Part II below. I wish there was more room for characters per post.
7:09 PM - Day 3 - Virtual Gensokyo – Human Village (Near Suzunaan)"So, you two really aren't that close?"
Ken sighed and turned to address Parsee at his side. "Maybe we are, maybe we aren't. Why does it matter so much to you?"
The hashihime scratched the underside of her pointy right ear. "Well I'm supposed to mess up things like that. You know, like it's a job."
"A job?!" Mayli exclaimed angrily. "That's just sad. It's no excuse for you to do things like...what you did!"
Parsee shrugged. "I'm used to it. Jealousy, it knows no bounds...even for abysmal creatures such as me. It might as well be a job."
Ken opened his mouth but hesitated. He wasn't sure what to think of her statement. Finally he spoke up again. "Wait a minute. You...you mean to tell me that you can't--"
"That's right, human. Even one who weaves wicked strings for jealousy to dance along cannot escape its powerful influence." She raised a glowing green hand, watching intensely as the radiance spiraled outwards. The others nearby took a step back to avoid the conic flow of power. Smiling, she let the power within her body calm down as the glow faded. "I am fueled by the very thing I possess and practice...so, how do you feel about me now, hmm?"
"I think," he stated as he started walking once more, "that you're pretty strong. But we really have to keep going..."
Parsee's mouth twisted. "All right, fine. You're not even a bit scared? At least you could entertain me a bit..."
Mayli glared at her. "I'm not as scared of you as I am mad at you."
After a short silence, the two ladies found themselves walking together behind him shortly thereafter. Parsee stole a haughty look at her. "Gosh, you certainly are a pleasant person to be around. Why don't you just drop it already? I just wanted to have a little fun."
"You clearly don't understand what it means to do that," Mayli huffed.
Parsee spat on the ground. "Then tell me, o all-knowing one, why I should care to understand it."
"Because it's just unnecessary! You don't go around kissing every man you find! If you're going to be with us, you can't do things like that. Jeez...doing such a thing without regard...you really are rude."
"Ha. Well it was all worth it for me, so I'll play nice...for now."
"Are you two having fun back there?"
They looked at Ken, who was standing in front of them watching. Mayli sighed, realizing that they had halted in their exchange. "Whatever, as long as she doesn't do such impulsive things all the time."
Parsee drummed her fingers at her left side. "It was just a quick kiss to spice things up. She needs to stop overreacting so much if she actually does care about making things go smooth."
"I--" Mayli paused. Ken didn't want there to be any more turmoil. As much as she hated to admit it, Parsee was right for the time being. "Fine."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Stop baiting her, then."
"Yeah, okay. Anyway, I get the point already." She looked over at the nearby house. "Humans have such an interesting way of living..."
"Why is that? You lived in a cave all your life, or wh--oh..." Mayli noticed where they were. "This is Suzunaan!"
Ken uncrossed his arms and looked over his shoulder. "So it is. It seems like a long time since I last stopped by here."
"Suzunaan?" Parsee squinted as she examined its simplistic exterior. It looked just like all the other houses to her. "What is this, your secret hideout?"
"It's basically Mayli's secret hideout, yeah." He walked up to the book renter's entrance and examined the area around it. "I know it's not real, and yet..."
"This is the closest thing we have to a library here," Mayli mentioned as she walked up and looked through the front window. "Here is where we can rent out books. Although compared to our modern day libraries in reality it's really primitive."
"Books, huh? I was never one to do much reading." Parsee heard and then noticed that the front door was opening. "Someone's coming out, it seems."
A girl with reddish-orange hair and a checkered kimono with an apron in her hand stepped out. Taking notice of the company gathered outside, she quickly closed the door behind her. "Um, can I help you...?"
"Kosuzu!"
Hearing her name, the girl blinked and looked over at Mayli. She suddenly broke out into a grin and ran over to her. "Miss Mayli! Oh goodness, I thought you had maybe perished or--ooh!" She quickly gave the student a warm hug. "How are you doing?" Glancing over at Parsee and then to Ken, she looked concerned. "These are your friends, right? Er, that's Ken, but...who's she?"
"Parsee." The hashihime felt out of place, but it was better than rotting away in the Underground. "I'm with them, don't worry about me." She wasn't sure if she looked human enough to blend in.
Kosuzu stared at her in wonder briefly. "Oh...I see. You must be a foreigner. Where do you hail from, Miss Parsee?"
"I, uh...well, let's just say that I usually live alone." She stroked her shiny blonde hair, unsure of what else to mention at the time.
Ken smiled. It was almost impossible to hate such a diligent, polite worker. "Nice to see you again, Kosuzu. How are you?"
"Much better now that I found you two! You know, Keine is--"
"We know," Mayli said offhandedly. She and Ken exchanged glances. Being unsure of how much information to divulge to her was a problem. She turned back and grinned with eyes closed. "We were just going to see her!"
"Oh, that's good. I got off work just now, maybe we can catch up later?"
Mayli nodded. "S...Sure. Well...we'll be off now!" She quickly pushed Ken with an outstretched hand towards their destination, much to his sudden surprise.
Kosuzu blinked before slowly walking off towards her home. "All right, meet at my place?"
"Okay, I'll be there soon."
The three of them watched as the hard worker walked away.
"So, that was interesting..." Parsee murmured. "But we have to go see Keine now, right? You need to tell her what you told me. Maybe she'll believe you."
"Yeah, let's keep going." He took a look back at Suzunaan. It brought back memories that he somehow had of his past here, trapped in the virtual world. He knew that he almost always saw Mayli hanging around the place, even if he didn't know her that well when RAI had messed with their memories. His thoughts trailed to how she suddenly needed mana. That couldn't be right. She was a human just like him! Then again, the sword he had received as a gift from Keine had carried over to reality...there was too much going on to make any assumptions, and he didn't know what to believe at the time.
"She's probably already aware of everything," Mayli mentioned. "Mokou was supposedly going to see her, so..."
"Oh yeah, that's true." Mokou's link was another issue. He couldn't quite understand why, but several of them had suddenly become linked to him after escaping into reality. Kasen and Mayli had been his friends before RAI had captured them and forced them into this world, forgetting their pasts entirely. It wasn't fair that Kasen didn't come out!
This virtual world is screwing everything up, he thought out of frustration.
Even with Nitori in control, I have a feeling this beast can't really be tamed. I hope everyone makes it out with me later... "This village is much different from the Underground," Parsee said with a sniff. "I guess that's to be expected."
"Depends on what the Underground is like." Mayli had only read about it in books, but she didn't want to get anywhere near such a youkai-infested place. "If it's full of scary creatures, then I'll pass, thanks."
Parsee frowned. "Humph. Is that what you think it is? We probably have more celebrations down there than you humans do. Not that any of them interest me, or anything. Besides, I'm not...that welcome to those events."
"Well now you don't have to worry about it as much," Ken replied as he saw Keine's house in the distance. He also wanted to stop by his own place to see if everything was there, and to get the CD he somehow brought into the virtual space. "Sounds like you had a pretty bitter life up until now."
"You don't know the half of it. This kind of event where a bunch of important people just up and disappear though, that was a good excuse for me to go see what was going on." Parsee heaved a sigh. "I'm no stupid shrine maiden, but I guess my curiosity finally got the best of me. And now here I am, somehow bound to a boy who is going to save the world...or something."
His eyes narrowed. "I seriously doubt that. I'm not a hero, I just know more things than others."
Mayli interrupted him. "You also have actual combat training--er, sorta. You can swing a sword and actually use magic, that's definitely something!"
"Eh, magic?" Parsee perked up. "This man knows how to use magic? Guess I've been living in a hole for too long, and this above ground world changed. Since when can everyday humans learn magic?"
"Let's just say I had some assistance from...friends." His mind trailed to thoughts of Reisa. He still had yet to run into her again. Last he saw her, she looked like she was in a trance of sorts. Yet he wasn't all that worried. What was going on? Maybe she had gone home to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. He'd ask Patchouli of her whereabouts when she returned, that's what he'd do. Feeling a bit better, he found himself standing near his teacher's front door.
We finally made it, Miss Keine. Mayli bounded up and knocked on her door several times. They waited patiently for several moments as there was no answer.
"Um...maybe she's not home?" Parsee suggested. "Given the sudden disappearance of many, it wouldn't surprise me if she's out and about. Heck, even I left my position to come see what was going on. And uh, maybe the festival too."
"Wait." Mayli signaled for quiet by putting a finger to her lips, then pressed her ear against the door. Sounds of something swishing or the like were emitting from within, very softly. "It sounds like...soft crackling?"
"Maybe it's Mokou being bored." Ken knocked on the door himself. "She always loved playing with fire, especially now that she's back where she can use it as much as she wants to." He questioned how he knew this despite not remembering much about Mokou, but he dismissed it as he banged harder on the door. "Miss Keine, are you there?!"
Several seconds later, he heard movement inside. As the door opened, he held his breath in anticipation.
"Oh, sup."
Mokou stood in the doorway, looking casually and calmly at them. She beckoned to have them come in. "You're late. What kept y--wait, what's she doing here?!" She pointed a finger at Parsee.
"You're Mokou, right?" she responded, lips pursed.
"Answer my question already." Mokou wasted no time beating around the bush. "You're supposed to be in a cave miles away, rotting your life away. Why did you come to this village?"
"Mokou!" Ken shouted. "That's horrible! How can you--"
"You must not be aware," she responded grimly, "of what this...thing is. She'll bring ruin to everything good! She's bad luck!"
"Ken made a pact with her." Mayli looked innocently away after her quick statement.
"WHAT?!" Mokou looked angry. "Do you have any idea what she will do to you?!"
Parsee stared angrily at the immortal. "I'm not here to cause trouble...I heard all about the real world that is supposedly outside this one. But if you want to pick a fight..."
Mokou immediately wore a calmer expression. "Oh, never mind then. You're fine." She turned to her previous comrades. "Well come on in, you might be surprised at what you see."
"Surprised?" Ken asked as he stepped into Keine's house. "What do you have planned, a surprise birthday party?"
7:15 PM - Day 3 - Virtual Gensokyo – Human Village (Inside Keine's House)Ken looked around and sniffed several times. He then turned back to his teacher's best friend, trying not to crack a smile. "
Smells like lady in here."
Mokou glared at him, remembering what she had said previously. "Har har, that's very funny."
He chuckled to himself as the other two stepped inside. "Well honestly it does, it's Keine's house. Miss Keine always smells nice..."
Mokou sighed. "You would say that. Why don't you just marry her already? Moving in wouldn't be too bad, since you live right next door."
"And here I thought you didn't like joking about that subject...we're just--we work together and that's it."
"Ha, that's a good one. Next you're going to tell me that you kissed Parsee, or some stupid nonsense like that."
Before anyone could elaborate further, Mayli cleared her throat loudly. "So where's Keine?"
"Oh, she's in her room talking to Ran. Got some fresh meat--I mean, guy in there too." Mokou looked particularly pleased, yet sly.
"Someone else?" Ken asked rhetorically. "I see...is she too busy right now, then?"
"Well, she just made a pact, but..."
"What!" Ken exclaimed. "She made a...I see. So one of our new--"
"Yeah. What, are you disappointed?" Mokou grinned maliciously. "You wanted your precious teacher, didn't you?"
"No, that's not the point...do we have to turn everything into a romantic or sexual discussion?" He sighed and walked past her, feeling his face warming up. "Sure seems like it to me..."
"Wait," Parsee began to inquire. "You two are students here?"
Mayli nodded. "We--" she immediately assumed a grim countenance. "Well, we were..."
"Mmm, I see. Well enough waiting." The hashihime started walking around slowly, looking up. "You all go on ahead. I'll stay out here, I want to see what the interior of a human house nowadays looks like."
Mokou clicked her tongue. "Right, you're from below ground...all right, let's go." She stood aside and motioned for him to lead the way. "Of course, you know her house best, so..."
"No, I don't. Are you trying to force me to love my teacher, or something?" He groaned. "What goes on between us isn't really significant, but it's nothing you should be concerned about. Besides, you know that it's all a facade anyway. Miss Keine has no idea what lies outside this place, for all she knows we could be sworn enemies in reality..."
Mokou's smile vanished. "Yeah, that's true. All right, I guess I've teased you enough by now."
"Indeed," Mayli said roughly. "I'm a little tired of romantic subtext, can we stay away from that topic for a while?"
Ken didn't respond, but instead approached the door to his teacher's room. He hadn't been inside her house too often, at least not much deeper than her kitchen or front room to give her graded assignments or quizzes. He wondered how she had managed while he was away, but knowing her she had filled in for him easily.
He moved close to the closed door further down the hallway and heard several voices. Reaching a hand out, he gave a firm knock and spoke loudly. "Miss Keine?"
Hearing footsteps approaching, the three of them waited until her bedroom door opened. He held his breath hoping to see her safe and sound, although the fact that it was entirely a dreamlike world diminished his excited mood slightly.
"Ken!" Keine gasped as she opened the door completely. Looking beyond him, she saw the others. "And Ayume...you two are back after all!"
"Well duh, of course they are." Mokou smiled as she saw the shocked expression on her best friend's face fade away. "Told you they were fine."
After giving them both hugs, she looked back over her shoulder briefly, then
turned back and put her hands on her chest, beaming. "I'm so glad to see you two here safe. We were worried sick!"
"Yeah, sorry about that. There were some complications." He felt a rush of adrenaline after seeing his teacher again, and he imagined that Mayli felt the same. "We actually did disappear completely from this world for a while..."
While she was intrigued, she also couldn't help but feel happy to see them back safe again. "So I heard. Mokou told me everything, and I...well, you'll see what's going on. We currently have some company that I'd like you to meet." Sweeping her hand out, she motioned towards the three others in the room. Ken and Mayli beheld two women with tails, one more mature than the other, and a man with black and white hair down to his shoulders.
"Let's make this quick," Mokou said hastily. "The dude is Andy, he's going to help Keine escape so he made a pact with her."
"I recognize him," Ken said. "He was with us when I was helping Lady Patchouli at Tourist Helpers."
"Yeah, that's right," Andy replied. "I'm still surprised, but more intrigued now. Hey, my kind of exciting adventure."
"No kidding. Welcome to the club." The swordsman looked over at the two females standing nearby. "And who are they? They look very familiar, but I, uh...somehow forgot their names..." He felt chills down his spine. They had no idea that he knew who they were, or had even met him, even though he had forgotten their names out of the blue. It was truly an awkward situation, if not slightly creepy.
Mokou raised an eyebrow. "That would be Ran and Chen, the sworn servants of Yukari Yakumo." She pointed first to the fox, then the cat. "Ran is the one with the silly hat, and Chen is the one with the silly hat and fewer tails."
Ran sighed and smiled slightly. "I suppose that's us, yes..."
She waved briefly before addressing them. "It's nice to meet you both."
"Yeah!" Chen echoed her master's gentle greeting.
She had her hands together. "I guess you never saw us before, right?"
Mayli giggled, responding as naturally as she could sound. "Not really, but I still can't get over how cute everyone is here. And nice fluffy tails too!"
"Erm, 'here'?" Ran cocked her head to the side. "So there is indeed another place outside our Gensokyo?"
"There's much more than that," Mokou replied. "These two just came from the real world of humans, like I did. All of us here are actually in the real world, our minds are just led to believe that we live in this Gensokyo, and that it is real and our home." She pointed at Ken, Mayli and then herself. "We're all proof of this, you just gotta trust what we say."
Keine nodded. "And the pact certainly felt real enough. I think now I can trust what you've all been telling me. So now that that's out of the way..."
Ken spoke up. "Yeah. What are these two doing here?"
"Mokou said that you know of Yukari. Can you confirm her fate too?"
He looked unhappy. "She...well, RAI caught her somehow...Jeremy got captured too, along with her. That's what Amarillo told me, at least."
"What!!" Chen squealed. "Jeremy and Mistress got captured?! What happened to them? How could--"
"Chen!" Ran snapped quickly. "Calm down. Jeremy and Mistress disappeared days ago, we can't do much about it. We have to trust what they tell us." She turned to face Ken, hands now together in her sleeves. "Do you have any clue as to what happened when they got captured?"
He shook his head. "The only thing Amarillo told me was that they went up against Diamond..." Looking at Mokou and Mayli and seeing looks of disgust and unhappiness on their faces, he knew that they all felt uneasy about such a worthy adversary. "And that is absolutely unfortunate. He stomped us flat when we fought him..." He took a breath and continued. "He can...how do I put this..."
Mayli went on in his stead. "He has the power to declare something happening, and then the situation plays out so that whatever he said actually happens. Is that right?"
Ran's face became serious. "That's...is that even possible for a human?"
Mokou nodded grimly. "Sounds about right. I was about to shoot that fool right in the head with a gun we had snatched from one o' them soldiers, Kaguya had things all set up too with her power to slow stuff down. But he said some weird words that made it so I ended up missing and...well, it was a disaster, pretty much."
"Wait," Andy began. "You mean, that's what happened earlier that day? That's why the place looked so trashy, because there was a fight there?"
Ken groaned remembering it. "You got that right. And it would have gone entirely downhill if not for Yuyuko scaring him off...so glad we had her with us at the time." He sighed angrily. "But there's no point in crying more over spilled milk. We have no clue where Yukari and Jeremy are, really."
"But one thing's for sure, they aren't here!" Mayli chimed in. "To think that this world was your guys' former world, but a complete fake..."
Ran's mouth twisted. "I still don't quite believe it, but I suppose I'll have to see it with my own eyes."
Chen nodded in agreement, her tails erect at the tips. "Yeah, we gotta get Jeremy and Mistress back! Those fools will pay!"
Ken held his hand up. "It's not quite that easy. Let's see, where to begin..."
7:29 PM - Day 3 - Virtual Gensokyo – Human Village (Inside Keine's House: Keine's Room)Ran's gentle voice filled the room after Ken had explained more about the situation. "So...pacts cause us to gain energy from those we get bonded to, and because of that we can leave this virtual world...and Jeremy had pacts with us, but now that he's gone, if we were to wake up from this place and reach reality then we would die off without the energy that this place fuels us with?"
He nodded and stood up from Keine's couch. Ran caught on very quickly, which was desired due to their lack of time. "Pretty much. I made pacts with Eirin and Parsee so far..."
Keine's eyes widened. "Parsee? I'm surprised at you, Ken. Keeping you around has certainly proven to be interesting, but still I am shocked. Why her?"
"Well, it basically...just happened all of a sudden. We ran into her, Mayli and me, after Eirin took off but before we passed Suzunaan and got here. She seems quite strong and she was interested in coming along, so..."
The teacher nodded several times in acceptance. "Heh. That's just like you, I guess. Did she have any particular reasons for doing so?"
"You can ask her yourself in a little bit, she's in the front room." He strode slowly in a small line near the wall. "So I guess this now begs the question of what we'll do from here on out." Turning back to face the general audience, his eyes settled on his teacher. "I was worried about you, Miss Keine, but I guess that's no longer a problem. Now that that's taken care of, what next?"
Mayli raised her hand. "Do you think you can handle taking any others with us?"
"Me?" He put his hand on his own chest, and once she nodded he took it off and went on. "Well let's see...I don't have to make a pact with Miss Keine now, and I already got Eirin and Parsee...Patchouli...oh and Mayli too, of course."
The last one in question rolled her eyes. "How could you forget me, anyway?"
"Ha, good question! I didn't, naturally." He cleared his throat and looked at Ran and Chen. "So you two, what are you going to do? Yukari isn't coming back unless she somehow gets free, and due to the restrictions on mana that isn't happening any time soon. RAI probably has something in place to keep them from escaping. I mean, I don't--I'm not trying to rain on your parade or anything..."
The fox shook her head. "I understand. We are at the mercy of this situation, really. Please, how can we help?"
Keine stood up, Andy following suit. "Let's get out of this room and find Parsee, then we can have a more collective talk."
Mokou moved away from the wall. "I agree, let's get outside."
7:36 PM - Day 3 - Virtual Gensokyo – Human Village (Central Fountain)Ken leaned back and dipped his left hand into the fountain water. It felt cool and refreshing, a good distraction from the current situation. Closing his eyes, he felt the dryness of his facial skin and was tempted to rub some of the water all over it. He had a hard time discerning this world from reality in this moment.
No wonder they're all so fooled, he thought.
It feels so real in here...just what kind of virtualization technology does RAI have? Who are they, really? This is absolutely incredible... Still, he couldn't let himself get distracted so easily. As real as it felt, it was still fake in the end. He looked back at Keine and Ran, who were discussing what to do. Andy seemed to be talking to Mayli, and Mokou was having a serious-looking discussion with Parsee. Finally he could relax for a short time.
He wondered how Reisa was doing and where she was. The last time he had seen her, he had no time to see what was the matter with her. He thought he remembered that Hatate said she was going to help her out, but that certainly didn't work out as planned. He hoped Hatate too was doing much better, wherever she was. She certainly hadn't been with them when they had all returned to this virtual world.
"Uh, hey there!"
"What?" He looked to his right and saw the young cat girl walk up and sit next to him. "Oh...hi, Chen." Then again, perhaps relaxation was further away.
"Um...is it true?"
"Is what true? What I said about Jeremy and Yukari being captured?"
She shifted uneasily. "Yeah...Mistress is supposed to be stronger than almost anyone, is she really..."
He scratched his head and spoke grimly. "That's what Amarillo told us. Sorry."
"No, it's fine. I just wonder why we're all here right now, when we could be helping her instead. Is there a reason for all this discussion?"
He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, keeping it there despite her slight flinch at first. "They're trying to figure out what they should do. You know, despite everything we talked about, it's still hard to believe that this is a fake world, right? You think that way, don't you?"
The nekomata's tails swished idly. "Eh...I guess so. I just want to save Mistress, so..."
"We know you do. But if you want to do that, you have to trust us. You need some help to get out of this place, otherwise you'll die. Did that part make sense?"
Chen nodded slowly. "So...are you going to help us get out?"
"Well...I probably could, but..."
"But there's a problem with it?"
"There's..." he thought for several seconds on how best to explain it. He remembered that the best way to clarify something was with an example. "So let's compare me right now to when I was in reality, outside this world. In reality, my partners were my best friend Mayli over there..." he paused to point her out to Chen. "...and Mokou, Kaguya, Yuyuko, Patchouli...and Hatate, sort of. It sounds like a lot, right?"
The cat nodded. "I guess, yeah. So there's a limit?"
"Basically, yeah. Because of complications that I don't need to explain right now, almost all of them had to go because of how dangerous this place is."
"How is it dangerous? Aside from being a fake world, it doesn't seem too harmful..."
"The world isn't a problem at all. It's going between them that is the real problem. Let's just say that any pacts made previously may be at risk of hurting us...or at least anyone that was with me." He looked down at his feet. "I didn't see anyone else have that problem...maybe this world just hates me, haha."
"I see...so you have to get new partners, then. That's why Parsee and Eirin are going to help you instead?"
"Sort of. They agreed to come with us, they believe we're telling the truth." He scratched his head. "Having Kaguya around definitely made it easier to convince Eirin that we were telling the truth. I think Parsee is a special case..."
"Ran told me Parsee can do bad things, but that it wasn't necessarily her fault. If I was stuck watching over all those people I'd probably become bored and angry too."
"Yeah. Well anyway, there's probably a limit to how many of you I and the others can take with us. Did you want to come along?"
"Mmm...it depends on what Ran wants me to do. I have a feeling she wants to go help rescue Mistress, and she's much stronger than I am..."
He felt bad for the cat. Eirin was certainly strong, or that was the impression he had gotten from his fake fight against her earlier. Parsee had taken complete control of his body...from what he could recall, Ran was not only very powerful but also thoughtful and careful. He very likely could only afford to take one of them with him. "Then again, perhaps that's for the best..." he murmured out loud.
She looked at him out of curiosity. "Eh? What?"
"Oh...I said that out loud, didn't I?" He didn't mean to make Chen feel bad or weak.
"Hey, you two."
He glanced to his left and saw Ran approaching them. Relieved of having to clarify his intention, he turned to face her. He couldn't help but get a feel of sincerity upon seeing her staring calmly at them. "Yeah?"
"Please don't mind my prudence." She took a seat on the fountain edge beside him. "We need to get Lady Yukari, our mistress, back safe and sound. Not only"
"I figured you were going to say that. So what do you have in mind?"
Chen snickered. "She wants to go after her, of course."
Ran let out a gentle sigh. "It's true. But there is an issue of having Chen come with me, is there not?"
He laid his hand on the hilt of his weapon. "Wait. Are you asking me to make a pact with you as well?"
"Yes, if you don't mind." She smiled gently and unsleeved her hands. "We didn't know until now that Yukari was in trouble, far beyond our ability to aid her. It's quite troubling to hear this, believe me."
He ran his fingers through his hair as he saw Chen walking over to Ran from behind him. "Yukari is your master, it makes sense that you want to save her. We know they aren't going to kill her, RAI wants to experiment on you, uh...how do I put this...Gensokyoans? Gensokyians?" He gestured to further the conversation along. "You get my point, they're keeping you here and they likely have other tricks up their sleeves."
Ran curled a finger over her lips. "Yes, we are inclined to believe this. Now, about pact-making...exactly how does it work? What are the limitations? It's obvious that you yourself cannot take too many of us with you, based on what you divulged earlier."
He nodded grimly. "That's the thing. Anything you do that's beyond what a human can do, it drains us humans of energy. Earlier when we first got free, Mokou--" he gulped. "Well, let's just say that spellcards are extremely damaging to us."
"I see. This is why Yukari simply cannot invoke her power of border manipulation to get away." One of Ran's tails was slipping into the fountain, but Chen caught it and pulled it back up before the kitsune continued. "So essentially you have a system that resides inside you, and how it works exactly is unknown...but we draw energy from it, and it fuels our abilities, yet we cannot use it too much so it can recharge. This includes such things as danmaku and spell cards, and any other forms of magic or strength beyond a human's capacity. Do I have that correct?"
He blinked. "Uh, pretty much, yeah. You're quite...meticulous, or considerate or--probably both."
"I suppose I am relatively responsible, I know how it feels to be in charge of managing situations. But you likely know that already, unbeknownst to us for reasons beyond our comprehension." Ran reached up and scratched her left fox ear over her hat cover. "So, would it be feasible and within reason to take me along with the others?"
"I'm pretty sure I can take one more with me, but..."
She already knew what he was going to say. "You don't have to worry about overloading. Chen?"
The nekomata perked up upon hearing her name. "Eh?"
Ran stared solemnly at her shikigami. "I'm going to go try to help Yukari get free and bring her back safely, okay? I won't have enough power to keep you with me, it sounds like."
"Awwww..." Chen's cat ears drooped slightly. "So I really can't come along?"
"Wait." Ken interrupted them, knowing that there were alternatives. "What if you just ask some of the others who came in with us, perhaps they can--"
"No, I think it's best this way." Ran looked stern all of a sudden. "We still have to see this real world ourselves. Until I see it, I don't want to risk Chen being lost too."
"Ran!!" Chen yelped. "But if you leave, what will happen to me in here?!"
Ran pulled Chen into her lap slowly. "Dearie, look. I'm still here, I'm doing fine. Yukari is completely gone from this place, and I'm her shikigami, but clearly that isn't a factor in my survival or well-being since I'm not hindered at all."
The nekomata frowned. "That's true...are you going to leave me here, then?"
"I'm asking you if can stay here where it's safe. I don't feel like I can protect you in case things go wrong, if we're as limited as I'm assuming we are in this other world." Ran hugged her tightly. "Please, for me? I know you're strong. I'm not saying that you can't handle it, I'm--my cautious side is coming out."
Chen's ears rose slightly. "I see...you trust me to stay here in Mayohiga by myself and take care of the place."
Ran nodded. "I know you can do it as a favor for me."
"It's not a bad choice to ask her to stay back..." Ken hesitantly spoke up, but then remembered that such dangerous threats as Diamond were running around rampant, and they couldn't risk too much. "Putting all our eggs in one basket is something we should avoid, anyway. And we do need to get going, I fear that something may happen to Nitori."
"Oh, the kappa is helping?" Ran asked in surprise. "So she escaped too..."
"That's right. She helped us get back in here with our memories fully intact instead of partitioned away or...whatever RAI did to our brains. I honestly have no clue what's going on here exactly, but RAI is why you have no recollection of reality whatsoever." He felt bad for Jeremy and Yukari at that moment. Just like how Ran and Chen had no idea about Jeremy and Yukari's status in reality, the latter team wasn't aware of the former. "Okay. So Ran, you really want to do this, then..."
"Please." She released Chen, who climbed off her lap and stood up, smoothing her skirt before stretching and walking off for the time being. "I have to do what I can for Lady Yukari, and I would implore you to assist me in making that happen."
Her presentation was so nice that he didn't think he could turn her down anyway, even if he tried. "Okay...but to be safe, you'll be the last one. I doubt my body could handle any more without some sort of complication developing." He coughed. "Not that we want to find out what happens if any of us get overloaded..."
"Of course." Ran bowed. "Well then, how should I make a pact with you?"
He felt unworthy of inheriting this woman as a partner, she was so polite. After regathering himself momentarily, he answered her. "Uh...there are two ways, one involves me giving up some of my own blood, which is kinda...bleh..." He didn't want to admit it, but he was growing much more fond of close contact. He had almost panicked when he had to make a pact with Patchouli earlier, since he was unsure of how it would have gone either way, but he definitely preferred the next option.
Ran frowned. "That doesn't sound like a very nice option at all. What's the other one?"
"It is the safer option in...more dire situations." He took a breath as he remembered how panicked he was during Patchouli's near-death experience. "Alternatively, we could get close..."
"Eh...? Close...wait, you mean..." The fox blushed suddenly. "Dear me...that's..."
"No no! I don't mean
that kind of getting close. I mean just a hug, or something." He felt like laughing, but it wouldn't be very nice since she didn't know any better. "That would be...very inappropriate to insist upon."
"I'm guessing that would work as well though." She rolled her eyes. "You do realize you could take advantage of us, right? If you didn't tell me that but instead told me that I had to, um..."
He looked away and made sure that no one else who could tease him for the topic was around. Turning back to Ran, he replied quickly. "No! No way, that's...I couldn't impose that on anyone, that's not even appropriate..." His face was getting hot. "I-I mean, unless that's actually something you'd want..."
"Ahh...oh my, what have I done?" She closed her eyes tightly for several moments. "Let's just forget I said that, can we?"
"Y...Yeah." He stared at the fountain to forget about it. "I mean, what you said is true, but that's not something I--" He gulped. Mokou would have a field day if she saw this. "So, this pact, yes..."
She nodded slowly and put her hands together in her sleeves. "Mhmm, the pact. So I should, eh...hug you in my lap, or something? Ah, what am I thinking..."
He heaved another sigh. "Look, I'll just handle everything, okay? Give me a few moments to prepare myself for it, please."
"Okay..." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, but I am a bit curious...do you mind if I observe you?"
"I guess not...I'm not angry at you or anything, it's okay." He glanced in Keine's direction just as she looked over at him. "Er, there isn't much to it, really..." It was awkward explaining the process, since it was so simple. "I have to just tell you what you're getting into and why I'm trying to help you, and then hug you or something like that. Nothing big, really."
"I see. Then what happens?"
"Then you and I enter this bizarre place...it's different for everybody. Eirin had to deal with a scary Kaguya monster, Parsee had me fighting some spider girl..." He sat up straight. "Come to think of it, those were pretty serious...Patchouli was dying, so hers was about a revival of sorts, I think..."
"Dying!" the fox exclaimed. "Patchouli was dying?!"
"She's okay now. I'll, uh...explain later. But basically, these 'visions' or whatever you want to call them, they are the way of sealing a pact. For some reason they usually involve a short trial, but Patchouli's wasn't like that so I'm not entirely sure." The more he talked about it, the more bizarre it sounded. "And once it's over we are bonded, so when we go back to reality we'll be bound by mana." He covered his face as he rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I know, it sounds like something out of a fantasy novel or what have you..."
"That's okay, I reckon us youkai are like fantasy creatures to you humans. It's likely similar." She smiled gently. "Do you find me odd because I am a kitsune with a human-like body?"
He watched her prominent chest rise and fall slowly, feeling the thud of his heart becoming more apparent.
Why do they always have to be so...big? His eyes trailed to the slow-moving tails spread out like the petals of a sunflower behind her.
These women, it's like they're a special race of animal women from another planet or something...what a ridiculous place that Gensokyo must've been. Clearing his throat again, he looked back up at her. "Not really, but the tails are certainly...interesting. Don't they get in the way often?"
"In all my years, I've grown accustomed to them." She looked into his eyes. "Er, I'm sorry. If you have things to do so you can be prepared..."
"Nah, this is basically helping me. I just needed to calm down for a moment."
She gave him a quizzical look. "Is it intense? Maybe I should have prepared myself as well..."
"No, you'll be fine. I just hope it doesn't shock or scare you. Apparently Eirin's was quite intense. I only saw the end of it though. Wait..." He shuddered suddenly.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm...fine, I just remembered something..." He had forgotten that Eirin was supposed to come back with Reisen. What should he do? It was true that Yukari needed help and Ran was likely the best choice to take along, but he couldn't just leave Reisen alone...
Mayli's words echoed through his mind.
"Remember, you aren't here to flirt with the women...try to pick ones you know, okay?" He wasn't so quick to accept making a pact with Ran because she was respectful and beautiful, was he?
He shook his head. No, he wasn't. It wasn't like that. He'd have to talk to Reisen when she arrived. Hopefully things would just work out. But knowing his luck, they hardly did.
We'll just have to see what happens, he thought.
"Ken? You're fine, right?"
Finally brought back to the situation at hand, he rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Er, yeah. Are you ready, my lady?"
She smoothed her dress with both hands and turned closer to him, facing him from her adjacent seat by the fountain. "Mhmm. I'm prepared, so please guide me."
He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. It was time for him to take action again.
Remember, he told himself.
You have to help them. That's why you're here, you and Mayli. Opening his eyes, he gazed upon her plain visage. He reached his right hand out and, upon seeing it shaking, slowly moved it towards her body.
Unsure of what to expect, she took his hand in her left. Looking at him in wonderment, she saw his focus as he reached his other hand out. Before she could react to it, he slid his hand into hers. Feeling the warmth of a human's hands felt reassuring to her. Letting him guide, she found herself scooting closer on the fountain's edge as he pulled slowly.
Suddenly she gasped. Her hands felt warm and velvety, as if having rubbed them between a
wire mesh to feel a velvety impression. She felt the sensation spreading up her forearms at a slow rate. Eyes darting to his, she saw him staring openly back. Perhaps he was as surprised as she was, yet his grip held firmly. A small glow began to radiate from their now clasped hands.
He grunted softly. This pact-making felt much different, yet not in a terrible way. It felt amazingly warm and comfortable, and he felt his fingers wrap snugly between hers. "What's...happening?!" he managed to say in his sudden exhaustion.
I didn't even say anything yet! he thought wildly.
"I don't know!" Ran cried out. Her body was becoming engulfed in a meltingly warm, pleasant aura that did not feel unpleasant. Despite her attempts at looking away, she could not tear her eyes away from the blindingly bright orb of raw energy pulling them together...upon re-observation, she found that it was she who was moving closer.
She heard voices around them, no doubt from those who were around the man in front of him and herself, blaring loudly then fading into quiet. Her clothing rippled in agitation from the small force of a gust blowing from the center of the glow between them, outwards. She tried to scream out loud, but heard nothing as her vision was overwhelmed by intense brightness...
*BANG* "Ke--AHHH!" Keine, who had approached them out of concern, was thrown back before she could anticipate such an impact. Rolling several times over before settling on the ground, she caught her breath and quickly got to her feet.
"What's going on?!" Mokou hollered. She prepared fireballs in her hands as she stood on point behind Keine.
"I don't know!" Mayli shouted from her position on the ground. She too had been thrown backwards, and when trying to crawl forwards on all fours she met resistance, pushing her back with growing intensity the closer she came to them. "I can't get through!"
Parsee shaded her eyes as she tried to see into the intense spherical bubble-like border forming around Ken and Ran. "I can't...see in there...ugh!" Looking away, she felt her eyes burning as if staring into the sun. "I don't get it..."
Andy tried to remain calm. Was it magic that he wasn't capable of? There was a pact happening, most likely, between the fox woman and Ken. But this? This wasn't anything like what he expected.
"Andy, what's this?!" Keine asked quickly as she shielded her eyes from the piercing light. "This isn't a pact, is it?!"
"I'm not sure!" He yelled back to her over the loud rushing noise emitting from the two near the fountain. "I don't think they're supposed to happen like
this, though!"
"Ken...what's going on?!" Keine wondered out loud. She couldn't get any closer without being pushed back. "I hope you're okay..."
7:36 PM - Day 3 - Unknown Location – ?? (Dungeon Cell)Ran's eyes opened. Her eyes hurt slightly from being suddenly dropped into complete darkness. Taking several short, gasping breaths, she began to realize the environment around her.
Stone walls on all sides encapsulated her in utter darkness. Her tails brushed against hard material at her back, so she assumed she was boxed in, trapped inside. In front of her she saw a different blockade, presumably a gate made of sturdy metal with a strong cross-bolted design she could barely make out. She decided that it was the entrance to this small room. Looking to her left, she felt a soreness in her neck.
"Ugh..." She tried to move closer to feel the nearby wall, only to hear a dragging noise against the ground. Straining her body, she twisted to her right side and blinked, struggling in the dark to see the source of the sound. Moving her right arm, she heard the clinking noise again. Was it a bracelet? Staring down at her right hand, it finally occurred to her to she could bring her hand closer. She raised it to her eyes. It was hard to see anything unless she focused hard on it. Movement around her arm distracted her. She felt cold pressing against her arm skin, where she had seen movement. She was chained.
Her heart sank, and she felt her fox ears twitch as they fell slightly.
I'm...trapped? No, she thought to herself.
I can't panic...I have to get out of here. But my body... She let out a grunt as she tried to move towards the gated entrance. Pausing to glance at the ceiling, it seemed incredibly tall, stretching on forever. Perhaps there was no ceiling, and she could fly out. She could at least see what was higher, if her chains would allow for it.
Closing her eyes, she gathered her inner strength and tried to levitate. She felt the rush of power move her body upwards, only to realize its fading into nothingness. Looking down, she gasped at her bodily pain. Perhaps rising off the ground had amplified it, because she was unable to get far without feeling pain everywhere in her body. With a yelp, she fell to the ground limp as a rag doll.
Her body ached severely.
Why...is this happening? She groaned and pressed her palms against the ground beneath her, pushing herself up, but it was no use. The chains clinked against the ground as she laid flat against it, feeling pain shoot through her breasts as her chest hit the ground again.
This pain... She felt warmer than usual, and it did nothing to improve her lack of energy. The cell was incredibly dark and hot. Trembling, she managed to slide her body around on the ground, scraping the cuff around her right wrist in the process, so she was lying against the back wall of the enclosed room.
Feeling sweat forming on her face and upper chest, she leaned against the wall behind her. After several attempts, she made it to a sitting position and, letting out a much-needed sigh, leaned against the wall in a slouch. She took a breath as she squinted her eyes, desperately searching for any traces of light in the cracks between the walls.
Why am I so weak? How did it come to this? She reached her hands up unpinned the collar on her dress. She felt so very warm and uncomfortable, alone in the dark.
How did I get here? Sighing, she pinned it as low as it could go. Her chest didn't feel much better being slightly exposed, and she let out a sigh. Looking down, she saw that she wasn't wearing her usual clothing; her dress was shorter and her top felt different, not that it mattered much. She felt too tired to pull off her hat.
What she thought were several minutes finally passed by. She was contemplating how she had ended up in this situation. Did the human betray her? Had she been captured by someone? She shook her head. There was no proof of any of that. But right now she would rather be thinking of something, anything, than this miserable situation. Was she going to die in here? Her confusion as to the fact that she no clue why she was a prisoner in this tiny room of darkness gave way to hopelessness.
"Chen...Lady Yukari...?" She murmured out loud. "What's...why am I..."
*bang bang bang* Her fox ears perked up slightly. Some sort of action going on outside...was it help coming to rescue her? Perhaps it was some sort of fighting, as she heard noises against the door. There were no sounds of a scuffle, but small repeated rapping reached her ears. The clattering was against the door in front of her, on the outside.
*clink clink*
The cuff and chains rattled against the floor as she moved her body against the wall so she was directly parallel to the door. Sweat dripped down into the valley between her breasts as she waited in anticipation for something to happen. It was
very uncomfortably warm and stuffy in the room. Her tails were withered and she remained still, holding her breath.
*slinkt*
A sliding noise reached her ears, then there was momentary quiet. She held her breath once more, feeling hope rising in her heart. Perhaps she could get out of this awful place after all.
*clang*
Just as she began to hear smooth grinding sounds, she saw movement in the blackness of the room. To her initial delight, the solid door was opening slowly, mechanically. She instinctively closed her eyes and nearly cried out as light filtered in through the growing opening. It was blindingly bright, her eyes having adjusted to the clouded darkness trapped inside. She raised her arms up to shield her eyes with her tired hands.
"Ran!"
"Wha?!" She could hardly bear to look outside her shield of arms, the light was overwhelmingly painful to her eyes. Someone was talking to her but she had no idea who it was. The voice sounded familiar to her, though.
"Ran! You're okay now..."
The male voice sounded closer, and something blotted out most of the light entering the slitted view between her covering hands.
Perhaps it was safe to look now. She carefully lowered her hands with hardly a thought, they fell out of fatigue across her body and on the ground.
"Oh my goodness, you look awful...Ran?"
Ran gulped as she felt a small passing of cool air. "I...who's there?"
"Ran, it's me! Ken." The figure drew near to her, and she saw it move down to about her level on the ground. "Oh...I see. Is it too bright for you?" He turned around and walked several paces over to the cell door, closing the cell door with several grunts until it was partially open. He looked back, and she could make out concern on his face. "They left you like this, alone in the dark? How miserable..."
"Who..." She felt dryness in her throat. "Who did this?"
He looked at her
lying hopelessly tired against the wall. To his surprise, he didn't know the answer. "I don't know, but...we gotta get you outta here!"
Before she could react, he seized her arm and noticed how warm she was. What had she done to deserve this? He had to remember that it was only a vision, yet now doubt was flowing through his mind. They weren't supposed to be this intense, were they?
He turned his attention to the cuff on her wrist. His eyes followed the chain to the sturdy-looking ring adorning the wall behind her. "Unbelievable..." Reaching his left hand down, he felt no sword at his side. "Who chained you up like this, I wonder."
"Can you get it off me?" She sat up straight and stared at the chain links trailing off of the hard cuff wrapped tightly around her wrist.
"I...I might be able to. I'm not sure." Out of desperation, he looked behind them to see if anyone was coming, then moved so enough light hit the wall near the ring he was examining. He reached a hand out and tried to twist it, but to no avail. "Jeez, this thing is in pretty tight...I'll have to--"
