NOTES: And thus the GGB begins! As you will see, the Pool Play rounds will be quick few-paragraph fights. Considering that there will be 120 Pool Play matches, I think the trade-off is fine. At the tail end of the chapter will be Group standings and a quick little analysis over how the polls ended up. As always, find the [Gensokyo Grand Battle Main Forum] for voting for the upcoming matchups.
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"Gensokyo is a magnificant land filled with amazing creatures. The beautiful rivers, forests, and mountains house many many powerful beings. As the lands outside learn of its existance, a very peculiar debate came from both the residents here and the outside lands. Who amongst this land is the most powerful being? And that's why we're here today! Kourindou and the Hakurei Shrine bring you the Gensokyo Grand Battle!
Welcome Gensokyo residents and outsiders to the Hakurei Shrine for the first matches of the first ever GGB! My name is Rinnosuke Morichika and joining me here, all the way from the heavens, Celestial being Tenshi Hinanai!"
A new face joined Rinnosuke in the booth wearing a hat with a peach on it, she smiled towards the shopkeeper and then to the camera before starting her introduction.
"Thank you Rinnosuke, we're all exciting for some great matches here just in the Pool Play! Today we have our first three matchups as Group One opens play. In match 1, the Autumn gods, Aki Sisters, face curse goddess Hina Kagiyama. Match 2 houses our first faction battle, as Scarlet Devil Mansion member Ho..Hong Me...why is this crossed out and have 'China' written above it? Well, SDM member China will face Palace of the Earth Spirits member Rin Kaenbyrou in a match of redheaded fury. Our final match of the set today, winter spirit Letty Whiterock takes on the 'other' Gensokyo shrine maiden Sanae Kochiya. Three great fights, some nice hard hitting in there...kinda wish I was in there..."
"Well perhaps there will be another time later, but for now we're ready for the first matchup. Let's go down to the floor for the Aki Sisters against Hina Kagiyama"
Despite the fact that matches are involving two entrants, three fighters are on the Hakurei Shrine grounds. One side of the magic field held the two orange-clad sisters talking to each other discussing strategy. The other side held the curse doll, preparing herself by spinning. The three came to the center of the field and all shook each others hands. A red and white fairy came into the field.
"I'm Lily White and I'll be the announcer of the SPRIIIIIIINGtime of battle-"
The three only looked at Lily with confusion as the fairy continued on.
"I start the match and I'll call when a fighter is down. In the case for you, Aki Sisters, both of your magic auras are linked. When one of you fall, the match will be called, do you understand?"
The two sisters nodded and both gave a quiet "yes".
"Alright, on your marks, get set, GO!" *TWEEEEEEEEET*
Lily dissipated as Hina immediately unleashed a circular barrage of bullets towards the Aki Sisters which was easily avoid with a timed jump. The younger Minoriko dashed forward while Shizuha sent a danmaku stream following her, using Minoriko as a blind. Minoriko sidesteped to allow the danmaku to take Hina by surprise.
"You really thought this would work?" Hina followed Minoriko's sidestep to dodge the danmaku and prepared to engage the charging Minoriko. With a quick spin, Hina sent a light danmaku barrage towards the younger sister, knocking her to the ground. She slowly walked towards Minoriko and began to charge up another danmaku wave. Minoriko only smiled as she stared down the curse goddess. Hina, however, caught the smile and turned around immediately to blast the charging Shizuha to the ground. As the elder sister dropped, a slight lack of feeling was experienced by all in the area. Lily once again appeared in the field with a loud whistle.
*TWEEEEEEEEET* "SHIZUHA AKI'S MAGICAL AURA HAS DISSIPATED! HINA KAGIYAMA IS THE WINNER!"
The crowd applauded the curse goddess as she bowed and left the field to allow the next group to set up.
"And with that our first matchup ends with a victory to the curse goddess Hina Kagiyama! The Aki Sisters' surprise tactics ended up failing them as the sisters end up the first losers in Pool Play. However that doesn't mean the autumnal gods are eliminated, if they can get everything in gear, they can still advance. It's all up to whoever is in the top four in the group after the round robin. So Miss Hinanai, first match under wraps, how did it play out?"
"It played out very quick and simple. Using a double feint style, the Aki Sisters did their best to keep Hina on her toes. However partially thanks to her spinning, Hina is quite adept at keeping an eye on all 360 degrees and caught Shizuha's charging and laid out the big hit to essentially deal out the 1-hit KO."
"Well the grounds are cleared for our next matchup, a much bigger draw with Rin Kaenbyou against the gatekeeper known simply as 'China', back to the Shrine grounds we go."
The two met in the middle as the two shook hands and engaged some quick small talk with Meiling starting it off.
"It's nice to meet some people outside the mansion, I wonder how my skills stack up. I'm...not really much compared to my boss so I hope I do well."
"Well, sis, I'm not going to go easy on ya. Just felt like telling ya that."
"That's exactly what I hoped for."
*TWEEEEEEEET*
Meiling immediately jumped back and entered a defensive position. Orin unleashed a high-powered danmaku shot and scored a direct hit. Unable to celebrate, however, as Meiling shook off the blast and blazed forward and delivered a hard flying punch right into Orin's stomach. The kasha could not react in time to even make an attempt to dodge or block as she gasped for air with Meiling's fist still embedded underneath her ribcage.
Meiling pulled back to set herself back in a fighting position while waiting for Orin to get her bearings straight.
"If you don't strike soon, I'll go again..."
"Wh...what a punch...sis..." Orin slowly regained herself and pulled out the first spell card of the event
SPELL CARD: ORIN [VENGEFUL CANNIBAL SPIRIT]
A blaze of circular danmaku surrounded Meiling as Orin smiled. Slowly the danmaku converged on the gatekeeper who was eyeing all over her, looking for an exit to no avail. She could only guard as the danmaku completed the converging and exploded with Meiling at the epicenter. Through the smoke however, once again, a green and red blur emerged from the smoke at a blazing speed on another collision course with the kasha. This time a kick came flying straight into Orin's chest. Orin could only recoil back in pain, allowing her opponent to prepare her finishing blow. In a quick blink, Meiling spun and dealt a flying roundhouse kick right upside Orin's head, sending the kasha to the ground at last. There was nothing Orin could do against Meiling's speed as she stayed motionless on the ground and lost the ability to maintain the protective aura used to ensure safety.
*TWEEEEEEEEET* "Rin's aura has dissipated! The winner is Ch-"
"MEI! LING!" the victor screamed at Lily, almost causing the fairy to swallow her whistle.
"Th-The winner is Meiling!" Applause came as the winner joyously ran up to the woman in the maid outfit spectating while a caped raven burst into the field to pick up the still slow-to-move Orin and escort her out.
"Well the first cross-faction battle ended in an upset win for the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It'll be a very interesting first set for the SDM group, with all members in big first matches. Older sister Remilia will take on ghost princess Yuyuko Saigyouji while younger sister Flandre takes on Lunarian Eirin Yagokoro. The other two members also have rough matchups with Ch-er-Meiling's boss Sakuya against Orin's best friend Utsuho Reiuji and Patchouli Knowledge against mountain goddess Suwako Moriya. It'll be a very interesting first round, and they can all get wins, especially with Meiling's victory today."
"A sweep really is possible for the first round for SDM. The only matchup that the member is not favored is Patchy's bout against Suwako. But if she unleashes some hard...hits..." Tenshi was trying to not to blush at the words, "she can get an upset similar to Meiling's and put all members in a head start for the Knockout round."
"Well we'll have to find out. Well now we're ready for the last match of the set, shrine maiden Sanae Kochiya against winter spirit Letty Whiterock. Can the other favorite avoid the upset? We now take you to the field."
Letty and Sanae silently shook hands and prepared themselves for the whistle.
*TWEEEEEEEEET*
Upon the start, Letty unleashed the first attack. With a snap of her fingers a snow-like fog began to fill the area as danmaku materialized randomly. Sanae only guarded herself to the best of her ability, still taking a few hits as she searched for her opponent through the cold fog. A flash of blue crossed the wind priestess's eye and a star-shaped danmaku came roaring in, dissipating some of the fog and for a split second leaving Letty completely open. Sanae smiled as she watched the winter spirit hastily run from the gap.
"Run if you want, it won't help..." Sanae's cold words soon became the only sign of winter as she unleashed a danmaku blast all around her, eliminating the fog and leaving Letty completely open. "Found you..."
SPELL CARD: SANAE [YASAKA'S DIVINE WIND]
The once calm air of the battlefield became extremely choppy and powerful as the winter spirit began to have trouble just holding steady. It quickly went from bad to worse for Letty as when she was keeping herself grounded, she did not notice the massive star-shaped danmaku gushing right for her. The only thing she could do was let herself be blown away by the roaring winds and hope that her path and the danmaku's path would be separate. The second she felt her feet leave the ground, however, it became increasingly obvious that the strategy wasn't in Letty's favor as she found herself flying straight into the barrage. The winter spirit tried to guard herself to no avail. Upon the collision, she was sent skyward before dropping limply to the ground after being carried several meters by the wind.
*TWEEEEEEEEET* "Letty's aura has dissipated! The winner is Sanae!"
Sanae gave a bow to the applauding audience of fairies, lesser youkai, Group Five's fighters, and many more before leaving the arena with a smile on her face.
"The victorious Sanae Kochiya joins Hina Kagiyama and Ch-er-excuse me again-Hong Meiling as winners in this first set of matchups. Of course the big story was the suprising upset of Orin in that it really didn't seem like much of a matchup they she really only went down in three hits, Miss Hinanai."
"They were....big......hits...and all in very rough places, though. The punch to the solar plexus at the start, the kick to the chest after completely brushing off the spellcard attack, and the finishing roundhouse can really take out even the most thick-skinned fighters. Orin will attempt to redeem herself in round two against Letty Whiterock while our potential Cinderella fighter will take on the Aki Sisters."
"Yep, and now we prepare to take our show to the Scarlet Devil Mansion for Round One of Group Two next. Our first card there is our big draw of the set as homefield advantage comes into play as Remilia Scarlet takes on a fellow undead, ghost princess Yuyuko Saigyouji. For Tenshi Hinanai, this is Rinnosuke Morichika signing off. See you at the SDM!"
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The crowds emptied out of Hakurei Shrine as some local fairies began to clean up and maintain the area for the next time the crowd arrives for Group Five. Two people who hadn't left yet were a cat and a raven.
"Orin..." Utsuho was still acting as a crutch for the winded kasha, who still hadn't spoken since she was dropped in her match, "it'd be stupid to say something like 'I'll avenge you' since you're still obviously alive in both tournament and real-life terms. But in my group, that karate girl's boss is my first opponent. I know you want me to hold back my powers for the early parts, but I think I am going to go all out for this match and then just use what little power I need to wipe the floor with the others."
"O......kuu...." Orin finally broke her silence with a chuckle, "just...watch out...especially if her boss likes to kick chests as well. We don't need to bring attention to your bullseye."
"How did that feel, anyways?"
"I think I've heard some souls refer to something called a 'truck'...for some reason...I feel like that's a good way to call it..."
"Unyu? Truck? Well I guess I'll made Miss Bossy Maidy Lady feel 'truck' as well..."
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Walking out of the arena portion of the shrine, one of the day's victors was still riding the adrenaline high of her win.
"So didyasee? Didyasee? That first punch was so satisfying!"
"Yes I did, Meiling...but did it really need three shots to take an opponent like her out? And how come you couldn't find out how to escape from that spell card? I found about 6 openings almost immediately."
"Well you can stop time and count...I can't."
"Your reflexes still need working on..."
Meiling could only sigh as she realized that one win alone would not impress Sakuya. They decided to make the long trek to their mansion to watch and cheer on the owner and their mistress.
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GROUP ONE STANDINGS
Hina Kagiyama 1-0
Hong Meiling 1-0
Sanae Kochiya 1-0
Aki Sisters 0-1
Orin 0-1
Letty Whiterock 0-1
Quick Analysis: Most of note, the Orin/Meiling poll was not even close. It was by far the biggest blowout of the three. The other two matches started out pretty even before the victor puled very much ahead with around a 3:1 vote ratio by the end. The Orin/Meiling poll was about 9:2.