'Hmm… At night, only beasts and youkai stroll on the roads of mankind…'

Marisa and I had begun following a path when humans commonly walked. It wasn't exactly a strong lead, but it was all we could think of at the time. As expected, it was completely desolate.

'There shouldn't be a human form in sign, at least. At this rate, our journey may go smoo-'

But of course, that would have been too convenient.

"Bastard youkai! Die!"

While I had been lost in thought, a passing youkai must've piqued the interest of my partner. That unfortunate soul was now being chased about the night sky.

"Wait, waaaait!" she yelled, stopping abruptly. It was now that I got a good look at her. She was clearly a bird youkai, and had strange pink wings. She was panting rather loudly.

"Huh?"

Marisa stopped, much to my surprise. I really didn't understand her.

"Where are you going this late at night?" the youkai stammered, clearly exhausted from being chased by a far-too energetic human.

"It's my annual Youkai Extermination Month," exclaimed Marisa, flashing a wide grin. "I'll go wherever youkai live!"

Youkai… Extermination Month? What the hell was she blabbering about?!

"Wait, what?" The bird's expression turned fierce. "Are you picking a fight with me?"

Her threat fell on deaf ears. I was still reeling from Marisa's last bit of idiocy.

"Marisa's Youkai Extermination? That's hilarious." I snicker, shaking my head.

"Oh? Don't you know how awesome I am at that?" She threw her arms wide, her toothy grin shrinking to a cocky smile. "I blow away youkai and humans with Master Spark all the time!"

I couldn't help but yet out a slight "Tch." While she wasn't necessarily lying (especially about the last part), she was grossly overplaying her actions. How very Marisa-esque.

"You, human…"

I glanced back at the youkai, who was muttering something beneath her breath.

"Huh?" Well, at least Marisa seemed interested.

"Don't you have any idea who I am? I'm Mystia Lorelei! All humans fear me in the darkness!" The youkai howled, summoning several purple bullets to her side. "If I wanted, I could call enough youkai here to eradicate every human in this land!"

"…Heh. That's enough chirping, you windbag." I can't help but smirk.

Her boasting had absolutely no effect. I could tell she was a lower-level creature, regardless of her claims. I wasn't even slightly worried.

"Hahaha… Looks like you still don't get who I am." It appeared that Marisa also sensed the danger was minimal. Or perhaps she was just too arrogant to care.

Hmm… Giving Marisa a hard time might prove to be fun.

"Human?" I question, countering Marisa's bragging.

"Human." replied Mystia. I guess she wasn't too angry to join in on the fun.

"Human all the way."

"Uh…" Marisa scratched her head sheepishly. "right…" She shot me a glare, leading me to shrug my shoulders. She was the one who thought grandstanding was fun.

"See? Starting tonight, you two…"

The pink-haired youkai began floating upwards, more bullets surrounding her. I quickly called my dolls to my side and assumed a defensive formation. I looked to Marisa, who was already building an astral sign of some sort in her hands.

"…Will never again see in the dark!"

-0-0-0-

DEADLY TOXIN – VENEMOUS MOTH'S DARK DANCE!

A bullet whizzed by, narrowly missing my head. To a layperson, my dodge must've seemed impossible. But anyone skilled in danmaku would know that such a feat was a routine maneuver.

Each of us had fired a few minor opening attacks, but very little had resulted. Then, Mystia quickly took the offensive and fired a barrage of red bullets. The attack wasn't particularly threatening, and dodging felt more like a waltz than anything else. I continued holding back, more interested in the attack's pattern that defeating its source.

'Overpowering the enemy simply isn't fun,' I thought, casually avoiding another bullet. 'Why use more power than necessary to win?'

Mystia must've realized my intent, because she began intensifying her attack. I dove downwards to avoid the worst of it, but still found myself having to make sharp cuts to evade the projectiles.

Suddenly, bright bird-shaped lights emerged from Mystia and flew in all directions. They adjusted their flight paths towards Marisa, who fired a narrow laser at them.

"Boom! Take that, youkai!"she yelled, throwing a fist in the air. The birds exploded in a flash of color, leaving behind nothing. "What's that? I can't hear your boasting, ze! Ha!" I brought my palm to my forehead and shook my head. If only Marisa's brain worked as quickly as her mouth.

"Can't hear, huh?" retaliated Mystia, her mouth forming a maniacal smile. "Well, it's funny you should mention that…" She reared her head back and began taking in air.

'What's she planning now?'

VOCAL SIGN – HOWL OF THE HORNED OWL!

Saying that the following shriek was loud would have been Gensokyo's biggest understatement.

Mystia's voice pierced my ears, and it felt as though it was digging into my very soul. I forced my eyes open to see hundreds of bullets resembling winged-insects diving towards us. However, their pattern was simple and dodging them wouldn't be difficult. All I would need to do is fly a few feet left…

'W-what? My body…!'

I can't move! Something's hindering my movements! I look up at Mystia, who hadn't ceased screaming in the slightest.

'…Her noise!'

Of course! I'd read that certain youkai possessed the ability to hinder both judgment and music with their voices. But to run into one so early…

'Tch. Marisa's awful luck is rubbing off on me.'

I attempted to cover my ears, but found that I couldn't move my arms. As a last-ditch effort, I attempted to move one of my dolls. Much to my surprise, I was able to control the doll with almost no hindrance. And if I could control my dolls…

MAGIC SIGN – ARTFUL SACRIFICE!

My doll's explosion cleared out most of the bullets, leaving me completely unscathed. My eyes shift to Marisa, who was crumpled up on the ground. It wouldn't surprise me if the song was even more potent to humans than to youkai. And since she didn't have a magical familiar to control, she wouldn't be much help.

The next round of bullets came in a manner even fiercer than the first. The sheer amount of danamku made it impossible for me to direct my dolls close enough to Mystia, and a doll being struck resulted in premature detonation. With no signs of the bird youkai letting up on her assault, the battle had reached a standstill. I could continue to defend myself and Marisa, but manipulating the dolls was a taxing effort, especially in my current condition. It would only be a matter of time before I ran out of magical energy. I close my eyes.

'Damn it… Of all the-'

THWAK!

Suddenly, the screaming stopped.

I looked up to see Mystia frozen in place, a pained expression on her face. At first, I was puzzled. Then, I saw what had stalled her attack.

Marisa's broom had found its way to the back of her head. And based on the sound I'd just heard, it had found it at a fast pace.

"I may not have dolls…"

I turned to see Marisa walking towards me, dusting off her witch's outfit. The broom flew back to its master, who casually held it on her shoulder.

"…but that doesn't mean I don't have a trick or two." She flashed her trademark grin.

I see. So she can remotely control her broom in the same way I control my dolls.

"What happened to your approach, Ms. Power Only? I thought strategy was for the weak?" I tease, flashing a mischievous grin.

"Hey, that wasn't strategy! That's making the most of-"

BOOM!

A large purple sphere crashed into the ground near us, interrupting our mid-battle chat.

"Grr! You two!"

Mystia, now recovered from her battle with a cleaning utensil, was visibly angered.

"Why not just stop, birdbrain? You're 0 for 2, ze!" Marisa exclaimed. She held out two fingers to remind Mystia of her futility.

"That's okay…" The youkai began charging up another attack. "…because it takes 3 strikes before I'm out!"

I looked to Marisa, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

NIGHT BLINDNESS – SONG OF THE NIGHT SPARROW!

"What's she doing now?"

Suddenly, Mystia became hidden in a veil of darkness. It gradually grew, until the only remaining light was a small area around Marisa and myself.

"Damnit! Where'd you go, windbag?!" yelled Marisa, firing a small laser into the black. The beam created a small line of visibility, but it was far too small to be of any use.

"What's the matter, human? Are the shadows too much?" Mystia taunted from somewhere in the void. I tried to trace her voice, but the darkness made the task nearly impossible.

"Alice!" Marisa turned to me. "Can't you figure out where she's at based her chirps?!"

I shook my head. "This blasted darkness is dissipating the sound. I can't even tell which direction to shoot."

"Isn't it wonderful?!" a voice called out. "And it gets even better!"

Danmaku began flying past us, although we couldn't see them.

I turned in time to see a barrage of purple bullets emerging from the darkness. I threw myself out of the way, but one of the bullets made contact with my right arm, causing me a great deal of pain. It didn't help when I landed on it.

"Yo! You okay?"

I looked up to see Marisa, who was currently hiding behind a ward spell she'd cast. Damn, I should've thought of that.

"Ugh… Yeah, I'm fine. She got my arm, though." I gestured to my injury. "I'll need a minute to recover."

Marisa started to speak, but was interrupted when a large bullet collided with her ward. She managed to remain standing, though the strain was evident from her expression.

"We can't exactly last that long! You know these spells suck!" she yelled, pouring more energy into her defense. "Got any ideas, ze?!"

I began to think of a possible attack strategy. It was impossible to decipher Mystia's location, and there was hardly time to prepare an attack strong enough to counter her danmaku. A bullet whizzed by, reminding me that I probably needed to stay mobile. The darkness made it difficult to know where the attack was coming from, and the necessary action time was absurd. It took all my focus just to avoid being hit.

"Bah! Screw this!"

I glanced over at Marisa, who had dropped her ward spell. She appeared to be muttering the incantation for some attack, though I wasn't sure which. Regardless, she wasn't moving, which was the quickest way to get shot.

"Marisa, you idiot! Get down!" Was she trying to get herself killed?

Without warning, a blinding light suddenly emerged from her hands, illuminating the darkness around us. (But, conveniently enough, still hindering my sight) I couldn't quite make out her actions, but it looked as if she was thrusting her arms to the sides.

"Forget strategy! Danmaku is power!"

LIGHT BLAST – SHOOT THE MOON!

The light which had previously engulfed Marisa quickly shot out around her, leaving small pools of light on the ground. In unnecessarily spectacular fashion, multiple beams blasted out of the pools, cutting through the darkness and dissolving Mystia's danmaku. The area quickly became clear, and we saw our foe floating in the air.

"Umm…" She bore the expression of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"All that, and I still missed her?!" yelled Marisa, stomping the ground as she went about. It was true that she had missed, but…

SHANGHAI - SPECTRUM MYSTERY!

-0-0-0-

Once she was visible, Mystia had made an easy target for my attack. As an added bonus, it only took one shot to down her. As we searched for her body, a dog jumped out of a bush and flashed me a thumbs-up. I wasn't really sure why.

"Is she out cold, ze?"

I placed my hand on Mystia's neck to verify that she was still alive. Though it was faint, I could still detect a pulse. Satisfied with her vitality, I slapped her 3 times, as was standard when checking consciousness. I also slapped her a fourth time, just because.

"I think so. She shouldn't be bothering us any more tonight, at least."

Marisa put her arms behind her head and sighed contently. "Ah… That's better. At least the darkness isn't bothering me now!"

This was true. However, it was also true that we'd wasted valuable time and energy on a mostly worthless youkai.

"Damn it, we've got to hurry! We don't have time to waste on such small fry!" I stood up and placed my hand on my forehead before focusing intently on my surroundings. During my research, I'd developed a sort of mental compass which could direct me to powerful energy sources. It was mostly useless since I rarely needed it, but it was useful in certain situations. I carefully analyzed my surroundings, searching for any potential sources.

Whoa.

My eyes shot open. Now THAT was energy. I began walking in the direction of the power, nearly forgetting my black-white partner.

"But why are you heading that way?" she asked, drawing me back to reality. "There's no enemies in that direction."

I tended to agree with her, but a quick double-take confirmed my suspicions. See, with incidents in Gensokyo, the problems were usually caused by those with the most power. Therefore, search for the most power and you'll likely find your culprit. It was simple logic, but was also surprisingly effective.

"But I sense powerful energy ahead…" I was aware that it was the direction of the human village, but that energy was no mirage. Who their held that much power?

"Nah. There's only humans that way. Totally innocent." She smiled. "Like me."

I wasn't sure if the last bit was a joke, but I laughed at it, leaving Marisa visibly hurt. If there was anything she wasn't, it was innocent.


Hello, readers! I'm Hanabro, and this is chapter 3 of Black & White Change. First off, I apologize for the long wait. I've been moving/adjusting into my freshmen year of college, and this story kinda got pushed to the back burner. Again, I apologize if this chapter was a little flat. There will be MariAli romance scenes, as this is a romantic story. However, the pair isn't quite ready yet. Any comments/criticism are more than welcome, and thanks for taking the time out of your day to read! I've got more in store, so be ready!

P.S. - I've had a couple questions about this, so I figure I may as well answer it; I'm trying to keep the pre/post battle conversations as close to the text from the actual game as possible. I apologize if you find it boring, but I feel as if it's the way it should be done.