Keine Quest (Part 5): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>"This way, <appropriate compass direction>"
>Point.

[E-Nazrin]

>Resist panic.

[DracoOmega]

>"This way, <appropriate compass direction>"
>Point.

>You point in Ran's direction, and Reimu turns the car towards it, weaving into the road among all the other cars and accelerating rapidly.

>Resist panic.

>You do your best not to panic. You're already at or beyond your maximum flight speed, and Reimu shows no signs of slowing down, despite the shear number of cars moving around you and in the opposite direction, no more than a couple feet to your side. Reimu seems entirely unfazed by all this. That helps a little, at least. You hope.

>"So, you found me," she says, as she turns the car around another corner. "Now what."

[E-Nazrin]

Suggest: "We figure out exactly what happened, and fix the timeline. This may or may not involve beating up the time-traveler responsible."

[Hello Purvis]

>"We work on sorting this mess out. Can you tell me what your experiences were, being pulled over?"

[DracoOmega]

>"We work on sorting this mess out. Can you tell me what your experiences were, being pulled over?"

>Reimu frowns. "Still don't know what happened. I gave up trying to figure it out after a while. Seemed like a completely normal, boring day. You know, one of the good ones. Ha." She pulls the car up a ramp onto another larger road and picks up even more speed. You try not to focus on all the cars whizzing past your window.
>"Anyway, we were eating when suddenly there was an incredible surge of energy and everything exploded into purple. When I woke up again, I was here. Well, somewhere else in the city, but still here. Never found a way back. Eventually I just stopped looking. After these many years, I'd figured this is where I'd be spending the rest of my life now."

[Hello Purvis]

>Tense up!
>"That incident is the root of it all, essentially. It's not just that you two were taken from Gensokyo, it's that you were also originally supposed to be there. Reimu, that purple energy didn't originally happen that day. Something reached back in time to make it happen."

[DracoOmega]

>Tense up!
>"That incident is the root of it all, essentially. It's not just that you two were taken from Gensokyo, it's that you were also originally supposed to be there. Reimu, that purple energy didn't originally happen that day. Something reached back in time to make it happen."

>You tense up. That is disturbingly easy at the moment.
>"What do you mean, didn't originally happen?" She sounds a little annoyed.

[E-Nazrin]

>"Time travel is a bitch."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Something reached back and changed history. You were never supposed to have been taken from Gensokyo. I have very clear recollection of what should have happened since then, and it didn't involve you being brought to the outside world at all."
>"As for how I know this, well, do you know what a hakutaku is?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Time travel is a bitch."

>"Ok, that's it." Reimu swerves the car. "I've seen too much bad sci-fi since I got here. Take your paradoxes and go home before you give me a headache."

>"Something reached back and changed history. You were never supposed to have been taken from Gensokyo. I have very clear recollection of what should have happened since then, and it didn't involve you being brought to the outside world at all."
>"As for how I know this, well, do you know what a hakutaku is?"

>Reimu sighs. "This is going to be a pain, isn't it?"
>"Yeah, more or less," Reimu says. "Never met one, though."

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's going to be a pain. And, you have now. Sort of. I'm a were-Hakutaku. This is part of how I know that things got changed. We're reasonably certain that whatever is causing it is from this area."
>"Here's another fun thing that should give you a headache, what's today's date?"

[DracoOmega]

>"It's going to be a pain. And, you have now. Sort of. I'm a were-Hakutaku. This is part of how I know that things got changed. We're reasonably certain that whatever is causing it is from this area."
>"Here's another fun thing that should give you a headache, what's today's date?"

>Reimu sighs. "Great. Well, if it's around here, it's been hiding itself pretty well. I haven't felt anything. You have any idea what it is?"
>"July 23nd, 2021," Reimu replies. "What of it? If you're going to tell me a lot of time has passed since I left, I'm aware."

[Hello Purvis]

>"The actual date back home is <Gensokyoan date>; That would be August <date>, 2010 in the Gregorian calendar."

[Kasu]

> "I only have a vague idea of what it could be.  It seems to be related to a mysterious youkai and a shadow-gap abomination."

[DracoOmega]

>"The actual date back home is <Gensokyoan date>; That would be August <date>, 2010 in the Gregorian calendar."

>You tell Reimu that it is currently 25th of Leaf Month, 125th season back in Gensokyo, which equates to August 25th, 2010.
>"Moving forward in time is easy," Reimu says. "I figured I'd just been unconscious in that magical... whatever it was for while. But you're saying you went back to that time? ...how long have I been gone, as far as your concerned?"

> "I only have a vague idea of what it could be.  It seems to be related to a mysterious youkai and a shadow-gap abomination."

>"Well, you're the first youkai I've seen since since I got here," Reimu says. "And I don't think I even want to know what that other thing is."
>Reimu sighs. "Look, you see, information travels really quickly here, and magic stands out like a sore thumb. If anything happened here like what happened back in Gensokyo, it'd be all over the news before the day was out. I haven't see or heard of anything like this."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Such are my thoughts. But once we find Ran, I can try a thing."
>"As for the time difference, if we take the way out, we'd be back in the present, which is 25th of Leaf Month, 125th season. But going through, we've also been skipped ahead eleven years. From here, it was 18 years ago that the incident happened, but from the present it was only seven. How many years have you experienced since then?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Such are my thoughts. But once we find Ran, I can try a thing."
>"As for the time difference, if we take the way out, we'd be back in the present, which is 25th of Leaf Month, 125th season. But going through, we've also been skipped ahead eleven years. From here, it was 18 years ago that the incident happened, but from the present it was only seven. How many years have you experienced since then?"

>"A thing?" Reimu asks. "What did you have in mind?"
>"Seven sounds about right," Reimu says.

[Hello Purvis]

>"To be honest, I'm not even sure how this could work; there shouldn't be a future for you to occupy yet. What happens if history is set in a different manner? It's so frustrating. As for the thing I have, Patchouli let me borrow an item that should direct me toward large sources of power. Given the nature of this thing, it's possible that might stay hidden somewhere else, and just manifest here from time to time.
>"As for the thing, or things, we think are behind this, They have no history. They literally have no record of existing until they appear, then stop existing when they don't. All I can say is that them seem to prefer to attack using sleep-based magic."
>"Oh, maybe you might have heard something about this. Have there been any stories of a second of forest just...appearing somewhere? Such a thing was ripped from Gensokyo in the manner of your shrine last night."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"To be honest, I'm not even sure how this could work; there shouldn't be a future for you to occupy yet. What happens if history is set in a different manner? It's so frustrating. As for the thing I have, Patchouli let me borrow an item that should direct me toward large sources of power. Given the nature of this thing, it's possible that might stay hidden somewhere else, and just manifest here from time to time.
>"As for the thing, or things, we think are behind this, They have no history. They literally have no record of existing until they appear, then stop existing when they don't. All I can say is that them seem to prefer to attack using sleep-based magic."
>"Oh, maybe you might have heard something about this. Have there been any stories of a second of forest just...appearing somewhere? Such a thing was ripped from Gensokyo in the manner of your shrine last night."

>"You'd think if it was that large," Reimu says, "I would have sensed something myself in all this time. But I guess we can see what this item of Patchouli's does."
>"Sleep magic?" Reimu frowns. "That's not something you see very often. Although I've fought a couple of things that lived in a dream. More or less. Not that any of them could pull something like this off, though. ...at least I don't think Yuka could."
>"I don't think so...." Reimu pauses. "And you're telling me the whole shrine disappeared?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"There's just a pit there now. I assume you didn't wake up near it?"

[DracoOmega]

>"There's just a pit there now. I assume you didn't wake up near it?"

>Reimu shakes her head. "Haven't seen a sign of it." There's a long pause. "Dammit! That was my home!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Reimu shakes her head. "Haven't seen a sign of it." There's a long pause. "Dammit! That was my home!"

>"That raises the question of how you and Marisa got through when it didn't. And, if I have my way, to be honest, that event will never have happened by the time I'm done."

[DracoOmega]

>"That raises the question of how you and Marisa got through when it didn't. And, if I have my way, to be honest, that event will never have happened by the time I'm done."

>"Never have happened?" Reimu sighs. "Time travel. Right. Oh for the love of..."
>"Anyway, we getting close to this friend of yours?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Are we?
>If so, give better directions.

[DracoOmega]

>Are we?
>If so, give better directions.

>You've definitely covered a lot of the distance between the two of you. It's amazing how quickly you're traveling. Perhaps these cars aren't all bad. Maybe.
>You give Reimu an update on Ran's location. She nods and adjusts her route accordingly.
>Now that you're closer to Ran, it's easier to get a precise sense of where she is. You feel her along the street to your left before she actually comes into view. As you see her walking down the side of the street you realize there is something... different about her. You can't put your finger on quite what it is. You see her turn her head towards you, although it's very unlikely she could see you inside the car at this distance. Not that this would stop her from being sure you're in it, given how you can sense her own presence. Although, at this speed you'll drive right past her in a couple seconds.
>"That's her over there, isn't it?" Reimu says, gesturing her head in Ran's direction.

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we see the tails?
>"That's her. Can you see the tails?"

[DracoOmega]

>Can we see the tails?
>"That's her. Can you see the tails?"

>Yes, they're still quite visible to you.
>"Of course I can see her tails," Reimu says, then looks critically at the people around her. "Why isn't anyone staring at her?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"She put a spell on herself. Guess we're immune."
>Figure out how to escape from the high speed death trap so we can put Ran in it.

[DracoOmega]

>"She put a spell on herself. Guess we're immune."
>Figure out how to escape from the high speed death trap so we can put Ran in it.

>Reimu nods. "That might do it. Thought there was an odd aura around her."
>While you're busy contemplating how you're suppose to collect Ran like this, Reimu pulls off onto the side of the street and brings the car to a stop. You have passed Ran a little, though, but she's already turned around and is heading back towards you. Reimu presses a button and the window next to her lowers. She sticks her head out the window and looks back towards Ran.
>"Hey!" she calls out. "I think I'm supposed to be picking you up."
>"Excuse me?" Ran says as she walks over to the window and then peers in it at you.