Hakurei Shrine
In order to prepare for her first ever Incident as a full-fledged shrine maiden, Reimu returned to the Hakurei Shrine (alone, as Marisa took a detour) to pick up everything she will be needing.
First, she grabbed several stacks of Ofuda, as they turned out to be the most useful tools in her arsenal in the Mystic Square Incident from last year (she made sure to pack more than she did last year just in case she gets afflicted with another curse). Then she picked up her usual gohei, as she is not going to use the extra-long one that put her in this frilly outfit (she put it into her hyperspace sleeve). After that, she picked up the Ying-Yang Orb which she spent the months after the Mystic Square Incident practicing attacking with.
And next, the Exorcising Needles. These are given to her by Konngara after her trip to Makai just in case the first three items proved ineffective against an opponent. Though Reimu is a bit skeptical about the usefulness of the Needles (mostly because they looked more like oversized nails with Ying-Yang symbols on their heads than actual needles).
With that, Reimu then ran through her mental checklist to make sure she has everything she need.
That's when she remembered one last thing...
The shrine maiden went to the cupboard, and pulled open one of the dozen drawers, revealing its content: a stack of cards, each with holy runes drawn on them. Spell Cards... I hope they work... She thought.
Reimu carefully removed the cards from the drawer. She had spent the past few months making and designing the Spell Cards whenever she isn't training to be shrine maiden. These cards came to be because Reimu was tired of having too little firepower against powerful opponents like Mugetsu, Gengetsu, Yuki and Mai, and made them as a means of storing large amounts of magic in portable vessels to be unleashed as firepower later. Of course, she needed help from Marisa with making them work. Furthermore, she hasn't got the time to test any of them.
Nevertheless, Reimu decided to take the entire stack of Spell Cards with her. She hoped they would actually work the way she intended.
With everything she need picked up, the shrine maiden then walked out of the shrine, ready for her first sortie...
"Are you sure you are up to the task?"
Reimu stopped after just a few steps away from the shrine upon hearing a familiar voice from behind her.
"It is my duty, after all." Reimu answered, without turning around to face the speaker. "Someone has to do it..."
Astral Knight
Konngara
Konngara, sat directly in front of the donation box, nodded in response to Reimu's answer. "While I do not deny the capabilities you proved yourself to have at Mugenkan and Makai, you must know that..."
"Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Reimu interrupted. "Marisa told me that. I think she called it Murphy's Law."
"No..." Konngara shook her head as she shook her head. "One who possesses power must possess responsibility."
Reimu sighed. "Oh, that one. 'With great power comes great responsibility'? Marisa told me that several times today, so no need to say it again..." She said as she prepared to leave.
"There is something else I wish to talk to you about..." Konngara added, making Reimu pause in her tracks.
"Let me guess..." The shrine maiden said with a groan. "You want to comment on this ridiculous outfit I'm wearing right now...?"
"Not the clothes itself. But rather, the magic energy surrounding it..." The Astral Knight corrected.
Reimu perked up upon hearing that, turning around to face Konngara. "What about it?"
"I assume it wasn't your intention to activate the Sacred Hakurei Gohei?" Konngara began by asking.
"You mean this one?" Reimu asked for clarification as she pulled the extra-long gohei out of her sleeve. "It's not like I wanted to activate..."
All of a sudden, Reimu was enveloped by the same bright glow from before. The difference this time is that it lasted for just a second before fading away, the shrine maiden's outfit having reverted to the white haori jacket and red hakama skirt she was wearing before. The extra-long gohei also transformed back into the paper umbrella it was before.
"...it?" Reimu finished her sentence before blinking a couple of times in confusion.
Konngara nodded as she observed.
"This is all it takes to change back?" Reimu said, quite surprised but not enough for an exclamation.
"The true nature of the Sacred Hakurei Gohei continues to puzzle me until now..." Konngara explained to the best of her knowledge. "While you currently admit that you are not ready for its powers, you will know you are when the goddess Amateratsu let you know..."
Reimu waved her hand in denial. "As if I will ever be ready for such an embarrassing outfit..." She scoffed as she stuffed the paper umbrella into her sleeve. "Now then, tell Genji and Ruukoto that I will be back by... probably the evening..."
With that, the shrine maiden took off into the air, and then flew northwards where she thinks the scarlet aura came from...
...But not before flying straight into a flock of birds that are just passing by. "Pichun!" She exclaimed.
...
Marisa's House; Forest of Magic
"~Getting down and dirty with a Procyon Lotor~"
A song with catchy lyrics accompanied by loud instruments is playing in the background while Marisa picks up the supplies she will be needing to solve the Incident.
In actuality, Marisa have only a handful of supplies she needed, and she got all of them rather quickly. So for now, the witch is just dancing to the song that is being played by her music-playing device. Shade the cat, on the other hand, finds the song too annoying for her cat ears, and is covering them for the entire duration of it.
Since the song isn't being played at a very high volume, it doesn't drown out the knocking on the door, which Marisa did pause her dancing routine to answer while the song continued to play in the background.
Standing outside Marisa's house is the Little Witch Mob.
"Hi~" Ako and her gang greeted.
"What are ya girls doin' 'ere?" Marisa asked.
"Well, because of the red mist in the sky..." Ako is the first to speak up.
"Miss Mima cancelled today's lessons..." Markle comes next.
"We've got nothing to do for now, so we were wondering if we could borrow another one of your... DVDs?" Suza finishes for the gang.
Hearing that, Marisa's eyebrows narrowed. "Ya think I've forgotten about how ya already blew up one of my DVDs last week, along with the TV and DVD player ya bought from Rinno?"
The little witches then glared at Markle.
"I didn't mean to blow up Doctor Strange! There was a cockroach at that time!" Markle protested as she threw her arms into the air.
"You could've shot it-" "-with a sleep spell-" "-Dummy." Fey and Rey pointed out to the explosive little witch, speaking the first two thirds of the sentence separately before finishing the last third together.
Marisa took a step forward to defuse the argument before it can really begin. "Oh, never mind that. I forgive y'all..." She said as she put a hand on Ako's shoulder. "Not like a repair spell's hard to cast..."
With that said, Marisa turned and walked back inside her house. Just a few seconds later, she came back out holding a small flat casing in her right hand.
"Alright, ya girls, here's my favorite movie - Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2." The witch said as she passed the small flat casing to the Little Witch Mob. "Make sure ya ain't gonna break it again, else it's the last movie y'all get to watch."
The little witches accepted the casing. "Thank you, Miss Marisa!" They all said in unison before happily running off with their prize.
Though the happiness is short-lived for Ako as she then slammed face-first into a tree, which is immediately followed by a Kedama landing right on top of her. The klutzy little witch ended up needing help from her friends to get rid of the furry pests.
Marisa can't help but giggle at the sight of her little friends flying off with the DVD of her favorite movie.
At the same time, the song that has been playing in the background the whole time is coming to its end.
"In these times of hardship, just remember: we are Gr-"
Marisa ended the song by tapping on the song-playing device once.
"Well, enough foolin' round..." The witch told herself as she placed the song-playing device into the pocket of her coat. "Time to go kick some ass with Reimu!"
...
North of Hoppou-ri Village
To the north of Hoppou-ri - one of the five human-inhabited villages of Gensokyo - is a large rice field that stretches from the village's northern walls to a few kilometers away from it. Usually, farmers worked hard in the field, taking care of the rice crops by removing weeds and pests from them, while children would occasionally play games near it.
But today, the rice field is devoid of human activities, everyone having evacuated to their homes in the village when the scarlet aura appeared and enveloped the skies of Gensokyo, bathing everything in a red hue.
Or at least, that's what Reimu thought until she saw two people standing in the middle of the rice field while she is flying over it. One of those two people is almost invisible due to her red hair and equally red outfit blending in with the red hue of the background.
Although she's only ever run into them two or three times ever since they found asylum in Gensokyo last year, Reimu is still able to recognize them at first glance due to the various technologically advanced equipment they are often seen with (none of which the shrine maiden even knows a word for).
And so Reimu landed a short distance behind the duo and then walked toward them. "What are you two doing here?" She greeted them with curiosity.
The Magical Land's Omni-disciplinary Scientist
Professor Okazaki Yumemi
"Oh, hello there, Reimu~" The redhead professor turned around and greeted. "Chiyuri and I are just collecting data on this Scarlet Mist that has suddenly covered all of Gensokyo~" She then paused briefly to stuff a piece of candy into her mouth (which Reimu could tell is strawberry pink despite the red hue covering everything). "Rikako is back in the Fantasy Legend, helping us compiling the data." She added.
Scientist's Assistant
Kitashirakawa Chiyuri
"So I've heard that you've just become a full shrine maiden." The blonde assistant looked up from a mid-sized device she was working on. "Congratulations. But I'm sorry we missed the ceremony, though..."
"Actually, I'm kind of glad you missed it..." Reimu said as she recalled how Marisa had almost ruined it.
Chiyuri didn't know why Reimu said that, but she assumed the worst and decided not to pursue the answer.
"My condolences." Yumemi, who overheard it, said.
Reimu shrugged. She's glad that the outsider scientists decided not to find out the details. She'd commit sepukku if they ever learn about her embarrassingly frilly outfit that came after the ceremony...
"Hey there, Little Miss Frilly Dress!"
And there goes the secret.
Blushing in embarrassment, Reimu covered her face with both her hands as Marisa hovered over on her flying broomstick.
"Oh, I guess ya figured out how to transform back..." Marisa remarked upon noticing that Reimu's clothes has changed back to normal.
"Transform? What do you-" Chiyuri asked, wondering what the witch was talking about, but stopped mid-sentence as she realized the implications. "Oooohhh~" The assistant stood up and walked toward Reimu. "I guess you're a magical girl now, eh~?" She teased and nudged the shrine maiden with her elbow.
Yumemi didn't make any comments. The redhead professor just laughed as she created a mental image of the "frilly dress" (which is not even close to the real thing).
Reimu's face became redder behind her hands, so much that the redness can be seen seeping over to her ears.
"Aw, shucks..." Marisa scratched the back of her head. "I was kinda hopin' to be the Maria Rambeau to Reimu's Carol Danvers..."
Chiyuri and Yumemi stopped laughing as they stood where they are, smack-jawed. Although the two outsiders get the witch's reference, they clearly never expected to hear that reference anywhere in Gensokyo. "What?"
Reimu, on the other hand, didn't get the reference, and even if she did, she is currently too embarrassed about the main topic to care.
Marisa quickly noticed the outsiders' reaction to her reference. "What's wrong? Ya look like ya just saw Freddy Krueger..." She asked the two.
"Was not expecting you to make reference to our world's pop cultures." Yumemi explained. "How did you-"
The conversation was interrupted when a boulder-sized danmaku appeared out of nowhere and fell into a nearby pool, creating a large splash of water that then rained down on everyone present.
"You missed!" A high-pitched voice is heard ranting somewhere close near by. "How could you miss?! They were three feet right in front of you!"
There is no need to guess who is responsible, as everyone turned their attention toward the source of the ranting.
Hiding behind an empty barrel is a pair of Flower Fairies. One is being slapped repeatedly by the other, who is apparently the one ranting.
It took those two fairies a while to realize they got their targets' attention in a way they didn't want, as they stopped what they are doing.
"Eh heh heh... Hi there, how would you like a sho-"
The Flower Fairies weren't even able to move another muscle before Marisa fired a spell that blew up the barrel, and them along with it.
"Is that all ya got!" Marisa taunted the defeated Flower Fairies as she spun her magic wand.
As soon as Marisa finished her taunt, a hundred more fairies appeared from all over the place and surrounded everyone.
"You had to ask..." Reimu chided Marisa for jinxing the situation.
"At least we ain't fightin' Ultron..." The witch said sheepishly.
Sorry, no Spell Card actions here. Though I did introduce the Spell Cards here. And you'll have my reassurance that Spell Cards will be used for real for the first time in the next chapter.
Speaking of Spell Cards, I decided to make this incarnation of the Spell Card be a very recent thing in-universe. So recent in fact, that Yukari has no role in its creation, only Reimu and Marisa (so far) knows Spell Cards exist because they are the co-creators here, and that their intentions is to just make sure they can dish out as much firepower as their opponents can. As such, don't expect Rumia, Cirno, or the SDM crew to start flinging Spell Cards anytime soon, because here they don't know about it yet. Because this version of Spell Cards are basically just spare ammo rather than legally required equipment, there won't be a Spell Card Rules, but a Spell Card System instead.
That said, though, the original intention of the canon Spell Card Rules - that is, the winner cannot exterminate or eat the loser unless either combatants resorted to lethal methods beforehand - still stands.
Gee, Marisa is so familiar with outside world pop culture (down to having a DVD collection of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe) that you'd think she's born in the United States and then got whisked away to Gensokyo later in her life. Well, that's definitely not true for her, since her dad is native Gensokyian. But as for her mom...
For why Chiyuri and Yumemi are so surprised at Marisa referencing Captain Marvel, it's not because she knew the movie and its elements. They were thinking of magical girl anime and manga at the time, such as Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure (in reference to Reimu's "frilly dress transformation"), and a reference to a western superhero movie is the last thing they expected to hear in an isolated realm like Gensokyo.
And as I've said before, I won't go Zun's route of pretending the PC-98 characters never existed, and thus will be giving them roles or at least acknowledge their existence here.
Finally, I've decided that there will be no more "on the next chapter" previews, since my way of writing stories often meant that the next chapter ended up having little to do with the given previews. That said, I'm sorry about saying "Reimu finding out that Spell Cards doesn't make things easier" in the previous chapter when it isn't established in this chapter at all.
"And that, as they say, is that."
Afterword ends here.
