"Experiencing the death of a loved one is quite difficult to cope with."
Rex froze where he stood, tightly gripping the handle of his umbrella. He continued to stay silent in hopes that the stranger would leave. The pattering of rain and quiet howl of wind filling in the silence.
"I must say, I'm quite surprised finding someone like you in the outside world."
What? Outside world? What the hell are they talking about?
"So what? Quit prying into others business and go annoy someone else," Rex lashed out. He was starting to get irritated.
"Ara~ looks like I've struck a nerve."
Judging from the feminine tone of the person's voice, he figured it was some lady visiting her husband's grave or something of the like.
"Whatever, I'm leaving. There's no point in talking to you. I've got better things to do."
He was about to take a step forward until…
"I've seen what you can do"
The stranger seeing right through him. Chills ran up his spine as he felt those eyes pierce through him with unknown intelligence.
He stopped in place, unaware of how tightly he was gripping the umbrella, knuckles whitening. He was beginning to feel anxious about how the situation was playing out.
"What are you talking about?" snapped Rex. There's no way that she could know, right? He could feel a cold sweat starting to develop.
"My~, don't act like you don't know," she chuckled.
"Stop spouting nonsense and just leave me alone," spat Rex, wanting to put an end to this conversation. Still refusing to look back, he started walking away from the mysterious lady,
"What a shame… thought I had the right person for sure..." she sighed. He was trying to put as much distance between him and her.
What a crazy woman, I need to get the hell out of he-
His instincts flared up and screamed at him to move. He felt that something was coming towards him. Fast.
Rex quickly turned and threw his umbrella at whatever was coming at him. He fully expected whatever was coming at him to stop, but he was met with a surprise. He just couldn't believe his eyes.
The "thing" that he sensed seems to be a glowing violet ball of energy that just tore right through his umbrella, completely disintegrating it.
And that "thing" is flying right towards him.
"What the-!?" Rex cried, obviously surprised with what was going on. "Oh mphbfjn, shit!"
In seconds, the orb was right in front of him, inches away from his face, about to completely tear right through him as it did with the umbrella.
At that moment, everything seemed to slow down for Rex. Raindrops came to a stop. The wind seemingly still. Leaves scattered by the wind, now suspended where they were. The orb coming to a halt. His heart skipping a beat. The only thing that remained moving was Rex.
The secret he was planning on keeping to himself for his entire life had been revealed. He has the power to stop time, but only in short amounts without any drawback. If he held it any longer than five to ten seconds, he would start experiencing some sort of pain the instant time was reversed, whether it be physical or mental. It was as if his body couldn't handle the pressure of his ability. So far, the worst he has come across was a broken hand. The way he found out to use this power was to imagine a stopwatch, its timer starting at 0. It would start ticking the moment time was frozen, indicating in his mind how much time has passed.
"I can't believe I did it just in time…" he uttered in a shaky breath. "I almost had my face completely melted off…"
He collapsed to the ground right in front of the orb, dropping into a small puddle. There wasn't much time to relax. He took a quick look around taking pointers of what was happening.
A couple of feet away from him his assailant. Much to his surprise, she looked stranger than what he had imagined.
Long blonde hair in a mob cap tied in a thin red bow.
A white and purple Chinese tabard.
In her hands, a pink parasol held above her.
But what was unsettling to him was her eyes. Dark golden in color and stunning, but most importantly, they were looking right at him. It was as if she could see him, but he knew that she wasn't able to do anything. Unless… she knew that he had the power to stop time. That made would explain why she was after him, but what for? He tossed the idea aside, wasting away his precious time. That was something he would worry about later.
Rex got up, standing by the orb, away from its trajectory. He imagined the stopwatch once more, the second hand at nine seconds. Without warning, the watch cracked, glass shattering into tiny pieces. As if a rewind button was pressed, the broken stopwatch started coming back together, back to what it once was. The hands of the clock were now spinning, unable to stop.
Time was back in play.
The rain was quietly falling from the eery dark sky with a breeze that lifted the leaves that had fallen off of the trees in the cemetery. There stood a lady in the rain with her pink parasol.
"Oh, my~ maybe I did find the right one after all?" laughed the lady, giving a sly expression.
From her point of view, as Rex was backpedaling away from the danmaku, he instantly teleported off to the side away from danger. The danmaku shot right past his side and he didn't look too happy.
"Who the hell are you?" Rex asked the mysterious lady. "What do you want from me?" He made sure to keep his distance, ready to stop time if any of those killer balls of energy come flying towards him.
"I apologize for the rude introduction, but my name is Yukari Yakumo. I had to make sure you were the one with the power of time," she said, giving him a skeptical smile.
"You didn't need to try to kill me to figure out who I am," Rex pointed out. "I'm sure you already knew the answer from the very beginning."
"I'm quite surprised you picked that up," Yukari replied, twirling her parasol. "I just had to see this power in action."
Rex was in disbelief of this woman's actions, but he shook that off. "How did you find out…" He asked, curious about how she found out.
"Yes?" Yukari questioned, unsure of what he said. "I can't quite hear you with this distance you put in between us." She beckoned him over with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry I don't bite, unlike some people." Quietly keeping the last part to herself.
"How did you find out about my power," Rex repeated, ignoring her remark. "I was sure no one was able to find out about it until now."
"Ara~ curious are you now?" Yukari teased. "Let's just say I happened to stumble across you as I was venturing through the outside world. The first time I found you, you were almost caught trying to take a melon until you disappeared with it. I was quite surprised to find out about a human wielding the power of time. Quite uncommon I must say."
Rex was in deep thought, quickly recalling that memory, slowly feeling embarrassed about it. He was still a novice when it came to using his powers. Though, it was months ago, but why appear now?
Yukari took quick notice of this. "Ah, I'm sure you are wondering why I appeared now." She read him like a book. "I believe that you would make a fine resident at Gensokyo now that you are alone. Many people would be amazed by your unique powers."
Much to her surprise, Rex's mood suddenly dampened. He was reminded of his caretaker's death, distracted by the intensity of the situation he was in.
"If that's what you're here for then I refuse. My place is here in this village. I've got to take care of my old man's farm." Rex stated, crossing his arms and putting a more serious look on.
"Oh~ you're no fun! I'm afraid I can't take no for an answer," pouted Yukari, a more agitated look replacing her face. She had an interesting idea to do with this human and she was insistent on taking him. "I've already taken a couple of humans to Gensokyo today, you won't be any different."
"What even is this Gensokyo place? I don't recall any city or town named after that." Rex questioned, feeling slightly threatened by her previous statement.
"You can find out if you agree on coming over to Gensokyo. It's not often I give choices to you humans." Yukari exclaimed as she mischievously smiled at him. "I can assure you that it is a great and friendly place!" He doubted that statement.
Something told him that if he said no, terrible things would happen. Wait did she just imply that she isn't human?
"No"
It was too late. Those words came out before he had any chance of reconsidering his choice of words.
A vein popped in her head. So be it. It looks like she'll need to take care of this the hard way. She will have her outcome in the end.
Still a smile on her face, she started floating with a red gap that appears to be lifting her, the gap endlessly filled with red eyes. More gaps starting to appearing out of thin air with its eyes all looking right at him. She figured she would toy with him before sending him off to Gensokyo.
Rex would immediately regret his actions in the next couple of seconds after witnessing what the hell he has gotten himself into.