東方要塞 ~ The Western Impact

Touhou Yousai ~ The Western Impact

Touhou Project / Team Fortress 2 crossover fanfiction by FinnOtaku

I don't own the games that are being used as the base of this work of fiction. Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice and Team Fortress 2 is owned by Valve.

Chapter 3: Peaceful Day at Kourindou?

Kourin was going over his latest artifacts, trying to decide whether to put them on display in his shop or in his stockroom in the back. This was his first pile of outside world artifacts in a while, so he was a bit delighted to have some kind of a change of pace in his usual idle days.

He glanced over his shop, checking whether there would be any good spots to put the artifacts on display. His shop held quite a collection of things from the outside world, varying from clothes to weapons and from books to gadgets, and most of them brought to him by Yukari. And that also included the pile he was going over right now.

I guess I'd have to make one of those stews for her again, Kourin thought as he took some of the artifacts from the pile and tried different shelves for them.

And Tokiko was still in the corner of the room, trying to tune a guitar with a help of a book on the subject. But based on her frustrated expression, the task seemed to be a bit more than the book lover could handle.

Based on what she had told him, she was apparently requested by Mystia Lorelei to repair the instrument for her, after some of the strings had snapped in the sparrow's previous concert after an unspecified turn of events. As Tokiko didn't really know about these kind of things that much, he was a bit surprised that she had agreed to help. Most likely the sparrow had offered a discount or sort at her lamprey stand in return, wouldn't be that hard to imagine. And since Tokiko hadn't asked for his help on the matter, Kourin had just let her be.

After a good while, Kourin was pleasantly surprised that he had managed to find a good place for each of the pile's artifacts.

"Phew, that should do it", he said as he had placed the last of the artifacts on it's place. "And I'd say a snack time is in order. Tokiko, do you want anything?"

The book lover ceased her strumming and turned her attention to Kourin with a bit of a surprised expression on her face.

"Huh, me?" Tokiko said, before changing her expression to that of a thoughtful. "Hmm... Well, I guess I'd take some tea, please."

Kourin went ahead and fetched them some tea and snacks in the backroom. When he came back, he put a tray filled with snacks on his table, filled two cups with tea and handed one of them to Tokiko.

He went and sat in his chair, satisfied with his work, but as he was reaching out to his cup of tea, the front door suddenly slammed open, accompanied by an ice fairy and a blonde-haired girl.

"You, there, four eyes!" Cirno exclaimed, pointing at Kourin with an angered gaze. "Brace yourself, we're here to claim a file!"

"That is so!" Rumia concurred with her friend's statement.

Kourin decided to let his tea be, as he turned his attention to the incomers.

"I believe the correct term would be 'file a claim', oh Strongest", Kourin stated with a tone of tease, making Cirno a bit embarrassed for her verbal mistake. "So, how can I help you?"

Her determination was swiftly regained.

"Yes, we're here to clai... file a claim! For the bag we took!" Cirno said, taking out a huge bag and placing it on Kourin's table. He recognized the bag immediately, as the two of them had barged in as suddenly earlier and taken it with them for their activities. As for what were their activities...

"Now four eyes, you see what's in this bag?" the ice fairy inquired, pushing the bag demandingly on the shopkeeper. Kourin took the bag in his hands and began to examine the content, only to find out the bag to be as empty as it was on it's departure.

"Umm, it's... empty?" Kourin stated with a questioning look, but that seemed to be the very answer the fairy was waiting for.

"Yes, why is it empty? We caught at least thousands of those orangy flakes and yet it's empty! It's obviously the bag's fault, so how are you going to make up for this loss?" Cirno exclaimed, pointing Kourin with a confident smile on her face.

Kourin replied with a prolonged sigh and a palm on his face.

"Oh, for the love of... Look, you can accuse people for the things you've bought, not for the things you've borrowed, okay? Especially if you use a certain black-white witch as a reference", Kourin said, and seems like the ice fairy got the point, based on her change of expression. After all, the two of them hadn't really asked whether he was okay with it when they took the bag.

"Oh, so it was so", Rumia suddenly said, making the ice fairy change her expression yet again and turn her head on the Youkai of the Dusk.

"Wha... You knew something like that?" Cirno said in confusion.

"Yeah, I knew."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You looked confident, I thought you had a plan."

The blunt response made Cirno stare her friend in disbelief for a while, before turning her attention back to the shopkeeper, with her angered gaze regained. She now desperately tried to think of a good comeback line, trying to get on the top of the conversation she had initiated. But just when Kourin thought that he'd have to go over this debate for the next couple of hours...

Cirno gave a sigh.

"Well, there's no way around it then", Cirno stated, with an expression that would've hinted anyone else that she had prevailed in this exchange of words. "Hey Rumia, let's go see the Human Village, I wanna see what crashed there earlier!"

"Oh, that sounds so cool! Sorry for the intrusion", Rumia said politely with a bow, before following her fairy friend out of the store. A moment of silence consumed the shop, as Kourin was a bit too confused by the sudden conclusion of the conversation.

The silence was broken by the sound of a thud, when Tokiko put her empty cup of tea on the table. It was then Kourin realized that she had taken her time with the tea to observe the exchange of words that had just unfolded.

"Probably just one of her thinkos", Tokiko finally stated, as she have been unfortunate enough to have some experiences with the fairy's sudden change of minds.

"You don't say?" Kourin replied sarcastically, when he suddenly realized that the two of them had left the bag behind. Pleased with this turn of event, he began to fold it to put it back in his drawer.

"So Kourin, what do you think?" Tokiko asked, making Kourin turn attention to his companion again with a questioning look.

"Hm? About what?"

"You heard her. She said they collected those flakes with that bag, yet it ended up like that. I wonder what that was all about", Tokiko said with wonder in her eyes.

This made Kourin finally think on the matter. Certainly, he did find it a bit odd as the bag didn't have any holes or anything, but as he took a glance outside the window...

"Well, seeing that the ground isn't filled with them either, I guess that's how they simply were", Kourin deduced. And Tokiko seemed to find this interpretation satisfying enough, as she returned to her task and began to strum the guitar again.

Kourin put the folded bag in his drawer and finally took the cup of tea in his hands.

Looks like this'll be another peaceful day at Kourindou, Kourin thought as he took a sip of his tea.

"Reimu... My Gourd... is missing... I can't... go on... You have to... go on without me..." Suika moaned as she arduously crawled her way in the shrine's parlour. Reimu was sipping some tea as she came in.

"And good morning to you too, Suika", Reimu said, not even turning her gaze on the oni. "Your precious Gourd is just fine. Here."

Reimu waved her hand with Suika's Gourd in her hand, before placing it back on the table. This made a relieved expression on the oni's dozing face, as she slowly crawled her way to the table and placed herself in front of her Gourd. But reaching out to her source of delight seemed to be the hardest task for her, as her hands wobbled desperately around the table, trying to grasp it.

When she finally caught the Gourd in her grasp, she removed the cork and took about three bottles worth of liquor in one swallow. For starters.

"Man, that was scary. I thought I was going to die, you know", Suika said as her face began to regain it's red saturation.

"Really, Suika? You being sober would be same as the end of your life? Kind of a harsh statement there", Reimu said skeptically as she took some cookies from a basket on the table.

"Don't you go underestimating the oni's way of life!" Suika exclaimed, before taking another huge gulp of her sake, making her fall on her back with a wide drunken smile on her face.

This made Reimu give a sigh for the oni's failed attempt to act tough in her current state of being.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say", Reimu said, sipping some more of her tea and eating some more of her cookies.

Suddenly Reimu sensed something closing in to her shrine, something powerful enough to make her prepare herself in case of an enemy. But as the presence got closer and closer, she managed to recognize the incoming entity.

Wait, this energy... Yakumo's kitsune?

Reimu got up, leaving Suika lying on the floor as she went outside to meet the visitor. And her instinct was right, it was Ran flying towards the shrine, and it didn't take her long to reach the shrine grounds and land on the pavement.

"Glad to see you're alright, miss Hakurei", Ran said as she approached the shrine maiden with a relieved expression on her face.

"Yeah, same, I guess", Reimu said back with a bit of a questioning look. "So... What brings you here today?"

The kitsune almost lost her balance when she heard those five words, out of confusion.

"I... I beg your pardon", Ran said with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Yeah, what brings Yukari's shikigami in my shrine all of a sudden?" Reimu asked, still with a questioning look.

Ran stared the shrine maiden with disbelief in her eyes.

"Well... That spectacle, for instance? ...This morning."

This made Reimu thoughtful for a moment, as she reviewed the events of the morning in her head.

This morning? Let's see, I woke up, made some breakfast, swept the Shrine grounds...

"Oh yeah, that. I forgot", Reimu said bluntly when she had finally found the most likely part of her memory.

This carefree response almost managed to rip the formal look off the kitsune's face.

"What do you mean you forgot?" Ran asked, trying the best she could to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Well, that light show was impressive and all, but since nothing really came up after that, I just let it be", Reimu replied bluntly.

The second time made up for the first attempt, as it managed to heave Ran's politeness in the back of her mind.

"You're the Hakurei Shrine Maiden for the love of god! It's your responsibility to go out there and assure everyone that they are truly safe, not to sit idly waiting for an incident to simply stop by!" Ran snapped at the red-white shrine maiden.

This made Reimu back away a bit, out of surprise. Even though she knew that some weren't that fond of her way of dealing these things, hearing it from someone as usually composed as Ran...

Reimu tried to sneak herself out of the pinch.

"Uhh... well... you know, I was just waiting for something to happen first, before sticking my head impolitely in the affairs of other peop..."

But the attempt seemed to be most unsuccessful.

"I'm telling you, that's not the way you shrine maidens are supposed to handle these things! You're supposed to be the one to make sure nothing will happen!" Ran snapped again.

Reimu finally decided to stand up for herself on the matter.

"So, what, I'm supposed to go around lurking in other people's houses like Yukari? Is that how you want it?"

"No! Definitely not like that old ha...!" Ran suddenly covered her mouth, when she realized how she was getting too carried away with her feelings.

The sudden outburst made Reimu stare the kitsune in awe. Even though she knew that some weren't that fond of Yukari's way of dealing things, and most of them rather unwilling to point it out, hearing it from her shikigami...

And just when Reimu thought she was lucky that her master wasn't around to hear it, a purple gap suddenly appeared behind Ran, making both of them flinch by the sound it made. The poor kitsune slowly began to turn her gaze behind her, as the slight symptoms of panic began to spread on her face.

"Yu-Yukari-sama! Ho-How long have you been the... Kya!" Ran ceased her talk, when Yukari suddenly grabbed her collar with an angered gaze. But just when the panic began to rapidly take over the rest of her body...

"Ran, what the hell happened here while I was asleep? The border is a complete mess up there!" Yukari yelled at her shikigami, pointing up in the bright morning sky.

"...Huh?" Ran managed to say, as this was not what she had anticipated from her master, since she had almost called her master... that.

"Don't 'huh' me, you idiot!" Yukari kept going with an astonished tone. "You let your sleeping master lie with the border in that kind of condition? Who was it? Kazami? Scarlet Devil? Someone else?"

It took Ran quite a while to shove off her initial feelings of fear and somewhat tune herself in the conversation.

"Uhh... Well, where should I begin?"

"Aaargh! How can this be so frustrating?" Tokiko finally let out her frustration, making Kourin choke a bit by his tea with the sudden outburst. "Just when I think I get one right, other one sounds all off! How can people stand these things?"

As Kourin had finished coughing up, he thought this would be a good chance to inquire her why she was so determined to tune the thing.

"If it's so frustrating, why not just give it back to Lorelei-san and tell her you don't know how to tune it properly?" Kourin asked, wiping some of the tea that had spilled on the table. The question made Tokiko give him an astonished look in return.

"Mysti promised me three free meals if I manage to tune this thing by her next concert. Three free meals!" Tokiko exclaimed, emphasizing the three by sticking out an equal amount of fingers with her free hand.

Figures, Kourin thought. Even though he knew that Mystia's food has been rather popular lately, this seemed to be a bit...

"I see..." Kourin said as the book lover began to strum the guitar again, with the frustration written all over her face now. But as Kourin was reaching out to his cup of tea, the front door suddenly slammed open again, this time accompanied by a sweaty black-white witch.

"I made it! I made it without crashing on any of the trees!" Marisa exclaimed as she rushed in.

"Marisa? Now what have happened to you?" Kourin asked when he saw her hazy gaze and wobbly posture, a rather rare combination for this usually healthy girl.

"Kourin, hold on to these for me, will ya? I have some things to do at the Youkai Mountain", Marisa said as she laid a bag full of mushrooms on the floor.

"Huh? Marisa, just what are you...? He-Hey! That's mine!" Kourin exclaimed as the black-white witch snatched his cup of tea and swiftly emptied it's remaining content. Along with a handful of cookies, this seemed to make her regain some of her stamina as her posture became more stable.

"Phew, that hit the spot", Marisa said as she put the cup back on the table. "Well then, I'll be taking my leave now, see ya."

"Explain yourself!" Kourin yelled as he stood up and went after her out of the store. But Marisa was already speeding towards the mountain when he had managed to get outside.

"Geez, I just don't understand that girl sometimes", Kourin mumbled, "barging in like that asking favors like she's some kind of king of the... Huh? Wait a minute..."

Although Marisa's figure became smaller and smaller, Kourin managed to make out a shape of another bag on the witch's shoulders.

"Didn't she just bring one... Wait, did she tried to fly with two bags?" Kourin wondered out loud, knowing that she wasn't powerful enough to perform such a feat that fluently. "Now what on earth could've made her try a stunt... like... that?"

His eyes came across something peculiar lying on the ground, something that looked like to be made out of metal. As he took the thing in his hands for a closer inspection, he came to the conclusion that the artifact was a wrench. Odd in appearance though, as it was equipped with a spiked knuckle guard and a sharpened metal piece on the top. Given the chain of events just now, he had a pretty good guess on where it might have came from.

"Marisa, just who did you robbed this time?" Kourin mumbled as he went back in his store with the wrench in his hand.

"Just what is going on here?" Spy let out his confusion as he was checking out his current location. He was desperately trying to find any sign of life - be it BLU or even RED - after his sudden transportation to the desert facility of Dustbowl.

He remembered that he was in the Thunder Mountain facility, exchanging unexpectedly equal blows with the Engineer, when an impact had suddenly came out of thin air, made him fly off the bridge and black out.

But when he had finally came back to his senses, he had found himself on a circular metallic platform, making him confused at first as he knew that these kind of artifacts - Control Points, if you may - haven't been built in the Thunder Mountain facility.

It was after a few moments of inspection when he finally recognized his surroundings. Or at least, part of them.

The first thing that had caught his attention was a huge red silo, connected by a pipe to a building to the Spy's left. The building connected to the silo was labeled with "Jenkin Coal Co.", finally placing him somewhere else, since he knew that that company didn't have any activity in the Mountains. As for where he was now, the final hint for him was the top of a rocket visible in the distance, placing himself in the "abandoned" mining facility of Dustbowl.

Or that's what he thought, until he took a glance behind him, scrambling all of his assumptions on his current location again. Behind the metal fence that should have contained the sight of seemingly endless piles of sand, was replaced with trees as far as his eyes could see, with mountains far in the distance. As he went and took a closer look of the sight behind the fence, he noticed the awkward border of sand and grass, as if someone had cut the facility out of the desert and put it randomly in the middle of a forest. Though reluctant to believe it, but with the yellow-orange particles floating down from the sky, that was the interpretation he had to hang on to for the time being.

As he decided to cautiously make his way to the location of the rocket, he got a better chance to observe the change of scenery around the place.

By the appearance, your average person could easily disregard the place as a simple mining factory, but just like an average Mann facility, there's a whole lot more than what meets the eye. While it's officially stated that the facility is no longer in use, one of the Mann twins - Redmond - has been using the place as his personal playground, trying to butt in between the United States and the Soviet Union in their Space Race with his own contribution. And since the place has been so dear for his free time, his brother - Blutarch - have constantly tried to take it over with his team of mercenaries. Unsuccessfully, so far.

And as the Spy slowly made his way to the center of this place, it became apparent to him that an awkward cut and paste act really seemed to have taken place in the facility. Power lines leading beyond the sand-grass border had been cut off, along with a train track that led to the facility. It might have been an interesting sight to see what could have happened, if there had been some wagons present during the transportation. Would've they been cut in half or brought in whole was the Spy's approximate train of thought on the matter.

And as he had finally reached the location of the rocket and the control rooms beside it, it was as he had anticipated after seeing the power lines. The lights didn't turn on and the communications didn't work either. And to his worry, none of his teammates seemed to have ended up here either, but to his relief, neither have anyone from the opposing team.

"Merde... If this is how it's going to be, I can't stay here for long", Spy thought out loud, checking out one of the two control rooms. "I need to find out what's beyond that fence and get some sense in this. And maybe..."

He couldn't help but wonder about the fate of his teammates. Did they end up here, too? Or is he the only one? And could the RED team be here as well?

Even though this might have been his chance of a life-time to raid the place, his list of priorities forced him to grab only the necessities. With a help of his flashlight, he fetched himself some additional ammo and a couple of smaller health packs from one of the lockers. Surprisingly enough, the locker still seemed to open and close on it's own even without electricity, making it rather difficult for him to claim what he needed in that kind of a lightning.

When he had finally finished his preparations to explore beyond the facility, he stepped out of the control room and took out his Disguise Kit. Not for a disguise, but a smoke. As his PDA was built to look like a cigarette case, he thought it would be disrespectful to not use it as one, being a rather frequent smoker and all. After taking out one of his cigarettes, he put the case back in his pocket and put a fire on the smoke as he sat down.

As he slowly took his time with the tobacco, he tried to evaluate the best direction in which he should proceed for now. But after he had gone through all the things he had seen beyond the metal fence so far, the poll was rather short-lived.

After he finished the smoke, he got up and began to make his way out of the facility. Out of all things he had seen so far, one had stroke him as particularly odd. He had caught a glimpse of it when he was glancing over the cut-off power lines. A glimpse of a huge, red mansion by a lake.

In a world like Gensokyo, one can roughly put youkai in two different kind of groups. There are those who act like people, play with people, but are nearly as weak as one. And then there are those who detest people, kill people, and posses a ridiculous strength.

But there are also this rare minority that goes right in-between the two, and among the humans and the weaker youkai, one individual in particular tends to be considered a rather good prime example.

"Kick. Punch. It's all in the mind", Meiling mumbled as she was going over her daily training routine in front of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gate.

Even with a monstrous durability and a severe lack of weak spots, this girl has remained unusually humble with her unusually humane manners. Known for her mastery on the martial arts, she is also rather well-known for her good relationship with the humans and the weaker youkai, even being generous enough to help those who wish to get stronger.

But more than anything, she is known as the Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, fending off those who try to intrude without a proper invitation. Though it is told that if one does not attempt to proceed through the gate, she would be more than happy to take on people's challenges. Whether this is true or not is only known by those who have been brave enough to get so close to the Scarlet Devil's Den.

"Kick away those clinging chronic diseases. Say farewell to the... Oh, Sakuya, welcome back!" Meiling suddenly noticed the Chief Maid walking down the forest path, making her cease her training session. "How was your trip to the Village?"

"Well, you know, the usual", Sakuya replied as she got to the gatekeeper, with a shopping bag in her hands. "Anything happened while I was gone?"

The question made Meiling give a bit of a wistful sigh.

"Not really, no one has really tried to intrude here lately for some reason. Even that black-white one hasn't paid a visit these last couple of days", Meiling said with a bit of a bored look on her face.

"Eeh, is that so?" Sakuya replied. But instead of going through the gate as she usually would after a little small talk, she just kept standing there, seemingly waiting for something. "...And?"

"And?" Meiling replied with a questioning look. And it was then she noticed the knife the maid had been waving between her fingers, making her flinch a bit.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Sakuya asked, making it clear that she won't be taking no for an answer.

Whuuuh? What is this, why is she angry? I wasn't even sleeping on duty now, I was doing my training... Ah! Could it be... Yes, it has to be!

"Sorry! It was me!" Meiling exclaimed with an apologizing tone, changing the maid's expression to that of confusion. "It was me who ate that pudding in the fridge, I didn't know it was yours!"

"So it was you!" Sakuya exclaimed, but realized that her speech was nowhere near as planned. "No, I mean... That! What is that thing among the woods?"

"Huh?" Meiling sounded. The maid was pointing towards the complex of buildings that had appeared near the Scarlet Devil Mansion. This made the gatekeeper laugh a bit when she finally realized the source of the maid's anger.

"Oh, you meant that thing. Sorry, my bad, I forgot that you weren't around when that thing came crashing down from the sky", Meiling said with a bit of a laughter, swiftly replied with a knife in the head.

"I was worried sick about whether the mansion was safe or not!" Sakuya yelled with a flustered expression on her face. "That light show almost gave me a heart attack!"

Meiling clumsily got back up and tugged the knife out of her forehead.

"Well, I assure you that I haven't let anyone pass here today nor have I seen anyone suspicious around here", Meiling said as she put the knife in the shopping bag. The wound on her forehead was already beginning to heal.

"Assuming you've been awake this whole time", Sakuya said with a sarcastic tone, before turning her gaze on the complex again. "And? You've made sure that there's no one in there?"

The question brought a surprised expression on Meiling's face, but soon followed by a mischievous grin.

"Whatever might the Chief Maid be talking about? My primary objective is to guard the front gate of the Scarlet Devil Mansion unless otherwise ordered, you know", Meiling replied with a tone of tease. Her wound on the forehead had already disappeared.

Sakuya was urging to take her knife out of the shopping bag, but she had to admit that Meiling actually had a valid point there.

"Ugh... Fine", Sakuya said as she composed herself and got more serious. "Meiling, go check out that place and see if you can find anything suspicious in there. And if you find any strange individuals, bring them over, they might know what all this spectacle was abou...?"

"You're so cute when you try to be serious", Meiling said as she was petting Sakuya's head with an euphoric expression on her face. The act made Sakuya flustered, urging her to take out her knife from the shopping bag again. But just as she had put her hand in the bag and was about to take the knife in her grip...

"Jeez, Meiling! I'm not a kid anymore, stop treating me like this!" Sakuya exclaimed as she tried to cover her mixed feelings of embarrassment and delight by stuffing her face on Meiling's chest.

"Not a chance", Meiling said teasingly, before turning her tone more gentle, "because no matter how much time will pass, I'll always think you as the little Sakuya-chan."

The petting went on for another moment or two, until Meiling finally let go and began to make her way to the woods.

"I'll be back in a jiff, try to find some fairy maids to look over for my spot!" Meiling yelled as she vanished in the woods.

"Y-Yes..." Sakuya mumbled, still smiling like a little child after the petting maneuver that had just taken place. But when she took a look at the mansion, she noticed two of the fairy maids looking out of one of the windows, both having smug grins on their faces. But the two of them quickly got themselves out of sight when they noticed the Chief Maid's gaze.

Realizing how embarrassing her moment with Meiling must have looked like, Sakuya tried to cover her face as best as she could as she dashed through the courtyard back to the mansion.

"So... A gap opened in the sky, shooting down balls of light... and you think each of these balls brought some buildings from the outside world?" Yukari asked, seemingly trying to assure herself that she got it right.

"That sounds about right", Ran stated, but something about the way her master had been listening to her story made her feel a bit uncertain. The way her master was giving her dubious looks, for instance.

"...Ran, are you feeling alright?" Yukari asked as she put her hand on the kitsune's forehead, as if checking her temperature. This act made Ran a bit embarrassed, but mostly mad for her master's lack of confidence in her.

"It's true, master! It even had that overwhelming feeling of presence before they came crashing down! Why would I lie to you about something like that?" Ran exclaimed, shoving off Yukari's hand.

"Reimu, is she telling the truth?" Yukari asked the shrine maiden, seemingly ignoring the kitsune's assurance.

"Huh?" Reimu first said, when she was suddenly required to reply. "Oh, well... I'm not sure about that latter part, but I saw them too. The balls of light."

But this still didn't seem to assure Yukari enough, as her expression turned even more doubtful.

"Riiiiight..."

"Oh, come on! Why is it so hard for you to believe that, Yukari-sama?" Ran asked with a frustrated tone.

"Well, it just doesn't feel like something as major as that had taken place here", Yukari stated as she looked around.

Oh, you gotta be kidding me...

"Yukari-sama, with all due respect, doubting me because how you feel is a little..."

Feel.

The thing that was bugging her about the warehouse by the river. The thing why no one seemed to be that worried about the spectacle. The thing why her master didn't trust her on the matter. Ran finally realized what was missing in the morning's event.

To bring things like buildings from the outside world, one usually needs really powerful magic, and even with that, the transportation takes almost as equal amount of preparations. And more than anything, these events always leave behind traces of magical outburst both in the site of departure and the site of arrival. In the past, these outbursts have easily caused a week-long mass-paranoia among the Gensokyo's residents, due to the magical susceptibility.

And yet, the morning's spectacle lacked this overwhelming presence altogether, making it feel like any other day of this world. One could say it's a good thing, but for Ran the situation got a lot more serious. To cause a transportation of that scale without magic...

Just what are we up against here?

"...Ran, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Yukari said, putting her hand on the kitsune's forehead again.

"Huh? Oh... Well, you know... S-So, how are we going to deal with this situation, Yukari-sama?" Ran said, shoving off her master's hand again while trying to sound a bit more serious. Even though her attempt to change the topic sounded far from successful, Yukari decided to go along.

"Well, since the border is in really bad shape up there, I'm afraid I have to deal with that first", Yukari said, pointing up in the sky. "I might be done with it by the nightfall, but until then", Yukari put her hand on Ran's shoulder, "you're in charge of the investigation."

"...HUUUH?"

Chapter 3 Afterword:

Edit 09/10/2013:

Some edits here and there.

Original Afterword:

Hello, this is FinnOtaku, the author of this crossover fanfiction. Kind of a ridiculous gap between this and the Chapter 2, I'm not sure if these kind of gaps are a normal thing around here. But if they aren't, I'm sorry... ^^;

Since I'm planning to have multiple storylines being told at the same time, I've been having some problems on what bits of which character's story will be told and in which order. And... I think this would be a good time to say this: There most likely will be more of these ridiculous gaps between the release of chapters, so you just have to be patient with this. Haste makes waste and all that =(

Oh, and as a reply for one of the reviews on Chapter 2: All of the 9 main characters from the TF2 world were brought over to Gensokyo in this incident, even Demo and Pyro. But as for how did that happened... Stay tuned =P

...And yes, I am planning to have Demo meet Suika at some point.