Chapter 6 - Broken Moon

Zero Hour
A loud scream pierced the dark night sky.

"Reimu!" cried a horrified Marisa as Reimu's limp body feel towards the raging waves of the Atlantic Ocean below. Marisa gave her broom a sharp kick, darting down and catching Reimu in her arms just before she entered the water. Hovering just above the water's surface, Marisa placed a hand on Reimu's forehead, which was rapidly getting warmer. "Reimu, conserve your energy. We can't risk the entire Barrier coming down."

"Don't... give them... any ground," gritted Reimu, struggling to keep her eyes open. She was beginning to sweat, her energy quickly depleting to maintain the remainder of the Hakurei Barrier.

"Leave it to us, Reimu," affirmed Marisa, "We won't-" A wave of water lapped Marisa's legs. She looked up at the cause, her mouth widening with surprise. There was a loud groan of steel as the warship slowly passed by her. It was no longer glowing white and was a little difficult to the see in the dark but the name 'HMS Thunder Child' was proudly marked on the side in big bold white letters.

Marisa quickly came back to her senses and with an angry glare took her Hakkero from under her hat and pointed it at the vessel with one hand, the other holding Reimu. "Master Spark!" she shouted the Hakkero emitting a huge bright multicoloured energy blast. However a bigger circle with a glowing orange rim appeared between her and the ship, the insides coloured pitch black, the Master Spark going right in the centre.

A sudden glow from above caused Marisa to look up. She saw a Master Spark shooting across the black sky out of a blue rimmed circle towards the hovering Yukari. Yukari countered by summoning a Quadruple Barrier, successfully blocking the Master Spark. Marisa immediately caught onto the situation and stopped firing, noticing she could see Yukari's purple circular Barrier through the circle in front of her.

Marisa's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the vessel fired three shells with huge booms. The first hit Yukari's Barrier, which held its ground but the second smashed it, the sound of breaking glass ringing through the air. The third shell directly hit its target, Yukari caught completely unaware. She fell out the bottom of the resulting smoke cloud and was caught by Aya.

"Yukari's unconscious," reported Aya through Marisa's earpiece, "Otherwise she seems fine. The shell seemed to have detonated early."

Marisa put a finger to her earpiece, "GLaDOS, they've got your portal technology!"

"Ah, they must have found the Borealis that had an upgraded version of our usual tech," answered GLaDOS' seductive female voice.

"What should we do?"

"I will not give any advice."

"What?! Why?"

"I want to observe what magic users would do in a situation like this. For science."

"Look, GLaDOS," threatened Marisa, "If the Hakurei Barrier collapses, Gensokyo will be absorbed by North High and Haruhi sure as hell doesn't need you or your science, you understand?"

"... All Aperture Science vessels have design flaws in case any go rogue. The Borealis-"

"It's not the Borealis," interrupted Marisa, "It's the HMS Thunder Child."

"The HMS Thunder Child is not an Aperture Science vessel."

"But it's got your damn airborne portal technology!"

"You can shut down the device from inside the ship by teleporting in. Can't Yukari create portals of her own?"

"She got shot down," noted Marisa, her frown tightening. Whoever was piloting the Thunder Child knew who to go for first.

"Ah," exclaimed GLaDOS, clearly not because of sympathy, "The portals can be generated in air and in liquids but not in solids. They can shut down by touching the edges.

"I can take care of that," interjected Tenshi, drawing the Sword of Hisou. She dived at the Thunder Child which opened the blue rimmed portal towards her.

The glow of orange underneath the water's surface caught Marisa's attention, "Tenshi!" she called, "Fall back!"

"Wha-brghghrghhgh!" bubbled Tenshi, completely swallowed by the torrent of seawater shooting out the blue portal. She fell into the ocean with a loud splash, coughing water out of her lungs. As she raised her head to start flying again, an object in the distance caught her eye. Tenshi put a finger to her earpiece, "The gap in the Barrier!" she gasped. Marisa looked left at the gap in the Hakurei Barrier made by the Thunder Child. Standing there was Atlas, still holding the moon, blocking the Barrier from closing.

"Pushing back Atlas is our top priority!" ordered Marisa, "We need the Barrier closed ASAP! Remilia, Flandre, keep the Thunder Child busy until Nitori gets here. Everyone else, focus on Atlas. Don't let him touch the Barrier!" Marisa was keeping her position close to the vessel as it appeared to be ignoring her and Reimu. "Sand Canyon, have you changed the ammunition yet? Fire as soon as you've done so."

Atlas let out a humongous roar, dangerously swaying side to side. Reisen and Youmu closed in on the moon he was holding. Youmu drew both of her swords, throwing one to Reisen who caught it without hesitation. Reisen's eyes began to glow red as she looked at Youmu, fooling Youmu's conciousness to think Reisen being her former teacher, Youki. They each gave a single slash upwards, the mental deception powering both strikes, cutting cleanly through the moon. However, Atlas was now unable to hold the three pieces of the moon and they rolled over the top of his head towards Reisen and Youmu.

"It's my turn!" shouted Suika, rather gleefully. Reisen and Youmu turned to see Suika enlarged to Atlas' size. They quickly flew in opposite directions as Suika unleashed a punch that shattered the central section of the moon into millions of pieces. The outer two pieces splashed into the water creating huge waves rocking the Thunder Child and forcing Marisa to fly higher into the air.

"Suika, watch your horns," advised Marisa, "Don't hit the Barrier." She used her skirt to wipe off the neverending sweat off Reimu's face. Reimu managed to hold the pain caused by the waves crashing into the Barrier. Suika and Atlas were locked in combat, Atlas clearly having the advantage with four arms and manoeuvrability, Suika trying not to turn her head.

"What's happening?" asked a voice behind Marisa.

Marisa turned her head to see- "Cirno? What are-?" She noticed and recognised the person on Cirno's back. "What are you doing with Alice on your back?"

"I was taking her to the Ivory Coast where her home is," answered Cirno, who was looking around at the combat below. Alice Raymour had her eyes closed and was keeping silent though was clearly aware of the conversation.

"I see. Well, you best get out of here-" A resounding boom and explosion below interrupted Marisa as the Thunder Child attempted to take down the Scarlet sisters who were managing to dodge the shots.

"Are you trying to stop that boat?" asked Cirno, innocently.

"What?! Wait-" But Cirno had already dived out of earshot.

"Reporting from the Temple of Gaia, incoming curveball," reported Yuyuko cheerfully, over Marisa's earpiece.

"Komachi!" called Marisa, "I need you to get on that soccer ball, now!" A blur of white was fast approaching from the west, curving through the sky towards them. Komachi zoomed past Marisa, scythe in tow. With a single strike, she stopped the projectile in its tracks, a single ordinary looking soccer ball. As Komachi continued striking the ball with lightning fast slashes, Marisa turned her attention to Cirno.

Cirno noticed the cannons of the Thunder Child turn to face her and she performed a barrel roll to move out of their line of fire. However, the cannons followed her movements but did not fire. As soon as Cirno got close to the water, she pointed a finger at the ocean. The body of water around the Thunder Child began to freeze, immobilising the vessel, groans of strained metal filling the air. "Eye am the strongest!" proudly proclaimed Cirno with a hearty laugh.

"Remilia, Flandre," continued Marisa, "Power up that ball!" Though she did not mention it, she had newfound respect for Cirno. Remilia summoned Gungnir, her trademark large red spear, and threw it upwards, Flandre standing on the end who summoned her own glowing yellow Lævateinn swords. Komachi gave the ball one final strike, moving out the way just as the spear and Flandre struck the ball.

"Suika!" shouted Marisa, "Fall back!" Suika took a step back from Atlas but Atlas noticed her lose her concentration, unleashing a heavy punch into her chest. She fell backwards into the water, shrinking back to her ordinary size. Suddenly, the glowing soccer ball rushed past and hit squarely into Atlas' torso, the combined power of the Temple of Gaia, Komachi, Remilia and Flandre launching Atlas out of the water and dropping him many miles back into the Yamaha Kingdom, freeing the gap in the Barrier. However, the sudden removal of Atlas allowed the mass of hot air from the Yamaha Kingdom flood into the cooler air of Gensokyo, forming a monstrous cyclone, blocking the gap once again. "Aya! We need that cyclone shut down!"

"Roger!" called back Aya, passing Yukari to Tenshi. She shot herself into the cyclone's eye and used her power to dissipate it immediately. Reimu used her last ounce of concentration to shut the Hakurei Barrier before passing out in Marisa's arms. Marisa glanced down at the Thunder Child frozen in place before she realised something.

"Where's Cirno?"

Cirno was feeling ill, the spinning had given her a headache and her vision was blurred, "Alice? Are... you okay?" she asked, clearly not okay herself.

"I'm... fine..." answered Alice, who had been holding on tightly, "Where are we?"

"I don't..." Cirno spotted a huge mass in the ocean below her. As her vision cleared, she recognised the body as the unconscious Atlas, "We're in Yamaha."

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