Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[kandata]

Get...here!

[Ai doesn't even try to pretend to be her. She pursues Shalem, back to the starting area! She still has the acoustic guitar, and quite reveals a couple vinyl CDs in a very bombastic manner, throwing them like frisbees at Shalem. Watch out, the edges are sharp!

But her aim isn't sharp, she misses by a mile. Shalem's slowness, though, means she gets a free swing of her guitar weapon, which she also misses.

Maybe this fake Ai just sucks at fighting]

[prozaic]

[At the very least the CDs miss him, but she still has that poor guitar... In an attempt to save it, he tries to make a swipe for it... and fails (8).]

Ma'am, I really have to ask you to put the thing down-- gently, mind!

[kandata]

[Ai heeds the request by putting the guitar down onto Shalem's head.

It wasn't gentle.

It was critical, in fact (20)

The guitar shatters in impact, completely unusable.

Whoooops]

[prozaic]

[He's dead-- no, he's not. But he's definitely not conscious.]

[moonshaded]

[She turns away from the voyeuristic windows just in time to see that Gibson get smashed to smithereens over Shalem's head.]

Whoa, hey! [What, exactly, the fuck? She hasn't received the warning about shadow teenagers (and Ai) yet, either, so her first move is to try and restrain the girl by her arms (12).]

What the hell is your problem?!

[kandata]

[Ai is successfully restrained!]

Let...go...!

[She shouts, squirming, but is unable to get herself away from Kainé. Woah! You have captured Ai, and she finds herself at the mercy of Kainé.

It takes a bit, but Ai loses all fight, just...breathing heavily and glaring at Kainé like she wishes she had a second guitar at hand right now so another head gets the brunt of it.

Watch out, Kainé. Ai will attack at the first chance she gets]

[moonshaded]

[She might get that opportunity before anyone expects, since that stupid voiceover catches Kainé off guard, baiting her into paying more attention to her surroundings than the girl she's grappling.]

"Discovered" my ass! Like I didn't watch her brain the guy from over there.

[But also more importantly, there's no "body" about it. She looks down to Shalem and calls out to him. Please don't actually be dead, she thinks, but what comes out it a little more forceful.]

Hey! Get up so we can figure out what's gotten into her.

[Shalem will receive what may be Kainé's first and only in-game cast of Dia, but this does mean that Ai can probably wiggle away and plot her counterattack.]

[kandata]

[I can't believe Ai is suddenly becoming a tremendous fighter, because she's able to capitalize on the distraction effectively. She manages to wrestle herself away from Kainé (18), and then summon a Zyodine (19) to strike at Kainé. Watch out for intense electricity magic onto you!]

[prozaic]

[Maybe that was a spicy Dia, because Shalem actually wakes up! Barely. (13) He gingerly pats the top of his head where he got hit, though his fingers don't come out blood-- small mercies.

However, he's not totally awake enough to try casting anything, he's just struggling to get up.]

[moonshaded]

[That's okay; he's been through a lot, so he can take all the time he needs to get back up.]

Get back here -!

[But the Shadow Ai has already slipped away, and before Kainé can lunge after her, she retaliates. That Zyodine hurts, so when she goes for a Lunge to snap her out of it so she can be pinned back down again, it misses terribly (3).]

[moodwrecker]

[She actually wandered off and was useless elsewhere, but the shouting gets her attention and she runs back just in time to see Ai attacking Kainé.]

What the- are the Shadows copying us now, too?!

[Charging for Ai to hit her with a Giant Slice (15). Fortunately, since she saw Ai in the room earlier, she's assuming this is just a figment of the Palace.]

[kandata]

[Kaine missed, but dodging that made Ai unable to avoid Aubrey's attack. Ai is struck, falling to the floor. Desperate and also feeling all is fair in a fight, she gathers dust and dirt to throw at their faces!

Ai misses so miserably she gets dirt on her own face. She's defenseless! Next attacks from them three are a guaranteed hit!]

[moonshaded]

[Having joined Ai in the Nikiya before, Kainé is at least passingly familiar with her actions and demeanor. Now that the initial shock (haha) has worn off, it’s starting to feel a little clearer.]

Something’s up! Is this a Shadow? But why would it look like one of us and not some twisted memory bullshit?

[Maybe they ran out of dreams to desecrate. Usually, an enemy falling to the ground like that would have her kicking until it didn’t get up again, but since she’s still crispy, she uses her freebie on a Psio for the magic damage.]

[moodwrecker]

When we looked in the window, it was a vision of Ai in a music shop. It must be a memory from here.

[Giant slice worked before - let's just do that again!]

[kandata]

[Kainé uses Psio, Ai clutching her head, and Aubrey's attack does the trick. Poor Ai, getting battered so much!

That's too much for Ai. With a puff of smoke, Ai loses its cohesion, and turns into one Onmoraki. It looks pretty pissed off!]

[moonshaded]

It was from here, huh? Guess that means this has all been pretty meaningful to her.

[How rude of the Shadow to be imitating it! She would be pissed off, too, if she looked as bad as that ugly MFer.

But seeing that ugly form and hearing Aubrey’s story removes any limitations on an all-out offensive.

At least, it should, but switching back to a physical attack (3) makes Kainé’s swing miss wildly. Maybe she should stick to the psychic stuff?]

[moodwrecker]

...I guess so.

[Fortunately, Aubrey has a better time in the aiming department - she'll try hitting it with a Bufula (15) for medium Ice damage!]

[prozaic]

[You know what? He still feels like he got run over by a herd of mountain goats. But he's always been able to work through that sort of physical issue because it's always expected of him.

He summons Orpheus, and casts Danse Macabre (16), little origami birds made of ice bombarding the Onmoraki. Ill-advised, but instinct makes him reach for the magic rather than a weapon in a fight even when his brain hasn't engaged yet.]

[kandata]

[This Onmoraki is not getting forgiven at all. Not only it battered Shalem with instruments, it also would have killed Kainé and Aubrey with electricity if it could have gotten the chance!

Seeing them three about to attack, though, is enough to make the cowardly demon decide to flee, fluttering its little featherless wings away. Kainé's missed attack makes it squawk, vulnerable to Aubrey's ice damage and Shalem's special Danse Macabre!

This thing gets obliterated! From above, three rags flutter down. They're rags because let's face it, a t-shirt divided into three pieces can't be called a t-shirt anymore. Monokuma is the only thing that didn't get torn apart, though, instead each piece has his grinning visage nice and intact on it, to the point it's covering most of the fabric of each piece. Enjoy!]

1/2

[moonshaded]

[SHE DIDN’T EVEN GET A WHOLE T-SHIRT?!?!]

2/2 boy i am struggling to spell on mobile

[moonshaded]

[Kainé wads the scrap of fabric up into a ball and stuffs it… somewhere, don’t worry about it.

She looks at Shalem, who still doesn’t look very with it. And she can’t say she blames him; Kainé is anything but a healer.]

You hit the floor like a bag of rocks. How’re you feeling? [Hopefully his musical adventures gave him something to show for it, too.]

[prozaic]

I'm not bloody, which I'll take as a good sign. [But he's not happy about getting hurt like that. He wants to break something, a little bit.]

Thank you. {For the assist, he means.]

[moonshaded]

... Yeah, don't mention it.

If your brains were totally scrambled, we'd know by now. [Still, he could have a concussion or something like that, but he's a big boy who can probably look after that part himself.]

You find anything that might've pissed the Shadow off? That bear'll have us beating the shit out of each other if we make a wrong move.

[prozaic]

[Brains, scrambled? Perhaps. But that's not something you can really notice or tell, can you? Or even if someone is suffering from certain other problems. Unfortunately Shalem's issues are sometimes a bit too subtle to be detected, even by himself-- because these are simply parts of his personality, and not some outside force.]

I found a memory... and this. [He pulls out a black band.]

Some cultures wear this on their arm to signify mourning.

Or perhaps it didn't appreciate music.

[kandata]

[From unseen speakers, Monokuma's voice sounds:]

A body has been discovered! Please gather at the east wing of the first floor.

[And there's the snap of a picture.

For the record, that speaker announcement was not broadcasted all over the place, it was just for this starting area and nowhere else. Nobody will come because of it, yup]