I'd like it, I've always imagined Gensokyo as the scariest place on earth for a human

Not like we're going to turn it down. We need more One-Minute Writefags to fill in the voids.

>Is anyone interested in doing a horror based adventure filled with delicious despair and a lot of night time

Are you kidding? We'd LOVE it.

Is it going to be like Clock Tower or Demonophobia?

Sounds awesome, I'll bite.

OP here, hoping my tripcode works
---------------------------------------

The ice cold rain showers down onto the stretching path and lush forest turning the dirt path into a muddy slush which struggles to slow and cripple your movement. Your heart is ablaze and your body burns too, and as screams and shouts fill the air you press on in your desperate bid for escape. The cries intensify as you slowly realise with dread that the screams are coming from all around you and that death has stalked you here. You hear a cry from just behind you, turning for a brief moment you spy a young man, streaked in dirt, with his clothes torn, running after you. He shouts for you to keep moving before one of the creatures lunges into him, dragging him to the floor. You stagger forward and resume your flight as the mans screams behind you drown out into a bloody gargle.

Then you feel yourself falling. You meet the ground at full force, even managing to skid a short while. Your vision blurs and you feel so dazed your stomach churns. You blink and your right eye is dyed a faint red, instinctively you put your hand to your head, and upon drawing it back you find it soaked in crimson. Almost immediately you feel faint and you stagger off and away from the path in a dazed state before collapsing into the undergrowth of the forest.

You awake only a short time later, feeling your body jerking along the ground and you come to the quick realisation that you are being dragged.

“This one’s alive! Come on! Help me get him up and out of here!” The man dragging you calls out to unknown companions.

“No time! They’re coming!” Another voice, female this time, replies. “Shit! They’re already here!”

As if on cue you hear the inhuman screaches pierce the night silence again, and in close proximity. You groggilly turn your head as your body slumps back down and watch as the man and woman take off down the path. A leg blocks your view and you hear rasp breathing above you. You cast your eyes up to the Youkai above you. Horribly disfigured yet it still holds its humanoid form. Its hands seem to have shedded their flesh up to the forearm and you watch as it coils and uncoils its boney hands, held together by taut tendons and draped in bloodied skin. Its head twitches as puss and drool fall down from the jagged crack that forms what is left of it’s face; a single large cavernous tooth filled mouth.

It arches its back and lets forth another screach before bounding after the couple down the path. You wait and nothing happens. Thrity seconds pass. A minute. Five minutes pass and still nothing. By some miracle you are still alive. Very cautiously you turn your head and look the other direction. The path stretches on in that way but nothing of significance seems to be there. The adrenaline fades and then soon does your consciousness.

You awake to find yourself encased in darkness and lying on something quite oddly soft. You try to move your limbs but something is putting up a light resistance. You strain to see in the darkness and eventually you glean what appears to be a human hand. You screw up your face in confusion before the sudden realisation strikes you. You’re in a mound of corpses. Frantically you force your head from side to side and all around you see tattered and bloodied clothes and smell the stench of death all around you. Your breathing becomes rapid as you find your body screaming for oxygen. You start to violently thrash at the bodies above you which seem to be giving way. As you shove you feel the weight upon you lessen and you triumphantly drive yourself out of the mound, tumbling down the side and gasping for air.

You stagger quickly up and away from the mound taking deep breaths you survey the area. You’re still in the forest just on the outskirts of human village but your brain pulses with pain and you find it hard to concentrate. The time seems to be early morning and there is a light fog covering the area. Infront of you are two paths both leading in the same direction but you know the right path leads off and away from the human village whereas the left one leads back into the village.


[ ] Left
[ ] Right

[ ] Right

No need to walk into Silent Hill just yet.

[x] Left
To sanctuary!

[X] Left

[x] Left

Horror? count me in!
[x] Left

[x] Left

In this battered state you are in no position to simply leave what little safety the village offers. You force your body into motion and move on towards the human village. The air is fresh and the breeze is gentle and as you wander down the path you pass by the stumps of several older trees that were cut down last month. You idely stare at them and reminiscent about better times. You don’t remember who or what you were before arriving in Gensokyo but you’ve always felt at peace here, almost like you belong here. You remember meeting the locals, the town figure heads; Keine and Rinnosuke, the shrine maiden. Your mind stops as you remember Reimu and begins to haze.

You watch her from a far as she meditates. She has spent the last week in meditation which caused concerns in the town and put some of the more pious types on edge. The sitation was not helped when she asked for you personally to visit her. Dreading the worst you speak up. She quickly silences you by gently holding up her hand. She turns and smiles.

“You took your time” She says giving a sly smirk.

You are about to protest at your treatment despite having to climb a mountain at such short notice but you have the impression she probably won’t care.

“I have a task for you” She says, pausing. “I want you to accompany me on a little journey, perhaps we can talk then?” She smiles but, it feels so sombre, almost as if something is deeply troubling her.

Your mind flinches in pain and you find yourself staring at the tree trunks. Your short term memory seems to be fried, its incredibly painful even thinking about the past few days. Gazing back at the trunks you find a hatched left in one of the trunks. Taking the axe with one hand you yank it free of the stump and grip it tightly making you feel slightly more secure. A short while of walking in the mud you find the cobblestone path that leads to the village and only now can you make out the black tendrils of smoke that scar the clouds and finally you reach the gates of the village.

Surprisingly they’re in tact but open, stepping through you are greeted by what can only be described as a charnel house. Bloodied bones and shredded flesh lie strewn about the entrance, you can’t even recognise any of them, these people have been reduced to nothing, nameless dead. Your stomach begins to turn not in disgust but in a feral and primal rage. Your free hand trembles and the axe in your hand shakes, unable to contain yourself you lesh out on the front gate embedding the axe into the gate with a firm slash. Ahead of you a shadow quivers and moves in the fog. You immediately tense up, fear rising in your body as your heart quickens. You swiftly tug the axe back out of the gate and ready yourself. The approaching figure appears to be humanoid but before you can make out any disiguisable figures it moves to the right and behind a building.

Without even thinking you dash after it, passing by many burnt and collapsed buildings as it seems that most of the village has been burnt to the ground. You don’t pause to dwell on it and finally the figure stops outside village school and library, it quickly becomes apparent why.

“Keine” You say, words failing simply failing to describe how you feel at a time like this. Your mind is still severely shot and struggles to cope and bear with everything. She doesn’t answer but keeps her gaze firmly on the totally collapsed building which used to be her place of work, her life.

“History is written by the those who win. And now we too are history. Idly discarded and but a footnote in this world.” She makes a few steps towards the rubble and crouches down infront of it. “Do we pick through the rubble, weep and rebuild? Or do we make history just that. Leave it behind and continue for the now, not the then?”

She looks back to you expectantly.

[ ] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”
[ ] “That which is written cannot be undone. We must always strive to make the future better than the present.”

[x] “That which is written cannot be undone. We must always strive to make the future better than the present.”

[x] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

And what if you are the guilty party, Anonymous?

[ ] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

>>2595
We'd be zombies?

[x] “That which is written cannot be undone. We must always strive to make the future better than the present.”

Random Youkai: 1
Human Village: 0

{X} “That which is written cannot be undone. We must always strive to make the future better than the present.”

[x] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

Answering the call to action.

[ ] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

[x] “That which is written cannot be undone. We must always strive to make the future better than the present.”

[x] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

Keine looks solemnly away and to the rubble, tenderly reaching out she picks up a stone and stares at it. Looking back to you she holds it out.

“Then I believe this is for you.”

You stare at the animate rock with bitter anger, knowing full well what Keine is trying to say. She will wait for you to take it, to accept your fate as someone who has lost everything. But you will never, no, this battle is not over and your work is far from done. She drops the rock to her side, rises and moves to leave past you. You give her a fixed glare as she passes you.

“I will not be by your side to watch you satiate your bloodlust.”

Her aura of superiority and self-righteousness boils your blood as she so casually disregards her people and brands you as a feral beast. The very sight of her now makes you sick and you feel yourself repulsed away from her. Refusing to even dignify her with a response you march on and away from her without even looking back once.

The fog now hangs heavy in the air as does the dull mood. You tred lightly through these hallow grounds as now surely this is a place of remembrance and a testament to the human spirit to fight and to live. The brunt wood and brickwork crumble under your feet untill you find yourself in the market square. You hear the faint echos of people all around you. You mind hazes for a moment and you see before you the market place; alive and bustling with people, a group of men arguing over a board game, the stalls full of traders calling out their wares, people gathering around the stalls and a local magician performing a play to children using a cast of dolls. The vision fades but voices echo and linger on in your mind as you view the tattered and torn trading canvases, the streets littered with debris and bones, the shattered wagons and burnt out homes around the square.

You make your first step into the square and hear a sickening crunch. Looking down you find yourself standing on a bloodied skeletal hand, you shift your weight and quickly stagger back off it, fixing your eyes back to the trading wagons as you head towards them taking careful steps as to avoid tredding on the remains of the dead. As you pass by the puppeteer’s wagon you stop and your heart wrenches. Infront of the cart; a body of a child, curled up and huddling against the front panel and gripped against its chest is what seems to be a doll. You look away, you will not be able to stomach this place much longer. Just beyond the market is a simple junction, to the left leads to the armoury and to the right leads to more residential areas and Rinnosuke’s shop.

[ ] Left
[ ] Right
[ ] Take doll

[x] Left

We need weapons. If there are any left that is.

[x] Take doll
NEVAR FORGET
[x] Left
Weapons.

[X] Right
[X] Take doll

The town already fought, and died. Armory will be empty, we'll find better weapons at the shop.

DON'T TAKE THE DOLL YET!! It's a trigger for bad shit to go down! I've played enough RE to know these things!

[x] Left
Arm ourselves, even with a combat knife and a green herb! Then we:
[x] Take doll

[X] Take the doll
[X] Right

Let's continue this stroll down memory's lane.

[X] Right
[X] Take doll

Rinnosuke's shop also has weapons in it.

Keine joined your party! Except...not. Gah!

[x] Right
[x] Take doll

[X] Right
[X] Take doll

bandwagon.

Also, /others/-Touhou General 2. Not that I think it's a bad thing, /th/ is croweded and faster.

>>2564

Hey OP, what's the name of this VN? Resident Gensokyo?

>>2634

SHiVER - Silent Hills in Vibrant Evil Residence

>>2634

I was thinking The Shadow Over Gensokyo but whatever hah, update coming shortly

[x] Right
[x] Take doll

Looking back down to the boy and to the doll you know that there must be something special about the doll if that magician was using it. But the thought of looting the body of a child hangs heavy in your mind. And then, as if by divine intervention the body slumps a little, his grasp falls and the doll rolls out next to him. Taken back you immediately scan the area and call out for someone who could be playing with your mind. The fog doesn’t reply. Looking back to the doll you nod with affermation that this must be some kind of sick fate and reaching down you pick up the doll. The doll is dressed in a blue maid’s uniform with long blonde hair tied back in a little red ribbon and has a rather dazzling pair azure eyes.

You do not linger, gripping your axe tightly and holding the doll in the other your march off towards the residential area. You cannot accept that everyone is dead, no, there has to be survivors, there must be, Keine is wrong, we are not history, we are not over and we are not yet done.

The road leading into the residential area is strewn with personal belongings, jewelry, tattered small paintings,scriptures and then it catches your eye; a disgarded large red box, it hurts your head to just look at it as you remember what it is.

“Repent your sins! Meditate! Enjoy hot spring baths and fresh water! Spend wonderful nights gazing out at the stars a top the Hakurei Mountain Shrine!” The girl in black cries out to passer bys. She clutches a donation box which is held on straps over her shoulders as she wanders the streets handing out paper fortunes to the people in the street and as she approaches you catch her eye and she smiles to you holding out a paper fortune.

“Shouldn’t the shrine maiden be doing this?” You ask smiling in confusion and taking the paper fortune.
“Well normally yeah, but.” She trails off and attempts to divert herself away from you.
“But?” You echo as she starts to move off again.
“But I broke her.” You mind staggers a bit and is caught quite horribly off guard.
“You broke the shrine maiden?” Are the only words you can manage, but she laughs merrilly and waves her hands and shakes head.
“No, no, no! Not like that! I just broke her arm.” She continues you laugh, half embarrassed.
“Oh well that’s quite alright then, carry on” You give up, waving her away with a “Okay whatever” smile; this person is completely out of her mind. You move on down the street but you can’t quite remember why. You look down to your fortune paper and blink at its forwardness. Behind you hear a young lady shout out;
“You broke the shrine maiden!?” Turning you see a lady in blue with a very short white overcoat and short blonde hair shouting at the lady in black who has resumed the same posture of waving her hands and shaking her head whilst laughing and you can’t help but laugh. You give one look back to the fortune paper and to the two women before discarding the paper and moving onwards towards your house.

Retribution

Your mind winces a little and you find yourself back in the deserted streets staring down at the donation box, a few coins have tumbled out of it but it looks largely undisturbed. You give it a light kick and the metal lets out a sharp bashing sound that echos out into the streets. The screach soon follows. Immediately you drop the doll and heft up the axe turning again and again on the spot looking for your assailant. There is a crashing sound from the road to the market and suddenly one of the Youkai appear from the fog, bounding towards you. Drowning out your fear in adrenaline you charge forth; axe held low. The beast lunges as you anticiapted and you throw yourself to the side and as it passes you swing the axe in a full arch and it slams into the back of the creature dropping it screaming in agony immediately. Not pausing for a breath you wrench the axe back out and making a huge cleaving motion across at it and its right arm falls away following the path of the cleave. It attempts to claw its way up but is punished back to the ground by a fierce kick to the chest and as it sprawls out you throw yourself at it, axe held high you bring it down in a massive swing onto its neck rending its head from its neck. You expected more blood but this will suffice as you look down to the limp and bloodied form of a monster.

Tugging the axe free from the ground and exhaling you stagger away in an almost drunken state; picking up the doll and doubling your speed as you race through the residential area only to be greeted by the same sights time and time again; deserted houses, littered streets and thankfully no bodies. Inspecting a few houses you find that most of the house owners have taken what little they seemed to possess and that searching them all would not likely achieve much. It doesn’t take you long to find Kourindou.

“Rinnosuke?” You call out and gently tap on his door. There is no reply as you expected and you push the door open. The room is dark and lit only in a monochrome light. The first thing that strikes you about this room is the fact that everything is here, nothing seems to have been taken or looted and it is in the same state it has always been in. The counter lies in the centre of the room stretching from the left wall aside from construction of the building this room seems to have little order and everything seems to be scattered everything, all manner of gadgets and strange contraptions lay strewn about this room, some large some small. On the desk is a golden pocketwatch, flicking it open you see the time is 10:17 am and the clock seems to be still working, folding the casing back down you pocket the watch. Then, as if it was never there, you blink as you see a rather large and gold ornate crossbow on the counter. Hefting the large weapon up you see next to it a small tube like bag which holds many of the same odd golden bolts which obviously serve as ammo for this weapon. You push one of the golden bolts into the slot and wind the winch back. The bolts seem to be entirely made of metal save the head which seems to be some kind of dense glass, you refrain from testing just how durable the glass is and swing the pack of bolts over your shoulder.

[ ] Wait for Rinnosuke to return
[ ] Leave

[ ] Take crossbow (+120 arrows)
[ ] Take stopwatch
[ ] Examine stopwatch
[ ] Wait for Rinnosuke to return
[ ] Look for ink cartridge and typewriter.

[X] Wait for Rinnosuke to return

[ ] Wait for Rinnosuke to return

[X] Leave

I don't think he'll tolerate being robbed by a pissed of but otherwise normal human. I'd like to see how he is reacting to the desolation, though.

>Looking back to the doll you nod with affermation that this must be some kind of sick fate and reaching down you pick up the doll. The doll is dressed in a blue maid’s uniform with long blonde hair tied back in a little red ribbon and has a rather dazzling pair azure eyes.

Radio?

("Eerily Luminous Shanghai Dolls")

Or flashlight?

[x] Wait for Rinnosuke to return

>Turning you see a lady in blue with a very short white overcoat and short blonde hair shouting at the lady in black who has resumed the same posture of waving her hands and shaking her head whilst laughing and you can’t help but laugh. You give one look back to the fortune paper and to the two women before discarding the paper and moving onwards towards your house.

Hi Alice

>The doll is dressed in a blue maid’s uniform with long blonde hair tied back in a little red ribbon and has a rather dazzling pair azure eyes.

Hi Shanghai

[x] Wait for Rinnosuke to return
[x] Examine watch


You look out the door into the fog and exhale, acting upon a second thought, you decide to remain here for just a short while and hope that Rinnosuke returns, the rest could do you well as well. You place the crossbow back onto the counter as well as the bolts and close the front door, bolting it from the inside. You feel the room is starting to grow on you already and after lighting the two oil lamps on the counter it starts to feel very cosy. You ensconce yourself on the tall back chair that Rinnosuke used to spend most of his time sitting in when his shop was open for buisiness. You let out another sigh and slouch into the chair, holding up the blue maid doll above you stare into its eyes half expecting it to blink, it doesn’t look alive, it feels it. Nervously you sit the doll down at the counter and spin it around so it faces the door. Pulling the pocket watch out of your pocket you study it further; it appears to be a simple gold plated stopwatch and looks quite old, on the back is engraved “Drink Left at Sea”. You cock an eyebrow, is this supposed to be some kind of riddle? Opening the pocketwatch up you look at the face, a sepia background with roman numerals up to twelve, but it does strike you as odd that the watch is missing the short and small seconds hand.

You close the watch and put it on the counter, scanning across the shop at all the various items he has for sale most of them just being odd gadgets that you’ve never even seen before, there is a small closed cabinet next to the front door you notice now and scanning further across the room you see in the corner, on a round wooden desk, a type writer, you stare at it and inspect its smooth and shiney black surface and old brass keys. Dragging yourself up from your chair you wander over and pick up the type writer, pushing the crossbow and the other equipment across the desk you set it down infront of the chair. Luckilly it already has paper fed into it as you can’t seem to find or see any about, searching Rinnosuke’s desk you only find a bottle of clear water and three small glasses. You crack your back and sit forward in the chair. The keys are thankfully in English, learning to speak japanese was hard enough, writing it was even harder for you. It feels good to be able to use your own language again as you type out an account of eveything that had happened up to this point; your arrival in Gensokyo, your meeting of Keine, Rinnosuke, Reimu and her two odd friends you never did get their na-

You brain is wraught with agony, clutching your head you panic and collapse back in your chair hazing out almost immediately.

Sound is the only sense you feel now; the dull and low rumbling sound in the distance, the deep thudding sound of your own heart and a faint pulsing sound of blood in your head and against your eardrums. Slowly you begin to be able to move, sluggishly and drawn out your body seems to be walking forward. You open your eyes to a blurred, hazey and dark vision. You can make out someone in red and white just to your side and she seems to be shouting to someone ahead of you both. Time seems to skip ahead and you are approaching a curled up black form on the ground and you find yourself racing towards it at high speed. Time skips again for a final time and you are holding the girl in black up, Reimu is infront of both you and the girl tears streaming down her face repeating something which is drown out by the now loud rumbling and your thrashing heart beat, the scene calms down only for a fraction of a second, long enough for you to catch the shrine maiden’s cries.

“MARISA!”

You awake with a bolt forward only to be thrown straight back to the ground, a man kneels above you; short grey hair, frameless glasses and wearing a somewhat modified tradiation japanese indoor clothing.

“Calm down!” He firmly states, although not without some measure of compassion. “I heard you screaming from outside, while I’m grateful you weren’t being attacked I didn’t quite expect this.” He reaches down to his side, your body is still stiff and you find it hard to move and concentrate. He places one of the small drinking glasses to your mouth. “Here, drink this.” You gulp down what you only hope is water, but much to your dissatisfaction you find it is not, the fammiliar liquid is it burns the back of your throat and you spit it straight back up. Apparently much to the ammusement of Rinnosuke. “What’s the matter, can’t handle some water?” He laughs again and pours himself a small glass, knocking it back he stands up holding his hand down to you. “Come on, get up. If you don’t I’ll make you drink more!” He chuckles as you grab his hand, lifting you up with quite some strength you are surprised to find. He sits down back down in his chair and takes another more generic wooden chair from one of the sides and sits down on it, arms folded across the counter. Setting the bottle of Vodka down he pours another two glasses, pushing one towards you and drinking his own one.

“So, should I fill you in? Or should we pack up and leave?”

[ ] “I don’t remember shit, tell me what’s been going on.”
[ ] “Let’s just get out of here”

>>2641

That now is the name of this CYOA.

Not voting because I have not read yet.

[x] “I don’t remember shit, tell me what’s been going on.”

[x] Keep drinking.
[x] “I don’t remember shit Captain; explain to me why I haven't gone insane as we prepare for expeditious retreat.”

>>2678

I see your raise and double down.

[x] Keep drinking.
[x] “I don’t remember shit Captain; explain to me why I haven't gone insane as we prepare for expeditious retreat.”
[x] "...or glorious battle."

[ ] “I don’t remember shit, tell me what’s been going on.”

[x] “I don’t remember shit, tell me what’s been going on.”

“Excellent! Now we’re talking!” He pours himself another drink. “A lot has happened since you’ve been away my friend. I don’t even think you got back into town before they attacked, did you?” You shrug helplessly, you truly have no idea, you can’t even think of a reason why you’d want to leave the village in the first place and as you voice that concern Rinnosuke’s experssion hardens slightly, but only for a brief moment.

”I don’t know either. You took off one day with the shrine maiden. It caused quite a lot of talk in the town!” He laughs and knocks back another drink. “A whole week passed, and you didn’t return. The village elders were worried something bad had happened, ususally the shrine maiden resolves things very quickly, over the course of a day or so. This time was different though, wasn’t it?” He leans closer and speaks with a severe tone. “What happened out there? Where is the shrine maiden?” You feel something well up at the back of your throat and your skin crawls a little as you swipe up your drink off the table and knock it back, it doesn’t taste well but it removes the lump at the back of your throat.
You explain all about going up to meet the shrine maiden and obviously you accepted her invitation to leave with her but aside from that your memory is still shot, you don’t know what happened to everyone or why you left. You then explain about being attacked when arriving in the town.

“Well.” He simply states, leaning back on the chair in contemplation. “That’s quite a story.” He leans forward again and resumes his slouched position. “Perhaps I can fill in a few blanks. Roughly a day before you left for the Hakurei mountain a local hunter spotted a bunch of those lunar critters at the base of the Hakurei mountain, apparently one came down from the mountain itself and met with the group before they all left. Then, well, about two days after you left it all of this started to happen.” As he finishes the sentence he gestures outside.

“It did not start subtly, there was no creeping death, there was no hauntingly slow change. It began with a full scale war. We don’t know why Scarlet attacked Eientei but she did. The casulties were immediately high and when here little maids had changed too much to be of any use any more she just unleashed them and nearest we can tell, that is why our Youkai problem started to flare up. After that communication broken down entirely and suffice to say we don’t go to the West anymore, Gensokyo seems to have been divided down the middle by a warpath.” He pours himself another glass, knocks it back and pours you another glass.

“I plan to leave for the Tengu village, if it hasn’t already been completely overrun. Normally that route isn’t safe and I fear to think what beasts now lie in wait there. I’d like you to come with me. As both a friend and potent ally.” He grins and looks down to the bloodied hatchet beside the counter.

“Unless you have a better place for us to go?”

[ ] “The Tengu village sounds fine it is not safe for us to linger so close to the warline and so close to danger from the Youkai here, we better get moving quickly before night.”
[ ] “Not at the moment, my memory returns to me one piece at a time, soon the picture will be complete and I will know of our final destination.”

[X] “Not at the moment, my memory returns to me one piece at a time, soon the picture will be complete and I will know of our final destination.”

[X] “Not at the moment, my memory returns to me one piece at a time, soon the picture will be complete and I will know of our final destination.”

Bandwagoning

>>2683

[x] Sigh. "Kourin, you are as slippery an eel as you've ever been."
[x] Down the rest of the glass.
[x] "What do you say, Shanghai? Should we trust him? Should we go to the Tengu mountain?"

WHAT IS IT YOU WANT KOURIN? TO LIVE? YOUR OWN SURVIVAL TAKES PRIORITY, NO MATTER WHAT, IS THAT IT? TO WHAT END? WHY IS EVERY ACTION YOU MAKE A LIE? REVENGE? RETRIBUTION? RECKONING? YOU SUSPECT WE RAPED AND/OR MURDERED THE RED-WHITE? THAT WE WERE THE GENESIS FOR THIS HORRIFYING CALAMITY? KEEP GUESSING~

I WOKE UP IN A PILE OF CORPSES; ANYONE STILL ALIVE MUST EITHER BE A MONSTER OR A TOTAL FUCKING LUNATIC, INCLUDING BOTH ME & YOU.

[x] “The Tengu village sounds fine it is not safe for us to linger so close to the warline and so close to danger from the Youkai here, we better get moving quickly before night.”

Danger everywhere.

[x] “The Tengu village sounds fine it is not safe for us to linger so close to the warline and so close to danger from the Youkai here, we better get moving quickly before night.”

[X] “Not at the moment, my memory returns to me one piece at a time, soon the picture will be complete and I will know of our final destination.”

I say we should go to the shrine.

UPDATE

First off, let me rephrase what I said at the beginning, this adventure DOES have multiple endings that you can achieve, frankly im not even sure how the hell I managed to phrase it that badly, anyway: update time



[x] “Not at the moment, my memory returns to me one piece at a time, soon the picture will be complete and I will know of our final destination.”

Rinnosuke cocks an eyebrow and looks you up as you rise, a slight hint of worry across his expression.

“I think you should sit and rest some, here have another drink.” He says pouring you a glass, this one substantially larger than the previous. You smile politely and wave your hand dismissivly.

“It’ll be fine, thank you. My mind is fresh and eager to gather more of the pieces. Let us set about preparations and leave; I don’t feel I should be forced to bear witness to this place any longer.”

Rinnosuke nods slowly taking everything in before speaking up again. “Well if you’re sure.” He stands and stretches a little, moving over to the small wooden cabinet by the front door he draws out a small single silver key attached to a long silk string and unlocks the cabinet with it. Pulling the doors open and stepping to oneside he reveals to you a cabinet full of small wooden boxes. He takes a box and opens it,handing it to you. Inside, stacked up, are around 20 pale orange cards. “Spell cards” He says with a large smirk spreading from ear to ear. “Used by Magicians, Vampires, Mikos, Fairies, etcetera, etcetera. These cards, albeit being a weak immitation, should provide us with adequet defense against those who would seek to do us harm.” He closes the box and tosses it to you. “Twenty for you, twenty for me and the rest can go in the bag.” He says as he takes a large burlap sack from under the cabinet and roughly sweeps all of the boxes into it. Before sealing it up, however, he moves over to the counter and proceeds to load in all manner of gadgets and tools into the sack. His hand motions over the ornate crossbow and you find yourself instinctivly placing your hand onto it. He looks up and simply grins to you, moving away and packing the last amount of clutter into his sack. You look about the shop one last time and don’t spy anything particuarly interesting but a small white bottle at the end of the counter catches your eye. Picking it up it rattles in response, the lable seems to have long worn off but the print on the cap remains; “Morphine - 20 Capsules” You remember the words, but not the meaning, Rinnosuke’s store has always filled your head with nostalgia of some distant but ever present memory.

“It’s for pain.” Rinnosuke interrupts your thought, “Take it with us, it might come in hand.”

You leave first and are greeted by the same grey and dismal landscape that has lost its feel of dark and brooding terror, replaced now by mind numbing depression. The charred houses and streets are painted grey by the overcast sky. A large shroud is thrown over you, startling you somewhat and in the darkness you hear Rinnosukes laughter. You pull the all-weather coat away from your face and properly drape it down your body. You grip the crossbow scanning the horizon; the smoke seems to have cleared and the black claws that once scarred the skyline have withered and faded. Hefting the hatchet over your shoulder you look behind you, beyond Rinnosuke’s shop and to forest stretching out behind a mound of collapsed houses, debris and ruin. Turning yourself fully about you march on past Rinnosuke, who regards you queerly, only to find yourself stopping abruptly just as you pass Rinnosuke’s shop. You tap your foot again on the ground. A metal clang resounds out. Looking down you find yourself standing on a large metal plate in the floor, or rather, the floor seems to be a section of metal. You kick dust and rubble away from the plate only to reveal more of this large section of metal. You look back to Rinnosuke who is just staring at you in mild confusion. You look back to the ground and furiously kick and sweep away the dust and rubble revealing more of this iron ground and not before long you sweep out with your leg and strike a bar of metal. You quickly kneel down before it and grip on the handle, pulling it back with a heave the door swings up and over revealing a dark expanse below and a ladder leading down into the depths.

“I’ve never seen so much metal in one place before, and so close to my house? I don’t believe this. Something is wrong.” Even before he finishes you too indeed feel a faint sense of foreboding about this entrance, yet despite this, you compelled and drawn to this underground chamber; a faint rythmic pounding of metal on metal begins to rise out of the hole, soothing and enthralling, you kneel down before the hole, placing a foot onto the first bar of the metal ladder. Your daze is broken by Rinnosuke grabbing you by the shoulder.

“Get up! We’ve got to go!” He orders, yanking you up. You look over your shoulder, horrid twisted shadows in the distance bound and leap over the ruins towards you, their screaches echoing out once more.

[ ] Flee into the underground chamber
[ ] Flee with Rinnosuke
[ ] Stand your ground

[X] Flee with Rinnosuke

[ ] Flee with Rinnosuke

Strength in numbers. Even if the number is only two, it's better than one.

[x] Flee into the underground chamber
[x] Flee with Rinnosuke

Tell him to go down first.

[ ] Flee with Rinnosuke

[X] Flee with Rinnosuke

Scary underground tunnel

[ ] Flee with Rinnosuke

[x] Flee with Rinnosuke

Your movement is sluggish as you force yourself up and to your feet, looking forward you lunge towards Rinnosuke, landing just behind him as begins his sprint, you hurl yourself forward in a single large step and you hear the sounds of rubble crumbling beneath your feet as you clear the iron floor in but a few strides. Undisturbed ash and embers are blown to the winds as you force your way through whatever weak ammount of ruin blocks your path, you suddenly become acutely aware of the imminent danger behind you, a tense feeling on your upper right leg and the daze that the chamber had placed on you. It does not take long before the grit of the ground is replaced with a pleasant soft feel of grass and mud. This part of the village is seperated from the forest by a small field, incredibly open with no cover or place to hide; almost too perfect. You allow yourself to continue roughly half way across the field before skidding to a halt, throwing yourself around and drawing out the crossbow. Across the field, and attempting to duck down in the grass are the Youkai. Without much care for aim you point the crossbow towards the nearest and pull the trigger, the crossbow kicks back a small ammount and the bolt is let loose, sailing through the air and you feel yourself turning to flee, however not before missing the bolt strike one of the Youkai; it thrashses and screaches, a bright golden solid flame spreading slowly over its body as it collapses quickly to the floor. The others slow in their persuit whilst you double your charge into the forest. Spying Rinnosuke beckoning over to you from a ditch nearby you dive down into it and drape your all-weather coat over yourself and lay prone.

The snarling and gargled gibberish sounds ring out all around you, that strange cramp on your leg tightens more, looking down to your leg you find that doll has attatched itself to it and is now looking up to you; its face expressionless as usual yet you know, you feel, the doll is scared. This, animated object, has feelings? You move your hand down and gently pet her, trying to reassure her. You feel more than a little uncomfortable, but still you can’t help but feel compelled. The small dolls grip tightens a little more and it begins to snuggle up against your hand, closing its eyes and resting. Looking across to Rinnosuke he remains as still as stone, intently listening to the noises above and around you, after a while the noises quieten as the creatures move away. You feel the little dolls grip lessen and it stirs in your hand, slowly levitating up the side of your body gently brushing against the large coat.

There is a sudden jerk in the material above the doll and with a grand blast of air the cloak is torn off you and a Youkai towers above you holding the doll and your cloak in one hand, arching its back it lets loose a screach and you are quick to respond; springing from the ditch you throw yourself at the monster planting your axe straight into its mouth. It falls with the motion of the axe with a crunch. The doll shoots from its hand and latches onto your back. Gripping the axe you wrench it out of its face as Rinnosuke dashes past you. You turn on your heels and run after him, leaping and chopping your way through the undergrowth of this poisoned forest.

The trees wither and die, their leaves scatter the ground and fall still now. The trees bleed with a disgusting yellow liquid, fleshy growths spout from the bases of their bodies and vein like tubes coil and spread out across the floor and there is a heavy sickly yellow miasma in the air. The doll floats out and just above your head; looking about at this abhorrent parody of nature, you move on, following Rinnosuke; stepping lightly and with care before eventually emerging out at a riverside. The river flows slow and thick with all manner of bile and other fluids, you see most of the fleshy veins lead into the river pulse and contract depositing, or withdrawing, from the river you care not to give it thought. You hear a faint groan and your eyes fix to Rinnosuke you sits down on one of the few clean rocks, doubling over and holding his stomach. This forest is probably even more dangerous to stay in than the human village. There could be several ways to leave, you yourself feel quite exhausted as well but not ill condition.

[ ] Figure out a way to cross the river
[ ] Follow the river in the direction you were heading
[ ] Decide to rest here briefly
[ ] Strike off through the forest

[X] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

Sounds like some type of poison is affecting youkai, making them go insane. I'm guessing the half-youkai, Rinnosuke, is feeling some type of effect.

>>2876

Fucking awesome. Now that Shanghai's got our back, we are an unstoppable force.

[x] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

[X] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

[X] Follow the river in the direction you were heading
[X] "Want a pill?"

[x] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

[X] Ask Shanghai where Alice's whereabout.

If Shanghai is alive, then Alice must be nearby. Save her by all means. If she doesn't respond then :

[X] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

[X] Ask Shanghai where Alice's whereabout.

If Shanghai is alive, then Alice must be nearby. Save her by all means. If she doesn't respond then :

[X] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

I like your vote, though i doubt alice is still alive/sane seeing as shanghai was abandoned

>>2928
>I like your vote, though i doubt alice is still alive/sane seeing as shanghai was abandoned

Alice controls Shanghai.

>>2929

No Alice, you are the Shanghai.
And then Alice was a ghost.

[x] Follow the river in the direction you were heading

As you move on you find yourself being pushed closer to the edge of the river by dense growth and the riverside clearings becoming staggered and sparsly laid out making movement here arduous. Rinnosuke appears to be struggling even more so, despite his dismissal that there is anything seriously wrong with him. Before long you find that the river takes a sharp turn. The cancerous growths are dense in this place, and Rinnosuke is beginning to look substantially worse. You open your mouth to voice your concerns but he smiles and waves his hand a little.

“Really, I’m fine, I can keep going, let’s just get out of here, eh?” He grins a daft grin and trudges on past you and you give your doll companion a concerned look but she returns only a silent stare. “This river now vears off towards the Youkai mountain and to the Tengu people, but I’m guessing you were wanting to head to the Hakurei Shrine, right? Well for that we’ll need to find a way to cross the river.” As Rinnosuke gestures to the river you both hear a wailing in the distance. You both look to each other to confirm the sound and then up to the westernly direction where the sound came from. There is a flash of light and a cluster of trees in the distance explode into fire as a focused beam of pure heat scorches the ground, annihilating the forest. You both instinctively dive for cover under the growths and trees. There is a short silence and you lean out to Rinnosuke’s position on the other side of the small clearing; fumbling about in his sack he draws out one of the boxes and opens it. You rush to do the same, reaching to your pocket you find nothing. You can feel your heart begin to race, you drive your hands into both your pockets and draw out nothing. The all weather coat. You remember, you remember putting them in that. You grit your teeth in anger and slam your fist into the ground in self-loathing at your own stupidity. You look out again desperatly trying to catch Rinnosuke’s eye but he is far too involved staring up into the canopy, he is expecting an airal attack? Your eyes are quickly drawn to the extent of this infestation as even the canopy is lined in huge cists and bulging, swollen growths, many split slightly and a vile liquid dribbles out of them. A sudden drawn out and hoarse scream splits your ears as a figure flies into view above the clearing and behind her a swarm of leaves follows quickly, stabbing in the clearing and into the veins on the floor.

“Who did this!" Who did all of this? Disgusting! All of this, horrid!” A hysterical girl’s voice screams out. You lean out a little, looking up, and a small girl, child sized, hovers high up above the opening near the canopy, her gold dress strikes out in this haze, a pattern resembling wheat seems to be the major feature of the dress the rest of her attire; her red overall dress, hangs on by the straps, tattered and torn.

“I can see you, you know!” She cries out, you immediately duck down again fearing the worst. “You! Human! Skulking in the shadows! Why do you persist?! When we change and die! You did this! You did all of this! This is not nature!” You lean forward a little to apologise for a crime you did not commit but are quickly silenced by a barrage of razor sharp leaves which stab and slice across the tree, puncturing one of the growths and it sprays forth a swift torrent of bile before deflating.

“Humans are so …” She pauses, struggling to find words in her hysterical state. “Unnatural!” She screams finally letting loose a volly of leaves across the ground. You crawl back further, backing up against the very wood of the tree as the putrid liquid from the burst growth flows towards you; killing and decaying the ground almost immediately. You look away from the liquid and realise that the doll hasn’t moved and just hovers beside the tree you hide in. Some odd feeling stirrs in you as you regard this doll, almost like an empathic link between the two of you. You feel her anger as she stares directly at your assailant, she turns back to you almost expectantly, without words you give her a firm nod and she turns back to the assailent, lowing her head and bracing herself before throwing her right arm back. You watch in awe as in a bright flash of blueish light a short lance appears in her hand, it assumes a ready stance, and with a surge of energy blasts forth towards the girl, her left arm now outstretched launches a burst of muli coloured orbs of energy which crash into the girl as she swiftly glides out of the way, narrowly missing the dolls charge. The doll slides to a stop midair and readies a second attack as a massive cloud of razor leaves swirls and blows, you begin to fear for the dolls safety.

[ Defeat Minoriko Aki ] Complete write-in

>>2977

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

[x] Try to reason with her. "There's only one law in nature, Minoriko: That which survives, survives. You hate humans? Hate yourself! Our belief is what sustains and creates the gods; you are no less unnatural than we!"
[x] She's angry; distract her with taunts from cover: "What's wrong Minoriko? Can't find your sister? Some nature nature deity you are, burning down an entire forest to kill one human! Now before Winter comes early for you, tell me, is it true you piss grape wine?"
[x] Inventory

Best thing I can think of is to start a forest fire, to get rid of her leaves, and to reduce her visibility. We don't have to worry about being caught in the fire if we move along the river. Maybe the liquid in those sack things are flammable?

>>2978

[x] Inventory

1 hatchet, 1 Shanghai doll, 1 stopwatch, 1 heavy crossbow (19 bolts), 1 bottle of morphine

>>2979

As, >>2978 with:
[x] Take well-aimed shots at Minoriko when she stops moving. Take cover if she attacks you. Find a new position while she is moving and focusing on Shanghai.
[x] If injured, break open a morphine capsule between your teeth and hold the liquid or granules against the bottom palate with your tongue.

[x] Take a quick shot at Minoriko, then go evasive. Use the trees as cover to hide your movement and attempt to get behind her while readying another bolt. Say nothing, taunts would only serve to give away your position.

Get a real tripcode.

Tripcodes vary depending on the string after the #.

For example, #tripcode produces !3GqYIJ3Obs on the majority of english-speaking boards that support tripcodes.

[x] Use Shanghai as a distraction.
[x] Take a quick shot at Minoriko, then go evasive. Use the trees as cover to hide your movement and attempt to get behind her while readying another bolt. Say nothing, taunts would only serve to give away your position.

[x] Take a quick shot at Minoriko, then go evasive. Use the trees as cover to hide your movement and attempt to get behind her while readying another bolt. Say nothing, taunts would only serve to give away your position.

>>3098 cheers for the pointer, I hadn't realised at all heh. Sorry for long delay.
---------------------

Your plees have fallen on deaf and ignorant ears. She blames your dying race for being responsible for the world as it is and now this idiot child seeks to kill you as well?

Never.

You draw your crossbow and lean outwards taking careful aim at her. The doll is keeping her at bay for now so you calm yourself taking in slow breaths; this shot has to count. Pulling the trigger the bolt sails swiftly through the air but fails to strike its target. Gusts of wind pick up and the bolt is thrown to the wind, shredded by razor leaves and you feel her hateful gaze now fall upon you. Leaping from your position you draw out another bolt; attempting to load it in on the run but you are quickly swept from your feet as a gust of wind crashes into you sending you to the ground, crossbow in hand but without your bolt. You run towards Rinnosuke and take cover behind the tree beside him. Peering out you watch as the doll continues its relentless assault but ultimately it is failing to make any kind of headway in the attack. You lean back up against the tree and draw out another bolt, winding it into the crossbow you take in another breath; ready to run again and leap out from your hiding position and as you do so you fire off another, more wild, shot at the girl. The bolt flies off at a tangent completely missing. You curse to yourself and dive behind the next tree as a blast of air slams into the ground where you once were and the floor is littered in razor leaves.

Loading in another bolt you opt for a more subtle fighting stance; as the bolt locks in place, you lean around from the tree and take a quick aimed shot but no sooner has the bolt left the crossbow a blast of wind strikes your upper body causing you to collapse backwards and the crossbow to be blasted from your hands. You throw yourself up quickly and dive back into the tree before a rain of leaves scatter the ground where you once lay. You are about to curse when you hear the sound of some kind of crackling explosion and upon second thought you feel that your immediate action of peering out again wasn’t so intelligent as a leaf gashes your forehead and the crimson drains forth. Ignoring the injury you strain your vision to find that the girl is holding her gut as what seems like a light smoke drifts out of her wound. You grin and redouble your effort, charging out of your position to grab your crossbow you find the girl heeds you no attention and seems solely focused on the doll. Rinnosuke seems to have also noticed this fact. A lattice of bright white orbs explode from his position and collide with the dumbstruck girl as she crashes back into the canopy on the other side of the river. Jamming a bolt in, you level your crossbow to her only to find your vision horribly impaired by blood. Acting on hope you extend the crossbow one handed and fire it at the where the girl landed. You curse loudly as the girl reappears spraying forth a thick cloud of the razor leaves. You let out a torrent of abuse and taunts until you feel a bitter and metallic taste in your mouth as the blood flows into it. Defiantly you make your stand, soon the blood will blind your eyes; there is no time left for defensive manoeuvres. You move to grab another bolt but stop. Her movement is slow and sluggish and you can see her float, not fly, through the air. Watching her in silence you grin wickedly, blood dribbling out of your mouth, yes, she is far too slow.

The hideous bile substance coats her back and instantly her leaves combust into green light as she crashes into the riverside writhing and flailing her arms.

“GET IT OFF!” She screams again and again as she tears at her back scraping the thick pus away even as it burns into her flesh; causing her skin to blister and bubble. Her rabid attacks on the substance only serve to quicken the shearing of her flesh from her back and as she collapses she recoils in horror yet again as her hands begin to corrode before her eyes. She weakly pulls her body across the floor towards you before her final act in this world; curling up and crying pathetically.

You watch for a short while as her body ticks and twitches as the substance attacks her central nervous system in her spine. Before long you are joined by your doll and Rinnosuke.

“You’re injured” Rinnosuke states as if it wasn’t already painfully obvious. You turn to him and grin, your face now painted in blood and he returns the grin holding onto his bloodied arm. “She got me too.” The both of you chuckle for a few moments before the tension completely fades and you both roar with laughter.

Half an hour has passed since the fight and your trio wander down a now familiar path towards the Hakurei shrine, crossing the river was surprisingly easy with a makeshift tree-bridge and you try keep your mind focused on walking this path and not your disturbingly numb and hot forehead, at least the blood seems to have stopped somewhat but you still feel dazed.

“So you can’t remember what happened in the past few days, eh?” Rinnosuke starts the conversation.

“Something like that” You mumble, you appreciate his effort to move your minds onto something else you are finding it quite difficult.

“But you remember bits and pieces at a time, right?” He tilts his head back to you.

“Something like that” You said, your voice picking up a bit more.

“So you’re going to speed up this process by going to where this all started; the Hakurei shrine?” You look to him and grin. He chuckles and grins, looking back to the road. “Something like that” He says half to himself.

A few moments later you encounter something quite unusual especially considering its placement. A mesh of iron forming a perimeter fence has been erected around, what you assume, would be the base of the Hakurei mountain as the fencing stretches off into the dense forest. The gate has seems to have been broken open, the chain lying discarded beside the gate. The plaque on the gate is written in moon runes and each gate bears the golden waning moon of the Lunarian people you have heard about briefly, but they should have no reason to be here. You and Rinnosuke exchange glances before he draws the gate open and steps inside. You look to your doll expecting some kind of expression or gesture but she simply floats there. You smile despite her silence.

“Thank you for helping me.” You say to her in a hushed voice and she responds by nodding her head a few times in quick succession. “You’re quite the little helper aren’t you?” You chuckle as you follow after Rinnosuke.

(cont.)

“You say something?” He asks looking back and you smile and wave your hand dismissively. Stepping into this place you notice that the path is a lot more defined here, gravel now forms this road as an oppose to mud and water, which is a welcome change. You notice now that the miasma has cleared and the forest is bathed in a pleasant evening orange glow, you smile inwardly as you heave a sigh at finally reaching a place which has some semblance of normality. Slowly, but surely, you break off from the path and wander into the forest, the plants gently caress your worn body and you brush your hands through the tall grass feeling its cool respite against your skin. Picking a leaf off a branch you wipe some of the blood away from your face. Rinnosuke seems to have casually joined you in wandering off the path seemingly as unconcerned as you are. At any rate the mountain is clearly in front of you so reaching the path leading up to it should be quite easy. Your short wander brings you to a small lily pond, the water is sparkles and you can even see the bottom of the pond. You kneel down before it and sink your hands into the cool water and sigh loudly in relief. You wash your hands quickly before gingerly washing away the blood on your face, the cool water on your wound serves to alleviate the numb and stiffness of the wound but brings back some of the pain. Taking out the morphine bottle you take a few of the pills and toss the bottle over to Rinnosuke who does the same. Now overflowing with energy and slightly high on morphine you and Rinnosuke strike off in the direction of the mountain path.

Within a few moments you find yourself back on the gravel path idly meandering between the path and the lush forest. Your pleasant daze is brought to an abrupt end with a single loud blast and the tree nearest to you suffering a large score to its base, bark and wood splintering out. You duck down and crouch behind the tree immediately and not a moment too soon as the tree shakes with another blast. As per usual you load in a bolt into your crossbow and lean to take a look out but as you attempt to another section of the tree is instantly disintegrated, you can’t even see the attackers shots. You silently curse to yourself and look around for Rinnosuke.

“Stay right there! Don’t move a muscle!” A womans voice calls out. Your mind doesn’t seem to race at all despite being attacked again, somehow this feels different to your previous fight.

“Hold your fire! We’re not hostile!” Rinnosuke calls out almost exactly what you were about to say. You know the morphine is certainly having an effect on you when you brazenly stand up from your position with your weapon held straight up in the air along with your arms.

“Don’t shoot.” You quite calmly call out to her. “You sound quite a reasonable person and you can see I’m in not much of a condition to fight.” There is a rustle ahead of you and a woman holding a bizarre metal contraption steps out. Her appearance is simple; brown eyes, long brown hair tied back in two braids, white shirt with a purple bow worn loosely around her collar and simple long brown trousers. She lowers the metal contraption away from you. The thing appears to be constructed in only two pieces, a back section which is some sort of power unit box and then a hollow tube with a metal coil running all the way down it.

“Yes it’s a somewhat more advanced version of the archaic thing you’re holding” She smirks noticing your eyes on her weapon. “I’m not sure who you are but you definitely don’t act or dress like Lunarians. You’re also not a rabbit.” She peers a bit closer. “You’re also quite badly injured.” She frowns a little and lowers her weapon completely. “I think I better get you two to safety. Come on.” She gestures down the path and stands to oneside. As you pass her she places a hand on your shoulder and nods to your crossbow. Without even thinking twice you hand it over to her, you’ve had enough fighting for one day and you honestly think this woman can quite clearly hold her own in a fight. “That’s a nice doll you have there.” She adds, emphasising the word doll and snickers as you pass her. You thank her anyway in a kind of ironic manner and follow the path she is leading you down.

“So who are you two, what are you doing so far away from the village?” She asks plainly as you make your way down the path.

“Well, my name is Rinnosuke, a shopkeeper in the village.” He starts before you even realise the woman has spoken. “This here is an old friend of mine, he arrived in the village not too long ago.” You simply look over your shoulder and nod to her.

“Ah, well you can call me Rika. I’m an engineer of sorts.” She says pleasantly, almost boastful. “But you still haven’t really answered my question, what are you both doing out this far?”

“We’d really like not go into details.” You answer the need to speak up. “Suffice to say the village is off limits.” You gulp back the lump in your throat, you’re grateful the horrors of your village have not been imprinted onto your memories like a burden of guilt. Yes, the village is behind you. Far behind you. But your duty to the innocent dead there still remains. You shake off the anger and calm yourself.

“Okay we’re here” She says finally, even though the journey was only a few minutes you could feel the morphine wearing off and the pain seeping in. The path branches off and before you is presented a concrete mound, a very odd low building of stone. You’ve never seen anything quite like it. “The Lunarians set this place up about half a week ago but it was rapidly abandoned almost as soon as it was ready to go. Lots of equipment was left here but essential files and documents were gone. Either they left early or work at a staggering rate. It doesn’t matter though, this place is ours for the time being.” She speaks as she approaches the large heavy metal door to this place and as she finishes she looks up into a glass eye fixed into a metal box. Another woman’s voice crackles out from a brown grid to the right of the door.

“We have visitors? My! They look like they’ve seen better days.” The door makes a flat and deep chime and the door swings aside. Rika gestures in and following in suite you both step in, she follows behind and the door closes behind you. You are all now standing in a small entrance chamber, you stand at the front, looking at the next door in front of you.

“Now, be prepared.” The same voice crackles on in the room. “This will sting a lot.” Your body tenses and you immediately begin to silently panic. Suddenly the room is filled with a cold vapour sprayed out from the floor which you realise now is a large grating. Your wound immediately pangs and you fail to catch yourself swearing in agony, but you do manage to resist yourself holding your wound because despite this pain you do feel these strange vapours doing well on your wound.

”The room is being filled with a de-contaminative gas, effectively like rubbing alcohol on an open wound. Totally the same effect. Hold on though, it won’t last long.” Rika shouts over the loud noise of the vapours being sprayed about. Surely enough within seconds the painful procedure is over and the final door opens and you all hurry out.

(cont)

The interior of the lab is dark and made of a dull orange metal though it feels oddly warm and cosy, like a real house. Just before you is a glass chamber which has a couple of white full body suits hung up on racks. The corridor you stand in has only two options; right to a closed large metal door and left around the corner that seems to lead behind the suits. Rika moves towards the door and as she approaches it lifts up. This area appears to be the nexus of the building, a central control unit dominates this room; octagonal in layout this large 8 piece machine is lit up in bright lights as well as a single large light shines down on the work station. This room has 3 other exits and if the main entrance is facing North then there is a corridor leading off to the North, the North East and North West. Dotted around this room are other machines and tables which seem to have been added to this room after its initial construction as they clearly don’t flow with the rooms design. A young lady rises up from behind one of the central consoles and waves over to you. She is dressed in a plain white lab coat with a yellow ribbon on her collar, similar to Rikas, however her hair is drastically different in that it is long and purple, dyed perhaps, with a single simple white hair ribbon that points off at an angle. As she leaves the station you notice that she also is wearing a small pair of rimless spectacles. She wanders straight up to you and takes you by the hand shaking it.

“Hello! Hello! Outsiders! I don’t see many of them at all around these parts. Don’t be afraid we’re all human here, right?” She laughs heartily and Rinnosuke gives you a nervous glance. “Come on, lets get you cleaned up and healthy again, we can chat afterwards.” She motions for you to follow and she leads you off to the North exit into what you assume to be the medical wing of this building only to find yourself standing in another lab. She pats an empty workbench. “Come on, first come first served.” You step up and lie down on the counter, its hard and cold and you find yourself staring up at a very oppressive ceiling light. Obviously noticing your wincing she tells you to close your eyes. “It is only a simple cut I should be able to repair it.” Repair it? You echo in your own mind. You feel a bit of adrenalin kick in, you’re not even sure how she plans to heal you.

“So, uh, how long have you been a doctor?” You ask, trying to keep your mind occupied as you hear her clatter about with some metal equipment quite literally just to the right of your head.

“I’m not!” She says cheerfully. Your heart skips a beat.

“What.” You say, more of a statement than an actual question, you open your eyes and lean forward to sit up. She places both hands on your shoulders shushes you.

“I’m not a doctor no, I’m a biologist, so I think I should know how your body works. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. It’s just a simple cut.” She reassures you. You aren’t feeling so much more confident but she is offering to help you, and you have no means to help yourself. You try to relax yourself more, taking a few deep breaths.

“Now your wound is going to feel quite cold, almost as if its about to freeze. Just hold still.” Surely enough as she finishes you feel a cool liquid pours onto your wound and within seconds the wound is cold and then falls into a frozen numbness. You try to keep your calm as you can quite acutely feel her tugging and stitching your skin back together. Thankfully the operation is over very quickly and she allows you to sit back up. You thank her and she smiles, gesturing for Rinnosuke to come over.

“Uh.” He starts “Now don’t be alarmed.” His voice is shaky and the man talking now is quite different to the man you first met in his own shop. “But im not exactly human.” Interestingly enough the scientist doesn’t react that much; simply raising an eyebrow.

“You’re not?” She asks, patting the table as you hop off it.

“No, I’m actually half Youkai.” He says, having lost all of his usual upbeat tone . Now the scientist reacts, much in the same was as giving a child a large box of chocolates. Her large, ear to ear grin is unsettling even to you.

“EUREKA!” She yells out throwing her clenched hands into the air. “You are exactly what we need!” She continues, placing massive emphasis on ‘exactly’. “Come on, sit down quickly so I can this operation over and done with.” Rinnosuke reluctantly agrees and rolls his sleeve up and lies down. At which point the engineer lady, Rika, appears in the doorway.

“Oh so I’ve finally done something worthwhile, eh?” She asks with a similar grin on her face. The scientist looks over to Rika and gestures to Rinnosuke.

“This man holds to key to understanding the Youkai mutation! Look at him! He’s completely unchanged!” Rika grins again.

“Well that’s nice. Dinner will be ready in an hour.” Rika simply dismisses this apparent brilliant find in a heartbeat and a chuckle before leaving the doorway.

As the new found doctor tends to the wounds of Rinnosuke you find your eyes move about this place and inspect the finer details of this room; namely the abundance of Youkai corpses dotted about the room on various tables, their bodies opened and the contents either binned or wired into various small machines. Normally you’d feel a bit apprehensive about staying in this place but these old days of ‘the norm’ have gone completely, replaced only by this reality. A reality whereby you are more than happy to rest and relax in a room dedicated to the destruction and disassembly of your most hated enemies. Taking a seat on one of the metal chairs you relax and lean back, smiling to yourself.
Your mind floats off into a haze, relaxing like this and being just able to sit down in somewhere that is safe is utter bliss, the burden of being prone to attack at any moment is relieved from you and you begin to slowly drift off.

(cont.)

You feel something brush gently against your face and you twitch a little in bodily irritation. Even with your eyes closed you can see an intense light through your eyelids but you disregard this and open your eyes, slowly raising your arm you shield them from the sun. You find yourself lying in lush a field of lush grass which extends over the rolling hills for as far as the eye can see. As it falls onto your lap from your face you also notice you are lightly covered in fallen leaves. Immediately your vision blurs a little as you look at the leaves and as soon as it begins to refocus you now see the rolling hills replaced with a vast forest complete with a large lake in the distance and residing in the lake on a small island is a large mansion. You exhale in relaxation as a cool zephyr blows through the forest, brushing some of the leaves off you. You feel your whole body fall into a powerful trance and slowly you sink back down into the lush grass, your body now streaked in blood as you gaze up at a silhouetted figure, the sun directly behind it giving it a visible aura of gold across its outline. A satiated smile forms across your face as you watch the blade being raised up above you, you know that, for whatever reason, you have been waiting for this moment all your life and now it has finally come. You feel a pleasant warm sensation spread across your body as the blade is slowly driven down and you slip away into euphoric bliss.

You lazily open your eyes and let out a loud yawn. Looking about you find yourself in quite a white room lying on the bottom of a bunk bed in the corner of the room. Opposite you is a set of metal lockers and juxtaposed to it is a wash basin and mirror. Your view is suddenly obscured by a wall of hair and as you look up you see Rika in the bed above you leaning over the side.

“Hey! Welcome back to reality! You missed food by six hours and thirty seven minutes. Congratulations!” She frowns in a scolding manner. “I’m not cooking again.” And with that she pulls herself back up into her bed. You remain silent and listen to the simple sounds of metal tinkering.

[ ] Talk to Rika
[ ] Go find Rinnosuke
[ ] Go find the scientist
[ ] Go find your doll
[ ] Explore the building more

[X] Go find your doll
[X] Talk to Rika
[X] Go find Rinnosuke

And the other two options as well, but those will come naturally in the course of things, I think.

[X] Go find your doll
[X] Explore the building more

Seems like the first would require the second.

[X] Go find your doll
[X] Talk to Rika
[X] Go find Rinnosuke

I'm glad you seem to like writing walls, because I sure like reading them.

[X] Ask Rika where Rinnosuke and Shanghai are.
[X] Go find your doll.
[X] Go find Rinnosuke.

Confirm your allies' safety first. If they're alright, we should be able to turn off our paranoia. And get information.

Even if the doll cannot speak, it should still be able to mark letters either on paper with a pencil, or in the dirt a stick. We can't read moon runes, but if it's truly Alice, she should be able to write in English.

[X] Go find your doll
[X] Talk to Rika
[X] Go find Rinnosuke

[X] Go find your doll
[X] Talk to Rika
[X] Go find Rinnosuke

[x] Go find your doll

As you sit up in bed you find the absence of your doll somewhat discomforting. You ruffle your dirtied clothes in agitation. You’re still wearing the mud, pus, blood and shit splattered clothing, while in this white bed. You look down to see faint stains on the bed. You slowly get up, still weak from yesterday and step over to the lockers. “Rika” and “Asakura” you eventually read out a loud, struggling with the Japanese. There is a blank slate on one of the lockers and the next one along is Rinnosukes, you recognise the characters for his name instantly. The other two lockers are marked in those lunar runes so you safely assume the unlabelled locker is your own. You tug at it but it fails to move. You hear a jingling sound from behind you. You turn and find Rika holding her hand out absent-mindedly and jingling a set of keys. As you reach up and take them with thanks you see her grin slightly.

“I wasn’t going to save you AND change your clothes on the same day.” She snidely remarks as you open your locker. Inside is a what seems to have a simple lab coat with a fitting white under suit, and a red ribbon? You take the clothing off the racks and propped up against the back is your crossbow with its remaining 15 bolts and a hatchet. You check your pockets for the bottle of morphine and that pocket watch you found and you draw both of them out. Putting the morphine on the top shelf of the locker you put the pocket watch in its justified place in your shirt pocket. Taking the uniform you turn back to Rika who has gone back to work on the mound of machinery laid out on her stomach as she works lying completely back on the bed, holding up a section of work as she screws some nails in. She feels your eyes on her almost immediately and stops working looking over to you.

“What? I don’t have to work at a desk, do I?” You chuckle and shake your head.

“Do you know where I could change?” She leans up a bit and seems to be now looking at the uniform you are holding in your hands. Holding a clenched hand to her mouth you hear her faintly snicker and her body shakes a little.

“I…” She starts, finding something terribly amusing about all of this. “I sorely hope that ribbon is for your doll.” She manages to choke out before falling back onto her bed laughing. You feel your eyes narrow at her as you turn to leave. “No! Please!” She calls out as you turn and stopping with a sigh you look over your shoulder with an expectant smile on your face. “Don’t be mad! I’m sure it’ll look sweet on you!” She says in a condescending tone before falling back on her bed again laughing. You nod once in affirmation, pretty much what you expected. Turning fully you now make your way out of the room, a quick but deep smile spreads across your face; you are very happy here.

Leaving this room stands you in another white corridor which you seem to be at the end of as the opposite side of the long corridor opens up into the central nexus. It would appear that you are at the North West section of the building. To your immediate right is an open door leading into some kind of kitchen which has a plate of sandwiches wrapped up in some kind of opaque wrap. Food later, you think, you can do for now and you’d rather find your doll and Rinnosuke.

“Oh! Wait, seriously” Her voice calls out again, you back to the room with the same expectant smile on your face trying to ready some kind of clever rebuttal.

“Your friend Rinnosuke is helping Asakura in the medical wing and I'm sure your doll should be fluttering about here somewhere, don’t worry I ain’t taken her apart yet.” Her facial muscles raise to smile but you stifle them with a quick cold glare. She shuffles uncomfortably for a moment, looking away from you. “Sorry, too far” She quietly apologises. You turn and leave the room, closing the door behind you this time. It takes only a few steps before you feel a slight twinge of guilt, perhaps you overreacted a little too much, but was she out of line? You shake your head and those thoughts fall away. There is a final door before the control room marked with a simple male and female figure, entering the male figure and hoping that Rinnosuke will be kept busy for a while you begin to change. You cringe at yourself in the mirror; the whole suit on complete with bow tie looks ridiculess, you tug off the red ribbon and loosen your collar somewhat and it starts to look somewhat less daft. Not sure what you are to do with your old clothes you leave them by the wash basin, your locker was an option but you’d rather just talk to her later on when time has passed.

Leaving the personnel wing you head straight over to the medical wing where Rinnosuke is lying down in the centre of the re-arranged room, Asakura standing by him with and the two casually chat. There is a click of metal and Asakura turns in surprise as a small object shoots from nearby her and flies over to you. You smile as you are rejoined by your doll companion which nestles itself in your hair. Reaching your hand up you gently pet it. “Does it have a name?” Asakura asks, moving away from the operating table, on it are a small set of miscellaneous doctors tools as well as a half full bottle of Vodka and two glasses. You give him a quick glance “Gimmie’ a break” you mutter and then look back to the approaching Asakura.

“So does she have a name? She was such a sweet helper” Asakura probes at what you have been thinking for a while, you assumed this creature was intelligible but it is starting to become apparent that this doll is highly sentient, perhaps even aware of its own existence? It does seem to like you, you muse as you continue to pet the doll that ruffles your hair by rolling about in it. Snatching a pen from the breast pocket of Asakuras lab coat you hold a pen up just above your forehead.

“Hey, could you write your name on something?” You ask hopefully. The ruffling ceases and the pen is picked from your hand as it sails over to Asakura holding the pen awkwardly, almost hauntingly like she held the lance. She jabs into Asakuras chest with the pen causing a reflective twitch and tiny yelp. Slowly and taking her time she carefully etches across Asakura’s chest the word “SHANGHAI”. She turns to you and swings the pen over her shoulder, almost trying to look proud of herself. A large grin spreads across your face, you are about to confirm her name when a rumble shakes the whole building, the lights flicker a little and power fluctuates in the building. Shanghai darts back up to you and you grab hold of a desk following Asakura’s lead. The rumble shakes for a few minutes and then stops.

“What the fuck was that?” You call out desperately as Asakura runs past you and to the nexus. Looking over to Rinnosuke who has just left the bed, picking up the glass he knocks back the rest of his drink and dashes after her. "Good to see you're up, don't worry about me, I'm quite fine. Although Asakura has cold hands." He says in only a slight hurry. You both run into the nexus at the same time Rika enters from the personnel block.

“Was it the mountain again?” She asks loudly as she passes by the whole nexus and looks to be leaving the building.
“Yeah. Stronger this time.” Asakura quickly responds, now sitting down in the command nexus tapping buttons as reems of paper start to flow out from one of the machines.
“Then I’m going out now.” Rika says rounding the corner to the exit.
“NO!” Asakura yells standing up, her chair falling back. She curses and looks back to the machine, and then to you. “Go after her! Get her back here!” You nod and run to the exit, you slow briefly as you hear Asakura mutter “I’m not loosing another one” but you press on towards the exit. As you round the corner you find Rika step from behind the suits wearing one, a full white suit, a massive square glass visor which spans most of the face and some kind of respirator box on her back. She holds in one hand a strange square metal device with a small spinning dish built into the top of it. Looking up to you, you hear a voice crackle out of her suit. “Go grab one yourself if you want to help. I want to talk to you properly later but for now we have to go very quickly, time is of the essence” She says all in a rush stepping towards the door as she finishes. You reach out and lightly grab her arm.

“Wait, Asakura told you to stay here, I don’t think she wants to risk your safety” Rika laughs a little in response to your concern.

“Don’t worry, I was only a simple lab assistant, I think you more than qualify for my position” You cringe somewhat, that is definitely not how you meant it at all.

“No-” You start but she quickly slips into the airlock shutting the door behind her. You curse loudly and run around behind the suits, all that seems to be here is a small private area for changing as well as the packs for respiration. You are surprised how quickly you dress yourself into a suit, it was a lot simpler than you expected, wearing the respirator box on your back you plug it into the helmet like Rika had done and you stride out of the room, before slowing down a little looking to Shanghai who is still floating free next to you. Undoing the suit she flitters in and crawls up to rest in the bottom right corner of your visor. You zip the suit back up and as you do the door opens up again and you step inside. You feel quite closteraphobic in this tight suit and it is definitely hot inside, the cool de-contamination vapours seem to be doing little and you charge outside as soon as you can looking left and right. Surprisingly you find it is night time, you never thought Rika could have been serious. You spot her, but, Rika is running away from the mountain? You charge after her and try calling out to her but the suit seems to be failing to project your voice as it did for Rika. She slows down to a brisk walk as she holds up the odd machine, meanwhile your movement is becoming more and more sluggish and your vision become hazy. You run over to her as she takes off again sprinting. A slow but steady panic starts to raise in your body as you are failing to keep up with her even though she isn’t running at all that fast; your body seems to be slowing down. Your visor becomes clouded and you are starting to find it hard to breathe, by this point you don’t even feel the impact as you fall to the floor feebly batting at the visor to try to break it.

Your vision is distorted, torn and ripped, a burning mass of bright light keeps your vision filled with pain as you are unable to close your eyes. You hear voices all at once, a debate is taking place seemingly inside your own mind you can hear the voices all clearly at the same time. “Where … Where did you get this?” The words roll off the silk tongue of the softly spoken woman and the other voices are immediately silenced. You vision is suddenly filled with the image of a sliding door being thrown aside by a woman in a green dress with white sleeves. The girl has a wild and excited grin on her face as she triumphantly holds out a paper fan. “The things I have seen!” She says all in one breath, panting and breathing heavily, still, with a large grin. “They are real!” Your vision bends and warps as the burning light overcomes the girl and the room and you are inflicted with the same burning pain in your eyes before the light fades into darkness.

You feel as if you’ve only blacked out only for a for a few seconds but when you wake Rika is standing over you, still in her suit and there is a large crack across your visor, seemingly from the inside.

“No! Stop doll, stop! If you break the visor he’ll die! Look! Look! He’s fine now! Look!” She shouts at Shanghai who, as you twist your head inside your suit seems to have attacked the visor to trying to break it. You place your hand over the visor as a vague signal to her that you are alive and Shanghai replies by shoves her face into your eye inquisitively before sliding back to her normal position. The suit now feels rather cool and breezy and you obviously can hear your breathing and this fresh air feels so very good. You exhale deeply and rest for a second before speaking.

“Shanghai” You say simply, looking to Rika, who tilts her head in question. “Her name is Shanghai.”

“Your doll?” She says tapping on the glass. You nod once in response. “Okay, well, c’mon let’s go now, we can’t waste much time.” She holds out a hand and you take it. She quickly inspects the crack on your visor before giving you a thumbs up and running off again. When she stops again to check the machine of hers you strike up the conversation now that your internal microphone seems to be working.

“So what are we doing this far out if we’re taking measurements of the mountain?” She looks back to you quickly and laughs lightly.

“Oh hohoho. Then I guess it’d be a safe assumption to say that we’re not taking measurements of the mountain then, right?”

“Alright, so what are we doing here then?”

“Seeing if the reason why we’re wearing these suits is giving us any more trouble.” She pauses a little. “And of course it is.”

“Yeah, about these suits …”

“We’re not wearing them because of anything that would be normally lethal such as gas or radiation.” She presses a few more buttons on her machine and lowers it. “We’re wearing it because we honestly don’t know what we’re dealing with here and we’d rather not take risks.”

“Take risks?” You echo her in a sagely manner.

“Well there are some risks worth taking, look just shut up and follow me, besides I think we’ve gone a bit too-” There is a deep beeping noise and glancing down to her machine she literally cuts her own sentence dead. There is a faint tremor and immediately Shanghai springs into action; pressing herself up against the visor glass looking outside and looks back to you, frantically tapping on the glass and pointing further on into the forest. Roughly grabbing you by your arm Rika tugs at you.

“We’ve got to go. NOW.” She yells while forcibly dragging you by your arm away from where Shanghai is pointing to.

[ ] Follow Rika’s orders and flee
[ ] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

[ ] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

We're not sane.
We're not sane.
Let's do as not sane people do.

[x] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

I trust the doll.

[X] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

[ ] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

>You give him a quick glance “yare yare daze” you mutter and then look back to the approaching Asakura.

Jojonymous, and his stand, Shanghai in Chains

[x] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

[ ] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

[x] Heed the call of Shanghai and investigate

You struggle and tug against Rika.

“What are you doing!" We’ve godda’ run! This place is being flooded in high emissions!” She roughly grabs you by the chest and pulls herself in front of you, staring at your face. You try to ignore her, staring only into the forest.

“Listen to me.” She speaks firmly “You’re starting to scare me. Look at me. Look away from the forest.” She grabs your head and forces you to look at her. She does not seek to deceive you, she truly has a look of worry on her face. If but only for a few moments before she notices Shanghai looking into the forest. She stares at her for a moment before giving you a cold stare. “You’re following that doll’s orders aren’t you?” Your right hand ticks a little and you feel a flicker of anger shoot through your body. “You trust that stupid doll more than me!” The feeling pass through again, only stronger. Trying to move away again she pulls you back. “The emmisions here are high, you’re loosing your grip on reality! Snap back!” She bats the side of your helmet gently with her hand. Loosing my grip on reality? Her voice echoes in your mind and you slowly grit your teeth in anger. You aggressively push her aside and march off into the forest when she grabs you by the arm again. “Has that doll possessed you or something!?” Snapping, you whirl yourself about grabbing the woman by the shoulders.

“STOP TALKING TO HER LIKE THAT” You scream, spittle spraying onto the visor, as you shake her violently. You catch a glimpse of Rika’s eyes, gripped in fear. Completely snapping out of your rage you quickly tear your arms away from her and back away. She responds by staggering backwards and falling over, a faint whimper comes from her radio as she cowers away from you.

“P-Please d-don’t hurt me. I’m s-so sorry!” She says trying to make herself look as small as possible. You notice Shanghai within your visor doing much the same. Your stomach doubles over and you feel so horribly sick. Why did I do that? Get away, I must get away. Your mind seems to shut down as you disregard everything that just happened, your anger, your brutality and you charge head long into the forest leaving Rika’s tears behind you. Is this what you are as a human? Is this all you amount to? Terrifying woman and then abandoning them to die? You swallow back that which your stomach is trying force to leave. You are filled with self-loathing and hatred as your mind starts to horribly grind to a halt. You throw yourself to the ground and surrender completely to this world, your emotions completely overruling everything in your mind in a blind drunken state. There is silence for a long time, the only noise you hear is that of a pulsating whirr of a machine working somewhere close by but it echoes all around. Something so soothing about it. Sleep is good. I feel so very tired. I can feel time slowing down, just for me. This is so wonderful. I can sleep now. Yes. I can sleep at least.

You feel an abrupt sharp pain on your cheek and you are startled slightly out of your daze, another sharp pain stirs you more. You are lying sprawled out on the floor. Looking up a little you see Shanghai, still in your helmet, pointing and tapping on the glass furiously. You look up and see the form of another suit just in the distance lying on its side. You can barely make out the face in this dark light but it seems to be stretching out towards you. When you make this realisation your heart quickens in beat, it feels as if the body is reaching out to you. The suit twists and contorts, the arm physically stretching out towards you and you feel the grip of ice cold hands all over your body as many of these twisting hands emerge from the ground and take hold of you, grasping you in place. You scream and kick in futility as the single long arm reaches you; just looking at this simple hand writhing towards you, a fear builds up so great tears roll down your eyes and you freeze up completely. The hand reaches your visor and gently touches it and a shock wave of an intense high pitched noise cuts through your head, your own screams not even drowning it out as the glass begins to crack under pressure, your eyes weep blood and your bowels void themselves as your body is wracked in a horrible agony. Quickly and abruptly you are brought back into reality. Shanghai desperately beating your cheek and tapping the glass. You find that you instead had been reaching out the corpse, arm outstretched you are grasping at something. Turning your hand over you find yourself holding a bizarre octagonal shaped contraption, made of wood with a strange pattern engraved at its top. A searing pain burns in your mind and a bright light consumes the ground before you. You hear a painfully familiar voice calling out, echoing through the caverns of your mind.

“Where is she? I want her … I need her …” The bright light dims somewhat and you see a black outline of a figure hovering in the air, arms clutched to its chest in a cross and masses of what seem like paper flying about the figure at great speed. The light consumes the image, and even the ground before you and you are returned to reality, still holding the object.

“Hello?” Some kind of interior radio crackles on, inside your suit. You make a groan in response. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours …” The voice is Asakura’s but her tone is so very different, melancholy and drained. You feel your heart and stomach wrench at the thought of Rika.

“I’m… Sorry” You manage to rasp and choke out.

“Hey, snap out of it, can you remember your way back?” You grunt in response.

“There’s something out here” You slowly mumble out as you pick yourself up off the floor. “I’m holding it in my hand.” There is silence over the radio and a faint murmuring can be heard before Asakura’s voice comes in again.

“What does it look like?” Looking down to the octagonal wooden block you describe it in full, there is a louder voice in the background and surprisingly Rinnosuke’s voice comes in over the radio.

“Great to see you’re still alive friend, tell me again what this object looks like.” You repeat yourself slowly and carefully describing every inch of the object including the odd eight trigrams etched or burnt into the wood, it’s hard to discern. “What you’ve got there friend is an Elemental Reactor, highly potent stuff, if you could make your way back I could tell you how it works”

You wearily shake yourself, trying to off your daze as you focus your mind again. Your eyes find the body again, just a few feet away from you, on its side. “There’s a body here as well” You mumble. The radio goes silent again.

“What did you say?” Asakura’s voice gently says. Your mind still dizzy and dumbfounded you repeat exactly what you said. There is a bit more silence before Asakura speaks again. “Could you check it out?” You grunt a little in response and will your body forward, your legs firing up almost like a gear slowly turning in a machine you move forward and over to the body. The body is much shorter than you are and looking through the face set you see a girls face, drool hanging from her mouth and her eyes rolled up. Held in her hand is a device identical to one that Rika was using. However in her belt is another small object, flat and with a large screen on it, a red button and a small Up, Down, Left, Right keypad.

“I have one of Rika’s machines, I also have another small machine with a screen.” You say, taking both of them. You look deeper into the forest and to Shanghai who follows your gaze but shakes her head and points back to the base.

“I can keep going …” You whisper. Shanghai shakes her head more viciously and crawls across the bottom of the visor, pushing your face in the other direction back to the building.

“Those pieces of equipment are all extremely useful, please, please come back.” Asakura asks. You sigh a little, mostly inwardly. “I’m coming back” You murmur turning about and trudging back.

Your vision occasionally becomes distorted with the large bright light as well as hearing indiscernible whispers echoing through the forest, you make out a few different voices but not what they speak of. Your walk back is slow, and arduous and your mind is filled with images and voices, all of which seem so distant and alien to you, making no sense and even the very logical structure of some of these images pains your mind. Nothing makes sense. Nothing follows the laws of this world. Your mind swims in chaos. Stumbling and staggering across the forest you somehow make it to the lab, your mind in somewhat of a state, but still alive. The voices have faded and your consciousness is clear, if you ignore the now swelling feeling of guilt. As you approach the door there is no warm greeting, just a single uncomfortable loud buzz as the door swings open. Stepping in, the door dully closes behind you as the vapours rise up again. You slouch a little, you shouldn’t be alive, not after how you abandoned her. You prop yourself up against the wall and slump down. Why am I alive? I can’t help other people. I can only help myself. You twitch in remembrance to the burning village, the fleeing people, the men taking to arms and you, fleeing instead. Their screams course through your memory. This burden. The burden of being one of the alive. Why did you have to live? When all others died? The door opens and Rika stands there, arms folded across her waist. Looking down at you with pity. These people. You choke a little and you feel something gently dab away the tears. You slowly move your eyes over to look at Shanghai who is standing up very gently pushing you. These people give me life. I am alive for them. You drag yourself up with determination. I live. You clutch the equipment to yourself and give Rika a thumbs up. I live for those who live with me. A smile spreads across her face and she helps you out of the chamber.

Hours later of resting you emerge from your room, just across the hall Rika and Shanghai seem to be playing in the kitchen, Rinnosuke and Asakura are elsewhere, probably in the medical wing. You step into the kitchen and Rika looks up to you with a smile.

“Hey, how ya’ feeling?” She looks back to Shanghai. The two of them seem to be building a tower out of pencils and Rika has apparently eaten, judging by the empty plate. “Me and Shanghai are friends now” She giggles a little and Shanghai looks over to you and nods quickly, placing another pencil ontop of the tower. You smile warmly to the two of them and take in a deep breath.

“Words… Can’t even begin to describe how sorry…” You trail off as Rika looks at you with an odd smile on her face.

“Don’t worry” She says, standing up and moving over to you. “The emissions there were incredibly strong, and for you to stay out there so long…” She wraps her arms around you and squeezes briefly. “I’m glad you’re back.” She smiles breaking away and heading over to the preparation section of the kitchen. “Forget about what happened earlier, the emmisions must have been messing with both of us, it targets the brain so I would imagine us becoming both highly emotional must have been a side-effect.” You smile hopefully, you truly hope that was the case and you were just not being yourself. She opens up the fridge and tosses you a can. ‘Fanta Orange’ huh? You can’t remember seeing anything like this before. Rinnosuke had one of these fridges but only kept meat and alcohol in it. Following lead from Rika you pull the ring back and flinch a little as some of the liquid sprays up in your face. She knocks it back and chugs it and you do the same. It tastes amazing and you feel wonderfully refreshed, the after effect is a bit queer and your stomach ties up in knots.

“Pretty cool stuff, eh? I bought a huge bulk of it straight from Hakugyokurou. Apparently if I built a large enough fridge for that lady there they’d sell the stuff to me directly.” She chugs her drink back in a macho way. “Now -that’s- business sense.” She grins broadly to you and you snicker as well.

“Hey actually” She starts again. “You wanna’ see some cool stuff in my lab? I don’t think you’ve ever been in the engineering wing.” Her grin widens in anticipation.

[ ] Go with Rika to the engineering wing
[ ] Go see Asakura and Rinnosuke

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

Evil Eye Sigma?

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

[ ] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

This is awesome.

[ ] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

[x] Go with Rika to the engineering wing

“Yeah sure, let’s go” You smile, taking another chug from the can.

“Aw great! I got so much stuff to show you.” She rushes quickly past you and runs off to the lab and you follow, joined as well by Shanghai. As you enter the command nexus you see that strange octagonal wooden block and as she walks past it Rika swipes it up, turning back to you.

“We ain’t properly studied this yet ” She starts, now back-pedalling towards to lab, artfully dodging the clutter dotted about. “I’ve really just been messing about with it and listening to what Rinnosuke said about it.” As you arrive into the lab you can hear an incredibly strange constant electronic noise yet its pitch dips and changes. Inside the lab looks like a scrap yard, junk strewn everywhere and massive sections of gutted machinery, its metal organs flayed and neatly laid out before it. A strange worry passes through you and you check on Shanghai behind you but she seems to be flittering about above you looking at the shelves. She is a machine, right? Isn’t this even slightly disturbing for her? She looks down to you with the same impassive stare and you return the stare in kind, lost in thought. How did someone build you? Were you once a human? Did you once feel? Do you feel now? Isn’t this a leap of faith, to think you can think and feel? Do you even think and feel, in the same way I do? Your thoughts are cut as Rika’s voice steps in.

“Whatcha’ looking at?” Completely broken from the daze you realise Shanghai isn’t there anymore and you had been staring with intent at a large red box full of tools. “Oh right! Yeah I don’t use those anymore, come on look at this!” She tugs your arm and you look to where she is pointing. A strange metal barred glass case in which the octagonal block of wood resides in the centre. Several wires welded into to a plate of iron slide into the underpart of the container and lead back into a small machine which has a large metal plate with a hand crudely painted onto it.

“I knocked this up after Rinnosuke told us that essentially this little thing was quite literally a reactor, a catalyst for tapping into inner power, namely magic.” She says as she flicks a few switches and the elemental reactor starts to rotate and the machine whirs into action. She places her hand down on the plate and a cone of bright light blue colour fires out of the reactor, stopping when it reaches the top. “Right now its running at insignificant amount of power, and is projecting a harmless beam of light. Now firing this thing normally would probably put a nice hole in the ceiling” She says very impressed and grins to you, taking her hand off and the light switches off. “You give it a try!” She steps to one side and you move over to it. You look back to Rika for some kind of reassurance but she just stands there grinning like an idiot. You exhale and place your hand on the plate, half expecting to get some kind of shock or pain from another source. Instead she hasn’t actually trapped this and the reactor fires out a beam of solid dark red light.

“Ooh” She says in a mock child voice “That looks like one mean laser” Before you take your hand off she quickly steps over to you and places her hand ontop of yours and the beam changes colour slightly to a more purple tone. “How cool is that!" I knew that would work!” She says with giddy child joy.

“I wonder how many inputs this thing can take?” You ask. “We could get all of us in here and try it.”

“Yeah good luck separating Asakura from her new test subject, she’s been with him ever since you guys got in”

“Yeah, what time is it now? How long was I out there?”

“Uh, a long time … You were out there until about 4 in the morning and then you arrived back here. Then went to sleep until now which is about midday.” Either the realisation of the time lapse or the waking daze fading could be to blame as you feel your stomach is suddenly assaulted by pangs of hunger and you reactively grab your gut, realising you have not eaten for a very long time. You lean more heavily on the machine and it slides across the floor and Rika grabs hold of you.

“Woah, not going to faint on me are you?” You laugh but you really could of just.

“No, I just really need food” She nods and takes your hand pulling it.

“Come on, lets go see if there’s any more sandwiches left”
You both sit down and she reaches over to the kitchen counter and takes the plate of sandwiches and passes them over to you.

“So, you’re from the human village right? You never did tell me what you were doing this far away.” You almost completely ignore her, far too busy eating sandwiches in two bites. Even she seems to have dismissed her own question staring at you in a mixture of awe and fear as you methodically eat all 6 chicken and salad sandwiches in under a few minutes. “Wow.” She bluntly states. “And I thought that power box thing was impressive” You look up and grin, she laughs in response and you lean back and relax, those sandwiches were fucking amazing.

“Yeah, I left the human village in a bit of a state” You begin, the memories are starting to become somewhat stale and you feel you can actually talk about them without your blood boiling in rage. “Can I have another can?” Somewhat ruining the introduction to your story. She smiles and obliges, grabbing herself a can and tossing one over to you. You crush the old one and dump it on the table, opening the new one with relish you knock it back. It tastes just as sweet as the last one did.

“I was given this important assignment, an escort task I assume, I don’t know. I can’t remember it at all. I was supposed to escort the shrine maiden somewhere.”

“Reimu? Needing an escort?” Rika throws her head back and laughs. “Oh Asakura will love to hear that one. Sorry I interrupted, continue” She giggles more to herself now and sips her can.

“Well, that’s about it really, I was heading to the Hakurei Shrine for more information. You see …” You look away nervously at first, in a small fear of what Rika might think of the dreams you’ve been having, she might think you were a lunatic. You look back to her and she has an expectant smile about her. She wouldn’t really try to do you any harm, right? You take in a deep breath and tell her about the dreams you had before, the one of your conversation with Reimu, how something attacked and wounded her companion Marisa, omitting out the slightly more obscure dreams, namely the one in the field outside the mansion but you do ask her about the girl in green and white.

She hums, tapping the can off her chin. “Well that girl in green is Youmu Kompaku, servant of Lady Saigyouji. But the significance of the fan, I don’t know. Lady Saigyouji has one but it’s a lot flashier than the simple white one in your dream. Besides, the notion of Youmu finding her own masters fan and being proud of it …” She laughs again. “Well tell me if you have any more of these odd dreams, they’re certainly interesting, if a little creepy”

“Well the rest of me is just history I guess, I don’t know how I got here I just ended up just outside the human village, I didn’t remember my name so people just either called me newcomer, stranger or traveller” You shrug helplessly, it didn’t really bother you that much really.

“Ooh, a bold nameless stoic hero type, eh?” She cackles at her own dry wit.

“Well, I don’t want to chew you ear off, and I’d rather not actually talk about myself” You say quite uncomfortably, yes, focusing on someone else rather than your own problems would be nice.

“How about you? What’s your story?” You look up to Rika and smile warmly, she returns the gesture and sits down properly, next to you.

“Well, I came here by myself from my workshop when all of this started to happen. Armed with my tools and the power of science I managed to evade many encounters and even blast the odd Youkai!” She makes an imitation of a handgun with her hands and points it at you, ‘pulling the trigger’. “Bang! Anyway, I found this place and Asakura who was just starting to unload some of her kit. I helped out and we then took it in turns to get equipment from each others work site. Truth be told, she was studying this disaster long before it actually happened. All sorts of odd measurements, some of it even I don’t get.” She crushes the can with her hand and tosses it down the table.

“You want to go to the shrine right? Well I got some good and bad news.” You flinch a little, why didn’t she say before? “The bad news, is that there has been a land slide and the shrine was hit. The good news is that it wasn’t crush, per se, it was only levelled, we should be able to pick through the rubble and get what you need.” She nods with hope and you smile back. She’s right, there has to be something there left. You accept and she gets up. “Alright then, let’s head off”

She wanders through the nexus shouting out the Asakura; “Going out! Will be back later!” She then looks back to you and grins. “She won’t respond but if she complains that I went out without telling her I at least have the high ground in the argument” She laughs lightly and rounds the corner leading out but stops as she passes a meter on the wall. It appears to be a simple water measuring meter and it is half full. Rika frowns and looks back to you.

“Well it’s raining outside, you still want to do this? Or shall we wait until tomorrow?”

[ ] Wait
[ ] Go

[x] Wait

[ ] Wait

>>3816

[x] Go

You have to dig out the site now before the ground turns to sludge or another landslide occurs.

[ ] Wait

[x] Ask Shanghai what we should do.

[ ] Wait

[x] Wait

“Eh, to be honest, it can wait I suppose.” You shrug it off and look over to Shanghai who just hovers next to you looking at Rika. “What could we do instead?” You ask, looking back to Rika.

“Well I have been working all day, I suppose we could just go relax and see what Asakura and Rinnosuke are up to?” You head off with Rika over to the medical wing and to where Asakura is prodding Rinnosuke’s left arm full of needles. As you three enter Asakura looks up and smiles in welcome. You exchange pleasantries and sit about, all watching Asakura slowly hook up Rinnosuke to a machine, you’d ask to help but she does seem like she knows what she’s doing, so it’s probably for the best to not cramp her. Rika seems to have fallen off into a daze and is just staring up at the lights and pipework that run across the ceiling of most of this building and is just absent mindedly swinging her legs back and forth sitting on a table. You note that the table she is on is quite bare to the rest of the room which has a lot of clutter strewn about as well as how Asakura seems to constantly work at the same desk. Maybe Rika usually sits on that table? Perhaps Asakura uses it for paper work, not that you’ve ever seen her do any paper work. She seems a lot more like the practical type, much like Rika, maybe that’s why they get along well? You pause for a moment in thought. Do they even get on well? You assume that Asakura was mad at Rika for just running out yesterday, but she seems fine about it now. In your musings you fail to notice Rika leave, and only realise she had left when she returns with an odd metal box.

“Music while ya’ work?” Rika asks Asakura who gives her a weak smile.

“Yes, please, anything to drown out his complaining.” She says jabbing a needle quite hard into Rinnosuke’s arm.

“When have I complained?!” He protests.

“Oh, never verbally, you keep twitching and moving though, its annoying” She prods him with a needle in jest and then takes her glass of Vodka from the tray which holds all her tools and knocks it back in the same way Rinnosuke does. At which point your concern for Rinnosuke’s health and safety raises by several percentages. You hear a clicking sound and some warm electronic ambient music plays out of the radio, quite relaxing and by now you have completely forgotten all about your troubles, nothing could bother you in this state and you slouch heavily back in the leather chair. No, not a care in the world. A smug smile of satisfaction spreads across your face and you close your eyes falling completely off into a daydream. You hear Asakura eventually start to speak up and talk to Rika about all her findings, she explains about how she has found out quite a lot; despite Rinnosuke’s body is half youkai the human half seems to have completely halted any kind of mutation or growth and only when exposed to heavily infected environments does he feel the effects of it, but even then it’s only a nausea or bad cough. Her voice itself though seems to float and bounce off the pattern of the music played in the background in a mild psychedelic way and you feel as if you are lying down on a floating cloud, the blue sky above you and the sound of the sea below. You breath in the fresh air and gently brush your hand through the cloud, softly parting away your hand is absorbed into it and you feel your whole body slowly relaxing and soaking into this cloud, your vision coated in a misty white.

You yawn and blink a little, the blue sky replaced with hard concrete although the seat does offer the same respite the cloud did. You lean forward to find the music box has been left on but Rika is no longer on the table. Scanning the room you notice she has taken up residence in another leather chair a few tables away, zoned out in a similar fashion as you were, her arms folded neatly in her lap and a pleasant smile spread across her face. Looking over to your left you see Rinnosuke is just lounging back, almost half asleep with Asakura tapping her pen on his arm filled with needles whilst looking at some kind of monitor wired into the needles. She looks almost bored.

“Hey Asakura” You speak up, she only makes a faint noise in acknowledgement. “How long have you been working for? I don’t think we’re going anywhere soon, maybe you should take it easy?” She glances back at you briefly and flashes a grin.

“Don’t worry I'm quite relaxed really, I'm just checking him now for any signs of mutation after injecting some into his blood stream. As I expected his antibodies have eliminated them before they even had a chance to do anything. His body is totally immune” She looks back to you now and smiles. “Say, I never did get a chance to properly thank you for getting that equipment neither did I even properly introduce myself.” She laughs and lets a fake groan “My head is a mess! All I can think of is work. Maybe I should just take it easy, have a few days off perhaps. You really don’t have to worry about those things getting in here. They don’t have the strength to break in or even the memory capacity to remember people coming in and out of this building. The only worry is being spotted when we’re outside. Which is why we don’t go out much.” She sighs and moves from the stool she was once sitting on, onto a leather seat on the desk behind you. It remains much like this for a very long time, a few hours perhaps until people begin to stir again.

“Can someone take these needles out of my arm now?” Rinnosuke pipes up after being quiet for so long.

“Oh. Sure, the test was done well over an hour ago anyway.” Asakura yawns out, standing up and heading over to Rinnosuke who just remains silent, probably lost for words at her lack of care. She tugs them all out and lets them fall away as Rinnosuke sequels like a little girl, much to your own amusement.

“Oh shut up lab rat, it doesn’t hurt that much” She quite harshly puts it, a malicious grin on her lips. Rinnosuke winces away a little and she laughs. “You’re so endearing” She picks up a moist cloth of some sort and gently dabs at his arms.

Slamming her hand down the desk everyone jolts a little as Rika stands up in a flash.

“Right!” She shouts out. “That damn rain should be gone by now and we’ve wasted enough time just lounging about!” She points directly at you. “Fancy climbing a mountain?” You grin and rise, joined now by Shanghai who floats in from the nexus, probably roused by Rika.

“What the hell?” Asakura starts, turning about to meet you both.

“Oh, you’re going up there now?” Rinnosuke asks, leaning up only to be firmly pushed back down by Asakura.

“You’re heading up to the shrine? Why? The place is levelled.” Asakura looks between you and Rika, obviously confused somewhat. Rika jogs over and switches off the music, thumbing over to you she replies to Asakura.

“He was heading there before hand, I told you remember?” Asakura pauses and hums in though. Rika just grins to you and you remember what she said earlier about having the high ground in arguments. You both laugh and leave the room. Calling back to Rinnosuke you to tell him to enjoy his needles. You think of inviting him along but you know that leaving this place is probably extremely dangerous and you’d rather not endanger him for what is essentially a trivial matter. Besides, its not as if Asakura would let him out of that lab. Ever. When you think about it, you don’t think you’ve ever seen him out of that lab. Lingering on that thought for a few moments you also realise you have spent most of your time in the building asleep. Today has been the only exception.

Not needing the suits this time you bypass them and head for the entrance. “Ah!” Rika stops. “Wait just one moment!” She quickly dashes off leaving you and Shanghai alone next to the suits. Looking over to the suits and back to Shanghai you grin.

“So was it comfortable inside me?” Shanghai stops in the air and ever so slowly turns to face you. Before she can react so to speak Rika re-appears holding the large rifle.

“Just in case!” She proudly says, holding her rifle up. The both of you march off and out of the building after being sprayed with the vapours. Outside the ground is wet as you expected, puddles dotted about and the trees glisten and drip with the precious life giving liquid. The two of you wander out and up to the road.

“So, how did you know Reimu? Was it a personal acquaintance?” She sneers, obviously taking a shot at you but you pass it off.

“No, not really. I barely knew her.” You’re right, you did barely know her. So why did she choose you over anyone else to protect her? If you were important surely she would have said? No, instead she just wanted a guard, why couldn’t anyone else fill in that role? You give up, soon you’ll have your answers. It doesn’t take long before you arrive at the foot of the mountain, the once quite pleasant snow capped mountain now resembles more of an iron fortress, the very notion of climbing this monstrosity leaves you quite in ill nerve. Rike strides on however, seemingly undaunted. You bolster your resolve and press on with her towards the mountain trail.

“Ah, I almost forgot.” She starts as you begin your ascent. “That radio I showed you? The thing playing music. I reckon I could wire that up to a broadcast signal and we can use it to call out on all frequencies to anyone else with one. Although who else would have one I don’t know. First guess would be those Lunarians. I think they’d be a bit irked to find us in one of their own bases though.” Her tone drops a little, some what more serious. “If anyone else has one though, namely the Scarlet Devil, it could place us all in serious danger. I can’t imagine they would though. They don’t seem to like using, or know how to use, new technology.” The trip up the mountain is relatively uneventful and takes you a great deal of time but it all seems worth it as you climb up. Bearing witness to the true extent of the damage inflicted upon Gensokyo leaves you speechless and the idle banter and chatter between the two of you concerning your relationship with Reimu ceases. A single long and thick black scar of ash and flame runs through the middle of Gensokyo stretching from what seems to be a firey wasteland through the massive forest in the centre of Gensokyo all the way up to a different kind of forest built up of hundreds of thinner trees and canopy. Standing near the summit of the mountain you can see above you the effects of the landslide. Most of the mountain has fallen, thankfully, to the right leaving only segments of rock to fall onto the where the shrine would be located. The damage is revealed to more severe only when you reach the shrine itself.

The main body of the building and namely Reimu’s home has been crushed utterly under several massive rocks seems to have been recently flooded over with mud. You quickly run over to the ruin, refusing to accept that all of this has been for nothing.

You shout out in denial and throw yourself at the rubble desperatly tearing chunks away quickly joined by Rika who starts to shoot large chunks out of the rubble only for it to be replaced with mud or more rocks, and Shanghai who flies about rapidly apparently searching for some small entrance under the landslide. The tiny amount left of the shrine is the front wall which has fallen forwards and underneath that; the long entrance platform. Frantically you tug at the wall and tear off a section, looking under it you see the platform has been crushed and anything under it has been flooded with mud seeping under the building. You curse loudly and stamp on the wall, breaking more of it. You step away from the shrine only to be drawn back to it. Any hope of bringing back any memory now lies crushed under a mountain. Picking a rock from the floor and hurling it into the rubble you scream out at the mountain in defiance. Turning away from the shrine again you notice a small section of the edge that juts over. You instantly recall talking to Reimu, right there, where you are looking now. You remember staying, for a while? Waiting. Waiting for someone. You let out a loud groan of anger. This level of frustration is immense. You swear loudly and kick another rock off the cliff side.

You exhale and slump down on the ledge, this can’t be over just now. You did not just come here for a vague recollection, you wanted- no, you needed something to point you in the correct direction, this resolution leaves you just as blind as you were before. Even more so than before. This has been a massive dead end. You look out in anger across the fire stricken world; other parts of the landscape you notice have been scorched, probably from smaller scale skirmishes. Without intention you find your eyes drift over towards the dark spot that used to be your village. You stare at it long and hard. Your own mind working against your instinct as the flames of the burning pit begin to burn themselves into your mind, the image of your wasteland home etched into you, a lingering and ever present sense of purpose, perhaps, or perhaps this could just be the poison of despair trickling into your veins infecting your mind and body. You find your willpower rising and falling looking over this landscape, without even realising it time ticks by and Gensoyko is slowly washed in an orange glow, the sun slowly setting over the far away mountains. Gradually looking up to the horizon, a fiery glow consumes the mountains. It looks as if the whole world is on fire, burning. You hold your hand out to the sun wanting to quash the fire, extinguish the flames. Your heart beats strong with purpose but your mind is in disarray. A small figure floats into view and rests on your outstretched hand, staring at you with its trademark impassive stare. Your mind softens and relaxes, smiling, you gently curl your hand around her and bring her close to your chest. Looking to your left Rika smiles at you, bathed in the warm orange light, she joins you sitting on the ledge. Neither of you say anything but you both feel the same, a deep sense of inner peace, only now do you start to appreciate the calming silence all around you. The whole world is stretched out before you. This slowly fading world. It’s beautiful.

------------
More to come later on after i get some sleep

Holy fuck this is bleak.

UPDATE

i fucking LOVE comas
---------------------

The rubble loosely drops from below you, their shuffling heard easily from this far up. You both break away from your semi-mesmerised state looking over the sunset and look to each other; a smile playing on both of your lips, still with eyes met in a fixed gaze you both stand to your feet.

To those who has taken much from me.

You release your tender grip on Shanghai and she floats up beside your head, Rika makes a similar mental gesture by leaning back a little and grabbing up her rifle.

I still have much to take from you.

The spray of brightly coloured orbs of energy crackle down below you crashing into the sheathing swarm of salivating Youkai; burning their bodies and shearing their limbs. Rika draws up her rifle and opens fire, a single shot bores its way through the mass before exploding into the ground. You both jump from the ledge, landing on the path below now strewn with twitching Youkai spread across the floor.

“They are drawn to this place, they still thirst for the blood of the shrine maiden.” Rika dully says, turning to face down the mountain path to a group of Youkai, pushing and shoving the weaker to the front. Survival of the fittest. This has always rung true in Gensokyo, and so it seems shall remain even so now. You casually gesture to the group and Shanghai launches an attack of orbs, crashing into the group and slaying most of them. The larger turn to flee and the sound of death resonates across the mountain, Rika’s cannon calling out to them a final time.

The high mountain winds pick up and blow harshly, the snowy capped mountains nearby begin to bestow their frigid curse upon you and the air turns to ice. You both cough and wrap your arms around yourselves as the cold bites at you. You glance over to Shanghai who, as you expected, is totally un-phased. Rika trudges on forward and you follow her lead, this mountain will soon become inhospitable and as you wander through the snow laden trail you begin to appreciate the strength of the shrine maiden the lived here during the harsh winters. As you begin your descent of the mountain a constant scratching and scrabbling sound can be heard from below, leaning over the edge occasionally you catch glimpses of shadowy humanoid creatures lunging and crawling across the base of the mountain, their howls and screaches filling the air. The need for an exit is becoming more and more apparent as you quickly find that around every corner of this mountain path more Youkai lie below, waiting for you to fall, or arrive at the mountain path exit where a festival of blood awaits you all. You smirk at the prospect, casually stepping aside some of the falling rocks. The thoughts of the imminent battle are instantly purged from your mind as you blink in realisation and you look down at the rocks. You look up to Rika who stares back at you in a slight state of shock and then the both of you crane your heads up and you watch as the mountain looms and surges up towering higher and higher and with horror you feel yourself falling slowly backwards. You fall only a short while, rolling backwards as you hit the floor your desperately grab onto the rocky ground and twist your neck about to find that a large section of the mountain has just fallen away and you are sitting on part of it.
Rolling onto your chest you grip the dirt, slowly lifting yourself you are driven back into the dirt as the section of rock slams into the ground and begins to just skid down the earthen muddy slopes that form the base of the mountain. Your short scream of terror turns into a single and long cheer of joy as this huge section of rock glides down the mound. The air rips and races through your hair and clothes blowing them all back in a large billowing fashion and you drag yourself to your feet, stretching out your arms, you can barely see through the shear amount of wind forcing your eyes closed. You feel your heart pounding with adrenaline as you roar with laughter, moments like these is what life is about. Sadly the rush is cut brutally short by a single loud crunching sound.

You can hear voices, noises, all around you as well as the sound of lightly falling tiny pieces of rubble. You can see, barely, as your whole world seems to move and sway with a kind of motion blur or sickness to it. You see figures in front of you. Desperately you call out for Shanghai and Rika but you cannot make out their shapes. Surprisingly your body is not wracked in pain and you are laid flat out in a huge muddle of mud, you relish the taste of the bitter ground after you glance behind you to see a mound of rocks from where you had previously been standing on high up in the mountain. You splutter and laugh, remembering the ride down and stumble up to your feet, only to collapse down again as you loose your footing. You drag yourself through the mud to a nearby tree and grab hold of it, hauling yourself up it you faintly hear someone call out to you. Rika’s voice. It’s close. Launching off the tree onto another one you stagger across most of the thick mud. You notice bizarre gaps of blackness dotted about on the floor and your head starts to spin. Practically collapsing against the tree you hold your hand to your head, purely in gesture, trying to will your mind back into focus. Your mind focuses but the black holes remain now twitching across the ground. You take a few staggered steps towards them and they halt immediately, standing and swaying on the spot you peer closer at these odd shapes on the floor. Your faculties returning fully again you hear the loud sounds of screeching and howling all around you, desperately you call out for Shanghai or Rika for protection but instead your prayers are answered elsewhere. The moment the Youkai come into view, leaping and bounding over the bushes and rocks that clutter the forest the black spots on the ground leap into action and fly away. Survival of the fittest. You grin as the first Youkai splits in half across it’s waist. Sometimes there is luck involved. A blast of wind slams into the next group to emerge, scattering them into the forest and as more pour into the small opening the winds charge up forming micro tornadoes plucking the Youkai from the ground and hurling them away. The Youkai break off and begin to scatter and as they do a massive surge of bright white light engulfs the area and your eyes a forced shut, the screams of Youkai all around you and the smell of burnt meat invades your nostrils. You wince, looking about at the charred remains of the Youkai dotted about the local area. You look up, searching for those mysterious jet black birds but instead find a woman, crouched, perched on a thick branch of a tree, the only discernible figures are a small set of wings jutting from her back, a black square object in her hand and a row of glinting teeth forming a wicked lopsided grin. The rest of her body is absorbed into the now dark skies and tree foliage.

“News spreads fast dontcha’ know~” She holds her last word as if she was holding a note. Her entire speech pattern is highly irratatic and fast. You also notice her wings twitch almost continually.
“Human village burnt to ash! Last survivor vows for vengeance!” She pauses and snickers. “Exclusive photos and interviews!” With a blink of an eye she dashes down directly in front of you, a small cloud of dust blows up under her feet which seem to be balanced on a pivot in the middle bases of her shoes. Dressed in a simple short black skirt and a white shirt she sits before you, one of her shoes firmly lodged into the ground she crosses her other leg over and peers at you, still grinning and fanning her self with a large golden leaf. Holding the leaf stem in her mouth she draws out a small notebook and pen.

“You got a name?” She asks, grinning.

“W-What?” You stammer.

“‘What’ ain’t no name! You got a real name?”

“No really, no.” In response she screws up her face in confusion.

“Why? And what are you doing this far out?”

“I never really gave it any thought and the same thing I tell everyone else; I don’t know, I'm trying to find out myself. Why? What’s it to you?” Upon mentioning her grin returns, bigger than ever.

“I!” She says taking standing tall and proud. “Am Aya Shameimaru. Journalist, photographer and proprietor of the Bunbunmaru newspaper!” She grins smugly.

“Incredible.” You say, dryly, and she glares at you.

“Well what do you do for a living? Apart from wandering around falling off mountains.”

“I am but a vessel of my own vengeance, forged in loss and driven by hate. This world teems with unnecessary life, killing and consuming everything their path they seek to coat this world in death and I cannot allow that to just be. Someone has to do something, right?” You give her a hard look to see another huge grin spreading across of her face before she just erupts into laughter.

“Someone has to do something?!” She yells up into the sky in mockery of you and continues her laughter. Your better judgement dictates that you should have probably further humoured your apparent saviour but those thoughts seem to come second as you throw yourself at this woman, forcing her to the floor you grab a hold of her shirt and repeatedly slam her into the ground. Her laughter is more ragged now but her expression has not changed, how can this woman just laugh and shrug off death like this? She can easily, she is just a third party, an observer, a distant watcher laughing from a far. Your verbal abuse seems to have a slight effect, she stops laughing slowly and her grin slowly chances, a sly one and her body begins to shift, her crotch gently rubbing against yours, her smirk becomes even more apparent.

“Quite aggressive aren’t we?” She says in a hushed and coy voice. “Don’t be too harsh with me.”

You hear a different voice from across the clearing. Slowly, the both of you turn your heads. Rika stands with Shanghai, jaw dropped and whatever she was about to say stays fixed in her mouth. You feel your face burning hot and your mind violently reacts spewing apologies after apologies through your head but your jaw has locked shut in paralysis, refusing to open. Standing on that falling rock was a moment in life whereby the world stops and you feel a passing sweet bliss, this is it’s twin; a moment in life so horrible that all time stops and the question of “What if?” rears its ugly head again and again. Time seems to reconnect, as if it was previously disengaged from reality and Rika’s expressions hardens severely.

“What is this?” She spits with venom, her mouth hardly moving but her voice cuts through you like a blade. You stumble with your words and throw yourself off Aya.

“This isn’t-” You stop yourself, no, this is exactly what it looks like but the why of it is so jarringly different. “It was her!” You shout, enraged that you should take the blame over what she has done.

“With you on top of her?” She so lightly puts it. “Is this my reward? For every…” Her voice seems to strangle itself, choking and dying. There is a flash of light and instantly you fix your eyes to Aya who is aiming the camera at Rika.

“The money shot!” A sick smile and a wink is what she leaves you with as she launches herself away from you, straight up into the air cackling in hysterics shortly followed by a sudden blast from Rika’s cannon, punching a large hole straight from the canopy where Aya used to be. There is an immensely long and immensely awkward silence after.

[ ] I’m so sorry …
[ ] You have to believe me …
[ ] Rika …
[ ] Shanhai …
[ ] Can we go home now …?
[ ] Say nothing

[x] Ball your fists till you knuckles turn white; throw in a few angry tears if possible, "How dare she make light of all those deaths? How dare she treat our bid for survival as a farce? Ignorant! Lying! Selfish! Not even saving what's left of this wretched life will repay such injury. I won't forgive you for this, Shameimaru."

[ ] "...I was trying to kill her."

[x] Ball your fists till you knuckles turn white; throw in a few angry tears if possible, "How dare she make light of all those deaths? How dare she treat our bid for survival as a farce? Ignorant! Lying! Selfish! Not even saving what's left of this wretched life will repay such injury. I won't forgive you for this, Shameimaru."

Normally I'd think this speech to be overly dramatic, but it does match up with what we just did and said.

[x] Ball your fists till you knuckles turn white; throw in a few angry tears if possible, "How dare she make light of all those deaths? How dare she treat our bid for survival as a farce? Ignorant! Lying! Selfish! Not even saving what's left of this wretched life will repay such injury. I won't forgive you for this, Shameimaru."

[x] Ball your fists till you knuckles turn white; throw in a few angry tears if possible, "How dare she make light of all those deaths? How dare she treat our bid for survival as a farce? Ignorant! Lying! Selfish! Not even saving what's left of this wretched life will repay such injury. I won't forgive you for this, Shameimaru."

tl;dr: FFFFFFFFFFF--

UPDATE

[x] Ball your fists till you knuckles turn white; throw in a few angry tears if possible, "How dare she make light of all those deaths? How dare she treat our bid for survival as a farce? Ignorant! Lying! Selfish! Not even saving what's left of this wretched life will repay such injury. I won't forgive you for this, Shameimaru."

You pant, your breath staggered and your throat raw you swear you could even hear her laughing at you still. You know in your heart what you said is true but you can help but shake the feeling that your outburst was for an ulterior motive, following that feeling you look over to Rika and Shanghai to see if they have ‘bought it’ so to speak. They seem somewhat shocked and Rika’s face is hard to read. You quickly wipe away some of the tears that were brought to your eye during your outburst and then look back to the sky.

“Wretched life?” Rika finally asks, her voice quiet and you face her with a weary look.

“I would have preferred to have met you under different circumstances. I think we all would have preferred different circumstances for our meetings. You cannot possibly say that this life is a good one. Not any more.” She shuffles a little in reply, her shoulders stiffening up. Your mind heaves in relief as Shanghai makes the first move of floating half way over to you. You smile warmly and truthfully to her, holding out your hand.

“If you feel that I have wronged you. I am sorry” Is all you manage, your pride preventing you from apologising on behalf of that woman. Shanghai floats up closer to you and you step forward to hold her but instead she drifts back a little and throws out her hand which explodes into a blue light forming the shape of a lance. You are dumbstruck and just watch as she raises the lance high and charges at you, you even hear Rika shout out for her to stop but it’s too late, at the last minute she aims the lance to the skies and brings it down on your head. Bonk! You wince and grab your pounding head, that’ll definitely leave a bruise. Shanghai folds her arms across her chest and just stares at you and just feeling her cold piercing azure eyes upon you is more than uncomfortable, you look away briefly but find yourself drawn back and find Rika now standing before you. She stands there, not even speaking, a fixed tired and weary expression on her face. You feel your heart twisting, you want to lavish her in apologies for what she saw but you cannot, it’s impossible, you did nothing wrong, you couldn’t do that, no. Shanghai turns to Rika, clearly noticing Shanghai she heaves a sigh and turns away.

“Let’s go home” Her words are but like whispers in a gale, you could barely hear her, but you follow quickly after like a dog awaiting a treat from it’s master, you feel so helpless to solve this, you think it best to let the situation dissolve away, hopefully, there will be another opportunity to prove your innocence.

The Youkai have dispersed for the night, it seems, and you cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Shanghai has now resumed her position of floating beside your head which is massive relief to you and you start to wish if only Rika could just slug you over the head with her cannon and be done with it. She seems to feel obviously so much more worse about this than Shanghai. You finally come to the path that leads up to the lab but something seems very wrong, as you approach the lab you see a single long smear of blood across the front wall ending at the door. You both run to the door, frantically you pound on it as Rika shouts over the intercom.

“Asakura! Asakura! Open the door! What’s going on!" Let us in!” She shouts over and over. No reply. You look back to Shanghai and then to Rika, who also looks to Shanghai.

“Shanghai, pull this door open!” You command and Shanghai floats down to the door and grips it.

“Stop! Wait!” Asakura blurts out over the intercom. “I’ll let you in, quickly I need everyone's help!” You all sigh in slight relief and step into the chamber and without even realising it the process is over and you run out into the nexus. Deserted. You both run through into the medical wing to find Rinnosuke rushing between desks gathering odd tools and other miscellaneous medical apparatus. Asakura stands in the middle of the room, quickly rushing between three people. The first two look like ordinary male humans, perhaps a bit taller with pale skin. The last is a woman wearing a pleated skirt and a white shirt streaked with blood, her black blazer lies mostly removed down by her wrists and you notice that the table is covered in her incredibly long silver hair and out of her head, you screw your face up in confusion, she seems to have two long rabbit ears.

“Don’t just stand there!” Asakura shouts to your group and then points to you “You! Get over here and help me!” You jerk into action and rush over beside the wounded man.

“Hold this tightly!” She orders, wrapping a simple piece of cloth around his bleeding wound on his arm. The man seems to have several across his body, two on this arm, one on his leg and you hazard a guess at one being on his back as there is a large pool of blood seeping from underneath him. She looks back to the other man and curses, stepping over to him. “This one is crashing. We’re loosing him.” The man twitches and convulses, vomiting up blood. “SHIT! His heart is failing!” She throws a glance to Rinnosuke as he approaches her. “Quickly! Faster, faster!” she shouts beckoning him quickly over. He arrives with a strange box, wires hanging out of it. He dumps it down next to the man on the table and Asakura grabs two of the torn wires, touching them together they jolt and create sparks. Leaning over the man she jabs the wires into the man who jumps and falls limp. She tries it again, much to the same effect. Turning a dial on the box she tries again, this time the man practically throws himself up and crashes down, his arm falls off the side of the table. She flicks the switch off. She looks back to the man who you are standing by and just sighs.

“Step away from him” She gravely says, you comply and she lifts up the box and dumps it down on his table. She heaves another sigh. “I’m sorry” She whispers as she switches the power box on and drives the two wires into his chest.

A significant amount of time passes, you and Rinnosuke had placed the bodies in large black sacks and moved them to the other corner of the room. That strange lunar rabbit, as Rinnosuke explained, was named Reisen, one of the more prestigious members of Eientei, she visited his shop occasionally so he was able to talk her out of doing something stupid tonight. Apparently when they arrived they assumed the place was still under lunar control and they freaked out a little, Reisen even threatened violence. Rinnosuke trailed off at which point and didn’t feel like talking about it any more. So now you stand over Reisen on guard to make sure she didn’t do anything daft. Rika had taken her confiscated pistol and was tinkering with it in the engineering wing, Asakura and Rinnosuke had just gone to sleep. Leaving you and Shanghai alone with Reisen.

You look up and down this woman, the blood that was on her shirt was apparently not hers so you and Rinnosuke decided to just leave her on this bed to rest. She is nothing like you’ve ever seen, a certain unearthly beauty radiates from her and it takes Shanghai to block your view and the woman to stir and move for you to realise you’ve been ogling her body for the past half an hour. You blink and lean back from Shanghai who just places her hands on her hips. You cough a little and look away from her to Reisen’s face as she winces a little and her red eyes slowly open. She looks over to you for only a few seconds before casting her gaze up into the ceiling.

“Fetch me a glass of water, nurse”

[ ] Fetch her some water
[ ] “I’m not a nurse …”
[ ] “Who the hell do you think I am?”

[ ] Fetch her some water
[ ] “I’m not a nurse …”

[x] Fetch her some water
Technically we are acting as a nurse right now.

[ ] Fetch her some water
[ ] “I’m not a nurse …”

Everything's going to lead to one definite ending, huh...

I'm kind of nervous, now. So all these "routes" we try to get on--they won't make a lick of a whit of difference in the end, huh?

>>4059
>cardioversion
There is no way in hell we know this word.

>>4062

Why not? We're an outsider.

>You don’t remember who or what you were before arriving in Gensokyo but you’ve always felt at peace here, almost like you belong here.

>>4056
see >>2859
>First off, let me rephrase what I said at the beginning, this adventure DOES have multiple endings that you can achieve, frankly im not even sure how the hell I managed to phrase it that badly

[ ] Fetch her some water
[ ] “I’m not a nurse …”

>>4064
An outsider who has lost all memory of the outside world. We didn't know what morphine was, we didn't remember carbonated beverages, or even how to open them before Rika showed us. More importantly we didn't recognize the defibrillator as anything other than "a strange box, wires hanging out of it". If we can't even remember what a defibrillator is then we're not going to remember a somewhat obscure term for applying electric shock to restart the heart.

[x] Fetch her some water
[x] “I’m not a nurse …”

>>4072

point taken. conceding argument.

[x] "I’m not a nurse..."
[x] "...Still, Shanghai can you get her a glass of water?"
[x] "Your two friends are dead. Asakura tried to save them, but... I'm sorry."

I have a feeling if we leave her alone, she'll try to run away or suicide.

>she visited his shop occasionally so he was able to talk her out of doing something stupid tonight.

>So now you stand over Reisen on guard to make sure she didn’t do anything daft.

[x] "Shanghai, could you get her a glass of water?"
[x] "Reisen, I'm Rinnosuke's outsider friend. You're among a group of survivors in the abandoned Lunarian compound near the ruins of the Hakurei shrine. I can't tell you much about the situation or myself as it seems I've developed dissociative amnesia after waking up in a mound of corpses. However, I can at least attempt to answer any of your questions."
[x] "Firstly, are you hungry?"

[x] Fetch her some water
[x] “I’m not a nurse …”

She shoots you a glare when you say that you are not who she thought you were but relaxes anyway when you stand up. As you head towards the exit she calls over to you.

“Wait!” You stop and turn, tilting your head in question. Reisen now sits up in bed, the first thing you notice is her white puff of a rabbit tail which catches you off guard despite having ears like that although they look a lot more crumpled and ruffled now she isn’t lying down. “I want some carrots as well” She nods firmly to you. You nod a few times and leave towards the kitchen. On your way out you motion for Shanghai to just keep a watch over her. No sooner than you had entered the nexus that Reisen makes a startled yelp. Turning you find her crawling away across her bed as Shanghai approaches her.

“N-No! Keep that thing away from me!” She calls out. You try to shush her, not really wanting to cause a scene and wake the others, but she doesn’t seem to be having much of it.

“Shanghai! I’ll take care of her, could you get her what she wants instead?” You smile hopefully to Shanghai who looks between you and Reisen and then floats out of the room.

“You allergic to her or something?” You chuckle at your own comment and wander on over towards her.

“That doll is wicked and evil!” She pouts. Her words play over again in your head and you feel your left eye tick and flinch. Taking in a deep breath you calm yourself.

“I’d appreciate it if you could address her by her name.” You smile warmly to her, out of hope more than anything. Reisen opens her mouth to protest but as your own smile whithers as does her fire to argue with you.

“Can I have some sheets?” She asks meekly. You look about but you know there’s none in the building apart from your own. At least none you’ve seen, but an idea does occur to you.

“I don’t think we have one. My friend has a large coat you can borrow, if you want?” She shuffles a little in response and looks away, almost dejected.

“I guess. Can I ask you something?” Her voice drops a little. Before you can answer or she can continue Shanghai arrives floats in holding a glass of water in front of her with both hands. She hovers over to Reisen and very carefully, almost timidly Reisen reaches out and takes the drink, leaning back and away from Shanghai. She takes a sip while staring intently at Shanghai who just hovers there staring back at her.

“W-What are you staring at?!” She stammers, clearly intimidated by her still. You snicker as Shanghai floats closer to her and Reisen leans back even more so, pushing with her legs to move herself away.

“S-Stop it! Go away! Shoo!” She cries, now sounding more scared than before. Shanghai complies, and hovers still but folds her arms across her chest staring at Reisen.

“T-The moon wasn’t my fault! Don’t hold a grudge against me!” She looks now to you for help.

“I think Shanghai is actually waiting for something you know” You reply sagely, folding your arms across your chest as well. Reisen looks to you in confusion and then back to Shanghai and flinches away a little. Shanghai fakes an overly dramatic sigh and floats back over to you. “Were you royalty or of that sort?” You ask, half depressed that she doesn’t even seem to have basic mannerisms. She shoots you a glare and sips more of her selfishly gained drink. You gently pet Shanghai as she floats up to you and lands on your shoulder.

“She’s obviously a bit uncomfortable with you about, would you mind? I’m sure Rika could use your help” Shanghai obliges again and floats out of the room.

“Thanks” Reisen says, a few moments after Shanghai leaves.

“She left on her own accord” You say, raising a brow. Reisen shoots you another glare.

“These ears aren’t for show, I heard you. D-Don’t discard my gratitude like that!”

“Don’t worry I savour every last drop of your graceful thanks” You smirk and she lets out a faint growl, her ears twitching a little. You make a snort of laughter at her. There is another long period of silence before she speaks again.

“I can take care of myself you know. You don’t have to bed sit me.” You grin a little.

“They didn’t tell me to look after you because we all love you. My friend said you were doing something stupid, I still don’t even know what happened here”

“The woman with the purple hair shocked me! She knocked me out!” The rabbit clenches her fists, almost looking serious. “But, I may have been a bit hysterical” She looks away and relaxes her hands.

“A bit hysterical? You were threatening her with this thing” Rika appears at the the door holding a strange metal contraption, a long block attached to a smaller block forming a loose ninety degree angle. It seems like an incredibly short and small version of the large weapon Rika uses.

“Hey! That’s mine! Return it to me at once!” She says, trying to spark up a commanding aura. A large mischievous smirk appears across Rika as she holds the weapon out to Reisen.

“Sure I’ll give it back to you …” Reisen smiles with pride as she hops out of the bed and strides over to Rika. As she closes the gap Rika swiftly flicks the weapon up and levels it at Reisen.

“One bullet at a time” Rika grins and Reisen freezes up, her ears becoming ridgid and taut, even you start to feel a small amount of tension, she’s bluffing right? She mocks pulling the trigger and flicks the weapon up shouting out "BANG!". Reisen yelps in fright and cowers away. Rika laughs openly with you and turns away.

“You’re not getting this thing back any time soon” She says, leaving the room. “At least not until I’ve had my fun with it” She adds. Reisen sulks back to her bed and curls up on it and you feel a twinge of guilt. The twinge of guilt however is vastly drown out by your need to sleep. You give in and stand up.

“I’m heading off to bed” Reisen rolls over a little and puts on a puppy dog expression; please don’t leave me! She tries to say with her eyes. You shrug it off however. “Don’t worry, Shanghai will take care of you” You see her eyes widen a little and you leave the room cackling loudly, Shanghai floats in past you and resumes your position on guard.

The embrace of your bed and sheets is just what you need after a hard day of walking and fighting. Your mind flashes back to that Aya lady and then to Rika who you just hope will forget all about it thanks to Reisen being an easy target for Rika to torment. You glance about the room, the lockers are all now open and you notice your bottle of morphine is now gone. You rest your head down and see on the other side of the room Rinnosuke slumped on his side sleeping, a rather awkward position but still. Asakura sleeps above him, and above yourself would be Rika. You have a passing though of tampering with her bed as trick but sleep catches up to you before you can be bothered to get up.

You wince a little even though you can already discern that you are back in medical wing. Something feels out of place, not quite right. You pass by your own reflection, a mirror image of yourself, it moves past you and leaves the room. The reflection is separate from yourself, it is you, yet you feel so totally alienated from it. Time here is so horribly slow, everything drawn out, and even moving an inch takes several long arduous seconds. Looking back across to Reisen you see her sitting up in bed looking shocked over something, you notice Shanghai float past you and towards her and as she does time seems to slow down, you see Shanghai stretch out her arm; a sword appearing in her outstretched hand and a shield appears on her other. Reisen jerks back in shock and slowly reaches for her neck which slices itself, blood spraying against the back wall, she falls back, the bed collapsing on its side and she falls out of vision. Shanghai passes you, still slowly gravitating towards her writhing body. As you watch this you feel nothing, a cold emptiness and your own body moving against you as it forces your exit upon you. The sound of the crashing bed echoes out alone as all other sounds cease. As you leave you feel a liquid swell and part around your feet, flowing from behind you, but you pay it no attention.

“What happened to everyone else? Where are they?” A female voice echoes out in the room and you can’t even recognise it, the voice resonates inside your skull and still nothing, the very words themselves seem to loose all meaning. You feel the same liquid drip down from above as you see it coat and flow over the entire room, at impossible angles the blood consumes this room and you wade through it. The medical wing doors slam shut, the words “Are they all gone?” carved into the metal doors over and over again. The lights begin to falter and fail. A tall man, pale, wearing a strange black and dark blue jumpsuit arrives at the door on the opposite side. His terrified complexion has no effect on you, your de-voided mind remains the same; hallow and empty. You approach the door and thrust your arm into the door, the metal warps on impact and the glass bursts, the shards slowly float away as the door shatters off its hinges and is sent back, crushing the man underneath. You arms, they were not yours, they looked female, smooth pale skin. You force yourself to look down your body but as you do your vision focuses more on the man you crushed and his resemblance of yourself. Time seems to return to its normal state and the doors skid and crash away, your body slumping forward as you black out.

A cold blast of air hits your body and you are jolted awake. All around you snow falls and you look down the mountain and across the entire of Gensokyo, which now seems to have frozen over, the fires doused and the whole world rests in an icy tomb. You feel a feral and primal terror grip you as you slowly begin to turn. Your mind is assaulted by fear, distress and a horrid feeling that the very nature of this world is being toyed with. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up rigid as you begin to face whatever it is behind you. Your heart immediately switches to an overdrive and with little regard to the weather you begin to heavily perspire, perceiving through the mind of a third person medium, its thoughts planted directly into your head and it tells you that something is so very wrong with this place. You see the very fabric of time and space laid out before you yet as you regard the mound of rubble that has buried the Hakurei shrine you see a deep and black hole in this fabric. You can’t look away. This is impossible. Such things cannot be. Wrong. No. Impossible. No. Not right. No. No. I can’t look away. I can’t do this. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. Please. Please Stop. Pleasepleasepleaseplease …

You are awakened to the sound of your own voice whimpering, tears running down your face as Rika leans over you hushing you.

“It’s okay. Your back. You’re safe, it’s all right” She calmly reassures you, sitting on the edge of your bed softly stroking your hair and holding your hand. You shiver more and she pulls you up wrapping her arms around you, holding you tightly.
“It’s me, Rika, everything is fine. Calm down, please” You both stay like this for a while before you take in a few deep breaths and she releases her grip on you.

“Did you have another nightmare?” She asks, placing her hand on your forehead. You dully nod.

“Yes.” You groan out. She sighs and gently runs her hand through your hair, which spikes up a little and sticks out because of the sweat. “This one was different though. What time is it?” She blinks a little and looks about for a clock. You remember, and pull out your own pocket watch. Eight past four in the morning. You close the watch and catch a glimpse of the engraving again. ‘Drink left at sea’. Rubbing your head you shake away the last fragments of the nightmare. All but one.

“Rika-” She silences you by holding her index finger on your lips.

“I’ve been thinking. This might sound a little crazy but I want to ask you if you’re up for trying it.” She waits for a moment and you give a slow single nod. “I’ve been talking to Asakura and I mentioned the dreams. If you didn’t mind?” She pauses and you shake your head, you don’t mind but you’d of rather told her yourself. “Well, she thinks that they might be being caused by that place which is creating those emissions.” She takes in a breath. “The emissions are low and the Youkai are dormant now. Do you want to go to the centre? Where the emissions are coming from.”

[ ] Check on Reisen
[ ] Accept, go with Rika
[ ] Decline, investigate the mountain again

[x] Check on Reisen

[+] Accept, go with Rika

[x] Check on Reisen
[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Bring Shanghai with you

>“I’m heading off to bed” Reisen rolls over a little and puts on a puppy dog expression; please don’t leave me! She tries to say with her eyes. You shrug it off however. “Don’t worry, Shanghai will take care of you” You see her eyes widen a little and you leave the room cackling loudly, Shanghai floats in past you and resumes your position on guard.

Cold. Not as cold as leaving Rika by herself. Not nearly as cold as laughing at Minoriko's horrible end. Still, cold.

>"Drink left at sea"

Probably a red herring, but "left at sea" is "port". Port however is also a fortified wine, so "Drink port."

>“What happened to everyone else? Where are they?” A female voice echoes out in the room and you can’t even recognise it, the voice resonates inside your skull and still nothing, the very words themselves seem to loose all meaning. You feel the same liquid drip down from above as you see it coat and flow over the entire room, at impossible angles the blood consumes this room and you wade through it. The medical wing doors slam shut, the words “Are they all gone?” carved into the metal doors over and over again. The lights begin to falter and fail. A tall man, pale, wearing a strange black and dark blue jumpsuit arrives at the door on the opposite side. His terrified complexion has no effect on you, your de-voided mind remains the same; hallow and empty. You approach the door and thrust your arm into the door, the metal warps on impact and the glass bursts, the shards slowly float away as the door shatters off its hinges and is sent back, crushing the man underneath. You arms, they were not yours, they looked female, smooth pale skin. You force yourself to look down your body but as you do your vision focuses more on the man you crushed and his resemblance of yourself. Time seems to return to its normal state and the doors skid and crash away, your body slumping forward as you black out.

A Touhoe in observation probably at Eientei or the Lunarian mountain compound. The jumpsuit is odd, probably Lunarian in origin. Whoever it was was capable of punching through a steel door. The carvings imply claws. Given that among the first to go insane were the Scarlets, this might be the moment Remi or Flan hit L5, hallucinating blood everywhere and driving them into a rampage.

If the person in the jumpsuit is the protagonist, the blow may be the explanation for his memory loss.

[x] Check on Reisen
[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Bring Shanghai with you

[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Bring Reisen with you; she can't be left unwatched
[x] Bring Shanghai with you

Reisen has sensitive ears (as she mentioned) that would be useful in the darkness outside. And while she wouldn't have her gun, she can always eyeh4x monsters. We also need to trade information on the compound, and giving her some responsibility is a good way to get her to open up (she is a soldier after all).

[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Bring Reisen with you; she can't be left unwatched
[x] Bring Shanghai with you

[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Bring Reisen with you; she can't be left unwatched
[x] Bring Shanghai with you

updates?

sorry for long delay, fucking bad case of writers block
-----------------

[x] Check on Reisen / Get Shanghai
[x] Accept, go with Rika
[x] Investigate the pocket watch [BONUS]

“Drink left at sea?” Rika raises a brow “Well I'm pretty sure left in the nautical sense means Port.” A little switch clicks in your own mind. You remember Rinnosuke’s drinks cabinet and a glass in there of “Port”

“Port is also a drink, right?” You ask hopefully. Rika nods a few times.

“We also have some” She grins and takes your hand, dragging you out of bed and the pocket watch out of your hand. “I’ll run some tests on it later, time is of the essence here” You both leave the room and head out. As you enter the nexus you notice for the first time the doors to the medical wing are closed, bearing a shocking resembelance to the ones in the dream, you twitch a little involuntarily.

“I’ll go put this in my lab, be back in a moment” Rika says, leaving the nexus into the engineering wing. After your episode of a dream you feel a creeping uneasiness as you approach the medical doors. You place your hand against the metal, expecting some strange feeling or sensation but you pick up nothing. You look in through the window and into the chamber; Reisen seems to be still sleeping on her side and Shanghai sitting on the edge of one of the tables just staring at her. You press the red button on your side and the doors swing open. As the doors silently open up Shanghai turns and upon realising your appearance quickly flutters up into the air and sails over to you.

“Thank you Shanghai” You bow your head as well in thanks. “She didn’t do anything did she?” Shanghai just shakes her head. You cast your eyes over to Reisen who is sound asleep, feeling a slight worry cross you as you recall the horrors of your sleep. You edge over to her and stand next to her, unable to think of anything to say worth waking her for. Perhaps she could accompany you? That might put her in more danger though. Swiftly and quietly Reisen rolls over and looks up at you, seemingly quite awake.

“What is it?” She asks in a whisper. You fumble with words, a little startled. She blinks a few times and seems to peer behind you briefly. “Where are you going?” You follow her gaze and you spy Rika on the opposite side of the nexus staring into the medical chamber whilst half a suit hangs off her back, arms folded across her chest.

“We’re going back outside” You turn back to Reisen and pick up your conversation. “We could probably use an extra helping hand, I know if its-” Reisen silences you with a glare then rolls over.

“I’m not going back out” She her heart is strong but her voice is trembling, you feel her fear, you couldn’t bring yourself to force her outside again. Especially when it is putting her in direct danger. You heave a sigh, perhaps you have been too harsh on her. Despite her attitude you still feel a large responsibility for her protection and welfare.

“That’s all right, you don’t have to if you don’t want to” You say as comforting as possible. “I’ll be taking Shanghai with me, you wont have her staring over you again” You see now her ears twitching a little and she turns her head on her pillow, looking at you with a single eye. You feel your heart wrench a little and acting on a impulse, backed up by the want to make this woman feel like she’s wanted here you end up saying something you know you’ll regret later. Reisen blinks and sits up in bed

“R-Really?” You feel yourself smiling in a deep sense of happiness, a feeling of goodwill flows into you.

“I don’t want you to feel like you’re some kind of caged animal” She frowns and you inadvertently snicker at your own wit. “I’m sure Rika and Asakura won’t mind after some persuasion. Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid if I let you wander about?” She smiles and nods once. You turn and leave, approaching a scowling Rika.

“I can’t just have her caged up in there” You start, Rika just sighs and waves her hand.

“I don’t care, lets go” Despite her words she doesn’t move as you approach the exit, she grins a little and holds out the strange octagonal wooden box and tosses it to you. “It might come in use” She says, shrugging and picking up her cannon from behind the table. You both nod in the notion to leave and do so.

A considerable time has passed since you left, wandering through the morning forest the dew soaking the boots of the suit and you wish that you could breath in the natural air but the dry synthetic air is forced into your lungs. The two of you walk in silence for the majority of the journey, your mind focusing on reality and you assume the same is for her, at any point could the emissions kick in.

The dawn creeps slowly up on you, both in literal and metaphorical sense, the thin orange haze replaced with a golden shine and your mind becoming more acutely aware of its surroundings. This tiny clearing you are crossing is several minutes away from that body. You wince in remembrance and speak up.

“That body I found here, who was it?” You ask in a darker tone than you intended but upon mentioning the body you hear the sound of Rika’s footsteps ceasing. You turn and frown as Rika has tilted her visor in such a way that the light from the rising sun refracts off it, causing a glare and obscuring her face.

“I didn’t want to tell you” She mumbles, “Nitori. Her name was Nitori. Asakura’s assistant. A native kappa” Her voice ever so slightly trembles. “I don’t want to talk about it” You nod and turn back to your route, it probably would be for the best to ask about the machine you found on her at a later stage. You tactfully lead her around where the body of Nitori is and move on. The air here feels heavy and thick as if you were wading through water. It’s all your head. You repeat to yourself over and over, but the sluggish movement persists and grows stronger trying to force you to the ground and you strain under the weight of this emission field. Dragging yourself through the field Shanghai taps your cheek and points off towards a strange bright light that burns through the tree wall with intensity. You nod to her and gesture to the light on Rika’s behalf. Taking a single step towards this light wracks a wicked strain upon your body, clinging to trees for support, you haul yourself towards this light.

Your vision falls darker yet your eyes remain open and wide as the visor slowly begins to cover itself in blackness draining like liquid down it. You raise your hand to attack the substance only to find it too is dripping in the viscous dark ooze. Your head is stabbed a thousand times over in pain and you scream out, falling to one side you collapse into a bush that instantly decays on contact, rotting away and forming a large puddle of this black liquid that sticks to you. Frantically you lash out trying to tear yourself from the puddle but it sticks heavily and drags you back. You look about quickly for help, Rika is nowhere to be seen and Shanghai- Your mind halts. Shanghai has collapsed into the corner of your visor, her body convulsing and her head twitching at inhuman speeds. Swiftly she attacks, piercing your eye with her arm and you let out a scream, the black liquid now flows from Shanghai’s body, completely obscuring her face and causing her hair to clump and stick with this thick liquid. The black liquid trickles down into your eye as you fall back, mixing with the blood and vitreous, your stomach instantly empties itself but clogs in your throat and you begin to gag and choke. The rest of your body has shut down, you remaining eye focused on Shanghai as she pumps more of the liquid into your eye, now flowing down your face and past your mouth. Finally your throat collapses and the bile spews out all mixed with blood, your breathing stops and you feel a sudden impact.

Jolting awake you begin to pick yourself up from the bush and Rika grabs onto your arm to aid you.

“Stay with me! We’re nearly there; look!” She gestures wildly in front of you and you float your vision across in a dumb manner. Towering in front of you, a spectacle of both awe and horror, bathed in a pure white light. A definitive female figure, covered in relic paper and hovering above a mound of rubble. Before her a tomb hovers open, the pages furiously changing back and forth, occasionally some of the paper is torn from the book and joins the cloud that swirls in a vortex all around the woman. Head strong you step up again and move closer to the woman and as you do you see Shanghai press herself close up against the visor. She looks back to you desperately and pounds on the visor. You triple your efforts and roar in defiance against the forces that try to subdue you. Tearing through this invisible force field you reach the rubble, occasionally paper striking you, their scriptures hurt your mind to even glance at so you keep your eyes firmly on the woman. You get within touching distance of the woman but your body begins to physically shut down, your limbs are encased in this invisible concrete and as you stretch you cannot reach the woman. You look to Shanghai in desperation as she pounds on the glass. You can’t move closer but Shanghai’s movement seems to be unimpaired. A sacrifice must be made. In a selfless act you take grip of your helmet and tear it off, the blast of wind instantly strikes you, your hair blowing and billowing upwards, Shanghai launches up to the woman and frantically begins to shred the paper off her face. In all this havoc you see the book half closed and it did so as soon as Shanghai approached. You reach out again to touch her but are forced back, you feel your strength failing rapidly and in another desperate act you fling open one of the small storage pouches on the suit and draw out the elemental reactor. Immediately the object crackles with red energy that quickly shifts to pure white and then to a vibrant array of colours as tendrils of this rainbow strike out of the reactor and attach themselves to the ground around you, to the book, to the very skies and finally to the woman. In the very same instance that the tendril strikes there is a sudden and immense shock wave that blasts out from the woman, the papers are blown to the skies and you are sent with them, crashing to the ground a distance away from the woman.

Faintly, almost in the back of your mind, you begin to hear the beating of drums and a faint chanting in accompany. You wearily lean and rise a small amount, looking about this new forest, from the right to left, from undergrowth to trees, all to no avail; you cannot discern where the drums are coming from. As the drums and chanting get louder and closer you pick yourself up and frantically throw yourself left to right desperately trying to locate this noise. The drum beat has turned to thunder and drowns out the chanting and you feel your eardrums splitting and ringing, you clasp your hands over your ears and fall down trying to take cover from where ever the blasting sound is coming from. When you look up you see towering before you a hulking suit of plated armour bashing a war drum with thick club-like drum sticks. The sky above you is alight with flame and the forest around you is charred with fire; the trees fallen and the ground sewn in ash. Across the burning skyline several massive red flags fly high, bearing an crest of a single long black fang. The guttural and bestial roaring picks up all around you as the armoured soldiers chant in unison.

“Give me! Give me! Give me! Give me!”
“I need a good war! I need a good war!”

The soldiers raise their shields and polearms and charge towards the enemy, your eyes follow their rush across the blasted no-mans-land. The cannons roar and thunder behind you and the thought that these men had anything to do with the scar of desecrated land in Gensokyo shakes you to the core. There is nothing you can do but cower and watch as the army surges into the enemy lines, some laughing in ecstasy, others simply roaring in blood-lust but the many retain their composure and continue the chant.

”Give me! Give me! Give me! Give me!”
”Don’t ask what for! Don’t ask what for!”

The chanting is almost drown out when the enemy retaliates with streams of flame. The front lines of the soldiers are engulfed instantly in fire spewed forth from sleek machines of shining metal that slowly crawl across the battlefield killing all in their wake.

Abruptly you are brought back to your senses, the blurring world all around you focusing quickly. You lean forward and spy a woman in blue and white, her clothes tattered around the edges and her hair falls down straight. You know this woman, the puppeteer. Wearily you stand to your feet, also you find the elemental reactor is still firmly in your grip.

Her voice, it is like nothing you’ve ever heard before, it echoes off the very walls of your mind and sanity and sounds so alien and unnatural, two tones to her voice one slightly lower, one slightly higher yet they whisper simultaneously.

“Why … have you … woken me … insect …” She speaks slowly to you.

“Because you’re causing all of this!” You shout to her, standing to your feet, apparently the emissions have completely faded now.

“Idiot …” She replies after some delay.

“You’ve at least caused the death of one woman, who knows how many others are dead because of you!” You shout again as you see Shanghai looking quickly between the two of you, her hands clutched to her chest.

“I find you humans … quite intriguing.” She begins and you start to harden your expression in return.

“Even if you do live … such … short … meaningless lives” You curl your lips and snarl, raising the elemental reactor to her it begins to crackle with red light. She tilts her head a little and a faint smile plays across her pale lips.

“If death … is what you bring for me … then I welcome it” You scoff and lower the reactor determined not to just play up to her expectations.

“Why, what have you lost?” You say in a harsh sarcastic way. You see her hands flex and grip.

“EVERYTHING!” Her voice shatters your demeanour as well as your ear drums and you cry out in shock and fear, almost dropping the reactor.

“Do not … try to … humour … me, little human” You can barely hear her as your ears ring out.

“Little human?” Another voice echoes out and Rika appears at the scene holding her cannon up in line with the woman. “He has a name, you know” She looks over to you and grins.

“Your name is meaningless! An animal noise, nothing more.” The woman's pace in speech seems to pick up to a more normal and bearable level. “Your very mind is but a pattern of thoughts, crudely laid out and in disarray, vague visions and memories is all you have to call a mind.” Her voice spits venom to you both as her temper is beginning to rise.

“So you don’t have a name?” You ask in snide, composing yourself again.

“Of course I have a name, insect. I am Alice Margatroid, the Seven Coloured Puppeteer. I am above mongrel dogs like you.” You feel your blood slowly beginning to simmer in the very presence of this haughty arrogant wretch of a woman.

“And what of your dolls? Do you think of them in the same light?” Shanghai immediately looks to Alice and remains fixed on her.

“She is of little consequence or value, I can make many more” She says, proud of herself. Shanghai’s arms drop to her side and her shoulders slump yet she stares still at Alice. In shock or disbelief, you suspect either or both. You nod your head a few times, collecting your thoughts. Yes. You’ve heard quite enough from her. You raise the reactor again, the red light crackles out of it.

“If you regard your life with any amount of worth, I’d cease your futile efforts. Do you even know how to use that correctly? Not that it is a pressing problem. Your greater troubles should be arriving soon, I suggest you leave” You blink a little and look to Rika who gives you the same questioning look. You look back to Alice as she turns and walks away leaving Shanghai hovering all by herself now staring at the back of Alice as the puppeteer leaves. In the empty night air you can hear the sounds of rusting and voices from behind you.

[ ] Follow Alice
[ ] Hide

[+] Hide

[x] Get Shanghai. Either call her or physically grab her if she doesn't respond.
[x] Hide

[x] Follow Alice

What the fuck, Alice?

[x] Get Shanghai. Either call her or physically grab her if she doesn't respond.
[x] Hide

How the fuck are we supposed to hide in these big, bulky white suits?

>You open your eyes to a blurred, hazey and dark vision. You can make out someone in red and white just to your side and she seems to be shouting to someone ahead of you both. Time seems to skip ahead and you are approaching a curled up black form on the ground and you find yourself racing towards it at high speed. Time skips again for a final time and you are holding the girl in black up, Reimu is infront of both you and the girl tears streaming down her face repeating something which is drown out by the now loud rumbling and your thrashing heart beat, the scene calms down only for a fraction of a second, long enough for you to catch the shrine maiden’s cries.
>“MARISA!”

[x] Follow Alice
[x] Cry out desperately: "I saw her die, Alice. Marisa. I held her lifeless body in my arms, while Reimu cried her eyes out. And then I lost her as well. Are you really going to just let the world they cherished rot? Don't you at least want vengeance?"

[x] Get Shanghai. Either call her or physically grab her if she doesn't respond.
[x] Hide

[x] Follow Alice
[x] Cry out desperately: "I saw her die, Alice. Marisa. I held her lifeless body in my arms, while Reimu cried her eyes out. And then I lost her as well. Are you really going to just let the world they cherished rot? Don't you at least want vengeance?"

And make it as emotional as possible.

[x] Follow Alice
[x] Cry out desperately: "I saw her die, Alice. Marisa. I held her lifeless body in my arms, while Reimu cried her eyes out. And then I lost her as well. Are you really going to just let the world they cherished rot? Don't you at least want vengeance?"

[x] Get Shanghai. Either call her or physically grab her if she doesn't respond.
[x] Hide

[x] Follow Alice
[x] Cry out desperately: "I saw her die, Alice. Marisa. I held her lifeless body in my arms, while Reimu cried her eyes out. And then I lost her as well. Are you really going to just let the world they cherished rot? Don't you at least want vengeance?"

If only because I have the feeling that if we don't follow Alice, we'll never see her again.

[x] Follow Alice
[x] Cry out desperately: "I saw her die, Alice. Marisa. I held her lifeless body in my arms, while Reimu cried her eyes out. And then I lost her as well. Are you really going to just let the world they cherished rot? Don't you at least want vengeance?"

If she refuses even then, Shanghai will probably give up on her. You'll probably have to fight these things regardless, so may as well seek her aid.

Also, did she just leave her grimoire behind?

[x] Follow Alice

The noises of the forest start to mean less and less to you as you stand with Shanghai, staring at the back of the departing Alice.

“I can see movement in the trees! We’ve godda’ get outta’ here!” Rika says quickly, moving towards the opposite side of the clearing. You don’t move an inch towards the clearing, rather you take your first step after the puppeteer lady.

“I watched her die, Alice” You call out, a small flicker of fire lights in your heart. “Marisa” Alice stops dead in her tracks. “I held her in my arms as her life ebbed away. The Shrine Maiden was there too, her tears were profound. Now I fear she may be lost as well. They cherished this world, they gave their lives for it and now you’re going to let this world they loved rot? Aren’t you above that? Don’t you at least want vengeance?”

Alice remains silent and motionless, standing there looking out to the forest. Rika joins you but is continually looking back to the forest where all the noise is coming from, her nerves on a knife edge. After several agonisingly long seconds Alice eventually speaks again.

“The Shrine Maiden … is not dead. For if she was I would not be here talking to and you,” She says, turning to face you. “Would no longer exist. She lives, and because she lives Marisa will do too”

“How the hell does all that work out?” You raise a brow in question and Alice heaves a sigh.

“Stupid interloper … Do you even understand the fundamentals of how this world? Or has your little mind been too distracted to have ever thought of how you came to be here?” You blink and flinch a little in surprise, knowledge of your origins is not something you’d expect her to have and you find yourself stumbling on your words.

“Yes, I know you are not of this world, why? Because you are fundamentally different from any other human I have encountered, weaker, yet you still live. Something interesting, in an otherwise mundane species.”

“What about me!" What does that make me, eh?” Rika shouts, obviously vastly more irate than you about Alice’s constant barrage of abuse. “In case you hadn’t realised, we saved you!” Alice turns her gaze to Rika.

“No. What you did was merely wake me and bring me back to this wretched world” She says glaring firmly at Rika.

“It serves you right for trying to run away from it in the first place!” Alice’s lips curl as she bears her teeth with anger, throwing her hands up an array of wires float into existence as do a group of dolls dressed in black, each armed with lances. Rika is quick to respond lifting her cannon up to bear. Shanghai now looks desperately between the two of them.

“The ice you tread upon, is thin. Do not test my patience further, human” She quickly looks away from your group to the forest. “Now you’ve delayed us, our opponents have arrived” She sighs lightly and moves towards the forest edge. As she six men appear at the clearing, dressed in strange wooden plated armour you remember seeing decorating the insides of the barracks in your town, samurai armour was it? This armour is different in colouring, ash black and the men which reside within have a deathly grey skin complexion, almost blighted. The men ready their swords but do not venture further out of the forest, instead they are joined by a lady in green. Your heart skips a beat as she emerges, the woman from your dream, the one who had found something of great significance. The lady gives a quick glance about the clearing before resting her eyes upon Alice.

“You are no wish granter” Youmu says calmly, almost disappointed.

“And you are no half-ghost. Where is your other side?” Alice’s reply leaves you even more confused as to what on earth they could be both talking about.

“Arrangements have been made, and we are now one. What were you doing out here,” She gestures towards you and Rika “With these humans?”

“They are of little concern to you. Take your business of death elsewhere, I will not have you steal my newly acquired possessions away from me so easily” A sadistic grin spreads its way across Youmu’s face.

“I will take them,” Raises her voice, drawing her sword, the soldiers also brace themselves. “After I have removed my first obstacle!” The dolls above Alice explode into light as a volley of the same orbs of crackling energy Shanghai uses slam into the soldiers slaying them instantly. She throws her hand forward and another group of dolls armed with lances quickly appear into existence and surge forward into Youmu knocking her far back into the forest.

“Stupid girl,” Alice turns to you and Rika “I suggest you step away, out of harms reach” Alice smiles faintly to you both but it feels so sarcastic its almost terrifying. Her head snaps back to Youmu as she leaps through the air towards Alice and at the small gesture of her hand, a doll armed with a sword and shield appears, lunging up towards Youmu with its shield braced and raised. The doll is neatly sliced in half and Alice swiftly steps to one side as the sword is brought down into the earth, the two halves of the doll gently drop out of the air and to the ground. Cutting through the very earth Youmu brings her blade across and outwards, striking out at Alice barely missing her. In an unexpected act of brutality on her part Alice counter attacks by swiftly kicking the prone Youmu in the gut. Youmu convulses for a second before throwing herself up to her feet making another slashing motion creating ripples in the air akin to those created by fire. The ripples glide through the air quickly and crash into Alice knocking her to her knees. Youmu raises her sword and makes several slashes into the air creating more of the same attacks that strike into Alice and with a scream of pain she falls to the ground. Youmu stares at the motionless form of Alice before looking back to your group.
“Unlike her,” She says, gesturing back to Alice “You won’t require so much effort to defeat” She smirks and takes a step forward, there is a loud blast from Rika’s weapon and a hole is torn through Youmu’s leg. Youmu lets out a quick cry of pain and she staggers forward only to suddenly collapse to the ground, several dolls with lances driven into her back attempt to pin her to the floor. Alice rises momentarily.

“You, interloper! Use Shanghai and that reactor! Fight with magic, not primitive weapons!” A part of your brain frowns heavily at what she says, recalling back to her kicking Youmu but for the most part you ready up the elemental reactor and look to Shanghai who nods in readiness to you. In all your travels and from what you’ve learnt about the duels that occur regularly in Gensokyo you know each and every combatant using Danmaku has a certain style specific to them through either their personality or simply their job. You ready your body and mind, there will be time later to perfect this art but for now you just need a focus.

[ ] Destruction
[ ] Retribution
[ ] Companion

[+] Companion
Precious few of those left in this hellhole.

[+] Companion
Pretty sure the reactor is powered by love.

[X] Companion

[X] Companion

[ ] Companion

>You look down to your fortune paper and blink at its forwardness. Behind you hear a young lady shout out;
>“You broke the shrine maiden!?” Turning you see a lady in blue with a very short white overcoat and short blonde hair shouting at the lady in black who has resumed the same posture of waving her hands and shaking her head whilst laughing and you can’t help but laugh. You give one look back to the fortune paper and to the two women before discarding the paper and moving onwards towards your house.

>Retribution

[x] Retribution

I don't think the red energy the mini-hakkero crackles with symbolizes "companionship".

[x] Retribution

We abandoned Keine for this and nearly did the same to Rika. It is our raison d'etre.

[z] Companion
I fight for my friends!

>[x] “The people of this village have been reduced to just rotting meat for Youkai parasites and our homes burned to ash. The ghosts of this village cry out for vengeance, I shall not leave their pleas unanswered. The guilty must be punished. Vengeance has to be met out.”

[x] Retribution

Let justice be done, though the world perish.

[ ] Retribution

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

You told me this, remember Youmu? The Slave is the have-not. The oppressed one with nothing to spare. But because the Slave is in that despairing situation, having nothing... it can kill the Emperor.

>>4429

While I'm all for retribution, there is at least one companion who is worth something to us, one who shares in our righteous anger.

>Some odd feeling stirs in you as you regard this doll, almost like an empathic link between the two of you. You feel her anger as she stares directly at your assailant, she turns back to you almost expectantly, without words you give her a firm nod and she turns back to the assailant, lowing her head and bracing herself before throwing her right arm back.

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

Retribution Sign 「Master Spark」 +
Companion Sign 「Master Spark」 =
Vendetta「Final Spark」

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

Fuck it. Let's just combine.

>>4392

Changing vote.

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

Holy shit, this is fucking awesome.

[z] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[z] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[z] Companion
[z] Retribution

Write-in gaems.

[x] Hold one of Shanghai's hands in your own and place it on the reactor.
[x] "This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!"
[x] Companion
[x] Retribution

oh fuck, I just got where that quote came from.

I think I missed something. Why is Youmu so hostile?

>>4448
In the grim, dark future of Gensokyo, there is only war.

>>4448

It seems like she's become a mad zealot after her "epiphanous" experience discovering the white fan relic (Youki's?). Anyway, she absorbed Myon into herself and now appears to lead some kind of death cult. The unawakened Alice is likely what they were after, or else they were misinformed about their target.

The other possibility (besides Youmu being just the insane cultist), is that someone "killed" Yuyuko, possibly by breaking the seal on the Saigyou Ayakashi and resurrecting her corpse, and now Youmu is hellbent on restoring her to unlife. Could be why she was seeking a "wish granter".

Whatever it is, Youmu is unlikely our true enemy. Likely either the Scarlets or the Lunarians "gifted" her the relic knowing full well that the consequences would remove Hakugyokurou from the playing field.

Hot-blood? in my survival horror?

And yet why does it feel so right?

Updates?

WHERE IS MY MASTER SPARK, DESDAXIS?

YOU SAID THERE WOULD BE MASTER SPARK!

[x] Retribution + Companion

Your mind slips into a calm state. Why do you fight? You already know why you fight. You fight for punishment of criminals and the eradication of those who would do others harm. Yet still you fight for those still live, where you could have crept away into the dark night by yourself you still felt drawn to people. No, you cannot fight this battle alone. Your companions have shown you that, without Shanghai you might not have even survived Minoriko’s attack and without the aide of Rika and Asakura you’d have died long ago. You nod in affirmation to yourself, you will brave this world together, united as one. You pause and grin inwardly to yourself.

MILITIA SIGN 「UNITED AS ONE 」

You roar out, levelling the elemental reactor at Youmu, a jolt of purple energy launches from Rika and plants itself into the reactor changing the red to a mauve colour and finally a white jolt from Shanghai lands onto the reactor brightening the colour. Your body flows and ebbs with raw power but when the exhilarating rush of adrenalin threatens to overtake you a sudden and wide column of the same light explodes out of the reactor completely engulfing Youmu, there is a quick scream of pain and then nothing but the roar of the blast. The the beam fades after to a few seconds leaving a heavy scorch mark in the ground and a smouldering Youmu. She groans and rolls onto her chest.

"This is what remains of my voice and the voices of my comrades at the very end! The last of our pride from beyond the grave! Take it, Youmu!" You shout down to her. Staggering up she points her sword at you.

“All life is born to die, there is only one inevitability for you, human. Your voice will soon fade.” She lunges not to you, but to the side, drawing out a card from seemingly nowhere there is a quick flash of light and she propels herself into the forest within a blink of the eye. Alice raises her hand and several of the dolls open fire again, the Danmaku harmlessly striking trees and other plant life. Alice watches the forest for a brief while before turning to you and exhaling almost in relief.

“That was an acceptable level of power" She dismissively puts it, brushing soil off her dirtied dress.

“That was incredible” Rika says, her voice hushed in awe and shock. “Even I felt that power!-” You fall to your knees, the power leaving you so quickly put a massive amount of strain on your body and even now you still breathe heavily. Rika quickly joins you, helping you lie down.

“Take it easy! It’s all right, you won! You did it!” She grins broadly, beaming with happiness, even Shanghai floats above your face performing somersaults in the air, conveying a mood of happiness? It’s working almost too well, its adorable. You smile and embrace your friends, Rika makes a surprised gasp but Shanghai snuggles up by your chest. You all remain like this for a while, the only noise being made are the respirators functioning as you and Rika breathe in unison.

“Thank you for being here with me” You say after a while “All of you” You emphasise, leaning forward a little to look at Alice who has turned away from the group and is idly staring out at the morning sky. She turns when she feels the conversation is being directed at her. She gives you a light frown and holds her arms folded across her chest.

“Only the weak and needy form such fragile bonds of friendship, human” She glares to your group momentarily.

“You helped us, didn’t you? I’d call that friendship” You smile warmly and hopefully to her. She responds by rolling her eyes and turning away.

“I did not see a reason to let you die, human” She says coldly with her back turned to you. You chuckle a little at her response.

“Thank you, Alice. I just wanted you to know I appreciate what you’ve done for us all” She doesn’t even budge an inch. You shrink back down a little, having never really been given the cold shoulder quite this badly before you feel immensely dejected, you just wanted to thank her! You sigh and try to ignore it. Rika smiles to you and helps you up.

“Congratulations, you’re getting just a bit closer to being even with me for all the times I've fed and saved you” Rika grins and you can’t help but grin back.

“Lets go home, right, Alice?” You look over again to Alice who instead now gives you a puzzled look. She opens her mouth to speak but stops herself and sighs lightly.

“I was waiting for you so you could come with me, but I assume that your weak bodies need some sort of nourishment or rest, yes?” Rika glares to her but you just smile back.

“Something like that” You say cheerfully

You find it hard to not laugh at Alice’s obvious disgust with the bunker when you arrive.

“Yes my Queen, this our humble adobe!” You say, lavishly bowing to her whilst gesturing to the rather imposing solid iron door. “On behalf of our small group I wish you a pleasant stay” The door chimes open and the group steps in, as you expected Alice flinches in shock when the chamber fills up with vapours but seems more fascinated by them than scared, watching them dance about the room, gently stroking the air with her slender fingers.

“This is … quite interesting” She says, with a slight hint of amusement, she looks almost disappointed when the procedure is complete and the vapours fade into the gratings below. You and Rika quickly remove the suits and finally re-enter the nexus.

“Im home sweetheart!” Rika shouts out, announcing her arrival. Reisen appears at the entrance of the medical wing.

“Everyone is in-” She calls out looking down to a clipboard filled with notes. She looks up to the group and silences herself, her ears becoming rigid in fright.

“You” You hear Alice speak up from behind you all, marching forward towards Reisen “It’s been a while, rabbit” She smirks sadistically. Reisen drops her clipboard and flees screaming into the medical wing, much to Alice’s surprise apparently.

“Hm” She frowns “Well I have to admit that was not the reaction I was hoping for” She folds her arms and grins anyway.

Both you and Rika give Alice a cold stare and she shrugs you both off, wandering further into the nexus.

“So what do you humans do here, with all of this equipment?” She asks inspecting the nexus machines.

“We were monitoring you actually, and whatever the hell you were doing out there” She pauses a bit as if something incredibly obvious had just dawned on her. “Wait, exactly, just what the hell do you think you were doing?!” Alice flashes Rika a toothy grin.

“Even superior beings are capable of fault, human” She says in a sagely manner

“You killed one of my friends” Rika’s tone begins to slide deeper into bitter anger.

“I don’t think she did it intentionally, Rika” You step in trying to very quickly diffuse this situation before it begins to boil over.

“You should learn to trust reason like your fellow here” She smiles to you and you turn to her and frown

“That still doesn’t change the fact that you are indirectly responsible for the death of someone” Alice huffs and looks away from you all. You and Rika to each other and just shrug lightly, giving up.

“Right, I’ll go run those experiments on that pocket watch of yours. I got the port already in my lab, join me if ya’ want or I'm sure Asakura could use some help” She grins and strolls off towards the engineering lab. Alice resumes inspecting the room, always peering but never touching any of the equipment, you feel you could probably leave her here actually.

[ ] Talk to Alice
[ ] Go to the medical wing
[ ] Go to the engineering wing
[ ] Go play with Shanghai

[X] Talk to Alice

THIS WAS A TRIUMPH


[x] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.

That should get something out of her.

[x] Go to the medical wing.

What the hell was that about, Reisen?

>"I got the port already in my lab"

I LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING.

[x] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[x] Go to the engineering wing

[x] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[x] Go to the medical wing.

This story is quite nice.
Good job.

[x] Ask Shanghai if she could stick with Alice while you try to calm Reisen.
[x] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[x] Go to the medical wing.

Reisen gets freaked out by Shanghai, so she should hang back.

[x] Ask Shanghai if she could stick with Alice while you try to calm Reisen.
[x] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[x] Go to the medical wing.

Why does this beautiful thing have so few voters?

[X] Ask Shanghai if she could stick with Alice while you try to calm Reisen.
[X] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[X] Go to the medical wing.

[X] Tell Alice that Rinnosuke's here.
[X] Go to the medical wing.

>>4490
i think its just how this guy updates, in huge walls

This CYOA looks inactive and slow because of his update style of a single MASSIVE wall a day. Personally though I love that style.

Wait, does this have a name yet? Because it's about time for Thread 2, and a name would help me see which one it is in the middle of all these other CYOAs.

It's name is shadow over gensokyo. New thread is already up.