[COMPLETE] Rumia Quest VI; Cont: Reaching for the Sky

[Raikaria]

>"Well, I guess I'll jump that bridge when I come to it. But it was nice talking to you again! Anything you want me to pass along to Maribel or Enkura? I have Enkura stuck in Flandre's old room right now until we can at least remove most of her crazy."

> "I'm already talking to Maribel now. Nothing for Enkura, she would just fall further into madness."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Ah, okay then. I only hope she doesn't hold too much of a grudge after we fix her crazy. I bet that since you couldn't do it, Maribel might be able to help. Seeing as you said her powers are on a level far beyond even yours."

[Raikaria]

>"Ah, okay then. I only hope she doesn't hold too much of a grudge after we fix her crazy. I bet that since you couldn't do it, Maribel might be able to help. Seeing as you said her powers are on a level far beyond even yours."

> "Her potential. And that will take time to reach. Indeed, her powers are identical." Yukari says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Well, if this works out, we'll have at least found a temporary fix until Maribel is able to manage it fully."
>Then sigh. "Unfortunately, if that doesn't work, Yuuka's gonna have Elly 'do her job'. And to be honest, Elly's probably the only one strong enough to pull it off that I know about. It was pretty rough, knocking Enkura down enough so that she couldn't hurt anyone."

[Raikaria]

>"Well, if this works out, we'll have at least found a temporary fix until Maribel is able to manage it fully."
>Then sigh. "Unfortunately, if that doesn't work, Yuuka's gonna have Elly 'do her job'. And to be honest, Elly's probably the only one strong enough to pull it off that I know about. It was pretty rough, knocking Enkura down enough so that she couldn't hurt anyone."

> "Enkura's powers are a shadow of mine and Maribel's, if that's what you mean." Yukari says.

> You recall how Elly had Enkura near death when you encountered them. The scariest thing it was no less than a couple of minutes since you heard Enkura's first cry of pain. You almost wonder how Elly beat her so fast, it's clear Yuuka didn't help, or else there would either have been plants everywhere, or no mountain. The more you think about, the clearer it becomes that Elly's claim about her own power was no exaggeration.

> "Well, it is the job of a Shinigami to do that deed. Well, them and the Kishin. You cannot fault her for it. In fact, you cannot fault Yuuka, even if her reasons were selfish, in this case, technically, she was as right as you were."

[Hanzo K.]

>"I gotta wonder though, what's someone as powerful as Elly doing, working for a nutcase like Yuuka? Or rather, as she was once known, Titania."

[Raikaria]

>"I gotta wonder though, what's someone as powerful as Elly doing, working for a nutcase like Yuuka? Or rather, as she was once known, Titania."

> Yukari smiles.

> "That is a simple matter. Elly wasn't strong. Not before. She was a failed Shinigami, and retired, becoming but an associate of the Yama. Yuuka, seeing something, took her in, and actually trusts Elly. That is something Elly has never had, trust in her abilities. This developed a fierce loyalty for Yuuka, and, out of that desire, Elly grew stronger. She's been invited back to work for the Yama many times, but declined to be anything more than an associate. You could say that Elly got her power because of Yuuka."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Wow, so it's kinda like Elly became her Shikigami or something?"

[Raikaria]

>"Wow, so it's kinda like Elly became her Shikigami or something?"

> "A Shikigami draws power from the master directly. Elly has merely unlocked her potential through Yuuka's trust."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Yuuka, trusting someone? That's pretty hard to believe. But I guess it's like how I got stronger too, isn't it?"

[Raikaria]

>"Yuuka, trusting someone? That's pretty hard to believe. But I guess it's like how I got stronger too, isn't it?"

> "It's more trust in Elly's abilities. Her power. When Elly kicks herself for being weak, Yuuka reminds her that she's not. Despite her cheerful exterior, Elly is pretty self-conscious, and her past failings really hurt her. Her power spiked after the incident when Reimu and Marisa fought her as well, since she entered another state of depression, and Yuuka convinced her to get even stronger, instead of kicking herself."

> "Of course, if Yuuka is sincere about everything, or is just using the fact she can get a Shinigami as an underling, is a whole other matter." Yukari says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Wonder if she could get even stronger? I mean, I know she's a Shinigami, an incarnation of death, but something like that's always gotta be stronger than the strongest living being. Death comes for everyone sooner or later after all."

[Raikaria]

>"Wonder if she could get even stronger? I mean, I know she's a Shinigami, an incarnation of death, but something like that's always gotta be stronger than the strongest living being. Death comes for everyone sooner or later after all."

> "Oh my, haven't you been listening? I said Shinigami and Kishin multiple times. The Kishin are something far worse than the Shinigami that's sent after you when they fail~. Above them are the Yama, and then the Yamaxandu herself, Shikieiki, although the Yama only act directly as an absolute last resort against something that, left unchecked, would certainly destroy everything, and is cheating death." Yukari says.

> "You could say that Death comes in many forms~" she adds.

[Hanzo K.]

>"So theoretically, if it was Seiga behind this mess, she'd step up to the plate to put an end to the mess, wouldn't she?"

[Raikaria]

>"So theoretically, if it was Seiga behind this mess, she'd step up to the plate to put an end to the mess, wouldn't she?"

> "If the threat she posed was severe enough to force her hand, and they had tried every other option, yes, the Yamas would take direct action." Yukari says, before adding, "Just to put the Yamaxandu's power into perspective, if myself, Yuyuko, and Reimu teamed up, we still wouldn't even make Shikieiki break a sweat. It would be like a fly attacking you."

> "Not to mention the Kishin, who are subordinate to the Yamas, are actually a subspecies of Oni. Think of the power one would need to command Oni."

> "To my knowledge, however, the Yamas have only directly intervened once in all of history, and even that is a myth, from before even my time began." Yukari says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Wow, that definitely makes her pretty dang strong then. But they've only done it once? How well-known is this myth? I might just research it on my own."

[Raikaria]

>"Wow, that definitely makes her pretty dang strong then. But they've only done it once? How well-known is this myth? I might just research it on my own."

> "It's hardly known, it's from a time before writing existed, even among youkai. There are no written records. The saying is that there was a terrible creature, over a million years ago, who cheated death, and became a youkai shortly afterwards. However, it only had one goal in mind. The complete destruction of the fledgeling human race."

> "This being was allegedly the first youkai in 64 million years, since the mass extinction of the Cretaceous Era killed off all the youkai at that time period, and it was a fell creature. Nothing sent at it could stop it... until the Yamas decided there was no option but to step in directly. In it's death throws, however, the being released a large amount of it's energy, which catalyzed other creatures into becoming youkai, which were neither as powerful or evil as it. Indeed, this event was the catalyst for the rebirth of the youkai race."

> "It's name wasn't known, but legend says it was a Youkai Smilodon, a Saber-Toothed Cat, with size roughly equal to the humans of the time."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Wow, I wonder just how strong this thing was?"
>Beat.
>"If Enkura could create anything she imagined then....Oh boy. It's probably a good thing that she doesn't know this tale, huh? Then again, she probably wouldn't be able to copy it fully, if at all. At best she'd probably only manage a shadow of it, yeah? At that point even I could probably be able to at least hold it back."
>Pause.
>"Say, you think someday we'll ever run into someone descended directly from that old terror? My guess is that it'd probably be some kind of cat, or cat youkai."

(The logic here being that it probably would've had to spend time as a 'normal' animal before becoming a Youkai. I could be wrong though.)

[Raikaria]

>"Wow, I wonder just how strong this thing was?"
>Beat.
>"If Enkura could create anything she imagined then....Oh boy. It's probably a good thing that she doesn't know this tale, huh? Then again, she probably wouldn't be able to copy it fully, if at all. At best she'd probably only manage a shadow of it, yeah? At that point even I could probably be able to at least hold it back."
>Pause.
>"Say, you think someday we'll ever run into someone descended directly from that old terror? My guess is that it'd probably be some kind of cat, or cat youkai."

(The logic here being that it probably would've had to spend time as a 'normal' animal before becoming a Youkai. I could be wrong though.)

(Youkai can be born as youkai if they are actually born from two Youkai. Random example, a child of two Crow Tengu would be a Crow Tengu, not a Crow that would later become a youkai. Two magicians would birth a magician, not a human. Most youkai, however, do start as normal animals, or a half-human/animal half-youkai. Tenma was born a youkai, for example, being born from a Crow Tengu and a Wolf Tengu.

Which begs the question. Was he born live or as an egg?)

> "Stronger than anything the Yamas had at their disposal a million years ago." Yukari says, "And strong enough to take out entire tribes of primitive humans, which were physically stronger than modern ones, without sustaining wounds heavy enough to make it fall prey to anything else, including the underlings of the Yama at the time." Yukari explains.

> "It depends on how much she could imagine it's power. It could actually be re-created by her stronger than it started. The power of her imaginary constructs are only as strong as she thinks they are, not their true power. As for you being able to hold it back? I'm not sure, no-one knows just how strong that creature was."

> "It's not known if it had any blood relatives, but Ran is actually descended from one of the youkai created during it's death throws." Yukari says. "Of course, a million years of blood-line is a long time, but Ran is still one of the strongest youkai there are. Of course, that's not just due to her bloodline, but also herself, and my power being handed to her over several years too."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Huh, so she's pretty much as close as it gets right now, eh? At least until a direct descendant of the original shows up somewhere down the line."
>Pause thoughtfully. "I wonder what sort of power it had? You know, like Wriggle's control of insects and stuff."

[Raikaria]

>"Huh, so she's pretty much as close as it gets right now, eh? At least until a direct descendant of the original shows up somewhere down the line."
>Pause thoughtfully. "I wonder what sort of power it had? You know, like Wriggle's control of insects and stuff."

> "That's something no-one knows." Yukari says. "However, yes, Ran is about as close as you'll get, she holds a tiny fragment of the first youkai's power."

> Yukari looks curious for a moment. "This talk makes me wonder what the Youkai Dinosaurs were like before that meteor killed them all~"

[Hanzo K.]

>Shrug puzzledly. "There's always looking through time somehow I guess? I bet Shinki might know how, I'll ask her when I visit next time."

[Raikaria]

>Shrug puzzledly. "There's always looking through time somehow I guess? I bet Shinki might know how, I'll ask her when I visit next time."

> "I'd do it, but I'm kinda dead, and I'm not strong enough to open a window of over 65 million years." Yukari says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Well, I guess that leaves Shinki then. She opened a temporal window back to when the As-of-yet-Nameless Valkyrie attacked her. of course, had that Valkyrie not done so, I wouldn't be here."

[Raikaria]

>"Well, I guess that leaves Shinki then. She opened a temporal window back to when the As-of-yet-Nameless Valkyrie attacked her. of course, had that Valkyrie not done so, I wouldn't be here."

> "Yes, I guess Shinki might be able to look back to our dimension 65 million years ago. I think. Makai timelines are funny in relation to ours."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Yeah, I'll ask her to see about opening a time-window so I can get a look at that Smilodon Youkai while we're at it. And maybe I can use that to trace and see if it actually does have any living descendants, so I can see about making sure they don't live by it's example. I bet if I catch them early enough I could take it under my own proverbial wing. It's not like I'm not used to teaching and such after all. And with Maribel, I'll be learning more about being a mentor too."

[Raikaria]

>"Yeah, I'll ask her to see about opening a time-window so I can get a look at that Smilodon Youkai while we're at it. And maybe I can use that to trace and see if it actually does have any living descendants, so I can see about making sure they don't live by it's example. I bet if I catch them early enough I could take it under my own proverbial wing. It's not like I'm not used to teaching and such after all. And with Maribel, I'll be learning more about being a mentor too."

> "Yes, well, keep an eye out for her, because after all, Gensokyo might get into trouble a few years down the line if she dies or anything. The power I gave Ran to maintain the border will only last so long." Yukari says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"That's the idea. Since you aren't around anymore, it's up to me to take on the role of 'Gensokyo's Guardian'. At least until she's able to take on anyone who wants to take her down."
>Pause. "Y'know, since the old me used to be a Valkyrie, and I just recently got a major power infusion from Shinki, I wonder if that means that I'm becoming more like Sanae? Well, by Makai-Standards."

[Raikaria]

>"That's the idea. Since you aren't around anymore, it's up to me to take on the role of 'Gensokyo's Guardian'. At least until she's able to take on anyone who wants to take her down."
>Pause. "Y'know, since the old me used to be a Valkyrie, and I just recently got a major power infusion from Shinki, I wonder if that means that I'm becoming more like Sanae? Well, by Makai-Standards."

> "No. Sanae actually is descended from a Goddess. Her very nature is part god. You just received an infusion of power from one. You're more like Reimu, Byakuren, or Yorihime than Sanae. Technically, Sanae *is* a God, you are not."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Huh. Something else Yori's likely to get incensed about, eh? She already doesn't like the fact that I manged to actually knock her out, and now that I've got a sword too, I bet she'd make a great sparring partner if she ever has the time."