone was following her gaze, trying to see what far off paradise she was envisaging. ?BUT?!? She roared, causing everyone to jump in fear. ??With such freedom and power comes great responsibility! We women fight wars here against fire and salt, against dough and adversity!? She roared, causing everyone to flinch in utter terror. ?If you die here, nobody will come back to retrieve your corpse! Remember that!? She leaned in so close that her face was a mere inch away from Jan, causing her to lean backwards in fear. ?Upon us is that burden of serving the very best culinary delights worthy of the delicate taste buds of our masters, mistresses, and guests!? She screamed in Zei?s face, showering her with spit. ?We must prove ourselves and the pride of our kitchen at every turn as we pursue that every elusive new taste!?


?Wow?that?s intense?? Sanasan murmured. ??gosh, I?m glad I?m not in cooking 101.?

?I sure hope you know what you?re doing.? Renko sighed. ?Cause I don?t.?

?But?.you?re a girl!? Sanasan exclaimed.

?I?m a theoretical physicist first and foremost!? Renko cried. ?Besides, what got it into your head that ALL GIRLS have to be able to cook?!?

??.well?.? Sanasan shrugged. ?Err?.don?t all..err?.girls know how to..err?cook? Isn?t it something that comes with having two X chromosomes? You know, something in your genes? The cook gene. Y?know, that one gene that the Y chromosome lacks??

??.great, the fate of the team rests in our hands and NEITHER OF US CAN COOK?!? Renko cried in exasperation. ?Plus the other team outnumbers us 3 to 1. Don?t we get some sort of handicap?!

They both looked sidelong at team FUBAR?.who, were living up to their namesake very, very nicely. Alice was eyeing a pressure cooker with all the intellectual curiosity of a Neanderthal appraising a pencil. Reimu was glaring at the oven as if daring it to challenge her or explode for that matter. Suika was holding a spatula as if she had never seen one before in her life. And Marisa was experimenting with using her mouth to lift up objects due to the lack of arm functionality?.and perhaps that of her brain too.

Renko and Sanasan?s eyebrows twitched perceptibly. They

As for the team leader?.

?Don?t worry, Sanasan. I?m going to do this blindfolded.? Mikoto said with a friendly grin. Suika and Alice were holding her up by her shoulders. ?Marisa?s not using her arms, Alice is used to leaving her cooking to her dolls, and Reimu?.well?.she?s Reimu.?

?HEY! What?s that supposed to mean?!? Reimu demanded, indignation etched all over her face.

??and Ruukoto?s not here because she?s busy?err?.? She strained her ears for a bit. ?Ah, yes, Ruukoto?s busy keeping Sakuya and Yumeko from murdering the trainees.?

??.I don?t think we need a handicap?? Renko murmured. ?In fact I?m seriously wondering why the fire alarm hasn?t gone off yet??

??.that?s not making me feel any better?.? Sanasan sighed. ?Are you even FIT to be ALIVE, let alone cooking?? She asked Mikoto.

?The rest of the team?s working hard. I?ve got to keep up.? Mikoto said determinedly. ?Plus it?s good training.?

?Training?? Sanasan blinked, but before she could elicit an answer from Mikoto, Yumeko had stepped out onto the battlefield, carrying a meat-cleaver.

?Ready?? Yumeko tossed a watermelon into the air. ?Set!? She raised her meat-cleaver. ?START!? She split the watermelon in two.

The two teams blinked at the battle?s first casualty, the poor watermelon, looked up at Yumeko, gulped, and got to work.

====flashback===

A few hours ago, in room 202?

?Mukyuu?..? Patchouli murmured, her eyebrows furrowed in an expression of deep concentration. ?There really is nothing, I?m afraid.? Patchouli said finally.

?So there really is nothing?? Alice sighed. ?I know Makai mages have nothing for it.?

?I?m blanks toos, ze.? Marisa said.

??I see?? Mikoto bowed her head in disappointment. Magic has always seemed to hi?err..her like something omnipotent, something that will always have an answer to everything?given enough mana. But if even Gensokyo?s most knowledgeable mage was stumped?

?But that doesn?t mean there WON?T be something.? Patchouli said. ?Magic isn?t a static field. There?s always room for development and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.?

?How do we do that?? Mikoto asked, suddenly enthusiastic once more.

?How am I supposed to know?? Patchouli asked. ?You?ve got two passable mages and a miko on your team, I?m sure they?ll be able to scrounge up SOMETHING. Contracts and mana sharing are something rather poorly understood as we mages have never really bothered with it. You may find something to take advantage of there.?

?Now, if you?ll excuse me, I have a massage contest to go to?? She said, as if dreading the coming of some evil entity out to rob her soul. And with that she left.

?Hmm?so how do we use our contracts to our advantage?? Mikoto asked.

?Fufufu?I have the perfect plan?? Marisa began. ?We?.psst psst psst? She whispered. Everyone bent into listen, nodding fervently.

??.you?re seriously going to do that?? Reimu asked, her eyebrows twitching.

?Hey, any port in a storms ze.? Marisa said.

??.Can I switch teams, please?? Alice asked.

??.I wanna do it! I wanna do it!? Suika leapt up and down.

?Umm?err?? Ruukoto looked around at her team mates worriedly. ??please?be careful?? She finally managed.

?All right!? Marisa grinned. ?That?s what we?ll do then. Team FUBAR, MOVE OUT!?

======Back to the present===

Unfitting music plays - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGQS5XSoJ4

?And they?re off!? Aya shouted from her commentator box. ?First up is the soup. That should be easy, right? What does the head-maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion think??

?The soup is more complex than you think.? Sakuya began, steepling her fingers in front of her face. ?It initiates the gourmet on his journey of culinary exploration. It has to be enticing to his tongue, a prologue, a preview if you will, of the grandeur that is the main dish. The soup must be delicately appetizing in its own right but it musn?t spoil the main dish. It has to be planned well and coordinated with the main dish. A perfect balance of flavour and texture, that?s the key. And?.?

?Oooh?.!? Aya cried. ?Team Starlight seem to be planning it out all right. They?ve even got a blueprint out.?

Indeed, team Starlight seemed to be seriously appraising a blueprint hanging above their counter. It was either plans for a really interesting take on French Potage or an ion flux drive to send humans to Jupiter. They pointed things out to each other, argued, scribbled new annotations, took out calculators, punched out equations, wrote them down, argued more, before finally nodding and shaking each other?s hands over the blueprints.

??.It seems they?ve reached some sort of conclusion.? Aya said. ?As for team FUBAR?.?

?Zzzzzzzzzz?.daze? Marisa snored atop her counter, her eyes hidden underneath a wooly nightcap.

?It seems Marisa is sleeping?.? Aya said, her eyes twitching.

?Idiot black white! How can we sleep too if you?re snoring that loudly!? Alice shouted, throwing a frying pan at Marisa.

?DAZEEEE!? Marisa yelped.

?So much for diving. I knew that wasn?t going to help?? Mikoto muttered, shaking Suika awake from where she was lying comfortably in the oven. ?Oy, Rei?? He looked around and found Reimu curled up in a futon under the counter?.

?WAKE UP!?

?That should have been obvious. Diving only works when you?re ASLEEP! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO COOK?!? Alice shouted in Marisa?s face.

?Then it?s time for plan B!? Marisa declared. ?Battle stations, everyone!?

??.back to team Starlight?? Aya said, a little weary. ??.they seem to be?err?I don?t know, what are they doing??

Renko was using a compass to measure the diameter of a potato. Sanasan was taking notes carefully. She then raised into the light, turned it around so that it caught the light at different angles, before giving it a quick lick and smacking her lips appreciatively. Then she placed it in what looked like a make-shift mass spectrometer made out of an empty can, aluminum foil, and a dismantled microwave. Sparks and ungodly light filled the room for a moment. Then, seemingly satisfied that the potato had fulfilled whatever insane criteria she had cooked up, she placed it in a box marked ?qualified?. Next to it was a box marked ?Rejected? which now contained a tomato, an egg, a piece of celery, a leg of pork, a turkey, an elephant?s foot, a boar, and an upset-looking Minoriko Aki who was sniffling quietly with her back against the rejected boar.

??..aha?.ahaha?.ahahaha?.? Aya?s eyebrows were twitching dangerously now. ?Ummm?.I?m no master cook, but I have a feeling they?re doing something wrong??

?I see, that?s the Haversian method?? Yumeko?s eyes flashed.

?Whu?WHA?!? Aya blinked.

?Yes, yes, truly impressive.? Sakuya nodded. ?It?s an unorthodox method of cooking that had long been disputed, a brainchild of East Anglian Monks who perfected the method of quantitative cuisine management.?

??ok?.? Aya blinked. ?Back to team FUBAR?.err?.what on earth???

?Minds eye?.minds eye?.minds eye?.? Mikoto chanted over and over again as she groped across the counter.

?Open your third eye, see the light. C?mon baby, I?m on the set. Do the impossible, see the invisible, raw raw fight da POWAH!? Marisa rapped.

?Do you think this is working?? Alice asked, banging a wooden spoon against her pan, too frustrated to care. ??seriously, echo-location??

?It?s fun!? Suika laughed, rhythmically beating her saucepan with a hammer.

?Yes! This must be the pepper!? Mikoto declared, having found a tube of laxative.

?Oh wow, we must be beating the saucepan wrong?? Alice said. ?If we beat it like this?? She increased the tempo of her beating.

?Ah, and this is the salt!? Mikoto announced, holding up a bottle of cyanide.

??.we?re doing something wrong.? Alice sighed in defeat.

??.are they?cooking?? Aya asked, her hand grasping her desk for stability.

?I see, this is the long-lost Hoki-Doki style of cooking.? Sakuya said, appreciatively.

?WHAT?! IT?S A STYLE?!? Aya blinked.

?It was a cooking style adopted to complement blind-fighting. Hoki-Doki monks would go deep into dark caves to train blind-fighting, but they would continue their training while cooking as well. One of the highlights of this style is the complete avoidance of fire use to maintain darkness. The lack of heat created the need to compensate through flavour, creating a cold yet flavour-rich delicacy through a masterful synergy between martial arts technique and culinary prowess.? Yumeko explained in one breath.

?Ok?..and team Starlight is?.do I dare look?? Aya looked around?and immediately regretted it. She had to shield her eyes for fear of going blind.

Sanasan and Renko had donned welding masks and were applying doing *something* with a welding torch and a sledgehammer. Sanasan repeatedly beat something on an anvil with the sledgehammer while Renko applied the welding torch to it with all the finesse of a hippo attempting ballerina on a tightrope.

??.I?m lost.? Aya groaned against her desk.

?This is?.? Sakuya began.

?DON?T TELL ME THIS IS ANOTHER COOKING STYLE!? Aya snapped.

??.This is ironworking.? Sakuya finally decided, sweat droplets of apprehension on her forehead. ?Such technique. Such finesse??

?Indeed. Indeed.? Yumeko nodded appreciatively with all the air of someone utterly lost but is too much an authority to admit it. ??the hammer?and the anvil thing?and?err?.?

?Back to team FUBAR?.? Aya said weakly. ??.what?s going on there??

?Ten times clockwise, three times anti-clockwise?.? Alice chanted as she stirred the cauldron that team FUBAR has somehow managed to place atop the stove.

?Reimu Reimu?.? Suika murmured. ?That tomato is groaning.?

?Shhh?.? Mikoto whispered. ?I think sentience has evolved in there.?

?Will you shut up and pass me the sake?? Reimu demanded.

?But you don?t add the sake until?? Mikoto began.

?Just?.? Reimu grabbed it out of Mikoto?s hands. ??gimme.? She tossed a generous helping into the pan over the groaning tomato, causing it to scream a pitiful little scream of pain and agony.

??you killed it?? Suika said sadly.

?Well, it was going to dies anyways daze.? Marisa said. ?The cheese would have killed it at some point. I mean, look, it?s started to go to war with the celery.? She pointed out. ?I think the sake started it.?

?Looks like my onions have decided to remain neutral.? Alice observed. ??though it seems to be cannibalizing the remains of that tomato?.?

?Will you people shut up and let me concentrate on the soup?? Reimu asked, her voice shaking dangerously.

??..I?m?.giving up?.I can?t comment?? Aya moaned, looking around at team Starlight in a last ditch attempt at some semblance of sanity.

.twice clockwise, three times anti-clockwise?.? Renko said, stirring something in a metal dish. ??and then spin at 300 RPMs?.? She added, turning on a centrifuge machine and emptying the contents of the dish into it. ?

?That sounds right.? Sanasan nodded with approval. ?And then we rapid-freeze it with liquid nitrogen.?

??.? Aya was squirming against her desk, unable to find words to describe the fiasco before her.

Finally?.

?And so we have the results for the soup!? Aya declared, her face twitching dangerously. ?Now for the taste testing!?

The audience took a gigantic step back...

?Team FUBAR will now present their creation to the judges.? Aya said as team FUBAR stepped up with a huge cauldron(?) of creamy mushroom soup(?).

There was palpable tension in the air?which was probably the noxious fumes from team FUBAR?s cauldron. There was a demilitarized zone around the cauldron that even oxygen and water vapour had decided to avoid.

?Cream of mushroom soup.? Alice said, flatly, gesturing at the cauldron. ?Who wants to go first??

Yumeko looked around at Sakuya?.who looked around at Youmu?.who looked around at Ruukoto?.

?err?umm?me?? Ruukoto asked, uncertainly.

?As good a warm body as anyone?s.? Alice nodded. ?Ladle?? She asked. Suika heaved a heavy-duty pholtic-resin ladle into Alice?s hand.

She dipped it into the cauldron carefully, eliciting a hiss and a huge puff of steam from the soup?s surface. The surface cracked under the ladle?s assault, allowing something that resembled soup?.and probably molten lava, out.

She carefully lifted a ladle-full over Ruukoto?s bowl. A small bead of soup gathered under the ladle and threatened to drip?

?the audience leapt for cover behind every available cover including the rejected boar and elephant?s foot.

?and it dripped onto Ruukoto?s bowl?.

?.rather harmlessly?

?causing everyone in the room to feel rather silly.

Alice casually let the rest of the ladle?s contents spill into the soup bowl before placing it reverentially in front of Ruukoto. ?Enjoy.? She said, with relish.

Ruukoto looked up at Alice, then looked around at her fellow judges who had abandoned her to her fate, around at her team who looked expectant and hopeful?

?she gulped?

?drum roll?

[Gappy]

OOC: Sorry for the low quality of this post. I rushed it as it was starting to take up too much time and it was getting late. I hope that at the very least it can get the story moving again.

At the bottom of the steps to the Saniwa Inn, in front of Tourist Helpers, 11.30 PM, near midnight, Day 4, featuring Chloe and Rinnosuke[/u]

?Sigh?.this town really is boring?.? Chloe sighed as she swung her legs to and thro atop a convenient bench outside Tourist Helpers. She had spent the night in a ruined department store in the comfort of the mattress section. However, some carpenter came in to inspect the damage early this morning so she had to clear out as stealthily as she could.

Oh well, they say Elimia rewards those who suffer, right?

Now she was suffering from boredom. Again. The thing she had attempted to escape from in the first place.

In her boredom she decided to watch a number of approaching cars. There was so little traffic in this sleepy little town that even this was rare enough to warrant watching.

Hmm?.they were black.

Hmm?.they screeched to a stop in front of the store?.

?.a number of people in black suits just stepped out?.

?.and they didn?t look like very nice people. Not at all.

?.uh oh?.

She tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. She failed. Mostly thanks to her huge backpack.

??ere, we?ve got one of ?em.? One of the men gestured over at Chloe.

?How do you know she?s one of ?em?? Another asked.

?She?s a girl and she?s sitting outside the?eh, where?s she go?? They looked around and spotted the backpack sneaking away down a side alley.

?She?s running away! That means she?s one of them!? The brains of the bunch shouted. ?You two, go grab her! The rest of you, we?re going up into that shrine to show them what?s what! We need to get back at them for the humiliation yesterday!?

?YEAH!?

?Oh?? Rinnosuke blinked at the huge group of men in black outside. ?Hmm, customers already?? He mused. ?I didn?t know the inn was even open. Oh well. Might as well let the others know in advance.? He took out his pocket Covenant communicator and dialed up Mitaka.

??.hello? Is this thing on?? Mikoto?s voice came from the other side. There was the sound of somebody with a very hoarse voice attempting to sing the theme to Dragonball on karaoke in the background.

?Yes, I can sees the little red light blinkings theres ze.? Marisa?s voice also floated through the communicator.

??err?can I please speak to that Mitaka person?? Kourin asked.

?Yes, I?m him?err?her.? Mikoto replied. ??it?s a long story.?

??okay?.? Kourin blinked. Well?.this is the Gensokyo troupe he was dealing with. ?Err?ok, you?ve got some visitors already, it seems. They seemed rather keen and eager. They looked quite important too, judging by the expensive-looking vehicles they arrived in.?

?Really?! Already?? Mikoto gasped. ??.they might be reviewers or something like that. I hear they?re very quick when it comes to new places opening up.?

?Then it?s your opportunity to promote the shrine and inn then.? Kourin said.

?Thanks for the heads-up, Kourin!? Mikoto said gratefully. ?Guys! Guys! We?ve got visitors! Probably magazine reviewers and people like that!?

?Err?.what??

?Stop rolling around the floor, wake up and stop guzzling booze!? Reimu?s voice came over the communicator. There was the sound of a sharp kick making contact with ribs.

?ARGH!?

?All right everyone! Welcome Formation 7!? Sakuya ordered. ?Move move move! Remember, hospitality and smiles, people!?

?Hoozah!? And the communicator went dead.

??.? Kourin stared at the communicator in his hand for a second, before shrugging and pocketing it before going back to his crosswords. 5 letter word for uncontrolled entropy?. ?Chaos.? He mused, and wrote that down?.

========

...at the top of the stairs....

?Ok, *gasp* the boss wants us to *wheeze* make sure those men from *gasp and wheeze* yesterday all indeed *gasp gasp wheeze* live here.? The yakuza leading the gang said as they finally reached the top of the stairs. Behind him was a trail of panting yakuza. ?secondly?. *wheeze gasp* We have to capture some *wheeze gasp wheeze* hostages for the boss.?

?Ok, ready?.? Two yakuza positioned themselves by the sliding doors, ready to pull them open. The others prepared for the charge. ?GO!?

And they charged in.

?.into a killing field?.

?IRASHAIMASE! (Welcome)? A dozen hard-looking heads with sharp-looking maid bows stiffened with excess starch bowed towards the incoming yakuza. Some crashed into their heads. Some gutted them in the stomach, embedding the wire-stiffened maid bows into their guts. Some got crushed in the nuts.

The maids in traditional kimono and aprons all straightened up and smiled very, very warm smiles of welcome at the groaning and twitching pile of yakuza at their doorstep.

?Oh, the guests seem exhausted from their long journey.? Hirowaza gasped.

?Or the stairs.? Zei shrugged.

?Then let us help them relax. To the hot springs!? Kajira ordered.

?To the hot springs!? The team of maids roared as if it were a battle cry.

The yakuza were half-carried, half-dragged down the halls, not able to complain from the lack of wind.

?Turn the hot springs to maximum, Nitori!? Owlbear ordered.

?Maximum, coming right up!? Nitori replied.

Steam burst out of the hot springs as it began to boil?.before  into raw plasma?

?Please enjoy our hot springs.? Kajira said sweetly as the yakuza were dumped bodily into the hot springs.

?YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!?

More bubbles and steam burst out as the yakuza sank under the tumultuous bath.

?Massage teams! Get in there!? Hirowaza ordered.

?Right!? Jan and Hirowaza replied as Pearl, team Overlord and team Fairy Harem fished out the yakuza from their cooking pot and carting them to the massage room.

?I shall show you how a real martial artist delivers a proper massage.? Alex said, closing his eyes in concentration as Owlbear wheeled in the still steaming yakuza.

?Cooking team, have dinner ready!? Kajira shouted.

?On it!? Sanasan and Renko said as they wheeled a particle accelerator built out of the remains of a fridge into the dining room.

OOC: Feel free to write in your own contribution to this section.

====A lot later===

In the lobby?.

?What on earth are you people doing?!? Sakuya gasped. ?What have I been training you all to do?! This isn?t hospitality! This is brutality!?

?Doesn?t matter.? Hiroko shrugged. ?It?s the yakuza from the other day.?

?Oh?? Sakuya blinked. ??err?do they know that??

??.no.? Gpop shook his head. ?But it doesn?t make a difference, does it??

??.? Sakuya?s face met her palm.

?I don?t think they recognize any of us yet.? Jan said, coming into the lobby, fiddling with her pocket communicator. ?I suppose the gender-bender drug has its merits.?

?I don?t know if that?ll make much of a difference.? Mikoto said, coming up behind Jan.

??.how long did it take you people to notice they were yakuza?? Hiroko asked, raising an eyebrow.

?Well?..guns and grenades starting falling out of them when the massage session started.? Owlbear said. ?I guess that was a dead giveaway.?

?Are you sure it wasn?t the fact that we found their bodies layered with tattooes when their clothes melted off in the baths?? Kajira asked, sauntering in to join the discussion.

?I?ve sounded the pocket communicator alarm. I set them all to vibrate so we?ll be able to deal with them subtly and inconspicuously.? Jan said, showing them the general alert indicator on her pocket communicator. ?We can dump them over at the local landfill or something after.?

?We?re force-feeding them our cooking now.? Kajira said. ?If they aren?t out already, this?ll do the?.?

BANG?

A low muffled explosion came from the direction of the dining room.

??.that doesn?t sound good.? Gpop said, worriedly. The team rushed towards the source of the noise, only to find smoke seeping out from between the sliding doors. There was a lot of coughing and wheezing coming from the other side.

?Looks like some sort of bomb. Probably smoke.? Owlbear said. ?Tie something around your face and follow me.? She said, untying her obi (kimono belt) and tying it around her face.

Smoke burst out of the room as they slammed the doors open. Their comrades were lying on the floor, coughing and wheezing weakly as they choked on the smoke. On the far end of the room the yakuza were climbing out of a window, carrying a number of squirming and struggling figures.

Without another word the team charged towards the escaping yakuza. But just as they reached the window, the last of the yakuza had slipped over the edge of the stairs.

?Koishi! Where?s Koishi?!? Gpop had turned back to face the room in search of his wife. He waved blindly through the slowly dissipating smoke, searching the helpless people on the floor for Koishi?s trademark light green hair.

His search yielded him nothing.

??.They took Koishi!? He whispered, colour draining quickly from his face. His clenched his quivering fists so tight that his nails drew blood. ?THEY TOOK KOISHI!? He roared in unchecked fury.

?Gpop, she might be somewhere el?? Sakuya began, but Gpop was already leaping out an open window in mad pursuit.

?Gpop! Don?t leave the shrine!? Behind him Mikoto was shouting after Gpop. ?The rest of your team is still here! If you leave they might die!?

?Take care of your team, Mikoto. I?ll catch Gpop.? Sakuya said.

?Sakuya, what about Taihou?? Mikoto asked, concerned.

?I trust him. Taihou won?t die from a little smoke.? Sakuya pointed out as she sped out of the room.

Mikoto, however, was already aware that the worst had happened. She had found Suika, Ruukoto, and Alice and had managed, in a blind stumbling struggle, to get them to an open window. But Reimu and Marisa were obviously missing. If they were separated for too long?.

She shook the thought out of her head. Right now she had to focus on saving those in front of her. She began to blindly grope for more bodies to drag towards the draft that was signified an open window.

?Open up the windows!? Mikoto gritted her teeth as she heaved another limp body towards a window.

?Shinki! Are you all right?!? Owlbear was kneeling beside a stricken Shinki. He carefully cradled her in her arms, her face twisted by a mixture of anger and anxiety.

??O-Owlbear?? Shinki wheezed, her voice weak and shaking, her face deathly pale. ?Luize?Mai?I t-think th-they took them??

?Shhh, calm down.? Owlbear whispered soothingly. ?We?ll get them back soon.? He said, sounding more confident than he really felt. He?d like to run after them but with Shinki, Yuki, and Yumemi knocked out like this?.

?Darn it!? Jan cursed, throwing another window open. ?We should?ve just knocked them out when we had the chance!?

?Listen up, Saniwa shrine!? A voice boomed from outside. It was someone speaking over a megaphone. Mikoto somehow recognized the voice as the yakuza leader from the other day. Ryoji, was it?

?We?re taking some of your little friends for a little ride.? Ryoji said. The team?s heart sank. So they did take some of their comrades captive. ?If you want to see them back, alive, tell those boys from the other day to come down to the construction site beside Junes in an hour. You know the rules. No cops, no funny business?.or your little friends? ride will be a one-way trip.?

There was the sound of closing doors and screeching tires?.and then silence?

OOC: I hope you don?t mind the following scene, Gpop. You did make Mitaka do some rather random things before so I hope you don?t mind this ^^.

?save?

?LET ME GO! I?LL RIP THAT BLOODY RAT?S HEART OUT! GIVE ME BACK KOISHI YOU BASTARD!? Gpop screamed until he was hoarse as Sakuya dragged him back into the room.

?Gpop! Important as saving Koishi is, if you leave Merlin, Satori, and Sanae behind they?ll die!? Sakuya tried to reason with him.

?AAAARGH!? Gpop roared, throwing Sakuya aside. He was leaping into another mad dash when Mikoto stepped in front of him and threw out a literal blind punch at him.

She missed, but Gpop got caught in Mikoto?s outstretched arm, pulling them both into the ground, with Mikoto landing on top of Gpop.

?ARGH! Get off me you bastard deodorant! Or I?ll?? Gpop began, before he was silenced by another punch from Mikoto. This time it hit his jaw.

?Snap out of it!? Mikoto snapped in his face. ?We?re all worried about Koishi, as well as everyone else they kidnapped. They?re all our comrades. But we can?t abandon the ones still here! All of them are too weak to move! If we leave the shrine now THEY will die!?

?RAAAAAAAARGH!? Gpop screamed, slamming his fists into the tatami. ?DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! KOISHIIII! KOISHIII!? He shouted, as if shouting would bring her back. ??Koishi?.? His voice died down into a whisper as he knelt there, panting. ??.Koishi?.?

??Gpop?.They took Reimu and Marisa as well.? Mikoto said. ?But we will get them back, all of them, even if it costs me more than my eyes this time. I swear it.? She said, sitting down against a wall beside Gpop. She was quite thankful she had chosen black as the colour of her blindfold. It didn't show any stains. It was sogging wet. He would like to think it was only sweat but he knew better. Tears were leaking unchecked. In truth she wanted to scream as well. There was so much rage and sorrow rampaging in her heart that she was sure she would explode if she didn?t exert any control. But she had to stay cool. Raging wouldn?t do anything at the moment. ?Someone, anyone, with plenty of mana, can you turn on your GPS to track them??

?I?m on it.? Hiroko said, gesturing at her open communicator.

?Ok, as soon as everyone recovers, we?re heading out to Junes.? Mikoto said.

?Oy, Deodorant.? Gpop said, slowly sitting up.

?What?? Mikoto asked.

Stars exploded in her eyes as a fist made contact with her jaw.

?If you turn back on your oath, you?ll suffer something worse.? Gpop muttered, cracking his knuckles. ?So you?d better fulfill it.? He suddenly chuckled. ?So far you?re the only one with the balls to punch me. And you?ve done it twice?.the second time without your balls. Somehow I think your oath isn?t all bullshit.?

?And you?re the only man I?ve ever known to punch a girl.? Mikoto said, grinning back.

?Heh, you aren?t the only one around here who can throw around bullshit. I?ll swear too, here and now, that I?ll get Koishi back?and all our comrades.?

?Then we?ll fulfill our oaths together.? Mikoto nodded. ??.ow, did you have to punch me that hard??

?Shut up. If you?re a man, grin and?oh, sorry, you?re not one.? Gpop said, standing up to check on the rest of his team.

??.? Mikoto shook her head in exasperation as she too went off to check on her slowly recovering team.

OOC: Feel free to write in your own scene and decide if anybody in your team was kidnapped.

===A lot later===

The construction site beside Junes Department Store, 12.30 PM, Day 4, featuring everyone

?Are they here?? Sanasan whispered as the team snuck around the shadows of the front gate. The area seemed deserted. The shopping district had closed hours ago.

?Seems like it.? Hiroko said, looking down at her pocket communicator. ??.the mana drainage is serious. I don?t think I?ll be able to hold this any longer.?

?I?ll take over.? Gpop said, taking out his own pocket communicator. ?I should have enough mana for this.?

They were suddenly blinded by a myriad of glaring lights. ?Welcome!?  A voice boomed. It was Ryoji again, standing beside one of the huge heavy-duty spotlights. The team had to shield their eyes and squint just to make out his silhouette.

?I?ve invited you all here to play a little game.? Ryoji said, snapping his fingers. A chorus of guns cocking filled the air as an entire battery of gun barrels were leveled at the team.

?Don?t mess with us! Where are our friends?!? Taihou shouted.

?Oh, don?t worry about them?.yet.? Ryoji said. ?I?m giving you a chance to get them back?without any bloodshed. Aren?t I generous??

??I think we should play along for now.? Amarillo whispered to the team. ?In the meantime we?ll use the GPS to track down where they?re hiding them.?

?What game? What are the stakes?? Hirowaza asked.

??.hmmm?.didn?t I ask you to bring the boys from the other day?? Ryoji suddenly asked.

?They?re all out of town.? Owlbear said. ?We?ll do just fine?.but if you?re afraid of getting beaten by girls?.? She began.

?All right, all right.? Ryoji laughed, eliciting a chorus of laughter from his fellow yakuza. ?I guess they were too chicken to come so they left it to you girls. But that doesn?t mean we?re going to go easy on you?.in fact?? A malicious grin crept across his face. ??.I think we?re going to have plenty of fun?.?

Lecherous chuckles broke out amongst the yakuza ranks.

??.ugh?? Amarillo squirmed uncomfortably. .

There was the sound of rubber soles screeching on smooth surfaces, followed by the sound of rhythmic dull thudding.

??.basketball?? Jan blinked.

A number of yakuza were playing basketball behind Ryoji.

?.or at least something that looked like basketball?.

It didn?t seem to conform to the usual rules of basketball. They were bouncing balls off walls, the ceiling, and opposing players. They leapt over cement bags and timber piles, dribbling over steel beams, climbing up wooden planks before slam-dunking the ball in a make-shift hoop, a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

?Wait?isn?t that?? Shinki blinked.

Three of the yakuza players seemed rather familiar.

??.Ellen? Kotohime?? Shinki asked.

?China! What are you doing there?!? Sakuya shouted.

?Eh? Sakuya?? Meirin blinked. ?Ah! It IS Sakuya! You?re all alive! What a relief!?

?Oh, a lot of them suddenly popped out of nowhere.? Ellen said.

?Oh, you already know each other. Very good.? Ryoji said. ?Because tonight you?ll be playing against those three and my gang.?

??.China! You dare betray us?!? Sakuya demanded.

?Sorry, Sakuya?.? China sighed. ?They?ve got Kana.?

?Kana? That sweet little girl from the forest?? Sakuya asked.

?They promised us her safety as long as we cooperate.? Meirin explained. Ellen and Kotohime nodded behind her. ?Sorry, looks like we?re enemies today.?

?Ugh?.? Sakuya gritted her teeth. She knew Kana Anaberal personally. To use that sweet little girl as a hostage?.these bastards?

?This is a little game the big boys play here. It beats watching people mindlessly splatter each other?s brains all over the sidewalk.? Ryoji gestured at the basketball game. ?We call it street-ball. The rules are simple. Get the ball into the opponent?s hoop. First to ten hoops wins. No firearms. Nothing more. Nothing less. Anything else goes.?

?I will have you all play. Your entire team against ours.? Ryoji said. ?Stakes are simple. You win, you get your friends back. We win, you all work for us.?

?Well, even if they win, we can still escape at some point?? Zei began.

?AND, I know about your little secret.? Ryoji continued. ?If we win, your contracts will be ours.?

??WHAT?!?

?You heard me.? Ryoji said. ?Right now I already own those four. And oh, the power! With your little army I could conquer Japan! No, maybe even the triads on the continent! And beyond!?

??.he?s mad!? Shinki gasped.

?What I want to know is how he can supply 4 contracts simultaneously, being an average human?.? Jan whispered. ?He?s hiding something and we need to find out what.?

?We?ll give you all 5 minutes to get ready.? Ryoji said. ?Aren?t I generous??

?Slimy bastard.? Gpop muttered.

?Ok, who here knows how to play basketball?? Jan muttered in a low voice as the team huddled together in a circle.

??.? There was silence.

?Anyone?? Jan asked, hope rapidly draining out of his voice.

One hand rose hesitantly into the air.

?Oh, one person!? Jan gasped.

??.me?? Mikoto said.

??.? Jan?s palm met his face, hard. ?Great, the blind one. Anyone else who ISN?T somehow physically OR mentally disabled??

?Ok, look, Jan, we?re not stupid.? Gpop sighed. ?We all can play to some extent. That?s a given. But?.? The entire team looked around at the yakuza who were sitting around, glaring at them menacingly. One of them bashed a ball into shreds with a metal pipe to make a point. ??.y?see, none of us play THAT sort of basketball?? He pointed out.

??.ok, look, who here can shoot hoops?? Owlbear asked around. A few hands rose. ?Ok, you people stand by the hoop and wait for the rest of us to get the ball to you. Everyone, just do whatever it takes to steal the ball from them and get it to our shooters. If we pool our resources we can win this!?

Silence reigned in the wake of Owlbear?s peptalk.

??.pretty shallow pool.? Zei finally said.

?Ok, break!? Owlbear snapped. The team reluctantly broke the huddle to face the enemy.

?Taihou, you?re doing the touch-up.? Kajira said.

?Why me?? Taihou asked.

??.Because nobody else will.? Kajira nodded over at the rest of the team who were standing as far back as possible.

??.how reassuring?.? Taihou sighed. He took up his position in front of the opposing yakuza player. The ?referee?, if he was one, held the ball between them and prepared to toss it. The opposing player gave Taihou a mocking grin. Taihou settled for glaring back at him.

?And?GO!?

As the ball rose the Taihou and the yakuza player rose along with it. Taihou reached out. His heart leapt as his fingers brushed the leather surface of the ball. He had it?!

?.a sharp pain in his gut?

?.and the next second he was crashing through a pile of packing crates, having suffered a sudden punch to the guts from the other yakuza who easily passed the ball to his teammates. They swiftly carried it away towards team Gensokyo?s ring.

?Taihou!? Sakuya gasped.

?Agh?g-get the b-ball!? Taihou wheezed at the rest of the team who were rooted the spot, shocked and concerned. ?GO!?

?You?ll pay for that!? Meira roared as she grabbed Hirowaza and dragged her after her after the ball.

?I?ve got you!? Owlbear declared as she waylaid the ball-carrier in a narrow concrete corridor, making sure there was no way he could possible pass?

?who, to Owlbear?s great surprise, didn?t seem worried by his presence at all.

The carrier threw the ball up at the wall. Owlbear?s attention followed it as it rebounded off the wall, into the opposite wall, and back down behind Owlbear. However, he failed to notice the yakuza sliding past him to catch the ball once more and dribble it on.

?H-hey!? Owlbear gasped, turning around?only to be bashed into from behind by the rest of her team.

?Agh! Owlbear, what?re you doing in this narrow corridor?!? Yuki complained from the bottom of the pile.

?Shut up!? Yumemi cried. ?They?re getting away!?

?I?ll get you!? Gpop shouted as he leapt over a cement bag towards the current carrier, Meirin. He wasn?t the only one. Half of team Gensokyo was diving for her in a mad tackle dash.

Meirin sighed as she tossed the ball high up into the air before shouting ?Colourful Mountain Breaker!?. A wave of light burst out of her as she stomped the ground and spun her fist around. The shockwave blasted the incoming team into the walls.

?H-how?.?? Hiroko gasped, wincing in pain as she lay in a pile of broken crates. ?She shouldn?t?be able to?use that??

?Too weak!? Ryoji roared from the sidelines. ?You were holding back, weren?t you?!?

?N-no! I swear I?? Meirin began.

?I told you your friend suffers for every bit of hesitance!? Ryoji barked. Something on his chest glowed a dull red, obscured by his shirt. A muffled scream of pain echoed across the construction site.

?Kana!? Both Sakuya and Meirin gasped.

?Ugh?sorry, everyone?.? Meirin muttered. ?Stay alive, ok?? She caught the ball once more and carried it all the way to the hoop to score the yakuza?s first score.

?C?mon, guys!? Hirowaza shouted at the downed team. ?We?ve got to keep going! The game is still running!? She shouted, running after the ball as it passed between Ellen and Kotohime.

OOC: Ok, here's how the game should go. For now we should just run up until it's 9 - 0 for the yakuza, before we turn the tables on them Gensokyo style. I'll write out that part when we get to 9 - 0. I'd write it out myself but I'm out of time for tonight.

Also, note that Meirin, Ellen and Kotohime are capable of using danmaku and magic as Ryoji seems to have some sort of trick up his sleeve.

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Saniwa Shrine 11:30 PM


Austin sat in the room with Nitori and Momizi. Nitori was manning the thermostat for the spring(where it came from, no one knew) while Momizi and Austin simply sat around.

Marx, who recently joined up with the Gensokyoites, was lying on the roof, staring at the moon. Cirno peered down to see the chaos that was ensuing.

Marx: Where is he...

*Flashback to arrival*


Amarillo: Ok, this is Marx. She's going to be helping us out.

everyone: Meh...

Marx: Yeah, uh, hi. I'm going to go get a room.

Marx commandeered one of the spare rooms and rested her head. Cirno was outside with the others, catching up. Suddenly, a pain pierced her head as she screamed. It was a memory, coming back to her.
She was in a forest with white-haired man in a trenchcoat. He had very long hair and a katana that seemed to radiate with power. He also had Crios in his right eye. She could not hear what was going on, nor could she contro what happened. Her body seemed to be doing it all on it's own. She didn't know what was happening, but she had strong feelings for him. It was obvious that this man was important to her somehow.

The pain subsided, and Marx got up.

Marx: (thinking) Who was that? Alright, new goals. Primary target, the white-haired man. Ria will be secondary.

*end Flashback*


Marx sighed as she wondered what the glorious night would bring.

Meanwhile, in one of the massage rooms, Ria was (reluctantly) giving a massage to one of the visitors. Bones cracked as Ria lightly tapped on the victim's back.

Kaguya: You know, a massage is supposed to be calm.

Ria: You know, it's actually calming me.

Yakuza 1: nononono! Not the-*crack*AUGH!!!

Ria: Huh, I didn't know it could bend that way.

Kaguya: I don't think that's supposed to bend that way...

Ria tossed the carcass onto the ever-growing pile of bodies when the communicator rang. Not the Gensokyoite one, however. It was the one embedded in one of her gloves.

Voice: Captain Ria!

Ria: Huh?!? You're alive?!?

It was the pirates that were left behind.

Pirate 1: Captain! Thank god we found you! We tried to contact the Sky Ray for help! What happened?!?

Ria: Long story short, the Sky Ray cannot operate.

Pirate 2: What?!? What are we going to do?!?

Ria: Calm down. Are all the buggys accounted for?

Pirate 1: Yes, all buggies are accounted for. We are well stocked on ammunition as well.

Ria: Good. Relay the coordinates to the communicator and stand by. Try to stay out of sight.

Ria looked up from the communicator to see a Yakuza at the door.

Yakuza 2: Gah!!!

Ria: adjust time.

The yakuza turned to run away but suddenly found himself strapped to the table, staring at a girl with a glowing, blue eye.

Ria: Sorry about the delay. Please relax for a sensual experience.

Yakuza 2: MRRRRRRRR! (AAAUUUGGGHH!!!)

Ria swung her hand down to start the massage and shattered the yakuza's spine.

Ria: Whew, all done.

It was at this point that an explosion occured, and Kaguya was nowhere to be seen.

Ria: Kaguya? Kaguya! Crios! Allies' bonds-Kaguya!

She activated her crios and saw Kaguya being dragged off by the Yakuza, as well as a number of the other girls.

Ria: No! Halt ti- *cough*

Ria began to cough and fell over. Blood began to trickle from her mouth.

Marx, who was blown off the roof, got up and looked on at the fleeing Yakuza. Cirno was in the arms of one of them, struggling to get free.

Marx: Oh, no you don't!

She drew her gun and fired a Dark shot. It struck the Yakuza carrying Cirno, and he fell on the ground, abandoned by his comrades. Marx lept down to the Yakuza and pulled Cirno from the fallen man.

Marx: It's been a while since I've had prey.

Yakuza 3: N-no! Please no!

Marx simply smiled, and bit into the Yakuza. His screams of agony were drowned out by the bullhorn of Ryoji.


Later, in the dining room


Austin, Nitori, and Momizi were busy tending to the injured in the dining room.

Momizi: Dammit, how could this have happened?

Nitori: Those bastards...

Austin: We'll get those girls back, and take down those damn Yakuza.

Ria stubbled into the dining room and sat down beside a wall. She brought the Pirate communicator up.

Ria: This is Ria, calling mobile raiding squad.

Pirate 1: Yes, ma'am.

Ria: Have all the buggies and all of our men arrive one block away from the department store. When I call you, arrive at the front of the store.

Pirate 1: Yes ma'am.

Marx stood near one of the windows wiping blood and an unidenfifiable liquid from her mouth. Cirno sat by her legs, still shakened by the affair.

Marx: Hrmph. There wasn't much in him.

Austin walked over to Ria.

Austin: You ok?

Ria: They took Kaguya.

Austin:...

Ria: Here, take this.

Ria pulled out a syringe and handed it to Austin.

Austin: Um, what is it?

Ria: Just a little something that I was working on earlier. Don't worry, it won't hurt you. In fact, it may help you fight.

Austin: He injected himself with it. He began to feel a little funny.

Ria: It may take a while, so be patient

Momizi: Shady drugs aside, what are we going to do?

Austin: We go and save those girls. We'll depart when everyone else is ready.

Marx walked over to Ria and handed her a syringe with an unusual liquid inside it.

Marx: Use this. You'll regain some of the mana you lost.

Ria: Heh. What's with the change?

Marx: I still need you alive so I can ask some questions.


Outside Junes


Ria departed with the pirates and went into the store, their goal being the roof.

Austin, Nitori, and Momizi walked with everyone else into the backlot area with the others, not knowing what would happen next.

Marx and Cirno had left to find where the girls were kept, as well as searching for viable prey for mana drain.

[trancehime]

Saniwa Inn, 11.55 PM, Day 4

The smoke was coming out from the area as Hirowaza and Meira made their entry, covering their mouths with the long sleeves from their furisode kimonos. This is terrible! The smoke's pretty thick! Hirowaza thought as she maneuvered through some fallen utensils and gestured for Meira to follow. After some time, the smoke cleared gradually and Hirowaza felt something was off. Several people were gone. There were yakuza in here who escaped, and took several of the girls with them. Hirowaza felt a chill run up her spine. ...So many of them are gone! Koishi, Marisa and that red-white are gone too... So are the jealous lady and miss Peaches... This is terrible! she continued thinking as Meira kept her katana at the ready in case anyone tried to make another move. "Listen up, Saniwa Shrine!" a voice from a megaphone boomed from way outside. It was quite definitely Ryoji from that condescending voice of his. That bastard...! Hirowaza thought as she looked intently outside.

?We?re taking some of your little friends for a little ride.? Ryoji said. The team?s heart sank. So they did take some of their comrades captive. ?If you want to see them back, alive, tell those boys from the other day to come down to the construction site beside Junes in an hour. You know the rules. No cops, no funny business?.or your little friends? ride will be a one-way trip.?

Hirowaza clenched her right fist and placed it on her chest. She murmured very softly, so it was only audible to Meira. "Heartless little shits!" she cursed, and looked down on the ground. "Fine, if that's what they want! You bastards are going to get it!" she said, looking like she was going to cry. Hey, calm down, Yoh-chan~ Meira said. At least, we are still together, ne? Hirowaza shook her head at the realization. "You're right. We're still together. Let's help the others rescue their captured comrades."

And amongst all this, the yakuza had vacated.

Construction Site, Junes Dept. Store, 12.33 AM, Day 5

The yakuza at this time, when everyone arrived, had pulled several guns on them. Ryoji was visible and laid down an opportunity for everyone to participate in a "game." Hirowaza tilted her head as she heard the sound of a basketball being dribbled up and down. ...Basketball? ...Street basketball? What absurdity is this? Hirowaza thought, scratching her head at this debacle. Many things went on at the same time, it all rather confused Hirowaza, but at least she knew how to play. She was a sprinter, so it wouldn't be too bad, until she noticed that Meiling was present. Hong freaking Meiling.

When the game started, it was chaotic. Almost like anarchy. People were running around, people trying to beat the everloving bajeezus out of each other. It was disheartening, but Meira did not seem fazed as she snatched Hirowaza and helped in a feeble attempt to defend. However, the skill of the yakuza allowed assistance for a Meiling to score the first blood unopposed.

"Damnit, people!" Hirowaza squealed. "Get your act together!"

Activate Cacophonous Symphony!!

Hirowaza quickly took out her switchblade as it changed into a long bo stick, and she dashed towards Ellen and Kotohime in an attempt to intercept the ball. Except it was too late, and Hirowaza ended up getting blocked by Ellen and Kotohime as they pushed against Hirowaza's bo. "Go, go, go, Meira-sama!" Hirowaza said. Meira nodded and ran past the struggling Hirowaza as she was repelled and stumbled back, quickly using the bo to recover. Then she was surrounded by several fielding yakuza. "You rascals!" Hirowaza exclaimed. "Fine, try and get me!"

Meira attempted to try and get it in, but suddenly, Meiling was there and when Meira tried to attack Meiling, the gateguard clasped the blade with her palms and kicked the ball off of Meira's off hand, regaining possession.

"Yaaah!" Hirowaza said as she polevaulted off the bo and guided it over the yakuza surrounding her.

[AJC]

11:30 PM Saniwa inn hallway outside Team "fairy harem" rooms

Alex had knocked down the door on his room he heard the fairys in his charge screaming he then busted down the door on the room daiyousei and the 3 fairys were in as well has Lily black who went there to scold the 3 fairys for spiking the other's breakfast in the morning.

what he saw worryed him the fairys weren't there and the room was a mess and he saw a note he picked it up and he started reading it.

Dear Saniwa shrine owners since you appear to not want to cooperate willing we will be using force we'll be taking some of your women

so unless you decide to play our game don't expect to see them again...at least in once peice.

Alex knew that only the yakuza would be behind this.

"damn it no telling were they could hide them..has bad has i'm sounding saying this some of those girls will not last long without us." he said to himself.

Alex then felt like someone was behind him.

"DIE" a man shouted

Alex turned around to see a Yakuza man swing a sword at him.

To a normal person the swing would be really hard to see but to Alex and his near life-long time of training the man moved like he was a machine that hasn't be lubicated enough really slow.

Alex sidesteped avoiding it just enough clearance to only cut into his head hairs and gives a sharp palm strike blow to the man's chest in retaliation almost before the man could even think of reacting.

"WHA.OOOOPFH" the man says has he goes flying into a wall.

"Stop Now unless you really want to die i've aleady killed 6 of your kind not long ago your up against a foe that both out manuvers you and out powers you." Alex says

"Sure..if you want that woman and those 4 little girls to die." the yakuza snears has he gets up.

"WHAT" alex says in his mind.

"Harm them and i assure you will wish you were like the 5 killed in less painful ways than the 6th i assure you i can give you a most painful death."

"so what by now the others sould had snagged the rest or as many has they could and bolted on that note see you in hell" the yakuza says he then uses a flashbang like device which alex shields himself from the effects the yakuza then escapes.

"DAMN IT" Alex says

Alex makes his way out of the room and to the main lobby.

Saniwai inn lobby 11:57

Alex made it to the lobby only to hear the sound of cars reving up engines and the sound of fading tires squealing means they yakuza have left.

"DAMN THOSE BASTARDS" Alex says pounding on the ground.

Alex leaves a dent in the floor from his pounding thats a good 4 inchs deep.

"I take it they got the fairys as well." he hears from a girl. alex can't make out but judging by the fact shinki is with her it must be Owlbear

"oh those bastards.. if they dare harm them. sorry i know i promised NOT to kill but if they dare to do so i will rip them apart." alex says Alex is fuming.

also to anyone who is keen on detecting the supernatual just about everything is starting to rise his ki his mana Alex is pissed and is ready to kill.


meanwhile else were.

Roof of a building near the Construction Site and Junes Dept. Store midnight day 5

Yagi watchs from his vantage point in a building adjacent fo the junes dept.store and the construction site.

"The Yakuza lowlifes are returning after being on the move." Yagi muses while watching it in binocs

he watchs the yakuza pull up and start leaving their cars when he spots something intresting

"oh whats this looks like they got themselfs a bunch of girls..judging by the way they are acting it doesn't look like they are their by free will.."

Yagi then spots something that makes him ponder.

"oh whats THAT why isn't that that girl i saw with Alex back at the old dojo and on that land cruiser....yes it is. nah they couldn't have possable offed Alex to take her i know Alex too well he would probably rather die..and take as many with them before he'd let something like that slip away from him. they must of nabbed her while he wasn't there to stop them." Yagi muses

Yuka responds "That must mean at least that she and potentally along with others have been nabbed by them what will we be doing master?"

"Nothing not even if Alex or the others shows up they aren't our top priority at the moment we can't have the rogue RAI Marx on the lose." Yagi replys

"Not even to report their location master?" Yuka replys

"Only if it doesn't keep me from finishing things with Alex 1 on 1." Yagi replys

[Sana]

Round 5, Part 2, Kitchen, 5:20PM, Day 4, including the cooking teams, judges, and Aya

Ruukoto picked up a spoon. She swirled the soup around a bit, examining it, then finally put some in her mouth. Team FUBAR nervously waited for her response.

"Hm..." Ruukoto said, as she gulped it down. "It's certainly nothing like any soup I've ever had before. The sake and onions make for a flavour that's hard to describe. I give it....a four out of five?"

The rest of the judges looked at the soup suspiciously, but had some anyway.

"...Interesting." Sakuya said.

"...? I....didn't die from this?" Yumeko said with surprise.

"Wow, it's actually kind of good." Youmu said.

"YEAH! I KNEW ITS, ZE!" Marisa shouted out in victory. "WE'RE GOING TO WIN!"

"...They haven't even tasted theirs yet." Mikoto said.

"Anyway, um...here's ours." Sanasan said, embarrassed, as she opened a pot and poured out some of its contents into a bowl. It landed with a splash and a small thud. The judges looked at it.

The soup was.....not entirely soup. While there was some brownish liquid in the bowl, most of the "soup" still seemed to be frozen solid. Regardless, Ruukoto decided to be first to sample it, and put some in her mouth. Sanasan and Renko watched intently.

"....WHAT TH-?! WATER! SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME WATER!" Ruukoto cried. Renko quickly poured her a glass of water, and Ruukoto drank it all in one gulp, and motioned for more.

"....Well THAT'S not a good sign...." Sanasan said. "What's wrong with the soup?"

"It's....too...spicy!" Ruukoto said in between gulps of water. "It's the spiciest thing I've ever tasted!"

"That's weird. I don't remember adding any peppers." Renko said, confused. "Did you add some when I wasn't looking or something?"

"No, why would I do that?" Sanasan replied.

Meanwhile, the rest of the judges seemed to be agreeing with Ruukoto.

"HOTTT! Even Yuyuko wouldn't be able to eat this!"

"Oh my...this is far too spicy."

"IT'S SO HOT I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"It's unanimous then. Team FUBAR wins the soup portion of the cooking competition!" Aya declared. Team FUBAR cheered.

"HOWEVER!" Sakuya roared, causing Team FUBAR to recoil in fear. "The most important part is yet to come! The main course! You have five minutes to decide what you will be making. Use your time wisely."

"So.....what do you guys think we should make?" Mikoto asked her group quietly.

"I dunno, ze. Rice?" Marisa suggested.

"I don't care what we make as long as it has sake in it~" Suika said.

"I know how to make some nice noodles..." Reimu added.

"I think we should make something simple. All it has to do is beat theirs, so there's no need for anything complicated. And after all, that soup fiasco shows that they have no idea what they're doing." Alice said.

Meanwhile....

"...So, I have no idea what I'm doing." Sanasan said. "You?"

"I have no idea either." Renko replied. "I mean, how are we going to beat them when we both can't even cook anything more complicated than macaroni and cheese?"

"You can cook macaroni and cheese?! Once, I tried to, and I ended up falling asleep waiting for the water to boil. I didn't even wake up until there were firemen at the door asking if there was anyone there."

Renko sighed. "We're doomed. How can we win when we don't have a...recipe...?" Renko's eyes brightened. "...Wait a second. I think I have an idea."

"Really? What is it?" Sanasan asked eagerly.

"Just let me ask the judges if it's ok." Renko said, as she dashed over to the judges. A few nods later, she returned. "Ok, so here's what we should do..."

A few minutes later:

"Your five minutes are up! Teams, take your positions!" Sakuya shouted. "THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING!"

"Ready?" Mikoto asked her group. They all nodded confidently.

"I hope this works..." Sanasan said.

"Don't worry. It will." Renko replied.

"ACTION!" Sakuya said, throwing a knife into another watermelon.

Team FUBAR went right to work, pouring water into pots and preparing noodles. Meanwhile, Team Starlight seemed to be incredibly preoccupied with something in Sanasan's hand.

"And Team FUBAR is off to a quick start! Meanwhile, Team Starlight seems to be discussing something amongst themselves..." Aya shouted from her box.

"...What are they doin', ze?" Marisa asked.

"Never mind them, just focus on cooking." Mikoto said, as she felt the top of the table looking for pepper.

Meanwhile, Team Starlight finally started doing something, with Renko beginning to prepare some rice, and Sanasan dictating instructions from a....

"Hey, whats that in her hand? Looks kinda like a little box that flips open." Suika asked.

"A box that flips open? You mean a phone?" Mikoto answered. "Wait, they've got a phone?!"

"Ok, fill the rice cooker with rice, up to...1/2. Then fill the rest up with water until it reaches 3/4." Sanasan read off her phone. "Set the rice cooker to cook for 15 minutes."

"Done." Renko said, as she pressed the button. "Thank goodness there's internet here."

"Hey! That's not fair! Why aren't the judges doing anything?!" Reimu protested.

"And Team Starlight seems to be using some gadget to help them cook! According to the judges, using it is within the rules due to technology not being labelled a 'special power'! Let's hope they can actually cook something edible this time!" Aya laughed.

"Uh oh. Looks like they might stand a chance now." Mikoto said, worried.

Eventually...

"The teams have finally finished cooking their meals! Team FUBAR seems to have made some udon noodles with sake to drink, while Team Starlight has made some curry rice!" Aya shouted. "And now, for the taste testing!"

Team FUBAR watched nervously as the judges began to eat their noodles.

"...Not the best noodles I've ever had, but passable." Sakuya said.

"They're ok." Ruukoto said.

"The sake's good at least." Yumeko remarked.

"Not bad. Kind of plain though." Youmu said.

"...This isn't good. At this rate, we may not be able to win." Mikoto said.

"Here's ours." Sanasan said, as she presented the curry rice.

The judges immediately regarded it with suspicion. Not eager to re-experience the soup fiasco, Ruukoto volunteered to taste it last. Sakuya decided to take one for the team and go first. Sanasan and Renko looked nervous.

"....Here goes nothing." Sakuya said, as she put some in her mouth. "...Well, it's safe to eat at least. Actually...it's quite good."

Team FUBAR couldn't believe their ears, and neither could the judges. Youmu tried some next.

"...She's not lying, it actually does taste good." She said, amazed.

"Now this is the right way to make a meal spicy." Yumeko said.

"This is quite tasty!" Ruukoto exclaimed with surprise.

"The judges have made their decision! Team Starlight has won the main course event of the cooking competition, putting them even with Team FUBAR! Can they go all the way?" Aya commented from her box.

"You have five more minutes to decide on your dessert. The winner will win the contest for their team, so do your best." Sakuya said to the teams.

Round 5, Part 3, Kitchen, 6:00PM, Day 4, including cooking teams, judges, Aya, Taihou, and Mokou

"...Ok, so that didn't work. Looks like we'll have to do something amazing this time." Mikoto said to her teammates.

"But what?" Reimu asked.

"We need something that nobody's ever done before, and it has to taste good too." Alice said.

"As long as it has sake in it!" Suika reminded them.

"I think I've got it, ze!" Marisa exclaimed.

Meanwhile...

"I can't believe that worked!" Sanasan said. "The internet sure does come in handy sometimes."

"Quick, look up some desserts, our time's almost up." Renko said.

"Right. How about...cake?" Sanasan suggested.

"Your time is up! Teams, get ready! HEAVEN OR HELL? LET'S ROCK!" Sakuya shouted, as she destroyed yet another watermelon.

"And the final portion of the cooking competition begins!" Aya shouted from her box. "Team FUBAR and Team Starlight are both off to great starts, with FUBAR preparing what looks like the beginning of a pie, and Starlight preparing a cake!"

"Alright guys, let's hope our secret ingredient works!" Mikoto said.

"We just need icing now." Sanasan said. "Wait a second, this recipe doesn't include icing!?"

"You didn't check to see whether the recipe had icing?! Hurry and find a recipe then, we haven't got much time!" Renko said.

"What?! This page is not available?! And neither is this one?! ALL I WANT IS SOME ICING!" Sanasan shouted in a near panic.

Later...

"Your time is up! Teams, present your desserts!" Sakuya demanded.

Team FUBAR laid their finished pie in front of the judges, and hoped for the best.

"This is....What is this taste?!" Sakuya said with surprise. "This is...amazing!"

"What's the secret ingredient?" Yumeko asked, stuffing her face with pie.

"It tastes familiar..but I can't put my finger on it." Youmu said.

"Say, this tastes kind of like alcohol!" Ruukoto noted.

"Yep. This here is the very first SAKE CAKE? ever made!" Mikoto said proudly.

Team Starlight put their dessert down next.

"Well, the cake itself is certainly good, but...The icing doesn't match the cake." Sakuya said, confirming the team's fears.

"....Is this a strawberry cake with cherry icing?" Youmu asked.

"This tastes really off." Yumeko said simply.

"Huh? I think it's great!" Ruukoto said.

"...We'll have to discuss this. Please wait here." Sakuya said, gathering the judges.

A few minutes later, the judges appeared to have come to an agreement, and told Aya the result.

"According to the judges, the final winner of the cooking competition is....TEAM FUBAR! Congratulations!" Aya shouted. "The contest has finished with a final score of 3-2 for the red team!"

Sanasan and Renko's faces fell, as did the rest of the white team. The red team erupted in cheers, and began parading around the kitchen in victory.

"...Sorry guys." Sanasan and Renko apologized for losing.

"It's alright, I'm sure you did your best." Taihou said, as Mokou appeared as if from nowhere.

"Aren't you forgetting something?~" Mokou reminded her. She turned white.

"Alright slave, first thing I want you to do is bring me some of that pie." Mokou grinned.

[Moerin]

Nate's apartment/Lair of the Mishaguji, Day 3

The following day passed with very little incident.  There was a brief discussion over breakfast about the planned search for Eirin to find out who was really behind the fall of the Lunar Capital (as expected, Yorihime refused to accept the possibility of any culprit other than Yukari), and the girls spent most of the rest of the day helping out Nate in the bookstore.

During his lunchbreak, Nate took the Lunarians out shopping for clothes, food and other essential items (strangely, Yorihime seemed to buy a lot more clothes than the other two.  I guess even she has a girly-girl side, thought Nate).  Afterwards, they continued working in the store until closing time.  For some reason that he couldn't explain, Nate had the feeling that he was missing something that he would find very interesting, but he shrugged this feeling off without a second thought.

Eventually, it was time to close shop.  After dinner, Toyohime decided to go to bed early, whilst Yorihime was working on something in the kitchen (she wouldn't say what) and refused to let anyone else in for any reason, so Nate and Reisen were able to spend some time alone together.  Unfortunately, this mostly consisted of awkward silence broken and mumbling, and ended when Reisen suddenly proclaimed she was going for a shower before turning in.  After watching TV for a while and finding nothing worth watching, Nate also went to sleep.


Lair of the Mishaguji, 16:10, Day 4

"Impulsive idiot," said Nate, as he placed the phone down.  "Well, looks like I'm going to have to bail him out of yet another mess..."

"Um... Who was that?" asked Reisen, as she was the only near Nate at the time (Toyohime was busy stacking shelves, whilst Yorihime was hidden in a corner of the store reading).

Nate sighed.  "Anthony.  Sounds like he's in trouble, too.  Knowing him, it's probably either the Yakuza... Or Professional Basketball."

"Professional... Basketball?  No, wait, it doesn't matter..." As much as she liked Nate, Reisen really didn't want to hear another one of his crazy theories.  "So... We're going to go help him, right?"

"Not right now," Nate noticed the confused look on Reisen's face.  "I'm not abandoning him or anything, it's just I know these kinds of guy.  They'll probably show up where they captured him at around midnight or something to gloat, so we'll go there when it's time.  I think he said he had a contract with Junes right now, so that'd probably be the best place to start looking."


Nate's apartment, 23:40, Day 4

After dinner, Nate had explained to the princesses about going to look for Anthony.  Yorihime seemed oddly excited by this prospect, and it was only when it was nearing the time to leave that Nate found out exactly why.

"Yorihime... What... Exactly is that you're wearing?"  asked Nate, not knowing where exactly to look, or whether to look at all.

Yorihime had seemed like such a serious woman, too.  Not the type at all to wear something as ridiculous as this.  And yet, here she was, wearing a bright purple, incredibly garish sleeveless top that seemed to be modified from a sailor fuku, what looked like a pair of loose fitting white sleeves tied to her elbows (exposing her armpits), a pair of thigh-high dark blue boots and the shortest skirt Nate would ever admit to have seeing (which was red, by the way).  The worst part was that, whilst wearing this utterly absurd outfit, she had an incredibly serious look on her face.

"After researching, I found that this is the outfit worn by magical warriors on Earth.  I am only trying to fit in."

"You... Can't seriously be considering going out dressed like that, Yorihime?"

"Don't call me Yorihime!" snapped, uh, Yorihime.  "You will refer to me as Magical Warrior Lunablade, smiter of evil and defender of love, justice and the Lunarian way."

Nate facepalmed "I have neither the time nor the patience right now to argue with you, Lunablade.  Let's just go."

And with that Nate and the Lunarian trio left the apartment and began to make their way to Junes.

END: Somewhere between Lair of the Mishaguji and Junes, 23:50, Day 4[/u]

(OOC: If anyone wants to run into Nate on the way to Junes, go right ahead.)

[Demonlord Pichu]

=== Junes Department Store/Construction Area - 12:35 AM ~ Day 5 ===

"Agh, this is bullshit!" Owlbear snarled, having seen things go down hill rather quickly, needless to say she wasn't in the most focused of moods either her mind on rescuing Mai and Luize from the Yakuza.

"Owlbear, wake up! Get you're head in the game!" Was that Yuki? Of course it was her, she always cheered for her up til now. Owlbear shook her head and looked over to see Yuki calling to her from the chaos "C'mon! We need your offense and-Ahhh!" She was cut off by a fleet of charging Yakuza who chased her off.

Owlbear saw that Meiling had the ball and knew what she had to do. "Someone stick those other two back there! I'm going in!" She shouted as she burst forward toward the gaurd, Shinki was no where to be found, she and Yumeko were off in the chaos fighting/playing with the rest of their team. She was quickly closing in on the chinese(?) gatekeeper and dove to take the ball from her, only to get blindsided Kotohime sending the two of them down on the concrete lucky for Owlbear she had a set of built in air bags on her chest that cushioned the fall but didn't seem to make it any less painful.

"What in the-?" Owlbear looked up to see Meiling shoot for another point. "No! BRICK! BRIIICK!" But it went in. Tough break. "Shinki DAMMIT!"

"Hm? Did Owlbear say something to me just now?"

=== Near Junes Department Store/Construction Area - 12:37 AM ~ Day 5 ===

"So tell me what you found." Shinjiro asked Tewi who looked to have been running for quite a while now.

"Nothing, I didn't find anything," "But...I did see these weird guys in black running around the back of that big store over there." The rabbit adds as she points to Junes.

"Guys in black? You must mean the Yakuza..." Shinjiro knew little of them, for he rarely associated himself with scum such as them, but he was aware of how they operated, and it is how they operate that has allowed them to control this city the way they do. There were times where Shinjiro had the urge to just kill their leader and take it over for himself, with his little regard for human life he probably could do such, the only thing stopping him was his lack of interest in them. "What could they be doing around this time of night..."

"Probably up to no good." Yuugi added in "Folks like that are always doing some shady things when you see'em runnin' around at night."

"I am already aware of the no good part, Hoshiguma. It's what kind of no good that I'm curious about..." Shinjiro commented pondering once more on the matter

"So you going after them or what?" Tewi inquired. "Cuz we're been out here for hours now..."

"I won't persue them, I'll simply watch to see what it is they are up to, if any of them get in my way, I'll simply kill them," Shinjiro answered as he then turns to Yuugi "This goes for you as well, Hoshiguma, if you feel threatened by them don't hesitate to use force on them. Something tells me this town is better off with out these tapeworms of society wriggling within it's underbelly"

[Gpop]

Construction Site, Junes Dept. Store, 12:36 AM, Day 5

"What kind of fucking streetball is this?" Gpop asked himself as he got up from Meiling's attack. He was sitting there for quite a while. "Man this is definitely not the kind of streetball we play back home." He said as he referred to Canada.

"GPOP! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Merlin came running down towards him, followed by Satori.

"Yeah...I'm alright. Don't mind me though! Just go and get the ball!" Gpop replied.

"Y-yeah!" Merlin said, as she turned around and kept on playing, leaving Gpop with Satori.

"I assume you don't know how to play, do you Satori?" Gpop asked.

"No, but I can gather some of their playing styles while you play. But you have to give me some time though. There are too many Yakuza to read at once." Satori explained.

"Alright. We'll try to keep this close, but looking at my teammates, I don't think we'll be too successful." Gpop said. And he ran towards the court.

He realized that Meiling had the ball once again and just scored, making it 2-0 already. "God-fucking-damn it!" he yelled. Taihou, still grabbing his gut, passed the ball to Gpop as he tried to dribble the ball. "Fuck! I can't dribble for shit!" he said, remembering that he was always one of the worst b-ball players at his school. He noticed a yakuza heading straight towards him.

"You know what? Fuck this!" He said, and he placed the ball at his feet. He began to carry it with his feet like a soccer player, and the Yakuza tried to slide in to get the ball, but Gpop quickly reacted and flicked the ball over him and he jumped over the sliding Yakuza. He landed perfectly with the ball still at his feet.

As he continued down the court, two more Yakuza were charging towards him. One directly in front of him, and one from his left. As they were about to throw a punch, Gpop placed his right foot on top of the ball to stop it, while his body was facing towards the Yakuza at his left. Quickly, he placed his right foot in front of the ball, and placed his left foot foot on it and used it to quickly drag the ball right beside the center Yakuza. As he did this, he did a complete 360 turn to avoid the punches, and once again he faced the basket.

"That's called the Maradona!" He yelled at the two Yakuza.

Then out of nowhere three other Yakuza were right in front of him, and he was unable to get passed them.

"Gpop! Over here!" Kajira yelled as Gpop quickly looked up to see her wide open. He quickly chipped the ball right at Kajira's chest, where she quickly reacted and caught the ball before it hit her breasts, surprised at the unexpected pass to her.

"Shoot the ball now!" Gpop yelled at her. She quickly nodded and shot the ball towards the hoop...

...only for the ball to go over the backboard...

"...ugh..." Gpop's hand met his face as he saw the utter miss. A Yakuza was right behind the backboard, who seemed to have predicted a shot like that. He could see Remilia arguing over Kajira for the miss. "HEY YOU TWO! THERE'S NO TIME TO ARGUE NOW! RIGHT NOW WE GOTTA WIN!" Gpop yelled at the two.

"Y-yessir!" Kajira jumped.

Gpop rushed back to defense. The Yakuza were passing it back and forth. As the ball was passed to the Yakuza beside him, he tried to go for the jump shot, but Gpop jumped up for the block and managed to smack it away,while kicking the Yakuza in the face...

...and the ball went right to Meiling. From there she took a quick shot from outside the three-point arc, and sunk it with a swish. 2 points.

"Goddamn it! We're letting Meiling play like Lebron James here! We got to play defense!" Gpop yelled at everyone in anger.

"Who's that?" Sakuya asked.

Gpop's hand met his face once again. "Never mind! Sakuya, you defend Chi- I mean Meiling!" Gpop yelled at her.

"I...I can't." She replied.

"And why not?" Gpop asked, irritated by her response.

"Because I don't want Kana to be harmed every time she screws up." Sakuya replied quietly.

"Who cares! We have to get our friends back! Who's more important!? Kana or Gensokyo!?" Gpop asked her in an angered tone.

"Speak for yourself! All you care about is Koishi! And now she's with the Yakuza! What would you do if she was in the same situation?" Sakuya asked.

"..." Gpop went silent.

"Exactly." And Sakuya ran to the other half of the court.

"Hey Gpop," Jan went up to Gpop and asked, "...how did you do that?"

"Oh the soccer crap? I play soccer. I'm a goalkeeper, but even we need to have good foot skills. I'm not even that great. I can play some defense and do the blocking since I can jump pretty high like a goalkeeper should." Gpop looked around to find the Yakuza that he kicked, to find him on the side holding on to his nose, which appeared to be broken.

"Well whatever. Let's hope the rest can fare better than Kajira shooting-wise." Jan mentioned.

"Yeah, let's hope." Gpop turned towards Satori to see her still concentrating on the Yakuza. "Hey Satori! Do you have any ideas to win yet?" He yelled at her.

"No...I need a bit more time..." Satori replied.

...We're down 4-0. I don't think we have much time really. Gpop thought to himself, and he ran down the court to help out with the offense.

[Demonlord Pichu]

((I cried a little...also I couldn't post this with my other one being it wasn't done yet, so yeah...whatever))

=== Chiyudani Residence - 10:59 PM ~ Day 4 ===
-Previous Event-

Toshiro, Yamame and Rin had left Junes long ago, Toshiro ended up buying Rin, the essentials of what a cat needed plus that of a toy which pretty much cleaned him out until he got paid for his translations. He promised her he'd make a scratching post for her out of wood later, she seemed to understand him. As of now, Toshiro was in the kitchen area working on the dishes, Dinner had already been fixed hours ago and he had gave Yamame and Rin their shares as well. Yamame sat in the living room watching TV as she always does this time of day, and Rin was up in his room asleep. He could only hope his loveseat wouldn't come under attack like it did earlier today...

However, the peaceful air was soon broken by a low male voice, followed by the shutting of the front door.

"...I'm home..."

Toshiro froze full stop as he heard that voice. He knew who it belonged to. That voice belonged to no one else but...his father. "D-dad?" He said as he turned to see his father enter the house with a tired look on his face. Yamame didn't seem to acknowlegde him entering the house and simply continued watching TV.

"Oh hey, Toshiro, got dinner ready I see. That's good, I'm starvin'." Toshiro's father said as he grinned to his son's expression. "Heh, why do you look so surprised to see me?"

"Y-you've been gone for over a week. Why wouldn't I be?" Toshiro replied making a fairly good point on the matter.

"This always happens, you know that" His father laughed heartily. "My line of work gets like that sometimes. You know those Government jobs..."

"...I know..." Toshiro said his expression darkening. Indeed he did know, he knew all too well actually...

His father looked up to see Yamame in front of the TV, then looked at the clock. "Hey, shouldn't she be headin' home for now, her parents must be worried." He told Toshiro who looked up from the sink for a moment frozen in time. This was because, his father wasn't supposed to see her before night time hours, during the day he would simply say he's either babysitting her or she came over to play. When night time arrived he would send Yamame up to his room for the night to hide her from his father's gaze. The tsuchigumo would then sleep in his closet as he had no real bed to give her.

However, it seemed like now the cat was out of the bag. There was no getting around it now, he had to tell him the truth about Yamame. "Dad...I've got something to tell you..." Toshrio started in a nervous tone. "It's...about Yamame..." When her name was spoken, Yamame glanced back, a bit worried with the tone Toshiro had taken. She suddenly had a really bad feeling about the coming events...

"Oh what about?" Toshiro's father said before he laughed a bit. "Her parent's decided not to pay you or something?"

"N-no that's not it. She...she's homeless. Matter of fact I'm not even sure her parents are even in Karuisuwa, or alive for that matter..." Toshrio started as he choked slightly, just too nervous to get out the rest, but after a few seconds he managed to continue. "I told you I was babysitting her so that I could give her a place to stay, and when you'd come home at night I'd put her in my room so you wouldn't grow suspicious of her being here so late..."

The kitchen fell uncomfortably silent as his father took in those words, hearing the first of the truth on this situation since...well ever really. He decided not to call him out for lieing to him, as he was a good natured boy and he expected something like this out of him, but he still had to get one point across that he's stated so many times before. "Toshiro, you know our budget can't sustain another person." His father said sternly "I was leniant enough to let you keep that weird cat, but I see I made a mistake with that."

"But...she doesn't have a home to go back to, you can't just expect me to let her go out there with no one else to look after her?" Toshiro protested as he looked back to face his father. "I lo-" He quickly clammed up midsentence and blushed as he realized what he was about to say. "I er...I..." Dammit, well that was rather unforseen...

"I know you feel like you wanna help, and if I were higher ranked on my job we could probably afford it, but now I just can't see it happening." Toshrio's father explained not paying his stumble any mind, to Toshiro's relief. However his next statement will be something that will shatter this. "She has to go Toshiro. End of discussion."

"But, Dad!..."

"Toshiro-kun, I'll leave if your father wants me to..." Yamame said quietly, although she was clearly conflicted about her words. "You two shouldn't fight...it's wrong"

"No." Toshiro disagreed as he held the tsuchigumo close to him "You don't have to go, Yamame. I took in both you and Rin, and I won't abandon you like this. Not ever." He tightened his embrace on her, his words having more meaning than anything else he said to her up til this point.

"T-Toshrio..." Yamame couldn't really say much in response, her face going a shade of pink as he said those words to her.

Toshiro's father, however, simply sighed in exasperation and tried to explain the situation again. "Toshiro listen, if we keep her we'll be spending more money for food and other things. Money we just don't have. I'm not going to allow you to put me in debt over someone else like this."

"It's always been about you hasn't it!" Toshiro shouted as he let Yamame go and stood up before his father, the anger that accumolated from years of being abandoned by this man finally showing it's ugly head tonight. "That's how you could live with yourself even after Mama and Imouto-chan died! You cared only for yourself and that damn job!"

"His mother...and his little sister...they're both..." Yamame never really knew Toshrio's mother and younger sister's death...she always thought they lived elsewhere. Unfortunately that was not the case...

"Now hold on, Toshiro! You know that's not true, I loved them just as much as you did!"

"If you did, why didn't you take off for them?" Toshrio countered "You...you didn't even take the time to go to the funeral, visit their grave or anything. Worst of all, you just left here...to suffer alone. I missed so many days of school by just laying in my room, crying my eyes out from the misery of never seeing my mother and sister ever again. And you...you were off on that job of yours, every time you came home, you knew something was wrong...I could see it in your eyes...but did you ever try to do something or say anything? No, you just gave me the usual 'Hey, Toshiro' and had the nerve to say 'Did you have a good day'. When you know damn well, what I've been doing all those days!" Toshiro could feel his eyes moistening as these angry malicious words came streaming out of him, he didn't care of what his father thought anymore. "You never loved this family, it was always you and your damn job first!"

"You think that because I'm always at work that I didn't suffer for them too? If anything I suffered even more, for I knew there was nothing I could do to bring them back; I could never have that time I promised to spend with my little girl, or go on that vacation i promised my wife..." His father fell silent before he continued on. "Yes, I do put work first, but that's because I bust my ass to make sure this family doesn't go under! Your mother gave me a hard time about it too, saying you needed a father, and I do regret not being there for you, but I knew that she wanted this family to keep going even if she and her daughter died. I don't give a damn about what others say to me about it, but I will make sure we live through the day with clothes on our backs, and food on our plates!"

Things were getting out of hand, and Yamame wasn't liking any moment of it, she saw Rin at the foot of the stairs and ran to where the kasha sat. "You know what, while you're giving me such a bad rep, what about you? What do you do for a living, son? Nothing but that Translator job you've had since high school. Yeah it makes money but that's not enough to pay any of the bills you and Yamame run up everyday. No, you expect me to pick up that slack for you!"

"... ... ..."

"Toshiro, you're my son, but, if you want to make it in life you have to do better than what you're doing now." His father said before his expression swiftly hardened. "And until you do, you depend on me, so that means you go by MY house rules and when I say, Yamame leaves, I expect her to be out on her ass by morning!"

"No...I'm not your son..." Toshiro sobbed. "Not anymore..."

"Oh, if that's how you feel then you get out too." His father said walking to the door and opening it up as if to escort him out. "Since you're not my son, you obviously don't want me providing for you anymore. Then again, you're a grown boy anyway, it's time you did go out and make a life for yourself."

"F-fine, I will leave!" Toshiro retorted "I have no idea as to where I'll go, but anywhere's fine as long as it's far away from a bastard like you!"

------------

((After this, Toshiro will be out in the open, and I plan to have him wander to Tourist Helpers first then head to the Shrine from there. Anyone else is welcome to meet up with him if they want to.))

[ES-Anthy]

Saniwa Shrine 6:00 PM Day 4: Team Michigan, plus everyone else, but not speaking

The cooking portion of the Maid competition had just finished, but Anthony was not in the area at the time so he didn't know who was the winner, and he was about to introduce himself to the entire group while all of them were still there


"Come on Anthony, this is the best chance we'll have to make a good first impression" said Letty "besides, nothing bad is gonna happen to ya"

then without warning, Letty and Genjii pushed Anthony into the room, which then he fell onto his face.

"oww, that smarts" moaned Anthony which then he noticed all the weird stares of the people in the room focus on him, all having the look that says "Who the heck is that guy?"


Then Anthony stood up and cleared his throat "Ok then, let me introduce myself since I'm new here, I'm Anthony Thrun, and I'm the newest member of your group"


Anthony was still getting weird looks, except from the few he met eariler,
"Don't worry guys, he's ok, we're all sure that he is not an enemy or a spy" said Jalal, which then the others that met Anthony followed in with their approval of Anthony being a good guy, which then made the others believe that. Which then everyone introduced themselves to Anthony, and the same for Anthony introducing himself to everyone else, which then Anthony's stomach growled again

"Hey, does anyone have anything I could eat?"

(OCC: If anyone wants to object and add on to this part, just tell me, otherwise I'm just going with that everyone agreed on letting Anthony in)

Then a few hours later at about 11:30 PM, still day 4,

Anthony was out in the woods behind the Saniwa Shrine, cutting down a few trees for lumber to fix up a few parts for the shrine, while Genjii was just laying around watching him, and Letty was back in the shrine, helping the other girls with cooking and other stuff like that,


then Anthony saw smoke come from the shrine, followed by what he thought was the Yakuza leader yelling into a bullhorn, which Anthony couldn't make out what he said, but after hearing that, he ran back to the shrine to the source of the smoke in the shrine, which was the dining room


"What the heck happened here" said Anthony, seeing alot of thing different, Mikata was holding Gpop back from going out the shrine, while he was yelling in rage, about Koishi, which then Anthony noticed that she wasn't here, along with a few other girls, including Letty,
"Those Yakuza came in here and kidnapped several of the girls while you were out" said Sakuya
"Wait, the Yakuza, those..." muttered Anthony
"THOSE F(bee)KERS IT'S ONE THING TO MESS WITH ME AND MY PROJECTS, BUT WHEN YOU DO THINGS LIKE THIS, YOU'RE JUST ASKING ME TO SIGN YOUR DEATH WARRANT," yelled Anthony, bolting out the door before anyone could get him, and he ran towards his house and got to his Mustang and drove off in search of the girls

In front of the Construction area 11:38PM Day 4: Team Michigan


Anthony had just pulled up to the entrance of the construction site, while still being pretty pissed off,

"Ok then, if these f(beep)ers want to bring in others into this fight, then it's time for me to play serious" said Anthony, getting out of the car, and pulling out a number of other things, his shotgun, a hockey stick, a whip, a crowbar, and a shovel,

"Genjii, you stay here, I don't want to risk more people in this situation" said Anthony

Then Anthony walked off into the construction site, and a huge spot-light came on and it was shined on Anthony

"Ohohohoh, I wasn't expecting you to be here, I guess we can add your death to our to do list tonight" said Ryoji

"Hold it right there you mother f(beep)ker, I'm here to kick everyone of your asses for what you have done here tonight, and I'm making sure that each and everyone one of you dolts are gonna be leave in a stretcher" said Anthony

"Oh, but thats where you're wrong," said Ryoji who then took letty by her hair and pulled her up, which then he held a gun to her head, "show any attempt at resistance, and I'll shoot her head off"

Anthony gritted his teeth, for he knew that he had to surrender, for her sake, and the sake of the others held captive "Ok then, I yield" muttered Anthony, who then dropped all of his gear, then a Yaukza came from behind and knocked Anthony out with a lead pipe

Construction site 12:30AM Day 5 Team Michigan

Anthony was just waking up after getting beat upside the head, and his body was racked with pain all over, and had blood in his left eye, and was tied up

"Son of a, I feel like I just got hit by a train" thought Anthony, which then he checked his body to the best of his ability, he noticed that all of this stuff was gone, except for a Swiss army knife in his back pocket, he also checked to see what was broken, only a few ribs were.

"Ok then, I got a way out, now to look over the area" thought Anthony, then he noticed all the other girls tied up as well, and he was sitting right next to Letty,

"Oh thank god you're still ok" thought Anthony

Which then he hear Ryoji talking again, and apparently the others had gotten to the construction site now, and Ryoji was challenging them to some basket ball game,

Anthony could see the court from there, and saw everyone in the group getting whooped,

"man, I haven't seen a game go this bad or crazy this fast before, well, you guys better kick their asses, otherwise we're all screwed" said Anthony

END: Construction site 12:45AM Day 5 Team Michigan

[untitled servent]

Khinsu guest house, 17:30, day 2

"Wait," Khinsu said, suddenly stopping near what Shikieki assumed was the front door to his humble abode. He turned to look at her and started scanning her petite body, causing a slight blush to spread across her pale skin. "You stand out a bit too much, take of those shoulder pads if you and can your... hat? I think, or is it a crown. Either way it draws to much attention. People don't wear much metal nowadays."

Shikieki took a moment to remove the mentioned pieces of her uniform, placing them on top of a small stand near the door beside two straight rods of a dense, bamboo like wood without the normal hollow center. She took a moment to contemplate there battered, flaying form when Khinsu hand reached out and grabbed them. Playing around with them for a moment, he returned the longer of the two back to it's previous position and pocketed the smaller one without a word.

"What are you going to do with that," She asked watching his odd display.

"Hopefully nothing," Khinsu opened the door to leave, now appearing ready, "but considering you had people chasing you yesterday, I think it would be best to go in armed."

"I don't condone of violence."

"Didn't think you would but I don't condone of getting beaten up either, but I'm not going to use it unless I have too. I tend to assume when people in black suits are after you they won't attempted to capture you peacefully."

"Fine, speaking that way to a Yama isn't going to look good on your record," She said under her breath.

"Pardon"

"Nothing. Anyways lets get going while it's still light."

______________________________________________________-

Around Town, 21:00, Day 2

The search was uneventful at best and down right boring for the pair at worst. Apparently the other denizens of Gensokyo wouldn't be so easily found by a random search. The town simply had to many places to be and the light was already fading when they began.

"Let's head back, wondering around in the dark won't get us anywhere. Plus I'm getting tired," Khinsu suddenly said while staring into the sky.

"Hmm, I suppose."
 
He turned to what Shikieki assumed was the way back to his quarters, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Go on," She responded tiredly. The great yama of paradise wasn't used to walking around nearly as much as she had already Why can't the outside world have enough mana to at least fly

"Well, I don't mean to offend, but why haven't you gone of into one of your famous lectures on me?" A hint of curiosity prevalent in his voice. "From what I've heard they happen quite frequently."

She stopped dead in her tracks, apparently stunned by his claim. "Is that what I'm known for over here?" She said sounding hurt at the accusations.

... I'm not sure how I'm suppose to reply to that. "Y-yeah, there known to be very... insightful." That should probably do.

"Of course they are, I am a yama after all," she said quickly composing herself as if expecting no less regardless of her previous state. "The reason why I have yet to correct you yet is that I haven't had access to enough information about you." She turned to face away and continued walking until realizing that she didn't know the way.

Khinsu took the lead glad that she didn't question his explanation.

"Normally I'd be able to find out all I want using my mirror, but that would take more mana then is probably wise. We don't know how often you can preform the trick earlier so it's best to conserve."

"Don't worry to much, it should be fine as long as I get some sleep tonight. Anyways we're here."

Khinsu's room, 2:00, day 3

The room was as quite as one would assume it to be at such an ungodly hour. Small strands of an almost invisible light seeped into the room through the closed blinds, failing to illuminate it any more then the sun lights the deep ocean. Regardless a pair of brown eyes glowed in the dark, taking in what little light there was and somehow enabling their owner to see nearly perfectly.

"This really isn't going to work."

End

Ahh, it's going to take me forever to catch up. I guess joining this late was a bad idea, oh well.

[AJC]

Construction site 12:38 AM Day 5

Alex had enough of watching them he rushed between a yakuza pass target and gave him a little nice body check which to the unspecting yakuza sent him flying 15 feet away while Alex snatchs the ball.

"Weak.." Alex says

"HERE I COME" Alex starts to thunder down the makeshift playfield he was a practical wrecking ball to the yakuza that dared to get in his path

With a mighty heave of his legs he sends the ball screaming into toward the goal Hong trys her best but in the end it was just too much and she can't keep it from going in when the ball makes contact with the ground it explodes from the force alex put behind it.

Most of the yakuza that were smoking watching from the sidelines just dropped their smokes when their mouths went agap from this display.

"did you see that...What is that man..."


Alex shouts out "HEAVENLY DRAGONS STYLE WILL DEFEAT ALL CHALLANGES!." Alex then heads back for a reset...after new ball is found his actions has destroyed the ball that was being used.


"Alex try not to destroy our chances of getting back the girls in a peaceful way" some of the others say.

[Nemo★Ma]

0600PM Day 4, Saniwa Shrine

After Amarillo managed to introduce Marx to everybody, she quickly returned to her room, and phoned Rinnosuke.

"Yeah, the soldiers have not left." She got the reply from him, it seems the soldiers don't know a bit about Marx's departure.

"Well, anything else?"

"Yeah, actually, there is another fairy in the shop." Rinnosuke answered, "now she's in my protection."

"Hmm, as long as she is in the shop she's safe, "Amarillo continued "But make sure she sticks with you and she can't leave the shop."

"Get it, I wonder why we are into all of these."

"I don't know, the only mission I got from my friends is not finding what to going on but to stay alive." Amarillo sighed "It's harder than I thought."

"Well, everything is not easy, I thought you should know that."

"... ..."

"However, the joys of life is archived by solving difficulties. So do what you can do." Rinnosuke paused for a bit "er.. These soldiers get a call or something and they left."

"Seems their boss didn't have the patience to wait any longer." Amarillo said with a sound of relief, "I hope they are gone for good, prepare for tomorrow, maybe they will come back and check your shop tonight, I don't know."

"If they come......"

"You know what to do, hide the fairy and greet them like normal customers."

"Take it, by the way, you really don't talk like a 14-year-old." Rinnosuke hanged up the phone.

Amarillo put the phone back and found Lily White at the door looking at her.

"Let me guess, it's about the wings, right?" Amarillo smiled "I apologize for having your wings folded like that, but it's a tight situation."

"Actually it didn't hurt, " As Amarillo is pouring mana into the wings to restore its original shape, Lily said, "It's just uncomfortable."

"Hah, but it will sure be better when you take your original shape and form of any of your body parts... And it's done." Amarillo stepped back and checked her result "It's fixed."

"Interesting that you can heal beings like us but cannot properly heal yourself." Lily White said as Amarillo pulled out a box and inspect the thing inside of it.

"...and what's that." She asked.

"The same thing that's in your heat, on Rinnosuke's belt and Marx's gift. It's an ability cube with my bloodsample fused in it." Amarillo showed the content to Lily.

The box is made of metal, but it glows a little. within the box there are two little red-gem like object.

"Hmm, the box is small, but it's too large for these things."

"It's a box that can cross time and space, the box is 12cm long, 3cm wide and 3cm tall. Anything put in the box will remain intact even if the border of time and space has been broken."

"So it's an item used by you Chrono Agents." Lily nodded her head "since you do that a lot."

"Well, partly true, actually we are told to store something that is important to ourselves in it, and I really didn't have any thing that's important beside the fishing rod, and a fishing rod can travel with me as long as I hold it."

"So what is these gems do?" As Amarillo put it on the bed, Lily asked.

"Firstly it's made of some radioactive material that can keep the blood sample inside it "alive", the research believes that one's ability can be identified and accessed from his or hers blood and we have proved it."

"Er... so that means anyone who gained this thing can have your power?" Lily asked.

"There is a twist, this thing, obviously, cannot replace the original power, so it only serves as an emergency or alternative. For these one I have, it can provide weak lifeforce support, but not strong enough for Youkais to gain back their full abilities."

"So it's one important item."

"Not only important, but also rare. The material used for this item is super expensive, and I don't believe Gensokyo or this timeframe have the technology required to make that. Even in my timeframe this thing cost quite a fortune."

Amarillo finished her words and sit here, it seems she is thinking very hard for something...

And she rise her head "Well, now we have time, let's sit down, stay cool and sort out our current status."

(ATTENTION: MY NEXT STORY POST WILL CONTAIN AN ANALYSIS OF ALL THE FRACTIONS THAT'S APPEARING FROM AMARILLO'S PERSPECTIVE, HOWEVER DO PICK UP THE ERRORS IF THERE ARE SOME.)

[Helepolis]

- - -

[Caber Knight Etch-A-Sketch]

Inside Junes Day 5 12:30 AM


Pirate 1: But Captain! You can't go alone!

Ria: This is something I must do. I cannot allow innocent bystanders to be harmed.

Pirate 2: But-

Ria: Drop off the ammunition here and leave the buggies here. I want you to take this money and find a hotel. Sleep in one of the rooms. When morning comes, I want you all to live an ordinary life.

Pirate 1: But-

Pirate 3: Holy shit! That's a lot of money!

Ria: it's the value of the loot we've obtaned over the years. Well, most of it anyways.

Pirate 1:Alright, you heard what she said. Our final mission, live a normal life!

Pirates: YAAARH!!

As the Pirates departed, Ria turned to the equipment left behind. Donning a trenchcoat she found earlier, she walked up to the stuff.

Ria: Entrania Imaterium.


The basketball game.


Austin was playing as hard as he could, but he could not get the ball. Neither could Nitori nor Momizi.

Austin: Damn... can't...the...*thud* ball?

The ball was very much in his hands. He started to head towards the basket when suddenly...

THOOM!

Someone crashed into him. It was Meirin, and she was accidentilly smothering him with her bust. Austin felt the ball being pulled from his hands as a voice began to ring in his head.

Voice in head: *Yawn* man... What a naholy crap what's going on? Push her off!

Austin pushed Meirin off as fresh air entered his lungs. He heard a swish, and saw the score board

6-0

Austin: This is bad...

[Moerin]

Junes Construction Site, 00:35, Day 5

"I knew it.  It just had to be them behind this.  It all makes sense now."

Nate watched events unfold from a distance behind some rubble, the Lunarians huddled beside him.  He had wanted to get here without being discovered, so he'd been a little late due to taking a small detour.

"What, that's the Yakuza?" asked Toyohime.

"No, not the Yakuza!  PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL!  I have no idea what they're planning, but it's obviously sinister."

"Of... Of course."  Toyo watched as the game began.  "Y'know, some of those girls on the opposing side look kind of familiar..."

Her concentration on the game was broken by a muffled scream.

"They have hostages!?" Reisen pointed her rifle at Ryoji.  "I bet that guy on the sidelines is their leader... If only I had some ammo, I could take him out right now."

Nate placed his hand on the barrel of her gun, pushing it down.  "That probably wouldn't be a good idea."

Yorihime Lunablade nodded in agreement.  "As much as I'd like to see this kind of scum dead, now isn't the time.  What do you think would happen if their leader was suddenly shot by an unknown assailant, even if he survived?"

Reisen thought for a moment. "They'd probably come looking for us?"

"Yes, and in our current state, their superior numbers would likely prove too much for us to handle," said Toyo, "Not only that, but they'd probably execute the hostages without a second thought.  We need to tread carefully here."  She quickly surveyed the layout of the site.  "Our main advantage in this situation is the element of surprise.  They likely have no idea that we're here.  Now, I think that scream from earlier came from over there, so we should try and sneak over there without being seen.  If we can do that and free the hostages..."

"...Then they'll have lost whatever bargaining chip they have with those girls they're playing against, and they'll be able to help us finish them off," her sister finished for her.

Nate sighed.  "That's a good plan, but there's one flaw.  These guys have probably got the whole place covered, there's no way we could sneak past everyone."

"Ufufu..." Toyo chuckled.  "All we really need is a little luck, and that's something I have in spades."

The group spent the next few minutes sneaking around the site.  Surprisingly, they weren't seen by anyone, which was nothing short of a miracle considering how incredibly unstealthy Lunablade's outfit was.

"I think the scream came from somewhere around here," whispered Nate.  "Now, we just need to sneak in there, take out any guards as quickly and quietly as possible and then free the hostages."

"Um... I, uh, don't think it's going to be that easy, Nate," said Reisen.

"Why so negative all of a sudden?"

"Um... Because I think our luck just ran out."

Someone had snuck up behind Nate and the Lunarians.

END: Junes Construction Site, 00:45, Day 5[/u]

(OOC: Yeah, obvious ploy to get someone else to join up with me right now is pretty darn obvious.)