At least, that's what your father told you. You've spent god knows how long walking and you don't feel any larger or manlier than before. Perhaps you should buy a pedometer so you could calculate what percentage of manliness that you've gained.
It would give you something to do other than count trees and throw rocks at things, which is the highlight of your day. You would be officially insane if you started to play “I Spy” by yourself when everything is a shade of green and brown. As a result, you've taken to catching insects and trapping them in a ring to fight to the death in your boredom. The winner would have the glory of travelling to fight new opponents and prove himself the ultimate bug. Nobody could beat the reigning champion of course, an adorable beetle that you have named Kabuto.
This has been the day to day life that you've lived for the last couple weeks. Always wandering from place to place, getting lost in the forest and occasionally visiting towns to restock. However, there was something different about today.
“Huh, why is there a shrine in the middle of nowhere?” You say out loud, hoping that Kabuto would reply with something other than a chirp. Of course, you are disappointed when he tries to bite your fingers for the umpteenth time
The Forest-Shrine as you decided to name it, was empty and in ruins, the stone stairs crumbled as you climbed up, sending rocks down the stairs for any other possible passersby. How long was this place abandoned? Aren't shrines supposed to be well kept? Perhaps the deity of this shrine had failed their worshippers in some way. It couldn't hurt to donate a few coins and the gods would appreciate having someone that hasn't given up on them.
You spend the better part of a day cleaning up the shrine, hoping to get some divine favor to pull strings in the future. Eventually, the sky turns dark and the rains starts to pour. Deciding that some sort of roof is better than none at all, you set up your tent in one of the side rooms. As you set down your sleeping bag, you bid goodnight to Kabuto and fall asleep with the sound of rain drizzling outside.
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“Hey! Wake up!” There's something nostalgic about being stabbed with a stick while being yelled at.
[x] “Five more minutes, Mom!”
[x] Ignore it and go back to sleep
[x] Wake up
[x] “Kabuto, when did you grow arms and get a stick?”
[x] “Kabuto, when did you grow arms and get a stick?”
Yo, new story.
Kabuto is best bug.
No. 53708
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[iqdb]
[x] “Kabuto, when did you grow arms and get a stick?”
For some reason I can't help but think of our protagonist as a Dwarf Fortress adventurer. Let's hope this tale doesn't end like most of theirs
>“A man grows with every step he takes.”
>At least, that's what your father told you. You've spent god knows how long walking and you don't feel any larger or manlier than before.
Since when were you under the impression that you are a man?
Unwilling to move from your sleeping bag, you call out to the person who you assume is your best friend of all time, Kabuto.
“Hey, Kabuto, when did you grow arms and get a stick?” Better yet, how could he talk? You can smell the scent of money in this, a talking, fighting beetle? You'll make millions! Or at least, until the nutcases shut you down because you've just proven that beetles can be people too.
“Kabuto? You mean that bug?” She starts to jab harder, knowing that you're awake.
“Wait, so you're not a hyper-intelligent human sized beetle that would take over the world with your superior genetics?” You vaguely recall several series based on insects and how if they were human sized, they would be able to take over the world. You just hope that Kabuto would never betray you when he becomes the supreme ruler of the universe.
“Nope. I don't think he's very intelligent if he's fighting with an Oni.” Wait. WHAT?!
“KABUTO, NOOOOOOO!” You jump out of the bag with the force of a thousand suns, the love for your companion and closest friend pushes you far beyond your limits. The amount of sheer force and willpower tears it in half. There's no time to mourn Mr. Sleepy, you need to save Kabuto!
You headbutt into the figure, sending them flying across the room. The figure slams against the wall, making a loud thud.
“Calm down! I let him out to play with Suika! She'd never hurt a beetle, I swear!” She tries to calm you down, but you won't believe her lies until you see it with your own eyes!
You charge outside of the room and into the main yard, you recognize your beetle on the stairs, dueling with what appears to be an orange haired girl with two horns. You can see the spirit Kabuto is putting into his attacks, but she has the upper hand. There's only one thing you could do now, believe in Kabuto. His single horn fails in comparison to her duo-horn techniques.
“Nyahahaha! You're pretty good for a beetle!” This is too hard to watch, you have to do something! Even if his pride is damaged, you know that he'll forgive you in the end.
You run towards the pair, picking up the beetle and rolling dramatically down the stairs, keeping your friend close to your chest to prevent damage. You stop bouncing down the stairs about halfway, where you manage to land. Kabuto seems unharmed with his hard shell, but the same can't be said for you.
“Hey! How could you butt in on a honorable duel!” The horned girl is obviously annoyed. “However, I can appreciate when a man knows when to call off a fight.” She nods slowly and takes a big swig of her bottle.
You stumble back up the stairs to have a talk with Kabuto's greatest rival. But, you're interrupted by a flying kick to the face by a red blur.
“Now that you've calmed down, tell me who you are and I might forgive you for headbutting me.” You can make out her image now that the adrenaline has disappeared. She has brown hair and wears a shrine maiden's outfit in a red and white colour scheme. However, you question the functionality of detached sleeves.
[x] Who are you?
======================================================================
Words cannot describe how happy I am to have people vote on my first story. Also, Kabuto is a pure-blooded Rhinoceros Beetle, if anyone was wondering.
“Tell me who you are, and I might forgive you for kidnapping me!” She was the one who woke you up with a stick and put Kabuto in danger! ...Although, you couldn't blame her, she had 3 very good reasons to be mad at you.
1. You entered her shrine without permission and stayed the night there.
2. You headbutted her in the face.
3. You almost dive tackled her friend down the stairs in an attempt to save your beetle.
But, you are never wrong! There's no way you can back down now!
“...” You could see her smack her face with her hand, shaking her head side to side.
“Well? It's only common courtesy to introduce yourself first!” You didn't have many manners, but you had the basics down at least.
“...I am Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine and protector of the Hakurei Border.”
The only thing you understood from her was that she liked to use the name “Hakurei” a lot.
“I'm Suika! Resident oni and drunk~” The girl with the horns claimed to be an oni, but she seems rather small to be one. Also, the onis you have heard of carry a giant club and wear loincloths, and she is severely lacking in both.
“...I am-” You tried to introduce yourself, but a loud blond girl on a broomstick interrupted you. It is also important to mention that she is several meters off the ground. What kind of sorcery is this? Did she sell her first born child to the devil? How does one gain the ability to fly?
“Yo, Reimu! I see you snagged a boyfriend!” She jumps off her broom and does a magnificent dive, performing multiple somersaults in the air before landing on the ground. You stare in shock at what you've just seen. A girl jumped from 10 meters up in the air, and landed on the ground without any damage? She could be an Olympic level diver! You would give her a full 10 points right now!
“He's not-” She becomes flustered and tries to deny the accusations, but the blond will not have any of that.
“Please take care of Reimu, she's a good friend of mine, and I hope you will make her happy.” She flashes you a grin before giving you a polite bow. You like the cut of her jib.
“Thank you, I will do everything I can for her happiness.” You return the bow.
“If you two are done joking around, I believe we were in the middle of a conversation.” Reimu is about to burst a vein, and that can't possibly be good for her. She is also holding her stick with fancy paper rather menacingly, and something tells you that you shouldn't get on her bad side.
“Jeez, Reimu, you're always such a buzzkill. Can't have any fun round' here.” The blond kicks a stone in mock irritation. It bounces off the tori and rebounds into her face.
“Bah, I've had enough stupid for one day! Go away.” Reimu shoos you away and goes back to doing whatever she does in the shrine. Suika follows behind her, taking another swig of her bottle.
The two of you, (or three if you count Kabuto, which you do) stand at the entrance. You start to wander off before the blond stops you.
“Hey, I haven't introduced myself yet, right? Name's Marisa Kirisame, the “Ordinary Magician”. Nice to meetcha.” She seems to understand the policy of presenting herself first, a skill that some people could learn.
[x] Go back and apologize to Reimu
[x] Marisa seems pretty cool. Hang out with her.
[x] You know what you love? Exploring.
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Kabuto is about the size of your hand, pretty big for a beetle, but not enough to fight off Suika.
Also, could you guys pick a name for the character? I'll name him myself if you don't want to.
Let Reimu have some time to cool down. She's used to Marisa's shenanigans anyway.
Also, KabutoxSuika OTP, calling it right now.
I found a name that fits in both with the bug theme and the Dorf theme people seem to want.
[X]Sindri
"Possibly means 'small, trivial' in Old Norse. In Norse legend this was the name of a dwarf who made many magical items for the gods."
Oh and OOO, if you're okay with a little bit of constructive critisism:
>There's only one thing you could do now, believe in Kabuto. His single horn fails in comparison to her duo-horn techniques.
This bit sticks out to me as being a bit awkward. It doesn't quite flow naturally to have a full stop in the middle.
"There's only one thing you could do now, believe in Kabuto but his single horn fails" (emphasis only to point out what I changed) is a much smoother transition.
Also, "duo-horn" sounds a little strange. Again it just doesn't quite roll of the toungue too well. "Dual-horn" is what most people would say.
Other than that, I'd say this story is pretty interesting. I like the MC's sense of humor/insanity when he'd rather assume that Kabuto has evolved, pokemon style, into the ruler of the universe than that it's just a normal person who happened to find him sleeping.
>>53738 Eh, I was just throwing it out there because, when it comes to names, either I go with the first stupid idea I get or I sit there for an hour trying to find something that doesn't make me cringe. (And then I go with the first stupid idea anyway.)
[x] Go back and apologize to Reimu
as for name...
[x] Shigeru
No. 53781
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[x] Go back and apologize to Reimu.
“Name's Antony, call me Ant.” You return her introduction, “This is Kabuto, my pet beetle.” You try to nudge Kabuto to give a hello, but he crawls into your pocket. “He's just mad that I didn't let him fight with Suika.” It's like the time he tried to pick a fight with a bear; he'll forgive you in time.
“Oh, A beetle? The last time I had a fighting beetle, it grew too big and Reimu had to kill it. She wouldn't shut her trap about how magic went too far.” It's confirmed, Reimu hates insects. And fun.
But, she did seem pretty mad back there. It's not good to let anger stew, and you forgot your supplies back at the shrine anyways.
“I think we should apologize to Reimu.” Marisa gives you a strange look, and then sighs.
“Nah, she won't listen to nobody when she's that mad. Feel free to try though. I'm going to borrow some books. See ya!” She hops back on her broom and flies off over the horizon.
You walk into the building, and see Reimu sipping at some tea, half-asleep. Suika's nowhere to be seen, but you assume that she's honing her horn skills on a tree somewhere.
“Hey. Reimu?” She turns around to look at you.
“Oh. It's you.” And then she turns back to take another sip of her tea.
“Look. I'm sorry for what I did. I broke into your shrine and caused a lot of trouble for you. Please forgive me.” You sat down in front of her, to look her in the eye. You remember that eye contact was very important back in your line of work.
“...At least you're better than that good-for-nothing Marisa. She never apologized once! Always causing trouble trying to shove her mysterious mushrooms down my throat and call it magic! Then she says “Whoops.” and flies off! I can't believe that girl.” Marisa did call Reimu her friend, but you're starting to question that.
“Is there anything I can do to repay you?” You decide to change the topic; you'd be here until dawn if you had to wait until Reimu was done ranting.
“Yes, but we need to have a talk.” She looked serious now, you'd better listen carefully.
“I'm all ears.” You pull Kabuto out of your pocket and put him on the table. He sits there, waiting.
“You're not from this world.” This is a good start, it turns out you're an alien! “More accurately, you're from the outside world.” She just killed your hopes. “This place is called Gensokyo, it's full of magic, youkai and gods. That's how Marisa flies on her magic broomstick, but between you and me, she doesn't actually need it. She just likes riding on one.” Magic? Youkai? You saw the proof, Marisa had her broom, and the horns on Suika made a lot more sense now.
“It's my responsibility as the Hakurei shrine maiden to send you back.” She's going to send you back?
“No. I'm not going back.” You can't go back. There's nothing left for you there, and you had more plans than to be a hermit for the rest of your life.
“...I still have to do it, even if you don't want to.” She stares you down, there's no convincing her otherwise. You get ready to bolt out of the room before she sends you back. “However, I can't send you back on my own. I need someone to help me. Unfortunately, she has more power over this than me, so if she wants you to stay, you can stay.” There's a chance that you can stay after all? You decide to give it a shot, it'd certainly be better than being a fugitive in another world.
“Yukari? I know you're there.” She talks as if there's somebody there. “Yukari?” Still nothing. “...Old hag?” Whoever this Yukari is, she doesn't want to show up. Reimu scrunches her face before calling her one last time. “...Honey?” Her voice is practically dripping with disgust.
OH GOD, WHAT ARE THOSE EYE- “My, my, did you call for me, sweetie?” You swear to god, she appeared from nowhere. You're going to need to lie down with the knowledge that everything you ever knew is wrong. At least Kabuto is still the same.
“We have another outsider, and I need you to send him back.” She doesn't seem pleased to see this “Yukari”.
“Another outsider? Reimu, there are tons of fine men on this side of the border, you don't need to keep pulling people from the outside world to get your fix!” She pouts.
“Excuse me, mysterious lady with lots of eyes, but we already did this joke.” You stop it from progressing further. You don't need to be kicked out of the shrine again. And you're starting to feel sorry for Reimu, it seems like everyone she knows is out to mess with her.
“Oh?” Now that the initial damage to your sanity is gone, you can take the time to fully appreciate the sight of the woman. She wears a rather silly hat, and has ribbons on several parts of her dress and her blond hair. She's certainly frilly if nothing else.
“My name is Antony, pleased to make your acquaintance. This over here is my pet beetle, Kabuto.” You tap Kabuto on the back, and he refuses to do anything. All the time you spent on training him to do awesome tricks was wasted.
“I am Yakuri Yakumo, the youkai of borders, pleased to meet you too.” She throws out a quick introduction. She seems more interested in Kabuto than you.
“Look, are you going to send him back or not?” Reimu rushes her along, clearly trying to get rid of her as soon as possible.
“Nope.” Well, that was easy.
“What?! Why?” Reimu shouts, she seems determined to get you back.
“One of the gods let him in. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going back to sleep.” And she casually rips apart the rules of time and space, opening a portal to places unknown. Then it hits you, could the silly hat be used a nightcap?
Reimu, on the other hand, almost slams head-first into the table. “What do you mean the gods let you in?! Was it one of those dirty Moriya Shrine gods? I bet it was Sanae! I'm going to have a good, long talk with them!”
[x] Stop Reimu, you don't know of any gods who would do such a thing and it's unlikely they were the ones who let you in.
[x] Is this a chance for ADVENTURE? Tag along with Reimu, you'd like to see a god in person!
[x] You need to take a break. This is a lot to take in; maybe Suika could explain some of the finer details.
I'm always open to criticism. I'll make sure to start reading my stuff out loud, it's a good habit to learn. Also, I hoped this story would be semi-serious sooner or later, but I'm fine with it being the misadventures of
Kabuto and Antony.
I also have a crippling habit of commas. Please, help me cure my addiction to commas.
I'm sad nobody suggested the name Beedle, you could have ran a flying air balloon and sold goods to heroes while forcing your membership cards onto people
Hmmm...perhaps we should go for an insightful protagonist? We can make a good start by solving this mystery pretty much immediately...
[x]Point out that the last thing you did before awakening here was to clean an abandoned shrine in the forest...a forest that looks kind of similar to the one outside, if that helps.
[X] Is this a chance for ADVENTURE? Tag along with Reimu, you'd like to see a god in person!
-[X] Also, mention that before you ended up here you were cleaning a shrine similar to this one.
ADVENTURE, HOOOOO!
>>53782 Yeah, that was my first thought too. I'll never forget his smooth voice that is just dripping with corruption and lies when he talks to that Librarian. They seriously got a really good voice actor for him.
>>53781 Hey, if anything I probably use more commas than you. In this single post, I've already had to stop myself from using at least eight more commas than I'm doing right now.
Also, there's a few minor things.
>You sat down in front of her, to look her in the eye.
You accidentally switched from present to past tense here.
>Then it hits you, could the silly hat be used a nightcap?
Wsa this meant to be "used as a nightcap"? Or you could just say "be a nightcap".
Do you have anyone proofreading for you? Because that really helps a lot.
I approve of this. Be the unexpectedly insightful idiot.
[x]Point out that the last thing you did before awakening here was to clean an abandoned shrine in the forest...a forest that looks kind of similar to the one outside, if that helps.
[x] Is this a chance for ADVENTURE? Tag along with Reimu, you'd like to see a god in person!
[x]Point out that the last thing you did before awakening here was to clean an abandoned shrine in the forest... a forest that looks kind of similar to the one outside, if that helps
You grab onto Reimu's hand before she flies off.
“Hold on! Bring me along with you!” You can smell the adventure, and you want in! This shrine is pretty boring, and you were just told there were REAL gods. Man, you would have went to church with your mom every Sunday if you knew.
“...I guess it'd be easier to explain if you were there in person.” Boo-yeah! You run to your room and grab all your gear. You almost forget Kabuto on your way out, but he doesn't seem to mind.
You drag Reimu outside, she's surprisingly easy to pull. “Where to, Captain Reimu?”
“Up.” Up? How she going to- Oh god. Oh man, OH GOD, OH MAN. ARE YOU FLYING?!
“WOOHOO!” How she does this is beyond your mortal comprehension. You're not the heaviest person around, but you know she shouldn't be able to lift you like this. You gotta ask Reimu how to fly later.
“Shut up for a minute, would you? You're just like Marisa.” You wouldn't mind being like Marisa. She flies on a broom and does awesome flips. How much cooler could she be?
“ADVENTURE, HOOO!” You scream at the top of your lungs, it's a tradition to scream at the top of your lungs when you're doing something awesome. You don't really notice that you're high enough to die if you fall. You double check on Kabuto to make sure he's nice and safe.
Suddenly, Reimu just moves forward. No wings, no jet packs, she just flies. There's no wind brushing against you either. You grip her hand extra tight, and she seems to notice it with a faint blush. Shrine maidens were supposed to be pure, so it made sense to you.
Thirty minutes later, the whole novelty of flight has worn off. It might be a different story if you were flying on your own. To pass the time, you and Kabuto play “I Spy,” but you always win when you guess the colour green. Deciding that there's nothing better to do, you make small talk with Reimu.
“Hey, Reimu, are we there yet?” This shrine was pretty far away, but you're going fast enough for the forests beneath to blur.
“No.”
“Are we there yet?”
“No.”
“Are we-”
“No.”
Reimu didn't seem like the talkative type anyways. You start to wonder how you got into this mess, so you start to recap yesterday's events. First, you were skipping rocks across a pond, then you found some bugs for Kabuto to fight. After that, you came across and shrine and cleaned it u- Oh.
“Hey! Reimu-” You were about to discuss your discovery with her, but she cut you off.
“We're here, now stop asking.” She seemed more snappish now. Maybe you shouldn't make small talk next time.
You arrive at a shrine on top of a mountain, you could hear a couple voices complaining about “The damn dogs” and “Can't even guard a mountain.” The shrine is well kept, with a large lake on the side of it. This place is a lot fancier than the other shrine.
“Welcome to Morinya Shrine!” You hear a voice call out.
“S-S-Sanae?!” Reimu seems in shock. This shrine is pretty good, but there's nothing to be surprised abou-
Hold on. Is that a cat girl? You do a double-take. The green haired girl had cat ears and a tail, in addition to that, she had an adorable frog hairpin and a snake tied around her hair She certainly had a lot more accessories than Reimu. Although, you could tell that the cat ears were fake, because there is no possible way that green fur is real... Right? You take a good look at her tail, it's slowly waving back and forth.
That's it, you need to have a long think about your life. Maybe in the next life, you can be an adorable cat girl too. You'd prefer to be a beetle first, of course, but the cuteness of this girl is off the charts.
“Oh? Who did you bring along with you?” She sighs, you can tell she's given up on the talking like a cat schtick.
“Are you playing dumb now? I know you brought him here!” You'd better stop Reimu before she continues on her wild goose chase.
“Uh... Reim-” You were being cut off a lot today.
“Oh yeah? Prove it.” Anyone could tell that they weren't on the best of terms, but there was no reason for her to be this catty.
“I don't have to!” You've gotta be kitten me.
“What are you, a child?” Sanae replies. This was going to turn into a catfight. You have to stop them right meow before a catastrophe happens!
“I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY.” They shut their mouths and look at you.
“Reimu, I cleaned up a shrine that looked like yours back in the Outside world. Don't you think that's what brought me here?” She stands flabbergasted for a minute. She turns a bright red and runs away
[x] Stop Reimu! You need a ride back and a place to stay!
[x] Stay with Sanae for now. Give Reimu some time to cool down.
[x] Anemia option.
I have a quasi-editor, but she seems more likely to skim it rather than give it a full proofreading. I don't want to bother the guys on IRC to edit my crap every couple hours either. I'll quadruple check my work, but
I hope you guys can put up with the occasional errors. If any of you guys want to give it a reading, ask me on IRC.
[x] Stay with Sanae for now. Give Reimu some time to cool down.
Have to see how many puns he'll cram in.
No. 53841
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You watch Reimu fly off into the sunset. She has to learn how to control her short temper, and letting her be embarrassed for a while could do that. With no way home, you start to climb down the stairs, before Sanae grabs you by the shoulder.
“Hold on, you don't think you could come here and just leave like that, right?” She knows how to CATch your attention. Plus, it would take forever to walk down this MEOWtain by yourself. She drags you into the shrine without any PAWse.
“So. Uh...” You squirm awkwardly at the table and wait for her to finish pouring you some MICEd tea. “What's going to happen to me?”
“Nothing.” She couldn't be LION, could she? She doesn't seem to be a CHEETAH.
“Alright, I'm hooked. Why are you a cat?” You decide to cut off the cat puns once and for PAW. They're just PUNishing for you to make at this point.
“Suwako's shenyanigans. She put the cat ears on my head and told me to collect some faith from the Wolf Tengus.” That would explain the ears, but where did she get the tail...? And what was her tail attached t- MAGIC. You can't afford to continue that train of thought in fear of losing your purity.
“So, did it work?” It worked well enough for you.
“Nope. They're wolves, not cats. I spent half the day being chased around the mountain.” That sounds like a lot of trouble. It was pretty obvious that wolves and cats wouldn't get along, but maybe that was part of Suwako's plans in the first place.
“I should introduce myself properly. I am Ant, and this is my partner Kab-” You reach in your pocket to find Kabuto, but all your can grasp is air. Where's Kabuto? Did you lose him on the way over? No, you double checked while the two ladies were fighting. Where could he possibly be? He couldn't have gotten too far!
“Kabuto?! Where are you?” You charge out of the room and start searching around the shrine. You try to listen for a light chirp around the shrine, but you hear a loud scream instead. You dash towards the noise and burst through the doors.
The first thing you notice is a rather large woman cowering in the corner, with some strange circle of rope floating behind her. After that, you notice Kabuto sitting on a belt. “Oh, there you are, Kabuto.” You bend over and try to pick him up, but he skitters back onto the belt. How strange. You pick up the belt and walk back to Sanae, leaving the large woman shivering in fear.
“Sorry for that, this is my good friend, Kabuto.” You tap him on the horn.
“Oh? He seems rather attached to that belt.” She's right, what was it about this thing? You put on the belt so that you wouldn't have to carry it anymore.
“What's so special about this belt?” It seemed rather gaudy, but it had a small cage in the middle.
“That's an old toy of mine, you put a plastic insect in the cage and say “Henshin,” but all it does is make some sounds and yell out the name of the bug.” Maybe you should give it a test? Kabuto seems more than willing to do so.
You shrug and put Kabuto in the cage. It's almost too small to fit him, but you manage to jam him in there. Now you have to say the magic words, what was it again? “Henshin?”
KABUTO FORM. READY. SET. FIGHT!
PROLOGUE COMPLETE!
No. 53842
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“My queen, he has arrived.” The small grasshopper bows to the woman in front of him.
“Good. Now all we need to do is capture him, and he'll be good as new!” The voice replies, almost purring in delight. “Now, go get him!” She throws something at the grasshopper.
The grasshopper gladly picks it up and eats it. He slowly mutates into a half-bug, half-human abomination.
“Yes, my queen.”
===============================================
“Hot damn, this is cool!” You take a look in the mirror to see yourself armored with a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle motif, big horn included. Although, the amount of muscles on the body armour is over-exaggerated, you weren't that strong.
“Uh...” Sanae just stares at you in shock. “How did you do that?”
“Do what? All I did was say “Henshin” and then this happened.” You honestly have no idea what happened.
“This normally doesn't happen! Even MAGIC can't do that!” Strange things were happening all around you, there was no reason to bat an eye about suddenly becoming some sort of insect warrior.
“Hm. I need a cool name now. Ant isn't good enough.” This whole thing reminded you of the old super-hero shows you used to watch, they knew how to choose names. It has to be simple, and awesome. Taking another look at the mirror, you noticed that your face was completely covered. Masked. Now you just need another word... Rider? Motorcycles are pretty awe-inspiring. Finally, you need one last word.
[x] Make up with a name for your Kamen Rider!
Note: You will get other forms than Kabuto.
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I'm totally not shoving the naming duties onto you. Nope, that's not happening at all.
Pssst. Name the story for me too. I'm horrible with names.
>“A man grows with every step he takes.”
>At least, that's what your father told you.
>Nobody could beat the reigning champion of course, an adorable beetle that you have named Kabuto.
You'd have to be far denser than Wiseman not to see that.
Gen. Kamen Rider Gen! Man, that sounds cool. It's pretty audacious to call yourself “Masked Rider Origin,” but it just clicks with you.
“Sanae, where could I get a motorcycle?” You had the mask, you had the cool armor, but you had no motorcycle. You're not even a Rider, just a walker.
“The Kappas might have one. Why?” Kappas? You mean the youkai who take some sort of ball out of your anus? Man, that's going to be a hell of an adventure. Better bring some cucumbers, just in case you need to bribe one of them. You snag them from the kitchen, passing by a small girl with googly eyes on her hat.
“Alright, thanks, I'll see you later!” You're pretty sure Kappas live in water, specifically in rivers and streams. Remembering that you saw a giant waterfall when Reimu flew you here, you head off.
“Hold on!” It's too late, you're already down the stairs and running down the dirt path.
Nobody can stop you at the rate you're running! It feels effortless, like you're flying on land. Man, you could run for days and not feel tired. It's hard to believe you were walking like a loser for your whole life. “A man grows with every step he takes.” Well, Dad, you're not growing anymore, you're evolving!
You finally reach the waterfall at sunset, where you meet a girl with blue hair and a green hat. Man, does everyone have hair accessories in this place? Cat ears, ribbons, silly hats. You'd start to feel out of place if you didn't get this awesome mask a couple minutes ago.
“Hey! Do you know where the Kappas live?” You call out to the girl, she seems pretty focused on something. You can see her flinch when she hears you.
“W-w-why would a human want to know?” Maybe “Because I want a cool motorbike” isn't the best thing to say here. Also, she put a lot of emphasis on the word “Human,” but you don't look very human right now.
“I'm not a human, I'm a beetle! Look at my magnificent horn!” You tap the horn that's placed where your nose should be.
“I guess so, huh. Che.” She clicks her tongue in disappointment. “Well, what the hell do you want with me?” What a complete change in personality. You probably shouldn't have told her you were a beetle.
“I was told that you had a motorbike here?” There's no better time than now to make a plan, in fact you should have had one before you ran off. Think, Ant, think!
“You ain't touching my damn bike with your dirty hands, insect.” There was no way she was going to let you have a cool bike now. Wait a minute... You did have a plan! Cucumbers!
“I'll let you have my cucumbers if you give me your motorbike!” You start waving the cucumbers you stole from Sanae's shrine in front of her.
“Peh. Who would want cucumbers from a bug? You probably found it covered in mud.” Plan B failed, hard. Quick! Think of another plan.
[x] You didn't know Kappas were racist against bugs, maybe being a human would change her view of you.
[x] Fight your way in! You'd do the world a favor by beating up some youkai.
[x] Give up, you can always come back with another plan later.
>>53849 That obvious, huh? I thought my trip code and username would give it away first. I wish I had a better trip than Ridere though, I can't put the Dere back in Rider.
It is after all due to Kabuto that we can do this.
And then we get a female sidekick who keeps trying to make him sound cute by combining their names into "Kabutan/Kabu-tan".
I don't know anything about Kamen Rider, other than the obvious ("he's a masked superhero"), so I don't know if that's already taken or anything... I am sorry for being such a failure.
>>53862 Sorry, but Kamen Rider Kabuto is already a real rider. That's where I stole the idea from Plus, Ant will get some other powers that aren't Kabuto rlated. If you guys want to give me another name, feel free. I don't feel right naming a character after a single vote.
This is just too much, why do people hate insects so much? They're not the horrifying creatures that people fear. Plus, they're not even a tenth of most people's size. How could anyone hate something that you could easily squish? You need to stop this insectophobia once and for all!
Now, how do I revert? Take off the belt. Thanks, voice in my head! You find the buckle on your belt and rip it off. The power armor flies detaches and flies off your body, revealing your human form. The belt peels off the skin of its alternate form.
“Y-y-you're a human? I'm so sorry!” Oh, NOW you're treated differently? You need to reform the kappas and show them that everything is equal, especially bugs!
“Look. I don't appreciate being judged like this. Are you going to let me see your bike or not?” Your patience was being pushed.
“O-of course!” She dives into the water, after a few minutes, she comes to the surface to give you a sign to come in.
Now, how does this work? Do you jump into the water and flail around before she drags you under? Kappas aren't the most friendly youkai that you've read about after all. Aren't they known to drag people underwater and drown them?
No risk, no reward. After all, you've done stupider things than this. You prepare yourself for the jump, double checking your gear. However, when you got to Kabuto, he was... Different. You could tell that it was still him, his key features were still there, but he looked exactly like the beetle on the belt instead of the original.
You cannon-ball into the water and close your eyes. You feel a force tugging on your legs and dragging you along to somewhere. Struggling to hold your breath; you exhale and notice that you can actually breathe underwater.
Finally, you feel your body being tugged out the the water and onto dry land. You open your eyes, ripping off the oxygen mask that the Kappa must have attached to you during the trip. Machinery, machinery everywhere! The massive amounts of beeping and buzzing noises almost make you deaf. The blue and green workers don't seem to mind as much as you do. Although, a couple of them give you a quick stare and run back to their work.
“Welcome to our cave!” The once shy and racist kappa seems much more confident in here, surrounded by her peers.
“Wow.” This is the first time you've seen such a thing. Even labs had some sort of safety and procedure to it, but this seems unorganized and dangerous. A couple of the kappas trip over random bits lying around.
“Follow me.” You quietly follow the kappa while taking a peek at the newest inventions. A couple of them are rather... inventive, just random bits of technology patched together for whatever purpose. Do they even know what they're doing? You pass something that you're sure is a torture device, a table with straps and a laser beam threatening to cut an unlucky kappa in half.
You eventually arrive at a garage door, your guide punches a few buttons onto the numpad. The doors slowly open to reveal...
A motorized bike. It's just a bike with a motor attached to it. It even has a basket attached to the front, for day to day transportation. Look, it has pedals for manual movement!
“Isn't it beautiful?” The girl tries to hold back a tear.
[x] Uh... Yeah. Maybe you should look somewhere else for your vehicle of choice.
[x] Sweet ride! Take it out for a spin.
[x] This wasn't what I was looking for. Explain the concept of a proper motorbike.
“No, not really.” It wasn't that beautiful, in fact, it was pretty ugly, the colors didn't match and there was no pizzazz to it.
“What?” The girl looks heartbroken. “You act like a bug, you try and bribe me with cucumbers, and then you insult my bike! I've had enough of you, get out!” You didn't mean any harm by what you said, but it was the truth.
“Wait a second. What if I told you that bike could be ten times better?” Mathematically, you have no idea how much better it is, but it sounds impressive.
“How could this be any better than it is? I don't need your lies, you... you... Half-bug!” Ouch, you were still fully human, as far as you know.
“Give me a chance here, look, I'll draw it on paper.” You grab a spare clipboard lying on the floor, and
Kabuto picks up a pencil with the gap between his horns.
You take a moment to think about what kind of motorbike you would want. First of all, it needs to be super fast. It would have to be bug-themed for sure, maybe with a beetle's horn on the front to ram your enemies. And you want extra weapons, like lasers to blast your enemies! This was going to be the best bike ever.
Nitori watches you sketch out your dream bike, so you make sound effects to add to the entertainment value. “Bam! Zzzt! Kabloom!” The kappa's eyes slowly widen as you finish up the picture. You double underline and bold the words “NEEDS A HORN” and “LASER BEAMS” to make sure she gets the message. Then you make an extra note at the bottom: “MUST TRANSFORM INTO COOLER BIKE”
and leave a trail of “Vroooom!” trailing behind the exhaust.
“Ooooh.” She was impressed by your drawing skills, or at least, by the idea of the bike.
“Can you build one of these for me?” To be honest, you just drew some cool things and hoped they could build it.
“Of course! I can't believe we haven't thought of this earlier!” She snatches the paper out of your hand and starts to copy it onto some blue-prints, adding some technical details on the way.
“How fast can you have it finished?” You couldn't wait for another minute.
“Come back tomorrow, we'll see how far we get.” Man, Kappas are fast with their technology.
There was an eardrum piercing noise that echoed through the cavern. “THE KAPPA CAVE IS UNDER ATTACK. I REPEAT, THE KAPPA CAVE IS UNDER ATTACK. ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE HEAD TO THE BUNKER” The warning was punctuated by the sounds of explosions further back.
“We have to go! Come on!” The girl tries to drag you along with the fleeing kappas.
[x] Go along with her.
[x] Stay here and fight the invader off. You need to show the Kappas the power of insects!
[x] Grab everything you can and get the heck out of dodge! You ain't risking your life for kappas.
==================================================================
>>53975 Maybe, maybe not. If only there were wizards or something to help you research the belt.
The familiar darkness of the alley reminded me of my job. It's not like I could ever get away from it, it was a job that lasted a lifetime. I didn't want anyone else in the world to have this responsibility, and I was the only one who could do it. I keep a close eye on the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment.
“Hurry up...” I mumbled to myself, it was a bad habit to have in your line of work, but it was better than slowly going insane.
They finally get moving, and I trail them for a couple of hours, finally reaching a shady shop at the very back of the slums. They knock on the iron door and a slit opens. “Password?” A tired voice calls out. The two men quietly whisper their code through the door. I had to strain my ears to catch a couple words. “Insectum … Project …”
The door opens, and the men walk in and disappear further down the hall. A skinny man starts to close the door again, but I rip the door open and stop him from closing it.
“Y-Y-Yo-” The man almost screams before I cover his mouth with my hand. Couldn't be caught this early. I glare deep into his eyes, trying to intimidate him.
“You know who I am. You know what will happen if you scream, I hope you do what's best for the both of us.” He slowly nods, and I remove my hand. “I'm sorry about this. It'll only hurt in the morning.” I hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.
Keeping in the shadows, I finally reached the door. Pulling out the keycard in my pocket, I quickly swipe the scanner before anyone can see me enter.
ACCESS DENIED
“Fuck!” They knew I was coming, there's no time to be stealthy now. I pull out a lighter and find some decent fuel. Throwing the lighter into the wood creates a nice fire, allowing the smoke detectors to go off. The alarms start to blare as the doors slam open. The organization still had to follow traditional fire standards. After all, it'd be a lot harder to cover a massive amount of deaths than it would be to hide a couple things from the fire inspector.
I head back to the scanner and find a boy standing there. “Dad!” I pick him up and bolt.
“You didn't think you could leave this easily, did you?” A voice stops me at the exit. I put the boy down.
“Of course not. I wouldn't want to leave without greeting the host.” I turn around to face him.
“I didn't know that you cared so much about me, I'm so happy.” The voice replies. I ready my gun, I wasn't going to leave here at all.
“Dad! I want to help you too!” There was no way he could help me right now.
“Listen, you have to become an adult before you can help me.” He needs to leave this place immediately, and never turn back.
“I'm already an adult!” I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this. May you forgive me one day.
“No, you aren't. You still have a long way to go.” He still had his whole life ahead of him.
“I want to grow faster then!” Please, just go. I can't handle any more of this.
“A man grows with every step he takes. This means that if you want to grow up faster, you have to run. Run far away from here, and never stop running.” I kick him out the door and slam it shut.
“Are we done yet? He won't get very far, you know. We have eyes everywhere.”
>I hope he never turns into an man like me.
missed a spellcheck there Tendou?
I personally want to see this story balanced between its serious and lighthearted moments
[x] Stay here and fight the invader off. You need to show the Kappas the power of insects!
won't be surprised if we ended up fighting Gensokyo's variant of Shocker
“No. I can't.” You needed to prove yourself to the kappas. It would be the least you could do for the bike they were making you.
“What? Are you stupid or something? Fine. It's your own grave.” The girl lets go of your hand and runs off to join the others.
You head towards the noise, helping a few kappas evacuate on the way. They point you towards the intruder and give you a quick thanks. It takes a few minutes for you to arrive at the scene of the crime, where you're greeted by a monster. It wasn't like the kappas, who looked mostly human, but more of the youkai that you've heard of in lore.
“My apologies, my king. It is because of my incompetence that you had to deal with these lowly creatures. Let us be on our way.” The monster kneels before you. Its grasshopper roots were much more apparent now that you were closer.
“King?” You had no idea what it was talking about, your dad was a normal man, not a royal.
“Yes. You are the king. Now let us go before the kappas bring their more... dangerous contraptions.” The grasshopper seemed determined to call you royalty.
“Where would we go?” You were in no hurry to leave the cave, and the more time you waste, the more time that the kappas have to escape.
“My lord, do you not remember? Has something happened to you?” He must have noticed that you're not the man he's looking for. At least, that's what you hope, you're not fit to be a king of any kind.
“I don't know what you're talking about.” Maybe you can juice some more information out of him before his suspicions are confirmed.
“...What is your name, my lord?” He gets up on his feet and stands in a combat ready pose.
“Gen.” You quickly grab Kabuto and shove him onto your belt. The creature charges you, but he's not quick enough to stop you.
“Henshin!”
KABUTO FORM. READY. SET. FIGHT!
The armor expands from your belt, covering you in the red and white metal. The horn slides up your face and locks into place as your eyes give off a bright glow.
You quickly get out of the way of the grasshopper's charge and use his momentum against him, causing him to fall face first onto the ground.
[x] Go on the offensive!
[x] You still don't know all of his powers, be defensive for now.
[x] Move the fight outside! The kappas could be in danger if you fought here.
[x] Write in.
Alright, here's the deal. I'm trying this whole fight thing out, and I wanted to make sure you guys didn't just do [x] Clock Up and [x] Rider Kick at every choice. Plus, this gives you guys an idea of how much of the fight is left. Think of it as a timer rather than an actual mechanic. It builds up whenever you punch, kick, get hurt, whatever. However, if you do something cool, it'll build up faster. It's an opportunity for you guys to have more input than [x] Attack [x] Defend [x] Etc. If you guys don't like it, I'll take it out for the next fight, but for now, just give it a chance. For reference, it'll take 100% to use Clock Up and Rider Kick at the same time. Once you get more powerful, it'll be quicker to use those things.
>>54017 Thanks for catching that. I'm not that great at proofreading. I'll try to have some more serious moments. I was afraid you guys just wanted to screw around in Gensokyo as Kamen Rider.
Also, why you gotta call me Tendou? I thought I was Eiji. Nobody appreciates the OOO.
>>54037 i assume the misspelled one that i found was said by Tendou or someone else related. I'm neutral to OOO, since i'm Kuuga fan and also BLACK & RX, but no one care about Showa era Riders anyway
No. 54120
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[iqdb]
You gotta finish this fight right now! The faster it's done, the less chance of damage to the kappas.
You try to pin the grasshopper down on the ground with your weight, but he kicks his body off the ground and hits you in the shoulders. You back off from the impact and he continues his attack with a combo of punches to the chest.
The pain wasn't what you expected, it was like the armor was directly attached to your nerves. Each blow had the force to break a bone in your body. You've never felt this much force and pressure before, it took all your will not to pass out.
When the beast slows down, you grab onto him and give him a good headbutt with your horn. It doesn't seem to mind as you follow up with a kick to the crotch. Maybe it doesn't have a human anatomy? Either that, or it's female.
“Is this all you can do, my king? I will be sad to report your death to the Queen.” He spits at you, expecting more from your blows.
You throw him into the pile of parts that the kappas created, hoping for something heavy to fall on top of it. He rolls to stop himself and jumps on top of the mountain of technology. “Let me instruct you on how to do a real kick.” He jumps high into the air, almost reaching the ceiling and dives straight for you.
You try to run for cover, but there's nothing you could reach quick enough. You decide to do something risky. As the grasshopper quickly dives towards you, you jump in the air and try to throw him downwards. Its kick still lands on your leg, but your risk paid off. He slams into the ground, leaving an indent in the floor and kicking up dust, while you were sent high up onto a wall. Your weight forces you to fall, and you land on your feet.
“Stop, before we have to open fire!” A voice yells out to you. It was the kappas, they've returned with their own weapons, primarily guns, but a couple of them have shields.
“What are you guys doing here? Run! You guys can't handle this!” You try to convince them that this was out of their league, but you had no idea what kind of firepower they had.
“How sad, the water dwellers think that they could hurt me with their pathetic metal?” The grasshopper did not seem intimidated by the kappa defense force.
“Troops! Open fire!” The kappa commander gives the signal. The kappas start firing at the both of you, the bullets are bouncing off your armor, but the impact still stings. The grasshopper continues to walk towards you, treating the bullets as if they were rain.
[x] Take the fight elsewhere, before the kappas bring out the bigger guns.
[x] Convince the kappas that you are their allies!
[x] Please explain how.
[x] Continue the fight, the bullets won't stop you and it's easier to explain once the enemy is dead.
Sorry if the updates seem shorter than before. This is my first time writing combat. If you notice any stupid mistakes on my part, please don't be afraid to call me out.
>>54063 If you misread something, it's probably my fault. It's the author's job to be as clear as possible. Also, you reminded me that I needed to finish Kuuga. Man, i'm only 7 episodes in.
“I said. GET OUT OF HERE!” Any amount of yelling wasn't going to change their minds at this point, but it couldn't hurt to try once more. Some of the kappas flinch and stop firing, until their commander snaps them back into line.
“Sir, these weapons aren't working! Please authorize the cannons.” A nearby troop calls out.
“Permission granted.” The commander waves him off. The kappas in the back retreat, whatever they're bringing, you don't want to be here when it comes.
“How about we bring this outside?” You hope the monster is sensible enough to be afraid of the kappas.
“How far you've fallen, to be afraid of technology.” Damn it! Does he even know what fear is? You gotta get him out of here somehow. He called you his king, right? That means you can boss him around!
“I command you to go outside!” You try changing the request to an order.
“...Out of the respect for the crown, I shall comply, just this once.” He walks the way from the fight, leaving the kappas confused. They're split between following him or staying put.
You follow him into the water, learning that the armor supplies oxygen for you. Instead of swimming, the grasshopper kicks the floor and propels himself out. You try to do the same, but you only manage to go half the distance he does, you have to swim the rest of the way out.
“Halt!” You hear another voice as you drag yourself out of the water. A girl with dog ears stands over you. Oh come on, is there nowhere that you could fight in peace? The monster slowly creeps behind her, ready to strike.
“Move!” You shove her aside, taking a kick to the face.
“Why do you care about these creatures?” He kicks you in the stomach. “Why are you so weak?” Another to the chest.
“Because.” You grab onto his foot and strike your elbow into his knee.
The girl flies off during the exchange, only to come back with reinforcements. A patrol of wolves, all armed with swords and shields. They're even worse than the kappas! There's no way in hell that they're not going to get hurt. “Charge!” You definitely don't want to deal with this situation again.
“I see my mistake now, my lord. I should have removed the weakness from you. I'll start with those mutts over there.” He uses the other leg to kick you off. Then something strange happens, he starts to molt. When it's done, what was once half-human is now none at all.
The wolves continue to charge, unfazed by the transformation. However, the creature disappears, and a blur passes over them. They drop midway with bruises and blood on their body, the others try to flee, but they also fall to the blur.
There must be something you can do!
[x] What should you do?
Health: 50%
Climax: 100%
===============================================
Now that I think about it, I should have included the powers that Kabuto has at the end of each update, it's not right for me to assume that everyone has seen Kamen Rider, so I'll start posting them from now on.
Rider Kick: The trademark finisher of all Kamen Riders, a super-powerful kick that can cause the enemy explode in a cheesy fashion.
Clock Up: A skill that all the riders in Kamen Rider Kabuto have, it allows them to move at near light speed.
Once again, sorry for anything stupid on my part. I hope people who don't watch Kamen Rider will still have fun and read my story.
I assume you made the climax gauge based off the PSP games. If that's the case, I'll go with a basic combo:
{x} Clock up
(x) Melee (to build up the gauge again) and then chain into a Rider kick
...no Rider Punch? damn
[x] Clock up
-[x] Melee (to build up the gauge again) and then chain into a Rider Kick
not sure if you'll use the Kabuto's roundhouse kick variant or the classic flying side kick one. Surprise me Eiji!
[x] Clock up
-[x] Melee (to build up the gauge again) and then chain into a Rider Kick
Most of the new riders don't have a rider punch now. Though there is Punch Hopper.
No. 54211
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[iqdb]
Use the button on the side of the belt.
You find the button and hit it as hard as you can.
CLOCK UP.
The world slows down. The mist from the waterfall becomes visible droplets, the wind stops blowing, the bodies stop flying. What the hell is happening? Are you controlling time? No, that's impossible! The monster is still moving at normal speed, but you feel something spreading in your body. You must be moving faster. Much, much faster.
You try to sprint over to the beast, but almost send yourself flying into the nearest wall. A wall which is hundreds of meters away. You try again, but this time you slowly walk over to the beast.
“Oh? I knew I was right.” The grasshopper sends a punch into your face. You catch it with one hand and counter with a jab to his side and continue with several blows. When he stumbles back, you kick him down and jump on top of him.
“Why are you doing this?” You keep his arms and legs pinned down, preventing any chance of escape.
“Because.” He headbutts you off his chest. You stumble back a couple steps. It's time to finish it, you had enough of his talk.
Press the buttons on your belt, then pull my horn.
ONE.
The beast interrupts you with a jump kick, you catch his leg and throw him high into the air.
TWO.
You jump up after him.
THREE.
You pull Kabuto's horn sideways. “Rider Kick.”
RIDER KICK.
The power in your body starts to rush to your right leg, causing bolts of power to spark around it. You flip your body over and bicycle kick the monster. He crashes into the water.
CLOCK OVER.
The water erupts like a geyser, spraying water over your armor and soaking the wolves.
The female wolf charges you with her sword, you catch it and throw it aside.
“Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you.” You revert to your normal form to show your co-operation.
“You're coming with me.” The wolf grabs your arm.
[x] Go along with her.
[x] You have to check up on the kappas first.
[x] Flee to the shrine! Sanae can help you out of this mess.
================================================
Man, I can't remember the last guy who had a Rider Punch. I think Fourze had that rocket punch.
Also, I need to make my updates longer. I feel bad with these once-a-day updates with barely anything to read.
I wanna see how Momji (I'm assuming) is going to react. I know she's being a bit forceful, but I would like to see how reasonable she will choose to be.
“Sorry, I have to go.” You run towards the waterfall, but are stopped before you can dive in.
“No you don't. You're coming with me.” She slings you over her shoulder. Being kidnapped is fine, but the kappas might need your help.
“But, the kappas were attacked by the bug! Don't you guys need to send in help?” If there was an organized police force, there must be a medical team.
“The kappas will be fine on their own. Headquarters will notice that something is wrong. After all, we have an unauthorized person here.” She tightened her grip on you, the nails almost ripping through your clothes.
“I didn't do anything! Ask the kappas, they know that I'm innocent.” You try to wriggle out of the woman's grip, but you can't. She's just too strong. “Kabuto! Help me out here!” The beetle flies onto the back of your head and seems content to stay there.
“Oh, I know you're guilty. Guilty of pushing me aside and throwing my sword aside as if it was a toy.” You gulp.
“Hey, you! Don't worry about us, we'll be fine!” The kappa from before comes out of the water. You notice that her clothes are dry, do they have waterproof clothing? Maybe it's part of the deal with being a kappa.
“Nitori? What business do you have with this guy?” Nitori, huh? Thinking back, you should have introduced yourself. Although, a bug-hating kappa was not the best mood maker.
“Oh, nothing. He just got that god-damn, filthy, disgusting bug out of our cave. Thanks for that by the way.” Looks like you didn't change her her opinion on bugs. “Your motorcycle will be ready within the week. It'll take a bit longer than expected, since that thing attacked, but we should get it done.” That's good to know.
The wolf starts tapping her foot. “Are you two going to have a friendly talk, or are we going to get things done?” Why was she in such a hurry? Right. Being arrested and all. You were not looking forward to youkai jail.
“Alright.” Nitori leans in close to whisper something in your ear. “I hope your body is ready.” What does she mean by that? Are you going to become the boy-toy of the youkai prisoners? Oh god, help me.
She gives you a wave, which you return with a horrified scream
“Save me!” You cry out for help and Nitori laughs on the way back to the cave.
You arrive at a plain house, in the middle of the night. No yard, no phones. It must be a pretty barren prison. The she-wolf kicks open the door, breathing heavily. You weren't that heavy! There weren't any scales out in the wilderness, so you couldn't check, you knew you didn't have flabs at least.
“We're here.” This didn't look like much of a prison. In fact, you could see pictures of the wolf and some sort bird youkai. Each photo was signed with the signatures A.S. They were photographed well, but you weren't an expert on the things.
She throws you down on a bed, and crawls on top. “W-w-what are you doing to me?” She takes a long sniff of your shirt. Nitori, if you knew what was going to happen, why didn't you stop her?
“Don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything for you.” She rips off your shirt and throws it aside. She starts to trace her finger on your chest. Somebody stop this! Reimu, Sanae, Nitori, Kabuto, anybody!
She move her hand down and starts to-
“Stop!” Oh thank the gods, you make a note to donate some more money to one of the shrines. Your savior bursts through the door. “Bad Momiji! Bad!” She grabs a newspaper and gives Momiji a couple smacks on the head. Momiji backs off the bed and the bird shoos her out of the room.
“Thank you for saving me...” You pause to give her a chance to say her name.
“The pure and honest, Aya Shameimaru.” She must be the one who took those photos. “I apologize for my subordinate's behavior. She's very... Old fashioned.” Old fashioned? What kind of tradition involves kidnapping people and having her way with them?
“Why did she do that?” You need to avoid doing it again at all costs.
“Well, what did you do to her?” What DID you do to her?
“I saved her, and stopped her from killing me?” That fight was the only interaction that you've had with her.
“That explains it. She probably thinks that you're stronger than her. Don't worry about it. It'll blow over in a few years.” Ooooh boy. A few years? “More importantly, where are you going to stay? It's not safe for you to be out at night. I'll give you a ride if you need one.”
[x] Stay here. You're really tired and Aya will keep you safe.
[x] Maybe Sanae will let you stay at her shrine. Might have some more information about this belt too.
[x] Crash at Reimu's place again. She won't mind.
[X] Maybe Sanae will let you stay at her shrine. Might have some more information about this belt too.
Information is key here. also I want to see fangirl Sanae
No. 54319
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“I think I'll stay here for the night.” That fight you had really tired you out, you couldn't take another step. Plus, you're sure that Aya would protect you from her colleague’s attempts.
“So you're not afraid of staying after she did that to you? How brave. Or perhaps, you want her to attack you?” She gives you a smirk.
“No, not at all. I'm too tired to go anywhere else.” To be honest, you weren't in the mood for night-time fun, even if Momiji wasn't so aggressive.
“I don't mind if you stay here. If you answer some questions for me. See, I run a newspaper in my spare time, and I think that you'd be perfect for the front page.” A newspaper? Information had to travel somehow, and word of mouth isn't the best way to get accurate information. It didn't look like they had TVs or internet either.
“Sure, why not. Shoot.” It would be the least you could do.
“Who are you?” A rather simple question.
“Anthony. Nicknamed Ant.” Funny how a man named Ant liked bugs so much.
“Where did you come from?”
“Reimu said I came from the “Outside World.” Not completely sure what that means.” You didn't have a flashy entrance into Gensokyo, like falling through reality. The world still seems the same to you, but now with friendly demons.
“That would explain a lot of things. I haven't seen you before, and I have a photographic memory. Don't worry, I won't forget what I saw between you and Momiji.” Photographic memory? You mean, she can remember everything that she's seen? I guess it would help a lot for a reporter.
“Please, don't remember that.” Or maybe she should remember that. At night. While alone.
“Let's get to the real question. What happened? By the time the investigation squad had arrived, there was nothing there but injured tengus. The kappas refused to testify about anything. Although my informant said it was due to their pride. Couldn't let it be known that they were afraid of a single bug.” Darn kappas, letting their hate of bugs get in the way of reporting.
“To be fair, it was a huge bug. It could also move really fast. His punches also hurt a lot.” He would have been a good partner if he wasn't trying to kill you.
“Are you saying that you defeated the bug? Something that even kappa technology couldn't do?” Kappa technology was impressive compared to what you've seen so far, but the guns didn't seem to scratch him.
“Yeah. I guess I did.”
“How?”
“Well, I punched it and kicked it to death.” It was true. The whole thing was still a bit of a blur.
“Spare me the sarcasm.” She rolled her eyes.
“Well, I was getting my hide handed to me until I slowed down time. Or, I think I slowed down time. I might have sped up myself. It's the same thing either way.” Time was always an confusing subject. Especially when it came down to time-travel. That's a confusing mess all by itself.
“Interesting. I thought there was only one person who could control time.” Whoa, what? There's somebody that can control time? Are they a wizard, I mean, a Chrono-mancer? Stupid wizards and their fancy titles.
“Say, can I go to sleep now? I'm too tired to answer any more questions.” You glance at the clock. It was a couple minutes past one.
“Go ahead. Although, let me say one last thing. If you're not serious about Momiji, please don't take it too far." She looks straight into your eyes, telling you that she's very serious about the matter. "You'll be sleeping in my room tonight. I'll take Momiji's. She's sleeping outside for her punishment.” That was rather harsh for a punishment
“I thought being out at night was dangerous.” She'd be in the same amount of danger, right?
“I said it was dangerous for YOU. Momiji will be fine, don't worry.” You shrug it off and walk to a door labeled “Aya's Room”. You open the door and fall on the bed, the smell of her pillows lull you to sleep.
Half-way during your sleep, you're woken up by something furry brushing against your leg. “...Momiji?” You take a guess as to who it is.
“Yes, darling?” A voice calls out from under the sheets.
“Get out of my bed.” At this rate, you'll lose your purity whether you like it or not.
“That's very mean of you to say, darling.” When did she start calling you that? Why is she calling you that?
[x] “Seriously. Get out of my bed.”
[x] “...You can stay as long as you don't try to do anything fishy.”
[x] “I'm not your darling. To be honest, this whole thing is creeping me out.”
My apologies if it seems like I'm pushing Momiji onto you. It's just that she likes you. A lot. She'll love you to death. Don't worry. I won't railroad you guys onto her if you don't want to. Since you've yet to meet all the girls.
[x] “...You can stay as long as you don't try to do anything fishy.”
Do want to sleep with warm fluffy tail nearby.
No. 54329
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“...You can stay as long as you don't try to do anything fishy.” Her tail starts to wag excitedly, slowly pulling the covers off the bed with the movement.
“I promise. There will be no funny business tonight.” Why did she put so much emphasis on “Tonight”? You weren't planning on staying here for more than a day.
“But! We need to have a talk right now. You're taking this a bit fast, don't you think?” You've known her for less than a day, and she wants to get into your pants? Maybe it's some sort of sex-pheromone that you release when you're transformed. A ton of insects do that, right?
“Aw.” She sighs as she shifts to face you. She snuggles her face against your chest. Thank god you put your shirt back on. You leave the covers down at her face, making sure that she has some fresh air to breath.
You try to turn around to face the other way, but she wraps her arms around you and refuses to let go. “Why do you like me so much?” If she was going to be so touchy-feely, you'd like to know why.
“Because. You proven yourself.” That was a vague answer. How did you prove yourself? What are the qualifications to get a wolf-girl to become attached to you?
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you beat me in battle.” Beat her in battle? Surely, there must have been other people who beat her. I mean, the world is a big place.
“I did?” You weren't really trying to fight her, but you were trying to fight the giant bug behind her.
“Yep. When I charged you. You stopped me and threw away my sword like it was nothing. You also saved me from that bug thing!” She picks up your arms and wraps them around her. Her body was especially warm, and the feeling of... Hold on, is she not wearing clothes?
“Momiji! Get some clothes on right now!” You manage to yell at her without stammering or dying of embarrassment. How do you live your life from now on? Dad, please forgive me. I'm sleeping with a girl, and I'm not prepared to be a father.
“Don't want to.” She replies, rubbing herself against your body, to make sure that you know she's naked.
“Arrgh. I'm going to regret this in the morning, aren't I?” You're getting a headache thinking about this right now.
“I won't regret a thing.” If you could strangle her to death right now, you would. She's lucky that your arms are busy hugging her to death.
“I'm going to sleep. You'd better do the same, if you know what's good for you.” You try to count sheep, or do anything to get the blood out of the painfully aware part of your body.
“Yes sir!” She responds.
“...Tonight's going to be a long night.” You whisper to yourself.
End of Day 1
Next Time on Kamen Rider Gen!
[x] Ant recruits an apprentice.
[x] Ant meets with the bloodsucking creatures of the night.
[x] Ant shows little children the power of his horn.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story so far. I guess I'll do an introspective at the end of each day. Got nothing better to do than pad this update. Feel free to ask me questions at any point in time.
Man, this turned out to be a lot more than I expected. I'm confused as to why I let you guys do this so early. It's not even the second thread!
That's a general theme for Day 1 in general, I guess. I rushed a whole lot of things. Wish I slowed it down a bit. Guess my lack of detailed planning has come back to bite me in the ass.
Bah, whatever. Let's just roll with things. I'm going to try and make day 2 last a whole lot longer than this. We blew right past the prologue. How am I going to run a traditional 49-50 episode series at this pace? What about 2 full length movies? Jeez. I'm really glad that you guys even bother reading this story. It's my first story ever, and i'm sure that's obvious. Please help me improve in any way I can.
I hope you guys enjoyed my story. Let's hope that I can entertain you guys for a long time.
[x] Ant meets with the bloodsucking creatures of the night.
can't really have a proper Kamen Rider without obligatory meeting with a bat and/or a spider don't you think?
also, this Momiji won't be a yandere right? RIGHT?
[x] Ant shows little children the power of his horn.
Yes I know this is a terrible option. No that won't stop me from picking it.
No. 54397
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You're waken up with the familiar sensation of being poked with something. It doesn't feel like a stick this time. “My lord, please wake up.” My lord? First it's darling, then it's my lord, what's next? It did feel kind of good to be called that though.
“...Momiji, five more minutes.” You've fought off a giant bug, you deserve a day off.
“My lord, I am not that wolf harlot.” What? Not Momiji? Who the hell could it be? Aya didn't seem like the type to talk about her like that.
You open your eyes to find a grasshopper jumping on top of you. It looked pretty familiar. I wonder who it could be... Wait. A talking grasshopper that calls you his lord? Could it be?
“Are you the thing I fought yesterday?” It's features turned back to normal, less of a monster, more of a normal grasshopper. Although, it did shrink in size, it could fit in your hand.
“Yes, my lord.” The grasshopper bows. Well, as much as a bug can bow, it just lowered it's head.
“Why are you here?” He exploded underwater, there should be no way for him to be here right now.
“Ant! Are you awake yet?” Aya's voice calls out.
“Yeah! I'm coming.” You hop out of bed, and walk towards the sound of her voice, the grasshopper following you on the way. When you arrive, you're greeted by a girl in a maid outfit. Not like a real maid outfit, but an outfit that a cosplayer would wear.
“Greetings. I have come on the behalf of Remilia Scarlet, master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She has requested your presence. Please come whenever you are ready.” She gives you a curtsy after delivering her message, and flies off.
“I wonder what that bat-brat wants with you.” Bat-brat? Is she a bat youkai or something? “You'd better go visit her before she throws a tantrum.” She must be short tempered.
“Alright then.” It would be better than lazing around all day. You didn't want to bum at Aya's house all day. Probably would have went exploring on your own if you didn't get a request.
“Before I forget, Momiji made lunch for you.” She hands you a boxed lunch. There's a note on top that reads: “Please eat it with love ~Momiji”. You open the lid to find hearts made with all kinds of ingredients. What really catches your eye is the message, “I ❤ you.”
“...Aya, does this happen often?” You point at your lunch. Even housewives didn't do this for their husbands.
“You're the first man to beat her, everyone else who did is a woman. Believe me, she tried to pull the same thing with me too.” Aya shudders. You're starting to feel sorry for everyone who defeated her.
“Well. I guess I better get going then. Mind if you drop me off there?” You had no idea where this mansion was, and you'd better go before the bat gets as cranky as Aya says she does.
“Sure. I have today off, after all.” It must be strange for youkai to work in shifts. Usually, the stories say they do whatever they want.
“My lord, I would advise against going with that bird. It is well known that she does not have the best relationship with the bat.” Is the floor talking to you? Never mind, it's just the bug that was in your bed earlier.
[x] The bug might know something you don't. Go by yourself, you can explore on the way there.
[x] Are you going to trust someone that tried to kill you yesterday? It'd be safer if Aya flew you over there.
[x] You know what? I'll visit her later. I need to question this bug first.
[x] What questions do you have?
[x] You know what? I'll visit her later. I need to question this bug first.
[x]Why did it attack?
[x] It mentioned a "queen." Who is this "Queen?"
[x] What does this "queen" want?
[x] Why am I the "King"?
[x] Are you another "form"?
No. 54465
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“How do you know all this information?” Bugs weren't exactly known for their brain-power.
“I have been around for a long time. It is only natural that I pick up a few things.” How old was this bug? Most bugs only survive for a couple years, but this guy talks as if he lived for centuries.
“Aya, can you wait for a couple minutes? I think I should question this guy.” It couldn't hurt to learn a few things from a bug. After all, he seemed to be quite loyal to you, and less likely to lie.
“Sure, tell me when you're ready to go.” Aya walks back to her office, seemingly unfazed by the fact that you're questioning a talking bug. Perhaps Gensokyo is the capital of craziness if nobody is bothered by anything.
“First off, why did you attack me?” He did stop and talk for a while, but he wasn't being the friendliest guest to the kappas. You had to stop him before he destroyed the machinery and really hurt somebody.
“I had thought you were not the true king, and for that, I apologize. There is no punishment suitable enough for my incompetence.” He stops for a minute to find the words to explain himself. “You were in the presence of those... lower beings. So I had assumed that you were an impostor.” He continues.
“You also mentioned a “Queen.” Who is she?” It's a bit hard to remember what he said before the battle, but you still remember that part. Whoever she is, she must be the one who sent this grasshopper after you.
“She is the Queen, and nothing else.” He seems genuinely confused as to why you're asking that question. Maybe he doesn't know the answer himself. You're not going to get any leads on this “Queen” by asking him anytime soon.
“Let me change the question then, what does the “Queen” want?” If you can't find out who she is, then you should try to find out her plans. After all, they must involve you if he was sent to retrieve you.
“The Queen wants insects to return to their rightful place in the world. To be conquerors, rulers, superior beings that control the Earth. The current inhabitants of the world are weak and fleshy, not suited for combat. We deserve to be at the top of the food chain, lording over all.” He seems rather passionate about the subject, you can tell that he really believes what he's saying.
“What does the Queen want with me? Furthermore, why am I the king?” It was more important to know what role you had in this scenario. If they were calling you the King, then you must be vital to their plan.
“I do not know, my lord. I do not question her commands, I exist only to serve, not to plan.” So he wasn't more than a simple pawn in her plans. “And you are the king, because you are the king. And as such, I will serve you without question.” That doesn't help one bit.
“Are you another form of mine? That is to say, can I transform with you?” If he was anything like Kabuto, then it was possible. Neither of them seemed like normal insects, and there must be some sort of condition for what you can use to transform. You just have to find out what that is.
“Most likely. You could borrow the power of almost any insect. However, you are not powerful enough to transform with the less... sentient ones.” That's good to know. You don't know how much power you have, but it's enough to transform with Kabuto.
“One last question. Are you going to betray me?” It seemed rather strange to trust someone who tried to kill you less than a day ago, but he doesn't seem to be plotting your demise.
“No. I am loyal to the crown, and once I confirmed that you were the true king, I decided to serve you with my life.” He seemed to put his loyalty above everything else. It may not be the most admirable trait to have, but it's better than trying to kill you.
“What about the Queen? Isn't she also royalty?” You're not exactly sure of insect social hierarchy, but queens were generally more important than kings in the insect world.
“I will serve you first.” He answers without a moment's hesitation. “...However, if you were to come into conflict with her, I would prefer it if I didn't have to fight.” You hope it doesn't come to that.
“Alright. Aya, I'm ready to go!” You call out to your escort.
“Sorry Ant, something came up at work. You'll have to go by yourself. I put some directions on my desk.” She blazes past you, almost running through the door. “Bye!” She closes the door and flies off.
“Bye.” You try to return the farewell, but she's already gone. Why was she in such a hurry? You take a look at the clock, it was a little after noon, you must have slept in before the grasshopper woke you.
Now that you think about it, you haven't named him yet.
“Hey. Do you have a name?” It would be annoying to keep calling him grasshopper. Not to mention it could be confusing.
“No. Insects do not refer to each other by name. Some use smells, some use sounds, but we do not have names.” Most of them couldn't speak, so it made sense that they didn't have human names.
“Then, your name is Hopper from now on.” He gives you a nod. You carry Hopper on one of your shoulders, and put Kabuto on the other. You find Aya's map on the desk, and start to walk towards the mansion. Hopper corrects your path a few times, since he is more familiar with the area than you are.
After a couple of hours, you arrive at a large mansion. It looked very expensive, with several gardens and decorations lying around the yard, you catch sight of a statue of a little girl at the entrance of the hedge maze. Whoever owned this mansion liked to be flashy.
You stop right before the gate, which is guarded by a sleeping woman. She seems to be wearing a sleep mask on her face, with eyes drawn on it. If she was trying to fool people into thinking she was awake, then it would be more convincing to draw eyes on her eyelids. You couldn't blame her though, standing in front of a gate all day would be extremely boring.
[x] Wake her up. It's rude to enter a house without permission.
[x] Open the gate yourself. The maid told you that you could be here.
[x] Jump over the fence. Nothing is going to hold you back!
>The Queen wants insects to return to their rightful place in the world.
Wait the Queen is Wriggle, isn't she. This will probably result in some interesting interactions, but there is a more important question: Will we be able to transform with her?
Anyways, we should probably
[x] Wake her up. It's rude to enter a house without permission.
“Hey, wake up” You gently poke her in the face, her cheeks feel soft, like dough in your hands.
She doesn't respond in any way. You try pulling her cheeks this time. Nothing. Maybe holding her nose would do it. Nada. You're running out of ideas here. This was starting to get irritating.
When you're about to give up, a young girl walks by. She has something on her back, icicle shaped wings maybe? Whoever she is, the temperature is noticeably colder when she's here. Hopper notices your shiver. “That is the resident ice fairy, she is known for her pranks.” He explains. Sounds like you could use her help.
“Hello? You there, could you help me with this?” You call her over for help, pointing at the sleeping guard.
“Again? That gate-guard needs to clean up her act before she gets fired.” She floats over to you and the temperature starts to drop even lower. You even hear a sneeze coming from the guard.
“How do I wake her up?” If the fairy lives here, she should know how to get inside.
“I usually hop the fence.” She responds. Right. You were thinking of doing that yourself. However, it would have been extremely rude to the owner if you entered the house without permission. Not to mention, this lazy guard would lose her job.
“Is there any other way?” You didn't want to keep the master of the house waiting.
“I think you have to whisper something in her ear. I've seen Reimu do it once or twice.” So this fairy knows Reimu? It would take too long to ask Reimu the secret code. Guess you'll have to jump the fence.
The fairy starts to wander off again. “Hey, I didn't get your name. I'm Ant. What's yours?” You stop her before she disappears.
“I'm Cirno. Don't forget it.” She continues on her way. Suddenly, you feel something cold running down your back. You reach around to find an ice-cube running down the back side of your shirt. You'll definitely remember her now. Oh, you'll remember what she did to you.
This gives you an idea! You take the ice cube and shove it down the back of her dress. She wakes up and starts to flail about. “I thought I told you not to do that Cirno!” Not the best way to wake up, you admit.
“Hey, slacker. I need to get into the mansion, your maid invited me.” She held you up long enough, it was time to get things going.
She grumbles about how she's not getting paid enough to do this, but you think she's getting paid enough for what she does. She opens the gate and you walk through.
You arrive at the front door, it was gilded and carved with intricate designs. That's a lot of work for a door that most people won't see. Maybe if the guard didn't hold people up with her sleeping. You're still sore about the subject. You knock on the door, and it opens immediately, with the maid right in front of you. Was she waiting the whole time?
“Welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The mistress is waiting for you upstairs.” She escorts you to a throne room, where a young girl sits on top of the throne.
“Hello, Anthony. I've heard of what you did yesterday. Quite impressive, don't you think?” Her voice is more charismatic and majestic than you'll ever be. The fact that she knew your name is confusing, Aya hasn't released her newspaper yet, so she must have heard it from someone that you knew.
“...Pardon me, but I don't believe that you have introduced yourself yet.” If she wanted to play royalty, you should go along with it.
“I am Remilia Scarlet, owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.” She stands up from her seat. She snaps her fingers, and the maid hands her a glass of red wine.
“And what would a person with such a status want with me?” It was a lot of work to come here, and it would be disappointing if she only wanted to meet you in person.
“I have an job offer for you. I know that you've come from the outside world. This means that you have no lodging, no food, and no income, correct?” She was right about two things, as you still have Momiji's lunch with you.
“What would this job entail?” It would be nice not to bum off the few people you know.
“I need you to... help my sister.” She visibly flinches when she asks for your help. “I figure you would have more in common with her than anyone else in Gensokyo right now.” What could she mean by this? “You can stay at the Scarlet Devil Mansion for as long as it takes. Provided that you help out with the housework. After this job is finished, you are still welcomed back to the mansion to use whatever facilities you need.” It was a good job offer, perhaps too good.
“Would I be able to leave the mansion?” You didn't want to be stuck in the mansion for your whole life.
“Yes. Provided that you return in a day or two of your departure. There is no time limit on this job, although it would be recommended that you try and finish it as soon as possible.” She was being very generous with you. Why does she need you to do this so desperately?
[x] Accept her offer.
[x] Deny.
======================================================================================
Alright. If you accept the offer, you can still leave the mansion to do other things. It will probably take several days to finish the job, but it may be possible to finish it faster than that. Though, I don't plan on it being resolved in a single day.
If Remila seemed more confident in asking for assistance, I might be worried about manipulation. Given that she appears to be swallowing her pride and the author's footnote, however, I expect we won't have to worry too much about being exploded.
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
Baby steps.
No. 54655
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Before you can really decide, you ask Hopper for his opinion. "What do you think about this whole situation?"
"It would be wise to accept her offer. She has a considerable amount of power in the area, and one of the largest libraries in existence. Strengthening yourself here would be extremely easy." If Hopper wants to take the deal, then you know it must be good. Although, you aren't excited about the library thing, never was a big fan of reading.
While you're at it, you decide to ask Kabuto too. He gives you a poke with his horn and gives you a nod.
Remilia and the maid give you strange looks as you consult with the insects on your shoulder, but you finally made up your mind.
“I accept your offer.” You'd start to feel bad if she started offering even more. There would be nothing more that you would want than food, a place to stay, and some money.
“I'm glad to hear it.” Remilia lets out a sigh of relief.
“Now, what exactly do you need me to do?” The explanation was still kind of vague. You needed to help Remilia's sister in some way, but what was the problem?
Remilia's gaze lowers to the floor, “She's... become a shut-in.” Her face starts to darken, she was saddened by the statement. “She refuses to take a step outside of her room, and doesn't want to meet anyone. I don't even know what she does all day.” Her eyes start to water and her voice starts to falter as she continues talking.
“And you want me to get her outside?” She nods, you continue talking to let her have some time to recover. "But why are you choosing me? Surely, there's better people suited for the job.” Marisa is the first to come to your mind, she's the type of gal that would smash the door down and drag them outside.
“It's because you're from the outside world, much like us.” They were outsiders too? They didn't seem like it. “I was hoping you could tell Flandre of your travels in the world we left behind. Maybe it would inspire her to come outside. In addition to that, I know that you defeated that monster, so you are less... likely to break.” When durability a requirement for jobs, you know that something bad is going to happen.
“I see.” You have no idea where to even begin. You're better at dealing with bugs than people. Bugs didn't have problems like this, they did what they needed to do. “Can I meet her right now?” Even with your limited knowledge of psychology, you knew it would be best if you started as soon as possible.
“Yes, I think now would be a good time to start. If you don't mind, I will be coming along with you.” Remilia comes down from her throne and leads the way. You follow her to a dark basement, where you stand in front of a wooden door.
“Why is she in the basement?” You ask. There were no other rooms here, except for storage. This meant that Remilia must have been living upstairs. You'd think that most family members would live on the same floor, but why is her sister in the basement by herself?
“Flan, are you in there?” She avoids the question entirely.
“Go away!” You can hear a voice call out from behind the door.
Remilia sighs. “I'm sorry that I can't do any more for you. I hope you can successfully cure her.” Before she goes, she gives you one more piece of advice. “Don't try to force your way in, and don't make her angry. She's very strong, and she won't appreciate you barging in.” She then leaves you alone with her sister.
“Hello?” You try to speak with her, hopefully you'll get a better response than Remilia.
“Who are you?” The voice replies.
“I'm Anthony. Who are you?” So far, so good.
“...Flandre Scarlet.” Now you know she's willing to talk to you.
“Hey, Flandre. Do you mind if I come in your room?” It would be more effective if you could talk to her face to face.
“No. Stay out.” That's your first rejection of the day, it was worth a shot.
[x] Force your way in. You're stronger than Remilia thinks, you can handle a shut-in.
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
...[x] What do you want to talk about?
[x] Leave it for today, you don't want to push it.
...[x] Hopper said something about a library.
...[x] You're pretty hungry. Maybe you should eat something.
...[x] You haven't gotten enough sleep recently, just go straight to bed.
================================================
Man, searching for pictures of Flan is a pain. There's a ridiculous amount of pictures, something over 200 pages.
Sorry for reposting this. Can't figure out how to put the damn options under the choice.
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
...[x] What do you want to talk about?
....[x] Hobbies, interests, the kind of food she likes to eat, etc (basically talk about neutral things until Ant could find something to bond over)
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
...[x] What do you want to talk about?
....[x] Hobbies, interests, the kind of food she likes to eat, etc (basically talk about neutral things until Ant could find something to bond over)
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
...[x] What do you want to talk about?
....[x] Hobbies, interests, the kind of food she likes to eat, etc (basically talk about neutral things until Ant could find something to bond over)
[x] Stay out here and talk to Flandre. You need to be friends with her before you can come in.
...[x] What do you want to talk about?
....[x] Hobbies, interests, the kind of food she likes to eat, etc (basically talk about neutral things until Ant could find something to bond over)
Seems to be the best bet.
No. 54676
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Well, there was no point of coming here and leaving that easily. You need to get her talking, any amount of familiarity to you would be a step forward. “Flandre, can I ask you a couple of questions?” you ask.
“I don't want to answer any more questions” You can't give up now, there must be another way.
“How about we play a game then? For every question I ask, you can ask a question to me. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to.” If you gave her an advantage, she would be more likely to talk.
“...Fine.” The voice behind the door replies. She doesn't seem very enthused about it.
“First question-” Flandre cuts you off.
“No. I get the first question. You already asked three earlier. So I get three now.” You want to say that you asked them before the game started, but you let her continue. “Why are you here?” A good question, if you say so yourself.
“Pass.” It would be bad if she knew that Remilia sent you here.
“You can't pass. The rules only said I could pass.” For someone who sounded uninterested, she sure did pay a lot of attention to the rules. You should have put more thought into this, curse your lack of game-making skills.
“...I wanted to get you out of your room.” Technically true, and it doesn't reveal that you were hired to do so.
“Why do you want me to come out?” She'll get to the real answer eventually, you have to stall as long as possible.
“Because I want you to.” You hope that she's satisfied with that answer.
“That's not answering my question.” Flandre calls you out.
“I want you to see the world.” A vague answer at best, she knows that you're trying to waste her questions.
“Why do you care? You don't even know me.” That's her last question.
Why did you care? It would be easy to lie and say that you're trying to help, to abuse Remilia's trust, but that didn't sit well with you.
“Because I want to be your friend.” It was the only thing you can think of, it'd be nice to be friends with her too. Considering that you arrived here yesterday, you didn't have anyone that you could really trust. Sure, a few people helped you out on the way, but you didn't feel a sense of camaraderie from them. You've known them for a few hours at best, and knew almost nothing about them.
Flandre starts to laugh. “Who would want to be friends with me?” Her words leave a bad feeling in your stomach.
“Me.” You say immediately, with complete confidence. It was the only honest answer you gave so far. If she was really this lonely, you wanted to be friends with her. You start to remember when you were stuck all alone in a room with nothing to do.
“...” Flandre stops her laughter. The two of you sit there for a couple of minutes, letting the silence take over. “It's your turn.” She breaks the ice.
“What do you like to do?” You didn't want to ask the hard hitting questions right now.
“I like to read stories.” She responds.
“What kind of stor-” She cuts you off again.
“Nope. It's my turn.” Obviously, she was doing the same trick as you. Giving the least amount of information to pass by. “Where did you come from?” A normal question, she must have dropped the line of questioning from before.
“The outside world, I wandered around for a few weeks before I found a shrine and ended up here. Before that, I lived in a small city for a couple of years. It was a quiet place with nice people.” You decide to give her more than you need to, in hopes that she'll do the same.
You hear a rumbling sound from behind the door. Flandre must be hungry. “Hey, I have a lunchbox here, do you want some of it? I'm not very hungry myself.” You're lying of course, you haven't eaten anything for the last two days. You're used to it, finding edible food in the forest wasn't a challenge, but it wasn't very tasty.
She makes a small crack in the door and you hand her Momiji's lunch. Sorry, Momiji. You promise to make it up to her eventually. Flandre closes the door afterward, and you wait for her to finish eating. You hear a quiet burp, when Flandre starts to talk again. “Why did you write “I Love You” in the lunchbox?” Oh damn, you knew that was going to bite you in the ass sooner or later.
“I didn't make the lunchbox.” You did know why it was there, but you weren't going to explain that to Flandre. “Now, what do you like to eat?” You could bring it down next time you come here.
“I like sweets, anything with sugar is fine.” You make a mental note to bring down as many sweets as you can. Maybe you can even scavenge a chocolate bar out of your backpack. “What do you do in your spare time?”
“Collect bugs, fight bugs, pretty much anything to do with bugs. It's either that or exploring.” You haven't done either in the time you were here. “Do you want to listen to any of my stories?” You fondly remember some of your shenanigans while you were travelling.
“Yeah. I think that would be okay.” She yawns. Maybe it was time to stop, you don't know how long you've been down here. “I'm going to sleep.” You give her a nod, and leave the basement.
[x] Eat, bathe, sleep. You haven't bathed and eaten for quite a while.
[x] Go to that library that Hopper told you about. Chances are that you'll learn something there.
[x] Wander around the house. Maybe you'll run into somebody.
[x] Eat, bathe, sleep. You haven't bathed and eaten for quite a while.
He should do the first two at least and maybe poke around some afterwards.
No. 54694
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You need to take a bath and eat, maybe sleep afterward. Speaking of which, you still haven't found the bathroom or the kitchen. Guess it's time to explore the mansion!
Taking your sweet time to walk around, you almost walk straight past the giant portrait of Remilia. The plaque under it reads “Remilia Scarlet: 3rd Head of the Scarlet Family.” That's strange, where are the other portraits, it said the 3rd, so where are the first and second? And for that matter, where is Flandre's portrait? You need to ask Remilia a few more things about Flandre before the next session.
“Hello, Anthony. May I help you?” Somebody calls from behind your back. You almost jump in surprise. It's the maid; holding a tray with food and drinks.
“Don't sneak up on me like that.” You manage to say, your heart still pumping.
“My apologies, but you were focusing on that portrait of milady for a long time.” How much time did you spend staring at it? You didn't want to seem like a creep.
“Do you know why Flandre doesn't have a painting of her own?” Maybe the maid knew something about this.
“No, I do not.” She says with a cold face.
“How long have you been working here?” She must have come after Flandre locked herself in the room.
“For as long as I remember.” That's hard to put a number to. How long has she been down there?
“What do you know about Flandre?” Any amount of information would be fine.
“I come down once in a while to serve her. In fact, I was on my way to bring her food myself.” You take a look at her tray, you can notice a slight tinge of red in the food.
“There's no need to do that, I already fed her.” She gives you a strange look.
“Oh? And how did you do that? She barely eats anything that I give her.” Flandre didn't seem picky about your food.
“I gave her some food I had lying around.” Your stomach starts to rumble. “Do you have anything for me to eat?” You give her a smile.
“Follow me.” You follow her to the kitchen, where she makes a simple meal for you to eat. You almost start crying when you eat the food. Hunger truly is the best spice. It also helps that her cooking is impressive, you'd doubt that Remilia would eat third-rate meals after all.
The maid stares at you eating, you did free up her time by feeding Flandre earlier. “Thanks for the meal.” You finish off your plate, and the maid takes your dishes to the sink. Now that you've eaten, you need to take a shower. Even you noticed your own smell.
“Can you tell me where the baths are?” She gives you directions, and you head off.
You drop your clothes into the hamper and hop into the shower. There was also a bath available, but you wanted to do some more exploring after A leisurely dip in the tub would have taken too long. You fill up the sink with water, and let the insects have their own bath. They seem to enjoy it, even if they don't need one.
“Hopper, why can you talk, but Kabuto can't?” You try to make conversation, it was better than singing in the shower.
“He can talk. He just chooses not to. Perhaps he only talks when he needs to.” Hopper replies. That would explain the voice in your head that gave you instructions when you transformed.
“So, why do you talk?”
“It is the most efficient way to tell you what I know.” Hopper's been more useful than Kabuto in terms of knowledge. Maybe it's because you found him here instead of the outside world.
“I guess so.” You finish up your shower and drain the sink. You dry up and find a change of clothes lying under the door, and a note on top. “This is your new uniform -Sakuya” The maid must of left it for you. Funny, you didn't think you had to wear a uniform. Oh well.
You try the clothes on, it's a simple black and white suit. You fumble with the tie that came along, but you finally get it on without choking yourself. It's going to be difficult to wear this every single day, but you'll get used to it.
Hopper and Kabuto find their places on your shoulders once again, and the three of you head off. You wander back down to the basement, this time to explore the storage room. You find several crates of junk, old tables, pictures, other antiques. You even find a pocket knife, you stash it away in your pocket. Never know when that will come in handy.
You send out Kabuto and Hopper to scout the area for anything you could use. You doubt Remilia would care if anything was missing, and it's better to put them to use than to have them rot here. You find an old photo album hidden away in a drawer. Flipping through the pages, you find that they are pictures of Remilia as a child. You don't find a single picture of Flandre in there. Maybe it's in another album, but this is really becoming fishy.
Hopper returns to you with a bat plushie in hand. “My lord, do you think that Flandre would appreciate this?” The plushie had two large fangs and an open mouth, it looked like it was ready to bite somebody.
“It couldn't hurt.” You grab the bat and put it in your bag. You start to yawn. “That's enough exploring for today. Kabuto, where are you?” He returns with a ribbon wrapped around his horn. How the heck did he manage that? You unwrap the ribbon and pick him up.
You come upstairs, ready to sleep, when you realize that you have no idea where your room is. You should have asked Sakuya earlier. You start walking down the halls looking for some indication of a guest room. You stop in front of a door labeled “For Workers.” Opening the door, you find a bed. “Good enough for me.”
You flop into the bed, putting Hopper and Kabuto on the dresser beforehand. You quietly drift into sleep.
End of Day 2
Tomorrow, on Kamen Rider Gen:
[x] Ant shows little children the power of his horn.
[x] Ant gets lost in the forest.
[x] Ant continues his talks with Flandre.
========================================
Okay. Replace the "End of Day 1" I said with "End of Episode 1." 'Cause this was a short day with no monsters.
>>54733 Wizard, OOO, and Fourze did this as well. It's the main reason why sometimes it feels the shows are dragging out. Though, W did the two parter thing best.
No. 54775
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You wake up on the floor, with an sharp pain, the sun passes through the windows and into your eyes. How did you end up here? You pick yourself off the floor, rubbing your back. The impact of the fall must have woken you. Taking a glance at the bed, you find Sakuya, she must have been the one who kicked you out of the bed.
Damn it Ant, not again. At least she's fully clothed this time. Do you just have a habit of waking up near women? You grumble to yourself as you wake up Hopper and Kabuto, bringing them to the bathroom.
“Good morning my lord, I hope you have slept well.” You hear Hopper say as you brush your teeth. He wobbles around for a bit before he stabilizes himself on your shoulder. You see him stretch his legs in order to wake himself up.
You spit out the toothpaste, “You could say that.” Kabuto starts to shuffle around too, climbing from your shoulder back into your pocket. Guess he's not an early riser. You finish preparing for the morning, and head down to the kitchen.
You ransack the fridge to make yourself breakfast. Half an hour later, a fishy smell drifts out of the kitchen doors, you happily devour your miso mackerel. You start to clean your mess when Sakuya shows up. “You made some for me?” She asks. You nod your head, cooking for someone else is something you missed.
While you're there, you steal some sweets to bring to Flandre, just a couple cookies and a cup pudding you found in the fridge. You ignore the “DO NOT TOUCH -Remilia” note attached to it. Remilia will have to suffer for her sister.
“Why are you doing all my work for me?” Sakuya pokes her food suspiciously, before taking a bite.
“Remilia said I had to do housework while I was here, right? Plus, you couldn't possibly clean this entire mansion by yourself.” You check the clock, it was about 5 in the morning, most people wouldn't be awake at this time. Cleaning the house would give you something to do while Remilia wakes up. You wouldn't want to wake Flandre up yourself either.
“How about I do the work, and you just say you did it?” Sakuya says to you. You notice drops of sweat running down her face.
“Why would you do that?” You start to sweep the floor, since you have nothing else to do.
“...I don't know.” Sakuya sighs.
The two of you finish cleaning up the kitchen and the hallways, when you hear a bell chime. “Sakuya, where aaaare you?” A familiar voice calls from upstairs. It must be Remilia. You follow Sakuya into her room. The two of you are greeted by the sight of a half-naked Remilia in bed, you try to sneak out of the room before she notices, but Remilia pelts a pillow at your face before you can get out.
“And stay out!” She yells as you slam the door close, another pillow hits the door and creates a thud.
A couple minutes later, you hear the door unlock. You open the door once again, this time without objects flying towards your head. Sakuya stands in the corner of the room, looking much calmer than before. Remilia is in her pink dress, with red ribbons going around the bottom.
“What do you want from me, Ant?” Remilia asks, regaining her calm. A light blush is still on her face as she talks to you.
“I wanted to ask you some questions about Flandre. I need to know more if I'm going to get her out of that room.” Her face darkens for a minute, before returning back to normal.
“Of course. I will answer them to the best of my abilities.” She bites her lips as she says that. Obviously, she doesn't want to answer any questions at all.
“Why isn't she in any paintings, or photos, or anything at all?” The little amount of time you spent searching the mansion hasn't left you with any evidence of Flandre's existence.
“...I tried to hide her from the world once.” She answers, averting her eyes from yours. “She's the shame of the Scarlet family.” She adds on.
“And now you want her to come out? Why the sudden change?” You raise an eyebrow.
“...I want her to leave Gensokyo.” She bites down harder, and her lips start to bleed. “I don't want her to live down here forever, so I hoped that you would take her with you. To go back to the Outside World and never come back.”
“Milady!” Sakuya starts to panic at the sight of blood.
“I'm fine.” She wipes the blood off, the red stain stands out on her pink dress.
“What did she do to shame the family name?” You start to grit your teeth. What kind of sisters are they?
“Nothing.” She says. “Now, if you excuse me, I have to treat this wound. Please leave.”
[x] Stay. You need to find out more about Flandre.
[x] Go to the basement. You can hear what happened from Flandre.
[x] Leave the mansion. This is too much to handle, you need some time to cool down.
As much as I think, Ant should talk to Flan, I don't think he should at the moment and I don't think we really should worsen the situation with our host, so...
[x] Leave the mansion. This is too much to handle, you need some time to cool down.
“Fine.” You exit the room, it would be better if you heard it from Flandre herself.
You knock on Flandre's door, “Hello? It's me, Ant. I brought some sweets.” A small crack opens, and you pass her the sweets you stole from the kitchen. “...Flandre, do you mind if I ask some more questions this time?”
“I'll only answer one.” You can hear the crunch of cookies from behind the door. “Bleh, raisins.” She complains, but she still finishes them off anyways.
“What happened to you? Why are you in the basement by yourself?” If it's only one question, you should make it a good one.
“So you finally asked.” She scoffs. “Don't you know? Remilia locked me in here, now she wants me to come out.” She confirms what Remilia said.
“I knew that already, what I wanted to know was why she calls you the shame of the Scarlet family.” You ask the question that Remilia refused to answer.
“I'm not the one who should be ashamed, Remilia is.” She pauses. “Do you know what we are, Ant?” She asks you, as if it was obvious.
“Some sort of Bat youkai?” Aya didn't really explain past the word “Bat”, so that was your best bet.
“Vampires. She accidentally turned me into one of hers, one of the worst things a vampire could do. That's why she locked me in here and tried to forget. Then she calls me her sister and names me “Flandre Scarlet”.” She's yelling by the time she's finished.
“So... You're in here because of her mistake?” You try to make some sense out of this. “Then why do you want to stay in that room?” That was the only thing you don't understand.
“Where would I go? Even in Gensokyo, people see Remilia as a monster. I would rather live in this room than be hated wherever I go.” She punches one of the walls, you can hear the loud crack it makes. “Now, go away. I already answered more than one. Consider it a thank-you for the snacks.”
You reluctantly leave the basement. Taking the time to wonder around the mansion, thinking about what to do. Should you help Flandre come out? She seems to be content living down there. Remilia doesn't really want to help her sister; she wants to get rid of her. You go outside to think about it some more, ending up in the gardens.
“Hey, you.” The gate-guard sees you. “You didn't tell the Mistress about my sleeping habits, did you?” She cracks her knuckles.
“I wanted to, but no. I did not.” You're not intimidated by the threat. “What were you going to do if I did?”
“I'm afraid something unfortunate might have happened to you as you left.” She puts her fists up.
“I'm not up for a fight.” You back off. Looking at the flowers would be a much better way to calm down.
“Tch. What a coward.” She starts insulting you, trying to get you to start the fight. If you hit her first, you would get most of the blame.
“I don't want to hurt you, so stop.” You say as calmly as possible, but the guard doesn't listen.
“Hurt me? Oh, I'm so afraid of a wimp who won't even fight me.” Things are starting to go south, you get Hopper at the ready.
“I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. Now, calm down and we can talk about it.” You really hope that you don't have to fight her. Explaining this to Remilia would be difficult, especially after what happened this morning.
“Talk with your fists!” She lands a hit to your stomach.
You fall backwards and you manage to shove Hopper onto your belt when you land. “Henshin!”
[x] You find a strange device on the side of your arm. Something tells you that you'll be punching a lot more often.
[x] Your leg has a weird joint on it. You feel like you could jump higher and kick harder.
[x] You don't take the time to look. Instead, you run away as fast as possible.
[x] Your leg has a weird joint on it. You feel like you could jump higher and kick harder.
No. 54860
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READY. SET. KICK.
You kick off the ground, sending you high into the air. You land on top of a gazebo, stopping to take a look at yourself.
The very first thing you notice is the strange device on your leg, it looks a grasshopper's leg. Your body is covered in white, black, and green, as opposed to Kabuto's red. And your chest plate seems much thinner, with spikes on your shoulders to compensate. Your horn seems to be spiked for headbutts and other attacks.
“Coward!” The guard screams from below.
You ignore her, putting more effort into stopping this fight. Using the new-found strength in your legs, you propel yourself towards the guard, your knee aiming directly for her face.
She gently pushes your leg aside, you use your other leg to attack from her open side. You land the hit, but she doesn't budge an inch from her position, the ground showing an indent of her feet.
You're caught off guard as she grabs you at the hip, forcing you downwards. You lay on your back, with a foot crushing your chest. “Is that it?” She puts more force into it, pushing you deep into the ground. The pain starts to catch up with you, this suit isn't as defensive as Kabuto's, you need to get out of this hold right now.
You use your arm to grab onto her free leg, trying to knock her off balance, as you push outwards, she falls down; the momentum of the fall powers her elbow, as she drops onto your elbow. You cry out in pain, losing all feeling in your right arm. You push her body off yours, kicking to get yourself off the ground. She recovers at the same time you do, and the two of you stand, watching each other.
My lord. Use the switch.
“No. I can't.” You just wanted to stop her from fighting, not kill her.
You have to use it, before you seriously injure.
“I refuse.” Hopper should know what happens when you pull the switch first-hand.
Your opponent does something strange, she closes her eyes and drops her stance. Has she given up on the fight? She breaths deeply as her body relaxes, you stay a safe distance away from her. You're getting a bad feeling about this.
She opens her eyes. You can feel the aura around her, whatever she's doing, you need to run away, now.
Slowly, the guard starts to walk towards you, causing you to back up to a wall.
Use it. Now.
You reluctantly pull Hopper's switch, hoping that it could get you away from this situation.
“Rider Jump.” You say the words that stick out in your mind.
RIDER JUMP.
You jump off one leg, rising high above the mansion itself. While you're up there, you notice something strange. A blur, leaving the house. You're too high to identify anything, but you can't help but wonder what it is. The blur quickly disappears.
My lord. I believe it may be another one of us.
Then there's no time to waste! You pull the switch back to it's original position.
“Rider Kick.”
RIDER KICK.
The guard braces herself for impact, but you fly right past her. You land right in front of the door, the joint on your leg snaps close, creating a crater on the ground, and sending you back into the air. You manage to angle yourself so that you burst through the doors.
The inside of the mansion is a mess, not that breaking the door helped making it any cleaner. You dash along the trail of shattered objects, ranging from glass to chairs. At the end of track, you reach Remilia's room. Sakuya is lying against the wall, coughing up blood.
“What happened?” You crouch down close to her.
“...Who are you?” She picks up one of the knives scattered around the room, holding it close to your neck.
“It's me. Ant.” You take Hopper off your belt to reveal yourself. Once you return to your human form, you wince when the pain in your arm starts to pulse. The suit must have been injecting adrenaline or something, to reduce the pain.
She lets go of the knife, “The Mistress, she's gone. That thing kidnapped her.” You can barely make out the words between her gasps. “I don't know where it's taken her.” She coughs out the last few words.
“Don't worry. I'll find her, everything will be fine.” You lay her down on the bed, which is mostly intact.
You start to search the room for any clues when the guard comes in through the window. She freezes in her tracks, giving you an accusing glare. You nod your head to where Sakuya is, letting the maid explain the situation rather than yourself.
The two of them talk back and forth in whispers, as you continue your investigation. That's when you find a scrap of paper on the ground. Crudely written letters are on the page, “MeEt mE At tHe cAVe ToMMOROw aT MiDNIGHT.” There's a map drawn on the back.
“Look at what I found.” You hand the paper over to the pair, letting them read it themselves.
“I think we have to postpone our fight.” The guard says after giving the paper a quick read. Sakuya gives her a few prods “...Hong Meiling.” She extends her hand after a few more pokes from the maid.
“Anthony.” You return the greeting.
“So, what's the plan?” She asks. You're not really sure, all the plans you have don't go past “Beat up the bad guy.”
“Somebody should stay here and take care of Sakuya, that's for sure.” You take another glance at the maid. Her body was battered, with several bruises and small cuts. You're not a doctor, but you could tell that she needed a person to look after her. As far as you knew, the only people here were Meiling and Flandre. “I don't think you could help me fight the monster, so you should stay here.” Unless Meiling was able to reach super-speeds like you, there was no chance that she would be able to fight.
She grabs you by the collar. “What did you just say? You ran away from the fight and now you're saying I'm too weak to help you?” If looks were enough to kill, you'd be mince-meat right now.
“I know what we're fighting against. You can't help.” You return the glare.
“Let the librarian take care of Sakuya. I'm going, and you can't stop me.” She drops you on the floor.
“Patchouli isn't here. She's off on another one of her trips.” Sakuya interjects.
Meiling stands there for a few moments. “Fine. However, you're bringing Flandre with you. I don't care how you do it, but you're not strong enough to handle this by yourself.” She gives you an impossible task.
“You know as well as I do that she's not going to come along.” Flandre didn't have the best relationship with her sister, and she sure as hell isn't going to help you save her.
“Find a way. Drag her by the neck if you have to.” That's the exact opposite of what Remilia told you to do.
You head down to the basement without a real plan. How in the world are you going to convince Flandre to help you?
[x] Force her to help you, there's no other way to do this.
[x] Try to talk to her
...[x] “Flandre. I need your help to save your sister.”
...[x] She said that she had nowhere to go. Promise that you'll take her to the outside world. You can give her a place to call home.
...[x] “You wanted people to stop hating you? That means you need to get off your ass and help them out. Nothing is going to change if you sit in your room and mope all day. You can start by saving your sister.”
...[x] What do you say?
[x] You don't need her help. Sneak out to the cave by yourself, Meiling is underestimating your strength.
[x] “You wanted people to stop hating you? That means you need to get off your ass and help them out. Nothing is going to change if you sit in your room and mope all day. You can start by saving your sister.”
[x] Try to talk to her
...[x]What do you say?
....[x] “Flandre, do you know how stories begin? Stories begin and end with a single decision. And right now, you control that decision. “How do you want to be remembered?” Will you fade into obscurity as the 'Shame of the Scarlet?' Or will you start moving and begin transcending the world's expectation of you? This story is in your hands. 'How do you want to change the story of Flandre Scarlet?”
While I can see the direction each choice, I do find the last choice wouldn't work. From Flan's point of view, this is coming from a stranger that she hasn't even known for a single day and has been influenced by Remilia to get her out. While I know my choice gives her the option of maintaining a status quo, I rather her at least feel that we are her friend and rescuing Remila is merely a way for her to change herself.
No. 54899
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You knock on her door once again, for the last time. You need her help if you're going to save your employer, and she needs to find her own life without being locked in her own room.
“Flandre. Are you in there?” It was a redundant question, there was nowhere else for her to be.
“I thought I told you to bugger off.” Her voice is harsh, proving that she's still sore from the conversation you had earlier today.
“I need something from you this time.” You had a goal, and a real motivation to achieve it.
“No. I refuse. Now go away.” Rejected even before you asked.
“I'm not moving from this spot.” There's no response from Flandre. The two of you sit there, until you
can come up with a half-decent speech to get her out of there. Minutes on the clock tick as you think about what you know so far. She likes stories, she doesn't have a place to go, she's afraid of being hated. Nearly an hour passes before you open you mouth again.
“Flandre, do you know how stories begin?” You wait for an answer, but you hear nothing from the other side of the door. “Stories begin and end with a single decision. And right now, you control that decision.”
“And what would that be?” She starts speaking again.
“You can decide how you want to be remembered. Do you want to fade into obscurity as the 'Shame of the Scarlet'? Or will you start moving forward and begin transcending the world's expectation of you?”
“The world has no expectations for me, it doesn't even know that I exist. I want my story to fade away, never to be told.” She's wrong.
“I know you exist. As long as I live, your story will spread across the lands, you will forever be known as the girl who never took control of her own life, who spent her existence living in a box for all eternity.”
“It wouldn't make for a very interesting story, would it?”
“No, but it would be an important story. Important enough for everyone to hear, to learn from your mistakes.”
“Then isn't that good enough?” She responds.
“It isn't. You don't have a happy ending, you would never learn how to live a real life. People wouldn't learn how to overcome their problems, they wouldn't know how to face their fears.” You deny.
“It's not my responsibility to teach them.”
“You don't have any responsibility to do anything, that's why you stay chained down to the basement. You need take the first step, help people, live your life. Write a story that extends beyond sitting in a room, never to be seen. You could help the world become a better place, to change history.”
“In the end, the story is in your hands. How do you want to change the story of Flandre Scarlet?” You say your last words.
“I'll come back tomorrow. I hope that you come up with an answer by then.” You get up and walk away. This was the last chance you had, if she didn't want to come out, then you can say that you did all you could.
-=-
You meet Meiling on the path back to Remilia's room.
“How's Sakuya?” You ask the guard.
“She's fine. A bit beat up, but nothing that she won't recover from.” She stops you from opening the door. “Don't bother her. She's sleeping.” You sigh.
“I've said what I wanted to Flandre. It's up to her now.” Meiling gives you a nod. “If you don't mind, could you take a look at my arm? You messed it up pretty badly.”
“Sure.” You follow her into a shack outside. She tosses a roll of gauze at you, accidentally catching it with your damaged arm, you start to tear up in pain. Meiling gives you a huge grin, proud of what she did to you.
“Stop smiling and fix me up already.” You complain. Meiling starts to check your injuries.
“You did pretty good for a first-timer.” She starts feeling a couple spots on your arm, you grit your teeth to bear through the pain.
“It's not my first time fighting. I already fought a monster.” You hold Hopper in your free hand. “See?”
“That's not a monster. That's a grasshopper.” Meiling is clearly not impressed.
“But he was a monster before!” Meiling gives you a pat on the back.
“Look, you don't have to make things up.” She snaps something back into place.
-=-
You wake up in the shack alone. “What the hell happened?” You mutter to yourself.
Meiling slams the doors open, holding a tray of tea. “You passed out. Couldn't handle the pain. Wimp.”
“Oh.” You're kind of insulted, that really hurt your pride.
“You should stay here and get some rest.” She puts the tray down on the table, you grab a cup and start drinking. She leaves after you finish the first cup.
The quietness of the room starts to become dull and boring. There's not much for you to do other than sit down and rest. You start to feel lonely, with no-one to talk to. It's a good thing that you can fit your friends in your pocket. You pull out Hopper, the only one who can talk, or rather, the only one who wants to talk to you.
“Hopper, how do I get stronger?” Meiling handled you pretty easily. You could make excuses about how you didn't want to hurt her, but you knew that she was better than you.
“Use the forms more. The longer we are transformed with you, the stronger you become. Your body needs to adapt to our strengths and weaknesses.” He replies. “It is only early morning, we have enough time to train.”
[x] Nah. You need to rest up some more.
[x] Sure, why not. You have time to burn.
[x] You should check on Flandre first. Maybe she reached her answer.
[x] Sure, why not. You have time to burn.
[x] You should check on Flandre first. Maybe she reached her answer.
This sounds good. Increasing our skill level is always nice. I'm sure Ant wouldn't want to be as bad as Delta's later riders were.
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“I'll take you up on that offer, Hopper. But first, we need to check on Flandre.” If she was going to help you rescue Remilia, then the two of you should practice together. It couldn't take more than a couple minutes to see her anyways.
You decide not to knock on her door this time. “Hey, Hopper, do you mind sneaking under the door and checking if she's awake?” Being woken up by a man knocking on your door isn't the best way to get an answer.
“Yes, my lord.” He crawls under the gap between the door frame and the floor. Lately, he's been a lot more useful than Kabuto. You give your beetle friend a poke on the horn, but he fends it off with his horn. He wasn't the type to talk, but he seemed kind of dull lately. Maybe you should find something for him to do later.
“M-milady! Please don't crush me!” You hear from the other side. Guess Flandre is awake, although Hopper might be in danger.
“A talking insect? How novel. Don't worry. I'll take good care of you.” She laughs quietly to herself, you can basically feel the pure terror that Hopper's emitting. Part of you wants to let her play with Hopper some more.
“Flandre? Can you give that bug back to me? I put him in there to check if you were awake.” You say sheepishly, hoping that Flandre isn't a fan of the 'Finders, keepers' mentality.
She doesn't say anything, but opens a crack in the door and throws Hopper back into your hands. “My lord, thank you. You have saved my life.” Hopper doesn't stop shaking in your palms, you still see the fear in his large insect eyes. Kabuto puts a smug look on his face, taunting Hopper. Maybe you send him over too.
“Thanks. Now for the reason I came here. Do you know your answer yet?” You put Hopper on your shoulder, giving him a place to calm down.
“I think I do.” Flandre sounds uneasy.
“What is it?” No matter what she says, at least she can say that she had a choice in her life.
“I'll give it a try. If nothing changes for me, then I could always lock myself up again.” That's not the exact answer you wanted, but it was good enough.
“Great! Now, can you open the door?” After talking to this mystery girl for three days, you're excited to take a look at her.
“...No. I don't want to.” She gives you a flat denial.
“Please?” You say the magic word.
“No chance.” Rejected once again.
“Not even for a second?” You plead with your best puppy dog eyes.
“Not for a million years.” You swear it could have worked if there wasn't a giant slab of wood between the two of you.
“Open the door or I'll kick it down.” You already tried the peaceful approach, now is the time for desperate measures. Plus, she probably won't kill you... Probably.
She gives you no response, I guess you have to resort to more extreme measures. You kick down the door. A loud clang rings throughout the basement, you clutch your foot in pain. What the hell was this door made of? You take a closer look behind the wood, finding steel.
Flandre opens the door, holding her stomach from laughter. You take your first glance at the girl, she couldn't be any older than her early teens, her hair is a golden blonde, and her skin is a pale white. What really catches your eyes is her wings, which looked like two branches, who somebody lazily put on colorful Christmas decorations and called it a day.
You wait a couple more minutes for Flandre to stop laughing at your pain. During the time, you think about ways to get back at her. She will feel your wrath, along with that ice-fairy. You still haven't forgotten about her.
“Nice to meet you.” She curtseys, a smile still on her face.
“Nice to meet you too.” You don't know how to respond, so you just give a respectful bow. “Now, do you know what's happening?”
“Yeah. You need my help for something.” She wipes the grin off her face, looking more serious this time.
“I need you to back me up. We need to rescue your sister from a monster.” Flandre's face sours at the words “sister”. “Consider it the first part in your story. Think about how heroic is it for you to save the person who locked you down here.” You try to cheer her up.
“Fine. I won't like it though.” That went better than expected.
“But first, let's have some fun. How about training?” You look at Hopper for advice, he wasn't too clear on what training was.
“I would recommend something that would not injure you any further, but still requires you to use your body.” Hopper recovers from his trauma.
“How about a game then?” You give out a suggestion.
“Yes. That would work well.” Hopper agrees.
[x] What do you do for training?
...[x] What form should you train?
Welp. The old Kamen Rider story is back. There isn enough room for two KR stories on this board, so I think I'll just give up on this one. I think I'll start something else sooner or later, but for now, this story is pretty much dead.
>>54963 Yeah, I guess it is a pretty stupid reason to stop a story. Really, I just want to reboot the thing, take a hiatus so I can really think this through.
If you guys want me to continue the story, I guess I could, though I wouldn't expect too much from it.
I also don't like the idea of running a bunch of stories with the same plot, I mean, there's 3 High School stories running at the same time, it seems kind of redundant to me.
Sorry if I'm acting kind of stupid, I'll keep writing this if I have readers.
That's a much better reason to stop this story, if you aren't pleased with where it's heading then do what you want to do. Just please tell your readers what you decide to do.
If you don't enjoy writing this then the readers (usually) don't enjoy it reading it.
>>54968 Well, it's true it's a bit redundant, but not all people right each Touhou the same way. So, even if the setting is the same, it is still a different experience. Anyways, good luck on your next story. Thanks for the daily updates though.
No. 53699
