A/N: So, this is my first Touhou fanfic, though not my first fic on this site. Hope you like it! Dinosaur craziness abound.

Reimu Hakurei stirred sleepily from within the Hakurei shrine, a throbbing pain pounding through her temples. She groaned and rolled over onto the floor, bleary-eyed and worn out from the events of last night, just lying there as she tried to focus on anything around her. All she could make out through the constant pain was a vague blur of colour. Maybe a table. Drinking with Yukari was not supposed to go this far.

The shrine maiden shook her head groggily. In the distance, the sounds of animals roaring could be heard, making her wince uncomfortably as the noise went right through her ears. Some kind of wild beast running lose through the woods, probably, but right now she wasn't in the mood to care. She couldn't even remember what happened last night. What time was it?

Ugh. I need more sleep.

It was beginning to come back to her, now. Sake. Lots of sake, late into the night...and a very weird conversation about high-fiving a fish. She remembered that much and not a lot else. How could you high-five a fish, anyway? It had fins. She had more than a pressing feeling that Yukari had initiated that conversation.

She struggled to her feet, holding onto the table for support, and slowly felt her way over to the wooden cupboard at the end of the room. Through half-closed eyes, the shrine maiden reached out blindly with one hand and managed to grab hold of a bundle of medicinal herbs kept there for safekeeping.

Chewing on the herbs, Reimu soon felt them take effect. The pain in her head faded away into a dull ache and the room was no longer so blurry. She opened her eyes and held her head in her hands until she could actually see straight again.

That's better.

There was another roar from outside the shrine, startling her out of her reverie. Somehow, it sounded much closer than the first one.

Frowning, Reimu walked over to the table and took hold of the gohei resting there, the purification rod which she always kept at her side. Something wasn't right here. There shouldn't be wild beasts wandering this close to the Hakurei shrine.

Sleepily, she reached the exit of the shrine and slid the door open.

The bright sunshine of the late morning greeted her radiantly, prompting the shrine maiden to shield her face from its intense glare. Still holding her head in one hand, she looked out at the ring of trees surrounding the shrine, just a peaceful clearing with the sound of birdsong to add to the ambience. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all. Just another day in Gensokyo.

There was a stegosaurus in front of the shrine.

Reimu stared at the dinosaur in astonishment. Four-legged, green skin, a series of sharp ridges all across its back, with a thorny tail…yes, it was definitely a stegosaurus. It was munching away at the grass and the plants without a care in the world.

A dinosaur, the shrine maiden thought, her mind blank. Right. I must be dreaming.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes, pinched herself in the arm, then slapped herself on the cheek. Nothing happened. The tegosaurus continued eating peacefully as if everything was completely normal.

There was the sound of the mighty roar from before, and an allosaurus lumbered into view, sporting deadly claws and the jaw of a vicious carnivore. The beast was huge, standing almost as high as the shrine itself as it stampeded through the clearing at high speed. The ground shook slightly with its passing.

Without any warning, the creature suddenly darted forward and grabbed the stegosaurus off the ground. Powerful jaws closed onto its prey's neck with a single crunch before the creature could even cry out, and the allosaurus began to devour the body on the spot.

Reimu raised her eyes to the scene taking place before her and scrunched up her nose. It didn't look very pretty.

"Seriously?" she said weakly. "Dinosaurs in Gensokyo?"

There was another small tremor, and a pack of velociraptors raced across the clearing before headed down the forest path, howling excitedly. The sight of a diplodocus could be seen rising above the trees in the distance. Above that, pterodactyls were flying overhead through the skies far and wide.

Another earthquake shook the ground, then another, and another. Whatever manner of beasts had been unleashed upon the land, there were certainly a lot of them. Dinosaurs were roaming free, and as far as she could tell , they were everywhere.

I definitely had too much to drink last night, Reimu thought. I'm imagining things. Dinosaurs are extinct. Either I woke up in a completely different world than the Gensokyo I know, or…

She really didn't want to think about the alternative. Besides, it didn't matter. This wasn't real. A really detailed illusion that Yukari had probably set up to mess with her. Again.

The shrine maiden gazed up at the bloodied allosaurus tearing away at the flesh of the dead stegosaurus, too busy with its meal to pay attention to her. She could smell the overpowering stench of blood from here. It certainly felt real…

Without another thought, she walked back into the Hakurei shrine and slid the door shut behind her, then went back to bed to get some well-needed sleep.

There was another dinosaur roar from outside the shrine. Annoyed, Reimu pulled her pillow over her ears and fell asleep five minutes later.

Hopefully everything would be back to normal when she woke up.

The shrine maiden was rudely awakened a few hours later by a small lizardlike creature standing on her chest. She blinked sleepily and yelled out in alarm, shoving the beast off her. It was then that she realised that there were several of them in the room.

"Oh, for goodness' sake!"

The tiny creatures were hopping around the room like mad, clutching at every piece of clothing they could get their little claws on as they ripped them to shreds. Reimu eyed what was left of her pillow.

"Out!" she said loudly, rounding the lizards up with her gohei and pushing them out of the room. How had they managed to open the door? "Shoo! All of you!"

The shrine maiden kicked the last of the creatures outside and stopped in her tracks: the bony remains of the stegosaurus were lying on the ground right in front of her. In the distance, another might roar went up somewhere in the forest. Nothing had changed.

So...this is real, after all. I'm not dreaming. This doesn't make any sense! Dinosaurs?!What in the world is going on here?

Dinosaurs. Even the little creatures which had invaded the shrine – small, cute annoying little things, but dinosaurs nonetheless. Gensokyo was filled with dinosaurs! What had happened? Had she been transported to some alternate world? First the hangover, and now this…

Another diplodocus' head dipped above the trees as it fed on the vegetation. There were more stegosauruses gathering around the shrine, too. Reimu felt herself growing uneasy and tense in their presence, not used to having so many visitors like this. Of course, more donations were always welcome, but...

What would happen when they ate all the grass? As she recalled, stegosauruses were not hostile, but that was no excuse to take over the place.

The shrine maiden fumed in silence. This was unacceptable. Still, she could at least be proper about it.

"Excuse me," she said loudly, addressing the dinosaurs collectively in a huff. "Yes, you. You are not allowed to – to graze here. You're not even supposed to be here. Dinosaurs aren't allowed to roam the grounds of the Hakurei Shrine!" She didn't know if that was a rule, but it might as well be. "Therefore, I ask that all of you leave here at once! Move it!" She glared at the group of unresponsive stegosauruses. "Are any of you even listening to me?"

The munch of vegetation was her only answer. It was like addressing a flock of sheep.

Reimu paused for a moment. Youkai extermination was her specialty, although she had also fought humans for similar reasons…but dinosaurs? Was that allowed? She couldn't exactly start exterminating every dinosaur she saw. Or could she?

Maybe dinosaur youkai were allowed. Could you even have a dinosaur youkai?

Frustrated, the shrine maiden walked up to a stegosaurus and hit it on the head with her purification rod. The animal took no notice of her and continued eating nonchalantly.

"Look!" she said angrily. "Stop eating the plants. I have to water them. I want you out of here in five minutes, or…or…"

There was a familiar rumble across the ground and the allosaurus from earlier suddenly reappeared, looming over the clearing and casting a dark shadow over her. Its mouth opened to reveal two rows of sharp teeth, blood and dead flesh still sticking to them from its previous meal.

With savage intent, the allosaurus reached down and lifted a stegosaurus up in the air, then smashed it down into the ground again to devour another of the creatures. Petrified, the remaining dinosaurs went into a mad rush to escape, fleeing down the forest path at a hobbling pace.

"Thank you!" Reimu called after them, glad to see them leave. "That's better. Much better." She turned to the vicious allosaurus, pointing at it with a stern finger. "And that goes for you, too! Out!"

The carnivore looked up from its meal to fix her with its predatory eyes for a second. Then it lashed down at her with a claw as big as her head.

Instinctively, she brought up a magical barrier which deflected the brunt of the attack; nevertheless, the impact still sent her flying backwards a short distance to land painfully in the dirt. Reimu rose up in the air reflexively, the Yin-Yang orbs floating on either side of her as she gained altitude. She had just about had enough.

There was another thud, and a second allosaurus emerged from the forest, claws and teeth ready to shed blood. Its eyes immediately alighted on her, seeing her as easy prey. Reimu swiftly flew up higher and higher until she out of reach of its flashing claws.

"Now I'm only going to say this once more," she said in as dignified a manner as she could muster, as the two dinosaurs continued swatting at her like you would a fly. "No dinosaurs allowed! Not in Gensokyo, not in this forest, and especially not anywhere near the shrine of Haku - "

There was a great crash as the first allosaurus drove its muscular foot through one of the central pillars of the shrine. The building trembled slightly, a great cloud of dust billowing out.

Reimu felt her grip tighten on her weapon. That did it. Nobody attacked her shrine.

"Now you've done it," she whispered.

She flew downwards at an angle and released a barrage of ofuda at her opponents, the anti-youkai charms burying themselves deep into the skin of the two allosauruses whilst they continually slashed at her. The projectiles were more effective against youkai than dinosaurs, but that didn't mean they wouldn't hurt. Sure enough, the two beasts howled in pain from the attack and charged forward as one, trying to pin her down.

I haven't prepared any spellcards, the shrine maiden thought, finding herself empty-handed. That's what happens when you get jumped by a dinosaur before lunch time. I guess I'll just have to make do, then.

She cut across the first dinosaur's claws and drew dangerously near to the second one's mouth. It lunged at her with its jaws snapping, but she fired another volley of ofuda into its throat and withdrew before it could counterattack. The other allosaurus roared loudly with a volume which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, then attacked her with both claws at once. Breathing hard, she blocked the first claw with the purification rod, then plunged downwards to earth before the second claw could land.

The second dinosaur clutched its neck where she had wounded it, then raised a giant foot to crush her into the ground. Reimu swiftly flew out of the way and fired another dozen ofuda at its descending leg. It wasn't quite enough: the force of the allosaurus' stamp caused another tremor across the entire ground, so that even the Hakurei shrine trembled with the aftershock.

I'm not doing much damage at all, the shrine maiden realised. This isn't a standard danmaku battle. The ofuda are like paper cuts to these creatures; since they aren't youkai, the purification charms won't affect them.

She was going to need spellcards, somehow. Either that or resign herself to flying around these two dinosaurs for the next two hours whilst firing tiny little pellets which annoyed them. It was annoying her, too.

Or maybe she didn't need to do that after all…

Changing her tactics, Reimu suddenly flew away from the shrine altogether and headed deep into the forest. As she thought, the allosauruses immediately gave chase and charged after her at full speed, away from the Hakurei shrine.

Come on!

She increased her speed, going faster and faster through the woods until everything was a blur around her. There were even more dinosaurs here, too, more than she could have ever dreamed of: ankylosauruses and brontosauruses lumbering across her path, a herd of triceratops feeding in a group, and what looked like an archaeopteryx from overhead...It made her wonder just how much of Gensokyo had been taken over by these animals…

The shrine maiden reached her target at the next bend of the forest path: a massive oak tree with a thick trunk stood here proudly, grown rotten with age over the years. She had heard some time ago that it was scheduled to be cut down by the residents of the Human Village. Maybe she could save them some trouble.

Reimu came to a stop right in front of the tree and waited for her pursuers to arrive. She didn't have to wait very long.

Seconds later, the first allosaurus rounded the corner. Still running towards her with all of its might, the creature drew closer and closer to the shrine maiden and opened its jaws wide to devour her in a single powerful bite –

She threw herself out of the way and the allosaurus collided into the great oak tree with full force. Blood flowed from its cracked skull as it slumped against the damaged trunk, before its body slid to the forest floor.

One more.

The second allosaurus arrived just a few steps behind and charged straight at Reimu with an ear-shattering roar. Unpexctedly, the dinosaur started to slow down upon seeing its companion's body on the ground. It stared at the shrine maiden coldly, and then moved forward at a more moderate pace. Avoiding the tree.

Uh-oh. It's not falling for it.

She had barely enough time to dodge in the narrow space of the forest, before the allosaurus rushed past her and turned to attack again. The carnivore's jaws snapped towards her head, and she threw up the magical barrier to defend herself, the impact jolting through her body like electricity.

For a moment, her gaze fell upon the sight of the cracked trunk.

With her heart in her mouth, Reimu whirled around and released one last barrage of okuda at the base of the great rotting tree, cutting through what little wood was keeping it together at all. The collision with the first allosaurus had weakened it further.

As the shrine maiden watched, the tree slowly hurtled downwards and crushed the body of the remaining dinosaur beneath a solid ton of bark. The allosaurus let out one last shriek, and then lay still.

Slowly, Reimu floated down to the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close. She had half a mind to sleep with her spellcards in future.

So…dinosaurs. Dinosaurs in Gensokyo.

She had far too many questions to ask. The dinosaurs had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, without any reason, and now they were everywhere. Such things did not happen overnight without a reason. The only thing Reimu could think…was that somebody had summoned the creatures here...

Summoning means magic. Magic means Marisa. But how could you summon an entire species to Gensokyo, just like that? And why? What happened last night?

She wondered how the other residents of Gensokyo were faring. The way things were, Gensokyo was in danger. The youkai could probably handle themselves well enough against the dinosaurs, but not the Human Village…

"An incident in Gensokyo," Reimu said to herself quietly. "A dinosaur incident."

She already knew she was going to get to the bottom of this. The only problem was where to start.