While All The Other Demons And Angels Chose To Work With Humans, Satan Said, "I'm Getting A Dog."

Regret

I apologize for putting such a poorly written bad guy (technically not a villain) like Honeycrisp out here. I thought I had an idea going here, but it just fell flat. He won't be in the story much longer.

Nothing in this child-kidnapping witches plot is meant to represent anything in the real world. There's no political intent here.

WLC 2.1: Licker Bar

Sitting in a tavern, a gecko in a ratty wig sits alone at a booth in the rear. Dressed in a red shawl and leggings, she swirls her drink while watching the crowd hounding the flame-haired bartender. He pours, shakes, and passes drinks in an effortless dance.

L: It was a few months after I moved here to Rankedge. I's at Libby's having a pint.

J: Of course, you were. You were always at Libby's. So glad that place burned down.

L: How can ya say that? Weren't ya friends with Jr.?

J: Yes, and she hated working there. She didn't want to be saddled by her dead dad's dream.

Her wandering gaze is suddenly pulled by the sound of the door. A knight in shiny armor steps inside, looking about. The gecko slips out of her seat and sneaks across the tavern.

L: She looked like a scaly elf. A real beauty, too: skin blue like lapis and hair of water. Too soft in the face and too fancy a suit to have seen much action.

Ignored by most of the drinkers, the knight makes her way to the bounty board and attempts to pin her own parchment to it. "Come on," she says, "Get in there you... tack."

L: Naturally, I had to take a chance.

D: Were you always looking to help people, Nana Ling?

L: Y-yeah, I'd been helping everyone and their mum.

"Problem, mate?" asks the gecko, taking the page, "Going questabout, eh?" Her eyes dart back and forth from it and it's poster.

"Yes," says the knight, annoyed by the audacity, "But I have need of a guide into the Underdank." She looks the gecko over. "Doubt you'd be of any help."

L: The undine was in pursuit of her missing "roommate" from St. Chastity's. And ya know how the girls from there are.

J: St. Chastity's School for Lady Paladins?

L: The very same. Never been a straight lady in that building.

"Well, ya'd be wrong," says the gecko, "Name's Dr. Ling, local wizard and probo'solver." She hand the page back. "If your mate's up a gumtree, I can help. Ya got a name, lovely?"

"Maraja," says the knight, placing her fist over her heart, "Champion of Vanessa."

J: Vanessa? Really?

D: Who's that? Do you know her too?

L: I'm getting to that. Hold on.

"Champion? Then why ya looking for aid in a pub?" asks Ling, "We got a shrine up the way." She tilts her head at Marja's continued distrust. "At least let me show ya that far."

Maraja sighs, "Sure then." She shoves her paper into her bag. "Lead the way."

Character Select Face

On the right here, is the game's Story mode icon, which itself is a frame from the game's intro movie. Left to right: Gengoro, Jo, Kaun, Tatsumi, Mikado, Kannuki. Below are the Vs sprites for those five.

Due to a few characters' asymmetrical designs, they get two different vs screen sprites.

Checking the List

I have significantly underestimated this scale of this task.

While doing this, I've reconsidered the lizard for now, but I have another idea: Tumblr structure seems a fine place to try writing a "found document" type of story. It's about a corporate lawyer devil in a post-apoc city.

Edit: I may go through with the lizard story.

WLC 2.3: Must Love Gods

The chamber for Vanessa is as white as the rest of the shrine, but with a splash of color upon the pulpit coming through the stained glass window depicting the goddess' most common appearance: six winged eyes encircling a larger one, all wreathed in golden flame and squished as if concealed by unseen eyelids. A stack of prayer mats are tucked in the corner by the door. The altar stands less than a meter in front of the pulpit; it's supports resemble a bed frame decorated with engravings of the goddess' eyes with inset jewels for their pupils.

As Maraja approaches the altar, Ling slips up to the pulpit and stares into the window. Maraja and Kalyani begin praying and the eyes of glass give a brief twinkle.

L: Weren't really listening to what they were saying. It didn't look like it was working anyway, so, after ten minutes or so, I joined in as respectfully as I could.

"Oi, ya heavenly b*****d!" yells Ling, "Your girls need your help. Get down here!"

Kalyani gasps in shock.

"Hold your tongue," says Maraja, "You can't act like that here."

L: Though, my wizardly ways were less than appreciated.

Ling pounds on palms onto the pulpit persistently. "Ya dumb b***c," she yells again, "We came to see you."

L: And maybe the drink had its say too.

The blessed women grab Ling and attempt to pull her from the room. She clings on, yelling at the window.

"Thhiss behaviour iss unaccceptable," says Kalyani, "You are more likely to incur divine wrathh thhan aid."

L: But it worked.

A bright light fills the room as the goddess Vanessa emerges from the glass, her eyes and wings shimmering and a weaving of colors spirals behind her.

L: I'll never forget what we first said to each other. I told her, "Your radiance is blinding."

"Hey, ya glowing c**t," shouts Ling, desperately covering her unblinking eyes with her hands, "The room's white as snow, ya drongo!"

The goddess looks down on the three pained mortals and says, "Oh, I am so sorry! Let's turn that down to a soft glimmer." Her radiance dims down and the women regain their sight.

L: I doubt any mortal's said anything like that to her.

"Now, what was I doing? Ah, yes." The eyes surround Ling and glare at her. "You dare to enter holy ground and behave thusly? I am more than aware of your life and deeds, Kun Ling. Moving across the world may hide you from mortals, but you cannot escape my gaze."

J: You expect to believe she knew you already? L: Why wouldn't she? Of course, the Love Goddess'd heard of me. J: And you're proud of that? D: What are you talking about?

"Are ya going to help her or not?" asks Ling, her voice as flat as someone investigated by a blind elephant.

"Did you not hear me?" asks the goddess, the eyes spin around Ling, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I heard ya," says the wizard, "Ya can deal with me after ya help your champion rescue her girlfriend." She licks her eyes and resumes staring into the largest of Vanessa's.

Maraja resists correcting this statement, too afraid to speak in the presence of an angry god.

L: Angry's overselling it; irate, maybe?

"Why are you so concerned about them?" Vanessa's eyes narrow, "What do you stand to gain?"

L: It's an odd question, right? Took me a second to get it. Why wouldn't she just strike me down without being there?

"Ah, I see," says Ling, "This is a trial, right? Gods love trials. Ya already said ya knew me."

"Yes, I did," says Vanessa, "And I shall test your worthiness of my aid."

L: So we did a trial and I passed. D: What was the trial? L: Oh, uh, it was just some questions to prove... that I understood- understood... the concept of love. J: ... L: Shut up, Jevoi. That trial took several hours. Several long, glo- I mean, long, tedious hours.

WLC 4.3: Queen of Swords

"We'll be right outside," says Jevoi to Dalini, "If you need me, just speak up." She exits the room and scowls at Ling.

"Sorry, I don't have fancy pipes," mocks Ling, "Apocalypse is happening."

"It's not about the toilet, Mum," snaps Jevoi, "You're a wizard; you have magic."

"Always thinking magic'll solve everything." Ling shakes her head. "Never thinking about the consequences."

"You don't think it's terrible conditions you were raising her in?" asks Jevoi.

Ling walks over to the little table and stares at the mock tea set. "Better conditions that Nana Ning had... minus the eternal freezing night. At least I've done a better job than Nana Ting."

"Ting?" Jevoi's caught off-guard. "You've never told me anything about Ting."

"How could I?" laughs Ling, "I never met her."

Suddenly, the door from the hall opens and six-armed elf-esque woman with a serpentine lower body slithers into the room. She's wearing a green sweater and, for the brief moment that she was entering the room, a smile. But then, she saw Ling. Now, the smile is gone; replaced with rage.

"YOU!?" yells the raven-haired demon, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? I"LL KILL YOU!" She conjures six swords and advances toward the wizard. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

Ling sighs in resignation. "Not expecting to be forgiven, demon."

Jevoi jumps in front of the swordswoman. "Calm down, Angustias, my queen."

"Why are you stopping me?" asks Angustias, her eyes still trained on the wizard, "Why did you bring her here?"

"You know why," says Jevoi, pushing the swords down, "I want her dead too, but do you want to explain to your daughter why Nana Ling had to die?" Jevoi grabs the bronzed amazon's face and forces their eyes to meet. "She doesn't even know you yet. Don't lose sight of what matters, my queen."

Angustias drops her weapons, which fade away, and picks up Jevoi in six-armed hug. "Of course, my empress." The demon's eye briefly twitches in pain and she makes a threatening gesture toward Ling with one hand.

"Mum!" yells Dalini from the bath, "What do I do now?"

Jevoi dismounts her wife and races to the door. She hops quickly in place, alternating legs. "Oh, I'm going to help my daughter get dressed for the first time!" she squeals before calmly walking the door.

"She's stoked about this mum s***e, isn't she?" asks Ling.

"Don't f*****g talk to me," says Angustias, trying to figure out how to pose her arms in loving, motherly way.

Hitting the pitcher exactly in the face is an impressive feat; doing it on purpose would have been something he could have been proud of.

Oh yeah here's this whole argument if you guys wanted that.

WLC 6.1: A Scientist in Her Natural Habitat

L: Less than a year after the worm incident, I's in my lab working. Jevoi was off playing with Gank, when I had a visitor.

In the lab-cum-store sits twenty potted pepper plants across four tables with protective domes. Each table has the same arrangement of five different types pepper. Between each set, stands a different colored glowing crystal; between the tables, a cross wall containing safely coated lead plates.

Dr. Ling sits at her counter with a red pepper cut open on a tray, seeds carefully extracted in a pile. Her writing notes for each plant's current condition and exposure schedule next to it.

"After three weeks, the peppers appear to be unchanged externally under the red light," she mutters to herself, "But the seeds have grown in size. Taste testing will need to be redone."

She sighs, for she is unable to taste a difference in these supposedly hot peppers. The capsaicinoids have no effect on her, nor her current assistants, but to the mammals it was intended to repel, its flavor is valued highly. If the taste is too different, or worse, unpalatable, her work will never be accepted; it's already hard enough to assure most people that her food is safe. Sure, goblins will eat anything, but elves and dwarves? They have standards, traditions. No matter what affects she's had politically, she still had to fight for every plant, for every scrap of funding. Three steps forward, two steps back, until she dies. A never-ending-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The sudden rapping on her door awakens Ling from her thoughts. The stress is getting to her again. She walks to the door, preparing how she'll react. Is this for passage or medicine? 'Or maybe love?' hopes Ling. She opens the door slowly. "Who's it?"

Standing outside Ling's house is a uniformed gnome woman. The curly haired cutie is someone Ling vaguely recognizes, "Good eve~ning~, Dr. Ling," she says.

"Tanglepork?" Ling asks, "I already gave your boss my files. Did ya come just to come?" She licks one eye in her approximation of a wink.

"That's Deputy Tanglepork, now," says the gnome, gesturing to her badge. "I need to ask you a few questions; it's serious. May I?"

"Come on in, Porky," says Ling, "Need a break from plants."

Mikado Endings

I mentioned earlier that the original Bushido Blade has a secret tenth fight. Beating that gives the second (actually canon) ending.

Here are the two endings for Mikado. Her Japanese VA in both games was Michiyo Yanagisawa.

Mikado Fan Art

I don't feel comfortable posting other people's fan art, especially without their permission, and most of it is obviously from Japan. So, I'm linking to the other sites. If any of the artists want me to remove these, I will.

pixiv

#ファンアート ゲーム感想絵　『ブシドーブレード』 - 雨門 太郎のイラスト - pixiv

ゲーム感想絵、PS1のゲーム『ブシドーブレード』の御門（ミカド）と辰美（タツミ）。包帯の女性キャラが御門（ミカド）で、学生服の少年が辰美（タツミ）。御門さんは22歳の巫女さんで、辰美君は16歳の男子高

pixiv

#ブシドーブレード 巫女がゆく！① - 緒方七美のマンガ #漫画 #御門 - pixiv

昔昔描いたブシドーブレード本「巫女がゆく！！」より。イラストも漫画も御門ばっかの本。イラストは色んなタッチで描いてみました。

This second link is actually three pictures of increasing realism. The artist also has a few Bushido Blade comics, including the next link.

pixiv

#ブシドーブレード 巫女がゆく！② - 緒方七美のマンガ #漫画 #御門 #葛城鈴香 - pixiv

昔昔描いたブシドーブレード本「巫女がゆく！」より。イラストも漫画も御門ばっかの本。前記と「巫女の野望」。前記、字が汚くてすみません…かなり古い情報なので紅茶専門店マリアージュフレールの「MIKADO」

pixiv

#イラスト ゲームキャライラスト2点 - 緒方七美のイラスト - pixiv

昔の絵です。恐らくチラシ用に描いたんじゃないかと。月華の剣士2の真田香織。ソウルキャリバーのアイヴィー様。ブシドーブレードの御門。同じくブシドーブレードの辰美。

pixiv

#風閂 ブシドーブレード弐アンソロ表紙 - 緒方七美のイラスト - pixiv

懐かしい原稿が出てきたので、本と一緒にUPしました。帯まで作ったのはコレだけですね…。ブシブレはまた描きたい！そして今の技術で辰美が死んでない続編を熱望ですー！！

deviantart.com

Bushido Blade 2 by iamazombiebutterfly on DeviantArt

pixiv

#二次創作 「御門」 - アマカラのイラスト - pixiv

PS「ブシドーブレード」より「みかど」です。

deviantart.com

My Nostalgic Games-Bushido Blade 2 by GalaxyStar-X on DeviantArt

This artist's blog includes a cute chibi Mikado (in which she is identified by another role her voice actress performed "Currypanman"): http://okirakustudio2.web.fc2.com/analogue/a_022.htm

The also did a cute valentine's picture of the four ladies: http://okirakujuraku.blog97.fc2.com/blog-entry-2353.html