Exactly what it says on the tin.
Let's get this train wreck started
*Note: Some chapters/ stories/ what have you might remain uncompleted at first posting and get edit-completed later. Sorry for the annoyance*
1. Character titles
1.1 Mistress of the Spark (1/?)
To most people, this would be insanity.
To most mages of most magical traditions, this would be laughable.
To a certain resident of Gensokyo, this was a not totally unexpected development that promised great reward and risk.
To a certain resident of the Forest of Magic, this was an idea that, despite its flaws, was quite workable. Not that she would risk it herself.
To a certain youkai walking in a field of flowers, this was a thrown gauntlet.
To a certain magician, this was the inevitable culmination of all of three months of careful research, three months of relearning basic mathematical and scientific notation, and five days of calculation. Naturally, this was also going to be a stepping stone to greater achievements.
To a certain shrine maiden, this was simply another mainly amusing but slightly alarming scheme of her best friend.
"Let me get this straight. You are going to Master Spark yourself."
A year ago, Reimu Hakurei would have at least feigned shock. She wondered what her indifference to this plan said about herself, or for that matter, the girl sitting across the table.
"Pretty much," Marisa Kirisame shot back.
"Of course, I already made proper preparations," she continued. "There's only a 10% chance of failure, and I'm pretty sure things can't go horribly wrong even at that."
"So why are you telling me?" Reimu replied, silently acknowledging Marisa's infectious enthusiasm.
"I'd like you there to cast Evil Sealing Circle in case some Eldritch Abomination springs into existence from the sheer amount of magical energy gathered in one place," Marisa returned with a smile.
"Cut the crap." Reimu didn't understand why Marisa insisted on carrying lies so far. It got to the extent where even Yukari professed second-guessing things that Marisa claimed to be true.
"What? You keep telling me to 'fully consider the consequences of my actions'. Anyhow, that's more likely than you think. A precedent has been set with that weird eyeball-thingy you fought a couple years ago," Marisa stated.
"Really"
Reimu was silent for a moment. It seemed safe enough to believe. Besides, she wasn't exactly conversant in the finer details of magic theory. Must ask Alice or Patchouli later.
Marisa, noticing Reimu's hesitation, appealed to a witness. "Yeah. According to Alice, it was a leftover of one of Shinki's spell experiments"
After receiving an affirmative grunt, Marisa decided to end the conversation.
"Well, let's get going. At this rate, someone will drop a cow on the shrine just to stir things up again"
===========
The blue sky of a Gensokyo noon stretched over the horizon. Reimu and Marisa found a small hill upon which to practice. They had packed lunch, a few changes of clothes ("personal safety over material safety" cited Marisa) and their respective weapons. As she unpacked her Yin-Yang orb, Reimu broached the question,
"Anyways, why not invite Alice, anyways? She's certainly strong enough to act as perimeter security."
Marisa looked up from some last-minute, back of envelope calculations. She replied,
"You know how you have the longest boundary of life and death?"
Reimu was startled by how naturally her response came to mind.
"You want me to bomb in case anything goes wrong?"
Marisa remained silent for a few moments. She stopped scribbling and replied, beaming,
"Pretty much. Here goes nothing."
Marisa took out her Mini-Hakkero. She double-checked the wards on each of the eight segments, undid the anti-recoil ward, and unleashed its power.
[Inverted Blossom]: Narcissus Spark
The river of magically-charged plasma washed over Marisa, bathing her in a radiant flow. Her skin felt as if it was on fire, but the fact that her dress remained intact was enough to assure her that the pain was simply a result of infrared radiation. (how fascinating. The imported tomes noted that this activity was famously observed in attempts to build an "atomic weapon". Marisa had often wondered before why the outside world developed such firepower so late. After all, despite thousands of modifications, improvements, and retoolings, Master Spark was still part of an ancient branch of magic.)
Refocusing, Marisa felt the spell go through its second phase. The magical energy began to coalesce into a sphere, pulling back the streamers that flowed past her earlier. The surface drew closer and closer to her. Soon, the "body" of the spark had formed a thin layer over Marisa. The usual roar of a traditional Master Spark had dimmed to an ambient buzz.
"Impressive," remarked Reimu, completely unimpressed.
On cue, Marisa shot upwards until she was about three meters above the ground. Two burn marks were left where her feet once touched the ground. Marisa then began to fly, eschewing ordinary curvilinear flight for straight lines and hairpin turns. Surges of lightning crackled across the rainbow trail left by the hurtling Marisa.
"Attack me. Come on," Marisa challenged.
Reimu complied. She started out with waves of standard projectiles. Interestingly enough, instead of deflecting the barrages of needles, the "layer of spark" (Must ask Marisa for the actual name of this stuff, noted Reimu) burned the charms and amulets while melting the needles. She decided to voice her current opinions to Marisa.
"First off, you owe me for the needles. Iron doesn't grow on trees. Second off, isn't this extremely wasteful for a defensive barrier?"
"Try a spell card and you'll see," shot back Marisa.
"What? I thought you requested bombs for safety!" Reimu bellowed, peeved at the deception. A small matter for sure, but this shouldn't become a habbit
"Everyone else's, not mine." quipped Marisa. "If I hadn't figured out how to do this without frying myself earlier, I would have probably asked for Eirin to come along, too. The risk is leaving a smoking hole in the Hakurei barrier long enough for anything nasty to slip through."
"Come on, Marisa, the outside world can't be as bad as the stuff Yukari imports. Anyhow..."
"Exactly!" interjected Marisa. "Whether Kourin's conjecture that only forgotten things can enter Gensokyo is true or false, we can be sure that most things that enter a) have a fictional component and b) are known at least to themselves. Which means that just about any of the outside world's imaginings can get here"
"My point is that I have only so many spellcards," noted Reimu.
"Point taken. Still, try it." Marisa punctuated her sentence by flipping backwards and hurtling towards the ground.
"Sure."
[Fantasy Seal]: Concentrate
Five orbs of light manifested themselves with a flash. They circled Reimu along paths that suggested a sphere before converging on Marisa. They easily swam through the trails of spark still hanging in the air. Just as normal.
When the orbs reached Marisa, the normal ceased to exist. Instead of the usual flash and explosion, the projectiles began to shrink. A few seconds after impact, Reimu could see that her attack had been incorporated into Marisa's layer of magic; splotches of rainbow slowly faded to the washed-out yellow of the rest of the spell.
[Treasure Sign]: Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb
Reimu's Yin-Yang orb began to glow. With a flick of Reimu's hand, the ball soared towards Marisa.
The magical energy dissipated faster this time, but the orb remained "stuck" for ten seconds until it was ejected with an unceremonious *pop*.
Again, highly unusual. Reimu decided to *politely ask* Yukari about the Yin-Yang orb later. Her thoughts wandered through the realm of that irritatingly cryptic *person* before happening across an idea. A smile emerged.
Marisa almost ended the spell in panic when she felt something grip her right shoulder. However, a cursory check confirmed that the spell was still working properly and that there were not any new sources of magic around, ruling out a summoning. Figuring that the three plausible culprits would have already done whatever they planned, Marisa summoned her courage and looked back....
to get poked in the cheek.
"Gotcha." noted Reimu.
"blasted Gaphax," muttered Marisa. It's my defeat. I need another way to counter that
She raised her arm and pointed to the sky. Lightning surged along her figure.
"This is the last trial. Let me ask you a question," shouted Marisa.
Reimu rolled her eyes. Yep. Now's the perfect time to be dramatic.
"Sure. And there's no need to yell."
"Where am I pointing?"
In order to avoid the potential problems of letting loose a Master Spark in her internal organs, Marisa had arranged for the membrane of "spark plasma" (I need a better name for this, commented Marisa) to remain safely outside her person.
The downside of such an arrangement was that it also left her blind and hearing-impaired.