...Been a fat minute. Four months, in fact, since I last dropped this chapter, half-completed, b/c of studies. Uh... I'm back.

While I was gone, I also took a look at the English translation of the Shard of Dreams version of this game. It was cool. I think I'll stick w/ the vanilla storyline for this fic though, since I've done so much already.

As a short recap, Accel just beat Sakuya and Remilia at the SDM. That should be enough to jog your memory.

Xxxxx

"My, you're quite strong." Remilia acknowledged. "Did you really think I went all out? I'm just killing time, so there's no need for me to be serious."

"No. You have been holding something back from me. Something you said when I entered this mansion. It's been bothering me all this time." Accelerator pressed for information.

"You're referring to my AcceleratorS Puppets, I believe." The vampire guessed correctly. She leaned over her desk. "I'll let you in on a little secret, on a certain condition."

"And that is?"

"I can't stand it when such a strong Puppeteer doesn't give his Puppets any nicknames! If it were me, I'd come up with names with much better sense. How about it? Will you leave it to me?"

'Don't tell me.' Accelerator had a bad feeling. But agreed anyway. He wasn't really in a position to refuse such a meaningless condition when potential information on Accelerator Puppets were on the line. He cycled his Puppets through the box to heal them up, and called them out for Remilia's inspection.

Remilia took out a large tome from under her desk, and opened it to a seemingly random page.

'No, hang on. Isn't thatー?'

She ran her finger down from the top to the middle of the page.

"Leukocyte."

'That's a dictionary!'

So this vampire was the reason those strong Puppeteers like Reimu and Marisa had such weirdly named Puppets!

Accelerator massaged his head and sighed as he re-greeted Leukocyte the AcceleratorN, Camphor the NazrinE, Besot the CirnoA, and Vindictive the MokouX.

"Now then," Remilia put away the dictionary, pleased with herself. "I'll tell you about these Puppets." She pulled out two Threads and called out two Puppets that looked identical to Accelerator's Leukocyte. "This one's named Doomsday, and that one is named Counterclockwise." She mentioned.

"No, I didn't ask what their names were." Accelerator sweatdropped. He'd rather find out where exactly she found them, or what Skills they had.

"I went through a lot of trouble to seal these two. One was hanging out in the garden, and one was roaming the halls." So they appeared in random places. That didn't help Accelerator much. "No matter how many times my little fairy maids tried to weaken them, these guys would always win in the end. So I took matters into my own hands. They were only level 30, yet they outsped my Megadeath! Luckily, they didn't have much to hurt me with, but the same went for me. I had to teach her the Skill Card for Light Javelin just to have a chance!"

Remilia went on with her story. Accelerator leaned that Doomsday and Counterclockwise were already Speed Style when she managed to seal them. So wild Puppets could even Style Change on their own at level 30. That was interesting.

She also covered their Skillpool, noting that they could learn a ton of priority Skills, as well as a Terrain changing Skill called Terrain [Byakko]. This Terrain made all Skills have complete accuracy for five turns, but coupled with AcceleratorS's Western Expanse ability, it's attacks were boosted in power under of effects of Byakko. Remilia was about to test its power against her fairy maids before Accelerator showed up unannounced.

"They're still not at a high enough level, or I'd have tested them out in our battle. I also haven't decided on the best Skillsets for them yet."

Remilia seemed to not know about his Puppets' growth rate acceleration powers. Otherwise, they'd both be at much higher levels already. Accelerator held his silence.

"But it was fun. If an opportunity arises, we should play again. No, I should be more direct here. Come and play again."

"...Sure." He couldn't say he wasn't still curious about a style of his own Puppet.

"Ah yes. I almost forgot. I didn't get to show it off in our match, but here's a Darkinium M Shard. Consider it a bonus for beating me with just one Puppet."

As it turned out, Remilia was the holder of the obsidian-colored Magic Crystal of Dark.

"To activate it, you put your arms to your sides, palms up, spread your wings high, give a bright smile, and ask 'And Then Will There Be None?'"

(Please refer to the cover image for a better idea)

"And if I don't have wings?" It used to apply to him though.

"Not sure. Pretend you do have them? Let me know how that works out. Now, it's your destiny to head to the mountain in the north next. After that, shouldn't you cut your path to your destiny? For fate is an ever-changing thing."

With that in mind, Accelerator left the Scarlet Devil Mansion. On the way out the front gate, he passed the gatekeeper, Meiling, who suddenly woke up from a nightmare.

"...Wah! Wawah! Not the knives! Don't stab me so..." She looked around and found Accelerator. "Hah! ! O-Oh, it's a guest. Thank goodness. Ahem. So, what'd you need? Sorry, but due to my orders, I can't let you through."

"Weren't you sleeping just now?"

"Eh? It's because the weather's so cheery, I just kind of nodded off. Ack! That's enough talking about me! Anyway, you can't go through. If you try to force your way, you won't win against me."

He won against her.

"A~w. I lost. The mistress is going to be mad at me again~..."

"Don't worry about it. I don't have any more business here. I think." He walked away from the mansion, toward the lake.

"Any more? Yawn~ I wonder what he meant by that..." The gatekeeper dozed off again.

Xxxxx

"It's an outsider! An outsider!" A crow tengu crossed Accelerator's path as he walked closer to the lake. "Ayayaya! If it isn't the famous Accelerator. Man, what a coincidence meeting you here." The tengu turned around and called to him.

Accelerator could only guess what tengus actually looked like, but this clearly just looked like a small girl in a black and white dress and a red tokin on top of her short black hair.

"Oh right. I've got big news for you! Seems like the Liberation Front managed to capture the Kappas' Hideout. What do you think? Makes for an interesting article, huh?" The tengu told him.

The Kappas' Hideout? Was Nitori alright? Well, as the holder of the Waterium M Crystal, she couldn't have gone down that easily. Much less to those weaklings who called themselves the Puppet Liberation Front. But suppose the five brats that Accelerator met at the Human Village were just grunts. There might be stronger members like admins as well. The tengu said the Front managed to capture the Hideout. Accelerator let a little concern show on his face.

"I got it. I want to see for myself. How do I get there?"

"As expected. From here, go down to the bridge at the lake's edge. Stick to the left, and you'll reach Genbu Ravine. You can reach the Hideout from the cave there. Well then! May we meet again somewhere!" She disappeared.

Xxxxx

Accelerator found the cave without issue. Inside the cave, he met a generic kappa in a green hat waiting by a subterranean river.

"It's terrible, terrible!" The kappa clutched onto Accelerator's shirt. "Our hideout has been taken over by the Puppet Liberation Front. They're running wild, doing whatever they want. It's just awful. I'm looking for someone willing to help us, but... You're our sworn friend, so you'll help us, won't you?" Sounded like Nitori told them all about him.

"Ah, I'm willing to participate in some easy Puppet battles." It would be some nice stress relief after those brain racking battles of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which were based mainly on luck, predictions, and hoping his opponents didn't have an answer to his plays. That took a lot of mental stamina that Accelerator would have liked to recover soon.

"That's great! The way to reach the hideout is a little special, but if you ask me, I'll take you whenever you want!"

"Sure, I'm ready now."

"Roger that! Then I'll take you right away!" The kappa grabbed Accelerator's hand and pulled him into the river.

As it turned out, he wasn't ready.

The next thing he knew, he was drenched in river water, groveling on a wooden dock, gasping for his breath. A sudden thought ran through his mind. He brought his hand up to the Puppet head that was supplying electricity to his choker.

It was completely fine. As expected of the Puppet head of a water-dwelling youkai, it was completely waterproof.

He made it to the Kappa's Hideout. Behind him was a lake.

"On scene! This is our hideout. You'll need me to return, right? Let me know when and I'll take you out. I'll leave the Liberation Front to you! I'm cheering for you!"

A small water town hidden in the mountains. The lake itself took up half the town. The rest of the town was filled with numerous single-story houses that surrounded the lake.

Accelerator could clearly make out Nitori battling three fairies on the west side of town, across from the lake. It looked like she was in a bit of a pickle. He was currently on the east side of town.

Skimming his toes across the surface of the lake, holding onto Leukocyte's legs as it flew toward the commotion, Accelerator reached the four Puppeteers in short time.

Surrounding Nitori was an orange-haired fairy in a red dress, a blonde fairy in a white dress, and a brunette fairy in a blue dress. They all looked familiar. Perhaps Accelerator saw some Puppets based on them in the recent past.

"Come on, Miss Kappa. Hand that over to us." He heard the first fairy address Nitori.

"...H~m. I don't know what you mean by "that"." Nitori responded.

"She's right, Sunny. She won't understand if you just say "that"." The second fairy interjected. "We need to get the optical camouflage. With that, we can operate without being seen."

"...Eh?" The first fairy, Sunny, looked shocked.

"Hehehe. That's right." The third fairy jumped in. "Thanks to the camouflage, we can surprise people all we want! And we'll never lose at hide and seek!"

"B-but my ability..." What, was her ability the exact same as the optical camouflage?

"Come on! You said you were looking forward to it too, Sunny." The second fairy brought them back to the point. "Now hurry up and hand over the optical camouflage. If you don't... There's no telling what'll happen to this human!"

Oh, Accelerator had been found out before he could sneak up on them. The fairies redirected their Puppets away from Nitori and toward him instead.

"How rude! You're still battling against me!" Nitori and her Whipcord, the newly Style Changed NitoriP, went to Accelerator's side to back him up. She nodded to him to get ready.

Accelerator called out Besot and Vindictive next to Whipcord to initiate a triple battle. On the fairies' side was a SunnyP, a LunaS, and a StarP.

LunaS's Sanguine Ability changed the weather to Aurora. From what Accelerator could remember, Aurora increased the power of Light attacks while decreasing the power of Dark attacks. Coincidentally, his two offensive Puppets were both Dark-types, so it would seem like an uphill battle.

"Oh, now I remember." Accelerator recalled. "I saw Puppets of you three in the Forest of Magic. You're known as Sunny, Luna, and Star, and your Puppets are all Light-type."

"He~h? Is that so~?"

"Is that really what you think?"

Star and Luna started teasing him.

"Eh? No wait. It's true that all my Puppets are Light-type." Sunny confirmed.

Accelerator ignored their banter and ordered Besot to set up Field Protect. However, when Aurora weather is up, both Field Protect and Field Barrier are set up at once, thus halving both Focus and Spread attacks to Accelerator and Nitori's entire side. Besot therefore saved time and could just attack or switch out the next turn.

"Nice assist!" Nitori was pleased and gave Accelerator a thumbs up.

The fairies' Puppets all attacked next. StarP shot a priority Light-type Over Ray at Vindictive, while SunnyP and LunaS each directed a Nature-type Pollen Mist toward the Water-types Besot and Whipcord. The three defending Puppets survived easily thanks to the Fields, and Vindictive's Rebellion Tome activated as well. In contrast, neither Vindictive nor Whipcord attacked the first turn, choosing to increase their Focus stats instead with Dark Power and Cloudburst, respectively.

A rain cloud gathered above Whipcord and drenched the kappa Puppet, lowering its Speed while raising its Focus Attack and Focus Defense. Complementarily, Vindictive's Speed rose with its Up Tempo. But neither change in Speed mattered too much at the moment. Whipcord with its already low Speed was moving last anyway, and Vindictive still had to deal with the priority Over Ray.

And the Aurora weather was halving Audacity's power to boot. The Fire Puppet would probably need a few more boosts to guarantee a knock out with it.

The next turn saw Besot and Whipcord using their Water priority Aquasonic and Aqua Cutter to break through SunnyP's secondary Fire barrier and take it out of commission before it could attack again.

As expected, StarP continued to shoot Over Ray at the Fire Puppet, but it still wasn't enough to knock it out through the Field Protect. Vindictive subsequently used Aura Drain on StarP and regained almost all of its lost health. The StarP was on its last legs, but it wouldn't survive a priority attack from either of the two Water-type Puppets, regardless of its secondary Water barrier resisting it.

Finally, LunaS could knock out either Besot or Whipcord with its Pollen Mist, but the other would get off scot-free. It targeted Whipcord, considering the enhanced Focus Attack more threatening.

"No problem! I still have two more Puppets with me!" Nitori sent out Lorn, the ChiyuriD, a blonde Puppet in a sailor outfit, who emerged with a splash of water.

Accelerator as well had two more Puppets in reserve. Assuming the fairy trio had six Puppets in total, like a standard team, this was essentially a 7v6 battle, with Accelerator and Nitori holding the advantage. Hence Accelerator decided to use only three of his Puppets during this battle.

Sunny sent out her last Puppet, a SunnyE. It was indeed another Light Puppet. Accelerator didn't know what it could do, but since the LunaS seemed locked into Pollen Mist (it looked to be holding the Good Earrings to boost its Spread Attack in return for only using one Skill while it was out), he planned to target the newcomer just to be on the safe side.

The third turn also went in Accelerator and Nitori's favor.

"Lorn, use Thunderclap!" Lorn emitted a loud crash of thunder to scare the new SunnyE, causing it to flinch.

Of course, Besot finished off StarP right away.

But since SunnyE was unable to move anyway, Accelerator changed Vindictive's target to LunaS at the last second, and blew it away with a reasonably powered, barrier-piercing Audacity, re-halved by Aurora. Each of the fairy trio's lead Puppets were done for.

Luna and Star sent out their last Puppets as well: both were Extra styled Puppets of themselves. A round of notes accompanied LunaE, while a wave of darkness enveloped StarE. So that's what they meant. They told him beforehand that these two weren't Light-types. Accelerator didn't really get what a Dark Puppet was doing on an Aurora team, but it made things easier for him.

Vindictive, being the fastest one in play, used the Fighting-type Aura Drain to eliminate StarE, breaking not only its Dark barrier, but also its secondary Warped barrier. Besot used Lightning Speed on SunnyE and switched out to Leukocyte. Lorn set up a Cloudburst just like its fallen teammate. These two moves were made safe because SunnyE and LunaE focused all their attention on Vindictive. With their collective Aurora-boosted Light attacks, they finally took down the overpowering Fire/Dark Puppet.

Both Accelerator and Nitori had at least one more Puppet in reserve, but they arbitrarily decided to switch the battle format to a double battle to keep it fair. Needless to say, Sunny and Luna did not take that decision well. They didn't like being looked down upon. But, as they were losing, they clearly didn't have any say in the matter.

On the final turn of Aurora, as well as the final turn of Fields, Accelerator and Leukocyte were the first to act. They both posed in the yogic fashion and were imbued with white aura.

"Law of Boundless Space!"

The giant white ball of nothingness descended upon and enveloped LunaE. As the whiteness faded, it revealed the Sound Puppet lying powerless, unable to continue the fight.

SunnyE could still continue and one-shot Leukocyte with the Light-type Atomic Energy, but then Lorn was left completely unharmed. To end the battle, Nitori and Lorn made a synchronized swimming motion and were imbued with a blue aura.

"Diluvial Mere!"

SunnyE was sandwiched between two strong currents of water and lost the rest of its health.

Accelerator and Nitori defeated the Puppet Liberation Front Fairies of Light!

Xxxxx

...There are no Triple battles or Double battles in TPDP. There is also no Aurora Veil. The Field skills do not double up during Aurora like this in the actual game. The things that happened in this battle could only happen in a fic.

Once again, these nicknames are brought to you by the lovely Pyrotoz's Random Nickname Generator. So therefore, Remilia became my sort of expy of, or homage to, the dude in charge of that site (Tommy, aka Pyrotoz). Cheers to anyone who may have picked up on that from my introduction speech for her in the last chapter.

I guess Besot was the only nickname I didn't really like at first, but I can't say it doesn't fit Cirno. The most common synonym for it is stupefy. I think I like Vindictive's name the most out of these four. It reminded me of the old school Yugioh card Old Vindictive Magician. And it's a super fit for Mokou. It means vengeful, basically. Don't really have any strong opinions for the other two nicknames, though, but they're cute I guess?

Cheers!