Fake Gensokyo is a big place, with plenty of people.
In this story, we draw our attention to one specific corner of the world.

Just a bit past the flowing stream lies a cozy abode that some call home.
Far away enough from others to have a peaceful life, yet close enough to remain in-the-loop.
Close enough to important places to be convenient, yet far away enough that the hustle and bustle won't get to you.
Here, various fun and fantastical creatures can find places to follow their idyllic dreams.

And fresh out of bed, our protagonist leaves the house to find that this morning is weirder than usual.

BLOOD MOON: THE WORLD'S DREAM GIRL An average human, she's got a gentle heart, but tries to take things seriously. If there's an incident, she's probably the one solving it. She's a very reliable type of person! She tries to remain a neutral party, wanting to solve things as harmlessly as possible, with reason and compromise. Still, no one listens to her a lot of the time, and she ends up having to take matters into her own hands. Despite her peaceful intentions, she has a bad habit of accidentally coming across ruder than she means to, and finds herself easily misunderstood. This also gets her into trouble. She wields the power of dreams, turning the battlefield into a haze between reality and imagination. She has the ability to blur your perception, like when you can't remember if something really happened or not. (And if you sleep near her, you'll have good dreams!)

From Blood Moon's house, half of the sky is dyed a bright red. Loud, cacophonous sounds continually burst distantly through the air, rumbling, groaning, thundering unpleasantly through the sky. Tremors pass periodically through the ground, as though threatening an earthquake that never quite comes. Something is NOT right, though she doesn't know what. And, well, it's usually her job to deal with it, so...

Blood Moon heads towards a neighbor's house, finding herself in tow of the Stage 1 boss, who is immediately convinced she is being chased, and starts desperately trying to escape her. Unfortunately, they're going the same direction, so her evasive attempts are in vain. Blood Moon, completely oblivious, does not even realize that the girl is currently in a nightmare world, and makes the reasonable decision to approach this random stranger to ask a simple question.

HAVE A WATERY WEDNESDAY: FLEETING AND FLOWING ANXIETY A water nymph, she was born from the stream crossing not far from Blood Moon's abode. Not very strong, she's an extremely anxious and paranoid person, and very easy to frighten. She's often convinced that people around her are out to get her, and tends to avoid others, distrusting most strangers by default. Unfortunately, her high anxiety can also make her fairly gullible, so she can be conned into having some unusual beliefs. Due to her current company, who isn't very trustworthy herself, she's particularly distrustful of Blood Moon. She wields the power of water, same as any water nymph. Specifically, she can manipulate the 'flow' of water in any way she wants, including in the air. Not a bad power, but she's not that strong, so...

Frantic like a cornered animal, Have a Watery Wednesday turns to face her pursuiter in a moment of panic.

In proper Touhou fashion, Have a Watery Wednesday starts shooting bullets everywhere, for no understandable reason. Luckily for Blood Moon (and you, the player,) she's not very strong, so she throws out a few weak easy-to-dodge spellcards your way, and then bolts before anything else can happen.

One completely useless battle out of the way, Blood Moon continues on her journey.

-- STAGE TWO --

Unluckily for Have a Watery Wednesday, Blood Moon and her are still going to the same place, so when Blood Moon picks up where she left off, she's still right behind her. She does turn around to shoot a few more attacks off at her in a midboss-like fashion, to Blood Moon's confusion, but it's not long before they both reach their shared destination: the home of Blood Moon's neighbor and self-proclaimed rival, who Have a Watery Wednesday hides behind like a frightened animal.

JESSEBELL: BEST WORST COMMUNITY MEMBER As a Jersey Devil, you might think she'd have some sort of evil intentions, but she doesn't seem to... or if she does, she's too lazy to act on them. She tries to sell herself as the spitting image of a pure-hearted, trustworthy person who does her best for her community every day. This is the reputation she wants, but she hates putting in effort, so in reality, she spends most of her time goofing off while talking herself up to others. Most people with any sense are aware that she's full of shit, and view her with poor regard, but she doesn't care that much. Can't win 'em all, right? The important part is the people she CAN convince... like Have a Watery Wednesday. She wields the power of bad luck. By augmenting your bad luck, she can make it more likely for you to slip up in battle, possibly granting her her unlikely upper hand. Life's just not fair, is it?

Heeding her unrequited rival's advice, she heads out for the human city, in the hopes of getting any kind of actual info out of someone. It's a big world, someone's got to know something eventually. Surely it's not just useless, net-gain-zero battles all the way down, right? ...Right?!?!

-- STAGE THREE --

The Human City is huge and imposing, bordered by tall walls. It isn't closed to the public, though. Humans have delicate sensibilities, and tend to both not be as good at magic nor have as much battle prowess other creatures, so they take what protection they can, and tend to stick together in groups. Over thousands of years this culminated in a city with a massive human population, not hostile to outsiders, but still a little nervous around them.

At the massive open arch that marks the entrance to the city, lots of foot traffic comes through, and many merchants dot the walls to sell their wares. Today, though, many stalls seem to be empty. Desperate for info, Blood Moon draws near, trying to single out someone who looks like they might know anything. Though fairly vacant, one specific person manages to catch her eye...

MAGIA MURA: FANTASTICAL TIRED RETAIL WORKER A beast who pretends to be human, so humans will be more impressed and buy more from her. She can't hide her tail, though, so when asked she says it's a fashion statement. It works better than you'd think! A merchant of magical objects, Magia typically comes across as delightful and talkative. You want to buy something from her. She takes criticism poorly, but tries to hide it under a veneer of friendliness. Privately, though, she is impatient and easy to irritate. She's not an unpleasant person, though, she's just... overworked. She just needs to sit in a dark quiet room alone for a while. Don't we all? She wields the power of enchantment. She can imbue items with a purpose, and they'll do their best to serve the purpose. Be careful in battle, though, or she might just try to enchant you!

Accidentally having offended the very first person she spoke to, Blood Moon finds herself having to dodge another slurry of bullets. It's hard to call this one her fault, though, socially unfortunate as she is. Magia's stress levels were high, and she was a convenient target for letting off steam. Sometimes retail workers just need to shoot ten thousand bullets at you before they can talk reasonably. And that's okay! That's normal. Nonetheless, Blood Moon emerges victorious.

-- STAGE FOUR --

The city palace is a bit of a walk from the city's entrance, following a long multicolor-tile pathway straight forward until it gives way to the wide white steps leading up to it. Blood Moon feels very out of her element as she follows Magia along the trail, the blocky and geometric colorful architecture of the city building up on all sides, thwarting her extremely rural sensibilities as someone who lives primarily in the middle of a big field. She's fine, but she does feel a looming sense of dread as she walks along.

The palace is awe-inspiring, as well-- a big, beautiful white building wreathed in gold accents. They enter the arched entrance to the first floor, massive panelled windows lighting up the interior with sunlight as its only light source (How do they see at night...?). A bit overwhelmed, Blood Moon keeps her eyes to the floor, nervously tracing the decorative shapes and patterns adorning it the wide tiles. She's a country girl! It's a lot to take in!

This palace is where the monarch of the city resides, the first floor being the only one really open for others, composed mainly of the large and decorated throne room. She's not necessarily in here all the time - there's much to do that can't be done by just sitting in a fancy chair - but she's often in the vicinity, and indeed she is here, turning around to fixate her eyes on Blood Moon with a piercing gaze.

LUCIDA: REVERED REGAL CHANGELING QUEEN Her demeanour can be heart-lurchingly intimidating and cold, but only when she deems it necessary. If she feels a threat to safety, she is merciless. Any other time, she's really not so bad. She cares deeply for her people, and is a compassionate ruler. But she doesn't tend to give herself a break, and she seems... tired. She seems serious, maybe? It's hard to tell what her personality is like, as she holds others at a distance, and focuses mainly on service. Yet she seems to like being around others. You have to wonder if she's lonely? She wields the power of focus. She has the ability to force your focus to a specific point, zeroing in your attention to whatever she wants it to be. You can see how this could be a useful power for someone in her position, but it's also a pretty handy trick when you're in a fight.

With no time to think, Lucida begins her attack. Blood Moon isn't unused to being suddenly placed on the offensive, but her opponent is strong, and kind of scary, and she's still confused how she ended up in this situation. Is it this hard to ask people questions these days?! What an unlucky day for her... after a showdown the length of a stage 4 boss fight, Magia interjects.

With well wishes from the royal palace received, Blood Moon takes off for hopefully the last time, to solve an incident that feels like it could have been solved much sooner.

-- STAGE FIVE --

Back up the tiled path, out the gate, back up again past Jessebell's house, past her own house, twice crossing the stream and off into the unknown. Just kidding, she's probably been here before, at some point. It's not very far away from home, after all. The closer she seems to get, the redder the sky gets, the louder the noises, the heavier the tremors.

Someone interesting, someone unexpected, and someone who she already knows quite well.

FLORA CAPRA: GRACEFULLY GRACELESS CHIMERA GARDENER She's a garden-loving chimera who's not known for being very strong. She's also Blood Moon's girlfriend. She's energetic, with an endless well of energy to draw from, always wanting to do something-or-other and rarely getting tired. She is silly, sincere, and incredibly friendly. She's an honest girl with a good heart. She's capable of getting serious if the need arises, but it does bum her out. She gets along with basically anyone who isn't malicious, and sometimes even those people too. She has zero evil intentions. And again, she's not very strong. How exactly did she get here...?! She wields the power of plants. She's can summon them from herself or from the ground, and can manipulate them to do what she needs. She likes to do things by hand, though, so she doesn't use it quite as often as she could. It's not a bad one for fights, however.

Through dutiful dodging and careful knowledge of all of her weaknesses, Blood Moon is finally able to wrestle the relic out of Flora's hands, like wrestling a piece of plastic out of a cat's mouth. As soon as it leaves her grasp, the flowers on the ground explode into a cloud of red petals, and Flora, demoted to her regular old power level, flops backwards into the grass, laughing and kicking her legs around. It's over.

Blood Moon bops her lightly on the head. She should know better! She was being really bad. Flora keeps laughing, though, saying that she really didn't know how bad it was, and Blood Moon knows that's true. And she didn't know it was stolen either, which... okay, well maybe she didn't care after she learned either, but the palace doesn't have to know that. Blood Moon can return it safely, and then everyone can forget this ever happened, like a weird dream. All's well that ends well, and all that!

Blood Moon carts Flora with her back up to the human palace, where she is dutifully scolded by a high-ranking authority figure after Blood Moon calls her out. She absolutely hates this, but it is inevitable. Sorry, Flora. This had to happen. You have to learn one way or another.

Lucida pays Blood Moon for her troubles in gold, which she accepts gratefully. What'll she do with it? That's a question for the future. She's had a really, really long day of fighting people for no reason, and she is very ready to go home with Flora and have dinner and lounge about.

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That's right. That should be everything, shouldn't it?

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There's nothing to worry about.

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You two can go home and get a good night's rest. You deserve it.

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With all luck provided, starting tomorrow...

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everything will be normal again.

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-- EXTRA STAGE --

In the early morning just a couple days after the incident, Blood Moon notices an unusual person lurking around outside their house. She decides to investigate.

It's strange, though. They're definitely lingering around here, but she can only see them from a distance... when she walks closer, they walk further, yet they never quite leave. Are they trying to lead her somewhere? She probably shouldn't go too far like this...

Just as she considers turning back, she notices that she's starting to actually make headway in approaching them. Closer and closer, until she can actually make them out properly. The stranger turns around to face her. Her eyes are narrow. She looks angry.

The encounter feels uncomfortable, unusual. This person has a strange aura. Something feels wrong. The stranger looks old, somewhat haggard, and despite her apparent anger she is definitely, one-hundred-percent someone who Blood Moon has never seen before in her life. She stares coldly, directly into Blood Moon's eyes, and then, in a metered voice, begins to speak.

And the stranger lunges forward, and the surrounding area explodes into an array of color.

SEO DELILAH: REMNANT OF A FORGOTTEN TIME Appearing here now, she is commanding and scary, unhinged, ready to do anything to get what she desires. But in reality, violence isn't her first choice. She's just really, really desperate. More regularly, she is not rude, but somewhat terse and unsociable. The reality is that she is simply thousands of years out of touch, and unsure how to interact with people in the current day and age. Awkward in conversation, she will listen carefully but doesn't always understand what she's listening to. There's thousands of years of difference between her and most people she could talk to nowadays, so you can understand where the disconnect comes in. She is generally humble, considering all others she meets as equals despite the deficit in life experience and prowess. After all, long-lived as she may be, everyone else is far more acclimated to the modern day, a skill which she has left woefully untrained. She wields the power of... well, keep reading?

The powers she's using seem familiar to Blood Moon, as though she's seen something like this before. When it strikes her, she realizes with a jolt that this whole fight is for nothing (again); she could fix the problem immediately. She convinces Seo to cease her attacks, by way of her very convincing method of screaming "WAIT!!!!!". Because she actually knows exactly where the thing she's looking for is.

Blood Moon is tired. She just woke up. Hasn't even had breakfast! And she immediately got attacked by an Extra Stage Boss! She's already not having a very good day. But bravely, and despite how very out-of-it she felt in her head, she leads Seo Delilah a while's away, to the human city and into the palace, methodically flagging down Lucida to talk to her about the situation.

Seo herself isn't having a very good day. Frankly she hasn't been having a very good day for quite a long time now, countless years upon years, and is extremely out of her element in this extravagant palace in a strange colorful city that did not even exist thousands of years ago. But with some strained but patient discussion, she is given the space to explain herself, and lays her story straight.

Lucida listens patiently to her explanation, while Blood Moon tries to listen patiently but is really tired and keeps zoning out. Understanding the weight of the situation, as well as the concept of not keeping things when they don't belong to you (unlike some people), Lucida accommodates Seo's request, recovering the artifact from its resting place in the palace and returning it back to its rightful owner.

Seo is extremely, immensely relieved, and extremely grateful. She thanks Lucida gratuitously, thanks Blood Moon gratuitously, apologizes to Blood Moon gratuitously, and now, seeming almost embarassinly humbled, takes her leave off into the night.

But that will not be the end we see of her, here; lonesome traveler though she is, there's something that draws her towards this comfortable corner of the world.

Blood Moon gives her regards to Lucida, and heads on her way back, contented that the overarching situation is definitely, finally settled. There's no way there could be even more to this, could there? That has to be it, right?! (It is, don't worry.) It's important for her to get home, now. She wants to lay in bed for a few more hours, for sure. Moreover, she left Flora there, and she's probably a bit freaked out. I mean, she went to investigate and then never came back!

But it's okay. She'll be right there.