Finally, the second chapter is up! Sorry I took so long to update, but college has been taking up most of my time. Anyway, here it is!

Stage 1: Scroll of the Fandom Night ~ Memetic Flyer

Portalspace.

It was not a very pleasant place—an infinite void of swirling purple and black, with countless eyes staring at you. Needless to say, Yukari doesn't mind one bit, though—that might as well be her incarnate form. Usually Yukari's portals transport the user instantly, but she does have a tendency to hide in them to spy on people, and this is what it looks like inside. And seeing as our three heroines were bound on a trip across dimensions, the journey took a bit longer than normal.

Our heroines found themselves tumbling through portalspace for several seconds before landing with a crash in a nondescript grassy field, suitable for a Level 1.

"Ow! Ran, my Myon is not for softening landings!"

"I apologize, but Miss Kochiya is standing on my tails."

"Sorry… Are you two okay?"

The three managed to un-pile themselves, and examined their surroundings.

"This… still looks like Gensokyo," Youmu commented.

Ran's ears twitched uneasily. "Yes, but stay alert. Something feels… wrong about this place. This is certainly the Pseudo-Gensokyo Yukari spoke of."

"So, our mission is to find Reimu, right?" Youmu asked. "Where should we begin?"

"If this place is identical to our Gensokyo, I believe the Hakurei Shrine would be a logical starting point," proposed Ran.

"I see the Yōkai Mountain off that way, so the Hakurei Shrine should be… that way." Sanae pointed in the direction of a forested area nearby.

"Let us be off, then." The three started down the path into the forest.

The Forest of Magic.

It was a place that lived up to its name—a forest that contained much magic. The Forest of Magic is the home of many mischievous yōkai and fairies, and most notably, the location of the houses of Marisa Kirisame and Alice Margatroid. Yes, they will show up in the story eventually. No, they are not coming into play at the present moment. Be patient, folks. In the meantime, Ran was continually having to stop to pick leaves out of her fluffy tails, and Sanae had been smacked in the face by multiple branches already, so Youmu decided to lead the way and clear protruding branches with her swords for their convenience.

"Remind me why we're taking the 'scenic route' again, Ran?" asked Youmu as she cleanly severed a particularly thick, knobbly limb.

"I had considered flying, but remember we are in unfamiliar territory. We would do well to avoid attracting unneeded attention," Ran explained.

"She has a point," said Sanae. "And Yukari did make it clear that remaining low-profile would be important…"

Youmu grumbled and swiftly bisected a suicidally gutsy fairy who had decided to fly up to the group and fire off a few close-range shotgun blasts. The fairy would respawn bearing a crippling phobia of gardeners and marshmallow fluff.

"Satisfied?"

"Yes."

The three continued their trek through the forest until Youmu stopped dead.

In front of them, wreathed in an aura of swirling darkness, was a girl in a black dress, hovering with her arms stretched out as if to block the path.

"Hahaha! This is the end for you!" Rumia shouted, a deceptively cheerful look on her face.

Youmu made to draw her swords, but Ran stopped her. "I would advise you to move aside. There are three of us and only one of you. Attacking us will only result in disappointment," she told Rumia.

Nevertheless, Rumia charged at our heroines… who all quickly took one step to the side, causing her to overshoot her charge and crash headfirst into a tree at full speed.

"Poor thing…" Sanae commented, looking at the unconscious Rumia, who had collided so hard that her hair ribbon had fallen off.

"At least she seems relatively normal, judging from the few times I have seen her," said Ran. "Apparently, she cannot see through her own dark aura."

"We'd better keep moving. We have to get to the shrine."

"Right, Youmu. Let's go," said Sanae, and they proceeded down the path once again.

The Hakurei Shrine.

It was not very different from the original—read: just as weathered and visibly lacking public funding.

As the heroines approached, Reimu was nowhere to be found. Ran was swishing her tails nervously. "I sense danger nearby. We should investigate the shrine… but be careful."

They entered the shrine and began their search. No sign of Reimu in the main room… no sign of her in her bedroom… no sign of her in the donation box… no sign of her anywhere. With that, they turned to leave, and very nearly jumped out of their skins.

Reimu was standing in the doorway. Only… she wasn't normal. She had a look of pure hatred in her eyes, the likes of which few had ever seen from her.

"Reimu… Is that you?" asked Sanae.

"Well, well, well. Two filthy pieces of yōkai scum and the whore of Gensokyo herself, snooping around my shrine. And no, I will not sleep with you, Sanae, no matter how much you ask me," Reimu spat.

Sanae stood there speechless, utterly shocked at what her friend was saying. Youmu drew her swords and stepped in between the two of them. "Who are you and what have you done with Reimu Hakurei?!" she shouted.

"What are you talking about? I AM Reimu Hakurei. You, on the other hand, have no business being here. I thought I had beaten you and your friends senseless enough last time, but apparently not. Nice to see you finally grew the guts to put up a fight this time, though…"

"Damn right I have. You're going to pay for insulting Sanae!"

Just as it seemed like blood was about to fly, Ran suddenly had a realization. Quick as a flash, she pulled a coin out of her pocket and flicked it Michael Jackson-style into Reimu's donation box, where it landed with a CLINK that seemed to bring time to a standstill and echo throughout Gensokyo with the impact of an event that had not occurred for as long as anyone in Gensokyo could remember.

Reimu immediately backed off and simply stared into the donation box, seemingly completely overwhelmed at the concept of finally having money. And quicker than you could say "Fantasy Heaven", our three heroines were in the sky, far, far away from the Hakurei Shrine, not daring to look back.

"Okay… what in all of the hells was that?!" said Youmu.

Ran began to explain. "That, Miss Konpaku, was the version of Reimu Hakurei native to Pseudo-Gensokyo. Yukari did warn us that we would meet doubles of ourselves and our friends here."

"But why was she… so…" Sanae was at a loss for words.

"This version of Reimu seems to embody all of Reimu's negative traits increased tenfold. This includes her enmity toward yōkai, and her greed."

"So that's why your trick with the coin worked… Is that what we're up against in this world? Our dark sides?"

"I doubt it's as simple as that," said Ran. "However, I'm afraid we must continue our search. I fear what others we may encounter, though… We were able to avoid a fight this time, but I doubt we will be so lucky in the future."

"Well, come what may, anything or anyone that threatens us will be cut down by my swords!" said a very determined Youmu.

"There is one thing I simply must know:" Sanae remarked. "Why did she call me 'the whore of Gensokyo'?"

Ran exchanged a worried glance with Youmu. "Knowing what we now know, I have a horrifying idea of why that may be. But to know for certain, we will have to travel to the Moriya Shrine."

"Let's do that. I dearly hope everyone at our shrine is still… sane…" said a worried Sanae.

"And this time, we are flying there," said Youmu.

Hoo boy. Fandom!Reimu. Not pleasant. This isn't the last we'll see of her, either.

On the other hand, writing the little Rumia encounter was quite amusing. Somehow she's even more adorably incompetent in fandom, and I don't really mind that. XD