Note: Previously, I said that I was going to return to Taiwan to join the army this month, but it has now been postponed to next month. Even so, it's not 100% decided yet if I am going to join the army this year. Until then, I can continue to work on my stories and update without problems.

Together in an empty room, save for a table and pair of chairs, with Seija, Reimu slammed her hand against the surface of the former while standing up and shouting at the latter, "WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! AND HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET TEN NUCLEAR WARHEADS TO BE FIRED FROM TEN DIFFERENT MILITARY BASES AT ONCE?!"

Undaunted by her loud voice and angry expression, Seija reclined at her chair and said, "Don't you know that magicians don't share their secrets with other people? Where's the fun if I tell you how I pulled this off? Not saying I'm an actual magician myself, mind you… I do know a few things regarding magic tricks, though."

"ANSWER ME SERIOUSLY!" Reimu angrily shouted at her.

Suddenly, there was a slashing sound coming from the door, and then it was sliced in two and kicked down. Both the girls turned to see what happened, and the shrine maiden had a shocked and panicked look on her face, as standing at the entrance was a really angry green-haired woman she had hoped wouldn't come.

Eiki, the name of the woman, stepped into the room and towards the two, while breathing heavily, and Reimu said to her, "I'll handle this!"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Eiki shouted at the shrine maiden at the top of her voice. She walked up to her and pushed her away before turning to Seija and slamming her hands against the table so hard that it shattered.

SMASH!

"Well, that was a waste of a good table…" commented Seija while looking down at the pieces of the broken furniture.

Eiki then lifted her up by the collar and shouted, "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CAUSE SUCH A TRAGEDY?! YOU MADE ME KILL MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE! INCLUDING…" The judge stopped there, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded sad. "Including… my… my…"

Smiling, Seija patted her on the shoulder and said, "Sad thing, I know, but what's done is done. It's not like you can rewind time to undo anything. On the bright side, you can judge all those who died and send them to heaven! Doesn't sending people to heaven make you happy?"

The judge suddenly shouted in rage and then hurled the amanojaku against the wall. She then approached her and stopped just in front of her.

Despite the intimidating look the judge was showing her, Seija was undaunted and still managed to look at her with a smile that could be described as mischievous. "You can only blame yourself. You and your system of justice or whatever you called the likes of you created! You think you can make me reform by locking me up over and over? You think you can keep everyone around you safe just by locking me up? For some people, once they have experienced the pleasure that crime brings them, can't and will not walk away from it! Think of all the deaths you could've prevented if you didn't think locking me up is the worst thing I deserve!"

Eiki angrily lifted her up by the collar and then slammed her back against the wall while continuing to glare at her.

"So…? Are you going to lock me up again?" Seija asked her. "Or are you going to do something you wished you could've done before all this mess happened?"

The rage in Eiki's head boiled even higher than before. As her grip on her Rod of Remorse tightened, Seija patted her on the shoulder and asked, "So… what are you going to do? If you've got nothing else to say, then I've got to break out of here and think of what I can do to top all this… or are you going to do something that will make you unable to love anyone or be loved by anyone… forever?"

The next thing Eiki did, she screamed in pure rage at the top of her voice while pulling back her Rod of Remorse. Realizing what she was going to do, Kotohime and Reimu yelled for the judge to stop.

Eiki then saw red and Seija's twisted smiling face as the amanojaku's laughing became slower and fainter…

.

.

.

.

.

.

Surrounding a wooden shack with several policemen, Kotohime used a megaphone to say out loud to whoever was inside the building, "Come out of here with your arms over your head at once! Do not do anything to the hostages!"

Inside the wooden shack, Seija was sitting on the floor against a wall with a bored expression. Close to her was a large pile of hay that looked drenched, and there were four people bounded by their hands and feet seated on top of it. Three of them were children, two boys and a girl, while the fourth one was Keine.

"The police are here! You won't get away with this, Seija!" Keine angrily shouted at the amanojaku.

"I'm aware of that, Miss Obvious," Seija looked at her while tossing a box of matches up and down in her hand.

"Then untie us at once!" Keine said to her. "In the very least, let the kids go! Don't force them to go through this trauma!"

"They're already facing a trauma," Seija said to her. "Oh yeah, I haven't gotten to the fun part yet, so they haven't faced the real trauma yet."

"Do you hear me, Seija?" called out the voice of Kotohime again. "Come out at once, or else we're going to go inside to restrain you by force!"

Seija stopped tossing the match box up and down and pointed at the door with her thumb while saying to Keine, "Those people sure like to take risks, don't they? They know I'm holding hostages in here and that I can do whatever I want with you with ease anytime I want, yet they still insist on barging in here. Sometimes I don't understand what law enforcers think…"

"You better not underestimate them!" Keine said to her. "Our village is safe thanks to people who are willing to risk their lives to save others! People like you will never get what you want around here!"

"But aren't they afraid of risking the lives of other people?" asked Seija. "Shows how much they care if they get people hurt as a result…"

"If you're not going to step out, we're sending people in at once!" Kotohime called out for the third time.

"All right! All right!" I'm coming out! Seija shouted in a frustrated-sounding voice. She stood up and then took out a matchstick from the box. "I guess I'll do what they want me to do. Just hope they'll be able to bear the consequence…"

Keine and the children widened their eyes in shock when the amanojaku lighted the matchstick. "Stop! Don't do that!" Keine shouted as the children cried louder than before.

"Sorry, but amanojaku don't listen to other people so easily," said Seija with a smug face before flinging the match in the direction of the oil-drenched haystack.

All of a sudden, a yin-yang orb crashed through the wall on the other side and flew into the matchstick, pushing it away. Keine was overjoyed to see the orb, but Seija shrugged and sighed. "Not again…"

The yin-yang orb went back outside through the hole, and shortly afterwards, the wall exploded, and Reimu stepped inside the shack. When she turned to look at the hostages, Keine shouted to her, "Reimu! Above you!"

Reimu looked up just in time to see Seija falling towards her with a knife in her hand. The shrine maiden quickly raised her arms in defense and caught her arm to keep her from stabbing her with the knife, but the latter managed to push her onto the floor.

Both sides struggled hard to overcome each other. Reimu eventually overcame Seija by bringing up her legs to kick the amanojaku in the abdomen and sending her flying out of the hole on the wall. The shrine maiden quickly got up to face Seija, who got back up about the same time.

The amanojaku let out a cry as she ran at Reimu to attack her with the knife, but the latter easily dodged it by stepping aside before swinging her arm against her abdomen hard. She disarmed her of her knife afterwards and then struck her hard with her wand in the face and the head, followed by pushing her by the neck back into the shack.

Reimu then pinned Seija down by kneeling on her with one knee while pointing her wand at her neck. "Show's over for you, Seija!" she said to the latter.

"Oh really?" asked Seija with a smirk while snapping her finger. The moment she did so, Reimu quickly slapped an amulet onto her forehead. "Ah!"

"I've seen that too many times," Reimu said to her. "That's why I prepared amulets that seal away a demon's power!"

At the same time, Kotohime and the rest of the police came inside. Seeing Reimu, Kotohime said to her, "Good of you to show up!"

"It's my job to deal with the likes of her after all," Reimu said as she stood up, picking up Seija by the collar at the same time. "And keep a better eye on her to keep her from escaping again…"

"She's a sneaky fellow for sure… We'll make sure she doesn't escape again," said Kotohime. Behind her, the police were helping the hostages.

"You really think throwing me back into prison is going to change anything? It doesn't matter how long you keep me in there, some things about a person will never change," said Seija. "Some people simply cannot resist the nature they are born with, or they simply enjoy watching the world burn and will not let anyone stop them, no matter what."

"Then someone will always be there to stop you," Reimu said to her.

"True, but it's still not going to change anything," Seija said to her. "We've been doing this for so long already, so you should know me better than anyone else. Personally, I don't mind doing this forever and ever. It feels good to get on the bad side of someone, knowing that they will constantly keep on doing something about something they know they can never resolve! Every time I do something like this, you're going to step out to do something about it. After all, you need to have a good reputation about yourself, and if you don't do anything about it, you're going to disgrace your clan's name, so you have no choice!"

"Say whatever you want. I'm not going to be offended by anything you throw at me," Reimu said to her with an annoyed expression. "It doesn't matter how long we're going to keep this up forever. As long as you continue to keep this up, know for sure that I will always be there to give you a beating of your lifetime!"

"Heeheehee! That's why I like you!" Seija said with a smirk. "I look forward to our next meeting!"

"If you have nothing else to say, let's go," Kotohime said to the amanojaku. "Back to your cell for you!"

When the incident was finally resolved, the children were escorted back to their parents safe and sound. After seeing Seija being escorted into the police station, Reimu and Keine walked down the path and talked with each other.

"I think I prefer it more when it was all right and even considered a good thing to exterminate demons with prejudice," said Reimu. "After the establishment of various laws regarding rights for living things, even hurting them may get you into trouble… What was Eiki thinking about…?"

"Even though she is the judge of the dead, she sees life as something valuable and important. Life is not something to be gotten rid of so easily," explained Keine. "Exterminating lives for the sake of the safety of others without passing through judgment first is not true justice to her. She believes that all life, at least intelligent ones, can change and deserve chances to atone for what they did. It doesn't matter how corrupted a person is, there is always some good in them that can be brought out."

"In Seija's case, I don't think there is any good in her," said Reimu.

"We'll never know until we look deep into her mind," said Keine.

"Maybe I can get the satori to do that," said Reimu, "but I think she's going to get overwhelmed by the large amount of wicked thoughts in Seija's head before she finds something… Anyway, I'm going back to my shrine. You take good care of yourself and your school next time to prevent this from happening again."

"I will. Thank you for saving us! I'll treat you to dinner tonight if you want to!" Keine said to her.

"If you insist," replied Reimu. After that, they both parted ways, and the shrine maiden headed in the direction she said she would be going.

As she was on her way, she came across Youmu, who was carrying several shopping bags. "Reimu!" the half-phantom said to her. "I heard that there was a case of kidnapping. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, the police and I saved the hostages," replied Reimu. "Seija was behind it."

"She was committing crimes again? No surprise…" commented Youmu. "Most of the incidents going on nowadays are from her. Looks like it will continue to be this way as long as she exists…"

"It does get tiresome, but what can I do? The law says that criminals should be given the chance to redeem themselves or at least time to live out their last days before they get executed…" said Reimu. "No justice if we don't let them…"

"We'll just have to live with it, then," said Youmu. "As long as nothing big happens, I'm sure things won't be that bad."

"You're doing shopping for your mistress, right? If that's the case, then you better be on your way," Reimu told her.

"Yeah, I know," said Youmu with a nod. "See you some other time!" Then they parted ways.

Reimu finally made it back to her shrine, and she was greeted by Ruukoto when she went inside. "Welcome back, mistress!" the robotic maid cheerfully greeted her. "Did you have a good time out there?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, you can say…" replied the shrine maiden. "Anything happened here while I was gone?"

"I accidentally pulled up some of the flowers in the backyard while uprooting weeds and broke a cup while washing it," replied Ruukoto, still having a smile on her face. "It's that cheap one you bought from the peddler."

"Be careful next time, will you…?" Reimu said to her. "Anyway, no big deal, so just forget about it…"

"I'll be careful next time," Ruukoto said to her. "Miss Marisa also paid a visit. She is currently in the living room."

Hearing this, Reimu headed over to the living room and saw the witch seated in front of the table. Seeing the shrine maiden, Marisa raised her hand and said, "Welcome home!"

"You talk like you live here…" Reimu told her.

"Well, I come here so often that it might as well be my home!" Marisa said to her. "Heard that you went to resolve an incident, right? How'd it go?"

"Nothing worth talking about," said Reimu, not in the mood to talk about what happened, as she sat down in front of the table. "Why are you here?'

"Just stopping by to see if there's anything interesting to do," replied the witch. "Been a month since we came back from the Justice League's world, and nothing interesting has happened ever since. It's been pretty boring…"

"As long as nothing goes wrong, I'm cool with boredom," said Reimu.

"Of course nothing ever goes wrong during boredom…" Marisa told her. "At this rate, I wish a large-scaled incident would happen so that I can partake in resolving it. If there's anything those superheroes taught me, then that is saving the day is fun-ze!"

"Perhaps, but I find peace and nothing happening to be more fun," said Reimu.

"Your definition of fun doesn't sound very exciting, does it?" asked Marisa.

"We all have our own opinions," said the shrine maiden.

At the same time, someone somewhere was watching the two girls using a computer. He moved the mouse cursor to each of the girls and clicked on them. He then moved the cursor over to a button at the bottom right side of the screen. When it was clicked, a bar slowly being filled with the color blue appeared in the center of the screen.

As Marisa was commenting on boredom and wishing for there to be something interesting, Kana carefully sneaked towards her from behind with a mischievous smile on her face, intending to give her a scare. Reimu saw this, but she remained silent and didn't show any signs on her face that would let Marisa know something was about to happen.

When Kana got very close to Marisa, she was about to make her move when suddenly a bright white flash appeared around the latter and Reimu. Kana was engulfed by the light that appeared around Marisa as well, and when both the lights disappeared, all three girls were nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry the wait! Tea is ready!" Ruukoto said as she came into the room with a tray of cups and a teapot, only to see nobody. "Eh? Where'd they go?"

"I think that's all…" Youmu said while looking at her shopping list to make sure that she didn't miss out anything she wanted to buy.

"Doing shopping for your mistress?" someone asked her. She looked up to see that it was Sakuya.

"Good afternoon, Sakuya!" Youmu greeted her. Seeing that the maid had a shopping bag as well, she asked her, "You're doing shopping as well?"

"Yes," replied the maid. "I can see that you are already done. I have to say… You must have quite a bit of income to be able to buy that much."

"Things aren't expensive around here, so you can still buy a lot with limited income," Youmu told her. "I do get paid quite a bit from doing gardening service for other people, however. My mistress is a heavy eater, so I have to set the price a bit high in order to keep her well fed."

"It must be tiring to serve someone who has a large appetite like her, right?" Sakuya asked her.

"It's not a big deal once you get used to it," said Youmu. "In fact, I quite enjoy shopping and cooking, so it's nothing to me!"

"Good to know that you don't find this tiring! By the way, would you mind coming over to our place and do a bit of gardening work?" Sakuya asked her. "My mistress wants some bushes to be cut into the shape of her, but none of our gardeners are skilled enough to suit her taste. I think this shouldn't be something hard for you."

"Sure! Just appoint me a time and I'll head over!" Youmu told her.

"In that case, can you come over later today, close to evening?" Sakuya asked her.

"Sure! I'll be there when I'm done with housework!" Youmu told her.

"Hope to see you by then!" said Sakuya with a smile.

When they were done chatting, they walked past each other to continue on their way. Suddenly, a bright light engulfed Youmu, and because Sakuya was right next to her when that happened, she got caught in it and disappeared along with the half-phantom afterwards.

All those who witnessed the sight had their mouths widen open in surprise.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Opening Theme
Crash Soul
(remix of Fate of Sixty Years, by SYNC . ART'S)

A Game2002 Production

TOUHOU PROJECT

.

WHITE WORLD

.

All Touhou characters and anything related belong to Team Shanghai Alice

Notable OCs will be mentioned

.

.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 1
Confusion

In what appeared to be a city, Reimu, Marisa, and Kana appeared in a flash of light on a sidewalk that was rather empty.

The three girls were surprised at their surroundings, and Marisa was even more surprised to see Kana hovering behind her. "Whoa! When did you get behind me?!" she asked the poltergeist.

"I was going to scare you just now because you said you're bored, but then this happened…" said the poltergeist, not answering her question directly.

After that, the three girls looked around in confusion. "The outside world…?" asked Reimu.

"Yeah, seems like it," agreed Marisa with a nod. "How did we get here all of a sudden?"

"So this is the outside world?" Kana asked. "I saw in pictures and televisions that it's supposed to be more crowded and lively. It's so empty and quiet here… Almost gloomy…"

"I agree," said Reimu. "My instinct tells me that things are not all right here…"

Seeing that the signs were in Japanese, they concluded that they were at least still in Japan. They started walking down the sidewalk, hoping to find anything that could help them. Because seeing a person hovering might be weird for people in the outside world, Kana walked instead of float.

They didn't run into much people at all, and when they did, they looked gloomy and in a bad mood, which made them think twice about asking them what was happening.

"These people look like they've seen better days…" commented Marisa. "I wonder what happened here…"

"We're never going to find out anything if we don't ask someone," said Reimu. "Let's ask a passerby, even if he doesn't look like he would answer us nicely."

They saw a depressed man walking on the other side of the street. Reimu was going to call out to him when he suddenly cleared his throat and then spit onto the pavement. The moment he did so, he was suddenly shot by something in the chest multiple times. The three girls watched in horror as the man screamed in agony from the gunfire from nowhere, and then he fell dead on his back.

"What… What happened…?" asked Marisa with wide open eyes.

"Hey you!" called out a voice all of a sudden. The three looked up and were surprised to see two familiar people descending from the sky.

"Aya and Hatate?!" said Reimu.

The two tengu landed in front of them. Instead of wearing their usual clothing, they were wearing military-like clothing that had the same color schemes as their usual clothing.

"Finally decided to show yourself after years of hiding, eh?" Hatate asked them.

"Hiding? What are you talking about? When were we ever in hiding?!" asked Marisa in confusion. "And why are you wearing that kind of outfit? In fact, what's going on around here?"

"Don't try to feign innocence!" Hatate said to them in a harsh tone. "You people have been wanted for five years already, and we've been searching far and wide for you! Normally, the Supreme Leader wants all evildoers to die right away, just like that guy over there who polluted the environment by spitting onto the sidewalk, but she let you people be an exception."

"Supreme Leader? Wanted? What are you talking about?" asked Reimu.

"Please don't make this harder than it is, Reimu," Aya said to her. "Now that we found you, please come with us to the Supreme Leader. If you're lucky, she might show you mercy and let you live."

"Like that'll happen! She made it clear that everything she says is absolute. Anyone who does not agree with her is guilty!" said Hatate. "You people are in for a big trouble!"

Annoyed that she wasn't getting the answer she wanted, Reimu said, "I'm trying to be patient with you two! You aren't answering my questions at all! What is with this place and the two of you?! What is this about five years and Supreme Leader?! Can't I get an answer to those questions first?!"

"Continue pretending to be ignorant if you want to! Let's see you keep up this act when you're in front of the Supreme Leader!" said Hatate while bringing up her cell phone.

Aya suddenly noticed something and pulled her backwards by the collar. The moment she did so, a pair of reddish-pink laser beams struck where Hatate was originally standing on. Everyone turned to the source of the laser beams and saw a person standing on the balcony of a nearby building. His identity was concealed by a black hooded jacket, a pair of goggles that looked high-tech, and a mask covering the mouth.

"Who are you?! How dare you attack me?!" Hatate angrily asked him. "To come against me is to come against the Supreme Leader! You will pay dearly with your life!" She aimed the camera of her cell phone at the person and fired a green laser beam from the former at him.

The person quickly jumped down from the balcony to avoid it and landed on his feet on the pavement. He was on the second floor when he jumped down, so there was no problem landing.

Hatate pushed aside Reimu, Marisa, and Kana to charge at her attacker. The hooded person pulled out a knife he was keeping in a sheath strapped to his waist to attack her, but she dodged it by stepping back. Hatate then reached her hand at him to grab him by the neck, but he quickly ducked and then slashed her in the right leg, causing her to cry in pain and fall on her knee.

Aya leaped at the hooded person in an attempt to stomp him, but he quickly jumped back to avoid the attack and then took out a pair of chakrams to throw at her, but with a swing of her fan, the tengu sent them flying into a building wall, where they became embedded into it.

Aya closed in on him and attacked with her fan, but he avoided it by performing an acrobatic flip to the side. Landing from his jump, the hooded person threw more chakrams at the tengu, but she deflected them with her fan while firing wind blades at her. The hooded person quickly jumped to the side to dodge the wind blades, only to receive a kick to the head from Hatate. After tumbling onto the pavement, Aya grabbed the person by his arm and forcefully flung him at a building wall.

CRASH!

While the person was in pain, the two tengu approached him. "Not so tough now, are you?" Hatate asked him. "But then, you weren't tough in the first place! Let's see who you are before you die!"

Wanting to save the hooded person, Reimu threw an amulet at Hatate, while Marisa fired a star-shaped projectile at Aya. This turned the tengu's attention to them, and Hatate angrily said, "You want a piece of us as well? Very well! I'll give you a beating of your lifetime before I drag your unconscious bodies back to the Supreme Leader!" She locked onto them both with her cell phone and then fired laser beams at each of them, but they quickly dodged them.

Reimu flew into the air and threw several amulets that both the tengu dodged. "What?! How are you flying?!" Hatate asked in surprise.

"Of course I can fly! Have you forgotten?" asked Reimu.

"You must've come up with something to fight against us when you went into hiding! I'll see to it that none of whatever you created will be put to good use!" said Hatate.

While Reimu and Hatate fought each other, Marisa and Aya had their own skirmish. "Explain to me, Aya! What is with you guys?!" Marisa asked while dodging wind blades fired by the tengu. "We seriously have no idea what's happening!"

"Are you serious or what? You people are against the Supreme Leader's rule of the entire planet, which made you criminals in her eyes, so you went into hiding ever since!" Aya told her.

"I don't remember ever doing anything like this!" said Marisa while fighting back. "You said this was five years ago, right? What happened five years ago?"

"Don't you remember what Seija did?" asked Aya as she dodged her attack before launching more of her own projectiles at her. "She used nuclear missiles to destroy ten cities all over the world and killed an uncountable number of lives! Ever since then, the Supreme Leader made herself the ruler of the world in order to ensure absolute justice!"

"Seija did what?!" Marisa asked in surprise.

"On the side note, do you look younger or what?" asked Aya. Before she got an answer, she was pushed away by Hatate when the latter was sent flying into her.

"Argh! Accursed shrine maiden!" Hatate angrily said to Reimu. "Don't get so cocky of yourself just because fighting against demons is your specialty! You better not underestimate the power of tengu!" She fired rapid bursts of energy shots at Reimu, who flew around as fast as she could to avoid them.

While Hatate was doing this, Marisa closed in on her and smacked her away hard with her broom. "Take that!" said the witch. Aya appeared behind her and was going to hit her with her fan, but she was interrupted by a pair of laser beams fired at her shoulder, knocking her aside. Marisa looked down and saw that it was fired by the hooded person.

"Finish things up fast! We can't afford to waste time here!" the person shouted at the witch in a feminine voice that gave away his gender as a woman.

"I still don't know what's going on, but fine!" Marisa said as she took out her hakkero. She pointed the hakkero behind herself, and it released a burst of energy that functioned as a thruster to propel Marisa and her broom at Aya.

The tengu quickly moved back to avoid getting hit, but when Marisa went past her, she threw a vase at her face that she caught afterwards. Aya looked at the vase curiously, and it suddenly exploded with bright blue light that engulfed her entirely.

KABOOM!

"Eat this! Love Sign: Master Spark!" Marisa said as she pointed her hakkero at the charred tengu and fired a large laser beam that the latter failed to avoid and blasted her onto the pavement.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

"Aya!" Hatate gasped when she saw her partner getting defeated. She was then hit by several exploding amulets. Reimu closed in on her afterwards and attacked with a combination of wand strikes and kicks. After blocking some of the hits, Hatate caught the arm holding the wand and said, "Are you forgetting that we tengu have superhuman strength? Once I grab hold of you, you're finished!"

Reimu responded by slapping a yellow amulet onto her face that zapped and paralyzed her. The shrine maiden then spun backwards to attack with an axe kick that sent Hatate crashing onto the pavement face first.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

She fell onto Hatate afterwards and stomped her in the back hard. With the tengu seemingly unconscious, Reimu got off her and turned to Marisa, Kana, and the hooded person, and the latter told them to quickly follow them before the law enforcers arrive.

The three girls followed the hooded person deep into an alleyway. When they came to a manhole, the hooded person removed the lid and told them to go inside quick. Once they got inside, she followed them and then closed the lid.

"Ugh… This place smells…" said Marisa while pinching her nose to keep the foul stench of the sewer from entering her nostrils. "Why are we in this place…?"

"Follow me," the hooded person said as she rolled up her right sleeve to reveal a digital watch that had a built-in flashlight.

"Wait a minute," Reimu said to her. "Just who are you and why did you help us back there? If you want us to follow you, you should at least let us know who you are."

"I do intend to show you who I am," said the person as she removed her hood, goggles, and mask, and her identity surprised them.

"Sekibanki?!" said Marisa.

"So you know me," said the once hooded person. "All right, let's move before they find out we're here."

"Where are you taking us?" Reimu asked the rokurokubi.

"Someone who will answer all your questions," the latter answered as she led the way.

Sekibanki used her watch to light the way around the sewer. After making turns around several corners, they stopped in front of a stream of water, and the rokurokubi pressed a button on her watch that made a small submarine with a glass cockpit emerge from the water.

"Whoa!" said Marisa in surprise.

"Cool!" commented Kana.

"It should be able to fit us all," Sekibanki said as she got into the submarine first. "Just bear with it. It won't be a long ride."

The other three girls got into the submarine and squeezed a bit before being able to sit down properly, and then the submarine submerged.

"Didn't know you could pilot something like this…" Reimu said to Sekibanki.

"This thing is much easier to control than the ones used by navies," replied the latter. "If you know how to drive a car and operate a computer, you should be able to drive this without a problem."

"I'm more surprised at the fact that you can easily operate something from the outside world," said Reimu.

The rokurokubi didn't make any comments regarding that; she simply piloted the submarine through the murky sewer water.

After traveling for a while, the submarine came to a dead end, but the wall opened to reveal a secret passage. The submarine went inside and traveled through the darkness for several minutes.

After going through another secret passage, the submarine traveled a few more yards before emerging. The cockpit opened, and then all the girls stepped out. "Space at last! I don't think I could handle another minute in there…" said Marisa.

"We're here, the Resistance Base," said Sekibanki as she approached a door at the end of the room.

"Resistance Base? What's that?" asked Reimu.

"You'll know soon," the rokurokubi told her as she let a device next to the door scan her eye in order to open the latter.

After they were all inside, Sekibanki locked the door and then led them through what she called the Resistance Base. It was a relatively old place with various "outside world" devices and machineries.

The rokurokubi led them to a place that resembled a living room and told them to sit on the sofa. She then went over to a clothe hanger and removed her hooded coat, revealing a red buttoned sleeveless top underneath. A line could also be seen going around her neck to indicate the area where her head detaches from the neck.

"I'll go call the leader. You wait here," she said to the three as she left the room.

The three girls reclined at the sofa and looked around the place. "Doesn't look bad if you ask me," commented Kana. "The atmosphere of this place makes it suitable for scaring people!"

"Is scaring people all you ever think of…?" Reimu asked her.

"Hello! Welcome to the Resistance Base!" said a female, computerized voice from nowhere all of a sudden. "Would you like to have some coffee?"

Hearing the voice, the three girls looked around in confusion for the source. "Who's speaking just now?" asked Reimu.

"Is it just me, or does that voice sound a bit like Yukari's?" asked Marisa.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said a different voice. The three turned to the source of the voice and saw that Sekibanki had returned with two people.

They stared with wide open eyes at the two new women standing in front of them. "Is… Is that me… and… you…?" asked Marisa in disbelief.

"In a way… yes…" replied the woman who looked just like Marisa, except a bit older.

"Welcome to the Resistance Base," said the woman who looked like an older Reimu. "I am the one who brought you here."

TO BE CONTINUED

Now that's a lengthy first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!

Some of you should have noticed by now that the plot is very similar to the DC fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Indeed, this story is inspired by that game. However, it is not a direct adaption, meaning I replace the DC characters with Touhou characters and call it a day. Rather, this story's plot will unfold a bit differently from that game.

To put it simple: this story will not follow that game's plot exactly. As a result, do not expect everything to happen the way you think it will be just because you know how Injustice's plot went. I guarantee that this story will offer a very different experience, so please stick around!

By the way, the period between "SYNC" and "ART'S" is supposed to connect both those words together, but this site cannot display the name properly if that's the case, so I had to separate them...

Important question: How many of you here are familiar with my long-running Super Smash Bros. series? I'm asking this because after this story, I am going to get back to that series. When I was actively making SSB stories years back, there were certain users who constantly followed my stories, so they are well acquainted with my SSB universe. However, over the years, many of them seem to have disappeared from the site, and I never heard from them ever since.

This makes me worried that when I start my next SSB story, which will be a continuation of the last one, Strive For Easiness, I will be attracting a "new generation" of readers who are probably not familiar with my established universe.

This isn't a bad thing, mind you. It's just that I hope I don't have to explain everything from scratch in my next SSB story when new readers show up. For starters, you can head over to my profile to learn about my portrayal of each of the Smashers.

I will be posting previews for that story here eventually, so please stay tuned!

God bless you all!