Scene #2688: AMAZING! A Spellcard Duel at Sundown?

Owner	Pose
Xiao Li Yu	Gensokyo - Human Village The time was ripe, and the location was set. Up in the skies above the human village, a single figure floated. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were closed. Her legs were evenly apart, a pair of black, metallic anklets easy enough to spot around her ankles. Those must have been aiding in her flight. Dark skin and white hair gave the girl away as Xiao Li Yu, resident mad scientist of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Today was a day long incoming. A week ago, She and Marisa Kirisame had agreed to hold a Spellcard Duel in order to decide who gets the right to keep a rare book that was found on a previous ruins exploration expedition. The people of the village were informed ahead of time, of course, and so, the various businesses of the village had taken to bringing out stalls to peddle their wares to visitors, taking advantage of the commotion. Various residents, young and old, child and adult, have come out to observe. Xiao was actually kind of surprised they were allowed to be fighting above the village. Did they have some kind of barrier? ...Well, these duels weren't lethal, so it must be okay. They just had to not aim down at the village. Simple. ...Probably. Master Spark was a thing. She's seen what that giant laser could do. ...Wait, that's going to be aimed at her today, wasn't it? Crap. Well, putting all of that aside, where /was/ Marisa anyway? Xiao looked left and right, searching the skies for a witch on a broom. It was hard to miss a witch on a broom!
Kyra Hyral	Meanwhile, down on the ground within the crowd of watchers is a certain white mage and certain BESTEST FRIEND of Xiao: Kyra "Wild Magic" Hyral. She brought a big bucket of popcorn with her. It's unclear who, if anyone, she's going to be cheering on.
Marisa Kirisame	It's fashionable to be late to parties as well as spellcard duels. As the clock ticks closer and closer to the appointed turn of the WHEEL OF FATE, Marisa is nowhere to be found! Ten minutes. Five minutes. The only commotion is the milling of the townsfolk down below. Two minutes, no hide nor tail of the magician. Did... did she bail!? No. Wait. What's that coming out of the Forest of Magic. It's a comet! It's a meteor! NO! A totally different kind of shooting star! It's Marisa Kirisame, surfing her broom out from the canopy, its fibrous bristles trailing some kind of bright, glowing green /stuff/ through the air as she alights over the village like a low-hanging star. "Hey there Xiao," Marisa chimes cheerily, "Didn't think you'd get away with the book so easy, did you?"
Xiao Li Yu	Where indeed? Xiao had said nothing, eyes searching the skies. Fairy....fairy....fairy....whoa, that thing was so fast, she didn't even see it properly...another fairy...Oh! Over there! From the direction of what looked to be a rather dense forest, something came bursting out of the canopy and sailing through the air like a veritable comet. It was a tiny speck at first, but it got larger rapidly. Soon enough, it was easy to tell who this was. The witch's arrival is met with an amused smile. "Well, well, look who decided to show up almost late. Hello Marisa. I'm glad you could make it." The scientist chuckled a tad. "I would have been disappointed if I got the book without a fight, after all that studying I did last week." The villagers below began to chatter among themselves with the arrival of Marisa. Were they placing bets? ...They were placing bets, weren't they? It was like the party had immediately begun once both combatants had arrived. "Right then! Why don't we get down to business?" Xiao reached into her sleeves, producing a single black card, lined with a golden design along the surface.
Kyra Hyral	If either combatant looked closely enough at Kyra they would see two things: one, she still has the strange horn on her head. Two, she has something /else/ strapped to her forehead. Xiao would recognize it as one of those wearable cameras her world has recently made popular. The outer rim of the lens glows a bright red, indicating that the device is currently on.
Marisa Kirisame	Gensokyo is something of a backwater. Even with prolonged exposure to the Multiverse, the delicate political situation in this particular pocket of space means that progress is slow, if it exists at all. But that suits most of the townsfolk just fine- they have their entertainment in the Spellcard Duels, and that's already a hell of a lot better than how things were twenty odd years ago. Some do give Kyra an odd look for her weird head-mounted camera, but nobody comments too loudly about those weird youkai and their weird inventions. "It'll be a fight, alright," Marisa's lips pull into a cheerful grin. "Looks like you've got everything ready," she says, peering at the little black card. "Kinda curious what that thing'll do. How about you take the first one, then, since you've already got it drawn and all~" A card of Marisa's own slips between her fingers, gleaming a vast array of colors in the declining sunlight, "Whenever you're ready! Let's give 'em a show!"
Xiao Li Yu	Xiao briefly glanced down at Kyra, finally spotting her. Oh joy! Her bestest friend has come to watch her get her ass kicked! Well, no matter! She'd studied all week for this! Time to put on a show! "Then I'll take the first move!" The card she was holding became cloaked in an aura of red-orange magic energy and, then was swung outwards. FLAME SIGIL FLARE TEMPEST Suddenly, magic began to build up around multiple points in the sky, just slightly below them. Energy gathered at those points, growing larger and larger, until suddenly, with a BURST, every single one of those points erupted. Like a volcano, spurts of flaming danmaku flew into the air, threatening to envelope Marisa from the get go. But it didn't stop there, they began to arc downwards, raining from above once their ascent was complete. This pattern would then repeat as energy began to gather for another eruption...
Marisa Kirisame	Xiao's spellcard unfolds, filling the sky with veritable locuses of magical energy. "Bug-type, Slave-type hybrid Fire magic, huh?" Marisa observes, licking her lips in anticipation as the fireball danmaku poured down from on high. "Not bad! More Mokou than Patchy!" The flames draw dangerously close, but Marisa's barely moving at all! What's she-- Oh wait. There she goes. The little witch takes off like a shot the moment the fireballs begin arcing downward. She pulls RIGHT up to the where the fireballs reach their zenith, and then weaves back downward through the gaps in the orbs. SPEAKING OF ORBS, four brightly colored ones have appeared in the air surrounding her. Which can only mean one thing. LASERS. Beams of light blast out from the four orbs, joined by a barrage of pale green magical missiles cast by the witch herself. With every fresh eruption, Marisa races up to the inward arc of the erupting fireballs and leads them back down, aiming to score as many hits as possible on the rebound. HAS SHE SEEN A CARD LIKE THIS BEFORE!? Well, she HAS been in Gensokyo for a while. ...And basically everyone has a Rain-type spellcard. So.
Xiao Li Yu	Wh- Wait a second. Xiao squinted, watching Marisa race about as the effects of her first card took place. She.....she wasn't having even a mild iota of trouble! Ow! Lasers! MARISA HAD SEEN THIS TYPE OF PATTER BEFORE! Abort mission! I repeat, abort missio-"BWAH!" Xiao lost her focus from the skillful barrage of lasers and missiles and the spellcard broke. "Well! I expected nothing less, Marisa. Let's try that again!" She pulled out her second card, pointing it forward. FROST SIGIL - DIAMOND DUST Immediately, the surroundings began to grow colder. Soon after, snow began to follow. ...Wait, that's not snow, those are bullets! Those white, snow-like bullets rained down at a snail's pace, clogging the battlefield, but leaving navigable gaps. There were a few larger clusters of ice chunks occasionally fired forward to try and throw Marisa off from lazily weaving through the snowstorm. But they weren't quite that simple. They were semi homing, tracking her position for about a second before locking on her last position. Once they got close enough, they exploded into a shower of smaller ice bullets, complicating the initially lazy snowstorm.
Marisa Kirisame	There are only so many patterns that you could possibly craft spellcards from. To remain on top of the heap, you either have to be overwhelmingly powerful, have some REALLY solid cards, or innovate basically non-stop. That's part of what makes Spellcards so much fun. As Xiao's spell terminates, Marisa flashes her a slight grin, flipping the Hakkero about in her hands, "Wasn't bad, but basically everyone in this town's got a rain-type. Show me something new!" Xiao's next spell is... Not quite that. "Is--" Marisa squints as the pattern takes shape, weaving out of the way of some of the lazily floating puffs of 'snow-like' danmaku. "Is this Perfect Freeze? Are you-- oop!" Bolts of ice race down after her, lazily weaving through and closing off gaps in the greater pattern of Danmaku. Marisa takes off again, leading the shots through the storm of slow-moving bullets. One explodes a bit too close, causing the witch to engage in some DESPERATE DODGING to get out of the way! Her hat ends up with a patch of 'snow' denting its top. Good thing there's probably nothing in there, right? "Not quite Perfect Freeze! Perfect Freeze plus something else. Heh, almost!" The witch fires again, sweeping in arcs from one end of the blizzard to the other, leading the march of semi-homing snowballs in a merry chase through a winter wonderland. The ice and snow blaze with prismatic light as her lasers slice through the storm to try and peg the Dark Knight at its center. "Hey Xiao," she calls through the curtains of frigid danmaku, "Where'd you get the ideas for these cards, anyway?"
Xiao Li Yu	Gah! Another dud! Xiao frowned, watching Marisa weave through yet another one of her spells without much of a problem. ...Also what was a Perfect Freeze? That...was someone else's spellcard, wasn't it? AH WAIT- Kablam, pelted by lasers yet again, Xiao tried to abate some of the damage by weaving through the sky. Maybe...Maybe if she avoided some of them, the spell would eventually get he-"BWAH!" Nope. With her concentration shattered by another well placed laser, Xiao huffed and wiped her forehead. "Okay, this is much more challenging than I thought it would be!" Marisa's question made for a lul in the battle and she thought about it. "Well...I watched some videos of these two girls fighting. One of them wore red pants with seals on the them? The other wore a red skirt and a pink shirt." She brought a hand to her chin. "I've seen the abilities of this other little girl wearing a blue dress with blue hair and wings made of ice..." She stopped. "OH! NOW I see what the problem is!" Xiao don't copy, Marisa's seen it all! "...Well then, I have an idea!" She pulled out her next card, grinning confidently. "This next one is sure to make you work for it, I swear!" What an uphill battle. Marisa hadn't lost a single life yet! Well, here goes. STORM SIGIL - JUDGMENT BOLT Immediately, lightning struck the battlefield at two points on either side of Xiao. They formed into twin orbs of electricity. From those two orbs, lighting burst out of them, forming into electrified laser beams and curved inwards slightly and crossing beams. They didn't dissipate however. They remained that way and instead, the beams occasionally pulsed, expelling spiderwebs of electrical energy with gaps between them. Each pulse created a different set of gaps, some smaller, some larger. Entirely random
Marisa Kirisame	"That'd be..." Marisa furrows her brow. "Mokou and Kaguya. And Cirno." Well, that explains why it all felt kinda familiar. Not that she hasn't done similar stuff before, too! Why, at least three or more of her own spellcards were derived (plagiarized) from those of her former opponents! So she really can't complain all that much. "Well, that's your problem," she CAN complain a little, though! Marisa grins, darting back to the ready as Xiao prepares her latest spellcard. This one is... Lightning. Immediately, the witch frowns. She's only run into a handful of Youkai who use lightning, and at least two of them have this REALLY awful habit of mixing it with-- Yep. Those sure are curved lasers. "Nnnngh," the witch grunts, drawing back from the arcs of electrified light. Not just curved lasers, though. Curved lasers plus a Stress type! If she had Reimu's ridiculous dodge prowess (read: absurdly tiny hitbox), this would be no problem, but she's not. Marisa is a speedywitch. Marisa is a laserwitch. Marisa is not a backflips-over-laserbeams kind of witch. She shifts in between the opening and closing electric gaps, but backslides into one of those DAMN CURVED LASERS. The witch emits a pained growl as the current blasts through her body, shattering one of her orreries and causing causing a shield to come away in a high-pitched PICHUUN~ ONE LIFE DOWN. BUT!! "You're pretty good," Marisa grins through the smoke rising from her mildly scorched outfit as the lightning rages all around her. "But y'know, I don't really like stress types. Too many bullets, not enough breathin' room. Let's fix that, shall we?" That rainbow-colored card blazes in between her fingertips as she levels the Hakkero. Gotta have perfect timing with this. Another arc of lightning peels through the witch-- but the spellcard ignites with prismatic energy at the exact same time! The arc of electricity seems to bleed away into the Hakkero as it flares, and then... LOVE SIGN - MASTER SPARK! DEATHBOMB MODE! The column of rainbow-colored energy is somehow even /bigger/ than the last time Xiao had seen her fire it. It's like Marisa is abusing some HIGH LEVEL RULES to supercharge her spellcard with the free energy of Xiao's own!
Xiao Li Yu	Hah! Finally! Finally she got a life in on Marisa! But no, it was too early to celebrate. Xiao's eyes widened as she saw that familiar block of wood get leveled at her. "...Oh crap-" BWOOSH "NOT THIS ONNNNNNNNNNNNNE-" Came the girl's comical cry as the multicolored beam of death totally enveloped her in it's searing light. Try as she might to keep hold of her concentration to keep the spell going, the torrent of energy coarsing through her became way too much to bear. The spell shattered and Marisa was mercifully freed from curved laser hell. Once the smoke cleared, Xiao remained in the air, though her clothes were scorched in places, and soot was spread across her face. "...I'm only glad I wasn't hit by that outside of a Spellcard Duel." Yes, like poor Professor Desalle. She didn't want to imagine how much that laser hurt when not under the protection of a Spellcard Duel. A sigh was given and then she pulled out another card. "Well, this is my last card. Of course, I had no doubt you'd get through them all." She smirked and raised it up high. "One last stand for me then!" LIGHT SIGIL - CROSS RAY The immediate area darkened considerably, and from all around, a cage of white lasers began to form, boxing both Marisa and Xiao in. Horizontally and vertically, lasers fired and fit into place, creating a perfect cube made of beams. There were navigable spaces between them for the opponent to weave through. Likely for what was to come. And come it did. From around the edges of the cube, there was a surge of energy and one horizontal and vertical burst of energy traveled through the cube, aiming for Marisa's position. They covered the gaps in the direction they were going, making it impossible to dodge in two directions. But she still had two other directions to go in to avoid them. To make it more difficult, Xiao spread her arms and then thrust them forward, firing the occasional thin beam of light through the cube to stifle Marisa's movements and screw her up.
Marisa Kirisame	YES THIS ONE. The Master Spark is Marisa's favorite spell for a reason! Even if she might have, maybe, taken it from a certain flower Youkai. Nobody can prove that ever happened, though. It was in the dream-world anyway, and Marisa's magic is the stuff of dreams! So it's fine. Right? Fine. "Whew, I shouldn't'a mentioned curved lasers that last time," Marisa sighs, rubbing a thin layer of grime from her forehead. Stupid cuvy beams, throwing her off! Not like Marisa can talk much considering she is basically Broken Laser Queen of all Gensokyo. "That kinda thing is just cheatin', you know? It's almost as bad as stoppin' time." Like that /damn maid./ "Four cards, huh? You thought them up pretty quick, didn't'cha?" The witch grins, moving back into a holding pattern. In the reprieve between the last spell in the next, she takes a moment to gather up enough magic to start reconstructing her broken orrery. There's not QUITE enough time to finish before Xiao gets started on her next- and final- card, however. The world gets dark... Except for those blindingly blight beams. "This is... Actually pretty original too, huh." There are hints of a few others she's fought before, especially the Gap Witch and the Vampire's Little Sister, but they used bullets, not lasers. The beams forming the SCIENCE CUBE's grid surge, sending painful currents crisscrossing all around her. Marisa dodges one way, only to have to lunge into the gap between a wall-beam and one of Xiao's own to avoid losing YET ANOTHER life! This is... A pretty decent pattern. It's almost one she'd use herself. Well, with a little personal touching up, maybe~ But that's for later. For now, she has to keep dodging and shooting right back. When the beams converge, Marisa dodges over to the next grid over, then jukes left or right to avoid Xiao's personal beams. All the while she keeps up her own beam-y pressure! It's like some kind of FUTURISTIC LASER WAR all up ins.
Xiao Li Yu	Laser war it is. Xiao actually felt mildly confident about this card. She harmlessly flew through the cube, firing lasers at the points that would most precisely tick Marisa off. All while attempting to dodge the return fire. This little war of beams went back and forth for a while, and Xiao actually managed not to lose her concentration for this card. Of course, Spellcards had a timer. And her's was running down. Even if the spell wasn't forcibly beaten, she could time out. It was time to take things up a notch. With the timer running down, Xiao increased the frequency of her lasers, firing more often and doing her best to weather damage taken. "I WILL have that book, Marisa!" She yelled out through the spell as both her time and concentration dwindled down. This was the last moment-! But it felt like she was forgetting something...what was it?
Marisa Kirisame	It's a good card! Creative, with few spots open to actually dodge that aren't soon filled by painful amounts of LASER. Marisa hisses a few curses as several beams peel a LITTLE too close for anyone to ever be comfortable. But Xiao's stepping up her game, firing lasers more and more frequently in an attempt to wear down Marisa's last few lives in what time this final spell has remaining. She could tough it out. Tank a few hits, burn off the last few seconds or the remainder of the card's durability, but... But, well, to be honest, that just isn't Marisa's style at all. "You'll have the book when I'M done with it!" Marisa roars in reply. One of the gridlines nearby starts to pop and crackle-- and Marisa leaps THROUGH it just moments before the thing comes online. She twists in mid-air, landing with her feet flat on the length of her broom. Her Hakkero... Is nowhere to be found? No. No that's not right. It's right there! Right in the tufty nest at the back end of the broom! This can only mean one thing--! "This spell wasn't bad," Marisa chuckles into the darkness as she pitches around another cluster of beams. Her speed is... building. The dark is peeling away from her as the air around her begins GLOWING. "But if you think it's enough to do me in..." By now the sun had crept down beneath the crest of Gensokyo's many mountains. Day was turning to night, but it wasn't yet so dark that the stars had filled the sky. Well. The SKY wasn't dark enough yet, anyway. But here, in the midst of Xiao's Beam Cube, it was another story. It twinkled at first, sparkling like a little mote of light against a cage of massively more brilliant lights. Moment by moment, that star grew. The world grew darker-- except in the cage. Day turned to night, but that's only cause for the stars to shine on even brighter! A laser surges her way. Marisa dodges. She carries on through the next grid-wall, and the next, and the next. Each time the beams converge just a little further back in her wake. A spell card, clutched between her fingers, burns with the color of starlight. The witch smirks, her hand clenches around the card, "Then you've got another thing coming!" With a boom of thunder, it explodes-- And Marisa... Marisa becomes, herself, a--. BLAZING STAR Xiao can see her explode from the far corner of the cube, wreathed in a halo of starlight, through and out the laser cage. She disappears into the distance-- but pivots just before exits the makeshift arena and REBOUNDS. Marisa grins, a glimmering trail of comet dust lingering in her wake as she streaks across the sky. Xiao scan see her as a little speck like a far-off planet, but that speck grows larger with each passing second. Bigger, and bigger-- and it becomes obvious what she's doing. Marisa has engaged RAMMING SPEED.
Xiao Li Yu	Aw crap. Xiao almost, mildly thought she had Marisa for a moment there. She should have known better. "Aiyaaaaa...." Was all she could utter as Marisa barely dodged through another laser surge and then another and another and then...Here it comes. BLAZING STAR Marisa tears through the arena, building up more and more speed until she was a veritable comet of cosmic energy. RAMMING SPEED HAS BEEN ACHEIVED. "Wait, wait, wait! Time out! I call time ou-PFFFFFFT" Xiao cried, waving her arms about frantically. But no. There was no pause button for this! BLAM, right in the midsection! "MY BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK....!" ...Was Xiao's last cry before she was blown right out of the sky. She sailed through the air, descending downwards until finally-- BAM She hit the ground, back first. Her spellcard had dissipated as this was happening, marking the end of that little Spellcard soiree. ".......Ow." Xiao groaned, staring up at the sky from where she lay. MARISA WINS.
Marisa Kirisame	Protest all you like, Xiao! Once Marisa kicks this one into full power, there ain't no stopping her! Unless she wants to be stopped, that is. But that's a different story. Marisa doesn't come to a complete stop until she's well and truly forded the sky. Left in her wake is a river of glimmering light that lingers for several minutes even after her spell terminates- sort of like a miniature Milky Way, hanging beneath the clouds. But as Xiao hits the ground, the match comes to an end with a final-- !SPELL BREAK! At least she has a full view of Marisa's trail of stardust from down there! The witch descends in short order, her broom touching down not at all far from the fallen Dark Knight. She grins, "That wasn't bad for your first time! But it's like I keep sayin', in Gensokyo, I'M near the top of the heap." Perhaps adding insult to injury, the witch extends a hand to her fallen opponent to try and help her up like some kind of GOOD SPORT. "You've got some pretty good ideas, at least, but!" There's a devilish twinkle in her eyes, "Good ideas ain't gonna be enough to take that book away from me!"
Xiao Li Yu	That was a pretty trail of stardust. Her loss aside. Xiao just sighed heavily, watching it glitter and eventually dissipate. Well, so much for that. Oh well, at least it spurred her on to finish the A.A.N.S. That's one good thing that came out of it. The scientist followed Marisa with her eyes until she landed right by her. "I believe you now. The way you dodged most of my cards like they were trivial..." She sat up at that point. Thankfully, Xiao wasn't particularly prideful, so BEING A GOOD SPORT, didn't bother her much at all. "Well, only the last two cards were particularly my ideas. The first two were derived from...Mokou and Cirno were their names?" That didn't turn out well. Well, that's enough sitting on the ground! Xiao took the offered hand and pulled herself up to her feet. "...Pffft! Ahahahahahaha!" And upon hearing Marisa's (true)proclamation, the girl burst out laughing. "You are too much, Marisa." After a few seconds, she sobered up and sighed. "Very well then." She smiled. "I'll just have to drop by your house and look at it there." ....Why didn't she decide that BEFORE they went and had this silly spellcard fight!? Because shut up, that's why.
Marisa Kirisame	Well, clearly you need to PROVE DOMINANCE IN THE FIELD OF BATTLE before deciding to have a tea and/or drinking party. That's just how it works! It's purely common sense. Marisa's lips curl into a slight smirk at Xiao's SUDDEN DECLARATION OF FRIENDSHIP. "Well, sure. I was plannin' on inviting you for it, but if you'll invite yourself it'd save me the trouble." Because that's the sort of twisted logic that makes sense in Marisa Kirisame's brain. It also explains so, SO much of her behavior. "Oh, right!" She jolts suddenly and tugs her hat from her head. Marisa reaches an arm in deep and begins rummaging around for... something, "It was in here somewhere, uh... Aha!" Her hand comes away with... A BOOK! Or at least, a copy of a book. "Here!" She grins, pressing the tome into Xiao's arms, "For the next time you try copyin' someone else's spellcards. It's gonna be published soon, but, y'know, got a few spare copies lying around. Just don't try pullin' cards I've already seen on me again! The same tricks won't work twice." "Those last two cards were pretty good, though," the witch muses, her smirk widening into a devious grin, "Gave me a few ideas of my own, eheheheh."
Xiao Li Yu	"Well then, don't mind if I show randomly. I saw you burst out of that forest in the distance." Assuming she lives there and not here. There was a Kirisame shop here, wasn't there? ...Better not ask. Suddenly a BOOK in places in her hands. "Eh?" Xiao opened it and skimmed a few pages. "...Ohhhh...this is interesting." She smirked, closing it and tucking it away into her sleeves, subsequently dumping it into her Inventory. "I'll give it thorough read once I can settle down." A hand was waved then. "You can reference my cards all you want. I don't imagine I'll be having Spellcard Duels very often, so at least SOMEONE will get a use out of them. Whoever they might be." The villagers had snapped out of their stupor at that point, and bets collected, fresh chatter ran through the crowds, and people began to disperse, slowly returning to their usual lives now that the excitement was over. For today at least. Xiao had a look around and paused. "Well, now that we've settled that matter, I think I should be going." She looked towards Marisa and smiled. "Let me know what's in that book, won't you?" Her anklets began to light up and she hovered off the ground meanwhile, prepared to take off.
Marisa Kirisame	"Iiii'm sure you'll find your way to my place sooner or later," Marisa answers. She says nothing about the existance or lack-thereof of a Kirisame Shop in the Human Village. It's not /her/ shop, and she's got nothing at all to do with it! Anymore. "I'll take that as permission, then," she says, waving the dark knight off. "But don't think that it'll be your last just yet. After all, I've been lookin' into those CLUBS of yours, and that got the gears in my head all a-turnin'. I'm sure a few people've had quite a show tonight, more than just the usual crowd in the village. But, hey, 'till then, you might just wanna keep practicin'!" What kind of devious plan does Marisa have for Alexander Academy!? TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO FIND OUT!!