[Author's notes]: My first story. Don't expect something amazing. After reading some other fanfics for Touhou (including, but not limited to: Average Joe in Bullet Hell, Touhou Chronicles, and Dawitsu's Folly), I decided to try writing my own. The story takes place after UFO, but before TD, so expect my OC (technically me, but who really cares?) to get involved in it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Touhou girls, Gensokyo, or anything related to Gensokyo and the games. They belong to the solo member of Team Shanghai Alice, ZUN. The only things I own are the OCs that I might make.

Traveling from Dreams to Reality

Michigan, United States

With nothing but a 3 foot long plastic staff with a fake golden ball (connecting the ball and staff was 6 inches of plastic gold) on top I had gotten for a Halloween costume to fight with, I faced down my enemy. I didn't allow someone to try and eat me that easily. Both of us were tired from fighting for so long… I was having trouble watching the danmaku she used against me, and she was having trouble firing danmaku to strike me down. Aiming to finish the fight with one last blow, I charged her, raising my staff to strike. Just before impact, everything vanished…

A boy with long, brown hair that reaches to his waist got out of his bed. With brown eyes and a slightly skinny build, he looked around for the staff he was using in his dream. That boy would be me. I don't have any truly defining features. Nothing about my appearance really lets me stand out. What makes me stand out is my personality. I can also be creative, if I feel like it… That's just so annoying though, to wake up like that… Never being able to finish a dream…

Sigh

"50… 50 successive dreams about Gensokyo, and I haven't had any contact with the series for almost 2 months… Why won't they stop? …Actually, it doesn't matter… It's not like I'll ever end up in a place like Gensokyo, since there's a border in the way…" I dressed in a solid black shirt with dark blue jeans, before grabbing the staff and heading for my backyard.

Mayohiga, Gensokyo

"Ran? RAN!" A voice called through the western style house, echoing throughout the building. The voice belonged to a woman wearing a pink and purple dress, with golden eyes and long blonde hair in a mob cap. She waited for her shikigami to show up. Yukari Yakumo didn't have to wait long: Her 9 tailed kitsune showed up only a few seconds after being summoned. Wearing a blue and white dress similar to Yukari's, she also wore a hat with 2 tails covered in amulets. She had blonde hair and yellow eyes.

"What is it, Yukari-sama?" Ran questioned Yukari, expecting her to order her to do more chores.

"I'm going to the Outside World for a while. Expect some company when I come back.

"Wait, you're leaving? Is something wrong?" Ran didn't expect Yukari to do something like this. She was rarely active at this time, so seeing her becoming so active so suddenly unnerved her.

"Nothing's wrong. Just a human who caught my attention."

Michigan, United States

Holding onto the bottom end of the staff, I swung it at the ground as hard as I could as I declared the attack. "Golden Hammer!"

The plastic ball on the staff left a decent dent in the ground from the impact. Respectable, since the dent in the ground was at least triple the size of the little ball.

"I don't know how I do better when calling my attacks, but this is- WHAT THE HELL?" I freaked out when a Gap opened up right in front of me where the dent used to be.

"So you're the human who's been showing such interesting abilities…" She looked me over several times, and I was getting unnerved that she was looking me over so critically. "How is it that you have such an interesting ability, when you yourself have nothing worth mentioning?"

"W-what's that supposed to mean, you…" Stopping myself, I remembered the death flags for some of the Touhou characters. Yukari's was calling her an old hag.

"Nothing, nothing… Since you have such an interesting ability, show me what you're capable of!"

I was startled. Having no known ability, I was just challenged to a Spell Card duel… Without a single spell card for myself. How am I supposed to win against someone like her?

"Let me see if I have this right… I was just challenged by a technical god to a Spell Card duel, without any spell cards of my own and having no idea on what my ability is. Am I mistaken somewhere?"

Yukari grinned at me. "What are you talking about? You already have 5 spell cards, and you can use your ability. You just haven't realized it yet!"

I was at a loss for words. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. Nothing like this should happen to a teenage boy. "A-alright… If you say so… What happens if I'm… Worthy…?"

"I take you with me, of course! Why else would I come here?"

"And… If I'm not?"

Yukari's voice lacked emotion. "You don't need to worry about that."

I wasn't scared anymore. I was terrified. Unless I was severely mistaken, Yukari would kill me if I wasn't 'worthy' enough to go with her.

"Let's begin."

No warning came. Yukari pulled out a fan and started shooting what appeared to be knives at me.

Dash

I shouldn't have been able to do that, but I did… I just sidestepped a near solid wall of knives in just a few seconds… Even sprinting, I would have barely gotten out of the way in time, but there was plenty of space between the wall and me.

"See? It's just as I said. Now to start for real!"

I felt a slight shift in my mind. My normally peaceful attitude was replaced slightly by a more violent and battle ready mindset. Now wielding my plastic staff at the middle with my right hand, I pointed it at Yukari. "Yes… Let's begin, Yukari."

"Before we begin… You'll need these. Good luck using them." Yukari smiled.

A card appeared in front of me, followed by 4 more.

The first card showed a picture of a hammer being brought down on a tree, destroying it completely. Below the picture was a name: Combat sign "Golden Hammer"

The second showed a boy overpowering a full grown bear: Specialist "Bear"

A third showed the golden end of the staff being used to send a large rock at the attacker; below that was a picture of two swordsmen, one being parried by the other: Specialist "Tiger"

Fourth was a boy releasing fire from the bottom end of a golden tipped staff: Specialist "Dragon"

Last was a man being thrown into the air: Specialist "Eagle"

And that's it. The end of the first chapter. Nothing fancy, really. Just introducing myself in an unusual fashion, before the battle (what?) between me and Yukari starts. Since I'd rather stick to canon, and not widespread fanon, tell me if I'm going too OOC with any characters in the story, and include what I can do to correct the issue. Also point out any spelling/grammar errors that you notice (if you want to bother spending your review doing that.)

I'd also like it if you reviewed my story so far. It gives me an idea of how I'm doing. Some suggestions on what I should do (minor things really, like when characters should show up. Nothing that really influences the plot though.) would also be nice.

One last thing: I'm not certain if the spell cards warrant placing it in a crossover with Red Steel. The spell cards are based on the game, but that's basically the only thing from Red Steel, so I'm not sure if I need to include it as a crossover or not. It'd be preferable if you could tell me.