As you may already know, AeroSoft is
the leading brand of video gaming. Besting Nintendo (the leading company before
the SMD 2 was released). So seeing how some interesting new things are
happening in both AeroSoft and Gensokyo. I might as well tell.
Patchouli accepted my proposal and
we got married the following week. Our honeymoon was spent roaming around
Europe, starting in Britain. I even ordered a private train on Tallyllyn
Railway. But things got weird considering our living conditions.
I lived primarily in Massachusetts, Natick to be exact.
Patchouli lived in Gensokyo, both of which are fine. But Patchy worked as a resident librarian at the Scarlet Devil
Mansion. Meaning she is kinda required to be there. I spent most of our time in
Germany discussing with Remillia over places of living. The ultimatum became
that we had to live similarly to a divorced couple, going between the two
places. It was weird at first.
But when I got back to work after four weeks of European
travel, I returned to the AeroSoft scene. AeroSoft now has a 67% market share
in the industry and we just released the Pocket Drive with flying colors, at
least in terms of response. About 15 games where available at release (eight of
which were made by Eientei Studios).
But when I got back, there was some controversy going on.
With AeroSoft being an international corporate giant, it comes as no surprise
as that also comes with having to deal with people who beset you on the
pretense of being morally unacceptable.
In this case it was the Midwestern United States. I have spent most of
my time with people who believe in eastern religions (Taoism, Shinto, and
Buddhism being the three biggest), as such I have more experience in dealing
with them. Then again, most of the population is made up of youkai which in
turn makes my point in a sort of moot state.
Christianity on the other hand is a bit touchy. So I came to
Grand Island, Nebraska to calm down the fears of my company teaching “Demonic”
or “sinful” values to people, such as impressible children in the area. I took
to the podium on looking the angry populace with picket signs and banners
demeaning my company. Yukari came, good thing too.
“Gay devil lover!” said one woman.
“Corporate scum!” said a man in the far back.
I began to talk, “I jolly well know why I’m here, to tell you
that our games aren’t pedaling immoral junk!”
“Besides almost 45% of our current game library for the SMD
2, are from foreign lands, mainly Japan.”
That last sentence was meant to tell people about cultural
differences, instead it made the crowd even angrier.
“Jap worshipper!” said another guy.
The acrid xenophobia rang out amongst the angry mob.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” I explained myself.
I noticed Yukari becoming irritated by the comments. Then
suddenly, a loud bang came out of nowhere.
Followed by more, I had forgotten all about the NRA. I ran off the
platform and into a nearby building.
“C’mon! C’mon! Yukari! Please make a gap!” I said, anxiety
filling up with fear of death.
“I’m trying!” said Yukari.
We escaped before the mob could find us. The events that
followed soon resulted in the destruction of any shops containing video games (software and hardware) and the
creation of massive plastic scented fires. This event became known as the
“AeroSoft-Nebraska Incident”.
Business went as usual after that. The board of directors met
at the end of the first quarter.
“How’s Gensokyo?” I asked.
“The Pocket Drive seems successful.” Remillia replied.
“Great! Is there anything else?”
“Aya’s become wary of the sales of “AeroSoft Weekly”.”
AeroSoft Weekly is a magazine published through a then newly
made subsidiary of Bunbunmaru Newspaper that was co-founded by well, Frank
Topham.
The magazine was created after the indelible release of the
Super Mega Drive. But because of the Super Mega Drive 2’s internet capabilities,
we created a weekly video series called “AeroSoft Direct” which pretty much
summed up the content of the magazines each week. Aya got pissed off because
people where choosing to watch the free video over paying a monthly
subscription.
“Why are you doing this!” Aya said angrily.
“It’s not like I have plans to stop the magazine.” I
rationalized.
“You better not!” Aya responded.
The headaches didn’t last for long, as Aya was appeased by
having the magazine having exclusive content that wouldn’t be featured in the
weekly newscast.
The SMD 2 was now deep into its life cycle. Seeing how its
predecessor lasted for a long time, it was no surprise that the hardware labs
won’t be making console prototypes for a very long time. As such I took in some
inspiration from an old movie I remembered and the Oculus Rift (A virtual
reality headset). I tasked Nitori with producing a device that would somehow;
download one’s conscience into a virtual environment. Nitori looked at me with
confusion.
“What do you mean?” Nitori said.
“I mean putting your mind into a game.” I replied.
“I know that. But I mean how I’m gonna do it?”
“Well, you did manage to help build a giant mech once. Surely
you can construct the matrix!”
“I’ll try.” Nitori said, unsure of herself.
I went around asking people to name
the machine. Trevor suggested the “Steam Machine”, but I finally came up with
Online Gaming Matrix Server (OGMS).
“AeroSoft is staffed by terrorists?” suggested Bill Bluoni, a
former AeroSoft employee.
“What about, AeroSoft’s consoles
have flammable parts?” said Ben Redoni, another former AeroSoft employee, also
fired for selling drugs.
Ben had been injured when the
celling of an old basement caved onto him. He still wore some casts from the
debacle.
A third man was in the room. His
tacit disposition has been part of him since his defeat. He often ruminated on
how to trenchantly quell AeroSoft.
Suddenly he spoke out loud, “I need
to go back in Gensokyo!”
“But Dr. Cohen, security’s been
raised there. We can’t go back!” rebutted Bill.
“But I have two programmers who
defected from there. So you two have inside information.” said Dr. Cohen
looking outside into rain from the window.
“Maybe I can hack into their
system.” Suggested Ben.
“What about the blonde haired woman.
Yukari Yakumo, what does she do exactly?” Dr. Cohen questioned.
“All I know is that she moves into
and out of Gensokyo through these gaps she creates.” Bill answered.
“Theoretically, we can go through
her gaps…”
The two defectors giggled.
“Shut Up!” he yelled.
“We can go through her gaps and go
into Gensokyo!”
The three men were elated at the new
plan. But Dr. Cohen’s real reason was to learn its secrets. Maybe get the
youkai to revolt or learn about these things called Spell Cards.
It was rather uneventful day in
Gensokyo. I was staying at the Scarlet Devil Mansion for the weekend with
Patchouli. Usually something droll would happen, involving some youkai making
some minor trouble or something amusing would happen. But it was the
aftereffects of AeroSoft’s Super Mega Drive that kept everything quiet.
“Reimu’s right…” I said to myself.
“I guess AeroSoft really has changed
Gensokyo. I’m not sure if it’s for worse or better.”
“Maybe’s neither.” said a voice.
It was Remillia’s sister, Flandre.
Flandre was once upon a time, locked in the basement. She was kept there for
reasons that Remillia never really elucidated on to me. Flandre was notoriously
destructive, she could see the “eye” of one object and obliterate it,
destroying the object in question. But she had a particularly hard time
destroying the SMD 2. Apparently, due to how it’s constructed, the “eye” is
masked during the manufacturing process making destruction through Flan’s means
difficult. Even when the eye is found, no two consoles were alike, unless there
was a flaw, such as a faulty disc drive or a broken fuse.
“It’s nothing Flan-chan.” I said to
her.
“Really? You look like something’s
wrong.” She replied.
Maybe she was right, then again.
There’s Dr. Cohen, I haven’t heard from him in a while.
Patchy came in and saw me. Flandre
wandered off into the expansive halls of the mansion. I told her maybe there is
something wrong with Gensokyo, but she gave me the two sides of the argument. I
felt better knowing that there was at least one thing that was for the better.
The Natick HQ was busy, all four
R&D department were working on new titles with much alacrity. New Brony
Quest and Boxman sequel were down the line. Plus, SEGA’s cooperation with us to
make the new Space Harrier and Phantasy Star remakes (AeroSoft exclusives by
the way). The only thing bad was a very slight drop in Gensokyo sales (Only
Hardware declined by 1.19%). The Super Pocket Drive was formidable against
Nintendo’s 4DS, and we have already obliterated the PS Vita 2. We even opened a
new office on the west coast. AeroSoft’s Californian building mostly dealt with
translating games and having to do in part with our “Universal Release” policy.
But they do make games since they also have four R&D departments.
Early one morning, I got a call
around 2:34 AM (Or at least, what my phone said) from one of the security guys
saying that the cameras got jammed, and some loud sounds had been made.
Patchouli was staying at my place, and she was half asleep when I jumped out of
bed to deal with a nondescript matter. She just kinda mumbled something and
went back to sleep.
One of the security guys had been
waiting for me. He show me the broken window and then the monitors which showed
nothing but snow. But one thing caught my eye. The artificial gap machine had
been recently used. The guy standing there didn’t check or really notice.
“Who used this?” I said.
“No one was here but me and the two
others.” said the security guard.
“Really?” I said with sarcasm.
I checked the history: 2:28 AM,
UNKOWN SUBJECT, TRANSFER COMPLETED.
“See! I told you!” I explained.
“Who do you think it might be, sir?”
“I can only think of one man.”
“I’m in.” radioed Dr. Cohen.
“Alright, just go wander around and
pass out the flyers to anyone you see.” Replied Bill Bluoni.
Dr. Cohen had finally came to
Gensokyo. Not to burn or bomb anyone (the last he got help with) but rather to
stir up some emotions about the status quo. There was also the fact he wanted
to get his hands on a spell card or two.
He walked towards a forest that was
at the bottom of Youkai Mountain. Dr. Cohen was then approached by Hina
Kagiyama, goddess of misfortune.
“You seem lost?” approached Hina.
What Hina usually do was chase away
lost humans and or give them misfortune. Dr. Cohen knew nothing of this.
“I’m not lost, but maybe you are.”
Said Dr. Cohen, putting a spin on things.
“What do you mean I’m the one who’s
lost.” Hina replied.
“Have you been with or defeated by a
woman named, Reimu Hakurei?” asked Dr. Cohen
“Yes.” Answered Hina.
“Have you heard about AeroSoft?” Dr.
Cohen asked again.
AeroSoft owned 100% of the Gensokyo
gaming market. With a monopoly that big, of course everyone would have at least
heard about AeroSoft once.
“I think I have.” Hina answered once
more.
“Have you felt any feelings of
oppression?” Dr. Cohen had posed one
more question.
Hina never had felt anything like
that, but thinking about Remiu and AeroSoft’s economic existence. There was
some feeling of trapped dread.
“I guess, I’m not sure.” Answered
Hina Kagiyama.
Later that day, Dr. Cohen had
interviewed multiple residents about the miko and the gaming company and the
feeling of oppression. Among those were Rumia and another youkai, never seen in
years…okay she was more of a vengeful spirit.
“Have you heard of Reimu Hakurei?”
asked Dr. Cohen.
“Yes, definitely yes. I have been
defeated by here on multiple occasions.”
“Have you heard of AeroSoft?” asked
Dr. Cohen.
“No, but I’m jealous of Reimu’s
association with it.”
She was referring to how Reimu is
protecting something that wasn’t truly native to Gensokyo.
“Do you have feelings of
oppression?” He asked once more.
“Yes.”
“What the hell does Dr. Cohen want
with Gensokyo” cried Trevor.
A special meeting had been called
regarding the safety of Gensokyo’s future. Reimu and Yukari were there, besides
Trevor of course.
“Another bombing run, I presume.”
Reimu suggested, cynically of course.
“Do you think it might be that he
wants spell cards?” I suggested.
“What are spell cards?” asked Trevor.
“Here I’ll demonstrate.” said
Yukari.
We all ran outside and Yukari jumped
up and stood in the air and used a spell card aimed for a nearby tree. Border
Sign “Quadruple Barrier” danmaku
came into being and the tree’s lack of having an ability to dodge anything lead
to it being splintered and destroyed. The conflagration dissipated soon after.
“You’re supposed to dodge it…” Said
Reimu.
“That comes with experience.”
We expected for Dr. Cohen to leave
Gensokyo. Two more men broke in and escaped into Gensokyo, those were his
assistants. Months turned into about a year, wanted signs were placed among the
land. Keine Kamishirsawa, the guardian of the Human Village was swiftly
notified of the suspicious characters. Nothing had happened until Remillia told
me something that gave me an unsure feeling.
Patchouli had been somewhat moody
for a while at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It all started when Marisa broke in
and ended being not stealing any books, but instead had to deal with
Patchouli’s suddenly erratic emotions. I asked for her to get some medical
help. Then I got a message from Eirin. She was pregnant.
I was surprised for such a thing. I
felt a surprised unsure happiness. Patchouli has too. Both of us were not sure
of what exactly we’ll do. Remillia got super pissed at me.
“Anatasios!” she said marching
towards me.
“What the…”
A loud bang had cut her off,
probably someone’s computer.
“…did you to my Patchouli!” Remillia
yelled as we headed into my office.
“This tends to happed to two lovers,
beside we’re married so this isn’t a problem.” I sadly attempted to console.
“It is to me. She works for me. I
have to deal with her. I’m the one who pays her. Hell, I’m the one who paid you
for all of this” Remilla complained and then pointed to a picture of the Natick
building.
“I know it’s hard for you. It is
going to be hard for me too...” I replied.
“Besides, AeroSoft makes and pays
you more than you invested into me, once upon a time.”
We both sat down and sighed.
Remillia starred at the wall, but I got up and looked out the window. (Keeping
blinders down enough to not hurt Remillia, you know, being a vampire and
everything.) Patchouli’s pregnancy and Dr. Cohen’s disappearance have made me
worried for things to come. But the latter’s quietness (especially being in
Gensokyo), made me think that he probably got killed or been eaten by a
dangerous youkai or something.
“What
about if she’s unable to work?” I asked.
“She can stay there, but if she
wants, she can stay with you.” Remillia responed
“One issue if she stays…”
“If she stays long enough, people
are going to wonder if she is an American citizen.” I finished.
We both sat silently with chagrin;
maybe the problem would make itself clear.
Four months had passed when Dr.
Cohen first arrived to Gensokyo for the aforementioned revolution. He had to acclimate himself to the new
landscape. The defamation of the miko and AeroSoft had been increasingly
receptive of the public. Keine’s
warnings about Dr. Cohen’s presents in the land only made matters tense.
Dr. Cohen had been training how to
use spell cards, hoping on Hina’s back and going into the air and trying out
his accomplices’ spell cards. He was amazed by the danmaku’s complex patterns
and destructiveness. He wanted to make his own. But had no idea what they
should be.
But one December evening, the green
haired woman asked Dr. Cohen what the strange bronze candlestick.
“What is that you’re lighting?” she
said.
Dr. Cohen was surprised, for people
who are spiritually active (he now knew that that’re youkai, but people sounded
more relatable), they didn’t knew what he celebrated.
“It’s a menorah, Mima…For Hanukah”
he responed.
“That’s nothing I’ve heard of.” Mima
scoffed.
“Say,
what religion is Reimu.” Asked Cohen.
“She’s a miko, a Shinto shrine maiden, I
thought you already knew that Remiu’s Shinto?” answered Mima.
“Does she use her religion as a
weapon?” said an increasingly curious Dr. Cohen.
“I guess, I believe she does.” Mima
responded with a slight worry.
“Hmmm…maybe I could turn the tides.”
Dr. Cohen said under his breath, staring at the menorah and thinking of Reimu.
The next day, Dr. Cohen began work
on a series of extremely vehement spell cards.
Patchouli was now five months into
her pregnancy. She started staying at my place more and more. I told her if she
going to stay permanently, she had to apply for citizenship. After much
convincing, she applied. After about four weeks, she now has dual citizenship (Gensokyo
doesn’t have a centralized government, so there was no citizen documentation,
but technically Japanese, and American). That took care of the legal side of
things concerning with my wife. Now all we had to worry was about our kid.
It was in the middle of March when
Patchouli gave birth. We couldn’t really get to Gensokyo for the kid to be born
and MGH would probably be too much for her, I think. So we opted for a
homebirth and that’s where my mom came in. It was a super long day. Luckily,
the office was fine without me for the time being and from what I knew; Gensokyo
was fine despite Dr. Cohen’s pandering. It was a boy, the baby was born
3/25/2027 (January, 25th 145 for the Gensokyo Lunar Calendar). My
mom was kind of roped in a little late (I got her on call for this since
February and as so, we had to forego some of the appointments that would be
done earlier in pregnancy. We’re coming up with his name.
“What about naming it after me?” I
suggested.
“What about your name? It’s just
Frank, right, why have something more to it?” Patchouli told me.
“Anatasios. That’s my real first
name.” I said.
“Anatasios…” Patchouli repeated.
“What name is that?”
“Greek.” I replied.
“Greek eh?”
“So should we name him after me, or
is that something you don’t like?” I said.
“I like the Anatasios part.” Patchy
commented.
“You don’t have to call him Frank.”
I suggested.
“Okay, Anatasios Frank, I guess.”
So that day forth, Anatasios Frank
Topham Junior was born. The next day, Remillia and the Yakumo’s came by.
“So that’s your kid huh.” Said
Yukari.
“Yup.” I replied.
“Same name as you?” asked Remillia.
“Yes indeed, the Greek part won her
over.”
“Oh.” Remillia finished.
Chen came by the little one. One of
Chens tails got in range of his grasp. The newborn grabbed tight as Chen tried
to hold in a yelp. There was a knock at the door. I walked by and opened it.
“Hello, Reimu”
“There’s an emergency, I need to
come with me!”
I told the party of people, that Reimu
needed my assistance on something.
“Is about those loud noises last
night?” said Ran.
“What loud noises?” I asked.
Those loud noises were in fact,
artillery fire. During the night when my son was born, something or someone had
been bombarding random parts of Gensokyo. Eientei almost got completely burned
down, when an artillery shell set fire to a shed and the Human Village got hit
pretty badly with several buildings being completely demolished. I noticed that
a majority of shells have been seemingly trying to hit Reimu’s shrine, but
missed.
We were going up the stairs leading
to her shrine attempting to explicate the scenario when I heard a distant bang.
Then we got to the gate when something whizzed through the air and a large
fiery explosion and a loud Kra-pow pierced the air. The shrine was reduced to
burning rubble.
“I’m so sorry to see this happen” I
said, when my hearing went back to normal.
“It’s not the first time my shrine
got destroyed.” Reimu said reassuringly.
We just stood there, until the gate
fell and slid down the stairs back down before splintering into a pile of red
painted wood.
“Goddamn it!” yelled Dr. Cohen to
Rumia.
“What! What did I do?!” Rumia
panicked.
“You’re supposed to fire the
artillery during the night!” said Dr. Cohen angrily, pointing to the cannons
that resembled those used during the First World War.
“Uhhh…Look at this Cohen-sama.” Said
Mima.
Dr. Cohen grabbed the binoculars
from her and looked through them. The Hakurei shrine was obliterated. “I guess
I should apologize.” Said Dr. Cohen, his mood was swinging to the other
spectrum.
“Alright! Without a shrine, she’s
weak! Now we can begin stage 2, Invading the land in the name of a new Hakurei
free future!” Dr. Cohen proclaimed.
“I have a question.” Said Hina.
“Why do we have to do all these
things just to get even with someone who was with the person who beat you in
court, just by a drunken judge, you didn’t lose anything during that debacle?”
Continued Hina.
“He ruined my school, He ruined my
professional life, AND ruined my life as a whole, doesn’t help that that miko
is using her religion to beat me. So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s
the theme of my spell cards.” Answered Dr. Cohen.
“What do you mean “that’s the theme
of your spell cards?”
“Remiu uses the Shinto religion to
advance her goals in a somewhat violent fashion. So I’ll be using my own.”
“And what would that be?” Hina
contested.
“Judaism.” Cohen replied.
“Oh, what is that?”
“I’ll tell you when we defeat
Remiu.” Dr. Cohen finished.
Personally, I think he got the wrong
idea from Reimu. Reimu is a youkai exterminator. It’s her job to keep the peace
(usually with the help of Marisa) around Gensokyo. Dr. Cohen didn’t know this,
but I think he was overcome by madness at this point. Maybe it has to do with
me getting away with leaving his school unannounced with no bureaucratic stuff
involved and he was trying to give me an appropriate repercussion. That’s what
made him go nuts; I have no repercussions for truancy so he’s trying to do his
job. I can’t help but to feel bad. The only thing keeping me from feeling bad
was him destroying Gensokyo.
This was beginning of the end…an end
to almost a decade’s battle. Next up was no youkai incident, it was a human
incident.
To Be
Continued…
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