~Legends, Painted in Blue~
Act 0: Prologue
She didn't know where she was at the moment. The last thing she remembered before entering this black void is she, lonely on a bedroom, falling asleep on a pajama and drifting to the sea of dreams she always longed for everyday. Yet when she woke up, the only thing she could see was the pitch-black nothingness around her. Confused yet curious, scared yet excited, she drifted herself into the unknown, simply lead by gut feeling. It felt like the void had no limit. No matter where she had gone, nothing that led her out of that darkness
It felt like she had been there for a long time, and yet the time itself didn't even move. It was being stagnant simply for her sake; if it were to move even for just one millisecond, the consequences would alter the reality as we know it. It gave her a lot of time, forever in fact, to search for the way out of that nightmarish space. As long as the disturbance in form of that girl hadn't disappeared from the ever-lonely space, the time refused to move
Unlike the darkness that surrounded the girl, her body is as visible as ever not unlike when she saw it on daily basis. She was the only thing visible in that bounded space
Then she saw something unexpected. A small glimpse of light
"O young lady, what art thou desire?"
It was a solemn, yet magnificent voice called upon her. It source was from the light
"Which one thou shall seek on this world?"
The voice somewhat scare her. It was intimidating
"Who's there!?" She looked around, but no response
"Shall thou seek for power?" The voice taunted
She was confused. Why would that voice asked such question? Power is not of her interest anyway
"No, of course I don't!" She yelled at no one
"Then shall thou seek for knowledge?" The voice asked for second time. This time, the voice was much clearer
This time, her heart felt doubtful. She wasn't sure whether to accept that offer or not, but her desire told her to accept it immediately. After all, she had strive for knowledge ever since a long time. Her particular interest is on the subject of knowledge of the unknown
She reached the top of her research when she finally gained the Occult Orb and discover the land of fantasy, Gensokyo. She gathered any information she can get in exchange of telling the stories of the real world to the native of Gensokyo. All of that precious information taken from that world had been documented in the safe file of Secret Sealing Club
But would she be ready? Was she prepared to uncover the truth? She knew that some truth was not always pleasant and beautiful. She knew that sometime, truth could come in the worst form. Yet she also knew that truth will always be uncovered, some way or another. No lies could be shrouded forever in the cover of oblivion
"Yes, I shall" she nodded, even though she wasn't sure why
"Then thou must reclaim what was rightfully thine" The voice continued
"Rightfully… Mine?" She wondered for a while. The only thing she 'rightfully own' was the Secret Sealing Club. She didn't remember owned something else, except…
"The Occult Balls! What happened to it?"
"That is for thee to uncover. Thou shall undergo a journey unlike thee hath faced before. Thou shall found new allies and enemies at the same time. Thou shall face daunting obstacle to prevent the upcoming catastrophe that befall thine and thy allies' world" The voice made her shudder somewhat. If a catastrophe on the world scale will come, how could she suppose to stop it?
"Yet fear not. Thou hast the power to face all danger and when the time comes, thine power shall be enough to prevent this catastrophe" The light before her getting brighter and brighter, it nearly blinded her. Instinctively, she covered her eyes
"Good luck, young lady. Thine journey hath begun"
Moonlight Castle, Rachel Alucard's Resident
A young blonde girl, or at least looked like girl, in black Lolita dress sipped a glass of blood. Standing beside her is an old butler and her familiars. Despite sipped her tea calmly, the girl looked rather concerned. After she had done with her tea, her eyes focused on the blood tea, or rather the ripple appeared when the tea glass touched the table. For some reason, she frowned
"Ah, isn't it about time" She muttered to no one in particular
"Is there something wrong, my lady?" Her butler asked with a slight bow
She didn't answer it immediately. Instead, she walked away to one part of the castle garden toward a certain flower that hadn't bloomed yet
"A new participant has joined this chaotic wheel of fate. I wonder, how would she fare in this harsh, unforgiving land?" She messed slightly with the flower, but then she looked up at the sky
It was then everyone on that castle noticed several blinks of light falling from the sky. Almost all of the mysterious light separate away to different directions, except for two light dots which approached the young lady and the butler. As the light get closer, it was clear that the dots were actually groups of orbs. One appeared before her while another one landed before the old butler
"This is surprising" The young lady commented as she touched the black orb before her
"Indeed it is" The butler replied while holding the orb on his two hands
Yet the orbs hadn't stopped giving them more surprise when both orbs glowed in different colour. The one belonged to young lady glowed in scarlet while the other one currently being held by the butler glowed in white
"Ah!" by reflex, the blonde girl released the orb on her hand. However, the orb wasn't shattered at all. She realized that the orb actually floating against the law of physics
"My lady-!" He was cut off when his orb also floating around him
Both watched quietly as the orbs floated around them as it released brighter light, but soon after the light dimmed and the orbs float slower before finally stopping on their respective current owner. The orbs proceed to disappeared but rather than completely vanished away, the orbs transformed into a small, glimmering pieces of shards which entered their holder's body
"One surprise after another…" her eyes closed, but her face still shown a serious expression
Although, if looked closely, one can see the smile formed on her face
"This is interesting indeed. Let us see what the Master Unit up to this time…"
A certain Cauldron at Kagutsuchi
"This is interesting! Isn't it, Relius? ISN'T IT!?"
"Well, it surely are interesting, but aren't you a bit too excited, Terumi?"
Two men stand on the side of what looked like an artificial crater, or a cauldron. One man had green hair and kept his eyes closed while the other had blonde hair and wore some sort of mask. Beside the masked man stood a puppet which seemed to be made out of steel
"Don't you get it, bro? This colorful, shiny-orb-thingy will make our plan easier than ever!" The green-haired man grinned with excitement while the masked man beside him 'stay cool' and sighed
"Well, well. If you put it that way…" The masked man turned away as he makes his leave. The puppet followed shortly after, "Still, we are barely understand anything about this orb's power. It could lead us to downfall as well"
"You're way too stiff, bro. There's no timeline in this world where I'd go unprepared. Everything had always according to my plan, no?" The green-haired man opened his left eye to reveal a sinister, yellow eye
"Terumi" The masked man stopped, along with the puppet
"Yes?" The green-haired man replied
"Stop calling me 'bro'"
"If you said so, Relius-kun" the guy called Terumi responded again, but with more mocking tone
There was silence, before the puppeteer walked away
"On second thought, you can call me 'bro' after all…"
The expression appeared in Terumi's face was so wrong in so many way, while suited his mindset at the same time
"Oho. Even with this unexpected addition, our world will be as annoying as ever. But worry not, that girl will surely be something else" His body was shaking in excitement. And then without any cue, he burst out in laughter. Soon after, his laughter subside and he fixed his hat
"Now then, let's put this iron called Sumireko Usami on the fire"
Lunar Capital, on the dark side of the moon
It should be another peaceful night in Lunar Capital, but it was not
Once more, the purity of the moon was tainted by an incident on earth. Not only that, the Ultramarine Orb and Lunar Capital Orb that was kept safe since the last incident had disappeared again. Now that the Udonge Plants bloom its flowers, the Capital Palace was in upheaval
The pressure was no stranger to the two of Lunarian's highest ranking military leaders, the Watatsuki sister. With at least 1500 years of experience, the sister considered as the strongest being in Lunar Capital, both in political sense and actual sense
However, the upheaval within Lunar Capital had begun to shaken their position among the parliament. There was even an issue regarding them defecting from Lunar Kingdom. Once again, the sisters found their position were on the edge
"But first, we have to recover the Lunar Capital Orb and the Ultramarine Orb" The younger sister of Watatsuki said during a meeting with the princes and princesses of the moon
"The Orbs is of your responsibility. We the princes and princesses held no authority over it" One of the princes said
"Indeed. What concerned us more is our position within the government" The other prince said
"While the parliament can never touch us, we feared that this chain of event may lead to a revolution" Another one of the princesses said
"The border that allowed our citizen to stay obedient to our rule has become weaker with the disappearance of that orb, even more so when our backup plan had been reduced to none. This condition has led us all to the corner" The youngest of the princess said
"Yes, I do understand of the current situation" The purple-ish white haired girl said
"Which is why we will give you an important mission" The eldest princess loosened her hand as she revealed a scroll of paper and gave it to the youngest sister of Watatsuki
"It is a top secret mission that only the Lunar Defense Corps and the royal family know. Everyone else outside of the mentioned ranks are forbidden to acknowledge the existence of this mission" The eldest prince explained
"Indeed. Your punishment for failing in this mission is to be exiled to the earth, just like those two" The younger prince said, although the last part was only whispered
"We entrust you, Yorihime. Do not fail us" The younger princess said with stern emotion
"I understand" Yorihime bowed
"With that being said, you're dismissed" The princes and princesses disappeared from the room shortly after. Yorihime only sighed. She did realized the scale of this incident and the jeopardy it caused, but to think that the royal heirs would summon her, knowing their rather selfish personality, it was rather surprising that they would even care about this. Then again, their position were in the same condition as hers or her sister's
When she stepped out of that palace to the open space, she let in a deep breath and released it in a sigh. It's looked like once more she would visit Gensokyo
Hakugyokurou, Netherworld, beyond the border of reality and fantasy
The souls at Netherworld were surprisingly noisy today, at least from Youmu's standard. Even some of them end up went berserk and being cut away by Youmu's Roukanken. Still, the increase of activity from the ghosts is rather worrying eventhough Netherworld had always been lively since long time ago
The Netherworld has always been the resting point for various wandering soul to gather before they can either ascended to Nirvana or reincarnated. It was nurtured by its one and only master, Yuyuko Saigyouji. Yuyuko herself was once a human, but she offered her body to seal the sinister youkai tree, Saigyou Ayakashi, from taking more human life. Her soul wandered for a long time, never for once ascended nor reincarnated
The Saigyou Ayakashi blooming, however, is a different matter. With its nature to absorb all kind of life, letting it bloomed for too long would be dangerous. Only her mistress that was capable to control the demonic plant, but her mistress didn't even do a single thing to stop its blooming. The plant ferociously absorb every souls gathered around it
However, she did know the reason of why her mistress let the plant bloomed once more. It was meant to be used for Lady Yukari's plan, but she didn't know the detail of that plan. All she knew is that it involved the Outside World, and the way Lady Yukari told her made it sounded rather ugly. Well, ignorance is bliss
A gap with eyes and a pair of ribbons appeared near her. The half-ghost surprised, but quickly regained her composure. From the gap, a seemingly young woman with long blonde hair wore a mixture of western and oriental dress emerged. Recognized her as Lady Yukari, Youmu quickly made a bowing gesture
"Lady Yukari, everything had gone according to your plan" The white-haired gardener reported
"I see… Then where is Yuyuko right now?" Yukari asked while fanning herself
"She said she had some business outside. She should be returning soon" Youmu explained
Yukari directed her attention toward the Saigyou Ayakashi. She seemed admiring the view of gathering soul. It's been along time since she saw the tree bloomed all over again. The falling cherry blossom petals from the tree reminded her of a time long-forgotten which none of the Hakugyokurou resident except her remembered. She already saw the moment when a certain person committed suicide near that tree. She also seen the moment when more and more people committed even more suicide than what the master of boundaries liked, slowly transforming the supposedly beautiful cherry blossom into a deadly, life-absorbing demonic tree Saigyou Ayakashi
And when Yuyuko decided to seal away the tree, she felt a deep sadness and despair for losing away an important friend she hold dear in her heart. The gap hag, however, did not expect her to return to the world of living despite not as a human. When the pink-haired ghost greeted her after her death, Yukari can't help but to cried in joy, brought back the smile on the young gap woman once again
"Say, Youmu. Have you ever seen a sight so beautiful, you just want to pull your eyes out of your head?" Yukari muttered, but on the volume which the white-haired gardener can heard it on purpose
Youmu bent her head down in dismay. She rarely gone outside for some vacation and never for once admired the beauty of Gensokyo. Even if she actually went away from the Netherworld, it was either Yuyuko tasked her on something, or she initiated in solving an incident. Unlike Yukari or her master who always had their free time somehow, she was too focused on her task. Not that she regret it or anything, but that mean she had less chance of socializing with other or even admiring the view of large waterfall on the Youkai Mountain just nearby
"Never for once, milady" Youmu answered honestly, which only gained a giggle from the gap youkai
"I expect no less from one who held a high amount of loyalty, but that's won't do well to me" the elder woman said without even looking at Youmu
"Mind to elaborate, milady?" Youmu asked in confusion. Apparently, she wasn't wise enough to understand what Yukari had in mind. Not that Yukari blamed her. Youmu is, after all, only around 60 year or so despite her young look while Yukari already taste the bittersweet of this world for more than 1000 years
"You see, tomorrow I'll have an important task for you. In the meantime, you should let yourself be relaxed, little Youmu" Yukari smirked in amusement as the gardener became more and more confused
"B-but, milady, I should have trained today. If Lady Yuyuko sees me lazing around-"
"Just told her 'Lady Yukari told me to calm myself down'. Don't worries about her being angry, she will surely understand" Yukari ensured the young swordsman, "Now, please do have some vacation"
Youmu thought for a while before nodding her head. Having a vacation once in a while won't be so bad after all
"Thank you milady, I shall take my leave immediately" Youmu left the scene by merging with her half-phantom and floated away
"Now then, that only leave you and me, Saigyou Ayakashi" She touched the stem of the sinister tree, caused a certain ominous pinkish fluid-like substance to appear on the surface and flowed toward the tree's leaves. The tree reacted by absorbing even more souls around it, causing a rather noisy sound of wind
"Not yet. It hasn't bloomed completely" the gap woman left the tree, which made it calmer. Somehow, the souls also became calmer and slowly revolved around the youkai tree
"No need to rush it, Yuyuko. By the time we finished, the Lunarian won't even have the chance to do anything about it" A gap appeared in front of her before disappeared when she entered it
"Now then, for the sake of formality, Let us begin this story with 'once upon a time…'"
~Legends, Painted in Blue~
Prologue: End
Author Notes: It's just me, or did they erased the spell check feature? Was quite surprised when I can't find it. When someone know where to look for it, please do tell
Anyway, this marks my return to the world of fanfiction, as well as celebrating Touhou 14.5. First of all, a bit of spoiler: despite the story mostly take place in the BlazBlue verse, I planned to focus on Touhou characters most of the time just because I need to reintroduce myself to BlazBlue after long time. Also, Touhou characters often easily applied to any kind of crossover while still making sense to the universe they're crossed with
While making this story, I also imagined 'how would things look like when applied to gameplay script?' and thus I made some 'what-if' gameplay script for several Touhou character. Buuut, Touhou characters are mostly projectile-reliant character on the fighting games (with several exception such as Komachi and probably Kokoro) and their control aren't nearly as complex as BlazBlue games, which make it quite difficult in term of making their 'what-if' move lists. For example, Sumireko is a complex character in term of gameplay in ULiL. But being the main character of this story, I have to imagine a simpler, beginner-friendly gameplay for her while still BlazBlue-ish enough. Strangely, the longer I thought about it, the more I have fun imagining it (can you guys imagine how many 'atatatata' Hazama will say when Sumireko used her Radio Tower super?). Initially, I also planned for the Occult Ball to be gameplay-wise important, but later on I decided that they will only serve as Touhou 14.5 style weather-like gimmick as well as Sumireko's Overdrive
As for the story itself... Well, I only have my image for the ending part of Continuum Shift arc and Chrono Phantasma arc as well as some character developing parts, while the rest of the story will flow along with my heart's content
Also, regarding the lunarians, is there someone who understand how their politic and government work? All I know about it is that it's a kingdom. What I'm trying to say is whether there's political system such as parliament, prime minister or something akin to that
Please criticize my grammar and characterization... Or just anything worth criticizing. I often read from other writer that writing a story is best when using past tense, but it's quite uncomfortable (okay, it's VERY uncomfortable), I began to think that I used too much past tense and missed something important... Oh well
TableCloth out!