Misty Lake

After defeating Rumia, Reimu and Marisa left the little living shadow behind as they continued their way northwards, toward the center of the Misty Lake where the Scarlet Mist originated from.

"As much as I'm glad that we kicked her ass," Marisa decided to start a conversation. "I kinda felt bad tying her to a tree..."

"Me too..." Reimu agreed. "Even though she tried to eat me, and you..." She then remembered something. "By the way, why are you so offended when she said you tasted bad?" She asked Marisa.

The witch shrugged. "I dunno. I just felt like it was pretty offensive to be told that, for some reason..."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "You're a strange person."

Marisa shrugged. "Mom sometimes say strange stuff too. So maybe I got it from her?"

Reimu rolled her eyes. Gaijin... She thought to herself.

The duo are then alerted to the presence of incoming foes by a burst of danmaku flying past them.

"We've got company!" Marisa said as she activated Orreries Solar System (as a Spell Card rather than having to take time drawing a complex circle of runes). "Ah, I wish I could listen to some Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath right now..."

A swarm of fairies quickly came into view. Some actually emerged from beneath the surface of the lake, and wasted no time firing danmaku at Reimu and Marisa. There are also some fairies in fancy dresses and sun hats, wielding swords (that are somewhat well-made) as their weapons.

The girls easily dodged the barrage, then wasted no time firing back at the fairies, taking down a dozen in quick succession. As with usual, more fairies continuously appeared to replace the ones that are taken out.

Reimu then launched the Ying-Yang Orb out, taking out one fairy after another via a series of ricochet.

The ricocheting Ying-Yang Orb seemed unstoppable as it continued its streak of dropping each fairy it hit, then ricocheting to another (sometimes with the effect of causing the just-knocked-out fairies to misfire danmaku at one of their own). Some fairies even tried to attack the Orb, either by shooting it with danmaku or trying to hit it with their swords, all to no avail.

A green-haired fairy with gilded wings is the next to be targeted by the Ying-Yang Orb. However, the fairy blinked out of existence at the last second, causing the Orb to plunge into the lake and killing its knockout streak.

That fairy soon blinked back into existence right in front of Reimu, as she then fired a barrage of danmaku at the shrine maiden at near point-blank.

Caught by surprise, Reimu barely managed to dodge the barrage, getting grazed several times in the process. She then tries to shoot back, only for the gilded wings fairy to blink away again.

"Be careful, Marisa!" Reimu called out, while pressing a hand on her waist where she was grazed. "One of the fairies can teleport!"

"Yeah, I saw that pesky little pest!" Marisa replied, as her Orreries Solar System spell continued to thin out the fairy swarm.

As soon as the witch finishes her reply, the gilded wings fairy reappeared directly behind her, firing a surprise burst of danmaku that took out one of the multicolored orbs of Orreries Solar System. Marisa immediately turns around to shoot at the fairy, only for her to blink out of existence again. As the witch gets temporarily distracted by a group of sword-wielding fairies, the gilded wings fairy reappeared and quickly took out another multicolored orb, then disappeared again as Marisa turned to her direction.

"Dang, that fairy's pretty smart!" Marisa complained as she continued firing at the other fairies with the remaining two multicolored orbs. "Ain't ever seen one like her!"

The gilded wings fairy then reappeared, and quickly made short work of the remaining two multicolored orbs, thus disabling Orreries Solar System. The fairy then blinked away again as quickly as she appeared.

"Oh, jeez!" Marisa panicked just as the fairies noticed her loss of firepower and began to focus their attacks on her.

Marisa would've been overwhelmed had Reimu not tossed a few Ofuda into the incoming swarm of fairies to take them out in a series of explosions.

"I hope you have more Spell Cards than the ones you've used so far..." Reimu told Marisa as she summoned the Ying-Yang Orb over, and then fired danmaku at the few fairies that the exploding Ofuda did not take out.

Marisa adjusted her hat. "I've got five more Cards with me. And thanks for the save, Rei." She then produced her magic wand and resumed shooting at the fairies.

...

After the remaining fairies have been dealt with, the gilded wings fairy reappeared before Reimu and Marisa again. This time, however, she appeared to be nervous about something.

"What is she doing?" Reimu wondered. She prepared herself to attack just in case. "She was very serious moments ago, and now..."

"She looks like she wanna say something..." Marisa told Reimu. She then turned toward the fairy. "Ya wanna say something? C'mon, spit it out."

The gilded wings fairy nervously fiddled with her fingers for a bit. She was about to say something when...

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO ELF?!"

A fairy with blue hair, wearing a blue dress and hair bow charged into the scene loudly, startling both Reimu and Marisa.

"Nobody messes with the friends of the Strongest!" The blue fairy then proudly boasted while wearing a smug grin on her face, as well as crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Reimu and Marisa both locked eyes with this loud, scenery-chewing fairy who came out of nowhere all of a sudden, certain that she is a threat.

"You sounded like you think of yourself as a big shot around here..." Reimu said to the blue fairy. "So pardon me for being from somewhere else. Who are you?"

The Strongest(?) Ice Fairy

Cirno

"I'm Cirno, the fairy of ice. But you can call me the Strongest!" The blue fairy introduced herself in a scenery-chewing way. "And this is my best friend, Lunate Elf." She added while gesturing at the gilded wings fairy who is cowering behind her.

Greater Fairy

Lunate Elf

"I-I-I'm sorry if Cirno hurts you later..." The gilded wings fairy, Lunate Elf as she is named, stuttered apologetically before blinking out of existence.

The blue fairy, Cirno, has not noticed that her friend has teleported away. "You're trespassing on my turf! And I'm going to show you why you shouldn't have!" She told Reimu and Marisa. "Come on, Elf, let's ki-" She then turned to tell her friend, and only then did she notice that Lunate Elf has disappeared. "Huh?"

Meanwhile, the shrine maiden and witch who acted as the audience to this lengthy introduction of the ice fairy, glanced at each other.

"What a dumbass..." Marisa commented. "Feels like one of those cheesy moments from Thor: Ragnarok..." She then mumbled to herself.

"Yes. A dumb-arse indeed..." Reimu, finding the ice fairy's attempt at chewing the scenery to be somewhat funny, agreed with the witch's former comment.

The two girls' comment, however, seemed to have drawn Cirno's attention in a way that appear as though she felt insulted.

"What was that?! Did you just call me dumb?!"


And now, introducing the Strongest(?) fairy in Gensokyo...and her friend.

Yep, this chapter is a set up for the introduction of Cirno and Daiyousei - who will be called Lunate Elf in the YMC-Verse - and showcase just how much of a dumbass the former is before we get to the battle against her.

As for why Elf eventually stopped attacking Reimu and Marisa just before Cirno's appearance, that's because this incarnation of Cirno is a bit more aggressive than her canon self, and people have sometimes been actually hurt by the cold she emits (the Little Witch Mob were lucky they got away unscathed back in Little Witches' Misadventures), and Elf here is trying to persuade the girls to just turn back, but got interrupted by Cirno before she could utter a word.

And sorry for being so late with updating this story. Got really busy with real life matters that are out of my control. By the way, I'm planning to open a dedicated Discord channel for the YMC-Verse. It's not open yet, but I will announce it on the official YMC Tumblr page once I'm done. So stay tuned!

"And that, as they say, is that..."

Afterword ends here.