Reimu Quest (Part 9)

[日巫子]

>"She just got back. I more or less followed her."

> "I see."  Iku kind of leaves it at that, and lets out a sigh.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Alright, let's hear it. Is the Dragon God missing?"

[日巫子]

>"Alright, let's hear it. Is the Dragon God missing?"

> Iku pinches the bridge of her nose.  "The Dragon God is not present.  To be honest, I am not sure what is going on.  I spoke to the other celestials there, and none of them have seen him either.  The only way to contact him is at the Dragon Palace, and if he isn't even there, then I'm afraid we're not going to be able to ask for his help."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not surprising. That means he's probably trying to do something about this whole mess. Which doesn't bode too well for the situation, really. So, you don't have any way to find him?"

[日巫子]

>"Not surprising. That means he's probably trying to do something about this whole mess. Which doesn't bode too well for the situation, really. So, you don't have any way to find him?"

> "I just said that the only way to contact him is through the Dragon Palace," says Iku.  In the distance, Tenshi is coming up over the edge of the island and making her way across the field.

> _

[Sect]

> Is the Dragon God present outside of Gensokyo? Would his absence be explained by Gensokyo apparently existing outside of time?

[日巫子]

> Is the Dragon God present outside of Gensokyo? Would his absence be explained by Gensokyo apparently existing outside of time?

> Of course the Dragon God would be outside of Gensokyo.  He can be anywhere he wants, or at least that's what it seems like.  Gensokyo being severed from time being the reason he's not here is plausible.
> Tenshi finishes crossing the field and approaches you and Iku.  She looks confused at your presence.
> "How'd you get here before me?" she grumbles.

> _

[Sect]

> "It's one of the many powers of a shrine maiden." Oops, we forgot to bring Suika. Oh well, she'll be along on her own.
> Turn back to Iku. "Well, whenever you're ready. I appreciate your help."

[日巫子]

> "It's one of the many powers of a shrine maiden." Oops, we forgot to bring Suika. Oh well, she'll be along on her own.
> Turn back to Iku. "Well, whenever you're ready. I appreciate your help."

> "Whatever."  Tenshi skips off across the field.
> In your haste to get to Bhava-Agra, you completely forgot Suika.  Hopefully she and the others will show up soon.
> "Um, whenever I'm ready to...what, exactly?" Iku asks.

> _

[Sect]

> Blink. "Uh. Try to talk to the Dragon God? At the Dragon Palace?" Is what we're saying stupid for some reason?

[日巫子]

> Blink. "Uh. Try to talk to the Dragon God? At the Dragon Palace?" Is what we're saying stupid for some reason?

> "That's what I just did," Iku says.  Her eyebrows are so furrowed you think they're going to meet in the middle.  "Where else did you think I went?"

> _

[Sect]

> "Oh. Ohhh. Sorry, I misunderstood you."
> Well. This is a complete waste of effort.

Misunderstood what Iku said. I thought she said that she would need to go to the Dragon Palace to talk to the Dragon God, not that she had already tried to do so.

[日巫子]

> "Oh. Ohhh. Sorry, I misunderstood you."
> Well. This is a complete waste of effort.

> "That's alright," says Iku.  In the background, Tenshi is sprinting off towards some corner of the island.
> You're starting to feel disheartened.

> _

[Sect]

> "Where's she off to?"

[日巫子]

> "Where's she off to?"

> "Huh?"  Iku turns around to watch Tenshi run off.  "I don't know.  Eldest Daughter?"
> She raises her voice, but Tenshi keeps running.  You see two figures ascending over the edge of the island in the distance.

> _

[Sect]

> "It's probably Suika. Want to go see? I thought it was going to take longer, so I was having people gather here so I can tell them what's going on. In fact... you might want to be there, too."

[日巫子]

> "It's probably Suika. Want to go see? I thought it was going to take longer, so I was having people gather here so I can tell them what's going on. In fact... you might want to be there, too."

> "Alright, I'll go," says Iku.  She hovers off the ground and starts to glide away, towards where Tenshi is running.

> _

[Sect]

> Follow.

[日巫子]

> Follow.

> You and Iku race across the field.  You eventually meet Tenshi at the edge, where she's watching Sanae and Youmu fly up to the main island.  They both look absolutely exhausted.  Sanae is holding the sewing box, but almost drops it when she half-collapses in the grass.  Iku rushes to her side to help her up, while Youmu wrings out her hands.  Both have been accompanied by a mob of mini-Suikas, which proceed to swarm Tenshi.
> "Yeeek!"  Tenshi squeals and swats them away.  "Where's the real Suika?!"

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Well that's convenient, given what we're gonna need Sanae to do...
>"You guys have trouble?"

[日巫子]

>Well that's convenient, given what we're gonna need Sanae to do...
>"You guys have trouble?"

> Even if it isn't Suika, you're glad Sanae's here, at least.
> "No matter how much we sewed up, it wasn't enough," Youmu says.  She pauses and you see her face flush a little.  "My hands really hurt."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"You did your best, and probably bought us some time. We'd need an army to deal with that, I think."
>Ponder if Alice's dolls are articulate enough to sew...
>"So. Good news is, I found Yukari. Bad news is, she's more interested in bending the situation to her advantage than getting things done, to the point she's actively getting in the way. But, I know what happened now."
>Actually...now that our memories are restored, would we happen to recall a couple of dream world denizens, such as someone that looked kinda like an angel, or a set of stones?

[日巫子]

>"You did your best, and probably bought us some time. We'd need an army to deal with that, I think."
>Ponder if Alice's dolls are articulate enough to sew...
>"So. Good news is, I found Yukari. Bad news is, she's more interested in bending the situation to her advantage than getting things done, to the point she's actively getting in the way. But, I know what happened now."
>Actually...now that our memories are restored, would we happen to recall a couple of dream world denizens, such as someone that looked kinda like an angel, or a set of stones?

> "Oh, thank you--"  Youmu's eyes widen in surprise when you tell her about Yukari.  "What?  But...but with the Boundary the way it is, there's no way she'd get in the way...would she?"
> Alice's dolls do a lot of housework for her, so it'd be no surprise if they were skilled enough to sew.
> "Yukari's not gonna show up here, is she?" Tenshi asks, suspicion creeping into her voice.
> "I don't think so," Iku replies to her.
> Even before you had your memories restored, you'd remember who Gengetsu and the Five Magic Stones are.  You fought them after coming to the surface, after all.  Neither of them were particularly pleasant to deal with.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>What about Meira and Rika? We didn't recall those two dinks at all.
>"Like I said, she's looking to gain from this whole affair, so she needs to close off avenues that don't work to her advantage. Got real mad when I pulled the mask back a little bit, too. And she'll probably get even more mad next time I see her."
>"Anyways, things are going to get complicated now. Iku's confirmed that the Fragon God is away, which is who I was hoping to talk with about this mess. But I suppose he's off dealing with it right now."

[日巫子]

>What about Meira and Rika? We didn't recall those two dinks at all.
>"Like I said, she's looking to gain from this whole affair, so she needs to close off avenues that don't work to her advantage. Got real mad when I pulled the mask back a little bit, too. And she'll probably get even more mad next time I see her."
>"Anyways, things are going to get complicated now. Iku's confirmed that the Fragon God is away, which is who I was hoping to talk with about this mess. But I suppose he's off dealing with it right now."

> You've fought so many people over the years that you can't expect yourself to remember every single one of them.  Come to think of it, you probably have fought those two at some point.  When you saw Meira, you thought she looked at least a little familiar.  However, there are bigger problems at the moment.
> "Uh.."  Youmu falters a bit.  "Other avenues?"
> You continue to explain the situation.  Unfortunately, things aren't looking in your favor right now, but you'd like to hope.
> Tenshi puts her hands on her hips and scowls.  "If the Dragon God were 'dealing with it' then it'd be fixed by now."
> "Now, Eldest Daughter, I'm sure there's some explanation for this..." Iku reassures her.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm guessing it's why things haven't gotten worse, myself."
>"Anyways, the problem is...another universe seems to have collided into Gensokyo, and we got unstuck from the outside world. We kinda managed to grab back on, but it's sort of thousands of years into the future, and it looks like the outside world hasn't survived, which is why we have the floods and stuff."

[日巫子]

>"I'm guessing it's why things haven't gotten worse, myself."
>"Anyways, the problem is...another universe seems to have collided into Gensokyo, and we got unstuck from the outside world. We kinda managed to grab back on, but it's sort of thousands of years into the future, and it looks like the outside world hasn't survived, which is why we have the floods and stuff."

> You tell the group what Yukari told you.  Everyone goes quiet and stares at you, slack-jawed.
> "Then if the Boundary goes down and we're exposed to the Outside World..." Iku begins, and then puts her hand to her mouth.  The others exchange worried looks.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Then we have a problem, maybe. Actually, if the world is screwed up so bad, there might well be room for us. But let's not worry about that right now. The thing is, Yukari doesn't know why it happened. That's what I want to find out. Because then we can fix it."

[O4rfish]

You want to fix the Outside world?

[日巫子]

>"Then we have a problem, maybe. Actually, if the world is screwed up so bad, there might well be room for us. But let's not worry about that right now. The thing is, Yukari doesn't know why it happened. That's what I want to find out. Because then we can fix it."

> "Um."  Sanae raises her hand.  "Usually, when there's an apocalypse, it's like if a meteor hits or the sea levels rise or giant monsters start coming out of a rift in the bottom of the ocean.  Are we going to have to deal with something like that?"

> _