After the Prismriver sisters gave the band and Charles the grand tour of the place, it turns out that despite being the only ones who lived there, they had quite a lot of spare rooms for them to use. Everyone claimed a room and put their stuff in them. Soon they realized it was getting close to dinner time, despite the band just coming out of morning back home. But then the realization hit them that they were so worried about getting to Gensokyo that they never bothered to eat. While the others were getting settled in, Nathan and Charles decided to start asking the sisters about where everything was.
"So uh, what is there to eat around here anyways?" Nathan asked.
The sisters shrugged. "We never thought about eating anything since we're already dead," Lyrica began to explain. "But I think there's a bar in the Human Village somewhere that you could-"
Like the sound of a siren, Pickles immediately popped his head out of his room. "Did someone say a bar!?" he cheered. "I love this place already!" He began getting ready to go out to the bar when suddenly Charles stopped him.
"Pickles, don't you think it's wise to have someone go with you so you don't get lost?" he asked.
Frantically, Pickles tried to think of a solution since his only contacts in Gensokyo were the Prismrivers and Yukari, who was still who knows where. "Erm…...Nathan! Let's go!" Before Charles and the singer could protest, Pickles grabbed his arm and began running out the door with him like he was chasing the Holy Grail. Nathan's a big dude, but Pickles can almost overpower anyone when he's chasing booze.
Charles turned to the sisters. "I have to apologize for their behavior, Pickles has a bit of a drinking problem."
They shrugged. "As long as he doesn't cause problems, we don't really mind," Lunasa said. "That's pretty much how anything in Gensokyo works: don't cause an incident and then no one will have a problem with you."
Charles started rubbing his temples in frustration. 'I hope you two will be fine,' he thought to himself.
"Well that's REAL (guitar screech)-ing nice Pickles!" Nathan yelled at the drummer while they continued to walk through some random forest. "You got us lost!"
Pickles glared at him. "Hey, quiet! Ya know I get excited when there's booze involved! It's gotta be comin' up here soon, I can feel it."
"The only thing you're going to be feeling is my foot in your ass if we don't find that village in the next hour! Why didn't you bring a map?"
"Oh, 'cause you thought about that too, right?"
The two of them continued to bicker and walked a little longer through the forest, not really sure if they were any closer or further by the sign of things. They walked for about half an hour when suddenly they saw a cabin sitting in the middle of nowhere. "Hey, there's probably a forest ranger here," Nathan said. "We better go see if they're selling a map so we don't end up in (guitar screech)-ing Bangkok or some place like that."
They knocked on the door and waited for an answer. A few seconds later, a blonde girl in a blue and white dress that looked to be in her late teens to early 20s opened the door. "Hello, how can I help-" the girl stopped in mid-sentence when she took notice of the two gangly men standing before her and covered her mouth in surprise.
"Um, do you know how to get to the bar?" Nathan asked, not noticing the girl's reaction. "This jerk-off here got us lost."
"Y-y-you're….Dethklok," she stammered. "W-what are you doing here?"
"Eh, we just told ya lady!" Pickles said impatiently. "We got lost tryin' ta get to da bar!"
She snapped out of it and came back to her senses. "I apologize, I'm a fan of yours. My name's Alice. Alice Margatroid." She stuck her hand out and offered a handshake, but the singer and drummer were still focused on the task at hand. She awkwardly retracted her hand and started rubbing the back of her head nervously.
"That's great and all, but can you show us how to get to the bar?" Nathan asked. "We're all staying with some ghosts and it's one of the biggest out-of-the-(guitar screech)-ing-way spots ever. No clue how to get to the Human Village from there."
Alice was confused for a second, but then instantly remembered. "Oh, you must mean the Prismrivers!" she said. "Yes, I heard your two bands were playing the Gensokyo Music Festival in a couple of days. I wasn't aware that you were all staying together."
Pickles was starting to get agitated. He was going to lose it if this chick didn't tell him where to get his precious booze. "Awright listen, erm, Alice! Either you tell us how ta get to tha bar or I'm gonna beat the answer outta ya!" As soon as the last word got out, a bunch of small dolls dressed as little girls surrounded both of them, armed with knives, spears, razors, and a lot of other sharp things.
Her expression darkened. "I'd recommend you not do that," she warned. "I may be a big fan of yours, but I don't take too kindly to anyone threatening me."
Pickles was shaking at the sight of nearly getting killed by a bunch of kids' toys. Nathan on the other hand was impressed. "A bunch of dolls that can murder you in a heartbeat? That's pretty brutal," he said with a smirk.
Alice made the dolls stand down and let the two relax. While Pickles calmed himself down from the threat of being impaled, she blushed a bit at Nathan's "brutal" compliment of her dolls. "Well that's not the first thing anyone says about my puppetry," she giggled. She sobered up and looked at the boys. "Follow me, I'll take you there. I need to go shopping anyways." With that, the Seven-Colored Puppeteer led the two brutal musicians out of the Forest of Magic and out of eternally getting lost and probably eaten by youkai.
"Thanks again fer the help Alice!" Pickles said. "Say, ya know where we can get a map 'round here? Could use one ta get back home."
Alice pointed in the direction of a couple of shops. "A couple of stores sell maps, maybe you can find one in the general stores."
Nathan nodded. "Thanks for helping out. See you at the show." The two of them bid her farewell and headed for the bar to eat and get drunk on whatever they're selling there. They walked in to see a bunch of patrons at the bar, in the booths, mingling, and joking around. They sat down at the bar and motioned for the bartender. "Hey bar bitch, give us a couple cold ones!" The bartender gave them a couple of beers while sneering at that comment.
They were on their second and third rounds when they noticed a orange-haired girl with two giant horns in her head, a white and purple dress, and chains wrapped around her wrists at the end of the bar drinking a lot and drunkenly laughing with a couple of other young-looking girls. Pickles motioned for the bartender. "Hey, do ya check IDs or what?" he demanded. "Ya going to let little girls drink booze now?"
He rolled his eyes like the two musicians were total morons. "Of course we do sir, but she's well over a thousand years old. She's an oni after all."
Pickles and Nathan looked at each other confusingly. "This place is getting weirder by the minute," Nathan said. "Not only does it seem like everyone here is a (guitar screech)-ing girl, but now they're monsters who can outlive an entire family bloodline! The hell?"
The oni-girl in question noticed the two and walked up to them drunkenly, but stable enough to be on two feet. "Hey there, aren't you Dethklok?" she asked.
They nodded. "Yep, yer the oni who's like a thousand years old despite looking like yer 8 right?," Pickles replied.
She held out her hand. "Suika Ibuki, nice to meet you. I'm a fan of yours."
Pickles shook her hand. "So the bartender tells us ya drink too. What's good around here?"
Suika held out her gourd that she kept on her 24/7. "Sake is the best way to go in Gensokyo," she proclaimed. "I could drink this stuff all day!" She held the gourd out for them to both try. Nathan retched at the taste as soon as it hit his tongue, but Pickles drank it without hesitation and no response after.
"God, how the hell can you drink this stuff!?" Nathan complained. "It feels like it's straight alcohol!"
Suika smirked. "Oni's special secret. But I'm a little shocked Pickles here didn't feel the same. Humans are normally falling over passed out as soon as they get a swig of this stuff."
The drummer raised an eyebrow. "Yer outta yer mind if ya think I'm going down from alcohol," he retorted. "Think I was gonna be a bitch to this stuff?"
The oni grinned maliciously. "Alrighty then, how 'bout we see how much you can take in a drinking contest then?"
"Charles ain't gonna like this," Nathan said under his breath as he watched the two heavy drinkers stare each other down.
"Bring it little girl!" Pickles said.
Suika and Pickles each ordered two bottles of sake and matched each other shot for shot, neither one backing down for a second. Two hours later, the bottles formed up ranks on the bar counter, everyone watching in amazement at the two not being dead yet. Both were swaying back at forth, trying not to pass out.
Nathan's jaw dropped. "Holy (guitar screech)," he said in amazement. "No one's ever matched Pickles like this in a drinking contest before!"
Some of the other youkai that were watching came up to Nathan. "No one's ever matched Suika either," they said in the same tone. "This is crazy!"
The two drunkards were doing their best to stay upright, but were slowly losing it. "Y-y-yer g-g-good at dis," Pickles slurred. "B-but ahm better or somethin'."
Suika looked up at him glassy-eyed. "H-h-has a-anyone told ye ya have the b-best goddamn vocals in that Metallica band or somethin? I-I-I liked that Reign in Blood CD or whatever it's called."
Pickles drunkenly nodded. "Y-yeah! I liked et when we had Ozzy doin' da guitar too!" He held up one last shot glass full of sake. "Last one buddy pal ol' boy-o?"
"Ya got it!" The two clicked shots and downed them. A second later, both fell to the ground passed out. Everyone just stood in amazement that both could actually pass out from drinking too much.
Nathan sighed in annoyance. "Great, so now I got to bring his drunken ass home and get a map," he deadpanned. He put Pickles over his shoulder and paid the ridiculously high bill left by the drummer. If he wasn't part of Dethklok, he'd be homeless with that kind of bar tab. He walked out while everyone else was getting Pickles' new drinking buddy home herself. He bought a map and made the trek back home to the Prismriver's place, not even sure what to expect tomorrow.