Part 36

Sorry this took so long, my computer exploded and I had to spend a weekend fixing it.

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Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

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Welcome back to Marisa's dreams.

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Music: Secret Mission!

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Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

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Music: Ark of the Spring Sky



Take a look! It's the Palanquin Ship that was the key to resolving the incident the other day...

And now it's about to shake off the chains of gravity and fly to the moon!

The crowd goes wild. Cut to some nearby bleachers, where a couple familiar faces are spectating.

It's quite lively here. The people of Earth really like to turn everything into a festival, don't they?

Of course, to us, having it reach the moon safely is the top priority.

Hey, Reimu! All I want for a souvenir is some sake!

I might not be going to the moon, but I can still wish you a safe voyage.

Wow, so many people are here to watch.

It's not just youkai either, looks like even the humans came to see it.

The crowd really is different when you're near the Human Village.

Nitori, Koakuma. How are the launch preparations?

Hold on a sec, we're almost done with our final check.

Take a good look at the Earth while you can, Flan, we won't see it again for a while.

Yeah. It feels weird seeing so many humans.

I wonder if Marisa's all right. I thought she'd be here by now...

With how excited she's been for this, I'm sure she'll come flying any minute now.

But speaking of people who aren't here, I don't see Yukari or Yuyuko. I could have sworn they'd be here to see Reimu and Youmu off.

They aren't the types to show their faces for every little thing. I'm sure they're spying on us from somewhere anyhow.

...

You're saying your farewells to the Earth too, aren't you Rabbit? Do you have any regrets?

None. I'm totally ready. I've even got Lady Yagokoro's letter on me. I'd just feel way less antsy if they'd just launch already...




Lily appears.

!

Th-Thank goodness. I made it in time.

Fairy?! But I heard you went back to the mountain...

Why'd you come? Weren't you sleeping until next spring?

I was, but then I heard you were going back to the moon, Rabbit. So I wanted to give you my thanks one last time.

Thanks? For what...?

Thank you very much, for being so nice to an off-season fairy like me. It was only a short time, but I'm glad we could be friends, Rabbit.

Wh-What are you talking about? You can't just decide on your own that we're frie-

Hey~! This is when you gotta drop the cool act and return her smile!

Lily woke herself up and came here just for you!

Y-Yeah, you're right! We're never going to see each other again, so...

...Thank you, Fairy. I'm glad we became friends too. Take care of yourself, and watch out for traps next time.

Yes. You too, Rabbit.

...If you're done with the farewells, it looks like we've finished our preparations.

Ichirin, please put the Palanquin Ship into launch mode.

Roger. Navigation systems off, commence charging the Buddhist reactor.

And with that, in a little while we'll be saying goodbye to the Earth.



Suddenly, someone at this bleacher screams.

...Hm, aren't they getting pretty noisy over there?

You're right. We haven't even launched yet.



...!

Those strange familiars! Could it be...?!



Music: Heian Chimera Syndrome

Nue and three UFOs spawn in.

How cheeky of you to turn a youkai's ship into a spectacle!

Wait, isn't that-

Meiling seems to recognize Nue, which is weird since she was on the other route split.

Nue!? Is that you?!

You bet it is! Don't tell me you already forgot my face?

Is this the Nue we were just talking about?

Yeah, she's an old friend of the crew, and she's the one who took all the Flying Silo fragments. Doesn't feel like she's carrying them with her today, though.

...Where WERE you, Nue? I've been looking for you ever since the incident ended. We didn't get enough of a chance to talk the last time we met.

Yeah, I knew you were worried about me. I mean, I WAS watching you in secret the whole time.

What?!

What were you doing something stupid like that for? Why not just show yourself?

No way. You two are always hanging out with humans these days. Not only that, they're always using your ship like it's theirs too.

And I've had enough of it! It ticks me off, so I'm putting a stop to this!



UFOs pop in all over.

That stupid Nue, she's not listening again...!

But this is a problem. She's seriously trying to prevent the launch.

Nitori, can we put the launch on hold?!

No can do. The Buddhist reactor is already on standby, so it would be hard to stop it now... We've got 7 minutes till ignition! If we can't fly by then, the whole launch will fail!

Alright, obviously we need to focus on protecting the Palanquin Ship's launch pad.




The Palanquin Ship can't move, and I've got my hands full preparing to summon the Sumiyoshi Sanjin.

I want everyone free to go stop those youkai!

Agreed! Everyone sortie!



So for this map, I actually want to deploy primarily solo units for once. But the voice of democracy has spoken, and they want teams.

Good grief, how could you interrupt our ceremony like that? You don't have an ounce of decorum in your body, do you?

Nue, right? Don't you know you're not supposed to rampage near the village?

What's wrong with you? You call yourself a youkai, spouting that drivel? We youkai are supposed to make the humans tremble in terror...!



Aah! There are familiars near the bleachers!

What do we do?! If they get a human, then-

The Red UFOs go splat.

!

Is that all you got? We can deal with that many in one blow!

We'll take care of this area, so we'll leave the ship to you!

Momiji! Hatate! Thank you so much!



That ship has the important task of delivering the Master's letter!

I'll fight too, for Rabbit's sake!

Oh come on, why do you all have to play buddy-buddy all the time?

Then I'll just gather everyone together too. You can all prostrate yourselves before the fear of the unknown!





The very first thing I do is summon a bunch of dolls to act as roadblocks. It takes up a huge chunk of Alice's MP, but she's mostly Ammo based anyways.



The green UFOs in the southwest corner actually won't move just yet, so it's safe to focus on this southern batch instead.



I send Alice and Patchy (the Seven-colored Seven Days Witches) to the northwest, but their damage output is really lacking.

I miss Magic Team already.



Reisen, the Three Fairies, and Lily handle the northeast corner,



and everyone else heads for Nue.

More UFOs spawn in the north on the first enemy phase.

They're coming from that side too?!



The way this is going, I'd guess they've got more waiting in reserve.

We don't know where they'll come from, so don't get too far from the ship!



Cue a long enemy phase of countering. I put All Spectral on Reisen, so she can easily dispatch of anything that attacks her with her stronger moves.



Meanwhile Remilia...



Tries her best, I guess.



Her servants are doing much better; I had Remilia equip Scarlet Charisma, so they're both at 125 Power right out of the gate. Not only does that jumpstart the Scarlet Soul, it also means I can trigger Elegant in one battle.

By the way, putting the Scarlet Soul on anybody is a quick way to make them useful, but Sakuya in particular is a good choice since it's not like she wants to equip anything else.

...It'd be bad if those weird flying saucers got here. Remi, I'm coming out and helping too.

Huh, Flan?!

...I see. With Flan here, it should be easier for the rest of us.

This will be the first time we've let her have a danmaku battle outdoors, though.

Just so we're clear, it's okay for us to just sit back and watch, right?

Of course it is. Lately, we've even been taking walks near the village.

But Flan, you need to be careful not to get hit by the sun.

Yeah, I'll make sure to bring the parasol you gave me.

Okay then....

Music: The Psychotic and Cute Guest



...!

That aura must mean Flandre's deployed too...!

What's with all these half-baked youkai popping up one after another? You youngsters are ignorant in the ways of the world. Well fine, the Great Nue will-

Hee hee, it really does feel great outside!

...?!

Lady Flan, I'm sure you already know this, but-

Don't worry, I'll be careful not to destroy the village. I'm only gonna play with that black one over there and these round things!

...It's reassuring to have her on our side, but I can't help but feel like we're holding a bomb close to our chests.

Looks like there are all sort of youkai I don't know on the surface these days. I better be careful.



Flandre won't be able to really show her stuff until she hits max Power, and unfortunately she doesn't get the Scarlet Charisma boost this chapter.



She's still strong enough to one-shot the blue UFOs though.



The three UFOs that just spawned in are just one turn of movement away from costing me the chapter, so I have my northern units break off from their assigned sections to quickly dispose of them.



But thanks to the Hourai Dolls, they can't reach the launch zone anyways.



By the way, the Palanquin Ship is a unit in this chapter. It can't move, but it can fire at any UFOs that get too close.



Meiling hit level 38 last chapter, so she learned Scarlet Dragon. This amazing PS lets her Support Defend on the player phase three times per chapter, which is for all intents and purposes three free casts of Alert. It's great on any glass cannon, and solidifies Meiling's status as the best tank in the game.

It also clashes with Time Paradox, as you can see here. Too bad Support Attack and Defend take up the same slot on the menu.



Shou is ten levels behind, so I'm hoping to feed these UFOs to her.

Nue, please stop this disturbance. We've been entrusted with a lette-

I don't care what your goal is, just keep your hands off Minamitsu's ship. How would you girls like it if I tied you to some giant pillar?

All sorts of things had to be done to turn it into a shrine. There was no other wa-

You even REMODELED it? I'm even more mad now!

Music: As Decisive as a Battlefield



I wasn't expecting Youmu to hit, but she did.

What troublesome familiars... And she's using so many of them too.

It looks like the title of Legendary Youkai wasn't just for show.

Nue, please stop this!

No way. I've gotta beat this lesson into you as hard as I can. You're just being used by the humans, Minamitsu!

Nue, what's wrong? Did me leaving you behind in the Underworld make you THIS angry?


No! I don't even care about that anymore! What I can't stomach is humans using that ship as they please.

Wait, you mean the Palanquin Ship?

Right. Isn't that ship your most prized possession, Minamitsu? How can you just use it for and mold it to the humans' benefit?

She's kinda calling it like it is.

I guess we HAVE been overhauling it a lot. And now we're taking it on a lunar voyage.

The Palanquin Ship IS important to me. But Nue, it's not just mine. This ship can do a lot to help other people so-

That's weird! And totally unfair!

!

If you told me you were doing all of this for yourself, I'd be okay with you just living your life taking care of your ship. But none of these people care about any of that. They're just using the ship like it's theirs! They're trying to steal your rightful place, Minamitsu! They're tricking you!



Four more UFOs join the fray all around the area.

Ack, she summoned even more familiars!

I think we're being cornered both physically and verbally.

...What should we do, Ichirin? Looks we can't talk our way out of this.

In a situation like this, there's no choice but to hang in there until launch. Sheesh, I can't tell if she's being really considerate or just a nuisance.



Lily has Cheer, so Shou can get two levels off a single kill.



Oh yeah, here's Nue. She has a unique ability called Undefined that hides her Mobility and Armor.



She has the same field as she did in 38R, though since this is Normal the HP Regen is much less impressive.



And since Nue doesn't have Special Resistance, I can use Pressure on her. Not that it does anything, it basically only takes effect next turn.

How boorish of you to get in the way of the glorious moment we've worked so hard to prepare.

If you ask me, your moment was messed up in the first place. How could Minamitsu and Ichirin let some jerks like you-

Tell us your complaints AFTER we return from the moon.



Red the Nightless Castle + Roukanken + Three Treasures - Sword gets Nue down to yellow.



While I'd love to end this with a Miracle, I still have UFOs to kill.

Two more Red UFOs spawn in the southwest come turn 4.

Uwah, those flying saucers just keep coming.

There's still three minutes until launch. Will we be able to handle it?

If we just had a few more people, it'd work out somehow...



Music: Stardust Hero

!

Marisa, you finally made it!

Where WERE you?! Just a bit later and we'd have already departed!

My bad, Mima showed up and I lost track of time while we talked.

Huh? Mima?!

Yeah, she's heading to Makai, so she stopped by to say goodbye. Wait, what are are these weird discs?

Can't you tell that we don't have time to explain every little thing?

They're connected to that youkai over there, she's trying to stop the launch.

But it doesn't matter, just kick them out!

Roger that! Might as well test my new magic while I'm at it.

New magic...?

Yeah, I did everything I could to finish it before we left.

(...Even if our paths have split, I'll never leave behind the magic you taught me. I'll take your star magic across the sea of stars, Lady Mima...!)

Here we go, Orreries Sun!



Orreries Sun buffs Marisa's base weapon power by 100 and her Mobility by 10 when she hits 130 Power. Nothing fancy, but appreciated all the same.

You can't tell since it's just a skill in this game, but in the source games its animation is based off of one of Mima's attacks.



Marisa's entrance is the last event of this chapter, so now I can finish off the UFOs.

Ugh, just looking at that makes me feel sick. I'm gonna beat you girls black and blue for this!

You're called Nue, right? I think we've heard of you before.

Hmmm, it had the face of a monkey, the tail of a snake...

Pop quiz! What animal was your body from?

...

Oh, looks like you're out of time!

Are you even listening to me?!



Meanwhile Nue thrashes around pointlessly.

Keep it up, everybody! There's just two minutes left of launch preparations!



Shou made it to level 37 in the end. Not bad.

Nue, if you're Murasa's friend then please stop this!

No, YOU should stop messing with Minamitsu! You make it all sound so proper, but you're just using her for whatever you want!

That's not the case. To us, Murasa and the rest of Myouren Temple are fr-

Like I'd believe something a HUMAN said!

Music: Proof of the Wind's Bond



And that's that. Nue drops a Cartridge of all things.





Alright, we beat the boss of the familiars~!

Ngh, they're strong...!

Reimu, are you ready to summon the Sumiyoshi Sanjin?!

I'm good to go, so everyone get back aboard the ship, now!

Everybody but Reisen and Lily pile into the ship.

We've confirmed that everyone's aboard. Nitori!

Okay! Igniting rocket boosters!

So they're still just doing whatever they want...

But I still have a chance!



That spot! Could she be aiming for-

I can tell at a glance that this cloth has a lot of magic in it. If I tear it off, I bet you won't be able to launch!

She's going after the Lunar Veil! But there's no way to stop her from inside...!

Not on my watch!



Reisen intercepts Nue's charge, and ends up getting thrown onto the ship.

Uwah, Reisen managed to jump in?!

Thanks for protecting the veil!

Yeah, that was close... Wait, the Palanquin Ship?! I'm on the Palanquin Ship?!

Now, Sokotsutsu-no-O-no-Mikoto!



I didn't notice I had improperly sized animations for the last few updates until I went back and looked at the older chapters.

We've called down the power of the gods, so she shouldn't be able to touch us now.

...Minamitsu...

Nue, let's talk when I get back to Earth! I'll have so much to tell you then!

...I won't give up.

Nue leaves.

Nue's retreated, so all that's left is to launch!

It'll happen soon, so brace for impact everyone!

H-Hold on, I'm still-!



I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip, everyone!

Eirin, were my eyes deceiving me or did-

Yes, Udonge's aboard the ship.

Rabbit! Please look at the Earth when it's spring! I'm sure it'll be so lovely you can see it from the moon!

Yeah, thanks Fair- I mean, thank you Lily! I'll definitely remember to do that!

Buddhist reactor output fully charged. Releasing the final limiter!

Then launch! Take us to the moon!



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On Lunatic this map is more annoying, but that's about it. Nue's tough enough that you might want to consider having Elly freeze her movement with Floor Tiles.

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*sigh* I poured too much magical power into Lady Patchouli. Now I'm out of MP... But it's at times like this that my Personal Skill "Self-Healing" shines.

That's amazing, Koakuma. You can renew yourself. If I could so something like that too, maybe I'd stop running out of spiritual power...

Heehee. In that case, do you want to try it too, Sanae?

Wow, you'd really teach me something that special...?!

It's not very special at all, I'd be happy to show you how to do it. Now, come over here and make yourself comfortable.

Eh? Um, should I take off my shoes then?

...And there they go again.

I do have Koakuma restore my MP, but it's unexpectedly tiring to be renewed. I usually prefer Devote instead.

Is that how it is...