Reimu, who was finally free of the forest, could see the edge of Misty Lake and as she let out a great sigh of relief, the mist from the lake began settling around her, blocking her vision completely.
"Well, this isn't good." The shrine maiden began flying in a direction that seemed correct, but only found herself surrounded by more of the mist. She sighed, looking for anything to help her, but all she could see was red mist above her, white mist around her, and water below her.
Reimu closed her eyes. She searched her feelings and felt in her mind for a sense of spiritual energy. Then she clasped her hands together in prayer, asking for the gods to help her.
She finished her prayer and opened her eyes. A part in the mist had appeared, showing the lake's edge in the distance. With a burst, she flew in that direction. The water reflected white and red as Reimu's reflection went flying overhead, blasting through the mist at a high speed. Reimu was confused though.
"This lake seems to be taking me in circles. I'm not any farther ahead than I was a minute ago." She looked around her for anything that could help her, but to no avail. Then, all of a sudden, a voice called out to her from above.
"Gotten lost have you? Well, we all know that any human is gullible and can be tricked by fairies." Reimu looked up to see a child-sized fairy with sharp icicle wings. The fairy wore a grin of radiant confidence.
"Is that so? Well, could you help this human find her way to the origin of that red mist?"
The ice fairy swooped down, hovering just a bit higher than Reimu, so that Reimu had to crane her neck at an odd angle.
"Hah, don't you know who you are talking to? I'm Cirno! The strongest fairy in all of Gensokyo!"
The fairy grinned even more, pointing a finger in Reimu's face. Reimu put a finger up and moved Cirno's finger out of her face, disgusted by the prudence of the girl.
"You don't seem that strong," she remarked, "your aura is puny...are you sure you are even a fairy?
The fairy looked offended. "I am!"
"Well, fairy or not, you aren't much of a threat."
The fairy began to get flustered. "I AM SO A THREAT!" She yelled. "I'll prove it!" And she flew up, ready to fight. Reimu shrugged and got ready for something pathetic. The fairy raised her arms, summoning a spell.
"Icicle Fall!" She cried out, casting her spell.
As Reimu hovered over the water, she heard a loud cracking noise. Unbeknownst to her, Cirno had frozen the lake below, and now shards of ice were flying upward racing to meet her. Reimu felt a sharp pain in her elbow as a shard just barely grazed it leaving behind a small droplet of blood. Reimu grabbed her elbow in pain, crying out.
Cirno smirked and chuckled to herself. "Maybe you aren't as powerful as you th-" but her words were cut off by a danmaku from Reimu to the face. Cirno fell, slamming into the ice below. Reimu, still grabbing her elbow and wincing from the pain, slowly drifted down to the ice.
"Maybe that will teach you to pick fights with stronger opponents." she said.
"Mah haw fwawaf!" Cirno said, her face buried in ice.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"I said, I AM THE STRONGEST!" Cirno said, her wings bursting from the ice, lifting her above Reimu yet again, her little arms at her hips in a superman pose.
"Just...stop." Reimu said, shaking her head.
"I'll freeze you like cold beef!" Cirno said, ignoring Reimu's comment. Reimu started drifting away, finished playing with the fairy.
"Hey! Get back here! I'm not done with you!" Cirno called after her, her fists clenched and cheeks puffed out. Reimu ignored her, continuing to fly away. Cirno, deciding this would count as a defeat, fluttered over quickly to Reimu, stopping in front of her.
"Just get out of my way." Reimu said, "I have places to go, people to fight, incidents to correct." She then floated around Cirno, flying back into the mist.
This angered Cirno. She was done being ignored, among other things. That pesky human even said she was stronger! Hah, as if! Cirno decided she would have her way, no matter what! She was the strongest after all.
Reimu was glad to be away from that fairy. It was all she could do not to laugh though. Strongest. Hah,as if! Reimu decided though, that she had no idea where she was going.
From out of nowhere, an icicle shard went flying past her, slicing a bit of her hair and bow. Turning around with her brow furrowed, she sent a danmaku whizzing over her left shoulder. She heard a squeal of pain coming from the mist behind her. She chuckled, satisfied that she had hit her mark, but Cirno wasn't as amused. She came barreling out of the mist, slamming head first into Reimu's back, causing her to plummet to the ice below. Reimu landed gracefully on her feet, and looked up to see the fairy planning her next spell.
Cirno called out, "Perfect Freeze!" and her spell activated.
Reimu shielded her eyes with her hand as Cirno became enveloped in colorful light. Small balls of red, blue, yellow, and green barreled down to surround Reimu. Reimu watched their patterns looking for an opening. She dashed upwards, ready to attack Cirno, but a yellow ball came streaking into her path. Dodging it, she continued her pursuit upward toward Cirno, but she noticed the balls were starting to slow down. Stopping in-flight she looked around and watched as the balls stopped moving completely and turned a shade of grey.
"Well, this makes my job easier." she said, moving once again towards the childish fairy.
A shower of blue danmaku came raining down on her, shredding her sleeves and cutting her cheek. Blood slid down her face and she reached to touch it, grimacing. She had no time to be surprised though, as the balls began to show color again and started moving back into their dangerous patterns. She dodged one as it flew past her at high speeds as she made her way up to Cirno.
"This human isn't as powerful as she made herself out to be!" Cirno said, smugly chuckling to herself, her arms raised high above her as she shot down more and more danmaku at the struggling shrine maiden. Reimu continued dodging and dodging, but to no avail. She wasn't getting any closer to her target, and the multi-colored balls were getting harder to avoid. One slammed into Reimu, shooting her across the lake, causing her to slam into a second ball going in the opposite direction. At last, the balls stopped moving again and a second blast of bullets came raining down on her, slashing her to bits yet again. Finally, tired and out of strength, she fell to the icy cold ground, a defeated mess. Cirno stopped her spell. She looked upon her work and gleefully cheered for herself, doing a cheerful twirl.
"Victory! I am truly the strongest fairy in Gensokyo!" she cried, her little figure spinning in the sky. Reimu grunted, trying to lift herself, but her arms, which had been bruised and slashed, weren't strong enough to pull herself up.
"Is this how it ends? To a pathetic enemy like this? C'mon Reimu. This isn't over." But even with her reassuring words, her frail body couldn't take anymore. Her eyelids fluttered and then closed, her body giving in to the cold, dead ice around her.
Marisa awoke with sand in her hair and mouth. Spitting it out and choking on the disgusting taste of salt, she brushed herself off and looked about her. She had washed up on the shore on the far end of Misty Lake. She couldn't see her broom anywhere, and with a disgruntled air about her she attempted looking for it.
"Where is that thing, ugh... it has to be somewhere around here..." Marisa muttered to herself, walking the shoreline. Sand and more sand entered her line of sight as she walked, nothing brown like a broom handle or a frayed texture like straw. She looked up from the ground in front of her, giving up in her search, and found her jaw dropping at the sight she beheld. Gates rose up crowding her view, and poking out above the walls of the gate was a mansion, red like the mist above it. On top of this mansion was a large clock tower, its small and large hands giving Marisa the current time in Gensokyo. Marisa's open mouth slid into a devilish grin, her thoughts filling of riches and wealth beyond her wildest imaginations.
"Heh, who needs a broom when you have this?" and she began walking in the direction of the gate, the sand falling off the brim of her witch hat, disappearing with the wind.