A Glimpse (Open)

[Genshuku]

(Refer to Shouki's profile. Some of it demands reading.)

Simply put, Shouki was in a very bad situation. After all, anyone under attack is generally in a bad situation, especially if said thing is an embodiment of darkness that just happens to be really strong*.

It's worse when you happen to be a Satori and can read it's mind without wanting to, and thereby getting a headache and an ever-approaching sense of fear.

Let's not mention that it's incredibly persistent. The chase has been going on for a while (about an hour), it was at night, yet the thing would not let up. Sure, she was far away from it, but she learned about 15 minutes into the chase that is was useless to hide from it, it just knew where she was.

Of course, Shouki was never a lucky person. But this was just wrong. What sort of cosmic being decided to play this little game anyway?*** In any case, it seemed to be gaining again. That is one evil looking...thing. And it even had a sword. What might end up being it's current downfall was that it really wanted to chase her, to the point where it would actually chop down trees to scare her, which it knew would slow her down, while in hot pursuit.

So, she ran. And panic she did. Sweat, she did, both the scared kind and the tired kind. Help, is what she needs. And to top it all off, that thing had to be only 3 meters behind too.

*(And from another dimension, dood. How it got here, I don't know, dood.**)
**(*blink* I do. Not telling.)
***(Mmm.)

[recon5]

Chen crouched in the shadows, waiting for the moment to strike. The Youkai mouse was nowhere near as strong as she was, but Ran had always told her that strategy should be practiced on enemies whom she could easily dispatch without it, just in case something went wrong.

Just as she tensed her legs to leap forward, her sensitive ears pricked up at a series of loud crashes that seemed to be coming from some distance away. Her original target seemed to have heard them as well as it bolted right away, but she quickly forgot it as she scrambled up the nearest tree to what she thought was a safe spot.

It wasn't. As a scared looking girl ran under Chen's hiding place, a sword whistled through the air and sliced cleanly through the trunk, bringing down the top two-thirds. The nekomata leaped clear of the falling tree and as she soared through the air she caught sight of a large shadowy figure running past with sword in hand.

On the spur of the moment, Chen decided that she would help the mysterious girl. Kicking off the tree she landed on, she flew in pursuit of the creature. When she was near enough, she brought out her spell card [Oni God "Soaring Guardian God"], which caused her to accelerate forward as she curled herself into a feline cannonball. Her body glowed blue-white even as a torrent of blue magic shots began to pour out. Chen expected that a direct hit would at least knock the creature over, and while it was larger than she was the nekomata was used to ramming enemies in combat and wouldn't suffer too much from the impact. If she didn't get the creature, at least the shots would.

[Genshuku]

Well, there seemed to be a flying nekomata* coming at the...thing. Well, what was stopping it from swinging the blade at her?

...

Why, all of these shots, of course. It was used to dodging things thanks to an encounter with a creature that could best be described as 'cute'** defeating it time and time again, at least once using a ranged weapon. But this cat in the way was not it's goal. The goal was not to kill the cat, it was to seriously wound the Satori and capture her (in that order). But in order to do this, the cat had to go. So, while still chasing the Satori, (now having to dodge trees, but it was better than being behind it, in the bullets) it shot 4 black lightning bolts to Chen's left (3 feet), far left (7 feet), right (3 feet), and far right (7 feet). The bolts actually stopped going forward after a while (like a close range projectile***), but with how close Chen was getting, it didn't seem to matter. The bolts then got closer together, focusing in the middle, where Chen was. In any case, the card was mostly useless if the thing didn't even have to turn around.

Shouki would have aided the neko, but the situation kept her from even reading the neko's mind, as she was trying to resist all of the evil thoughts that that...thing had, which managed to drown everything else out. All she was thinking of was running forward in a straight line.

*(Everything flies in Gensokyo, dood. Even some of the plants.)
**(And pink. And small.)
***(Isn't that an oxymoron, dood?)

[recon5]

For all her spinning, Chen had enough time to spot the bolts closing in on her. She canceled her spellcard (something Ran had always scolded her for but which she still did regularly out of habit when she was alone), which caused her to lose altitude and allowed her to pass below the bolts even as they turned to follow her. Almost four meters ahead she crashed into the ground and rolled forward a bit, kicking up a massive cloud of earth as she did so. The impact would have smashed every bone in a human's body but as a shikigami she was used to ramming stuff hard without injuring herself. It was one of the first things Ran had taught her.

With precise timing, she kicked off at the end of her last roll, whipping out [Flight Sign: Flight of Idaten] as she did so. The card's effect made her rocket forward with vastly increased acceleration compared to her previous card. She was confident that the extra speed would allow her to hit her target at the price of putting out fewer shots.

[shiningdrake]

Drake had heard of a mysterious castle in these woods. Or rather, read of it, in a newspaper. He figured that it was a good place to start investigating what had happened to his power. So here he was, in the Forest of Magic, alone... Where had Augen and Carlos gone anyway?

He heard crashing. Loud crashing. Like the forest was coming down. He immediately ran to see what was going on. The sight he saw was... Eerie. A creature that was definitely the product of pure evil was chasing after a girl, cutting down trees in the pursuit. Another girl, one with catlike features, appeared to be fighting it. Drake immediately began casting. The creature was probably weak against light. Drake began casting, and once his spell was complete, he released it, shouting "Light, shine through darkness and eternity be revealed! Aura!" Light released around him. It didn't hit, he wasn't close enough. Then, it gathered into a single glyph, which began getting ready to fire a huge beam of light...

[Genshuku]

The kitten seemed to literally blast off towards after avoiding the attack, and it did so at such a speed that it was forced to move out of the way, and startled enough by the burst of speed and extra danmaku (a few of them managed to hit, which somewhat fazed it) that it was not paying attention to everything including the newcomer, and was hit directly by the powerful beam of light. Well, the thing didn't budge, but it was definitely in pain. Large beams of light hitting darkness incarnate is certainly...super effective*, if you will.

Shouki kept on running, somehow unaware of the events going on. At least she was losing the thing, and her mind was slowly returning to normal. Slowly, but it was better than nothing.

The dark being was now in some form of danger. If it was to complete it's mission successfully it had to lose these people. But, the cat was too fast to lose, and the newcomer was...well, perhaps it could lose the newcomer. But to make sure things like this didn't happen again, it was time to get rid of the source of the interference. The being lifted it's sword up, which began to get darker, like darkness would if it 'glowed'. A ring of darkness appeared around Drake and Chen, which quickly got smaller, and if action was not taken quickly, it would hurt. Another one appeared around 5 seconds after, and it seemed to keep on going.

...It seemed to be mute. Was it?

...Probably. It didn't have a mouth. In any case, one probably has many questions. Especially one of them: Why was it so persistent in chasing that particular girl? Not like it was going to answer them, though. It was mute.

*(Yes, Pokemon, dood.)

[recon5]

Unfortunately for Chen, her spellcard ended just in time to drop her in the middle of the first ring. She realized that she wouldn't make it out of the ring if she flew normally and she prepared to use [Flight Sign: Flight of Idaten] again.

At that moment, however, she remembered that Ran had always forbidden her from using a spellcard twice in a row. For some reason she also realized at that point her earlier 'mistake' of canceling a spellcard. The double blow was lessened, however, by the thought that Ran might be a bit more lenient if her rules were broken for a good cause.

Still, Chen didn't want to incur more guilt than she already had and forced herself to take out a different card, [Wizard Sign: Phoenix Egg]. Magic orbs materialized at random spots within the ring and exploded into dense bursts of red energy shots. Chen took off at that point, hoping that the release of magic would break the ring or at least slow it down long enough for her to fly out of it.

[shiningdrake]

Yes! Direct hit! The spell wasn't as powerful as it would have been at melee range of course, but it definitely appeared to stop the creature in its tracks. Unfortunately, it wasn't dead yet... It raised its sword up, and rings of darkness appeared around him and the catgirl!

By the time Drake had processed what was happening, it was too late to completely dodge. However... He wasn't out of options. He quickly composed himself, focusing... A flash of light, and he was in his dragon form. The light pushed the ring of darkness back slightly, and Drake didn't pause in taking advantage of that, flying into the air quickly.

The ring did hit his tail however, with a surprising amount of pain, as it shrunk again. Drake roared in agony, though it lasted only a second. He wasn't injured much, but that hurt! He shook it off and flew through the air in a flash, and began attacking the creature again in a flurry of claws. His claws glowed with the same light energy as his Aura spell, so it should be effective...

[Genshuku]

Well, that was a lot of bullets. It was hard to manuver through them, and the fact that a dragon imbued with it's weakness was charging towards it was simply the worst.

...Wait a minute. It was closing in? Perfect.

The being stopped dodging the shots in order to block the attack made by the charging dragon with it's sword, stopping it's earlier attack and glow. This means that it had to take the sho--

Or just manuver from the claw and sword so that his body is blocking the shots. Brilliant idea.

So the dragon comes at it. If it locks, then manuver. If it attacks again, move a slight and block again. Hmm. Now how to attack?

Again, simple.

The sword started to glow again, a dark red this time. Then, the sword became far stronger, to deal with the current situation while using the source of the problem as a meat shield.

Shouki finally came to. It stopped chasing her, and there was a battle going on far behind her, bullets and light brightening the night sky. It would be romantic, but the fact that they were probably fighting what she thought they were scared her a bit. Yet still, she couldn't get the nerve up to help them just yet. Oh well. Let's see if they stand a chance.

[recon5]

Chen's desperate maneuver had allowed her to clear the ring and had also managed to inconvenience her target. She took the opportunity to fly straight up as high as she could in order to get a better look at what was going on.

The dragon charging her target was a surprise as she hadn't seen it before. For a moment she worried if she had hurt it with her previous spellcards but the ferocity of its attack assured her that it was fine. Then she realized that trying to keep from hurting the dragon would be a problem as her spellcards (like most in Gensokyo) weren't meant to be used for anything other than one-on-one combat, at least not without endangering anyone other than her opponent.

Chen's instincts told her to ignore the dragon and focus on eliminating the monster but at the same time she was aware that Ran would not be pleased if she hurt someone who was only trying to help. She stayed high above the battle as she struggled to decide on her next move.

[shiningdrake]

Drake noticed the monster's sword glowing again. Uh-uh, no. He said to it, and instead of attacking directly again, he rose into the sky,, away from the creature, and began casting a spell... Frostblitz! He called out, and then watched as the icicles appeared in a circle around the monster. He called over to the catgirl, though not so the creature could hear Try to help me keep it within the circle of icicles! The spell I'm unleashing requires it!

((OOC: Technically he can actually speak to only specific people. You didn't expect a dragon to call out normally, did you? Telepathy ftw! XD))

[Genshuku]

More tricks? Well, this was beginning to turn into a real problem. There were icicles surrounding it now. But as it was a circle and not a sphere, it was easily fixable by moving upwards. Current problem solved, as long as it wasn't forced in the ring again. Now he's busy. To attack him while he's busy, or to attack the catgirl to keep from being hit?

It's easier to play defensively. So, while Chen was thinking, the thing quickly lunged at Chen, sword still glowing, and once there, started to slice, continuing to chase and slash if she moved.* If she shot at it, well, it's good having a quick sword arm, which is boosted a bit by the sword's current status, to deflect the shots.

Shouki noted that they were doing quite well, all while trying to restrain herself to not read anyone's mind, as that would let that thing's mind in her again, which would suck.

*(Take the chance, dood. You know what I mean. Take it, take it...**)
**(Oh, I help in battles sometimes, dood. Like you aren't looking at these notes.)

[recon5]

The dragon's command and the monster's attack came too suddenly and in too quick a succession for Chen to react to either one. She suddenly found herself dodging for her life as the creature slashed at her repeatedly. It was surprisingly agile for its bulk but Chen was quicker still... barely. She considered testing its abilities like Ran had taught her but then its sword took off a few of her tail hairs and she ditched the idea immediately.

Gathering her strength, she gave herself a sudden boost of speed and shot a few meters away from the creature. The time her move bought her allowed her to whip out [Yin Yang: Large Pentagram Crest] and she barely managed to declare the card before the creature was within slashing distance.

Time seemed to slow as the creature's blade arced towards Chen's shoulder but she disappeared in a shower of purple magic shots. The card caused her to fly in straight lines with incredible speed, tracing a five pointed star in the air with the creature in the center. At each corner she released a massive burst of magic shots- first purple then alternating with green. Two wisps were summoned at the same time and circled the creature, trailing blue magic orbs that slowly fanned outward. In just a few seconds the sky was filled with shots- far too many, Chen thought, for the creature to dodge or block them all. With the speed the card gave her she had no need to worry about getting cut.

[shiningdrake]

"Grrrrr..." Drake growled. No, not telepathically, that would be stupid. The creature had escaped the circle of icicles. Then it had attacked the catgirl... Drake was about to try something else again, but then the catgirl cast some sort of spell. It ended up being... Perfect.

Drake watched carefully at what was going on in between all the lights as he cast his spell. Then, he unleashed it perfectly. Skyfire! he shouted. He conjured a blade of wind and threw it at the creature. If this hit, it would work out perfectly. Instead of waiting for the spell to finish after activation however, what he did, was use his fire breath. His fire breath in addition to the effects of Skyfire would make this even more perfect... Of course, he made sure to stay out of the way as he did so.

[Genshuku]

Oh shi--*

The being made a ( soon to be useless) mental note to never go into close combat with the catgirl ever again. Range was safer. But, it didn't even have the time to react to this huge mess of attacks that the catgirl used, and it was promptly drowned in danmaku.

The blade of wind sent by Drake also hit with complete and total ease as it was pummeled by these shots, and it soon became a whirlwind of danmaku, fire, wind, and hell on earth.

The being eventually exploded (in darkness, of course). The explosion would actually send some odd feeling of dread if they somehow managed to get caught in it, but this was unlikely.

What an anti-climatic death.**

Shouki had witnessed the explosion (and was obviously not caught in it, she was pretty far away while the explosion was only a few meters) and decided to thank her saviors, and hurried back to the location she was at before. After all, it's not every day that you actually get saved. Most people would simply look, and continue to do whatever they were doing before.

...

She certainly was far away. Matter of fact, she couldn't just get there instantly. Perhaps a long range mind-reading while she went over there...

What she found was rather curious. There was Chen, shikigami of a shikigami (Ran) of the well-known (for being lazy, among other things) Yukari, and was known well enough. The other mind was...completely foreign. Completely, absolutely, need anyone say more? If only she had the time to browse through the entire mind's memories, which she simply didn't. (Her third eye, whom she and no one else could ever notice, as always, thought some of this stuff was familiar. It was probably right. Was there some Fire Emblem in there? Perhaps if it ever got it's own body, it could play some of that...but for now, it was not to be. Perhaps if the owner died, it could become it's own ghost and possess someone to play it...Hm...)

*(Wouldn't want to be it, dood.)
**(Not even a villain speech, dood.)