The Adventures of Team 9 Catering
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: I can't even attribute everyone to their proper sources, because who knows who might show up in this chapter. Though I'll try to keep the references oblique rather than direct; you can look up the Character Battle yourself if you're curious. (Please do; the Touhou characters need every vote they can get!)

Chapter ⑳ (20)

"So how'd we manage such a huge job, anyway?" Wriggle asked.

"And why wasn't Neechan allowed to come along?" Rumia asked.

"Kuroi-san wasn't allowed to be here because she's not 'canon', whatever that means. As for why we're here…apparently Cirno somehow got an invitation to fight in this tournament? Reimu-san and Marisa-san are in it, too," Mystia said.

"Wait, you're going to be fighting in this thing?" Wriggle asked Cirno.

"Yeah, something like that. I'm not entirely sure that this is a real tournament; everything they're telling me makes it sound more like we're putting on a show."

"So being 'the strongest' isn't going to help you here?"

"I'm just hoping I can at least look good. Both of my opponents in round 1 have been in past tournaments, so I've seen what they're capable of. They look strong, too; I might not even have to pull any punches to lose to them but if it starts looking like I'm doing too well I can always 'become overconfident' and break out Icicle Fall - Easy."

"I never thought I'd hear you actually talk about how you could lose a match," Mystia said.

"Well, like I said, Icicle Fall's an emergency measure. Letting either of them get a clean shot in on me is not something I particularly want to do."

"Wait, you have two round 1 opponents?"

"Yeah, this is a weird tournament. Three fighters in every match. Both of my opponents fight with kicks and punches and neither can fly, so if I really wanted to win I'd just fly up really high and rain danmaku down on them."

"Are Reimu and Marisa's chances any better?"

"I'm not even sure how one of Reimu's opponents fights, even after watching footage of previous tournaments, but I've heard the other one is the favorite. He's making his tournament debut, too, so I don't know how he fights. I'm kind of looking forward to watching Marisa's match, though, even if she probably won't win either and we'll all be worse off afterwards."

"What do you mean, 'we'll all be worse off afterwards'?" Mystia asked.

"She's fighting another magician. Even has a hat that makes Marisa's look small. She's gonna have a field day after this one."

"Ouch. Yeah, the last thing we need is Marisa stealing foreign magic."

"There are some other familiar names in this tournament, too, aren't there?" Chen asked.

"Hm?"

"Well, I guess I've seen or heard of a number of these people before, because Yukari-sama tends to make surprise appearances in other worlds, but these two have been to Gensokyo before."

"Are you sure? If they did, they somehow escaped Aya's notice," Wriggle said.

"Pretty sure. Or was that an alternate Gensokyo?"

"…What?"

"I live with Yukari-sama. Do you really think I haven't seen alternate realities?" (CCX: As I've stated before, Lord Over Gensokyo is one of two Touhou stories I've written that don't fit into the same continuity as the majority of them, Secrets Within being the other.)

"Well, if he has, he's the most successful competitor to ever visit Gensokyo. He reached Round 2 in the eighth tournament."

"When was that?" Rumia asked.

"A few years ago, apparently, even though this one's the ninth one."

"…The ninth one? Well, now we know how you got in," Mystia said.

"I could've gotten in anyway! Though probably not with such a high seed."

"Is that also why there are three competitors in each match?" Wriggle asked.

"You know, it might be. There are nine competitors known as the 'Noble Nine', who until recently were thought to be unbeatable unless they were facing each other. Even when they went to four-way battles, these nine rarely lost to anyone except each other, and in one-on-one battles, only one other fighter has even managed to beat one of them—and it was making its tournament debut and ended up losing to another of them, so it's still a closed-off group. That thing there," she finished, pointing to…well, the others weren't exactly sure.

"What? I don't see…well, I see something, but I'm not sure what. It doesn't look like a fighter…actually, it doesn't look like there's any thing there, just a…"

"A gap. It looks like one of Yukari-sama's gaps," Chen said.

"Yeah. That's one of the reasons why fans of the tournament are still on board. Well, that and the fact that their run was long enough that the losses now don't detract from it. And in this, the ninth tournament, all nine of them are 1-seeds, which for some of them is a considerable improvement over the last few."

"Well, I'll take this. This is the first time we've been free to interact with otherworlders without hiding our true forms," Wriggle said. "Yama-chan's looking forward to possibly making some business contacts."

"As am I," Mystia said, "though it'd be more accurate to say our 'usual' forms since there's a moe field in place keeping us from reverting to our off-world forms."

"Wait, there is? Shit; there goes any chance I had of convincing the crowd to give me a break," Cirno said. "Reimu-san's probably the same either way and Marisa-san might even benefit from the moe field, but I'm better off without it!"

"You're in the minority there. I'd turn into a rather ugly bird, Wriggle-san would become a tiny little insect, and I don't even know what Rumia-san would look like without a moe field."

"I don't think I'd look any different. Kuro-neesan would probably remember better than me, though…"

"You're going to have to deal with this, Rumia-chan. I know this will be probably the longest you and Kuroi-san have been apart since you separated bodies, but you're stronger than that."

"Easy for you to say. Your girlfriends will all be here."

"And yours won't?"

"Nee-chan?!"

"You should know me better than that by now. I'm not going to let something silly like being 'non-canon' keep me from you. Though I'll have to mostly stay hidden, unfortunately, and especially make sure that we're never both in the same place as someone who can see through our darkness."

"Why does that make a difference?"

"Uh…well, yeah, I guess we should try to avoid being seen in the same place regardless. But if they can't see through us…we just have to stay close enough to pass as a single darkness youkai." She smiled. Rumia smiled back. "But even those who can see through our darkness shouldn't be a problem if we stay apart. I'll just have to pretend to be you."

"Well, it's probably going to get pretty crowded soon. You didn't by any chance intentionally wait until most of the prep work was done to arrive, did you?"

"Ha ha…you do know me well."

"Nee-chan…" Rumia shook her head. The others mostly laughed it off, though.

"Well, we can't be too close to the start of the tournament, if Cirno-chan's still with you guys instead of in the contestants' village."

"True. I should really be going."

"Good luck!"

"You too, Mysti-chan! This is a huge opportunity for the company, so don't blow it!" She laughed, knowing that Mystia was by far the most invested in the company and didn't need to be told.

CCX: Good luck, indeed. All three Touhou characters have Final Fantasy characters for opponents in the first round, and Cirno's "other" foe isn't exactly weak, either. Reimu's is fairly low-tier, but simply having been in it in the past is an advantage. Marisa…might at least have a chance at second place in her match, if she's lucky.

…I never did go back to finish "Birth of a Legend". I wrote that first chapter fairly quickly, while the Crono-Missingno. match was going on. I had every intention of writing another chapter after that match had played out and continuing it for as long as Missingno. lasted in the tournament, but it didn't pan out. Should be fun, even if I suck at writing fight scenes. Maybe I'll try to work it out. Ja ne!