[IC Board] All the World's a Game - Season II

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"Oh those two are going at it again, huh?" Yuuka observed as she snapped a finger. A fairy came by and hovered close to Yuuka.

"Get me some kettle corn." Yuuka ordered, and the fairy fluttered into the house.

"Watching those two fight is fun." Yuuka announced as she took a seat on the soft grassy bed. "That darkness shield must be tiring you. Get rid of that and come sit next to me."

[S121]

Garden of The Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

At first, John was expecting Yuuka to either panic, or get angry, but her reaction was quite the opposite. John couldn't understand it. Her sunflower field was in danger of burning to the ground and she wanted to eat popcorn and watch. It truly confused him.

"But.. they're going to burn the whole field down.", John said to Yuuka in a slightly surprised and confused tone.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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Yuuka scoffed. "Please. After seeing the garden countless of times by mischievous fairies, I took special measures to protect my sunflowers with anti-pyro spell. I thank Patchouli for that."

"Besides, it's my garden that could burn, not yours. Who are you to go out of line?" Yuuka smirked and playfully nudged John's sides. "Come on, let's just sit and watch. You'll love the kettle corn."

[S121]

Garden of The Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

After hearing that the flowers were safe, along with feeling Yuuka nudging his sides, John let the Darkness shell dissipate and let out a sigh.

"Well, it was not only for you, but for Mokou and Kaguya's sake as well. Even I know not to piss you off, and a quick way to do that is to damage your garden.", John said with a slight chuckle.

After speaking, John did as he was told and sat down. After all, Annie seemed to want to watch, and from what John had heard about Mokou and Kaguya's fights, they were somewhat fast, yet very fierce.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"Well, I certainly won't deny that..." Yuuka rolled her eyes as John sat down as well. The fairy delivered the bowl of kettle corns, which Yuuka received and offered to John.

The battle looked like fireworks. The sky was getting darker, and the fireworks, and the party inside, intensified, and Yuuka subconsciously rested her head on John's shoulder.

[S121]

Garden of The Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

"Ahh, thank you.", John said to Yuuka as he looked at the spectacular battle in the sky and ate a small handful of popcorn.

If Yuuka was right about one thing, it was that the battle was beautiful. Once John got past the fact that they were throwing fire and deadly Danmaku at each other, he could see the beauty of the battle. The patterns were intricate, and followed a synchronization that John had only seen a couple times. Even his own Danmaku attacks paled in complexity and appeal. In fact, it even made John want to use Danmaku like that, to create such patterns.

As John watched the battle rage, he felt Yuuka rest her head on his shoulder, but it didn't bother him. After all, she did just wake up from sleeping not even five minutes ago, and only had about 30 minutes of sleep, so he let her rest.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"You know..." Yuuka began speaking, but blushed like a cherry and stopped. "Never mind."

"So cool..." Annie could only mutter those two words, a bit farther away from John, as she observed the battle. Kaguya's Danmaku patterns were polished and refined, like a perfect pearl, while Mokou's were rough, like unrefined garnet. Either way, they were beautiful.

[S121]

Garden of The Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

"Hm?", John uttered at Yuuka stopping in the middle of her sentence.

John was about to ask Yuuka what she was about to say, but his words were quickly silenced by a "nevermind" as Yuuka blushed. John was a little confused by Yuuka's odd behavior, but he didn't mind. Right now, the "fireworks" were amazing, and even John had to admit that Annie's words rang true.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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10 minutes and a bowl of kettle corn later, Mokou's fiery offense broke through Kaguya's polished, almost perfect defense, slamming her to the ground with a brandish of the phoenix wings. Kaguya fell to the ground, on fire, dead.

"I win this time." Mokou grimaced at her own damage: a huge scar across her arms. Kaguya resurrected and floated above the sunflower field, her clothes devoid of any scar.

"Hmph, and I was hoping to humiliate you in front of everyone." Kaguya groaned. "Come on Eirin, let's go home."

With that, Kaguya and the Eientei group left to their home on swift foot as Annie congratulated Mokou for her victory.

"That's so cool!" Annie's eyes brimmed with awe. "Teach me!"

"I don't think I can teach you what I've learned over a thousand years in a single day." Mokou commented as she looked about to find Yuuka and John sitting together, and descended towards them, Annie following closely behind.

[S121]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

After the fight ended, John took a moment to think about the kinds of attacks they used. To be honest, it looked almost as if the battle was synchronized, but John knew better. Mokou and Kaguys had possibly been fighting for centuries. They both knew how the other fought, and because of that, they fought with admirable precision and visual effect. It actually made John smile at the battle, even thought someone died at the end, but at least they were immortal. Just then, John's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Mokou descend from above, as well as Annie following on foot.

"Okay. I'll admit, that was pretty cool.", John said to Mokou with a slight smile.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"No, you should've seen that one battle between Yukari and Yuuka 300 years ago." Mokou modestly replied. "That battle was for... 30 hours?"

"40." Yuuka corrected. "40 hours, not counting the short breaks to eat."

[S121]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

"What?", John asked both Mokou and Yuuka in disbelief.

"The longest I've gone was 96 hours of constant battle, but I had Stim-Packs to keep me going. Did you guys even sleep?", John asked Yuuka in a surprised tone.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"Not really." Yuuka reminisced. "Admittedly, it's pretty fun. Now that it's been more than 300 years, I wonder how long we can go through one battle without pausing?"

"Hey, hey miss, where do you live?" Annie asked Mokou.

"Why do you ask?" Mokou asked back.

"So that I could visit you and train under you. I plan to live here for awhile."

"Hmm... well I live in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, but my house is so far from the entrance it's hard to find it by yourself. I usually wait at Human Village, so why don't you find me there tomorrow?"

[S121]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo | Dusk

John could imagine a battle of epic proportions, just by Yuuka and Mokou talking about it. Fighting for a day was what John considered busy, but fighting for 40 hours was just too much. John may have been a SPARTAN, but fighting without the aid of coffee or Stim-Packs would have taken a serious toll on him.

"Well, I would probably have to set up a camp and get settled in if I ever watched you guys fight.", John jokingly said to Yuuka.

After speaking, John heard Mokou and Annie talk with each other, making plans for tomorrow. John knew that Annie didn't know her way around Gensokyo, so maybe she would need help. After all, it would only take about 30 minutes to find Mokou.

"Speaking of tomorrow, we really should be getting back. I've still got a lot of things to do before I can rest. Tomorrow, I can take you to the Human Village and help you find Mokou.", John calmly said to Annie.

[WriggleRid3r]

Garden of the Sun - Gensokyo

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"Okay!" Annie cheerfully said. "See you later, phoenix lady!"

"See you." Mokou replied, reclining back to her loneliness as she walked back home.

"Are you going back right now?" Yuuka asked John as she rose from the grassy bed. "If so, tell Yukari that I died. I want to pull off a prank."