"Yeah, but there's more to it than that! They're gonna be using a rule randomizer! An official one from the league!" Joey informs you excitedly as he can't contain himself, striking a dramatic pose, "Can you imagine how cool it's going to be? Forced to fly by the seat of our pants and think on the run!"

"That's interesting..." You say in response. "It should prove interesting at the very least!"

"Yeah, and even better the prizes are-" Joey is interrupted.

Interrupted by the Eirin creeping around her desk and swooping him up into a hug, "It's not nice to greet me and then ignore me for someone else, you know..." She complains poutingly at the squirming boy.

...Ah. That explains something.

Poor Joey's going to have more than a few mons lusting after him, it seems. You look back to your girls to see if they've been attended to already...

Your girls are currently hopping into the odd pod bays, helped into them by a few Reisen who you figure work for the touhoumon center. All except for SlKogasa anyway, who is currently sitting off to the side sipping an oddly colored liquid through a swirly straw from a plastic cup.

That conveniently solves your concern about getting SlKogasa healed up properly.

Still, why would SlKogasa be given a drink when-

With a whir, the machines come to life and quickly fill the containers your Prismrivers are in with an orange colored liquid. Inside of them, your girls seem to be almost sleeping, suspended in the liquid. That...you've never seen it done this way before.

You're actually a touch curious now, and wind up watching the process. After all, it'd be rude to interrupt the Eirin when she's busy molesting Joey like that.

Speaking of Eirin is currently hitting on Joey in a completely obvious and all but taking her shirt off manner, and he doesn't seem to be catching it at all. The Eirin doesn't seem to be letting that get her down though and keeps up her flirtation regardless.

Inside the tanks you watch as your girls rest peacefully, and you think you can see the little nicks, scratches and the like they'd picked up for their troubles getting cleansed away, as well as the tiredness on their faces that you hadn't noticed disappear as well!

Man, they did get clobbered quite a bit back there, didn't they? Not that they'd have let you take that close a look at them while there was still possible danger, but now that you know what to look for...

You'd imagine that they probably did take quite a bit of a beating, even with SlKogasa likely using her body to absorb most of the physical attacks. They had to fight enough to evolve, after all. Even you know that they must have fought against numerous foes to have reached you as quickly as they did.

You really are going to need to set aside a day or two to just treat them nicely after all this. It's been such a short time but they've been through so much already.

You hear a familiar jingle as the liquid starts to drain out of the chambers slowly, trickling down into pipes which drains the liquid into a large tank that it draws from in the first place to be reprocessed. The Reisens are quickly checking over the information in the logs and ensuring everything went properly. One of them chats to the other, "Say, have you heard about the Touhoumon Snagger?" She asks.

"No, what are you talking about?" Her friend with shorter hair responds, poking a few buttons on the console.

"They say that there's some daring thief in Metro City that's making a ruckus, stealing touhoumon and valuables from the rich and disappearing into the night!" She says enthusiastically, "Officially they're calling him the worst sort of criminal, but I've heard that he only preys on people who abuse touhoumon."

"Huh, is that so? Well, it's about time." The short-haired one responds.

You keep quiet and just listen in, feeling that this might be relevant one day. Assuming you ever go off-continent though.

"Yeah! Even better, they see he broke into some huge fancy gala and made off with their main event, some kind of 'perfect' Marisa or something, right in front of them!" The long-haired Reisen sounds immensely excited, "Isn't that incredible?"

"It sure sounds like it." The short-haired one agrees.

"Do you think he'll come here? To the New Continent, I mean?" The Long-haired Reisen asks.

"I doubt it. The humans on this continent are smarter than the ones in the rest of the world, so we don't have those problems unless someone imports them." The short-haired one replies.

"Oh..." The long-haired one's ears droop, "...Why are our humans smarter than the rest of the worlds?"

"Selective breeding." The short-haired one responds immediately.

"Oh! Oh, you're so-!" The long-haired one giggles at her friend, "You're so funny Sen! Say, speaking of breeding, did you see the Gym Leader’s son?" She whispers quietly to her friend as you listen on, "Isn't he cute?"

"He's certainly quieter than his father." The short-haired one responds.

"Well, I kick him out of bed if he got into it with me!" She whispers excitedly back, rubbing her thighs together at the thought of it.

"I hear that." The short-haired one agrees.

You're faintly amused by the rabbit's gossip, and note that it's more or less something to listen to until your own girls are healed up right. You don't have much to contribute yourself, plus given how they're trying to be quiet you figure it'd just be rude to interrupt.

"Say, do you think Eirin's ever going to make a move on that cute little boy?" The long-haired rabbit asks as the healing machine's drying cycle whirs up into high gear, "I mean, given who he's related to..."

"I'm sure she knows what would happen if he went home smelling like that." The short-haired rabbit points out, "His sister's as insightful as any touhoumon I've met, and thrice as vicious when she cares to be. Do you remember what she did to that showy idiot a few years ago?"

"Oh, right. Say, did the Human Center ever manage to bring his voice back down?" The long-haired rabbit asks curiously.

"No. No they did not." The short-haired rabbit responds, "Well, we're all better off anyway with that being the case, aren't we?"

Good grief. Gissele has to put up with a lot, doesn't she? The way the bunnies describe her, it's almost like she could give your mother a run for her money in terms of... Okay, yeah, you'd have to see this supposed viciousness in person before you could actually judge, but comparing anyone to your mother is kind of a dicey thing to begin with.

Mostly because you're of the firm opinion that the world couldn't handle there being more than one of her disposition.

"I didn't even know you could do that to a human. Aren't they too fragile for that?" The long-haired rabbit sounds completely awed.

"There's a reason there are those rumors about her." The short-haired rabbit points out.

"You mean the ones that say that she's not human? But she doesn't smell like a touhoumon does, or feel like one either." The long-haired one points out.

"Yeah, and I agree with you. She's just a weird human, like the Gym Leader is." The short-haired one responds.

"...I don't think we should be comparing her to the Gym Leader. He's..." The long-haired one trails off.

"Did someone need me?" Sebastian calls out from directly behind you, loudly announcing his presence.

You pretty much jump like a Chen would when startled by a loud noise, albeit not to the same degree. You do look at Sebastian for a moment or two before noticing it's him and returning to your previous spot.

Both Reisens jump as well, looking around like startled cats as they realize that they're being watched. "Ah, ah!" The Long haired one sputters in a panic.

"No sir." The short-haired collects herself faster, "We're both just fine. We were just talking about how lovely your gym was."

"Why, thank you!" Sebastian preens proudly as the Rabbit's both breathe a sigh of relief and go back to their work without gossiping.


"I'm sorry to have startled you Ezekiel." Sebastian turns his seriously apologetic expression onto you, "But I came here because I need to ask something of you." He informs you as he reaches behind his back and produces...cards?

"Pick a card, any card!" Sebastian informs you. What is he even doing? "These cards will determine which spot you'll be taking in the tournament." He informs you.

There are four cards in his hand right now, each of them looking the same from the back-wait. Are those official touhoumon card game cards from Yakumo Corp? They are! What kind of operation is this guy running?

"So!" Sebastian spins the cards around to face you, revealing them, "Pick a card, any card!" He grins widely as you look them over. Let's see here...

There's an ExChen, a Full Heal, an Energy and...is that..."

That's a Foil LWYukari!

You... you're not quite sure what to think here. On the one hand, that's basically the rare card of the century right there and would save you the trouble of tracking down Abbott to make him give you back yours. On the other hand, this correlates to your place in the tournament... Heck with it, you pick the LWYukari.

"Ahahahaha! Well chosen! My son was right about you when he told me to use that card when I offered you them!" Sebastian laughs happily, "Now then, you'll be facing four opponents in the tournament instead of the three the rest of the competitors will be." He switches to serious immediately and without any sort of warning, "You'll still be given completely healing after every match, but that's for damage dealt only. It's up to you to keep track of your team’s stamina."

"Got it." You nod and put the card in your Key Items pocket, though you didn't quite think that Costello would be the one to take advantage of that. In fact, you're starting to think that Costello wants to battle you, and this is just to help make sure that the two of you meet up properly.

"Ah, my son also told me to give you this!" He holds out a small bit of note paper, folded up properly.

You take that as well, since it's being offered. "I take it that this should ideally be read while waiting in the waiting room?"

"Any time you wish to!" Sebastian waves his hand as something on his belt starts to buzz loudly, "Oh! I need to go report this and handle the rest! Good luck to you, Ezekiel!" He calls out to you before sprinting away, disappearing out the door in a flash.

He doesn't even give you a chance to respond before running off, so you decide to find a spot to sit and unfold the note paper to see what's written on it.

The spot contains a note from Costello, which reads: 'Abbot isn't very observant, and doesn't watch his belongings. Thought you'd want this back.'

...So does that mean that this card is what you think it is?

You take the card out and look it over again, and snort. He managed to get it back for you, huh? You didn't think you'd get it back this soon. "I'll have to thank him for that later." You say to yourself after putting the card and the note away. Then again, you imagine that this is tournament is technically payment already.

You are promptly swamped by your girls as they tackle you together, the Prismrivers clinging to you as they hug you fiercely, "Ah, I missed you darling!" Merlin coos in your ear before nibbling on it a bit as Lyrica rubs her cheek against your possessively. Lunasa buries her face into your chest.

SlKogasa oozes up to you and presses herself up against your free side, happy to be a part of this experience with you.

"Missed me? I'm happy, but why're you acting like this?" You're glad your hands are free, because you're almost certain that the sudden surge of female bodies would have been enough to dislodge whatever you could have had in them. As it is, you just hug Lunasa.

"It feels like it's been an entire night since we last say you..." Lunasa tells you from your chest, nuzzling closer, "You're so warm."

"I had a dream while in there." Merlin whispers to you, "One I hope you'll help me reenact, darling."

"It was like a full night’s sleep all in a few minutes." Lyrica declares thoughtfully, but then you hear her stomach growl, "...But I'm still hungry." She pouts.

You blush at all the attention, and practically relax into it and the mix of their respective scents. "Ah... Oh, right. When's the last time you girls ate?" You had that banquet to work with, but you're not sure about your girls.

Also, you get the distinct feeling that you're not getting much sleep tonight.

"Oh, it was..." Lunasa actually looks somewhat thoughtful at that, "...Actually, didn't we all have snacks during that briefing they gave us to tell us how we did and what we could do better?"

Lyrica maintains a perfectly flat poker face.

"From the sounds of things, it wasn't enough. Plus you girls worked your rears off for my sake, and you evolved on top of that, so once we're done with this we'll get something to eat proper." You have to think that Lyrica might be more like you than you previously thought, if she's acting like this. "I figure that this ought to be the last event for the day, since we've been here for a while."

"That sounds fine." Merlin runs her fingers along your chest, "After all, we can always get some room service while we have some room service of our own, mmm?"

None of the other girls seem to object to the idea themselves but-

"Excuse me, if you're going to have such public display of affection, go to the waiting room." The Eirin calls out from across the room, still cuddling with a mildly resistant Joey, "This is a place of medicine."

You blush more, but you're not objecting to the idea either. "I hate to be the killjoy, but Eirin's right, if not mildly hypocritical." Not that you've let go of Lunasa at all or are making any move to free yourself. "I'm sure we're going to need plenty of alone time, but this isn't exactly 'alone.'"



Merlin growls in annoyance but drags you off towards the waiting room where she can pg-13 molest you without an Eirin breathing down the back of her neck like she's doing something wrong with her life here. Lyrica and Merlin go along as well, halting you along as SlKogasa oozes along behind you, seemingly content with how the day is going so far.

As you enter into the waiting room, you see that it has doors marked with pieces of paper. On those papers are crudely drawn versions of the things you saw on your cards. Your shiny Yukari is on a door with the same piece of paper as a Scope of some kind.

It takes some effort, but you manage to get Merlin to let you go to the door in question and note that given how frustrated she's getting that it's only a matter of time before she either does something to you or... Well, best not to dwell on that too hard.

As you open the door, you find that you are not alone in the room. In fact, this small waiting room contains two doors, and two sets of benches across from each other. In one bench sits a fellow wearing glasses, black slacks and a white button down shirt. He looks at you and adjusts his glasses, "You know, there's usually a strategic reason trainers keep their touhoumon in balls. Now that I've seen yours, I can narrow down your strategy and the counters I need for it...drastically."

"Your point?" You say, noting that Merlin's probably not let you go yet. "You've seen what species they are, not their limits or capabilities." Plus you're wondering if this guy is one of those analytical types who thinks you're just some joe schmoe trainer. Which technically you are, since you don't even have a Gym Badge to your name yet, but you don't really care.

He raises his hands up defensively as you snap back at him, "Hey now, no need to be so snappish. I'm just doing you a favor and pointing something out. That's the sort of thing you need to keep in mind in a situation like this. I'm all for leaving them all out to have fun when it's not go time, but I don't want my little ladies getting hurt just because we all got careless and let someone know just what they were dealing with before we needed to, you know?"

You shrug in response to that. "Fair point." You admit, though you don't recall your girls to their balls. You've long since developed a habit of keeping them all out, and it's one that your family made no effort to discourage. "It's mostly just habit on my end, really. Plus my Kogasa's got a rather severe fear of being stuck in a Touhouball, so I'd rather not aggravate that."

"Huh, that so?" The Ubernerd looking fellow adjusts his glasses, "Only time I ever heard of cases of that sort happening are...ah." His eyebrows go up slightly and he shuts up on the matter, "My apologies."

"It's fine. It's not like I'm keeping her old ball out where the world can see it, so you had no way to tell." Which also reinforces exactly why a species-based analysis would only get a person so far.

"Right, anyway." The guy seems to want to get past the awkwardness of your introduction by changing the topic, "My name's Nueton." He introduces himself, holding out a hand.

You shake the guy's hand. "Ezekiel. Despite the initial exchange, nice to meet you."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too. Kinda weird meeting my opponent for the first round before I have to fight him like this, but this is a weird tournament anyway."

"Sebastian seems to have thrown it together on short notice, from what he told me."

"Oh, you don't know what happened?" He asks you curiously.

"My girls and I literally just finished the underground castle scenario when he told me." You respond plainly.

"Ah, I see. Well, from what I heard apparently he just had this whole scenario thrust onto him by the League themselves." He explains to you, gesturing in an explanatory manner, "If my analysis of the situation is right, then this is probably one of the tests to see if he's Elite Four material."

"By being able to organize and hold a successful tournament, which would help prove his administrative capabilities, no doubt."

"Something along those lines, yes." Nueton agrees, adjusting his bowtie, "Being an Elite Four is more than just being a powerful trainer. You have to have dedication, the right attitude and the right skills for the job since they're the functional heads of the Touhoumon League in their regions. It's a lot of responsibility, and there's more to the job than just beating champion hopefuls down. Just like there's more to being a gym leader than most people think."

You nod in agreement. "Where a Gym Leader is also responsible for the safety, and at times even the wellbeing of the entire town he or she is stationed in."

"Precisely. Not to mention that a gym leader needs a head for numbers so that they can properly manage the gym that they are in charge of's finances." Nueton adds on, "You wouldn't believe how many people back in academy couldn't get their heads around that fact." He snorts in disgust, "And to think that those are the same people who end up working for and holding positions in the league."

He sighs, "Sorry about that, that's a bit of a sore subject for me."

"It's fine. I mean, researchers lose items all the time. Kogasa here built up an entire stash of stuff before I found her." You point out, knowing just how idiotic some people could be. "Admittedly, I was homeschooled but at the same time my parents knew what they were doing."

"Hahahaha. I was one of those...well, I was on the fast track to be a researcher." Nueton admits as you both make conversation, "I was actually at one of the most prestigious academy's in the world. Got in on my own merits too. Which made the professors furious, of course."

"I can imagine. Some people just hate being shown up." You reply as the conversation continues. "I didn't end up at an academy myself, though my parents also believed in the importance of earning one's way."

"It's for the best really." Nueton tells you, "Those academies can't teach you anything you can't learn on your own, or you wouldn't be better off learning from a Gym Leader instead. And they won't cost anywhere near as much. They're essentially a place for the wealthy to send their children to get an unnecessary education that will give them an unearned and inflated sense of self-worth." He shrugs, "Money is how you get good grades, not smarts. I got kicked out for...well, many reasons really. I don't think the Principal liked how I made a project of disproving his thesis."

"No kidding. I've heard a few stories from my mother as well, though she was quite a lot more... colorful with her descriptions. Same general idea as what you're saying though." It's not bad to have a conversation like this, you'd admit.

"Plus, the real world nets you some experience too."

"Happiest day of my life when I got kicked out." Nueton agrees with you cheerfully, "I got to take some of the lab mons with me too."

Somehow, you suspect that it was less that he 'got' to and more that he 'did' take them with him.

"So long as they're happy, right?" You ask before making the rather bold move of kissing Merlin on the cheek. Your own acquisition of your starters was unorthodox as well.

Nueton adjusts his glasses with a sigh as Merlin promptly tackles you down onto the bench and begins to fiercely and possessively make out with you, forcing her tongue into your mouth as she works you over.

Nueton just looks over at your remaining mons who are watching you be orally molested, "He's not very good at reading the signs, is he?" He asks of them, getting a universal shake of their head, "Ah, I see. Am I going to have to leave the room?"

"Ah..." Lunasa speaks up, "No, we can make sure that nothing goes too far. I mean, unless you want us to stop them now or something..."

"Oh no, no. Far be it from me to interrupt such a loving interaction. I disproved that old wind bags thesis by studying these sorts of interactions after all." Nueton shrugs, "You don't become a Touhoumon Psychologist slash Sociologist without getting past a few inhibitions."

Nueton was half-right about you not reading the signs. You did more or less forget that Merlin was already looking for any excuse to jump you, but at the same time you figured that you needed to do something about Merlin's frustration before it gets to be too much. Having an impromptu make out session like this is... Okay, not ideal. That being said, you're not exactly resisting Merlin either, and wont until she tries to go further than she ought to.

Merlin apparently realizes that you'll stop her from having her fun if she pushes too far, so she doesn't. Instead she just wraps her arms around you and keeps up the make out, noisily and hungrily kissing you and enjoying every minute of it as she keeps you on your back and serving her.

Nueton is polishing his glasses, breathing on them for a moment before going right back to polishing them. He seems to be entirely unphased by the situation as he speaks up, "This is an obvious example of a newly evolve touhoumon being exposed to her evolved states sex drive. You see this sort of thing all the time in my field of work. It's amazing they don't teach people to be ready for it more often. I suspect older trainers are just bitter about what happened to them and want it to happen to others as well."

You're not quite sure why some trainers would be bitter about this. You're embarrassed, sure, but that just comes with the territory.

"This sort of situation is also responsible for about seventy percent of all public decency violations globally, if I remember my statistics correctly." Nueton continues on to explain, pulling out a small tablet and quickly tapping it a few times, "Ah, seventy-seven percent."

If you could apologize for this, you would.

"That's quite an increase, I wonder why-ah, there we go. The number of trainers has been on the increase as well, so I suppose it's only natural." Nueton ponders on the situation, "I wonder if there's room for an article in this if I study the differences between chibi to normal, normal to EX and variant evolutions and compare them..."

Merlin is doing a good and wonderful job of forcing herself on you, her wonderfully soft and very, very much developed chest feeling nice as it presses against yours and her tongue invades your mouth. Those beautiful eyes are staring right into your, sparkling with amusement and lust.

And it's taking every last scrap of self-restraint to not let her go any further than she is.

You're not totally sure you can just push her off you either, since it almost feels like your recently awakened sex drive is responding to her own. You really do suck at this whole 'reading the mood' thing.

That and the fact that, as a touhoumon, she is significantly stronger than you and there's really not much you could do to force her off of you, if it came down to force.

"Hmm. Looks like no one has done and article on it yet. Perhaps I should publish one? I know of at least one professor who likes me enough to put a paper I made forward." He muses idly, "I wonder how she's doing. I hope she hasn't gotten hurt doing any of her tricks again."

Well, now you're curious but there's still the problem of an over-enthusiastic, shiny Merlin pinning you down.

And she doesn't seem to be showing any signs at all on letting up on you, even as her sisters hover about behind her. Lyrica is staring down at Merlin with a sour expression on her face while Lunasa watches on with a somewhat sad one on her own. SlKogasa is happily sitting in the background, apparently content with life.

You decide to tap Merlin on the shoulder to try and signal a tap-out, since while this is nice you'd like to be able to breathe properly soon.

Merlin pauses, letting out a huff of annoyance as she squeezes you tighter. You suspect for a moment that she is going to just keep going anyway, but she lets go of you and gives you a sour look before floating off and away from you, back turned.

"Ah, and that would be the post-evolution moodiness." Nueton remarks,"...Or perhaps just the reaction of a girl who is aroused and is being rebuffed."

You wish you could say 'And this is the panting of a guy who's out of breath', but you're busy rectifying that particular issue by taking deep breaths. It takes a bit for your breathing to slow down and go back to normal. "I really need to either work on my timing or not underestimate who was sitting next to me while frustrated from an earlier Eirin-based interruption."

You're also given a preview of just what having to please multiple fully-evolved girls is going to be like.

"Ah, her." Nueton's tone speaks volumes as you refer to Eirin, even though he stops there himself.

"Yeah." You aren't quite as annoyed, but you do feel a touch annoyed with the Eirin's behavior. "Aside from that..." You look to your girls and feel a bit guilty about what just happened. You're not even entirely sure what you're supposed to say here.

"Admitting your error usually helps." Nueton points out insightfully as there comes a rap-tap-tapping from the other door, the one you haven't used yet.

"Your round is coming up." A voice calls into your waiting room from outside. It sounds feminine, but you don't recognize it.

"Understood." You say in response before looking to Nueton again. "You're right." You look to your girls again, Merlin in particular. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you like that when I wasn't prepared to go all the way with it."

Nueton rises up from his bench and coolly exits the room from the door that you suspect leads to the arena, leaving you with your group of girls.

Lyrica just shrugs it off, "Whatever, it's fine." She grumbles, not looking at you as she idly fiddles with her keyboard, getting ready to fight again.

"Mmm, it's fine." Lunasa manages to sound more convincing than Lyrica did, smiling for you even, "Please do not be upset with yourself over something like this."

"Darling." Merlin's voice is sweet, "I'll forgive you if you're ready to satisfy me tonight~."

"Ah, me!" SlKogasa waves her arms excitedly about.

"Yeah, it's her turn to be with him like that first, Merlin." Lyrica points out to her sister, who just sulks.

"...don't mind. Go ahead." SlKogasa offers, her expression as sincerely happy as it ever was.

"Merlin, I planned to do that to begin with. I actually want to set aside three or four days, one for each of you girls ideally." You admit, though you are making a point of looking directly at your group.

"Except that would still be putting the rest of us at a disadvantage, especially the girl you chose to go last." Merlin punches a hole through your plan instantly, "How about you let us do the thinking instead for this one, darling?"

"Merlin!" Lyrica chastises her sister immediately, "You apologize for that!"

"Or what?" Merlin looks back at her sister challengingly, "You'll reprimand me?"

"Please stop fighting..!" Lunasa tries to step in.

"Wait." You say, holding up a hand.

"Lyrica, Merlin's right this time, especially considering that I'm supposed to keep balance in mind between you." You step up to defend Merlin, and admit to your own inadequacy in the process. It makes sense though, since you're still new to this.

"And honestly, there's going to be points where I'll need to concede to you girls over certain subjects. For now, this may be one of them until I learn about you three more and get a better handle on your personalities."

"I mean, I can glean some things just by being around you three while you were chibis, but there's a lot of aspects I don't think I was able to catch on to before that you three are making clear as day now that you can talk to me in Common."

"Hah!" Merlin laughs at her points at her sister, causing Lyrica to growl and narrow her eyes at her fellow, fists tightening even as Lunasa steps in and places a calming hand on her shoulder.

Oddly enough, SlKogasa steps up and gently baps Merlin on the head. "No." She declares solemnly, pointing a finger in the confused ghost's face as she rubs the top of her head.

You nod to SlKogasa. "Thanks." Is all you say to her, and perhaps that's all that needs to be said.

"Merlin, I'm agreeing with you, but I'm not doing it so you can rub it in Lyrica's face. I'm being honest about what I feel right now, and I feel like my own judgment would be inadequate for that kind of thing."

Merlin seems to be oddly agreeable right now and simply nods her head, looking to the ground. Maybe the fact that SlKogasa had to step in made her feel bad about it? Or maybe SlKogasa drugged her with that love tap. With slimes, anything is possible!

"...Uhm." Lunasa speaks up, "SlKogasa can produce a substance that would function as a sort of aphrodisiac and energy enhancement for you, if you ingested it. Maybe you could take that when we're done, so you can keep up with all of us for the next few days. Maybe?" She suggests.

Lyrica nods, looking thoughtful, "Yeah, that would work, wouldn't it?"

"...I was considering that already. Along with going at it with all of you at once so no one feels left out." You blush at the thought, but shake your head. "A-anyway, we ought to get out there and start winning those battles. Nueton's being patient but I don't expect him to wait forever."

"Hah, that's right!" Lyrica grins widely, "We need to go show that guy that even if he knows what we are, he doesn't know the first thing about us and what we're capable of!" She seems to be very hyped up.

"Well, if it's for Darling I suppose I'll just have to sweep them, won't I?" Merlin shrugs half-heartedly.

"Let's do our best everyone." Lunasa encourages them all as she gives SlKogasa a hug, "You too Kogasa! We're all counting on you!"

SlKogasa lets out a cheer, "Alright!" And promptly surges out of the door and towards the Arena. You should probably follow along after her like your Prismrivers are.

You proceed to do exactly that, since there's no reason for you to stick around in here. You brace yourself for the inevitable sight...

The arena is surprisingly normal, and looks to be a straight forward touhoumon battle field with all the lines and markings of it. You guess that Sebastian doesn't want to use his personal field for a tournament or something? Or maybe he's trying to make a level playing field for the competitors. On opposite sides of the field you see two boxes. One is marked in red and one in blue. Nueton is already across the field from you in the blue box, hands in his pockets as he waits for you.

You make your way to the red box and nod to Nueton, as there's not a whole lot else for you to do as you wait for the battle to start proper.

Sebastian steps up to the side of the arena, looking supremely serious at the moment, "I, Sebastian, will be the referee for this match! The Official League randomizer will now determine the rules of the match!" He declares. Behind him, the screen lights up with numerous words in several columns that start to spin and randomize.

You keep an eye on the randomizer and feel some anticipation and worry over what kind of rule set it's going to wind up using. You stand firm though, since it's not good to show worry at this stage.

The randomizer stops on...

Two versus Two match. No substitutions.

Nueton smiles, looking very pleased with the rule set you've just been given.

"Today's match will be two touhoumon versus two touhoumon!" Sebastian declares, "No substitutions will be allowed. The Battle will continue until one side has lost both touhoumon!"

Great, looks like the randomizer decided to favor your opponent. In terms of team composition it's primarily one-on-one or three-on-three, but it's not like you're out of options here. You're just going to have to pick which of your girls to use carefully.
UBERNERD NUETON WANTS TO BATTLE.

CHOICES

FIRSTLY: Which two touhoumon will serve?
[ ] Lyrica
[ ] Merlin
[ ] Lunasa
[ ] SlKogasa

SECONDLY: What kind of strategy will you use?
[ ] Aggressive
[ ] Balanced
[ ] Defensive

...

I forgot my tripcode. I'm very sorry about the change.

>>172378

Link to the previous thread, since Nob couldn't.

[x] Lunasa
[x] SlKogasa
[x] Balanced

Lunasa and Kogasa seem to have a good rapport with each other.

[X] Kogasa
[X] Merlin
[X] Balanced

Well, our challenger did mention that he can try and tailor his strategy to our party setup. So why don't we screw him up by sending SlKogasa, who not only is a Mon you rarely see (Admit it, none of us thought that SlKogasa's are even possible right?), and also, being a Kogasa, is known for...surprises! She will be our unpredictable factor vs our opponent. I'm going with the strategy of having Merlin, who has the most attack out of the Sisters, be the main attacker while SlKogasa defends her and also supports her, balanced strategy there, we can adapt to a lot of situations.

...I still wonder what was Joey going to mention before he was cut off

[X] Kogasa
[X] Merlin
[X] Balanced

Well, our challenger did mention that he can try and tailor his strategy to our party setup. So why don't we screw him up by sending SlKogasa, who not only is a Mon you rarely see (Admit it, none of us thought that SlKogasa's are even possible right?), and also, being a Kogasa, is known for...surprises! She will be our unpredictable factor vs our opponent. I'm going with the strategy of having Merlin, who has the most attack out of the Sisters, be the main attacker while SlKogasa defends her and also supports her, balanced strategy there, we can adapt to a lot of situations.

...I still wonder what was Joey going to mention before he was cut off

[x] Lunasa
[x] SlKogasa
[x] Balanced

Great... now we're stuck in the middle of some mild drama all the while due to having this thrust upon us right after finding out they've evolved.

I think Lunasa and Kogasa would do best considering the various disadvantages.

I also think the jokers voting for bad end after bad end caused the writer to force this upon us just to get out of writing /at/ stuff.

I wonder if the size order is Merlin (plus Ara ara), Lunasa, and Lyrica (who is unexpectedly a tsundere; it's usually Lunasa that's in that role)

>>173293
>Write a story heavily based on Monster Girl Quest.
>Getting tired of writing porn.

I'm sure they knew what they were getting into.

[X] Lunasa
[X] SlKogasa
[X] Balanced

>"It was like a full night’s sleep all in a few minutes." Lyrica declares thoughtfully, but then you hear her stomach growl, "...But I'm still hungry."
Oh you.

>>173293
>I also think the jokers voting for bad end after bad end caused the writer to force this upon us just to get out of writing /at/ stuff.
>just to get out of writing /at/ stuff.
You might want to pay more attention. One third of the /at/ content for this story wasn't bad endings and didn't need votes to happen. And the writers have a pure /at/ story.

>>173295
>>173299
what explains the fighting arc out of nearly nowhere then to get in the way of what would have amounted to canon /at/ action?

In my experience sudden action things are a popular stunt to avoid writing certain things. I might be wrong here, but the fact this came with very little warning and directly before the first time being able to talk with the evolved girls, it's a bit suspicious to say the least.

>>173300

Perhaps you should take that delightful inquisitive mind of yours and focus it on more in-universe reasons for why this tournament would come seemingly out of nowhere and Sebastian himself would be so eager to have you in it.

I assure you that I am not in any way, shape or form burnt out on smut or smut related accessories, and that should a day come when I am it will be the die I die. Either because I stopped caring because I died, or because I killed myself rather than live such a joyless existence.

Most everything that happens, happens for a reason in-universe. The rest are fuck ups on my part.

>>173300
It's pretty much spelled out when you combine what Nueton talked about in this update with a paragraph in >>172737 and two sentences in the Gissele end. If Sebastian passes the test and joins the Elite Four, Gissele replaces him as Gym Leader, leaving an opening for a new Gym Trainer. So it doubles as a way for Sebastian to test potential applicants. And he must think Zeke has potential.

>>173304
provided we manage to win despite having unresolved things. Remember Ash's Charizard and how its fussiness bit Ash in the ass? Unless we're lucky, the freshly evolved prismrivers might inadvertently do something similar due to all the bubbling hormones.

>>173305
Wasn't the Charizard's fussiness due to lots of disrespect from it toward Ash? I don't think Zeke has that problem with his Prismrivers.

>>173307

Which honestly never made sense to me. Ash saved Charizard from DYING when he was a Charmander.

>>173308
I think it was more of a throwback to the games, and how you needed to get badges to not have high level pokemon ignore you.
A powerful, experienced pokemon without an equally experienced trainer means problems all around.

But yeah, we'd better try to keep in mind that they're a bit... Edgy right now. Hopefully it shouldn't cause too much problems, but still. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.

>>173307
AFAIK it was a poor attempt to ham-first the 'traded mons need certain badges or they will not obey you' mechanic (see also: The primeape episodes)
Also: comic relief.

>>173309

Which doesn't make much sense since there are two different obedience checks in Pokemon games. One being the aforementioned badges, and the other being a given mon's happiness value. (Simply put, how much a given mon likes you.)

So long as it's not a traded mon (or maybe even if it is), if a given mon has a high enough happiness value they'll generally obey you without question. It's part of why a given starter mon will obey you no matter what. Since you're using it so much, you can push its level beyond what you should have been able to control and still have it work perfectly.

As far as the Prismrivers go, Zeke doesn't have to worry about them starting anything since they generally have decent self control. His accidentally getting too intimate with them, on the other hand...

>>173309
My point is with hormones racing through Zeke (who was tempted by both a Ran and dark queen Giselle and still hasn't gotten any relief) and the sisters, things may end up going south. It might even affect the harmony between the sisters, which is one of Zeke's big trump cards.

In this fashion 2vs2 is favorable as it hides that and any flaws that might be present in it.

I'm not sure what kind of test it's supposed to be beyond battling in duress.

Would you please put a link in the old thread when you start a new thread? I didn't notice this one until today because I just use the WT list and /th/ is active enough it never happened to be at the top.

"Lunasa, Kogasa, this one's all yours." Thankfully you've got two mons who are perfectly willing to work with each other and not bicker like siblings. While you're sure that Merlin and Lyrica could work well with pretty much everyone else in your group, you kinda didn't want to stick them together just now.

Lunasa nods her head, her expression firming up into one of steely resolve as she flies past you and into the rind, holding her instrument up and into first position as she readies herself. SlKogasa gives you a wet hug before oozing into the ring after her friend, her body jiggling with readiness as she awaits her opponents.

"Well, this is what I was hoping for. Since the rules didn't ban these." Nueton pulls something out of his pockets...some kind of bulky hair clips? He sets them up on his temples and produces two odd touhouballs that are painted blue and white and have seemingly exposed electronics on their surfaces, "Let's go, Mami! Nyu!" He tosses them both forward at the same time, lobbing them underhanded into the ring where they open up and release two shapes of white light that reform to reveal a Nue and a Mami. Mami casually uncurls her tail out from around her and crosses her arms under her bust, hefting them inadvertently as the Nue stretches out a bit, holding her arms above her head as she grins widely at her opponents.

Wow. Can't say you were expecting a combo like that. No wonder he seems so confident about this particular battle. Still, you're just as confident in your own girls. You're not sure how Nueton commands his mons, if he does at all, but if he does and you don't have to...

Nueton just smiles as he watches his girls take up their own position. Neither of them moves just yet, yours because they wait for your order and the same likely goes for Nueton's. Sebastian stands in the referee box, his expression one of absolute seriousness and concentration as he keeps one hand raised, watching both of you. "Contestants, are you ready?" His voice rings loud and clear.

"Ready." You say, keeping an eye on your opponent. You want to make sure that you give your sole command as soon as possible, and that means keeping your focus on the impending battle in front of you.

"Ready." Nueton agrees, staring right back at you with his hands in his pockets, his eyes meeting yours as you feel an odd spark run down your spine. Not like one of 'those' sparks thankfully, but still a thrill of challenge, perhaps? Nueton may be the first competent trainer you'll probably face, especially if he's running a team like that. Supposedly Mami and Nue teams tend to be...extreme.

"...Begin!" Sebastian calls out as he brings his arm down. Without a word from Nueton, Nyu and Mami immediately move, Nue spinning her trident out as her wings flex and she charges forward while Mami takes in a deep breath and whips her tail towards Kogasa, numerous sharp looking spinning green things flying out of them. Razor Leaf!"

Great. Looks like Nueton knows his stuff, or at least runs off the same general battle strategy you do. "Girls, do what you need to." Is all you say. You're hoping that that's vague enough to where your opponent and his mons can't take advantage of it.

SlKogasa shifts her form to avoid Razor Leaf, the attack whirling past her and cutting into the stadium walls behind you as you watch them pass by. SlKogasa doesn't just stay on the defensive and hurtles towards her opponent, oozing across the ground as rapidly as she can. The Mamizou just cheerfully waggles her finger at her and taps one heel against the ground, which proceeds to rip open into a chasm in front of her and shoot towards your SlKogasa. With Lunasa, you watch as she grazes past several jabs of the Nue's Trident as the faster mon closed in before she could react and attempts to respond, yet always gets cut off by her opponents superior speed. Slowly, she is being driven back by the Nue's ferocious offensive, even if she is performing admirably so far.

You just watch, keeping an eye on things but are unwilling to interfere. Your girls know how to defeat their opponents, and since Nueton is at least as good as you if not better you giving out specific orders or even general suggestions would likely just cause him to do the same.

SlKogasa shifts her form drastically, oozing around the unsettlement in the earth and avoiding the rift in the ground even as she's forced to abandon her charge and come up with a new strategy. You see slight discoloration build up in her chest before she spews out a noxious looking purple mist towards the Mamizou, who moves to avoid the attack by taking by bouncing away, giving Kogasa the chance to move in under the cover of her poisonous fog.

Meanwhile, Lyrica has taken a few decorative nicks and scratches, but given that the news trident likely carried poisons of some sort, and how her expression is one of pain that goes beyond the few scratches she has, you realize that she's probably in worse shape than she looks. "You're outmatched here." The Nue points out to her as she lances her trident out towards Lunasa's head who just barely manages to avoid it, "Your trainer's either a novice for sending you out here when we already knew just what you were, or he doesn't care."

Lunasa moves quickly in response to that, holding her bow in a stronger grip as she grits her teeth in anger, "Shut up!" She yells back at the Nue, pushing her backwards as she starts to use her bow as a blade, deflecting aside the thrust of the trident as a fury possesses her, "Shut up! You don't know anything! You might know what type of touhoumon we are but you! don't! know! ANYTHING!" You watch on as Lunasa's bow glows and shimmers and eerie whitish-silver as she starts to fence with it ferociously. Are...are Lunasa supposed to be able to do that?

SlKogasa is still hiding in the mist of poison she created, Mamizou watching her position warily as her tail bushes about in anticipation. From behind her, you can see a gleam of light off of a teal body as a portion of Kogasa's slimy body pokes up out of one of the cracks in the earth she made. A back attack, that's your girl! You watch as the slime suddenly lances towards the Mamizou's back...only for her to twist out of the way of it without even looking and respond with a barrage of leafy blades that cut apart the slimy appendage. But...she never even saw it. Behind her, Nueton's expression is one of concentration as he watches both of his fighters work.

Looks like things are more even than it looked. Lunasa's using skills you didn't even know she had, while SlKogasa is demonstrating just how smart she can be. You're confident that your girls can push through this.

More than that though, you feel happy about how Lunasa defended you without a second thought. She's right, ultimately Nueton only knew the species of your girls, which gives him a rough idea. Anything past that is just guesswork, and even you don't know your girl's full potential.

Then it goes back to going wrong when the Nue hooks one of Lunasa's blows on her trident and twists it aside before slamming her fist into Lunsa's face as it glows with a sickly colored miasma. The Nue drags her claws across Lunasa's face as Lunasa let's out a startled cry of pain, reeling back and clutching her face as the Nue spins her trident and points it at her, unleashing a shot of hundreds of razor sharp, nigh invisible needles that are no doubt covered in poison to sting her.

Mamizou grabs a chunk of unturned earth and hefts it up into the air before hurling at where she suspects SlKogasa is, the massive chunk of rock that was thrown breaks apart the mist, but thankfully you don't see SlKogasa take a hit. In fact, she doesn't seem to be there at all.

You try hard not to cringe at the sight of Lunasa being put in a bad spot like that, but it's still down to her abilities, no matter how much you'd rather be able to say otherwise. Same with SlKogasa, but at the very least the goo girl is only having to deal with physical attacks. You're suspicious that she's not taking this fight totally seriously, as if Nueton's mons are as knowledgeable as he is, she already knows that slimes are barely affected by physical attacks. Short of striking the core, that is.

...Now that you think about it, that's probably what that Mamizou is going for.

And with SlKogasa having to use her core to actually maintain her body and use most of her abilities, her core is much more exposed than most slimes cores are. Meaning that one of those rocks could take her out of the rights immediately. Mamizou picks up another rock and hefts it to throw, but...that's not the direction that SlKogasa is in, you feel.

Nue spins and deflects around Lunasa's attacks, who is doing the best she can managed against the faster touhoumon. If she could get one of her attacks to connect then it would be much more in her favor, since Nue's are not exactly known for their durability. But, it's getting the attack to connect that's the problem, as the Nue seems content to keep her off balance during the fight and not let up.

...Ugh. As much as you didn't want to have to start giving commands, at the rate things are going you're going to have to. Lunasa's likely poisoned already if her typing doesn't prevent it, and SlKogasa... You're pretty sure that the two are almost dealing with the wrong opponents. Nue seems to be Flying/Poison while Mamizou specializes in Ground/Grass... "Lunasa, Kogasa, switch targets!"

You're not sure if it'll be that simple, given how Nue seems to be able to harass Lunasa at will, but SlKogasa is tricky.

Mamizou hurls the rock at Lunasa, having apparently anticipated your plan and fully intending to keep it from happening. But, Lunasa is suddenly sucked into the ground, avoiding the rock which slams into the ground just past where she was just moments ago. You can see a Lunasa sized hole in the arena floor.

"What? Hey, is that even-?" Nue starts to speak up to complain before she moves, wings flaring as she avoids a series of grasping tentacles that came at her from behind. How are they even able to predict those so well? I mean, you know that touhoumon have extreme sense, but Kogasa is a slime type of a touhoumon based on ambush and surprise, surely she should be able to get the drop on them from behind.

Mamizou just hops along the ground as well, moving closer to Nue to help prevent your strategy to separate them from working. The two of them warily watch the surrounding ground and wait for the inevitable attack.

Now you're getting annoyed. That's two ambush attacks they've reacted to with perfect accuracy without having any obvious knowledge as to what SlKogasa was doing. You know full well that Nueton hasn't spoken a word this whole match, so by all means his mons shouldn't have been able to react as though he did warn them. The only trainer confirmed to be that good by nature was the Boy in Red, and this guy... well, he's not.

Neither are you, but that's beside the point.

Plus, Nueton had those odd balls and hairclips of his. You remember that pretty clearly, and are looking right at them now that SlKogasa's sorting Lunasa out.

You're pretty sure that's not standard equipment.

Nueton's eyes are running calmly along the surface of the arena grounds, watching and waiting for any sign of what might be coming as everyone calmly waits for the storm to come. You notice his eyes focus on one point in the floor particular, and suddenly Mamizou lift up a foot and slams it down, sending a wave of disrupted earth through the floor that culminates in that section of the floor crashing down.

"...Son of a Momiji, is he seriously using a mental link?!" There weren't too many other things it could be at this point. He's not giving commands directly, he's acting as a spotter like he should, and his mons are reacting like they're psychic. You have to applaud his underhanded tactics, if nothing else.

Nueton looks up at you, making eye contact. Then...he just grins. It's an obnoxious, shit-eating grin that fills you with a sense of disgust and awe, because you just know he's pulled this trick on other people before and they've never caught on, "You know, you're the first one who's actually caught on to this." He makes conversation from across the arena as he watches carefully, "Most either don't figure it out, think I'm a natural psychic or just make fun of my fashion sense."

"I'm surprised more people haven't caught on, quite honestly. No offense, but if anyone actually paid attention to you they'd see it pretty easily." Honestly, his mon's reactions are too perfect, especially when it came to SlKogasa, who was built for ambush tactics.

"People are neither smart nor observant." He shrugs, "At least, not naturally. Most trainers don't think out of the box much at all. If it's not something that they've seen or heard about before, they won't imagine it's possible. After all..." Nueton spreads his arms, "Who would imagine that someone could create an artificial psychic connection? That's ridiculous, like something out of an anime, isn't it?"

"It does seem a bit out there, yeah. I can get how most people wouldn't get it." You keep an eye on the battlefield since you're sure something's happened since you last looked. "Guess most people don't know how to eliminate the impossible."

"Most people are just dumb." Nueton shrugs as both of his mon twist and move, avoiding it as SlKogasa bursts up out of the ground and attempts to grapple them. While it may not be lucky on her part since she couldn't catch them, she did manage to break them up! Lunasa bursts out of her body and heads for Mamizou as SlKogasa unleashes and all out assault on Nue, numerous slimy tendrils lashing and attacking after the speedy mon who is amazingly dodging them all still.

"Well, I guess there's not much left to do but see how this plays out." You say in response, watching as your girls take to the offensive proper.

"That Slime type of yours is quite intelligent you know." Nueton remarks, "Most of them tend to be more towards a primal, animalistic cunning if they aren't Queens. She seems quite a bit brighter than that. You may want to keep that in mind for whatever you're planning in the future." He suggests as he watches SlKogasa and Nue's battle carefully, Nue avoiding every single attack sent her way as Nueton devotes more of his attention to keeping her safe from that relentless assault. But...with his attention on Nue, then...!

Lunasa is fighting Mamizou ferociously, having closed in playing her instrument and unleashing a barrage of sound and sonic based attacks that seemingly cracked the Mamizou's defenses, and allowed her to get the chance and entrance she needed. Now the two of them are slugging it out, trading physical blows as the Mamizou slams a fist across Lunasa's face. Lunasa just clenches a fist that has a ghastly colored mist burst to life as she slams her ghost-style punch into Mamizou's head, who rocks to the side. At the same moment Nueton hisses and grabs that side of his face as you notice it discolor. What in the..."

...Wait a tic. He's got a psychic link with his mons via the devices, then maybe there's some form of backlash when his mons actually get hit? Granted, you're not going to tell your girls to lay off now, but it's a point of curiosity.

You know, you would never have suspected Lunasa to be capable of this kind of fighting style, given everything you know about them and what you saw of her. But she is just laying into the Mamizou with her fists. Mamizou is hitting back, sure, but Lunasa is just a whirlwind of fists and fury as the two duke it out.

Nueton is clenching his teeth as he tries to keep his concentration up, eyes darting over to Mamizou who suddenly twists under a shadowy punch from Lunasa and kicks the earth, causing a pillar of earth to rise up from beneath her and slam straight up into her. Oooooh, that had to hurt. Of course, with his attention on Mamizou, Nue is forced to dodge on her own, twisting and turning around the attacks as best as she can manage as SlKogasa continues her tendril assault unabated. SlKogasa and Nue can't poison each other very readily, which means they're going to have to rely on their individual combat abilities. If Nue can get off a special attack though...

You realize now that SlKogasa's luck was absolutely amazing, by attacking where and how she did she forced Nue and Mamizou apart enough that Nueton can't keep both in his field of vision at once even the slightest bit, meaning that he can only support one of them at a time. More over, you get the feeling that Nue and Mamizou are both used to having Nueton's support on them, so they have a bit more trouble fighting alone.

Which really meant that Nueton was more clever than good at battles. Now that he's off balance, his entire setup's falling apart, and the more damage his mons take the more it starts to bite him in the ass. It's literally going to come down to whether Nue has an ace up her sleeve or not.

Nyu takes a hit from one of the tentacles and grits her teeth before pointing her trident at SlKogasa as it arcs with energy for just a moment before a bolt of lighting bursts out of it and slams into SlKogasa.

Who promptly explodes, chunks of slime flying all over.

You wince at that one. You're seriously hoping she's not down, because like how Nueton was the key to his offensive, SlKogasa is the only thing keeping your side of things going well. If she goes down, it'd be two against one and you're not sure you could coach Lunasa through dealing with two opponents.

Meanwhile with Lunasa, she seems to have recovered from having a chunk of stone driven up into her rather admirably as she pulls back and whirls around the rocks hurled at her while peppering the Mamizou with sonic based attacks in return. Lunasa pulls her bow all the way up on the string, and Merlin and Lyrica jump forward behind you to cover your ears. Even through their protection, you can hear the piercing shrieking outcry of noise as Lunasa brings the pain.

You're seriously glad your girls jumped in just then, because that would have hurt otherwise. ...Speaking of which, if you're right and Nueton feels the pain his mons take, and your girls felt that they had to jump in to protect you from it, would he have felt that two, or even threefold? "Thanks, girls." You say to Merlin and Lyrica.

Nueton is on the ground, actually. Uh...Is he okay?

Sebastian signals someone with his hand and an assistant runs over to Nueton, carefully checking him as he starts to move on his own, slamming his hands into the ground as he gets back up to his feet, his connectors-oh geez are they smoking?

Mami grabs Lunasa and hurls her away from her as if she was a rock and rushes over to her trainer, with Nyu doing the same as she pours all her speed into it. "I'm fine..." Nueton tries to insist as he gets up unsteadily to his feet.

"Don't give me that, you idiot!" Nue chastises him vocally, her displeasure obvious, "Your head is smoking! Human heads aren't supposed to do that!" She is edging closer to the boundaries of the match limits as Sebastian watches like a hawk.

"It's fine, I can still-" Nueton tries to insist but Mamizou just pushes the seemingly useless aide out of the way and leaves the arena, disqualifying herself as she checks Nueton's temples herself, "No, you're not fine. They're burning into your temples." She informs him as she carefully takes Nueton into her arms and supports him.

"Hey, Muscles McGee!" The Nue calls out to Sebastian, "We forfeit, give them the victory or whatever!" She states as she carefully takes Nueton's other side.

That was almost anti-climactic, but you honestly wish you had thought to tell Lunasa to do that sooner. "A battle won through trainer knockout. That's not exactly a regular win." You say in response while shaking your head. "Lunasa, Kogasa, the two of you did great!" You say with much greater enthusiasm.

...Oh right.

Lunasa is digging herself up off the floor and rubbing her face, but she seems fairly happy that you're praising her. She looks like she's been put through the ringer though, for a touhoumon. SlKogasa is seemingly nowhere to be seen...at least until you feel something around your feel. There you see a small blob of slime with her core contained in it as bits of slime that were blasted all over the room by the critically striking lightning bolt slowly reform back together.

You kneel down and look her over with a worried expression on your face. "Ouch. Good thing Sebastian has a portable Touhoumon center here. We're going there first thing after you get yourself back together." You say, not wanting to bring up the alternative option at first, but... "Actually, do you want me to recall you and let you back out so you can at least be back in one piece faster?"

Her slime jiggles in a negative manner as she continues to pull herself back together, her separate pieces pulling together more rapidly since she was moving too slow for you before.

"Wow, way to go sis!" Merlin claps Lunasa on the back, "I mean, you got beaten up a lot at the start of it, but you were really doing well there at the end!"

"What Merlin is saying, is that you did a good job and we're both proud of you." Lyrica cuts in, giving Merlin a look as she pats Lunasa on the back. Lunasa just pulls both of them into a big hug and squeezes them tight.

"Oh, I'm so glad you approve!" Lunasa seems very happy indeed as she hugs her squirming sisters tight.

"You really did do well, Lunasa." You look to the mon in question and smile at her. "Next time I'll be a bit quicker on the draw about realizing when you're in a bad spot." You imagine that if you had told the two to swap targets sooner, odds are good Lunasa wouldn't have gotten beat half as bad as she was. "Still, I'm really surprised. You're good at using your fists, and using your bow like that was something I never would have seen coming. You were right when you said that that Nue didn't know anything."

"W-well..." Lunasa blushes, looking rather embarrassed, "I don't know, I mean...she probably could have beaten me, so..." She seems to be dimming down just a bit now, becoming unsure of herself.

SlKogasa suddenly bursts into existence, reforming herself as a decidedly younger looking version of herself as she continues to slowly regain mass. She lunges forward and hugs the girls, and you, all together, "We winners!"

You aren't surprised by that sudden hug, oddly enough, and are quite happy about it. "Yeah. It wasn't through the usual means, but we won." You hug Lunasa as well, since you haven't gotten to yet. "Lunasa, that's just a what-if, and Nueton wasn't playing fair anyway. If Nue didn't have the support she did from him, you would have won."

"Plus, that underhanded tactic of his wound up biting him in the rear thanks to you. So cheer up, okay?" You continue, not wanting Lunasa's mood to dampen over what-ifs.

"No she wouldn't have!" Nue yells at you as she carries Nueton closer, "I would have-"

"Nyu, that's enough." Nueton speaks up, his voice hoarse, "That SlKogasa of yours is far more cunning and intelligent than I'd expected." Nueton informs you as Mamizou supports him silently and his Nue fumes, glowering at you for your insult towards her abilities, "A sonic attack wouldn't normally have affected my connectors like that. Those previous sonic attacks that peppered the area were to measure the frequency these connectors operate at so you could hit them at the right one to cause them to backfire. While you were underground, the SlKogasa gave you the idea." Nueton is stating these as if they were facts, and not just mere speculation.

Lunasa shifts, biting her lip nervously as her eyes dart around.

"It's impressive either way. Even if Kogasa had the idea, Lunasa had to implement it herself." You say simply while still being hugged from all sides. "Plus, it's now one more trick Lunasa can pull off now and in the future. I'm just calling it a team effort and leaving it at that."

"Still, I think we ought to head back to the 'portable' TC shortly. Lunasa and Kogasa need the rest and I'm sure you're only managing to stand up with your Mamizou's help and sheer willpower."

"Unfortunately, humans can't be bathed in that healing concoction they have." Nueton adjusts his glasses, whice are miraculously not cracked apart by the fall or sonic damage, "You can ignore the information I've given you if you wish to. I merely suggest you keep remember it. Also..." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small, worn looking book which he holds out to you, "A gift. This is something I developed before I created these headsets. It's a completely comprehensive list of handsigns and signals so you can communicate with your touhoumon, if you wish it. They're nonstandard, and completely unlike the standard sign language you see used."

You take the book in question and place it in your Key Items pocket, along with the few other things you've picked up. "Thanks. Also, I wasn't planning on ignoring your advice on Kogasa here. I just didn't really want to knock Lunasa down like that."

"And yeah, I know that stuff won't work on humans. I figured it'd be better for you to go someplace to at least get some rest as opposed to standing in an arena that we're probably going to have to vacate shortly."

"Your Prismrivers are no doubt capable, exceedingly so for Prismrivers." He admits, adjusting his glasses again as they slip off his nose a bit, "But, she was not the deciding factor in that battle. The SlKogasa was. To ignore that is to slight both of them."

"...My apologies, my pain is making me step out of bounds." Nueton apologizes as Mami shifts and starts to drag him off, his Nyu giving your Lunasa one last look as they turn, "And I apparently am not allowed to stay here any longer. Take care Ezekiel, and good luck." He offers to you as he's dragged off.

You nod in response to that. "Lunasa, Kogasa, I really ought to be doing what that Mamizou is doing with Nueton. Namely, dragging you both off to get healed properly." You say, feeling a touch antsy about leaving them hurt like that. "Kogasa, how close are you to reforming completely?"

SlKogasa seems to be mostly reformed at this point, and is seemingly unharmed and just fine with how she's acting. Sebastian steps up, "Excuse me, Ezekiel. But you'll need to head through here." He points to the door you came in through, "Just head to the door with your mark on it and wait there. Someone will be along shortly to treat your team."

"Alright, thanks." You say to Sebastian. "Let's go, girls." You say to your team as you... realize that you're still kind of being hugged by a goo girl. "Kogasa...?"

Kogasa oozes through the door, carrying you all along with her with ease as she passes through it and quickly looks around to try and find your sign. You notice behind her that several pieces of slime are still trailing after her, forming up into her until she's finally complete.

Well, looks like she's managed to pull herself together in full. You don't need to worry about that, so you're free to look at the doors to figure out which one's which, and you spot it...

[ ] On the leftmost door, along with the image of a TC.

[ ] On the middle-left door, along with the image of a triple energy.

[ ] On the middle-right door, along with the image of a Mokou.

[ ] On the rightmost door, along with the image of a switch card.

Well...this is confusing

For the door with an image of an TC, that should be obvious as to what it is. For the door that has a Switch, I guess this is for us to switch our teams as we want it....maybe. As for the Mokou and triple energy, I have no fucking idea....oh bother

[X] Go ask Sebastian as to which doors lead to where

I need clear choices here...

Anyway, this SlKogasa, from time to time, has been emphasised to be that unique, one day we should trace her origins when we have time

[x] On the leftmost door, along with the image of a TC.

Okay, so this choice indicates just which door our sigil is located, and what it is located next to. IE our next opponents. So, I wonder what this one would be?

Also, I'm wondering. How much stamina does Kogasa have? Would it be better to team her up with each of the girls in turn? Or do we give Lyrica and Merlin a chance next?

Triple energy may be triple battle. But let's not forget that it's only one fight down and 3 to go. Stamina must be preserved

Mokou door may be fiery arena...

[x] Leftmost door.


>>173353
No. It refers to our next opponent. The rules for the battle weren't randomized until we actually arrived at the arena.

>>173352
That depends on the rules for our next battle. They won't be the same as this one. We cant plan too mucvh ahead because we don't know what will happen.

[x] On the leftmost door, along with the image of a TC.

Some healing wouldn't hurt, no shame in stopping for recovery/etc.

Alright, I handled the votes this time so I'll go ahead and clear something up since it seems like I botched this.

>>173354
>>173352

These two have it right. The symbols have to do with what kind of trainer Zeke will face next, not the ruleset or benefits. You could liken each symbol to the corresponding trainer's mentality.

>>173358

If thats the case then, I'll try having my own take on what the symbols mean

TC may refer to a trainer who cares that much for his Touhoumons

A triple energy(we're talking Touhoumon energy types right?) may refer to a trainer who believes in having a lot of options, which means having a lot of different types

A Mokou may refer to a trainer who either believes in pure offense (Fire side of Mokou) or is that determined to win (Resurrection side of Mokou)

And a Switch trainer may be one who has a strategy thats based around switching

If anybody has any other interpretations thats plausable, they may say it for now....ehhh I'll go with TC door, it may make for an interesting match if I am right...or it may be just frustrating if it turns out said Trainer acts like a walking TC (Lots of potions on hand)

[X] On the leftmost door, along with the image of a TC.

[x] On the leftmost door, along with the image of a TC.

I don't know what TC means.

I have three semi-requests, if you don't mind. I find the use of "Ara" somewhat disconcerting, given that the rest of the story is purely in English. I think that it disrupts the flow of the narrative, and that another interjection, like "My, my" or "Oh my" or something along those lines would be more appropriate.

Secondly, I'd sort of like to scan the Prismrivers and the Kogasa to get a more concrete idea of their capabilities, like in the original Touhoumon thread when Nemosa scanned Reisen and Mima.

Lastly, I'd like to consider adopting nicknames for our Prismrivers and Kogasa, to make them distinct apart from their species and as a show of affection. It'd just make things simpler, I think.

You spot your Yukari image on a door that also has a Touhoumon Center image on it, and point it out to SlKogasa. "It's that one." You say to her.

SlKogasa immediately surges in that direction, oozing rapidly towards the door which she opens up and quickly heads into the room it was marking the boundary of. Inside...you are alone. You do not see any other people or touhoumon. This waiting room is much like the last one was, except this one is painted a soothing green. It's quite nice.

The Prismrivers enter into the room after you, floating about and examining various fixtures of it, including the paintings and a small statue of a frowning head in the corner.

"...it's staring." SlKogasa remarks as she stares right back at the statue. Huh, you know you suspect it may be one of those statues that seems like it's always looking at you no matter where you are in the room.

You walk over to where Kogasa is and join her in looking at the odd statue, since there's nothing else like it in the room. You move about a bit to see if it's just that old trick where something in a painting looking like it's tracking you, of if someone's actually messing around. Which would be silly.

"It does, doesn't it? Some artists like to make art of people or mons that give the appearance of looking right at you when it's not." You explain to the best of your ability.

You suppose it is probably just the statue itself rather than just anyone messing around. It's just being spooky is all, that's what it is. Too darn spooky.

Meanwhile Lyrica and Merlin are checking over Lunasa, who is trying her best to convince them that she's fine to wait until whoever will be helping them out is here and neither of them needs to go and get anyone.

Now that you think about it, Lunasa must have been poisoned before, and pretty darn hurt. Then SlKogasa pulled her underground, gave her a plan, and bam. Lunasa had enough of a second wind to pull that plan off. "Kogasa, did you pick up some kind of healing technique before too? Lunasa is doing pretty good despite getting beaten up and poisoned in that last match."

Kogasa shifts about and makes a few confused noises as she opens her mouth and then closes it again. Eventually she waves to the Prismrivers which gets them to come over. The group of them have a rapid conversation in moonspeak that leaves you out of the loop, but also has Merlin actually look both surprised and impressed as she drops an 'ara'.

Lyrica turns her attention onto you, "She said that all she did was try to copy the chemical composition of the healing drink that the portable touhoumon center gave her."

"You can do that?" You look at SlKogasa with a rather surprised tone. Sure, she can poison people and keep someone healthy inside her for other purposes, but that's just stuff they start off with. "That's amazing..."

SlKogasa's cheeks tint a darker shade of color as she sinks down into herself to hide in embarrassment. She mutters a few things in moonspeak that you don't understand. Lyrica helpfully steps in to help, "She said that it wasn't perfect or anything, and is only a kinda bad copy. Plus she can only do so much of it because it's...resource intensive?" She guesses.

You nod in response to that. "Kinda bad copy or no, it looks like it was effective. I can understand the limit on its creation too. It seems like the Reisen operating the portable TC have it set up to reuse the mixture." You say, feeling quite proud of your goo girl for coming up with something like that. "Plus, it's a pain to come up with enough items ot match the healing a TC can provide. You need stuff like high quality potions and Ether in a decent quantity bare minimum to even come close."

"Nueton was right. You're a smart girl, Kogasa."

She is a very smart girl apparently, who can do things you never even expected her to be capable of. You have to wonder just what kind of other tricks she has up her metaphorical sleeves as you hear the door behind you open up to reveal...

...A girl wearing a pale white sundress with skin that's almost paler than it. The sundress runs down to her ankles and she has a head full of long, thin almost white hair that runs down to he mid of her back in one long, wispy pool of hair. "Oh..." Her voice is soft, "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Oh? Hello!" You look to the newcomer. "You're my opponent for this round, I take it?" You ask, rather curious about what kind of opponent you'd be facing in your next match.

"Oh, yes. That's me." She doesn't seem particularly happy about it either. She slips into the room as a pair of familiar Reisens shove past her and rush up to Lunasa and SlKogasa, carefully checking them over and saying numbers to each other before giving them both two slightly different colored drinks and rushing out of the room. The pale girl just frowns a bit at them as they close the door behind themselves.

"Sheesh. I know they're doing their jobs, but that was kinda rude." You say once the Reisen had left. You look to the girl in white once more. "My name's Ezekiel. Might I ask what yours is?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." The girl grabs her dress and curtsies properly for you, "I'm am Erika von Mustermann. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." She introduces herself properly too. Man, she's got a 'von' in her name. Are you talking to royalty?

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, miss." You match her politeness for the sake of being nice. "...I guess there isn't much to do other than wait for the match to start." You admit sheepishly, noting that while you'd like to continue thinking about just what SlKogasa's capable of, the last thing you want to do is blurt something out before you want to reveal it.

"Indeed," The girl sits down on the bench opposite your side of the room and genteelly tucks her hands into her lap as she relaxes, her expression one of calm as she takes quiet, slow breaths. It's almost as if she wants to calm herself.

You admit that you're rather curious about Erika here, but at the same time she looks a touch stressed and you don't want to make it worse for her.

She looks up and smiles, her expression very serene, "I am sorry about that. I don't really handle the stress of being out very well, but I so wanted to have the chance to see this place at least once, so I..." She shrugs, still smiling, "I came here anyway!" She whispers excitedly as if it's a great secret, "I see you have excellent taste in touhoumon though. Are not ghost types the most majestic and mysterious of them all?"

"It's fine." You say in response to her first statement. "And thanks. I do like Ghost types. It was mostly out of impatience, but I did want one for my starter and set out to get one. I never thought I'd wind up with a full set of three Prismrivers. Let alone shiny Prismrivers."

"I see. That sounds like it must be quite a tale." Erika responds as she looks to either side of you, "My you two, there's no need to be shy like that. It's obvious he appreciates ghosts just fine." It takes a moment for anything to happen, eventually a Yuyuko fades into existence on Erika's left side, hiding her mouth behind her fan, while on her right side a Youmu blinks into existence. The Youmu is watching you suspiciously for any signs of shenanigans, and will cut you down if you try to make any moves on her ladies. Probably.

"A Yuyuko and a Youmu? Wow. This match should prove interesting." A simultaneous mutual advantage and disadvantage. Any one of the mons present in this room could come out on top. It'd just come down to who's better, really.

It'll also come down to the match type. The right type of match and arena will serve to your Prismrivers advantage over the Yuyuko and Youmu, but the wrong one will leave you in a lot of trouble. "They're very interesting indeed!" Erika enthuses, "They've been my closest friends for many years."

"I bet they make good companions too. I know my girls do." You don't make the mistake of teasing Merlin again, or any of your girls really. As much as you'd like to be affectionate with them, they're still sensitive to that kind of stimulation, and the last thing you want to do is set them off. Erika's probably not like Nueton in terms of what's acceptable behavior.

Erika responds, "Oh they're excellent companions! Why they're simply-" She gets cut off into a squealing giggle as Yuyuko gets a malevolently friendly glint in her eye and leans down closer to Erika, burying her face in the smaller girls neck and getting her to squeal and giggle, "Oh no! No no-stop that we're- nooooo~!" Erika giggles delightedly as the Yuyuko wraps an arm around her and pulls her closer, using her fan to block your view and see what's going on, but you can hear and imagine. Oh can you imagine...


The Youmu is staring at you pointedly, thumb fingering the guard of her sword carefully.

You look to the Youmu and feel a touch nervous. "I don't plan on making any moves on Erika, you know. I've got my hands full with my girls already."

Especially since they're, you know, freshly evolved.

She seems skeptical of you, but at least looks less like she's not going to stab you. Behind you though, you can hear three very similar sounding growls. To your right, SlKogasa is engrossed in a staring contest with the statue. Which means...

You look behind you, half curious and half worried about just what it is you're going to see. You're pretty sure that it's your own girls who are making those noises...

Lyrica, Merlin and even Lunasa are making very irritable noises at the girls across from you. Lyrica is glowering at the fiercely while Merlin is giving off a very intimidating 'fuck off' glare while Lunasa is looking as fierce and scary as she can manage to, but looks more terrifying and creepy instead.

Oh, that's all. You know, it's kind of worrying that you can say things like that in your head as if they were no big deal.

Well, at least it isn't a three headed Kagerou planning to make off with you or something, right? That's what you had been afraid of. Across from you, it seems Erika is trying to push Yuyuko away now but the bigger, stronger mon is being insistent. "Mistress Yuyuko." The Youmu's voice is tight, clipped and controlled.

The Yuyuko just sighs and lets the poor, flustered Erika go who slumps against Youmu, empty eyed. "Oh, you're such a party pooper Youmu. She was having fun!"

"Is Erika okay?" You ask, since that's not really a normal expression for a person to have. "I'm not trying to insinuate anything, it's just her eyes...

"It is not your business, but she is fine." The Youmu is staring at you unflinchingly, "Now, may I suggest you-"

"Y-youmu, it's fine." Erika takes a few calming breaths and recovers admirably from her ordeal. Is this the power of the nobility...""I apologize for that, I am afraid my friends can be very affectionate when they wish to be."

"It's fine. I'd be a hypocrite if I seriously held that against you. Plus, I know what that's like." You look to Merlin, whom you teased without meaning to and wound up making out with in a rather risque way that you couldn't escape from to save your life. Not that you wanted to, but you did need to breathe.

Merlin looks right back at you, one eyebrow rising up challengingly. Do you want her to do it again?

"L-later Merlin..." You say, blushing and looking away. "I'm not sure how much time we have, or if Erika's okay with watching that."

"I would...prefer if you did not." Erika admits, sounding dreadfully embarrassed as she looks away from the pouting Yuyuko, "I prefer such things to be private, and this would be decidedly not so." She points out, shifting about as she nervously rubs her thighs together, "I do hope this will not be too violent of a match..."

"That's kind of my objection too." You say in response. Especially since ideally you're going to be bedding all three Prismrivers later tonight. Along with SlKogasa. For a few days to work out your girl's sex drive. You try to get your mind off that subject. "I can't make any promises on my end." You say apologetically. It seems that for all her desire to come out here, she still isn't that big on fighting.

"Ah, you are wondering why I am here if there's a tournament?" She asks, reading you like an open book. A coloring book even, "I didn't come here to fight, I was just...roped into it, somehow. That man was just so excitable and pleading that I couldn't manage to say no...not that he would have listened if I had, I suspect."

"Sebastian? Yeah, I kinda got roped into it too. From what I hear this is an impromptu tournament dropped on him by the League itself to see if he's qualified to join the Elite Four." You respond with what you recall to be the right details. "Also, am I that easy to read?" You feel a little embarrassed about that, because if she could read you now, she could have easily done so earlier too.

"It is not so much that you are easy to read, so much as the situation was. It is only natural you would wonder why I am participating in a tournament when I do not like fighting, and it is only appropriate that I answer you."

"Ah." You can't quite respond to that proper, so you settle for a sound of acknowledgement. "Well, that aside, part of why I got involved in this is because I was actually requested to participate. Sebastian handled the actual 'convince me to join this' part, but I get the feeling he wasn't going to ask me to push my girls this much this soon." You say, wanting to continue the conversation. "I'm pretty sure a good friend of mine wanted to battle me personally, and this is as good a point as any to do it."

"Oh? A friend wanting to fight another friend? Oh, is this like one of my serials? Are you going to draw knives on each other at a bridge at sunset over who will marry the girl you both love!?" She asks excitedly, eyes lighting up.

If this were an anime or a comic, you'd be sweating profusely right now at her misconception. "N-no, it supposed to just be a friendly match between rivals. Plus, I don't even know how to fight with a knife, and I'd be worried if Costello did."

"So you're going to fight with your fists as brothers in arms over your ideals then!?" She asks even more excitedly, doing some old timey shadow boxing as she bounces up and down in her seat, "Oh, do you have called attacks!?" How did this end up like this?

You're starting to feel a touch overwhelmed here, though you have to admit that you had absolutely no idea that this girl had those kinds of fantasies. You didn't want to guess either, even if she looks like the type who's rather delicate. "Not that either. Plus, if you're talking about the series I think you are, no, neither of us have the blessing of an Archetype either."

"But how do you know for sure?" She insists, her excitement not dimming the least, "What if they're mysteriously and quietly watching on as you travel on your journey, slowly improving and growing until they appear and challenge you and you have to fight for your freedom and to prove your worth!"

"...That's actually kind of a scary thought, if they're as strong as the stories say. Especially since I met a mon I've never heard of before that called herself Mugetsu who was... watching... me." Wait, is Erika right?

"See!" Erika points at you excitedly, "And then it will turn out that her sister has been watching your friend, and you'll be caught in the middle of an ancient blood feud and forced to fight to the deaths in a rainstorm in the deepest trench of Ginnungagap as they wage a war in the heavens above you!"

You scratch your head. "Well, if you're going to think things like that I might as well tell you about the encounter." You say, feeling that if you can't nip this in the bud, you may as well at least give her some correct details to work with. "Sebastian has warning signs up there now, but do you know about the beach that's fairly close to One Tree?"

"Well, I went there with my girls and was dragged into an anomaly within minutes of my getting there. I wound up meeting Mugetsu there, who offered me a red pill and a blue pill. I didn't take either one, since who takes pills given to them by a mon they don't know?" You're not sure if Erika's going to get the right or wrong idea from this or not. "She was willing to let me go, but she certainly made one effort to capture me before I could leave." You distinctly remember her cursing when you slipped and nearly fell away from the exit.

"Yes, you must certainly be marked by fate and destiny, bound by the stories they weave together! Tell me, have you had any other fateful meetings? Tragic backstory? Non-standard childhood? Secret abilities?" She presses eagerly, leaning forward and staring at you as Yuyuko giggles behind her and your Prismrivers growl again, "Have you found yourself wondering if you are guided by the whims of a finicky higher power?"

You have to stop and think about it, partly because you're not sure what would require you telling her about what your girls can do and whether you want to vindicate her decreasingly outlandish thoughts. "Well, there was my going to the White Tower..."

"You went there and came back?" The Girl sounds awed, "Surely you must be guided by a higher, wiser power indeed!"

"The truth is only slightly less interesting." You admit while scratching your head again. "See, I was impatient about getting a starter of my own because one of my friends has connections with an uncle who works at a research lab. So he and Costello got a Hakurei and a Kirisame respectively. ...And I was jealous that someone like that got such a rare mon. I can admit that now."

"So, me being me, I decided to go out to the White Tower..." You start to retell that story in full detail, cutting out the parts where you engaged in lewdness with your partners to be at the time, but telling her pretty much every other aspect to that story. Right down to the LWYoumu telling you outright that the only reason you were permitted to get that far was because the Tower Mistress permitted it, as you were doing her a favor. Said mistress who you suspect is a Yuyuko of some sort.

"Oh my..." The Yuyuko fans herself, "Is auntie still up to her old tricks?" She sounds dreadfully unsurprised, "It sounds like she gave you a...'hard' time, hm?" She asks of you as the Youmu sighs beside Erika, looking deeply forlorn.

Erika just speaks up, "Surely though, you must see that that is proof! After all, the Mistress of the White Tower saw your potential and allowed you to escape, rather than just keep you on as a sex slave that she'd take advantage of endlessly until your death! You must be marked by fate and destiny if you avoided a fate so many others fell prey to!"

"Or I just happened to be playing her game the right way, even though I didn't know any of the rules." You feel more embarrassed when Erika starts talking about the concept of you being a sex slave with the same open enthusiasm as everything else she's said so far. You know she doesn't mean any harm by it, but at the same time...

You look to the Yuyuko after that. "Well, the Tower Mistress didn't harass me personally, but the Youmu's ghost half that was there certainly seemed interested in picking me up."

"Oh, is that so? Why, I remember when our Youmu-" The Yuyuko starts to tell a story, gearing up to tell you a no doubt embarrassing story before Youmu lets out a cry and tackles her, lunging across Erika and sending her tumbling forward out of her seat and into you, falling with her face buried in your stomach as she kneels in front of you awkwardly. Behind you, you can feel waves of deadly pressure pouring off of your girls.

To your side, SlKogasa is making faces in a mirror!

You're not even remotely sure how to handle this scenario, seeing as the Youmu looked like she was willing to cut you in half for so much as looking at Erika the wrong way, and how the trainer herself is face planted onto your stomach. Your own girls feel like they're about to maul something, and the Youmu would probably try to lop your head off even though you didn't have anything to do with where Erika currently is.

Youmu appears to be mostly focused on and stuck dealing with Yuyuko who continues to tease her right back by continuing her story. Unfortunately you can't hear her over the sound of the Youmu fighting with her, so that's out of the correction. Below, Erika moans pitifully and starts to struggle back up right by using your legs as support. She glances up at you and realizes her position and stares at you wide eyed.

"S-should I help you up...?" You offer, feeling more than a touch unsure about this entire scenario. Though you do note that for all the terror this scenario entails, Erika herself is actually quite pretty.

Erika shakes her head, her hair rubbing against you as she does so. She slowly manages to get up before being bumped again by the Youmu and sent tumbling into you, falling into your lap and banging your foreheads together. She feels rather cold in your arms. Is she sick?

You rub the spot where your foreheads smacked together, and note that this scenario is arguably worse than the one before and you didn't plan for this at all and ohgod your girls must be feeling murderous.

Behind you, you can feel your girls presence has somehow completely disappeared, almost as if your mind is editing out the intense waves of murderous intent for your own mental good. Erika looks at you tearily in front of you, "T-truly, I am very sorry for this sir."

You shake your head. "This isn't your fault, there's no need to apologize over it." You say, and mean it. None of this is her fault personally, so much as it is her Youmu's lapse of judgment in the matter.

Though you would imagine that whatever that story is, it must be a doozy to get that Youmu to act in the manner she is. Usually they're amazingly cautious of doing anything that could hurt their trainer, in any sense of the word. Youmu and Yuyuko continue to wrestle as Erika slowly and carefully gets up, moving away from their squabbling and sitting on the far end of the seat.

You're feeling a touch flustered as well since Erika was just so darn light on you, not to mention she smelled nice. You looked to your girls since you were worried about how they were reacting still, and proceeded to grab Lunasa's hand gently to at least try and de-fuse her.

Lunasa has calmed down entirely now, and is looking at you as you touch her, "Yes Zeke?" She asks in her soft voice, "Did you need something?" Beside her, Lyrica and Merlin peer at you looking obviously curious on their own way.

"Aside from you to not look like you're about to kill something?" You say, gently pulling her over to sit with you, then Lyrica and Merlin.

"...What are you talking about?" She asks you curiously as Merlin piles into your lap and Lyrica growls at her and shoves herself onto it too, the both of them struggling and grinding against you as Lunasa sits down on the bench next to you calmly as her sisters rub their rears all over your groin.

"Never mind." You dismiss the question since it's clear they either weren't aware of what they were doing or are playing dumb. You think it's the former. You also think you have a front row seat to one of the nicer, yet more embarrassing moments you've dealt with here so far, while noting that Lyrica has a really nice ass.

...You're honestly wondering if you're going to even make it through all four matches yourself, since you seem to be getting molested fairly often.

First it was Ran, then it was Gissele, then Merlin went overboard with her make out session, and now this.

Thankfully before things can get even more awkward, there is a knock at the door. "You’re both up, head on out to the arena." A bored sounding intern tells you before wandering off. Erika eases up out of her seat and edges past you, getting Youmu and Yuyuko to follow her while still quarreling with each other.

"Merlin, Lyrica, we really ought to follow her out there." You manage while trying your level hardest to not moan and alert them to just how much you're enjoying this, if your stiffy wasn't doing a good enough job of that already.

Merlin and Lyrica let out annoyed complaints as they vacate your dick area, leaving you once again with a deep sense of being unfulfilled and throbbing unpleasantly. You're really hoping this sort of thing doesn't keep happening, because otherwise...

You try to get your erection down before you go marching out there, since the last thing you need is to walk out there with your 'third leg' making itself known despite your pants normally keeping that kind of thing safely hidden. Once you're reasonably sure that you're not going to get aroused again before the match, you get up and hope that you're not going to embarrass yourself somehow. You walk over to SlKogasa and grab her hand to make sure that you lead her away from the creepy statue head thing. "C'mon, let's start the second match."

SlKogasa waves goodbye to the creepy statue head thing as it mournfully watches you go, "Bye bye Kirby!" She says goodbye to the statue she apparently named as you leave the room, the door shutting behind you. Outside you find the Prismrivers waiting for you as you exit, and you all make your way to the door that leads to the Arena. Inside you find...Huh. It looks like they've got some of those 'rapid use' obstacle things set up. There is waist high cover EVERYWHERE in this arena.

Erika is standing on the far side of the arena, waiting nervously with her two touhoumon beside her as she waits for the declaration of what match type it is. And it seems the referee for this match is once again Sebastian. "I will now decide the rules for this match!" Sebastian declares as you enter your box.

You're actually somewhat curious if he's refereeing every single match so far, which would probably explain why you had enough time to engage in storytelling shenanigans with Erika and get into... two awkward scenarios? Three? You lost count somewhere along the way. All you know is that this is a test of your self-control now.

The reels spin and spin, turning as fate and destiny decide just what will be happening today. And with a roll of the dice, your match is decided. The reels come to a stop on '1v1, No substitutions'. So, just one of your girls versus one of hers and winner takes all?


Erika looks very serious as she considers the situation. But just what are you thinking?

Now that you're able to think straight to a degree, you note that this battlefield seems to be geared toward giving its combatants some measure of protection against ranged attacks, which you're not totally sure amounts to anything because they're so short and from what you've seen, mons tend to have rather spectacular ranged attacks that could do interesting things. That's not even taking into consideration that the barricades might just get destroyed. Granted, you're not sure if anyone would actually do that, but still.

Plus Erika's mons have completely different approaches to combat, since they don't seem to have any immediate and obvious signs of being variants. That means the Yuyuko will probably stick to special attacks, while Youmu will favor physical. You're nervous about the idea of sending SlKogasa out there, since while physical attacks are useless against her slime body, she has to spend a lot of time with her core exposed, and the Youmu looks like she'd be smart enough to go right for it if she can.

That's not even taking into account the fact that every single mon present on either side of the field is a Ghost type, meaning that if everyone stuck to Ghost type attacks someone's going to go down rather quickly.

Bearing all that in mind, you give some thought as to which girl to send out and how to have her approach this fight, and you come up with...

CHOICES

FIRSTLY: Choose your touhoumon
[ ] SlKogasa
[ ] Merlin
[ ] Lyrica
[ ] Lunasa

SECONDLY: Choose your strategy
[ ] Aggressive
[ ] Balanced
[ ] Defensive

Okay, this seems a tad difficult

Gut instinct does indicate that we probably should not send out SlKogasa, so thats out of the question.

The field meanwhile is geared towards having some degree of cover vs ranged attacks, so ranged attacks would be a bit less effective. The question here would be, which of the Prismrivers is good at both melee and ranged because you are going to need both whether you fight Youmu or Yuyuko, and has good judgement/foresight?

Knowing this in mind, I'm going to go with...

[X] Lunasa
[X] Balanced

Balanced part because, given 50/50 of facing a Youmu or Yuyuko, Aggressive vs Yuyuko or Youmu might just be asking for trouble, while Defensive vs Youmu might not be a good idea as well though it might be good vs Yuyuko.

Hmmmm...

Does any of the ghost here have a sub-type along with ghost? I remember a version where Yuyuko was also grass and Youmu steel along with ghost. If we have anyone that know a fire attack...

Sending Kogasa doesn't seem like a good idea here. Yuyuko could wreck her with special moves and Youmu, as noted would probably find the core.

>>173381
Is it really a good idea to send Lunasa now" she certainly can't be at 100% stamina. Should be Merlin or Lyrica.

>>173383

Well, I opted for Lunasa since shes kind of shown to be the calmest of the Prismrivers, though you're right on that.

Anyway, as for the typing, all the Prismrivers are pure Ghost, Yuyuko is Ghost/Grass, and Youmu is Ghost/Steel, nothing much we can take care of...ah yes, totally even worse idea to send SlKogasa knowing the Yuyuko's type in mind.

Alas, now to decide which between Merlin or Lyrica fulfills the criteria I hopefully want to have fulfilled (good melee and defense, adaptable, etc)

>>173384
Or maybe we should select a style the mon we use is great with? I would imagine Merlin to prefer an agressive style.

Thinking about who we will face... I'm doubtful it will be the Youmu. Won't all those obstacles annoy her fighting style? If we start breaking things around, she'll have problem with her footwork, with the field full of debris.

On the other hand, Yuyuko has good special attack and defense, but low speed.

Hmmm... I'm starting to think agressive may be good here. As noted, even with defensive style, ghost vs ghost means the first one to land a solid hit may win.

Checking a wiki for Touhoudex... Lyrica has lower power, but higher speed and slightly higher defense than Merlin. But as noted, ghost vs ghost make defense a slight moot point.

So... Higher offensive power (Merlin) or higher speed (Lyrica)? Both will be faster than Yuyuko, but Yuyuko still has the highest offensive power. Or I may be wrong and we face Youmu instead.

Just to note: When Sebastian said that Zeke had to watch his girl's stamina, what that means is that the between-battle healing services restore HP and remove status effects, but not PP.

Now, I'll go ahead and drop a small hint here. Both sides have nothing but Ghost Types, which is super-effective against each other. This means that the battle should be finished quickly since both sides are at a mutual advantage/disadvantage against one another.

Also, it might help to recall who's already demonstrated a knack for Ghost-type moves already.

>>173387

Oh you, time to look in the archives

Well, agressive definitely seem like the right attitude, but I can't seem to find anything in the archives about one of them being good with ghost moves... Unless we're meant to send Lunasa or Kogasa again?

Of the Prismrivers, Merlin is by far the most offensively inclined, while Lyrica is balanced and Lunasa is defensive. Further, they each pick up secondary types when they evolve, at least in 1.8. Which, I suppose, makes it a bit of a moot point given that this isn't based off 1.8 mechanics even though they're superior. Kogasa is an oddball, but tends towards the defensive, and slime types seem defensive as well. All that in mind, I vote for:

[x]Merlin
[x]Lyrica
[x]Offensive

The plan of attack, I think, should be Merlin going on an all-out offensive, while Lyrica supports Lunasa using cheer/helping hand, or using debuffs or attacking. Because she's a bit flexible, she can fill up any role here, but she's also not as good as Merlin at attacking or Lunasa at defending.

>>173394
Oh, sorry, I seem to have misread the prompt. The reasoning is the same, but please count it as:

[X]Merlin
[X]Aggresive

I've looked through the other threads and I can't find mention of our girls using a ghost type attack. I might have missed it though and I haven't looked through the /at/ threads.

[X]Merlin
[X]Aggresive

Erika von Mustermann x Ezekiel x All the ghosts OTP

It'll be two ghost lovers having a giant ghostly orgy. Match made in Hakugyokurou.

Hm, guess I'll change my vote to

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

Do warn her that aggressive does not mean being overly reckless

...Anyway, I then find out that the name 'Erika Mustermann' is the German equivalent to 'Jane Doe' ...Interesting

[X]Merlin
[X]Aggressive

Since Youmu favors physical moves (and as >>173386 said, will have problems with her footwork with all the obstacles around), it's likely that we will fight Yuyuko.
Meaning we want to use her low speed to our advantage by quickly overwhelming her.

If we're fighting Youmu on the other hand, it might be a good idea to go defensively. Physical attacks are useless against us, and special attacks are in limited supply so if we can just avoid those, we win. And she can't just go all out with special attacks either, since this is a tournament and not a single battle. She might need them further down the line, if she wins. (Of course I don't plan on us losing, but I assume that they are planning on winning too.)

But I'm assuming we will fight Yuyuko, since both the field and the possible opponents (physical immune/resistant) are to her advantage compared to Youmu.

...Actually, won't Youmu's steel nature balance against her ghost weakness?

That said, I still really doubt it will be her.

[X]Merlin
[X]Aggressive

>>173397

It's not mentioned by name, but all you really had to do was pay attention to the previous fight when it starts to swing Zeke's way. You have the stance right though.

>>173404
...This?

>Lunasa just clenches a fist that has a ghastly colored mist burst to life as she slams her ghost-style punch into Mamizou's head, who rocks to the side.

You want us to pick Lunasa again just for this? Despite warnings about PP burnout?

Pretty sure Merlin and Lyrica are going to be annoyed too.

>>173404
I'm confused...

>reminding us that Lunasa has used a ghost move earlier
>You have the stance right though.
>Health and status will be restored, but not PP.

It might just be me, but it sounds like you are implying that there is only one correct choice and the other eleven are somehow wrong.
Despite, at the same time, giving us a warning that is contrary to that choice.

It is especially confusing when we're voting based on the narrative, but you're warning us about game mechanics.
In the narrative if someone is tired, they rest. In game mechanics no amount of rest will restore PP. Only certain items or a Center will do that.
So which is it? Is it the narrative's "you rest when you're tired" or is the game mechanics of "anything more than 0 and I'm ready for battle"?

>>173405
>>173406
Or it could just be the writers are pointing out that Lunasa is a known quantity. We don't know what moves Merlin and Lyrica have besides the sonic blast. Choosing Lunasa is a likely win, but risks having her exhausted for future fights unless Zeke uses Ethers on her (does he even have any?). Choosing Merlin or Lyrica means victory isn't certain, but we'll see any moves they've learned during the training scenarios and Lunasa will still be able to fight in another round.

Since I'm willing to take the gamble:
[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

And now I realize I forgot to comment on this little gem:
>"Have you found yourself wondering if you are guided by the whims of a finicky higher power?"
My sides!

>>173409

Oh come on, a similar reference was made in one of the bonus ends of Nebosa's story

Hm. From the clues the writer is giving us, I am going to assume that Lunasa is the girl for this match. She can obviously handle herself at both range and hand-to-hand, which means she's covered no matter the range. Since her speed is apparently the highest, she'd be able to finish thios fight the fastest, which seems to be what it's all coming down to. Also, she is a known factor at using ghost-type attacks. I'm worried about overusing her, but I'm going to go with:

[x] Lunasa
[x] Aggressive

In the end, this match seems to be about taking the other side down fast and hard, and Lunasa seems to be the girl for that. Thoughts?

Alrighty, switching from >>173397

[x] Lunasa
[x] Aggressive

I would rather give the spotlight to another.

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

>>173411
The problem is that Lunasa just isn't a particularly offensively-inclined puppet. Statistically, she's highly defensive, and learns more support and status-inflicting moves. I mean, it's possible to use her aggressively, but that's just playing against her strengths. Besides, that sonic attack that they all used? Performance, which is a ghost-type attack.

[x] Lunasa
[x] Aggressive

I have a question regarding Erika, since the others know more about the game mechanics and are thus better for discussing that. Zeke notes she's "cold" and wonders if she's sick. In addition she's very light and pale as well. Considering the availability of supernatural shenanigans in the series, are there human ghosts around? Or is her condition a sort of side effect of her Touhoumon, or am I just overthinking stuff?

Alright, vote called. Six to three in Merlin's favor, with a near-unanimous call for aggressive behavior. Update won't be today, since Nob and I are working on a Wilheim update, but we will do this as soon as possible.

>>173415

Thats what I thought too but then...well, we can always ask our Prismrivers if they feel the same type of aura as theirs from Erika, and I dont think they feel such a thing

>>173418
True. I think they would've commented or mentioned something to Zeke. Still typically in fiction if a human is mentioned as being "cold", and not due to being stuck in a freezer or out in winter with no clothes, then something funny is going on.

"Merlin, you're up. Don't hold back either, finish this quick." You look to Merlin and tell her that while making eye contact, and you feel quite confident in your choice.

Merlin laughs and snuggles up against you, giving you a peck on the cheek and then whispering into your ear, "Oh Zeke, since when have I ever held back?" She asks you before giving you a bit of a nibble on the earlobe, her hands starting to roam before Lyrica charges over at her yelling and chases her off of you and into the ring. Merlin just laughs it off, "Fine, fine. I'll handle this quickly, but I'm going to ring you dry tonight."

"But..." Lunasa speaks up, "If Kogasa is helping him, he can't end up dry?"

"It won't be because of lack of effort on my part!" Merlin responds with a positively predatory grin before bouncing off to her position in the arena. Across from you, Erika is whispering something to both of her girls.

You just blush furiously in response to that. Merlin is such a bold, forward girl when it comes to what she wants and you're pretty much certain that your entire week is now booked.

Still, you're not quite sure which girl Erika's going to use, but you're confident that with Merlin it won't matter. This is a match where the fast and strong will prevail, and you're quite certain that Merlin fits the bill. One thought nags at your head though. Why in the world was Erika so light and cold when she was on you?

Maybe she's a sickly girl? She's kinda small and skinny if you look at her. The Sundress just makes her look poofier than she actually is. She looks somewhat tired too. Maybe she's a sickly girl who spends all her days in trapped in a mansion, never allowed to go out and only having her touhoumon for company, yet one day she worked up all her courage to go to the nearby town and see what people live like for herself, and to have a fateful meeting with her destined lover!

...Oh great, now she's gotten you doing too.

You hear Erika squeal as her Yuyuko cuddles into her, pulling the smaller girl into a rather lewd embrace and whispering something into her ear before nibbling on it. Youmu jumps in and chases the giggling Yuyuko away from Erika and into the ring.

Guess that answers who Merlin's fighting. ...You get the distinct feeling that Merlin and Erika's Yuyuko aren't really so different, if she's acting like that. You take a breath to calm yourself, and focus on the battle. You're not going to slip up like last time.

Lyrica and Lunasa take up comforting positions on either side of you, both of them watching her sister as she goes out to face one of the most menacingly capable Ghost types in existence. Yuyukos are no joke, that's for certain. Merlin for her part seems entirely confident, her instrument floating by her as she watches the Yuyuko flounce to her position in the arena and then bounce on the tips of her toes there as she waits, smiling widely at Merlin. Merlin just grins right back, flexing her hands as you see an aura of misty, ghostly, spooky powers start to burst into existence around the both of them.

You seem to calm down just fine once those two take up position around you, and are left with an expression of confidence. You're not underestimating your opponent, not at all. You just can't afford to look or even feel worried, even if the two are emitting a sort of ethereal power from their bodies.

...Though if you take it into perspective, Lunasa's 'Perish Song' was far, far worse than anything these two could put out, at least in their current state.

Sebastian speaks up as Merlin and Yuyuko stare each other down, "Are both participants ready?" He calls out in a clear voice.

"I am ready!" Erika squeaks back loudly, her voice raised so much that it's cracking from the effort. It's like she's never yelled before.

"Ready!" You respond. Honestly, the difference between your voices just makes Erika seem all the more delicate.

"Very well then! Let this match...begin!" Sebastian brings his hand down, and just as he finishes there's a roar and the sound of hundreds of screaming, moaning voices as Merlin and Yuyuko unleash their ghostly powers on each other. Darkness and swirling vortexes full of screaming faces fill the arena as the two stay standing where they are, ten feet apart and slamming the full force of their powers into each other. Yuyuko is idly fanning herself as her eyes glow brightly while Merlin is just grinning widely and savagely at her opponent, her eyes mirroring Yuyuko's eerie glow. As one of the spooky, screaming spirits flies past you, circling around you as Lyrica and Lunasa protectively move closer to you, you can safely say this is...not what you expected.

"...Embargo?" You hazard a guess, noting how while the spirit in question isn't attacking you, it's likely doing enough to drown you out and block you from view. This means that for the time being, Merlin may be totally on her own, but you're not sure how much that's going to matter. You hope.

You can just barely hear something coming from the middle of the maelstrom of spooky, scary ghostiness, and through a break in the spookiness you can see that Yuyuko is fanning herself while smiling down at Merlin with a superior expression, "Even if you're a shiny type, it's pretty prideful of you to go and challenge a princess of the netherworld you know~."

" 'Princess of the Netherworld'?" Merlin cocks her head at that as she fingers her trumpet, "With how you act and dress, I figured you were a demimondaine."

Yuyuko's eyebrows go up, and you can see an expression of disbelief on her face.

"Yes." Merlin responds with a wide grin, "I did just call you a wh-" Then there's a shockwave of pressure as the ground Merlin was standing on explodes, along with most everything behind it. Lyrica and Lunasa shield you from the blast as well as they can and SlKogasa shields you all from falling debris. As the dust clears you can see the Yuyuko with a very, very displeased expression on her face.

"And Taunt." You accurately gauge what that was, or at least what you think that is as you let your girls stop the resulting blast from hurting you, tossing you about, whatever. "I don't think she'll be in the mood to buff herself anymore."

This is totally out of your hands now, you know that much. Between the spirit drowning you out and the attacks being so wild, Lunasa, Lyrica, and SlKogasa having to protect you you're not sure you could offer a suggestion if she needs it, much less an order.

Merlin meanwhile has disappeared somewhere into the smoke and debris and swirling, spooky things. She's probably planning something, you're sure of it, but you're not sure what. Merlin is a crafty girl, for certain, but you can't be-

"Surprise!" Merlin bursts up out of the smoke behind the Yuyuko. How did she get there!" Even Yuyuko looks surprised as she twists to defend herself and receives a ghostly fist to the face as Merlin grins widely, readying her trumpet with her other hand. You watch as Merlin takes in a deep breath and feel it as your girls cover your ears and SlKogasa anchors you to the ground.

Merlin lets out a mighty HOOOOOOOONK that blasts away much of the debris and dust but...the attack missed! And...what happened to Yuyuko? Her outfit is changed now, and ropes dangle from her wrists and ankles. behind her form you can see countless ghostly hands reaching out. This is...! You don't even know what this is!

Erika is looking decidedly concerned though, and with the look on Yuyuko's face you kind of agree with her.

You see now how the attack misses though, one of Yuyuko's numerous ghostly hands twists Merlin's attack aside at the last moment, redirecting her trumpet. Merlin looks completely shocked as she disengages, "What...?" She's in completely disbelief as the Yuyuko gently touches her wild hair. She sighs and gives Merlin a disappointed look, "Now...look what you made me go and do. I didn't want to reveal my true form you know..."

You just... what? You're knowledgeable about variants, but this is so far beyond what you've encountered before that it's not even funny. You're immensely glad that your girls are protecting you, because you're pretty sure you're going to need it as this battle drags on.

You just relax into SlKogasa's slime and make her part of the 'protect Zeke' job that much easier while trying your hardest to not lose composure completely.

SlKogasa soothingly massages your shoulders as the sisters watch on nervously as the ridiculous Yuyuko looms over Merlin, "Well girl, don't you have anything to say? Not that it matters anyway." The Yuyuko's grin becomes manic, "I won't forgive you even if you beg. I'll tie you up in these ropes and-"

"Ara? It would figure the aristocrats would be into shibari." Merlin remarks, smiling right back at the terrifying Yuyuko.

Yuyuko looks stunned for just a moment before she twitches a finger and consumes the spot Merlin was in and everything around it in blue flames, burning even the dirt to ash.

You're rather thankful that SlKogasa's doing the shoulder massage thing, because you're honestly scared now. You've never seen this much power being thrown around at once in such a violent manner, though your fear is more for Merlin's safety than anything else. It's just... Yume could probably outdo this, but she only ever used her power for non-combat purposes while you were around, or could see it.

This is the pure, raw power of Ghosts, and you're just not used to it.

Merlin bursts out of the flames, swinging another fist at Yuyuko who blocks and deflects it with several of the ones floating behind her, "Oh? You want to fight like that? Well, if that's what you want." That's the only warning Yuyuko gives before those hands floating all around her clench into fists and burst into the tell tale shadowy flames of that attack, and then they all launch forward in a massive, seemingly never ending barrage.

Merlin deflects the first several of them, her expression tightening with focus as she tries to keep up. This is just completely insane though! You've heard of the terrifying power and odd abilities variants are capable of, but this is just...you've never heard of anything like it! Yuyuko just starts laughing at Merlin's efforts before slapping her arms aside, "Useless!" She grabs Merlin by the head and starts to clench her fist down, her hand lighting up when-

"I think you forgot something." Merlin holds up one finger.

"Oh? And what's that?" Yuyuko asks, stopping her attack while maintaining her air of amused confidence.

Merlin just points with that finger to Yuyuko's right, an she turns...to look straight down the barrel of Merlin's horn, who lets out a HOOOOOOOOOOOOONK and sends the Yuyuko flying away and slamming into one of the barricades that still remained. Merlin rubs her face and head and readjusts her hat as she recalls her trumpet to her side.

You're immensely glad that SlKogasa is holding you in place because you're pretty darn sure that Merlin's taking your stance suggestion quite seriously. Honestly, you're not sure how much of the battlefield is going to remain by the time a victor is decided. Still, scared as you are you can't help but be awed by this a bit. Merlin's basically doing this for you... albeit in exchange for fucking you dry, and she knows full well that with what you and your girls worked out that'll be nearly impossible.

Merlin fingers her trumpet nervously as she puts on a cool, collected face for her opponent, "Heh, is that all you've got?" She tries to get her strength and courage back, grinning at her opponent as the Yuyuko floats back up to her feet and casually brushes herself off with her own hands and the numerous floating ghostly ones.

The Yuyuko's back is to you but she turns and looks at Merlin and you hear a horrifying cry and a wave of pressure that washes over you, leaving you shivering with fear even in SlKogasa's embrace as she holds you tighter and Lunasa and Lyrica put themsleves in front of you, hunching dowm protectively as you watch. You can see it, even Merlin is afraid!

"Merlin, you can pull this off!" You try to encourage the girl who's facing down an opponent who's clearly more terrifying than her, but you're not sure that your voice can reach her. You do believe that she can do this though, you wouldn't have sent her out if you didn't think she could do this. The Yuyuko's a variant that's unknown to you, but still...

It really sucks not being able to do more for her than this.

You hear the creaking and groaning of ropes and bindings coming from the Yuyuko as you see Merlin flinch as phantasmal ropes bind around her wrists, ankles and neck. "A curse is upon you, little girl/

." The Yuyuko intones in a malevolent whisper, floating towards Merlin who is struggling to get her body to move and only managing to slowly drag herself backwards, gritting her teeth in frustration at her situation as she glowers at the Yuyuko.

"C'mon..." You say quietly, feeling a rather incredible sense of dread. This couldn't be much more tense if they tried!

Across from you, Erika is looking rather horrified with the situation herself, turning very white and pale, even more than she was before, which allows you to see the signs of exhaustion she has under her eyes. She's actually leaning very heavily on Youmu who is fussing over Erika. "Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu calls out, "You must finish this quickly!"

The Yuyuko glances over to Youmu and then nods, raising one hand which glows a sickly dark color, "That's fine, I'll finish this one once touch." She declares as she starts to levitate towards Merlin more quickly, "I'll show you something today that no one's seen before...the Ghost Type One Shoot True Kill Technique!"

...You're still scared, but that corny name kind of kills the atmosphere a little.

"...What is she even talking about?" Lyrica wonders confusedly as Lunasa just shrugs her shoulders. The Yuyuko lunges forward, her hand reaching for Merlin who is twitching and struggling to move as she watches her doom coming for her.


Suddenly, Merlin ducks. By dropping down the Yuyuko's attack misses her and she goes tumbling forward into Merlin, "Whoopsie!" The Yuyuko calls out as she crashes to the ground. You can see now that your Merlin's face is currently buried deep between the Yuyuko's thighs. The Yuyuko tries to move away but suddenly Merlin's arms grab her around her thighs. Oh no she wouldn't-who are you kidding she would.

You see the Yuyuko's eyes widen as there's a sudden scream and burst of nightshade and ghastly spookiness that blocks your views. Still, don't the faces there look a bit too happy?

Erika is looking horrified in a fainting sort of way now, covering her mouth with one hand as Youmu looks faintly disgusted. Sebastian seems completely unphased, simply crossing his arms and waiting for any sign of what is to come.

You just facepalm. You have to give Merlin credit, that's a good, sneaky tactic that's technically still inside the rules, but this is just... Well, at least the mood is totally ruined now, as the nearly comical results of Merlin doing what she is kills the spooky atmosphere. "Lunasa, Lyrica, is Merlin always that much of a pervert? I know mons are sexual in nature, but she seems to be a cut above when it comes to that kind of thing."

"Sister is very big pervert..." Lunasa admits, looking down at the ground, "It's okay to enjoy it, but there's a limit and..."

"And she goes right past it sometimes." Lyrica sighs, "She wasn't that bad at first you know, but..." She places a comforting hand on your shoulder, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you this but… she was your mother’s favorite."

If you could cry right now you would.

"So basically, mom corrupted her into becoming an insatiable hornball." You guess, knowing full well what your mother is like.

"It's more like your mother brought Merlin's inner pervert into overdrive." Lyrica explains as you hear the faintest hints of the sounds of horrid pleasures that are going on within. Well, maybe at least Merlin will be satiated enough to not molest you horridly?

...Like with the self-reassurance that no one would hack into the League databases, if that last thought of yours were a page out of a fairy tale book you'd tear it out and use it for toilet paper. "And on top of that, she's still riding the high from her recent evolution." You think about that for a minute. "I don't think budgeting four days is going to be enough. She's probably going to need a week total."

"Oh, great." Lyrica pulls out your pad and starts poking changes into your schedule, "That's really great, I was worried that four days wouldn't be enough to try everything I wanted to try anyway."

"Uhm...I'll make sure to take good care of you, Zeke." Lunasa promises with wide eyes.

Just what did your mother teach your girls.

"Well, we're clearly not leaving town for a while, so you three are going to have plenty of time to experiment and the like." You say, feeling defeated somehow. You do look to Lunasa though. "I know you will, and I know all three of you will. I'm just a touch exasperated right now, that's all."

You get the faintest image of a flower wilting as the spooky mist and aura fades away to reveal an exceedingly smug looking Merlin adjusting her clothing as Yuyuko lies behind her, making faint crying noises. Sebastian waits for a few moments before raising his hand on your side of the field, "Winner by Erotic Knockout, Ezekiel!"

Erika is looking exceedingly shaky now as Youmu looks to her. You see Erika say something and watch as Youmu hesitates for a moment before nodding and letting her stand on her own. The Youmu then dashes over to the Yuyuko and quickly helps the poor mon back to her feet and gets her clothes more tastefully organized. Now that you've got a clear, non-spooky-grainy filtered view of her...the Yuyuko's clothes remind you of a Shrine Maiden variants or a Hakurei's, at least a bit. Could she be..."

Sebastian turns to you, "Technically speaking this victory is allowed, but..." You feel the weight of the full pressure of his manly spirit bear down on your shoulders as he stares at you, inspiring a sort of primal fear in you, "Don't let it happen again."

You rub the bridge of your nose after Sebastian bears down on you like that. You feel fear, yes, but that exasperated feeling is pretty strong too. "I understand. I didn't think she'd go that far." You also look to Erika, who when you last saw her looked like she was about to faint.

Erika is weebling and wobbling now, and Youmu is currently so preoccupied with the off balance and mildly weepy Yuyuko that she won't notice in time to help. Will you be the hero?

At this point it's less about being a hero and more about taking responsibility for what you inadvertently brought about. You manage to get SlKogasa to let you go, and you manage to get over to Erika before she topples over in a heap. You're not entirely sure what to do here, since she didn't want you to help her before, but you simply support her weight for now.

Erika slumps over on you, eyes fluttered shut as she hands lightly in your embrace. She feels like she almost weighs nothing at all in your arms, and seems so...vulnerable, you suppose. She lets out a shuddering sigh as she leans on you, "Oh, how truly vulgar a display..."

"Sorry about that. I had absolutely no idea that was her plan." You're honestly a tad embarrassed that Merlin did such a thing, Still, good grief, how frail can one girl be? It feels like a stiff breeze would blow her away. "Anyway, are you alright?"

"I-I am fine." Erika tries to claim though she still leans heavily on you, resting her head against your chest, "I will be fine, I just need a few moments to regain myself is all, the excitement got the bes tof me and..." She sighs, "Goodness gracious, I never thought that she would use her power like that."

"Well, unless I'm missing something at the very least no one got hurt too bad physically. She certainly scared me enough though. I've never seen a Ghost type use that much power before, and neither of our girls were being particularly careful." You openly admit that. It wasn't something you were prepared for in the slightest.

"Yuyuko was still holding back, thankfully. I do not relish the idea of seeing her use her full power here." Erika admits as she starts to stand a bit more on her own two feet, though her hands do not leave your body just yet, "I am thankful that she held back, but...I only wish she hadn't had such an unpleasant experience because of me."

You're not exactly helping her much in that whole 'let her stand up on her own' thing either. Something about her just makes you wary of letting her go. "Don't go blaming yourself. Sometimes events click together a certain way to produce a certain result entirely by chance. I should know."

"I suppose that this too could have been guided by fate and destiny." Erika agrees, looking you in the eyes before wrapping her arms around you in a hug that is both chilling and warming, "Thank you for talking with me as you have been. It has been a pleasant change from my usual circumstances." She shifts her face and gives you a chaste kiss on the cheek, "You are a true gentleman, sir."

You blush a bit in response to that. "It's no problem at all, though I'm not sure about that 'gentleman' part." You hug her back, though what she just said piques your curiosity. "If you don't mind my asking, what are your usual circumstances? I don't mean to offend, but you seem like a sickly, frail nobleman's daughter that the hero would carry about and show the world."

She flushes, just a small amount on the bridge of her nose, and looks away, "That...is not necessarily especially far from the truth." She admits, "I live in a manor an hour out of town, and am to spend my time there without leaving, but...I wished to see the world my books and the stories my friends had told me of."

You have to stop and think about it, but you were essentially born and raised in Higa's Town, weren't you? Once you were old enough to want friends, you only really had Abbott and Costello, and only the latter really counted. Your parents and big sister figures supplied all sorts of stories that made you want to be a trainer, and since you didn't have a mon until very recently, you couldn't just up and explore on your own. The one time you did paid off, but could have resulted in disaster just as easily.

Is she really so different than you, then?

"I might be asking something a bit personal now, but why do you need to stay at your home?" You're now curious, since even if she's ill she clearly has capable guardians. Of course, it could be something like an overprotective father, which might be understandable.

"I..." She seems nervous.

"That." Youmu cuts in and takes Erika's support from you, shouldering the girl carefully herself while putting herself between you and her, "Is not something that is your business, sir.”

Yuyuko calmly floats up to the group, passing by you with a glance that leaves you vaguely concerned for promised revenge. Then, she too gently puts an arm around Erika, who seems to recover herself admirably at this point.

"I...yes." Erika nods, "I am sorry sir, to have bothered you with my chattering." She curtsies as well as she can, "I am kept in the manor for...my own good, suffice it to say." She offers you that bit of information as Youmu supports her towards the door.

"We must go milady, you are fading fast." Youmu states as she all but carries Erika towards the door while Yuyuko trails after them, her ropes creaking as she passes by you again. This time though, you have SlKogasa comfortingly beside you who is staring right back at the Yuyuko, gaze never leaving the other touhoumons eyes. The Yuyuko simply smiles and then turns away, following after Erika and Youmu.

The Prismriver sisters are all currently together, Lyrica is chastising and fussing over Merlin in equal amounts while Lunasa is checking over her sisters injuries as well. Thankfully, it seems Merlin is better off than Lunasa was at her worst. So there's that, at least.

...Hm, what's this? You feel something odd in your clothes as you shift, and find a piece of old paper.

You'll need to join in on fussing over/chastising Merlin, but you take the piece of paper and see if there's anything on it. Maybe Erika slipped it to you while you held her up?

On the piece of old paper, you see an intricately drawn map in spidery hand. It shows the route, the forest and the road passing through it, as well as what you guess is the town you're in now, though it's...smaller. Maybe this map is outdated? The map also has a marked route leading into the woods and towards a house in them. Did she give you a map to her home?

Clearly, she must want to see you again, but couldn't make it known because her Youmu is extremely protective of her. You store the map in you Key Items pocket, taking great care not to damage it in the process since you're not sure how durable it is. "Thanks for helping the sisters keep me from getting blown around earlier, Kogasa." You say to the goo girl with a sincere smile as you turn and walk toward your own girls.

SlKogasa puffs up proudly, "You're welcome!" She responds in a clear voice, bubbling with joy at her ability to string together two words in a proper sentence. The Prismrivers are all bunched together, but Merlin is smiling and speaking at the moment.

"Ara, Lyrica. If I'd know that I could get you jealous so easily I'd have done this sooner." Merlin teases Lyrica.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Lyrica bites back at Merlin, "I'm just doing my job as the responsible sister, that's all!"

Lunasa fusses over Merlin as well, "Please Merlin, just cooperate..."

You pinch the bridge of your nose again, since it seems like Merlin's in a full teasing mood now. You revert to a more normal stance when you reach the three, though. "Merlin, I'm happy that you won, but at the same time I'd ask you to not do that again in an official tournament match unless things go to hell. Sebastian let it slide this time, but eating out your opponent could have gotten us disqualified." You do hug her anyway, since she did win you the match. "Aside from that, you did well. I'm curious as to how restricted you actually were during the last part of the fight considering how you ducked down in the nick of time."

"Oh? I was almost frozen up until the last second, actually." Merlin informs you as she snuggles into your hug and her arms slip around you, "She just got this terrifying expression and it was like the ropes were binding my entire body and I couldn't budge an inch...that Yuyuko...was she a shrine maiden?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that she's no variant I've heard of, and I'd think she'd be dressed different if she were a Miko variant. She mentioned something about a curse when she bound you up, and Mi variants tend to use seals..." Merlin's basically pure warm and soft to hug like this, and you immediately note your mistake after this because you've... well, lost your will to let go of her. She's really comfy.

Merlin chuckles, "I see. Perhaps she's a variant of a variant?" She suggests jokingly, even getting a giggle from her sisters at the ridiculousness of the idea.

You're not laughing at the idea though. "Slime variants can evolve into Slime Queen variants, can't they?" You ask. Odds are good your girls wouldn't know, but you do. Your mother made sure that you know whether you're dealing with a typical Slime or the much more dangerous Slime Queen variants, should you run into either.

It's a technicality, sure, but if Slimes can be like that, then why not other mons?

"Well, yeah..." Lyrica admits, "But they're slimes, and they're just evolving into a bigger slime, aren't they? Is it really an evolution?" She asks, but even she seems thoughtful of the idea, "It's...maybe she's just one of those variants that looks kinda like another."

"Maybe. Speculation will only get us so far though, we'd have to ask Erika outright and she's kind of been hauled off to her home. Her Youmu was saying something about 'you're fading fast'." Which was fishy as all get out, as between the old paper with the equally old map and Erika's general feel, you're starting to suspect that she hasn't told you everything.

Still, there isn't much you can do about it right now, is there? Sebastian is...currently busy picking up debris and throwing it out of the arena. By hand. You should probably just leave like you did last time.

"C'mon girls, let's leave Sebastian to his work and go to the waiting room again. I think we're just in the way at this point." ...Except you're really reluctant to let go of Merlin. You're starting to suspect that taking that week to work out their 'kinks' is also for your own good now too, because you've been teased four times now with no release and you're starting to feel it.

Merlin just picks you up and hauls you towards the door, "Come on, come on! The sooner we beat up everyone the sooner you get to spend all week with us!" She cheers happily as she rushes towards the door with her sisters trailing after her and SlKogasa taking up the rear.

"I take it you let her know." You say to Lyrica, who was the one to edit your schedule for you on your Tablet. Not that you're holding it against her, mind.

Lyrica just shrugs, "She asked what I'd been so excited about." She admits to you as you both make your way through the door and into a familiar hallway. Let's see...


...There are two doors with signs on them. Yours is on the same door as a 'Lass' card. The lass depicted looks faintly familiar, somehow. The other door has a Neko Reimu on it and...a Victory Road card? No one uses Victory Road.

There's a mystery there, but the process of elimination might lead you to who's symbol that is. Still, that's not really that important for now. "Merlin, that one." You point your perverted, ghostly girl to the correct door since you're still being carried along by her since she's just so pleasant to hold like this.

"I knew that!" Merlin defends herself as she heads towards the door and opens it up, revealing...

...The same waiting room you were in before, except that creepy statue is gone and is replaced with a tiny bonsai tree. It's...kinda cute, actually.

SlKogasa oozes past, between and through you all and rushes over to the bonsai tree and takes a seat beside it, watching it with interest that one would ordinarily devote to things that are actually entertaining or educational.

Merlin carries you over to the bench and sits you down before taking the seat next to you and cuddling up, nuzzling her warm and soft body into your own in a decidedly pleased manner. Lyrica sits down on your other side and grabs hold of your arm and pins that against her as she rests her head on your shoulder. Lunasa just smiles at her sisters as she floats past and goes to hang out with SlKogasa.


You're trying very, very hard not to take sides here, since you really don't want your beautiful Lyrica and Merlin to start having an impromptu struggle over who gets to snuggle you like they did the last time. Largely because you're not sure how much more you can take. So you just sit back, relax, and wonder who in the world picked the Lass card.

Merlin cuddles up against you a bit tighter on her side while Lyrica nuzzles into you more on her side, the both of them getting into a competition to see who can be the closest to you as Lunasa has a hushed conversation in moonspeak with SlKogasa.

You're trying not to move, but between the two girls having their competition... Okay, that's the entire reason why you're squirming a bit. "Girls..." You say quietly, trying to alert them to the fact that if this keeps up your resistance is going to go right down the toilet.

The door suddenly opens and someone bursts into the room. It's...Joey!" Joey looks at you, and a spark run through you just as you are sure runs through him. Is this...the spirit of rivalry!"

Or maybe you're just surprised Joey picked the Lass card, who knows.

Joey, for his part, strikes a pose as his Chen leaps up onto the bench and does it with him, bending and twisting their spines in unison to pull off his extravagant, showy posture as he points to you, "Ah hah! I knew you'd make it, but I didn't think you'd be in this bracket. So...you're my opponent for the semi-finals, Ezekiel!"

You just don't quite have it in you to shake off your girls and join in Joey's usual antics. Plus you're not totally sure they'd let you go right now, since they typically get into their own little world when they're like this. "Seems that way. A friend of mine basically baited me onto this specific bracket, probably for a friendly rival battle. Though I'm just as surprised to see you here, Joey."

"Surprised? Why would you be? I've been taught by my sister personally! I'm probably the best trained trainer in this competition!" Joey declares proudly, "With my Purple Hermit and Neko Ken at my side." The Alraune Kasen and Chen appear on cue, striking poses of their own, "I cannot lose!" Then a little explosion goes off behind him and confetti rains down. Who does this guy think he is?

...Oh, his Chen seems to have evolved at some point during the tournament.

"This ought to be an interesting match at least! ...Also, sorry if I'm not putting the usual amount of effort into this. Merlin and Lyrica seem to have a rivalry of their own." You're pretty sure that the trumpeter and the keyboardist haven't been paying much attention in their struggle snuggle.

Merlin and Lyrica are snuggling into you fiercely and competitively, staring each other down from either side of you as they cuddle into you non-sexually. Which you are both thankful for but also vaguely frustrated with. Across from you Joey droops a bit, "Ah, I see..." Joey just sits down on the bench across from you, "Yeah, I get it. I understand..." He has a faintly shell shocked expression, "Oh, I understand."

"Hey Joey!" Chen hops up onto the bench next to him and nuzzles into him herself, rubbing her cheeks against his, "Once we're done here, can we go back to your room for...purposes!?" She seems exceedingly excited, but her eyes are so...predatory.

AlKasen leans against Joey from the side, "Oh don't worry dear, I'm certain I'll be able to make sure we've got time to learn things about each other together."

"I've got a week penned in for my Prismrivers. I originally had three or four days set aside, but Merlin's proved to be more of a handful than I thought she would be."

Joey just whimpers faintly, his expression one as if he's struggling to not run away. Does he fear the nookie? "Ahaha, yeah." Joey droops a bit, "Yeah..."

You note that you're used to it, and even enjoy it, but at the same time you've been desensitized to it to the point where it isn't an issue. Plus you had Yume and Ruukoto make sure that your girls knew when to stop, along with your mother instructing them. You realize that most trainers probably don't have that advantage. ...And you were semi-broken by each of your girls even before that. You could just also be a pervert.

"Are you worried?" You ask Joey, since you may as well keep talking.

"Huh-what? No, I'm not worried about our match!" Joey laughs brashly, "The best man will win for sure." Chen lets out a cheer at how cool her trainer is being and squeezes him tighter while AlKasen just chuckles and snuggles closer to him, pulling him into her bosom. Well...you're sure that with his sister around things won't get too bad, right?

You think he purposely diverted the topic, but that's fine. You left him that out to begin with. "He certainly will." You say in response to that, not quite feeling up to snuff because of the fact that you're being snuggles fiercely. "Though I think we're about even in how confident we are in our girls. If that were all that was involved in this, we'd probably end the match in a stalemate."

"True." Joey grins, getting his confident attitude back, "This battle and who it goes to will be determined by just what rules the randomizer chooses for us." He tries to keep a serious face but can't help but add on, "Well, hopefully it's not a rule set that leads to the fight dragging on and on. Or a mud wrestling rule set."

You open your mouth and try to form words when you hear that last one, but are stuck opening and closing your mouth like some kind of fish for a few seconds. "...Is that seriously a legit League rule set?" You finally squeak out. Given what Merlin just got through doing last match, the last thing you need is to give her even more of an excuse to be the massive pervert she is.

"The league allows more veteran Gym Leaders a lot of leeway with the kind of matchs and rule sets they're allowed to pull in their challenges. I mean, you've heard of gyms where the entire fight happens underwater, including the trainers being trapped underwater with their touhoumon? Mud wrestling isn't much of a stretch." Joey points out, "...and yes, it is. Also I'm pretty sure that someone tried to get away with a league match that was capture the flag with your opponent underwear..."

"Uhm..." Lunasa speaks up and shifts over to you to whisper in your ear, "If...if someone wasn't wearing any in a match like that, do they automatically lose?"

Right. You know exactly how to handle this. "I'd think you'd be given some before the match starts, but that's just me using common sense. The League seems pretty nuts." You speak quietly and give Lunasa your best guess in the matter.

"Oh, okay." Lunasa moves back and away from you to where SlKogasa is still engrossed with the Bonsai Tree.

"...I'm pretty sure there are some underground leagues I'm not supposed to know about that are straight up 'sextravaganzas'." Joey admits, sounding disapproving, "But that's the kind of thing Team Shuttle would have run."

"Wow. That's just... I guess some people are shameless enough to like that kind of thing." You say, sounding a bit disbelieving. Granted, Touhoumon are sexual in nature, so this could be taken as a logical extreme, but on the other hand it's not something you'd ever want to do. You're going to have to juggle multiple girls, that much is certain. You do not have any interest in doing so in public.

"I'll be joining you in hoping that whatever ruleset we end up with is something that won't be too weird." You say, since you can't do much else because you're still very much pinned.

Joey is pinned as well now, half of his face buried in his AlKasen's bosom while Chen takes control of much of the other side of his body. You feel a sense of kinship with him as a brother in suffering in these circumstances.

"...Oh, right. Did anyone tell you what the prizes for the winner and runner-up are?" Joey asks of you.

"Nope. You got cut off and no one's brought it up since." You reply.

"Oh, okay! So, I know that the runner up gets some kind of rare elemental stone, right? First place though, they apparently get a touhoumon sent by the league to Sebastian." Joey explains, "So, you could say this tournament is to prove that you have the right to be her trainer." Chen looks displeased until Joey gives her a hug, "Of course, I don't need anything more than I already have!" He hugs the now pleased looking Chen, and then the both of them are hugged by AlKasen.

You thought, are left with a problem. Apparently your girls weren't lost enough to not notice what was just said, and all of them have expressions on their face that make you worry...except for SlKogasa, who is making funny faces at the Bonsai Tree.

Uh-oh. You were planning to win this tournament too. "This might be a problem." You say, noting that your girls might not like the idea of an interloper joining in literally right before their promised sex time.

"Well, supposedly someone in the tournament has ended every match he's been in before the minute mark, so even if you beat me you aren't out of the hot water yet." Joey informs you from his position.

"I still have to consider the possibility." You say in response. "I came into this to win, just like nearly everyone else, but now I know that there's a reward Touhoumon at the end of the line. I've been taught to take the relationships with my girls seriously, so now there's a choice." You think a bit harder on this before continuing. "Either my girls and I work as hard as we've been this whole tournament for this last match and possibly win, which would introduce fresh and unneeded stress..."

"Or I throw the match, which I'm not sure I could deal with. If this mystery trainer turns out to be Costello, then I couldn't. He basically requested my presence in this."

"Well, I'm not really considering this match in this equation, but I kinda don't want to lose here either."

"Heh, as long as you're not ignoring me." Joey responds with a grin, "Whoever wins, wins. Don't stress out over that other stuff. You'll give yourself an ulcer."

"I know, but I take relationships seriously." You say, making the slight possible mistake of leaning into Lyrica in the process. Given how things are going though, leaning was inevitable.

"I mean, I have a week set aside for my girls to get their desire to pin me down and do lewd things to me out of their system. If I win, I get another girl right before that's supposed to happen."

Lyrica doesn't take advantage of the situation herself, instead shifting nervously as she considers just what she's hearing. On your other side, Merlin frowns thoughtfully over it herself, and Lunasa stares down at the ground, hands in her lap as SlKogasa tries to get her to not look so down.

Joey seems about to talk before you hear a rapping at the door, "The other match is already done, so you're both up." A voice calls through before walking off.

Joey's mons unwind themselves from him and he stands up. "I'll see you on the field, Zeke!" He salutes you before headed out the door himself, followed by his two girls.

"Merlin, Lyrica, could you please let me up?" You ask, feeling that you ought to follow Joey out there.

Merlin and Lyrica let you go, and both of them get up themselves. Still, they all seem withdrawn and concerned with their own thoughts at the moment, save for SlKogasa who is just looking rather confused with how they are all reacting.

"Girls, we ought to listen to Joey for this one match. We're not in a position to where we have to make a decision yet." You say, hugging each of your girls as you do.

The Prismrivers seem to accept your words, or at least put on good faces. "Of course, I'm sorry Zeke." Lunasa apologizes to you for worrying.

"Yeah, whatever happens will happen." Lyrica shrugs her shoulders, "We'll deal with it when the time comes."

"Oh yes, we'll deal with it plenty." Merlin agrees, stretching her fingers, "After all, we still haven't...'reeducated' SlKogasa like we were, have we sisters? It's only appropriate we put anyone who wants to be with our Zeke through what we went through."

"...I didn't think of that." You admit to Merlin, who seems to be more... more like less worried about it. "I say to stop worrying and I'm still worried myself." You shake your head as you go toward the door. "C'mon, let's beat Joey."

"Don't worry darling!" Merlin assures you as your group leaves your room and heads for the arena, "I'll be happy to help you beat up your new friends girlfriends!"

Lyrica nods, "Well yeah, what else would we do with our time?"

"Uhm...we could make a band?" Lunasa suggests.

...All three of them break out laughing at that. SlKogasa laughs too, but you figure she doesn't get the joke, probably.

"Thanks." You say to your girls as you walk out of the room and into the arena.

This time the arena is-what. The arena is a series of platforms suspended over a pitfall. This is...your girls can all fly fairly easily. All ghosts can. Less air capable touhoumon will be having a lot more trouble with this match.

...Like Joey's team, actually. You can see him, standing in his spot across from you with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at the field in front of him as if willing it to grow into a proper floor instead of a set of platforms set over a pitch black fall.

You're not sure if this is going to confer you as much of an advantage as you'd like, but at the same time it'll be harder to screw this one up. You go through the possibilities in your head as far as which girl to send out there, though you don't come to any conclusions yet. Sebastian has yet to announce the rules, after all.

Sebastian steps into the referee box, "I will be refereeing this match, and will now generate our random ruleset!" He informs you both seriously, "I want to see a good, clean match from both of you."

The randomizer begins to do its duty, spinning and spinning as it selects the type of match you will be facing. Finally, the randomizer stops and reaches a conclusion. "This match will allow both trainers to use two touhoumon in total, though only one will be allowed on the field at any given moment. Substitutions are allowed. When both of a trainers touhoumon are unable to battle, they lose!"

A bit more of a conventional battle then, just with both sides being limited in the number of mons they can use to keep things quick and even. Now it just comes down to who to send out...
CHOICES

FIRSTLY: Which two will you choose? Your first choice is the first mon up.
[ ] Lyrica
[ ] Merlin
[ ] Lunasa
[ ] SlKogasa

[i]SECONDLY: What kind of strategy will you pursue?
[ ] Aggressive
[ ] Balanced
[ ] Defensive

Oh god.... Merlin certainly has a good mouth... though I think Zeke got her pervertedness from his mother.

WEll in this type of battle, Kogasa would be at a disadvantage as she can't fly, though with Joey, while he can't fly, Chen'd likely be agile enough for it not to be an issue, not sure about his AlKasen.

>>173454

Well well, new sidequest gained....oh god Merlin no...

Anyway onto battle now, given that this is an AlKasen, chances are shes likely to be something like Grass/Dragon, a normal Kasen is Ground Dragon, while Chen is Chen.

So, mind anybody tell me what is Kasen's shtick is in Touhoumon games? Chen is a speed oriented mon, that I know of

As for strategy, I'm inclined that we go either Aggressive or Defensive, Aggressive means that we use their inability to fly to knock them off the platforms through relentless attack, Defensive would mean that we use that same inability to fly to tire them out from exerting effort from attacking our flying Mons until they make a mistake and then we knock them off, the question is, which Mons would be the best?

>>173459

I'm not sure that Kogasa actually cant fly given that shes still a ghost and that it was written that "Your girls can all fly easily"

Theres always the possibility of AlKasen making improvised bridges with her plants or maybe her Dragon sub-typing actually gives her the ability to fly, who knows

We could send Lyrica first, give her a turn.

I'm guessing that if we do go on our side quest after the tourny, it'll be something similar to Fatal Frame maybe.

[X] Lyrica
[X] Balanced

Lyrica should get her turn. She has a good strategic mind, so she'll signal us if we should switch too if she consider it best. Also, we know Joey's mons can be cunning, like the Chen mixing in sand-attacks in her moves. And I bet the Kasen have status effect powder moves. Staying balanced and adaptable should be a safe bet as an opener.

Also to note, but Kogasa's poison type should have an advantage over Kasen's grass type, unless she also has poison. However, Chen's ground type is good against poison, so sending in Kogasa first is too risky if Chen is first to take the stage. Just because battles aren't dictated by type doesn't mean we should start with a disadvantage.

Kasen is a bit of a wild-card. In the hacks I'm familiar with, she's one of the stronger Touhou, somewhere in between an Extra and a Legendary (though Last Words are, of course, more powerful still). She usually has rather high stats, especially Attack, with the exception of Sp. Attack, which is extremely low, though in some hacks she's just straight-up good all around.

All that said, no matter what her type is here she has a quad-weakness to ice, and Chen is weak to ice as well, so if anyone has an ice move now'd be the time to use it. All that being said, I vote for:

[X]Lyrica
[X]Balanced

We can be prepared to go on the defensive to draw the match out, as we'd have the advantage by wearing them out, or we can go all-out and try to knock them off, though I think this'd be less likely to work as it would leave us vulnerable to being baited.

>>173470
>>173466

But who else will you be choosing to be on your team?

>>173471
Ah dammit, we have to decide now?

Frankly, I'm really not sure who to send second. I would want to see exactly how they fight first before deciding between Lunasa and Kogasa (Merlin just fought, so she's out for me for this fight).

Been seeing some variants that I haven't heard of before, what versions are you drawing from?

Also, hoping that reward mon is a Mima.
Cause Mima.

Say, I'm wondering if SlKogasa is classified as poison or water here...oh what the heck, either of them would be disadvantaged against Chen and AlKasen respectively. If it were not for that disadvantage, and given the tricky map, Kogasa would be good.

With that in mind, I vote..

[X] Lyrica
[X] Lunasa
[X] Balanced

I guess this way we can keep tabs on what the opponent might do and adapt properly. Lunasa here because, SlKogasa has a bit of typing disadvantage

>>173470

Is that so? Well sadly I do not visualize any of our girls knowing how to freeze somebody to death, a shame really

You're overlooking the fact the Kasen is a Alurune Kasen, so basically a plant girl. I don't think she's well suited for such a thing as Chen is. We'd have more to worry about from AlKasen if it was an arena with dirt.

>>173470
Quad-ice... So Kasen was grounD first, then got plant? Urk, that seals it.

>>173466 here,
[X] Lunasa for second mon.

We obviously can't ask Kogasa to go against two ground types.

[X] Lyrica
[X] Lunasa
[X] Balanced

Not like there's much else we can do. Maybe a different stance, but Merlin just fought and Kogasa has type disadvantage.

Considering Kasen will most likely rely on vines and spores or whatever she has to fight, with the arena, balanced or defensive should work to avoid our girls getting caught by them. And ultimately, as much as this arena can work for Kogasa's ambush skills, there's not much to avoid spores from spreading all over. Nor is there much for her to hide her core.

>>173470
here.

Lunasa for second. Kogasa's unique attributes are ill-suited to this terrain.

[X] Lyrica
[X] Lunasa
[X] Balanced
Guess I'll vote this.

Welp, SlKogasa is right out of the question due to the nature of the terrain. While she might be able to hack it, there's also the problem where at least one of your opponent's mons has a clear type advantage over her, and she's only got so many places to go. You want to give Merlin a breather since she just took down her opponent last match. "Lyrica, Lunasa, it's your turn." You look to the girls you're choosing for this, and then look to Lyrica. "You're up first." You say.

Lyrica grins happily, "Finally! I'll sweept both of them up so we can get to the main event faster!" Her hands dance along her keyboard as she flies out onto field, landing on a platform as she stares down Joey and his mons.

Lunasa just nods her head as she shifts into a spot that will let her rush onto the field in an instant if she's needed, "I'll be ready Zeke." She promises you with all her sincerity.

Across the field you can see Joey staring at the field with a disgruntled expression on his face. He probably knows as well as you do that he's at a big disadvantage with this field type, since his Alraune Kasen won't be able to make use of many of the tricks her type are known for, and even the Chen's agility will be limited due to having to keep the platforms themselves in mind as she moves.

"...Let's go, Caesar!" Joey strikes a pose, building up his fighting spirit as his eyes flash with determination. Such grit! He won't let even these disadvantages hold back his courage! His Chen lets out a cheer as she leaps with grace over the pit and lands on a platform, moving in sync with Joey to strike a stunning pose that...is his spine okay bending like that?

You're pretty sure the kid's spine is made out of rubber or something since he seems to be just fine no matter how many times he does that. It's still enough to make you wince slightly when you see it.

Sebastian steps up, his voice booming as he calls out to you both, "Are both competitors ready?" He crosses his arms over his chest as he watches the field. Did Sebastian choose the field type for this? If he did, wouldn't he have known the disadvantage he'd put Joey at?

"Ready!" You say with determination and confidence. The previous wins your girls brought you were giving you a bit of a boost.

"We're ready!" Joey declares, his Chen still in perfect sync with him as he moves. That level of synchronization...just what could he have done to achieve it? How can they move like that?

"Very well then..." Sebastian raises one arm up in the air and looks at both you and Joey, a long moment running by before he brings his hand down, "Begin!"

"Caesar!" Joey calls out, snapping into a different pose as he points at Lyrica. Caesar seems to know exactly how to respond to this and blitzes off of her platform, leaping from place to place as Lyrica begins to play a song, but you don't see any immediate sign of her making a move yet.

Not acting at the right time was what got Lunasa in trouble the last time something like this came up, but you're not sure that alerting Lyrica now would be the wise thing to do. Your girls are fairly autonomous when it comes to fighting, and while they need the occasional nudge it's not like they're helpless. You opt to let Lyrica do what she's planning on doing rather than interrupt her.

Lyrica keeps her eyes closed in concentration as she plays, building up momentum as the Chen gets closer and closer to her, leaping from platform to platform with all the grace and speed her species is famous for, her expression one of focus and seriousness as she closes the distance and slips her eyes shut. Then you can see it, a slight glow surrounding the Chen as she leaps towards Lyrica with her claws out. But...a normal type attack can't hit a ghost, can it?

Of course, Joey can't be as incompetent as tracksuit was, so you doubt that he or the Chen he's got is going to make the same mistake as said imbecile.

The Chen's eyes snap open, glowing the same colors as the aura surrounding her and you realize what she's doing. What amazing foresight! The Chen spins midair and unleashes a vicious slash that rips through the air towards where Lyrica was.

Was, Past tense. Lyrica suddenly drops in the air and avoids the Chen's rapid and vicious attack while setting up one of her own. Her fingers slam down on her keyboard which unleashes a blaringly loud sound and sends a shockwave of pressure towards the Chen in mid-air. Chen though, twists and turns and somehow manages to dodge the attack herself, mid-air.

It's kind of impressive to watch, really. Chen are apparently really flexible, not unlike Joey, really. Come to think of it, you take another look at the guy just to see what he's doing. You're pretty sure that those poses mean something, but what they correlate to is beyond you.

Joey has snapped into a pose that twists and bends his spine almost as much as his Chen's is as it spins through the air, avoiding Lyrica's attack and landing on a platform, launching off of it in time with Joey shifting to a different stance and avoiding one of Lyrica's attacks as the Chen bounces from platform to platform, avoiding Lyrica's vicious airborne assault.

...Now you're just wondering what kind of Makaish training is involved in being able to do that, because now his flexibility just makes no sense.

Joey and his Chen strike a pose together as Lyrica pauses in her assault, seemingly realizing that her current plan isn't working out and all she's doing is burning stamina using attacks that won't connect. That Chen of his is amazingly agile, able to pull of moves you never would have expected her to be capable of in this kind of environment. Lyrica taps her keys on her keyboard thoughtfully as she stares down the Chen.

Lyrica taps her keyboard as the Chen tenses her claws, the both of them staring each other down as they wait for the other to make their next move. You can literally feel the pressure pouring off of the both of them as they sit their with their eyes locked on one another, neither willing to back down. Suddenly, Chen flinches and spits up bloods as several scratches appear in various places on her body as Lyrica just grins. What was that!" You couldn't even see the attack happen! It was almost as if it was...Extrasensory.

Dang. You really need to sit down and talk with your girls about their capabilities, since you're pretty sure that Lyrica don't even learn that normally.

Still the Chen grits her teeth and...vanishes. Where did she-!"

You hear a sudden cracking noise as the Chen slams her fist into Lyrica's jaw, snapping your girls neck to the side from the force of the blow as Lyrica looks completely shocked at the hit. That was-that punch was insane! It was like it was delivered at Mach Speed! You see the Chen rear back with another fist that bursts into an aura of flames and delivers a second punch to Lyrica, sending her slamming down onto a platform. To her credit, Lyrica recovers and hits a series of keys on her keyboard and suddenly unleashes a barrage of stars at the Chen, cutting her up as she's left defenseless in mid-air.

Joey has struck a pose that is full of burning passion and the spirit of a man. It's very inspiring, and even...challenging?

Well now, things really are getting interesting. Granted, you don't like seeing Lyrica get hurt like that, but she's giving as good as she's getting, if not more so.

Joey and his Chen strike a pose together again, "Caesar, are you-?" Joey calls out to his friend in concern, but she holds up a hand and stops his worrying, keeping a confident grin on her face as Lyrica rights herself, levitating up off of the ground and staring at the Chen who manages to actually hurt her this much.

"I should have gone all out from the start..." The Lyrica mutters as she rubs her stomach with a pained expression as she regards the Chen in front of her. Her hands twitch and another barrage of stars are launched. Chen cannot avoid the Swift attack, and instead chooses to power through, it, gritting her teeth as she is pelted by the cutting stars while she leaps mid-air from her platform to another and then towards Lyrica. It's then that you catch it, the Chen baring her teeth viciously as they seem to grow sharper and longer, like those of a vicious predator intending to bite and crunch their prey.

Lyrica's right. If you knew she had stuff like that on tap, you would have told her to just stomp all over Ceaser rather than let her get hit like that. Still, you recognize that attack, and you're not sure Lyrica does. "Lyrica, cut off your attack and evade!" That's either Bite or Crunch, and either one will hurt your Ghost type girl a lot.

Lyrica seems to stop her attack and attempt to disengage from the Chen, but it's too little too late, unfortnately. The Chen lashes out viciously and clamps down on your Lyrica, sending...or, wait. The Chen bites down on nothing but air!" An afterimage!" Your Lyrica appears behind Caesar and delivers a vicious spinning kick to her mid-air, sending her slamming down into the platform below. Lyrica immediately follows that up with a swift barrage of stars and then an attack you cannot comprehend, battering the poor Chen back into the platform before she can get up.

"Caesar!" Joey calls out, but gets no response, "CAESAAAAAAAAAR!"

...You feel like the villain here, somehow...

Which fills you with the inexplicable urge to start laughing in a hammy, over the top manner. Still, you approve of Lyrica's trickery and would applaud her if you weren't so unsure about this.

Caesar twitches and then starts to struggle back to her feet, bleeding from numerous spotson her body. A stream of blood trickles down her face as she wobbles onto her feet, features set in desperate determination as she adopts a shaky fighting stance.

Lyrica hesitates, staring down at the Chen, "Stop, you're...you're done, you don't have any strength left. What do you think you can do now when all you can do is struggle?" She tries to convince the Chen to give up, even as the Chen hurls herself gracelessly off of the platform she was on and onto the one Lyrica had take to hovering over. Chen stumbles to her knees and carefully rights herself and starts to move towards Lyrica, hands raised.

The Chen swings once and smacks a hand into Lyrica's shoulder, barely managing to get your mons shoulder to move. "Stop, it's pointless now." Lyrica orders the struggling Chen to cease her movements as her struggling merely hurts her more, "You can't win anymore-!"

The Chen grits her teeth, a shining aura bursting into existence around her fist as she snarls at Lyrica, swining the fist forward and straight towards Lyrica's head. You see Lyrica's eyes widen as she tries to leap backwards, obviously having not expected this level of power to still be in the Chen. Chen's fist comes within an inch of hitting Lyrica's head an taking her out before the power flickers out of it and she just smacks Lyrica with an ineffective struggle. "A-ah..." Chen stares at her fist disappointedly as she stumbles backwards, "I guess...the rest is up to you, you...purple hermit." Chen mutters as she steps back one too many times and tumbles off of the platforms edge and is sent falling into the dark pit below.

"Caesar!" Joey calls out to her desperately, and you feel a pang of guilt for putting someone you know through this sort of feeling. "Caesar! Answer me! Caesar!"

"Your first touhoumon is unable to battle!" Sebastian harshly informs Joey who flinches at the declaration, "Send out your second or be disqualified!"

Joey grits his teeth at that, AlKasen stepping up and placing a soothing hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll make sure everything's fine." She soothes the poor boy as her vines extend to a platform nearest to her and drag her over to it, her flowers petals closed around her lower body as she moves. You've seen what a Alraune looks like out of the ground before like this, but it's like her root system is a series of tendrils she can use to move herself around.

Joey just puts on a strong expression striking his most stunning pose yet, one that fills even you with emotion. You can almost see the stars shining behind him as he and his purple hermit ready themselves to deal with your worst. Lyrica is floating in front of you now, staring down the purple Alraune Kasen.

That was a pretty impressive display, all considering, though it's still making you think about what to do next. Lyrica's been dinged up with that one two punch combo and you don't really want to get her knocked out because you pushed her too far. "Lyrica, how're you doing right now?" You're not sure she's going to answer 100% honestly, given how Lunasa told you she doesn't like to be seen as weak, but at the same time...

"I'm fine." She snaps at you, apparently offended at the implication that she's going to be brought down by a little bit bit of damage like that. I mean, it's not like she took a Mach Punch to the got and then a fire punch to the jaw or anything, geez.

Lunasa watches her sister with concern, but doesn't say anything.

"Okay, let's try this another way." You roll your eyes and look to Lunasa next. "She's hurting, isn't she."

"Uhm...maybe a little?" Lunasa admits, flinching under her sisters ire even as Lyrica keeps her attention focused on the Alraune Kasen whose roots are lashing about as she seems to be watching you, waiting and planning for something.

You sigh. Lyrica's going to be veeeeeery difficult, you feel. "Lyrica, you're hurt. I'm not blind. Please, switch places with Lunasa for the time being." You are going to chew her out for her attitude here later, as while having pride is all fine and dandy, you're worried about her because you love her, just as you love each of your girls.

Lyrica keeps her eyes on the Alraune Kasen who waves good bye to her before biting the bullet, "Fine." She agrees, flying out of the arena and landing at your side, obviously displeased and not agreeing with your decisions but willing to follow it all the same. Lunasa leaps off the ground and flies into the arena...and the moment she's legally in it is peppered from numerous directions by viciously accurate and well aimed seeds. She lets out a cry of surprise and twists and moves to try and avoid them, but they're coming from numerous directions. Ricochet shots!"

...No, the AlKasen has several 'flowers' set up on the platforms near her that are firing the bullet seeds while she controls them, allowing her to attack from multiple angles at once and keep Lunasa under heavy fire!

...Lyrica is never going to let you live this one down. You note that once again, you chose poorly here, and you're relying on Lunasa being able to pull a rabbit out of her hat like Lyrica did. Still, when did she have time to set up all those flowers?

You realize in a flash that while you were arguing with Lyrica to get her to pull back, you'd seen the AlKasen's roots lashing about and shifting. She must have been slipping them down behind her under her platform and them launching them from there to set up this attack! Lyrica seems to realize this as well, as she grits her teeth in frustration as she watches her sister get pelted from all sides by the attack. Eventually, Lunasa pulls something that surprises you. She rolls underneath one of the platforms and uses it as a shield! Is that legal? Well, Sebastian isn't calling her out on it yet.

"Yes, Lyrica, you were right, and yes, I was stupid for not listening to you." You say, feeling ashamed of yourself for letting that happen. Still, Lunasa seems to be figuring out something to help her get her bearings.

"No, I..." Lyrica doesn't seem to be happy to see you beating yourself up either. Is there no pleasing this girl? "If I'd just listened to your commands immediately, that purple hermit wouldn't have as much time to set up her plan." She doesn't say you weren't wrong for taking her out in the first place, of course, but she at least admits that much.

Then you see Lyrica's eyes widen as she draws in a hissing breath, "Kogasa!" Lyrica calls out and then says something in moonspeak. Immediately you feel Kogasa cover your ears, just in time for you to hear only one note of a mournful song. That's all you need to hear to realize though what Lunasa is planning to use.

You know this one. You heard it all the way through the White Tower, clear until you made Lunasa stop with a kiss. It doesn't carry the same weight as before, but it's definitely Perish Song. AlKasen's on a time limit, and if you play your cards right she'll be the only one to go down.

The Kasen flinches as she hears the song, gritting her teeth as its eldritch tones work their dark magic on her. Even Joey is afraid, shaking as the song takes its toll on him. Oh, he grits his teeth and bears it, posing to try to ward off the worst of it but even you can see his reaction to it. The Kasen though...she just grins suddenly, "Oh? So I just need to beat you quickly? I can do that." She says as you see her roots moving, strong green vines shifting as they slither out of sight and-

Lunasa lets out a cry of shock and bursts out of cover, trying to gain height as strong vines chase her up into the air and grab her by her ankle. It's quick, vicious swing that sends her slamming down into one of the platforms before Kasen starts to drag your girl towards her, flexing her fists in preparation for what she's going to unleash.

"Shinki damn it, there goes switching her out." You grit your teeth when you see Lunasa getting dragged along like that, and are quite worried about her. Of course, you barely even know what she can do, so you don't even know what to ask her to use...!

Lunasa flails about in a panick, letting out a wail of terror as she's hauled rapidly towards the waiting Alraune Kasen. You can see the fear in her actions as she suddenly points her baton at the Alraune Kasen, instinctively reacting to her fear to defend herself and-did it just get colder? An arc of light blue, chilling energy blasts off of Lunasa's bow and slams into the Kasen who lets out a cry of pain.

"Oh my god!" Joey exclaims in shock. It would seem that he didn't expect an Aurora Beam. Then again, neither did you.

"Eh?" Your expression is left stuck in a weird half-smile, half surprised state as Lunasa defies all conventional logic to deliver a super-effective blow to her opponent. Then again, Lyrica used a Psychic type move before, so you aren't really in a position to say on way or the other. "Keep it up, Lunasa!" You're cheering for her the moment you recover enough to do so.

Lunasa tries to fire again but a final vicious tug by the purple hermit drags her right up to the Alrauna Kasen who grabs her with the rest of her roots now that she's in range of them. Kasen then rears back and slams a fist into Lunasa's face, rocking your girls head to the side before she delivers another punch, and then another and another, picking up the pace and barraging Lunasa with blows after blow, the Kasen's fists glowing as she does so. Finally, Kasen slams a hand into Lunasa's gut and you watch as vines grow from that point, wrapping around her and then growing a menacing shade of red as Lunasa lets out a pitiful moan. You also see that the Alraune Kasen's wounds are beginning to heal up.

You... you know this is just an official tournament battle. You know the AlKasen will stop when Lunasa is out cold. You know there are rules to abide by here if you want to play in this ballpark. You're also resisting a strong urge to order Merlin and Lyrica out to smash the plant girl into the proverbial dirt and rescue Lunasa, especially since there's nothing else you can do. More than that, it's clear as day that you're angry at yourself and fearful of what's going on. The only upside is that AlKasen can't shake Perish Song even if Lunasa is downed. The plant girl was doomed the moment the ghost sang her song.

Lunasa moans pitifully as she squirms in the grip of the roots and vines that bind and drain her. Her instruments are held just out of her reach and she is, for all intents and purposes, seemingly defenseless. You have to watch as she loses more and more of her energy until you see her lips move. You can't see what she's saying or hear it, but...you do the the viciously dark shadow that enshrouds her and then latches on the Kasen, leaving her with one final memento to remember Lunasa by as she goes limp in her embrace.

Sebastian raises a hand on your side of the field, "Your second touhoumon is unable to battle!" He informs you as is his duty as the Alraune Kasen lets go of Lunasa and allows her to limply fall off the battlefield and into the dark pit below.

"Lyrica." You say the name of you remaining girl. "Purple Hermit is doomed no matter what she does, no matter how much she recovers or tries to hide." You say as you try to retain composure. "See to it that she doesn't win."

...Wait, where is Lyrica? She's not next to you and-

You hear a vicious war cry as Lyrica slams a shadowy fist into the drastically weakened Kasen's face, knocking the grounded touhoumon back a pace. The Kasen tries to return the favor but Lyrica smashes aside the attack and slams another punch into the Kasen's face, knocking her back another pace and continuing her vicious assault. The Kasen delivers a vicious uppercut to Lyrica's gut but it seems to barely even slow her down as she grabs the mons arm and uses it as leverage to deliver a vicious kick to her face.

"So much for my needing to say anything." Your emotions haven't subsided at all, though you're leaning against SlKogasa so she can restrain you if you try to do something stupid.

SlKogasa soothingly wraps herself around you as Merlin watches on seemingly impassively, the only sign of her irritation the twitching of her fingers as she holds her arms crossed under her bust. In front of you, Lyrica takes a punch from the Kasen but just slams another shadowy fist into her opponents face rather than flinching from it in the least, "Useless! Useless, useless, useless!" Lyrica's punctuates each punch with a declration of the futility of the Kasen's continued fighting. It would seem that Lunasa's final act drastically weakened the Kasen to the point that her once terrifying attack powers have been lowered to the point where even your injured Lyrica can take a hit and keep fighting.

You just watch. Watch, fume, and quietly thank SlKogasa for reading you right so you don't go diving down that pit to try and reach Lunasa like the idiot you are.

Lyrica keeps driving the weakened Kasen further and further back until you see her go rigid with shock, her eyes widen right the moment before Lyrica slams a final fist in the Kasen's face, sending her falling down into the shadow of the pit below, her vines trailing down after her as Lyrica looms over the pit like a vengeful god of old. "No!" Joey cries out as he runs for the edge and then leaps off of it, diving down into the darkness below after his fallen friends. This is...

Sebastian raises his hand on your side of the field, "Winner, Ezekiel!" he declares unnecessarily since the loser already hurled himself into the abyss. That and...you don't feel like much of a winner.

Honestly, you feel like crap right now. Yeah, you won, but it took Lunasa sacrificing herself to do it because you didn't listen to Lyrica when she told you she was fine. Of course, that's dangerous thinking too, because AlKasen was a strong opponent and it would have taken exactly one screw-up for your Lyrica to be put in a bad position.

The best thing to do would be to learn from this and try not to make the same mistake again, but this reminds you of just how far you have to go. Just how much of a newbie you are. "Hey, Sebastian." You look to the Gym Leader. "What happens to the mons who get dropped down there?" You ask. You may as well. There's not much left to do.

"...Ordinarilly I would joke about them falling into the Makai, but I can tell you don't need that right now." Sebastian tells you as he makes his way over to you and places an oddly comforting hand on your shoulder, "Don't worry, there's a net just out of view that catches them and they're immediately taken to treatment. Why, I'll bet that your Lunasa is already fit as a fiddle and rushing to get back to your side-"

"Zeke!" Lunasa bursts through the doors behind you and slams into you, burying her face in your side, "Oh, I'm so sorry Zeke! I didn't mean to mess up!"

You hug Lunasa back, and snuggle her. "No, that was my fault. You did everything you could with that matchup." You pet her comfortingly, feeling relief at her presence.

Lunasa just squeezes you tighter, "B-but...I should have won!" She tries to insist, desperate to make you not blame yourself for this.

"Hey..." Lyrica cuts in, putting a hand on Lunasa's shoulder and giving her sister a comforting squeeze, "Don't worry about it, even I would've had a lot of trouble dealing with that weird purple hermit if you hadn't done what you had sis. You did great."

"It's true." Merlin pipes in, giving both of her sisters hugs as she sidles up right along them, "You both did as well as you could, but..." She glances in your direction for a moment, "It would have been better if we'd either gone more offensive or defensive this fight, I think. We allowed them to gain too much momentum that we weren't ready for."

"Merlin's right. Plus, it wasn't much but I've seen how Joey uses his mons before." You wrap your arms around Lunasa just to make sure she's really there. "Plus, this on top of my saying I would do better about putting you in a bad spot. I wound up putting you in a worse one this time."

"I feel terrible because I failed you, not the other way around." You add, needing her presence for the time being.

"It wasn't your fault Zeke." Lunasa tries to assure you, hugging you tighter as if to squeeze your worries and self-recrimination away, "You couldn't have known what that Alraune Kasen was capable of! Uhm..." Lunasa thinks back and tries to remember, "Ruukoto taught us about variants, and how the most dangerous thing about them is since the vast majority of a species is going to be the main line, variants will always be there to confuse and upset your plans, because it's impossible to know just what they're going to be capable of. Even two Alraune types can be drastically different based off of their original species! So, please..." Lunasa stares up at you with worried eyes, "Please don't be so hard on yourself."

You sigh, and proceed to kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks." You feel oddly burnt out now, but if Lunasa is trying that hard she must honestly believe in you, so wouldn't staying like this be even more of a failure on your part? "I'm just glad you and Lyrica are okay. Speaking of which, Lyrica, the only reason I was being like that with you is because I love you and seeing you... any of you hurt isn't something I enjoy."

"I understand." Lyrica agrees, looking you in the eyes as she answers, "That's why I didn't want to back out yet. I figured that since I was the fastest of us and the oldest, I should take responsibility to scope out the new enemy first. Even if I needed to get pulled back or...lost." She admits that last part after only a moment's hesitation, "It would mean that Lunasa would be that much better informed on what she was dealing with."

You nod. "Thank you for telling me that. At least I know the reason now." You then let Lunasa go for now and gently grab Lyrica's hand. "Lunasa's been healed up, so she's fine for the most part. You, however, haven't been healed. Let's go fix that." You say, feeling a bit better now. You proceed to lead your very first partner to the waiting room, and note that there's really only one pair of pics on a door. Yours, and someone else's.

You carefully guide Lyrica, who very much tries to convince you that she's fine and doesn't need anymore of those healing shakes and their bitter aftertaste, towards the waiting room as Sebastian waves you off, seemingly like he's decided against saying something as you leave with your girls. Merlin and Lunasa float after you close by and SlKogasa oozes along in the rear, following you out of the arena door and towards the only remaining waiting room where the symbol you're certain is Costello's sits. Before you can enter it though, a Rabbit runs up and gives Lyrica her shake. "Drink." The short haired Reisen orders as she stares at Lyrica.

Lyrica looks to you desperately. Does she have to?

You take on a stern expression as you look at Lyrica. "Yes, you have to. ...Besides, you're going to have plenty of opportunity to wash the taste out later." You state, while looking to the side and blushing. Hopefully she picks up on what you meant.

Lyrica stares at you for a long moment before she speaks up, "But I'm going to ride you like a show pony, not suck you off." She points out, and you hear the Reisen titter in amusement at her response. Lyrica sighs in resignation before downing the drink, gulping it down in just a few seconds. You watch as the damage on her body quickly begins to fade away. It's amazing how efficient the touhoumon healing factor is when given a push, isn't it? Lyrica wipes her hand off on her sleeve and hands the glass back to the still giggling Reisen, looking very discontent.

You can't really counter that, and simply continue to blush. "What, I can't make out with you once that medicine's dissipated to help get the taste out?" You say, as that was in fact your original plan. Then you remembered that humans don't react well to Touhoumon medicine and thought better of it, for now anyway.

"I can help!" Merlin declares cheerfully as she grabs onto her sister and purses her lips. Lyrica responds as you would figure she would, blushing furiously and struggling against Merlin who uses her strength to have her way anyway, kissing her sister firmly on the mouth and then slipping her tongue into it, humming cheerfully as Lyrica squirms and squeaks as her busty sister holds her against her body. Lunasa meanwhile just watches the two of them bond in a insisterly manner and smiles. SlKogasa then grabs onto a surprised Lunasa and kisses her firmly on the lips as well, getting a surprise squeal from her as her slimy friend has her way with her. Leaving you the only one not being kissed.

The Reisen gives you a smug, knowing look and waggles her eyebrows playfully at you.

Suddenly, the door behind you opens up slowly, and Costello peeks his head out. He casts a lazy looking glance over the scene of debauchery in front of him before turning his attention onto you. "...Hey. How's it going Zeke?" He asks, apparently completely unphased by the touhoumon on touhoumon action.

"Not bad." You say, noticing your friend. "Thanks for getting that card back from Abbott. I had no idea how I was going to track him down to get that back."

Costello shrugs, "Just did the same thing I did when I got back the stuff he borrowed from me over the years." He admits to you. Is Abbot really that-oh you can't even pretend he's not both that absent minded and that much of a prick at times. Or in general, really. "So, you made it all the way to the end? Can't say I'm surprised." Costello leans against the doorway as he opens the door the rest of the way, and you note that the Medical Bunny has scampered off somewhere else.

"What can I say? My girls are good. Of course, now I have to fight you." Oddly enough, you're not really that worked up over winning and losing this time around. Probably because the fight itself will be enough. "I heard from Joey that you've been clearing your battles in less than a minute each?" You ask, wanting some confirmation as to whether Joey's telling the truth here or whether he's exaggerating, though you're leaning toward the former.

Costello nods, "I ended up in a weak path in the bracket." He states sounding...disappointed and annoyed, for himself, "I wanted a chance to test myself after what happened at the White Tower, but this has been a waste of time up until now."

"Well, considering your girls, your commitment, and your skill, I can see why. Most people aren't like you, after all." You say in response, noting how Costello was easily on your level in terms of raw skill, with the added advantage of a week of training to boot.

"Maybe." Costello allows, his expression still one of annoyance. At least he seems to be a bit less upset about it, probably in anticipation of the both of you finally getting to face off in your no doubt amazingly dramatic and intense rival battle with one another. "You've heard what the prize is?" Costello asks of you.

"Joey told me what he knows. The winner gets a rare Touhoumon while the runner up gets an evolutionary stone. I don't know the specifics of either though." You say, noting that you're getting a touch excited yourself.

"Well, due to certain sources." Costello doesn't divulge his sources, but you think you can guess what they are, "I know what the stakes are. First place gets a Chibi Sakuya, one that supposedly has something 'special' about her." Costello doesn't seem to know what that something 'special' is though, "And the runner up gets a Pink Heartstone."

...hooooooooly Keine.

Heartstones are...rare. Like, really rare. Well not REALLY rare like your shiny girls are, but this really says just how seriously the league is considering Sebastian. You have to wonder if part of the challenge is just in protecting the prizes from poachers.

"Dang. The League is betting a lot on this tournament, isn't it?" You're seriously impressed with the prizes though, and that alone is almost worth the effort to get up here. "Still, at least the prizes will go to people who can appreciate them, right?"

There was now one more thing to worry about. The prize isn't just any mon, but a chibi Sakuya. The mon whose entire species Yume has a thing against. You feel a touch nervous about that possibility since you have no idea how Yume's going to react to your winning a CSakuya other than 'poorly'. Good thing this is all just speculation!

"That's true enough." Costello agrees, keeping his arms crossed as he considers what you've said, "And yeah, they have. I guess they think that he's the real deal, so they're putting a lot into this test to see if he can manage it."

Behind you, you can hear the sounds of debaucherous, forbidden sister on sister kissing continue, as well as the sounds of best friend on best friend slime on normal touhoumon love. It's... somewhat distracting.

Especially since you've been molested a lot recently. You just can't catch a break here, can you? "Seems like your dad is doing a good job of that so far. ...Also, sorry about the scene. Post-evolution sex drive and I've had zero opportunities to let them work it out of themselves."

"I figured." Costello responds, still apparently completely unaffected by the display of debaucherous lust going on behind you, "And don't worry about it. It's not like I'm that easy to offend. I put up with Abbot for years, after all." He points out with humor in his voice.

"Yeah, that's true." You nod in response. "You've pretty much got the patience of a saint to have put up with him as long as you have."

You look to your girls again, who don't look like they're about to stop anytime soon. "I originally set aside four days for those four, then Merlin won my second match by erotic knockout and I bumped it up to a full week." You're still embarrassed over that particular win, especially since it was in front of Erika.

"Huh. He let that slide?" Costello says, his expression one of interest, for him anyway. "I'm surprised. From what I understand he's usually a stickler for that sort of thing not being allowed in his matches. Guess he's following the rules the league sent him instead of his."

"I'd have to also chalk it up to him knowing full well that dragging me into this now of all times isn't the best idea. ...Especially since my mother apparently took the time to teach Merlin personally while my girls were still being adjusted, and the whole aforementioned sex drive bit."

"I'll be honest, if it weren't you requesting my presence here, I would have passed up on this tournament. My girls just got done running both the kidnapping scenario and the sequel, and evolved during the latter. Plus general wisdom usually dictates setting aside a nice chunk of time as soon as possible."

Costello frowns and looks apologetic, "I'm sorry, it's...probably my fault that he pressured you into it. He's been trying to talk to me a lot lately, and one of the topics was you. I admitted that you were a close friend and someone that I respected as a rival. He'd told me you had entered, and I figured this was as good a time as any to get that card back to you, which is why I sent you that note."

"I'm not going to hold that against you. Nothing wrong with having a rival battle, I just wish the timing were better, that's all." You proceed to lean against the wall rather than stand, since there was no reason to be tense about this. "I mean, considering that the girls basically get more time to work out their kinks later and there's prizes for the both of us, there's not much reason to complain."

"...Aside from feeling like I'm out of my element here." You admit with a sigh. "My first match was against a guy who managed to develop a device that let him create a mental link with his mons, which SlKogasa figured out how to shut down, my second opponent used frighteningly powerful ghost types, and Joey was my third opponent. Lunasa actually got KOed in that match. That made me feel useless, to be honest."

"That last one especially. I'm not used to playing fair."

Costello smirks, "Of course you feel out of sorts. Your parents didn't raise you to be a rule abiding goodie-goodie Zeke, so it's natural that you'd be better at dealing with wild situations or non-league monitored and other non-standard matches. I was raised on a constant diet of league rules, rules books, famous matches and stories of how great my father was. That's why I'm more suited for this. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just how it is. Besides..." He looks at you, "I'd say compared to most of the people in this tournament, you're more ready for how the world really is off of the routes...and on them, these days."

"Thanks. It's part of why I honestly don't care what the outcome is in this match. I'm more concerned with having my match with you, and whatever happens, happens." You do finally bring up one point though. "Though Yume's not going to be happy if I do somehow earn that CSakuya. Like 'I'm not going to let my little brother figure fall in love with some hussy' not happy."

Costello pauses for a moment and looks thoughtful, "Wait...she really hates Sakuya's that much? I thought she was just doing that as a joke. Why does she have an issue with them?" He asks curiously, "Is it because they're both natural maid types?"

You frown in response to the question posed to you. "She does, and I'm not sure why. She never told me, but I don't think it's just a rivalry. I mean, even rivalries involve some sort of respect, right? Yume just flat-out hates Sakuyas." You try to think of a plausible reason, but can't quite come up with one that's not wholly outlandish. "Obviously something had to have happened, but I just can't think of what."

"I see." Costello responds with just that, looking away thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head, "I don't have any ideas. At least any that I have any proof of." Costello still seems thoughtful though.

...You can hear conversation coming from in the waiting room that you're all sitting outside of, both moonspeak and common.

"Huh. I take it your team grew a bit?" You give out your best guess as to what could explain the mix of languages, considering that you're pretty sure that Rei and Kiri evolve later than your girls.

"Yeah, it did." Costello admits to you without an ounce of hesitation, "I did tell you about what happened to me when I was in the woods, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you wound up entertaining a Remilia and a Kaguya." You reply, getting the gist of it.

"They sent their daughters with me." Costello informs you simply, his expression an absolute poker face as he informs you of a mans dream.

"Something along the lines of, 'I like you, you can fuck my daughter'?" You ask with a surprisingly neutral expression yourself.

"...Yeah." Costello admits, "Pretty much just like that. They tried to get me to stay with them, but...I had places to be. Apparently not being seduced by a vampire or an immortal impresses an EX, so they sent their daughters with me." He shrugs, "Touhoumon are like that, I guess."

"Indeed." You look to your girls again. "...I'm in for quite the week after this. At least you only have two chibis, and neither have Merlin's... enthusiasm."

"I also have an immortal and a vampire." Costello responds to your challenge, "Kaguya doesn't get tired and can keep local moments lasting for eternity. And Remilia?" He stares at you, "Remilia is a vampire. She bites. And drinks."

"I've got a slime girl who can keep a person going indefinitely." You point to SlKogasa, who's no doubt doing naughty things to Lunasa at this point. "Plus she can apparently learn new chemical concoctions by being exposed to them."

"In fact, she's pretty much the reason I can even pen in a week with my girls. She's probably going to be sustaining me the entire time, or close to it."

"Huh." Costello responds to that curiously, "Make sure you do take at least a few minutes break every couple of hours or so to let your brain get recombobulated. Otherwise you could end up a sexed up toy that can't think of anything but pleasure, and that'd be a shame."

"I plan to. Hopefully. Yume and Ruukoto trained my girls well, so hopefully they'll have something approaching restraint."

"Oh...is that what that noise was when I was leaving? I thought your mother wasn't trying to uplift cats again or something." Costello responds, his eyes lightning up as he finally puts together something that was bothering him.

"Yeah. Now toss in a week of my having foursomes with my chibi Prismrivers while being watched by either Ruukoto or Yume." You still feel embarrassed about that, though in Ruukoto's case she doesn't mean anything bad by it.

You're sure Yume doesn't either, but still. It's not really something one would do around his big sister.

"I pity you." Costello informs you honestly, "I'm sure that must have been very unpleasant, but look at the bright side. At least your mother didn't urge you to take your father's shortcut through the forest and end up spending a week stumbling around lost because of two mysterious places causing interference due to their proximity to each other." He pauses, "That and, I'm pretty sure I was being messed with."

"I know the feeling. ...In fact, Mugetsu pretty much admitted to watching me when she pulled me into her anomaly on the way to One Tree." You say, reminding him of that particular encounter.

Costello is about to respond when suddenly an unfamiliar intern pokes his head into the hallway, He notices you both sitting outside fo the waiting room and huffs, "Well, since you're all here and not where you are supposed to be, I guess I can just tell you that arena is ready." He then huffs off, apparently offended by you not being in your waiting room.

Costello just stares at him as he goes before pushing himself off of the wall, "See you in the arena, Zeke." Costello states before turning to his side and calling into the waiting room, "Time's up, we've got our match." He says and you hear a bustle coming from inside as Costello marches off to the Arena. Rei and Kiri give you an acknowledging nod as they pass by you, floating after Costello. The Kaguya simply glides past you with all the grace of a lunar princess, not sparing a look in your direction and keeping much of her face hidden with a fan. Remilia is the last in line, her heels clicking as she exits the room. She gives you and your group a once over before grinning, "Oh, this will be fun." She declares before she hurries after Costello, cackling all the way.

"Oh great, a Dark type." You say in response, noting that you've more or less kept to a theme without even trying. "Girls, we ought to follow them."

Merlin lets out a sigh of disappointment as she pulls away from a flushed and shaking Lyrica, "Oh, very well..." She shrugs her shoulders in disappointment before following after you.

Lyrica shakes her head several times to clear away the fuzziness of pleasure before following after you as well, "Wait for me!"

SlKogasa, who has dragged Lunasa into her body at this point and appears to be masaging her all over follows after you with a cheer, bringing all four of your girls with you.

As you enter the arena, you can see Costello standing across from the entrance, taking his position while he is flanked by his girls on both sides. Sebastian...is in the audience booth, watching. This time, it appears that Gissele will be refereeing!

Interesting. You're guessing that it has to do with the fact that Costello is a blood relative, Sebastian's son to be precise. Sebastian probably stepped aside to help prevent possible accusations of bias if/when Costello wins.

You take up your own position, and await the final ruleset of the tournament.

Gissele looks to you both before speaking up, "I will now decide the rule set of this match!" Gissele declares as she throws a switch, was that there before, and sends the reels spinning. Eventually, it comes to a stop, and...huh? That looks like a bunch of acronyms.

"...really?" You can hear Gissele mutter before she turns her attention to the field and loudly declares, "Both trainers will use their full stock of touhoumon! Once one touhoumon is selected, it cannot be substituted for another until it has been defeated. No erotic knockouts, no out of ring knockouts, no..." She stops and then turns to Sebastian, concern etched on her features as she looks to him. Sebastian nods and then Gissele turns her attention back to the arena, sending a concerned look your way, "No prohibition on attacking the trainer, so long as they are not permanently harmed or killed. If the trainer is knocked out, that team is disqualified. Touhoumon not currents in the arena are allowed to defend their trainer, and only currently selected touhoumon are allowed to attack the opposing trainer. The match will continue until it reaches its final destiantion. Trainers, do you understand the rules?"

Costello looks to his father, his expression...is he furious? Sebastian stares right back, and the two share a moment before he turns his attention to you. Costello nods, "I understand." He declares as he looks you right in the eyes. You recognize that look. That's the glint Costello has when he intends to pull something subtle and vicious to get back at someone who pushed the gentle giant too far.

And considering that you're pretty sure that Sebastian basically tricked the both of you into this, you're not going to get in Costello's way. "Got it." You say, feeling that while this is a ruleset rife for possible underhanded tactics, this is still Costello's turf. You're going to have to decide who to use first, and hope that Remilia is fragile enough to bring down quickly before she can do too much damage.

Pick a girl to start!
[ ] Lyrica
[ ] Lunasa
[ ] Merlin
[ ] SlKogasa

Pick a stance!
[ ] Aggressive
[ ] Balanced
[ ] Defensive

Remilia is Dark/Flying, Kaguya is Grass/Psychic, Hakurei is Psychic/Fighting and Kirisame is Electric.

Strategy: We save Lunasa for Remilia. Aurora beam is the only known trump card that will work well against flying type.

Now, Lunasa and Lyrica just fought. Kogasa to start with is a bad idea since 3 out of four of Costello's mons can screw her up. So...

We have the advantage that Costello's team is made up of chibis... Hakurei and Kirisame are still chibis, are they?

Now, the problem is to decide who we send first. Kogasa is a bad idea because 3 out of 4 of them can claim type advantage on her, even if ghost can claim the side on 2 of them. While I would say Merlin first... Who will Costello send first? He could send in Remilia first to try to get an early advantage by doing as much damage as he can with her...

Also, special chibi Sakuya? Variant for sure, since this si pretty much all we seem to encounter. What will it be, a Sakuya that is not a maid? Like, hunter Sakuya?

Okay, let's try seeing it from how Costello would see it, "My opponent has 4 ghost types, one of them being a Ghost/Poison, which should I send first? Should I send Remilia so I can milk the type advantages as much as I can? Or should I send her as my trump card?" Knowing this is Costello, the careful one, though, I would think that he would want to save his trump card, I dont think hes the type to go "laugh quietly to oneself while sending a Mon with type advantage to all of them thinking that none of the opponent's mons can do anything about it".

As for the other Mons of his, well, his Rei is at a disadvantage against our Ghosts, so that may be unlikely, Mari does not have an advantage nor disadvantage, though her firepower needs to be noted, and Kaguya is at a disadvantage against all our Mons, doubly so if its Kogasa.

I like to think that Costello is the type to be careful, but then given the previous look his face has been giving I wonder about that. After all, this may be the rare times where he decides to go all-out.

Hm, I wonder about the CSakuya, my random guess is that its an Inu-Sakuya, but thats just me who has just been rereading those doujins....Also, what do Heartstones do aside from being rare and expensive?

It should be remembered the rules, especially the whole "attacking the trainer is okay" thing. Makes me wonder what kind of League allows that.

It's like a sort of sadistic test.

The biggest problem I have with deciding on a strategy is the fact that I can't decide if we should try to win, or if we should try to go for the runner up prize.

Sure, fancy shmancy Sakuya and all that, but I'm pretty sure that this story will at no point hurt for lewd encounters. Leaving aside the fact that we're pretty sure everyone involved in this shindig is Good People and so it's not like we absolutely have to Save The Girl, and leaving aside that we might be spreading ourselves too thin too fast as far as the needy harem goes...

At this stage, Sakuya just grinds on my OCD. There's no theme matching up. With an all ghost-type ensemble, unless she's some kind of spectral variant, she just doesn't fit. While on the other hand, not only does Mr. Rival have a Remilia, for a master-servant matchup, he also has Hakurei and Kirisame for a PC party-time. Which is more tenuous a linking theme, and does nothing to bring the Kaguya into the matchup, but is way more fitting than four ghosts and also a maid.

And leaving all that aside, I'm just plain more curious about and interested in the shiny rock, somehow. So, in the end, I think I would lean more towards taking runner-up.

.... On the other hand, it's not like deliberately throwing the fight, or putting forward anything less than one hundred and twenty five percent of our best and full effort is acceptable, here. This is a Rival Battle, after all, and even throwing a normal trainer encounter isn't easily excusable. In a world where eye contact means that this kid is going to blather briefly about the state of his shorts and then assault you with giant rats and this is the normal and expected state of things, deliberately taking a fall could be a mortal cultural offense or something, and definitely is something along the lines of dirty pool. Bad form, and all that.

Of course, if we try as hard as possible but still lose, then that's fine and neatly nips the new-character annoyance in the bud, but still. This guy is an old childhood buddy and not Abbot, so I don't want to go 'look, I don't even think enough of you to take this fight seriously', either.

.... If there were no prizes on the line, or the prizes were just Money, with a runner-up prize of Less Money, then it wouldn't be such a headache. In the end, though, I probably wouldn't complain about winning or losing.

Mostly, I think it comes down to what would make the most sense, from the MC's perspective. Of all the options, who's fought the least and is freshest for battle, and how eager is he to be done with all of this? Finish it up all in one blast and count on inertia to push through any defenses before they can properly go up, or hold back and play it safe and slow trying to find a weakness to take proper advantage of. Maybe the other guy's team is just more tired than ours.

In any case, it seems like his dad, who is right there, has done something to vex the rival. Probably wrong, but the only thing that comes up is possibly rigging the rule-selector a little to get a more climactic showdown and possibly, even maybe accidentally, put things in Rival's favor, since he just basically pointed out that he's a whole lot more familiar with official rules and regulations than we are.

Well. However it is, that's just a whole lot of speculation and thinking aloud that has not much relevance to the actual fight.

Obviously, the clincher is the Remilia. That remilia will probably wreck our team a good handful of different ways on its own if allowed, as a solo sweep. The important variable is when she's deployed. It's not to say that she's the only danger on that team, for all we know Costello's gone ahead and trained a good extra twenty levels into one of his starters or something, but she is the one with a type advantage on everything we have.

If she's thrown out right at the start, as an all-in, calling your bluff so show your cards tactic, then we need to go fully aggressive right off the bat in order to drop her. If she's not the first thing on the field from his side, then we need to play more defensively at the start, buying time and wearing other opponents down without committing to the big and exhausting moves that we'll have to save for her.

If we pick wrong... well, it might not be an immediate loss on our part, there could be ways to compensate for the initial tactical blunder. But it will make things more difficult. In the end, going with a balanced approach is probably the safer route. We'll hurt for it if Remilia is the first up to bat, of course, but not as much if we're playing coy and get caught with our pants down, and there'll probably be drawbacks if she isn't, too... it's the option that doesn't give much of an advantage one way or the other, I think, it just makes sure that we don't get burned quite as badly as we could be in either case. At least, that's how I see the options, and to be fair I could well be completely mistaken here, since each of the prismrivers seems more suited for a particular mode of battle, too.



I'm going to have to think on this more.

I'm curious what special variant Sakuya can be as I'd imagine it'd be some sort of MGQ variant, which might fit into the party considering we have a SlKogasa that's a cut about the norm.

>>173522
>At this stage, Sakuya just grinds on my OCD. There's no theme matching up.

You do remember MerKoishi saying she would follow us if we come back to see her with badges? Beside, we NEED non-ghost mons exactly for when people pull dark type mons on us.

Anyway, if we want to gamble on remilia not being first... Then I would say agressive Merlin. Too dangerous to send Kogasa mon, Lyrica and Lunasa just fought and we know Lunasa has an attack that will work well on Remilia.

Just to clarify since I believe I saw this question, Costello's team is made up thusly: CKirisame, CHakurei, Kaguya, Remilia.

Also, league rules vary a lot globally, and the New Continent is the fastest and the loosest with the stuff they'll let gym leaders get away with. So yes, this is technically a legal rule set because they allowed a gym leader somewhere to use it. Why they allowed it is a whole other question, possibly relating to why they allow erotic knockouts as well.

Oh great. Remilia isn't a chibi.

So, the question is: Will Costello send her out first or not?

Just realized something. I am not quick on the uptake. That aside, I should have understood it immediately, but it only just clicked that we aren't holding one fight, here.

There's going to be two, simultaneous fields of battle to focus on. The fight inside the ring, and the fight that might go on outside of the ring.

Damn, if Costello is smart and wants to be kind of a jerk about this, then he wont send Remilia in right away. He'll wait for us to get distracted by the official one on one fight in the ring, and then send Remilia over to either gank one or more of our girls or crash through them for a quick trainer knockout.

Also, the longer the fight go, the less girls there will be to protect us or him as they go down.

F it. I say he won't send Remilia now. Not when he has two psychics we can have payback on after Remilia go down.

And if he does, he opens up himself to be attacked by us when his best mon against ghosts go down.

[X] Merlin
[X] Agressive

>>173528
>only currently selected touhoumon are allowed to attack the opposing trainer.

This is important to note, that the ruling does not say "currently in the arena". It's possible that either team could try and blitz the opposing Trainer with their next 'mon immediately after a knockout. However, I don't think we need to worry much about sending a second Touhoumon to fight Zeke while another fights in the Arena, as the ruling forbids that.

Another important thing to note is that Costello blitzed through the easy trainers, so his mons are near full Stamina, while Zeke's are more tired than they are letting on. I want to call out Sebastian for this bullshit, but it won't do anything useful, and Costello seems to have something in mind to get back at his dad anyways.

Sage'd for not voting... yet. This fight's going to be much more like a Chess match than a normal Touhoumon battle, and I'm hoping someone clever can find a way to turn it into a game of Monopoly.

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

Remilia has shit defenses, and because Merlin is evolved and probably higher-level, she has 10 Speed BST over Remilia, meaning that she'll likely get the first hit in. Playing defensive with any of these opponents is a hilariously bad idea, given that they can either outlast us, in the case of Kaguya, or outgun us, in the case of Remilia and Kirisame. Hakurei, for her part, probably knows Intuition, meaning that her fighting-type attacks will still be able to hit us, so we can't discount her as a threat either. Hitting them hard and fast is the only way I can see us winning here, and it keeps Lunasa and Kogasa back with us in case Costello decides to attack us directly. I doubt he will, but the possibility exists.

We shouldn't attack him unless he does so first to us, at which point the gloves come off.

>>173532
Remilia is also not a chibi, remember. In fact, she may just be higher level.

Still, I agree playing defensive is a bad idea.

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

So... I don't think winning and getting Sakuya will be a major problem. Considering the League does not want a mon to end up with a trainer who just dumps her in the wild or something, there's probably a lot of leeway with winning her as a prize.
We can just not take her, if we really don't want her. But I think that we should probably at the very least have a chance to leave her with the league for a week or two so we can "go over our current lineup and see if there are any problems with the new acquisition" (i.e. fuck our girls until they're satisfied, and then see if they are willing to accept a newcomer or not).
It's not as if they're just going to hand us a ball and go "GLHF TTYL" and run off.


>>173532
I don't quite agree that we should let him make the first move in the "surrounding battle".
We are, as Costello himself said, more suited to bending rules and playing sneaky than being a gentleman about things. Going for a sneak KO is our style. Meaning the sneaky thing is to play like a gentleman because that's what he won't expect!


>>173525
I agree with this. We really need something non-ghost if we want to become a good trainer. Gym trainers stick with a theme, but regular trainers need variety. And with a full Prismriver trio and a SlKogasa, we don't have a lot of spaces left. (Especially if we want to keep one open for MerKoishi, too.)
The thing is, I have no idea how variants affects type, so I don't know what type SlKogasa is. I'm guessing Slime means a Poison, though. And Poison is not a really noteworthy type as far as strengths/weaknesses go.

Assuming we pick up MerKoishi later, we'll have 3 Ghosts, a Ghost/Poison (or just regular Poison?) and a Water (Normal/Water?) plus one unknown. So with half our team ghosts, we have to build around their strengths and weaknesses.
Luckily, Ghost is a pretty decent type with only one major weakness, Dark. (Ghost vs Ghost is a two-way weakness, so it comes down to who's the better trainer and/or has the better mon.) So we mostly just need to cover for a few smaller problems besides dark. Mostly Normal (two-way immunity) and Steel. (Takes half damage, deals normal damage.)
Water can take care of Steel (deals normal damage, takes half), and can help deal with Dark by having no type advantage/disadvantage.
Poison is unfortunately one of the less useful types, but being a Slime variant seems to have some advantages of its own though, like being highly resistant to physical attacks. (Basically really high defense, I guess.) So SlKogasa is great for dealing with Normal type mons (because Normal and Ghost have a two-way immunity) and especially useful against Fighting types. Resistance to Fighting moves + being a Slime.
The best one for covering for a Ghost is probably Fighting, though. (Good against both Dark and Steel.)

A normal CSakuya is Ice (gaining Steel after the first evolution), but the question is: what is "special" about her? If she is a variant, which variant type is she?
(Inb4 Ghost, and then it turns out that MerKoishi is actually a ghost too, because LolGhost.)

>>173534
Slime Kogasa is Poison and Ghost. And MerKoishi HAS to have Water type.

I think there's also the question of "Is Zeke willing to aim for his buddy?" on top of the other things as I get teh feeling this will force him to make that choice considering the disadvantages.

I think most upon getting to know MerKoishi would want her along for a mix of reasons.

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

Gonna go ahead and get behind this one. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest expert on touhoumon mechanics, but it's quite clear that Remilia is the biggest threat here. We need to save Lunasa, or possibly Kogasa, to deal with her. Sending out Merlin, and having her go all-out, is probably the best way to start.

No two ways about it, we're gonna take some losses here. That's just how it's played. I do wonder, though: who has a better chance against Remilia? Lunasa, with her special attack, or Kogasa, with her sheer cleverness?

Why does it seem most people voting aren't considering the trainer attack possibilities? I doubt Zeke'd have it in him to do so, but what if Costello takes adavantage of it?

>>173539
And what would deciding any other stance change regarding this? If Costello is going to try anything, he'll down a few of our mons first so we don't have as many guards as right at the start of the match.

Oh, right, I will say one thing: Your mon/stance choices really do matter, since you're having to pay attention to your girl's stamina here. You've actually done pretty well here so far, especially when it comes to mon selection. Problem is that your stance selection needs work. You hit the second battle right on the money, that couldn't have gone better. First battle and third... Well, you get half credit on the former and none on the latter.

You could still win this, but it'll take some work.

>>173541
Work? You realize this is pretty much guesswork? We only got stance right on second because it was clear enough.

Sure, it will take some work. But first selection of stance here is complete guesswork and how it will work out also depend on whoever Costello send out first. Which we really have no freakin clue about. Will he save Remilia for later or aim to do as much damage as possible with her now?

Now, right now? We know Merlin is comfortable with agression. That's all we have to work with on stance. But asking us to pick right is quite a big order considering we have no clue how the mons we face fight. Or, in this case, no clue on who we will fight, which is a big factor.

>>173544
We can infer a few more things from seeing fights: Lunasa's strongest power is her unusually potent Perish Song.
That's a timed-death sort of thing, so the only thing she needs to do after using it is survive. Playing defensively is probably the best bet for her.
Lyrica said after the Chen fight that had she gone all-out, Chen would have been done for, therefore Lyrica must possess some strong attacks. So Aggressive for her is also probably a strong stance.
Kogasa is something of a mixed bag. She seems to do best using her ambush-style of combat, staying hidden until the enemy presents a weakness and then striking from an unexpected direction. That feels rather defensive to me.

>>173545
Maybe, there there's also the other side to take into account. Remilia? She's dark type and she know we can wreck our team. Defense won't have much point once she can her hands into her opponent. If we can't beat her, doing as much damage as possible to take her out fast with the next mon should be the strategy.

Could we send Lunasa out, Perish Song Costello, and then just play defensive from that point out?

>>173553
...That could work. Pretty underhanded but perfectly legal.

You think it might leave lasting damage?

>>173553
>>173554

Actually I read that Perish Song does not work on spectators nor trainers, though...it SURE WORKED on us during White Tower, so I wonder about that

>>173555
Didn't Anonybody, or was it the other author here, state that he or she won't be doing an ultra-faithful rendition of every little mechanic in the games in this story?

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

In things I note, if an opponent mon decides to attack Zeke, that actually means that it opens them up to attacks by Zeke's mons who are not out yet right? If so, I believe that so long as we have Lunasa not sent out, she can counteract against Remilia trying to attack Zeke, in the meantime, I think that we send out Merlin on Aggressive mode, play up her strengths and all, if she feels like she won't survive, then emphasize that she's going to take down the enemy with her. As for the other mons, we can see how the situation goes and send them out as appropriately

>>173557
Yeah, he did.

Regarding the 'should we win?' thing: The facts indicate that winning is pretty much impossible: battles are guesswork mostly (fault of the medium I guess) and we have less stamina and the type disadvantage. That said, I don't know why would anyone think of throwing the match. Man the fuck up.

[x]Lunasa-Defensive
You're all mistaken. That glint means he has to go all out to prove daddy he's his own man now and that means Remilia will go first and wreck everyone.
Perish song and be done with it.

Oh, hey. I just remembered that I'm really dumb. All of the Prismrivers have Poltergeist/Soundproof as an ability, which means that Lunasa's immune to her own Perish Song.

>>173532
I want to change this from Merlin, Aggressive to
[X] Lunasa
[X] Defensive

Because, as someone pointed out, all she has to do is throw out a Perish song and then spend the rest of the match running around to the tune of Yakkety Sax until the opponent croaks. We don't even need to worry about Costello recalling his 'mon because he can't according to the rules of this tournament.

>>173562
That sounds like a good idea.

[X] Lunasa
[X] Defensive

I should point out that using Perish Song on a human is a really fikkin' bad idea, since humans are really fragile compared to Touhoumon. Plus, you all saw what Lunasa's powered up version was doing to the White Tower prior to Zeke recruiting her. If he didn't have Merlin and Lyrica with him to counteract the music, he would have died. End of story.

Now imagine a more localized version of that, slightly weaker power but with largely the same intent. Costello likely wouldn't survive it, and Zeke wouldn't even consider it because he knows better than most just what that move does.

Also, bear in mind that Lunasa's also been the most beat upon this tournament, and even with HP refills she might not be feeling as good as she looks.

>>173565
I wasn't suggesting that we use it on Costello; that'd be straight-up murder. No, save it for the Remilia to get it out of the game. Everything else is more easily dealt with.

>>173566

I know you weren't. I was more referring to >>173553 and >>173554 who were talking about targeting Costello with that.

[X] Merlin
[X] Aggressive

I don't want to gamble on the chance Costello will send out Remilia first. If Zeke sends out Lunasa first and she doesn't fight Remilia, there's no way she'll last long enough for the Perish Song strategy. Remember, Lunasa's already been through two tough fights.

>>173560
The way I see it: attacking Costelo is the best shot of winning by far, but it's also the most dirty and thus something Zeke would be hesitant to do. This might be just an unwinnable battle between the disadvantages and Zeke's kind nature.

That and I get the feeling he might just let it happen just to spite his father who seemed to have rigged it in a way favoring his son as even he knows that Zeke isn't as strong in 1v1/highly restricted battles.

>>173570
It's like you have never seen an anime before:

Zeke will win, but feel guilty and bis moral will be crushed. And his enemy is focusing on winning fairly to prove his father that he doesn't need cheating to win. And winning he will.

Ah, fuck it.

SEND OUT KOGASA
PLAY TRICKY/DEFENSIVE
DISREGARD >>173562 AND >>173532

She hasn't fought since the very first match, after all, and she's a bit of a wildcard. I don't want to delete the prior two posts because they contain reasoning beyond merely voting.

Seconding >>173573

Flip a coin, hope Costelo doesn't send out Kaguya.
Lunasa is pretty much low on PP anyway.

>>173576
Why Kaguya? Remilia and Hakurei can still wreck her too. Remilia because dark vs ghost, Hakurei because psychic vs poison.

If tower run pointed out anything, it's that Hakurei and Kirisame can take on evolved mons despite being chibi themselves. Remember what they did to that Kogasa?

In fact, Kaguya would be the lesser evil for Kogasa. Psychic versus poison is bad, but all of Kogasa's moves should be effective, since ghost is strong against psychic and poison is strong against grass.

>Kogasa
>Tricky/Balanced

We aren't gonna sweep their team, which means Kogasa should go early. Sure she might not be able to beat her opponent, but she should be able to poison them, giving our remaining girls a better chance.

Vote called, and Merlin/Aggressive won out. Update ought to be soon-ish.

Merlin's probably the least dinged up girl out of your entire lineup, save for maybe SlKogasa, so she's pretty much the only one you have in mind for your opening move. "Merlin, the opening move is yours. Thrash 'em." You say to her while making eye contact. Oddly enough, instead of being deadly serious and focused it seems like you're almost able to enjoy this battle. Almost.

Merlin looks decidedly pleased with your choice while Lyrica looks faintly annoyed, if understanding of it. Lunasa just looks very subtly relieved with your decision, and you know now just how bad off she probably is. Getting knocked out and pulling off that suicide attack of hers must have really drained a huge amount of her energy and stamina from her. SlKogasa just burbles excitedly as she watches the field in front of you all.

"Hey, don't you worry about anything darling!" Merlin gives you a squeeze and nuzzles up against you, "I'll sweep the whole team and then we can get all of us a room." With that said, Merlin flounces off of you and into the arena, taking her starting position and eagerly staring at Costello's side.

Costello shifts, turning his head to his left and speaking to Kiri, "Kiri, I'm trusting you to feel them out." His eyes focus immediately back on your side of the field, eyes running over your Merlin and the rest of your team. You know now that Costello is probably already working on sussing out your battle strategy and planning on how to deal with it, but that sparkling glint in his eye says that he's still working on his plan for whatever set him off, and you find yourself glad that you're not the target of it.

Kiri hops excitedly onto her broom and flies around Costello once before blasting into the ring, stopping over her waiting line and hovering there as she watches Merlin. So, he isn't intending to use Remilia yet?

That almost surprises you, but if he places you on the same level as himself he may believe that you have some kind of counter for the vampiress that he's not aware of. Which admittedly, you actually do in the form of Lunasa's Aurora Beam, but she's... There's no way she could contend with Remilia in her current state. She's too beaten up, too tired, and it only serves to make you wonder if you can even pull this off. Costello got off easier than you by a massive margin, as you were on the only four-battle track as opposed to the other three-battle tracks.

Costello's eyes move over to Gissele and he stares at her measuredly, waiting for her to make her move as referee to begin the match. Gissele, for her part, steps up to the plate and raises both of her arms, "Contestants, are you ready?" She calls out in a firm and clear voice, apparently determined to do her own job here.

"We're ready!" You say in a clear, determined voice. Honestly, you probably sound more confident than you feel right now.

"...We're ready." Costello stares after one final moment of consideration, focusing his attention on you and you personally, not on your team or on the field. You doubt that he's unaware of the field itself, but Costello is scarily focused, he's seriously planning something and now you're pretty sure you're gonna play a part in it.

"Very well." Gissele wait for one more moment longer, casting a final check in your direction before she brings her arms down in one motion, "Begin!"

Lightning immediately strikes where Merlin was standing, and she just barely manages to move out of the way of it in a leaping escape to the side. Kiri is already on the move now, flying about in an erratic pattern as she anticipates Merlin's response.

Merlin continues to move, getting out of the way of another bolt of lightning just in the nick of time. You can see her grit her teeth in frustration at just how effective her chibi opponent is managing to be even without a type advantage. Still, Merlin doesn't stay just on the run for long and you feel that pulse of pressure as she unleashes a barrage of Nightshade at the other mon, sending Kiri rolling deftly from her higher position and swooping underneath the attack.

Honestly, if this weren't such a suffocatingly restrictive match and you weren't at such a disadvantage, this would be fun and exciting to watch. ...Granted, it still is, but at the same time you're a touch stressed right now. You keep an eye on Costello as well, since he seems to still be working out the details of his plan.

Costello doesn't move yet, standing still as his eyes finally move off of you and then onto the battle, watching Kiri as she carefully zips and bobs about, whirling around the wailing, ghostly attacks that Merlin is blasting at her and smiling like it's every holiday all at once today. Spinning under her broom and dodging an unexpected, by you, sonic based attack Kiri fires off another bolt of lightning that manages to clip Merlin, whose body twitches and shudders under the electric barrage. You don't see much physical damage on her at all from that but...wait, could it have been.."

"Don't tell me she's paralyzed already..." You say, remembering that as an electric type, Kiri would know electric attacks, all of which have a chance to inflict paralysis. Some more than others, mind.

Merlin doesn't seem to be damaged much at all, you notice now, especially when you take into account the sort of marks she had on her from what she's been through in the tournament so far. Looking at the field as well...there's no damage, beyond a minor amount of scorching, where the lightning struck! That attack wasn't Thundershock, it was Thunderwave!

"Well played." You say to Costello when you recognize the nature of the attack used, and since trainers can't help their mons via items you can't even get that off Merlin.

Honestly, you're not even sure what to ask Merlin to do at this stage since her move pool is still relatively unknown to you. You've seen enough of Lyrica and Lunasa's to give them suggestions and the like, but here? Not so much.

That and her getting clipped by Thunderwave was just bad luck on both of your parts. Merlin seems to know the situation she's in too as she works hard to control her misfiring nerves, tossing herself to the side to avoid a much more powerful blast of lightning that strikes the ground she was just on, ripping apart the earth as it's superheated and blasts apart under the sudden change in state. Merlin shifts herself, pointing a finger at Kiri and shooting off a nightshade blast. Kiri avoids the first, rolling past it, but...she doesn't avoid the second hidden in the shadow of the first nightshade, which slams into her and manages to knock the smug confidence out of Kiri's flight. You can tell she's not out of the fight, not by a long shot though.

At this stage, Merlin deserves that week off you're giving her and your other girls. She's performing far better than you had hoped for, and is definitely being tricky with her moves with no input from you.

Kiri picks up her pace, flying faster in the air on her broom as she makes some tight turns to avoid the phantasmagorical attacks that Merlin is firing off now, trying to craft a bullet hell for Kirisame and trap her in until she makes an inevitable mistake. Unfortunately for her, Kirisame bombed that plan when she unleashed an attack that leaves you stunned. Kiri has sparks run across her body for a moment before an arc of electricity shoots straight down and strikes the ground, sending waves of the shocking power arcing out from there. Thankfully the nature of the field protects you and most of your girls from it, but Merlin is struck by the sheer speed of the attack and hit again, this time in a damaging way.

That was definitely Shockwave, and not something you're necessarily happy to see considering that Merlin's having to fight her paralysis as much as she is her opponent.

Merlin however, seems to be growing increasingly infuriated with her state and how this fight is going. The Chibi Kirisame is flying at high speeds around her and managing to avoid the vast, vast majority of her attacks and has left her drastically worse for wear. In fact, you can feel something, something that chills you to the bone as a fell wind starts to blow. Kiri notices it, your girls notice it, Costello's girls notice it, and Costello notices it. You see him look up sharply, eyes widening as he calls out one word, "Kiri!"

Despite just him calling out her name, Kiri seems to realize what she needs to do and drops down to the ground and holds her broom in front of her and braces herself. You see a dark, viciously black mist surround Merlin. It pulses and grows in size and ferocity before she lets out a terrifying scream and the Black Wind blows, lashing past you and chilling you to the bone. You see the dark, inky black lines in the air lash past Kiri and deliver numerous shallow cuts to her.

Merlin stands upright in a much more relaxed pose, glowing ever so slightly as she smiles widely, "Ah...that's much better!"

Wow. You... you didn't expect that at all. "That was great, Merlin!" You say honestly, and with some relief. Though you know it's far too early to be celebrating.

Costello's eyebrows go up as he digests what just happened in front of him, and you figure you can guess what he's thinking. Black Wind is a move that a Merlin can only have a small chance of learning from birth, and would only happen under specific circumstances and with luck, which means your shiny Merlin is even more amazingly lucky than she already was!

"Kiri." Costello calls out, his expression one of focus, the glint of plotting his revenge taking a back seat to the burning focus as he responds to the change in the fortunes of Battle, "Crash!"

What the hell does that mean-"

Kiri leaps up onto her broom, spinning around it in a showy flip as she takes position and stares down your Merlin, expression one of maniacal glee as she begins to glow, light pulsing and strobbing around her and quickly growing in size and intensity. The pressure from the growing attack prompts SlKogasa to grab onto you and hold you tight against her as she anchors herself to the ground.

You're pretty sure that this isn't even remotely good, and are at least a little surprised that Kiri took an attack like that and got back up from it. Even more so that she's working toward revving up a big attack of her own, one so powerful that SlKogasa felt the need to make sure you don't get blown away. All you do is relax into SlKogasa's embrace and hope that Merlin's got a trick up her sleeve for this one too.

Merlin stares up at the prepped attack with wide eyes, the immense light of it casting her shadow behind her and showing the sheer realization on her features...just as it shows her expression tighten and her gives you a good view of her clenching her fist tight and the mass of shadowy darkness that flares into existence around it, building up her strength for one last punch as she apparently casts aside the thought of dodging in the condition she's in.

...By your estimation, this is probably going to end in a cross-counter at best, but to be frank you didn't really consider it a bad way for the two combatants to clobber each other. You've seen Kiri's power before, alongside Rei's, and while it's clear that the former's gotten some better moves you still feel that Merlin and Kiri were about even here.

Admittedly, a large part of Merlin's come back was from a move that even you didn't know she had and Costello probably didn't account for himself.

...You're definitely going to have to sit down with your girls and suss out what kind of moves and skills they've got, because they're even further from Normal than you expected.

In fact, at this point you wouldn't be surprised if they had different abilities than normal, or perhaps even more than one. Still, it's something for later since you're waiting for the conclusion of this particular clash.

Kiri unleashes her power, bursting forward in a scream of light and sound that rips apart the air in front of her as she charges down at Merlin who simply rears back with her fist in response, her whole body tensing as the electrical paralysis takes its toll on her, but she just grits her teeth and bears with it. Costello remains standing, watching on as Kiri's blazing star descends in a vicious, sudden drop that picks up speed rapidly. You feel SlKogasa tense around you and tighten her hold as Merlin disappears into the light, swinging her fist forward at it as it slams into her.

Then, it all explodes. Light, sound and a wall of pressure slam into you and SlKogasa shields you from it all as best she can. The field is covered in cloud of dust and debris as chunks of rock fall back down to the ground. Merlin...could she have..."

You look for any sign of her, hoping to see that she's alright. Given what happened, you'd be surprised if she walked out of that unscathed...

The dust gradually clears, slowly floating out of the way enough for you to see both Gissele and Costello. Gissele is standing where she was since the start of the battle, looking completely unruffled save for some of her hair having been blown back. Costello appears to have somehow managed to keep himself standing in the face of the attack, and is shifting out of the lowered and braced stance he apparently shifted to and back to his previous way of standing in false relaxation.

...Which makes sense, because Gissele has a more mature body and training to help hone her body, and while Costello's probably less physically experienced than her he has the advantage of a studier build. You're kind of light. However, the most important question hasn't been answered.

The dust finally clears enough for you to see what happened. In the epicenter of the blast Merlin is lying crumpled on the ground, not moving and with her eyes completely shut. Just past her, Kiri is on her knees with her broom on the ground next to her. She's clutching her stomach and gasping desperately for breath, and it looks like every one she takes is painful for her.

There's another benefit of SlKogasa holding you now, namely that it made your sudden jerk forward to reach Merlin totally ineffective, thus saving you from disqualification for putting your own safety in jeopardy needlessly. Costello is definitely right, you're more prepared to do your thing in the real world than these rule-addled tournaments.

Costello doesn't seem happy with the situation at all, lurching forward for a moment before Remilia stops him with one arm, speaking with him quietly and probably reminding him of just what he's not supposed to be doing. Suddenly, Costello's eyes light up with an idea, the malicious glint from earlier coming to complete creation. "Kiri!" He calls out, "Leave the field!"

Kiri looks up at him, confusion on her features as she starts to struggle to her feet and reaches for her broom.

Gissele speaks up though, her expression one of neutrality as she enforces the rules as is her duty, "This match is a no substitution match, contestant." She reminds Costello.

"I'm not substituting her." Costello replies calmly, "If she leaves the field of battle, she counts as having been 'knocked out' and cannot be used in the fight any further. The rules of not being able to leave the boundaries of the field are still in effect, after all."

So he's saving her from further harm. Shame you can't go in and drag Merlin out, since she's not even moving.

Kiri grabs her broom and uses it as leverage as it floats up to help support her. Then, in a twist you didn't expect, she floatdrags herself over to where your Merlin is lying fallen and carefully picks her up and loads her into what is a tolerable carry on the broom and drags the both of them out of the ring. "Gissele..." Sebastian speaks up from the stands.

"I'm the referee this round. They're not breaking any rules of this match type. That's what the precedent says. Kindly let me do my job, sir." Gissele responds without even looking up at Sebastian. She must be an Ice and Fire type trainer, huh?

You nod to Costello, quietly thanking him for taking care of the other issue. Since both girls are out of the ring now, you probably could check on Merlin...

Costello speaks up, continuing as he does something you didn't expect.

He steps into the ring. "Another thing established in these matches," He states as he moves calmly onto the field with Remilia following behind him, grinning widely at the show, "Is that the trainer, as a target, is allowed to participate and defend himself, up to and including entering the field to aid his team or attempt to hamper his opponent's." Then, in on swift motion Costello reaches up and grabs onto his unbuttoned button down shirt and tosses it aside, sending it fluttering away in the wind, "Ezekiel!" He calls out to you, "Fight me man to man! Let's settle this properly, without dragging them into it anymore than they already have been!"

You smirk at that, which spreads into a wide smile as he proceeds to pull a stunt that's quite underhanded considering the nature of the event. "Alright then." You say without hesitation, though there was the slight problem of SlKogasa having not let you go yet. "...Do you mind?" You ask the goo girl gently, really wanting to settle this affair in a manner that's a touch more fair than what you had been stuck with before.

SlKogasa looks at you suspiciously, maintaining her hold on you and seemingly not wanting you to be put into danger and the risk of harm yourself. "Seriously? You actually want to do this?" Lyrica speaks up, looking at you askance, "Zeke, it's our duty to be the ones out there fighting and running the risk of getting hurt because we can bounce back from anything! You're a human, and even humans can hurt other humans really bad easily!"

"Please don't do anything too rash, Ezekiel..." Lunasa asks of you, "I understand if this is something you want to do, but...don't do it because you're worrying about us getting hurt!"

You kinda figured that this would come up. Perhaps the surest sign of you being a kind person is that your tendency to worry and care about your girls is reflected in how they treat you. Just as you don't want to see them hurt, they don't want to see you hurt. More than that, they have you dead to rights. Humans are fragile and easily broken. Still...

"Part of it is because I don't want to see you hurt, but another part of it is pride. Costello's had an easy time with this tournament because he wound up in an easy bracket while we went up against all the strong trainers, and on top of that we've had one more battle than he has. We're not on equal footing as rivals should be, he has a clear advantage over us, and neither of us like that." You say, trying to make your feelings on the matter known. "Removing our girls from the equation and fighting on even terms means that there's a better chance that this will be an honest test of our skill instead of..." You can't quite put it to words, but you manage to gesture at the arena and both Kiri and Merlin. "This."

Kiri breathes heavily where she is sitting at the foot of the observation stands, Merlin lying on the ground beside her, still unconcious. Kiri also doesn't seem to be in quite as much pain as she was before.

Lyrica speaks up, "You've got to be-That's the most stupidly shounen thing I've heard from you! And you've said and done some stupidly shounen things Zeke, there's no way that-!" Lyrica is cut off by her sister placing a hand on her shoulder, shocking her into silence.

Lunasa looks at you, her eyes gleaming with unspoken thoughts before she nods to Kogasa, who hesitantly lets you go from her grasp. "It will be okay." Lunasa speaks up to her sister and friend, "We just have to believe in Zeke as he believes in us." She smiles at both of them before turning that delightfully bright smile onto you, leaning closer and kissing you on the cheek, "For luck." She informs you as you're release completely from Kogasa.

"...If he gets himself hurt because he pushes himself too hard, I am going to be really, really mad." Lyrica declares, crossing her arms as she makes no moves to stop you.

"Mhmm!" Kogasa agrees behind her, "Yep, yep! Punishment games!"

"There, there..." Lunasa tries to soothe them both down, "I'm sure that Zeke already knows that we will be very upset with him if he pushes himself too far, and that if happy times are delayed because of it Merlin will probably snap."

Erk. That last one is nearly enough to completely murder your drive to do this and you're now feeling just a touch fearful. Merlin was taught by your mother personally, so she probably knows things, and all three of your other girls would likely be more than happy to learn said things and join in in making their displeasure for your stupid decisions known. "I get the message..." You say as you walk away from your girls and into the ring, complete with a total lack of support on your end. The combination of the excitement of fighting Costello personally and the fear that Merlin's going to have words with you is mixing into quite the fight or flight response.

You don't get far before a thought finally occurs to you. This is still a Touhoumon battle, so you need to bring in one of your girls anyway. You look back and call to...

CHOICES

FIRSTLY: Who do you bring into the ring with you?
[ ] Lyrica
[ ] Lunasa
[ ] SlKogasa

SECONDLY: What sort of fighting style will you use?
[ ] Use what your mother taught you (Blitzkrieg Offense)
[ ] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[ ] Use a mixture of both. (Basically Balanced)

THIRDLY: Do you remove your shirt like Costello did?
[ ] Yes.
[ ] No.
[ ] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

Well, if this is going to be like this...

I say we bring Kogasa. We already saw that she is more than able to fight AND help out a partner in the field of battle. Also because she's not a Prismriver: whatever Costello saw with Merlin won't help him much here.

Not too sure on what battle style to use, but I'm wary of a reckless offense.

Also, I say we remove our shirt, but normally. We don't need our mons to be unable to restrain themselves any longer and jump us before the battle is over.

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[x] Yes.

Well this battle just got manly.

FIRSTLY: Who do you bring into the ring with you?

[X] SlKogasa

Since Costello is implying that Remilia is only there because, according to the rules, he has to send out a 'mon onto the field but the real fight is him vs Zeke mano á mano, so we shouldn't have to worry too much about the Touhoumon battle anymore. On the other hand, bringing Kogasa allows for some sneaky tricks in the fight, should it come to that. (Personally, I'd prefer to just have a clean, fair fight but Zeke is his parents' child after all, and they taught him their own -ahem- "set of rules". And it's not Queensberry boxing, that's for sure.)


SECONDLY: What sort of fighting style will you use?

[X] Use what your mother taught you (Blitzkrieg Offense)

His mother is seriously scary. If he can channel even a little bit of that, no opponent can stand in his way.


>THIRDLY: Do you remove your shirt like Costello did?
>[ ] Yes.
>[ ] Hell yes!
>[ ] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!
FTFY.

[X] Yes.

No need for showmanship in a fight between MEN.
Shirt off. fists up. FINAL DESTINATION!

>>173583
FIRSTLY: Who do you bring into the ring with you?
[x] SlKogasa

SECONDLY: What sort of fighting style will you use?
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)

THIRDLY: Do you remove your shirt like Costello did?
[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

SlKogasa is probably the most well rested of our Mons at the moment.

Now, while I normally would vote for a Balanced fighting style since proper Boxing technique means having your offense be indistinguishable from your defense, I've had enough of Zeke's mother having the spotlight, and the one time his Dad got somewhat serious about anything, it was implied he could be more dangerous than Zeke's Mother.

As for the shirt, we can either keep it on and use it as a trick, say, having part of SlKogasa hidden in it as padding, or we can show off as a distraction for a different trick entirely, since we know Zeke's scent alone is highly effective Touhoumon Bait.

As it is, I think if Zeke decides to go Shounen, we might as well go All Out with it.

[x] SlKogasa

Looks like he's bringing Remilia with him, and Lunasa's plain tuckered out. Plus, SlKogasa is smart. Real smart. She can hold off the enemy while we fight.

[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)

Costello's big. So, we should watch him and use any opening that he gives us.

[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

It can be no other way!

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[x] Yes.

Welp, in that realm of 'shit happens', one of the cats Nob has basically decided to fling the guy's computer a good eight feet and broke it, so odds are good that updates are going to be slowed considerably until he can get a replacement.

>>173593

....How did that even happen

>>173589

I agree with this plan!

[X] SlKogasa
[X] Countering Defense
[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

I'd opt to keep the shirt on till we can use it to distract Costello, as in, find the right time where we can throw it off with style and panache in a way that gives us advantage!

Also, I can infer that this is part of Costello's plan to get back at his father really...uhh, too bad we did not see Sebastian's face right now

>>173594
A laptop and an obnoxious cat. What do you expect?

Guys?

Removing the shirt with style... You WANT the girls to mob us and have us lose by default? Remember that they're holding back?

[X] SlKogasa
[X] Countering Defense
[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

This is it. It has to be this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjnoM5-mnw

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[x] Yes.

A true rival battle for the record books

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your mother taught you (Blitzkrieg Offense)
[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!
[x] Flex.

This is our only path.

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your mother taught you (Blitzkrieg Offense)
[X]Yes.

[x] Use what your mother taught you (Blitzkrieg Offense)
[X]Yes
[x] Lyrica

FIRSTLY: Who do you bring into the ring with you?
[X] SlKogasa

No pithy comment.

SECONDLY: What sort of fighting style will you use?
[X] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)

We're a MAN. This is a MANLY battle between MEN. This is the only path. The only way that MEN can fully and deeply understand each other, in a MANLY display of MUSCLE and PERSEVERANCE and HOT BLOOD. We will RIGHTEOUSLY ACCEPT every blow our foe offers, and return them TWOFOLD. Our FISTS WILL DO THE TALKING, until the end, when our eyes meet in TRUE UNDERSTANDING and we offer a DEEP AND PASSIONATE MANLY K PLATONIC AND FIRM GRIP IN OUR HANDSHAKE as sparkles fly and our SWEATY MALE BODIES glisten in the artificial lighting.

THIRDLY: Do you remove your shirt like Costello did?
[X] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

MAN SERVICE.

Eh, to analyze it a bit further as to why I argue in favour of Countering Defense vs Blitzkrieg Offense (I'm this guy >>173595 here)

Well, lets look at it this way, Zeke is, as descriptions say, a rather small and scrawny boy, and Costello is described several times already as the 'gentle giant'. We might not be able to do much damage to him offensively, he might then decide to just tank it and then hit us at his own leisure. However, if we do a countering defense, we can take advantage of our better agility and hit him in the weak spots better and more easily. Just my two cents

>>173613

Truly, you understand what it means to be a man. Your words have moved me!

[X] SlKogasa
[X] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[X] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

Let us show everyone the power of YOUTH!

>>173613
This amuses me far too much not to go along with.

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[x] Yes, but do so with style, flair and panache!

[x] SlKogasa
[x] Use what your father taught you (Countering Defense)
[x] Yes.

>>173613
MANLY!

[x] Kogasa, for the reasons previously stated
[x]remove shirt with flair and panache

Because it's too good an option to pass up. And we should work in the glitter and awe somehow. People are talking about not riling up the touhoumon, I WANT to do that. It's just the fun thing to do.

>>173622
Even if it ruins the duel and we destroy the chance for it because we got mobbed?

>>173627
I think it's pretty obvious that this "duel" is a mockery of the word. Someone (his dad?) put Costello up to this, probably to force him into a truly dangerous encounter and make him use nasty tactics. His dad probably is trying to make him "grow up" from his juvenile ways. Which is why he wants to do the fighting himself, he doesn't want to be led around by a leash, so he's flipping the table.

Any way we can help flip the table over is good.

"Kogasa, come with me." You say to the goo girl, having settled on her. Push come to shove she's also the best pick for pulling you out of trouble should you start to push yourself, and you're still worried that Merlin's not going to take kindly to you risking yourself like this. You're not going to ask her to fight though, having her out here is a formality after all. The real goal to to fight Costello one on one in a manly test of skill, a display of brotherly rivalry...!

SlKogasa lets out a cheer and oozes after you, leaving Lyrica and Lunasa to stay behind and watch you while you fight. SlKogasa picks up the pace and is shortly oozing along right behind you as you march towards where Costello is waiting in the center of the ring with his Remilia, who is staring at you-no, at SlKogasa, like a cat would a mouse.

Of course, you can't imagine why that would be. It's not like your entire team is at a disadvantage against that one Remilia. Still, not the time to be thinking about it! Costello's removed his shirt, so you proceed to do the same in what has to be one of the hammier ways to pull off a shirt. In fact, you're not even totally sure how you're pulling this off so easily. Once it's off, you toss it to the side as if it were a useless trinket.

You watch as your shirt sails through the air with a dramatic flair to it, flying high and far and...hitting Gissele right in the face. Oh geez.

Gissele very calmly reaches up and grabs the shirt, hauling it off of her face very, very calmly folding it up into a square and then tossing it onto a bench near her. The entire time she does so, she stares at you with an expression that sends chills down your spine. The bad kind of chills. The kind of chills that you associate with your mother being mad at you and planning something very unpleasant for you.

Mother no, please! You just thought it was old milk, not a science project!

You shudder, noting that it's actually quite hard to focus on what's in front of you since your girls are already annoyed with you for doing this, you're probably going to go overboard and bring Merlin's annoyance down on you, and now Gissele is apparently annoyed. It's nothing short of a miracle that you can take up the stance that your father taught you. You know for a fact that Costello's got a better body build than you do, so going all out in a blitzkrieg offense might not end well.

Taking his force and turning it against him, on the other hand...

Costello actually gets a grin, a small one admittedly. It's the first one you've seen out of him since you saw him again. Apparently he's actually excited about this to, for reasons beyond just getting back at his father for this situation. He shifts into a stance of his own, bringing up his hands into a competent, tight defense. That stance...your mother showed you how some people would fight like this. It's a type of boxing that emphasizes fast, vicious strikes, but how would Costello...

...Ah, his father, perhaps?

"Shall we?" You ask, feeling your concern for your fate in the future disappear enough for you to want to have fun with this.

You both stand stock still, watching the other and trying to read their stance and find any weaknesses or hints in it that you can. Around you, the girls on both sides of the field wait and watch with baited breath to see what's going to happen. Remilia and SlKogasa have moved away from you both to give you room to fight, and to keep an eye on their opposite.

...Costello makes the first move, lunging forward and covering the distance between the both of you with speed that surprises even you as he swings a fist up and under and moves to try and drive it into your gut. You manage to deflect the fist, of course, but even so that speed and vicious assault wasn't something you expected from Costello.

So he's fast, huh? You're going to have to bear that in mind as the fight goes on. Since he's already there and extended, you try to punish his dash by lashing out at him before he can retract fully.

Your strike drives into Costello as you hit him just like how your father told you to, striking close to a nerve cluster and causing a no doubt very painful blow. Costello grunts and grits his teeth and...keeps moving-

-And slams his head into yours, driving you backwards with a brutal headbutt that leaves your world spinning.

You stagger backwards from that one, shaking your head in an attempt to get your head back in the game. You weren't expecting that one at all, but it makes sense, doesn't it? Neither of you have fought like this. Odds are good each of you don't really know how the other fights. It doesn't take long before you're back in your stance, a little worse for the hit.

Costello shakes himself, the left side of his body seeming a bit more sluggish from the one you hit you've delivered to him yourself. He smacks his chest twice with his right hand and then brings his fists back up, seemingly having recovered from the hit. Then, moving slowly this time he starts to creep towards you, slowly eating up the distance between you both.

It's clear you're not going to get the same opening as before, but you're not willing to lunge out yourself.You start stepping to the side to make sure that you're also moving, but you're tense and ready to move at the drop of a hat.

Both you and Costello now inch along, circling each other at a slow, steady and methodical pace. Costello takes into account your sliding to the side and changes his own movement, still slowly closing in even as you circle each other. This is...

...getting kinda silly really.

Costello seems to agree as he makes the first move again, lunging forward and launching a jab for face that you deflect aside just in time to see the second punch right behind it.

You can't deflect it, but you do lean back and twist your head to the side to avoid taking that blow as best you can. Throwing Costello is out of the question, so you grab onto his arm and try and kick him hard while you still have the chance.

Costello shifts and tenses, keeping your blow from hitting him in the knee but sending the force of it slamming into his upper leg, and potentially hitting a bit closer to somewhere sensitive than he may have liked. You feel the arm you deflected and pulled tense suddenly as that hand of his grabs onto you and-why are your feet leaving the ground? Why is the room shifting like that!" Oh geez, he wouldn't-yep. He would. Costello throws you over his head and towards the harsh, unforgiving ground.

"Darn." Is all you say before you impact the ground. That was definitely unpleasant to say the least, and you're stuck taking a precious few seconds to get back up and back into your stance. Hopefully Costello isn't as pragmatic as you are.

Costello, it seems, is entirely content to stay back a bit from you and let you get upright. Knowing him like you do, you guess that he wants to do this properly, or maybe just refuses to sink that low.

Or it might just be he's somewhat hesitant to stomp on a friend who is on the ground.

To be entirely fair, you'd give Costello time to get back up too. It's one thing to be a sneaky, pragmatic bastard to some random opponent, but you draw the line at kicking a friend while he's down. Especially in Costello's case.

Still, you've gotten back up and note that you're definitely feeling the two blows you took, but you don't feel like you're going to keel over yet. You start to approach Costello cautiously in anticipation of what he'll do next.

Costello himself seems to have taken the hits you've delivered in counter to his better than you have, which you suppose makes sense. That first blow you used seems to have affected him the most, and your kick probably did little more than leave him sore and with a bruise.

Costello moves towards you himself, fists up as he edges closer and watches you speculatively. He seems to have fully cottoned onto your plan to try and keep your counters up and going on him and is planning around that. Costello...was a very, very good planner. You remember that much from the touhoumon trading card games you played against him. If you or anyone else ever tipped your hand while he still had time to work out a counter to it...

Then you were pretty much hosed. Of course, you're not that busted up over it so it's not that big a deal. You stopped caring about getting first in this tournament the moment you heard the winner's prize was a CSakuya, though that was mostly because you didn't want to give Yume yet another heart attack this soon. The other reason is that you wanted to take your friend on in a friendly match, which is something that hasn't happened for... well, the last time you 'fought' him was probably a TCG a while ago.

Still, looks like he's not making the first move anymore, which kinda kills your stance as while your dad taught you a lot, you've only had so much practice, plus there weren't exactly a lot of people to spar with on a routine basis.

Costello takes one more move forward and then lunges, bringing up his fists as he closes it and throws a punch, "Come on Zeke, show me what you can do!" He calls out to you as he throws a punch you managed to deflect aside, and this time since you know it's coming you avoid the second one just fine, only for the first fist to come flying right back. It's an all-out attack!

There's not much to do in a situation like this, considering that you need some room to work and you don't have it anymore! You shift to the side to try to make that third punch hit somewhere less important while throwing a punch of your own to counter it. You can't rely on him overextending himself anymore, so you have to fall back on other defensive options.

His punch slams into your shoulder, rocking your body as the full force of it hits you. Holy Makai, Costello hits like a truck! Your own punch slams up into his chest, driving against where his ribs would be if you could feel them underneath that wall of muscle. Just another bit of proof that, somehow, Sebastian is your friend's father.

At this rate you're not going to be able to take much more, and Costello's just better built than you. The least you can do is make you blows count while they can! You focus on ducking around the blows your friend are throwing your way, either avoding them or lessening their impact while retaliating in kind when he can't deflect your blows.

As you and Costello unleash a manly rain of blows down upon each other, you find that you're lasting longer than you expected. At this point when the both of you cast aside maneuvering for staking a spot and throwing down, it seems as if you can use the instincts drilled into you to great effect and are able to deflect and lessen the damage of Costello's blows while still being able to work over his ribs.

That's not to say that you are entirely untouched, of course, as you end up receiving a cross elbow to your jaw that almost knocks you on your ass and does send your world spinning again. Man, getting hit in the head is really not a great thing.

More than that, the force Costello's using is almost always enough to make you stagger back on top of that, and each successive one feels like it's harder to shake off than the last. You probably don't have much left in you for this, so once you've gotten your view to stop moving you change tactics completely and lunge forward, trying to connect a blow with Costello's head. Maybe if you can connect...!

Costello sees your punch coming and changes his own target to your head in turn, swinging his fist towards you in what will be the final clash of this battle. It comes down to this, one last punch...!

If you were any less experienced than you are, you'd probably be laughing about this entire thing. As it stands though, you have a preciously short amount of time to flash Costello a genuinely happy grin before the match is decided.

Costello is happy himself, a smile that mirrors yours on his face as your fists roughly grind past each other as your punches close the distance. Costello's fist slams into your jaw at the same moment yours hits his. The follow through of his punch sends your hurtling back and away from him and sends you tumbling off of your feet and sailing through the air as you fly backwards. As you hit the ground, you see Costello stumbling to his knees himself, his face already bruising where you hit him.

...Yup, getting hit in the head is no fun at all. More than that, you're sore, tired, and have no plans to get back up from that, and you're pretty sure that your girls are going to be quite mad at you for not stopping when you got floored the first time. Still, it was worth it.

You're just going to have to deal with Yume, your girls, and possibly Gissele being mad at you.

You hit the ground and...wow you're really tired. Your head's kind of spinning now and is the room getting darker..."

Well Keineshit. Now you're pretty sure that Merlin's going to...

...

MAGICAL DREAM TIME
[ ] What if MerKoishi got her hands on you?
[ ] What if a less kind mon awaited you at the bottom of the White Tower?
[ ] What if you touched fluffy tail?
[ ] What if Rin and her fairies caught you?

[X] What if you touched fluffy tail?

Meh. Seems we had no chance of winning from the start.

[x] What if MerKoishi got her hands on you?

I must know.

[X] What if you touched fluffy tail?

Oh boy. We pissed off Gissele as well as our girls.

Best case? Punishment time! Worst case? Punishment time.

We also probably pissed off Sebastian as well.

Ehh... I'm not actually that interested in any of the options right now. I guess I'll just hold my vote for now and see if a tie-breaker is needed later, or something.


>>173647
I dunno. It might be that blitzkrieg attack was the winning choice. It might be a double KO, with the way Costello is falling to his knees, it's just that we black out first.
Although I think it's likely that we just lost.

On the other hand, Zeke didn't care about winning anymore so he was happy with ending it with a dramatic cross counter. He may get second place in the tournament, but he'll have accomplished his goal of testing his and his girls' new limits as well as getting to fight his friendly rival "for real".
Not to mention the fact that he apparently wasn't too sold on the idea of getting another 'mon right now while his team is already going through some major changes with all three Prismriver sisters evolving at the same time.

Second place in the tournament may actually be the better result for him in the end.

>>173644
[x] What if you touched fluffy tail?

[x] What if you touched fluffy tail?

I was so disappointed we missed this the first time through. You are the greatest SLDT.

[x] What if you touched fluffy tail?

Bueno.

>>173650
Not really the fact that we lost, but more like we've been railroaded into losing.

[x] What if MerKoishi got her hands on you?

The problem here with being "railroaded" is that it's hard to tell if we actually are. For all we know one of the other options could have won us the match. But we'll never know, because we didn't pick it! Ah well. No use dwelling on what we could have done, unless we're explicitly given the option to do so.

>>173655
We don't know yes. But was it that hard to predict which option we would pick?

It was stated that Costello was bigger and likely stronger than us. That right here killed any chance for blitz vote to win.

What kind of message does that send? That we need to ignore facts and be reckless to win?

That's why I'm so annoyed, really. Sure, no longer any choice problem if the Patchouli that we saw before show up again and we had to decide between her and Koishi, but still. Feeling like we're manipulated into stuff irks me. Like Kogasa before: The problem wasn't her herself, but that we pretty much forced into taking her.

I like the story, really. Good writing and humor. But I believe there's a problem with how the votes are used.

[X] What if you touched fluffy tail?

Fluffy tail is always the best! Inb4 we wake up to one of our Mons riding us

Shuush, we dont know the conclusion of all of it, so wait first before jumping onto theories. As far as I know, anything can happen as a conclusion to the tournament, though I'm getting the feeling that Sebastian may have failed his 'League test'

>>173657
Do you feel >>171453 was also an example of railroading where the Escape Rope actually took Zeke to the top of the White Tower instead of depositing him at the entrnace?

>It was stated that Costello was bigger and likely stronger than us. That right here killed any chance for blitz vote to win.
I actually reasoned the opposite. If the opponent is bigger, stronger, and at least as skilled as us our best option is to be aggressive and hope we get lucky. Combat sports have weight classes for a reason, after all.

[x] What if MerKoishi got her hands on you?

Ran is fine too.

Though it seemed it was a no win no matter what, as honestly trying something and hoping to get lucky isn't exactly good thinking. I hope Zeke isn't in too hot of a water with people as I don't want that much waitted week amount to Zeke being a human dildo.

>>173660
Meh. Just felt like an excuse for bad end. Not like it changed something in this story, apart from telling player that doing the logical thing in possible dangerous situations is a bad idea.

Anyway, I suppose I should explain a bit more why I feel that way, rgiht?

Basically, blame this post: >>172114

In particular? This part:
>Nob actually talked me out of doing what I was originally going to do with this...

Basically, I read this as: "What?! How dare you imagine her as dangerous or insane and do not obviously see she was abandonned and just want love! You don't want her? Taste my wrath!"

Sure, slimes don't form naturally. So apparently, nothing abnormal ever happen. Nevermind the spaces outright called Anomalies. She didn't snatch us right away? Obviously, it cannot be a mon playing with food before taking it.

So yes, my trust in how votes influence the story is damaged. And I doubt it will change soon. Hints and outright answers to make sure we reached the final fight didn't help. And also, I can't be the only one seeing the incoming second non-mon lemon scene from miles away, right (From the sidequest we got we'll probably do after that week)?

It's not that I don't like the story. I DO like it. It's just that I see this as a problem that stop me from liking it more.

[x] What if you'd get up and finish what you started?

[X] What if MerKoishi got her hands on you?

As for how votes are used, I think the problem lies in interpretation. The authors are fairly rigid in their decision tree, which is not only fine but admirable, but they also fail to take into consideration opinions other than their own. Or, rather, they see interpretations that differ from theirs as stupid or illogical, while I feel that multiple conclusions regarding the known facts are valid.

I can accept that the conclusions I came to were, as it turns out, wrong. I'm perfectly content in being wrong. I just don't like being thought of as stupid because I failed to reach the same conclusion that the authors had intended.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy following the story and think it well-written and interesting. I'd just like to not be berated for fucking up because I didn't want to be risky, or taking a calculated risk when the correct action was to be cautious. Anyway, I'm just rambling at this point and trying to organize my thoughts. I do hope that this continues, and don't particularly wish for any other change than one of attitude. It's not really a personal grievance, either, in that I'm not really bitter or irritated at the authors themselves, who I, on the whole, think are Pretty Cool Dudes. Well, whatever. I hope that I got some sort of point across and wasn't just spouting nonsense.

[X] Screw the dream, determinator time. GET BACK UP.

[x] What if you'd get up and finish what you started?
I don't think we've decided to give up just yet!

>>173654

The funny thing is that Zeke could have won, but that would have required him to have played absolutely perfectly given the track he was on. Admittedly, not letting you guys pick which track to go on was a fuckup on my part, but at the same time... I have to ask, what would you guys have chosen?

The foil LWYukari card, or something else?

>>173669

And on the flip side, a lot of the voters sounded like "Oh god, she's a slime she's going to eat us, run!" without even really thinking about it or considering the consequences of doing so, at least to me. I mean, she's not going to just magically vanish because you don't want to deal with her.

Revealing the sequel scenario wasn't even a case of 'taste my wrath' so much as I was just trying to explain what would have happened had Nob and I permitted you guys to run away from SlKogasa rather than at least find out what her deal is.

>>173671

Alright, I'm willing to concede the attitude part, and I apologize for that. Treating the voters who picked a bad option like idiots isn't necessarily the intent, even if that's what it comes off as.

>>173670
>>173673
>>173675

You do realize that Zeke is knocked the fuck out right now, right?

>>173677

...Now I think I understood an implication with you mentioning the Foil LWYukari card, it all kind of comes together for me. That guy set us up from the very beginning...oh geez

>>173677
>>173669 here. As pointed out that I forgot to mention, the attitude I is also part of why I saw that bad end as 'Taste my wrath!'.

I'm okay with losing. I don't even see it as railroading.
Even if you're the protagonist, sometimes things just don't go your way. It's an opportunity to consider how we can do better next time (like knowing our girls' new strengths and weaknesses, to begin with) instead of complaining about how and why we lost.
I mean, we jumped into a tournament, right after a big two-part training course no less, without even knowing what our own 'mons were really capable of. And yet we made it all the way to the finals where we lost (partly) because of implications of foul play by the tournament arranger.
That's a pretty good run if you ask me.

But I really want to see Sebastian get some shit from the League for manipulating the bracket and rule randomizer.
Costello is obviously upset with him, and Giselle doesn't seem too happy either (considering the way she looked at him when the randomizer result appeared and the icy way she shut him down when he wanted to comment on what Costello did during the match), so she'll likely make some sort of official report.
We could also file a complaint with the league but I'd prefer that Costello also signs it, if we do.
The loser filing a complaint means there has to be a secondary investigation to see if we are just bitter about our loss. But if both participants file an official report that they believe that their match was not 100% according to the official rules and regulations of the League, that shows real sincerity and respect for the rules.
Something Sebastian obviously lacks.
Whatever his intentions, he manipulated the tournament and therefore he's not fit to be an Elite member of the League.

Even if he didn't manipulate anything, the Elite Four are the final goal of all "serious trainers" (compared to e.g. breeders or random kids in shorts making eye contact with strangers) so they must be above even the suspicion of foul play, or they lose their credibility as "the greatest trainers in the world". That would mean that young trainers stop looking up to them as a goal to reach (and surpass), and in the end it would reflect poorly on the League as a whole.

The Elite Four are fucking serious business so if you want to be a part of it, you treat the test with the respect it deserves.

>>173685

I am getting a bit of feeling that the League may actually decide to give the CSakuya to us instead of Costello, that and I doubt Costello would feel that he deserves her, he may actually insist that Zeke gets it since hes the one who had to go through hell.....If anything I want to at least know what variant is she

>>173686
You'll know during the next rival battle (which we'll inevitably lose)

>>173685

You know... the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Sebastian didn't rig the tournament so that his own son would win.

I mean, he set up the brackets before hand, and then presented Zeke with a choice that included his foil LWYukari card. Of course Zeke's going to choose that one. He probably also presented Costello with a choice where he knew what card Costello would choose.

The result? Costello has to only fight two battles against what he describes as weak opponents. Zeke? He goes up against a guy with neural clips, a girl with variant ghost-types, and Joey, who has a high-powered Chen and a Kasen variant.

Speaking of Joey, remember the fight against him? The terrain specifically favored us and gave him a disadvantage, which meant that all things being equal, he was more likely to lose.

The end result? Costello goes into the finals all but fresh against an opponent whose mons were pretty much depleted.

Yeah, I'm getting the impression that Sebastian wasn't playing things too fairly here. Or, maybe I'm just overthinking things.

>>173689

Ehem, thats what some of us are getting at really

>>173690
>>173691

Eh, it's the weekend. This is when my brain goes into power-saving mode.

But anyway, if true, I wonder what the fallout will be?

>>173687
This is the thing that I'm starting to get bothered by, that between the Authors... Unique thoughts on "Logic", which is not bad at all, and the annoyingly unbalanced 'mon Types in Touhou Puppet Play 1.5 Hacks that this story sticks to, which is really bad about Dark types especially, Zeke will just end up jobbing everything about the Leagues and Costello.

[X] What if you touched fluffy tail?

This might be plot related, which could be very bad for team balance, but at this point I don't care.

Incidentally, Costello also knew what the prizes was and not us.

Clear and blatant favoritism. I wonder if Sebastian actually cares about the position. It's win scenario for him if he doesn't: He stay here and his son gets a mon he believes will be good for him.

I always figured that a lot of trainers stick with a specific type because they have a sort of empathy with that type that makes them easier to train and get along with. They're just more compatible. This also means that they'll be exceptionally talented at directing this type and overcoming their weaknesses. However, trainers able to train multiple different types with very different strategies and personalities are far rarer, and tend to be more skilled on the whole.

>>173709
On the subject of trainer types, I'm really, really looking forward to visiting the sickly ghost girl. Especially after she discovers how totally right she was about us getting into a Fistfight with our Rival.

[X] What if you touched fluffy tail?

>>173696

Eh, that would still be one heck of a risk he is taking. If hes found out that he was fixing the matches, not only he wouldnt get the position, its also the prestige and the reputation of his gym thats on the line, and the stigma that comes with it, though thats if the League went out and announced the news to everyone

Well, as far as 'knew the prizes' goes... it could just be the simple fact that he asked someone about the prizes, and we didn't think to.

Come to think of it, just glancing at the beginning, Joey knew the prizes too before he got interrupted.

Basically, I just don't think 'knew what the winners would get' is enough to say that the tournament was rigged completely.

A better clue for that was 'Hah, yes, my son did guarantee this would be the card you'd pick'.

..... When it comes down to it, though, do we even know if a minimal amount of personal adjustment to a tournament to make it more interesting is something the league would actually care about, or if it's against the rules at all?

I mean, it does seem like a logical assumption, but when it comes down to it it is just an assumption. It could be that anything that's been done falls under 'showboating and grandstanding' to build up to a great big climax at the end with a Rival Battle, and the League doesn't actually care as long as nobody is going so far to fix the fights as poisoning one side and slipping Rare Candies to the other.

When it comes down to it, all the fights were fair, and most of our handicaps came from the fact that we charged right into the tournament without stopping to rest after the gym stuff. Which of course, makes it more likely that we don't win, but it was our call to enter a tournament in that condition. I mean, we could have just as easily gone 'Tournament? Nope! Maybe next time, but right now I just feel like spending time with my ladies until I pass out, eating some rich and delicious food, and then doing it all over again.'

>>173720
The fact he sprang the question right after both parts of the rescue scenario is abit questionable in itself.

Naughtiness below!
>>/at/32340
Naughtiness above!

PICK YOUR POISON
[ ] Merlin...
[ ] Yume?!
[ ] Mom?!

[x] Merlin...

Time for loving moments with our girls.

[x] Merlin...
I know he's a kid but still...

[X] Yume?!

Man, we are in for it. But it was totally worth it.

[x] Mom?!

Maximum awkwardness, maximum comedy.

>>173732
Didn't Zeke say somewhere about how his mom might not actually have a problem with getting into a threesome with him and Yumeko?

[x] Merlin...

Unless we really get the CSakuya, I don't see the reason why Yume want to bed us at this time.

[x] Merlin...

The other options, while probably amusing, just don't feel too fitting.
Besides, we promised our girls that we would take care of them after the tournament was over. It's not Merlin's fault that we happened to be passed out for the start of the time period that could be defined as "after the tournament".

>>173733
Now that you mention it...

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

[X] Yume?! Mom?!
I deleted my old vote and changed it to this.

[x] Merlin...

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Pfft. Haha why not.

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Oh you people

inb4 a bad end

>>173733
That's one route I DON'T want to go down.

Sibling incest is go. Parental incest is no.

[X] Yume?!

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Why the hell not.

[x] Merlin...
Gosh, what have we spawned?

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Logical. After being knocked out, you think she wouldn't come to visit?

[x] Merlin, I...

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Seems hilarious. Let's go for it!

>>173759

>Yume?! Mom?!

Mom on son incest blowjobs? My favorite!

[x] Merlin...

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

How can I not choose this?

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

[X] Yume?! Mom?!
Hoo boy.

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Horay for maximum embarrassment and chance of trauma!

>>173733
Well I was able to find actual proof of that from >>172008:

>"To be fair, I am going to start on my journey eventually." And that means not being in your mother's home occasionally hearing her and Yume go at it like Momijis in heat. Yes, you are aware of that, and no, you don't bring it up because your mother is juuust strange enough to where you might get dragged into it if you did.

[x] Merlin...

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

Boy do I love me some trauma.

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

[X] Yume?! Mom?!

I have no idea what nonsense this will create.

[X] Mugetsu?

>>173786
I wish. That'd be fun. Her or Gengetsu. On the plus side, they can see us whenever they want. After all, it's only a sleep away, and then we're in their realm. At least, assuming it isn't localized to that one place.

The first thing you notice is that Merlin appears to be sucking you off to wake you up, as is what appears to be the norm for her. Really, you'd be hard-pressed to mistake her clothes or enthusiasm. Still, something feels a touch off. Kind of like when... you start to recognize that you're feeling embarrassed, which means that you're being watched. You look up and around and catch sight of Yume, which makes you blush harder since she's watching you like that. "Yume?" You ask timidly, not sure what to make of this.

Then you notice someone else in the room that makes you about a hundred times more embarrassed. "Mom?!" You say, noticing your mother watching you like that!

...you'd like to go crawl in a hole now.

Yumeko stands calmly, primly in the doorway of the room, watching you with a gaze that is suggesting that no matter how embarrassed you are or how deep a hole you crawl into, you won't be getting away from your hellish punishment. Your mother, however, just marches over to you and places a hand on Merlin's head, leaning ever so slightly on her and forcing her all the way down on your shaft and forcing your length all the way into her as that final bit of stimulation forces you to orgasm, right as your mother stares you in the eyes, "Do you know why I'm here?" She asks you, getting right up in your face as your hips shake and you REALLY didn't need your mother's smell and face being something you associate with mindblowing orgasms!

"Because I got myself knocked out fighting Costello in a mano-a-mano trainer fight?" You say, knowing that that's probably it.

"Exactly." You mother says before putting a hand on your head and ruffling it, "Son I am so proud that you actually listened to me when I gave that lecture!" Wait what, "Mind you, I'm upset that you got yourself knocked out, but the fact that you stuck it to the man and fought a proper bareknuckle brawl takes away most of that." You also didn't need to associate your mother with ruffling your hair as a post-orgasm thing. You really hope this doesn't effect your dreams. You probably don't need even more weirdness in that part of your brain.

You're guessing that Yume had something else in mind and that this is probably not what she thought was going to happen. "Uh... thanks?" You're not entirely sure what to say here. "Oh, did the girls bring you up to speed already? Today was... interesting." You struggle to find the right word to describe your highly eventful first day.

"Yes, they did." Yume cuts in, her expression still worryingly sharp, "We were informed of what happened to you by your team, and they were very verbose in their explanation. You are aware, aren't you Zeke, that most trainers try and avoid risking time paradoxes, yes?" She asks you.

Your mother seems even more pleased, somehow, and continues to ruffle your hair which feels really nice despite...well, everything up to and including the Merlin is sucking on you to clean you off, slurping noisily in the background, "Oh, and don't worry about those two!" Your mother tells you, "I dealt with them and helped them learn the error of their ways. That'll teach them to think that even years later they can get away with breaking an oath to me..." She scratches her chin with her free hand, "Even if they did seem to enjoy it."

"Yume, I didn't even know that anomaly was there. The concept of there being one at that beach and it having the capability of causing a time paradox didn't even occur to me." You know full well that she's just worried about you, but you can't help but point out a couple things before looking back to your mom. "'Those two'?" You ask, feeling oddly curious despite all that. "You mean Mugetsu wasn't the only one there? ...And what oath?"

"Oh, well, years ago I met those two before." Your mother waves her hand in 'explanation', "It was in a different place though. Anyways, they tried to capture me because I was more beautiful than them and they wanted my secrets or something like that. I broke out, captured them instead and spent a while reeducating them on the importance of knowing who to pick on and making doubly sure that your bonds are actually binding them before you gloat!" She smiles at the memory fondly, and you are once again reminded of why your mother is terrifying.

"I made them swear an oath to me that they'd never attempt to harm or capture me or any of my descendants after that, and since they went and broke that I could do whatever I wanted to them once I called them on it!" She declares, "And that's why we've got two more maids!"

...what.

Your brain just kinda stopped processing that properly. "I'm not even sure if there's anything I can say to that."

"Your mother's... eccentricities aside." Yume cuts in as your mother seems exceedingly proud of herself, "You should know that it has been thirty five hours and sixteen minutes since you were knocked out in your fight, and that your friend Costello was declared the winner."

"...Yeah, I'm not surprised. Costello was in his element and I wasn't." You say, sighing after that. "Though to be honest, given the fact that first prize was some kind of chibi Sakuya..." You trail off as you let that conundrum sink in.

The amazingly dark expression on Yume's face tells you just what she thinks of that, "Yes...I am sorry to say this but I would rather you friend be exposed to that vile hussy than for you to have to suffer through her amateurish attempts at adequacy." Geez, the idea of you having a Sakuya on your team is making her his angry? You're kind of glad you didn't win then...

"That's kind of why I stopped taking winning seriously once I learned that. I figured the pink Heartstone would be the better prize." Speaking of which, is Merlin still down there? You check to see where she is.

"Still, finding SlKogasa down in that underground tunnel was a surprisingly nice thing to have happen. Especially after fate was tempted like that."

"Ah..." Your mother frowns at that, her expression turning dark, "Right, a slime type huh?" She wonders at that, "Well, I checked her out myself. It's odd for a slime type to be as intelligent as she is. Quite the conversationalist too." Huh, well...it sounds like your mother won't be trying to take Kogasa from you. That's good, right?

"My first opponent in the tournament noticed that too. She's the one who told Lunasa to start trying sonic frequencies to disrupt those mental link devices he was using." You make note of saying that as well while the topic was still open. "Right, now that I remember... That particular Kogasa was tame before I met her. She was dumped down in that underground tunnel I traveled through in a ball whose brand was recalled for long-term storage problems. You probably noticed, but she's not quite right. Do you know how I could help her?"

"Not unless you're interested in putting her in a tube and letting me poke her core for a few weeks. Honestly she's probably best off with you. By exposing her to the sights and sounds you'll see while traveling might proud her memory." Your mother suggests, "I'm sure she'd be happier with that as well...though..." Your mother ponders, "I found those pills you got from Mugetsu while I was rifling through your stuff, and I'll study that. Perhaps you could do something with her in her dreams...and besides, I've always wanted to study melding psyches together more!"

You nod in response to that, though you're just mildly worried that your mother is going to start experimenting with crazy dream pills, especially for those reasons. "...Sharing a dream with her might not a bad idea." You admit, since it might help you get past the partial language barrier that exists between yourself and the slime girl. "I'm guessing that the IV drip was also your doing?"

"Quite. It's obvious that these doctors had no idea what they were doing while treating you, using that kind of concoction on you. Honestly, I've got half a mind to just tie them all up and test them to see how many of them got their doctorates at diploma mills." Your mother contemplates committing crime right in front of you. It's good to see that things aren't going to be any different between you two.

"Do I even want to ask?" You say, feeling a touch nervous about the concept of having things done to you without you being awake for it.

"Hm? Oh no don't worry about it, they were just using out of date techniques and drugs that aren't popular anymore due to their drawbacks." Your mother explains, "I flushed your system and used my own personal homebrew to fix you up, so you should be up and at them...now, actually." Your mother admits, "Which is good, because your girls told me that you promised your body to them before you got yourself knocked out." Your mother waves a chastising finger at you, "You know what I've told you about promises!"

"I thought you said that you should break a promise if it's convenient to you." Yume speaks up, turning that gaze of hers onto your mother.

"Only if it's someone whose opinion you don't care about!" Your mother responds right back.

"Plus my girls wouldn't let me go back on this one. Lunasa mentioned that if this got delayed Merlin would snap, and I'm not interested in finding out what she'd do to me in that scenario." You look to your mother with that sort of 'I know what you did' look. "Also, Yume, I'm sorry about scaring you like that again. At least this time I had no idea I was even getting into trouble to begin with, anomaly-wise."

"I acknowledge that." Yume states, crossing her arms as that gaze comes back down onto you, "I am more upset about you purposefully ignoring your girls requests for you to not do something stupid and fight like you did. You know how fragile humans are!"

"Oh come on Yume, he's fine." Your mother waves a hand at her partner, "I mean, I got into plenty of fights worse than that, and look how I turned out!"

...Yume is studiously quiet as her eyes bore into yours.

You feel rather small when she stares at you like that, and reach out for Merlin.

As you reach out for Merlin she allows you to pet her head under the covers and looks up at you with those wide, wonderful eyes your girls have. "Tonight." She whispers, "You."

...On a less ominous, crotch shattering threat note...isn't your mother awfully peppy right now?

You blush furiously in response to those two simple words, and keep petting her. "...Say, mom, you're kinda in a really good mood."

Your mother beams, looking so genuinely happy that even your own spirits are being lifted, "Why wouldn't I be? My boys all grown up and sticking it to the man and fighting his rivals fist to fist, and he managed to outwit a powerful touhoumon and escape from her hold. Plus I finally managed to figure out what happened to that crab, and he started a whole new species of hyperintelligent crabs! Oh, and I got to make two new, cute maids and educate them...with Yume's help, of course." She sighs, "So, today's been a great day for me, overall. Of course I'm cheerful."

"That makes sense." Plus, you'd rather have your mother in a chipper, happy mood than annoyed like you were worried about. ...It's just Yume who's annoyed. "...Oh right, the sandcastle." You say to yourself, remembering that you kinda had that dream where you built one with Yume, and said sandcastle happens to exist in the real world despite being built in a dream.

"...Hey, Yume. Just to ask but did we have a shared dream at one point where we built a sandcastle together?" You're curious enough to ask, seeing as the sandcastle and the crabs who inhabit it exist despite all logic saying otherwise.

"Hm? I...can't say I remember. I don't really remember my dreams very well." Yume admits, sounding somewhat apologetic about the fact.

"It's fine, I was just curious." You say in response. ...Though given how that dream ended, it's probably better than she doesn't remember it.

"So then, let's sit down for a several hour long talk and-" Your mother is speaking to you when Merlin pokes her head out from under the covers and whimpers at her pitifully, "Oh? You don't want me to talk to my son? You think your womanly needs are more important to my maternal ones?" Your mother gets up in Merlin's face, getting worryingly close to your barely concealed junk.

"If you let us have him now, I'll make sure he always calls you!" Merlin offers, "And my sisters and I will take candid pictures of him and send you a new album every chance we get!"

"...Throw in some extra cute pictures of him sleeping and ones of him in new outfits any chance you get and you have a deal." Your mother offers, selling you out for more photo albums to add to the bookcase.

"Now hold on-" Yume cuts in, but Merlin seems to have already prepared a counter for that.

"We'll make sure to also include information on any and all love interests that could enter our darling's lives too, like Gissele or that Erika girl!" Merlin offers, causing Yume to pause suddenly at that, "And candid pictures of anything cute he gets up to with them." She declares, pulling out two photos. One is of you knocked unconscious and being worried over by Gissele, and the other is of you gallantly holding Erika in your arms.

...When did she take those?! How did she take those?!

Is this some form of...spirit photography!"

Yume takes the photos and looks them over for a long moment before nodding and tucking the photos away down her neckline, "Very well."

"Well, it looks like we've got a deal then." Your Mother declares, getting out of Merlin's face and holding out a hand for her to shake, which your girl does quite gladly, turning her gaze onto you and smiling like a particularly hungry and lustful shark.

...that's another thing you didn't need to associate with being turned on.

Thankfully you've got a nice long week of uninterrupted sexy times to have more pleasant associations burned into your mind. "...Can we get a not-hospital room first? I don't normally complain about the feel of a place but this room is just too sterile for my liking." You look to Merlin directly when you say that.

"I transferred some funds into your account, so go get a nice hotel room for the week or something. You don't want to have an orgy in a touhoumon center, those places are way too small." Your mother generously informs you.

"...Oh, but before you go." Your mother steps in as she helps undo your medical attachments to let you safely be removed from bed, "Just where are you planning to go after this?"

...Just where are you planning to go after this?

---

CHOICES

Part The First: Just where are you even going?
[ ] To the Resort Town for fun in the sun.
[ ] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[ ] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!

Choice the Second: Do you wish to see the smut with your girls as you have your first times together now that they're evolved?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

[x] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[x] No.

Plot ahoy!

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[X] Yes

To hell with Sebastian. I doubt we can get a badge out of him anyway. No point in sticking around.

[X] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

There will be smut.

>"Tonight." She whispers, "You."

Handbanana?

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

C'mon, since they're evolved and their our main trio, we should at least see scenes with them.

Just saying, now that we're still here, I suggest we do things that we can do here first, after all, I dont think it will take that long to stick it to Sebastian for what he might have done before departing to the "Haunted" mansion

[X] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!

And then,

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.


[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

YEEEEEEEEES

Love the awkward here. Though the hypersexuality of touhoumon has certainly done something for social mores.

[X] To the Resort Town for fun in the sun.
Just had our first real fight, let's party it up for a bit as a reward.

[X] Yes
[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Anybody who doesn't vote for this is an inhuman monster. And not the sexy kind either.

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

Sebastian did what he did, whatever, don't care, we can come back to it after getting 7-9 other Badges, depending on just how Gary Oak we feel at the time. Also, we had fun in the sun right before our trip to this Gym, so I don't much care about the Resort Town either.

But taking our Spooky, Horny Ghostgirls to visit other Spooky, Horny Ghostgirls? Now that sounds like FUN.

[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Because on a scale of Yes to No... Yes.

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

As much as Sebastian seriously deserves a talking to, lets go see Erika first. She obviously wants to see us again. Let's not keep a lady waiting.

Also,
[X] Yes

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

>...places a hand on Merlin's head, leaning ever so slightly on her and forcing her all the way down on your shaft and forcing your length all the way into her as that final bit of stimulation forces you to orgasm, right as your mother stares you in the eyes

bonerwhy.jpeg

[X] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Yeah I doubt the Sebastian scene will take long, and honestly I would like to see if there really is more to Erika. All the stuff mentioned about her makes me wonder...

As for the orgy, well I want to see everyone involved.

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

[x] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Smut wall me, folks; this is what most of us have been waiting for.

>>173847
>All the stuff mentioned about her makes me wonder...

Well, I think it's pretty clear by now that she's a ghost herself. How our girls didn't sense it is a mystery however.

[x] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[x] No.

Where's my vote? Oh well.

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Because I want to follow up with Erika, and I have been waiting for the scene with our girls for SO. LONG.

[x] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
then
[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

As for the porn... Eh, I honestly don't care, so I'll leave my vote blank on that one.

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

[x] Yes.
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

Zeke x Erika is my OTP. Actually, it's probably closer to Everyone x Everything, but whatever. Sebastian will probably get enough hell from Costello that anything we do wouldn't accomplish much. Maybe he'd bribe us for keeping quiet, though.

I think going to Resort Town would trigger "Grand Touhoumon Thief" event, or we might encounter Team Shuttle again.

But hey, we seriously need a traveling companion cube, so

[X] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.

>>173845 Here, Changing to this

[x] You're going to follow this spoooky, oddly decrepit and old looking map that Erika gave you.
-[x] Before you leave, say goodbye to Gissele and apologize for hitting her with your shirt.
[x] Yes
[x] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

She was apparently pretty worried for us, we should let her know we're alright and apologize for the dramatic shirt toss.

I also just want more Gissele.

[X] You're going to give Sebastian a piece of your mind!
[X] I want an extra all together orgy scene too!

>My boy's all grown up and sticking it to the man
Well, can't disappoint Mom now. We've got nepotism to deal with.

Sorry about the delay folks, I wound up getting sick a couple days ago and have been recovering ever since.

The vote is called, and there's a pretty overwhelming support for smut, and unless I miscounted the votes going to visit Erika afterward is the order of the day. Please wait warmly as we repeatedly break the post limit.

>>173883

So, not enough votes for the "taking care of possible Nepotism" route THEN "visiting Erika" to do both? Well, a bit of a shame, but okay

Sorry for the slight necro but I have to ask, regarding the Chibi Sakuya, what type of Sakuya was it since it was mentioned as a special type?

>>173916

Nah, there's no necroing involved here considering that the thread isn't even off the front page of /th/.

Anywho, the CSakuya's typing is Steel/Ice, as her typing is in 1.5. It's just that when she evolves she becomes a touch more interesting.

As for why the update's taking so long, two things: One, I caught a cold last Thursday, and between the the actual illness and the cold medication I was taking for it, my ability to write was pretty much completely shot.

Two, I made the mistake of trying to write while sick, albeit while recovering, and unintentionally blew off when Nob asked me to save that part of the update. The reason being that Nob's machine is basically dying and hasn't been replaced yet, so when we do write I need to save, edit, and post. So we have the vast majority of the Merlin scene, just not everything leading up to it.

Anywho, update delayed and hopefully not by too much.

If I send you the patch that gets you a ZYoumu in touhoumon world link, would we be able to add said ZYoumu to our team?

Link to new thread. I know, we're not quite at autosage but we're all of... what, three, four posts away?

>>173927