Maribel Quest - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> Might as well indulge them.
> "Ah.  Hello. Do you need anything?"

>"What'd you do?!" shouts the other faerie, whom you quickly recognize as Plum Flower from before. "You were there forever! You didn't do anything weird, did you!?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"No, nothing weird at all. We talked, she showed me a couple things, and now I'm running an errand to be helpful. Besides, how could I have given her a hard time if none of those clouds are after me?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"No, nothing weird at all. We talked, she showed me a couple things, and now I'm running an errand to be helpful. Besides, how could I have given her a hard time if none of those clouds are after me?"

>"Don't you bring the clouds into this!" cries the other faerie. "You don't know their momma! You don't know what it's like!"
>"Then why are you running!?" Plum Flower says. "You were avoiding me! You did something, I know it!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm not running away. I'm just trying to get to the Sanzu River as quickly as possible."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm not running away. I'm just trying to get to the Sanzu River as quickly as possible."

>"I'll Sanzu you!"
>You hear the distinctive sound of danmaku being shot behind you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Behind?
>Quickly lose altitude
>Get a look at who's shooting at us

[Hello Purvis]

>Behind?
>Quickly lose altitude
>Get a look at who's shooting at us

>You quickly drop altitude. You'd be rather pleased how easily you did it, if not for the fact you're being shot at.
>Looking back, you see it's Plum Flower firing at you, sending a single line of somewhat slow bullets your way; or rather, where you were before you dodged.
>"You show her, Plum!" says the other faerie, waving her arms quickly. "Don't let her get away treating you like a joke!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Is there no way to talk you out of this? I mean, just think about it for a second. If I really was strong enough to cause trouble for the shrine maiden, there's no way you could beat me. And if you really can beat me, then there's no way I would have been strong enough to do anything to her in the first place, right? So, either way this is pointless."

>Be ready to dodge again, in the likelihood that logic continues to be lost on her

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is there no way to talk you out of this? I mean, just think about it for a second. If I really was strong enough to cause trouble for the shrine maiden, there's no way you could beat me. And if you really can beat me, then there's no way I would have been strong enough to do anything to her in the first place, right? So, either way this is pointless."

>Be ready to dodge again, in the likelihood that logic continues to be lost on her

>"You don't have to be strong to do weird things!" she shouts back. You hear another volley come in your direction. "You leave her alone! She's too great for the likes of you!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Oh well, time to put theory into practice...
>Shift to the side, out of the way of those shots and get a little closer
>Launch a volley back at her

[Hello Purvis]

>Oh well, time to put theory into practice...
>Shift to the side, out of the way of those shots and get a little closer
>Launch a volley back at her

>You turn and move aside, the second line of shots bypassing you easily.
>"You'll regret that!" she says, flying closer to you.
>"You show her, Plum!" the other faerie cheers, "Hit her with the full force of your feelings!"
>You gather up your energy, focusing through the branch, and release it! A cloud of seven or so shots flies from your hands, making its way...somewhat lazily toward the faerie. She easily darts around them.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"You realize I only learned how to do that this morning, right? Have a little sympathy for a beginner?"

>See if we can trade volley size for projectile speed. Try to funnel our energy into making them faster, rather than more plentiful
>Fire again

[Hello Purvis]

>"You realize I only learned how to do that this morning, right? Have a little sympathy for a beginner?"

>See if we can trade volley size for projectile speed. Try to funnel our energy into making them faster, rather than more plentiful
>Fire again

>"You didn't have any sympathy!" she shouts, sending another line of bullets at you.
>You suspect you can do this. You gather up the energy, pleased to find it's coming a little faster, and unleash a single bullet! It flies with about the speed of one of Deva K's shots, and smacks the faerie in the torso.
>"You'll rue this day!" she says, you are pretty sure you can see tears in her eyes.
>Her bullets are coming pretty close. As well, the other faerie joins in, creating a wide cloud of shots and sending them at you!

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Dive down, again. And shift off to one side, to make the trajectory less obvious
>Fire another similar shot or two at Plum Flower.

[Hello Purvis]

>Dive down, again. And shift off to one side, to make the trajectory less obvious
>Fire another similar shot or two at Plum Flower.

>You drop and shift to the side. Unfortunately, you end up skidding along further than you intended, putting more distance than you'd like between yourself and the faeries.
>Plum Flower follows, shrieking angrily, while the other one starts to circle around you.
>You focus successfully, and fire another speedy shot, but the distance between you two is great enough she can see it coming and dodge to the side.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Let Plum Flower close in on us, but try to shift so that the other one can't get behind us
>Shoot another couple shots, once she gets closer

[Kilgamayan]

> "You know you're stopping me from running a very important errand given to me by the shrine maiden. You wouldn't like me to tell the shrine maiden that her very important errand was delayed because of you two, would you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Let Plum Flower close in on us, but try to shift so that the other one can't get behind us
>Shoot another couple shots, once she gets closer

>You let Plum Flower charge at you, and try to circle so that the other one can't slip behind you.
>She gets closer, and gather together a few more shots. One flies wide, but another one smacks into her chest, cutting off her angry shriek but not stopping her.

> "You know you're stopping me from running a very important errand given to me by the shrine maiden. You wouldn't like me to tell the shrine maiden that her very important errand was delayed because of you two, would you?"

>"It should have been me!" she gasps, no more than a couple yards from you, as she unleashes a cloud of bullets at you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Launch another shot
>As we do, dash up and backwards quickly

[Hello Purvis]

>Launch another shot
>As we do, dash up and backwards quickly

>You try to launch another shot, and find yourself doing too many things at once. Your speed suffers for it, and Plum Blossom's bullets clips you in the ankle, feeling like you just smacked it against a coffee table. The jolt is enough to make you lose you concentration.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to regain focus and right ourself
>Forget about retaliating at the moment, just assess the bullets around us, and try to get to a safe position

[Kilgamayan]

> "Then why didn't you go ask her?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to regain focus and right ourself
>Forget about retaliating at the moment, just assess the bullets around us, and try to get to a safe position

>You are still in midair, thankfully.
>The bullets are below you now, you just clipped your ankle on one when you were going on. However, Plum Flower looks ready to send another one at you.

> "Then why didn't you go ask her?"

>"Shut up!"
>She sends another cloud at you.

>_

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Move out of the way of the cloud
>This time try firing AFTER we've dodged. Less multi-tasking
>What does the other faerie seem to be doing?

[Hello Purvis]

>Move out of the way of the cloud
>This time try firing AFTER we've dodged. Less multi-tasking
>What does the other faerie seem to be doing?

>You evade this cloud, moving to the side cleanly and letting it pass, and ready another attack. You think it's coming more quickly to you, now.
>This attack catches Plum Flower in the gut, and sends her plummeting.
>The other faerie was circling, but moves to catch her companion.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Does Plum Flower look like she's out, for now?
>"I'll stop if you will, you know. I didn't want to fight in the first place."

[Hello Purvis]

>Does Plum Flower look like she's out, for now?
>"I'll stop if you will, you know. I didn't want to fight in the first place."

>Judging from the way she's falling, it does.
>"You psychotic jerk!" shouts the other faerie as she catches Plum Flower. "Why can't your think of poor Plum Flower's heart, too!"
>With that, she flies back toward the forest.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I- I'm sorry! I didn't mean any harm!"
>Feel bad for knocking out a faerie, even if she did attack first
>Subsequently congratulate ourself for actually winning a danmaku battle, no matter how basic it was
>Continue towards the northern road

[Hello Purvis]

>"I- I'm sorry! I didn't mean any harm!"
>Feel bad for knocking out a faerie, even if she did attack first
>Subsequently congratulate ourself for actually winning a danmaku battle, no matter how basic it was
>Continue towards the northern road

>"I'm telling Dai!" the other faerie shouts back.
>It does feel a little mean to knock out someone less than half your size...
>But at the same time, you won! You are awesome! Fresh out of class and you're already taking 'em down!
>You soar toward town, exulting in victory and the sheer thrill of flying under your own power. Everything is good right now, you are probably beaming embarrassingly.
>You are hovering over town now. Things don't seem very busy below. You can see the north road, stretching past Byakuren's temple and through the fields.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue northward