Chapter Text
A staple of a fantasy setting are human settlements. You can't have such a setting and focus only on the fantastical, sometimes you need some mundane elements such as humans, calming wildlife, and abusive loved ones. However, Gensokyo is a bit unique in that, there's only one human settlement called the Human Village, fittingly enough even if it's a bit generic. (I mean, if you're an alcoholic composer who can develop and beat a game completely sloshed, then names probably wouldn't be a piority)
It is here in this peaceful village, that we see a young green-haired girl with matching green eyes walking through the streets. The girl was wearing a brown dress patterned with diamonds of varying sizes and a dark-brown lower skirt. Complimenting the dress are brown sleeves with thin wrist bands and a brown diamond on the upper edges of each sleeves. For accessories, the dress has several brown belts wrapped around its midsection with a small pouch fastened at their side. The girl herself has fair skin and green hair tied into short pigtails with shiny orange orbs. On her back was a strange looking bow, seemingly made straight from a tree branch with spiky twigs along its upper limb and a large sliver blade attached to the lower limb near the middle of the branch, which was stripped of its outer layers to function as the bow's grip. The bow has four leaves on the upper edge and a measly one leaf on the lower edge. Light-brown ropes were tied along the bow itself as decoration.
This here, was Anna, the Heroic Ranger of Greenwood Village.
Anna as she strolls trough the Human Village, the sight of open stalls where people barter with each other and children laughing as they play bring a smile to Anna's face, reminding her of her hometown. As she continue her late evening stroll, she thought back to the events of today.
She and her friends were adventuring in an abandoned mineshaft, (One that wasn't used to supply Lance with materials when he tried to take Greenwood by force) when they came across a strange colorful crystal that wasn't like any of the ones in the mineshaft. According to Natz, the crystal has a strange powerful magical energy that was unlike anything they've encountered. And Matt, upon hearing that, decides to slightly poke it with his sword causing a bright explosion, knocking her and most likely everyone else unconscious.
When she woke up, she found herself in a strange forest alongside Mighty Oak. Mighty Oak was relived that Anna woke up just fine, and vice versa. Anna asked Mighty Oak whether he knows where their friends were, with the Old Guardian replying No, saying that he haven't seen them nearby. Realizing that they were separated, Anna decided to look for them, but not before encountering trouble in the form of Leafy Chompers and Tanuki Dogs, which the two took care of pretty easily. Once that was done, the two begun to search for their friends.
They had no luck finding them, but they did found the Human Village. The two agreed that having a safe place to rest would be a good idea, and so they approached the gate. At first, the guards were a bit weary of Mighty Oak thinking he was some sort of big powerful yokai. Now, Anna had heard of yokais before, mainly from stories her mother would tell to get Anna to behave and the books mentioning them in the Greenwood Library. The residents here apparently shares some of the folklore of her hometown. Anna explained that Mighty Oak was friendly and that where they came from, Mighty Oak was a guardian of the forest. The guards exchanged looks with each other for a bit, before agreeing to let Anna in but states that Mighty Oak must remain outside the village, saying that the sight of a giant tree stump with limbs would cause quite a stir.
Anna, though disappointed, agreed but asked if Mighty Oak could help with guarding the Human Village. Surprisingly they agreed, saying that the big strong guy like him could scare off some yokais lurking around the Forest of Magic. So with that matter settled, Anna headed inside the village.
What greeted her was eastern-style houses and buildings, and people wearing eastern robes, dresses, and attires. Anna was amazed but that feeling didn't stop her from realizing that wherever she is now, she's not in or somewhere familiar.
After she finish staring, Anna went off to find someone who can tell her where she was, which lead her to meet a teacher wearing a blue dress, a blue hat with a red ribbon on it, and red shoes named Keine Kamishirasawa, who told Anna that she's in a world called Gensokyo, a world where all kinds of yokais live. Keine told her that she's in is called the Human Village. (Anna resisted the urge to comment on the name)
Keine then told her about how Gensokyo works, basically anything, and in some cases, anyone that was forgotten by the outside world will end up somewhere in Gensokyo, whether in the Forest of Magic, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, or a place like Muenzuka. She then asked Anna how she got here, to which Anna recounts the incident described above.
When Anna finished her retelling, Keine asked Anna if she would like to stay at the former's home until the latter could find a house to live in on her own to which Anna agreed.
"And that concludes the expository flashback and brings me to now." Anna thought to herself before she heard something. "Hm? Is that sound of someone screaming? Sounds like it's from outside the Village."
Deciding to check out what it was, Anna quicken her pace as she went towards the gate in ahead of her.
When she reached the gate she wasted no time opening them and on the other side she...
...Found Matt looking like he went through the most intense ride of his life as he used Black Fang to support himself, in contrast to NoLegs' mischievous face as if he was unbothered by what had happened. Even when two guards were pointing their spears towards him.
"Matt!? NoLegs?!" Anna exclaims, recognizing the thieving duo.
"Wait. Anna, you know these two?" The guard on her left (Ryuji, if she remembers correctly) asked.
"Yup. The blonde hobo and the cat are actually my friends."
"Anna... I thought... not to... call me... a hobo..." Matt tiredly said between heaves of breaths.
"Well, it's not like you wear anything else besides your usual attire." Anna playfully replied. Then she noticed the large sack he was carrying. "Hmmm? Where did you get that from?"
"Nya! meow, mew." NoLegs replied to her inquiry.
"Oh, I see. So you guys got distracted on the way here."
"Yeah." Matt replied, having caught his breath. "That, and an encounter with a witch who shot lots of colorful pellets at us."
"...Did the witch happens to be a blonde girl wearing black and white that also rides a broomstick?" The guard on Anna's right (Josuke, she recalled) asked Matt.
"Yeah, Marisa I think her name was. Why'd you asked?" Matt replied.
"Because I'm pretty certain that sack doesn't contain any treasure."
"Really? Well, she was carrying this when we-Ouch!" Matt started to recall before NoLegs interrupts him with a bonk to the knee.
"So... You two stole actually stole that sack from a witch, huh?" Anna questioned the thieving duo with a disappointed stare.
"... Yeeeeaaaah, we did." Matt admitted, much to the terrifed shock of NoLegs. "It was actually the reason we got in a fight with her."
For a moment, no one said anything as they let the words sink in.
"You know..." Ryuji was the one to break the silence. "I'm surprised that you two weren't in a worse shape considering what she can do."
"Oh trust me when I say this, we've gone through much worse." Matt told the guard. "Anyway, could we get inside please? I'd rather not get eaten by some yokai roaming out and about at night."
"Sure, but make sure you and your little feline friend doesn't any trouble in the village from here on out, got it?"
"Got it sir." Matt replied, with NoLegs giving a meow of acknowledgment.
With a nod, the two guards welcome them and the two follow Anna through the gate. Once they were on the other side of gate, the greenette ranger turns towards with a disappointed stare.
"Wow, you two. Not even a day here in Gensokyo, and you have already got in trouble with a local." Anna said with a face that pretty much spells out 'Seriously?'.
"Hey, in my defense, NoLegs was the one entirely at fault for the whole thing!" Matt quickly defend himself much to NoLegs' protest. "Oh c'mon NoLegs, if it weren't for you we wouldn't have to fight Marisa in the first place."
"Nya. Meow mrrow nya!" NoLegs quickly fired back.
"Well that-... Because I-..." Matt unfortunately was unable to thought of an effective counterpoint.
"Really Matt? I thought that you would have been suspicious on where NoLegs got that sack from." Anna said with a tired sigh. "Regardless of who was more at fault, we need to tuck in for the night and I happened to know a place."
"Cool. Can you guide us there?" Matt asked.
"Of course, though there's another thing that I'm uncertain of however..."
Keine calmly close her eyes she take sip of her tea.
Today was mostly the usual, teaching classes, hanging with Mokou, and the occasional "disciplining" of the some of the more malicious yokais here and there. Keyword being mostly.
When she was watching over the children this afternoon, a green haired archer from the outside world who calls herself Anna had approached her, seeking answers on where she was which Keine kindly answered and Anna in turn told her how the latter got into Gensokyo. Upon hearing Anna's recounting, Keine offered to let the archer stay at her home until she could find somewhere else in the Human Village to live in, which Anna agreed to.
After Anna made herself comfortable as a guest, she went out to take a stroll around the village in the evening in order to get acquainted with the layout of the village and get some information of the surrounding areas.
It was now nightfall, and despite the recency of her meeting with Anna and confidence in the archer's ability to hold her own against the hostile yokais, Keine starts to slightly worry about Anna's well-being. She seems to be quite young, a teen Keine guessed, and who knows if she'll encounter a yokai that she couldn't take on her own.
*Knock Knock Knock*
"Hm? Who could that be?" Keine wondered as she stood up and went to the door leading outside.
She opens the door and finds Anna standing on the other side...
... Along with a blonde, blue-eyed man wearing ragged clothes with patches on them and a hat with a symbol of two bones forming a diagonal cross under a skull, carrying a strange black sword with symbols written on it in his right hand and a large sack held over his left shoulder. And also a bipedal limbless cat with blue fur wearing knight armor fitted for something its size.
"So... Miss Kamishirasawa, can my friends stay with me for the night?" Anna innocently asked, seemingly oblivious to the teacher's surprise.
She gonna have some questions to answer tomorrow.