The witch in the Forest - Chapter 2

"Tell me more, tell me more!"

There was nothing to do here. No signals for the internet, no gps, and no way to call anyone. Marisa didn't have any books with her, even if she did, he realized that he probably wouldn't like what the witch read. So there was only one thing left to do.

Story telling.

Now, Marisa had finally finished her story on how she had kicked the ass of a vampire. "And then, I fired out my Master Spark!" she said, shouting and striking a pose, one foot on the tree that she had knocked down. "And that was that. The red mist finally disappeared. and Gensokyo could see the sun again. The day was saved."

"Wow, really!" he said, shouting. He had already forgotten his boredom, his family, and the pain in the leg. "So did the vampire stay angry with you? Did she try to take revenge?"

"Nope!" said Marisa, putting her hands on her hips. "She took it surprisingly well. Remilia's many things, but a sore loser isn't one of them. So I sometimes get invited there to eat. Or I invite myself. Patchouli's got a great selection of books."

He frowned at that. Memories of a lesson from long ago. "Mom says that stealing is wrong. She says that people wouldn't take things that aren't there's."

"Pah!" said Marisa, pointing a thumb at herself. "Well, my parents said that I couldn't learn magic. And look what we have here?" she said, emphasising her point with several small balls of fire levitating from her hand and exploding like a miniaturized firework. "Turned out pretty cool."

He crossed his arms, doubt and hesitation entering his mind. "Yeah, but won't you get lonely and scared? I mean, you said that you went into the woods by yourself and just lived in an abandoned house? Wouldn't it get pretty hard to, you know, cook and clean for yourself? And make your own clothes? And all those other things? Even if you could learn magic..." He trailed off, thinking.

"Yep." Marisa nodded. "It was pretty hard. I knew how to take care of myself, but it was still tough going for the first few years. Eventually, though, I managed to keep on going. I couldn't deal with having to go back to the village empty handed, you see. I'll rather die. So I just kept on going, until I finally managed to learn." She pulled out something. It was shaped like a beehive, and had some weird chinese words on them, with a hole in the center. "Wanna seem something cool?"

"Yeah." he said, eagerly standing up. He could always stand to have more magic to look at.

"Watch this." she pointed the thing upwards. There was a roar, and a beam of light leapt from the central hole, spiralling upwards into the sky, the beam as thick as any of the trees surrounding them. The light curved upwards, until it seemed to strike some unknown ceiling. Then it scattered, expanding outwards like a ripple in a pond. The ring of light expanded, and smashed through the tree tops unfortunate enough to get in its way. There was a crash, and then for the next few moments, the silence of the forest was broken by the sounds of treetops hitting the ground.

Then silence reigned.

"That was so awesome!" he shouted, jumping up and down. Marisa turned towards him with a smile, and he rushed over to check out the box-thingy. "How did you do it? How does it work?"

"Well, it'll take lots of explanation. But it has to do with negative ions and..."

~

"I don't get it, why do I have to do this?" he complained. Listening to Marisa tell her stories was awesome. Watch her fly around or cast lighting bolts and fireworks was even more awesome. So when Marisa asked him to help her out in magic in exchange for saving him, he had jumped to it. He had imagined helping to cast spells, or make cool artifacts. Not... not...

Not trudging through the woods, touching the trees, trying to find weird mushrooms!"

"Because two heads are better than one." said Marisa, flying around on her broom. "It's really hard to find stuff here, cause of all the logs and all. You're smaller, and a lot more nimbler. Do me a favour, will you?"

He grumbled, but he did it anyway. He didn't want to argue with the witch, even as he found himself getting more and more annoyed.. He grumbled, checking for mushrooms or strange things underneath logs, his knees and elbows getting dirty and dirty.

"Hey, are you sure? Red, with a yellow ring on it?" he asked, shouting to the girl flying overhead.

"Yeah! And check out for those lichen that look orange in colour! Those are good too! I really need them for experimenting!"

"Experimenting? Like those scientists? The ones with the test tubes and chemistry sets?" he asked. He had seen a few shows and movies talking about them. Hopefully he would be able to see even more of it.

"Scientists? What do those do?"

He couldn't quite believe his ears. "Scientists are..." he fumbled for the right words. "Scientists are people who discover things! And invent them! And make really cool stuff! Like my phone! And the cars! And the planes!" he said, happy with what he thought about. "In other words, they make amazing things."

"Oh, really?" Marisa's eyes glinted with interest. "So you're saying that they're sages and philosophers and craftsmen? Scholars who try to understand the world around them and improve their lives based on them?"

"Yep."

A thoughtful look went past Marisa's face. "Wow, that actually sounds a lot like some of the Magicians and Taoists I've met before. Maybe I should pay them and their places of learning a visit. Can't hurt to go around and borrow a few materials here and there..."

He listened to her mutter about some weird things, even as he scrabbled around to find the magic mushroom she apparently needed. Then, his eyes found something, hidden right beneath a log jutting out over a hollow. There, in the shadow, was something reddish.

"Hey, I found one!" he said, holding it up. Red with a yellow ring on it. "So is this the right one?"

"Oh yeah, that's alright!" said Marisa, landing right beside him, taking the mushroom and turning it this way and that. "You know, you're a pretty sharp kid. I've been searching for 3 days, and never found a single one. You've been searching for, what, a few hours? You've already got one."

He smiled proudly, basking in the praise. It felt really nice. Ever since his father died, he had been feeling rather down. Even his mother didn't smile much at this time, and didn't say many things. When she said something, it was usually something like 'Eat your vegetables' or 'please be quiet' or 'just let me sleep'. It felt great, this time, to be praised for something he had achieved on his own.

"So, lets go!" said Marisa, hopping onto her broom and putting the mushroom into a bag. "Time we got back to camp."

He looked at her in surprise. "Didn't you say that that red mushroom was particularly valuable and rare?" he asked, surprise in his voice. "Aren't you going to, you know, want to find more? I mean, there's still a lot of forest we got to cover."

"Yeah, but its rare." said Marisa, shrugging. "Finding one is pretty good. Besides," a look came over her. "Tell me more. About the scientists. The phones. All those kind of stuff. Looks pretty interesting."

~

"So here's a phone." he said, taking it out of his bag. It still said 'no signal', but there were plenty of batteries. The sky was rapidly turning from a light shade of blue, to greys and deep red, their surroudings turning dark, the shadows cast by the trees swiftly turning long and gnarled as the sun began to set. They both watched the darkness creeping up over them, even as they talked over what Neil had seen in what Marisa referred to as 'The Outside World'.

"So here's what they call a phone" he said, showing it to Marisa. "So let's start with the easiest stuff. There's a flashlight in here." he pressed a button, and out came light from a corner of the case. Marisa blinked at the light, and then held up a finger, which then began to glow.

"Like this?"

"Yes." He said, nonplussed that his attempt to show off his phone was so easily dealt with. "And it can talk to anyone in the planet, as long as I have their number. And with it, I can access the internet, which is basically a lot of information and knowledge of the world. You can find almost any kind of information on the internet. Including maps, where you are, and other things."

"Oh, really?" said Marisa. "Can you search for more magic?"

"Urm... no." He didn't think of that. "Actually, right now, I can't use it. Because I'm very far from the towers. Or the satellites. I can't use it. Or talk to anyone either."

"Yeah, i thought so." said Marisa, "If you were able to use your phone like that, I wouldn't have found you collapsed on the forest floor. And besides, if it really has the power to access all human knowledge, why didn't you use it to find out things like 'How to survive in the wilderness' or 'how to identify dangerous water'?"

He turned away from her, embarassed. Despite his resentment at the fact that Marisa wasn't impressed with his phone as he thought she should be, she was right. Why didn't he? He had already planned to run into the forest a week before getting there. He had remembered to pack in extra snacks, but he didn't search how to get food or water, or what would happen if he got sick.

Lacking any kind of response, he hoped to move the conversation away. "S... So!" he stammered, trying to keep his anxiety out of his voice. "Did you know that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? He was the first one to step there! My mom named me after him!"

"Wow, that's cool!" said Marisa. "I went there too! Where did he land?"

"You... You went to the moon?" said Neil, somewhat at a loss for words. "But how? There's no water. No air. Nothing living there? You would need a rocket and protective suits-"

"What do you mean by 'no air and water'?" said Marisa with a mystified look on her face. "There obviously is water and air. Because I was literally walking there. No protective suits needed."

"Why were you even there." he said, finally giving up. This is getting crazier and crazier he thought, but then, I'm talking to a witch right now who can fly and throw fireballs. Maybe I'm completely wrong about my perception of reality.

A small giggle, not one of amusement, escaped his lips.

Marisa didn't notice it, continuing to ramble on about her adventures on the moon. "So anyway, my friends were there, Reimu, Sakuya, Remilia, and all that. And then we met these two sisters. We were getting our asses kicked, and then I suggested a Danmaku battle."

"A danmagu battle?" he asked, finally curious. "Those names - they're the vampire, the shrine maiden, and the maid, right?"

"Yep! A Danmaku is... well, you can call it a duel. We charge up lasers and energy bolts and chuck them each other. Dodging, blocking, and counterattacking, until someone loses."

"Sounds like a more fun version of dodgeball." He crossed his arms. "What are the rules?"

Marisa shrugged, even as she leaned back, right next to him. She lazily cast out a hand, and a fireball was sent out screaming, striking the pile of wood. A fire was born, and with a flick of a finger, a glowing ball was above the camp, shining in the darkness, bright as any lightbulb. The shadows were chased back, and he glanced up at the magical display, somewhat envious at the apparent effortlessness.

"Well, it'll take too long to talk about the rules, so I'll just tell you of the guidelines. First of all, the loser can't be killed or hurt by the winner. Secondly, there must always be a fair chance of victory for both sides. Thirdly, no one can use lethal attacks."

"No lethal attacks?" asked Neil. "But wouldn't that mean its a lot harder? And, well, wouldn't people cheat, because if they kill the people they fight, they won't have to fight again?"

"Well, there were a few idiots who thought that." replied Marisa, a sagely look on her face. "But everyone grew wise to them, and just killed them back. Everyone liked the Danmaku rules. It meant that you didn't risk getting killed each time you get into a fight with someone. A lot of people died before this happened."

"Oh." That was all he could say. That moment on the forest floor when he looked up at the night sky and believed that it would be his last came back to him. He couldn't quite fathom a world where it was dangerous, where he could be killed at any moment. He had always been safe. No murders, no violence, nothing. He couldn't imagine seeing someone die. Not to mention killing somebody. He pushed the thought out of his mind. Death was something he did not welcome. Not after brushing so close to it.

~

It was in the dead of night. Marisa had already extinguished the light, citing security reasons to make sure nobody could find them while they were sleeping. So it was in mostly darkness that he found himself awakening with an extremely familiar sensation.

He gritted his teeth and moved the tent flap, peeking out into the wilds. The woods looked far, far different at night. Thick branches and trees blocked out the majority of the moon and starlight. Trunks and underbrush blocked his vision and cast strange shadows. He could barely make out shapes in the darkness, and even as he looked at the outside, he could hear sounds of tree rustling and movement of the undergrowth.

Now was not the time for courage and bravery. Now was the time for safety. He tugged Marisa's shoulders. Once, twice... until she stirred, getting up to look at him. Rubbing her eyes,she waved him off.

"What is it?"

"I... need to pee."

"Ok, sure. What about it? Just go."

"Urm..." He hesitated for a moment. "Can you go with me? Its dark and all, and I'm - " he didn't get to finish until Marisa sighed, and got up, sticking her upper body through the tent flap. A snap of fingers, and the area shone with light. Marisa must have cast that lightning ball spell again. She turned back to him, an expectant look in her eyes. He just shook his head. Marisa sighed, and exited the tent. He followed, and soon, he was there, peeing on a tree while Marisa looked away, a light casting.

The silence stretched on awkwardly. He turned around, seeing Marisa with her back to him, facing the darkness. She was standing there, her back to the light, looking into the darkness, further from the light than him.

"Say, Marisa?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that you came from Gensokyo, the far Eastern Wonderland... a place with shrine maidens, gods, vampires, fairies, and ghosts. There's a lot of stuff, and it seems kinda dangerous. So are there any monsters that come for you in the dark?"

Marisa released a bark of laughter. "So that's what you're worried about? No worries, kid. There ain't no monsters around here kid. We aren't in Gensokyo. Besides, if there are monsters here, they're the ones that should be screaming and begging for help. Now hurry up." she yawned. "I need to go to sleep."