Tomoeda, as the purple mist was disappearing.

A young girl with white hair and dressed in green and white clothing ran across the streets of the city. She could have looked like a completely normal human, except she carried a large katana almost as long as she was tall on her back and a more normal sized sword on her waist, moving as if they weighted nothing. That and she was followed closely by a floating white ball, a bit bigger than her head, with a little pointy tail. As she ran she talked to herself:

Alright, I've infiltrated Byakuren's ship to reach this world. I didn't interfere in her confrontation with the card mistress neither did I let the shrine maiden notice me. Now all I need to do to fulfill Yuyuko-sama's commands is just to find her...

The white-haired girl looked around as she ran, clearly looking for something. She ignored the many humans around still recovering from the dissipating purple mist. She ignored the few lesser phantoms roaming the city that were invisible to the normal humans but that she could see perfectly. The shapeless white remains of the souls of people who had recently died, that would normally slowly drift to the netherworld before going to their respective afterlife, pretty harmless overall besides the potential of causing a little chill if they passed trough your body. They looked quite similar to the floating ball following the girl. Eventually she spotted what she was looking for: a woman of average height, with long, flowing gray hair, a long white frilly dress, and half-closed wings with pure white feathers on her back. Her body was translucent as if she didn't belong to this world.

G-ghost...-the white-haired girl's voice trembled at the sight of her target-No, calm yourself down, Youmu Konpaku. You gather spirits for Mistress Yuyuko... This is just a more advanced spirit... Yes, a greater phantom with strong feelings to make her attached to this world and with amazing power to maintain an human form and develop wings... Nothing to be afraid off... There's no reason to be afraid of g-ghosts...

The ghostly woman seemed to notice that Youmu could see her, and warmly smiled at her while closing her eyes. The girl drew her large katana and held it with both hands in front of her, shaking in clear fear. She took a deep inhale and tried to speak in an higher, more confident voice:

M-My lady Yuyuko-sama ordered me to bring you to the Netherworld, g-ghost! You've lingered enough time on this place of the living! If you refuse, I'm a-allowed to use force to make you comply!

The ghostly woman opened her wings and slowly flew towards Youmu. The sword girl found herself stumbling back, needing to use most of her willpower to resist the urge to just turn and run away as fast as she could. She half-expected the ghost to start unleashing barrages of danmaku or perhaps open right away with a spellcard. Instead she just landed in front of Youmu, close enough that the tip of the sword almost touched her neck, and kept smiling at her, as if waiting instructions. That scared the sword girl even more. Even closer now, she could clearly sense the considerable power from this spirit, but she seemed to be surrendering without any kind of fight. After some moments of awkward silence the ghost spoke in a gentle, motherly voice:

I'm eternally grateful for Yuyuko-sama to have allowed me to remain by my living family's side for all these years after my death. If she says my time is up, then I gladly accept it. Please guide me to the Netherworld.

Ah... Good to see you're willing to come along willingly without any need of violence...-as she stored her large katana on her back again, Youmu remembered that her lady had told her this specific ghost's name. It would be rude not to adress her by it since she was obeying willingly- Please follow me now, Nadeshiko...

The dark forest on Gensokyo

Are you alright, Tomoyo-chan?-after what seemed like an hour of walking trough that strange forest, Sakura couldn't help but notice that her pale blue-haired friend seemed to be lagging behind, not used to great physical efforts, and the "path" they were taking was pretty rough due to all the roots and thick vegetation on their path, not to mention the damp air with the overwhelming smell of mushrooms all around them.

I'm fine, Sakura-chan...Don't worry about me...-Tomoyo smiled, but the fatigue on her face was pretty clear.

No, you're not. I'm so sorry for having dragged you into this, Tomoyo-chan...

Don't be silly, Sakura-chan. I'm the one who always insists on following you in your adventures. I'm here with you because I wanted to...

Even then...Please wait a moment, I'm gonna use one of my cards to carry you...

Sakura started to search her deck for a card that would be best suited for that task, but then Meiling grabbed Tomoyo's arms and crossed it over her shoulders, letting the blue-haired girl use her as support.

Save your magic, Sakura-chan. I can help Tomoyo-chan keep walking by myself.-explained the chinese girl with an hint of pride on her voice. She seemed to have endured the forest travel better than any of them thanks to her superior physical training and not being burdened by any extra equipment.

Thank you very much, Meiling-chan... Syaoran-kun, are we still too far away?-asked the card mistress to the boy leading them trough the woods so far.

I...Don't really know. This whole place is saturated with magic. I can still feel we're in the right direction, but not exactly how far away-replied Syaoran, straining his eyes to try to spot something-anything in the forest besides more trees, grass, bushes or mushrooms, but it had been futile so far.

There was barely any ambient light around them as the sun finished setting, so Syaoran drew a jufu and with a flick of his wrist a small but bright flame sprouted at its tip, creating a magical torch to provide illumination for the group.

Keep close. If we're in Gensokyo, Youkai should start appearing now...

Unnoticed by the humans, they were stalked closely by three small children dressed much like victorian dolls and with large and vibrating insect-like wings on their backs. Light and sound distorted around them, rendering them basically invisible and silent to all but each other.

Ah, those stupid humans can't see or hear us! They're no match for our combined powers even though they can use magic!-said one, grinning in excitement.

So, what should we do with them?-asked the second to the others in a more monotonous tone.

An incident! An incident! Let's raise an incident that will make all of Gensokyo shake, and take the status of us fairies to the heights!-said the third in a cheerful tone.

You always say that and then we end up not doing anything significant...-commented the first with irony on her voice.

Well, we did manage to start that great war!-added the second.

Let's just follow them by now. We'll think of something when the night advances and they start to awaken...-spoke the third again, and they all giggled together, before realizing they were being left behind and hurrying back behind the humans.

All around Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo and Meiling, the ancient trees seemed to be moving as the eery light from the burning jufu shifted positions. The strange sounds around them seemed to be getting louder. And closer. Suddenly a a tiny girl looking like she was just 6 years old appeared from behind a tree, dressed in an extremely frilly blue dress. She flew a few feet above the ground thanks to three pairs of maifly-like wings on her back and had long blond hair reaching almost to her tiny waist. She was giggling for no apparent reason while staring in empty space and seemed to ignore the kids who paused on their tracks to take a good look at that being.

Is that... A fairy?-whispered Sakura to her companions, feeling like it would be rude to ask that loudly.

Yes, it's a fairy-whispered back Syaoran-Don't make any sudden movements or loud noises. Don't do anything to draw their attention. It's one of the lesser ranking youkai. So low ranking that other supernatural creatures don't even regard them as youkai. They usually just prefers to play pranks on humans and have very limited powers. Normally just some basic elemental abilities, they can still be dangerous to humans when they get too excited. And fairies get excited easily...

Hey, fairy!-shouted Meiling waving her hand up, deciding that if this was such a weak opponent, there was little risk in trying to wriggle some information out of them-Could you please tell us where we are and where the nearest house is?

Oh, humans?-said the fairy while turning her head towards them, as if finally noticing them-I don't remember ever seeing so many of you together here in the Forest of Magic. I kinda thought you were an illusion. Anyway, if you're lost you just need to go in that direction.

No, it's that way!-another fairy with a red dress and hair and blue eyes appeared from inside the trees, pointing a tiny finger in another direction.

I'll guide you to the exit if you play with me!-a third fairy appeared.

Me, pick me!-and a fourth.

Humans!-and a fifth and a sixth.

Zunzunzun!-over a dozen now.

More and more fairies with dresses, hair and eyes of all kinds of shapes and colors appeared from the middle of the trees and their canopies, starting to fly around the kids faster in chaotic patterns while shouting contradictory directions and advice.

Hoe...-Sakura's eyes spinned in confusion with the cacophony of sound, shape and color suddenly around her.

...Plus fairies come in great flocks and if you draw the attention of one, many others are sure to follow.-Syaoran sighed as he finished his explanation and some of the fairies hovered just near his magic torch, as if they were moths attracted by a flame.

Well, you should've said that from the start. Anyway they don't look that dangerous to me.-replied Meiling in an annoyed tone, grabbing and pinching the cheeks of a fairy that flew too close to her for a moment. It felt like an human skin alright, even small tears starting to form in the fairy's eyes before Meiling letting it fly away crying while the others around laughed.

That's some interesting fabrics they're wearing... I wonder where they get their clothes in a place like this.-wondered aloud Tomoyo as she recorded the whole scene in her camera.

None of the humans noticed the roots and vines from some of the surrounding trees slowly creeping towards their feet from below, until they suddenly rose up and entangled around their legs, pulling them down to the ground and starting to drag the humans over the earth in separate directions! The trunks of the trees pulling them then split open, forming makeshift open jaws filled with rough wooden teeth.

Did we forgot to mention the human-eating plants of the Forest of Magic? How silly of us, tee hee hee-smiled a fairy with delight.

That's why humans don't come here at night, at least not walking on the ground!- giggled another fairy while the others laughed in clear joy of seeing the humans struggling.

Syaoran quickly summoned his sword and started hacking at the roots and vines holding him, but it seemed like for every one he cut, another two took its place, further restricting his movements. He considered trying to burn them down with his jufus, but he hesitated for the risk of burning himself or one of the girls...

Unhand me you overgrown weeds!-screamed Meiling, managing to rip apart some of the vines around with her bare hands, but finding her movements more restrained at every passing moment, while Tomoyo didn't seem to offer any resistance, and thus attracting the attention of less of the youkai plants limbs.

MIST! RELEASE!-Sakura managed to pull one of her cards free and threw it against her entangled wand. A sickly green mist came out of the card and surrounded her and Syaoran, Meiling and Tomoyo, swiftly dissolving the animated roots and vines entangling them. The youkai plants seemed to moan in pain and uprooted themselves, moving away from the corrosive fog that expanded outward as fast as they could, leaving an opening in the middle for Sakura and her companions that revealed the starry sky and almost full moon above them, providing some natural light.

Everybody's alright?-asked the card mistress, looking around to check on her companions as she kept channeling The Mist.

I'm fine, Sakura-chan, I managed to record every moment from your wonderful heroism!-was Tomoyo's reply as she elegantly stood up still holding her camera.

Oh, so those fairies were just keeping us distracted so we would end as tree food? Now I'm mad!-shouted Meiling as she jumped from the ground back to her feet, drawing her needles.

Watch out for them...-warned Syaoran, standing back up with the help of his sword.

Oh, she's an human with strong magic just like the black-white witch!-squealed one of the fairies.

Play! Play with us lots!-squealed another with clear excitement.

The fairies danced upwards in the air, giggling and crying all the time, above the corrosive mist, before extending their open hands downward. Then each fairy started producing orbs or beams from their palms, of a varied combinations of energy. Fire, ice, electricity, acid, wind, peebles, golden light, purple darkness, they all shot downwards, none too big but still a lot of them and thus saturating the air as they descended upon the card mistress.

Sakura willed the mist to rise above them to try to use it as a shield, but the fairy attacks were too many and this specific card not very suited for defense against energy forms anyway, only a few shots being dissipated by the acid fog. Syaoran swiftly stepped in front of Sakura and swung his sword in a wide arc, slashing away several of the projectiles, and using his own body to block the other ones that got trough. He was hurt, but Tomoyo's reinforced clothing managed to bear the worst of the attacks. Luckily Meiling and Tomoyo hadn't any attacks aimed at her, the fairies short-span attention now focused on the human who could use magic. As the fairies paused their assault for a moment, Syaoran held his sword upwards and placed his already alight jufu over it:

Obey the command! Fire God, Come Forth!

An huge gout of flame shot upwards from the blade and engulfed several fairies, that did no attempt to dodge or extinguish the flames as they were burned down and exploded in flashes of light, leaving no remains behind, not even ashes. Yet the others kept laughing, some actually jumping into the lingering flames and exploding as well, while more fairies flocked in from the surrounding trees, attracted by the increasing noise and lights filling the night.

Why do they keep coming? Aren't they afraid to die?-asked an incredulous Meiling as the seemingly suicidical behavior of their current opponents, throwing needles at those that tried to sneak in from behind, watching in bewilderment as the winged elemental children exploded upon impact.

They're supernatural manifestations of the aspects of nature! As long as there's local strong natural magic, they'll just reform themselves over time and they know it! We can just hope there's not too many of them in this place!-explained Syaoran as he sustained his fire attack, but it seemed like new fairies filled the skies above them faster than he could burn them down.

Another funny human magician!-squealed some fairies.

Play with us lots!-demanded other fairies as they renewed their barrage of shots.

...And no buildings or other people either... So, I don't need to hold back.-commented Sakura as the new fairy attacks descended upon her and Syaoran. She dismissed The Mist and pulled a new card rom her deck that she threw in the air and slammed it with her wand-STORM! RELEASE!

One of the hardest aspects on Sakura's journey to becoming a card mistress had been not going overboard with her magic. Sakura often had fought in her home city, near innocent bystanders and the property of others. From the start she had learned to be extra careful with her more destructive cards, least she would end up breaking other people's stuff or hurting them, and even then several times she had slipped and inflicted collateral damage that luckily people seemed to have blamed on something else. Sakura often had to spend as much energy and concentration reigning back her more aggressive cards actions as unleashing them in the first place.

But here, for a change, Sakura felt like she hadn't to worry about that sort of thing. Just wild forest around them for miles. The Storm felt how her mistress let her act almost completely free, the card's only restriction not to harm Sakura or her companions. A massive cyclone formed around their position with overwhelming power, stopping the fairy attacks and making them explode one after the other, uprooting many of the nearby trees and sending them flying in all directions!

Ah, that felt good...-said Sakura when she couldn't see any more fairies above her, and she called The Storm back into card form.

Above the humans

The three fairies able to distort sound and light hovered in mid-air, hugging each other as their bodies shaked in fear.

Those humans are s-scary...

But see, I told you, up on this Sakura girl is supposed to be a safety zone!

Well, now what? No way we have any chance against them in a fight!

I have an idea!

Your ideas usually gets us caught...

If we hold our heads up high, it's gonna be okay even if we get caught!

Ah, fine, not like we had any other plans for tonight. So, what's your idea?

Listen well...

In a dark library in Gensokyo

A pale girl with purple hair, eyes and pink pajamas and night cap sat at a large comfy chair reading a large book, surrounded by rows after row of massive bookshelves stacked with countless books as far as the eye could see. Her face lacked any kind of expression, as if she had no energy to care about anything, when suddenly something seemed to catch her attention and she slowly turned her head around, a look of surprise on her eyes, as if searching for something.

I sense a great magic abnormality...I should give it a splendid investigation...

The girl then coughed heavily for several seconds before recovering her breath, then closed the book she was reading and slowly floated up from her chair and hovered towards the bookshelves, starting to retrieve more tomes.

One must conduct research before making a move...

In a dark room filled with human figures smaller than humans.

A young blonde woman elegantly dressed in seven colors had a focused look on her face as she carefully sewed a tiny dress for a cloth figurine. There were many other such figurines around her, some neatly organized in shelves, others just piled up on small mountains over the floor. In the table on front of the woman were several other sewing tools and toy accessories like miniature ribbons and a wide assortment of diminutive weapons like spears and swords. The room had a single glass window that allowed to see a small grass clearing followed by several ancient trees and a starry night sky above. Then suddenly something flashed from outside and was soon followed by the sound of some large things crashing all around the house. This distracted the young woman and made her miss a stitch of her sewing, forcing her to pause and try to salvage her error while sighing:

How can humans possibly not be aware of this huge disaster? If nothing is done, we won't be able to enjoy that.

She stared a moment at the half-done figurine she was holding, as if it could answer back.

Fine, I'm going to try to call that person to investigate it. She's used to it.

She stared a few more moments at the unfinished toy she was holding.

Geez, alright, I'll try to investigate it myself.

The young woman stood up and several of the tiny human figures around her raised in the air or stood to their feet and started awkwardly walking as if pulled by invisible strings. From under some of the rising toys a large tome sealed with thick red metal strips and a metal lock was revealed. Eight figurines lifted it up and carried it to the young woman, who held it in one arm while her remaining free hand made a series of small but complex movements as she started to walk. She exited the room, followed by her many figurines.

The Hakurei Shrine

Reimu laid down on the floor in the middle of several empty bottles, having drunk herself to a complete stupor. She had wanted to go search for Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo, but then realized that they could most certainly deal with any small fry youkai they found by themselves, and even if Reimu found them, then Yukari would instantly know it since they shared a connection trough her orbs while in Gensokyo. That's how she had tracked Reimu so fast when she returned. And without Yukari's support Reimu couldn't get them trough the barrier back to the outside world anyway. The shrine maiden could only hope the other humans would befriend some of the more friendly youkai and get their help.

Such was the drunk stupor of the shrine maiden that she didn't notice how a faint wave of magic from Sakura's last used card reached one of the mystic seals inside one of the deeper rooms of the the shrine. The mystic ripple was quite weak due to the distance it had traveled, but the seal was already strained due to the effort of containing a great power for so much time, and a strange reaction happened. The paper amulets broke and a dark cloud emerged, forming in a roughly humanoid shape with a long ghostly white tail instead of legs.

Arghh after so many years I'm free! It's time to conquer Gensokyo!

The coalescing figure let out a long maniacal laughter that lasted several seconds.

But first, time to tease Reimu some more!

The immaterial being flew across the shrine's corridors, summoning forth a long wand with a crescent moon at the tip in one hand and a rusty knife covered in dried out blood in the other. Eventually she found the fallen Reimu, too drunk to even notice what was hovering just above her, even as it spoke to the human:

So weak, as always. I can't believe you're a shrine maiden. Hehehe. I guess I'll just have to tease you later. Hmm, I guess I may as well go check on my maid and disciple. They better not having slacked off. I wonder if that magic ripple came from either of them... Funny, I can't remember ever feeling anything like that, yet it felt quite nostalgic.

The ethereal being flew away from Reimu and out of the Shrine, rising trough the night sky of Gensokyo while grinning to herself.

Somewhere else in the forest of magic, a few moments earlier

Hidden among the trees stood a small brown western-style house made of wood, vines and other plants crawling all over the walls. The grass around it was covered in a variety of random, and old-looking objects from mail boxes to bicycle wheels to broken domestic electrical devices to fast-food mascot statues. A fallen sign on the grass said:

"We'll do everything

Kirisame Magic Shop"

Then an uprooted flying tree crashed down on its ceiling, making it partially collapse. A few moments later a blonde girl dressed in rugged white and black clothes came out of the front door and observed the damage with dizzy eyes, before shaking her fists in the air in clear anger while shouting:

Can't an honest hard-working human even get a nice night of sleep? Ever since Reimu disappeared I've had double the workload to deal with! Somebody's gonna pay for this da ze!

The girl then noticed a colossal tornado raging in the middle of the forest mixed in with several colored explosion, and she stood there for a moment observing the pretty fireworks before they subsided and the night became dark again, her eyes sparkling in admiration. Or greed. Perhaps both. Behind her, the fallen tree twisted and started to extend its roots towards her.

Without looking back, the blonde girl drew something from inside her clothes and pointed it backwards. From the small object that fitted inside her palm shot out a blue laser as wide as her arm that pierced the human-eating tree. The girl moved her pulse a little and the laser followed, cutting the youkai plant into blackened pieces.

I guess I should go investigate that since I'm already up. I bet whoever did that should have something of interest da ze!

The girl went back inside her house and searched among the rubble of the fallen ceiling some moments before retrieving a large black pointy hat and a bamboo broom along several glass flasks filled with glowing liquids. She stored them inside her clothes, placed the hat over her head, then mounted the broom and launched herself on the sky towards the area where she had seen the tornado happen.

(Review Reply:

SonicAnime2010: Thanks for the comments! Although ironically enough Youmu herself is quite scared of ghosts (ones that retain humanoid form that is, she's fine with the spirit ball ones). There's this cute arc on the official three fairies manga where even Marisa, Reimu and Sakuya scare the hell out of Youmu by disguising as different kinds of ghosts at night. I blame it on Yuyuko traumatizing the poor half-ghost with her constant pranks)