PDP Guide Part 20: Heading to Makai

Part 19 can be found here.

When you're ready, Gap on over to the Hakurei Shrine. Remember that there is a place to heal in the building you are Gapped to. Please be prepared for what you are about to face, because there is a bit of a difficulty spike here. If you have not yet had you entire team knocked out, this may be the time when you will experience it. That reminds me: That healing spot over by the Garden of the Sun sells Myouren Tea and Paste of the Fog. You know, just saying. These next fights are going to exploit weaknesses you never realized / remembered that you had. And it's going to hurt.

 Head right until the second place to turn up, then go up. Basically, you're heading to where you ran into Marisa for the first time. As you go down that path, you will be stopped by Marisa, who will fight you with a level 60 Nitori, level 62 Alice, level 62 Patchouli, and a level 67 Marisa.
After defeating her, she will run off. You should also run off and heal, because I can almost guarantee that you need it, unless you are very, very well prepared. My Momiji is level 89 and was knocked out in that fight with ease. Save after every fight as well, just in case.

Keep heading up and you will notice that the Giant Suika is no longer blocking your path, allowing you to continue. Head up and to the right first. Keep going to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 33.  Now head back and this time go left. Save. Heal if you didn't before. Oh, and in the grass here you can capture your own personal Reimu. And Shingyoku.

Continue up where you will have to fight Reimu. She uses a level 60 Aya, level 62 Yukari, level 62 Suika, and a level 67 Reimu. I. Hate. Reimu's. Life Charm.

Past Reimu, you will see a very large tree. I honestly don't know what this is, but regardless, continue to the left! When you get to some steps, go up two sets, and then go right and up to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 36. Then go back and head up the rest of the steps. You will now find yourself faced with a cave. But first, head to the left and down to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a much appreciated Hakurei Shinshu. Before you go in the cave, make sure you're ready to go. Have plenty of Moriya Sinshu, Paste of the Fog, and Oath Thread? Mentally ready to go? Okay.

In this cave, you can capture Ellis, Marisa, Reimu, Sara, and Byakuren. I am going for completion for this cave, and the easiest way to do that is to lead you through each route, then Gap out, heal, and head down the next path. It's much more painless than it sounds, I swear. It also has the added benefit of not using up all your BP before you get out of the cave. Also, I don't really know where I'm going, so doing multiple runs through is helpful.
In the cave, head up. Go up the stairs and keep going up and then cross the bridge. Then another bridge. Then go down some steps. Then turn left and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing an Ecstasy Set. Head down the steps. Fight the Hooded Girl with a level 60 Flandre. Then head down the nearby ladder.
Head up and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 46. Head down and to the left and fight a Ghost with a level 60 Mima. Continue past her and head up the nearby ladder.
Go down the steps and fight the Zombie Fairy with FIVE level 56 Yoshikas and a level 56 Seiga.
Continue down past her and fight a Brown-Haired Fairy with a level 58 Rika and a level 58 Shingyoku. Head up the steps near her and fight the Vengeful Spirit with a level 60 Yuyuko. Head up past the Spirit and fight a Ghost with a level 60 Eiki. Past the Ghost, you will find Skill Card 21. This concludes Path 1. Gap out, heal, and return to the cave.

Once again, head up until you reach a set of steps. This time, go left. Fight the Vengeful Spirit up here with a level 60 Mima. Apparently this Spirit is all that is over here...SO go back and head right this time.  Fight the Black-Haired Girl with a level 57 Seiga, level 57 Futo, and a level 57 Miko. Continue up past her and fight another Black-Haired Girl, this one with a full team of six Puppets. She uses a level 56 Seija, level 56 Youmu, level 56 Sanae, level 56 Futo, level 56 Shou, and a level 56 Sakuya. Continue up past them and fight a Girl with a white hat who uses a level 56 Lyrica, level 56 Lunasa, level 56 Merlin, level 56 Yatsuhashi, level 56 Benben, and a level 56 Raiko.

Head up the steps near her and keep heading up until you fight a Zombie Fairy with a level 58 Futo and a level 58 Miko. Continue past her and across a bridge. Go down one set of stairs, and then turn left. Fight a Purple-Haired Fairy with a level 60 Sunny, level 60 Luna, and a level 60 Star. Keep going left past her (the path is linear here). You'll have to fight a Sunflower Fairy with a level 58 Komachi and a level 58 Eiki. Right past her is a Yin Yang Orb containing a Combat Handbook (which, in case you forgot, is an item that allows a Puppet to receive more Exp from battle when it is holding it; meaning you can now have two Puppets receiving bonus Exp).
Return to the Purple-Haired Fairy and go down the steps to her right. Head down and fight the Ghost with a level 60 Youmu. Up past him is a Yin Yang Orb containing another Fate Thread. Head up and go up the nearby ladder.

When you get the chance, turn to the left and fight the Brown-Haired Fairy with a level 60 Yuyuko. Past her is a Girl with a hat who uses a level 57 Ichirin, level 57 Shou, and a level 57 Byakuren. Head back to the Brown-Haired Fairy and then go down. Head up the steps and across the bridge, then continuing going down. Fight the Ghost here with a level 60 Seiga. Down past him, head to the left and down the steps. Fight the Oni Woman here with a level 57 Yuugi, level 57 Suika, and a level 57 Kasen. Then head back up the steps and to the right, across the bridge. Head down the steps and then down the nearby ladder. Head down and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Yoke Charm.

Go back up the ladder, then back up the steps, across the bridge, up past the Ghost, cross the bridge, go down the steps, and then head all the way back up to the Brown-Haired Fairy. Go left past her and get on your Inflatable Raft in the water. Head down the nearby waterfall. At the bottom, head right and then land on the nearby bit of land. Fight the Hooded Girl with a level 58 Sakuya and a level 58 Remilia. Below her is a Yin Yang Orb containing Sun Fruit Jam. Hop back into the water and continue going down until you reach more land. Continue forward and fight the Vengeful Spirit with a level 60 Nue. Head down the ladder and fight the Animal-Ears Girl with a level 58 Mamizou and a level 58 Ran.

Head to the left and head to the land on the left. Go up the nearby stairs. Fight the Oni with a level 60 Konngara. Go past him and head up the first set of steps. Go up and then up the next set of steps. Turn right and fight the Rabbit with a level 58 Yorihime and a level 58 Toyohime.

At this point, you will likely be running out of BP for most of your moves. There is a relatively easy fix for that. Go and make a note of what Skills you are using, and then go into Edit and swap around your Skills. Then re-teach the ones that you want to know. That will reset the BP to full.

Anyway, continue to the right of the Rabbit and go up the ladder. Go left and up to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 28. Head back to the ladder, and then go down (the path, not the ladder). Fight the Vengeful Spirit with a level 60 YuugenMagan. Past him, continue down the nearby steps and then go to the right. Head down and fight the Oni Woman with a level 60 Kasen. Go back up and hop into the water. Keep going until you reach the end of the river. Hop off to pick up the Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 60. Then head down and fight the Rabbit with a level 58 Kokoro and a level 58 Reisen. Go down and head up the nearby steps. Keep heading up until you see a ladder. Go down the ladder.

Head down and then right across a bridge. Head down and then up a ladder. Head down, go past some steps to the left. Pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Prismatic Candy. Head back to the steps and go up two sets of steps. Head left and across a bridge. Head down, fight an Oni with a level 57 Kasen, level 57 Yuugi, and a level 57 Suika. Right below him is the exit. Thank goodness.

Head left and you'll see two sets of steps. Head down first, and then to the left to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 8. Head back up the steps, and then up the next set. Head right, down some steps, then go down and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Magic Crystal. Go back up, and right, and...another...cave...I'm not mentally prepared for another cave right now...

Okay...well...here we go....

Head left and up, then up a nearby ladder. Head right and then down. Fight the Girl with a white hat on the left with a level 58 Koishi and a level 58 Kokoro. Continue to her left and up the nearby steps. Then head right and up more steps. Fight the Ghost with a level 60 YuugenMagan and then continue up and cross the bridge. Head to the right and fight the Sunflower Fairy with two level 58 Yuukas. Next up is a Zombie Fairy with a level 58 Orin and a level 58 Utsuho. Head down past them and then turn left and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Houen Charm. Then go right and hop over the ledge. Head up and fight the Vengeful Spirit with a level 60 Yukari.

Keep heading up and when you get the chance turn right and pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Moriya Sinshu. Head left and go up the steps. Save here. Now head right, up the steps, and cross the bridge. Head down two sets of steps, go up, and then left. Here, you will run into Gengetsu and Mugetsu. They will now fight you as a team. They use a level 64 Remilia, level 64 Flandre, level 70 (yes, you read that correctly) Mugetsu, and a level 70 Gengetsu.

After defeating them, head through the door. Then go up, left, and up some more. Next up, a fight against Sara and her level 60 Elly, level 60 Meiling, and level 62 Sara. She will let you pass once she is defeated. Remember to save, heal, and unlearn/relearn moves as needed.

Head up onto the weird platform to reappear in a kind of creepy white room. Head down and through the door. Welcome to Makai.

Part 21 can be found here!