Down in the workshop of one's establishment sat a young-looking woman working in a small stationary area, humming to herself as she appeared to be working on some form of headset, which sat under the light of a dimly lit lamp. However, her humming sounded strangely familiar... Almost as if it came straight from a certain video game that is known to have a cult-following by many from Japan.
In fact, she was actually humming the theme (or a remix of the theme), "Bad Apple," from Touhou 4: Lous Land Story by ZUN (creator of Touhou), in-fact, she's a huge fan of Touhou as a franchise. Many come to know the franchise from its bullet hell shoot 'em up gameplay style, the large amount fan content created by the fans, the Japanese internet humor from it's early internet days from Japan, the merchandise, and discover, or the absurd amount of the world and lore of Gensokyo and it's characters, along with cosplaying and TouhouFest events. Quite an achievement in gaming history for Japanese culture and work of art.
Actually, the girl's entire room was filled to the brim with Touhou merchandising—from Fumos, figurines, manga prints, and dozens of posters based on the entries of the games. She even had a Scarlet Devil Mansion rug. Now that's what I call dedication of fan love of a franchise from another region. Even a few Touhou-themed T-shirts laid across the carpeted floor in a few messy piles, along with wigs based on the characters for cosplaying. This was absolutely the definition of a massive fangirl.
Merchandise aside, she was actually beginning to finish up on the headset she had been working on for a while now. As she completed adding the last few chips and tweaks to the modernistic piece of machinery, she decided to set it onto her face as it powered itself on within a few mere seconds. "Alright, Beep-0—that oughta fix the overheating problem." she said with a proud tone as she took a sip from her drink.
Within a couple of seconds, a small, robotic, puck-shaped figure flashed right in front of the scientist's point of view. Which, in fact, was her assistant—Beep-0. "Can you believe it's been THREE months since Tech magazine put me-" she was cut off from her sentence as Beep-0 radiated an angry shade of red before facing the other direction, avoiding all kinds of eye contact. "Okay—"us" on the cover?" she corrected herself quickly to not seem like she was taking all the fame from her assistant. Though it seemed to work on him in an instant.
"The SupaMerge takes item A and item B and combines them to create item C," she blurted out with a pure ecstatic mood, though it didn't seem to last long, as her once bubbly attitude was soon overtaken by a more somber nature. "If only it were that easy..."
She flipped through the pages of her booklet before tossing it on the desk, knocking over a nearby Pichu Amiibo in a fit of slight rage. "The article says nothing about dark matter, space-time manipulation, practical applications—NOTHING!" she briefly grieved. "I mean—the SupaMerge could solve the ENERGY CRISIS, Beep-0! Watch!" With a broadly grin, she cracked her knuckles before glancing over to a nearby flower pot and one of her many lamps. She thoughtfully inputted the instructions into the SupaMerge as it took aim for the two inanimate objects. Not before long, the visor began to charge its power before it blasted all of its energy towards the two objects, merging them into one entity: a lamp pot! However, the advanced piece of technology couldn't handle the amount of pressure it contained within a single shot, as it began to flash tints of red and orange all around the girl's viewpoint. "Not again!" she lamented in a sign of utter defeat. "Sorry, Beep-0. Let's take a break and come back at this overheating thing fresh, okay?" she asked her robotic companion, who's response was a slight nod.
She set the SupaMerge down on her desk and began to walk off upstairs, angrily kicking her vacuum on the way up. As she headed up, Beep-0 took one last glance at the small visor on the desk before teleporting upstairs himself.
Silence. That was that could be heard. Not even the mere sounds of the monitors could make out to one's ear. It was all but pure tranquility... However, that silence didn't last too long.
Sparks surged from the thin air above the Scarlet Devil Mansion rug. Lights flickered uncontrollably as the ground shook as if the room was hit by an earthquake. Then, all of a sudden, a strange mechanism emerged in the center of the room, creating a loud thunk as it dropped down. This strange mechanism actually appeared to be...a washing machine? That's...odd.
As if this predicament wasn't slightly unusual enough, the door to the machine flipped straight open, and out came a rabbit-like specimen, dubbed, the Rabbids. The Rabbid eyes lit up as it gazed all around the workshop, looking as if it were awaiting to eagerly mess around with anything it could get its hands on. Though not even a second later, it popped out of the washing machine, as dozens of Rabbids were stored inside; each and every single one of them falling out as well, scattering themselves all around the room. However, one of these Rabbids unsurprisingly got their hands on the SupaMerge laying on the desk. This won't end well...
As the Rabbid set the modernistic visor onto its face without any signs of hesitation, Beep-0 teleported into the room to see what's all the ruckus about. However, what he witnessed was an extremely nerve-racking ordeal. All of the Rabbids caused nothing but havoc around the room, touching anything their little paws could carry. One of them violently shook the vacuum cleaner in an attempt to open the dirt tank, a couple of them decided to put on a few accessories laying on the floor: a blonde wig with a witch hat and a red ribbon, and another one of them stood in the toilet of the bathroom, brushing its couple of teeth with a toilet bowl brush, and a rubber duck he retrieved from its rear-end...
Something tells us these Rabbids aren't very intellectual but are rather mischievous creatures wanting to cause havoc and chaos just for them getting with the fun. Beep-0 tried his best to at least talk his way through to these Rabbids, but definitely, they wouldn't play him any attention at all—hardly anyone of them even noticed the puck-shaped mechanism. The Rabbid wearing the SupaMerge took enjoyment from its comrades messing around with anything they found, especially when one of them happened to slap the buttocks of the one wearing the blonde wig. However, it didn't seem to notice that the headset set its aim for the wig-wearing specimen, but in just a few minor seconds, it shot out a beam of energy towards them, merging the two together. Though the end result seemed way off than you'd expect. Instead of the Rabbid being covered in nothing but hair, it instead gave them a hairstyle similar to a certain witchy figure, even down to the witch hat, earrings, and the clothing. Weird... The Rabbid with the SupaMerge had no clue on the action it had just committed, but it didn't seem to care, as it purposely shot more of it comrades, merging them with the objects they possessed in their hands.
Through the mist of the merge-filled chaos, the Rabbid with the SupaMerge shot a heavy beam of energy towards the washing machine. Though at first glance, nothing will happen right? I mean, it's a washing machine—what's it gonna do? Create a pile of wet clothes? Well, no. The complete opposite actually. Pixelated energy surrounded the washing machine as it began to judder intensely, its light flickering at the speed of sound. Yet, not before long, it began to spin in reverse; its powerful energy sucking in all the uncontrollable Rabbids inside—Beep-0 included. The Rabbid with the visor fell victim to this incident as well—trying its best to grip onto the desk as dozens of Fumos and posters flew past its point of view. But the force of the washing machine was too strong for it to handle, as its hands slipped away and was forcefully pulled into the machine. The Rabbid waring the SuperMerge tried to escape, but the simple slap of a Touhou poster hitting its face was more than enough for it to fall back into the mechanism and jam the door completely shut. The numbers on the washing machine showed images of Yin-Yangs, Spell Cards with Japanese symbol texts, and Books as just a mere few seconds, the washing machine vanished into nothing but air, leaving the workshop a complete and utter mess, as well as a large scorch mark on the Scarlet Devil Mansion rug. Just where could they have gone too...?
Meanwhile in the world of Gensokyo...
Shrine maiden Reimu had no time to rest, as she had to get busy and prepare for the upcoming festival that was to be held at her shrine along with bringing familiar faces to help celebrate the festival.
It was a festival held a few times each year to celebrate… Actually, there wasn't much reaso for this festival other than to gather together the inhabitants of Gensokyo and have fun, but this time, this festival will be bigger with a statue Marisa was planning to reveal in the beginning, hoping Remiu gets the appreciation and would be privileged enough.
Nevertheless, it was a festival that people looked forward too. Reimu was especially looking forward to this, because this was one of those rare instances where she will get many people at her shrine to offer donations. Just thinking about her donation box being filled up with money was making her happy already to prep to get this festival ready to reveal this statue Marisa wanted to surprise her with.
"Reimu!" A tap came to the shrine maiden's shoulder and Reimu turned to see her friend Marisa. "Daydreaming, are you-ze?"
"Marisa…" she said. She continued to mopping the floor while talking with her. "Are you here to help prep?"
"I'll see what I can do-ze," Marisa replied. "You're the only one here currently, so I might as well drop in and give my friend some hand!"
"Thanks," Reimu said. "Suika just has to run off to have fun with her friends... Cirno and Flandre… Ugh, she just doesn't understand the importance of this festival, especially since she wonders off!"
"I know, it's important because…" Marisa looked back and glanced at the donation box just outside of the entrance, "you're begging to get richer and probably will get a bit more richest than ever…"
"Don't just stand there, Marisa!" Reimu glance to her. "Hurry up and get Sanae to invite everyone around the sri. I have a preparations for a festival ready to be around my Shrine. You did promised a surprise for me about this event with a special gift."
"Alright, Remiu!" Marisa said with a chuckle. "Let me see what you have in there that needs a hand-ze." She walked across the floor and into the next room, leaving behind shoeprints as she did.
Reimu looked at the shoeprints with an annoyed face and then looked up at Marisa, but let out a grumble before wiping away those newly-made shoeprints. She hopes that everyone in Gensokyo will arrive in Remiu's shirne to celebrate the festival with Marisa's surprise she build up.
After some time, work was done and everyone in Gensokyo have arrived to celebrate in the festival in Hakurei shrine
Balloons of varying colors filled the sky as residents of Gensokyo were gathered outside of Hakurei Shrine. Apparently, today was the Shrine' inauguration, and an important one at that for Remiu. It was meant to admire the hard work and dedication she provided for her shrine and pride, and Gensokyo, as well as acknowledging her achievements and contributions. Even everyone a part of Gensokyo attended the ceremony: Youmu, Alice, Aya, Nitori, etc. Even ones such as Remilia, Reisen, Meiling, Sakuya, and came as well, though they were merely forced by Sanae to attend, despite that she wanted to takeover Reimu's shrine but failed due to shenanigans.
Anywho, on stage stood Reisen, Marisa, Sanae, Sakuya, Youmu, Aya, and of course, Reimu. In front of them sat a large structure covered in a thick cloth, most likely bring the shrine maiden' surprise. Eventually, Suika came up to the front of the stage, microphone in hand, and began his ceremonial speech. "Welcome everyone of Gensokyo! We thank you all for coming here today for this extremely special occasion!" She announced to the huge but varied crowd in his iconic chipper voice.
"Can we just cut to the chase already! I have frogs to freeze at the moment?!" yelled a clearly annoyed Cirno, but was instantly hushed by everyone, including her friend, Dai, around her to keep things quiet.
Even if that was quite the rude interruption from Cirno, Suika continued anyway. "We've gathered you all here today to celebrate the joyous remarks of the Hakurei Shrine, and as a way to gift for all the wonderful things Remiu does for Gensokyo," She quickly ran to the hidden structure. "We present to you... Your brand new statue, Reimu!" She pulled the cloth off with a sharp yank, revealing the brand new statue to the public. The statue appeared to be Remiu of honor holding her Stick Wand to her chest and a red ribbon wrapped around her shoulder. Confetti rained from the sky as the crowd sent congratulate cheers and clapped for the shrine maiden of Hakurei Shrine.
"Oh my goodness! This is stupendous!" Reimu beamed of utter bliss upon her newly revealed statue and looked a Marisa and gave her a hug. "Thank you all so much!"
"Uh... Isn't this the 7th statue you have to nag about this big surprise, Marisa?" Sanae asked Marisa with a tiny nudge to his shoulder. "I wanted to propose to Reimu to takeover her shrine to branch the Moriya Shrine."
"Considering I wouldn't want Reimu to get a little more greedy, Sanae." Marisa admitted softly.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind began to brew in the air seemingly out of nowhere, viciously shivering both trees and plant life, which catches Reimu's attention.
"Woah... What is- that?" Reimu squinted as she looked towards the once calm sky, as it was now shrouded in a sinister blue.
Then, it appeared.
A gargantuan vortex opened in the middle of the sky. Shrill and shocked gasps filled the crowd as their attention were grasped by the ongoing invader.
"What the heck is a vortex doing here of all places?!" Cirno exclaimed, which was practically the same question everyone could think of at the moment.
Though not even a moment later, the residents of Gensokyo began to cry for help as they were getting pulled into the vortex from its sheer, unstoppable force. Guess this is expected when you're extremely lightweight. Speaking of lightweight, majority of the heroines began to get pulled by the vortex's mighty force as well. Everyone tried their best to save each other from the disastrous drag the vortex gave, some even gripping themselves to the ground; but, no one could succeed in doing so.
It was pure chaos.
"Huh?!" Reimu emitted as the platform beneath her cracked in half. But her attention was soon quickened to the sight of something that made his heart instantly drop.
"Reimu, help!" Sanae and Marisa had lost their grasp from the platform, their body slowly being pulled in by the force of the trenching portal.
"Marisa! Sanae!" Reimu rapidly dashed to her friends, managing to grip both of her hands to the shrine maidens. "Don't worry! Hang on both of you!"
"Reimu! I-I...can't...hold on-AHHHEEE!" Sadly, Sanae's grip weakened, and her hands slipped right through his grip and fell victim to the vortex.
"Sanae! No!" Reimu and Marisa grieved.
Unfortunately, the remaining survivors had lost the battle with their remaining energy: Reisen, Sakuya, Cirno, Yuyuko , Youmu, Aya—everyone. Except for Reimu and Marisa.
"Shoot! Reimu, let's get after Sanae!" Marisa repeated to Reimu loudly, flying onto platforms of the decaying landscape that were torn from the vortex while avoiding into crashing onto one of these flying platforms. The two shrine maidens could see Sanae from a distance, their speed increasing with every second.
"Reimu!" Sanae cried out as he brought forth his reaching hand.
"SANAE!" Reimu and Marisa leaped from the final landscape that was available and tried to reach for her hand—but, it failed. It was all too late to save her now.
However, the vortex was able to pull in both Reimu and Marisa; leaving it up to them to find out where Sanae, their friends, and the entire world of Gensokyo had ended up in... Or if they survived.
Inspired by PixelRolls' Smash Bros Rabbids Kingdom Battle fic (which is sadly discontinued). Kingdom Battle is one of those games that have the ideology of Mario and Ubisoft's Rabbids and while the idea is ridiculous, it became one of of those Switch games that was a niche but memorable for the Switch library. There's that Tamagotchi Rabbids thing but that was someone's else story but with permission to publish but is under an indefinite hiatus for now.
Also, ideas and feedback would be appreciated since this will tackle Kingdom Battle. The characters as the mains are going to become Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Reisen, Sakuya, Aya, Youmu, and Cirno with their Rabbid counterparts that'll parodied the Touhou fanon traits but stick their Rabbidness.