NOTES: I hope to have the next FTI up shortly. New polls will be added with the release of FTI

--

"As the clear water cascades from Moriya Shrine at the peak, a rainbow accents the fall foliage at the base of Youkai Mountain, the home for the final group of the Gensokyo Grand Battle! I'm Rinnosuke Morichika and always with me is the lovely Tenshi Hinanai. Miss Hinanai?"

"Yes, Rinnosuke?"

"Who do you have winning this group?"

"Well, I have the kappa engineer, Nitori Kawashiro, taking this. How about you?"

"Same. But that's not the important question…now who do you have in spots 2 through 4?"

"…I don't know…it's really hard to separate the other five."

"Exactly! This group is the hope-giver. The group where fighters that would normally have no chance against the likes of a Remilia Scarlet or Yukari Yakumo can have their shot at the spotlight and most importantly, a fighting chance at the Knockouts. But still, only four can advance and two will still be eliminated. Wriggle Nightbug, Chen, Parsee Mizuhashi, Tewi Inaba, and Mystia Lorelei are all very alive in this open-ended group. But after these fights, we might have a clue how this will thin out, so let's get started with match one! Wriggle Nightbug wants to nail a first-round upset similar to her friend Cirno as she takes on Nitori Kawashiro! Will the kappa take the driver's seat early or will this group truly be open-ended? We take you to the field."

The kappa and the firefly were mostly silent as they shook hands at the center of the field. They prepared themselves for the whistle without any unusual movements.

*TWEEEEEEEEEEET*

"HENSHIN!" Wriggle yelled at the top of her lungs and posed. The only occurrence in the next couple of seconds was a stray gust of wind as a befuddled Nitori stared at her opponent. She grabbed a wrench from her backpack and flung it at the stone-cold firefly, connecting against her face. Wriggle fell to the ground, covering her bloodied face, "Hey! You can't attack during a transformation!"

"What transformation? You just stood there open like a stinking practice target!" Nitori pulled another wrench from her bag and went on the offensive, swinging it like a sword at Wriggle, who could barely parry the blows before attempting to get in a kick of her own.

"A bratty gearhead like you wouldn't understand a great henshin!" Wriggle swung several kicks that were effortless parried until one blow landed at full power against Nitori's overstuffed backpack. Metal debris went flying everywhere as Wriggle pulled back, her foot clearly in pain. The kappa smiled as she removed her backpack and swung it over her head, sending more metal everywhere.

"You want a great henshin, bug? I will show you a henshin so perfectly engineered that you…will…FREAK!"

SPELL CARD: NITORI [CUCUMBER STARK]

The key strapped to Nitori's chest began to glow as the various metal scraps around the arena levitated around. Wriggle eyed the glowing kappa and charged in to attempt to disrupt the transformation only to get knocked back by a burst of steam. The steam filled the arena as the metal began to converge on the single glowing light. The firefly backed away, unsure on what was happening.

"What are you trying to be, kappa? A Rider? A Red?"

From the steam emerged a blue-green metallic hand, grasping the bug's throat and pinning her to the ground. Slowly the steam faded and a completely armored Nitori had Wriggle right where she wanted her. With her head completely encased, it was impossible to tell what the kappa was feeling as she flung her opponent across the field. Several hatches opened on the armor as miniature rockets launched out and crashed into the helpless Wriggle. Nitori walked across the field and looked down at the downed firefly and held an open palm to her face.

"I…am…IRON KAPPA!"

A great energy blast shot from Nitori's palm to finish Wriggle off. The armor disintegrated and returned to its original scrap form as the kappa returned them to her backpack, pulling a cucumber to snack on from a side pocket in the process.

*TWEEEEEEEEEEEEET* "Wriggle's aura has dissipated! The winner is Nitori!"

"The kappa's engineering prowess translates perfectly to the battlefield as Nitori cruises to her first win. And with that, she stays our likely chance to get the top seed for Group Eight. But even the greatest of minds can fall to a trickster, and we've got two of them coming up. Tewi Inaba is said to bring good luck to any who catch her…and outlast her tricks, while Mystia Lorelei's singing is said to be beautiful…but dangerous. We take you back down to the field!"

The two met in the center and shook hands, but not before exchanging a few words.

"Don't think you can blind me, sparrow. A healthy supply of carrots gives me super vision. In fact, on a good day, I get X-ray vision on top of it." Tewi smiled as she held a large wooden mallet behind her back.

"Oh? We'll just ha--excuse me. I'll just have to see."

*TWEEEEEEEET*

Mystia took the offensive first, and with a long alto note, the sky began to darken in the field. Tewi countered, swinging the mallet at the sparrow's head. Mystia stopped her note to just barely duck out of the way. The field quickly returned to its lighted state.

"You're at a disadvantage fighting in the light, Mystia. It's a lot harder to blind the field with the sun shining." Tewi followed up her initial strike with an uppercutting shot with the mallet, connecting with Mystia's chest. As the sparrow recoiled, the rabbit clenched her mallet with both hands and proceeded to snort manically. "IT'S TIME TO PLAY THE GAME!"

Tewi took a hard offensive, swinging the mallet like a madman at her opponent, who could barely dodge or parry the blows as they appeared to strike at an increasing speed. Finally, the worst type of shot got through as Mystia took a direct hit right in the face. She clinched her bloody nose and in a last ditch effort, kicked the rabbit in the chest and sang an uneven, warbled note. The field flickered as if someone was turning a light switch on and off. Tewi recovered, but found herself struggling against the ever changing light levels. She took a swing at the singing Mystia, but only brought up air. Eventually she lost track of the sparrow, resorting to swinging wildly, hoping she will luck out and connect.

"…huuh…huuh…WHERE ARE YOU, SPARROW?" Tewi's mallet dropped as the rabbit got exhausted from both the mallet's weight and the ocular strain. Eventually the light levels returned to normal, but Mystia was nowhere to be seen.

"How about some more music, bunny?" Mystia's voice came from behind Tewi's back. The rabbit quickly turned around only to have her jaw come in contact with the bottom of a boot. The kick dropped Tewi to the ground for good as Mystia smiled and stepped lightly on her downed opponent.

"Sweet Chin Music"

*TWEEEEEEEET* "Tewi's aura has dissipated! The winner is Mystia!"

"The power of song is devastating as Mystia Lorelei upends Tewi Inaba, dropping Eientei to 2-2 in the first round. That win also helps Mystia with this open group where no win can be guaranteed."

"Which means Tewi is definitely still alive as every fight here in Group Eight is going to be a close one…assuming the kappa isn't involved."

"Well we're still unsure about that, since in addition to this mess of a group already, we have a member of the Yakumo family also to make this place even more a chaotic jumble. Chen is up in the main event today, against bridge princess Parsee Mizuhashi."

"And we are ready for the final match of Round One! We take you to the field!"

The nekomata bouncingly ran to the center of the field as Parsee slowly approached. Chen extended her arm for the handshake but the jealousy-driven fighter only stared her down.

"Why?"

"nyaa~? What's the matter? Main event, facing a member of the soon to Masters of Gensokyo Yakumo Family, you're in the best possible scenario, bridge girl."

"Everyone's probably turned their TV's off by now and it's not like you're Yukari or Ran…"

"Che…" Chen scoffed as pulled her arm back and snapped her fingers, "Then we'll give them a show to keep them watching."

*TWEEEEEEEET*

Chen bounded sky high at the whistle and scoped out Parsee, who remained on the ground. With a "nya!", Chen slashed her claws down, sending a ripple of danmaku to the ground. Parsee quickly leapt out of the way and flew up to meet her opponent face-to-face.

"Those ears…"

"Nya?"

"So nice and furry…mine are pointy and huge. Everyone wants to touch and play with yours…"

"Nya?" Chen looked at her opponent in confusion before reaching up to feel her own ear, "I…I guess it feels nice."

"They see you and think of a cute kitty. They see me," Parsee's eyes sharpened as a green-tinted aura surrounded her, "THEY JUST SEE A BIG FAT ELEPHANT!"

SPELL CARD: PARSEE [GREEN-EYED JEALOUSY]

The aura separated from Parsee and homed in on Chen, leaving a trail of explosive danmaku behind it. Chen ran as the aura gave chase. The nekomata attempted to take out the aura with some slashing danmaku bursts to no avail. All she could do at the moment was run for her life and avoid both the aura and the explosive tail.

"You can't run, kitty…the air of jealousy will overpower every soul regardless of its inner strength. Just succumb and lessen the initial suffering. ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"NO!" Chen looked outside the field and saw the other members of her family, Ran and Yukari, amongst the crowd of fairies. With a smirk, she changed directions and ran directly into the aura, causing it and the long, windy tail to explode magnificently.

"So you decided to take yourself out, wanting at least some credibility. Such a stupid little-"

SPELL CARD: CHEN [ROLLING BISHAMONTEN]

A rolling brown and red ball blasted out the dust from the explosion at rocket speed. Parsee could not dodge in time, taking the ball right in the cheek. Before the bridge princess could recover from the recoil, the ball struck again, nailing Parsee in the back of the head, knocking her out of the sky. As she crashed to the ground, the ball made one last contact, slamming into her back and coming to a rest on it. The ball unrolled to reveal a smiling Chen, who took it upon herself to grab the motionless Parsee's ear and whisper into it.

"You forget who my master's master is. To her, and my master, and to me, impossible. Is. NOTHING."

*TWEEEEEEEEEEET* "Parsee's aura has dissipated! The winner is Chen!"

"Chen gets on a roll-"

"Really, Rinnosuke?"

"Yes, Miss Hinanai, Chen gets on a roll and plows her way into the win column! And that's it, ladies and gentlemen, Round One has come to a close! We will be on a small break before we return to Hakurei Shrine to revisit Group One. Will our first darling, Hong Meiling, get another win to set up her Round Three match against Sanae Kochiya? Will Rin Kaenbyou recover from a rough opening match to start Round Two off better for the Palace of Earth Spirits? Will the Aki Sisters even come close to winning a match? Those questions will be answered when the fighting continues, but before that, we have another edition of Forgive the Intrusion to keep you entertained. So for Tenshi Hinanai, this is Rinnosuke Morichika, see you at Hakurei Shrine!"

--

SCARLET DEVIL MANSION (4-1)

In the dining room of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, all five fighters were enjoying a delicious meal and discussing their strategies for the next round.

"You know…" the mistress of the mansion was eyeing a sheet of paper with the list of matchups on it, "I hate to say this and lull anyone into a false state of confidence, but none of these matches seem that bad…except…FLANDRE!"

"Yeah sis?" The younger Scarlet sister was strangely calm save for her teeth embedding themselves in Koakuma's wings.

"Don't underestimate the moon rabbit."

"What does underestimate mean, sis?"

"…I…guess it means not playing as much as you can…"

"But I like playing…"

"Well when that whistle blows and you see that rabbit, play to your heart's content."

"YAY!"

"UNTIL! You hear that whistle again. Then you have to stop playing and let the fairies pick up the bunny's body."

"…why?"

"Because then the bunny can't play anymore."

"…why?"

"Because you've played with it too much."

"…why?"

"Miss Remilia, if I may…" the maid interrupted the looping conversation and dropped to a knee in front of Flandre, "Sometimes, playthings are fragile, Miss Flandre."

"…why?"

Meiling and Patchouli hid giggles under their breaths as Sakuya dropped her head a bit. "Remember when the girl in the red and white came here and beat us all up?"

"Yeah"

"Remember how you felt afterwards? How did you feel?"

"I didn't feel like playing anymore…"

"Well that's how the bunny will feel when that whistle blows a second time. And the white fairy as well. She is not a playtoy."

Flandre looked at the maid with small air of confusion, seeming to understand the business with the rabbit. However when Sakuya brought up Lily, she responded with a delayed "…why?" Neither Meiling nor Patchouli couldn't hold back the laughs that time, but did not go unpunished. Soon after the laughter started, the gatekeeper and the librarian were barely able to get out of the way of incoming knives. Soon the entire dining room became encased with danmaku as the three went at it while Koakuma and the sisters watched.

"It's nice to know," Remilia smiled after sipping from her glass, "that the air of competition is so healthy with them."

--

EIENTEI (2-2)

A strange sight was visible at Eientei as a moon rabbit was blasting away, covering the area in a red glow. Also occasionally audible was Eirin's voice, saying "Pull!" Reisen had been spending her time doing target practice in preparation for her matchup again Flandre Scarlet. A door swung open as a mess of long black hair in pajamas walked towards the pharmacist.

"G'morning Eirin…"

"Miss Kaguya…it's 3 in the afternoon."

"I…" Kaguya gave a long yawn, "had a raid run long."

"…how long?"

"Well we tried for the achievement on Vezax but the mage was being stupid an-"

"Nevermind, Miss Kaguya. Take a seat."

Kaguya sat down in front of the pharmacist as the latter pulled out a hairbrush and began to straighten out the princess's locks.

"How long has Inaba been out here? I remember seeing her out here before raid time last night."

"Udonge? She hasn't stopped. She is hell-bent on that win."

Kaguya chuckled as she looked up at Eirin, "Am I going to have to go through this too?"

"Well…perhaps in the Championships…especially if you get paired up with…Mokou…"

Eirin quickly realized that she was brushing air as Kaguya was pushing in to beat Reisen at hitting the targets. The pharmacist could only giggle as she watched the two fight each other for the targets.

"This competition…is truly fantastic."

--

PALACE OF EARTH SPIRITS (1-2-1)

"Right! Left! Left! Right! Kick!"

Orin was holding a large punching bag as she helped spot for Utsuho, who was attempting to improve her hand-to-hand skills. The two Komeiji sisters only watched, not feeling in the mood to train.

"A draw, huh? Well I'll give it to ya, that Reimu girl does have a ridiculous ego. That was very enjoyable to see her come down like that. But did you have to go all psycho villain on her?"

"I only knocked down the first domino; however they fall is up to her. And uncertainty always makes the show more exciting."

"I…guess I'll have to take your word for it, sis…"

--

"Ugh…"

Hakurei Shrine was a lot more somber than some of the other places in Gensokyo as Reimu had her face down against a table. A slide of the door revealed a bursting in ordinary magician.

"Hey Reimu!"

Reimu turned her head slowly and gave Marisa a weak nod. She grabbed a newspaper from the table and handed it to her friend.

[FUTURE GRAND CHAMPION AYA STARTS OFF STRONG!]

"So? It's just Aya being Aya da ze…"

Reimu pointed to the headline below it.

[REIMU AND MARISA'S FAILURES FOUND HILARIOUS BY ALL]

Marisa rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I know you're better than this, Reimu. Just because this isn't a serious situation doesn't mean some of these fighters aren't treating it like it is. So many people in this tournament have been beaten by us before. They want revenge. We have targets on our backs. It's always harder to beat someone the second time."

Reimu placed her hand over Marisa's with a smiling look back. "I guess that is true…I guess I gotta beat them down again. That way when I become Grand Champion, I can keep all those troublemakers in check."

"Yeah…except I'll be Grand Champion da ze."

--

STANDINGS

Nitori Kawashiro 1-0

Mystia Lorelei 1-0

Chen 1-0

Wriggle Nightbug 0-1

Tewi Inaba 0-1

Parsee Mizuhashi 0-1

ANALYSIS: Nitori ran away with the win, obliterating Wriggle while the other two matches were much closer.