The Incident 1/3

The Forest of Magic - Alice Margatroid Residence

Today was an average day in Gensokyo. The local Shrine Maiden lazing around, a gardener and swordsmen taking care of her mistress, another Shrine Maiden talking with her gods, a moon rabbit selling medicine, and a Magician by profession flying through the air.

The Ordinary Magician, Marisa Kirisame, has yellow eyes, blonde hair with a single braid with a bow at the end, a black witch hat with a white bow, a black top and skirt with a white waist apron and undershirt. On her waist hung several small flasks that are essentially magic grenades, and her signature Mini-Hakkero, which allows her to fire her "Master Spark".2

Upon her broom, she flew above the Forest of Magic, the reason? She's visiting her neighbor, who is an actual Magician by race, unlike her.

"I'll give Alice a surprise visit!" She said, locking onto her friend's house like a missile and flying off.

In literal seconds, she had arrived. With her signature bright smile, she got off her broom and held it while walking the rest of the way to her friend's home. 

Marisa giggled a little before calling out her friend's name, "Hehe~ Alice!" She now held her broom behind her head and waited patiently.

Marisa had many different scenario's pictured in her head. One where Alice came out angrily because she had accidentally disturbed her research or doll-making, another where she warmly welcomed her.

But as seconds turned to minutes, the disturbing silence eerily crept onto Marisa as her lips went from a smile to a thin line. 'Alice hasn't responded yet...'

At first, Marisa thought that Alice wasn't home, but the lights being on clearly stated otherwise. So she just waited, but there hasn't been a response yet. Which caused her worry.

With her patience thin, Marisa called out her name again in a more concerned manner, "Alice?" This time she got a response.

The response being-  *Thud, glop, crash.*

With the series of noises, Marisa turned the doorknob, which was surprisingly open, and quickly entered. The sight in front of her shocked her.

Alice Margatroid, a magician by race and a puppeteer. She had blonde hair and deep blue eyes (that are occasionally yellow), a blue and white dress adorned with red/pink ribbons and a red headband to top it all off. This is what she would usually look like, but Marisa saw otherwise.

More than half of Alice, was covered in a strange black liquid, which threatened to consume her.

Marisa's eyes widened and she quickly rushed forward yelling her friend's name, "ALICE!" But something quickly halted her rush.

It was a simple doll. No, it was one of Alice's most used dolls, Hourai. It looked like the spitting image of Alice except for being far smaller and wearing a dress similar to Marisa's.

The doll blocked the way with it's small frame. Leaving Marisa greatly confused, that is until a familiar voice broke her out of her confusion.

"Don't... " Behind the dolls, Alice, being 3/4 covered in the substance, held out her left hand while speaking to Marisa. 

"Ali-!" Marisa, the straight forward person she was, tried to continue speaking but was cut off by the exhausted Alice.

"ha..ha... Leave..." The girl's skin was getting paler, her blonde hair slowly turning white, and her pupils slowly turning red. Not just that, her outfit was gaining darker colors as well, going from bright red to blood red and light blue to ocean blue, with the white turning black.

"No-!" Alice, who was expecting the answer, used the last of her conscious to cast a spell, not a spellcard, not a danmaku, but a normal spell. The doll which blocked Marisa, exploded and sent her flying out of the house.

-The Forest Of Magic: Woods-

The explosion was powerful. There may have been no shrapnel, but the force was on another level. Firstly, the blast caught Marisa off guard, she only enough time for a barrier, and that barrier protected her from serious harm.  She was sent through multiple trees, not just that, she was sent far deep into the forest.

Secondly, it was loud, it constantly rang in her ears, throwing off her focus even more. She was pretty sure that it was even heard all the way towards Youkai Mountain. Heck, it probably even attracted all kinds of Youkai towards Alice's place.

Lastly, 'what forced Alice to do that?' Was the only question that remained in her head. She wanted to fly back and help her friend, she really did. But her gut was telling her something else, something that she was way to familiar with.

Marisa's pupils expanded as she reached a conclusion that needed extra hands.

"This is an Incident." She said aloud. Her gaze hardened, she dusted off her skirt and got on her broom and flew straight to her fellow incident solver, Hakurei Reimu.

-The Hakurei Shrine-

Marisa flew as fast as she could, and when she reached the Shrine, there was a square barrier erected around it. She flew around it at first, then landed at the Tori Gate. "Reimu!"

She called for the lazy Shrine Maiden, but she was instead greeted by Youmu Konpaku, the gardener and swordplay instructor who lives in Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld.

The girl was half phantom and half human, she had platinum colored hair adorned with a black hairband, blue eyes(that were red), a green shirt and skirt with white sleeves to her elbows. She was also equipped with two swords, the long katana carried on her back is called Roukanken and the Wakizashi hanging from the back of her waist is Hakurouken. Beside her was also a phantom, which is also Youmu.1

"Hello Marisa." They had met previously, but Youmu had always been straight forward and earnest with her acquaintances. This is why she gets picked on a lot.

"Sup Youmu, what's with the barrier and why're you here?" Marisa, as straight forward as she is, especially after her encounter with Alice, wasn't going to stall. But the response she got didn't help her current thought process.

"According to Reimu, she was told by Yukari to make a barrier around the Shrine. Yukari didn't explain why but Reimu said, 'I have a bad feeling.' and put it up." After answering the first question, she paused and looked closely and Marisa, who was outside the barrier.

"Also, you can step in since your not corrupted." This made Marisa flinch, but she walked in and asked. "And why're you here?"

Youmu lowered her head and the mood went down with it. "My lady... I had discovered here covered in a strange black goop, she looked at me with a smile and told me to run before lunging at me and attacking me..." 

Listening to Youmu's reason, a shadow covered Marisa's upper face as she went into her thoughts. 'This situation is almost just like mine, except I was forced out and Youmu fled by command...' She then turned to look at Youmu and saw that tears were forming in the gardener's eyes.

"I...  sniffle couldn't do a thing  sniffle  to even help her..." She balled her hands into fists and looked down in self loathing.

Marisa couldn't bear the sight anymore but couldn't say anything either, so in compromise, she slowly patted Youmu's head. 

"Thanks...  sniffle." This lasted for only a few seconds, until another voice and a pair of footsteps broke the silence.

"It's the same situation for me." They both turned to face the newcomer, only to see Reisen Udongein Inaba, a moon rabbit... from the moon.

The moon rabbit who fled to Earth, Reisen Udongein Inaba, has long light-purple hair, rumpled rabbit ears, a long-sleeved black business suit over a white shirt, a beige skirt, white socks and red shoes. The most notable thing about her is her red lunatic eyes.

Reisen continued speaking, "I arrived back to Eientei after collecting some herbs only to see lady Kaguya covered in the same black substance and leaping towards me. Eirin managed to block me and told me to flee while slowly getting corrupted in front of me."

Marisa flinched again, and felt bad, but couldn't find any words to reassure her. She was about to reach for her head but Reisen took a few steps back while holding her body. "T-thanks but no thank you..." To which Marisa could only laugh a bit and scratch the back of her head.

Marisa then looked around then down at herself and then spoke. "Me too. Went to give Alice a surprise visit only for her to force me out with one of her dolls." A simple explanation that she wanted to make longer, but the mood didn't fit.

Afterward, the 3 sat down at the front of the Shrine near the donation box and waited for others. To which there were.

Sakuya Izayoi, the maid of the Scarlet Devil, with silver hair worn in long braids on both sides of her face tied with green bows, dark blue eyes (was grey), a white and dark blue French maid outfit with an apron, short sleeves and green ribbon.

When she arrived, her gloomy mood was palpable, and whenever any mention of anyone from the Scarlet Devil Mansion was brought up, she'd shed a tear.

She even explained that she only managed to get away due to her time stop and space manipulation, but none had affect on the dark substance. This, coupled with it's corruption properties have made everyone even more scared of what's to come.

Sakuya then decided to busy herself to tending the Shrine grounds as Reimu was out.

Afterwards, Sanae Kochiya, the Shrine Maiden of the Moriya Shrine arrived. She was practically in tears with her clothes in tatters. She has long green hair with a cute frog headband and snake-shaped accessory wrapped around her hair on one side, a white top and long blue skirt to her knees, and to match her light colored attire, she has green pupils.

The moment she reached the Shrine grounds and made it though the barrier, she fell to her knees and continued sobbing on the floor. With much difficulty Marisa, Youmu, Reisen and Sakuya managed to get Sanae to explain her story.

She said, with many tears, that she had to watch her two goddesses fight and was forced to flee because one of them, Suwako, told her, "this is a battle that could not be won, flee and tell the others." Which they doubted the way she phrased it, but the message is all the same.

After crying for so long, she collapsed and was laid to bed at the back of the Shrine on an extra futon.

After that, Marisa, Youmu, Reisen and Sakuya stood at the front of the shrine and conversed with one another.

"This is definitely an incident." Marisa said, which everyone unexpectedly nodded in agreement.

"Do we have any clues as to who may be the cause?" Sakuya posed a question which everyone shook their heads to, except for Marisa.

"My first though was Rumia, being the Youkai of darkness and all." Youmu went into deep thought while Reisen shared her own ideas.

"Rumia is a likely suspect, but that doesn't mean we can't rule anyone else out." She named off a few people from the Underworld which then almost led to an argument.

That is, until Reimu returned.

"Geez you guys, I go out to investigate once and now all of you are here." The Lazy- no, The Shrine Maiden of Paradise, Reimu Hakurei, has now entered the scene.

She has brown-black hair that flowed long and loose down her back, red-brown eyes that matched her red ribbon and tubes on her sidelocks. Her "Shrine Maiden Uniform" has a red skirt, a sleeveless red top with a white collar tied with a red ribbon, and a pair of white detached sleeves which show off her Sarashi. 

As she touched the ground, she continued speaking. "Also, Rumia isn't the cause, she just fired her own darkness at me mixed with that strange substance." 

She then looked towards presumably nowhere and called out, "Yukari, I'm back."

A strange gap opened in space, with a multitude of eyes peering through. No one came out except a voice. "Welcome back Reimu, it's good that everyone is here now."

This action confused Reimu, but then her face went serious. "It's so bad that you can't even show yourself?" To which only a wave of a hand was an answer.

"I'll explain this... 'incident' now." Yukari cleared her throat, and began.

"This black substance... doesn't seem to belong to anyone within Gensokyo. After some research and observation, it seems to belong somewhere far outside Gensokyo, no, even more than that, farther than the very corners of our universe, perhaps even multiverse." She let it settle in, and then continued.

"This substance... also appears to hold all of humanities malice and wrongdoings, something which shouldn't be possible." Her voice and the statement caused the group's very beings to shake.

"The only resistance, or perhaps even, chance against it is either a power of similar nature, faith or divinity." Three fingers came out of the gap.

"The first one is self explanatory, but I doubt we have anything close to that currently. Maybe you Reisen with those eyes of yours..." It went down to 2 fingers.

"The second one is a high enough faith, perhaps it's ideals or even a dream, but it's what kept a lot of people from turning while within the dark mass. Sadly none of them managed to fully escape before turning afterward." She sighed and was down to 1.

"Lastly, is divinity. I had witnessed the battle between the two goddess Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya. Although one was corrupted, the other almost managed to blast away the filth with just sheer divinity." She then sighed in disappointment and continued.

"Although she did succumb in the end." The atmosphere was real bad now, especially since someone has to break the news to Sanae when she wakes up.

"There could be one other way however." An open fan was then brought out of the gap.

"The opposite of humanities evil, Love." The fan closed shut as it point towards Marisa. With that, all eyes fell upon her.