[X] A run-down shrine.

Not enough starting at the Hakurei Shrine these days...

[X] A bustling village.

The mental image of a tank driving into the Human Village is too hilarious. I must see it.

[X] A bustling village.

>M24 Chaffee tank and crew in Gensokyo
>what a beautiful machine.jpg

I am so hype right now it's amazing. Somebody has excellent taste.

I wrote a short story with a tank in Gensokyo (http://www.touhou-project.com/th/res/161977.html#162087) and I've been wanting a CYOA based around the concept ever since.

Godspeed, you glorious writefag. Godspeed.

[X] A bustling village.

I'd like to see the looks on the villager's faces when they're told there's a war on. Or when they see the tank.

It's patently obvious that this is an alternate timeline where Little Boy and Fat Man didn't cause the ruckus they did, but I think it's cool. I hope there's no bad end where they do decide to drop an A-Bomb on us. Or something.

[X] An abandoned house.

[X] A bustling village.

Leads to more possibilities of misunderstandings, and misunderstandings means shenanigans.
And this site pretty much lives on shenanigans.

>>180150

I don't think that was obvious at all. But thanks for the heads up, I will be on the lookout for signs that confirm or deny your hypothesis.

>>180157
The fact that the OP features a land invasion of Japan proper against a hostile population suggests that Japan did not surrender.

>>180160

But...that only confirms it IS an alternate timeline, thus there would be no way to know if the A-bombs were dropped.

>>180162
IIRC, they were planning to drop atomic bombs on the beacheads, shortly before the actual invasion started. There's an obvious problem with that, but radiation really wasn't well understood at the time. Besides I think the US would've have several more bombs by the actual start of the invasion because we were starting to crank them out.

What I'm wondering is are the Soviets also invading at around the same time? They did have some ships useful for naval invasions.

As for Gensokyo, who is the Hakurei shrine maiden going to be here considering Reimu won't be born for several decades? The Sendai Miko or someone else or what?

Another interesting factoid about Operation Downfall:

All of the Purple Hearts awarded currently to US soldiers come from Purple Stocks created for Operation Downfall. Even after 70 years, they still haven't been depleted.

It was perhaps going to be the US's equivalent to the Soviets fighting through Germany I'd say. The sheer fanaticism of the Japanese, along with the mutual racial contempt and hatred both the Allies and Japan had toward each other made the Pacific War almost akin to the Eastern Front in brutality and bitter fighting.

[X] A bustling village.

"Well I'll be damned. LEWINSKI! BRAKE!"

The tank grinds to a halt as you order Lewinski to stop the tank. Your entire crew already knows about the village only a scant few miles in front of you, most of them having viewports of their own. You order Hoffman, who doubles as the radio operator, to call this find in to the Lieutenant. He did say that any major finds should be reported to him before any action is taken. This is fairly major in your opinion, considering that this has been the only sign of life in this entire mountain range.

Hoffman fiddles with some knobs on the radio set before relaying the news. He fiddles a some more before relaying the news again. This can't be good, you think to yourself.

"I got nothin' Sarge. Nada. Dead silence on every frequency."
Nope. Definitely not good. You've always been able to get in contact with someone, even during the worst of the fighting. It must be the mountains. They can interfere with your signal, right? It'll definitely be fine. You don't see any major threats in the village from here, so you start drawing up a quick plan of action with the rest of the crew.

Ten or so minute later, and you've got a plan. "Everyone clear on the plan, and their role in it?"

"Yeah, Sarge. We drive down what appears to be their main street, stop dead center in the middle, and try to look like their saviors while doing it." Nods of agreement abound.

"And if we get shot at, or they rush the tank with farming implements?"

"We duck back inside and either wait it out or plow our way through." More noddding.

"Good job everybody, now let's try it out."

The tank lurches forwards and quickly accelerates to its top off-road speed, 25 mph. A bit unnecessary, but you and every other commander were informed to put on a show for civilians that weren't shooting at you. The brass wanted to win over the hearts and minds of the native population, and they decided that showing that we had a bigger stick was a good way of doing that. It has been rather hit and miss.

It isn't but a minute or two, and you're already cruising down main street. Seems that being showy with this village has been a miss rather than a hit. Collateral damage has been a minimum so far, but most villagers are still running for their lives, and shops are closing as far as the eye can see. You can't help but wonder if it's because a US Army tank is driving through their village, or if it's because it's a tank.

Supposedly some of these villages had minimal contact with their government, and this one is so remote that you wouldn't doubt if they had never seen an IJA uniform. It is the biggest village, and only sign of life, for miles and miles though. It doesn't matter either way. They'll either start trying to fight you soon, or you'll have to try your hardest to coax information and help out of these people. Just some food for thought, you guess.

While this village is huge, it isn't long before you're stopped in what appears to be the town square. You park yourselves right next to a large dragon statue. Must be the village's protector or something.

"Godless heathens, with their idol worship." You hear Lewinski mutter to himself. While you don't exactly approve, Lewinski has been a devout Catholic as long as you've known him. You'll tell him to restrain himself if anything gets out of hand.

Soon after all the excitement in the streets has calmed down, a crowd gathers around your tank. Most keeping a respectful distance. Parents pull their kids back when they come up to touch. You give it a few more seconds, just to make sure that the crowd wasn't going to try and pull anything, before deciding to exit out of the commander's hatch. You decide to keep your service weapons hidden, wouldn't want to frighten them. You just want to talk.

The sun sure is bright. It's something you'll never get used to, going from the dark and cramped environment of a tank to sunlight and open air. You give yourself a few seconds to readjust to the brightness before speaking to the locals. You would thank god that you knew some Japanese, but it did get you sent to the Pacific.

"Hello! I am Sergeant Davidson with the United States' 7th Infantry Division. I wish to speak to your Mayor, and any Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. We do not wish to fight."

Two villagers step forward, looking just as confused as the rest. An older looking man, with a bushy beard is the first to speak.

"Hello... Sergeant?" You nod. "I am the mayor of this village."

The next to speak is a girl in a rather odd-looking costume, with an even odder hat on her head. Combine that with her hair color, and she looks nothing like the rest of the village.

"Hello," she says while eyeing you and the Chaffee, "I am Keine Kamishirasawa. The guardian of the village." You mull that name around in your head. It's quite a mouthful, but you'd hate to forget it.

"It's certainly a pleasure to meet the both of you, and I hope we can come to an agreement on a few things. It would certainly be a big help to me and my crew, and the United States Army as a whole. I assume there aren't any IJA soldiers around?"

The crowd continues to eye you with suspicion and curiosity as the strange looking Miss Kamishirasawa begins to speak. You find it rather strange, but these Japs do have strange customs.

"Sergeant, we have no clue what you mean by 'IJA' and there hasn't been a soldier in the village in ages. At least before you showed up." Well that's either good news, or she's lying to you. "And I'll have you know, the only thing we'll be coming to an agreement on, is you exiting our village immediately. Just look at the damage you've done!" She points towards the way you came.

Yeah. You might've caused a bit more damage than you thought. That is a lot of destroyed carts.

What do?

[] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.
[] Refuse. You're a soldier of the United States Army. No Jap, let alone a woman, is going to tell you what to do.
[] Duck back down into the tank. Time to get out of here.

Please feel free to criticize, and sorry for any mistakes I make. I've never exactly been in the Army, and I haven't seen much ready-made info on jargon/procedures.

>>180149
Thanks! I doubt I'll do as good as you, but I'll try.

[X] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.
Also, ask them for directions.

Seems like these locals are not very hostile.
The carts and clearly indicate the presence of trade relationships, so they must know about their surroundings.
Time to ask just where the hell did we end up.

>>180167
[x] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.

-Our mother taught us some manners

[X] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.

None of that "I'm an American soldier" bullshit. I was always taught to treat non-combatants with respect, even during times of war. Mission permitting, of course.

[X] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.

[X] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.
And ask for directions ho

[] Refuse. You're a soldier of the United States Army. No Jap, let alone a woman, is going to tell you what to do.

I'm afraid of americans, I'm afraid of the world, I'm afraid I can't help it.
I'm afraid I can't.

[x] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.

Hearts and minds, boys, hearts and minds.

[X] Apologize. Hopefully being courteous will get them to work with you.

"I am truly sorry for any damages me and my men have caused. If it's of any consolation, your destroyed carts and any items in them will be paid for, and we promise to keep any future destruction to a minimum. Right now, we would like to see if we can work something out with the two of you." You gesture towards the Mayor and the silver haired woman.

The Mayor starts stroking his beard as he talks. "Alright then. You're sure there will be no future problems?" You nod. "And you're sure the owners of those carts will be compensated?" You nod again. He turns to face the much younger woman, who stands slightly above the hunch-backed Mayor. "Then I'm sure we can discuss a few things with you. Right, Miss Kamishirasawa?"

The next thing you know, you and your crew are sitting in a luxurious office. You call it a luxurious office, but it's only luxurious because you haven't seen or sat on undamaged furniture in what feels like years. It's only an office as far as your concerned, because that's what the Mayor keeps calling it. You would expect an office to have a desk and some filing cabinets or something, but it seems that these villagers are traditionalists. Sitting on the floor around a table it is.

You're joined at the table by your crew members, the mayor, and Keine. Introductions have already occurred, and you feel that you can start getting this meeting underway.

"We apologize again for the carts we destroyed. We're especially sorry for the ones we destroyed on our way here, even if it was only four or five." You try to give the two the most sincerest look you can muster. "We also apologize for scaring any of the villagers. The tank is truly nothing to be scared of."

"Even if it was mostly Lewinski's fault, we'll be gracious and take the blame together."

"Hoffman, have I ever told you exactly how much I hate you?"

"Why would you hate me? I've never done a thing in my life."

"Except, oh I don't know, every time you've blamed our driving on me. And the pranks. The never ending torrent of bad pranks. Not once funny!"

"Well, there was the time with the hornets. That was pretty funny." Richards inputs.

"Nope. Wasn't that funny. Even the time he stole that horse was funnier than that."

"Ahem."

"See, I have to agree with Lewinski. The hornets had no inspiration, but I put a lot of time and effort into stealing the horse and-"

"AHEM!" And then they proceeded to can it. You would've said something, but it's a lot more entertaining to see them start blabbering on and then suddenly look like idiots.

"Sergeant, does your retinue always act like a bunch of fools?"

"Most of the time. They can even juggle while riding around on unicycles."

She sighs. "I see. Let's try to get down to business then. I'll try to keep my questions until the end, while you all are more than welcome to ask any questions you need. This will either be really hard to understand, or incredibly easy."

She pulls out a map, of what you assume is the local area, and lays it across the table. She makes a large circle with her fingers on the map. "This, is the area you are in now. This area is called Gensokyo. This area is physically separated from all the area outside of it, by a large barrier. You shouldn't be in here, but you are. This happens sometimes, and is perfectly fine. Any questions so far?"

Nope. All these simple sentences are really helping your education. It reminds you of a picture book, sans the pictures.

"Ah, sorry. I'm more used to dealing with kids. Gensokyo is filled with many different kinds of entities, many of whom are not what you could call human. Maybe you've heard of youkai?"

Hoffman leans forward slightly. "What, is that Jap for psychos or somethin'?"

"Some people might put it like that, but no. The term applies to anything supernatural. Fairies, vampires, tengu-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're tellin' me, that there're fairies 'n ghosts 'n things?" She nods the affirmative. "Well, shit! My little girl will sure be happy for me to tell her that Daddy went to war and found fairies!" Hoffman waves his fingers around in front of himself, before laughing. "Next you're going to tell me that magic exists."

"Technically, it does." Keine says, not losing any confidence in what she's saying. Not even a smile is appearing on her face right now. This just makes Hoffman laugh even harder. You try to gauge the reaction of your men before making any judgments yourself. Richards has joined Hoffman in a fit of laughter, Lewinski is incredulously staring at Keine, and Harris seems to be gauging the situation like you are.

Do you believe in magic and miracles?

[] Magic? Pfft. Hahaha. You can't seriously expect grown men to fall for that.
[] Well, she is the local around here. Maybe she's right?
[] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

Setting aside the first point, what about all that other stuff? That stuff sounded kind of...important? Verifiable?

...certifiable?

[X] Well, she is the local around here. Maybe she's right?

If the locals say something, be polite and pay attention. If they say it's dangerous, then it'd probably dangerous. If it's bullshit, not calling it that to their faces is called being polite.

[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

Part of me is a little surprised there's so little...rancor on the part of the Americans here, though it's understandable for story purposes.

[x] Well, she is the local around here. Maybe she's right?

Oh, got a new story here! It's always inspiring to see a talented new writer. Good luck, and let me offer a few words of advice:

-Try and work in some more physical description, especially of the characters. Knowing what your OCs look like, sound like, smell like, etc. will make them a lot easier to tell apart.
-See if you can make your choices more contentious. A good vote involves even trade-offs between the various options, but right now there doesn't seem to be much point in acting foolhardy or not being nice to Keine. It's not always easy to make a good choice, but it's something to strive for.

[x] Well, she is the local around here. Maybe she's right?

>the banter begins

ITS HAPPENING

>>180184
>[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

> This area is called Gensokyo. This area is physically separated from all the area outside of it, by a large barrier. You shouldn't be in here, but you are. This happens sometimes, and is perfectly fine.

>physically separated by a large barrier
>shouldn't be in here
>this happens sometimes
>barrier
>separated by
>barrier

can you run that by me

one

more

time

[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?
A barrier? Like a wall or something?

[x] Magic? Pfft. Hahaha. You can't seriously expect grown men to fall for that.
[x] What was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

[] Magic? Pfft. Hahaha. You can't seriously expect grown men to fall for that.

How stupid do the Japs think we are to fall for such a looney trick?

[x] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

>a large barrier

Is this the secret project of Japanese scientists, creating a perfect, invisible hideout? We must clarify that!

And if it is, then we must get to our forces. Because an invisible hideout in the middle of the Japan is the perfect place to hide something important, like, for example, the Imperial HQ.

Also, these non-humans sound important. Of course, being American soldier, you would probably have seen enough horrible atrocities done by some Imperials to call them that, but if a high-standing person from Japan is saying so, then we may have another problem.

Maybe, this Gensokyo is also the secret place for these rumored experiments to make superhumans?

>>180196
This.

[x] Magic? Pfft. Hahaha. You can't seriously expect grown men to fall for that.

Who's going to believe in magic just because a lady in a silly hat said so?

[X] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

WoT below, read at your own peril:

I have to say, these Yank tankers are showing that they are so naiive, agreeable, and green that their behavior is almost suicidal.

Historically speaking, by this point of the war (assuming the time is approximately late 1945-1946), it is common knowledge among Marine, National Guard, and Army veterans of the Pacific that Imperial military forces will always defend Japanese territory, even if they choose to hold fire during the landings. Since the 7th Army Division was part of the spearhead of the invasion of Okinawa, and their area of operations experienced very little actual combat over the course of several days, I'm somewhat surprised there weren't any veterans to correct the MC's mistaken belief that the drive on Tokyo would be a cakewalk after an unopposed landing.

In addition, their plan for entering the village makes me wonder what they learned during boot. U.S. armor doctrine has always been that tanks have been created to support the infantry, and that infantry screens are crucial for ensuring tank survival. Even if they're protected by a full inch of armor, anything larger than a firearm would be capable of penetrating the Chaffee's armor. By assuming that the village defenses would consist of at most perhaps a heavy machine gun before driving a light tank down an exposed central road, these soldiers made a fatal mistake which shows their inexperience. Although the Imperial Japanese Army hadn't created an anti-tank weapon as effective and iconic as the Panzerschreck, they were still known to have respectable amounts of grenades and a number of artillery guns in their arsenal, which could serve to damage or even disable the tank's tracks and running gear. As if this wasn't enough, there's the possibility that the tank could drive over a landmine or even get rushed by a suicide bomber equipped with explosives, both of which would certainly ruin these soldiers' day. Of course, if they were accompanied by infantry in the first place, which they should be considering the unit they're in, this would be a moot point.

However, even if the crew survives a mobility kill, the disabled tank would certainly be far from first in their list of worries. If this hadn't been Gensokyo's human village, they would be stopped in the middle of a hostile village. Occupants of said village would have been well informed of the constant death and destruction delivered by these Yank's comrades in the air, flyboys piloting B-29s loaded with incendiaries. These hostile villagers would thus be inclined to not collaborate with these foreign invaders and want to try to find a way to slaughter them all, which should have been a prospect the tankers should've considered.

In short, these men were gambling their lives on the possibility that these Japanese villagers did not have any Imperial Japanese soldiers in their midst, are lacking in explosive weaponry, and would not simply wait for the opportunity for the Americans to let down their guard before rushing in en masse and tearing them apart.

Now for some historical analysis to address points brought up by Anon.

In the perspective of the Japanese Supreme Council, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although quite devastating, cannot be said to have been the deciding factor for the end of hostilities. The reasoning behind this is that the Japanese government had already taken on a fatalistic approach to ending this war. During the summer of 1945, over 50 Japanese cities were incinerated, with more than a dozen receiving more damage than the bombing of Nagasaki. With this display of cold-heartedness to their people's suffering, it's doubtful that a new bomb of unimaginable partner can do more than make them wonder if they can speed up their own atomic program.

Based on the information I have, it was the Soviet declaration hostilities that triggered the surrender. After Hiroshima, the Supreme War Council believed it could still fight on even if it started raining atom bombs. Operation August Storm changed that belief. The Japanese realized the horrific prospect of a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido within 10 days at a minimum with Japanese defenses completely out of place, which would lead to the establishment of the hated left on Japanese soil.

However, since the Communists appear to have yet to be mentioned in this fanfic, I am inclined to believe that it is their failure to enter the war that necessitated the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. Hopefully, this analysis provides further insight to both the author and my fellow Anons. I'm quite intrigued by the insertion of an American tank crew in Gensokyo, and although I understand that the information I provided is overridden by the author's PLOT, I hope it provides all involved in this story with a better understanding of this aspect of WW II.

[X] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?


Barrier? Is she referring to the terrain? Mountains and thick forests tend to isolate small villages pretty well. And I guess you could say that they "physically separate" them from the outside world.
But the whole thing about bogeymen and santa claus on the other hand. Just nod and smile and accept that people here are so isolated and backwards that they'd probably call the Browning a "magical boomstick".

>>180211
Are you saying the M2 Browning isn't a "magical boomstick"? What sort of heresy is this!?

[X] Forget magic, what was all that other shit she blabbered on about?

Pointing at your two snickering subordinates, you kindly inform them to shut up before you make them. You then turn back to Keine.

"Alright, I'm going to need you to run all that by me again. A barrier? Are you talking about the mountains? Or did we just buy pass a big wall? And what do you mean, we shouldn't be here?" You almost let the thought that this is some big super secret Japanese project enter your mind, but if that was the case, the approach to the village should've been guarded.

"No, and no. Most inhabitants here wouldn't even bat an eye at the largest of mountains, let alone a wall." Ahuh, alright. "I don't know much about the barrier besides that it was put up around 1885 A.D. to keep those that live here in, and those that don't out. And like I said, it isn't full proof. Sometimes objects just fall through the barrier. It happens. However, we've never had a person come through before, let alone five."

"A first time for everything, right?" The blond Pole to your right says.

"Right." She nods.

"And who lives here that others want to keep out? You said non-humans, but that could just be some annoying wildlife."

"As I said earlier, most of the inhabitants of Gensokyo are youkai. The supernatural. Creatures such as ghosts, dragons, vampires..." She starts listing off all the things that she claims live here. You make sure to give Hoffman and Richards a look that says 'Don't say a word, or you will regret it' before they start laughing. Thankfully they catch it, and decide not to make themselves look like bigger asses than they already have. You swear, the one time that approaching a village hasn't ended up with anyone getting shot at, and they have to try their hardest to ruin it.

"...even gods live in Gensokyo." Lewinski's eye twitches at that, but he manages to keep whatever he wants to say to himself. "We've even had some new arrivals recently. Sort of like yourselves."

"I thought you said you've never had a person come through before?" Your gunner asks.

"I did say that, but youkai aren't really people per se. They look a lot like people, and some are technically humans, but they differ in meaningful ways. I'm sure you'll notice before too long."
"Before too long?"

"Yes, before too long. You all will probably be here for some time."

"See, I'm sure we'd all love to, but we've really got to be getting back at soon. We only came over here on business, and that business was resolved when you said you've never heard of the IJA and we didn't get shot at. This whole meeting was just to get a more up to date map of the area and maybe some extra info. We're really thankful that you've provided just that, but we've got to be going."

You start to stand up when she tells you. "There's no leaving Gensokyo. The barrier was put up with to keep things in. In all our history, we've never had someone leave."

What. Now that just can't be true, and your crew shares your opinion.

"Now listen lady, the Sergeant has been nice about it and all, and I've played along, but it ends here. Why should we believe any of this mumbo-jumbo you've been spouting?"

"Because I live here, and you don't. I'm also trying to be hospitable to a group of strangers, I was even going to offer you food and someplace to sleep tonight."

You look out the window to your right and see that the sun is drooping farther and farther down. Going purely by sight, you'd say it's already almost seven. You'd never make it back to the platoon tonight.

What do?

[] Accept the offer. There might be some credibility the whole barrier thing.
[] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

>>180194
Thank you. I'll try to work on what you said.

>>180208
Thank you for writing all that up. I'll try to fix the mistakes I've made, and keep what you said in mind.

[x] Accept the offer. There might be some credibility the whole barrier thing.

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

These locals may have been quite cooperative up to this point, but that's no reason to accept 'Jap' hospitality. The only things protecting you from them are the .50 cal, the 14 pound main cannon, and relatively thin sheet of armor plating of the Chaffee. Unless your tank also has a stockpile of M1A1 carbines or other compact firearms stored for self-defense, there's no reason to forgo this protection. After all, a few pistols might not be enough to stop several dozen murderous villagers who are trying to lure us away from the tank.

>>180214

So far, the historical 'errors' in this story remains obscure enough for the typical reader to overlook, and would require a disproportionate amount of time to correct if one isn't even aware of them. I can say that this portrayal has been relatively authentic, although there are some points that you've all but skirted that would possibly add more conflict and depth in this story, such as the widespread American distrust and hatred of the Japanese during this time. If you'd like, I can spare some time and provide you with additional information on these topics through the irc. It's all up to you; this story has been standing up on its own after all.

[x] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

Well we did our job so far.

Though I wonder if the crew shouldn't find a place to dig in for the night. Driving around in a 18 ton tank when it's dark out is no easy task.

>>180224
Where has he shown his bigotry? No seriously I'm asking this because the message posted isn't inflammatory at all.

[x] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

>>180224
You don't seem to get it. He's just trying to act in character. FYI, Americans in WWII era really were that "bigoted" against Japanese. They were in a fucking war with them.

Also:
[x] Accept the offer. There might be some credibility the whole barrier thing.

>>180226

>in character

You're right. I take back my previous statement.

[X] Accept the offer. There might be some credibility the whole barrier thing.

[x] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

I'd like to take our chances somewhere outside of the Human Village, and besides, the Americans would be pretty unlikely to believe in magic barriers blocking them.

They have to stay with the tank, it's their only protection and main weapon. Plus, the village might be hostile at night.

[x] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.
Just how gullible does she think we are?

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

Because you've studied at school and you've learned from there that if something can move in, it can probably move out.

Unless they are talking about a potential barrier...

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

The village is boring. Let's tool around some more.

>>180222
I've been unable to get to a PC recently, so give me a few days and I'd love to.

Don't worry, two days without updates is ludicrous speed on THP.

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

Because "smile and nod" doesn't mean we actually believe a word of what she said. There's no such thing as a 100% one-way barrier. If things can go one way, they can go the other. It may require some violence, but it's never impossible.

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

To hell with reaching the platoon; just get to the mouth of the valley (i.e. a clearer line-of-sight) and fire up the BC-604. A 25 watt transmitter should reach at least 30 miles in CW mode (morse code) even with significant interference. Broadcasting on standard frequencies; there's no way in hell they could miss you - a ground station might even give you a location fix! And that's one step closer to getting the hell out of here - these people are starting to creep you out with their too-perfect English and their scatterbrained talk of MONSTAHS IN DA WOODZ. Its almost like you took a wrong turn on a North Carolina back road and wound up in a mountain village with the locals babbling about Painters'n'Thunderbirds'n'Bigfoots and shit. This must be the Japanese version of Darkest Appalachia and you'd like to get the fuck out before the banjos start up.

>>180208

Mostly agreed; except for a few things. To wit, OP never said they didn't drop the bombs. The eggheads were laboring to crank out plutonium enough to have 7-15 atom bombs ready to support the invasion force. Because of the details of Japanese geography, the only good landing zone on Honshu was the Kanto Plain, so the Japanese planned to cram all their remaining firepower into defending that area - a nice, consolidated target for nuking. I can certainly see The Brass telling line soldiers that it'd be a cakewalk, after they unleashed the fury of Hell Incarnate upon their hapless foes.

>The Japanese realized the horrific prospect of a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido within 10 days

Lelno. Ten days? With what navy? They'd have to swim across the Sea of Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall#Soviet_intentions A much better candidate was this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Starvation tl;dr air-dropped mines shut down 95% of shipping to the Home Islands inside of a month. The entire population of Japan was a few months away from starving to death.

But given that the Japanese reply to the first atom bomb was "betcha don't got another one" and the attempted coup by the insane military junta to prevent the surrender, a failure of the bombings to instantly end the war isn't much of a stretch (and was, in fact, planned for.)

>These hostile villagers would thus be inclined to not collaborate with these foreign invaders and want to try to find a way to slaughter them all

Account for the "new history." In the story so far US Forces have been fighting through Japan for a few months now. By now, word has probably spread about how the Americans handle villages that demonstrate resistance - they level them. Artillery, napalm (sticks to nips!), direct-fire from tanks and SP guns, etc. Multiply by the obvious isolation of the village and you've got a fairly strong case for it not being totally suicidal to drive into town. As for weapons, well, this is a nation incapable of manufacturing simple submachine guns in sufficient quantities, much less anything resembling a dedicated AT weapon - and most of what they had left was probably vaporized on the Kanto plain. Up in the rugged hills of Bumfuck Nowhere the greatest threat is probably what the MC identified - bum rush with farming tools.

As for infantry screening the tank - its a scout tank. Which is out scouting.

And yet, with all that said, I was still surprised when the crew got out of their tank and sat down with the locals - until I realized they waited till after the locals professed complete ignorance of their entire national government and the twilight zone vibes started to settle in.

[/giganticfuckingnerd]

>>180277
Weren't there fears of American troops going all medieval on Japanese civilians due to how horrific the Imperial Military had treated POWs and such, attacks by Japanese civilians and the mutual racial contempt on both sides?

I recall hearing somewhere that US soldiers had to be bribed to keep Japanese prisoners alive due to how many would die along the way, obviously due to entirely natural problems and not due to soldiers just killing them.

[x] Accept the offer. There might be some credibility the whole barrier thing.
Don't start trouble.

>>180277
>too-perfect English
>"You would thank god that you knew some Japanese, but it did get you sent to the Pacific."
>that quote implies they are speaking in Japanese
>too-perfect English

Hmm

>complete ignorance of their entire national government
>"Supposedly some of these villages had minimal contact with their government, and this one is so remote that you wouldn't doubt if they had never seen an IJA uniform"

For a giganticfuckingnerd, you sure have missed a lot of details.

OP is trying to write a story, not a history lesson. All you history nerds need to take it easy.

>>180289
Nah it's cool, and I appreciate what those guys are trying to do. I'm a history buff myself, but there's plot that takes precedence.

>>180286

Oh, I missed that bit about the Japanese. Mybad. As for "minimal contact," sure, a very remote village might see a tax collector once a year at best, but they're acting like they've got no clue about the Imperial Japanese anything, which is some Twilight Zone shit.

>>180289
This. I personally make a hobby of figuring out explanations that mesh the story as written with historical probabilities, especially when the writer's doing a good enough job to make that easy. If I'm going to nerd out, I like to help rather than hinder. And as >>180208 pointed out its seriously piss-easy with this writer because he's good.

>>180293
>plot that takes precedence

By jove, he's got it! Don't be afraid to tweak write-ins when the time comes, either.

[X] Take your chances. There's definitely no 'barrier' and she's just playing at something here.

You stand up from the table you're seated at.

"Thank you for the offer, but we have to get going."

"Are you sure? It can get dangerous at night."

"Positive, I'm sure we've seen much worse than whatever these mountains have to offer."

She looks at you as if contemplating something before shrugging. "Okay, suit yourself."

With that, you thank the mayor and Keine again before leaving. While your temporary hosts were very polite, you still wouldn't trust them as far as you can throw them. Everything she said sounded crazy. You mean, come on, barriers? Magic? And whatever youkai are? How did she ever expect you to fall for any of that? Even if you did believe anything she said, you'd still take your chances with the Chaffee. She might not have the best armor, but she's fairly fast and has that wonderful 75mm gun. Plus, she's yours. You would never abandon her to the elements, let alone a Jap village overnight.

Speaking of the Chaffee, you sort of wonder if the streets just automatically go dead around this time or if people are avoiding her. You can sort of understand, considering that this village has supposedly never had contact with the rest of the world, but they shouldn't be that scared. The first time you saw a car, you definitely didn't react this way. Well, it wasn't love at first sight, but you weren't running away from it.

As soon as you're all in your positions and the ol' girl is moving again, your crew starts yammering. Lewinski is the first, speaking so fast you're not even sure if you caught everything.

"Did you hear that woman, claiming she was a demon! Speaking of devils and magic! Dirty heathens and their idols. In the old country..."

"Nobody gives a fuck about the old country, or what your Oma would've done Lewinski."

Before Lewinski can retort, your loader hops aboard the crazy train. "Agreed, Hoffman. I think the bigger problem here is that that dirty Jap was trying to trick us. Make us think this is some backwoods shit, offer us a nice play to stay, and then slit our throats while we sleep."

"If that was the case, why would she let us leave? There's gotta be something else to this." Your normally quiet loader pays for his ticket and climbs aboard.

"Don't tell me you believe the shit she was spoon-feeding us Harris."

A little less than believably, he defends himself. "No way, but we could've slept in a real bed for once."

The yammering stops. He's got a point about that. A real bed, with nice clean linen, and maybe you could even steal yourself a Jap girl for the night.

"Nope. The way those Japs are, I wouldn't be surprised if their idea of a bed was some mats on the floor." And like that, your dreams are crushed. It continues on like this for awhile longer, before you realize you have no idea where you are. The maps don't seem to be adding up to any of the landmarks you see, and the map Keine gave you earlier stopped being accurate after you passed some sort of shrine. You're about to ask if anyone has any ideas as to where you are, when it gets dark.

It was already dark, being around eight or nine, but it's pitch black outside now. Lewinski slams on the breaks as your entire crew starts to yell about not being able to see what they're doing. You're not even sure where the view ports are anymore. You almost exit the tank, when you hear a voice. A distinctly young and feminine voice.

"Oh~ what's this. A new playmate?"

"Sarge, I don't like how she said that..."

You see two red eyes pop up through what you hope is the viewport. Alright, time to work on a plan.

"Can anybody see anything?"

"No sir. I'm sure I can still drive though." Lewinski says.

"I'm not sure how accurate the shots would be, but Harris and I are confident we can churn out some fire, sir."

You can see a smile now, below the eyes. A sharp and toothy smile.

What's the plan of action, Sarge?

[] Put her in reverse Lewinski. We have to run into something eventually.
[] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.
[] Write-in. Please specifiy.

[X] Lock down the entry hatch, and get the fack out of there. Spray the machine-gun if necessary. A HE round for a single person? That's overkill.

>>180320
[x] Put her in reverse Lewinski. We have to run into something eventually.

[X] Put her in reverse Lewinski. We have to run into something eventually.

Well now we know that it is not safe to travel at night. Maybe the village guardian's words were correct about the surrounding evil. Hopefully we'll reverse travel up to that shrine. If people here are truly religious, then it will deter the assailant from engaging our vessel.

Why is it always Rumia? I'm sure there has to be hundreds of youkai in that forest.

Also, A more observant fellow would have realized Keine was telling the truth as soon as she produced an accurate map of the region. You can fake mannerisms and stuff, but you can't just change the entire layout of a country.

>>180326
Well it's either Rumia or Cirno. Rumia is used to show the danger of youkai and is generally a darker (oh god the pun) choice, compared to Cirno, who's usually friendly towards protagonists and even help them. Of course, because of Akyu and related works Rumia is the more popular choice nowadays.


I've checked and apparently Cirno was the first encounter in both WUIG and MiG. Gensokyo sure was a lighter place back then.

[X] Put her in reverse Lewinski. We have to run into something eventually.

Should probably save the ammo for targets we can actually see. Best to just back off for now...and uh...keep those hatches closed, just in case.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

She won't be smiling for long.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

So...is the HE shell going to set the forest on fire?

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

Gensokyo's a valley, right? And they've got a tank.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.
-[X] Lewinski, as soon as we fire, I want you to hit the gas. We're running her over.
--[X] See if you can use the fixed .30 cals to draw a bead on the target.

The options provided are mutually exclusive to a degree. We cannot fire and move without sacrificing turret stability and accuracy. The technology required for that has not yet been invented, so it's necessary that we fire before moving.

From what I can tell, Rumia is somewhere to front of the tank, but close enough that we can easily hear her through the Chaffee's walls. I do not believe that we can reverse quickly enough to get away from her, and besides, we don't even know where we'll end up. If there's a terrain feature that is a natural tank obstacle, like a large ditch in the road, then we'll kill our own mobility and end up in a position no better than the one we're escaping.

On the other hand, the only way we can neutralize this threat is via the main cannon, and even then, we'll have one chance to finish Rumia off. If we miss or fail to cripple Rumia, she'll immediately figure out the barrel is something she needs to stay away from, and although she'll be shell-shocked for a moment (having a front row seat to the firing of a 75 mm is quite an unpleasant experience, with all the muzzle flash and noise), we won't be able to target her as easily next time.

If all else fails, driving the tank forward at full speed will provide us with the opportunity to run over Rumia. Even if she's a youkai, I don't think she can withstand being run over by 40,000 pounds of good ol' USA metal without serious injury. Additionally, we shouldn't forget that the .50 cal isn't the only anti-infantry firearm we have...

>>180333
High-explosive rounds normally don't cause fires, as they utilize shrapnel and a severe shock wave to kill and neutralize lightly armored targets. That said, I must wonder what type of shells do we have in stock- incendiaries would do wonders for this encounter.

>>180321

During the invasion of Iwo Jima, half a million artillery rounds were fired in support of the Marine units. There were about 22,000 Japanese defenders of Iwo Jima. I don't think the U.S. Army really cares about wasting ammunition at this point of the war, and besides, nobody needs to know our crew wasted a HE round on a single person whom we judged at the time as a major threat to our well-being.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.
-[X] Lewinski, as soon as we fire, I want you to hit the gas. We're running her over.
--[X] See if you can use the fixed .30 cals to draw a bead on the target.

>>180339
Didn't US tanks have a primitive gun stabilizer? I remember reading WW2 US tanks were the first tanks to have any form of ability to fire on the move sort of accurately.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

>>180343
I know the M4 Sherman had early gun stabilizers, but if I recall correctly firing on the move was still inaccurate for the most part and mostly just used as a distraction or a gambit. Considering that the crew consists of one tank instead of multiple tanks working together it's reasonable to take desperate actions that you wouldn't ordinarily do with many more working together.

The problem with fighting Rumia is that she has a laser barrage in her danmaku arsenal, and I don't think our armor can withstand them.

>>180346

Humans survive them. I'm sure the tank will be fine.

Also, she wouldn't use her danmaku. Shooting someone with a tank shell is clearly against the spellcard rules. As such, she would probably respond in kind by using more conventional methods of killing the crew

>>180348
>Humans survive them.
[citation needed]
>more conventional methods of killing the crew
You mean armor-piercing barrage of lasers?

Cuz last time I checked Rumia wasn't a melee specialist. It's Kagerou and her danmaku is very melee oriented.

Also, I've checked the canon information and Rumia appears to be pretty lazy when it comes to attacking humans:
Rumia: Attacking humans is a youkai's job.
Aya:But are you exerting any effort in attacking humans?
Rumia:Lately, humans won't let me attack them. This other time, I got beaten up instead.
Aya:It's because of that that you don't maintain your dignity as a youkai. At the very least, you should be blending into the darkness at night and waiting along the roads.
Rumia:Ugh, that's too much effort.

>>180349

Citation? Are you serious? Her lasers are danmaku, and danmaku is non-lethal.

>>180351
Non-lethal doesn't mean it can't knock people unconscious. Or incapacitate them long enough for her to get close and personal.

>>180351

>danmaku is non-lethal

Danmaku is only non-lethal under the spellcard rules, as far as I'm aware.

>>180348

>Shooting someone with a tank shell is clearly against the spellcard rules

...Are we sure those have been invented yet?

>>180354

For all we know, they somehow managed to find their way into canon Gensokyo.

>>180355
In fact, they did.

First post, second choice:
>[] A European-style manor.
SDM only appeared in Gensokyo recently.
Ergo, they're in the present times or close to it. Which means that spell card rules are in place.

>>180354

I recall reading in a supplementary material that danmaku is quite painful and even lethal when used without restraint.

That being said, I would like to point out that although Rumia is probably unaware of what our tank can do, she is intelligent enough to recognize when she's being attacked by a non-danmaku weapon. In addition, the threat posed by her lasers is a legitimate one; the Chaffee is a light tank, and thus thinly armored. Unlike Sherman tank, which has at least 2.5 cm of armor protecting every part, the Chaffee has at most 1.5 inches of armor, and a paltry .9 cm of metal plating protecting it in some locations. If we assume that this thin layering applies to the rear of the tank, then that means that if Rumia's lasers have an incendiary property, there is a large chance the Chaffee will become a coffin for four brothers in arms.

This downer analysis aside, I believe Rumia isn't clever enough to consider attacking us from behind. Of course, if later on we encounter an enemy who is... we should hope we can bail out of the Chaffee quickly enough.

[X] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

So lets review.

1. Our tank can't take a powerful hit, but it can move at SANIC - even faster on hard surfaces if we take the tracks off and run with the road wheels only (god I love the Chaffee.)

2. Our tank's equipped with a first-generation gyrostabilizer; not good enough for reliably accurate anti-tank fire past a hundred yards, but more than good enough to put Rumia inside the blast radius of an HE shell.

WE ARE LITERALLY ABOUT TO HAVE A DANMAKU DUEL USING A FUCKING TANK

OH YES

OH VERY YES

>>180369
It's not like it has never been tried before.
Remember SoEW ?

>>180371
Oh yeah.
The danmaku tank (Evil Eye Sigma (?)) is widely considered to be the hardest Extra boss in Touhou history (source: touhouwiki).

>>180372

Chaffee vs Evil Eye Sigma. This must happen.

>>180374
What model of tank does it look based off of?

>>180376

Considering that most tanks do not have unlimited amounts of ammunition, are not composed of biomass, and have the capacity to neutralize a mobile target in a single shot, the Evil Eye Sigma doesn't seem to be based on any particular tank model. In fact, the Evil Eye is both laughable and terrifying from a logistical standpoint; tank design is all about mass producing an effective force multiplier for the troops. Although it's a unique weapon that was relatively ineffective under the circumstances it was used, it does have an apparently unlimited power source and ammunition supply, and if it is ever mass produced, the very basis of warfare would change as the battlefield would be filled of durable ocular monstrosities spraying thousands of low-velocity projectiles at the enemy lines.

[x] Load HE Harris. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot.

Do it do it yes

>>180379
What about the flower tank, anything interesting about it?

>>180385
Second verse same as the first, only less durable and with more predictable patterns.

(x) hit reverse

Can't hit what you can't see

>>180387

Yes you can.

>>180387

High explosives, son.

>>180391

Spraying and praying tends to do wonders. In fact, it happens to be one of the things the U.S. Army specializes in, then and now.

>>180394
Actually it still relies on aimed shots. Most of the time, assault rifles are fired in semi-auto mode. I think on the newest M16s they're actually taking off the 3-round burst mode to it just having safe, semi-auto, and full auto.

You see the eyes move over to where you would expect the 75mm gun to be.

"Harris, load HE. Richards, if you can see what I see, try to line up a shot."

"Yessir."

"Ooo~ What's this? Some sort of arm?" You're not sure how a human voice is coming out of that horrific mouth, but it is. Almost an abomination of humanity. While thinking of this, something dawns on you. You're going to be firing a 75mm cannon in the middle of the night.

"I've got the best shot I think I can get, sir."

"Good, remember to cover your eyes guys. After the shot goes off, I want anyone with an MG to start firing." You get another affirmative from your crew members.

The eyes continue to hover there. You don't know what it's doing. You don't even know what you're doing, wasting all this on one pers- one creature. You're not even sure if this thing poses a threat, but god damn do you feel uncomfortable just looking at those eyes. And that mouth, Jesus that mouth.

"Sir?"

That snaps you out of it. You give the command to fire before turning your eyes from the direction of the gun. A large boom and a blinding light rewards you. You hear a feminine yelp of pain, most likely from your creepy looking target. Turning back to front of the tank, you look through the viewports. Nope, no sign of your playmate. You guess that was kind of overkill, but there was that one time when a village was demolished for one sniper.

You almost start barking orders to get you out of here to your crew, when you see those red eyes again. What. The. Fuck. Even the concussive force of that shot could incapacitate a bear, especially if they were that close. What the fuck is this thing? You can almost make out the look of disbelief on Richards' face, as your two .30 cal M1919A4 Brownings open up on the creature in front of you.

"Jesus Christ sir! How the fuck is it still standing?"

Through the spurts of light, you can almost make out the shape of the creature advancing slowly towards your tank. If it wasn't for the horrifying teeth and eyes, you'd say it was a little girl. Oh, and the claws, which you only realize it has when they start trying to rip your tank to shreds. You're almost deafened by the screech of the metal as the creature tries to rip it apart.

"Wow, this is waaaay harder than most of the things I kill. You're actually fighting back! Sort of." It giggles.

This is definitely getting you nowhere. Over the roar of the machine guns, you yell for Lewinski to get the Chaffee moving. Thankfully he heard it, and you jerk forward as she begins to move. You unfortunately still hear the screeching of metal as the creature keeps trying to open the tank up. It's like being tuna, just waiting to be eaten. Luckily, Lewinski realizes what needs to be done. He slams on the breaks.

The "Wee~~" is your signal that the monster has been thrown off. Quickly the tank begins reversing, until it suddenly brightens outside. Looking out the viewports, you realize that whatever that creature was, it's surrounded by a pitch black sphere. You decide to sit and wait, to see if the creature and its surrounding blackness decides to follow you. The blackness does occasionally move, but never in your direction. You suppose that maybe the thing got lost inside of there.

"What do you want us to do now, Sarge?"

What do you want to do now, Sarge?

[] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[] A run-down shrine.
-[] A European-style manor.
-[] A bamboo forest.
-[] A large mountain.
-[] An abandoned house.
[] Go back in, you have to make sure this abomination of nature dies.
[] Write-in. Please specify.

This one may contain mistakes with terminology regarding the tank. My apologies.

[] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[] A European-style manor.

Forests and mountains are terrible terrain for a tank, so this.

[] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[] An abandoned house.

This sounds interesting.

[X] Go back in, you have to make sure this abomination of nature dies.

What the heck was up with that part at the end there where everyone just kinda stared at the enemy without shooting.

[x] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[x] An abandoned house.

Can't waste all our ammo on Rumia. Some of the places seem like bad terrain, Reimu's too much like Keine, and SDM is too common.

That scene had some good sensory language, but there was still room for more. Consider the smell or ringing of the ears that would come after the tank's main cannon fires. The narration also seemed a bit dull, not really letting me feel the panic or excitement of the crewmen. You might want to experiment with some more expressive punctuation and formatting to give your words a little extra punch.

>>180429
I'm not really sure what you mean, I'm sorry.

>>180430
Thanks, I'll try to work on it. I felt like I kind of rushed through that post.

[] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[] An abandoned house.

[x] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[x] An abandoned house.

>your two .30 cal M1919A4 Brownings open up on >the creature in front of you.

>no effect

I call shenanigans. Youkai are tough, but they are not "take .30 cal without any reaction" tough. Something is going on here.

>>180434

Well...lets consider our options

1. Two people with machine guns missed a target advancing slowly towards them. Which is actually quite plausible if one considers the average accuracy rate of non main-characters with machine guns.

2. Her bones, which are apparently strong enough to rip tanks apart, simply can't be harmed by bullets. Somewhat less plausible since she still should have been screaming in pain from the bullets tearing her flesh.

3. Yukari fooled around again, and made guns ineffective in Gensokyo, so random strangers can't just take over the whole place just because they happened to have a handgun.

I could probably come up with more, but I'll give our history nerds a chance to have their say.

[x] Throw everything you got at the darkness.

Come on, we gotta do SOMETHING to it

[] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[] An abandoned house.

Most plausible and I don't remember the character anyway

>>180434

> I call shenanigans. Youkai are tough, but they are not "take .30 cal without any reaction" tough. Something is going on here.

Heck yeah something's going on. She took a 77mm round to the face and her only reaction was acting like she got stung.

>>180477

>a 77mm round

More like a few hundred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsYFtt3bEtA

Vid related.

>>180485
Well it's not like .30-06 really compares to a 75mm shell. Now that's more impressive.

Though I'm sorta irritated about how the 75mm cannon did jack-squat to Rumia. You'd think a close to 3-inch round smashing into her would cause some pain. Unless they missed every shot.

>>180523
At such close range even a sound shockwave should be strong enough to make ears xplode in pain.

>>180485
>>180523
>>180525

And this is why magic runs on bullshit.

So, I think maybe I should explain what I was going for. I was trying for it to come across as the crew missing everything, because I thought it was incredibly hard to see inside Rumia's darkness power fuckery. I guess I also overestimated youkai, thinking her ear drums wouldn't burst. I also apologize for the kind of shit ending to that post.

Well...at least now we know the side characters operate under Stormtrooper mechanics instead of actual people firing a gun.

>>180543
Well, the only thing I really know about the Chaffee is that the Commander's MG (I think that's the .50cal) is in an awful position and is never really used and that the the other two MGs (the .30cals) don't have any way of aiming. The two people manning those MGs, which positions I don't remember, can only point straight and shoot. I think they can technically aim using nearby viewports, but the accuracy would still be pitiful and it'd be pretty difficult. I've still never actually been inside a Chaffee, and I have never operated one, so I wouldn't actually know. The most I know about the tank comes from wikipedia, and a video I found on youtube after looking up "M24 Chaffee". Stormtrooper mechanics still apply can still apply if everything I said was just bullshit.

>>180545
I don't know if this will help but here's a Youtube series on the M24 Chaffee by a commentator from the World of Tank forums known as "The_Chieftain":

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEAEU2gs2Nz_TVtyphrH8wCOXvsjsEw3K

It might be helpful, it might not be helpful I don't know.

>>180541
Well, you're right, but Rumia also can't see in the darkness.

>>180613
Would Rumia also be possibly blinded by the muzzle flash from the tank gun or would her darkness ability prevent that from affecting her?

>>180614
That's a good question. She would definitely be deafened.
She would not expect that to happen.
That means she would not only be unable to hear, she would also be shell-shocked.
That's because danmaku doesn't (usually) utilize high-amplitude sound waves.

>>180618

>definitely be deafened

Ehhh...maybe, maybe not. I don't think we have enough info on youkai anatomy to be speaking in definites.

>>180630
I actually think youkai would probably have even more problems with bright lights and sudden loud noises due to their superior senses. I mean how much worse is loud noise when your ears are much more sensitive than a human's?

[WARNING! WARNING! INCOMING RANT]

Even if Rumia's bones are made of carbon nanotubes or high-speed regeneration, she wouldn't be able to just simply tank the blow (no pun intended) like Alucard from Hellsing or anything. A High-Explosive shell has an absurd amount of force, and is fired at a very high velocity, which alone would simply wipe away anything of the size that Rumia is (A young girl) or knock it flying, at least (If y'all want to go into Youkai being OP and whatnot). However tough the material is, even if it's some extremely magical overpowered stuff, the shell would have knocked her flying in the other direction, ie. Newton's Second Law of Motion. Then again, unless she is made of an incredibly dense material and has a preposterous amount of mass, she's going to fly, not of her own choice. Of course, if she gets caught off guard and is surprised at being blown away, the machine-guns would finish her off. This being the worst case scenario, which is if Rumia is made of an extremely durable material. Most likely, if she's made of flesh and bone, but reinforced by some kind of durable material, her durability would be about the same as a soldier wearing kevlar armor- which would have been slain instantly by the blast. High-durability materials can only get you so far. [/rant]

>>180640
1) use sage when non-voting (sage goes into Email field) to avoid unnecessary bumps.
2) supposedly the first shot did not hit her directly, otherwise she would be incapacitated.

>"Good, remember to cover your eyes guys. After the shot goes off, I want anyone with an MG to start firing." You get another affirmative from your crew members.

That sounds like he wasn't sure that he could neutralize the target in one shot. Probably because of all the darkness.

Then the machineguns open fire and supposedly miss too? there is not info in the text about whenever the machineguns hit their target or just whizzled around 'er.

There is also a probability that somebody has messed up with our gun and made them shoot nerf bullets. That would explain many things.

Or perhaps they are all just graduates of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy~
Anyhoo, I want to see some Speed vs. Speed. (You're too slow!)

[X] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[X] A Large Mountain.

[X] Get out of there, and head stumble upon someplace else.
-[X] An abandoned house.

I can think of a few character who might hang around "an abandoned house", and all of them could be interesting to meet. (Although the Prismriver sisters seems to be the most likely option since they canonically live in an abandoned house, if I recall correctly.)

And I'm not even going to bother joining in on the "can Rumia survive a tank shell" because it feels like too much of a bother.

>>180641

If guns are ineffective in Gensokyo, what would even be left of this story's premise? It would basically just be about a bunch of dudes driving around in a ticking time bomb.

>>180661
Unless they find out the local fuel station.
They have radio towers, why not fuel stations?

You say that like it's worse then "people drive around shooting people.".

>180675
SAGE, bitch.

>>180426
-[] A large mountain.
This is large, so we can actually find it

>>180731
God damn it people, learn to sage.

>>180732
Votes arent saged

>>180733

Additionally, votes like these are known to prod the author into activity once in a while, even if it is to declare that the story is 'dead'.

>>180640
What part of magic are you failing to understand? This is a place where girls shoot lasers at each other when they cannot decide where to get lunch, others reverse things or throw tiny suns around.

>>180735
No matter how tough a youkai can be, even if not actually pierced by a tank shell, the kinetic energy would still get transferred into the youkai and could possibly harm it.

Look at a stormtrooper from Star Wars for example. Sure their armor is resistant toward slugthrowers but if you shoot at the helmet of a stormtrooper with something like a .50 BMG, even thought it may not pierce the helmet the energy transferred from the bullet could still break the trooper's neck.

Of course this all moot since the author just stated the crew missed every single shot from the tank cannon and machine guns when firing at Rumia, but even then there are still issues. The muzzle flash and shockwave could still hurt Rumia due to the muzzle flash possibly blinding her and the shockwave from the missed cannon shots, and the immense noise from firing the cannon, damaging her ears.

>>180737
ITS MAGIC. Jesus, there is no science to magic, why are you even trying to apply it. Flying little girl give zero shits about kinetic enegery in a world where some of those little girls can destroy anything by thinking about it, punch mountains into oblivion and/or are fucking immortal. And the kappa prove that even what little science there is is fucked in gensokyo.

>>180738

I refuse to disregard rational thought and inquiry. If you think MAGIC explaines everything that happened is the last few updates, then let that be your own head cannon, and let's agree to disagree.

>>180738
No offense but honestly the "It's MAGIC" response strikes me as being like a cop out. "Oh I don't have to explain shit, it's magic!". That's what it sounds like.

>>180741
>>180742
There's a reason why magic is considered the first forbidden template, after all.

Although I agree that writers in general can hand wave most shenanigans when magic is involved, it needs to be done within rational boundaries. Although we may have relaxed our expectations of realism by the act of reading fanfics about superpowered magical Japanese girls who have no problem with speaking flawless English, there is a fundamental expectation that this story is plausible according to the rules of the setting.

This story has an intriguing premise that captured our attention with the promise of some potential tank action. By revealing that the OC tank crew's primary weapon is completely ineffective against a minor youkai like Rumia, the author has destroyed our suspension of disbelief and forced us to look at this story from an analytic angle. To any other fanfic, this wouldn't have been such a major problem- we would have the OCs rally after this setback and find out how to fight back using the rules of Gensokyo. In this case, such an outcome is unacceptable to readers like myself; I thought that the tank guns would give Rumia some superficial injuries at the bare minimum, not miss completely and also reveal that our weapons are completely insufficient for the task at hand based on Rumia's bemused response.

As >>180661 pointed out, this story has devolved into something that warrants little attention from us. Although the author presumably had great plans for our OC tank crew and us readers, he evidently had no idea that there would be this much backlash from portraying this 'unwinnable' Rumia encounter. The irony is that we don't even know whether or not the Chaffee's weapons are ineffective against Gensokyo's other denizens. However, by portraying Rumia as some nigh invulnerable youkai, he has shaken our confidence and made the continuation of this fanfic into an unlikely event.

All things said, I'm disappointed things are ending up this way. Although others will differ in their judgement of this fanfic, I must say that the portrayal of the physical resilience of youkai has basically killed the story. If the author had foreshadowed this moment, perhaps through a blatant hint in Keine's words, we might not have had to go through this, but it'll now take a retcon or some serious explaining for us to rebuild our confidence in the story.

>>180748
>this story has devolved into something that warrants little attention from us.

Who the fuck is "us"?

Go crawl back into your super edgy hole where people need to write like they have the stick of hardcore academia up their ass on a fiction imageboard.

>>180748
Let's not be too hasty. I'm still interested in this story despite my annoyance with that particular scene you described. Maybe the author will retcon it, maybe not, I don't know but I haven't planned on jumping ship just yet.

Still judging by some responses the author made, he could learn more about the M24 Chaffee here: >>180576

>>180742

And thats exactly what its supposed to sound like since its true.

>>180750

I did base my judgement on the fact that few stories come back after the author decides to set his pen aside at this point. In this case, it may still be unwarranted since the author could still be writing this story and trying to decide how to carry on. In the end, I also don't really care about the application of realism in this story, as long as the story remains consistent to itself. That said, if Rumia has enough strength to almost open up the Chaffee with her claws, then I expect Suika to obliterate the tank by punching it in the glacis plate and totaling its internal components.

Since this is a fanfic after all, most of us would simply give the author the benefit of the doubt and continue on with the knowledge that Youkai physiology in this story is far different than what we're used to. One of the reasons why many of the readers, myself included, are complaining about the apparent lack of realism in this story is that we're fully aware of the fact our crew will be terribly outgunned in virtually every scenario, and that our primary fallback, realistic physics, will not help us in this story. If the laid-back readers of this fanfic are going to dismiss these complaints by saying 'It's magic, deal with it', then there's nothing to stop the next hostile we meet from vaporizing the Chaffee by spamming deadly lasers at it. At that point, you don't have a story about a US tank crew that has been spirited away in Gensokyo, you have a story about four dudes driving about in a over glorified death trap which could be destroyed by the next person they meet depending on the author's whims.

>>180749

If you can't act civilly on a fiction imageboard dedicated to magical girls, at least remember to sage.

I personally hope we'll run into some of Gensokyo's resident engineers which would upgrade our tank into a flying doom machine. This story has potential, and I like it.

>>180541

You're not giving yourself enough credit. Rumia's "darkness" powers conveying a distortion effect making her hard to hit (making her appear to be somewhere else) is both effective, and accurate to the Touhou setting; being "bullet hell" games, most combat, lethal or otherwise, does depend on dodging and not being hit. All this resolves to the initial 75mm shot being a "near miss," enough to rock her socks but not significantly injure her. High Explosive effect depends on two things: fragmentation (a cloud of iron bits that shred things like bullets) and concussive blast wave. The former's performance is largely determined by angle of shell strike and environment; in the woods, trees and such can easily absorb most of it and the shell might penetrate soft ground deeper before exploding, limiting both blast and fragmentation. And even a 75mm shell's concussive blast radius isn't that wide; against something like a youkai it'll be smaller still.

Next time they encounter Rumia they'll probably load canister shot (widely used in the Pacific against banzai charges) which turns the cannon into a gigantic shotgun. Lets see the bitch dodge that.

In turn, just because she was clawing at the tank's hull doesn't mean she was able to do more than scratch it and make some noise; doesn't seem she had much luck getting through that armor plate.

>>180545

Pretty much. The only bad thing about the flexible-mounted .50 cal is that its outside the tank; you've got to open the hatch and expose yourself to enemy fire (or hungry youkai) to operate it, which is why it was mainly meant as an anti-aircraft gun (hence the mounting.) The hull and turret .30 cals didn't have direct gun-sights; the operators used their own view periscopes, but this wasn't a huge problem because machine-guns derive most of their effectiveness from rate-of-fire - with tracer ammo, you just walk your tracers to where you want them. With a little experience its not hard to put your first burst roughly where you want it, and hose it around a little to suppress whatever.

None of this helps much if your target is actively obscuring her position with magic, of course - you'll hit them with scattered fire, but against a tough youkai you want focused, sustained damage.

>>180543
>>180640
>>180737
>>180742
>>180748
>>180765
>>180661

You people need to sit down, take a chill pill, and shut the fuck up.

All that happened was a brief, inconclusive fight between Rumia and a Chaffee tank in which both parties disengaged safely. We've got no idea how much damage Rumia really took because youkai like her are fucking nuts and anything short of a triumphant ass-kicking is just amusing to them. Neither party really pulled out all the stops, nor did either party take enough damage to inhibit their combat abilities. You don't even know how much damage the tank's taken aside from the "horrible sound of Rumia clawing at the steel," which is a perfectly fine way to describe anything from "almost cutting through" to "scratching at it like nails on a chalkboard," since the viewpoint character can't actually see what's happening outside. This is a perfectly fine first "trial-by-fire" where neither side is aware of the other's capabilities; and primarily serves to clue the main characters in to the true nature of the world they've entered.

And you people are flipping your fucking shit because the tank didn't instantly autopwn Rumia with the first shot. Nay, you're writing essays about how this brief, inconclusive encounter proves that the tank+crew has no chance, the youkai are all unkillable gods, the story is dead, etc. If the OP had written the tank crew creaming Rumia without a sweat, I'd have less respect for him, and an entire other passel of retards would be calling this story what they often call mine - a Humanity Fuck Yeah masturbatory wankfest in the making.

Consider, for a moment, who is telling you this. I actually wrote a damn short story where an M-4 Sherman goes head-to-head with a pack of Oni - at night - and the crew has to fight like frantic, mad bastards just to hold their own. If I had written a Rumia/M24 encounter, I likely would've done it much like the OP did, considering that Rumia's fighting style revolves around evasion, and the tank is designed to (literally) tank damage. Despite that contest being anonymous, people pegged me instantly because I've got a history of rudely cramming military tech into anything, anywhere, anytime. I wrote a short story where a secret service sniper kills a Death Eater. Years ago even I wrote an introduction and plot for a fighter plane/Haibane Renmei crossover. Haibaine freaking Renmei. There is nobody on this earth who could take greater delight in a story where a WWII tank and crew just thrash touhous left, right and center.

And even I think you people are wrong. Not that it matters now, because your lust for instant gratification and/or stupidity has already scared the new writer away, never to return. Yet another writer willing to try something more challenging or unique than just "dumbass wakes up in Gensokyo" or "but they're all in a high school m'kay?" has been run off before he could refine his technique or grow as a prose writer.

Thanks, you chucklefucks. I mad.

Ah, and here comes the IRC brigade.
>>180773
First time I've heard that
>considering that Rumia's fighting style revolves around evasion
considering that in the update we had
>Through the spurts of light, you can almost make out the shape of the creature advancing slowly towards your tank.

Advancing slowly toward is now evasion. Right.

And Rumia in games does not evade hits. She tanks them due to spell card protection. Or do you really think she can evade at the same time she does all those fancy spell card shenanigans?
Finally, Rumia is not nuts. She's just a normal, lazy youkai who doesn't even want to set up ambushes on humans near road, because, citation:
"Ugh, that's too much effort." Rumia, from Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red.

One cannot be lazy and nuts at the same time.

>>180774
>IRC brigade

Translation: a goodly portion of the writers on this site.

>So, I think maybe I should explain what I was going for. I was trying for it to come across as the crew missing everything, because I thought it was incredibly hard to see inside Rumia's darkness power fuckery.

The OP flat-out told you what he was going for. And 90% of the bitching and moaning was posted after that clarification, so you can fuck right off with your cherry-picking, chuckles. We can all just scroll up and witness for ourselves how much BS you're spewing.

>And Rumia in games does not evade hits

In the games where you even shoot back, which are a minority. Aside from the fighting games, the enemy is almost always the one "attacking" and you're the one "dodging," so that doesn't translate terribly well to fiction, past the general gist of "danmaku is mostly a game of dodgeball with magic."

Not that this matters, after the OP specifically told you that Rumia's survival was in great part to her darkness powers causing most attacks to miss her. Which applies directly to all the people bitching and moaning by extrapolating the power dynamics for the rest of the story from one story post with an inconclusive encounter.

>One cannot be lazy and nuts at the same time.

Of course you can. What kind of bullshit is that? You can be bloodthirsty enough to think of people shooting guns at you as "fun" but lazy enough that you just lie around until someone damn near drives over you. What makes them mutually exclusive? I just mentioned that in case anyone tried to say "oh but Rumia wasn't hurt at all because she was talking trash and went wee~".

>>180777
By "IRC brigade" I mean people who stop updating stories on site but continue talking in IRC.

And: you cannot exactly dodge an ear-shattering sound wave.

And: Reimu's basic shot "Persuasion Needle", which she also uses in ALL TOUHOU GAMES, is considered an Impossible Spell Card. Because guess what, it is nearly impossible to dodge.
Which means that ALL ENEMIES in Touhou games don't rely exclusively on dodging, therefore - spell card protection.

>>180778
>By "IRC brigade" I mean people who stop updating stories on site but continue talking in IRC.

So this invalidates our opinion, somehow? What, exactly, is the point of calling someone out as part of the "IRC brigade?" Was it really a veiled compliment I missed, somehow? Do inform me.

>And: you cannot exactly dodge an ear-shattering sound wave.

Who says she did? She did squeal in pain when the cannon was fired, which means she probably got the muzzle flash, some shrapnel, some concussion blast, maybe even wood splinters and powder burns, depending on how close to the muzzle she was. It takes more than that to put down a youkai. They're youkai. In-story, they're tough sumbitches. Out of story, they need to present a credible threat to the protagonists to make the story and action sequences interesting.

In any case, I find it interesting that Rumia decided to stay in her black bubble of obfuscation (where she couldn't be targeted) after the initial scrap, rather than charge at the tank for a second go. Seems she wasn't too keen for round two, for some reason. I wonder.

>Which means that ALL ENEMIES in Touhou games don't rely exclusively on dodging

In a lethal fight, with no formal observation of the Honorabu Dueling Rules? I don't doubt it. Witness Rumia's natural youkai toughness, just for starters. To say nothing of Bombs, Continues, etc.

>>180777

Although I agree that we were taking the whole issue too seriously, I would also like to point out that about half of the posts that you called out for 'bitching and moaning' about the author's choices happened to be made a whole week after the last significant post. To all persons who were offended by my remarks, I sincerely apologize, as I understand how my posts have perpetuated the bitching to an unnecessary level. However it's also important to remember that there's been so little activity on this board that readers like myself don't clearly remember what was posted here last month. As human beings, we're designed to recall what we don't like about the story rather than the redeeming aspects of the story. Although I can't speak for the others, I myself forgot what the author had said, and being the lazy person I am, I didn't bother to look carefully at what he wanted for the story until you brought it back into the forefront of the thread. Call me what you want, but I feel that none of this latest round of bashing that I am a part of would have happened if the story wasn't bumped two days ago after it was sitting around for a whole week.

To sum it up, the first round of complaints in June was justifiable, as the Anons (myself included) were only displaying their disappointment when their expectations of a HFY moment was subverted by the author's interpretation of Gensokyo, and then afterwards I and what appears to be one other Anon redoubled our nagging once we forgot that the writer had explained why the tank wasn't able to harm Rumia as we had expected. It also didn't help that we decided to revive the discussion about why the entire encounter was unrealistic, rather than simply shutting the entire argument down by stepping back and accepting the fact that a Touhou fanfic doesn't need any realism as long as it has a semblance of plausibility.

>>180781
The fact that I even post on this story means that I like it. If I didn't like this story at all, I wouldn't have posted here. I don't need HFY moments, but I need some consistency. IF Youkai were not scared of humanity, they would not have exiled themselves into Gensokyo. That means that our weapons since 1880s are capable of seriously damaging them. If such a weak Youkai as Rumia are capable of no-selling a tank gun and two machineguns like nothing, then the whole Gensokyo-the-last-place-where-youkais-hide-from-humanity thing doesn't make sense.

also
>a Touhou fanfic doesn't need any realism
>a very real tank gets into Gensokyo
hmmmm

There's a point where this needed to stop, and we have clearly passed it.

>>180765
Don't cut yourself on that edge, kiddo.

>>180811
In the name of our most divine lady Kanako, don't you know how and when to sage?

>>180782
>IF Youkai were not scared of humanity, they would not have exiled themselves into Gensokyo

But most of them didnt.

>>180781
>However it's also important to remember that there's been so little activity on this board that readers like myself don't clearly remember what was posted here last month.

Given the Average Update Speed of many writers, I really can't blame anyone for that, either.

Point taken. Rage, abating.

There will be a post tomorrow or the next day, personal shit got in the way for a few weeks. Didn't think screwing up would cause this big of a shitstorm, sorry.

>>180845

I'm just glad you're still here, man. Sorry you had to deal with all of this.

"I'd rather not stick around for when that thing gets its head out of its ass."

"Where to then?"

"Preferably that way." You point towards the opposite direction of where the creature is. "Unless you really want a round two?"

You can almost see Lewinski shake his head. "No sir."

As the you begin to roll forward, you decide to pop open the commander's hatch and try to gauge the damage that the creature did to your tank. It couldn't have been all that bad, considering you're currently moving and your weapons fired without any problems. Whatever damage she did looks to be negligible, or at least it looks that way from where you're at. The worst it seemed to have did was scratch the paint off.

You'd say that you were lucky, but you don't really know what happened back there. All you know was that it got incredibly dark, that thing ambushed you and scratched the Chaffee up, you damaged the creature, and then threw it off your tank. You don't know why it was dark, why the creature attacked you, or how damaged the creature is. The creature was definitely hurt by Richards firing the M6, but you know if it was anywhere near where the shell hit, it should definitely be dead. You can shrug that one off as bursting it's ear drum, or the blast throwing the thing back.

But your crew easily spit 500 rounds in the direction of that abomination. Sure they could've just missed, you could barely see your own hands when the cannon fired, and you could've misjudged what you saw when it moved towards the Chaffee, but one of those rounds had to have hit. Had to. If not, that thing is either sturdier than an elephant, or way faster than you thought. You'll need to compare what you saw with your crew later, that and see what they did.

You duck back in and close the commander's hatch. Right now you need to stay safe and keep an eye out for any possible dangers, and a place to stay for the night. You'd like to make it back to the rest of the platoon before the night's over, but you don't see that happening. The guys looks like they need at least a few hours of rest. In your opinion, it's a well deserved rest. It's not often that the local wildlife attacks you like that, while coincidentally it becomes pitch black.

Yep, totally coincidentally. No magic or anything. And it totally wasn't a little girl that attacked you, it was probably a bear. A bear that can talk. A talking bear with a bubble of darkness around itself. You can't confirm that the creature was a bear, but it is the most logical choice. Not some strange undiscovered animal from an isolated region, and not some little girl with magical powers.

You tell yourself to stop thinking. Just focus on keeping a lookout for a place to stay, and you can talk about what happened afterwards. Thankfully you spot someplace before too long. Lewinski turns the Chaffee in that direction, and just a few minutes later you're parked outside a decidedly western looking house. Bigger than most houses, but not big enough to be called a mansion or a manor. You guess these Japs have their own eccentric rich people, but you don't go for the whole run-down look.

"We really gonna sleep here Sarge? I'm sure there's Roman villas that look better than this place!"

"And what do you know about Roman villas, Hoffman?"

"Oh y'know, I had one of those educational books as a kid."

"Wait, wait, wait. You're tellin' me you know how to read Hoffman?" Lewinski and Harris laugh as your black haired gunner bows.

"Can it, Richards." Your co-driver, clearly defeated, walks up to the door of the house. "Uh, sir? I swear that I can hear someone playing music over here."

"What? This place is totally abandoned, I don't even see a light on in there." Your driver says. Regardless if the place looks awful or not, you suppose someone could be living here. Hell, you've lived in way worse places than this. Walking up to the door, and listening carefully, you do make out music. You confirm it to the rest of your crew, and they approach to listen for themselves.

"Sounds like Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor." Harris, nearly lost in the music, comments.

"And what do you know about music, Harris?" Hoffman says.

"Uh," clearly embarrassed, Harris responds, "I used to play a little."

"No shit, you played the piano?"

"Yes... and the dulcimer."

"What in the hell is a dulcimer?" Your polish driver asks.

"It's a... ah never mind." Harris, not used to talking this much, tries to end the conversation.

"No, no, young friend." Lewinski puts his arm around Harris, and starts guiding him back towards the tank. "We should definitely talk. About music."

"Well, since those two lovebird want to be alone, how about we discuss our lodgings for the night. Considering they might not be our lodgings."

"Okay Richards, I feel we've got a few options here. We could just barge in and see if whoever in there will let us stay, we could daintily knock on the door and then see, we could case the place for a little and see who's inside, or we could just leave."

"Well I'm too tired to just leave, Richards. Right Sarge?"

"Yeah, I feel you guys deserve a little rest. Preferably now, but if we have to leave I can make you guys."

"Alright, well you're the boss. What're we gonna do?"

[] We'll bust in, and demand to be quartered. Might makes right.
[] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.
[] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.
[] We should leave. There's gotta be someplace better around here.
-[] Please specify where.
[] Write in. Please specify.

[X] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

After the previous encounter with "totally a bear", there's no reason to not be careful.

[x] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.

>>180863
TALKING bear, with a bubble of darkness around it

[x] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

>>180861
Where is Harris from again? I have relatives that made and played the dulcimer, from the Bluegrass region of Ohio.

[X] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

>>180861
[x] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

Check for enemy bears and yukkuri

[x] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.

This should be hilarious. Or something like it.

[X] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

Best to scout it out.

[X] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

On man, If even the bears here can scratch the tank, just imagine how screwed we would be if we ran into an actual youkai.

>>180827
>Given the Average Update Speed of many writers, I really can't blame anyone for that, either.

Speaking of which, Demetrius, how is the next chapter of A Wizard Is You coming along?

>>180882

That story was dropped a long time ago. Get with the times dude.

>>180861

ITS ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE

[X] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.

>>180882

you just had to go there

didn't you

[X] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.

Also:

>>180886
I like people reminding you of your failure.
(namefagging because goddamnit deme)

[X] We can at least knock first. Best to be polite.

>>180886
swq when

[X] We should check the place out first, we don't know who lives here. Best to be safe.

Why not, let's see who it is

"Of course, Sarge. We should definitely do a little bit of recon on the house. Don't want to burst in on any IJA after all."

"Or bears. Or pastry monsters." Well at least your co-driver seems to be think- wait, what? Pastry monsters? Those wouldn't even pose a threat. You could just eat them or bully them to death. If they existed.

"Sir, I don't think you understand. Those things breed faster than rabbits, and my old man used to farm rabbits for food. So I think I would know."

"Hoffman, what in the fuck gave you the idea that there would be pastry monsters in that house. No. What in the fuck gave you the idea that pastry monsters existed."

"Well, I used to have this picture book-"

"Stop. Both of you shut up. Hoffman, you go around to the left of the house and see if you can spot anything. Whistle once if you see somebody, twice if they're a hostile. If you think you can climb one of those trees, don't. You'll probably make too much noise, we'll have to wait for Harris if we want to try that. I'll head around the right and see what I can see. Same deal with the whistle, unless something happens to me. Richards, you stay here and try to keep an eye on us, just in case something happens and we're unable to whistle. Ok?"

They both nod their heads. "Yessir."

"Good. Let's get a move on. I'm sure we'd all like to sleep sometime tonight."

The place looks worse the closer you get to it. It's kind of hard to make out scratched paint and broken stone from over a mile away, or even a yard away. Holy shit. One of the pillars is just gone. The middle of it just torn out, causing the roof to tilt down a bit. This places looks like shit, and you haven't even seen the inside yet. If you weren't nervous about running into another one of those 'bears' you'd turn around and tell your crew that you're going to make it back to the platoon tonight, regardless of how tired they are.

You come across a window that isn't boarded up, and decide to risk a peek inside. You're not really sure what you were expecting, as you seem slightly disappointed. It's almost empty besides a few broken chairs littering the wood floor, and a mostly intact sofa and coffee table. There are some shades covering a few of the windows, the rest either having been removed, or broken on the ground. Decent enough to sleep in you guess. One broken pillar probably wouldn't cause all of you to die.

Backing away from the window, you decide to look around some more. Nothing to whistle about yet, and you haven't spotted whoever is making that music. It is much louder though. Whoever is playing it is either on the second story, more towards the back, or both. You can't see a light in any of the windows, but there is another uncovered window right before you go around to the back. Making for this window, you decide it should give you a view into one of the back rooms, considering there was a hallway leading back from the previous room.

The closer you get to this window you see the inside is illuminated by something. Though by what you're not sure. It is red-tinted though, and while you'd like to think it was Christmas lights it's still too early to think about that. You're also in as Lewinski puts it" "A heathen country." So you're not too sure they celebrate Christmas. With the music blaring loudly and the source of light emanating from this room, you're sure whoever lives here is currently inside the room.

Trying your best not to make noise and to avoid being seen, you peak through the open window. Inside you see a fairly short girl playing on a piano. Both seem to be glowing a red, and the girl seems to be playing the piano without actually touching it., you can pass that off as a lighting trick. The girl is wearing a red dress, with a matching hat that has a green shooting star on top. Just like Keine in the village, it looks absolutely ridiculous. Hats should not be fashion statements. Hats should be used to keep the sun out of your eyes- and her gaze has wandered over to where you are. Oh god, definitely not good. Duck or don't duck? If you don't duck she could just think you're a tree or something, if you do she'll know something was out here. Maybe she'd think it was a bear.

You decide to duck, and are rewarded with her screaming. Please let her think you were a bear. Or one of those pastry monsters Hoffman kept blabbing about.

"W-who's there?! I saw you, you know!" She screams. So much for her thinking you were a bear. This is why you do your scouting from inside a tank.

You decide to stand up and show yourself to her, hoping she won't be too mad. "Hello ma'am. I'm Sergeant Davidson, United States 7th Infantry Division. Sorry for intruding, but me and my crew were wondering if we could, uh, be allowed to stay at your residence for the night?"

She blankly stares at you, before an older woman wearing a black nightgown walks opens the door. "Lyrica, what in heaven's name are you screaming about?"

Lyrica merely points at you. The older woman, after blinking twice, takes notice of you. "Excuse me sir, but what're you doing outside our window?"

"Uh, my crew and I were wondering if we could spend the night here." This is going real smoothly. You decide to whistle once. "Quite the nice night out, yeah?"

"I imagine. Now why don't you and whoever else is out there come in and-" Another scream, this one coming from upstairs. "I'll go fetch Merlin, and whoever else might be sneaking into our house. We'll discuss whatever is going on in the living room."

You and your crew end up sitting inside the run down living room you first spotted. Specifically on the couch, with the oldest, Lunasa, standing in front of you and your crew. The first one, Lyrica, is standing over in the corner trying her best to ignore you all. The newest one, Merlin, seems to be angrily standing over Hoffman, who apparently snuck into her room.

"So, why don't you tell us what you all were doing sneaking about, and we'll see about finding you someplace to sleep?" The black clad Lunasa asks.

"Well..."

[] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.
[] Tell her the bare essentials. Better not to tell her what she doesn't need to know.
[] Refuse to tell her anything. Ask her who they are, and what they're doing sleeping in a run-down house.
[] Write in. Please specify.

Criticisms are always welcome. Does anyone have any ideas on what to name this?

[X] Tell her the bear essentials. Better not to tell her what she doesn't need to know.

[X] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

We don't have any reason to hide anything.

>>180905

[X] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

tl;dr "I am Yankee and what is this?"

>name for the story

May I suggest Five Sons Armor and Guns or Five Yanks And a Tank or even Terror From The DZ?

(I'm going to hell.)

Also, OP, did you know about this? http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Rika#Machinery

Yes. There is a touhou in town... who makes magical tanks.

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

[x] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

The bear pun was really tempting though.

[X] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

Including the pastry monsters

[X] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

There's only so many ways this can go wrong.

[x] Tell her the whole story. You've got nothing to hide, and honesty is the best policy.

I have this thread bookmarked as the OP image file name, "What a Beautiful Machine". I think that works just fine for a story title.

>>180922

I dunno...I was kinda diggin Five Yanks and a Tank.

You decide to tell her everything, as your mom always taught you that honesty is the best policy. That and being honest has gotten you more hot meals and places to stay than you can remember. Doubting anything you're going to tell her could get you in trouble later on with your superiors, you begin telling your strangely pale interrogator everything.

You tell her about how you were doing reconnaissance, as that's your job. How you got lost in the mountains looking for any emplacements or other locations IJA soldiers could be hiding out in, and if she knew where any are, it'd be swell if she could help you with that. You tell her about finding the town, and the meeting that happened there. You tell her about the incident with the 'bear'. You tell her about eventually finding their house, and for safety's sake, scouting it out first. You didn't want to run into any pastry monsters of course. Before you get the chance to apologize for that, the girl staring daggers at your co-driver turns her gaze to you and asks:

"There is a war on?"

Well, that's kind of odd. Keine did say that she hadn't heard of the IJA, and that there hadn't been any soldiers around for a while. You didn't really believe her, but there may truth to what she said. Telling the girl the affirmative, she shoots off another question.

"Is it just the United States against the Japanese, or is anyone else involved?"

It's nice that these folks have some knowledge of what goes on outside their little valley, if only enough to know the names. You answer her question, that yes there are others involved. In vague terms, practically the entire world. In more specific terms, Germany, Italy, and Japan versus France, Russia, England and all her Commonwealth, and the United States. This time, the eldest sister responds.

"Can I ask who is winning?"

"I suppose we are ma'am." Richards interjects. "We're pushed pretty far inland. I don't think you Japs are gonna turn it around."

The pink clad girl turns and starts staring at your gunner. "Excuse me, Corporal?"

"Oh we got ourselves a knowledgeable Jap here, sir." says your co-driver.

"Shut up, pervert." She huffs, and begins speaking in English. "We're not Japs. We're proud Englishwomen."

Ahuh, that'd explain the much paler skin. Doesn't explain the unaccented Japanese, but you can wait and ask questions later. You'd really like to know what three Englishwomen are doing in the middle of Japville. Normally you'd hear about something like that in the newspaper, especially if there was a war on. They don't seem to be red-cross or anything.

You see Hoffman getting ready to say something, so you motion for him to keep it to himself. The eldest swallows, and asks you another question.

"How are we fairing?" 'We' obviously meaning the English. You carefully inform her about how their country has been doing in the war. Her and Merlin take the news extremely well, considering even Americans were exasperated at the Blitz, but the brown haired girl in the corner starts tearing up before excusing herself. You continue, specifically about the contributions you've seen. Specifically about Keightley getting a third of the Commonwealth Corps killed, but you embellish how valiantly they fought during the Battle of Tokyo.

"Charles Keightley?" You nod your head yes. "Is he still alive?"

"No ma'am. He died near Chiba, along with the third that died. You wouldn't happen to know him, would you?"

"Poor Charlie. Yes we knew him. His father was a friend of ours, and he came over to play often." She tears up a bit herself. "Quite sad, especially if he will be known for something like that."

She sniffs. "What is the Commonwealth though?" You guess you can't expect people around here to know everything, although this people much have isolated themselves before the 30s. Especially since they didn't know who Hitler was. More and more questions, you guess.

You explain to her, and finally it seems their questioning is done. Lunasa offers to let you sleep out here in the 'living room' and while it gets a few complaints from the Hoffman and Richards, a threat of letting them sleep outside quiets them. Merlin decides to head back to bed, but not before telling you all that anybody that sneaks into her room will be gutted like a fish. Your motherly patron decides to stay and make sure you and your crew are comfortable before retiring to bed herself. This seems like the perfect chance to ask any questions you might have.

[] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.
[] Where exactly are we? Bring up the 'bear', and talk about it with both your crew and her.
[] No questions. Time for sleep, and discussing things with only your crew.
[] Write-in. Please specify.

Any extra criticism on this part would be fantastic.

[X] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.


Seems like a pretty reasonable question to ask.

[x] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.

[x] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.
[x] Where exactly are we? Bring up the 'bear', and talk about it with both your crew and her.

>>180163
To be specific they were planning on dropping another seven.

[x] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.

I like it. I was expecting a 'uh' and 'what' and zero knowledge or care for the outside.

[X] Sooo....anyone up for a panty raid?

[x] Why are three young Englishwomen in the middle of nowhere? Seems kind of odd, especially with no one to watch out for them.

You decide to ask Lunasa why three young Englishwomen are in the middle of Bumfuck, Japan. In kinder terms of course. It just strikes you as odd that they're in a dangerous country, during a war that they didn't even know was on, with no one for a couple of miles to help them. It explains why the house is in such a sorry state though.

"Firstly, Sergeant. I believe my sisters and I do not need much help. There is not much around here we cannot do, thank you. Secondly. The house is in good enough condition for us to live in. It is how it always has been, and probably always will be. Now to answer what you asked, I do not know the answer."

"Hm... What?"

"I do not know how we ended up here, Sergeant. We've always lived in this house, but how this house ended up in Gensokyo I haven't the foggiest idea." You detect a glimmer in your host's eyes. "It probably has something to do with my youngest sister."

"Well, I won't demand that we wake her up to find out."

"Excellent. I guess Americans do have some manners." She stifles a giggle. "Good night boys, and sorry for any trouble our neighbors have caused you. If they have."

You and the crew return the parting phrase, and thank her for allowing you to stay. This is way better than sleeping outside, considering you don't think any Japs'll sneak up on you in here. Can't be too sure however. That's why you're sleeping with a wall behind you, and Hoffman and Lewinski outside doing their best to hide the tank. You wouldn't want anybody to just walk up and realize that some Americans are hiding out here. It'd be extremely rude to your hosts, plus potentially life-threatening to you and your men.

It only takes them ten or so minutes before they've finished up and come back into the house. Although today hasn't been all that difficult in comparison to some of the days you've had in the past few months, you still feel incredibly tired. As you lay there, watching your subordinates prepare for bed, you try and decide if this is the right moment to talk about what attacked you earlier. You want to talk about it with them, if only because it's bothering you, but your dad always taught you that some things shouldn't be talked about.

What the hell, it was probably a bear. A totally human looking bear You can talk about a bear attack with your crew. Who wouldn't want to talk about a bear attack before bed? People that get attacked by bears get into newspapers, right? That definitely makes it worthy to talk about. With the decision to talk to your crew about the bear, you scooch up close to where everyone is sitting. Richards on the couch, Lewinski and Harris in front of it, and Hoffman laid out above their heads. You stop before reaching Lewinski and Harris, and cough a few times to get their attention.

"What, Sarge? You wanting to do a panty raid or something. I am totally down for a panty raid." your co-driver is the first to respond.

"Hoffman, I am trying to sleep and so help me god if you get us kicked out of this house." says your gunner.

Before anybody starts talking again, you tell them both to shut up and listen. That you'd like to go over what happened earlier, kind of like an after action report. Something official, something to help benefit our survival, so that we can all figure out what happened. You've seen generals do it before. Even Julius Caesar did it! Your crew just sit there for a few moments before you get a reply.

"Nope."

"Come on Hoffman." Seriously.

"Nope, I am not discussing any pastry monsters."

"It was a bear, Hoffman. We should talk about this though." Thank god Richards is on your side, and thinking the same way. "If we're going to safely make it back, we'll need to think up a way to kill that thing. Or at least avoid it."

"I really don't want to discuss this, no matter what it is that attacked us. Pastry monster, bear, human, or otherwise." Hoffman, his mood soured, closes his eyes and rolls back over.

Lewinski and Harris both look expectantly towards you. Lewinski more to judge the situation, while Harris wants you to make his mind up for him.

[] Alright, you'll drop it and go to bed.
[] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.
[] Write-in. Please specify.

[X] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

Someone exploring the psychological shock of encountering youkai for the first time? My word.

[X] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

I agree with >>180977.
This is the first time I've seen this happen in a story, so should be pretty interesting.

[x] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

What a fun talk this will be.

[x] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

[X] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

Something I haven't seen before.

[X] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

We're such a bad captain

[X] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

>>180999
Unless I misread the story, we're a sergeant commanding the tank, not a captain. In addition, commanders are supposed to gauge squad morale and determine when issues like a soldier in shock or denial need to be addressed, not ignored.

[x] You don't like to pull this card, but you'll force Hoffman to talk about this. We have to talk about it.

"Hoffman, get up. That's an order. We've got to talk about this."

"...Fine." Hoffman gets up and turns to you. "I'd really rather not talk about it though." You haven't seen Hoffman act this way since the action around Toride. That was something no one wanted to, and still won't, talk about.

Lewinski helps you out by asking a question you can work with. "What specifically do we need to talk about, Sarge?"

"What attacked us, how it attacked us, why it got so incredibly dark, how we dealt with it, and how we'll deal with it again if the situation arises."

"Well, according to Hoffman there it might've been a pastry monster."

"Shut the fuck up, Richards."

He chuckles a bit, while Lewinski starts talking. "It might've been a bear, but I seriously doubt that. From where I was sitting, the thing looked like a person. I didn't get that good of a look at it, but not many animals attack people while standing upright. There is also the fact the thing spoke."

"Yeah... it looked like a human." Harris agrees. "Even the, uh... claw marks on the tank were human sized. I heard it speak too."

"Yeah but what kind of human acts takes that kind of punishment?" Hoffman asks.

"No offense Hoffman, but I think our aim is shit. I don't think we even hit it with the .30-06s. The only damage we did probably came from busting its ears and throwing it off the Chaffee." your resident Pole responds.

"How's that even possible? The thing was moving so slow."

"Maybe... maybe it's one of those things the woman in the village told us about." your loader says. "I'm pretty sure she mentioned that they can dodge bullets really well."

Richards and Hoffman try to contain their laughter. "C'mon Harris, you can't really believe the shit she said."

"I-I mean, how else can you explain how dark it got when that thing attacked us? S'got to be magic."

The two look at eachother, before speaking. "A cloud blocked out the moon for a second."

Lewinski gets up and walks over to the only uncovered window in the room. "Clear sky. I can make out every star." He walks back over and sits down. "Even if the moon got blocked out for a second, I don't think that would make it pitch black."

"I guess we've answered most of what I needed."

"We didn't really come to a concise conclusion though, sir."

"It's fine Lewinski, we'll talk to our hosts in the morning and see what they have to say. I think we can get some shut eye now." You get up and head to your spot by the far wall. That entire conversation wasn't entirely useful, but it makes you feel better about what you saw. Even if you're still not sure what you saw, you and your crew saw the same thing. Your hosts should be able to help you in the morning, if you want to ask them.

You hear a few snores coming from the front of the room, and decide you better be getting to bed as well.

==================

You wake up to sunshine shining onto your face. Funny, you don't remember going to sleep outside. You kind of thought you went to sleep inside a house, a house that belonged to three women that were so kind as to let you sleep in their house after snooping around and making a fool of yourself. Probably just a dream though, along with the whole getting attacked by a possibly magical being, finding an isolated village in the mountains, and getting lost. You'll probably open your eyes and find Lieutenant Parker standing over you, pissed that you guys weren't up at 5:00 getting ready.

You open your eyes, and find yourself staring at the ceiling. Wow, this house really is run down. It isn't just the appearance of being run down. You find yourself thankful that it didn't suddenly start raining last night. You'd probably be soaked considering the holes above you. Guess yesterday wasn't a dream, although you're not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

You force yourself off of the ground, your makeshift bed, and take a look around the room. Hoffman and Richards are still asleep, while Lewinski and Harris' spots are empty. You start to wonder where they are, when the smell of delicious food wafts by. You have a pretty good hunch that they're in the dining room, where ever that is. Looking down the hallway at the back of the living room, you see five closed doors. Two on each side and one at the end of the hallway. Food would be nice, where ever it is, but you'd also like to get cleaned up.

What do you do?

[] Look for the kitchen, you're starving.
[] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.
[] Start opening random doors and go from there.
[] Wake up Richards and Hoffman.
[] Write-in. Please specify.

[X] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

It's always nice to take care of things like this before breakfast, rather than after.

[x] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

[X] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

[x] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

Over/under on us walking in on Prismriver?

>>181004
{x] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

[X] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

Better deal with that now, before anything else. Who knows, maybe we'll have to run away from this place in hurry.

[X] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

always

>>181004
[x] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

Gotta pee fast but bullets too slow

>>181004
[x] Look for the restroom, you've got a morning ritual to complete.

>>181743
YOU BLOODY PIECE OF SHIT.
YOUR COAT.

>>181743
My good friend, I have a request to ask of you.
I would like to ask you to bathe yourself in the heavenly fluid inside your car's fuel tank. Afterwards, walk into your kitchen, rip your chest open and hack your pathetic heart into a thousand pieces and after that, switch on your stove and throw yourself upon it, and as you burn, bash your head so hard against the wall that your brains spill out and cook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z90sozDWiM

look

what I found