1/3
After a fairly uneventful evening and subsequently morning, the four of us met up in the central square, as we had agreed to do the day prior.
"Alright, so we're all here," Reimu said. "Marisa, did you get Nitori to start building that boat for us?"
"I went to her place right after we left Ethos yesterday with a stash of cukes," Marisa smiled. "Of course, she asked me why I needed a boat, and I just told her I had my reasons now here's your big green phallic vegetables you love so much build me a nice boat by tomorrow afternoon."
Reimu rolled her eyes. "I swear, that girl can be bribed to do anything as long as you give her enough cucumbers."
"She's a Kappa, she can't help it. Between that and all the crap I sold her and the other Kappa recently, I'm sure she spared no expense in building us a boat."
"So the story of Kappa liking cucumbers so much is true…"
"It'd be like if someone dropped a bunch of meat in front of a wolf. They really love their cucumbers, it's the only thing they like more than money." Marisa looked at her pocket watch. "We should get goin'. Nitori's prolly waitin' for us. It'll be fastest for us to fly there, but we have to be careful to avoid Tengu attention."
"Speaking of which, there's a new hazard for us to watch out for," I said. "According to Marisa, there's a Tengu reporter who may be tailing us and recording our actions."
Reimu groaned. "Gah, I should have known Aya might do that. She's always looking for material for her trashy paper, and I'm sure anything having to do with you would give her enough material to fill her quota for weeks. And Genbu Ravine isn't too far from where the Tengu do their patrols, so she's likely to be in that area. We should fly low and maybe through the Youkai Forest as well, since she won't follow us into the trees or deep down into the gorge." She looked at me. "You're still pretty green at flying. Are you sure you can keep up with us?"
"I'll do my best," I bowed.
"Don't keep us down," Reimu said. "This whole thing is your idea, after all."
"Alright, let's go!" Marisa exclaimed. We were just about ready to set off, when time seemed to stop again and the air shimmered with a blue hue.
I looked around to find the cause, and found a peculiar sight right in front of the Dragon Statue: Lavenza next to a Velvet Room entrance.
"My master wishes to discuss an important matter with you," she said. Confused, I followed her in.
Once we entered, I looked around, and there was no doubt it was the same Velvet Room as in my dreams and in the Metaverse. Rika stood off to one side while Igor sat in front of me, clearly anticipating me.
"I have brought our guest here, as you requested," Lavenza bowed.
"Excellent," Igor said emphatically. "It would seem you have come here from the physical world this time."
I looked around again. "Why have you brought me here today?" I asked.
Igor chuckled. "We did promise to assist you in your journey, and simply want to be available whenever you need us."
"More importantly, it would seem you have made an important discovery recently," Lavenza noted. "A tower in the middle of Gensokyo's Metaverse, Ethos. Even me and my master know very little about this place or how it came to be. We should be thankful for your partner, the shrine maiden and defender of Gensokyo Reimu Hakurei, for discovering it by happenstance."
"But what could it be?" I wonder. "And does it have any connection to Mementos?"
"That is something we do not know," Igor stated. "It will be necessary for you to explore the tower to discover its purpose."
"What of the situation on the Outside?" I asked next. "Does it have anything to do with Mementos?"
"It is a pressing situation which we are monitoring as well," Igor said. "But, you should have faith in Ren and the rest of your friends to handle it, since it is not possible for you to return to the Outside on your own power, and you formed a deal with him as well, lending him your power in spirit. Nevertheless, should he fail, there will no doubt be a chance for you to intervene."
My… friends? I still wasn't sure about that. Did I make a deal with Ren? Yes, to keep my Justice alive. But friends… how could they consider me a friend? After everything I did to them, and then tried to do? How on Earth would they accept my bond after all of that?
...maybe I was doubting what they were truly capable of. They did overcome me at the height of my power, after all. And they defeated Shido. Maybe they really could overcome this without me. After all, my power now was much less than it had been, so even if I could go there, whoever or whatever was causing this would easily kill me and the rest of my crew. So I just had to trust them. I had to put trust in the man I hated, respected, sympathized with and envied the most. This was not my problem to fix. The problem I was called to fix was right here, in Gensokyo, whose scope and implications were as of yet unknown.
"...I understand," I nodded. "I understand fully. It's just… I'm not used to placing trust in others."
"Then 'ya just gotta go out there, gather more bonds and build them up. The more 'ya do it, the better you get until eventually you're a pimp," Rika smiled. "I mean, look at all the cute girls you managed to rope in so far. I bet you could do even better than that, and if you do, your own soul will get stronger, too, not to mention you'll become, like, the biggest Chad I've ever met."
I… wasn't too sure how to take Rika's blunt assessment.
"Now then," Lavenza bowed, "since you are here you are free to perform any fusions and summons you wish, so you are sufficiently prepared for your next Fortress infiltration."
"Speaking of which," Rika brought out her Fusion Tanks again, and pointed at something on the screen. "Looks like you can fuse that Archangel with Media right here, right now!"
"How so?" I asked.
"Your Empusa's got Media, and fusing it with the Jack Frost from before will create an Archangel with Media."
"But… I have found Empusa to be useful…"
"You shouldn't be afraid to ditch your current power if you want even more," Rika said. "And besides, you can always summon 'em later if you need 'em back for whatever reason. Now go on, do it! Fuse 'em, and behold the new the power your soul gave birth to!"
I shrugged and gave in to her request. I focused Jack Frost and Empusa into cards, placed them into their respective tanks, and hit the fuse button. A few moments later, an armored, winged Archangel levitated in the air before me.
"I am Archangel. In the name of God's Glory, I shall become your mask," it declared, before being sucked into my mask, which had appeared in front of my face.
"Excellent!" Rika excitedly clapped. "You did it! The next item on my list! Looks like you're really getting used to fusing Personas!"
"That's so…" I looked at my hand, and clasped it. "By the way, you mentioned there would be a reward for doing this."
"Oh, yes, sorry about that! I didn't mention it last time because you had to beat up Shadow Yuyuko for it to work."
"Is that so?" I asked.
"Yeah. So… how do I demonstrate it?" She thought for a moment, before pulling out some sort of chart and pointing at a specific spot on it. "Aha! Got it! Got any Moon Personas? Try fusing one with your Makami!"
"Ah… alright." I walked over to Lavenza and requested the one Moon Persona I had thus far, Succubus, which she summoned to me for a fee. I then performed the fusion of it and Makami. Once the fusion was done, I looked at the result: an imp-like creature on the floor, head shaped like an eggplant and its arms outstretched.
"...Is that… a Preta?" I asked.
"Yeah, so me and Lavenza discovered something weird about shadows. For some reason, you can't fuse some of them as Personas unless you've defeated them in battle first. Now, Fortress Rulers, as you've seen, take in one of these common shadows and twist them into monstrosities. They also gain total control of all instances of that shadow when they do that. Normally, after taking out a Fortress or Palace ruler, it'll take some time for these shadows to re-enter the Sea of Souls and let you fuse them. But I came up with a way to make 'em immediately available by forcing them into the World Arcana designation, so you can use them right away. There's also the nice little bonus of them acting as badges of your journey's progress so far, since they're tied to the World and all." She looked at the Preta on the ground. "I mean, sure, that's just a Preta, but I'm sure you'll face Fortress rulers who take on stronger forms going forward. Kick their asses, then come back here and fuse 'em to get even better in battle."
I bowed. "I understand. Thank you for your work."
"Don't sweat it," Rika smiled. "By the way, this fusion has a reward too. All of them do. I'll work on it right now and have it ready by the time you return. Now," she pulled out her list again, "next up is a Yuki-Onna with Dodge Fire. Fuse one or bring one here."
"I'll do my best," I said as I left the Velvet Room.
Back outside, life continued as though no one had noticed I had been to the Velvet Room. Neither did my teammates, aside from Marisa, apparently.
"Hey, 'ya done contemplatin' over there? Let's blow!"
"Ah, right." I caught up with them, and we made our way to Genbu Ravine.
The trip to the ravine, or at least the way Reimu wanted to do it to avoid detection, was rather intense, and pushed my nascent flying skills further than I had up to that point. Up until now, I had only flown through open air; now, Reimu and everyone else expected me to keep up with them while weaving between trees, rocks and animals at a high speed. At first, it was rather slow going for me, and I received crap from all of them (even Youmu, who chided me like a disappointed old master) because of it. However, I soon came up with a strategy: if I treated this the same as jumping between pillars and whatnot while zipping through the Metaverse, suddenly I found myself much more capable of keeping up with them. Pretty soon, I was flying as proficient as if I had been doing it for years, dancing between branches and snags as gracefully as a crane yet as swiftly as a falcon. It reminded me of that scene in Return of the Jedi where Luke and Leia were being chased by Stormtroopers on speeder bikes. It surprised me just how quickly I had picked up flying, and just how fast and furious I was shooting through these trees. Now, the only reason I was behind Marisa (the other two had fallen behind) was because she was showing us where we were going, having been here several times.
We soon emerged from the forest and into a cliffy, steep valley, lined with trees and with a gurgling ribbon of water dotted with stones and boulders down below. Marisa guided us down almost to the river's surface, before stopping her dive and rushing upriver. We followed in hot pursuit, the cold wind rushing down the valley blowing in our faces the entire time. It was a rush unlike any I had ever experienced, to which not even the sadistic thrill of combat could compare. It was… unnatural, reckless and dangerous. Which just made it even more awesome.
Finally, Marisa led us to a small, gravelly bank. She touched down, and instructed us to do the same. I came to a sudden stop, feeling the wind rush from behind me as the g-force hit my body like a hurricane, before slowly touching down, coming to a rest on a gravel-dirt patch.
"Goddamn," Marisa whistled. "I thought you said you were new at flyin'!"
"I am," I bowed.
"Bullshit! It took me at least two years practicin' in the Forest of Magic to get that good! Guess all we needed to do was prod 'ya!"
Youmu bowed hastily. "I… I take my words back. You truly are an amazing flyer."
"Agreed," Reimu nodded. "It almost scares me how good you've gotten so quickly."
I smiled. I wasn't used to genuine respect. Before, it was either false respect from the Antisocial Force for carrying out their dirty work when Shido planned to kill me in the end, or the tepid, empty cheering from the masses fawning over my false achievements. To see these experienced, professional warriors recognize my skills for what they were…
I shook my head. "We do have a mission. Let's get it over with. I would like to visit Ethos today if possible."
"Right." Marisa reached into her bag and pulled out three dark-green, wispy leaves. "Here, each of you. Eat these."
I took one and examined it. "What is this?"
"It's Gillyweed, 'ya dingus," Marisa barked.
"...and…?"
Marisa sighed. "Let's 'ya breathe underwater, makes you swim better, also this is my own special brew that comes with an enchantment which waterproofs any clothes and other belongings on you. Eat it once, it's good for a lifetime. You won't reach Nitori without it."
"I… see." Well, no getting around it. Bottoms up, I supposed. I swallowed it whole, and chewed it for a couple seconds; the taste reminded me of cilantro, with hints of seaweed wafting up my nose. As I swallowed it, I observed Reimu and Youmu consume theirs as well.
"Alright, cool," Marisa said with a thumbs-up. "Now, we'll jump in here and swim over to that other cliff face. That's where her cave is. Ya ready?"
I looked at the rushing water as well as the ice and snow which glazed its banks. "Are you serious? That water must be freezing!"
"Don't sweat it, you're also immune to hypothermia in water now. Now, follow me!" Marisa ran and splashed into the rushing water. I was the next one in; Reimu and Youmu were more hesitant. I stepped into the rushing river, finding significantly less force from it than one would expect from such a fast-flowing and high-volume stream.
Once underwater, I saw a different world; the river was deep and blue, the white light of the cloud-filtered sunlight glittering above us. Fish swam about, scattering whenever we approached. Milfoil and moss clung onto the rocks, and the water kicked up and scattered pebbles and sediment. As I swam, I looked at my hands, noticing webs had formed between my fingers and improving my movement and flow. I breathed as though I were breathing air. Marisa, it was clear, had done this many times before, fluttering her feet and arms like a seal, while Reimu and Youmu behind me flailed their limbs haphazardly trying to propel themselves forward.
Marisa led us to a cave entrance, which was wide and cut under the rock face; there were signs that it had been widened at some point, with obvious cut marks along the edges. Into the wall and soon upward, we emerged into an air pocket lit up by LED lights strung together with green cords. As I grasped the wall and hoisted myself up, I instinctively shook myself dry, only to realize none of my clothes or skin were wet, only my hair, and even it dried quickly as well.
"Pretty slick, huh?" Marisa smirked.
As Reimu crawled out, she huffed and puffed. "Wow… my swimming sucks. Also, no wonder you don't need a towel when we go to the hot springs. Feels like I never got wet at all."
"Uh-huh! Just par for the course for a magician."
"...well, that and I thought you just like baring it all the entire time for all of us," Reimu smirked.
"MEEP!" Marisa's face reddened. "...I'M NOT SOME TRASHY EXHIBTIONIST! STUPID!" I sighed and shook my head as I witnessed these two meatheads trade snarks yet again.
Youmu eventually popped out as well, her breathing labored and her figure sprawled out all over the cave floor. "Must… learn… to… swim," she wheezed. Reimu helped her up, and after shaking her arms she seemed ready to move on.
In front of us was a large mechanical door with Nitori's name written above it. Marisa walked up to it and knocked. "Yo, Nitori, you in there? It's me, Marisa! I'm here for the boat."
It took a few moments to get a response, before a large mechanical eye popped out of the door and scanned all of us; once it had, it retracted back, and soon the door opened from the middle, revealing the short, blue-haired girl in baggy cargo pants with pockets stuffed full with tools and a black tank top.
"You should have told me you were bringing company," Nitori complained. "You know I don't like strange people coming to my door! Why do you think I make it hard for them in the first place?"
"Sorry, but there was no way in Hell I was getting that thing out on my own. Besides, ain't it good to have company every once in a while?"
"Well, I suppose, but…" she looked at us, then focused on me specifically.
"Ah, Akechi-kun," she smiled. "Didn't know Marisa trusted you enough to give you Gillyweed, if you know what I mean."
"Uh, er- that ain't it!" Marisa shouted.
"Me and Youmu are here, too. Official incident business," Reimu said flatly. "Just give us the boat, okay? We actually do need it, and urgently at that."
"What for, though? You all planning to race Komachi down the Sanzu or something? I designed it to withstand its waters, after all."
Marisa waved another cucumber in her face. "Just… boat please," she stammered, still blushing.
Nitori stared at the green, phallic fruit like a tiger gazing at prey, her eyes shimmering and her mouth watering. Finally, she gave in. "Fine… but as long as you're here, I may as well treat you to tea. If my trusted friend and her friends managed to make it here, I should reward you, especially you, Outsider."
"Oh, uh, thanks," I said.
Previously, I had been told that Gensokyo was technologically backwards, and while for the most part that seemed to be the case Marisa wasn't kidding when she said Nitori was a technological genius. The inside of her home resembled a busy commercial garage, with bolts, screws and scraps of metal strewn about the floor, a well-worn work desk covered in blueprints, tools and spare parts, two walls of cubbies containing more tools and parts, and, most prominently, dozens of contraptions scattered throughout the cave. Nitori also proved to be one of the only computer-literate people in Gensokyo, since she had a beater CRT running what appeared to be Windows 98 and which was open to a window showing primitive, obviously self-written or modified CAD software. She didn't have proper dining or living rooms to speak of, since she never had this many guests over at once, so instead she cleared off an unused wooden bench and provided upturned buckets to sit on while we had tea. Her storeroom contained a ceiling-high pile of cucumbers (with a wooden sign in front of it proclaiming it in English as the "CUCUMBER HORD"), all of her tea leaves (supposedly a special variety that only grew here in Genbu Ravine and was the Kappa's favorite) and some traditional Japanese staples such as rice, fish and soup stock.
"Sorry for the mess…" Nitori bowed. "I don't get many guests, as you can probably tell."
Reimu looked around the place. "I can't believe I've never been inside your cave until now. It's been, what, a decade since we first met?"
"Us Kappa are reclusive, so we make our homes hard for outsiders to enter. Not even the Shrine Maiden can enter," Nitori stated.
"But an ordinary witch with Gillyweed can," Marisa shot back.
"Don't forget who gave you it all in the first place," Nitori said waving a finger.
"So this is the home of a Kappa…" Youmu mused. She went over to the computer. "What is this thing?"
"Don't touch it! It's running a very important operation right now!"
"Operation?" Youmu tilted her head.
"Oh, never mind, you wouldn't get it. Just, don't touch anything, okay? I have a lot of sensitive equipment here." The tea kettle whistled just then. "Oh, the water's boiling. I'll be right back."
As Nitori was steeping the tea for us, I looked around to try and find the boat, but couldn't see it near us. "I wonder where she put it," I wondered.
"Prolly in her garage in the back that way," Marisa said pointing. "That's where she builds all of her vehicles and bigger gadgets."
"Where did she get all of this equipment though? Surely not all of it fell in from Outside…"
"The Kappa are much further ahead in technology than the rest of Gensokyo," Reimu explained. "They even have things Outside doesn't yet, like cloaking devices and jetpacks."
"Of course, they also have a prescient for 'enhancing' stuff way more than they need to. I've seen Nitori and her friends build shit like jet-propelled rickshaws with cupholders and fridges with rocket launchers."
"Is… that so?" I said, nervously.
"Yeah, they really like their ammo," Marisa replied. "Shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers, you name it. If the cold, rushing river doesn't kill you, a bunch of lead in your skull prolly will. Could be worse, at least they shoot you before taking your life force outta your butt these days. They're an antisocial bunch, the lot of them, and if anything Nitori's an anomaly. As shy as she is, she still travels throughout Gensokyo, something none of the other Kappa do, and when you get her out of her shell she's kind of a jerk. In other words, exactly the kind of person I make friends with easily."
"How did you and her meet in the first place?" I asked.
"Well, okay, 2007. The Moriyas set up shop at the top of Youkai Mountain and try to overthrow the Hakurei Shrine, so Reimu comes and gets me and we set out to summit the peak. Along the way I got separated from her somehow and wound up here, in Genbu Ravine. Nitori shows up and warns me about the dangers of this place, and I told her I was a badass who didn't run from anything. To prove it, I beat her in a duel, and after that I went up to the top of the mountain, but found Reimu had already beat the Moriyas singlehandedly by the time I got there."
"You were too slow," Reimu said smugly.
"Grr… don't rub it in. Anyway, I drifted back down the mountain and moped for a while, and asked her if she wanted to go get drinks. One thing led to another, and we were sparring on a regular basis and hanging out, and she started callin' me 'trusted friend.' Then, when we went underground to go deal with Utsuho, she, Patchy and Alice lent me their power to go down with Reimu and have some words, and it was Nitori's power that clinched my victory after Reimu got knocked out." She smirked at Reimu. "So you could say I got my revenge then."
"Oh… that was a fluke," Reimu dismissed.
"Yeah, whatever. Since then, we've been best buds. She even trusted me enough to give me all that Gillyweed and come down here whenever I want, and I guess all of you now too."
"I'm part sea-creature…" Youmu said, somewhat distressed.
"Tea's done." Nitori came back over with a metal plate with tea cups on top. She laid them out for each of us, said a short prayer, then sat down. I took a sip, and noted the distinct flavor which had a hint of cucumber… well, of course it would, she was a Kappa.
"I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised to meet you again, Akechi-san," she smiled. "Thank you for your hard work the other day. You really were a help."
"Don't mention it," I said.
"No really, you don't know what it's like to be short like me, and have to have people be tall for you."
"Can't you just fly though?" I asked.
"Well, flying's very draining, you know, especially for hard tasks like fixing up that decrepit shrine," she smiled; meanwhile I could see Reimu's eye twitching. "And besides, isn't it proper for a big, strong man like you to help out a lady?"
"You say that even though you can bench-press a tank," Marisa sniped. "I bet you were just takin' advantage of him and guilt-trippin' him into doing stuff for you just because you can."
"What about you, though? Weren't you doing the same even though you can also fly?"
"Er… I was… I was too focused on my work. Yeah, that's it." Marisa was blushing again.
"Uh-huh, sure," Nitori snarked as she took another sip.
I made sure to rush along the tea break as we had business to take care of. Once we were done, Nitori took us into her back work garage. When we entered it was dark; Nitori clapped her hands, causing lights to come on and reveal a large object in the center covered in a tarp. Nitori walked over to the other end, and swiftly pulled the tarp away, revealing a large, multi-seat boat, complete with oars and a raised spot for the rower to stand.
Marisa wistled. "Daaaaaaang. You built this thing in just one night?!"
"Well, it's only a rowboat, like you requested. All I had to do was plug the dimensions into the computer and have the machines fabricate and weld it together." She slapped the side of it. "Still, you know I had to make some modifications after the body was finished."
"Oh? Like what?" Marisa scrutinized.
"Ohoho, I'm glad you asked. Well, for starters, like everything I make, it's completely waterproof. No rust, no tinge, it won't even collect algae or anything like that. I also specially reinforced it so it can take a punch from an oni, or have a landslide completely bury it, without so much as a scratch. It's lightweight so it won't sink, yet strong enough to cut through waves and hold up to 6,000 kilograms of passengers and cargo. The oars are specially made so you can just stand at the front and row using just one, and control the speed, direction and pitch of the boat with near-absolute precision. Speaking of speed, you can get this thing up to 60 kilometers per hour, just by rowing! You can also stop it on a dime by rowing backwards, and you can even drive it up a raging stream." She reached toward a box on the back, revealing a kevlar rope to tie it up with, and a strange black ball on a chain. "This is my special Nitori-brand smart anchor. It's got a supermassive matter generator inside. It's as light as a baseball when inactive, but when powered on, it increases in mass all the way up to 16 metric tons, so you don't have to lug a heavy conventional anchor around all the time, and especially have to pull it back up when you want to leave."
"Sounds intense. But hey, at least you built something fully practical this time!" Marisa smiled.
"Plus," Nitori pressed another button. "Cupholders."
"...I take back what I said."
I studied the boat. Even by Outside standards, it was quite well-made. It was difficult to believe it was all put together in one night by one small girl in a cave with nothing more than an obsolete computer, a few sheets of steel, chrome, molybdenum, iron and titanium and a box of scraps. Not even Mitsubishi could make something that topped this, especially if she was telling the truth about her special anchor, which was centuries beyond anything human science was capable of by the sound of it.
"I'd say you did quite a good job," I complimented. "Something like this would put even the best ship-makers Outside to shame."
"Aw, it's nothing," Nitori dismissed. "I am a water creature, you know. You really expect me to half-ass a boat?"
"I wasn't suggesting that, I was merely praising your craftsmanship."
"Um… thanks." Nitori blushed; I wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't used to getting compliments, or if she wasn't used to getting them from men in particular. "Still… I wonder why you all would want a boat in the first place. There ain't much water in Gensokyo beside the river and the Misty Lake, and all of you can fly, even you, Outsider."
"Like I said, we got reasons." Marisa looked around. "Now, how are we gettin' this thing outta here?"
"...heheheheh. Watch THIS!" Nitori pushed another button, and all of a sudden the floor opened up beneath the boat. She instructed us to climb in, before lowering it into the rushing current below, which carried the boat through a short cavern before throwing us back out into the greater river.
We navigated our way down the river, through rapids and around banks, rocks and spires. Nitori wasn't exaggerating about how superb it was: it was easy to control, even with me standing at the front and directing its movement with only an oar. We scraped several rocks, but each time I inspected the damage there was none to be found. My passengers, Reimu, Marisa and Youmu, all clung on for dear life, understandably unused to white-water rafting (so was I, but since I was the one in control the effect was lessened). Finally, after several minutes we exited the ravine, and the river transitioned to a slow, wide and gentle watercourse which worked its way around the Forest of Magic.
All of them sighed in relief. "Goddamn," Marisa said, "that was wild."
"I'll take the sky any day over that," Reimu proclaimed. Youmu was silent, her hands visibly shaking in fear after all that.
Once our nerves had calmed down, and as I continued to guide the boat down the river, we took in the sights around us. Trees to our right, and on our left a large, grassy hill with flowers in the distance. On the south bank, near the edge of a flower field, a woman with green hair and a red-and-white plaid dress and a parasol walked along near the edge of a flower field. When she noticed us, she eyed us for a few seconds before continuing along. When I looked back over my shoulder, I could see Reimu and Marisa trying to avert her gaze. Looking at her again, I realized she could be that powerful youkai Keine warned me about. Since we were in the river, we were in no position to harm her flowers, and she seemed benign otherwise, so I continued to row the boat down the river.
We passed under a large, high wooden bridge linking the two banks of the river. Just beyond it was a wide expanse of water, the Misty Lake.
"Looks like we've made it," I said. "Shall we go ahead and enter the Metaverse?"
"I'm ready," said Reimu.
"Me too," replied Marisa.
"I'm ready to fight," affirmed Youmu.
"Alright then, let's do it." I pulled out my key and said the word 'Ethos,' causing the world to twist and turn before sending us all to that other world. Ahead of us, the mysterious tower piercing up into the heavens. Like a shinigami leading souls to the underworld, I paddled the boat across the great, otherworldly lake toward the distant tower. Exactly what awaited us there was anyone's guess.
As soon as the boat was lowered into the water and Marisa and her group were off, I grabbed my backpack full of gear I had hidden just out of sight and jumped in after them. I was just too curious as to why they needed a boat; as I said, there wasn't much open water here in Gensokyo, and Marisa and everyone with her, including that strange man Goro Akechi, could fly. Furthermore, Marisa kept dodging my questions when I asked her what the boat was for. Therefore, I felt the need to follow them and see for myself what they intended to do with it.
As fast as their boat was, I was even faster, being a river Kappa with a high-speed prop attached to my backpack. Under the surface of the water, I danced, flowed and strafed around the river boulders with ease, while Akechi struggled to control the boat through the rapids. Once we left the ravine, and therefore Kappa territory, I stayed hidden under the surface, dodging carp and other giant fish which inhabited the river. So far, they hadn't done anything suspicious, but it was obvious that wherever they were going, they sure were in a hurry.
As we approached the outlet into the Misty Lake, I could see they slowed down the boat quite a bit, so I bobbed my head above the water (camouflaged, of course, so that they couldn't see me) and listened in on their conversation.
"Looks like we've made it. Shall we go ahead and enter the Metaverse?"
"I'm ready."
"Me too."
"I'm ready to fight."
"Alright then, let's do it."
...I was right. They were up to something. But, what was the 'Metaverse' and what was Akechi-san doing with that key… wait, huh?! What was going on?!
