Touhou Puppet Dance: Black Waltz

Disclaimer: I do not own anything sans my OC Mark Frey. He is mine.

Greetings everyone! I decided that since Puppet Dance Performance is so awesome and untapped…..I'd do a fic on it! I do hope people will be kind to give me suggestions on puppets for the team but I do have a few that will be used. I also warn that a few things may change such as lines, reactions, and event timelines in order to make it seem like it could feasibly happen. I will also quote what music I think should play for what battles. Also I am not doing the script verbatim because that script is written for a normal Silent Protagonist so while everyone is in character, I don't find it perfectly accurate. But without further delay….let's begin this journey of puppets and dreams!

First Step: The Waltz Begins, Welcome to Gensokyo

"Wake up." A cultured woman's voice said in the echoing dreamscape. "Please wake up. I wish to chat with you." Even though he was asleep still, a young man opened his eyes and saw a woman's figure in the ever moving shadows of the dreamscape. "It's nice to meet you. Tell me, what's your name?" The young man was perplexed by the question but did not argue.

"Mark Frey." He said softly, barely a whisper but the figure seemed to hear him. He tried to discern any features from the figure but the shadows obscured her far too well. The figure seemed to chuckle at his obvious state of confusion.

"Greetings, I am Yakumo Yukari, and I can see that you are confused about why we are having this little chat. Put simply it's because you are going to soon be on a grand adventure." Yukari said confusing Mark even more. "Don't worry about it. Soon everything will come clear. Just return to your sleep." Mark was about to ask her what she meant but he soon drifted into a far deeper sleep. The last thing he heard was Yukari's chuckling.

-Black Waltz-

"End of the line: Hakurei Shrine. I repeat, we have reached the end of the line." The announcement said as Mark woke up. Mark Frey wasn't anything all that spectacular, just an American in Japan looking at the old shrines to gain some inspiration. Mark liked to think himself a decent enough writer but he needed inspiration and he did so enjoy the Japanese culture that he decided the trip would help. Mark wasn't tall, just shy of average with messy light brown hair and tired looking grey eyes. He wore black boots, black cargo pants, a white button up that he had untucked, black gloves, and a long black scarf that he used to cover the bottom half of his face while the length fell along his back to just about mid-thigh. He also had a silver wrist chain on his right arm, a repurposed gun belt that held no holster since he just liked the way it looked, and a chain that hung along his right leg.

Mark slowly sat up as he shook away the remaining sleepiness as he plugged in his earbuds and walked off the bus. He slowly began to walk up the stairway that lead to the shrine proper as he started trying to think on what he should write. Mark wasn't exactly a famous writer despite having published two books by his age of twenty-four. He had done well enough but he knew that most fantasy book plots weren't very original. He wanted to do a fresh take of the genre but he didn't know how. As he arrived at the shrine he took in how broken and dilapidated it was. Mark also noticed there were a few others around looking at the shrine but paid them no mind, as he looked at the old well that was dried up.

"Heh. Just like my pool of ideas." Mark scoffed lightly as he readjusted his scarf over his face. He then approached the old donation box and wiped some dust off of it. Before he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. As Mark turned his head, taking his earbuds out,as he could have sworn he saw a familiar figure take off down the path that went behind the shrine but before he could go look he almost ran into a pair of young women. The first had short brown hair and wore a black hat with a red ribbon on it, white blouse under a black vest, and a long black skirt. The second had long blond hair and wore a white mob cap, light blue short-sleeved blouse, and purple skirt. "Oh whoa, sorry!"

"No it's quiet all right." The blond said though Mark could tell from the look he was getting from her brunette friend that she didn't agree with her good natured friend. "I was somewhat distracted by an odd change in events."

"I see. In that case allow me to get out of your way." Mark said as he slid past them before taking off towards the path. He slowly began to follow it, avoiding any accidents as the path was in less than satisfactory condition before he came to a field of tall grass and could see the figure in the distance before it ran from him. Mark could almost hear it in his head. The figure wanted him to follow and follow he would as he crossed the field, seeing the nearby lake. Next to it on a tiny beach was a female figure, obscured by a parasol. Mark slowly made his way towards the figure but when he got to the beach, she vanished from in front of him.

"Welcome...to our world. Gensokyo accepts all." A familiar female voice said from behind him but before he could turn around his vision was filled with black as he passed out.

-Black Waltz-

Mark groaned as he slowly came too. As he stood up he noticed he was still on the same beach and there was no sign of the figure. "Did I just dream her up?" Mark muttered to himself as he dusted himself off and readjusted all of his clothes. "Well, I'd better head back. Not like it matters. Doubt it's been three hours." Mark slowly began to walk back but felt an odd sensation of being watched. He shrugged it off before he came to the field of tall grass. As he approached a small figure, no taller than three feet jumped out. It was female with light blue hair and eyes. She wore a light pink, almost white dress with a matching ribbon in her hair and she had matching small angel like wings. She slowly approached Mark who was slightly off guard before he heard the sound of running footsteps.

"What are you doing? Get back!" A female voice shouted. Mark looked to see a young woman with blond hair with a braid on the side of her head wearing a black witch hat, black boots, black dress with a white apron over it, and a white blouse under the dress. She had a broom and a backpack with her "You shouldn't just be standing there when a puppet shows up!"

"Puppet? What in the name of hell are you talking about?" Mark asked. This caused the witch looking blond to become puzzled for a moment before she snapped her fingers in realization.

"If you don't know about puppets that means that you are from the outside. No idea how you got here but Puppets have been running around here for sometime." The witch said before they noticed the puppet started to act strangely. "Time to use my Puppet to battle it." The witch pulled out what looked like crystal and was about to through it but Mark stopped her. "Oi, what the hell are you doing!"

"It might just run with two of us here." Mark said before the Puppet flew to Mark and hugged him. "Or...this could happen."

"That's...odd. I've never seen a Puppet do that before." The witch said. "Is this an odd Puppet or is it perhaps you?" The witch appeared to try to think of an answer but just seemed to give up within a minute. "Anyway I'll take ya to the shrine." Mark was about to protest but the witch began to walk away so he reluctantly followed.

"So do you perhaps have a name? I can't just mentally keep calling you 'Witch Girl' in my head you know." Mark said.

"Name's Kirisame Marisa, Ordinary Magician." Marisa said though Mark face faulted.

"What's with the 'Ordinary Magician' bit?" Mark asked.

"Here in Gensokyo anybody who's anybody has a title of some sort." Marisa said. "And they can get pretty grand. Some may not make sense to you at first but they may make sense after you meet the person."

"Sounds rather showy." Mark said with a slight sense of disgust. He hated it when people tried to make themselves out better than they were or bragged about who they were. "How many people do this?"

"Over a hundred at last check I think...though some haven't been seen in a really long time." Marisa responded as Mark sighed at the number of people. He supposed he'd have to get used to it and hoped some of the titles were decent and made sense. Soon they arrived at the Hakurei Shrine but Mark noticed that it was in good condition and actually looked used.

"The fucking hell?" Mark muttered staring at the shrine.

"Oi what are staring at? Over here!" Marisa called before they entered the shrine house. They walked down a hall and found a young woman with long green hair that Mark somehow knew was natural. She had two ornaments in her hair, a frog shaped berate and a snake that coiled around a section of her hair, and wore a white and blue outfit that was similar to a shrine maiden's outfit though it had detached sleeves and small white polka dots on the skirt.

"Oh Marisa, welcome back and...who's your friend with the Puppet on his shoulder?" The greenette asked.

"Oh yeah I never got your name." Marisa laughed causing Mark to face fault again.

"My name is Mark Frey." Mark said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too. My name is Kochiya Sanae, Embodiment of the Divine Wind, a Wind Priestess of another shrine but I was asked by the owner of this shrine to watch it while she went out to investigate this Puppet Incident." Sanae explained as Mark tried not to look irritated by the title. "Oh I should explain things since Marisa isn't the greatest." Marsia looked like she was about to complain before shrugging, knowing that Sanae wasn't wrong. "You have entered the world of Gensokyo which is separated from your world by a barrier. Ordinarily we'd be able to send you back but since the puppets showed up the person in charge of the shrine and barrier strengthened it to keep them here in Gensokyo so you're stuck here until it's resolved."

"Ya can leave it all to me. Just stay here and sip tea with Sanae." Marisa said.

"While that sounds safe, no." Mark said. "I am stuck here until this is solved yeah? In that case I'm going to see what I myself can do. After all I might be able to do something since I have more at stake than you or whoever this shrine maiden is." The two young women looked at each other before a smile crossed Marisa's lips.

"Then let's have ourselves a Puppet Battle." Marisa said. "One of mine vs that Mai Puppet of yours."

"Wait so your name is Mai?" Mark asked his Puppet who nodded. "Pleasure to meet you partner. Care to help me out?" The Puppet nodded again with a determined look. "Fine then Marisa. Let's have that battle." Marisa smiled wider as the trio went outside as Mai got ready but not before touching her head to Mark's. Upon their heads touching Mark knew what skills his Puppet had. "Right. Gotcha!" Marisa tossed the crystal he had seen earlier and a Puppet of Marisa formed before it hit the ground, even carrying a miniature broom. "That's not prideful or anything."

"You'll see a few of us with Puppets of ourselves." Marisa explained. "Anyway let's go Puppet!" The Marisa Puppet nodded before rushing forward with her broom held like a weapon.

"Mai use Mire!" Mark called out as the winged Puppet called forth a mire around the Marisa Puppet that slowed it down. "Now hit it with Yin Energy!" Mai summoned a focused barrage of tiny magic bullets that hit the witch Puppet.

"Counter it with your own Yin Energy!" Marisa called as her Puppet fired its own focused barrage at Mai before causing it to clip her. Mai then became covered in a dark energy that homed in and hit the Marisa Puppet. "Your Mai has The Dark's Power ability! Now my Puppet's Focus attacks are halved. Oh well time for Yang Energy!" The witch Puppet unleashed a spread out barrage of tiny bullets.

"Mai, dodge and use Mire again!" Mark called as the winged Puppet took high to the sky and unleashed the mire everywhere in order to slow down the Marisa Puppet even more. The Marisa Puppet hopped on her broom as she too, took to the sky. "Let's end this quick! Rapid fire Yin Energy!" Mai nodded before unleashing an almost never ending barrage of focused bullets. Marisa watched as her slowed Puppet was unable to dodge the bullets and took the barrage head on before falling to the ground hard.

"Whoa! That's impressive." Marisa said as she held out her hand as her unconscious Puppet returned to her hand in the small crystal. she then walked up to Mark and handed him a red string. "This is a Seal Thread. Use this on your Mai Puppet in order to truly make her yours. Also with her fully yours you'll be able to learn about other Puppets you encounter as you see them though it'll be limited." Mark nodded as he held his hand out to Mai with the thread in it before it glowed and flew to her and entered her creating a red spell circle before it encompassed her and Mark's hand glowed with the same spell circle.

"Nice...now how do I do the crystal thing?" Mark asked.

"Just focus as you reach your hand out to your Puppet." Marisa said. Mark nodded as he was about to but Mai hopped on his shoulder with a sad look.

"I get it. If you don't want to be crystallized, then I won't force you." Mark smiled causing Mai to nuzzle Mark.

"Well then now that you're all set, I'm heading out to get started on looking into this." Marisa said as she got on her broom. "See ya later, ze." Marisa then took off towards the sky.

"That's not normal here is it?" Mark asked trying to remain calm.

"Yes. Many in Gensokyo have the ability of flight." Sanae said before handing him ten Seal Threads and a small box like charm. "Since you know how Seal Threads I won't explain them but the charm is a Puppet Box. Puppets will go into is when they aren't on your main team. It can only be opened by Akyuu Puppets you'll find that have been trained to do so."

"Gotcha. So where should I go in order to start my own investigation?" Mark asked.

"I'll write you a letter of introduction you can give to Hieda no Akyuu in the Human Village to the west of here along the path. She might have some information you could use. Just give me a few moments." Sanae said going inside. Mark waited for a while as his Mai cuddled up to him before he noticed a rather large turtle with a mustache and beard sleeping in the pond.

"This place is weird." Mark said as Sanae came out. "Hey Sanae...anything else I should know about Gensokyo?"

"Oh I never really explained. It's full of Youkai and other types of non human beings like my distant ancestor who is a Goddess." Sanae said.

"That...explains your title a bit more." Mark said. "Wait there's gods and monsters in this land?"

"Yes." Sanae said. "Though you should be fine. They'll be too fixated on the Puppets though you may have to battle them so it'll be in your best interest to catch more Puppets. I wish you luck on your journey."

"Thanks for that. I guess I might see you around." Mark said as he took the letter Sanae had for him before Mai climbed on his shoulder as he headed towards the shrine steps. "Well Mai, guess we have a long road ahead of us."

-Black Waltz-

And that ends my first chapter. I'll try to make them longer in the future but as I said please give me ideas on who to add to Mark's team and as an added suggestion, who should Mark travel with. Only stipulation for that is that they can't already be heavily involved with the main story.

And remember:

Even a chance meeting can be from the Fate of a previous life.