Part 42: Chapter 29R: Encounter

Menu patch v0.1 is done!

Not everything could be translated in data5.dat without access to the .exe, but I'm pretty sure we got enough stuff that the game is playable. Next up is all of the names in data4.dat.

Also I checked the wiki and found out the official translation for "Underground" is the "Underworld", so I changed all of that.

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This time the chapter starts in Shou's daydreams.

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Music: Secret Mission!

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This just looks like an abandoned village.

Yeah, I think so too. It's nearly as empty as our temple.


Oh? Someone's over there.

It's a rat! What are you doing in our village?!

Your village? This run down old dump?

Yeah, Mayohiga is our turf! Me and the other cats!

It sounds like we're getting the way of something, Nazrin. Let's just back down and go home.

Look carefully, master. She and a few of her followers are bakeneko.

Don't mind us, we're just here to check if there's anything worth taking.

I can't let a rat make fun of me! It'll set a bad example for the other cats! You won't get away now!

Well, that could have gone better. Isn't this just great, now we have to chase off a cat.



Oh, Miss Ran!

...! A golden haired, nine-tailed fox?!

What would the highest class of beast youkai be doing here?

Listen to this, those two are trying to invade my village!

Hmm, so the opponents are a rat and a tiger. Both youkai, of course.

It's not right to trespass on the territory of others. I'd expect better from high class youkai like you.

No, I'm not really-

In our defence, we just got here. And we haven't stolen anything.

But Miss Ran, she made fun of me! Please let me beat her and look cool in front of the other cats!

...I see. That's reason enough to fight. If you have trouble with the tiger, I'll lend a hand.

That also could have gone better. You haven't fought in a while, master. Are you ready for this?

Let's just fight 'em, find a chance to run, and book it.

Y-yes!





Another new map. Sadly, there's nothing special about this one.



It's actually possible to battle Ran here, but good luck killing her in three turns with two stock characters.

Speaking of that, like always Nazrin and Shou are completely unprepared for Lunatic enemies. This gives me two options.



Either I bunker down on terrain and desperately save scum my way through three painful, painful turns,



or I grow a brain and just move the two out of most of the enemy's targeting range.

No prizes for guessing which I did on my first Lunatic run.



Most of the enemies will just sit around and twiddle their thumbs until turn three, where they'll start zooming in. Not that it matters, because a cutscene starts on turn 4.

This is bad. I thought we'd have a chance to escape by now.

What now, Nazrin? We're losing ground here.

Watch me, Miss Ran. I can win this!

That's a good attitude, Chen. But don't get careless. Beast youkai only show their true strength when cornered.

Ngh...

Oh?



Zenki and Goki spawn in. Zenki in particular heads over to Ran.

What, is that one of her friends too?

What are you doing here, Zenki?

...

What?! They went underground?!

?

Miss Ran, what's wrong?

There's been an emergency. I have to go now. It's a bit sudden, but you'll be fine on your own, right?
What? Of course! I'll do my best!

That's what I like to hear. Just in case though, I'll leave Zenki and Goki with you, to help out.

Ran leaves.

What's going on? Why's she leaving?

Who cares? This is great. We can lose a bakeneko, no problem.

Grr... as soon as Miss Ran leaves you start making fun of me again! I'm no ordinary cat youkai, I'm Miss Ran's shikigami!

Wait, a shikigami?

Cue the party.



Someone's fighting here though. I could see the danmaku from far away.

So there's a rat, a cat, and... is that a tiger? Is this some kind of catfight?

Wh-what? Who are you people?

Oh, it's those humans again.

Reimu! That's the rat from last time!

Huh. What's she doing here?

So you two know the rat youkai?

Yes, she's a burglar who stole some food from Kourindou when I was visiting.

She got away though. Never thought we'd meet her again.

A burglar?! Nazrin would never stoop so low!

It's true, master. We've been running really low on food this year.

No, how could you?

So what do we do? I'd like to continue the investigation, but can we really just leave them alone?

I follow a simple policy: if I see a youkai, I beat it up.

(Good grief, this is a pickle. I'll have to talk my way out of this.)

Everyone, you're going about this all wrong.

Huh? What do you mean?!

You're all trying to stop the endless winter, am I right? In that case, why worry about a single thief when that should be your top priority?

I mean, if you don't, then people and youkai are just gonna get hungry and repeat the same mistakes.

I understand what you're saying, but...

But that won't change the fact that you're a scoundrel.

C'mon, don't say that, we're trying to get to the bottom of this incident too.

We are?

Y-you are?!

That's right. In other words, we're on the same side.

Uh, I'm not so sure your companion there agrees.

Sure she does. Isn't that right, master?

Ah, yes, what she said.

No she isn't! She never said anything like that before you got here!

Hmm, then let's hear your side of this too.

So what are these two really up to?

Uh, I don't know... But they barged into my village and said mean things to me...

*sigh* That doesn't help at all.

Time's up. Let's just beat up a youkai already!

We appreciate your cooperation. Let's exterminate this cat youkai together.

N-no, she's lying! I'm telling you she's lying! Waaaah! Miss Raaaaan!

And thus our heroes decided to stop the investigation to end the eternal winter and go beat up a cat.



Music: Brain of Steel



Nothing fancy here, I just murder everything on my way to Chen.



Any more will be dangerous. I'm going to go look for somewhere safe.

I'm sorry, it seems they've hit my limbs.

It's a pretty good idea to let Nazrin and Shou die so Chen will focus on the main party.

Oh, cat ears.

Huh, what about them?

Oh, nothing! It's just, I think they look kind of cute.

Music: Orange Fancy



Chen is not getting hit without Strike.



Also Zenki and Goki decided to suicide themselves on Reimu.

...!

...!



Everyone casts Strike, then unloads on Chen.

Ah, were there houses in a place like this?

This is the village of the cats, Mayohiga. Once you wander in, you can't leave.

Mayohiga, huh? I've heard that items from Mayohiga will make you lucky if you take them home. In that case, let the plundering begin immediately!



I've just been having Reimu and Momiji burn through their MP on finishers.

You're surprisingly well-dressed for a bakeneko.

I'm out with Miss Ran today, so she made sure I look my best. Getting combed feels pretty nice.

...Ran? Who's that?



Not only does Shizuha have Attune to help other people hit, but she has Alert so she can safely start Support Attacks. She is a helpful character.

Excuse me, I believe you might have something to do with this incident. I'd like to talk, do you know why spring is being gathered?

I dunno anything about that. But the cats are all running out of food, so...

*sigh* I suppose there's no point trying to be roundabout.



Chen doesn't hit that hard, so in hindsight casting Guard was kind of overkill.



Oh yeah, boss stats. Man, I almost never remember these.

Fighting a child makes me uneasy, but I suppose there's no choice.

So after the rat is another beast to fight... I'm so lucky! In Mayohiga, I'm much stronger than any stray dog.

...Let me say one thing. I'm a wolf.



There goes the first lifebar.

Grr... I can't let them beat me here.

This cat is tougher than I thought.

Don't let your guard down. When it comes to beast youkai, this is when they bare their fangs.

How do you mean?

Well, she belongs to the class of youkai that used to be regular animals. As such, in addition to having high physical abilities, they sometimes reveal unpredictable bursts of power when cornered.

If she used to be an animal, does that make her uncivilized?

How rude, plenty of respectable youkai used to be animals too.

I told Miss Ran that I'd do my best. I won't let any stupid humans beat me!






This effect would be annoying if everyone still didn't have at least one more Strike.

Double Image is a generic Private Square. It's some flat percentage chance of automatically dodging an attack.





Chen's spellcard owns, by the way. It even has an adorable miss animation.



Here's what Double Image looks like.

So these are real cat ears... just what I'd expect from Gensokyo.

The ears over there and the ones over here... which ones are the real one? Can you hear through them?

...Huh?

Or maybe you're hiding your ears behind all that hair...

Huh? What?

Music: Proof of the Wind's Bond



Man, I could not have picked a worse screen cap.

Youkai on the level of bakeneko or baketanuki aren't very interesti- hm?

What's wrong? Oh, are you scared?

...No, must have been my imagination. For a second there I felt the remnants of a strong spiritual power.



One more Rabies Bite from Momiji (whose finisher theme I only just learned was based off the GunXSword OP),



and Chen's at low enough health for Reimu to easily finish off. I would have preferred Keine, but she was out of SP.

Miss Ran, I'm soooooorryyyyy!



Chen apparently drops one of her tails, which boosts mobility by 10.





Whew, we finally beat her.

She was pretty fast! I don't think I could beat her at tag.

That rat looks pretty good at running too.

I prefer to consider myself resourceful. Don't lump me in with her.

But what was that girl trying to do, anyway? It sounded like she was trying to please her master.

Well, there's that too, but first, can we ask you something?

What? You mean me?

You two were investigating the incident, right? So why don't we share information?

Y-yes, of course. About that, well...

L-let's see, uh, Nazrin?

Oh yeah, I guess we did say that. We don't know much, but let's talk.





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Hmm, so this time autumn was in a place like this....

Minoriko, I found you!

You can't get away!

Eh? What are you two doing? Why are you suddenly surrounding me-

*squeeze*

*squeeze*

What's going on? Why are you squishing me!?

But why...? Why do I feel... happy!?