~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore
MegaDoll X
Metaflare:
It's like a mix between Megaman 2 and Megaman X, and it's glorious
Hanzo K.:
^This, so much.
Iced Fairy:
Quick exposition update
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"Congratulations you two," Marisa's voice came over. "Head on back. We've got some stuff for you."
"You aren't under attack anymore right?" Shanghai asked.
Marisa laughed. "Nope, everything's fine. Chiyuri's cooking some ostrich steaks with her laser right now in fact."
Shanghai hadn't ever eaten, but she now understood the fear questionable food could invoke. Still it was unlikely their guests would force the dolls to eat. "Right, we'll be back soon."
Hourai grabbed their sisters body, while Shanghai grabbed her head. Then they started flying back. It seemed somewhat ghoulish, but they both wanted Mother to fix their wayward sisters if possible.
The flight back was easy. It seemed the creatures that had been haunting the wood had fled. Within no time they were back at Mother's cottage.
"We're back!" Shanghai said as they entered.
"Welcome home." Marisa said as she rose from her chair next to Alice's bed.
The two dolls paused. "Uh, why is Mother's bed in the living room?" Hourai asked.
Marisa laughed weakly. "Well I wanted to keep an eye on her, but I figured she'd want to be in a bed so...."
Shanghai gave Marisa an appraising glare. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about this, or what she should think about this either. She could sense Hourai beside her giving the black white magician a stronger glare.
Finally she mentally shrugged. It's not like it was a terrible thing. "So you had information for us?"
"And items too." Yumemi said as she walked out of the kitchen. Chiyuri followed after carrying something that actually looked surprisingly like a steak. "I've spoken with Marisa and I think I can give you two things that'll help you on your journey."
The professor tossed each of the dolls a canister the size of a large thermos. "Apparently you two can heal by consuming raw magic. I'd devised a container to hold magic a while back. Never found how to use it myself, but it seems it'll come in handy for you."
"Thanks," Shanghai and Hourai said in unison. Shanghai looked down at the device. It was a little bulky, but if it could heal her in battle it would be beyond useful.
"I also developed a recall teleportation system a while back." Yumemi tossed them each a coin shaped object. "It should allow you to escape sticky situations, or just ship back the broken dolls as you beat them."
Shanghai nodded again. "That'll be helpful."
"Hm... These steaks are good too."
Shanghai and Yumemi turned to see Hourai sampling the ostritch, Chiyuri smiling beside her. "Yeah laser cooking is kinda difficult, but I've had a lot of practice." The woman looked over at Shanghai, "You want a taste before you go running out?"
Shanghai really wasn't certain she wanted this to be her first experience with food, but Hourai looked like she was enjoying it. She tentatively took a bite.
It was interesting. Not terrible but not mind shattering either. She chewed a bit more before finally stating. "It seems okay. Not sure why people would be so attached to eating though."
Hourai looked at her then shrugged. "Maybe you have different tastes sister."
Marisa coughed. "You want to hear that information I collected?"
"Sure." The group moved to sit around Marisa's map, the humans each collecting their dinner as well.
"Reimu is still searching for Medicine herself, but we've pinned down, 7 of the lost dolls, including the two you've taken out." Marisa said as she waved her hands over the map. Five glowing dots appeared on the map of Gensoukyo.
"Nitori's confirmed one is holed up in the rivers of Youkai Mountain. She seems to be designed for underwater actions." Marisa looked up at Shanghai and Hourai. "Nitori also said she's developed underwater gear for you two, so you should be okay there."
Marisa moved her finger down to the lake. "Patchy's been complaining to me about one that's gone to ground in the SDM. What's worrying is that Sakuya says she's been sensing time manipulation there. I don't know what to make of it."
"That doesn't sound good...." Shanghai said with a frown.
"Yeah, time manipulation's a bitch," Marisa agreed. She then pointed to a point above youkai mountain. "Apparently there's another one with annoying powers here in heaven. Iku dropped by to complain about how it's messing up the weather there. Given that Tenshi still has the Sword of Hisou that doll must have quite the power."
Hourai frowned as well. "That is a lot of power. I didn't think doll like us could beat an artifact."
"It's probably Tenshi not being able to keep constant focus." Marisa said. "Still it's not good news."
"Fortunately the other two seem safer. Komachi told me there's one in Muenkuza that just is sitting around and pacing. Some fairies and evil spirits have gathered around it, but it's not doing anything actively. Similarly the one that holed up in Eientei just sent out a challenge to a quickdraw contest. I think they can wait a little."
"So that just leaves one, from what you've told us," Yumemi said.
"I wonder if we can set up a sensor to find it," Chiyuri mused.
"Ah no need. I know where it is."
Everyone looked up in surprise at that. Somehow Koishi was sitting at the table as well, with a serving of steak in front of her. "Wha?! How long have you been there Koishi?" Marisa asked.
Koishi smiled. "Oh I followed those two here after I did that little light show for them. Alice's unconscious really wanted to talk to them, so I helped it a long a bit."
Shanghai's heart rose. "You can talk to Mother!"
"Ahahaha!" Koishi waved her hand. "Sorry, she's lost in dreams so I can only make sense of things if there's a proper trigger around. I was only able to get a connection to her at all because of her love for her creations. But if you find more items I might be able to open up a connection again."
"Oh right, and I know where the last doll is. It's hiding somewhere in hell." Koishi tipped her hat. "So now you know everything I know!"
Chiyuri raised an eyebrow. "Well that explains that oddness. Now can anyone explain the whole secret passage thing?"
"Actually I think I know how that happened," Marisa said. "You know, wait you two don't know.... Well anyway fairies can make homes and passages inside their homes that other people can't see or use unless the fairies let them. It's how they live in those big trees." Marisa looked over at the two dolls. "Apparently you dolls have something similar. Which is another reason you two have to be the ones to hunt down those dolls."
Shanghai looked over at Hourai, then down at the map. "Alright. Where should we head next?"
Sect:
You know which one I want to select. :V
Hanzo K.:
I'm kinda torn between the one at the SDM, and the one at Muenzuka.
I mean, the one there seems harmless enough, but it's always the quiet ones you gotta watch for.
Though the one at Eientei also has me quite interested.