Call For Help
"Marisaaaaa!" yelled a girl in blue and white as she rushed towards the Hakurei Shrine. The girl in blue and white in question was none other than Alice Margatroid, neighbor of Marisa and specialist of magic involving puppets. When she heard her neighbor's screams of agony all the way from her house, she immediately stopped whatever she was doing and immediately tracked her and help her in whatever mess she has gotten herself into. And as she wasn't in her house at the time (or rather what seemed like a house, it's more or less a warehouse at first glance) it is only logical she's currently visiting Reimu at the Hakurei Shrine, another close friend of Marisa. Bear in mind that she isn't concerned about this from love, rather it's because she knows Marisa inside out and if she screamed like that, the likeliest alternative is that she's done something stupid again, maybe a fatal fail in one of her experiments, or she accidentally blew up something again. Either way, she knows it's not exactly the most welcoming of screams.
When she arrived at her destination however, she was quite pleasantly surprised to see two people on the Hakurei Shrine, seemingly also looking for something. One of which Alice had met, the other a foreigner to her. "Seen anything yet?" the girl in green and white said to the stranger. "Nope, not here. Either Reimers is a really good hider or something else looms in the background. From what we've gathered, the latter is looking more likely to be honest." Replied the stranger. "R-Reimers? Do you mean Reimu?" Alice replied to the stranger. "Alice!" the girl in green replied when she heard her voice, so giddy and excited about it that she leaped to hug her in a heartbeat. "Alice, I'm so glad you're here! I thought you'd be gone just like the both of them!" "It's good to see you too, Sanae." Alice replied.
The girl in green was Sanae Kochiya, a former Outside World denizen now turned Gensokyan after agreeing to join Kanako and Suwako, goddesses of the Moriya Shrine, in their plans to move the Moriya Shrine to Gensokyo territory. She's mostly energetic and peppy, way more than Marisa ever would, and is devoutly loyal to her goddesses who she sees as somewhat parental figures. She is also Reimu's rival, but it's less of a Sonic/Shadow rivalry and more of a Mario/Sonic rivalry. The two sides may be opponents, but they aren't hostile enough to disengage in friendly conversations from time to time.
"Ah, Reimers is just the nickname I gave to Reimu." Replied the stranger, "You must be Miss Alice, Sanae, Reimu and Marisa told me a lot about you, pleased to finally meet you! My name is Sumireko Usami, first president of the Secret Sealing Club and a denizen of the Outside World."
The stranger, as mentioned above, was the president of the Secret Sealing Club, Sumireko Usami. She was an Outside World denizen who managed to breach past Gensokyo's protecting barriers and caused an incident in the past. Having been confronted by Gensokyo's heroines and losing after trying to destroy the Hakurei Barrier, she was returned to the Outside World but grew more friendly after realizing she could return to Gensokyo again, if only in her dreams. She became a celebrity amongst the people for her tales from the Outside World and was no longer hostile.
"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Usami," Alice replied, "but I must ask, what are you two doing here? Are you two perhaps looking for Reimu?" "Indeed we are, Ally!" Sumireko replied, "A-Ally?" thought the puppeteer in her mind. "Ok, let's roll with that nickname I suppose…" "We noticed something's off with the Hakurei Shrine cuz I've waited quite long for Reimers to show up, only to be left in silence. Which is weird, usually it takes at the very least 5 minutes for her to pop out of her shrine and ask me for donations. And then I thought, oh she must be sleeping, maybe I should wake her up as a means of a prank, but when I approached her futon, she wasn't there either, which was weird, I instead only found a drunk Suika laying there with drool or potentially sake on her face. And so I looked around the shrine interior until Sanae showed up, at which point I explained the situation and we both agreed to search for Reimers together. Sanae would search inside the shrine, continuing off from the investigation work I did from before her arrival, and I would search the exterior of the shrine, from the shrine grounds, all the way up to Hakurei Mountain. And she wasn't in those places either!" "Then it's no use looking here for Marisa either, if Reimu's not here, chances are she's not here either," Alice replied. "Wait, 'Rissa's gone too?!" Sumireko replied. "My my, quite the dilemma we have here don't we?" a strange yet soothing voice replied. "That voice-!"
"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" the mysterious figure replied. The figure was none other than a Sage of Gensokyo, Yukari Yakumo, one of the strongest youkai in Gensokyo and manipulator of gaps and boundaries. She is also quite the nuisance to Reimu and was involved with Gensokyo's creation, and the Great Hakurei Barrier that separates the land from the Outside World, kind of like Wakanda in a sense. "It really has been a while, Yukari, haven't seen you since the whole underground geyser incident. Anyways, do you happen to know where Reimu and Marisa are? I heard Marisa's scream all the way from the shrine, and I was worried she had done something stupid again. That, and the fact that we can't seem to find both of them anywhere." "Oh dear sweet puppeteer," the gap hag remarked, "how are you unable to figure things out, when the answer you're seeking is right in front of your eyes?" "I don't get it," Sanae replied, "what does the reader have to do with this?" "I meant the shattered crystal shards from behind you."
Once the trio saw the crystal shards and put two in two together, they finally realized what actually had happened. "Oh no… oh no no no no, they've been sucked into another Gensokyo again…" exclaimed Alice in panic. ""Another Gensokyo"?" Sumireko replied in confusion. "Ah right, I forgot you're new to the Lost Word incident. Basically to sum it up, these strange crystal cubes started appearing in Gensokyo one day, or rather, OUR Gensokyo, and Reimu, Marisa and I are trying to get to the bottom of it. They're usually cyan in color, but on the uncommon occasion that we find one with a different color, it usually absorbs us into a gap that forces us into another version of Gensokyo, and we usually have to resolve the Lost Word of that Gensokyo before the world in question folds in on itself." Sanae explained. "Wow, I think I… only understand half of what you just said." "Well, it's pretty difficult to explain in words and would be better explained if you experienced it for yourselves. Point is, Reimu and Marisa are trapped in another world, and they must recover the Lost Word of whatever world they end up in."
Just then, the shutter of a camera can be heard from nearby. "Ah shoot, I forgot to turn off the Flash!" said a familiar voice. "Well, there goes our disguise, you happy now?" said another familiar voice. "I told you you should've left the photography job to me!" said another another familiar voice. "Yeah right, like I'll have Kakashi Spirit News take this scoop away from me, Miss Megumu would roll me in dough once I've printed this article out!" "And I'm supposed to comply with your press being a top-seller? Especially one that can't even remember to shut off their Flash?" "Um guys… I hate to break your little quarrels, but…" "BUT WHAT?!" The green stranger pointed out to the crowd they were secretly gathering information from, who seem to have taken notice and are not exactly happy about it.
"Having fun?" Yukari said in an intimidating tone. The three Youkai Mountain dwellers, finally spotted by their unaware victims, were sweating intensely. Oh right, I believe I should also introduce them, there's Aya Shameimaru, the traditional reporter of fantasy and a professional blackmailer. She's the author of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, formerly Gensokyo's only source of information before Kakashi Spirit News, run by the other tengu, Hatate Himekaidou, the modern day reporter of thoughtography, with a name that sounds a lot like a type of potato. The last one was Takane Yamashiro, the head of the yamawaro. She doesn't write any newspaper, as she's too busy rivalling Nitori and the rest of the kappa to even take such matters into consideration.
"Uhh hey, Yukari… before you do anything, it's not what it looks like, we're just uhh… admiring the local bushes of the shrine, yeah, that's it!" said a hesitant looking Aya. "Y-yeah, these are some… uh… really lovely bushes! They're very green!" Hatate continued, seemingly playing along. "Yeah, and uhh… green is a really nice color! In fact it makes up 89% of my existence!" Takane continued, also playing along.
"You three know no one's gonna buy all those excuses right? Who goes to a shrine just to admire the bushes of all things?" Yukari spoke smugly. "Dammit, she's got a point-!" the three intruders thought. "Normally this is the part where I would punish you, buuuuut for this situation we're gonna need all the help we can get. So how about you help us a little, and I may consider filling in on that article of Gensokyo's various otherworlds you're craving for." "H-how do you-?" "That look on your face isn't helping you hide things, just so you know, if anything it proves my point further." "A-actually," Takane replied hesitantly, "I'm actually here just to find the whereabouts of that damn kappa, thanks to her disappearance, we Yamawaro have beaten them at pretty much every corner of the market, but it just feels hollow with no one to brag to if I'm being honest." "Well, at least one of you isn't a total creep. Anyways, back to the job, if the shrine maiden and her friend can't reach us, then I guess that means we'll just have to reach them instead." "What are you trying to tell us here, Yukari?" Alice replied concerningly. "What else am I trying to tell you? We'll just have to travel through the multitudes of Gensokyos until we find OUR Reimu and Marisa."
"W-what?" "You heard me. We shall begin the expeditions soon, so pack up everything you need. You all will be leaving in 3 hours." As the five begin to leave to pack up all they need for their eventual travels (well except Sumireko since y'know, with her existence in Gensokyo being a dream and all), Yukari gapped in two other individuals into the shrine grounds. "Ow!" both of them exclaimed. "It's been a while, Patchouli, Kasen. I apologize for having abruptly brought you both out of your dens, but I believe I require your magical assistances for… crucial matters, so to speak."
Author's Notes : I LIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEE! (ahem) so uh yeah, hello again, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was so busy playing Mystia's Izakaya, mainline Touhous, Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope, and Dragon Quest Treasures that I forgot to continue this little ditty of mine. Like I said, I plan to stay with this fanfic as long as I could, so no, I'm not dead, nor am I silently cancelling this fanfic. I'm just a gamer, is all. That, and I have another life outside of writing fanfiction. Now what was the other thing I wanted to say, oh yeah. Just wanted to inform that I plan to branch out in writing my fanfictions. What that means is that I have other fanfics in mind and like hell if I'm waiting until I finish this fanfic to write another one. It also means that you can add "focusing on another fanfic" onto my list of "why I haven't released the next chapter of Maidens And Dragons". Again, sorry for the long time gap between chapters, and thank you for reading. Feel free to criticize my work and check out the previous chapters while you're waiting for Chapter 3. And maybe somewhere in the future, you could check out my other works as well. Heavy emphasis on "somewhere in the future".