Part 14: Chapter 20M: The Other Shore of Friendship

Yeah so I was just really lazy with getting this update done. Sorry, it's my last week of break.

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Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text

Music: Border of Regular and Irregular Days

Full Text





Maybe run away?

...No, we have to stay here.

Yeah, if it's that group that got chased away last time, there's no way they'd come here.

I guess you're right. And even if they did come, we'd just crush them with our weapons.

You bet! If they come, we'd send them right to the bottom of the river!

Hold up, somebody's coming from over there!

It couldn't be...!



Alright, let's put on a sho-

Wait, over there is...

So it really was Marisa...

...Nitori!

Hey, is that the magician you're always talking about?

...

I didn't think I'd actually run into you.

Get over here, Nitori. There's a lot I want to talk about with yo-

No, I can't. If you're attacking Youkai Mountain, we'll drive you out!

...!

Woah, that was harsh.

I thought she was Marisa's friend...

...I was expecting this, but I don't particularly want to fight.

If our opponents are like that, then there's no other option. Are you ready?

...No choice then. But I still don't get this.

This is personal. Sorry, but let me chat with Nitori for a bit!


This chapter is where a lot of players run into a small trap.



All of the kappa are underwater, which means they get two defense buffs. One from the terrain bonus, and one from having a S rating in Water.



Furthermore, since the target's underwater, the damage formula takes your attacks' water ratings into consideration. The vast majority of your characters have either B or C ranks, so that takes a bite out of your damage potential. If you scrounge around you'll find that Sakuya's Magic Star Sword and Elly's Floortiles have an A in water, but they're both ammo based and won't last the entire mission.



The easy way around this is the Five-colored Shell. They'll raise all of a character's water ratings to A, and you get two of them. Slap them on your favorites and you shouldn't have any trouble.

Music: The Girl Guarding the Door of Dreams



The chapter's pretty dull beyond that. There are enemies, they die.



And honestly, on Normal the whole water terrain rating thing doesn't matter that much. The kappa just aren't tanky enough to take advantage of it. Here's Alice with an A rating,



and here's Meiling with a B. Admittedly she should be doing around 2000, but I can live with 75% damage.

Obviously the terrain is an issue on Hard/Lunatic, but I don't have to worry about that now do I?



A bigger problem is how I don't have any healers. I planned on having Marisa handle the left side of the map a la Reimu, but she got hit by a 24% and then a 19%.



Instinct Dodge kicked in at least, but kappa danmaku carries a 20% evasion penalty so it practically did nothing. I had to have Marisa flee back to the Support Defend group.



Since I still need to take down the left side, though, I decided to split my army into two groups.

So you've come! I'll sink you to the bottom of the ri- er, wait, you're a devil. Is it alright for you to touch the river's surface?

Er, I'm not very good with water so... well, I probably have it better than Remilia at least. Powerful devils have lots of weaknesses, it's tough.

So since you're weak, you don't have any weaknesses?

Yes I do! I can't cross rivers, and I'll dissolve if the sun hits me!

uuuuuuuh

Music: From the Bottom of the Valley and the River



While she was off-camera, Nitori upgraded into Full Armor Nitori.



Sadly she is not nearly as cool as her namesake, the Full Armor Double Zeta Gundam.



Really she's barely an improvement over regular Nitori. But I digress.



I'll get to her once I finish off the rest of the chaff.





Nitori, listen to me!

No, I'm going to force you all out! Your Master Spark won't work while I'm underwater!

Grr, that jerk. Abusing my weakpoints like that, is she that serious!?



I'm not sure if Nitori is supposed to go right for Marisa or if she's just being lured by low HP.

W-wow. I didn't think I'd really come across humans...

What was that? You're acting awfully fishy.

No, no, it's nothing like that. I've just been wishing for this to happen, so sorry for the violence.

Kappa Char Custom is slightly sturdier than your average kappa, but she is sadly not three times faster.

It must be nice swimming in such a vast and beautiful river.

Well of course, it's our pride and joy. The fish are fresh, and the water flows all the way downstream. It's the ideal environment, don't you think?



Those are some nice dolls. I don't suppose you have any graceful, gentlemenly outfits?

What...? Well, I have Kyoto Doll.

The Japan Doll isn't scary enough! Why don't you let me make it a bit more modern...

...I'm not sure I understand, but you're a fool if you think I'll let you handle my dolls.



By the way, why are you the only one with different colored clothes?

Well it's the so-called "C" Custom. It increases propulsive force by 30%, so you can go three times faster.

Huh...? How does that work?

It's the result of an exceptional sense of handling. According to one theory, by kicking off ship decks and driftwood you can accelerate faste-

Yeah, sure, why not. Talking with you makes my head spin.



She doesn't even drop anything. Though she ended up getting the last laugh; she triggered Elly's Support Defend on a 43%.



Leaving Marisa free to get murdered by the last kappa on an 18%.

This isn't game over, but I need both Marisa and Alice alive for a secret so I guess I'm restarting!



On take two, I go full paranoid and group everyone into a giant support defense block.


Once all the other enemies are defeated, Nitori gets more aggressive.

Don't worry, the mistress and Lady Patchouli will deal with any intruders.

That's good I guess, but then why do you even need a gateke-

Please don't finish that!



I wonder if the Hyper Beam Cucumber runs on dead produce?



Both Marisa and Alice have to talk to Nitori in order for something to happen later.

Nitori!

Marisa...! I've got nothing to say to you, go back home!

Like I'd just do that! Why are you siding with the Moriya shrine? Don't tell me you want them to take over the Hakurei shrine!

...That has nothing to do with you. It was the mountain's decision based on Lady Kochiya's wishes, and I'm abiding by it!

...Like I thought, she doesn't want to listen.

Oh, so it's all because of "Lady" Kochiya? Why are you even listening to her?

A lot of things changed last summer. Youkai mountain is cooperating with the god of Moriya shrine now.

It's easy to say that, but do you even know what working with them means?

The Hakurei shrine's gonna get wiped out, don't you care at all!?

...Calm down, Marisa. Let me try talking to her next.

Let me make sure if Nitori is serious about allying with Moriya shrine.

Back in FMW1, whenever you got the option to talk things out you'd have to give up whatever rewards the boss would have dropped in exchange.

It's been a while, Nitori.

Alice. I knew you'd come with Marisa.

I'd like to know why Youkai Mountain and Moriya shrine have such a strong bond. What benefits does the mountain receive from working with the shrine?

The agreement was that if we believe in Lady Yasaka and Lady Kochiya, Youkai Mountain will receive divine blessings. What are you going to do now that you know that?

Ask a small question. They were arguing last summer, so why are they working together now? If I were to take a guess... it was for simple, mutual benefit.

...What do you mean?

I mean that it's not a relationship based on trust. Has Moriya shrine told you what they gain from this?

They... I don't know. I've never even spoken with them... underlings like me aren't even allowed on the shrine grounds.

They don't even let you in...?

How strange of you to believe in someone you know nothing about.

...Nitori, do you really want to side with Moriya shrine? Are you really fighting us for some gods you don't even know!?

That's, I...

Of course I want to help you! But I can't... All I can do is drive you out with everything I've got!

Nitori!


Nitori is less easily convinced, so I actually get to beat her. Not that she drops anything besides XP and points.



Kappa's Pororoca dunks everybody in range of the field underwater, which will strengthen Nitori, and any other surviving kappa.



Good thing I can bomb it. I can't take her down in one turn, but I can get her low enough for Marisa and Alice to finish it next turn.



Gotta remember to get my units out of the water though!



This chapter's so short that everyone is still near full MP.

So yesterday's friend is today's enemy... this is bad for my heart.

What, don't tell me you want me to go easy on you!

Yeah, I know you can't. Besides, that's that and this is this. Making a clear division between the two is important!



So I can dump all the finishers on Nitori. So even though she's technically a tank, I'm doing so much damage it doesn't matter.



Somehow a waterfall of bullets turns into a Hyper Mega Cannon.



Which itself shoots a waterfall, so I guess it checks out.

If you kappa flooded the river, it would have been harder to enter the mountain.

You've gotten pretty carefree. Do you even know how dangerous that would be?

I'm merely getting along with my group. I'm sure Marisa would have said the same.



The bomb only cleared out space for one point blank attack, so Sakuya moves out of the way and uses Misdirection.



Thus clearing a path for Meiling to bust out her super punch.



For some unfathomable reason Nitori tries to finish Meiling off with her weakest attack instead of another shot of Pororoca.



Even Elly can tank that.

...You have it nice, Alice. You're always on Marisa's side.

Well maybe if you didn't suck so much in FMW3 I'd run Marisa C.

Where did that come from...?

But it's true. I, honestly I'm kind of...

...



A Master Spark + Shanghai Doll finish would be nice, but all Alice and Marisa are in range to do is Artful Sacrifice and



Stardust Reverie.

...

Whew, we went all out...

Marisa, is this enough?

...I guess there's no helping it, we have to move on. Nitori, will you really not come with us...?

Marisa, that's enough. It's hard for her as is. She may sympathize with the mountain's shrine, but that doesn't mean she's our enemy. For now, that will have to be enough.

Yeah, I guess...

...Nitori, we have to keep moving on. I'm sorry, but please pretend you didn't see us.

...Alright. It's dangerous up ahead, so be careful...

...Nitori! After we finish up with Moriya shrine, I'm definitely going to come and tell you all about it!

You better not regret not coming with us later!



Nitori heads upstream.

She left...

At any rate, I'm not sure if she was holding back or going all out.

We're not nearly as worn out as we could have been. Perhaps there's something to be said for diplomacy.

I have no idea what Meiling and Sakuya are actually saying, so I just made something up. Check the rough draft if you want to try.

In any case, we can't stop here. We need to decide on our next destinati- hm?

What's wrong?

It would appear one kappa has yet to escape. I'd like to have a word with her.



There's alternate dialogue if you fight Nitori normally, and if you fail to capture her spell. I'm not showing either because come on.

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The player has stopped. Thanks again for your hard work.

Yeah, thanks. But you know, even though the game title's "P", you aren't a main character, huh.

It can't be helped. I received a bonus route in E, so I'm fine with this.

Huh? Was there really something like that?

Yes. If you cleared both main characters' routes, a scenario starring me will be unlocked. Oh, and I think you appear too.

Huh? Nah, I don't remember that at all. Totally don't know a thing.

What are you talking about? Well, I suppose you did appear with a joke name. What was it, Mysterio-

Woah there, that's enough!

...Hmph.