The date was December 13th 2014, I woke up at two o'clock in the morning, nausea as usual. As I was chewing on some gum, I heard footsteps and quiet hushed talking. I sneaked into the kitchen, and turned on the lights.
There in front of me were two surprised women, both dressed strangely, one of them had what appeared to be nine fox tails coming from behind. The three of us stared at each other for what seemed for hours. Until I asked "Who and what are you two doing here." I said, gum to the side of my mouth.
The two women obviously had other intentions, but instead of escaping (I expected for them to jump out the backdoor or some random window) they offered me an opportunity. They leave and keep this event as a secret, or return with them and giving up my life at home. I chose the latter.
I took my computer, hard drive, several boxes of chai, any iDevices that I owned, wallet, and all required medication (sleeping aid and liver chelators), and the Lego model of what would become the "Super Mega Drive".
I said that I was ready and to my surprise one of them opened a gap, a to a place, a land severed off from the modern world, a land called Gensokyo. This had to be the least feasible thing today, and it was only 2:20 in the morning. If only I knew what was to come.
Through the gap I arrived at the woman's house. The woman introduced herself as Yukari Yakumo and the woman with the fox tails, Ran.
Gensokyo was a realm unlike any other. Sealed away by the Great Hakurei Barrier, is where human and youkai co-exist. The local youkai however, range on a varying scale of how dangerous they are, since some of them eat humans. There were things called Spell Cards which are special cards that were either used for offense or defense, involving something called danmaku. Also, apparently Gensokyo itself is located somewhere on the outskirts of Kyoto, so there's that.
I temporarily lived in the human village, for about a year. I had to redress AeroSoft for its new home. I slowly learned about the land, but I found out that there was an almost non-existent gaming industry. Save for the various things that filtered through the barrier and Yukari's gaps.
Six months later, I need some investment for getting AeroSoft afloat. I heard about the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I also needed to start figuring out how to use Spell Cards. So I went to this magician named Marisa Kirisame. Needless to say, she is kind of a kleptomaniac and she decided to bring me along to the mansion's library to steal some books.
I ended up meeting the librarian Patchouli, then the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi. Patchouli was pissed at Marisa for breaking into her library for the third time this week. I asked who was the person who lived here, specifically who owned the mansion. So Sakuya took me to her mistress, Remilia Scarlet.
"I have something that you might like." I said, which surprised both women, mostly Sakuya.
"...Go on." Replied Remilia,
I promptly pulled out my computer bag that I kept safe under the back of shirt and show her three games.
One was about a box creature that fighting against a just as block scientist (Boxman the Boxian), and RPG about there guys saving a land of ponies from a raging dictator (Brony Quest: When Nazis Attack), and finally a horror maze game that involved a guy exploring a mansion of unspeakable origin (Creepypasta Mansion).
Remilia was impressed with the first two. The last one just couldn't hold her attention as much as the last two did. "I could show you more, and make more like these. But, I need some investment to keep making them." I explained after the demonstration ended.
"What investment?" She asked.
I remember that Gensokyo had little to no tech industry, let alone a gaming industry...Just yet. I spent a good while lecturing about what it is, and the things needed for such a thing.
I expected a very tepid reaction from them. But needless to say, I got some support from her. But to prove that I can be trusted worthy of said support, I had to show her any or all progress of the projects I had or would be doing.
I was off to start work when she stopped me. Remilia got up and walked towards and said "One more thing before you leave."
She motioned Sakuya to get some bandages, and then she suddenly bit me. I held in my scream (but it was mostly the swearing I was restraining), she was sucking my blood. Despite being similar to a blood draw it hurt much more and for longer. After she let go, she rubbed her tongue, probably because of a copper aftertaste.
I left with a sore arm, but ready nonetheless, to start an industry like no other. I spent the next year developing games and showing Remilia. Some of which already made (Brony Quest 2: Day of Lavos) or resumed production on (Brony Quest 3 ad Emergency Landing) or already in development (AS: The Day Earth Glitched, Boxman the Boxian 2, and two unnamed RPGS).
It was early into my second year of being in Gensokyo When I was stopped by Yukari. "I heard what you have been doing." Yukari said, surprising me in my studio.
"What? ABout the game I have been busy with?" I replied, caught completely off guard.
Yukari, unlike many of the youkai or humans that lived here, has been outside of Gensokyo, mainly for abducting humans for local cosumption, and at one point, gapping new people in. So she knew exactly what I've been doing and producing.
"I have one question to ask, how are you gonna use it?" Yukari questioned.
I sighed, "With this thing" showing her the Lego model of the Super Mega Drive. "Sadly...This thing is only a model and so far there is no way any of the Gensokyo masses could really use it for." Then an idea popped into my 17 year old mind.
"Say, do you always use your gaps to enter and exit Gensokyo" I said, wondering.
"Uhhh...Yes why asked me that" Yukari was surprised by the question and yet intrigued by it.
"We could use your gaps to 'borrow' the items need to produce an actual console like this!" I explained.
I thought I'd put the future of my existence in jeopardy by suggesting stealing plastic and electronic components. But instead she agreed to such a strange heist.
I, Yukari, Ran, and a friend of Yukari, Yuyuko Saigyouji, raided a plastics factory and several large computer specialty shops. Both locations were of my accord, I took the materials; the other three kidnapped the humans for future youkai consumption.
When I got back I started work on the prototype. I melted the stolen plastic pellets into boiling goo. While I arranged the PCB and the power supply, it took me a week to make the first hundred units. Then I showed the hardware off to the vampire aristocrat, Remilia.
She was most impressed by the hardware since she was beginning to get bored with the software I was showing before. "I will start selling this device in two weeks' time." I said with an excited expression.
Before I left after the meeting ended I asked, "Say, are there any newspapers around here?"
"There's one or two around here, the only one I can think of is the Bunbunmaru Newspaper." Remilia answered.
She told me about who does the paper and I left shortly after. I had to find a tengu named Aya. It didn't take me long to find her as she was reporting about some minor thing that had happened. I asked her if she was indeed Aya (stupid question, I know. But it worked!). She said yes, and I told that I can show her something amazing and newsworthy.
I took her to where I was working and show her the boxes of Super Mega Drives piled up in a somewhat unkempt manner. I showed the console itself, I told her about the launch titles, and let her play the games. The next day, the article appeared. It made headlines, and the hype train suddenly left the station at an infinite speed. Gensokyo will have its first video game release.
I worried when the fortnight ended, what if such a tentative thing won't work. I warily made plans for it, a midnight release tomorrow. It worked.
Very few humans if any at all ever went and bought the machine, but many of local youkai and some of the fairies came out to buy it (exceptions were Yukari and Remilia since I gave them freebies as a thank you gift for helping me this far). The Super Mega Drive was a hit.
The launch titles are as follows: Boxman the Boxian, Brony Quest: When Nazisa Attack, Creepypasta Mansion, and Tiny Tower (a port of an iOS game that I played). The next week was followed by: Thunder Gun, The YouTube Poop World, Super Crate Box, and Ahriman's Treasure (ports of various games I played from Gamejolt.com).
The next year was spent releasing games and incorporating. The board of directors was founded (Remilia Scarlet and Yukari Yakumo) and a special newsletter (published via Aya). However this got the attention of Reimu Hakurei, a miko that lived near the barrier. She was having a negative attitude to the whole AeroSoft thing when she saw two fairies, Cirno and Sunny Milk, fighting over the Super Mega Drive.
Reimu confronted me about the situation. I gave her a tour of the studio in hope of her not being alienated and acting in a inclement manner (she already was and I knew exactly why: this whole AeroSoft thing was new to her and Reimu thought something bad and evil was happening). Over the next three years, she began to warm up and get used to it and even saving me after I had left Gensokyo.
By now the demand of games and consoles were going pretty strong, Terraria (basically a 2D Minecraft game) was released to an extremely large amount of praise. I hand make the cartridges (I use a heavily modified proprietary USB 3.0 instead of ROM boards) and consoles (I still have scars from handling hot plastic).
I had heard about a shy kappa that had amazing engineering skills. That kappa was Nitori Kawashiro. I found her, but she had ran away, I lured her out with cucumbers and that worked.
I told her I would give her a large supply of cukes if she would solve my problem. She built me three machines that would mass produce controllers, cartridges, and Super Mega Drives. Nitori would later be the lead hardware engineer.
When I showed her some of the games, she was not impressed. She said "Why do all the games look so flat?"
I was expecting, even hoping that someone would question its 3D capabilities. This resulted in me porting Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, along with Brony Quest 3, Tetris, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker HD (A remake of the Sega Genesis game). By year's end, Nitori would make her take of the Super FX chip that the SNES used. The NUFX chip (Nitori's Ultra FX Chip) would allow for graphics that slightly less superior to the PS2, and used for a kart racing game based on the show, Wacky Races, Boxman the Boxian 3D, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem 3D.
My fourth of my year started with me showing my benevolent side. Donating a large cartload of money to the Hakurei Shrine (literally) and starting a special needs fund (after observing more of Cirno's idiot-like behavior and as a "take that!" to Reed).
I was beginning my plan to bring AeroSoft back to America and see if the Super Mega Drive would work. Even augmenting it to the point of being an entirely different console, and I finished teaching Reisen how to develop for the Super Mega Drive.
I met Reisen Udongein Inaba while delivering a small shipment to a place called Eientei, a mansion that's in a middle of a large bamboo forest. She took a technical interest to the console and I taught her how to code for it. Then she taught some of the other rabbits that lived and worked at Eientei. This in turn spawned the first "third party" developer. The person that was in charge, was Eirin Yagokoro, Eirin was nothing short of a medical genius and I had run out of meds at this point, and I was loading up on dangerous amount of copper in my liver.
Eirin created a medicine that made me literally excrete copper nuggets. (My Wilson's Disease was almost completely undetectable within several weeks).
I had learned much about Gensokyo's history and started to make games based off the various incidents that had happened. Some of which were popular, then I stopped making games based on such events. "Diamond in the Rough" was a relatively good game, awesome graphics, great sound, and even greater gameplay. But the event was based around (The Brolli Diamondback incident that influenced the stopping of gapping in humans). Production of the cartridge were ceased within a month, nowadays copies of the game are expensive and whatever copies do make it to the states exceed $600,000.
I was gapped in because Yukari didn't want to admit to the fact that she was going to kidnap my dad; I had forgiven her when she finally did tell.
The rest of the fourth year had nothing noteworthy. The fifth and final year was marked by a fallow release calendar. I temporarily left AeroSoft in control of Yukari and Remilia, even telling them that I will go back to the company when it's ready to spread to America.
I left Gensokyo, to a very nasty surprise. I was treated to a very large truancy charge. Apparently, after all the years of commenting against the staff of my school, Dr. Cohen finally had something to get back at me.
"Payback with back pay" seemed to be the mood of the setting in the courthouse, at least to the plaintiff.
It was a dour day for me; I had little fortitude against Dr. Cohen's testimony. He brought up all the comments I said against him and the staff of my school, I now face charges of truancy and slander (I'm not sure if that counts as assault and battery). Just when I was about to face the music, the end of the AeroSoft dream which was looking to be a giant crashing fiery heap of wasted time and energy. Two mysterious women entered the court, both wearing shade and a suit, one had black hair the other one was blonde.
They both seemed familiar, the blonde's voice was similar to...no couldn't be, can it? They brought in a...Super Mega Drive? They brought in charts and picture about...AeroSoft? Both wore a pin that was a promotional item for a subscription of Bunbunmaru Newspaper. I suddenly recognize the two as Yukari and Reimu (Yukari was the only one speaking and Reimu kinda just stayed there for support).
The judge was surprised, the jury was surprised, Dr. Cohen was suprised, everyone was surprised.
"Impossible! They're lying! How can someone irresponsible enough to take an illegal five year sojourn from the educational system be able to successfully start a corporation that big!" said Dr. Cohen in complete shock.
"To call of this case how about we pay you for...let's say, damages?" Yukari responded.
"1,000 ye...dollars!" started Yukari.
"$2,000...$5,000...$10,000...$50,000...$100,000" continued Yukari with an insidious grin.
The plaintiff was beginning to feel uncomfortable at the thought of the woman bribing Dr. Cohen.
"...$1,000,000" Yukari said before being cut off by the judge.
"Sile...Sile...SILENCE!" exclaimed the judge, who had a concerning stutter.
I was getting suspicious of the judge after the stutter; I jumped out of the box and grabbed for something from the judge. The guards were about to restrain me, but they saw the small tin bottle I was holding. That bottle had belonged to the judge.
To make a long story short, I went off scot-free after the drunken judge was exposed. Dr. Cohen left embarrassed and wore a stolid expression when he drove off. I restrained myself from hugging the gap youkai (Yukari) and the Shinto shrine maiden (Reimu). I thanked them both, and asked them why they wanted to save me.
"Me and Remilia have some conflicting views about the way your AeroSoft business was going to, So I and Reimu went to get you back." Yukari explained.
"Well I was going to bring AeroSoft back here, my home. Everyone in Gensokyo can still have my games and consoles, But I'll have the main headquarters be here." I said.
"The old headquarters will become a branch for the company." I added.
A month later, I bought out a large office building in Natick. Two years laters, I released the Super Mega Drive 2 (which used HVDs [Holographic Versatile Discs] instead of USB cartridges). Three months after that was the last game for the Super Mega Drive, a bowling game based off the Ebola scare of 2014, the game was only released in Gensokyo to avoid any trouble with the American public.
I added my brother, Trevor to the board of directors as well as Michael Scotton (I added him because of a promise I made him) and several of the largest shareholders (but due to the colorful cast of characters there, they rarely ever come).
That brings us to the present, 2028. That is my story of my company from the start (very briefly) to how things are today. Someday I'll leave my company to my son, as well as the secrets that lay beyond the Great Hakurei Barrier. Thank you for reading.
-Anastasios Frank Topham Senior
Written by Frank Topham
Touhou Project belongs to ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice
AeroSoft belongs wholly to me, as well as Brony Quest and Boxman games
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