Imperfect Metamorphosis

Imperfect Metamorphosis is a Alternate Universe Touhou Fanfic written by Taker Foxx.

It's a beautiful first day of spring in Gensokyo. Everything is fine in this paradise, right? Cirno and friends, after making a fool of Lily White, steal a strange box buried beneath the junk in Marisa's house. Opening it, they release a sort of jelly monster that immediately consumes Rumia, bringing panic into the group who run to the Hakurei Shrine. While they request help from Reimu, the monster assumes the form of a darkened version of Rumia and begins making its way to the Bamboo Forest.

Everything either collapses or escalates from there, with schemes upon schemes and plans upon plans clashing and merging with each other. There's a reason there are so many spoiler tags below.

This Darker and Edgier Fan Fiction features some of the darkest elements of the games themselves (such as Gensokyo being filled with belligerent, distrustful maniacs), some Alternative Character Interpretations popular amongst Touhou fanfiction writers (such as the Eirin being a Mad Scientist, Yukari being a scheming Manipulative Bastard, and Yuuka being a Cute and Psycho Depraved Bisexual), and runs with it. It takes lot of time exploring the politics games of Gensokyo and just how far a youkai's mind can be screwed. Yet, it still manages some occasional funny moments, and Earn Your Happy Ending is not out of the question (much like another Touhou Dark Fic). It also uses the unused character Rin Satsuki from The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil as one the principal characters.

Imperfect Metamorphosis  has a side story, IM: Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire, which began after chapter 12 of the main story. It focuses on the adventures of Mokou and Kaguya in Dream Land after their encounter with the jelly monster. Lighter and Softer than the main story, but with gruesome Cheap Deaths and self-examination.

This fic also has two one-shot prequels/Christmas Special, A Very Nineball Christmas and Over an Open Fire. A one-shot humoristic side-story titled Touhous in SPACE was done for the two-years anniversary and can be read here.

If you want to ask some questions, here is the Spacebattles thread.

See Touhou for the tropes of this universe.

Tropes contained in Imperfect Metamorphosis:
""Play her for a fool, steal her box, shoot her in the face, all these she could forgive. But never, ever touch her hat!""
 * A God Am I: Marisa, when high off of massive destructive power.
 * Adaptational Badass: Kotohime. In her short canon appearance, she was an insane princess who thought she was a police officer. Now? She's a police officer who was able to arrest Marisa freaking Kirisame. Granted, Kotohime was having a very, very bad day.
 * Alternate Universe/Alternate Universe Fic
 * Gensokyo was founded some centuries before the date in Canon.
 * Ambiguous Innocence: Yuyuko acts rather childlike frequently, not seeming to understand that things like  are wrong. Her Obfuscating Stupidity makes this even more ambiguous.
 * Audience Surrogate: Yuuka's guest during The Storm chapters plays this part.
 * Batman Gambit: These story is 50% composed of Batman Gambits.
 * Battle in the Center of the Mind: When want to rip off  out of her head, an awesome one ensues.
 * Berserk Button: Marisa and her hat.
 * In chapter one:
 * In chapter one:

"Marisa (happy): "DOUBLETROUBLE!""
 * BFG: Eirin's kappa-modified black-market Sawed-Off Shotgun.
 * She later gets a whole shipment of upgraded variants off of Nitori.
 * BFS: Ex-Rumia's.
 * Big Damn Hero: In the last part of The Storm, we have the sudden arrival of Youmu who free Marisa from Yuuka's Combat Tentacles.

"Yuuka: "She will pay dearly for that crime.""
 * Blessed with Suck: All this has turned her into Gensokyo enemy #1. And as Gensokyo is filled with people who won the Superpower Lottery...
 * Blob Monster:
 * Blood Knight
 * Marisa freaking Kirisame
 * Yuuka Kazami
 * Blue and Orange Morality: Yuuka,
 * Break the Cutie:
 * has gone through many ordeals. In, she has definitely snapped.
 * Break the Haughty: Yukari does this to.
 * Breather Episode: Chapter 32: The Aftermath is well named.
 * Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu:
 * Buffy-Speak: Marisa's impression of anime: "[W]hat'cha call 'em again? Those illusions with stories on that clunky screen?"
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: Reimu's reaction to Meira's insistence that she dishonored her in battle and so must suffer vengeance.
 * Butt Monkey:  No one takes her seriously after Yukari dealt with her. Dips into Jerkass Woobie after "The Storm".
 * Came Back Wrong:
 * The Cameo: Masha Kinoko makes a brief appearance in chapter 22 to give Team 9 directions.
 * Character Development: Reimu, much to her displeasure, is forced to admit that she's becoming more of a "people person".
 * The Chew Toy: Lily White is Cirno gang's favorite fool and all their interactions are treated with humor, but then Rumia was consumed by a strange jelly monster. In light of the events, she decided to take her leave and only come back next spring.
 * Combat Tentacles/Naughty Tentacles: Yuuka's favorite use of her vines.
 * Complete Monster: In-Universe, Kazami Yuuka is treated as such - her very name frightens and disgusts people. Yukari states this reputation is well-deserved, since she used to destroy villages on a whim and it's very heavily implied she rapes and tortures people that wind up in the Garden of the Sun.
 * Continuity Nod: Chapter 24 has one to A Very Nineball Christmas.
 * Cool Sword: Reisen eventually finds
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Most of Gensokyo's powerhouses join together near the beginning of the story to take down
 * Cute and Psycho: Yuuka smiles almost constantly, and most of the time is almost pleasant to be around. Then she kills people because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, were in her way, or just to make a point. She used to be a lot worse about this: Yukari said she'd murder whole villages because she'd think it'd be funny.
 * Darker and Edgier/Dark Fic
 * Deader Than Dead: The Kirin have access to a way of killing youkai and faeries and keeping them dead.
 * Yukari is also capable of this, by crushing a being's 'essence'. This causes the target to be incapable of reforming its body.
 * The influence of Mykr's Sirens can prevent a youkai or divinity from regenerating from bodily disruption if there's enough of them around. Fortunately they'll come back once the Sirens have been weeded out.
 * Deadly Doctor: Eirin, though supplementing her very weaponizable medical know-how with More Dakka.
 * Death Seeker:
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Reimu, whether willing or not. Marisa was surprised about this one.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
 * Disproportionate Retribution/Wicked Cultured: Yuuka, despite everyone in-universe saying she's unpredictable, has a method to her madness. She only lashes out when someone breaks etiquette. An example being when she killed the couple in the hotel room, because they screamed in terror upon seeing her instead of giving her a proper greeting. Another example being that she didn't attack any of Yukari's backup teams until they attacked her, thus breaking the rules of her engagement with Yukari.
 * The Dreaded: Nearly everyone reacts to the news that Yuuka is becoming involved with abject horror at the possibility. Their reactions are entirely justified.
 * Dream Land: Two examples which are overlapped with Journey to the Center of the Mind.
 * Dumb Is Good: Utsuho, very childlike and naive but also the only character to befriend Flandre,
 * Dummied Out: Referenced In-Universe with a dream done by Rin Satsuki.
 * Dysfunction Junction: Nearly everyone is messed up. Thankfully, we have some persons like Reimu.
 * Eloquent in Her Native Tongue: Whereas the Kappa normally speak with an accent appearing to be a bizarre fusion of Jamaican and Dutch, the conversation between Sanae and Nitori in the Kappa's language displays a ridiculous level of articulation.
 * Enemy to All Living Things:
 * Enemy Within:
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Yuuka is an In-Universe Complete Monster, but repeatedly she tries to express her... standards:
 * When she makes a promise or deal, she will go out of her way to make sure that both sides live up to it.
 * To Yuyuko and Youmu:
 * When she finds out that Yuyuko, she's actually shocked and disgusted.
 * She find their use of to be absolutely disgraceful.
 * To Yukari:
 * She outright states that there are those worse than herself out there.
 * Yukari is systematically destroying any flora in an attempt to prevent Yuuka to infiltrate her little spies. She considers that it is murder.
 * To Yukari:
 * She outright states that there are those worse than herself out there.
 * Yukari is systematically destroying any flora in an attempt to prevent Yuuka to infiltrate her little spies. She considers that it is murder.

""Reimu, I may be an idealist. That doesn't mean I'm an idiot.""
 * Yuuka does genuinely seem to care for Elly and possibly Team Nineball, remarking that outcasts should stick together.
 * All of these things are mainly due to her Blue and Orange Morality.
 * Evil Mentor: Mima to Marisa, causing several other characters to worry.
 * Extreme Omnivore: Yuyuko. Eats everything...
 * Fan Girl: Patchouli was incredibly eager to meet Mima, having read all her books, and obsessively studied all of her theories.
 * In Ch. 38, Sanae is utterly unwilling to let Reimu try to stop the scuffle between the Scuttler and the Hisoutensoku, or move from her vantage point. Why? It's a MECHA FIGHT!!!
 * Fantastic Racism: Nearly every denizen of the Human Village has this with youkais. They shun Reimu despite her being one of their few protectors because she's friends with youkai (as opposed to, in Touhou, simply not acknowledging her efforts). They shun the GPF despite them being the first organised law enforcement agency in Gensokyo's history because they also protect youkai. And Master Sonozika outright hates youkai, especially Yukari, and anyone who associates with them under a fairly standard "all youkai are the same" mentality.
 * Flash Back/Pensieve Flashback: The Storm chapters.
 * Forbidden Zone: The Garden of the Sun (which, in Canon, is populated by fairies who help the garden grow by pointing them towards the sun) and a city that was nuked to Hell and back by Yukari are considered like this.
 * Foregone Conclusion: The plan to kill Yuuka is being told by Yuuka herself. This is being told after the actual attempt itself.
 * For Science!: Eirin's other rationalization for being such a Jerkass.
 * The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You:
 * Gambit Pileup: Everyone wants or somehow save face in front of everyone else. Just try to count all the different plots, gambits, and motives running in this story. And it's not over yet.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Subverted. had these when she was trying to make amends, after having swallowed up the wrong person.
 * Grey and Gray Morality: Many sides have justifiable reasons to intervene in the conflict. Some reasons are more justifiable than others. Discussed by Reisen in Chapter 37.
 * Gray and Black Morality: When everyone's not trying to stab each other in the back, there's always Ex-Rumia and Yuuka.
 * Gone Horribly Wrong:
 * Good Is Not Dumb: Byakuren.
 * Gray and Black Morality: When everyone's not trying to stab each other in the back, there's always Ex-Rumia and Yuuka.
 * Gone Horribly Wrong:
 * Good Is Not Dumb: Byakuren.
 * Good Is Not Dumb: Byakuren.

""Uh-huh. Only problem is that it's wicked hard even when I've only got one person inside me-""
 * The Hero: Reimu, The Lazy Ace, fills this role: she assembles her team with diplomacy, and strive for a better world with heroic means. Of course, it's doesn't mean that she is the only protagonist.
 * Humongous Mecha: Two of them--the Asakura sisters' Scuttler and Nitori's refurbished Hisentensoku--battle it out for the rights to capture Rin.
 * Idiot Ball:
 * Idiot Savant: Utsuho and her nuclear fusion.
 * The Infiltration:
 * Innocent Innuendo: It's a misunderstanding. Really!

"Yukari : "You…do realize…this doesn't mean…we're going steady.""
 * Interplay of Sex and Violence: Marisa finds the use of Yukari's And the Sun Rises Red Spellcard to be nearly orgasmic. Well, well, Marisa, are you cheating on your Master Spark?
 * It Amused Me:
 * The reason why Yuuka joined the fray, combined with Worthy Opponent and thinly-veiled lust for Team Nineball.
 * Mima's justification for helping in Reimu. Interestingly enough, the "it" in question is not, as was initially apparent, but rather.
 * It Got Worse: Downhill since the beginning.
 * The four chapters of The Storm are basically a simple situation --a battle-- which rapidly degrades. The results and the full implications of this battle are downright impressive:
 * Jerkass: A lot of people took a level in jerkass in this fic.
 * Affable Reality Warper Yukari, who at least does what she has to do.
 * Mad Scientist Eirin, who constantly treats Reisen like shit, even after for minor trivialities, and quickly starts arguments over who's responsible for Ex-Rumia. Reisen calls her out on it at one point.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind: Rumia had done this in the Deep Within chapters. Kaguya, Mokou are doing their own one in IM: Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Byakuren knows that her ideals won't be quite achievable, not to mention how the rest of Gensokyo lives, yet, she doesn't renounce her ideals, living by them while accepting reality,however, she is one of the more polite examples.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Well, Taker Foxx is a Troper...
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:
 * Yukari did this to.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: The tarantula youkai who harasses Cirno and gets frozen for it in chapter 4 had previously And when he tries to get back at Cirno in chapter 15,
 * Les Yay: Being a Touhou fanfiction, it's almost required to at least have hints of this, such as Marisa's frequent sex jokes, or Wriggle being mistaken for Mystia's lover, or Rumia admiring Kaguya and Mokou's bodies, or Yuuka's... affection towards Wriggle, or
 * And how can we forget this phrase Yukari said to Yuyuko:
 * Les Yay: Being a Touhou fanfiction, it's almost required to at least have hints of this, such as Marisa's frequent sex jokes, or Wriggle being mistaken for Mystia's lover, or Rumia admiring Kaguya and Mokou's bodies, or Yuuka's... affection towards Wriggle, or
 * And how can we forget this phrase Yukari said to Yuyuko:

""If anything, [Reimu] hoped that those two would move beyond subtext and make official such a relationship. Threatening to tell Alice whenever Marisa started to get out of line would at least make it easier to control her.""
 * It's also Discussed In-Universe. For example, there are some... rumors... about the relationship between Marisa and Alice.

"Elly (while fighting Youmu and Yuyuko): "Even in this world, where all rules are lightly enforced, there are certain predator-prey constants. Fire will burn, wolves will prey upon rabbits, scissors will beat paper, and against ghosts, Shinigami will always, always win. It's the circle of life and death.""
 * Logical Weakness/Achilles' Heel


 * Lovecraftian Superpower:
 * Mad Scientist:
 * Eirin, of course.
 * The Asakura Sisters, to a slight degree.
 * Mima is hinted to be the magical version of this.
 * Madness Mantra: degenerates into this, whenever someone  even suggests that  may still be alive.
 * Madwoman in the Attic: Flandre. While the source material isn't definite as to how it applies to her, in Imperfect Metamorphosis she is this trope all over, introduced singing Sweets Time Midnight while using dead rats as marionettes.
 * Man Behind the Man:
 * Manipulative Bastard: Reimu sees Yukari as this, and not without reason.
 * Remilia tries to be this to Yukari.
 * The Messiah: Byakuren.
 * Mega Manning:
 * Mind Rape:
 * A consequence to what happened to due to the Battle in the Center of the Mind between.
 * What happened to Satori when she looked into Yuuka's mind.
 * gets one at the end of The Storm.
 * A consequence to what happened to due to the Battle in the Center of the Mind between.
 * What happened to Satori when she looked into Yuuka's mind.
 * gets one at the end of The Storm.

""It is amazing, the sort of things people will do for love," Yukari murmured. She brought the teacup to her lips and slowly sipped the steaming liquid. "Even the proudest, the most uncontrollable, the most erratic of creatures can be swayed by its power. ""
 * Mind Screw
 * Mood Whiplash: Done at the end of chapter one. Done each time we have a silly event in the middle of a serious event.
 * TakerFoxx admits that  Gensokyo can be a silly place.
 * Moral Myopia: Yuuka considers Yuyuko's use of psychological attacks against Elly to be unforgivable, but she did the same thing to Flandre. And what Yuuka did was about a thousand times worse.
 * Mundane Utility: Alice is shocked at Mima using a pocket dimension as a vomit bucket for Marisa.
 * My Greatest Failure: Reisen's is.
 * Mysterious Past: Mima.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Yukari calls this on Marisa for stealing the box containing the Blob Monster,
 * The Nicknamer: Marisa, calling Youmu "Doubletrouble" or "Bodypillow", Yuyuko "Yugogo", Sanae "Mossy", and more.
 * Non-Indicative First Episode: The first chapter is absolutely not in the same tone as the rest of the story.
 * Noodle Incident: A prank Rumia pulled on Reimu. It involved noodles.
 * Not Now, Kiddo: Yukari commits a truly epic one near the beginning, turning Eirin's objections into the setup for a Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner. This does not end well for either.
 * Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The Ring Leaders. Yukari thinks she is the Reasonable Authority Figure among them.
 * OC Stand-In: The Dummied Out Rin Satsuki.
 * Oh Crap: Everyone who faces Ex-Rumia or Yuuka has at least one of these reactions. And on a few occasions hearing the latter's name is enough to provoke one.
 * Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Yukari has the urge to generate smoke and hand out hoods whenever she's with Mima and Eirin.
 * One of Us: TakerFoxx. So much that he was delighted when his Fan Fiction got to the Fan Fic Recommendation page. And then got its own page.
 * One-Sided Arm Wrestling:
 * Original Character: The named Rabbit Guards, 'Tony' and Hunter.
 * Our Angels Are Different: With a whole explanation of why they are different.
 * Pet the Dog: Two important antagonists, Yuuka and Elly regularly get some sweet scenes together.
 * Person of Mass Destruction:
 * Pinned Down
 * Yukari & Co. tried this on at the Battle of Eientei. It didn't work.
 * Tried again on Yuuka Kazami. Not good.
 * Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You: has shades of this after the Battle in the Center of the Mind.
 * Police Are Useless: Played With. Kotohime and the GPF are kinda serious and 'efficient', in spite of gathering some eccentric characters, but they have to deal with people like Marisa and Yuuka.
 * Porn Stash: Team Nine at first thinks this is what's inside the crystal box. Later, it turns out Marisa also thought this was how Patchouli would be hiding her porn. In ch. 34, it turns out Sanae has her own stash (whether portraying men, women, or both is not revealed)...or did, until Suwako noticed it.
 * The Power of Love: Invoked.
 * The Power of Love: Invoked.

- Chapter 27: Wheels Within Wheels

""...she [Reimu's mother] had the thing with the guy with the killing notebook, then that mind-controlling revolutionary, and then yet another genocidal girl, this one with invisible arms, and the list goes on.""
 * Promotion to Parent: Reisen in the backstory.
 * The Protagonist/Deuteragonist: The main characters are Rumia, Reimu Hakurei, Yukari Yakumo and Rin Satsuki.
 * Rape as Drama: It's heavily implied (if not outright stated) Yuuka's raped several people before via placing substances in their tea. Wriggle knows this first-hand, apparently. If that's not enough, Yuuka also briefly plays with the idea of raping Kotohime while the latter is unconscious, only to decide against it when she starts to wake up.
 * She also loves children "in more ways than one".
 * Science Is Wrong: If you ask Reimu, in any case. And, this being Gensokyo and all, she might be right.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Lily White, upon seeing how badly the reception to her announcing "IT'S SPRING" as well as the attacks by Ex-Rumia, decides to try again next year, hopefully by then everything will have calmed down.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can
 * The Blob Monster was this before being released by Team Nine..
 * is a textbook example. As soon as the story is explained Yukari is forced to defend her decision to "only" seal it.
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism: Okuu's Third Leg has one. A very polite one.
 * Sociopathic Hero/Nominal Hero: Mima, not quite having gotten over her Evil Overlord tendencies but still firmly on the heroes' (or, at least, Marisa's) side. Would easily qualify for Token Evil Teammate, except that her side has some other very morally grey characters. Much to Reimu's dismay, Marisa takes after her in this aspect, if her encounter with Kotohime is any indication.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Lily White has decided to get out of there and only come back next year. Cirno's gang appears sporadically, depending where we are on the Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness.The more they interact with Yuuka, the more their apparition are near the Seriousness end.
 * Despite this trope being in effect, there are still many good jokes to be found in the entirety of the story and its spin-offs, lightening the mood every now and then.
 * Shout-Out: Some to popular Touhou memes and/or other works.
 * In chapter three:
 * In chapter three:

""[Yukari has] not been this roughed up since her encounter with that Ellimist fellow who had fell out of that black hole two centuries ago.""
 * A Harry Potter reference in chapter five.
 * Taker Foxx is a major fan of Neil Gaiman. He even throws in a blink-and-miss-it reference to American Gods in Chapter 10.
 * Yukari, during the second part of The Storm chapter, goes "Clever girl..."
 * Yuuka's separated forms are described to have whipfists, hammerfists...
 * The Storm, last part:

""Maybe one the humanoids? Like Zalgo? No, that doesn't make sense. The Operator? No, that slender fellow's also accounted for. The Rake? Unlikely, but he may know something. Make sure to look him up.""
 * In the same part, Yukari mentions Slender Man and several other Creepypasta.

"Mima: "Every second she runs free, countless lives teeter on the brink, all thanks to her imperfect metamorphosis!""
 * In Chapter 32, two Eientei guards are named Sayaka and Hitomi.
 * Chapter 35: Well, didn't expect Yukari to bring up the The Other Wiki, but then again. Yukari's gonna Yukari.
 * Chapter 37: Yuugi mentions that Suika's rebuilt gourd can make mead, just like "those fellows with the horned helmets and the weaponized shouting"
 * Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness: A really serious fic... but we can laugh, sometimes.
 * Combined with the witty writing one might sometimes forget this is a dark fic.
 * Something They Would Never Say:
 * Speak of the Devil: Murasa uses this expression when Reimu shows up. Reimu is not amused.
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Yukari and Yuuka. Even if Yukari is one the main characters and Yuuka a chaotic element who only want to wreck havoc in the story, their interactions and confrontations have taken more and more screentime in the different chapters, cumulating into The Storm.
 * Straight Man: Youmu takes this role in Chapter 27.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Ex-Rumia,.
 * Talking the Monster to Death: win their fight against  via a Kirk Summation.
 * Tarot Troubles: During Rumia's Journey to the Center of the Mind, she runs into Mima, who proceeds to read her past, present, and future, as well as that of several other characters through Tarot Cards.
 * Technical Pacifist: Byakuren, wavering between this and Actual Pacifist.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The entire story.
 * Reimu is gathering allies to achieve her objective, but these allies don't get along very well.
 * There's enough animosity between the Ringleaders (especially against Yukari and Mima) to ensure that nothing at all is likely to get done in anything less than an end-of-the-world scenario and even then only with difficulty. Other than Yuyuko, Satori and her own Shikigami almost all of the people Yukari collaborates with at any point have either one or both sides at best thinking ill of the other side. At worst actually betraying each other..
 * And the crown jewel of the story's Teeth-Clenched Teamwork is the group Yukari drafts to kill Yuuka--one pair is genuinely on her side, one team is pragmatically cooperating, one team was blackmailed into it and their leader is pissed off at everyone who wasn't, one member was , and one member is royally pissed at Yukari and is only there because of another teammate. Fortunately the plan involves very little interaction between the teams.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Eventually Subverted. Someone reviewing the "Yuuka assassination team" could say that Yukari is going a little "overkill" when she recruited among others persons of mass destruction, but, know what ? It's not enough. When fighting Yuuka, let's say that a big Wave Motion Gun is the least you must bring.
 * Title Drop: A genuine one is done in Chapter 37: All the Right Reasons.
 * Title Drop: A genuine one is done in Chapter 37: All the Right Reasons.

""...and don't get me started on your reputation as godlike lovers. It seems that whenever you're brought up, people are either deathly afraid of you or they want you to throw them down and jump their bones. Sometimes both.""
 * Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Invoked by Mima on.
 * Vampires Are Sex Gods: Discussed Trope by Yuuka Kazami to Remilia Scarlet, while talking about the vampire kind.


 * Villain Protagonist: Yukari Yakumo is a main character beside Rumia, Rin and Reimu. The "villain" part comes from her conviction that the safety of Gensokyo overrides everything else.
 * Walking Wasteland: Even touching Ex-Rumia is a risk of death, and is certain death to beings below a certain level of power.
 * Utsuho, after
 * Wave Motion Gun: And the Sun Rises Red.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yukari, with emphasis on Extreme. Views on exactly how extreme or sympathetic she is varies among readers, but she is certainly capable of some very morally grey acts for (in her mind) the greater good of Gensokyo.
 * As an example, Yukari pulls a (fully crewed) oil tanker off Earth and blows it up as a weapon against Yuuka.
 * Worthy Opponent: Yuuka sees Yukari as this and starts harassing her and interfering with her plans, partially out of this and partially because it's amusing to her.
 * Gambit Roulette: Yukari does this with basically everyone. The author even mentions it himself.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: Mima has a spell to this effect of the 'Time Stands Still outside' variety. She can use it to have extensive conversations.

Tropes contained only in IM: Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire:
""What does she think she's doing?" she asked herself. "Does she expect to find rupees or something?""
 * Asteroids Monster:
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Kaguya's trial in chapter 6, though contrary to her expectations, the dream goes after her (long since settled) Gayngst rather than her acquisition of immortality. She is unperturbed, to say the least.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Mokou's and Kaguya's are explored.
 * Decapitation Presentation:, in a flashback.
 * Homage: IM: Rhapsody of Subconscious Desire doesn't only make shout outs. In chapter 4, the group meets.
 * Femme Fatalons:  uses these to horrific effect when separating a rabbit guard and his face.
 * Foot Focus: Noticeably, all three main characters go barefoot through the majority of the story.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: The maiming and regenerating of our immortal protagonists simply does not end, and they're so entirely used to it that they don't even care (many minor injuries aren't even noticed until they physically impede whatever the victim was doing). The one with the least regenerative power suffers the least injury, however.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind: Literally, as that's where Rumia thinks they need to go to get out.
 * Kill It with Fire: Aside from Mokou's usual shenanigans, the villagers employ this tactic against her in turn.
 * Off with His Head: Several accounts, though only the one listed above sticks. Notably, it takes longer to come back from than most deaths.
 * Really Gets Around: Kaguya apparently had this reputation among the rabbit tribes.
 * Recycled in Space: Again,
 * Remembered I Could Fly: In chapter 4, and Mokou are going down a steep path, and her companion has to remind Mokou that she doesn't have to descend on foot. Justified in that Mokou's flight had been disabled before, on two separate occasions (in chapters 1 and 2).
 * She does it again during the very next encounter, much to her embarassment.
 * Sand Worm:
 * Shout-Out: In chapter 2:

""--there would be no rescues courtesy of messianic lions or gallant warrior mice."
 * In chapter 5:


 * Token Evil Teammate: Kaguya explains this to Mokou, describing as this, although none of the group are exactly paragons of virtue.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Kaguya takes the whole Journey to the Center of the Mind as a JRPG. Although she might be questioning that after chapter 4.

Tropes contained only in A Very Nineball Christmas:

 * Christmas Special
 * Prequel
 * Prequel

Tropes contained only in Touhous in SPACE:

 * Shout-Out: It's basically one long shout out to Star Trek.
 * Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The crew of the Earth Spirits VS Legate Yukari Yakumo's flagship.