Stage 1 – Michael's dream, Eternal Halloween
Marisa swirled about, looking at them all. "So… which do we choose? We can't do 'em all at the same time!"
Reimu nodded at the pumpkin-shaped dream. "I say the pumpkin. But…" She rapped on the solid plant. "How do we get in?"
Marisa shrugged. "Well, from what I know'a dream magic, ya just put yer hand on the dream and think about entering, then yer in it, ze!"
They drifted closer and set their hands on the pumpkin, focusing on being inside it. Everything became so bright all they could see was the purest of white. There was no pain, just nothing. But they were soon elsewhere. They were floating over a suburb. It wasn't a Japanese one, with the cars parked the wrong way, and the buildings built the wrong way… No, it was a United States suburb. It was night and the streets were lit up along with the houses in preparation for a holiday already in progress.
Spooky skeletons and grinning pumpkins greeted trick or treaters of all ages and in a dizzying variety of costumes. It was Halloween! Everyone handed out candy at each door as soon as the magic words were uttered and a bag or other thing was presented. Reimu and Marisa gape at the whole thing with amazement. It looked like some kind of holiday, but they had never seen a holiday like this before!
Reimu threw her hands wide. "What's going on here? It seems like some kind of holiday, but I've never heard of this one! And what's this weird language they're speaking?"
Marisa giggled with obvious joy, darting around for better looks from above. "I don't know, but it looks like fun! Free candy and all you need to do is dress up in some kind of costume! And look at all this cool, creepy-looking stuff! I can totally see myself celebrating this… uh…" She tapped at her chin. "What's this holiday called?"
Reimu floated over to a big banner that hung over the street, "Hmm, according to this sign, it's something called, "Haro~in"
Marisa repeated the word as best she could. "Eh? Wait… I know that weird word! And this language!" She pointed at the same sign Reimu was examining. "Reimu! I think I know whose dream this is! Remember that one boy who pulled that epic prank on you because you refused to give him candy? He stole all your money, replaced it with fake money, and then he went and blamed me for it!
Reimu grunted, twirling to face Marisa. "And, unfortunately for him, we found out and what happened next was, in his words, "a very painful experience." Reimu stomped the air. "Ugh... Don't remind me. This must be his dream."
Marisa giggled as she looked about. "Yep! He actually lives next door ta me, and I'd recognize that house anywhere! Finding it should be easy, ze! Just look fer the house most decked out for the holiday!"
They took off, soaring in slow circles around the town. That one? No.. That one? No… Marisa thumped against Reimu. "That one!" They came in for a landing on its lawn, touching down on the soft grass.
They could see a little boy coming up the sidewalk, talking eagerly and happily. He was wearing a grinning armored orange jack-o'-lantern shaped shirt with glowing yellow eyes, nose and mouth holes with a candle-shaped light shining brightly in the mouth. He wore a jack-o'-lantern and skull-shaped helmet on his head that covered his eyes and nose with light yellow horns and a long light green topknot coming out of the lower top that looks like the stem of a pumpkin. He wore a pair of armored puffy golden brown pants with a purple bat pattern on them and black greaves that resemble buckled up boots. He wore a tattered black cape on his back with an orange pumpkin pattern on it and a black top hat with two small jack-o'-lanterns on the front. One was frowning, the other one was grinning and both were attached to a dark yellow band. He carried with him a dark brown cane that was slightly taller than he was with a big burning jack-'o-lantern hanging in the crook and a big, thick dark purple trick-or-treating bag with an orange pumpkin, black bat and yellow crescent moon pattern on it. It looked more like a large sack then a bag. The eye holes of his mask were glowing a bright yellow, but Marisa knew they were really light blue.
Reimu and Marisa recognized the boy instantly. This was the ten-year-old Michael Salem Samhain, who, true to Reimu's words, the dream belonged to.
"Oh man!" The boy jiggled his bag of goodies. "What a haul! My cavities are gonna have cavities after this is all over!" He spotted the two girls on his lawn. As soon as Michael saw the two girls, he frowned and looked at them in suspicion. "Huh? What are you two doing here?! Get away from my house; I don't want it to get cooties!"
Marisa clapped a balled hand on the palm of the other. "So, I was right! You're that weird new kid… Mikaru!"
Michael rolled his eyes grunted in obvious annoyance, waving his staff-wielding hand aside. "It's "Michael." M-I-C-H-A-E-L. Geeze... You guys really need to work on your English."
Reimu inclined her head faintly. "Igirsu? What is that supposed to mean? Never mind! Michael, you have to wake up, right this minute!"
Michael sneered, tucking his bag behind him and his staff in front. "Oh yeah? Or else what?"
Marisa pointed a finger at him. "We'll kick yer butt, that's what!"
Despite her ultimatum, to their shared shock, Michael looked disappointed rather than anything else. "Oh, Come on!" He raises his staff-wielding hand along with his voice. "That's your idea of a threat?! Where's the dismemberment, the evisceration?! You could at least say you're going to cut off my head and stick it on that stick you're always carrying around!"
Reimu raised her weapon defensively. "Okay, first off, it's not a "stick." It's a gohei. Second… Ew. Third, if you won't wake up, we'll just settle this in a Spell Card Battle. What do you say to that?"
Michael shrugged with a little laugh. "Eh, why not? But-" He waged the finger of the hand holding his staff. "-but, if I win, you have to leave here and help all the humans in Gensokyo celebrate Halloween with me!"
Reimu took a strong step forward, fire in her eyes. "Deal! Come on, Marisa! Let's make good on our word."
Marisa stepped to Reimu's side, tensed for battle. "Yeah! But ta be honest Michael, I don't mind celebrating Halloween with ya even if we win."
Michael seemed eager to hear that, and raised his staff.
"I'll show you something really scary! Don't think I'm afraid to hit a girl!"
"I'm not afraid of you, Michael!" replied Reimu, "We've both fought far bigger threats than you-Geyah!" She never finished her words, as Michael swung his staff in an arc, unleashing three fireballs that sped towards them, spreading outwards as they whizzed by them. They flew away in separate directions to make a much smaller target and started blasting away at him.
As he took the Danmaku blasts, Michael raised his staff, which started to glow brightly along with the eye holes of his mask.
"Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, time to BLOW YOU OFF THE STREET!" Shouted Michael as he cast one of his favorite spells.
Pumpkins appeared in the sky and started to fall towards the girls in a random fashion and exploded violently all around them. The heat was searing but they barely managed to sidestep each one.
No sooner had he done that than he took out his large trick-or-treating bag. With a big grin on his face, he opened it up. Emerging from it was a huge swarm of bats on strings with razor sharp wings.
"HAVE SOME CANDY!"
Marisa recognized the attack instantly, as unlike Reimu she had fought Michael before."Those things are more bombs, ze! Whatever ya do, don't hit 'em!" shouted Marisa. Both girls avoided the bats with ease by making themselves smaller targets. The bats swirled around for a couple seconds before flying back into the bag.
"Hey, girls are scared of frogs, right?! Well their breath is even scarier!"
He opened up his bag again, and a big frog hopped out. Opening up its mouth wide, it belched rings of green smoke that had the foulest smell that the two girls could imagine. Both girls gagged, but they were still able to dodge the smoke and hit him with a few Spell Cards. They hit him hard, but Michael pointed his staff at them and large explosions that looked like Jack o' lanterns started appearing and exploding randomly. From beneath his pumpkin mask, Michael smiled with genuine glee. He might not have liked girls, but he always did think these Battles looked cool.
The girls were able to dodge and sidestep these explosions and giant monstrous green clawed hands that tried to grab at them from various angles – They had both fought far stronger opponents than he. It was at this point he decided to use a Spell Card.
Michael's smile got wider as he conjured up his first Spell Card – Pumpkin Sign "Trick or Treat!" Raising both arms and doing a small chant, he made gigantic Jack o' lantern-shaped bombs manifest in the air and blow up everything around him from trees to sheds to fences – everything. The girls were only barely able to avoid the explosions and the force still knocked them back a couple feet.
Michael was now looking like he was having the time of his life. – And he was! It's too bad I'm not fighting some boys… He thought sadly.
"Are you feeling scared yet?" he chuckled. Waving his staff again he conjured up some ghosts that looked more like bed sheets with black eyes and mouths that flew up and tried to shallow the two girls whole. They were able to blow them away, but immediately after, he made the flaming jack 'o lantern breathe out clouds of light green, almost white fear-inducing gas that floated around and started exploding when the girls got too close. "It's fear magic, ze! He loves using that kind of stuff on himself," said Marisa, "Don't touch it and you'll be fine!"
"Wait!" Reimu shouted, "Why is he surrounding himself with tombstones?"
"He loves graveyards. He says it "gives him inspiration for poetry" or something like that, ze! …They block attacks! Use yer targeted force blasts in a wide sweep! He's gonna send 'em flying at us soon, ze!" Reimu did just that and like a firefighter spraying a building fire, all the tombstones start to shatter with the impact of her blasts.
"Aw man…" Sighed Michael, "Why are the girls here always so strong?! I miss my home country. Things are different and so much better there! …Oh well! Spell Card number two!" he blurted out between clenched teeth, frustrated that he was starting to lose to some young or at least young-looking girls again. This Spell Card was called Pumpkin Sign "Witching Hour". He pointed his staff directly at them, and the girls found themselves being sucked in. While not stopping their Danmaku assault, the girls flew back as far as they could, but Michael then made his staff let loose a powerful flamethrower that he released in a sweeping motion. While he did this, he released a flurry of bats made out of darkness out of his bag that for a long period spouted out in all directions.
After the Card had been used up, Michael's eyes widened in shock and he smacked himself in the head. "ARGH!" He shouted in perfect English that was so eloquent that it sounded downright archaic, "That was my last Spell Card! Oh man… I knew I should've brought more!"
Reimu didn't really understand what he just said, but upon seeing that, she knew he was out of ammo and prepared her Talisman Orbs. "C'mon, Reimu! He's almost finished!" shouted Marisa, reading her magic as well. Reimu unleashed the Orbs which connected on him rapidly and repeatedly. He released more bats on strings to defend himself, but they were able to blow them all away but one. The last bat grew to immense size, bared its teeth and dive-bombed them like a hawk. Marisa prepared her magic and with a swift upward move released a big magical blast. The bat exploded into a big cloud of fire and greasy black smoke.
Marisa looks at Reimu. "We've been deflecting and handling all of these attacks, but this kid needs to wake up. If we put together both of our best Spell Cards we should be able to wake him up! Let's go, Marisa!"
"You got it, ze!"
Both girls then used their best Spell Cards at the same time. The blast that emerges from the combined attacks generated such force that Michael only had time to say "Uh oh." The blast hit him and hit him hard, but he just seemed to shrug it off and landed. Reimu and Marisa were experienced enough to know that the fight should be over by now, so they too landed and tensed up, trying to see what Michael was going to do next.
Much to their surprise, Michael just started laughing. However, he tensed up in shock and slumped over. The dream around them faded and melted away along with him. "Aw man..." he said sadly, "I can't believe I lost to some icky, cootie-ridden girls! Hey… Marisa, did you really mean what you said?"
"Do you really like Halloween? Do you really want to help spread the word; help the human villages celebrate it?" Hope glimmered in his eyes, even if they were dissolving with the rest of his body.
Marisa bobbed her head energetically. "Yeah! It seems really cool, ze!" She waved at the fading scenery of the holiday around themselves. "But I'm not sure if the nonhumans will like it, so no promises there."
Michael managed a smile, although it was barely more than a wisp at this point. "Really? Sweet! You know, maybe you're not all bad… For a girl. After this is all over, come meet me at my house, alright? I should warn you though; I'll have to give myself a cootie shot first! Finally… I'll get to show everyone something that's actually scary and not those (Ugh) cute monster girls!"
The world around them faded away entirely, leaving Reimu and Marisa floating beside the five remaining dreams. With a sharp shattering noise, they look down to see one of the locks and chains on Doremy's prison has shattered, vanishing away in an instant. The sphere was slightly faded, but still there, promising to resist further interference.
Marisa let out her breath with a smile. "Well, that wasn't so bad, really. Anyway, maybe the relationship between Michael and I will get better. Though… I ain't gonna push my luck, ze! Do ya think the rest of the dreamers will be harder?" She waved a hand at the other dreams hovering in space.
Reimu gave a sigh of annoyance. "Knowing our luck? Probably." She drifted towards the next dream her eyes were locked on. "But I'm sure we can handle them. Now then… On to the next dream. I think we'll go for the one that looks like a beehive next."