Here the next installment.
According to the internet, i actually got people liking my stuff. So thanks to all those that have read it. And special thanks to Ban3 for reviewing. And to everyone else as well.
Bright.
That's was all Dutch could see when he woke up. Then he blinked and it cleared up. It was the sun, shining through some kind of transparent barrier.
He was lying on grass. On the edge of his vision, he could see a house. It was a two-story modern looking small affair with a chimney. Behind the house was fog and large eyes could be seen through gaps in the fog.
As he tried to comprehend the sight, the event of the last time he was awake play. He sat up, looking for his companions. They were lying on the grass as well. Maribel was lying on the grass, face-up. Her eyes were open.
Dutch got up and rushed to her."Maribel! Are you okay?" He shouted.
"We are in gensokyo. Physically." Maribel whispered with wonder in her eyes as she looked up at the barrier.
Dutch shook his head and turned to Renko. She was lying on the ground facedown. When Dutch moved her over, she opened her eyes. Seeing a man with his face against the sun standing above her, Renko lunged upwards.
Surprised, Dutch was pushed face first onto the ground. Renko grabbed his arm, twisted it and pulled. As Dutch screamed in pain, Renko eyes widened and let go.
"Dutch? Oh my god! I am so sorry!" Renko cried out as she backed away from him."I thought you were the Mask."
Dutch groaned."I don't think I look like an asshole. Although that might be a matter of perception." He said as he moved his arm."Feels okay. If you had pulled any further, I think I would have ended like the guy I volunteered for. You did use the same move on him, right?"
"It's the same move. I learned it after a accident with a person on a train." Renko answers as she shudders at the memory.
"Ouch. That kind of guy should be thrown into a pit of ants to be eaten alive."
As Renko helped Dutch up, she turns to look around her."So this is Gensokyo?"
"Not exactly."
Dutch and Renko spurned around. Standing behind them was a blond woman. She had a two-tailed hat with amulets plastered all over it. She wore a blue and white dress and had 9 tails.
Dutch blinked at the sight. Renko asked,"You are a kitsune, right?"
The woman nodded."Yes I am. My name is Ran Yakumo. Right now you are on the border between Gensokyo and the outside world. Neither here or there."
...
/Warning. Intrusion Detected/
...
Dutch glanced at the message. But there was nothing he could do. The nano-bots in his body were the only one of their kind in the world so in theory that was nothing that could attack it since no one knew about it. Which means that the nano-bots have no defenses whatsoever against a direct attack on them.
"Neither here or there? That's mean we are in nowhere right?" He asked.
Ran answered,"You could put it in that sense." She then gestured toward the house."It's is the mark of a terrible host to leave guests on the front lawn. Shall we move to more comfortable settings?"
The duo nodded."Can you help us wake our friend here first?"Dutch asked."She seems to has lost herself in wonder."
Ran walked up to Maribel and bent over. When she got up, Maribel was shaking her head.
"You okay?" Dutch asked. Maribel nodded.
"Sorry, I was overwhelmed by the magical boundaries of this place." She apologized.
The four left the lawn and went into the house. Inside, the house was roomy, with large spaces that appeared to be bigger than the house itself. And on the other end of the house, there was a large Japanese style front porch. A grove could be seen and beyond it was a land. The land was a healthy green, unlike the world they human knew. Patches of color show where there were villages and plots dotted the land. There was a river running through the land and the river originated from a mountain that reached past the clouds. Further more could be seen is the background, including a mountain range.
"That is Gensokyo." Ran announced.
The trio breathe in the sight. Maribel and Renko with excited eyes, Dutch with surprise.
"So this is the land of magic." Dutch whispered."They will never believe this back home."
After having their fill of the sight, the trio followed Ran to a room. Inside were a couple of chairs facing the a fireplace. One of the chairs was occupied by a blond woman.
"Good afternoon." The woman said." name is Yukari Yakumo. You are all guests in my house."
The trio bowed in return. Yukari chuckled,"Please, Let's not be so formal. Sit." She gestured towards the other chairs.
As the three moved to sit down, Dutch felt himself tense up. The woman was giving of the vibe of a dictator.
The kind of vibe that says I have the capability to do what ever I want and I know it and there is nothing you can do about it.
He will have to watch himself around her.
Yukari spoke,"Does any of you need a drink? We have a very wide selection."
Maribel and Dutch ordered water while Renko declined. Ran disappeared into a door and returned with a tray with 3 cups. She placed the cups onto to holders on the chairs. After placing the three cups onto Yukari chair, she retreated.
As Dutch sipped the natural mineral tasting water, Yukari spoke.
"Let's get down to business, shall we? Which one of you has the vault?"
The trio blinked."The what?" Dutch asked.
Yukari sighed and snapped her fingers. Just then, Dutch's right hand gave off a bright light. When Dutch looked at it, he saw that the source was the same crystal from the cave except it was now on his glove. When he tried to take it off, he found that it was stuck tight to the glove as if it was a part of it.
Yukari watched."You won't get it off." She spoke with a serious face."Once the vault has a new owner, it fuses itself to it's owner soul. Whatever you do, it will find it's way back to you."
As Dutch processes the implications, a series of messages flashes onto his view.
...
/Intrusion detected/
...
/Analyzing/
...
/Type:Unknown/
/Source:Unknown/
/Danger level:Unknown/
...
Yukari continued,"It fuses itself to your soul and adapts itself to the form that it find most reflects it's owner. Don't be surprised if you get something that has the shape of a book or something even stranger. Once, an owner had the vault shaped as a pen."
As the three humans watched, the crystal gave a bright light that forced all of them to close their eyes. As Dutch closed his, he felt his right hand glove moving as if it was changing. Finally the light faded.
When Dutch opened his eyes, the glove was still there but now the vault was a shard-like crystal fused to the cloth of the glove. The fibers of the glove were actually inside the crystal and Dutch could feel suppressed power coming from his glove.
Yukari looked."A practical design. You must be a very practical person."
Another series of message popped onto Dutch's view.
...
/Unknown detected/
...
/Analyzing/
...
/Unknown/
...
/Attempting to classify/
...
Yukari continued some more,"It is a curious little object, isn't it? With it's transformation, you are now the full owner of the vault."
"What does it do?" Renko asked.
"Exactly what it says." Yukari described." It is a storage device. Except it can store anything and everything it encounters without limitations. It can also recreate what it has stored inside and can also combine anything stored inside. With it, you can do whatever you want."
As the three human breathe in the knowledge, Dutch asked,"So what happens to us now?"
Yukari smiled,"You stay as my guests for now. All of you are very special humans and I will like to know you all. Ran~" She called.
Ran appeared from behind the door."Yes Yukari-Sama?"
"Show our guests to their rooms."
Ran bowed. The three humans left their chairs and followed Ran to another end of the house.
"This is your rooms. If you require any assistance, just call for me and I attend to you as soon as possible." Ran said before leaving.
The rooms were roomily, just like the house. They each had a personal bathroom and a large queen-sized bed. There was a television in each room and a study table.
Dutch chose one of the rooms and entered. He looked at his clothing. It was covered in dirt, plant sap and other liquids that he did not want to identify. He decided that he take a bath.
Unslinging his rifle and taking off the body armor, Dutch walked into the bathroom. He saw a clothing rack already stocked with clothing and a laundry basket. In another door was the actual bathroom, with a bathtub and shower.
After washing in the shower, Dutch dropped his dirty clothing onto the laundry basket and chose a simple black shirt and pants.
After leaving the bathroom, he proceeded to disassemble his rifle onto the study table followed by his pistol and grenade launcher. Picking up a roll of toilet paper, he began to clean his weapons.
Just as he finished, a wave of fatigue hit him. Barely able to keep his eyes open, he stumbled to the bed and managed to make it just as his eyes closed.
Back at the fireplace, Yukari was sipping from a cup of tea.
Ran walked in from the door."Yukari-sama, I must ask why have we decided to let's these humans stay. What is it about them that is more special that any other human that crossed over the border?"
Yukari took a sip and put down the cup."The human male. He controls an object that grants him immense power. It will be best for us if we keep him here so we can monitor him. And the other two females. One has the ability to pinpoint where and when she is and the other...the other is very likely the human counterpart of me. Its best for us to keep them all here."
And she smiled."And did you not see the male's reaction when he first saw me? He tensed up as if he knew what I could do. He intrigues me."
Ran bowed."Understood Yukari-Sama."
Dutch looked around. He should be sleeping and yet right now he was in some kind of tent. When he looked around, he saw that it was a Mongolian tent, a large one. And floating in front of him was a small bright ball.
"Oh! You're up." The ball chirped in a feminine voice that sounded robotic.
"What the heck are you?" Dutch said.
The ball chirped again."I am the Vault Assistance and Learning Entity. I can specially created to help you adapt to the vault. Right now, you are in the last owner's vault setting." It introduced.
"So what do I do now?" Dutch asked.
"Right now, we must go to the the map room to change the vault to your setting. Follow me." The ball said as it flew out of the tent. Dutch followed.
Outside, he saw that the tent was in the courtyard of a massive Chinese palace. The ball was waiting at the stairs of a large building.
As Dutch walked up the stairs, he admired the design of the building. It had all the classic chinese designs down to the dragons intertwined with the pillars.
Inside the building, Dutch saw a massive throne in front of a large crystal.
"Please touch the crystal." The ball instructed.
When Dutch touched the crystal, he was lifted up by an energy stream. Around him, the ground started breaking up. Cracks starting running along the ground and walls. The crystal became a ball of energy that started sucking in everything.
The whole structure started to crack into different parts and fly into the ball of energy. The roof broke up and flew in, the floor doing the same in a mirror image. Everything was flowing into the ball, even the sky until all that was left was the ball of energy, Dutch and the Vault Assistance and Learning Entity. Everything else was pure blackness.
Then the ball flashed. Tendrils of energy spread out from it, leaving solid matter in it's wake. The tendrils kept moving until Dutch was floating in above a ring shaped walkway. The energy beam holding him disappeared and he dropped.
And the tendrils still continued. Spreading out along a path, the tendrils finally completed the room and then promptly faded.
Dutch looked around. Standing on the glass walkway, he saw that the walkway hovered in midair and it also branched out into three doors in the walls, which was made of metal. He was standing in front of the ball of energy. The ball of energy itself hovered in mid air at the center of the room and there was a computer in front of the ball.
"That's is the interface for the vault's map room. It also allows you to do a number of processes on anything stored in this vault, such as recreation or combination of anything inside. Right now, the vault is under a new setting so you have nothing stored inside. To access past settings, use the interface. Any item taken from past settings can be used in the vault but to bring it to the physical world will require time, depending of a variety of factors such as the materials used in the object." The ball instructed.
"Right now, we have to test the vault's ability to classify new items. Your weapons are a good test." The ball continued.
A screen appeared in front of the ball of energy in the center of the room. It showed the room where Dutch was sleeping in. As Dutch watched, tendrils of energy flowed out of the crystal in his glove and reached out for the study table and the dismantled rifle and pistol. The tendrils enveloped the weapon components and then gave out a bright glow.
When the glow faded, the weapon parts were gone. The tendrils returned to the glove.
Back in the vault, the components appeared on the screen.
"Now that your weapons are stored in the vault, you can do anything to it. Also, since your weapon ammunition is stored in the vault, you can now recreate the ammunition, meaning you have a supply of infinite ammunition. You can phase in or out your weapons and ammunition since it was originally part of the physical world in this setting. This will be the same for anything you store." The vault entity finished.
"So anything I store can instantly be brought into the physical world?" Dutch
summarized.
"Yes that's right." The entity answered.
"Why not the past settings?" Dutch asked.
"To bring anything from the past settings requires the vault to bring the item from the past owner's reality into the physical world, which is in your reality. It will take time for the vault to recreate since the item is not part of your reality. Because any items you store is in the physical world in your reality, it can instantly be brought to the physical world since it is originally was part in this world and in turn, this reality. Understand?" The entity finished.
"Yea,I get it." Dutch answered, his mind reeling from the knowledge.
Just then, the screen of the computer started flashing. The entity flew to the energy ball.
"AHHHHHH! Parts of your body is rejecting the vault fusion." The entity said, sounding flustered.
Dutch walked up to the computer. He instinctly typed a few keys in the screen and a window popped up.
"It's the nano-bots in my blood. Let me fix this."
...
/'Unknown' detected/
...
/Attempting to repel 'Unknown'/
...
Dutch typed on the screen.
...
/Operator authorization accepted/
...
Dutch smiled before typing some more on the screen.
...
/Instruction received/
...
/Standing down.../
...
The computer stopped flashing.
Dutch looked at the screen and asked the entity,"So what now?"
The entity spoke,"Now? Now you wake up. All the initial processes have been completed. And there is someone waking you."
Dutch vision blurred.
"Dutch? Wake up." A voice prodded his mind.
Dutch opened his eyes. Maribel was standing over him. She had swapped her dirty dress for another dress, this time blue.
"You won't believe what I just went through." He said as he got up.
"I can see that. Your boundaries have changed." Maribel answered.
"Really?" Dutch asked. Maribel nodded.
He followed Maribel to the middle of the house. Where there was once chairs was a dinner table. Yukari sat at a end of the table. She motioned to the side of the table where Renko was already seated.
Eientei
The patients for the day were gone but Eirin was still seated at her lab table, staring at a piece of paper.
"Master, dinner is ready." Reisen said as she walked in.
Eirin gave a tired smile."Udonge, can you bring up my food? I have something to do."
"Is something wrong Master?" Reisen asked.
Eirin looked thoughtfully at Reisen."Udonge, can you contact your counterpart on the moon?"
Reisen looked surprised at the sudden question."You mean the other Reisen?" Eirin nodded."I think I could. Why master?"
Eirin picked up the piece of paper she was reading."I need you to send a message to your counterpart. She has to pass this message to the Watatsuki sisters. It's highly important that only them and ONLY them get this message. Am I clear?"
Reisen nodded."Yes Master." She acknowledged.
Mayohiga
Night
After dinner
The dinner was a quiet affair. The food was served by Ran and they all dug in.
Now they had moved to the front porch where they all sat down. Then Renko and Maribel retired early. Now only Dutch and Yukari were sitting on the front porch, looking out at the land.
"How did this get created?" Dutch asked as he looked at the natural night lights.
"A couple of centuries ago, magic started to experience a decline in the outside. This came due to a increase in people not believing in magic. To save what was left, I moved every remaining youkai into here then erected a magical border. This place exist as the last bastion of magic." Yukari spoke.
Dutch looked out at the bastion."It does not like a bastion. More like a Eden."
Yukari smiled."I think paradise is a better word."
Silence reigned as they look at the paradise again.
"Which brings me to request a task. As payment for letting you stay in my house." Yukari said, seriousness on her face.
Dutch turned to her." I'm all ears."
Yukari started."This land is governed by a set of rules. It's called the spell card rules. I will not go into specifics. You can find it using the vault. What I'm asking regards to something more important. Basic combat is done by dammaku. It involves the use of projectiles, the most common being energy bolts, to fight. Spell cards also use dammaku. To summarize the spell card rules, patterns of dammaku are sealed into pieces of paper. Each person have their own pattern and so, their own spell cards. And the dammaku is used is usually non-lethal."
"The weapons you bought in. Their very principles means that they will upset the balance that the spell card system has bought. I need you to use the vault to modify the rules to include guns from the outside world. Can you do it?" Yukari asked.
"Why can't you do it? According to what the vault tells me, you are the youkai of boundaries. You can change it if you wanted." Dutch said.
Yukari sighed."One of the core tenets of the spell card rules it that it is absolute. Usually I can ignore that rule but I am a user of the rules which means I am part of the system and cannot touch it. But you. You are an outsider and not a user of the rules. You can change the rules without being affected."
Dutch thought about it for a minute and smiled."I do it."
Yukari smiled."Thank you." She said with the words all over her face.
Later
Dutch lay down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. He reminisced the events of the past days. Just replaying the events on his mind, he whispered to himself,"All that has happened to you...and here we go again."
He closed his eyes and he was in the vault map room again. The entity floated up to him.
"So what do we do Master?" The entity asked. Somehow, this time, it sounded more human.
"First things first, we are getting you a name." Dutch said.
The entity floated in a confused manner."A name?" It asked.
"Yes a name. I can't call you Vault Assistance and Learning Entity. It is just too long. I decided to call you Vale. An acronym of your name." Dutch finished.
The ball floated, silent.
"Hello?" Dutch asked.
"Thank you." The now named Vale said with gratitude."This is the first time any owner gave me a name."
Dutch chuckled."That's the second thanks I received in an hour. Now that that's out of the way, we got a job to do. I need you to help me with a modification of a Land-wide Ruling system that governs combat in this land.
Vale chirped excitedly."Yes Master! You just have to use the interface and access the realm scanner system then wait for the realm scanner to find the system and and then access the system and..."
"Stop." Dutch laughed."We are not on a timetable right now. While we modify the system, tell me about your past owners. I really want to know why they did not give you a name.
And Human and Entity worked through the night, trading and laughing at stories each had.
And that ends the first night in Gensokyo.
So how was it so far?
i kinda need people to review. Just press the button, use about about 3(or maybe even lesser!) minutes of your time to help me improve.
I learn how to better write and you get to practice your command of the written word. Everyone wins. :)