Rumia Quest VI: Succession [Complete]

[Hanzo K.]

>"It's a long story. You hungry and able to go places? If so, we can talk about it over some good food."

[Raikaria]

>"It's a long story. You hungry and able to go places? If so, we can talk about it over some good food."

> "Honestly I shouldn't even be on my feet." Yumemi says.

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Good point, let's get you off them then, eh? I can tell you how I found out about these Valkyries you seem so surprised about once we've done that."
>Let's make for someplace we can both sit comfortably.

[Raikaria]

>Nod. "Good point, let's get you off them then, eh? I can tell you how I found out about these Valkyries you seem so surprised about once we've done that."
>Let's make for someplace we can both sit comfortably.

> You follow Yumemi back to the room where you last saw her, where she sits on the edge of the bed was was comatose on.

> "Now I look at you, you've changed..." Yumemi says.

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Yeah, I had to do this to regain an old weapon I lost, and to seal away a part of me that's unarguably evil."
>"So, how about I tell you that story, hm? Well, long ago, I got no idea just how long, Shinki was talking in the neighborhood of over 8000 Years I think, when this Red-Winged Woman shows up and tries to kill her, calling her an 'Abombination', and all that stuff. Sure, she's a Demon Goddess and all, but she's a good person. But anyhow, this little adventure for that woman was about to come to an end, and not a happy one either. After practically getting killed, she somehow found her way to the Heart of Makai. You know, that place you stuck the absorber there in. The heart, seeing a chance for revenge, which was mutually shared by the remaining life the woman had, enabled her to be reborn as the Heart's Attack Dog, a twisted and altogether not-nice lady. Shinki managed to send her away, but after so many dimensions, she made her way here, to Gensokyo. It was then that Yukari, the grandmother of the current Hakurei, and a group of others sealed that demon into the form of a little girl at great expense to themselves."
>Smile a bit. "I think you can guess who that girl ended up being."

[Raikaria]

>Nod. "Yeah, I had to do this to regain an old weapon I lost, and to seal away a part of me that's unarguably evil."
>"So, how about I tell you that story, hm? Well, long ago, I got no idea just how long, Shinki was talking in the neighborhood of over 8000 Years I think, when this Red-Winged Woman shows up and tries to kill her, calling her an 'Abombination', and all that stuff. Sure, she's a Demon Goddess and all, but she's a good person. But anyhow, this little adventure for that woman was about to come to an end, and not a happy one either. After practically getting killed, she somehow found her way to the Heart of Makai. You know, that place you stuck the absorber there in. The heart, seeing a chance for revenge, which was mutually shared by the remaining life the woman had, enabled her to be reborn as the Heart's Attack Dog, a twisted and altogether not-nice lady. Shinki managed to send her away, but after so many dimensions, she made her way here, to Gensokyo. It was then that Yukari, the grandmother of the current Hakurei, and a group of others sealed that demon into the form of a little girl at great expense to themselves."
>Smile a bit. "I think you can guess who that girl ended up being."

> Yumemi puts her hands together, and looks serious.

> "... The Valkyries... vanished 8,000 years ago in my world, and the magic died soon afterwards. The theory was that the Valkyries were to our world what the Fairies are to yours. Except, they were not childish, carefree sprites. They were warriors, who would seek out and destroy evil and crimes against nature wherever they could find them. I presume one saw Shinki's actions as a crime against nature, and found her way to Makai... and met her end."

> Yuemni thinks. "They say when a Valkyrie dies, their spirit persists. Usually they pass on to the great Hall, Valhalla, which the gates vanished at the time magic did. However, if one became consumed by revenge, and twisted by dark magic... yes, it seems logical. Especially since you represent a force of nature, darkness. The Valkyries drew their power from things such as fire, and the light of the sun."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "So they're the equivalent of the Sprites then. See, when magic went out in the world Gensokyo left, the Sprites, like my friends Cirno and Dai, were the first to feel it. And they're really important friends of mine y'know, I wouldn't be as good a person without them. So you can see why I fought against you that day."
>Fistpalm. "Oh yeah! I guess this means I'm a Dark Valkyrie then, since I've got this." Let's pull out the sword to show her. Let's bring out our snazzy Wings too.

[Raikaria]

>Nod. "So they're the equivalent of the Sprites then. See, when magic went out in the world Gensokyo left, the Sprites, like my friends Cirno and Dai, were the first to feel it. And they're really important friends of mine y'know, I wouldn't be as good a person without them. So you can see why I fought against you that day."
>Fistpalm. "Oh yeah! I guess this means I'm a Dark Valkyrie then, since I've got this." Let's pull out the sword to show her. Let's bring out our snazzy Wings too.

> Yumemi blinks.

> "You're not a Valkyrie at all. You're no longer a warrior of the nature of our world. You were reborn as something else. You may have the fighting spirit, and willpower of one, but nothing else."

> Suddenly, you hear something from outside. Outside and above, it seems.

> "Rumia! I know you're in Eientei!"

> "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, the mad stalker scientist launched some hologram thing in the air and is demanding you speak to it, alone, within the next 48 hours, or she'll unleash some reverse-engineered technology of mine." Yumemi says. "Her loud voice is what woke me up."

[Hanzo K.]

>Chuckle, and stare at our sword. "Looks like we might get to test you out now, eh partner?"
>Beat.
>"Oh yeah, this here is my new sword, forged in Makai. 'Unified Chaos'. It's a primary compared to the Chains of The Ninth Circle, which I still don't want to use much on the off chance the Old Me comes back for more trouble."
>Then grin, and fold our wings so we can exit safely. "Well, I'll be back."
>Let's head on out and go see Rika in all our newfound glory!

[Raikaria]

>Chuckle, and stare at our sword. "Looks like we might get to test you out now, eh partner?"
>Beat.
>"Oh yeah, this here is my new sword, forged in Makai. 'Unified Chaos'. It's a primary compared to the Chains of The Ninth Circle, which I still don't want to use much on the off chance the Old Me comes back for more trouble."
>Then grin, and fold our wings so we can exit safely. "Well, I'll be back."
>Let's head on out and go see Rika in all our newfound glory!

> "Well, you have 48 hours. That said, I'm not sure if she has a functional clock in her specifications..." Yumemi says.

> You fly up to the Rika hologram, which seems to shrink as you approach it, until you reach a normal sized Rika in the sky, clearly a hologram formed around a small evil eye.

> "You have a new look. Did that happen when you went to Makai from Alice's?" Rika asks, before she shakes her head, and begins talking before you can even ask how she knew you were at Alice's... or Eientei, for that matter.

> "I want to settle this." she says simply. "Sort out whatever you want, you have 48 hours, then come back here, alone, and I'll take you to... me."

[Note: Going with Rika will be a temporary point of no return. It's also the 2nd major event I hinted at, with the last section being the 1st. You can do some more stuff with Maribel/Renko or whatever, or choose to go ahead with whatever Rika plans now.]

[Hanzo K.]

Well, what are you guys thinking then? We take care of things with the others now? Or go with Rika to settle things?

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"How long will this take? I kind of have some... other business at the moment. With those two humans you saw earlier."
>"Also, walking right into your lair when you invite me would be stupid. There'll obviously be a trap. If you want to 'settle this', we do it in a neutral location, one wherer neither of us has the advantage."

[Raikaria]

>"How long will this take? I kind of have some... other business at the moment. With those two humans you saw earlier."
>"Also, walking right into your lair when you invite me would be stupid. There'll obviously be a trap. If you want to 'settle this', we do it in a neutral location, one wherer neither of us has the advantage."

> "Depends. I assume not longer than a couple of hours. Tops." Rika answers.

> "What do you think I am? I'm evil and mad but I'm not a brute! Besides, last time you were in my base, it didn't explode on you or anything. Besides, who said I wanted to fight? I don't personally want to blow up all my tanks, ammunition, and my mainframe that if it gets blown up, I die because that's what runs all of the robot mes." Rika says, sounding offended.

> "Of course, if you want me to erase all magic in Gensokyo using Yumemi's technology and win by default, you can keep tying to change the terms of the meeting." she then says, with a sly smile. "Don't try and bargain with the one holding the superweapon."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"So how, exactly, is this going to 'settle' things? Aren't you just gonna come after me again if I win?"
>"I also have to wonder why you aren't already using your magic-draining device if you actually have one. You'd turn it up to max right away if you could, seeing as how completely draining magic would kill every youkai in Gensokyo. It's not exactly like you to hold off on that."

[Darkoda]

>Do we want to tempt her on the magic draining thing? We shouldn't mention that one. It's probably a lie, but she might have some kind of draining device and even a small drain might kill our Sprite friends.
>And didn't the kappa reverse-engineer that anyway?

This is obviously a trap of some kind, it's Rika. That said, who knows what that stalker's up to.

>Given our previous experience dealing with our stalker rival, has she really bothered with elaborate traps or just outright tried to kill us?

[Raikaria]

>"So how, exactly, is this going to 'settle' things? Aren't you just gonna come after me again if I win?"
>"I also have to wonder why you aren't already using your magic-draining device if you actually have one. You'd turn it up to max right away if you could, seeing as how completely draining magic would kill every youkai in Gensokyo. It's not exactly like you to hold off on that."

> "Maybe because I want to beat you myself, not using a trick. Maybe I respect you enough to want you beat by me personally?" Rika says, before adding, "Besides... something happened a couple of hours ago. Or more precisely, someone. In my base. Where no-one knows the location of."

>Do we want to tempt her on the magic draining thing? We shouldn't mention that one. It's probably a lie, but she might have some kind of draining device and even a small drain might kill our Sprite friends.
>And didn't the kappa reverse-engineer that anyway?

This is obviously a trap of some kind, it's Rika. That said, who knows what that stalker's up to.

>Given our previous experience dealing with our stalker rival, has she really bothered with elaborate traps or just outright tried to kill us?

> The Kappa were starting to, although you're unsure if the Kappa have finished in only about three days.

> She has not bothered with elaborate traps. She tends to try and kill you in the most obvious ways possible, with tanks or spanner. Right in front of you. While being the biggest ham she can about it. You know this about Rika, she has enough pride to not have stooped to indirectly killing you before.

[Darkoda]

>"...Just what did you tick off this time?"
>The Lunarians, Yumemi, who else has she tried to work with that will likely turn out to be the real problem this time?

Well Rika's gone and gotten herself in trouble again, so do we sort out Maribel and Renko now, or go deal with Rika immediately?
Wait no thinking about it the more time they spend with Keine to cool off the better, let's go smack Rika now.

[Raikaria]

>"...Just what did you tick off this time?"
>The Lunarians, Yumemi, who else has she tried to work with that will likely turn out to be the real problem this time?

Well Rika's gone and gotten herself in trouble again, so do we sort out Maribel and Renko now, or go deal with Rika immediately?
Wait no thinking about it the more time they spend with Keine to cool off the better, let's go smack Rika now.

> "I've not ticked off anyone! I've never seen this person before in my life!" Rika says.

> You could make a very long list. Every youkai in Gensokyo is on the list, really.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Never seen her before in your life? Describe her would you? She got anything remarkable about her, like a neat sword, or red wings?"

[Raikaria]

>"Never seen her before in your life? Describe her would you? She got anything remarkable about her, like a neat sword, or red wings?"

> Rika vanishes, and a different hologram takes it's place. While you don't know it personally, the figure matches someone you heard Cirno and Mystia met.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Hmmm...I think Cirno and Mysty told me about someone like that. Haven't met her for myself though. Can't imagine why she'd show up though."
>What do we know from what they told us?

[Raikaria]

>"Hmmm...I think Cirno and Mysty told me about someone like that. Haven't met her for myself though. Can't imagine why she'd show up though."
>What do we know from what they told us?

> You know that the Yama, although you can't recall her name, usually appears for one of two reasons. The first, is because she speaks at funerals in Gensokyo. The second is to lecture people on their faults when she has free time. Mystia and Cirno were both victims of the lectures during that Spring where all the flowers bloomed brilliantly.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Okay, seems she's just shown up for a lecture I'm pretty sure. From what I've heard, she speaks at funerals, or lectures people on their faults. Mytsy and Cirno both got a does of the latter back when all the flowers bloomed out of season."
>Grin. "It was pretty back then y'know. The kids oughta be fine without me I guess, so I can spare some time to find out what's going on."

[Raikaria]

>"Okay, seems she's just shown up for a lecture I'm pretty sure. From what I've heard, she speaks at funerals, or lectures people on their faults. Mytsy and Cirno both got a does of the latter back when all the flowers bloomed out of season."
>Grin. "It was pretty back then y'know. The kids oughta be fine without me I guess, so I can spare some time to find out what's going on."

> "Oh I know she's shown up to do that, she already has... but she did something else too..." Rika says, switching the hologram back to herself.

[Hanzo K.]

>Raise an eyebrow. "Oh? What's that?"

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Is it about you using all these machine bodies? Or having killed your original body?"

[Raikaria]

>Raise an eyebrow. "Oh? What's that?"

>"Is it about you using all these machine bodies? Or having killed your original body?"

> "You ever had that moment when your life flashes in front of you eyes? Well, she MADE me have that moment. And a whole lot more moments too."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Whoa. Like what could've been if you'd not gone all mecha?"

[Darkoda]

>So the Yama super guilt-tripped Rika? Interesting.
>"Well alright I should make sure you aren't going crazier."
>And take the chance to try to break whatever she's using to stalk us across dimensions.

[Raikaria]

>"Whoa. Like what could've been if you'd not gone all mecha?"

> "No." Rika says. "I'd rather explain in private."

>So the Yama super guilt-tripped Rika? Interesting.
>"Well alright I should make sure you aren't going crazier."
>And take the chance to try to break whatever she's using to stalk us across dimensions.

> "Because me going crazier would be bad?" Rika says.

> You decide to sabotage whatever she's using to stalk you while you're there.