The frog died. She had failed again.

Cirno sighed. She was getting better, but nowhere near enough. Frogs died less, but they still died. Freezing frogs had always been so much fun for her, and then she tried to master the act of defreezing them as well. She kept failing at it.

Freezing frogs was no fun. She'd rather dive.

The ice fairy flew up high to the sky and dropped down. The water splashed as she sank into the water. The mist thickened and soon the lake became frozen. It was nice. Misty Lake is her throne. Cirno loved every part of it.

Smaller ice pellets reminded her of snow in the upcoming winter. Snow would drift down from the sky. It gave her energy. It gave her life. It made her stronger than strongest and she would be really strong.

Cirno flew up into the air and dropped down, hoping to feel the joy of submerging into the water again.

Suddenly, the ground shook.

The earthquake shouldn't have affected her, but it did. Cirno lost her balance and spun as she fell headfirst into the lake. She coughed as she climbed up the shore. "Pttf, bleh,"

"Cirno!" Daiyousei ran up to her and patted her back. "You okay? Did you do that?"

"Uhh…" She stared blankly. "I froze the lake, yeah."

"I mean the earthquake…"

"Then no," Cirno said and coughed a bit more. She stood up, determined to find and freeze the culprit that ruined her day.

It rumbled again, and both of the fairies fell into the lake.

At the Hakurei Shrine, the ground shook, followed by an uneasy feeling of upcoming danger. Four people were in the shrine. Three were human and one was a magician. None of them could do anything about it.

"The earthquake just won't stop… It is getting colder..." Marisa groaned. "And Reimu's sick at a time like this!"

In the futon was Reimu, with breathing so shallow that people from afar would think she was dead. All youkai have their own time. Some are strong during winter. Some during summer. Some every ten years and so on, and it seems it was the same with humans. For whatever reasons Reimu was weak today, extremely weak.

Marisa leaned forward and touched the maiden's head. "... Hot like hell." She sighed. Reimu was weak, but it was not because of the weather. It was nature. Who would stop the incident now?

"So, you don't know who to ask for help," Sakuya said. "Now I understand why you call us here this early in the morning, but I want to say that I cannot help you."

Patchouli raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Marisa's eyebrows furrowed. "But why?"

"We are dealing with fire, or something underground that have enough power to shake the earth. My ability is not suited for this type of situation," Sakuya said. "Well, if you want me to stop the incident, I can. Forever. But I bet you wouldn't like that."

"... Now that I think about it…" Marisa said. "You can't knife fire. Yeah."

Patchouli stood up. "If both of you aren't going to go, I have no reason to stay-"

The shrine door opened.

The first thing they saw was a small hand with red claws clenching the door edge. Colorful lights reflected on the shrine's walls as the black stick wings spread. A blonde haired girl in her red dress stood at the entrance.

"... Flandre," Marisa said.

"You…!" Sakuya stood up. Flandre shouldn't be here. She must have escaped using the darkess of dawn. The vampire should be brought back, but Sakuya halted as she saw the Flandre's face.

Flandre was crying.

"...aaa! Ouch." Cirno shook her head. The ground was dry and sandy. Why were they on land? Pretty sure they were in the water. Cold wind touched her skin and reminded her that she was indeed soaked with water.

"Errr, Cirno...?" Daiyousei poked Cirno's arm and snuggled up close. Her shaky voice made it clear that she was as confused as Cirno was.

"Yes?" The ice fairy patted her friend on the back and looked at where her friend pointed. Her jaw dropped.

In front of them was a big hole. The air from it felt hot. The constant wind made the whoosh sound and it kept ringing in their ears. From the sound alone, Cirno could imagine that the hole was very deep, and wide, and big.

"Wow," Cirno finally said.

Her friend was too scared to check the hole, so Cirno walked forward. She moved in closer to the hole. Then she saw two red eyes.

"Boo!"

"Aaahhhhhh!" Cirno crawled backward.

Cirno took a deep breath and looked. In front of her was a girl, a blonde haired girl with striking red eyes. The girl was standing at the edge of the hole where Cirno once was. She grinned, showing her fangs.

"So you're my partner!" She leaned forward and looked down at her. "Hello, I'm Flandre."

"Eh?"

"Flandre."

Cirno stared at her.

"Flandre," she repeated. "My name."

"Oh."

Sakuya, who appeared out of nowhere, shook her head. "Ice fairy, the shrine maiden is in no condition to solve the incident right now, and you are the right person to do the job. You are strong during this time of year, and your ability fits this mission the most. With Flandre, please resolve this incident."

"In short, Cirno, Gensokyo might go boom," Marisa said. She dropped down from her broom stick. "Not too hard to understand even for you, eh?"

"And what do I do?" Cirno asked.

"Go stop it, silly," Marisa said. "If Gensokyo goes boom, we'd all die. Like, explode and burn and we all die."

"Oh." Cirno blinked. She just realized the weight of the situation. "Oh."

"At least, you won't be at your lake in peace," Sakuya said.

"Is that a threat?" Cirno asked. People like to mention Daiyousei and the Misty Lake when they try to bargain with her. Cirno hated it. She felt like it was unfair and mean.

Flandre shrugged. "I'll do it." The vampire looked at her, waiting for her answer. "Will you solve the incident with me?"

"Will you?" Sakuya asked.

"Ehhhhhhhhh," Cirno scratched her head. Everyone looked at her. Was it what she thought it was? "Me?" Resolving incident? "No way." Who would let her do it? "I mean I can, but, but…"

"Go, Cirno," Daiyousei said with a reassuring smile. "You wanna be a hero. Now's your chance. You can do it!"

Cirno turned to look at her friend. She was a little less smart than her, but her words calmed her mind. Right, it was simple enough. Cirno glanced back at Sakuya. "Okay. I'll freeze whoever's doing this."

"Awesome!" Flandre patted Cirno on the back. "I like that. All we gotta do is go down the hole, and win every fight." The blonde grinned. "Simple huh?"

Cirno noticed faint red mist surrounding Flandre's body. It reminded her of something that had happened before. It was red. Red mist.

"Don't be too carefree," Sakuya said. "The only reason that I am not dragging you back is that the fairy needs you. Don't go make incidents." And with that, she disappeared.

Flandre scowled.

Daiyousei waved her hand as a goodbye and good luck and flew away. Cirno waved back while shouting like the typical fairies.

Flandre and Cirno were standing at the edge of a geyser that appeared behind the Hakurei Shrine. Hot airwaves hit their faces. From here, the evil spirits could be seen restlessly flying inside, and some finding a way to the surface.

Cirno glanced at her partner beside her. Flandre had been staring into the hole for quite a while, and with a big smile that clearly showed her fangs. The vampire then frowned. Cirno followed her gaze and noticed a group of vengeful spirits rushing out of the hole.

Bright stars grazed Cirno's face and killed those spirits in an instance.

"Hey, be careful!" Cirno turned to Marisa. Her black and white costume made her easy to identify.

"Sorry, sorry," Marisa said. "I have to keep watch of this big hole. This is as far as I can come. Good luck, 'kay?"

"Okay," Cirno said. It would be a lie to say she wasn't scared of going into an unknown place. But she wouldn't let it got to her. She's the strongest.

The witch patted her back and gave a smile. "You'll be fine. Make me proud."

The ice fairy grinned. "Of course."

Flandre shrugged.