Entry 6: Blooming Lotus, The Land's Story
It was a warm spring day in Gensokyo. By all accounts, Reimu would have found it to be quite pleasant.
That would have been the case, were it not for the swarm of youkai that had shown up this morning.
At first, Reimu was prepared to exterminate the lot of them, thinking it was some kind of raid, but instead, she found that they were all afraid of something. Quickly, Reimu realised that this wasn't an invasion, but a sort of refugee crisis.
As she was handing out food and drink to the youkai (people in the Village would have flipped out if they saw this), Marisa arrived. "Ya know, I was gonna ask if you heard the news," the witch in training said, "but it seems the news reached ya first."
"You know something about this, Marisa?" Reimu asked, passing an apple to a blonde haired youkai in black and white, with a red ribbon in her hair.
"Would you be able to share anything you know, Marisa-dono?" Genji added. "This is, frankly, a bit out of hand for us."
From one of her pockets, Marisa produced a sheet of paper, and handed it to Reimu. "Apparently, some big, scary youkai's woken up," she said. "It's got everyone freaked out."
"A predator coming out of hibernation, then?" Reimu surmised. "That sounds like an Incident, if anything."
"Sounding better than last time, yeah?" Marisa smirked. "Word on the street is that it's all going down south-west of here, too. Wanna check it out?"
Reimu thought for a moment. Not on whether she should go or not; that was a foregone conclusion. No, her thoughts were on what would happen if she left this hoard of youkai alone at her shrine.
"Ruukoto!" she called out. "Mind the shrine for a while. We're heading out."
"Of course, Reimu-sama," Ruukoto the robot maid replied with a bow. "I shall strive to give them the utmost hospitality."
As Reimu and Marisa (with Reimu, naturally, on Genji's back) took off, Marisa cast a glance at Ruukoto. "Will she be alright?" she asked. "I mean, you've been complaining for a while now that she's quite the clumsy sort."
"Well, she'll have to make do," Reimu said. "And I swear, if there isn't a shrine left when I get back, Yumemi's in for trouble."
As they disappeared into the horizon, Ruukoto began to sweat. Or, at least, the closest approximation to sweating a nuclear powered robot could without going critical.
The path they took was long and straight, and covered in an obscene amount of flowers. More flowers than should have been possible, even in spring.
And, as was normal for any Incident, there were a whole lot of smallfry spirits out and about, causing trouble.
It was the standard sort of affair; enemy sees Reimu and Marisa, enemy attacks Reimu and Marisa, Reimu and Marisa attack back. It was a simple, straightforward matter.
As they travelled down the path, they came across a curious looking gravestone, with a bouquet set down next to it.
"Huh," Marisa said. "Wonder who's buried here."
"Don't see a name written on it," Reimu added. "Frankly, though, who cares? It's not like it has anything to do with our job."
"Yeah, true," Marisa agreed. "Still, these flowers are pretty fresh. Wonder who left them."
"Oh, do you really care?"
"Nah, but it makes for a good conversation piece. Because Gods know you could use something like that."
"She's right, you know," Genji chimed in. "Many of your conversations these days seem to edge into the territory of 'irritation' on your part."
"Et tu, Genji?"
As the three flew off, getting back to the Incident at hand, a small youkai girl poked her head out from around a nearby tree, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Was that Latin?" Orange asked herself. "The Hakurei Shrine Maiden is certainly a terrifying person."
Reimu was never aware that Gensokyo had a lake of blood until today. Neither was Marisa, for that matter.
Genji was aware of it, yet was also aware that it wasn't actually blood, but rather, a mix of some kind of potassium and iron in the water, giving it a blood-red look. But, it's not like he could explain that to them.
"You sure we're going the right way?" Reimu asked. "I mean, lakes of blood are ominous and all, but I'm not seeing anyone out here."
"It's what the papers said," Marisa answered. "But man, what an ominous place. Think we'll find a vampire here?"
"At this time of day?" Reimu questioned. It may have been the middle of the day, but it was overcast enough that a vampire could walk around comfortably enough.
And, as if tempted by fate, a hail of bullets rained down upon the two, before a blonde haired girl in black and white, with a pair of purple bat wings, descended before them.
"Well, would ya look at that," Marisa said. "A vampire."
"Greetings, dear visitors," the vampire greeted. "I am Kurumi, the guardian of this lake, and I cannot let either of you pass this point."
If that wording was enough to tell them anything, it was that they were officially going the right way. One second and one hail of bullets later, and Reimu and Marisa continued on, as Kurumi the vampire laid in the water defeated.
The next stage of their journey was a corridor of darkness. It was long, and crackling, and filled with ominous energy.
Also, there was music playing from somewhere, for... some reason. Reimu had to admit, it was a catchy tune.
"You think we've far to go?" Marisa asked. "My ass is going numb."
"You think you have it bad?" Reimu asked. "My legs are cramping up here."
"Well, I'm sorry for not being cushioned, Reimu-sama," Genji muttered.
At that moment, a scythe flew past them, carving a great gash in the ground. The scythe flew back, and landed in the hands of a blonde haired woman in red, wearing a white hat.
"I bid you welcome to the gateway to both the Fantasy World and Mugenkan, strangers of Gensokyo," the woman greeted. "I am Elly, the gatekeeper here, and I must ask you both to turn around and return from whence you came."
Reimu and Marisa shared a look. "So, you have something to hide here, then?" Reimu asked. "Something to do with the Incident going on?"
Elly tilted her head. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "I'm just here to make sure my lady wakes up peacefully. I don't know anything about an Incident."
Now, two things could be inferred from that statement. First was the genuine honesty that Elly had no idea that there was an Incident going on. Second was that there was a powerful youkai just waking up.
That was all the reasoning they needed to start attacking.
That wasn't to say, however, that Elly didn't put up a good fight. She put up a strong front, to the point where even the floor was fighting Reimu and Marisa (that is to say, tiles were levitated up and thrown).
But, a few good shots later, and Elly was laying on the floor, defeated.
Marisa breathed a sigh of relief. "That was actually a challenge," she said. "Feel like stepping back and letting me handle this?"
"Not a chance in hell, Marisa."
Mugenkan was a strange place. It was one part traditional mansion, and two parts cosmically large. The insides of the mansion seemed to defy the outside in a way that, while not strange to people like Reimu and Marisa, baffled them in new and interesting ways.
This was, however, almost certainly going to be the final battle of the Incident. Irritably, Reimu shouted. "Show yourself! We know you're here!"
Before either Marisa or Genji could comment on Reimu's shouting, a flurry of flowers blew through the area, swirling triumphantly before them, until dissipating to reveal... a green haired woman carrying a large clock, still dressed in her nightwear.
Suffice to say, but neither of them were expecting that.
"Good heavens, do you two know what time it is?" the woman asked. "Who are you, anyway? I had thought I'd asked Elly and Kurumi to turn solicitors away."
"So you were their boss, then," Reimu nodded sagely. "That means YOU were the one causing the Incident!"
"I mean... yeah?" Marisa hesitated. "I thought that was established when we came in here."
"Incident?" the woman asked, yawning as she did. "What are you talking about? I just woke up. I'm Kazami Yuuka, by the way. Who are you two again?"
"Hakurei Reimu of the Hakurei Shrine."
"Kirisame Marisa, apprentice of Mima."
"Nice to meet you, I guess," Yuuka yawned again. "But, what's all this about an Incident?"
"Your waking up has caused a mass youkai migration!" Reimu shouted. "It's a major headache for all of us!"
"Well, for you, mostly," Marisa muttered.
Yuuka, in turn, blinked in bewilderment. "I... fail to see how that's my fault," she said. "Or my problem, for that matter. I've been asleep for... what was it, again?" She looked down at the clock she held. "Let's see... fifteen, plus... carry the four... at least 40 years? Any longer than that, and I might have need to find a therapist. I fail to see what I'm doing wrong."
"That doesn't change the fact that you're stirring up trouble!" Reimu said. "And you need to stop!"
Yuuka blinked a few more times. This was the current Hakurei Shrine Maiden? Points for diligence and commitment to the job, sure, but... maybe she was a bit lacking in common sense. Letting out a small sigh, Yuuka adjusted her cap. "Alright, then," she said. "I could use some exercise right now."
"Wait, what did she just..." Marisa questioned, before a hail of bullets rained down upon them.
The duo evaded quickly, yet for a while, they lacked the ability to properly aim a counterattack. Yuuka's onslaught was just that dense.
Slipping out of the barrage, Marisa took aim, and fired a beam of magic at Yuuka. It struck true enough, but it barely even left a scorch mark on her clothing. In response, Yuuka merely smirked.
Then, to the surprise of both Reimu and Marisa, she retreated.
"Wha- Get back here!" Reimu shouted. "We'll chase you to the depths of Hell if we have to!"
"Maybe not that far!" Marisa added.
"I'm not ever from Hell!" Yuuka shouted back.
The chase took all of five minutes before Reimu and Marisa caught back up to Yuuka, and in that time, Yuuka had actually managed to completely change her outfit, now wearing a plain white shirt, with red plaid pants and waistcoat over it. How she managed to change so quickly was quite the mystery.
"I'm impressed you made it this far," Yuuka said rather dramatically. "But again, I ask; what have I done wrong, exactly? I literally just got out of bed."
"Well, your waking has caused a lot of youkai to hide out at my shrine!" Reimu shouted. "It's really annoying!"
"And I'm kinda just here!" Marisa added.
"And again, how is that my fault?" Yuuka asked. "Well, no matter. After all, in another few hours..." Something in her stare changed, becoming deathly terrifying. "You'll both be nothing more than a mist of atoms."
A chill ran down their spines. A beat turned into two. "Um... was something suppose to happen?" Marisa asked.
"No," Yuuka admitted. "But it would have been funny if it did."
"You're not taking this seriously, are you?" Reimu asked.
"How can I?" Yuuka retorted. "This whole Incident of yours has been little more than nothing in the grand scheme of things. So some small youkai freaked out because I woke up. It's not like I was planning to eat them or anything. I'm a flower youkai; I photosynthesise. The only time I'd actually be a threat is if they decided to trampling on flower maliciously in my presence."
Suddenly, Reimu and Marisa felt very small and kinda stupid. At the end of the day, Yuuka was right; she hadn't done anything worth being called an 'Incident'.
"Oh, but don't think you're allowed to just leave now," Yuuka quickly added, aiming her parasol at them. "After all, I do have to pay you back for Elly and Kurumi."
A ball of magic formed at the end of her parasol. Instincts took over, and Marisa quickly grabbed Reimu and Genji, and moved before the massive laser was fired.
This marked their first exposure to the Master Spark. To say that Marisa was enamoured at first glace would be an understatement, but mastery of that power would come at a much later date.
It was time for the final round against Kazami Yuuka. While it had already been made apparent that there was no real point left to this fight, Yuuka wasn't going to just let them walk away from it.
The outcome, naturally, was that Reimu and Marisa won, but it wasn't easy this time around.
But, that's a story for another day.
A/N:
Well, that's Lotus Land Story done. Not a whole lot to say about it, other than the fact that so much of this game really is, at the end of the day, a nothing story.
The plot really is 'Yuuka woke up, and it scared some youkai into hiding out at the Hakurei Shrine'. That's basically it.
Well, let's just move on.