Atomic Robo and the Shrine Maiden of Paradise

Author's Note/Disclaimer:

The usual quotes mean that characters are speaking either English or Romaji. Double brackets are translated from Japanese.

Many thanks to The Fan of Many Things for beta reading my pieces. I'm sure he will be beta reading most of my pieces in the future.

Atomic Robo is copyrighted by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, and Red 5 Comics.

Touhou Project is copyrighted by ZUN and Shanghai Alice.

I own no intellectual property in writing this fanfic.

PROLOGUE: In Which Parallel Mundane Lives are Intertwined

"Mmm-hmm..." Robo said as he held a receiver onto his audio receptor. "Ok, I'll get back to you on that." he dropped the receiver on the top of the phone's notch, taking a deep sigh. He had just been speaking with a research affiliate based in Oxford, England regarding some recent findings in Astrophysics that Tesladyne had conducted. Such a process takes a great deal of communication, and it was getting in the way of paperwork. Speaking of paperwork, the last few days at Tesladyne had been nothing but paperwork for Atomic Robo. There had been a lack of scientific weirdness lately, and since Robo had spent the last few weeks of his time out doing "fieldwork" around the clock, the paperwork required for him to personally deal with piled up quickly in his office. With the mess on his table, he had no choice but to take care of it all. As bored as he was, so were the Action Scientists. They sat around the cafeteria for most of the day, chatting and playing board games. It got boring quickly however, and most of them resorted to helping out with research projects around the building. Project heads banged their fists on Robo's door, pleading that they stop with their meddling or they'll burn the entire island to the ground. The rest of them gave up trying and went off to their dorms to sleep.

"Robo?"

The voice suddenly piercing the dull silence startled the atomic-powered robot. On the sofa in the far corner of his office sat Jenkins, his face covered by the newspaper he's holding. His legs, clad in sand-coloured cargo pants, sat in a cross-legged position and his feet, covered in black military boots, stood limp and docile. Come to think of it, Robo never noticed the Action Scientist enter during his time inside. In fact, Robo locked the door before he even got started on his work.

"Jenkins?" Robo said. "How did you-? Nevermind..."

Robo disregarded the thought and resumed signing and writing. The office fell silent once again. The only sounds came from the whirring of the wood-lacquered ceiling fan and the scribbling of Robo's pen.

"Nice fan." Jenkins remarked curtly, flipping a page in his newspaper.

"Yeah, yeah..." Robo replied absentmindedly. "I had that since the 80's. It's a rare model that I custom-built a lightbulb in the center..." his voice trailed off. "What are you still doing here?" Robo looked up.

"Heh...what can I say?" Jenkins said, refusing to put down his paper. "I'm bored, just like everyone else."

"Find something else to do then. Have you fixed the broken aircraft?"

"Done."

"That quick? Hmm...what about our land vehicles?"

"Fixed and oil-changed."

"Weapon supplies?"

"Cleaned barrels, oiled, and reloaded."

"What about international inquiries?"

"Processed through. They should come to you anytime now."

"Golly. More work for me?" Robo said sarcastically. "As if I didn't have enough paperwork to sign-"

The conversation was interrupted by a large rumbling explosion nearby. It shook the office, causing books from the bookshelf next to the sofa to fall, portraits on the walls to shake out of proportion, and piles of paper on Robo's table to fly off, making a large mess on the floor. Robo mustered as much willpower as possible to contain his steadily boiling frustration. The sudden disturbance caused Jenkins to finally put down his paper, revealing a middle-aged man with mild silver streaks in his hair. A mildly annoyed look was painted on his stubbled, chiselled face. A tight gray t-shirt barely hid his medium-sized muscular figure and well-maintained six-pack.

"Will this day get any better?" Robo said, his palm on his face. "C'mon..."

『Hmm-hmm-hmmm...』 Reimu hummed about a gentle melody as she swept the stone steps with her cornhusk broom. In the midst of spring, the cherry blossoms had bloomed with a vivid and explosive display of colour. Keeping her shrine clean was a chore with all the blooming petals falling among the branches. Straightening herself, the shrine maiden wiped off the sweat from her brow with her white, furisode-covered arm, her smooth armpit exposed.

『Oi!』 a voice hollered from a distance above. A girl with vibrant blonde hair, clad in frilly, dark Victorian-esque clothes and a puffy witch's hat soared by with her oaken broom.

『Marisa.』 Reimu said. 『You've come to watch the cherry blossoms at this time of year? It's kind of early.』

『Oh,』 Marisa grinned. 『I've come here for something more than that, ze. Check this out!』 she took out a medium-sized book from her dress pocket. The hardcover contained no title, but was merely a dull display of maroon. Reimu recognized it quickly.

『Isn't that from Patchouli's library?』 Reimu said, starting to chide the witch. 『I swear, if she catches you one day stealing her books, she will-』

『Quit being such a stick-in-the-mud, ze.』 Marisa cut her off. 『Besides, I'm only gonna borrow them for a while.』

『So you say...』

『Anyway, no one else reads her books, so I wanna be the first one to see if I can use her magics.』 Marisa smiled. 『I want you to help me out with this book.』

『Fine.』 Reimu sighed. 『I'll go make tea.』

A few minutes later, Reimu strolled into the living room of the shrine, carrying a hot kettle of green tea and a pair of polished wooden teacups. Marisa helped herself on seaweed crackers on a platter on the small table and is busy reading, flipping thorough the pages as she bit into the green square of her cracker. Reimu sat beside her and poured the hot tea into both cups, putting one cup next to Marisa. She took a sip and looked into the pages. They were written in beautiful kanji, the strokes well thought out and done with excellent penmanship. However, most of these neatly written characters were ancient to the point of unreadability.

『It's so hard to read this...』 Marisa said, giving up.

『I could try it, but it's gonna take a while.』 Reimu said.

『You're a lifesaver!』 Marisa hugged Reimu, almost spilling her tea.

『Careful now!』 Reimu put away her cup and focused on reading the characters, sounding out each one akin to a toddler reading a picture book. As she flipped each page, Marisa twiddled her thumbs impatiently, but noticed that her friend grew noticeably quieter and began to read silently. Finally, she closed the book before reaching the end.

『Well?』 Marisa inquired.

『Most of it was unreadable, but it had something to do with switching bodies with another person. A process called...ermm...Transmi-something...』

『Transmigration!』 Marisa snatched the book from her and flipped through the pages once more. 『Patchy was blathering to herself about this a while ago, ze. It was kinda creepy.』

『Well, it sounds reasonable of her.』 Reimu said. 『Switching bodies with another person is quite a dangerous process. It's not some fancy parlor trick anyone could do.』

『Not fancy, huh?』 Marisa made a small grin. It was the kind of grin that she often made when plotting something.

『I saw that!』 Reimu raised her voice. 『What are you planning to do with that book?』

『Oh, nothing. Just a bit of this and that, ze...』

『Like hell you will! Give it to me, and I'll assure you no harm will be done.』

『Gotta catch me first!』 Marisa took off, sticking her eye and tongue out at her.

『Hey!』

Reimu chases after the stubborn witch and her book throughout the shrine. Taking the lead, Marisa bolts out of the entryway and into the stone pathway. As she nears her parked broom, her foot suddenly got caught by an uneven rock.

『Eeyaaah!』 Marisa trips over and hits the ground, the book slipping from her grip. It lands facedown, the pages sprawled on the sandy stone. Reimu walked past the unconscious witch, kneeling to claim it, but in a split second, a small creature swoops past and retrieves the book.

『Hee-hee...』 it giggled, its wings flapping away from the immediate vicinity. It was a mischevious fairy.

『Stop right there!』 the shrine maiden immediately soared in the air in pursuit of the creature, leaving the knocked-out Marisa to recover on the ground.

"Ben..." Robo began with another exasperated sigh. "Benjamin West, please don't make me do this."

"But it was an accident, Robo!" the Action Scientist explained in a panicked voice. "All they had me do was fire an experimental weapon." the damage from the blast apparently came from a research facility in the Physics department. Benjamin came to help out regarding a prototype weapon making use of converged solar rays into a weapon stronger than three Lightning Guns. Robo at this point was interrogating him on the matter.

"Blindfolded? Spun around three times?" Robo exaggerated as he closed in on Ben's face, unnerving the Action Scientist. "Are you sure you didn't stumble into a party or something? 'Cause believe me, I know parties when I see one."

"Ulp..." Benjamin gulped nervously and moved away, further intimidated by the robot's stare.

"Y'know what?" Robo turned his back. "Get outta my office."

"B-but Robo, I-"

"Get out, or I'll throw you out."

"Are you giving me the boot?"

Robo paused a moment. "Did I say I was gonna fire you?"

"You sounded like it..."

"Well I'm not in a good mood today." Robo turned to face Benjamin again. "Just have a day off or something. You guys are bored, right. Just don't forget to tell the others."

"And Jenkins?"

"You know him. He stays."

Benjamin gave out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Err...yeah. Sorry about the mess." he said. Robo gave him a dismissive wave.

"I'll take care of it. Don't worry." Robo said. "I have all day to do it anyway."

"Thanks. I'll go start packing up now." delighted, the Action Scientist proceeded for the door, but turned to face Robo once again. "Umm...are you sure you'll be alright without us around? 'Cause stuff are bound to happen and we're not gonna be around to take care of it."

"It shouldn't be too big a problem if it's me and Jenkins taking care of it." Robo said, his hands on his waist. "You shouldn't really worry about that."

"Ok, then..." with that said, the concerned Action Scientist left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, that's that." Robo murmured to himself, gazing at the fan on the ceiling. "Guess it's time to deal with repairs."

『I'll take that.』 a hand appeared out of thin air, grabbing the book out of the tiny creature's hands.

『Waaah!』 the creature lost balance midair and fell into some bushes. Reimu stopped to notice its wings. They were an icy blue.

『What would that stupid fairy want with a book?』 Reimu inquired herself, as she levitated midair.

『Good question...』 a voice answered. The voice came in a form of a mouth-shaped portal with ribbons adorned at the ends. Inside was an expanse of gaping eyes. Out came a young woman in a ridiculously large, white frilled dress coupled with a similarly decorated parasol. Over her dress was a purple, qipao-like garment decorated with trigrams and a yin-yang symbol. A fiery pattern blazed at the bottom of it. On her free hand was the book that the fairy had stolen.

『If you may,』 Reimu said, stretching her hand out. 『I would like that book back please, Yukari.』

『Well dear me...』 Yukari replied melodramatically. 『That sure is quite an odd way to start a conversation on a mid-spring day.』 putting an index finger on her tongue, she began to flip through the pages, subtly blushing as she skimmed through the text. It looked as if she was reading some sort of corny novella.

『...Are you done?』 the shrine maiden asked impatiently.

『This is quite an interesting book you've got here. Where on Gensokyo would you have procured such a thing?』 Yukari replied with an odd-toned query.

『It's not mine. It's Marisa's. You know where she gets these kinds of books...If you would kindly return it to me, I can return it to its proper authorized owner.』

『Meaning you?』 Yukari's sunny desposition momentarily became dark as her smiling face turned into a murderous glare, which reverted instantly. 『Ahahahahahah! You think your silly little paper charms can seal this book away from anybody? I think you're sorely mistaken.』

Reimu clenched her fists, thoroughly annoyed by Yukari's behaviour. The youkai's laugh pierced into the heavens.

『You're not very right in the head today, aren't you?』

『That Patchouli woke me up in the middle of one of my siestas.』 Yukari said, her mood unchanging this time. 『Of course I'm not right in the head today.』

『I see.』

『In case you haven't noticed already, I wrote this book.』 Yukari gave a smug smile. 『It carries some of the most...violent magics in all of Gensokyo. I told that girl to put it away somewhere else, but...it appears that little kleptomaniac friend of yours found it.』

『Oh really? I never saw you as the type to write books. That's Patchouli's job.』

『Ouch. That really hurt my feelings, you know.』 Yukari holds out the book. 『You want this book?』 without warning, she threw it. 『Go and get it!』 the book soard over Reimu.

『What the-! Hey!』 Reimu attempted to catch it, but it went by too quickly. Before she knew it, the book entered the mysterious portal, appearing from nowhere.

Meanwhile, Robo remained in his executive chair as he wrote reports of past field work, his mind droning on and on the words that he wrote. He'd recently examined the damage the accident had caused a few hours ago and requested a repair team to come and fix it up immediately. Luckily the cost isn't much, and Tesladyne may be likely to stay in the budget this time when it comes to damages in the building. Suddenly, a book fell out of the bookshelf nearby, suddenly snapping his concentration in two like a twig.

"Huh?" annoyed, he got up. Stretching his arms from the lack of active movement (which was unnecessary for a robot like him), he approached the book and picked it up. The cover was nondescript, with a dull, dark red colour. There was no title inscribed on it, and the book itself looked almost ancient.

"Where the heck did I get this again?" the robot scratched his head confusingly and returned to his table, dropping the book beside his paperwork and resuming his task.

『Oh dear...』 Yukari dug her hand in another portal that appeared within arm's reach. 『How very impulsive and clumsy of me...』

『You did that on purpose!』 Reimu said, crossing her arms.

『Oh, and what could this be?』 out of the portal was the same nondescript book that she threw a second ago.

『You almost gave me a heart attack.』 Reimu flew over and grabbed the book from Yukari's hands.

『Feisty, aren't you?』 Yukari said, smirking as Reimu turned her back and flew away. 『Let's have some fun now, shall we?』 giggling to herself, she vanished.

The day went by quickly, and before anyone in Gensokyo knew it, the sun had begun to set. Marisa was delighted the book had been returned, but Reimu insisted on keeping it. Empty-handed, the witch fumed slightly as she rode off on her broom with an evident little bruise on her forehead, with Reimu waving goodbye to her eccentric friend. Returning to her shrine, she immediately locked the gate, and prayed to the shrine's deity, burning new incense sticks as the ones she put out that morning had burnt out. Stripping off her clothes, she trotted off to the hot spring at the back of the shrine, carrying a towel. Feeling the temperature of the water with her feet, she slowly entered the bubbling, steam-filled water and placed a small wet cloth over her forehead.

『Rough day, isn't it, m'lady?』

『Waaah!』 startled, the shrine maiden went to fetch a dry towel when an old, shriveled face with a beard surfaced along the water. She recognized it quickly.

『I'm so sorry to startle you, m'lady.』 the face said, its shell and flippers appearing along the water.

『Genjii...』 Reimu said, sighing in relief. 『You silly old pervert.』

『I did not see a thing, m'lady.』 the turtle said innocently. 『The waters are murky.』

『Right.』 Reimu began removing her hair ornaments. 『Marisa's been stealing books again.』

『What a very dangerous habit.』 Genjii went on his abdomen and leisurely did a backstroke. 『That girl should contain herself.』

『Well, she can't help it.』 Reimu started washing her hair. 『Patchouli never lended those books to anybody anyway. They're a property of the Scarlets.』

『So many books, and yet there are very few tenants in that mansion.』 Genjii added.

『How greedy, don't you think?』 Reimu said, sighing as she stared upwards into the darkening sky. Silence ensued for a few minutes as she continued to bathe. Genjii swam with a breaststroke towards Reimu.

『Is something wrong, m'lady?』 Genjii inquired his mistress with concern.

『Oh nothing...』 Reimu said softly. 『Everyday always seems like this, when there's not an incident afoot.』 she scrubbed her arms in a casual manner. 『Frankly, I'm tired of it.』

『I understand your plight, m'lady. Even though you mean to solve incidents for your own personal gain.』

『Yeah, that's totally understanding of you to say.』 she replied sarcastically as she got off the spring, feeling a bit more revitalized. Putting her nightclothes on, she prepares her futon as the crickets liven up the night with harmonious chirping. She blows the candles out around the shrine, taking the book with her into her bedroom.

『You gave me a lot of trouble today, stupid book.』 she complained to the hardcover piece as if it was a person. She flipped it open, only to see nothing but lines and numbers of mathematical equations. It looked like something Marisa or Alice would do, but the scrawlings of English words on each page said otherwise. Many parts were crossed out with pencil, and each number, sign, and letter was drawn rather thickly to a point that the etchings can be seen in the next few pages. The entire contents of the book looked very foreign to Reimu as her look of curiosity became one of displeasure.

『Yukari! That two-timing old hag!』 she threw the book across the room in a huff. 『If there's one thing I want right now, it's to just have some peace and quiet!』 she dropped to her futon and hastily put the covers over herself, fretting and fuming to herself all the while.

Outside, Genjii clung over the water's edge, hearing Reimu's short rant. He hmmed in genuine concern for his mistress.

Robo left his office, carrying the dark red book with him. The very halls of Tesladyne seemed dead at three in the morning, even with all the lights on. The view outside was pitch black, save for the sound of waves splashing across the shores of the island and the outline of rocky edifice covering some of the buildings. For the most part, a majority of the scientists had retreated to their beds, and the Action Scientists had left the island to return to civilization for a couple of days. Regardless of the view of almost pastoral-like perfection, Robo was as bored as ever, and longed to be out to do field work once more. Robo opened the book in a rather uninterested manner, skimming the pages. It looked really old, as the thin, almost fragile paper seemed discoloured by centuries of moisture. Chinese characters were scrawled vertically in a grandiose manner, and the book seemed to turn in an odd way when the pages were flipped left to right. Some of these pages had thin inscriptions of circles, filled with stars, moons, and suns.

"How did I get ahold of this?" Robo thought suspiciously. "I never buy, let alone borrow junk like this. Then again, this book looks exactly like that one where I wrote equations based on some hyperspacetime theories I devised..." he continued to flip the pages until one particular sheet stuck out. It was a simple diagram of two people, and an arrow pointed at each in a circular fashion. On the arrow-tails were circular shapes. He continued to flip until his boredom took the better of him and flung the book behind him across the hall, muttering to himself annoyingly. He clenched his fists.

"I'm getting sick of this peace and quiet." Robo muttered, frustrated with his predicament. "If there's one thing I want right now, it's to be able to just punch something right now!" he sighed embarrassingly at his sudden outburst and went to retrieve the book. As he bent over to reach for it, the book flashed with a blinding, white light. Momentarily, Robo's optics became whitewashed and he stumbled backward trying to shield his eyes for a split second. When his vision returned, albeit by small increments, he was staring at the ceiling. The fluorescent light directly above him flickered slightly. He struggled to move his arms and legs, but found he couldn't budge an inch.

"Augh!" Robo cried out. "I-I can't move! Dammit!" the lights flickered more frequently, and the halls remained silent even though Robo's loud voice briefly pierced the silence. The book swung open, flipping to a blank page in another bright flash, blinding Robo with showers of white light. It increased in frequency to a point that Robo couldn't feel his own body anymore, but instead felt like he was floating weightlessly in midair.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I...?" Robo eyes dimmed as he felt weak and lethargic, stifling a yawn. Everything went into static, then pitch black...

Endnotes:

Chapters will be posted on a somewhat day-to-day basis, so check back periodically for new chapters.

Comments and criticism is very much obliged.