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Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars (Complete)

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FinnKaenbyou: "Um..." It took Ichirin a few minutes to fully grasp what was happening. The temple had been firmly on the ground, when with a hiss and a whirr it lifted off once again into the skies of Gensokyo. Not that this was surprising for the ship. It was technically wooden, yes, but a variety of charms and spells had powered its flight system. What was puzzling to Ichirin was that there was no reason for it to be in flight anymore; after Hijiri had escaped from Makai, the intention was for the group to settle down and live out life using the ship as a makeshift temple. "Unzan, you didn't hear any plans about this, did you?" The pink cloud at Ichirin's shoulder turned to face her, with the same stern look that always hung on its face. I am as in the dark as you, I am afraid. Ichirin bit her lip. Given that the rest of the ship was busy dealing with a night of festivities while she had slept, there would have been alcohol flying around. Had there been some sort of argument she'd missed? Was Murasa staging a one-man mutiny and holding the temple hostage? "...I think we need to give the captain's quarters a visit, Unzan." She decided not to rush on the way over - if this was all some misunderstanding, then she didn't want to barge in and look needlessly aggressive. There was no need to rush, anyway. What could possibly go wrong? ----- Well, that just about finishes up the morning rounds. Most days, there wasn't much for Sango to do in terms of keeping things in order. Her scout of the mountain's lakes and rivers would take maybe an hour at most, and she'd only have to take care of a dozen or so impurities in one search. That was only thanks to her making the inspections like clockwork, though - things would build up quickly if she let off for a few days. That left her with an awful lot of spare time, which she usually spent chasing around her fin-flaunting friends and talking about anything that came to mind. She wasn't really comfortable getting too far from the water - not because it'd do her any harm, but because in terms of the great power hierarchy of Gensokyo she was relatively low on the scale. She had one spellcard to her name, and it was a relatively weak one to boot. Even the local kappa could probably beat her in a duel without breaking a sweat. So as a result, all the land-dwelling friends she had people that came, to her, rather than her going to them. Fortunately, saving someone's life is almost invariably a good way to start a friendship, and in that department Sango could certainly pull her weight. A strange coincidence had managed to guide two sisters of the same family to this lake, the one Sango called home, both leaping in without having a clue how to swim. On both occasions the dolphin had been around to save the day, and after giving them some pointers so they wouldn't end up in trouble again she made her first friends without gills. Soon she met the family's pets and grew to be friends with them as well, though not without going through some dangerous times together. And Sango learned from them in turn - she'd come to accept that no-one was going to applaud her every success, and continued with her work simply because she loved it. The days of thwarting demented scientists were long over, but the Komeiji sisters still visited on a regular basis. Satori, the elder sister, was much more routine in her visits - it would always be on the end of the week, arriving around noon, usually bringing her pets along as well. The younger sister, on the other hand- "Heeeey! Sango-chaaaaaaan!" Well, she had a habit of sneaking up on Sango when her guard was down. The dolphin flinched visibly as a voice called out from behind her, drawing her attention to the shore. Sure enough, Koishi Komeiji was waving at her with both hands like a desert island strandee calling for help. While her sister was more humble and calm, Koishi's emotions were on constant overflow, and you've have to be blind not to know what she was thinking at any given moment. Sango dove back down into the lake for an instant, surfacing in her humanoid form. Dolphins were hardly masters of conversation, after all, and they weren't very good at pulling themselves out of the water. She emerged from the lake in her usual wear - a pale blue shirt with its sleeves covered in bubbles, and a light grey skirt that was soaked through (unsurprisingly). It was this last piece of clothing that caught Koishi's attention, as it clungy tightly to Sango's legs. She squinted at it, barely managing to see through the fabric and catch a sight of her bare skin. She pulled her head down, looking for just the right angle to make out her pa- "Where are you looking?" Sango gave Koishi a much deserved karate-chop to the head, ending her perverse inspection of the dolphin. It hadn't hurt, but it was clear enough sign to cut it out, even for Koishi. "Sorry, sorry. It's just that when you make it barely visible like that, there's this urge to look, y'know? It's like Pandora's box. Except, uh, with your underwear." Sango's lip twisted into a look of confusion. Koishi seemed to have a thing for following whatever random urge made its way into her head. Satori had told her once that there was a long and ugly story behind it, so she'd never had the nerve to ask. Whatever it was, she seemed to be over it now, so no need to bring up an ugly past. "...Moving on. What're you up to today? Last time I saw you you said you were going to visit the Celestials or something." "Yeah, I went up to their heaven or whatever. Kinda dull, got bored fast, decided to come back here and get a dolphin ride." A nervous pause. "...What?" "A dolphin ride! Y'know, like how little girls always wanna ride ponies, except with a dolphin! It's the sort of thing they'd make stories about outside the border, right?" Sango's brain ground to a screeching halt. Where exactly did she even get that idea? It was nuts, it was absurd, it was... "C'mon, pleeeeease? It'll be fun, honest!" ...exactly the sort of crazy idea she expected to hear from Koishi. Sango sighed, before pulling the bravest face she could. "Well, alright. Never really done this before, so you'd better hold on tight. I'm pretty fast, if I do say so myself." Sango stepped backwards into the water as Koishi let out a little squee of joy. "Yaay! Thanks, Sango-chan!" Koishi undressed in record time, placing her hat neatly on top of an otherwise disorganised pile. Beneath her layers of clothing was a simple, white swimsuit with her name written on the front in childish lettering. Sango raised an eyebrow. "Uh...do you always wear that under your clothes?" Koishi looked down, puzzled. "Of course I do. What would I do if I had an impulse to go swimming and I wasn't wearing a swimsuit?" Another few seconds of awkward silence. Sango dipped her head beneath the water so that Koishi wouldn't see her slam the palm of her hand into her face. Someone in the mind of Koishi Komeiji, a screw had come very loose. Maybe it had come out entirely. She was childish, immature, irresponsible. But that was what made her so interesting. When Sango surfaced again, she was back in dolphin form, ready to take on a new passenger. Koishi at least had the common sense to slowly step on rather than jumping on poor Sango, and the youkai was able to support her weight comfortably. Koishi sat on Sango's back, pointing into the distance with all the emphasis she could muster. "Alright, Sango-chan, full speed ahead! Dolphin Rider Koishi, to the rescue!" ----- "Murasa?" Ichirin slowly opened the door to the captain's quarters, taking care not to step on any nerves. She knew Murasa hated these festivals, and the morning after was never a good time to try and talk to her. From the doorway, Ichirin could see her slumped over the wheel, making slight adjustments to the direction now and then. The ship shook slightly, never quite settling on one direction and making Ichirin feel a little queasy. "Um. Sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you could explain why we've taken off?" Silence. "If it's a rough subject, feel free to take your time on it. I don't mind." More silence. Murasa was giving her the cold shoulder. Ichirin felt slightly hurt - she hadn't done anything wrong, had she? "I'll just wait until you feel like talking. It's okay, I don't have anything else to do." Murasa didn't give her so much as a nod in response, continuing with her lazy steering. Ichirin counted the seconds she waited for a reply, growing irritated by the time she made it to thirty. "Alright, this isn't really funny anymore. What's going o-" It was that exact moment that Murasa turned the ship a completely different direction. "Aah!" Ichirin found herself slammed into the wall as the ship abruptly changed trajectory, Murasa's hands guiding the wheel with a sudden burst of grace. For a moment, Ichirin thought that the captain had seen some sense and was ready to land the ship. Then she saw the viewpoint outside of Murasa's window, and that hope went firmly out the window. "M-Murasa! What are you doing?!" Unbeknownst to what she was doing, Captain Murasa Minamitsu continued to snore quietly, driving the ship onwards in her sleep. She had spent her time among the dead causing shipwrecks. Now it looked like her subconscious was going to continue the trend. Ichirin watched on, eyes wide open in shock, as a lake came closer and closer. ----- "Whee!" Koishi let out a cry of joy as Sango burst out of the water again, performing a little loop in the air. Koishi was clinging on for dear life by now, but from the sounds of things she was having the time of her life. Sango wasn't having a bad time of it either. Even if she was just the trusty steed of the mighty Dolphin Rider Koishi, the hero who dedicated her life to defeating the Dark Crab King and thwarting his nefarious plots to rule the seas (seriously, where did she come up with this stuff?) it was exciting to play out nonetheless. Seeing Koishi smile so earnestly made her feel a little warm inside. "Alright, Sango-chan! We've got to penetrate the King's underwater fortress! Let's go!" Sango followed her cue, pointing her nose downward and sending both of them straight to the bottom of the lake. They prowled along the floor, searching for the Crab King's lair, set to pounce him while he was unprepared with the Super Iruka Beam. Only them would they recover the last of the seven Tidal Teardrops and bring peace to the waters on Gensokyo once more. Yup. She's definitely crazy to come up with all this stuff. But it's kinda cool, in a way... They passed by a cave on the lakebed in the midst of their search. Sango glanced at it for a moment, but quickly turned away from it. If that was the cave she thought it was, then it wasn't worth going in there. She felt the weight on her back getting lighter. !? Looking backwards, Sango discovered that Koishi had abandoned her steed, heading on into the cave without her. All she got in response was a single wink from Koishi before she swam into the mouth of the cave, leaving her behind. H-Hey! Wait! Don't go in there! Sango had to make up for Koishi's head start, turning around and dashing into the cave behind her at full speed. It was an unstable place, prone to caving in at the slightest tremor, and that was why she'd tried to keep Koishi away from it. But apparently, the girl had developed another one of her urges to see what was hidden inside. Maybe she was still playing out the game in her head, and treating this as the King's fortress. These were the times when Sango wished Koishi would display just a little common sense... There she is! Sango caught up with Koishi as they reached the end of the cave. All Koishi gave her was a shrug in response, but the playful look on her face said 'Curses, we've been had! It's a trap!" This wasn't the time for games. Did Koishi even realise- ----- "-how much trouble we'll be in if you crash!?" Ichirin was shaking Murasa violently, trying to get her to pull up at the last minute. She'd had tried to do it herself, but the magic controlling the ship was designed so as to give Murasa - and only Murasa - power over it at all times. Unzan was doing all he could to help out, working his cloudy form into Murasa's ears and reaching in as far as he could. The water was coming closer and closer now. At this speed there was no hope of the ship floating - it'd be on a crash course straight for the lakebed. That'd lead to all sorts of damage and flooding and...gah, it wasn't worth thinking about! Right now she had to get Murasa awake before things were too late! "I didn't even know ghosts had to sleep! You and your stupid ego...!" Closer, and closer still, until now all that Ichirin could see out of the window was a wall of blue. She would have taken the time to note that the water was brilliantly clean if she wasn't preoccupied by her attempts to avoid crashing into it. "...Nnnh...yes, sir, I'll be in the mess hall in five..." Murasa grumbled something as Ichirin's efforts finally paid off. The captain pulled her head upwards, rubbing her eyes as she squinted out the window. "...Huh? Did I fall asleep at the wheel or something? The sky looks awfully blue..." It took a few seconds for her brain to process that the sky didn't have ripples. Or fish. "...Oh." Her hands gripped the wheel tightly, trying to pull the ship up at the last minute. Too late. "Aw, SHI-" ----- THUMP. For a moment, the earth shook around them. What the-?! Sango and Koishi both turned to the path backwards as a massive bang echoed through the water. Something had landed, and it was huge - the impact was enough to send the waters within the cave all over the place. On the ceiling, the rocks started to tremble, almost in slow motion. Sango turned around, realising what was about to happen, but not quickly enough to do anything about it. Koishi only got one glimpse of the cave-in, her mouth slipping open in shock. Then the rocks came down around her, bringing up a wall of dust that blinded Sango for a few vital seconds. By the time she could see again, the dolphin rider had disappeared beneath the rocks. Koishi!! ----- For all you people who appreciate irony, this sample of a C78 doujin was uploaded today. I'll be watching intently for it. :3 Also, Dolphin Rider Koishi may receive a spinoff after I'm done with this. I put it together at random, but it's...strangely appealing.

Drake: Best line.

Kasu: Oh snap.  Things seems to be getting serious.

Esifex: Is anyone else picturing Koishi declaring herself Dolphin Rider by pulling an Iku-fever pose while wearing her swimsuit? Kinda like an 'in-the-name-of-the-moon' fashion? This needs to be drawn. I would if I could. :<

FinnKaenbyou: why can't i write updates at a decent hour like an ordinary person :ohdear: ----- The world exploded. Ichirin watched in shock as in front of her, the front wall of the captain's quarters ceased to exist. Fragments of wood went flying in all directions, deadly weapons at the speed they were moving. Lady Kumoi! Unzan's first reaction was to move in front of his master, using his cloudy form to repel the shrapnel. The makeshift bullets bounced off of him, protecting Ichirin from the first wave of attack. Murasa hadn't been so lucky, and at the moment of collision her head had slammed into the steering wheel, putting her out of commission. 'Dead' was the wrong word to use when it came to Murasa - for her, death was just a momentary setback. The second wave, though, Unzan could do nothing about - and this one was a literal wave. "U-Uwaaglb!" The room flooded almost instantly, as the collapsed wall gave the lake water all the room it needed to enter. The pressure sent her spiralling back out the doorway, carrying her along with the tides. She was hurled through the corridor, spinning in all directions, losing sight of which way was up and which was down. Even when the water came to a halt she was still spinning on the spot, eyes glazed over and not even trying to make sense of her surroundings anymore. Luckily, she'd been pushed up towards the surface, and Unzan extended his form to lift her up out of the water. Ichirin spluttered for a moment as her brain started to function again, though the current situation wasn't exactly making itself easy to comprehend. For example, the corridor continued upwards rather than forwards. "...She crashed the ship at that angle?" She tried to get track of where exactly in the ship the water had reached. She recognised that door - that was the kitchen door, which meant that this was roughly the ship's centre. Further to the back were the exit and the main 'shrine' portion of the ship; at the front were- The living quarters...! No-one would have left their rooms after last night. Hijiri would be meditating, and Shou would be sleeping the morning away along with Nazrin. Both of those rooms were a good way along - or down, as it was now - and Ichirin was well aware she wouldn't be able to make a trip that far and back in one breath. Even if she could, it was possible that the ship coming apart had blocked the way back, so there might not even be a way to reach them from this side. Unzan could help, but he couldn't move away from Ichirin, so he was out of the question now. "...Unzan, let's get out of here. There have to be local youkai who can help us here!" Unzan nodded, lifting Ichirin into the air and up towards the back of the ship. The rooms weren't quite airtight, but they'd take long enough to flood that help could make it before it was too late. Please...please let there be someone! ----- ...Well, this was a new way for Shou to be woken up. Nazrin had poked her in the eye, dropped a bucket of water on her face, and one time she placed a block of cheese on her nose for one of her mice to nibble at. She'd never thrown her face first into the wall before. It worked, that was for sure, but it stung like hell. "Oww...jeez, Nazrin, why are you being so forceful? Last night was rough, can't we just sleep in for once?" She looked to her side, expecting to see Nazrin looking down on her disapprovingly. Instead, she saw her servant in the same state as her, with her whole body pressed against the wall. Wait a minute. That makes no sense. She was no scientist, but Shou knew a little about physics. Mainly, gravity - it shouldn't have been possible for either of them to lie on the wall, no matter how they tried. Unless... "We crashed." Nazrin blurted out the end of Shou's thought process. Sometimes she wished that she could figure something out first for once. "How could we crash? The ship isn't even meant to take off anymore." Shou was the first to remove herself from the wall, trying to make her way back onto what had once been the floor. The incline was too steep, though, and every effort to get back up had just led to her sliding back down again. The beds had been sent sliding down as well, which would by all accounts suggest that the ship was almost on its tip. Before anything else, the first step was to figure out what was going on. Murasa would have a better idea than anyone, undoubtedly, so it was time to take a trip to the captain's quarters. Shou noticed a puddle of water making its way in under the door, spreading across the floor. She grumbled, taking a mental note to clean it later. Was she that crazy when she was drunk...? "Huh?" Shou pushed at the door, jerking at it forcefully, but it refused to budge. It wasn't locked - it never was, Murasa had lost the keys to this place months ago. It felt as if something was keeping the door closed on the other side, pressing it back and refusing to let her open it. "Gah, door's jammed. What's that trick Murasa mentioned again?" "...Shou. I don't think you should open that door." Nazrin muttered something as her master fiddled with the doorway, gaining no results. The puddle between her feet continued to spread into the room with unnerving speed. That was one hell of a spill outside, apparently. "Nazrin, what are you talking about?" "Look outside." Shou blinked once, with no idea whatsoever what Nazrin was talking about. She looked out the window without really paying too much attention, not expecting to see anything truly extraordinary. Her brain failed to process the information her eyes passed on. "Nazrin. Those are fish." "Yup." "And they're underwater." "Yeah. Which is right outside, apparently." "So that means the puddle is..." "Precisely." The water continued to rise. It would take a while, but eventually it would flood the room completely. "...I'm going to kill Murasa the next time I see her." "Yeah, good luck with that." ----- Meditation was a process that required absolute concentration and total focus. It was said that a trained practitioner could stand in the eye of a tornado without noticing it. So when the ship on which she travelled shook violently as it crashed, Byakuren Hijiri was too lost in her meditation to notice. She had centuries of training, after all, and in this state she was almost entirely disconnected from the world. So it was no surprise that she didn't feel the water flooding into the room through her open window. It rose rapidly around her, reaching her waist, her chest, her shoulders. And still, she did not move. The water rose past her lips, her nose, until finally her whole head was submerged. It continued upwards, until in a matter of seconds the entire room was as flooded as the corridors outside. Byakuren paid no mind to any of this. Until her meditation came to an end, the world around her was immaterial. Her body responded in the only way it knew how; by stopping her breathing. No matter - her magical prowess had enhanced her physical capabilities to the point where she could go without air for hours if need be. She was in no danger. Others, on the other hand, were not as fortunate. ----- Koishi-chan! Where are you?! Sango darted out towards the aftermath of the rockslide, feeling her heart tremble. She should have paid more attention and stopped her before she even went close to the cave. She should have known Koishi would go off on her own no matter how dangerous it was, she should have kept her out by force if she had to- Not the time! If she wasn't in dolphin form, Sango would have slapped herself across the face. Every second she spent thinking about what she could have done was a second she could be using making up for that mistake. She examined the rubble more intently - she had to be fine, Koishi had to be fine... "Mmmh!" A groan emerged from underneath one of the rock piles, and with it a tiny trickle of bubbles slipped out. Koishi was squirming around underneath it, but the rocks had pinned her down. Sango felt her brain click off, running solely on instinct. She shifted back to human form for this - no way she could move rocks with those tiny fins of hers. She swam over to the rock pile, quickly grabbing the largest stone she could see and heaving it to the side. Gah, these are heavy...! It took longer than she wanted to shift the rocks out of the way, but she couldn't allow herself a moment to catch her breath. After clearing up the worst of the debris an arm reached out of the wreckage, trying desperately to sweep away the rocks holding her in place. "G...g-glb!" More bubbles rose up from within. The streams were getting larger, and longer. She was running out of time. Hold on, Koishi-chan! Just a little longer, I promise! She started on the smaller stones. Koishi had been lucky with this - if the larger ones had come down on her first, she'd have been dead for sure. Now, though, she might still have a chance if Sango could get her out of there fast enough. The rocks started to shake more violently. With every stone Sango shifted out of the way, Koishi had a little more room to squirm out from underneath the rocks. Her arm reached out further, and after a little squirming she managed to get her other arm out as well. Alright, now hold on! Sango took Koishi's arms and gripped them as tightly as she could. She pulled upwards with all of her might, working alongside Koishi's own attempts to lift herself out. It took only a few seconds, but to Sango it felt like a painful eternity. When at last she was free, Koishi almost flew upwards out of the rockpile, still holding Sango's hands tightly. Her cheeks were puffed up, and the occasional bubble forced its way out of her lips. She wasn't going to make it to the surface swimming on her own. Good thing, then, that there was a friendly dolphin nearby ready to give her a lift back to the surface. Koishi didn't waste time seating herself properly this time - she wrapped her arms around Sango and held on for dear life. The dolphin kicked through the water furiously, dashing back through the tunnel and towards the surface. There was no time to figure out what had caused that impact now - Koishi needed air, right away. The pair broke the surface at full speed, flying up out of the water faster than ever before. Koishi let go as she managed to take a long deep breath, hanging in the air for a few seconds. Anyone else in her position would have been thankful simply to be alive, and would be taking this time to thank their god or their saviour or something along those lines. Not Koishi Komeiji. "Woo-hoo! That was awesome!" She splashed down, rose back up and lifted herself out of the water. Her arms and legs had various scrapes and bruises, but besides that she was almost entirely unharmed. "That was pretty dangerous, but it looks like Dolphin Rider Koishi managed to escape the Crab King's ingenious deathtrap! We make a great team, don't we, Sango-chan!?" Sango took a while to respond, slowly playing out the motion of swimming to the lakeside, reverting to human form, and sitting alongside Koishi. She was allowing herself to catch her breath at last, now that Koishi was out of danger. "...Koishi-chan...do you even realise...how dangerous that was...?" If anything, Sango seemed more out of breath than Koishi did right now. Anyone who happened to walk by right now would have thought it was Koishi who had saved Sango, not the other way around. "Eh, I'd have been in trouble if you took a few seconds longer. But you didn't, so what's to worry about? I didn't die, you didn't die, no problem!" This was the sort of situation where Koishi's carefree attitude was less than thrilling. Sango honestly had trouble understanding how her mind worked. ...I guess she has a point. I can give her a lecture about water safety later. "And look! We found his headquarters after all!" Sango blinked. "What?" "Look, over there! We must have activated something to make it rise out of the water! ...We didn't get it all the way, though..." Sango thought for a moment that Koishi was talking nonsense. There was nothing poking out of the lake. There never had been. Look, she was going to turn her head right now and confirm nothing was there- "Ah." Sango's eyes widened. She found herself taking a few steps backwards from the lakeside. "Huh? Sango-chan, you okay?" Sango offered no reply. Her eyes were focused only on the giant wooden...thing that had decided to crash land in her lake. There'd be broken planks everywhere, all sorts of leaked goods, entire rooms with their contents just floating around the lake bottom - it would take her an age to clean up the mess made here. And this wasn't like the minor mishaps where she would just let it slide. A food wrapper here, or a bucket of greywater there. This was, in her mind, an ecological disaster. And someone was going to pay for it, she thought to herself as she broke into a dash, running towards the edge before leaping forwards into the lake. "WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!" ----- Murasa jerked back to attention. "Uh, yes, captain, I did swab the decks...sure, I'll go and help with lunch duty. Thanks, capt-" Her semi-unconscious rambling came to a sudden halt when she realised what was lying in front of her. It was her physical form, slumped on her own steering wheel, with a wound on her head where normally blood would be flowing out. She was also floating around the crumbling, submerged remains of what had once been the captain's quarters. "...Weeeeeeeell. This...kinda sucks." ----- My sleep-addled brain has been building up ideas for the inevitable Dolphin Rider Koishi spinoff at a disturbing rate. It's just so awesome in my head. If it weren't for the fact I'm already juggling enough stories as it is, I'd probably start writing it right now. Anyone who wants to offer pictures as suggested by Esifex will be greatly appreciated. Swimsuit accessorising encouraged! Anyway it's 4:23am as I write thisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss * Rou has collapsed on his keyboard...

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