Author's Note:

Errrr, my apologies for that.

"So, the time has come at last."

"Are you really prepared for what's to come?"

"I've been ready far longer than you have been born."

"Nothing but haste in your voice. In fact, is that your heartbeat I'm hearing?"

"Fufufu...Yes, my heart does indeed race like an antelope being chased through the savannah. Its a curious sensation to have...this elated thrill that has eluded me for so long."

"And it shall be my hands that keep that blessed emotion from spilling forth from your black-stained heart, old friend."

"And you accuse me of being the eager one? Your part to play will come soon enough."

"Oh of that I am certain. But my reasons for being so eager are a little more personal than you assume."

"Or perhaps you are the one making assumptions."

"Haaa...I shall truly miss these little scuffles on the mental playground once I am gone."

"..."

"Cat caught your tongue, old friend?"

"...A mere housecat? No, its more akin to a tiger, or a lion..."

"Well, whenever you are rid of it, I shall be here to hear you out."

"If only my lips were not pursed so tight as well..."

"Then do not let my presence be a distraction. Go. Your victory awaits, old friend."

"Yes. On this day...the Phoenix of Destruction shall be met with an ironic demise, as I shall destroy everything of his. Mind, body and soul...I will let none of it survive."

CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX FINAL STORY:

THE MYTHICAL LAND OF GENSOKYO

Chapter 1: The Sealed Away Fantasy

The universe is unfathomably vast, and many theorize that it is constantly growing every day. Just to travel to the moon for the first time took humans more than a week, and some space probes haven't even breeched the walls of the Milky Way let alone other galaxies. But in the span of almost two years, two people have gone far and beyond what mankind can accomplish on their own.

They have traveled to many worlds, seen many stars and many moons, and fought many battles. This long journey hasn't been the most rewarding, and there were a couple of times that they considered quitting...But alas, surrender was never an option for them. Triumphing over every foe in their way, the two have gathered five pieces of a key that will unlock an artifact of unimaginable cosmic power. And with it, perhaps, they will be able to free an enslaved race from the cold chains of tyranny.

But nothing on this wild and wonderous journey will have prepared them for what's to come next...

Right now though, the two carelessly glide through the endless black sea within their little bubble of air. Though travelling at near incalculable speeds, they remain as still as one would on a planet's surface. The girl, the ever energetic and optimistic Shina Aurora, holds the circular key above her head so its azure light can guide them to their destination while the boy, the young and somewhat bitter Elemental Overlord Alex Whiter, pilots their course throughout the cosmos.

It has been a few months since they left a world war torn by machines behind, but its been surprisingly uneventful despite this being the last leg of their journey. But this dull and drab atmosphere set the perfect mood for them to reflect on how they got here.

Giving her lithe arms a break from acting as a lighthouse beacon, Shina lowered the key near the center of her plump chest and squeezed it between them so it'd lie close to her heart. The beating of her heart was like a newborn butterfly's wings fluttering amongst a spring breeze, both eager and warm, yet not without a twinge of anxiety.

"Oh gosh...What am I gonna do when I see my sister again? She's probably gonna be a crying mess after all this time. Oh I know! I'll cheer her right up with tales of my adventures! She'll love hearing about all the cute baby dragons I rescued, or that time I briefly got to fight a pirate narwhal! I definitely oughta tell her about Elphelt and Noel...X and Alia too! Can't forget them!"

As her expression grew evermore excited, she started to blush as she realized one defining factor amongst her ventures...

"Golly...I really did make a lot of friends along the way, didn't I? But more than that..." Her eyes locked onto the back of the boy and her lips spread out into a smile, followed by a quiet giggle slipping their way through.

Alex closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The world around him seemed much warmer than it ever did before, and every muscle and nerve in his body was at ease.

"Can't believe we're at the final stretch of this friggin' journey, and with plenty of time to spare to boot. With how much time Shina spent loitering around collecting gems and crystals I was certain we'd be destined to fail from the start..." He grumbled a little in frustration and then let out a drawn out sigh, "But she definitely started to see the error of her ways after that, and we never would've gotten the last two artifact pieces if it wasn't for her. Hell, I almost screwed her over on the last one..."

"...But she didn't give up on me. She genuinely cared about my well-being, and more than that..."

He peered over his shoulder and locked eyes with hers. Their smiles widened a little as their thoughts synced together as one harmonious echo.

"I found love..."

After a couple seconds of silence, the two's faces became filled with a bright red blush and they swerved away from their gaze. Alex coughed a couple times almost like he was choking, while Shina's heart beat strummed along like a herd of wild gazelle on the run.

She cupped one hand up by her chin and pressed her thumb between her lips, her eyes quivering back and forth as the red in her cheeks resembled a rosey shade.

"Ooooh...b-but we haven't done anything romantic since then. Should...should I push for something, or just take it slow? Alex ain't used to this sorta thing..."

"Shit, you saw that look in her eyes? I think that's one of those 'I'm in a romantic mood' gazes...B-But what does she expect me to do? I'm a goddamn romance virgin!"

"No. No no no Shina. You shouldn't force yourself on Alex...Lord knows his heart would explode if you tried too hard. Yeah, I gotta just take it slow and easy...Everything's fine as it is."

"I thought things would be easy after I confessed my love, but noooo! Turns out THAT was Easy Mode and everything after that is where the difficulty ramps up to Hard! M-Maybe...I should just ask her..." He gleamed over his shoulder and saw her tapping a couple fingers against her chin and then retreated with a gasp, "Shoot! She's thinking about it already! That can't be a good sign...!"

"...On the other hand. I...I kinda want to experience my first kiss. Oh goodness gracious Shina...you gotta learn to take initiative once in a while!"

Deaf to how unromantic of an atmosphere an air bubble in space was, Shina pounded the hammer of judgment that was her fist down upon an open palm and caused Alex's heart to skip a beat. She then spun around and tucked the key at her back, leaning closer to the boy while innocently murmuring, "Aleeeex...Ummm..."

Alex's body tensed up and his knees felt cold as he pivoted around and swallowed his pride to get this over with.

"Yes, what is it Shina?" He tried to remain as calm as he usually is, but a sweat drop was already trickling down the side of his head.

"I was thinking..." She swayed her hips back and forth and sucked her lips in as she looked down and gave her right foot a light kick forward. As her glistening eyes locked onto Alex's face, the boy's heart began to race, as though her intentions were spread across the face like the words to a textbook.

"M-Maybe...we could..."

A planetary sensation prodded Alex in the back so suddenly and strongly that he spun around on the spot expunging a heavy gasp of relief as he stated, "H-Hey look at that! We're arriving at our destination, isn't that great?!"

A cold sweat drenched his face as he sputtered a couple more breaths of relief and left Shina frozen with disappointment. She blinked a couple more times but didn't think much about it, for an overwhelming sensation of accomplishment swept her mind clean. She dashed up beside Alex and looked out to the planet, but then tilted her head to the point that her long hair covered part of her face.

"Eh? Ya sure about that Alex?"

The two saw with a rather dull surprise that they were approaching the Earth. Just like the four other times they'd run into this planet, it was bountiful with blue waters and green forests.

"The stone doesn't lie," Alex noted firmly, "So this Earth must be pretty special."

"Hmmm, I guuuess," Shina lifted her head up and held the stone adjacent to her chest, double checking that the trail of aura led to the planet, "Its just that I was expecting something a lot more...sparkly?"

"Sparkly?" He raised his brow at her.

"Yeah, like a nebula!"

"Aren't most nebulas dusty..." After that inner snark he shook his head a little and steadied the bubble's flight so it'd be aligned with the trail of aura, then shot slingshot it towards the planet.

"Hang on Shina, we're heading into the atmosphere!"

He locked both arms in front of him and sped towards the highest layer of clouds. As their vision became thick with fluffiness, Shina pumped her fists up before the chest and exclaimed, "Ooooh this'll be so exciting! We're going where few Aurians have ever tread! I wonder what it'll look like?!"

"You'd have a better idea of that than me..." Alex mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess I...Haaaa..." Shina's mouth spread wide open with a yawn, followed by her smacking her lips as her eyes began to crease shut, "Would..."

"I told you you should've been getting some more sleep lately. You better not konk out at the last second-"

Shina collapsed flat on the ground like a leather rug, and Alex raised his brows before the sensation of sleepiness started to envelop his eyes as well.

"...W-what the...hell..." Alex's knees dropped, but he stiffened them up halfway down. But it was only a few seconds more before even that wasn't enough and he collapsed right beside Shina. The air bubble burst open, and their bodies plummetted towards the ground like miniature comets in a night sky.

Atop a forest canopy, a woman with a bushy brown tanuki tail lays back and enjoys the brisk sunny sky while smoking from her brisk wooden pipe. But then a sound resembling a sonic boom caused her to poke her head up and watch as two streaks of light, one red and one blue, hurtled down towards the surface. Her eyes perked up along with her body as she criss-crossed her legs and held her smoking pipe out beside the shoulder.

"Hohoho...'Two beings shall descend upon Gensokyo' eh? Son of a gun, that wily witch weren't a loose-lipped fibber after all." The woman's lips puckered into a small mischievous smile as she took another puff of smoke and squinted behind her glasses.

The two streaks crashed down and rocked the world while the tanuki slyly murmured, "I reckon it'd be ill-mannered of me not to have a little...fun with our guests. Ohohoho! How exciting!"

A couple hours later...

"Urggh...Goddamn it, my body feels stiff as wood..." Alex grumbled as he tried to move, causing only his arms to twitch.

"I'm telling ya, we should just dump their bodies off at the village and let the teach sort 'em out!" A tomboyish voice declared in a straightforward manner.

"Voices? ...An enemy?" Alex kept as still and quiet as a mouse as the tomboy received a response.

"We're NOT tossing them out like yesterday's trash." The other person spoke up with an average sort-of voice. Not too chipper, but not too dour. Not too young, but not too old.

"You don't even toss out trash from last month." The tomboy replied with a sneer.

"Maybe I ought to start with you." The other girl grew snippy in a second, but the tomboy just laughed it off.

"Hahahah, but seriously, we oughta try and wake up 'em up and see what their deal is."

"I already tried prodding them with my purification rod, but..." The other girl bent down and stuck a hard stick into the top of Alex's scalp a couple times, leaving him no choice but to grit his teeth and bear it.

"See? No response. But judging from their entry, they must have come from the Outside World."

"Outsiders don't just drop from the sky like meteors and crash into a witch mindin' her own business!"

"That's just a coincidence." The girl brushed off nonchalantly.

"Coincidence...Riiiiight. I'll be havin' words with that old hag later about this."

"We're lucky these two didn't die when they crashed down."

"Yeah, cause I was their pillow!"

"At least that was an ensured soft landing."

"Sheesh, the only thing needing to be soft is your wit..." The tomboy giggled, by which point Alex squeezed his eyes down into an annoyed glare and had enough.

"Alright, I think that's enough droning for one day..." He sprung right to his feet and swung his hands up like he was ready to perform karate. However, instead of seeing the people he heard speaking, he saw a small, humble shrine that looked as though it had been well kept for centuries. Surrounding it were a few trees lush with newly grown leaves, and behind it was an even smaller house used for storage.

"Wha? Where did they..."

"Look at that, the boy's as feisty as a hot pepper!" The tomboy proclaimed with excitement.

Alex lowered his head just a little bit and finally saw the two girls face-to-face. The average voice belonged to a girl wearing a red and white shrine maiden uniform, which came complete with a red skirt, red top with detached white sleeves. Her hair is brownish-black and looked a little bit dirty, yet at the same time pretty, the latter helped by her red ribbon and matching tubes on her sidelocks. With the weather a little nippy, she kept herself warm with a red and white cloth scarf wrapped around the neck. In her right hand she tapped the bane of his scalp atop her shoulder, a thin long black rod with streams of white paper attached to the top. Right now, she kept a cautious air around her as she looked at him with sagging brown-red eyes.

As for the boorish tomboy girl, well...Alex could be forgiven for not noticing her right away. She was short, abyssmally short. There are definitely plenty of children out there taller than her. The girl thus compensated for that shortcoming with a bombastic personality and a tall, saggy black witch's hat that had a snow white bow wrapped around it. At least that way she'd be able to match her friend's pretty average height. Naturally, the girl's choice of clothes were all thematically similar, but with the added touch of a faint pink apron attached to the waist. Like her friend, the girl kept warm with a bright pink scarf around the neck and a pair of gloves, which allowed her to hold onto the patched up broomstick without worry. She has somewhat frilly blonde hair and yellow eyes, but her face had some subtle masculinity to it, especially around the cheeks. There was no subtlety when it came to that grin of hers though. The girl had plans upon plans brewing in that silly little head of hers.

"...Do I...know these two?" Alex squinted his eyes shut then spread them wide open, his ability to register their appearance shaken by his slow awakening.

"Hey, don't start causing trouble. We're not your enemy." The shrine maiden's voice was rough but at the same time gentle. She rested the rod down by her hip and tilted her head from right to left, examining Alex's body while raising her brows in concurrence with whatever piqued her interests.

"...Is this a kidnapping?" Alex murmured rather as he curled his hands into fists and stayed on guard.

"Hell yeah it is!" The tomboy pointed the sharp end of her broom at Alex's chest and proclaimed with an over-the-top western accent, "Spill yer pockets free of loot and I won't have to rough ya up!"

"Cut it out..." The shrine maiden groaned, then took her rod out and prodded the side of Alex's hips. The boy closed his eyes and the left side of his mouth started twitching until she stopped and placed her other hand on the chin.

"This human's a lot taller than the usual folk who get dropped in." She remarked.

"Oh! I think I heard about this from the tanuki!" The little witch snapped her fingers and turned to face her friend, "He's from a place called 'Ah-mer-ica'. Its apparently a land of giants!"

"Or maybe you're just a shrimp." Alex bluntly said while crossing his arms and looking down at her.

"Oh, and they're also a land of boisterous loud-mouths." The witch grew smug and shrugged while throwing only the slightest glance towards Alex, whose right eye began to twitch.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black." The shrine maiden remarked in turn.

"What'cha talking about? I always back up my boasts!" The witch folded her arms behind her head and grinned.

"As fun as it is watching you two gab away like schoolgirls..." He spoke out with the utmost sarcasm, "Have you seen a girl about my age around here? She's as tall as me, has blonde hair, and is pretty..."

As he raised his hands towards his chest to demonstrate her particular 'blessings' he froze up and began to blush, causing his arms to droop down before he finished, "Ahem...'gifted'."

"Have you tried looking to your right?" The witch nudged her head that way.

"...Have I tried looking to my right..." Alex rolled his eyes and began to slowly swivel his head that way, "How stupid do you think I-"

Sure enough, Shina was lying on the ground just to the right of him, and she was beginning to wake up. Alex widened his eyes and faced the witch, who grinned slyly at the metaphorical egg on his face. He swiftly ignored her and bent down at Shina, who pulled her head up and opened her eyes rather easily.

"Yaaaaaaaaahhhaaah...Mmmm, haven't slept like that since I left home..."

"You feeling ok?" Alex reached for her arms and glided his fingers along the skin, which remained as smooth as silk.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." She planted a hand on the ground and started to lift up, so Alex gave her space. She paused partway up and looked at the two girls, blinking a couple times before murmuring a delightful but familiar, "Ah...hello there!"

Alex leaned his head close to her ear and whispered, "Do you recognize these two? I swear their names are on the tip of my tongue..."

"How could ya not recognize them? Its Reimu and Marisa..." Her observation was so on the nose that it caught even her by surprise. After widening her eyes she shot right up, clobbering Alex in the nose so hard he's bowled right onto his back.

"Ah! AH!" Shina's eyes brightened up like stardust as she thrust a pointer finger up and waved them back and forth between the two.

"I think she's spooked." The witch commented.

"Doesn't look like it. I think she's...excited?" The shrine maiden tilted her head and raised her brows as her suspicion of disbelief was being stretched.

Shina flinched for a second and then bowed her head before apologizing, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be rude!"

She sprung a couple steps forward and thrust her right hand out towards the shrine maiden, "The name's Shina! Shina Aurora!"

"...Huh?" The maiden remained flabbergasted, so the witch jumped in right away and bumped her aside to steal the handshake with a very rough up-and-down swing.

"The name's Reimu Hakurei! I'll personally handle any donations you wanna give my shrine!"

"Marisa!" The shrine maiden snapped, "Stop trying to swindle the outsiders!"

"It'd be an honest exchange Reimu. Don't tell me ya wouldn't want some money?" Marisa turns her head with a smirk.

"How desperate do you think I am?" Reimu's right eye twitched, while behind them, a puff of dust shot out of the donation box on the shrine's porch.

She then waved her left hand up at Marisa's face to shoo her away so she could walk up in front of Shina and properly introduce herself.

"I'm Reimu Hakurei. The hyperactive wild child beside me is Marisa Kirisame."

"Sup!" Marisa raised the lip of her hat and grinned.

Reimu Hakurei ~ The Laziest Hard-Working Shrine Maiden

Marisa Kirisame ~ A Spunky, Ordinary Magical Thief

"So you two came from 'Ah-mer-ica'? Is it true that every human there are superstrong giants?" Marisa started right in on the questions, overwhelming Shina a little.

"A...America? Oh no no no, I don't know what Alex told ya, but I'm an Aurian, not an American." Shina laid a hand atop her chest and smiled gently.

"Ya don't say? Guess they just grow 'em giant everywhere but here," Marisa rubbed her shoulders up near her head and smirked, "Boy I really got gipped when it comes to my birthplace. Coulda had a couple more inches of height if I was born anywhere else."

"Now you're starting to sound like that inchling." Reimu mumbled dryly.

"Hah! I'm just playing around Reimu." Marisa winked her friend's way and then tucked both hands comfortably behind her head.

"...Anyways..." Reimu sighed and tilted her head back to look into Shina's eyes, "You were dropped right into Gensokyo. Do you have any recollection of what happened prior to arriving?"

"Well, Alex and I were-" Her voice became muffled as Alex lightly placed a hand over her mouth. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the tip of his nose was now a lightly bruised red. He then pulled his hand back and peered over at the duo to apologize, "Sorry, can you give us a moment of privacy?"

"What?" Reimu remarked as Shina began to turn and follow Alex a couple steps down the stone walkway. The girl turned and clasped her hands together to throw a sincere whisper of 'Sorry' at the maiden, whose mouth was spreading into a disbelieving scowl.

"I'm getting some really suspicious vibes from those two..."

"Aww, you're worrying too much Reimu." Marisa said while slapping her firm on the back, causing her to stumble a little bit forward. Once she had reoriented herself, Reimu lifted her head up and placed a hand on the chin to mumble, "Maybe you're right. They do just seem like regular humans..."

After getting clear of the duo, Alex crossed his arms against the chest while Shina reached a hand out for his nose and gave it a gentle rub, "I didn't meant to hit you so hard Alex..."

"I-I know you didn't, don't worry about it, it'll heal fast." Alex turned his head and blushed, feeling as though he was being tended to like a child.

Shina clutched her fingers in and pulled back, sensing that feeling protruding from the boy's embarrased face, "So what'd ya want to talk about?"

"T-Talk about?" Alex was in a daze for a moment from Shina's warm touch, "Oh right..."

He stiffened upright and with a firm swing of his head remarked, "Why don't we start with the fact that we're in freakin' Gensokyo?!"

"Oh, oh yeah...I guess that did cross my mind as a little odd." Shina spoke with mild surprise.

"Just a little? Who knows how off course we are now!" Alex proclaimed as loud as he could without alerting the others while also swinging his arms right out.

"Are we? Are we reeeaaally?" Shina responded with a small sly smile and a swift wink.

"Shina..." Alex growled with a little irritation, but then in the midst of crossing his arms he breathed through his nostrils and listened intently, "...What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking...The Cosmos Drive is hidden somewhere within Gensokyo!"

Alex raised his brows, so she swung her hands up and stay assured in her theory, "Hear me out! The artifact was guiding us to another Earth ya? So whoever said it was leading us TO the planet?"

"You're saying it wanted us to purposefully run into the Hakurei Barrier?"

"The artifact hasn't led us wrong before, why would it now?"

"Better double-check the stone to make sure. It always loses its glow when we're at our destination."

"Yeah sure, just gimme a sec to-" Shina twisted her body down and looked at her hip. She patted her back pockets like she was performing a light dusting and then murmured a drab, "Uh-oh!"

"Uh-oh? No no don't give me an 'uh-oh'!" Alex stammered in disbelief.

Swinging her left hand back in a haste Shina said, "Don't fret Alex! I think I know what's going on here..."

With an unassuming smile, Shina laid her hands down and stared over at Marisa. After a casual approach she leaned towards the magician and closed her eyes to ask, "Excuse me...did either of you see a round stone when you found us?"

"A round stone? Would it happen to be a stone with a bunch of names etched onto it?" Marisa remarked.

"Yeah!" Shina nodded.

"Haven't seen hide or hair of one, sorry!" Marisa leaned back and whistled, while some mass within her hat began to push out. Reimu glared aside at her friend with one eye open and then prodded Marisa's hat up with the tip of her rod, revealing the artifact hidden atop her head.

"...Whoops, busted!" Marisa gasped for a second but then smirked as Reimu reached under her hat and plucked the stone key right out.

"You literally pillaged them while they were unconscious?" Reimu's jaw almost slacked off the side of her face from how in disbelief she was.

"Ah-ah-ah, pillage is such a harsh word Reimu. Think of it like a...tax for my broken broom. I'd have given it back to them eventually."

"A tax? I see that kappa's expanded your repertoire of excuses," Reimu sighed and then tossed the stone over to Shina, who swiped it right up in her hands while the maiden remarked, "You caught on pretty quick. Maybe you have what it takes to survive in Gensokyo."

"Hey no hard feelings right?" Marisa was still smirking as she attempted to apologize.

"Its no big deal! I can see how'd you be attracted to this thing though, its got that 'air of mystery' you don't find very often out there."

"See? She gets it!" Marisa said with a smug look towards Reimu, who sighed for a moment and murmured to herself, "I take that back, you're probably screwed..."

"So what's up with that thing anyways? It looks pretty important." Reimu could determine from a cursory glance.

Shina glanced back at Alex, whose cross gaze told her everything she needed to respond, "Alex, I think we can trust 'em?"

"After Marisa just thieved you in broad daylight?" Alex replied.

"Ahem, you mean, 'borrowing'?" Marisa objected loudly.

"You know, maybe if you kept all that hot air stuffed in your body you'd actually grow taller than the average ten year old." Alex responded with sharp snide, but could only get Marisa to chuckle.

"Haaaaa..." Alex dropped his right arm by his hip and waved the other fingers out from his chest, "Go right ahead Shina. Just keep it brief."

"Right-o!" Shina clapped her hands together after placing the stone snuggly into the back of her pants and looked at Reimu and Marisa.

"So it's like this. Alex and I've been traveling around for quite a while looking for pieces to an artifact that would lead us to this super powerful object called the Cosmos Drive. Well, our trail just happened to lead us to Gensokyo, so we're wondering if either of you've happened to hear anything about it?" Shina clapped her hands together and presented herself with a surprising degree of maturity as she further pleaded, "Pretty please? A lotta lives are depending on us finding the Cosmos Drive."

"Cosmos...Drive?" Reimu tilted her head aside and then shook it a little, "No, can't say I've heard of it."

"Same 'ere." Marisa replied just as quick.

"Oh..." Shina's face sunk with mild disappointment, but then brightened up with a tiny smile as she said, "That's fine. We'll just take a look around Gensokyo and see what we can find."

"Huh, how about that..." Alex stayed fixated on her with eyes wide in surprise as she began to turn around. But then Reimu clasped a hand down atop her right shoulder and held her in place.

"Hold on a second, you're going to want to think twice before you just go wandering around all willy-nilly."

"Eh?" Shina blinked a couple times as she glanced back.

Reimu pulled back and lowered her rod next to her hip as she started to sound a little more focused, "Look, I don't know what you know about Gensokyo, but this place isn't anything like the Outside World."

"Yeah! It's populated by tons of wild and nasty Youkai!" Marisa rushed up to Shina and used her broom to prop herself up and rub against her face with a spooky look in her eyes, "One wrong move and you'll be a vampire's supper, or an oni'll drag you to hell kicking and screaming! But perhaps the worst thing of all...is that a goblin may steal your undergarments when you're sleeping!"

Reimu grabbed Marisa by her scarf and pulled her down to relatively solid ground on her butt, then tapped her rod against the back of her neck and remarked, "Ok, she might have been exaggerating a little, but you should listen to what she's saying. If you want to go around Gensokyo, you need some protection."

"And luckily for you, Reimu's up to the task free of charge!" Marisa sprung up and wrapped her right arm around her friend's back to hang on.

"What? No I'm not. You do it." Reimu looked the witch square in the eyes with an intense glare.

"Ze? Why am I now the designated babysitter? Ain't it your job to handle this?"

"I think being a tour guide's proper penance for your earlier thievery, Marisa."

"Now you're starting to sound like that lecturing bureaucrat. Sheesh, no wonder your shrine's as empty as that ice fairy's brain."

Squeezing down her right arm atop Marisa's own to lock her in place, Reimu edged her face closer to hers and scowled, "Wanna say that again Marisa?"

"Say what? That yer shrine's as dry as year-old wheat?"

Sparks literally began to fly between their eyes as their argument appeared ready to accelerate into a troublesome scene. Alex groaned and murmured, "Oh to hell with this..."

He flicked his right hand up and summoned a tiny ember above his palm. Just like that, fire was fought and overcome by fire, and the two faced them with eyes wide with surprise.

"Right, so that's that..." Alex put the flame out by closing his fist and then started to turn around. But before he could even take a single step Reimu pulled away from Marisa and ran straight at him while proclaiming, "Now hang on just a second!"

"Uggh..." Alex glanced over his right shoulder with his eyelids halfway shut, showing just how little of a shit he gave at this point, "What NOW?"

Whipping her right hand up to point at Alex's face, Reimu starting toss out accusations like crazy, "I shoulda pegged you for a troublemaker from the start! I bet you're just itching to go beat up Youkai for information, aren't you?"

"Well, that was my first idea," He begrudingly admitted while rubbing the back of his head and twisting around to look at Reimu's puffed up cheeks and flagrant disregard for his nonsense, "What of it?"

"Good grief..." Reimu pinched the center of her nose and grumbled obscenities under her breath for a few seconds before sighing, "This isn't a place you can just go around acting like a thug. There's certain laws you have to follow around here, and I'm not letting you go until you learn them all."

"Just toss me a rulebook, I'll read it on the way." Alex said while brushing his hands out beside his hips without a care.

"Yeah, you definitely strike me as the reading type," Reimu's tone turned crass as she told him off, "You'd probably just burn it first chance you get."

"...Fine," Not wanting any further verbal wounds, Alex sucked it up and remarked after closing his eyes, "Just make it quick, ok?"

"Trust me, I will," Reimu placed her rod on the ground and then extended her left hand out, summoning a glowing card with a picture of some colorful bullets sprayed across it, "In Gensokyo, conflicts are resolved with Spell Card Duels. Spell Cards are the manifestation of your power through the use of harmless Danmaku. The goal of a duel is to break all of your opponents' spell cards before they break yours. So as long as you follow these simple instructions, Gensokyo won't become a smoldering crater. Got it?"

As she dispelled the card, Shina nodded her head a few times and pretended like she was writing down notes on a paper made of aura. Alex, however, tilted his aside and snidely remarked, "That felt like a pretty half-assed explanation. How are you expecting me to just create 'Danmaku'?"

"Well it might be tough at first, but hey, I've seen plenty of other idiots pull it off." Reimu stated with a disgusting amount of nonchalance.

"...You wanna repeat that?" Alex gave a nasty scowl while his arms tensed up against the chest as though he was itching for a fight.

"Fine, fine," Reimu stretched back and exclaimed, "Hey Marisa, why don't you give them a demonstration?"

"I don't know Reimu, I wouldn't want to spoil them with the best Danmaku Gensokyo has to offer right away!"

"Then its a good thing they'd be starting with you." Reimu responded as she turned back.

"Ho! You've got me all fired up now!" Marisa turned her hat ten degrees to the left and threw her broom out, bouncing right atop it a second later with perfect balance. She then waved her hands back with a wide and challenging smirk before exclaiming, "Alright! Which one of you'll be my first victim?!"

"Well, you heard her Shina. You're up!" Alex backed off and swayed his arms out like a butler in a fancy restaurant.

"H-Huh?! But you're the one who's supposed to be-"

"I'll learn from example! Go get 'em champ!" Alex peppered his words with an abundant amount of energy to overwhelm Shina's confusion, and thus the girl swiftly relented.

"Well, it'll probably be fun." Shina put on a smile and slanted her brows down as she flew up to meet Marisa in a duel. The witch's eyes widened and she let out a sharp whistle.

"So ya can fly on our own eh? You're just full of surprises! But that just means I ain't gonna take this easy!" Marisa held her right pointer finger adjacent to her waist and swung it up, tracing a sparkling white light into the air just for show.

"I'll show ya one of my personal favorites!" A glistening bright card appeared from thin air as she grit her teeth and got super excited.

"Magic Space 'Asteroid Belt'!" The card shattered and spread about like glitter, making a distinct bursting sound that sounded similar to a gong. A mere second later, dozens of glassy red stars shoot off in a sphere around Marisa, followed by dozens of blue stars coming right after. The Danmaku kept firing out with barely a second between waves, alternating between red and blue. It spread out so that one blue star would always be surrounded by four red stars and vice versa, but left just enough space between them for a human to feasibly slip their way past.

"Whoa!" Shina widened her eyes and picked up the pace in an instant. She glided around with the floatiness of a feather and grazed the immeasurible volley of Danmaku flying her way, even if it meant sucking her stomach in to do so.

Marisa stayed completely still but comfortable atop her broom, watching Shina zip around and avoid her bullets like a fly would falling raindrops. With a steady kicking of her feet off the wayside, the little witch commented with great surprise, "Well golly, I wasn't expectin' ya to be so nimble!"

Smirking bright and wide, Marisa swung her right fist up and exclaimed, "But not all spell cards are that simple, mine especially!"

Shina wasn't allowed to pause and register the fact that Marisa's assault had only just begun until the second part of it made contact with her in the form of a flurry of tiny green and yellow stars. The little stars came from the left and right and seemed to blend in perfectly with the rest of Marisa's Danmaku pattern, narrowing Shina's options for evasion down rapidly.

She took a bunch of tiny stars to the hips while trying to back off, where the bigger stars spread further out and offered her more room to manuever. The feeling of Danmaku against her body was similar to mosquito bites, but without the threat of her skin being left wounded.

Cracking a half-hearted smile while building up a sweat from how much she was moving around, Shina yelled out in a worried haste, "S-So how long do you want me to keep this up for?"

"Huh?" Marisa tilted her head back and said, "Wait, you're expecting me to time out? This ain't one of those kinda spell cards! You might want to try fightin' back!"

"My options are kinda limited like this..." Shina wasn't afraid to admit as a blue star came within millimeters of her gut, causing her heart to skip a beat as she flipped over it, only to have a couple more stars graze past her legs.

"Weeeeell, I guess I can make an exception just this once since it's a demonstration. Here...lemme just show you how bombs work real quick." Marisa reached into her dress and whipped out an octagonal block made of wood that was adorned with an eight trigrams print in a circle on its front.

Throwing the mini-Hakkero into the air and catching it between her right fingers, Marisa cracked a bright and merry grin as she funneled her magical powers into the center of the handcrafted furnance.

"Whenever you're feeling in a pickle, a bomb'll always clean up whatever pesky Danmaku's in your way! See, a spell card duel ain't just about winning! Its about asserting your dominance through a deadly and elegant dance of bullets!"

As the mini-Hakkero finished charging with a glistening flash of light as bright as the sun above, Marisa held on tight to her hat and exclaimed, "Taste the culmination of all my hard work and magical majesty! MAASTEEER..."

Shina's eyes widened, not in fear, but in utter glee as the mini-Hakkero chamber burst wide open and unleashed a devastating white hot laser beam right at her.

"SPAAAAAARRRKK!" Marisa was shot back a good ten feet even with her body anchoring her broom down with the resistance of a boulder. But the diverted course didn't affect the speed nor the power of the Master Spark, which smashed into Shina and blew her right back into the top of the shrine's gateway, known as a torii.

The attack lasted an instant, but judging from the pleased smile on Shina's face that instance will be a memory that lasts a lifetime. After her impact broke a chunk right off the center of the torii, she rebounded and fell towards the ground, where Alex flew right over to catch her in his arms.

"You could've dodged that..." Alex reprimanded her with mild concern, seeing how she her body remained pretty much unharmed by such a devastating looking attack.

"When else am I gonna get the chance to say I got hit by a Master Spark?" Shina responded with a proud look in her eyes as she gave the boy a merry wink.

"Haaaa..." Alex closed his eyes and shook his head, "You can have some really skewed priorities sometimes Shina."

He let her down gently and turned towards Marisa, who landed on the ground and snatched the broom up into her right hand, popping the mini-Hakkero under her hat while nudging the lip of it up.

"And that's how you do a Spell Card Duel!" She turned to look at Reimu with her eyes closed, thus becoming unaware of the peeved glare the maiden was currently drilling into her skull.

"Whatcha say Reimu? That was some pretty top-notch teaching if I do say so myself!"

"Marisa, you're going to patch up the torii later whether you like it or not!" Reimu proclaimed, her utterly furious tone making her resemble a rampaging demon. Marisa's eyes shot right open and her body began to shiver as she became hesitant to look back and see the damage her reckless abandon had caused.

"Ooooh, tough luck there Reimu," Marisa puffed out with genuine remorse, but then snapped right back to her usual self by snapping her fingers out and saying, "But hey, just put it on my bill and I'll get back to you on it later!"

"Mrrrmmm, fine." Reimu reluctantly grumbled, then peeped through one of her eyes to say to her still present company, "So that's Danmaku in a nutshell. If you still have any questions, then tough luck, I've never been the tutorial type."

"I...think I get the gist of it," Shina smiled with only the mildest of hesitation, "Gracefulness, elegance...and domination. Those're the three keys to winning a Spell Card Duel!"

"Looks like my lesson stuck after all! Yeah, you'll get the hang of these down pat in no time! Though ya might want to work on that dominating part. You're not gonna be winning any duels just by twirling around like a ballerina." Marisa imparted that last bit of advice free of charge, which considering her, was an act of generosity so great that even the gods would be shocked.

"I should be fine, but thanks!" Shina replied.

"Well this was all fine and dandy, but we don't have a damn clue where to start investigating." Alex said in a gruff voice.

"Why not try the Scarlet Devil Mansion?" Marisa spoke up enthusiastically with her hands crossed behind her head, while Reimu glared at her with an objection clearly present on the tip of her tongue.

"Why there?" Alex inquired.

"The librarian there dabbles in magical artifacts. Maybe she'd know a thing or two about your Cosmos Drive?"

"Magical artifacts? Yeah, I guess that'd be the place the start then." Alex was pretty agreeable, then looked over at Shina and asked, "Shall we head out then?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed excitedly. Turning to face the two, she waved her hand up and said, "It was nice meeting ya! Maybe we'll see each other again sometime!"

She then joined Alex in taking flight away from the shrine. Marisa grinned with a chuckle while Reimu walked up beside her and remarked, "Sending them straight to that vampire's place. Smooth, Marisa, smooth."

"Hey, they didn't seem too worried about it. And neither were you." Marisa glanced back with a continued smirk of confidence.

"...Well, I keep getting this nagging feeling there's more to those two than they're letting on." Reimu leaned back and started to rub her chin in deep concentration.

"Eh you're thinkin' too hard about this. They'll make a fine distraction."

"Yeah, I guess they-" Reimu swings her head down and throws a glare towards Marisa, who's already hopping atop her broomstick raring to go.

"I knew it. You just want to go steal that librarian's books again." Reimu spat up the dullest of sighs.

"Hey, ya think too little of me Reimu," Marisa frowned, "I'm looking to get some excitement outta this too!"

"Whatever Marisa, just make sure those two don't become that vampire's lunch, ok?"

"Yeah yeah, I'll give her a good smacking if she starts nibbling on their flesh." Marisa replied while adjusting her hat in place ready to fly.

"Preferably BEFORE they're dead?" Reimu insisted with the nagginess of a housewife.

Marisa just flashed a smirk and then rocketed off with a burst of magic trailing behind her. Reimu sighed and used her rod as support for her arms, the nagging feeling in her head refusing to go away.

"Come to think about it, that boy didn't give up his name..." Somehow, that was the thing that had bothered her the most, "Those two reckless idiots are going to be more trouble than they're worth. Maybe I should've reined them in some more..."

Shrugging her shoulders as she stood upright, Reimu stretched her arms up high and let out a yawn, "Eh...Maybe after I take a nap."

She then retreated to her relatively cozy shrine for some good ol' R&R, hoping that she wouldn't be awakened by an "Incident" being caused by those bizarre newcomers...

Next Time: The Vampire's Invitation