First time writing anything let alone a fan fiction so criticism is welcomed. Hopeful nothing looks too bad and that I'll get better at writing with each chapter.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners.

"The hell is this place?" A young man says as he walks past a shrine.

The man was of average human male height and had brown scruffy hair. He sported a black light jacket with a dark gray t-shirt underneath. His belt that held up his black jean pants was made out of chains and they clanged as he walked. His eyes were a dark red color that seemed to give off a slight ominous glow.

"Oh its a what you call em, a Shinto shrine or whatever. Guess this place still has some sort of connection with the outside." He walks to the front of the shrine and looks around with curious eyes. "Oh my god these places have those maiden people don't they?" He says as he gets all excited. "And this must be a donation box." He peeks inside the box, but finds nothing. "Hmm... guess it wouldn't hurt to leave something and do my good deed for the day." He pulls out an American five dollar bill and stuffs it in the box. "Alrighty then! Time for some explor'n." The young man made his way down the stone steps, whistling while he walked.

"I never would have thought that such a place existed here this entire time. I really shouldn't be surprised. I've seen stranger things after all." He thinks to himself. Then he grins. "This place will make the perfect place to test my new found powers out."

A few moments later, the maiden of the shrine returned. Reimu Hakurei. She walked up to the donation box and then began to look around her in an urgent fashion.

"What is this feeling?" She thought with a worrisome expression. She then spots something in the donation, turning her frown upside down. "Oh how nice!" Forgetting about the ill feeling she just had, Reimu quickly opens the box and takes out the paper money that had been placed there. Her crown quickly turned right back into a frown. "Damn it! At least leave currency I can actually use!" She stuffs the cash into her pocket and storms into the shrine.

Night was descending upon Gensokyo as the young man from the outside world wondered a dark forest.

"Yup. I think it is safe to assume that I am totally lost." the man said.

Things could be heard creeping around the forest floor and navigating through the tree tops. The man simply stood where he was, contemplating on where he should go and giving no heed to the sounds the denizens of the forest were making. Suddenly the man jumped up in surprise.

"The fuck! Get off!" The man began swotting at his pant leg as something crawled underneath. After a few swats, a rather large bug fell to the ground and then began to scurry off. "Damn thing." He walked up to the fleeing bug and attempted to squash it until a voice called out to him.

"Hey that's my friend you're bothering!" A girls voice echoed around him. His eyes quickly scanned the area, searching for the source of the childish voice. He quickly caught sight of a girl standing on one of the branches of a tree. "Yo, outsider." The girl said, giving him a two finger salute.

"Kid, ain't it a bit late for you to be out here this late at night?" The man said.

"You really are from the outside if you think I'm a kid."

"Well arnt you?"

"No!" The girl jumped into the air and did a single somersault in the air before making a perfect landing on the ground. The man gave her a slow clap. Now in better view, the man took notice of the bug like antennae sprouting from the top of her head.

"Is it Halloween in this strange place?" The man asks.

"No, dummy, I'm a bug youkai."

"A bug what now?"

"A bug youkai. In better terms you would understand; I am a monster that eats lost humans." The girl says with a cocky smirk.

"Whatever." The man says, unmoved by the girls words. "Just point me in the right direction toward some civilization. I'm tired of walking around here aimlessly."

"You're dumber than you look. I'm saying I'm going to eat you."

The man tries to hold back a laugh. "Yeah, whatever kid." The man's face suddenly turns serious as he notices the presence of a large amount of bugs surrounding him. The girls cocky smirk grew larger.

"My names Wriggle Nightbug and I can control bugs. Whats your name, human?"

"Max and I can control my hand upside your head if you don't stop bugging me and give me some damn directions."

"Its in a youkai's nature to pester humans. You're the first human from the outside world I've seen in a long time and the best part about it is that no one who would is awake to save you." Wriggle points to Max, signaling her bugs to attack him.

The bugs all charge towards Max who simply smirked. He then stomps his right foot into the ground, causing a shock wave around him, blasting away the bugs that thought to swarm him. Wriggle quickly brought her arms in front of her to shield herself from the blast. After the dust cleared, Wriggle lowered her arms and observed the area. Her bugs were scattered everywhere and some of the smaller trees were bent away from where Max stood. She then gave Max an angry glare.

"Damn. This power sure is a handful." Max said to himself.

"Hey! You said you were from the outside world!"

"I didn't say anything about where I came from, but that fact remains true."

"Then how can you use magic?"

"Magic? This ain't no magic, little bug girl. This is something beyond your understanding."

Wriggle's cocky smile returned to her face. "Heh, fine with me. I would love a good fight! I'll show you the power of bugs!" She pulls out a card from one of her pockets. "Firefly Sign: Little Bug Storm!" A swarm of bugs swarmed out of no where, obscuring her from Max's vision.

"More god damn bugs?" Max says angrily.

"Taste my danmaku!" Wriggle's voice echoed around him.

Suddenly, magic bullets shot through the curtain of bugs and toward Max. He merely glared at the bullets then swatted them away with his hands, paying no attention to the bullets that came from behind. The bullets crashed right against his back, causing him to cringe a little.

"Ouch. Those things actually sting."

Max began to dodge and weave between the bullets while the bug girl's laughter echoed through out the forest, clearly enjoying his sporadic movements. He began to concentrate some of his power into the center of his body. He then let out yet another shock wave. This time with a little more punch. The blast did not merely send the innumerable insects flying, it shredded them along with the surrounding area. Wriggle was quick to take cover behind a large rock, but the rock shattered, revealing her position.

"Shit!" She said as Max came rushing towards her. He took a swing at her, but missed his target and sent his fist into a big rock, shattering it like glass. Wriggle jumped backwards to create some space between her and Max. She then pointed at him.

"Hey! You're not suppose to hit girls!" She protested.

"A girl? I thought you were a youkai."

"I'm both!" She pulled out another spell card only to be stopped. Wriggle suddenly found herself unable to move as she was lifted in the air by some force. "W-what the hell!" She tried to shake herself free, but only managed to tire herself out. She began to moan in pain as the force around here began to slowly crush her. "S-stop!" She called out.

"I'm done playing. Are you going to tell me where I can find a large settlement of people or are you going to waste my time with your bugs?" Max was standing with his right hand held out, slowly closing it. Wriggle began to moan louder as the pain increased. "Well!" He yelled. She then pointed towards her right. "Thanks." Max then raised his extended hand into the air, raising Wriggle into the air.

"I told you where to go now let me go!" She demanded.

"Be happy you are the first bug I came across that was cute or I might have just killed you outright." Max said as he opened his free hand, forming a transparent glob.

He then threw the glob at Wriggle as she floated helplessly in the air. The projectile made a sound like that of a thin sheet of metal that was being shaken as it journeyed towards it's target. Crashing into Wriggle's stomach, the projectile produced a rippling explosion that distorted the space around it. Wriggle screamed as she was sent spiraling into the dark forest.

"Perhaps you will choose your opponent better next time, eh?" Max gave the fallen girl a two finger salute then proceeded towards the direction of the only place in Gensokyo with a large group of humans; the Human Village.

The following afternoon...

"Alright. I'm pissed."

Max was still wondering around to dark forest, having become lost once again. The tree tops blocked much of the sun's rays, only slightly illuminating the forest floor.

"I'm crushing that bug girl the next time I see her." He says under an angry breath.

"More"

Max turns around to a voice of a little girl. He sees nothing then turns back around, continuing on his path.

"More. More."

He proceeds to ignore the strange girls voice, instead concentrating on finding a way out of the forest.

"Spread more."

"Seriously, shut the fuck up." Max swings around and chucks one of his transparent projectiles out into the forest, destroying a tree or two.

"Madness!"

Max turned back around to the voice. No matter where he looked the voice always appeared to be right behind him. A trickle of sweat ran down his face.

"Alright. This forest is creeping me the fuck out."

"The Forest of Magic tends to do that, but making one hear voices? That might be something else."

Max turned to the direction of a more mature voice, spotting a tall and slender girl.

"Now here's a cutey." He thought.

The girl walked out from the shadows. She had two dolls sitting on her shoulders. She herself was holding onto a book.

"I sensed a strange and unnatural energy last night. I came out here to investigate it and in all but five minutes I find the source of that foul energy. Thanks for sticking your head out for me to catch just now." The girl says while smiling cheerfully. The dolls on the girls shoulders began to float in front of her. She raises here hands out in front of her, letting her fingers dangle. "My name is Alice Margatroid. Nice to meet you." Suddenly, the two floating dolls followed by dozens more dolls from the forest sprang towards Max.

Max jumps backwards in surprise. "I'm Max and fuck you to." Max tosses a rippling glob at the attacking dolls, but the small targets quickly dodged. The dolls moved in splendid organization as they surrounded him.

"Who the hell attacks with dolls?" Max questions.

"I do." Alice answers with pride.

One of the dolls jumped towards Max. Thinking nothing of it, he swung at the doll. As soon as his fist connected, the doll exploded. Another doll jumped into the smoke filled center and exploded once it latched onto Max who was too busy holding his injured hand to defend. A few more latched onto him, exploding in session. Max then fell to his knees, coughing from all the smoke and injured from the explosions. The dolls remained in their position around him, preparing to move at the slightest twitch of Alice's finger.

"Sorry, I'm usually not so harsh against an opponent from the outside, but there is this certain wrongness about you that makes me not want to hold back." Alice said, holding a stern look and not moving an inch from her current position.

"Well thanks, bitch." Max says while coughing up smoke.

"May I ask where a boy like you from the outside world got a hold of that strange power?"

"An ancient city."

"There is many ancient cities in the world. Be more specific." Alice demanded.

"Heh, the city I'm talking about doesn't exist in this world."

"What do you mean?"

Max, after catching his breath, began to get back on his feet. The strange energy Alice had felt before suddenly grew without warning. It had tripled in intensity, causing her heart to waver.

"Don't move or you will be hugged by more of my dolls." Alice commanded.

Max stood upright then brushed himself off. "Look. I gave you some free shots at me. Now can you kindly take me to the nearest town?" Max gave Alice an unkindly glare.

One of Alice's fingers slightly twitched. The dolls that surrounded Max dived for him. He quickly jumped up into the air to let the dolls collide with one another. He held his hands together then moved them apart, forming a larger transparent glob he had used as a projectile earlier. He then quickly threw it down at the dolls. The dolls scattered in different directions, but were not quick enough and were shredded apart from the blast created when the glob made contact with the ground.

"Damn. What kind of power is that?" Alice thought.

Alice used the two dolls that survived the blast to shield her face from the gust of wind made from Max's attack. Max dived towards her. Alice then jumped out of the way as his fist smashed into the ground where she was just standing, putting a large dent into the ground. Max engaged her in melee combat while she went on the defensive. She knew she wasn't good at close range, but she was nimble enough to dodge his punches. Another glob formed in Max's hand, attempting to slam it into her stomach, but missed. Max then cried out, letting out a shock wave and sending Alice flying backwards. She bit her teeth as she struggled to catch herself in mid air, but was suddenly caught by an invisible force that slammed her down, letting out a yelp of pain as she made contact with the ground. She quickly got back up on her feet and pulled out a card. Max stared at her, waiting to see what she would do.

"Red Sign: Doll Mira Ceti!" Alice calls out.

Max braced himself for the incoming attack. Both Alice's two remaining dolls took to the air. He decided to ignore the dolls and go straight for the doll master. He took off sprinting towards Alice, but was obstructed by powerful danmaku that were aimed at him. He jumped backwards to avoid to shots as they pelted the ground, leaving holes where they hit. The dolls continued to fire upon him as he tried to find a suitable path to his target. After spending a good half a minute trying to get close to Alice but failing, he began to throw his transparent globs at her in rapid session, forcing her to begin dodging as well. Getting frustrated, Max reached out towards Alice and grabbed a hold of her with his telekinetic power, yanking her closer towards him.

"What is this?" Alice panicked as her spell card ended. She tried to fly away, but it only slowed her approach towards Max.

Max, now free from the barrage of danmaku, kept a hold on Alice with his power and began to slowly make his way towards her while she struggled to pull herself from his psychic grip. His mouth formed into a dark grin.

"You feel that, girl? That would be fear that is overtaking you." Max clenched one of his fists, causing the ground around him to crack under his small surge of power. "You made a huge mistake in attacking me. I had no attention in fighting you either. All I wanted was some god damn directions. Is that too much to-" Max stopped mid sentence as he notices a card in between Alice's fingers. "Shit!" He quickly looked up to see the two dolls he had forgotten about flying towards him. The dolls waste no time in opening fire on their master's opponent.

"Demonic Control: Return Inanimateness!" Alice calls out.

Max loses his grip on Alice as he clumsily dodges the danmaku. He reaches out for the dolls and grabs them both with his telekinetic power. He then violently crushes the dolls in an attempt to break them. Not able to pay attention to too many opponents at once, Alice was able to close in on him and deliver a punch to his abdomen. Being more surprised from the amount of strength the girl was able to muster behind her punch then in pain from the actual hit, he jumped backwards to give himself space and time to collect himself. Alice does not let up on her offense and fires off some danmaku of her own as her dolls quickly rejoined the fight. Max desperately avoided the shots fired at him, but he started to take hits more and more as time went on. One of the dolls stopped firing it's danmaku and dived for him. He thrust his open palm forward at the doll, sending a shock wave rippling through the air, hitting the doll and shredding it to pieces. Max then received a flying kick to the side of his head. Before Alice could jump away from his reach, he grabbed a hold of her arm then threw her over his shoulder and slamming her into the ground. Blood flew out of her mouth from the impact. He went to stomp on her chest, but suddenly felt something hug him from behind. Alice quickly got up and jumped back.

"You fu-" Max's words were overtaken by the sound of the violent explosion that engulfed him.

The explosion the doll produced was much larger than the others and even Alice wasn't able to escape the blast without injury. She was sent tumbling backwards across the ground until the trunk of a tree stopped her. She sat where she was for a moment to catch he breath, observing the desolated area.

"I didn't expect that boy to give me so much trouble." Alice began to think to herself. "I should have came more prepared. At least that new explosive material I got from Marisa worked like a charm." She leans her back up against the tree to rest. "But that power... that power he used to enhance his strength and to attack me with like that was not magic. Just thinking about it..." Alice clenched her chest. "Creeps me out."

The dark power Alice felt from the man vanished with the explosion. She stumbled to her feet, brushing off any dirt she saw on her.

"Since he won't be talking now, if ever, I'll just have to investigate his body." Alice thought.

She made her way towards where her doll detonated, swiping her hand back and fourth to blow away the smoke and dust that still lingered in the air. As the smoke cleared, she spotted Max standing hunched over. She smiled.

"Not only did you live, but you're awake. I'm impress-" Alice was suddenly frozen in place. As quickly as the presence of that dark energy vanished, it returned and this time it was was far greater. "What the hell is this... What the hell is your power. Tell me!" She said with a hint of fear and frustration in her voice.

What smoke was left was blown away by a gust of wind that seemed to emit from Max. His jacket and shirt were both gone, leaving his rather toned upper body exposed. In a normal situation Alice might have blushed, but the evil power that engulfed her began to throw her thoughts into utter chaos.

Max straightened his back, revealing a medallion dangling from a chain around his neck. His eyes looked upon Alice, making her shiver with his glare. An ominous aura formed around him. The aura was that of blood red tamed flames that emitted from him and a strange symbol on his medallion began to glow. Alice took notice of the medallion. It took her all her strength just to speak.

"S-so that is the source of your power." Alice said, fumbling her words. Alice takes a step back from the frightful man. "Why am I so consumed with fear? If I can just get a hold of that medallion I could-" Alice train of thought crashes as she finally recognizes the symbol on the medallion. She remembered seeing it in a book she had once found, a book that she could never finish. She ended up having the book destroyed because it gave her nightmares that nearly drove her mad. "Impossible! It can't be!" Alice shrieks. Max could only laugh at her horrible revelation.

"Well ain't this a surprise? You know what this symbol is don't you?" Max begins to walk towards Alice while she backed away in fear while holding onto her grimoire for dear life and shacking her head in denial. "Well that settles it. I was just about to let you off the hook for being a cute girl, but now that you know what kind of power I have at my command, you have to die."

"That is not your power. You're insane if you think otherwise." Alice said as she backs up into a tree.

"Insane? Babe, from the looks of it, it is you who is insane." Max said as his smile turned into a sadistic grin.

If one were to look at Alice's face, it indeed did look like she was about to snap at any moment. She was wide eyed and her face was deathly pale. Her vision was distorting as she continued to stare at the medallion. She thought the headache she had was just from the battle before, but it was getting much worse the longer she looked at the medallion. She tried to close her eyes, but the image of that nightmarish symbol was now burned into her mind.

Max stopped just within arms length from Alice for a moment, crossed his arms and then began to think. "You know. I was going to kill you, but I think I'll try something else on you. Nighty night, Alice. If only we had met under better circumstances."

Alice's thoughts ran wild. "I need to warn the gap youkai. I need to get away from the-"

"Don't worry. This won't take long." Max said, letting out a sinister chuckle.

Alice was completely petrified with terror as Max drew closer. Alice's vision turned black as he covered her eyes with the palm of his hand. In that instant she let out a terrible scream that echoed through out the forest as she was sealed within her deepest nightmares.

Alice found herself in a dark and twisted world. Her mouth was sown shut and her eye lids had been cut out, forcing her to observe the atrocities that she was being forced to commit. She was slaughtering all those who she cared for. The shrine maiden. The which. Her mother and others. Every single one she was being forced to rend to pieces with her army of dolls. All of her friends would either curse her out or beg for mercy as her dolls would slowly tear their limbs off or flay them. Blood ran down from her mouth every time she tried to open it to beg for forgiveness. Even if she could speak, her voice would have been drowned out by the agonizing screams of all the innocent people she was butchering. Alice could only watch as her body moved against her will. Puppet strings were attached to the insides of each of her bloodied wrists as well as her feet and they led up into the black sky where the other ends of the strings were attached to the fingers of a female hand with demonic like nails. The blackness covered the person holding the strings except for the arm and the two strange eyes that seemed to just float in the sky, looking down at it's puppet. A horribly distorted laugh of a young girl could be heard echoing across the twisted world. Tears ran down Alice's face as she loses all hope of ever getting out of this never ending nightmare.