[X] None of those are appealing! You'll pick something else. (Write-in)
-[X] That large village, with all of the Renaissance-styled buildings.

[X] Something in there looks like it was meant to be someplace else. It looks like it has electricity despite being old in architecture. Interesting.

[x] A different one appears to be a large ship. Oh, so there *WAS* a ship in one of them! That's nice.

[x] You think you saw a giant wooden building somewhere. It had a few bamboo shoots towards the edge of the grounds. Such attention to detail, they must be fragile.

At this point, we have two options, one more likely than the other.
I could use a RNG to select one of the current votes, which would move this along.
Or, I could wait for a tiebreaker vote. Y'all have 5 hours to get your votes in, if it's still a tie I use the RNG. Feel free to cast a vote that keeps it a tie as well though.

[X] Something in there looks like it was meant to be someplace else. It looks like it has electricity despite being old in architecture. Interesting.

Right then, calling it for the Palace of Earth Spirits. Writing now.
(If you guys thought it was something else, my apologies. Also yeah this is what I meant by waiting for a tiebreaker. The 5 hours are now null and void.)
This board has too slow of traffic for this to fall off page 1 without vote bumps, you guys should really sage your votes. Please? I don't need them, I swear.

Nah. Votes don't get saged. Just how things work.

>>59739
Said the one who did the exact opposite and didn't sage a non-vote. That one's a bit more frowned upon, depending on who's looking.

You rush after the castley palacey thing. Is rushing the fastest you can go? You have no idea. In your admittedly easily avoided derailing of your train of thought, you run straight into the bubble you were chasing. You don't collide with it, you just push in, and through, and then...

- - - - - -

The tremors that have been shaking this entire hemisphere at least for the past few minutes are still going on. You would be okay with a minute or so, the oni usually realize their party is too close to the palace and move away by then, fearing that they would get a stern, condescending scolding rather than a fight. But no, whoever-- or whatever-- is the cause of this disturbance clearly wants your attention.

...

Snrk.

You chuckle a bit despite yourself, the sound lost to the noise generated by several large pieces of debris dislodged by the tremors crashing into the ground outside. Somebody wants your attention? Ever since you became a satori, even the other residents of hell have avoided you like the plague. Who in their right mind would intentionally associate with you, or, for that matter, even anyone associated with you?

Regardless, considering you've been floating (at a leisurely rate, mind you) to the front entrance, you're just about to leave when, with one final crash, the shaking ceases. Suddenly, flying feels much harder than it had felt a second before, and more importantly, you slam face-first into the ground. Several small rocks falling outside finally mark the end of the din made up of crashing and rumbling.

... Was the palace just falling? Nothing seems to be damaged, apart from OW NO DON'T TOUCH YOUR NOSE. You slowly peel yourself from the ground, and step outside. Greeting you is the relatively familiar scenery of a cavern. Why it's not the cavern the palace belongs in is beyond you, but nothing looks damaged from here. In fact, the ground is almost perfectly level as it was. It seems the rock forming the palace's foundation was much harder than whatever it fell on.

The cavern itself, based on its appearance, is man-made. Though no evidence of the digging equipment used is present, if any, you can clearly see that there's a small pinprick of light straight up above you. Thus, considering the distance you are from it, the thought that a nearly perfectly cylindrical cavern of this depth connected to the surface formed naturally is improbable at best. That, or it's a man-made light at the top, which would also mean the area is at least man-inhabited. But you can't make out much at this distance, apart from the light being there at all, so it's hard to tell which.

Now, on to the more pressing issue. What in the blazes is going on out here?! Considering the foundation of the palace crushed whatever it fell on, you can't have simply fallen deeper underground, as rock would get progressively harder with depth as the pressure increased. With that long a fall, the foundation (and likely the entire palace) would be destroyed. But you have most certainly been relocated in some way. Either this is a large-scale trick by some individual(s) that crave the feeling of being shot, repeatedly, in new and creatively painful ways, or somebody has picked up the entirety of the Palace of Earth Spirits, presumably including the reactor and courtyard, and dropped it elsewhere.

You have this sinking feeling that it's the latter.

But, at the moment, taking action is likely the wisest choice. Standing around and waiting for something to happen is roughly as bulletproof a plan as lighting a fire to keep warm on the ocean floor.

What should you do?

[ ] Panic.

[ ] That first option didn't stress it enough. PANIC HARDER.

[ ] Search the area. Maybe you'll find some indication of who or what moved you, or perhaps where to.

[ ] Find your pets. They could have been more attentive than you were to any intruders capable of something of this magnitude.

[ ] Find your sister. She was probably somewhere in the palace, but there's a chance she jumped off to try and chase a gemstone (or something similarly distracting) while you were falling.

[ ] Get mad and scream to the heavens surface. You're suddenly who knows where, with no explanation, and you just need to vent.

[ ] Stand around and wait for something to happen. Slap self when that doesn't work.

- - - - - -

Did I get the characterization right?

[X] Search the area. Maybe you'll find some indication of who or what moved you, or perhaps where to.

So I guess we're Satori, then?

As a tip, more than four options is usually more than necessary. You don't need to present every possible course of action. That's what write-ins are for.

[x] Find your sister. She was probably somewhere in the palace, but there's a chance she jumped off to try and chase a gemstone (or something similarly distracting) while you were falling.

Family first

>>59757
Ah, okay.
(Hey guys, just assume "[ ] Write in" is pretty much always an option, okay?)

[X] Search the area. Maybe you'll find some indication of who or what moved you, or perhaps where to.

Hm. You have my attention so far.

[X] Search the area. Maybe you'll find some indication of who or what moved you, or perhaps where to.

I may not be a fan of crossovers in general, but I do like your style. I'll be keeping my eye on this.

As for the characterization: I'm not an experienced writefag by any means, but I don't have any problems with it so far. I'm looking forward to her interacting with others, since I think that's the fun part of having Satori as a narrator.

I'm thinking this will turn into a tide pissing contest soon enough, that and this seems to be my average amount of voters for now.
Vote will be called sometime soon. Get your votes in now or forever hold your peace..

[x] Find your sister. She was probably somewhere in the palace, but there's a chance she jumped off to try and chase a gemstone (or something similarly distracting) while you were falling.

Better find Koishi before she gets lost in wherever-we-are. The others are hopefully smart enough to stay put for the time being, and we can always search the area later.

While the vote is getting close, I'm afraid I have to close it now. I can't stretch it out further without also stretching the meaning of "soon", so, calling it for searching the area. Writing now.
That last guy is right about priorities. Lucky for you guys I'm a softie so y'all are gonna get a compromise.

Apologies. Real life was being shitty. Actually writing now.

I LIVE

Should I grab a name so people can tell me from other saged anons

- - - - - -

[X] Search the area, etc.

You come to the conclusion that getting your bearings will be the wisest first choice in the long run. You think your pets know how to avoid danger well enough to trust them, and your sister is both virtually undetectable and exempt from most laws of physics, making her effectively invulnerable to a good portion of the danger she could come across, you think.

You shake your head to try and dispel the thought that something is terribly wrong, to no avail. The gravity of the fact that you are somewhere you don't recognize along with the entirety of the palace is setting in, and that's genuinely disturbing to you. Especially that someone who had previously not done so for whatever reason has lifted and moved the palace. That, or...

You reach out and grab at the air in front of your head, finding the black hem of a familiar yellow dress that was previously not present. With a small tug, then a hard yank, your sister comes tumbling into visibility-- luckily not onto you, but rather through the air.

She giggles all the way, finally coming to a stop just before hitting one of the walls of the cavern. She looks down at you and waves, energetic as always, before speaking. "Hiiiii, sis! Have you seen what's going on? You probably have, but have you seen it? You know, seen seen it?" She seems completely unfazed by the current events. That, or she's trying to cover up that she just tried to get you to investigate so she wouldn't have to.

Likely both.

Either way, you don't really have time to chat at the moment. There are more pressing issues at hand, like learning your location. Nonetheless, you think you'll humor her a little. "Yes, I've seen it. Have you looked around at all?" Might as well try to get some information out of her. She seems to actually consider the question for a second, before spotting something out of the corner of her eye and dashing after it. Turning to look, you see Koishi chasing after...

It's a bouncy ball. There's what seems to be a bouncy ball doing the verb it was named for down a dark cave, your sister in tow. How and why is there a bouncy ball here? You look around the perimeter of the cavern quickly, assessing that several other caves lead off in other directions like the one Koishi is going down. The palace appears to have been too hard to stop when it fell onto the ground, which was weakened by numerous caves underneath it. But unfortunately, there's no real reason for there to be a bouncy ball here, or at least not one yielded by logic. Unless the ball fell down the hole with you.

Of course, your logical thought process might be interrupted after a moment when a stream of water crashes down onto your head, causing you to sputter and step out of its way. Looking up, the source appears to be yet another cave. Why it took this long to reach you you don't know, but it's there and it's a landmark, for now, you guess.

As for a course of action, you can see three immediate options. You can still hear your sister skipping down the cave she went after the ball into, which means you could follow her. You think, at least. It's not definite you can tell which. Damn her exclusive exemption from your powers. Alternatively, you could fly up the waterfall and check out where it's flowing from, or pick a cave at random if you're feeling particularly impulsive.

What do you do?

[ ] Try and follow Koishi. (If you can, flip a coin and give results along with the vote.)

[ ] Find the source of the stream by following it.

[ ] Enter a random cave. (Coin flip)

[ ] Write-in.

>>59812
[X] Find the source of the stream by following it.

You probably want a name, writefriend. If this thing goes terribly, you can always pick a less tainted name for your next thing, if any.

Additionally, coinflips? Probably a bad idea. Readers tend to be happier when success relies on decisions rather than dice.

[x] Try and follow Koishi (Heads)

It's our responsibility as her elder sibling to look after her; she might have been fine wandering around in Gensokyo, but we have no clue what she might end up facing here.

If we do decide to go into one of the caves or follow the stream, I hope we bring along Okuu. We should leave Orin behind to look after the other pets, but Okuu's fire power might be necessary if we want to go wandering around.

Can't go back and grab Okuu if we're chasing Koishi, obviously.

[X] Try and follow Koishi. (tails)

[x] Try and follow Koishi.

Calling it tomorrow morning. If votes stay as is, we're going after Koishi.

(The coin flip didn't determine whether we succeeded or not, just where she went.) (Which wouldn't impede progress at all regardless of result.)

Is the name okay?

All right, since I don't seem to have any more voters sob it seems I'm calling it for following Koishi. Writing now.

[X] Try and follow Koishi.

You fly after her, knowing that stopping or catching her would be worth little but still wanting to keep tabs on her. You can still hear her giggling and gleefully skipping after the ball, so it's clear you chose the right cave to follow her into.

After a relatively short stretch of cave, the sound of her happily following the ball of unknown origin fades and disappears. You speed up in light distress, and find yourself rushing out into a forest soon after. Clearly, she ran out of hearing range- wait.

Forest?

You look around. There are trees, yes, and there's light, yes, but you can't tell from where as you are still underground. It appears tropical, with humidity very tangible and the sounds of tropical birds in the distance.

You throw your hands up slightly. "You know what? I give up. I don't even care anymore." The humidity is somewhat stifling as you breathe, trying to grow accustomed to the thickness of the air. Small wildlife darts about in the trees, but you can't sense any large-scale presences in the immediate area.

Just on the edge of your senses, though, something seems... Odd. Now that you're paying attention, there's one positively oppressive presence somewhere nearby, but it's almost as simple as that of the wildlife. You're sure this place will make more sense with time, probably.

For the moment, seeing as you've regrettably lost your sister, your instinct to find and shoot the nearest, most powerful being until it tells you what you want to know kicks in. It's unlikely that the whatever it is actually knows, but years of living in Gensokyo have taught you that it (apparently) never hurts to try.

You set off in the direction it should be, based on your senses. Mere seconds later, a rock falls from a tree, landing (thankfully) just in front of you. The purpose of a rock in a tree escapes you but the utter lack of reason for anything is at this point the norm.

Desensitization you are thankful for when the rock walks away. That's right. The rock. Walked. Away. You pinch your thigh lightly to test the old superstition, finding yourself unfortunately completely conscious. That just raises even more questions.

You begin moving once again, shaking your head, and this time weave through the only slightly thick forest relatively undisturbed, only shooting the occasional small animal to cross your path for fear it breathes fire or has razor-sharp teeth.

Soon enough, you come across the source of the presence. It's the ball Koishi was chasing earlier. On closer inspection, it's pink, and has arms and legs. And a face. A face which is currently looking at you. The ball has a face. And limbs (or rather, nubs and feet).

You don't even want to know who or what spawned anything in here anymore. Just an explanation, at least. A forest, with light, underground. Your palace uprooted. A rock with legs. This pink ball is apparently the most powerful thing in the area. And it has a face.

What are you even supposed to do anymore? Your crumbling sense of reason struggles to give you the answer.

[ ] Gensokyo diplomacy. Shoot it until it explodes then demand information.

[ ] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts, unless it does.

[ ] Approach brashly, ask rudely. It probably hurts more often than asking nicely, but at this point you wouldn't doubt it being seen as more courteous than asking nicely.

-[ ]Use your ability...
--[ ] Sparsely.
--[ ] Liberally.

[ ] Write-in.

- - - - - -

It's Kirby. That's it. I've dropped the underground crew into Kirby. I'm shit aren't I?

What's that? You demand explanation?

WELL I didn't want another "Yuyuko meets Kirby because reasons" plot that I've seen at least 3 times in other writings, but I still wanted Kirby meeting some kind of airhead because we all need something that tastes like diabetes in our lives once in a while.

And there's already a markedly underground plot line in a Kirby game. So this happened.

I've disappointed y'all with this haven't I gross sobbing in the distance

[X] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts, unless it does.

It never hurts to be nice.

Regarding the crossover, would all of the starting choices have led to the Kirby world or would each choice have started a different crossover? For example let us say we'd chosen the SDM, would the crossover have been to a different place?

>>59856
Eeyup.
Everywhere gets a different crossover, no matter when it's chosen.

[x] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts, unless it does.
-[x]Use your ability...
--[x] Liberally.

We are a satori. We read minds, because that's what satori do. It doesn't hurt to be polite about it though.

[x] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts, unless it does.
-[x]Use your ability...
--[x] Liberally.

...Okay. Hopefully Kirby isn't too hungry right now.

[X] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts, unless it does.
-[X]Use your ability...
--[X] Sparsely.

Being mean to Kirby is probably the worst decision you could ever make. Kid beats down cosmic horrors and doesn't bat an eye.

That said, he's not the brightest. We aren't likely to learn much from him.

(I hope you're happy, writer. I now want that Satori Kirby game to be real even more.)

Gonna call it for being polite and reading heart liberally.
Writing it up.

Sorry for the delay.

- - - - - -


[x] Approach cautiously, ask nicely. It never hurts to be polite, except when it does.
-[x] Use your ability...
--[x] Liberally.

You immediately attempt to get a grasp of who or what is standing in front of you, and immediately receive a big hearty cloud of very little. You can sort of gather its name, and that you're on a planet called Popstar, whose shape contradicts so many laws of physics you're not even going to bother pointing it out. Either way, you can't seem to gather much more from it, which you probably should have guessed based on its simple appearance and magical presence.

The creature is called Kirby.

And apparently, he's hungry.

Setting aside that nearly entirely consciousness consuming thought, you lean down, looking at it and trying to muster up a soft smile, mostly managing a slightly more neutral face than usual. "Hello. Would you care to tell me where I am?" You already know, but you have to take this one step at a time. You still just receive a blank stare, but Kirby blinks once to break it this time, remaining silent nonetheless.

"Could you tell me your name?" More blank staring, no response. "Do you want to know mine?" He'd make a great Buddhist, as he seems to have abandoned literally all thought. Fantastic. You reach out and prod him in the rough location of what you assume to be his forehead, causing his... Skin? You think? To simply compress around your finger, conforming to the force easily. Removing your finger causes it to jiggle a little, his eyes finally returning to focus.

Then, he just runs off.

...

Well, at least you got a bit of information. But it doesn't look like you'll get much else from him. And where did your sister go? So many questions, so little time. What should you do?

[ ] Return home and regroup with your pets.
-[ ] Specific strategy in mind? (Write-in)
(Fan out and search, follow Satori, etc.)

[ ] Press on. Find our dear sister!

[ ] Find that puffball! He seemed to know what he was doing, sort of. At least he's powerful.

[ ] Write-in.

[x] Search the immediate area for Koishi
-[x] Regroup at home if you can't find her
--[x] Grab Okuu and a pet with a strong nose and follow Koishi's scent.

If Koishi's already left the areathen we don't have a chance in hell of finding her on our own. So we should go get back up.

[X] Press on. Find our dear sister!

We should really find Koishi. Who knows what mess she'll get herself into.

[x] Search the immediate area for Koishi
-[x] Regroup at home if you can't find her
--[x] Grab Okuu and a pet with a strong nose and follow Koishi's scent.

[x] Search the immediate area for Koishi
-[x] Regroup at home if you can't find her
--[x] Grab Okuu and a pet with a strong nose and follow Koishi's scent.

I'll go along with this one.

[x] Search the immediate area for Koishi
-[x] Regroup at home if you can't find her
--[x] Grab Okuu and a pet with a strong nose and follow Koishi's scent.

This seems like as good of an idea as any.

Calling it for an immediate-area search, then, if unsuccessful, returning home and grabbing Okuu and a pet who can hopefully sniff someone(thing?) out.

[x] Search the immediate area for Koishi.
-[x] If unsuccessful, regroup at home.
--[x] Return to the jungle with Utsuho and a pet with a strong nose.

You take a quick look around. You can feel Kirby making good time in no particular direction, but no sign of your sister. Why couldn't she just keep following the visible airhead, and make this easier?

You huff and fly above the tree line, looking around for any movement. After waiting in this visible position several seconds, it occurs to you that she (technically) admitted that she wanted whatever this is investigated. This probably makes it safe to assume she was flying as fast as she could since the second she lost sight of Kirby.

Which also means it stands to reason that she could be almost anywhere at this point.

Absolutely fantastic.

With a sigh, you turn around and head back the way you came, shooting one of the walking rocks out of frustration and noting they react like fairies, by exploding weakly. You shoot a small bird next, to similar effect. By extrapolation, you assume that most small wildlife follows suit.

By the time you reach the tunnel you went through, you're hard at work thinking over what you know, and an internal summary of the events following the relocation, as you have begun to internally refer to it, flashes through your mind.

You stepped outside, saw a cave that the palace wasn't situated in before and light far above you. You weren't as deep down as before, either. You found your sister, she chased a sentient pink ball of air into a cave and came out into an underground jungle, whereupon she made a break for it. You followed, then lost her while "talking" to the ball.

All things considered, this could probably be a lot worse, considering nothing's on fire yet.

Wait, no. You just got to the other end of the cave.

Alas, it seems that you spoke too soon. Apparently, the flames of the Hell of Blazing Fires have spread throughout the cave the palace occupies, luckily harmless until touched. They lack fumes and don't require oxygen, so their only dangerous trait is their extreme heat, which is thankfully kept mostly along the walls.

Feels a lot more like home, and some of your pets seem to agree, the more heat-accustomed ones already out and about, cleaning up (or playing around) fallen piles of rock and rubble. They acknowledge you as you pass, but as you don't exactly seem to be about to give any orders don't do much more.

You float your way into the courtyard, maneuvering through hellfire and bullet fire from a few stray fairies that seem to have come along for the ride. You marvel at the intactness of the general area-- if you hadn't been there while it was falling, you'd assume it was just the victim of a small earthquake.

You encounter a slight obstruction on your way to the reactor. That meaning, the way down further is completely blocked by rubble.

This could take a while.

[ ] Try to contact Utsuho, somehow. Maybe she can do something from the other side?
[ ] Just try and blow through it yourself.
[ ] Try and find a way around.

Optional vote!
Following one character or set of characters until their part of the story ends would be impractical in my opinion. Should we switch? And if so, in how much time?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
When?
-[ ] Right now!
-[ ] As soon as it's convenient.
-[ ] In # posts.
--[ ] Pick one of the locations that lost the vote last time, we'll switch to them.

- - - - - -

UNNECESSARILY LONG PAUSES: THE AUTHOR RETURNING ONCE AGAIN TO BRING YOU ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THAT CYOA LIKE 6 PEOPLE CARE ABOUT

I'M GONNA POST THIS BEFORE I GET SECOND THOUGHTS AND REWRITE IT ENTIRELY AGAIN

>[ ] Try to contact Utsuho, somehow. Maybe she can do something from the other side?

While this could work if Okuu shows some subtlety, she'll probably just blow it up and cause a cave in. There's also the question of how we get in contact with her, unless Satori already has an idea.

>[ ] Just try and blow through it yourself.

Likewise, this might cause a cave in and bad end Satori. It also has the risk of wasting time if Satori isn't strong enough to actually destroy the rubble.

[x] Try and find a way around.

It's worth a shot. This is the safest choice, but runs the risk of wasting the most time, or getting lost.


[x] Yes
-[x] Whatever best suits the story/is convenient

If you say it's impractical to follow a single set of characters, then who am I to disagree? You would know better about your own story than we would.

[X] Yes
[X] Try and find a way around.

Just when I was starting to wonder if this was dead.

[x] Try and find a way around.

[x] Yes
-[x] Whatever best suits the story/is convenient

Keep in mind that having too many waiting plot threads at a time will slow things down a great deal.

I have to add that I'm interested to see where this crossover goes. Popstar is a pretty cool world with a lot of interesting things to explore. I can't wait to see what other worlds the others end up in too.

All right, calling it for finding our way around.

Yes, I'm aware that having too many plots at once can be bad. Years spent on TVtropes have at least been some good in that respect.

I'm going to have three individual plot lines running at any given time. Four at absolute maximum. One and two could enable plots to grow stale, potentially, and five would slow things to a crawl.

Thank you kindly for trusting my judgement.

I L I V E O N C E A G A I N
F E A R M E M O R T A L S

- - - - - -

The rocks don't seem to have many gaps between them, but several of the unreasonably close-together passages dotting the nearby walls may lead past them. You hope. If Utsuho were concerned, she probably wouldn't hesitate to melt a hole through them, so you can only assume she's, for once, not reacting to fear with immediate, disproportionate panic.

Many of the smaller passages are obscured by flames, which you have no intention of touching, so you choose a particularly large one that isn't completely blocked and fly through. On the other side is a now familiar sight, that is to say, wildlife that has no business being wildlife in the first place, in a vastly inappropriate environment. You think you see a few bears.

After a storm of bullets aimed nowhere in particular, your way is mostly clear of potential hazard. It's not as satisfying as it would have been if they were fairies, but that's mostly because fairies explode more spectacularly.

A short flight later, you find that the end of the tunnel had a doorway (or a door-shaped hole, at least) in it. Which is now exactly aligned with the normal way into the reactor. This is completely unsurprising to you at this point.

The door is totally covered in threatening-looking trefoils and yellow tape, with bold text promising nothing short of dying at least fifteen different ways, simultaneously, within ten seconds of entry. The original, plain black and white "do not enter" notice is almost completely obscured, as is the original orange of the door. You think there are a few more "HAZARD"s on here than last time, even.

You push it, and after a second (and with a slightly concerning groan) it recedes slightly inward, then slides to the side with a hiss, granting you a view of the reactor room itself and a wave of heat to hit you. It so happens that one of the reactor's walls has given out (how? You don't know, you don't want to try to at this point) and given way to another cave.

This cave is filled with water, and as a large, blindingly-bright sphere floating slowly over the underground lake's surface reveals, Utsuho as well. The miniature star shrinks slightly as it travels, vaporizing water within an area around it, until it eventually meets.

Meets.

Should you even think it, or would that make it sprout legs and run away?

A giant blue whale in a sailor costume.

Needless to say, when a whale decides to ram into a star, the star wins, but in a turn of events that you weren't far from guessing, the whale simply bounces off, shrinking significantly as it spins in a low, smoking arc backwards until it hits the water again. You see it flip onto its front and dive under the surface, apparently subdued.

Truly, mother nature is a terrifying thing. You proceed across the reactor room into the lake-cave-place-thing-can't-think-of-a-unique-word to meet up with Utsuho. Seconds after you enter, she rushes up to you and grabs you in a hug. A very very hot hug she just used her control rod it's still hot help

Thankfully, she releases you after a few seconds. She opens her mouth to talk, then stops and looks like she's focusing intently. You train your pets to think, not talk, and you're happy to see she's still remembering to.

Apparently, she kept on tending to the reactor straight through the drop, and only really bothered to do anything about the breach in the wall once the whale you saw earlier made an attempt at blasting some water through. The reactor seemed stable, surprisingly enough, so she figured she had a few free moments. Then proceeded to engage the giant blue whale.

Naturally, she also has some questions. Not about the whale, or the outfit it was wearing, or the giant earthquake. No, that's not concerning at all. She wants to know why she saw a bird she didn't know earlier.

You don't have an answer for that. Which means you just tell her you'll explain later, and then to follow you. You need firepower. Not in the noun-noun sense but the verb-noun sense. Not that you know you'll need it, but because as far as you know you could be impaled on a pastry wielded by giant robot made of kittens within any given ten seconds.

Frankly, it's comforting to think that you'll have someone more traditionally imposing than yourself standing near you for the moment.

- . - . - . - . - . -

Some time later, you have a particularly helpful pet joined up with you as well, sniffing its way down a cave it picked out, following a scent you hope is that of your sister. You aren't totally sure; it seems fairly sure of where it's going, but the smell is shaky. Another aspect of Koishi erasing itself with each passing second. You think she'll just come home if she gets bored, but you can't help worrying.

You emerge into a larger, much brigher cavern. This one is filled with crystals and small pockets of precious-looking metal embedded in an odd, purple stone. You fly up, to get a look around. And then, even as you fail to notice, a presence leaves you and the area, not so much moving away but dissipating.

= = = = = =

You pop out of the castle in a bottle-- er, bubble. It glows a little, but then the outer shell turns a little less see-through and grays slightly. Somehow, you get the idea you could go back in later, but not now.

You wonder what that was all about. It was... new. You remember a lot about the person you were in there.

Will it happen again if you fly into another--

Suddenly, your vision dims. Then goes to black. For whatever reason, though, you begin hearing things, from all directions. You think you can still get places, you just have to follow a sound instead of an image.

Notice: Sounds are based upon destination, not the piece of Gensokyo that was sent there.

[ ] You hear punching and yelling. Mostly feminine yelling. And a few insults being thrown around. And some wordplay.

[ ] krrzt Fede... zzt.vessel. ...o you read? This is Zol- ksssht -atrol number bzzzzt, please resp...

[ ] You hear a lot of static. Bad interference, maybe? You do manage to pick out a promise of money and a very long disclaimer about non-liabilities, including loss of property and... person?

The direction the underground castle was in just sounds entirely like static. Recharging. Ready after you've been 2 other places.

[ ] You hear an incomprehensible din of explosions, what sounds like blood spattering everywhere, screaming, and typing.

[ ] This-this-this- is an automateded distrressess signnnnnal coming from the vesesessel U-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-SKREEEEEEEE[b] ...activ-activ-activated after 48 hooooours-hours-hours-hours-hours of inactivity undunder heavy damamage. Await-it-iting-g-g recover-overy. Coordinates are [b]KLKLKLKLKKLKLKLK. This isisis an automated...

[ ] You hear the sound of rustling papers, small talk, and dying souls. You won't go there. You think.

[ ] You hear the sound of screaming, and gasping, and squishing. Sounds disturbing.

[ ] You don't hear much in this direction. Some birds chirping, other assorted sounds of wildlife, and the sounds of what seems to be a small, slightly dated village.

[ ] This is agent bzzzzzt. reporting on status of anomalous area Theta-7573. Only thing out of the ordinary so far is the five hundred god damn little girls with wings I've shot so far. All of them exploded, for the record. Have proceeded in chosen direction for one hour. No end in sight. Will report again in 10 minutes or upon new development. Over.

[No write ins, for fear that I won't know it and/or it will spoil it for someone else.]

- - - - - -

Don't you just love how I can't stay dead?

I could make up a writer excuse or something, but that would be rude. I fucked up, plain and simple. Sorry.

I have no idea where any of these options lead.

[x] You don't hear much in this direction. Some birds chirping, other assorted sounds of wildlife, and the sounds of what seems to be a small, slightly dated village.

This one seems like the least likely to blow up in our faces.

[x] Five hundred goddamm girls option

Definitely. Let's see how you write done good ol' fashioned shootings

Should I just flip a coin, or can I maybe get a tiebreaker vote from you guys?
Sorry. Probably being impatient.

[x] You hear punching and yelling. Mostly feminine yelling. And a few insults being thrown around. And some wordplay.

More of a tie-expander than a tiebreaker.

[X] You don't hear much in this direction. Some birds chirping, other assorted sounds of wildlife, and the sounds of what seems to be a small, slightly dated village.

[x] krrzt Fede... zzt.vessel. ...o you read? This is Zol- ksssht -atrol number bzzzzt, please resp...
A rescue mission? I'm in

Yay for more votes. Thank you.
Calling it for peaceful village sounds.
Writing now.
Debated putting spoilered out maniacal laughter down here for a solid 10 minutes.