(in which we're world rollers)

We step down the stairs into the main lobby. When'd we get upstairs…?

Ha-chan's in the main lobby, looking casual with some brown-haired friend…

"So…" Maria and I are chattin' things up, yo! "Vampires… don't massacre people randomly?"

I grin at her. "I don't think so! I've yet ta have it happen to me…" Flandre's had some moments, but she's generally nice. Just don't piss her off…!

"How have you become so exempt from her wrath?" Genkan's also curious…! "I hear the Scarlets are not kind to those who disrupt their halls."

Freakin'... "Yo, I've burnt down their mansion like twice and they still haven't ripped my head off. I think I'm good!"

...Genkan blinks a few times, before looking away. "This world is not as it seems…"

"Wh-... really?" Maria doubts my accidental pyro prowess!

"Hey guys!" Ha-chan waves at us! "Where'd you all go?"

"Home." I smile at her warmly. Her friend there's got those lottery lucky sevens in her eyes… oh, yeah! It's Seven-chan innit?

"Aah…" Seven-chan looks us over. "Hana~. Who are these people, again…?"

"They're my good friends!" Ha-chan gestures to us! "Brad-kun, Genki, and Marisa!" I'm the only name she got right...

"Genkan." Snow friend stresses her name again…!

"It- it's Maria…" Maria shies away, looking down. "...I'm no Marisa."

...Ha-chan smiled. "See?"

Seven-chan's stare was dry. "Uh huh. I remember Brad…" Looking at me, she narrowed her eyes. "Are you gonna put me in a box and kill me again?"

...My party members stare at me curiously. Wahaha!

Lookin' at them, I grin. "They called me the box fucker, dude."

"We called you a menace." Seven-chan comments! "...And some wanted to rape you, but that's beside the point."

Yeah, yeah. Stupid sexy rowdy fairies…

"As fun as that sounds," Genkan makes for the door. "Come, Hana. We're to attempt to find another lead."

...Now that I think about it, "Why don't we try the buddhist temple, yo? I know a guy who used to flood shit and drive battleships. He was behind that time everything flooded."

"I had to seal my cave shut when that happened." Genkan seems to recall that incident… "Let's do that, if only so that I may return his stupidity." She's kinda got her own motives behind that decision…!

"How do- how are you involved in so much…?" Maria questions me skeptically!

Lookin' at her, I smile. "I throw myself at stuff a lot. That's the big secret, yo."

"But…" She furrows her brows. "You'd die. It's not that easy…"

Shakin' my head, I follow Genkan towards the door. "I dunno what ta tell ya then, friend. Back in my day, I was a master craftsman…!"

"I somehow doubt that." Genkan swings open the large front door easily.

I tail her outside-

Boom- BoomBoomBoomBoom!

Oh, fuck. Wow.

Meiling and Ganpeki are currently in the midst of the path ahead, crouched inside of the little fountain in front of the mansion-

Kshoo~f! One of the half-biological, half-cyborg fairies marching through the gates explodes. Her plate-like, vaguely fleshy head whirls to the side after the rockets fired by the two guardians demolish her.

Meiling and Ganpeki both have quadruple fire rocket launchers mounted to their arms, and the fountain's rims as well.

Kshoo~f! Kshoo~f- Bahaa~m!

Spla-splat, splat, splat. Globs of oil and sickly rainbow liquid splatter across the gate's front, the brick walls going from a dull red to a dark beige as the liquid splays across it.

"Nhou~h!" There's a low rumble of moans from outside. That's a lo~t of giant zombie fairies!

Ganpeki roars something. "Big damn robots!"

The mist around the gate is absurdly thick, but there seem to be glowing beacons on the wall around the gates, illuminating things. They look magical, so I assume Patchy put 'em there…

Boom- bam, kaboom boom boom! Holy crap that's a lot of booms!

Rings of energy ripple in the air as the ground shakes from the absurd amount of explosions happening at the front gate…

Spla-splat, splat splat splat! Hell, oil's splashing near us!

"What…" Genkan has no idea what she's watching.

"Eee~..." Maria lets out a restrained squee.

Holy shit…!

Boom! Splat Kshoo~f!

Thunk. The plate-like head of one of the biocyborg fairies lands next to us, its glassy eyes caked with tears and blood-

Woosh. After we examine it, the flesh dissipates into mana, leaving behind a blood-smeared metal pancake with fixings for the prong mouth and eyes.

"Go- god…" Maria holds her hand over her mouth. "Why…?"

Genkan allows frost to billow from her form as she floats forward… "This will not do. We need to progress."

Light pulses from the fog above us, causing Genkan to pause and all of us to look up…

"Yahoo~!" There's a Marisa up there, somewhere!

Then-

BOOM

Bri~ght flash! Thank you for existing, helmet visor! Now if only my ears weren't ringing…

...As the light dies down, a neon-colored mushroom cloud is revealed before us, the mist itself pushed back by the ferocity of the blast that occurred.

Marisa floats down towards us. Aw...

"Yo~." She calls down to us.

"Yo~." I call up to her!

"What's up?" Eventually, the poofy magician comes to a stop in front of me… "Me an' Patchy here came out ta deal with those walkin' talkin' lobotomy victims. 'Course, Patchy herself's on the roof and just kinda chillin'."

"I'm trying to blow up the robots, yo." I mention to her.

She grins. "Yeah, saw ya on Patchy's crystal ball. Her scrying spell on ya's still active, y'know? Anyway-"

Meiling drowsily lumbers past us, her entire front side caked in unhealthy, oily goo…

"Anyway!" Marisa continues! "We're still tryin'a pin down a sus… pect…"

Resting her gaze on Maria, she blinks, before double takin'. "Maria? Du~de, what's good?"

"He- hey, Marisa…" Maria greets her sheepishly. "Didn't expect, to see you…"

"Hehe~. Finally gettin' outta that smelly village?" Marisa grins at her, shifting on her broom. "S'about time, yeah?"

"Yeah." Maria responded resolutely! "Still..."

...Hopping off her broom, Marisa stepped up to her. "Hey. You good?"

"Good enough." Holding herself with one arm, Maria shifted her posture to face away. "...Just a little scattered."

"Hehehe~..." Hopping back onto her broom, Marisa gave her a thumbs up. "Keep on keepin' on, Maria. You'll get used ta it…!"

With that, Marisa drifts past us and into the manor.

...Ahead of us, once the colorful storm of miasma, mist, volatile magic and other such oddities ended, we were left with a view of multiple magical wildfires burning away in a lake of faintly glowing oil. This huge puddle encompassed the lake front!

"Oh, yeah!" We hear Marisa's yell at us from somewhere inside! "Don't die!"

Maria yells back at her! "Why would I die~!?"

...No response, 'cause Marisa absconded, dude.

Those magic wildfires before us are getting bigger! They're also rainbow-colored! Freakin'...

"Alright, yo…" I rub my hands together. "If we all hug each other, we can get across this gap!"

"No." Genkan holds her arms out towards the flames-

Ganpeki falls into the small set of stairs before us, covered in oil like Meiling was. "Oo~h…"

...Ignoring her, yuki-onna friend held her hands open-

Fwoo~sh! Icy wind spreads out over the flames, quelling them.

Fwoom! Except that's not how you put out oil fires! The blaze quickly regains its size again…

"What…?" Genkan has never had to fight oil fires before!

"Those substances… they're probably oil." Maria's got book smarts, dude. "You can't just put them out without completely covering the oil… unless you freeze the oil, maybe."

"I see…" Genkan can see, dude. I'm grateful she's not blind! "Then…"

Stepping forward, getting closer to the unhealthy looking magic inferno, Genkan crouches, and presses a hand to the floor-

Fwa~sh! The ground ahead becomes a patch of rocky ice, comprised of sickly, faded colors.

There's still fire, but a lot of it's mitigated and stifled.

Fwoom! It quickly spreads across the ice again!

"Wh- what…?" Genkan's taken aback! "My ice… it's burning!"

Crack, crack! It's crackling? Um-

Pop- crack- pop cra- pop pop! Crack! Crack!

It's exploding! Holy shit!

Genkan's forced to float back from her frozen oil mess as it becomes a fireworks show of colorful flames and exploding particles.

"Oh no…" Maria holds her hands to her mouth. The ice's exploding causes the flames to spread further from the original mess…!

"Bombs from above goin' clickety clack, dude!" I feel the need to point out that the ice has detonated into an unholy entourage of booms and flames!

"...I feel empty." Genkan hunches over. Aw…! "I guess… we're stuck here, for now."

Pfft. "Hell no we ain't, yo."

She looks over at me, tired. "Yes, we are. You cannot mine through a brick wall, I'm sure, and unless you wish to burn to death…"

Ha-chan makes a frustrated face. "There's that stupid warp zone thing over the walls, too. If we flied over without hugging the hurt spikes, we'd just fly backwards…"

...Are you guys really this uncreative? Is this how heroes in games get stuck behind ankle high fences all the time?

"This is my fault…" Maria feels sorry for herself.

"It is not." Genkan comforts her! "...I should have realized." Comforts her by feeling sorry for herself. Freakin'...

I clap my hands together. "You gu~ys are freakin' noobs!"

Genkan glares at me. "You fix this, then! How will we progress!?"

...I grin! "Okay!"

Parting from them, I dash inside the mansion. "Keep the porch warm fer me! I gotta grab some shit!"

Leavin' the nugget friends at the front door, I walk into the lobby…

Let's see~. Honestly, with Genkan's ice abilities at our disposal, getting over the fire should be easy street shit. Like… I don't know how badass her powers are, but she should be able to just build a bridge with guard rails and we'd be able to crawl across the entire blaze. It's not that the fire burns ice… it's that she froze hot ass oil- which was still flammable while frozen, by the way- so it exploded!

Heat and frost are not good friends! ...Unless it's in the art of the kabooms, dude.

But a bridge would be the easy way out, yo. I'm not a little noob, dude.

Running into the leftmost hall, I grab the first end table I see, and freakin' shovel it into my bag. It takes some jerkin' and yankin' it, but I manage!

...Next, I move up to the shoe Jenga tower in the lobby.

They're currently setting the tower back up, it seems. A small, yellow-haired fairy turns to me as I approach. "Hey. Um… you're weird. Go away." Pfft…!

"You're weird." I accuse her. "...You're a weirdo~ fairy!"

She glares at me! "No I'm not!"

I get in her face! "You're into powdered wigs and poop! Freakin'-" Aaa~h!

She grabs my arms! "I hate yo~u!"

Pulling on me, she tries to jerk me to the right while I move to the right, resulting in us doing a fucking square dance in a circle next to the Jenga tower-

"Dial-chan…" Oh, hey, it's that quiet purple-haired fairy who can become a zero gravity field. "Stop."

Dial-chan turns to her. "No! I'm- I'm not into poop! Don't believe him!"

"I don't…" Gravity-friend brings her hands up… "I believe in you."

"Aa- ah…?" Dial-chan locks up, blushing.

Breaking from her in this moment of respite, I throw myself at the half-setup shoe tower thing!

"Raaa~h!" Dial-chan glomps me, unleashing her wrath!

"What- no!" Gravity-friend moves to stop us, before falling into the pile, too-

Fwoa~sh! She just cast zero gravity! Oh, shit! Aaa~h, aaaa~h!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

...I trudge back outside holding a small pile of maid shoes, that small fairy with pigtails and yellow hair still clinging to my ankle.

There is a big difference, however. I now have my space suit on…! Helmet's currently off, but yeah!

Genkan and Maria are sitting to the side of the porch, while Ha-chan's just watching the inferno. That smog rolling into the air off of the flames doesn't look good…

"Yo ho ho." I greet the friends. "I have… the plan. Man."

"I have no faith." Genkan admits, staring at my situation. "Being a fool solves nothing. To solve a problem, you have to try."

Yeah, yeah, Yoda. "Get up here 'n' help me try, yo."

...Standing up, Genkan steps over to me. "Make it count."

Alri~ght…!

I drop the shoes to the floor, crouch down, and reach into my bag…

"He~re we go!" I take out the tiny end table! "This will be the center of our icy structure!"

...Genkan stares at it blankly. Hoh.

"So…" Time to consider what to actually build with this… "I want'cha to make it float. Higher than I am tall."

Raising a brow, she does so, the end table lifting…

I snap my fingers! "Freeze it solid, yo!"

Fwa~sh! She freezes the end table solid, the entire object being encased in a less detailed icy rendition.

Moving back and to the left a bit, I crouch and touch the ground. "Make a long thing 'a ice from the table to here. Don't stick it ta the floor, though."

Fwash! She does as described!

Moving around her, I crouch just next to her. "Another protrusion, same deal, pointed ta here."

Fwash! Two protrusions now, yo. Mostly equal size, too!

Finally, I move to the back of the thing I'm having constructed. "Now, one last one ova' here."

Fwash! She makes the third and final protrusion. The end table now has an icy tripod, dude!

I look at Genkan. "How strong's this ice? Y'think it can hold people?"

She furrows her brows. "Strong. I don't know." ...She's right, I should know. Ah, well, triangles are strong shapes, so it should stand!

Fwoa~sh! My suit has randomly engaged zero gravity! Thankfully, no one's really close to me, so it doesn't matter.

Genkan's not lifted by it, the telekinetically held tripod stays in place, and Ha-chan lets herself float. "Ooo~...!"

...Oh, shit. Ganpeki's unconscious body's floatin', too!

That aside… "Alright, yo. Make a bi~g platform on the table top. Like… maybe as wide as me, or two of me. Or one and a half of me." I make this statement as I slowly drift into the air…!

"I get it." Genkan raises her arms-

Fwa~sh! A platform of ice is made!

I grin…! "Okay! Now… you know how wide it is? Make walls as high as it is wide, all around the thing!"

Genkan's brows are both raised now. She dunno what ta make of this…! "Oka~y…"

Fwa~sh! Bam, son! Walls!

Clack. Zero gravity time over! I land on my space man shoes-

Thud. Ganpeki's body flops against the stairs again, dropped from zero gravity. "Uu~gh…"

Thud. Ha-chan lands on her side. "Ow~..."

Thunk. Oh, yeah, there was that fairy on my ankle. "Nn~h…!" She hums angrily as she flops against the porch!

...Limping' up to the walls- 'cause 'a this ankle biter- I perform a depressing jump to tap two spots with my space man arms. "Make little head-sized holes here 'n' here."

...Clink! Crack! The two places I patted shattered moments later.

Alright…

I take out Hard Winter, and hold it into one hole. "Freeze this in."

Fwash! Genkan locks the hanger into the hole.

...Taking out Youkai Inconveniencer, I press it to Hard Winter, making sure the handle 'n' hanger are together so they don't go all loosey goosey. "Attach this ta that, yo!"

Fwash! She attached the hangers with ice! It's a good hold, too! Next, I take out Deep Blue and hold it beneath the base of Youkai Inconveniencer-

Fwash! Yo ho ho! Finally, I take out the Bawmber, and gently press it to the bottom of that-

Fwash! There we go. It is… the hanger engine dude.

Reaching out, I twist the valve on Deep Blue so that it now produces water. That second hole I had made is just for visibility reasons and ta make sure it all goes smooth…

I clap my hands together. "Alright. Ha-chan, get Maria inta the box thing. Genkan, put it down 'n' lift me in."

"Aye aye!" Ha-chan gives a cuddle salute!

"What…" Genkan looks totally lost. "What have we made?"

It's hard to contain my grin…! "We'll have to try it out, yo! Give me a hand, friend."

"Nhou~h!" We hear the simultaneous wails of zombie cyborg fairy things from beyond the walls!

"Uhm- aah…" Maria shifts as Ha-chan carries her into the craft. For some reason, Ha-chan looks like she's having trouble…

"Hea~vy…" Wat. Ha-chan finds Maria heavier than me? Now that just ain't right…!

Genkan floats into the air, lifting me telekinetically with her.

"Ah…!" Dial-chan falls off my ankle! "No!"

After a moment, she's placed me inside and joins us…

The ice is transparent but still quite blue, giving us a distorted view of the world outside this box…

"Put a roof on it, yo." I nod at the open space above us.

"This is cramped…" The space is so small that we can barely stand apart from one another. "I don't think this will be a good idea." Genkan, stop havin' cold feet! ...Ba dum tss.

"You didn't ask for a good idea, you asked for an idea!" I berate her! "C'mo~n…!"

"Fine." Gankan holds a hand up above us-

Fwa~sh! We're trapped inside this ice box now, dude…!

"Co-cold…" Maria hugs herself.

...After staring over at her for a moment, Ha-chan gives her a hug. Share the warmth, friend!

"Wh- whah…?" Maria doesn't know how to respond!

We're almost there! "Alright! Genkan! I need ya to charge every hanger in that thing I made with mana, except for the second to last one… and the last one!"

...Curiosity getting the better of her, Gankan crouches down to where I inserted Hard Winter into the box, and holds the handle. The hangers begin to glow with icy energy…!

Now we play the waiting game…! I'm counting on my space suit to give me a Zero Gravity proc. C'mo~n, random number gods!

"So." Genkan speaks blandly. "What now?"

"We wait." I shake my arms! "So exciting…!"

Maria looks at me, and exhales. "I'm… not sure if I trust you, anymore."

Ow oof my feelings. I grin at her. "You shouldn't…!"

Actually, I have an idea.

"Genkan, charge the last hanger with as much mana as you can without goin' through the second to last one." I give her another command!

"Mmm." She holds up a different hand, and it begins glowing.

The Bawmber begins glowing, too. Oo~h, boy…!

Fwoa~sh! There we go! Zero gravity!

The entire structure we're in slowly begins to float…

"Fill that one hanger!" I yell out! "Yo!"

Sighing, Genkan takes a moment to do as told.

….Spri~tz! The previously tame flow of Deep Blue flares wildly as Genkan fills it with mana.

The water loudly slides into and against the Bawmber.

KABOOM!

"Waaa~h!?" Maria starts screaming!

"Aaah!?" Genkan can't help but yell!

Ha-chan squees! "Eee~!?"

Houston, we have liftoff!

Our moon lander-shaped abomination constructed from ice roars off of the mansion porch, ripping straight through the unholy, multi-elemental flames as it thrusts ahead.

Soa~rin' 'cross Gensokyo~! The fog, the fluffs, and I~-

Bam! Our device runs over some fuckin' stupid robot things as we power through into the fog!

...This impact does cause us to spin on the horizontal axis, though!

"Wooaa~h!" Maria yells out as we're thrown around inside of our tiny box!

Genkan holds onto the hanger for dear life-

KABOOM! Oh shit, she's still charging the things with energy!

Bwoo~sh. Holy crap, we're underwater! Did we thrust into the lake!?

...Water slowly pours in through that one hole I left in the box. Woa~h! I can't even reach it because the momentum from things are throwing me the fuck around…!

"Oh- oh my go~d!" Maria realizes we're underwater!

Genkan looks at me with wide eyes. "Was this supposed to happen!?"

...I grin! "I dunno!"

Bwoo~m! The bomb hanger's explosion is muffled by the water-

Spla~sh! We roar back out of the water, our trajectory changing randomly because the only thing in our craft that actually has gravity enabled… is the water that entered it.

I have no idea how fast we're going or where we're going, because holy shit. Fog, and-

KABOOM! Genkan why are you still feeding it!? Aaaa~h, aaaa~h!

...Our screaming has died down! I think… we're getting used to this!

Ha-chan's getting the life squeezed out of her by Maria, the mage's staff randomly bouncing around the craft interior. "Nn~h…!"

"Aheheh…" Ha-chan's slightly delirious…!

And-

Bam.

We stopped suddenly, harmlessly bouncing against the walls due to the absence of gravity.

...So, why the hell'd we stop-

Thu-thu-thud. Gravity re-enables, causing us to all fall to one side. So that's where down is…

"Enh…" Maria ends up on top of me. She's soft.

We're not falling, though. Considering we're surrounded entirely by fog, that's probably a good thing.

Wait, no we're not. Surrounded entirely by fog, I mean.

Out of one of the craft's faces, I can see Kanako Yasaka holding onto the box, her red eyes glowing faintly in the gloom and overcast as she peered inside of it. Where the fuck are we right now.

...She's got a tired expression, too! Freakin'... crossed legs. She's probably floating through the sky trying to figure out what the hell all this fog's about. We must've gone pretty fucking high, then!

She mouths something to us, but we can't read her lips from in here.

...Slippin' away from Maria, 'n' crawling out of the wet crevice of the craft we'd all become lodged into- 'cept for Genkan, who was hanging off of Hard Winter still- I called into the one exposed hole next to her. "He- hello~!?"

...Kanako blinks, before responding. "I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yo!" I yell out! "How's the weather!?"

...She blinks at us summore! "What… what are you doing up here? What even is this?"

"It's the Voyager Nine!" In loving memory of Cirno, the fairy who got her skull kerscrunched by the dragonborn! "We're trying to find a good picnic location!"

Kanako gave us an examining stare. "...A picnic location. You do realize your height is half of Youkai Mountain's right now, right?"

"Wh- we're whuh…!?" Maria is mush right now!

Genkan's lookin' at Kanako with wide eyes! "Go- Goddess Yasaka…"

...We went up so high a fucking god grabbed us and asked us what the hell we were doing.

KABOOM!

Kanako's arms jerk slightly as the hanger engine goes off again! Damn, she's strong. It'd figure, being a god and all…!

Fwoa~sh! He~y, anti-grav proc. Let's make the most of it!

"Hey, yo!" I make a request! "Can ya toss us to the~... temple? We're tryin'a stop the gorillas in the mist, dude…!"

Kanako looked lost. "Gorillas... in the mist." Then, she nodded. "Very well. It should be…"

Oh- woah, shit! The entire craft is held over her head, causing us all to roll a little. Wind whirls up along the sides of the craft visibly, fog being cast out of the way by it…

"Will you need my aid on impact?" Kanako questioned plainly. "You seem to have removed the gravity from your… thing."

"Nope!" I give her the go ahead! "Launch me, god friend!"

Kanako reels her arms back…

Woo~sh! Wind roars along the sides of our craft, spiralling around it-

BOOM! We're thrust forward with great force!

We soar linearly, spinning slightly as we accelerate through the fog…

Thunk. We hit something solid, which I only get a brief glimpse of as we bounce off of it!

Thunk! We hit something else-

KABOOM!

Our momentum is neutralized by the hanger kaboom engine, which Genkan is freakin'... still holding onto!

"That's enough kabooms!" I yell at her! "Enough kabooming! We've had enough of the kabooms for today!"

"...Alright." She lets go of it, drifting around the craft randomly with us.

Well, we're just kinda… floating neutrally, now.

Maria looks around dizzily, jittering in the air. "Wo- wow…"

Ha-chan's beaming! "So fast…!"

"...This is the stupidest thing I've ever done." Genkan looks over at me, expression tired.

I grin at her…!

Woah-!

Bam! We touch down on the ground, all getting smooshed against one darkened wall.

"Ow~..." Maria got flattened by Ha-chan. "Co- cold…"

Oof! Genkan's... about as light as she looks… which is not very, since she's a curvy ice woman. "Let's get outta here, yo…" I give a muffled suggestion, buried beneath Genkan's freakin'... "Carve us a door, friend."

...Rising from me, only giving me a brief glance as her pillows cease contact with me, Genkan leans forward and presses against a wall-

Fwish. The wall vanishes!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

...We are now all outside the craft. The limits have been broken, yo.

Bam, bam. The temple's front gate is shut, large wooden palisades positioned in the way. Cyborg zombie fairies are smashing their stubby limbs against it, moaning and groaning.

"...In spite of how stupid that was," Genkan focused on me again once we were out… "That was a lot of fun."

Hoh, shit. Straight up positive things from the ice queen? "Oh yeah, yo? I thought crossing that tiny grease fire was an impossible task!"

"I didn't know you were going to send us into orbit." Genkan began grinning…! "That was just insane. What- what even made you think of that? Why would you…?"

I give her a smarmy ass shrug, yo…! "I dunno, yo. I thought we were going to scoot ten feet into the grease fire and explode and die."

She snorts. "Uh huh..."

...Maria looks lightheaded. "That was… wow. Am I dreaming…?"

Aw. I smile at her. "Your first time, huh?"

"Fi- first…?" Smiling, she looks at me, adjusting her hair with one hand. "Yeah…"

"Was I gentle enough?" I smirk…

...She looks confused for a moment, before catching on. "Shut up…" Wahaha!

Shaking her head, Genkan turns away from me, looking at the temple proper. "...So, this is the temple?"

"No." I shake my head. "...It's not."

Genkan turns to me and bops me on the head with her fan. "Yes, it is." Hey, yo. Someone's gotta punish rhetorical question asking!

Bam, bam. The cyborg fairies banging on the wood palisades behind us is kinda grim…!

Genkan gives them a glance, before drifting towards the temple…

Oh, what the frik. The temple wall's got a few holes in it in the outside for some reason.

"A temple~..." Ha-chan anticipates the adventure! "Is it gonna be full of puzzles and traps like Satori's?"

...Probably not! "Yeah, yo!" Buddhists are well known for their nefarious death traps!

...After a moment, Maria scrambles to catch up with us!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Once we got inside, we kinda just picked a direction and walked. We chose right!

...That was only viable for so long, so we took a left when we could and now we're in a big courtyard in the midst of the temple!

It's foggy out here, too. On the upside though, it's lit by some dim lanterns that're just dotted across the courtyard. Everyone musta been annoyed by the fog, 'cause there's a lot of lanterns out here…!

"Rarf! Rr~arf!" Dude, Kyouko can bark! She's angry, too…!

"C'mo~n…" What the fuck is Koakuma doing out here. You're in the wrong biome! "Stormy-cha~n."

Stormy gives the succubus the middle finger. "No. I know now, without a doubt… that you are a bit-..."

He pauses, looking around for someone, before continuing. "Bitch!"

"Rarf!" Kyouko unleashes her wrath, dude!

"Stormy~...!" Pouting, Koakuma brings her arms up to squeeze her breasts together. "C'mo~n! The weather's perfect!"

"No!" He spreads his arms out to accentuate! That's how you know he's serious, son. "I didn't even get my dick sucked last time, and I built a combat ship and sailed it!"

"But…" Bringing a hand to her lips, the succubus pouts. "It'll be different, this time. That naughty miko won't get in our way, not anymore…"

Turning to my party, I put a finger over my lips and start pacing towards Koakuma as deliberately as possible…

Kyouko's reeling her head back, dude…!

Stormy jerked his head back. "That miko? Which miko?"

"Ah?" Koakuma was caught off guard. "...You know, the red one?"

Indifferent, he waved it off. "The shrine maidens were whatever. The real problem-"

"Rahrf!" Kyouko's begun her ten thousand years reign of blood!

...Recovering from flinching, he tries again. "The real problem…" Raising his arm, he pointed at me as I stalked up to the succubus...

"Me?" Thinking he was pointing at her, Koakuma frowned. "Stormy baby, I didn't-"

"No, not you." Stormy impatiently interjected. "Him."

...Koakuma began to turn around, then saw me right behind her.

I wave at her. "Hi."

Koakuma jumps back from me! "What the fuck!?"

"Right?" Stormy agrees with her! "I don't know if he fucking teleports or what. Like- look," he focuses on me, "did you see any robots on the way here?"

I shake my head. "I just came for the annual buddhist fluffcon, dude. Give me nuzzles or give me death."

"See?" Grinning, he waves at me as he focuses on Koakuma again. "Fucking legend."

My party walks up behind me!

"Uu~h…" Stormy's expression slowly lowers. "Who're… they?"

I gesture to them! "They're my friends, dude. We carpooled here for fluffcon."

Koakuma goes from angry-looking to sedate at the presence of more people!

"Genkan." Yuki-friend introduces herself with one word.

...Maria's just kinda looking around. Stormy's gaze eventually locks onto her, and she stares back at him uncertainly.

"And you?" Stormy wants to know who she is.

"Oh- um, what?" Maria was caught completely off guard!

Rolling his eyes, the guy prods her summore. "You slow? Your name."

"A-ah…" Clamming up, she looks away. "Ma- Maria."

...Stormy just nods, before focusing on me again. "Seriously-"

"Rarf!" Kyouko barks at Koakuma!

"Can you tell your fucking mule to shut up!?" Koakuma barks back!

Stormy jerks his head back. "What…!? Kyouko-chan- uh- she's not a mule! That's not even the right word!"

"I don't ca~re!" Koakuma's nails extend…!

Kyouko darts back a little. "Rrr~...!"

The succubus begins to drift towards them-

Krii~ng! ...A blade of ice erects from the floor, getting in the way. Genkan has intervened, yo.

Thunk. Koakuma drifts into it, bumping off of it…

...Kyouko sighs, now separated from her enemy.

Parting from the ice, the succubus looks over my party. "I'm not leaving here without one of you, then. Who wants a good time?"

Maria ducks behind me, as Genkan frowns at the succubus. "Hmph. You'd willingly challenge a yuki-onna's embrace?"

At this exclamation, the succubus locks eyes with her.

...Then, she looks away. "Yuki-onna, huh? Too many problems with that… even if you're really sexy."

...Genkan just blinks a few times, unsure of what to make of that.

...Then, another Brad walks up to us! "Oh, hey. You guys here for fluffcon, too?" ...He's got tanooki ears. Freakin'... Mamizou.

Another Maria walks up to us, too, although she's got red eyes. "He~y, Koa!"

Koakuma looks over the fake Maria in vague confusion, before smirking. "Nue."

Poof! The shapeshifter turns back into her original form! "You still into that storm guy fuckhead?"

"I'll fuck anything with legs." Koakuma admits outright. Geesh…! "To a point. Gotta catch my interest."

"Or you just gotta be hungry enough." Nue adds, still grinning.

Mamizou: Brad Edition walks up to me. "Dude, nice suit." 'He' gestures to my space suit.

Son. "I'm a fat tub fat tub." I inform him. "Would you like to be like me."

...Brad two just stares at me blankly. Hah!

"Aww~..." Ha-chan becomes super smug as she looks over the both of us. "Two Brad-kuns!"

...Ah shit, I just realized some of my hanger armory is still back at that craft. Good thing it doesn't look like there'll be much fighting! I don't think Stormy's behind the incident.

Slowly, the ice blade erected by Genkan sinks into the floor, revealing the friends on the other side.

"Rrr~..." Kyouko growls at Koakuma again!

Stormy groans, glaring dismally at the succubus. "Will you just get out of here?"

...Stepping towards them again, Koakuma folded her arms. "If this is how it's gonna be…"

Unfolding her arms, she shows off a pink potion that came from freakin' nowhere. "Someone's gonna have a good time tonight."

I start marching towards her! "No, yo, no! I came to get the information! Not ejaculate all over unconscious nuns!"

Quickly, I draw Fairy Harp-

Fwip! Koakuma slides back from me-

Pop! The cork atop the potion bottle pops off, pink mist briefly poofing into the air from the bottle.

Genkan slides up ahead of me! "Freeze-"

"Obey!" Koakuma's eyes flash! It's too late for me to look away, but since they're not directed at me apparently nothing happens…

"Gh…" To me, anyway! Genkan slows to a stop! "Ignorant…!" She don't seem very obedient, though! Despite that, she's still immobilized...

...Koakuma looks at the potion in her hands, likely noting that a fourth of it was gone now. I note so, too!

Stormy runs at Koakuma with just his fists. "Thot, begone!"

Fwi~sh! His form becomes encapsulated with a brown-ish aura as he moves towards her-

Fwip! "Fufufu~..." Koakuma slid straight up into the air.

"Hngh!" Stormy tries to leap after her. It's a good jump, too! Just… not a great one. Higher than I can jump!

"Thunder!" Maria casts the good spell!

Zap-zap-zap-zap-zap! Lightning bolts shall rain from the skies!

"Anh!" One hits Ha-chan. Aw. "Oo~h…"

"Ebebe~!?" Koakuma's form is lit up after one of the random bolts strikes her!

...Once the electrical energy wears off, she jerks in the air towards Maria. "Obey!"

Fwa~sh! ...How do you hear an eye flash, anyway? What makes it make noise…!?

"Ah- ah…!" Maria drops her staff, hands locking in place.

...Smirking, Koakuma pointed at me. "Hurt him." Aw, no forced party rape like with the apsara? And you call yourself a succubus…!?

...Maria puts her dukes up, eyes uneven. She's… just gonna fist fight me. Okay!

...Reaching into my bag, I take out Fragile Flower. "Cleanse!" I point it at Genkan-

Her form's washed with holy, feathery swooshes, yo.

Koakuma furrows her brows. "You can cast what!?"

"Wahaha~!" I point at her and laugh! "Ya can't out gank the gankster, son!"

Fwa~sh! With a single movement of Genkan's arms, Koakuma's frozen solid.

...Thunk. The succubuscicle embedded itself in the dirt.

...Zap! Ha-chan zaps the icicle. You're a little late, friend.

Wham! Ow!

I stumble to the side after Maria fucks me up with a mean right hook. Damn, she hits like a fuckin'... oh. I'm holding Fragile Flower, no wonder.

"I- I…" She seems to be crying through the hypnosis!

I point my doofy hanger at her. "Cle- cleanse, yo." Cheek still hurts!

Fwoo~sh. Her form is cleansed of whatever Koakuma did to her.

...Hugging herself, she drops to her knees. "Nnn~..."

"Wo~w." Mamizou's still me. "One hundred thirty times were weird!" ...One hundred thirty times? The fuck kinda time period you talkin' 'bout? Also- when'd I say that around you? I've talked with you for under a minute!

Nue stretches idly. "This fog su~cks. Of course yuki-onna would be loving it, though…" She begins to meander off...

...This prompts Genkan to give her a dry stare. Hoh.

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Stormy has taken us to a room inside, yo. Despite me blowing up that one fluffle room with all the furniture like fifty chapters ago, they still don't furnish this place. Freakin'...

Stormy 'n' Kyouko're ahead of us, seated behind a wide kotatsu. Me 'n' my nugget friends're taking the other side…

Mamizou took the short end between us, uncharacteristically quiet for someone pretending to be me. I expected more words than no words thus far!

Speaking of words, "Where's Byakuren, yo?" She's usually all over newcomers to the place.

Stormy shrugs. "Ah. Some youkai came along and now she's out chasing them down. She stopped by a day ago to grab some combat reagents and potions. It's probably good for her to get out of this lousy hell hole for a week."

Kyouko furrows her brows. "This place isn't that bad, Stormy..."

I put my hands on the kotatsu before they bicker about the place! "Robot rebel rampage! Who dun diddit!?"

...Genkan looks like she wants to object at my negotiating style, but she reconsiders. That's right, yo, you betta' reconsider! I got us here in a moon lander!

Stormy tilted his head back and forth. "Hrr~m. There was a~... kappa? Kappa that I saw the other day. And, no, it wasn't Nitori." Hoh! He's genre savvy, now!

...Also, a kappa, huh? Not a faction I interact with much!

"She's got this creepy ass mask on." Stormy gestures to his face. Yeah yo, just in case I dunno what a mask is. "Tiki shit, and it glows. You'll probably know her when you see her. She does have blue hair."

Y'know, actually… "When'd ya see her?"

Lookin' snuggly, Kyouko replies! "...She stopped by when Byakuren was gone. She's the one who put those palisades at the gate… which actually helped. She also put a big rock in the courtyard, but Unzan took care of it."

A big rock, huh. Only the most heinous of crimes.

"How is she behind the robots?" Speakin' up, Genkan expresses skepticism! "If she placed those palisades there, then perhaps she's not of direct affiliation?"

"She pretty much said she was." Stormy explains bluntly. "The connection's not that hard, either. You know… robots, kappa. Kappa, robots."

"...Oh." Genkan's brow twitches. "You needn't be patronizing."

Rolling his eyes, Stormy moves to lean back, only to stop when he realizes he'd fall back onto the floor.

"Wo~w." Ha-chan speaks! "This place is empty!"

Scooting out from the kotatsu, Stormy begins to stand… "Mhrm. Buddhists don't need blah blah blah, or something like that. Get outta here before you piss me off." Pfft…!

I start to stand, and accidentally cause the kotatsu to tip forward…

Kyouko escapes before it smooshes her. "Ah…"

As we all begin to stand up, I consider our options… 'cause we're probably gonna need some kinda ramp to get outta the temple walls. One of the buddhists'll probably lend a hand.

"You're mean." Oo~h! Maria boldly dares to go where no friend has gone before! And that i~s… talking down to Stormy!

Big S looks over at her. "What?"

"Wh-... why're you angry?" Go get 'em, Maria!

...Sighing, Stormy turns away and towards the door. "Aa~h. Mmm. Existential angst, among other things." Focusing on her, he gets angry again! "The hell's it to you?"

Kyouko smiles at him. "Stormy's always like this. He's fun to poke!"

"Noo~." He starts backing away from her…! "I shall not stay here and get verbally dismantled by girls who don't know better. I have some dignity to maintain, here."

With that, Stormy retreats!

"Hey, wait up!" Kyouko dashes after him!

I turn around, and Mamizou Brad is there. "So, hey there, buddies." ...Seems legit, son.

"Hi." I greet him. "Can we cuddle?" The true test!

"Yes." Ha-chan accepts, moving towards me…!

...He looks focused for a moment, before replying. "Um, bro. I don't swing that way, yo!"

Bro. When've I ever used 'bro'? Maybe once in a blue moon… but I don't remember so!

Aa~h. I'm embraced by the lovable electric fairy...

Genkan gets ready ta roast this boy! "Do youkai deserve to be understood?"

Mamizou the Bradizou jerks 'his' head back! "Aa~h… when they ain't tryin' ta eat me, sure!"

"Do humans deserve to be understood?" Genkan's playin' tricks, dude…!

Brad: The Sequel scratches his cheek. "Oh, yeah, definitely! They're friendly if you're friendly, dude. They ain't ever done nothin' wrong."

I shake my head. "Noob." You were… okay, until you said they did nothing wrong!

Lookin' over at me, Genkan allows herself a small smirk. "Feel fortunate. This version seems to be inferior."

Poof! Mamizou turns back into Mamizou! What a surprise! "Well, ya know, those rushed articles aren't a lot ta go offa'." Scratching her head, she leans back in the air… "Oh, yeah, just so's ya know, Aya tailed ya recently."

Ooo~. "May I see this paper, yo~?"

Mamizou chuckled. "Wha~t, you think I carry it on me? There's a few paper racks around the temple here 'n' there. It was kinda an old article, too… so have fun." She starts to drift to the door Stormy went outta. "Now if you'll excu~se me…"

Hoh. Mamizou's a fun person. I don't got a lotta time to waste, though…! Well, I do, but my partners don't necessarily feel the same! That, and if we suck ass too much Reimu and her nuggets will probably blow up the kappa before I do. That's no~ good!

"Let us adventure, yo!" I make for the door we came in from! "There is little time to lose!"

Fwoa~sh! Oh yeah, still have the space suit on. Oh, shit…!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

"Steady~..." Ichirin directs Unzan, as the freakin' super genie adjusts the frosty moon lander.

Staring up at it, Genkan has a brow raised. "...I wasn't aware the temple garnered youkai of this caliber."

...Next to Ichirin was a small ensemble of very casual yet very eager-looking fluffles. Aw.

...Moving over to her, I strut up to a fluffle and pick it up. It's small.

Ichirin turns to me! "No! You're gonna hurt it again!" Lunging forward, she steals the fluffle from me… and then she nuzzles it.

Genkan suddenly looks vain. Wahaha!

Maria's too distracted by how big Unzan is. Freakin'...

"i am" The fluffle begins…! "tubs" Then it ends…

Tilting the craft, Unzan gets it into a diagonal, tilted position in the air over the mansion's front yard.

"Noanh!…" The noobs outside the temple're still goin' ballistic.

"Alright, yo!" I run at the craft! "All aboa~rd!"

"Wh- we just got here…" Maria stumbles towards the craft with me! Since it's like fifteen feet in the air we got no way of getting on, but we're gonna approach it!

Ha-chan joins us in approaching it! "Don't worry, Merry-chan. The sleeping sleeper catches sleep…" Yeah, yo…!

"Incidents wait for no noobs!" I exclaim! "We can come back and pretend to be monks later!"

...Oh fuck holy shit-... oh. Unzan just picked me and Maria up rather readily!

"Eh- ah…!?" Maria reacted similarly to being lifted by a giant manly pink cloud hand! Not sure if I'm comfortable with this, but I don't have time to care!

He kinda dumps us into the exposed wall segment so that we're inside the craft.

"Ah- cold, cold…" Maria fumbles about once we're inside, before latching onto me. "...You're cold, too." She lets go. I blame this space suit…!

...Genkan 'n' Ha-chan float into the craft next.

Maria glomps the fairy! "You're warm…"

Ha-chan glomps me! "Brad-kun…"

I glomp the wall. "Oof…"

Fwi~sh! Genkan reinitializes the wall that she removed when we hopped out…

So, a tiki frik on Youkai Mountain? That should be doable! Just gotta not get eviscerated by the tengu, and not blown up by the kappa…

From in here, the outside world is distorted by the ice once again. It's really pretty!

"Yo, Unzan!" I call out to the genie from inside! "Don't hold us too tight, now! We're about ta blast off!"

We get a big thumbs up!

Taking the hint from me, Genkan drifts up to the hanger shitstorm and begins filling it with mana.

Still waitin' on that Zero Gravity proc! "I'm getting snuggled…!"

Ha-chan smiles at me. "We need to cuddle sometime again." Oo~h…!

Fwoa~sh! There we go, yo.

"Hit it, Genkan!" I brace myself for the spin cycle mode…!

She charges the hangers…

"My- my heart's not ready…" Maria-

KABOOM!

"Eee~!" -will have to be ready because we're goin' now!

Hugging me tighter, Ha-chan yells! "Woohoo~!"

Everything's spinning…!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Seas of mi~st! The Zero Gravity casts've been fine so far. I have no freakin' clue where the hell we are. If only we ran into Kanako a second time…

Thunk! We bounce off of something!

The big ice craft slows to a stop as Genkan tries to telekinetically put the brakes on. "Nn~gh…!" She has a hard time with it!

The dark surface we bumped against is obscured by the mist for a moment, before she brings us back down to the floor.

"From here, I don't think we'll need this lander much more." I state plainly. "'Cause if the big nugget's in town down here, we won't hafta freakin' blow ourselves up anymore."

...Giving me a glance, Genkan questions me! "Why is your diction always so offbeat?"

I just let my arms ragdoll. "It's a medical condition, yo…!"

She snorts. "I would imagine."

Fwi~sh! As we come to a stop, Genkan opens one of the ice walls.

...I crawl out of our sideways lander, and look about.

Fog. Mist. Zero visibility. Can just barely see the ground right before my freakin' self.

"Oh…" Maria is intimidated, and perhaps rightfully so! "So… foggy."

"Aa~h…" Ha-chan crawls out of the craft and looks around. "Hello~!?" Brave fairy!

Genkan comes out last, drifting into the air. "This fog is becoming insufferable."

"Oo~nh!" Moans and groans! Ha-chan has alerted the horde…!

"Oh, no~!" She exclaims! She doesn't look much more worried, but she made an exclamation regardless!

Maria ducks between me and the fairy friend. "Please…"

I have no idea where the hell we are, but the ground is dirt. By process of elimination, this means I could be almost anywhere in Gensokyo!

"Nnaooh…" I can see the glowing eyes of some of the cyborg fairies…!

"Hehehe~!" Someone's giggling. Cut that out…!

"Ah- nh- onho~..." The fuck's that s'posed ta be…?

Maria exhales, hugging her staff tightly. "What… what are they?"

Elderly couples on a walk. "If only our computers were better, dude. Then we could play with draw distance higher than one foot in front of us!" Now I know how Turok feels…!

...One of the stubby cyborg fairies is getting closer!

"Thunder!" For how timid she is, Maria's pretty good at actually saying spells right when it comes down to it…

Zap-zap-zap-zap-zap!

...Dude, I didn't even see the lightning bolts. That's bad!

I start to navigate around the craft to grab my hangers. "Alright, guys. I'm gonna grab my gear… and then we're gonna get the fuck outta hea!" I'm gettin' the heebie jeebies, and I'm normally not heebied or jeebied!

After a few moments, I've got all my stuff together. The hangers are still frozen together, even after the booms. Probably 'cause Genkan was directly pumping mana into them and reinforcin' em.

...Taking the Youkai Inconveniencer segment, I fill it with mana and start shining it around like a flashlight!

Let there be light!

"That's a lot of robots." I nod in genuine admiration at the amount of robots there are.

"Oh- oh my god…" Maria frazzles up. This time, I don't blame her!

Brows furrowing, Genkan huffs… "Someone has resources to spare."

...Ha-chan slowly starts crawling back into the icy moon lander. Freakin'...!

Genkan waves her arms-

Krii~ng! Krii~ng! Krii~ng!

Triple glacier blades! The earth is rended before us!

Ksh-Ksh-Kshoo~f! Metal plate heads with fairy skin still attached rocket into the air, seemingly the only easily launched parts of the mecha fairy things.

Fwa~m! A brief shockwave of green energy comes from somewhere-

Fwam- fwam- fwam! Lots of green shockwaves! Multiple of them run over us, but nothing happens. Green sheens run up the cyborg fairies, although the ones Genkan trashed are still dead as dust.

With my frozen amalgamation of hangers in hand like a freakin' staff, I erratically point the light into the mist, gauging how fucked we are. Not much is comin' from behind us…

Cra~ck! An ear-piercingly loud crack resonates in the distance somewhere!

Bolting out of the lander, Ha-chan follows me behind the craft as I move! Maria and Genkan eventually tag along-

Kshoo~f! Another oversized cyborg fairy's head is sent spiralling at a super awkward angle by some kind of attack…

Ooo! There's a woman with long, messy silver hair ahead of us, running to a clumsy stop as she bounded out from behind the big cyborg. Is she freakin' barefoot…!?

Stopping, she looks over at us, before beckoning us with her arms. "Kids, c'mon!" With that, she bounds down the way I was plannin' on leadin' us…

"Yo, follow the stranger!" Stranger danger's much more preferable than freakin' endless cyborg survival!

Using my light, we keep up with her freakin' insane running speed as she bounds along the mountainside. The slant of the soil tells me it's a mountain, so we landed close to our goal!

The girl ahead of us is wielding a big dirty cleaver. Hoh…! Talk about a good primary weapon!

...Genkan drifts ahead of us but behind the mysterious woman.

"Ah- ow…!" Maria trips or something, but Ha-chan quickly picks up the slack and grabs her arms and starts flyin' with her…!

...We run after her for a little while, moans and sounds of struggle echoing in the woods around us-

Woosh- click! A grappling hook or something comes out of the unlit fog to the right of our runway!

"Ngh…!" The woman before us is slowly dragged off the path, her movement interrupted by the grappling hook.

Genkan moves to follow her, and I light up where the hook should be coming from, running so I can get around the trees in the way…

There's something tall there, with sickly, pale white and sickly brown skin, rainbow-colored hair matting the top of its head. It stands at nine feet tall, has what looks like some kind of bone star-shaped thing on its back, and very ill-defined limbs.

The woman was getting pulled towards it by a dirty grappling hook that came from the palm of its right, single-segment arm.

As she got pulled closer, she brought up her cleaver-

Shink! Shink! She delivered two powerful slices to the torso, causing it to stumble back, and the grappling hook to disengage from her form.

Slowly, it reels its arm back-

The woman slides out of the way, and sinks her cleaver into the arm-

Woosh! The arm extends, forcing Genkan to dodge it as she catches up with the woman.

Fwam! From the nine foot tall abomination, a green shockwave flares out into a huge radius, in a single second.

"Healin' son of a…" She brings up her cleaver again-

Shink! With a powerful downward slice, she cleaves the being's arm off-

Cra~ck! I flinch as she brutishly brings the cleaver back and just smashes it into the thing's head. So that's what that cracking noise was…

The being falls to the ground, limp-

Fwo-fwo-fwoo~sh! Its entire body dissipates, exploding into shockwaves of mana and wind, leaving behind only the fossil pattern it had mounted to its back.

"C'mon!" She shouts for us again, running back onto the path and past us.

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Christ, that was a lot of running… and the mountain trail was not kind! Fortunately, she fell back a few times to make sure we didn't get beaten the fuck up…

We eventually stopped at some kind of super minimalist house in the middle of the woods.

Inside, chests and shelves were just fucking everywhere. She had like five identical treasure chests just in the right corner, nearly placed next to one another. On the shelves were random crap; bottles, vases, shiny things…

"Hah…" Maria is winded. "Ha~h…"

"My a~rms…" Ha-chan looked tired. "I wanna sleep…"

...Genkan stared at us in disdain. "I don't imagine getting this far was that much of a tax."

Says the one who floats everywhere…! "Let's see you try runnin' like a maniac…!"

...She looks away. "Too inconvenient." See, yo?

...The woman who showed us in stepped over to the crude sink in the back of the room, taking a big ass jug of water with one hand and pouring it over her cleaver, which she held with the other.

There was a fun kotatsu in the middle of the room, though…

"So." Satisfied with a mildly smudged cleaver- rather than crap spattered- the silver-haired woman turns to us. "What're idiots like you doin' climbin' mountains on a day like t'day?"

Yeah yo, we climbed. "We came to stop the tiki trouble!"

...Noddin' at me like I was freakin' stupid, she looks us over. "I'd tell ya to git on outta here, but-"

Bam, bam, bam! Dude, the pizza dude's here!

"Aww, hell." The woman begins stomping towards the door! "I swear, if it's another one 'a those…"

Marching over to her plain wooden door, she grapples it and swings it open-

"Hehehe~!" It's that creepy ass giggler from earlier! She's super tired looking, but her grin reveals that her teeth are sharp metal spokes. "What a plea~sant home, to be stationed out-"

Woosh! Silver-haired woman swings way to the right, almost purposefully missing. The blonde chick that was at the door still dodged to the left anyway-

Bang! Thrusting her arm back and forward, the woman plunged her cleaver into the blonde woman's face.

Cra~ck! ...It was not a woman, though! The face seems to be comprised of metal, plastic and crappy parts…

"Nnaa~h…" Moaning, the machine girl falls backward, the woman quickly ripping her cleaver back before the robot collapsed with it still in its forehead.

"Dirty solicita'. Come up here thinkin' they hot 'cause they ain't flesh. Mist tourists're somethin'." Shaking her head, the woman shut the door…

"Um…" Thinking formally, Maria asks the woman a question! "What's your name, miss?"

The woman snorts. "Call me Nemuno."

With that, she walks over to a plain wooden chair nearby and plops down into it. "Aa~h…"

Well then. We've obtained a moment's respite… but no real progress!

"You seen a kappa with a tiki mask on?" Interrogation time! "I gotta score ta settle, yo!"

"Don't really talk wit' the kappa." Nemuno dismissed me instantly. "None 'a my business."

I grin. "She's behind the robots, yo." That's gotta stir somethin' up…!

Nemuno glances at me, before looking down at the cleaver in her lap. "Aah. So ya say. 'N' who'm I ta know whether're not yer just talkin' ta talk?"

...I mean, it's not like I carry a freakin' court case on me. I don't think Reimu does either! Waddaya want from me!?

At my non-response, she shakes her head. "You two, too. Hell were you doin' followin' this... " She looks at my space man outfit- which I should probably change before it gets my brains stabbed out- and fails to find words. "Plastic dude?"

...The three party members of mine look amongst themselves. "Brad-kun's cool!" Ha-chan gives her best response!

Nemuno rolls her eyes. "Well, yeah. Leave it ta a fairy ta be impress'nable. What 'bout you, lil girl?"

Maria locks up! "...Mu- me?"

"Nah, the heat table. Yes, you." Nemuno's freakin' sassy…!

"...I wanna explore." Maria's pretty much an open book. "He was my only way out. I… don't really regret it. Yet."

"Hah, yet!" Nemuno allows herself to break into a grin, before quickly returning to her freakin' scolding demeanor. "...That'd be funny if it weren't a joke. Still, tell me the truth now. Y'don't sound so sincere."

Ha-chan makes for the kotatsu in the meantime. Or, as Nemuno dubbed it… the 'heat table'. Maria looks for a chair, and Genkan…

Genkan's had enough counter-interrogation! "Mountain dweller. You don't seem to understand-"

"Aa~h, yap yap yap." Nemuno interrupts her, wavin' an arm about! "I get it, I get it, miss… Yuki-onna. Come all up inta my home 'n' my territory 'n' start tellin' me I'm an idiot, 'cause blah blah blah, I ain't doin' things just the way you want."

Brows furrowing, Genkan folds her arms! "...Well-"

"Well lemme tell ya somethin', miss yuki-onna!" Nemuno ain't done yet…! "Twenny three hours 'a day, I'm fine wit' playin' wit'cha. But here, I'm tryin'a honest ta gods have a sit down wit' this… troubled youth ove' here, 'n' you get all up 'n' my business and start tellin' me how it is? Wha's up wit' that?"

...Genkan doesn't look like she knows how to respond to that! "...I'm trying to tell you. You don't understand-"

"Oo~kay." Nemuno leans back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "Oo~kay. Mmhm. Oo~kay."

Maria looks amused…! "It's fine, Genkan. She seems nice enough."

...This description causes Genkan to give her a skeptical look! "I... suppose that's one way of putting it."

Nemuno just snorts.

...Maria looks down for a moment, before focusing on her. "What answer do you want from me?"

At that, Nemuno shakes her head. "Yeah, if I already knew the answer, I wouldn' be askin' ya. Whaddaya think I wanna hear?"

...After a moment's hesitation, Maria attempts! "I wanted to adventure because I didn't like my life at home."

"...Didn't like it, huh?" Nemuno nods at that. "Guess it'd figure. Teens're always the rebellious types."

"That's not it." Maria clarifies, slowly shifting to look at someone other than Nemuno. "My real parents… they're dead, basically."

...Nemuno just takes this information in stride. "Aah. Wait- who do ya live with, then? Ghosts?"

Maria snorts. "Wha- no. The village placed me in a foster family."

"...Village?" Brow raised, Nemuno looked Maria over. "...Ah, yeah, guess I do sorta recognize them rags. Once every couple 'a years, see some wisecracker from somewhere with the same rags on. Different dude, same attitude, same rags."

This raises Genkan's attention! "...That makes sense."

Maria and Nemuno look over at her. I'm just kinda chillin' back here, watchin' things unfold! Also… this house has a lot of super generic furniture. There're some exceptions, though...

Genkan elaborates, focusing on Maria. "Out of place it may be, I sympathize with your loss. I may not know the same kind, though it and I are no strangers."

...Well, that took an unexpectedly dour turn!

Speaking of, Nemuno has freakin'... random chairs of different types of wood, which seem to be inconspicuously different craft styles than her stock affair. They're still plain, just plain in different ways.

"Y'know who killed 'em?" Nemuno pries! "Or did they do it themselves?"

Maria frowns. "No. Someone killed them. I don't know who- or what- they are."

...Ha-chan pokes her head out from under the kotatsu. "Maybe they're small…"

Nemuno smiled. "Now, why'd you wanna go adventure? Other than ta beat cabin fever."

Playing with her staff, Maria furrows her brows. "I want to get strong, too. Something similar could happen to me, someday. I watched my mother die. I'm-… so- someday, it'll hurt less. Still… my feelings won't go away."

Eyebrows raised, Nemuno nodded at this… "Heh. I'd lend ya my cleaver… 'cept it's the only one I got!"

"I'm going to make them pay for ripping apart my family." ...Maria underwent a freakin' transformation in this conversation! What, s'Nemuno a freakin' therapist or something?

...Then, she looks over us again. "A-ah… I just said that aloud, didn't I?"

"Yeah." I nod casually. Were her parents murdered by random bandits or some shit? Considering the village, y'know, wouldn't doubt it… "If ya ever find out who, yo… gimme a yell." I will fight the bandits!

Genkan stares at me dryly. "You're eager."

I nod. "Hey, yo. I'm currently all for family feuds, as long as I'm on the right side of history! If there is a right side..." My nod becomes slower and warmer, yo… "Ho ho ho~!"

After an idle moment, Nemuno stops staring at a wall to examine us again. "What're you people doin' here, again…?"

Freakin'... "Robots…!" I remind her.

"Whah?" What do you mean she doesn't know what robots are. "...Oo~h, right. Tha's the word for them golems 'a steel 'n' flesh. How could I forget." ...She doesn't seem enthusiastic about the terminology.

Standing up, she twirls her cleaver around. "How about some tea? Y'all look like y'could use a 'lil boost."

Fwoa~sh! Zero gravity…! Aaa~h!

Nemuno soars away from her chair as she tries to walk, before stopping herself with natural flight ability. "What in the…"

Genkan acts to telekinetically keep herself and Maria in place…

Ha-chan stays hidden under the kotatsu as it begins to float. "Hehehe~!"

...Indifferent to this development, Nemuno begins air-swimming to the back counter. The way her shirt is worn, it looks like she just took a dress, got one sleeve in and wrapped the rest around herself. Even so, the thing looks like it was made to be worn that way. Touhou costumes are weird.

When I said her cleaver was big, I meant it. The handle was fit for a broadsword, but the cleaver itself you could probably call a short sword… 'cept it's made fer hackin', not slashin'! She's got this tiny little red bow on the bit between the handle and the blade.

"Where did you get these furnishings from?" Genkan examined the plain everything!

"Made 'em." Nemuno states plainly. Woah…!

Maria's surprised! "Wow. Do you have tools?"

"Aah." Nemuno waves her off. "Some copper 'n' iron axes 'n' picks and stuff. Honestly, these days m'cleaver's best suited for tree 'n' rock stuff. This baby's harder than steel." She twirls it around, giving it a smile. "Got me through thick 'n' thin, it did."

Landing on her feet and using her flight to walk normally despite the zero gravity, Nemuno steps up to a cabinet and swings it open.

"honh honh" Two fluffle friends are inside, looking small… and dusty.

"Gi~t, gi~t, git!" She waves a hand inside the counter, causing the dust friends to scatter and flee from it. "Ya stupid rats!"

"what help" One of them runs out and gets into all fours, looking around with distinct fever-

Shink! Nemuno drops to her knees to sink a cleaver into it, dissipating it into dust.

"im waldo" The last fluffle walks into Nemuno's knee, and hugs it. "im a love child"

...She stands up, and-

Bang! She kneed the counter with her fluffle-clad leg!

Fwoosh. The fluffle was crushed back into dust…

"Nn~nh…" Nemuno growled beneath her breath. "Dust mite things'll be the death of me. Hate fightin' the crap they build. They're like the kappa, 'cept they don't care about dyin' or bein' useful. Oughta walk up into the valley one day, 'n'..."

Trailing off, she pulls a crude lookin' tea set from under the counter. "...Now, why don' y'all sit down, stay awhile? Don't worry, I don' bite. Much. Hehehe~!" She sounds as offbeat as I do…!

Thu-thu-thud. Bam, bam. Stuff falls! ...Nemuno doesn't seem really concerned by the Zero Gravity cast wearing off.

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

Hoh. We're now all seated around the kotatsu… I've also changed into my kimono, which took concentrated effort because this place is cold and there's only like two rooms. The second room does have a furnace, it just ain't lit.

Nemuno sits down some tea cups before us. They're a little lopsided and basic-looking, but they do the job. Actually… did she make these too?

"Yo." I lift my tea! "Didja make these cups?"

"Mmm." Nemuno looks around the table… "Someone wanna let me squeeze in?"

"Yes, yo. Yeah. Please." I scoot to the side! She's friendly enough… and she's actually really pretty for a forest bum!

Maria scoots to the side of her spot as well, which Nemuno accepts 'cause it's closer. Aa~h, well.

...Genkan stares at me dryly. "Intend to ask her for a hug, too?"

I've been found out! I've gotta commit…! "Yeah, yo…!"

Nemuno lets out that single laugh she does, as she sits down. "Hah! Bring me somethin' ta eat first, would ya? Don't just give no service down here. Also prove ta me ya won't just up 'n' die if I ain't tailin' ya ass twenny four-seven. I like strong people."

...So, yeah, tea. I pick up my slightly disfigured cup and take a sip from it…

Oh, woah. Wow. I don't like tea normally, but… that's pretty good!

"What kind of tea is this?" Genkan wishes to obtain this flavor for her own! ...How does a yuki-onna make tea? Does she just have like… an ice stove at home?

Nemuno looks down at her cup, before tilting her head indifferently. "Kind 'a tea? Uu~h. Well, I took summa them autumn-y lookin' leaves, and some of those white 'n' red berries, and just kinda pulverized 'em. I also used them poisonous deep purple ones…"

You did a what now?

...At our stares, she clarifies! "I boiled it out, clearly. Look, I'll give it ta ya straight: if I wanted ya lot dead, I'd do it wit' my cleaver 'n' my hands. Don't really do poison much."

...Maria turns to her. "What if someone poisoned you?"

Nemuno snorts. "Aa~h, I can take it. Worse case, I limp up ta a god and beg fer some cleansin'." She lifts the entire tea pitcher, and starts drinking from it. Ho ho ho…! I just realized it, but she never gave herself a tea cup!

Click. She sets the entire iron pitcher down, and stretches her neck a bit.

"I see." Genkan reaffirms that she is not blind. I'm relieved, Genkan!

Nemuno snorts. "Cool. I see, too." Great minds think alike, yo~...!

...Dryly, Genkan prods the mountain woman further. "What do you see, then?"

"A yuki-onna wit' a long face." Nodding, Nemuno lifts her pitcher for effect. "Why's that, anyway? Not often I see you types, 'n' even less I get ta talk to ya. Nine times outta ten I gotta hack yer plate bones in 'cause yer tryin'a give me the hug 'a death." ...Finished, she begins freakin' chugging the tea.

Genkan's face hardens. "You would attack my sisters?"

...Parting her lips from the pitcher, Nemuno's eyes roll up sassily for a moment. "Yeah, just run up 'n' kill each other. Nah, usually what happens is, I see one, they gimme a couple stupid words like, 'ooh what is a woman like you doing up he~re'. An' then they shoot ice at me 'n' try ta rape me! ...I mean, I've only seen 'em in snow storms, but I always figured they'd jus' be animals. Mostly. I had a hunch they weren', but you's the first time I didn' hafta bloody one. Y'git what I'm sayin'?"

...Once again, Genkan has been disarmed by her way of talking for long segments. "...Ah." After a moment and a sip of tea, she collects herself and tries again! "It is unfortunate my younger peers cannot control themselves during our most fertile season."

Nemuno grins. "...Fertile? You wanna get laid?" She points at me. "Done 'n' done."

Slowly, Genkan rests her arm on the table, before bringing it up to palm her face.

Maria snorts, grinning at her reaction.

Really liking that reaction, Nemuno keeps pushin' it along, glancin' between me and her! "I mean, if ya don't kill the kid, a girl like you'd probably blow his mind. Boy looks young, too, so he oughta be real energet-"

"Not quite what I meant." Genkan's had enough! "...I meant that that event- a snowstorm-... was simply one of our more prosperous times. I didn't say anything about intercourse."

Beaming, Nemuno debates that. "Wha~t? Y'said they were fertile, what'm I supposed ta think ya mean!? What, you gonna grow herbs outta 'em? They farm lands now? Real fertile!"

...Genkan's still facepalming. Wahaha!

Man. Nemuno's a fun time, yo. Didn't even know we had freakin'... survival experts roughin' it up on Youkai Mountain!

==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====

END OF CHAPTER 69

PROTAGONIST: Brad, the Fluffle Slayer, Fairy Slayer, Accidental Human Slayer, Ph. D in Plant Hangers, Scarlet Liberator, Village Liberator, Eientei Crucible, Sinker of the Flufftanic, Assembler of the Legendary Air Ride Machine, Sky Climber, Amateur Espionage Practitioner, Illegal Fairy Harborer, Conscientious Party Member, Winter Warrior, Holder of Too Many Titles.

PRIMARY WEAPON: Hard Winter - A earth/ice-elemental plant hanger made from sturdy rock; has a flower curved around the hilt. Able to be used as a jack hammer for demolition purposes. Strikes can be empowered with magical energy. With the addition of an enchanted shaft, it is able to be used as a warhammer and grant the ability to self-cast attack buffs to the wielder. Allows casting of Gaia Seed. Casts Tundra, a weak spike of ice! Allows the user to cast Ice Shard. Extends combo length by one artificially. Allows the user to jump out out of combos smoothly, and leave frost in their trail.

INVENTORY:

[Bag of Holding] - A small bag that always seems to be conveniently unaffected by whatever weird crap happens to me. Never enlarges, almost always gives me what I need if I remember it's there. Infinite inventory space. I would like to know where it actually puts all my stuff though…

==o==

WEAPONS:

Swordbreaker - Dark elemental plant hanger. Boosts the power of dark skills. Has a curvy, fancy design that lets it easily counter swords! It better, with a name like 'Swordbreaker'. Provides a weak but passive boost to defense, magical defense, and evade. Lowers the attack of foes as its on-impact effect.

Youkai Inconveniencer - A holy plant hanger, which works as a flail 'cause of the cross necklaces attached to it! May cast Flash, an attack that blinds; works best on darkness elementals and youkai. Acts as a flashlight via candles. Converted to a flail with cross necklaces! Can cast Shine.

Fairy Harp - A sand-red, cast iron plant hanger. It was used to hold a generic potted plant before being utilized as a weapon of mass skull-cracking destruction. With the addition of a wind-grate, it can cast Gust. By the addition of a steel block, its attack and magic attack increased slightly. Sparkles in the light due to fairy dust, able to reduce the accuracy of weak, biological enemies by irritating their senses with the dust. Can play beautiful, flat-tone musi~c!

Flame Salvo - A red and crimson plant hanger comprised of mysterious gems and metals. Boosts the power of fire skills. Ignites stuff on impact. Never again do I need a lighter or the ability to somehow rub two sticks together really hard to make a campfire! Has a flamethrower nozzle, allowing the user to cast Flamethrower Plus! Allows the user to cast Fume.

Vortex Hanger - Wind elemental plant hanger currently attached to the Yin-Yang flail as a crafting material. Granted a limited hover per swing when wielded, but that ability is what allows the flail-o-copter to fly now.

Deep Blue - A blue and silver plant hanger comprised of mysterious fantastical metals. Can produce limitless fresh water. Boosts the power of water skills. Allows wielder to cast Geyser. The addition of a valve served to allow control of its water flow. I wonder if you could use this in place of a sink...

Yin-yang flail-o-copter - A flail with a standard, maximized Hakurei Yin-yang orb in the sling of it. Unable to have its powers fully activated, as only Reimu can truly harness the power of Yin-yang orbs. Minor affinities from the base orb transfer over, though! Crafted from a Hakurei Yin-Yang orb, a rope of panties, and two bra cups. Ropes were used to attach the Vortex Hanger to the yin-yang orb, allowing the flail to be used as a flying device, although it's a bit straining on the arms.

Sharper Than Darkness - A dark, runed plant hanger constructed from the shards of a dead man's sword. Dark effects promote a glass-cannon style; physical attack increased, physical defense lowered. User bleeds out faster. Can cast Revenge, an attack that increases in power the lower the user's health is. A scythe edge from a mysterious ghoul was added to let it cut!

Bee-Sheventeen-Bawmber - A mechanical plant hanger enchanted to make big booms on contact. Explosions are mostly knockback based, but I think it could gib particularly weak-willed people… magic is weird. With the addition of a barrel, it can shoot singular, yellow danmaku bullets.

Million Bucks - A basic green cast-iron plant hanger, from the aged cellar of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's a gift from Flandre Scarlet! Has an obsolete map of the cellar's maze, etched by Flandre herself. Shoddily enchanted to give a speed boost when the wielder is lower on health. Lowers defense slightly. With added electric and holy charms, the hanger is slightly electric and holy elemental. Is able to fluidly chain attacks for stringing together longer aerial and ground combos. Allows the user to fluidly transition from combo to jumping. Allows forced aerial combo support. Grants the user the ability to air slide. Increased jump height when running. Gives motion sickness with avid use!

Market Gardener - Critical hits during blast jumps! Otherwise, it's just a normal, old plant hanger. Named after a very similar shovel…!

NERF dart blaster - Nerf guns are cool and all, but don't try defending yourself with one. Please. Unless you're surrounded by fairies who don't know the difference- but y'know- that opportunity's a freakin' million to one.

NERF longsword - 'CAUTION: Do not jab at people or animals'… you know what that means! Maybe one day this will actually come in handy…

==o==

ARMOR:

Kaguya Houraisan Disguise - Wear to become a NEET! Tons of pockets! Seventy-five percent time resistance on equip. Voice, face, and height specifications not included!

Monk Robes - Wear to become a Buddhist! Actually pretty comfy…!

Remilia Scarlet's Mob Cap - Twenty five percent dark resistance. Lets me be a Touhou, too!

Camouflage Kimono - This kimono means business, son. One hundred percent ice resistance, and as such renders me immune to all magical ice damage. Dunno 'bout icicles and stuff, though. Fifty percent freeze resistance… not that freezing will hurt me with this thing on. Fifty percent dark resistance. Negative fifty percent fire and burning resistance. Hopefully hides me a bit when navigating in the freakin' brush...

Yellow Racecar Helmet - It's like a really knockoff space marine helmet! Fifty percent sun resistance, one hundred percent freezing and blinding resistance. Also gives immunity to electrical stunning. It feels like it's got good physical defense, too… at least for my head.

Lunarian Prototype Space Suit - A suit meant for combat in deep space. So far, it's only got the whole 'exist in deep space' part down…! One hundred percent electric resistant. One hundred percent freezing resistant. Has an oxygen tank, but that's only useful if you wear the helmet to go along with it. Randomly casts Zero Gravity when it feels like it.

Lunarian Prototype Deep Space Helmet - It's a freakin' helmet. Fifty percent blinding resistant! When worn with the Lunarian Prototype Space Suit, it also confers immunity to burning and poison, along with another one hundred percent electricity resistance. Yo…!

Testing Oxygen Tank - The oxygen tank used by the Lunarian Prototype Space Suit. Lasts for two and a half minutes! Not meant to actually be used outside of testing, but it's possible. Refills automatically in breathable air.

MP Prize Pin - A badge that allows the user to drain some of the enemy's mana, forcing it to become mana prizes on the field. For awhile only the user(s) of this badge may pick them up, but after a grace period anyone can. Extends prize grabbing range!

Sun Badge - Fifteen percent sun resistance when equipped. Fifty percent resistance to blinding and electrical stunning. Replaces the on-impact effect of all weapons with Sunfire Flare when worn.

==o==

CONSUMABLES/OTHER:

Forty-one thousand, two hundred Yen - ...Yeah, just in a bag. It's about time I documented how much freakin' money I have!

Seven Health Potions - They give you youkai-like regen for like, thirty seconds! No chuggin' these babies to indefinitely survive the cold reaches of outer space. Unless the regen outdoes the asphyxiation, but I think I'd rather die by that point…

Mega Potion - Youkai-like regen for thirty seconds… except for the whole family! Applies to entire party. Good for when we all suck at life!

Four Mana Potions - Restores an average amount of mana, I think. More than enough for someone like me!

Three Panaceas - Cures all status effects. I dunno if it works on debuffs, though...

WebDings Book about Foreign Juices - Wahaha! This better fetch a price on the market!

Akihito's Broadsword - Too big for me to use as a weapon. I wonder if I could use it as like, a tent stake or something.

Butterfly Dream Pills - Makes you dream of being a beautiful butterfly!... now, if only there was a pill for lucid or wet dreams, and then I'd consider Yagokoro the doctor to end all doctors!

Rope of Red Bikinis - Wahaha! Gonna getcha, son!

PARTY:

London, the Multipurpose Combat Doll - What it lacks in brains it makes up for with a suit of armor and some OP utilitarian spells! Can cast basic fire, lightning, and ice attacks, both the magical and physical variety. Has lance, can shoot danmaku. Variety of attack commands now, including intelligent tracking, trailing, patrolling, and defending. Has mana pool for the stronk commands, though, so those should be used sparingly. I really have to remember to use her, at some point!

PRIMARY WEAPON: Shanghai Lance - Burly lance with jabbing ability. Mostly useful as a blunt object, it seems, and intimidation factor. London really likes it, apparently. London shouldn't have sentience, but I can't help but notice the awkward way which it just pauses before it swings this lance.

==o==

Hana, the Electric Fairy Maid - A cuddleable fairy who's stalked me for awhile. She's lovable, dude. Healed by electrical damage! Casts tiny bolts of electricity as her attack these days…

PRIMARY WEAPON: Zap!

INVENTORY:

Probably rocks - Yeah.

Winter Mittens - Aww. Keeps hands from freezing.

Winter Coat - Where does she store this when it's not on…?

[unknown space remaining]

==o==

Genkan, the Yuki-onna - A bitter yuki-onna from Gensokyo's wildlands, mostly active in the winter, and on particularly cold days. Probably heals from ice damage. Commands powerful control over frost, and has a wide variety of ice-affinity attacks. Weak to fire and burning.

SKILLS:

Freeze - Instantly freezes one to two enemies. Low chance of working on stronger foes.

Creaking Freeze - Generates a spinning, magic snowflake in an enemy's body, which instantly freezes them after a moment. High accuracy.

Glacier - Erects a massive blade of ice from the ground, dealing incredible physical ice damage.

Ice Spin - Spins and lashes out with chilling frost. Probably just an extension of her normal frost powers and not an actual skill…

Other Skills - Probably has more spells, but freakin'... I dunno her like a textbook!

INVENTORY:

Red Kimono - It's got floral decorations…!

Money - Apparently.

I dunno - What would I~ have if I was a sexy ice woman?

[unknown spaces remaining]

==o==

Maria, the Actually Ordinary Magician - A villager from the human village. Used to run the most impoverished bar ever, but that fell under or something. Really low self-esteem! No known resistances or weaknesses. Can cast basic elemental spells!

INVENTORY:

Wood Staff - Good for bonking things!

Raggedy Clothing - Low quality, old clothes from the village. Keeps her covered.

[Travel Bag] - Inventory that exists! Does not take up inventory because it is inventory. Eight slots.

Three Health Potions - Heals, yo. Youkai-like regen for some seconds, blah blah blah.

Three Mana Potions - Guess wha~t? It heals, except mana!

Elixir - Powerful potion that restores all health and mana. Effects only start becoming noticeably limited if you're like, Yuuka Kazami.

[one space remaining]

==o==

ACTUAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:

this one didn't take an awful long amount of time, but still longer than i'd've liked - w - i feel like it came out pretty dang good though all things considered

gettin' some 'a dose NEW TOUHOUS in there my boys; i'm a big fan 'a nemuno sakata myself .w.

at times i feel compelled to reread parts of the chapter to make sure the quality's as it should be, but i should really stick to like, reading it at the very end, 'cause even then unless i'm in the right mood i'll probably retain too much information to properly gauge my work from a consumer standpoint goin' in

i did look back at my last batch briefly though and go "y'know, s'not really all that bad!"

aside from the action scenes kinda hahaha but we don't talk about dose no more; most 'a you readers out there were probably fine wit' them as is, but afta' consideration, i wanna save lengthy battle segments for contextually appropriate gimmicks and thematically smooth (or mostly smooth) proceedings; if a fight feels too mechanical and too much like filler, it's probably 'cause i didn't do something i shoulda been doin'.

this batch moreso resembles the incident structure of the past ones too while being better written in general, so it should be pleasin' enough for everyone involved - w - things move quicker; not sure if it provides good variety or not

when writing, working with a lot of characters at once always gives a scene a very cluttered and confusing feeling- which is in part the point because people- but after reading them over i find "you know it's not as terrible as i'd initially imagined". sometimes it's hard to gauge the quality of scenes mid-writing because i feel a plethora of other variables either relating to the process of writing or external things

that said, i can't help but get hype writing certain scenes - w - i'd say a scene only truly shines if you're really feelin' it but i've looked over some scenes i've written while just drained and empty and they were actually pretty spot on; in the end it's not actually terribly difficult to move forward, since the work's premise is to just have fun, explore characters, and not (always or intentionally) try to convey deeper meaning

finally, i think the biggest mistake writers like me make is that they fall into a rut and never get out of it, when all it takes is some pushin', pushin', pushin' and pushin'. that, and recognizing emotional faults and issues and learning to solve, look past, or ignore them

writing's not always fun, but it's fulfilling and liberating - w - you learn a lot about people too just by contemplating how so many different and varied personalities would act in different settings

i think i've been rambling too long XD

but anyway… i'm not certain whether or not i'm doing maria's character in the way i want, or if her feelings of unease and awkwardness are seeping into me subconsciously XD so i think i'll just leave her be…!

starting a lot of sentences with character's names all the time makes me antsy, but it's hard to avoid when working with like, four-man parties and four-player-parties-plus-external-characters. it's always a matter i've carefully danced around… and you could say descriptive prose lets you avoid it but like that's not really addressing the issue is it XD

that's enough rambling yo

don't forget to beat me up in the reviews yo

as always, see you all next time!