EarthBound: The war against Giygas - {The war is over}

[Ryudo Lee]

(Warning, giant wall-o-text!)

This weekend I was driving my mother to go get groceries.  In my car stereo I had a CD of various video game music remixes, and a good portion of that CD is EarthBound remixes.  My mother, who is also as avid an EarthBound fan as I am, recognized the music and mentioned that she wants to play it again (I hooked her up, btw).  This got me to wanting to play it again myself.  But instead of just sitting there playing it, I thought that I'd do a little more, and write up a journal of sorts as I play the game.  I know this kind of thing has been done before, and it's even being done now in a different thread.  But it seems like fun, and I'd like to do it for my favorite game.

A little history before I start.  EarthBound is actually the second game in a series of three games.  The first was a japanese game called Mother for the NES.  It was localized, but never released in the US due to the Super Nintendo coming out at the same time.  Someone eventually got a hold of the original prototype cartridge and released a dump of it into the wild on the internet.  EarthBound (Mother 2 in japan) was released in the US on the SNES to disappointing sales due to a failed marketing attempt.  Even so, it developed a small, but loyal, cult following.  Mother 3 was first being developed for the N64DD, but was scrapped when the N64DD project went away.  Mother 3 was later revived for the GBA.  Unfortunately, it was never officially localized.  (If you don't already know, and want to know more about Mother and Mother 3, PM me, there's a lot more that can be said about them.)

Since I'll be spoiling the whole thing with this journal, it should be alright to say this bit.  Mother and Mother 2 (EarthBound) follow a story surrounding the alien, Giegue/Giygas.  Mother 3 takes place sometime after EarthBound, but the primary enemy is Porkey (Pokey in the US EarthBound), who helps Giygas in the previous game.  It's kind of complex, but nonetheless, it's a fantastic story and has generated quite a following now.  Unfortunately, Nintendo of America has no plans to localize Mother 3, nor put EarthBound on the Wii Virtual Console.  It's a shame.  But those of us who have the original hardware can still enjoy EarthBound in all it's original glory.

And I'd like to share my experience with it with everyone.

EDIT: Added descriptions for each stat.


EarthBound: The war against Giygas

Day 1

So here we go.  Starting off a new game, we get to set up the names of the main characters and other little bits of information.  But I'm just going to take the defaults here, except for the Text Speed:

Text Speed: Fast
Sound Setting: Stereo
Window Style: Plain Flavor  (Grey and White, plain)
Him: Ness
Her: Paula
A Friend: Jeff
Another Friend: Poo
Pet: King
Favorite Food: Steak   (This is what Mom cooks for you whenever you rest at home)
Coolest Thing: Rockin  (This becomes Ness's primary attack PSI power)

(An interesting note here, in the japanese version (Mother 2) the "Don't Care" selections include the names of the Beatles.)

Are you sure?  Yep.  I'm sure.

And so the story begins.

The year is 199X.  Onett, a small town in Eagleland.  Ness's house.

There is the whistling of something falling from the sky, and then a loud explosion, followed by police sirens.  Ness is, understandably, woken up from his slumber.  His hair is a mess and he's in his blue and white striped PJ's.  (Note: except for the PJ's, Ness almost looks like me at that age.)

Ness's Starting Stats:
Level: 1
Offense: 2 (How much damage is dealt with a Bash attack)
Defense: 2 (Lowers damage dealt by enemies)
Speed: 2 (Determines who goes first in a battle, and also if you can escape from battle)
Guts: 2 (Increases the chance of getting a SMAAAAASH! critical attack)
Vitality: 2 (Determines how much HP is gained during level up, up to 15 points)
IQ: 2 (Determines how much PP is gained during a level up, up to 15 points)
Luck: 2 (Increases the chance to dodge an attack)
HP: 30/30 (Total HP)
PP: 10/10 (Total Psychic Points, used for PSI attacks)
Exp: 0 (Current Exp points the character has)
4 Exp for next level (How many points are needed for the next level)
No PSI powers

After leaving Ness's bedroom and going into the hallway, the lights come on.  Heading into Tracey's room (Ness's sister), she is concerned that the explosion woke Ness up, and wonders of Ness was "freaked out".  Sisters.  Can't live with 'em, so might as well take their stuff.  She's got a present in her room, with a Cracked Bat inside.  Ness takes it and equips it.  Ness's Offense goes up from 2 to 6.

Moving on downstairs, Ness finds mom wandering around, and King sleeping. King also wonders why Ness isn't asleep right now... didn't he hear the big boom?  Some dog.  Ness checks with Mom and so she sends him upstairs to get changed, since Ness intends to go outside to check out the explosion.  (The "Are you nuts?" line is wonderful, love you too, mom.)  Talking with mom again nets Ness a worried-mother line, and then off into the world he goes.

Ness's home is situated in the hills, just outside of Onett.  The road to Onett is currently blocked by the Onett police who, for some reason, take a certain kind of joy in blocking off roads, and are going for a world record.  Good luck with that.  There's also a man in a blue suit who was trying to return home.  What was he doing on this hill anyway?  There's nothing up here but a... meteorite?  Better check that out.  

Going up the hill Ness finds an unnamed boy who claims that he will get up the hill to see the meteorite first.  Again, good luck with that.

Checking in with the neighbors, Ness finds Picky, Pokey's little brother, hanging out in the living room.  He mentions that Pokey went out chasing a police car, and told Picky to stay home.  Their parents aren't home, but are rather out at an elegant restaraunt.  Take from that what you will.

Going up the hill Ness finds several police officers loitering about.  Most of them just tell Ness to go home.  But does he listen?  No.  It is interesting though, to find a police officer who hates his job.  
Along the way, Ness finds a present lying around on the ground.  Inside is a bread roll.  Probably stale.  Ness takes it anyway.

Continuing up the hill Ness finds a small house with a man (with a strange hair-do) in the front door.  The man informs Ness that a meteorite landed nearby, but he's alright because he always works out and eats garlic... but the weaker citizens probably fainted.  He also mentions something else, but interrupts himself, and changes the direction of the (one-sided) conversation to his real job, making signs.  The sign next to the house identifies the man as Lier X. Agerate, Treasure Hunter.  After that little conversation, Lier wonders aloud about when the cops will leave.

Continuing on, Ness finds a police officer who says that the meteorite looks "different than usual".  As opposed to what, exactly?  But he's just awestruck.  Ness also sees the police captain, and another man (who can be assumed to be a scientist of some kind) by the meteorite, and then finds that the way is blocked by more police, and of course, Pokey.  Pokey is an overweight little porker, blonde hair that covers his eyes, and a pig nose... seriously.  (Note: In the japanese version, his name is Porkey.)

Pokey tells Ness that Ness is getting in the way of the cops... oops, "officer's" way and that he will tell Ness all about the meteorite in the morning.  Ness is sent packing back home.  Fat lot of good that did.  Ness walks home, and mom sends him right up to bed, not wanting to talk about it tonight.  And so Ness goes back to sleep.

Unfortunately, it won't last.  Later that night, there comes a knock at the door.  A desperate, annoying knock.  The kind of knock that you want to answer by flinging the door open and yelling at the person on the other side at the top of your lungs.  Ness finds Tracey in the hallway, and she mentions that the knocking on the front door is annoying.  Ness finds mom downstairs, and she asks Ness to find out who it is... even though she's like 10 feet from the door, but that's beside the point.  Of note, King just wants to lie still because the fleas are sucking him dry.  Good dog.  Upon approaching the door, who should burst in, but Pokey.

Pokey appears to be genuinely concerned, and for good reason.  He took Picky to the meteorite (and makes a snide remark to mom), the police suddenly left to deal with the local gang, The Sharks.  When he looked around for Picky, he found that Picky was gone!  He blames the cops, after all, it couldn't have been HIS fault, nosiree.  But he knows he'll get punished for it when his parents get back (who are presumably still out to dinner).  Appealing to Ness's sense of good will (and claiming that Ness is his "bestest" friend), Pokey begs Ness to help him find his little brother.  Ness agrees.  After all, Picky actually IS a friend to Ness.  Pokey, not so much.

Ness takes a moment to say goodbye to mom.  She mentions that he should take the dog along, even though he is unreliable (hit the nail on the head there).  She also says that he should grab the Cracked Bat in Tracey's room (already got it mom!).  And she tells him to change out of his jammies as well.

Tracey moved downstairs, and offers Ness a cookie, as well as a useful service!  She offers to hold onto anything that he doesn't want to carry.  Ness refuses the offer, but this will come in handy later.  The cookie will be useful almost immediately, so Ness will hold onto that.  Ness says goodbye to mom one more time, collects King, and Pokey and heads out the door... or would have, had the phone not started ringing.  Ness trips over himself to answer the phone, because dad gets bent if he doesn't answer the phone within the first three rings.  On the other end of the phone, is dad.  "Work to exhaustion when you're young..." he says.  He also assures Ness that he's there for support... over the phone.  But he will deposit money into Ness's bank account from time to time (eg. after every battle Ness wins), and record Ness's progress.  He ends the conversation by saying that he feels like a hero!  Or rather, the father of a hero.

Whatever.  Let's get this party started.

Now that the police are gone, the local wildlife has decided to come out and fight.  We find Spiteful Crows, Coil Snakes, and Runaway Dogs waiting to fight Ness, Pokey, and King. Pokey is completely useless in battle, but King often comes through in a pinch.  At least he's good for something.  A note on the enemies here, the Spiteful Crows like to steal things out of Ness's backpack, and can be difficult to hit, but at least they almost always drop cookies.  The Coil Snakes and Runaway Dogs are much easier to fight.  They deal less damage, and are easier to hit, but as well, give fewer exp points, and rarely drop anything.

Since Ness is on a mission here, there won't be any level grinding.  But Ness will at least achieve level 2 by the time he reaches Lier's house.

Ness's Stats:
Level: 2
Offense: 2 -> 3 (with equipment, 7)
HP: 30/30 -> 31/31
Exp: 4
13 Exp for next level
Ness realized the power of Lifeup alpha

Lifeup alpha really helps in this earliest stage of the game.  Since Ness would otherwis have to rely on getting cookies from the Spiteful Crows, which is no simple task at this point in the game.

Ness fights his way up the hill to find Lier still standing in his doorway.  He claims that he was too busy to investigate it, but he heard a child's voice on the hilltop.  Moving on, Ness can see Picky sleeping near the meteorite, and can finally get up on the hilltop!

Upon approaching the meteorite, King, oh brave King, runs away scared, leaving Ness with the useless Pokey.  Ness checks up on Picky, who is quite alright, and tells the true tale of what had happened.  Pokey ran away scared, and so Picky questions who the real big brother is.  Once the group starts heading back home, Pokey suddenly stops Ness, saying that he can hear a buzzing noise.  Does Ness hear it?  No actually, not until the column of light comes out of the meteorite and Buzz Buzz, a smally flying insect (not a dung beetle!) emerges, and proclaims that he is from 10 years in the future.  Buzz Buzz has traveled through time to bring an important message to Ness!

"In the future, all is devestation... Giygas, the  universal cosmic destroyer, sent all to the horror of eternal darkness..." he says.  But where he is from, there is a well known legend that has been handed down from ancient times.  It says "When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light.  The passing of time will shatter the nightmare rock and will reveal the path of light." (I'm sure this sounded much better in Japanese.)

Buzz Buzz is of the opinion that Ness is that boy in the legend, and the Giygas' plan was set in motion somewhere on Earth.  If Ness starts to confront the enemy immediately, then he may have time to counter the evil intentions of Giygas.  He goes on to state that three things are of the utmost importance: wisdom, courage, and friendship.  He also continues on the legends, that there would be three boys and a girl who would be the ones who defeat Giygas.

Pokey seems a little anxious, and states that he hopes that he's not one of the boys that was mentioned.  But even so, Buzz Buzz joins the group and follows Ness around.  Upon returning to Lier's house, Lier mentions that he has something to tell Ness, and only Ness, and so Ness should come back... alone.  (NOT CREEPY AT ALL, RIGHT?)

Strangely enough, on the return trip down the hill, all the Spiteful Crows, Coil Snakes, and Runaway Dogs are all... missing.  Hmm.  What's up with that?  It's almost like they were scared off by something... or someone.  As soon as Ness and the others approach their houses, a beam of light shoots down from out of the sky and a Starman Jr. appears in front of them.  Ah, that's what scared off the animals.  It taunts Buzz Buzz, and then draws the group into a battle.

Starman Jr. is obviously far too powerful for Ness to handle alone.  But Buzz Buzz is prepared.  He uses PSI Shield sigma on the entire group.  PSI Shield sigma is one of the most useful shields in the game, in that it nullifies any PSI attacks made on the person being shielded.  Buzz Buzz uses this shield, attacks, strengthens the shield, attacks again, and follows that pattern until the Starman Jr. is defeated.  The Starman Jr. provides enough exp to raise Ness up to level 3.

Ness's Stats:
Level: 3
Offense: 3 -> 6 (with equipment, 10)
Vitality: 2 -> 3
Guts: 2 -> 3
IQ: 2 -> 3
Luck: 2 -> 3
HP: 31/31 -> 45/45
PP: 10/10 -> 15/15
Exp: 28
16 Exp for next level

Buzz Buzz states for the record that the Starman Jr. came from 10 years in the future to kill him, so there's no time to relax!  From now on, he continues, Ness will be fighting enemies sent by Giygas, as well as humans who have "evil thoughts".  Animals are also becoming violent, due to Giygas' influence over the "evil in their minds".

Ness finally returns Pokey and Picky to their home.  And finally, their parents are home.  Pokey and Picky are sent up to their rooms, and their father gives them what-for.  He returns to tell Ness that Ness and his family should move away, because he loaned Ness's father over $100,000 and because of that, his family now lives in poverty.

Buzz Buzz then takes that moment to take a rest... on top of Pokey's mother's head.  She shrieks, cries out that she thinks it's a dung beetle, and smashes Buzz Buzz to the floor.  Wow, talk about irony.  Starman Jr. and all his PSI power couldn't put a dent in Buzz Buzz, and then he gets swatted down by an overweight mother.

Buzz Buzz lies dying on the floor.  His last words are to tell Ness of the journey he must take.  "To defeat Giygas, your own power must unite with the Earth's... the Earth will then channel your power and multiply it...  There are eight points that you must visit.  Make these places your own...  Each of these locations is "Your Sanctuary."  One of them is near Onett.  It is called "Giant Step."  Go there first..."

Before passing, Buzz Buzz gives Ness the Sound Stone and tells him that each of the "Your Sanctuary" locations will produce melody, and the Sound Stone will record it for Ness.  (An interesting note, if Ness's inventory is full of cookies from the Spiteful Crows, Buzz Buzz will put the Sound Stone in storage with Tracey... how he does this while he's dying on the floor is a mystery.)

And so Buzz Buzz passes on, and dawn breaks just as Ness leaves Pokey's house.

First things first, Ness needs to go home and rest.  It's been a long night.  But before Ness can get to his house, he gets stopped by a strange man who falls out of the sky, to much fanfare.  He claims to be a photographic genius, and takes Ness's picture (say "fuzzy pickles"!), and then takes off back into the sky.  That was more than a little odd.  But Ness goes back home, mom makes him some Steak, and he's sent right up to bed.

Ness finally gets a chance to call dad, and record his progress.  What a night!  And it was mostly worth it.  Dad deposited $41 into Ness's bank account, giving him a total of $71 in the bank.  Dad records Ness's progress, and finally, Ness can go out and face the world!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Heh. I shall watch your progress with interest.

[Ryudo Lee]

Today is the day that we deal with those pesky Sharks and take down the first real "boss".  I did some level grinding to get up to level 10.  This will make getting through Giant Step and part of Twoson that much easier.


Day 2

Ness steps out of his home to face a brand new day and a grand adventure to save the world!

...

Ness goes back to bed.

Okay, now Ness can face a brand new day and a grand adventure to save the world.

First things first, Ness heads up the hill (fighting off more Crows, Snakes, and Dogs, and finally eating that stale bread roll) to find out what it was that Lier was talking about last night.  Along the way, Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 4
Offense: 6 -> 8 (with equipment, 12)
Defense: 2 -> 4
Speed: 2 -> 4
Guts: 3 -> 4
Luck: 3 -> 4
HP: 45/45 -> 47/47
PP: 15/15 -> 16/16
Exp: 44
65 Exp for next level
Ness realized the power of Hypnosis alpha

Ness finds that Lier is not standing in his doorway this time, and in fact, the door is unlocked.  Upon entering, the primary features of Lier's house are a well used bed, a dresser, and a big hole in his floor.

The first thing that comes out of Lier's mouth is a statement of trust: "I'm only doing this because I trust you."  Is that ever a good sign?  In this case, no, no it's not.  Because immediately after that statement, Ness is invited into Lier's basement.  But Lier is no idiot, he knows that Ness doesn't really want to hang out.  But that's alright.  After all, they are not even related, but hey, even though Ness thinks that Lier is a big liar (see the pun there?), he just might surprise Ness... or so he says.  So down into the basement Ness goes.

Lier's basement turns out to be akin to a mine.  In fact, there's a shovel and a wheelbarrow at the bottom of the shaft.  Lier leads Ness deeper into the basement-mine.  Once they reach the end of the basement-mine, Lier speaks up, saying that he's found proof of a great treasure, a huge haul!  And he's going to show it to Ness, and only Ness.

And indeed, Lier has unearthed something truly amazing.  A strangely glowing golden statue of a horned man with his arms crossed.  Lier says that if this statue is a sign of what's further down below, then all he needs is more time, to meet his destiny of finding this awesome buried treasure.  He has a plan.  He'll eat garlic and work out to help strengthen himself for the task.  And then he promptly tells Ness to go home, because now Ness is getting in the way and might get greedy.  Ness checks out the statue before he goes, and notes it's strange glow.

Once back outside of Lier's house, Ness makes his way back home for a snack and a quick nap, checks in with dad (Ness's bank account now has $109 in it) and then finally heads down the hills to Onett.  Interestingly, when a snake approaches Ness for a fight, Ness finds that he has already won the battle, having been far more than a match for the much weaker Coil Snake.  But the Runaway Dogs and Spiteful Crows still pose a challenge.

Along the way, Ness comes across the Onett library.  Ness doesn't feel a need to check out any books here, so he moves on. (Note, the world map can be borrowed here, but it's not necessary to get it.)  Behind the library, in the woods, is the hideout that he and his friends use.  Ness chats with the lookout, and then heads inside.  One of the boys in the hideout offers to give Ness his Mr. Baseball Cap, since Ness has wanted it for so long.

Ness's Defense is raised from 4 to 10.

Continuing along the dirt path around Onett, Ness comes across a mole, who chatters on about fighting enemies and which way you face them, and something about the world and the tv screen, Ness wasn't really paying attention.  Ness continues on, and finds the entrance to Giant Step, in front of which is a shack and a fence.  Two traveling entertainers are loitering around outside the front door of the shack, and a big DON'T ENTER sign hangs on the fence.  The entertainers tell Ness that their shack was locked by someone front City Hall because a punk named Frank may have trashed the place.  Ness heads to Onett proper.

Once entering Onett proper, Ness first sees the burger shop.  There is a trash can next to the burger shop.  Ness digs around in the trash can, and finds a hamburger.  It was probably put there recently; try not to think about it.  Next door to the burger shop is the drug store.  Ness goes inside to spend his hard earned money.

Ness purchases a Tee Ball Bat, sells his Cracked Bat, and buys a Cheap Bracelet.

Ness's Offense is raised from 12 to 16.
Ness's Defense is raised from 10 to 15.

Ness is left with $5 to his name.

Ness takes a walk around town.  He discovers that the Onett police are doing what they do best, and have blocked the road to Twoson.  The man in the blue suit from last night is there as well, unable to get past the roadblock.  One of the police officers mentions that he cannot let anyone through unless he gets Chief Strong's permission.  Ness takes a trip to the police station.  Chief Strong is sitting at the back of the station and says that during this time of confusion, riots could break out, so the police are being extra cautious.  Unable to do anything further here, Ness heads out.

Ness makes his way to City Hall, and starts talking to all the folks in there.  One man is protesting all the stray snakes and dogs that are around the city.  One official is in a foul mood because the mayor doesn't like him.  Another man seems to know Ness and asks him some rather personal questions.  A woman wonders about the suspicious kids north of the library, and wonders if they are members of the Sharks.  She also states that she started a movement that will stop all of the bad influences on the children of Onett, and calls it the "Fresh Breeze Movement."  An old man mentions that he saw a giant ant in Giant Step.  That's interesting.

Ness tries to make his way to the Mayor's office, but gets stopped immediately by a police officer, who says that the mayor is busting his butt with all the troubles in town, like the Sharks and the meteorite.  He also makes a joke that Ness would reform the Sharks.  It's probably time to go do just that.

Ness resumes wandering around town and eventually learns that the Sharks hang out in the arcade.  But before Ness can confront Frank and the Sharks, he needs to toughen up a little bit.  So it's time to grind on some Sharks.  Ness wanders the streets, fighting off Shark after Shark until he reaches level 10.  Ness meets many different and highly unique characters in the Sharks: Pogo Punks, Yes Man Juniors, Skate Punks, all of them wearing a shark fin on their head.  During the grinding session, Ness takes an opportunity to stay at Hotel Onett.  In the morning, a bellboy shows up with a free copy of the newspaper, and reads off the headlines: "Mysterious meteorite north of Onett still burning brightly".  Ness takes a moment to give mom a call.  Mom tells Ness that Tracey has started working part time for a delivery company, Escargot Express.  Now Ness doesn't need to go home to use Tracey's storage service.  How convenient!  Well, back to the grind.  Once Ness got PSI Rockin alpha, the grinding gets much easier.

Ness's Stats:
Level: 4 -> 10
Offense: 8 -> 9 -> 11 -> 12 -> 16 -> 18 (with equipment, 26)
Defense: 4 -> 6 (with equipment, 17)
Speed: 4 -> 5
Guts: 4 -> 5 -> 7 -> 8
Vitality: 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6
IQ: 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6
Luck: 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7
HP: 47/47 -> 60/60 -> 62/62 -> 75/75 -> 76/76 -> 90/90 -> 93/93
PP: 16/16 -> 20/20 -> 22/22 -> 25/25 -> 27/27 -> 30/30 -> 31/31
Exp: 1858
738 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Rockin alpha
Ness realized the power of Healing alpha

Now at an appropriately powerful level, Ness can finally take charge of the arcade, and take down Frank.  Ness enters the arcade, and finds it filled with Sharks.  As soon as he enters, he is challenged by a Shark.  "It was you!  YOU beat up my buddy, didn't you?  You better just beat it!" he demands, and then draws Ness into a fight... which Ness easily wins.  Another Shark just taunts Ness, but doesn't want to fight.  Ness ignores the Shark guarding the door to the back yard of the arcade and goes upstairs.  He finds a Shark that prefers to drink tea and eat fresh vegetables, but that doesn't fit in with his super cool image.  Another Shark approaches Ness and gives him a handy tip, because he's so confident in his abilities, and then draws Ness into a fight.  Ness trounces him with ease.  Another Shark only offers a poem about spit and gum.  Ness, having had enough of this, heads downstairs to confront the Shark guarding the door.  He asks Ness if he wants to become a member.  Ness does not want to become a member.  This insult will not go unpunished, and so the Shark draws Ness into a fight, which Ness, once again, easily wins.  Ness goes through the doors to the back yard and confronts Frank, once and for all.

Frank is a young man with long blonde hair, wearing a red suit and sunglasses.  He introduces himself, but Ness is here to teach him a lesson, not chat.  The battle begins.  Frank wields knives and bad language, but "Fail-proof" Frank is soon defeated.  Not wanting to admit defeat, however, Frank sends his latest creation, the Frankystein Mark II after Ness.  It's a horribly cobbled together steam robot, mostly made of wood.  It packs quite a punch, but Ness doesn't take his time in dismantling it.

With his Sharks in shambles, himself beaten by a boy, and his robot destroyed, Frank finally admits defeat, and gets a little emo, calling himself "failure" Frank.  Frank then proceeds to tell Ness about Giant Step.  He says that it's a powerful spot and that some kind of special power is stored there that allows certain people to perform wondrous feats.  However, a monster has sucked up all the energy at that spot, and it will be difficult to get to Giant Step.  He does mention that Pirkle, the Mayor of Onett has a key to the entertainer's shack, which is blocking the entrance to Giant Step.

Ness heads back to City Hall, and makes his way to the Mayor's office.  His secretary says that since Ness stopped the Sharks, he's the talk of the town, and the Mayor is waiting to see him.  Ness goes upstairs.  This time the police officer doesn't stop him, and Ness goes to talk to the Mayor.  Mayor Pirckle is a stumpy little balding man wearing glasses, and a funky little 'stache.  The Mayor praises Ness for taking down the Sharks (in his own unique fashion): "Hey hey hey!  I'm Mayor B.H. Pirkle.  It's so nice to meet you.  You beat up the town bullies, punched them out big time, kicked their buts, bit their heads off, spit in their eyes, and made them wet their pants.  Then you forced them to promise not to make any more trouble.  Thank you!"  Ness asks the Mayor for the key to the entertainer's shack, a request that the Mayor is more than happy to grant... so long as he doesn't have to take any responsibility if anything bad happens.  Ness agrees, and finally has the key to the shack, and can get into Giant Step.

Before going to Giant Step, Ness makes one more stop at Hotel Onett for a good night's sleep.  Checking the paper in the morning, the headlines read "Mayor of Onett teaches Sharks a lesson, brings peace to Onett".  Ness makes a phone call to mom, and a phone call to dad (dad informs Ness that his bank account now has $2370 in it).  It's time to head off to Giant Step, and the first "Your Sanctuary"!

[Ryudo Lee]

It's finally time to go up to Giant Step and take back the first Your Sanctuary location.  Once that's done, the only remaining roadblock in Onett is the roadblock on the road to Twoson, which will be dealt with as well.


Day 3

Ness heads up to the traveling entertainer's shack, now armed with the key.  As he approaches the shack, the Runaway Dogs, Spiteful Crows, and Coil Snakes all flee at the sight of him, since Ness is now far more than a match for them.  He unlocks the door, and then informs the entertainers that they can now go inside.  They reward Ness for his hard work with the Travel Charm.

Ness is now protected from Paralysis attacks.

Ness enters the shack.  It's a squalid little shack, complete with a severely worn out bed, a small table, a bookshelf with nothing of interest on it, and a gaping hole in the back wall.  Ness wastes no time and exits through the hole in the back wall.  He notices that the entertainers have already done what they needed to in the shack and have already left.  Ness steels himself, and then enters the cave behind the shack.

The cave is large, and has a few offshoot tunnels.  He sees that it is infested with several rodents and bugs.  The first one he meets is the Rowdy Mouse, who is considerably strong.  But with Ness's advanced level, they pose little challenge.  One of the offshoot tunnels contains a gift box which holds a Skip Sandwich.  How long has this been here?  Still, a Skip Sandwich is a Skip Sandwich.  Ness eats it, regains a little health, and feels so good that he starts moving with an extra spring in his step, at least until the feeling wears off. 

Ness eventually finds himself at the entrance to another offshoot tunnel, and next to that is a rope that leads to an upper level of the cavern.  Ness checks out the tunnel.  Inside the tunnel, Ness is confronted by a Black Antoid, but by itself it poses no challenge to Ness, and so Ness just squishes it.  Yuck.  As it turns out, this particular tunnel was just a red herring, nothing else of interest being in here.  Ness exits, and climbs the rope.

Once at the top of the rope, Ness is assaulted by another Rowdy Mouse, and a Black Antoid.  The Black Antoid kept calling for help, and more Black Antoids joined the battle.  But they were all easily squished.  Afterwards, Ness was assaulted again, this time by multiple Attack Slugs.  Yes, slugs.  Ness dispatches them with his PSI Rockin power, which kills them like salt on a... well, a slug.  And for some reason, they dropped a Bomb.  Ness grabs it.  It will be immediately useful, as he gets attacked by another Rowdy Mouse.  Ness immediately tosses the Bomb at the Rowdy Mouse, and blew it up into little mousey bits.  Eww.

Continuing on, Ness finds another tunnel, and another rope.  He checks out the tunnel first.  Inside the tunnel, a gift box is guarded by a Rowdy Mouse and his brother, another Rowdy Mouse.  Ness dispatches them, and checks the box.  He finds a Cold Remedy.  While not particularly useful right now, Ness pockets it.  He exits the tunnel, and climbs the rope.

At the top of this rope, Ness is once again set upon by multiple Attack Slugs.  Another PSI Rockin, and they are gone.  And then Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 11
Offense: 18 -> 20 (with equipment, 28)
Defense: 6 -> 7 (with equipment, 18)
Speed: 5 -> 6
Guts: 8 -> 9
Vitality: 6 -> 7
IQ: 6 -> 7
HP: 93/93 -> 105/105
PP: 31/31 -> 35/35
Exp: 2717
927 Exp for next level

Continuing on, Ness finds an exit from this cave to the outside.  He finds himself just below the giant footprint of Giant Step.  He also notices a sparkling Magic Butterfly fluttering around.  Ness approaches it, and the butterfly flies around him.  Strangely enough, it relaxes him, and restores some of his PP.  He goes back the way he came and comes back out and the butterfly is back!  He continues this process, and uses Lifeup alpha to restore himself to full health before pushing onward.  He finds another entrance back into the cave.

Inside this part of the cave, Ness finds more Black Antoids, and another gift box.  Inside the box is a Hamburger.   What's with all the food in this uninhabited cave?  Ness finds another tunnel, and powers on, knowing that he's almost at the Your Sanctuary, and the giant ant that supposedly guards it.

Ness goes through a small tunnel which comes out to a large shaft with a rope going up one wall.  Ness climbs the rope to find... another rope.  Ness climbs that rope to find the giant ant, guarding an exit!  The ant taunts Ness before drawing him into a combat.  "You finally got here.  This is the first "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..." it says.  And then the combat begins.

The giant ant reveals itself to be the Titanic Ant.  Titanic Ant stands up on its hind legs and packs a mean punch.  It is also flanked by two Black Antoids.  The calls for help from the Black Antoids would go unanswered.  Ness leads off with PSI Rockin, which eliminates the Black Antoids, leaving only Ness and the Titanic Ant.  Titanic Ant's bite attack is powerful, but Ness's PSI Rockin ability and regular attacks are stronger.  In only a few rounds of combat, the Titanic Ant is vanquished for good.

Ness goes through the exit that the Titanic Ant was guarding, and finds himself on top of Giant Step.  He approaches the giant footprint.  As he approached the footprint, he felt completely restored, then suddenly he hears a simple tune and a memory comes forth into his mind.  He remembers a small, cute puppy.  It's King when he was just a pup.

Ness then remembers what Buzz Buzz had said about the Sound Stone.  The Sound Stone would record the melodies of the Your Sanctuary locations.  Ness pulls out the stone, touched it to his forehead and gathered his thoughts.  As Buzz Buzz had said, the stone did indeed record the melody.  It played the melody back to Ness.  Ness put the Sound Stone away, knowing that there are more locations to find, so that he may complete the melody.

Ness went back into the cave and made his way back to the entrance, back the way he came.  All of the Mice, Slugs, and Antoids that inhabited the cave would flee at the sight of him, since he had made this place his own.  He took out an Antoid or two, and went up another level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 12
Offense: 20 -> 22 (with equipment, 30)
Defense: 7 -> 8 (with equipment, 19)
Guts: 9 -> 10
IQ: 7 -> 8
Luck: 7 -> 9
HP: 105/105 -> 108/108
PP: 35/35 -> 40/40
Exp: 3661
1216 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of Shield alpha

Upon exiting the cave, Ness saw that there was a police officer waiting at the entrance to the cave, and the police officer stopped him.  "Hey you, the board says "Do Not Enter".  Couldn't you read it?"  Ness says yes, but that only makes the officer more upset.  "So you just didn't want to read the sign, huh kid... Get yer butt to the Onett Police Station later!" He says, and then storms off.  And so that is exactly what Ness does... but first, a stop over at Hotel Onett for a good night's sleep.  While he sleeps, Ness has a strange dream, where he is being called out to by an unknown person.  "Ness?  ... Ness.  ...Ness...  I'm a friend who you have never met before... My name is Paula.  Can you hear me calling you?  I am Paula..."  How strange.  Ness wakes up, checks the morning headlines: "Tamer of the Sharks actually a boy in a red cap!"  He then makes a few calls to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says that Ness now has $2692 in the bank).

Ness heads out and onward to the Police Station.  Now that he's got some notoriety, having solved the problem with the Sharks and "investigated" Giant Step, maybe he can get a few words in edgewise with Captain Strong.  Along the way he finds a sign set up by the Fresh Breeze Movement.  "Break the course of violence.  Don't break the wind of change."  Ness wonders if they realize how that actually looks?  Ness continues to the Police Station.

Inside the Police Station, Ness finds the officer who had stopped him talking to Captain Strong.  The officer gives Ness a short lecture which turns into a rant.  "So here you are.  You're the little delinquent that came back from Giant Step!  No you listen here... "Don't Enter" means just that—DO NOT ENTER!  You got that?  And furthermore... Blah blah blah blah... It's usually those tax evaders who... Blah blah blah blah... We don't enjoy blocking off the roads, you know... Blah blah blah blah... It's usually the local whiners that make a big deal about emergencies and meteorites!  Blah blah blah blah blah blah."  Ness tuned out most of it.  He was more interested in talking to Captain Strong.

Ness approaches Strong, and asks about the road to Twoson.  "Why is the road to Twoson closed?  An emergency, of course.  At times like this, kids like you should be playing Nintendo games.  Anyway, are you sure you want to go to Twoson?"  Ness says yes, and Captain Strong leads Ness to the back room, with a strange chortle.  The back room is populated with five other police officers.  Captain Strong moves Ness to the middle of the room, and then says "Show me what you got...  See if you can get past five of my best men..."  The police officers surround Ness, and then each, one by one, draw him into a fight.

The first one approaches with a shout, "Eeeeyah!  Hey, small fry!  You must be shaking in your boots!"  Ness bests him with ease.  The police officer sulks away, saying "You're tough.  You should join the police force!"

The second one approaches, saying "Your average policeman is stronger than any super hero!"  But not stronger than Ness, fortunately.   He too sulks off, saying "Oh... you won..."  Maybe he got the point?

The third one comes up, with a taunt "Don't let the Mayor's compliments give you a big head...  Bring it on, fat boy!"  Ness brought it.  He runs off saying "Let's do this again sometime... Next time, I'll take you out with my nuclear suplex attack!"

The fourth approaches, with some bravado "C'mon!  I'm going to take you apart right here, right now, baby!"  Fortunately, he's unable to.  He limps away with an angry comment "Grrr... I lost..."

The fifth approaches, but thinks twice.  "That's it, buddy... You can forget about me, I'm going to call for my boss!" He says, and then tags in Captain Strong.

Captain Strong approaches Ness.  "There is no way I can bet you in a straight competition, so... get ready for my "Super Ultra Mambo-Tango-Foxtrot martial arts!"" he says, and then draws Ness into one more battle with the Onett Police force.

Captain Strong is powerful, and it's easy to see why he got to be Captain.  His attacks are brutal, and he doesn't hold back.  He eventually loses his temper, and only gets stronger.  But Ness keeps fighting back, primarily using PSI Rockin alpha, and eventually defeats Strong.

Captain Strong is taken aback that he and the best men in his entire department were just defeated by a boy.  Being an honorable man, he gets on the radio and calls his men at the roadblock on the road to Twoson.  He orders them to let Ness through.  He then turns to Ness and says that he's not going to question Ness for now, but does want to see him again, later.

Ness leaves the police station.  He heads up north, going home.  Since he's going to Twoson, this will be the last chance he has to go home.  He checks in with mom, who feeds him and sends him up to bed.  He comes back down and gives dad a call to record his progress (dad says Ness's bank account has grown to $2923).  With Onett's problems more or less solved, Ness is ready to head out to Twoson!

[Ryudo Lee]

Twoson is not much bigger than Onett, but there's a lot going on here, and most of it surrounds (and hinges on) Paula.  Today we primarily do some exploration of Twoson and hear about what's going on around town.


Day 4

Ness heads out back to Onett.  Going south, he comes to the road to Twoson.  As Strong had said, the roadblock is gone.  The police officers there tell him that they had gotten the Okay for him to go through.  Ness travels down the path, and comes to a small house.  He enters the house and finds a man living with three mice.  He calls the mice "Exit mice".  Two of the mice have little arrows on their heads.  As it turns out, if Ness were to take one along with him, the mouse would help him escape from whatever cave or building he might be in.

Ness continues down the road to Twoson.  As he continues, he is assaulted by a mushroom.  With legs.  The Ramblin' Evil Mushroom.  Ness puts it down.  What is a mushroom doing walking around?  Ness continues on and finds a gift box with a hamburger in it.  Who keeps putting these things out here like this?

Eventually, Ness makes it to Twoson.  Twoson is a larger town than Onett, and according to a sign at the town entrance, the town got it's name because they weren't first.  Ness sees a lady wandering around the town entrance, who happens to be the town welcomer and guide.  She tells Ness about Twoson: "Twoson has a modern, clean hotel.  There is a hospital and the wonderful Chaos Theater.  There is the Polestar preschool, and a nice bus station.  If you're curious, you might want to check out Burglin Park.  It's exciting.  East of the town, you find the Peaceful Rest Valley.  On the other side of the valley is Happy-Happy Village.  There's also a pizza parlor.  Do you want to know anything else?  Well, tee hee, I don't know anything else."  Obviously.

Ness first checks out the "modern, clean hotel", the "Twoson Hotel".  Not really wanting to take a rest, Ness just explores the hotel.  He finds a man sitting by himself, and feeling a little mischievous, Ness bugs the man with incessant questions.  The man counters each question with statements of his own, and eventually gives up and hands Ness $50.

Ness leaves the hotel and finds a bicycle shop next door.  He heads over to it, only to hear a fanfare and see a man falling down from the sky.  It's the photographic genius again!  Ness poses for the photo (fuzzy pickles!) and gets his picture taken.  Ness goes inside the bicycle shop.  A man sporting a punk-mohawk stands behind the counter, and introduces the cycle shop "Punk-Sure".  Ness inquires about getting a bicycle, but the man states that they only have rentals.  He likes Ness's straight-forward style, and lets Ness borrow a bike for free.

Ness moves on next door to find the Twoson Department Store.  Once inside, he immediately pulls out all of his money from the bank and goes on a shopping spree!  Ness finds a bakery and a burger shop, but passes them up.  He then finds a general shop on the top floor, and decides to spend his money there.  Ness buys a Slingshot, and sells his Tee ball bat.

Ness's offense is raised from 30 to 34.

Ness also buys a Teddy Bear.  But it's too big to just keep in his backpack, so he drags it along behind him.  Unfortunately, this makes riding the bicycle impossible, so he returns the bike, not bothering to deposit his money back into the bank.  The man behind the counter notices how low Ness set the seat, and says that Ness must have short legs, and decides to call Ness "stubby legs" from now on.  Ness hands over the bike and heads back out.

Continuing on to see the sights, Ness crosses the street to find the Chaos Theater.  The line for tickets is backed up, so there's no way Ness is getting a ticket.  He sees an advertisement for the Runaway Five, a popular band who are playing here at the Chaos Theater!  Ness finds the two lead singers hanging out by their band's bus at the side of the theater.  One of them tells Ness that they've been cheated by the theater, and have been left deep in debt.  The other tells Ness that the girl who lives at the preschool is the talk of the town, and wants to see her someday.  Ness leaves the theater to continue exploring.

Ness bypasses Burglin park for the time being and makes his way around to the Polestar Preschool.  A boy outside seems upset, and tells Ness that Paula isn't here.  She suddenly left and the little boy doesn't know where she went.  Ness goes inside the preschool.  Inside he finds a woman tending to some children, who turns out to be Paula's mother.  She says that Ness shouldn't worry about Paula.  She has a guardian angle, it seems.  Ness goes through the door in the back, and finds Paula's father.

Paula's father immediately suspects that Ness is from another television station, wanting to do a story on Paula's powers.  Ness assures Paula's father that he is not from a TV station.  He says that Paula has said that she would only meet with a boy named Ness, and realizes that Ness is the Ness that was in Paula's dream, and that Ness will save the world!  He goes upstairs to call Paula.  He returns, obviously upset.  He says that Paula isn't here and that Ness should come back later.

Ness leaves the preschool and continues exploring the town.  He finds a couple of girls talking to each other about a couple of people in town.  They mention that Orange Kid is a great inventor, and that Apple Kid, another inventor, is a slob and an air-head.  Ness decides to go talk to both of them.  He goes to Orange Kid's house first.  Orange Kid's house is very... orange.  And so is the Kid himself.  He wears an orange coat and has orange hair.  At least everything matches.  He tells Ness that he's a bit embarrassed by his own reputation.  He also mentions that he's developing lots of inventions, but needs money.  He says he's working on a machine that could help out in Peaceful Rest Valley.  He wonders if Ness is willing to help finance the project and so asks for $200.  Ness hands over the bills and Orange Kid gives Ness the "Super Orange Machine", but calls it "Suporma" for short.  Orange Kid urges Ness to use it for spreading peace and goodwill on Earth.

Ness decides to try out the Suporma.  Ness fires up the Suporma.  It sang the song "Ode to Orange Kid" and then promptly broke down.  Now out $200, Ness leaves Orange Kid's house.  Next door to Orange Kid is Apple Kid's house.  Ness heads in there.  Apple Kid's house is very red.  Red walls, red floor, and Apple Kid himself is dressed in red and has red hair.  The house is a mess.  There's junk all over the floor, and a mouse running around.  The mouse tells Ness that no one has given him a name yet.  Apple Kid mentions that he's neglected doing his housework, and that he hasn't bathed in awhile either.  He also mentions that he's starving and wonders if Ness has something to eat.  Ness, being the good samaritan that he is, offers Apple Kid the hamburger he picked up outside of Onett.  Then Apple Kid asks if Ness would like to invest some money in his inventions.  Ness, being a good samaritan again, agrees and gives Apple Kid $200... hoping that Apple Kid would come up with something that's actually USEFUL.  The mouse without a name decides to block the door.  Ness asks the mouse to move, and before moving, the mouse gives Ness the Receiver Phone, so he can stay in touch with Apple Kid.  Ness heads out, and goes to explore a little bit more.

He finds the pizza parlor, Mach Pizza.  They don't actually sell pizza in the store, they only deliver.  The lady behind the counter gives Ness the phone number.  Ness heads out of the pizza parlor, and is immediately attacked by... a hippie?  Yes, a New Age Retro Hippie decided that he was going to try and attack Ness.  Buzz Buzz had mentioned that Giygas would be controlling people with evil intentions, and this must be a person who was compromised by Giygas.  Ness dispatches the hippie, and he returns to normal.

Next door to Mach Pizza, Ness finds the bus station.  He finds an ATM in the station, and decides that now would be a good time to deposit all of his money back into the bank, lest someone else ask for financial assistance.  The people in the bus station mention something about ghosts on the way to Threed.  Ness leaves the bus station and heads back the way he came, deciding to check out Burglin Park.  On the way, Ness is attacked by another compromised person, a balding man in a suit, the Annoying Old Party Man.  Ness dispatches him quickly, before the old man has a chance to lecture Ness about today's youth, and the old man turns back to normal.  And Ness also gains a level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 13
HP: 108/108 -> 110/110
PP: 40/40 -> 42/42
Exp: 4882
1482 Exp for next level

Ness high-tails it to Burglin Park.  A man at the entrance to Burglin Park mentions that the park seems dangerous, but there's some great stuff in there.  Ness goes in to check it out.  There are many merchants in the park, selling everything from condiments to signs.  Ness sees a house in the back of the park with a man standing on the roof.  Ness investigates it.  As he approaches the house, the man on the roof jumps down and says that the two of them can talk after they have "locked horns", and then draws Ness into a fight.

The man turns out to be Everdred, the boss of Burglin park.  He wears a bowler hat, has dreadlocks, and wears a Hawaiian shirt.  He is armed with nasty language, kleptomania, a nasty bite (does this look infected to you?) and a powerful punch.  But Ness is no slouch, and so takes the bull by the horns, and knocks some sense back into Everdred.  Unfortunately, in the confusion, the teddy bear took the brunt of Everdred's attacks and ended up as a useless pile of fluff.

Everdred, now humbled, introduces himself to Ness.  He says that when he jumped off the roof, he twisted his ankle.  He admits that he lost and nothing will change that.  He knows that Ness is looking for Paula, and tells Ness that Paula went to a secret hideout in the Peaceful Rest Valley, but she got kidnapped by a chubby boy and a weird guy in a blue outfit.  They said something about making Paula into some sort of human sacrifice.  He urges Ness to go find Paula and return to him.  Ness makes a quick stop at the hotel for a rest.  As he rests, he has another dream where Paula is calling out to him: "Ness!  I...Paula...  I am Paula...  Can you hear me calling you?  Help!  Come and help me!  Um, I don't know where I am...  I can hear water running in the distance...  Ness, please help me!"  Ness wakes up, checks the headlines on the local newspaper "Ghosts found to inhabit the tunnel to Threed", and then heads out to Peaceful Rest Valley.  As he exits, Paula's father runs by, very upset.  "P P Paula!!  Where are you?  It's time for a yummy piece of pie!" He shouts, and then runs off.

Ness finds the path to Peaceful Rest Valley by the bus stop and pushes onward, fighting off mushrooms, and walking sprouts, "Mobile Sprouts".  One of the mushrooms scattered some spores and a mushroom grew on top of Ness's head, making Ness feel funny.  But he continued on.  And he also gained a level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 14
Offense: 22 -> 24 (with equipment, 36)
Guts: 10 -> 11
Vitality: 7 -> 8
HP: 108/108 -> 120/120
Exp: 6366
1756 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of Paralysis alpha.

There was a cave between Twoson and Peaceful Rest Valley.  He moved through it, fighting off sprouts and mushrooms.  He met a girl at the Peaceful Rest Valley side of the cave, who collects mushrooms, and offered to buy the mushroom on top of Ness's head.  Ness agreed, and the girl gave him $50 for it.  Once the mushroom was gone, Ness no longer felt funny.

Ness pushed onward and found that a bridge leading to Happy Happy Village had been destroyed.  A little disgruntled, Ness continues forward.  As he moved on, he was attacked by, of all things, a UFO!  The Li'l UFO shot laser beams, and a beam that causes nighttime stuffiness at Ness.  But Ness battled on and defeated the Li'l UFO.  Thankfully, he was still carrying that Cold Remedy, and drank it.  The cold he got from the UFO went away.

Ness finally came upon an obstacle that he could not get past.  An iron pencil.  Why an iron pencil was just sitting there in the valley was beyond him.  But he could not make any more progress, and so went back the way he came.  Maybe Apple Kid has an idea?  As he exits the cave between Twoson and Peaceful Rest Valley, he gets a call on the Receiver Phone.  It was Apple Kid.  He claims that he made a really cool invention and urges Ness to come see it.  Ness hurries to Apple Kid's house, but finds that he's not home.  He sees that Orange Kid is hanging around outside, and asks him about Apple Kid.  Orange Kid says that Apple Kid is in Burglin Park, looking for Ness.

Ness heads to Burglin Park, and finds Apple Kid sitting under a tree, looking quite out of sorts.  Apple Kid says he was working all night, but had finally finished his latest invention, the Pencil Eraser.  The Pencil Eraser is a machine that removes any pencils in the area, but Apple Kid warns Ness not to use it near any shops that sell pencils.  He hands over the Pencil Eraser, and tells Ness that if he invents any other brilliant items, he'll call.

Ness takes the opportunity to buy another teddy bear, another Cold Remedy, get a few hamburgers, and rest up at the hotel.  He checks the headlines "The brave local hero named Ness who broke up the Sharks has left Onett.  Reports that the Mayor stopped the Sharks have proven to be false".  He calls mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $2426 in the bank).  Now Ness is ready to take on Peaceful Rest Valley, and rescue Paula!

[Ryudo Lee]

Ness is ready to tackle Peaceful Rest Valley, find out what is going on with Happy-Happy Village, and rescue Paula.  In that order.


Day 5

Now that Ness is better prepared and well rested, he's ready to tackle Peaceful Rest Valley and search for Paula.  He heads through the cave, fighting his way past the mushrooms and sprouts (individual mushrooms no longer pose a challenge), and makes his way up to the iron pencil, with the Pencil Eraser in hand.  Ness approaches the iron pencil, says a little prayer, and fires up the Pencil Eraser.  As Apple Kid had said, the iron pencil was immediately erased, it just vanished from existence.

Behind the spot where the pencil was, Ness finds a path and a bridge.  Ness decides to explore the path.  He goes as far as he can, only to find a dead end.  Once again, he hears a now familiar fanfare, and the photographer falls down from the sky.  As this is becoming a regular occurrence, Ness poses (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps Ness's photo.  Pleased with his work, the photographer makes his exit.  Ness then returns the way he came, and crosses the bridge.

This part of Peaceful Rest Valley ended up being more like a maze than anything else.  Also, it was swarming with strange creatures, all seeming to want a piece of Ness.  He found himself fighting the strangest things, like living oak trees, the Territorial Oak, and robots on casters, the Spinning Robo, as well as the UFO's and sprouts he had fought earlier.  He would find that the Territorial Oak would burst into flame when he defeated it, and the Spinning Robo would shoot beams that caused nighttime stuffiness.  But Ness battled on.

As he makes his way through the maze, he finds another Travel Charm.  He holds onto it, it might be useful for Paula.  Ness makes his way around and finds himself at the other side of the broken bridge.  He also finds there a man in a blue suit, much like the one he had seen in Onett at the roadblocks.  The man wonders aloud why someone would break the bridge like this.

Continuing on, Ness finds a gift box with a Croissant in it.  What a Croissant is doing in a box out in a valley is beyond Ness.  But he takes a moment to eat it anyway, to keep his strength up.  Another gift box has a bomb in it, which Ness pockets.  Ness wonders to himself about who keeps putting these things out here like this.  He moves on.

Ness gets into a fight with a UFO, which he dispatches with the bomb he picked up.  And then he gains a level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 15
Offense: 24 -> 27 (with equipment, 39)
Defense: 8 -> 9 (with equipment, 20)
Speed: 6 -> 7
IQ: 8 -> 9
Luck: 9 -> 10
HP: 120/120 -> 123/123
PP: 42/42 -> 45/45
Exp: 8221
2482 Exp for next level

Ness continues fighting his way through the valley, but the teddy bear didn't make it.  Ness finds another bridge, and crosses it.  Along the way he comes across a magical butterfly.  He restores his strength with Lifeup alpha, and restores his PP with the butterfly.

Ness eventually comes to a crossroads in the maze, one going left, one going right.  Being the explorer that he is, Ness goes left.  The path leads to a dead end, but he does find a gift box with a hard hat in it.  Not one to look a gift box in the mouth, Ness takes the hard hat.

Ness's defense is raised from 20 to 29.

Ness returns to where the path splits, and goes right.  He comes up on a ridge, and sees a wooden cabin in the distance, but no way to get to it.  He continues onward.  The path splits again, going left and right.  Ness goes left again, and comes across another gift box, this time with a Cup of Lifenoodles in it.  When fed to someone who is unconscious, the lifenoodles bring them back to full strength.  Ness knows how rare these are, and so saves them.

Ness returns the way he came, and goes down the other path, which leads to a cave.  Ness enters the cave to find it inhabited by Coil Snakes.  They flee at the sight of him, and Ness ignores them.  He moves through the cave to it's exit, and comes out to a very strange looking village.  The strangest thing about this village is that everything, from houses, to plants, and even the town cow, is painted blue.  A nearby sign welcomes it's readers to Happy-Happy Village.  Ness begins exploring the village.

There is one house that is not currently painted blue.  It is, in fact, red.  Ness checks it out, but finds the door barred.  A strange voice comes from the other side of the door.  "I not sure.  Boing!  Friends in valley behind Threed.  Ding!  Ding!"  What a strange way to talk.  A valley behind Threed?  Ness makes a mental note of that, and continues his exploration of Happy-Happy Village.  Many of the people in town mention a man named Carpainter, and one woman even makes mention of being struck by lightning.  And almost everyone chants "Blue blue".  Ness can see that these people and this village are all part of some very odd cult.

Ness sees a young man wearing a shy-guy mask and goes to talk to him.  The shy-guy tells Ness that he and "that overweight kid" kidnapped Paula, and mentions that she's hidden away in a mountain cabin.  He then realizes that Ness isn't one of them, and tells Ness that he was just joking, and to forget about all this.

Ness also finds a cave at the east side of the village.  A young man is looking it over, saying that it is a place that cannot be painted blue.  Another young man spouts some rhetoric about those who won't paint everything blue are opposed to peace.  Ness ignores him.  Ness also finds a shopping stand with a sign stating to take what you want and leave the money.  Ness, feeling naughty, grabs a fresh egg, and doesn't pay.  A man, behind a nearby tree tells Ness that he say that Ness didn't pay, and decides to extract payment from Ness through a fight.  Ness trounces him, but the man lays a guilt trip on Ness, but on the other hand, Ness has free run of the stand.

Ness finds another store in town and does some shopping.  Ness sells his old Mr. Baseball cap, his Slingshot, and his Cheap Bracelet.  He buys a Sand Lot Bat and a Copper Bracelet.

Ness's offense increased from 39 to 42
Ness's defense increased from 29 to 34

After awhile, Ness hears a chirping coming from his backpack.  He takes a look and finds that the fresh egg he had taken from the stand outside had hatched into a chick.  Ness holds onto the chick.  After awhile longer, the chick grows into a chicken.  Not knowing what to do with a chicken, he takes it to the store and sells it to them, and they accept it.  Ness got a full profit of $110.  Ness takes note of this, and moves on.

Ness is confronted by a man in a blue outfit, complete with a pointed blue hood (with a fuzzball on the point), and a black tie.  The man holds a bucket of blue paint and a paintbrush, and looks quite out of his mind.  The Insane Cultist's main attack is his paintbrush attack, but it's not enough to stop Ness.

Ness wanders around town and finds a house with a blue cow outside, the "Meager Livin' Farm" (Lodgings available).  He goes in the house and finds a man who offers to give Ness a place to sleep... for a price.  After a nap, Ness continues his search of the village and finds another cave, tucked away by the store.  He goes into the cave and finds more Insane Cultists inside.  He decides that this is a good place to do some grinding, and teach these Cultists a lesson or two in the process.

Ness's Stats:
Level: 15->20
Offense: 27 -> 31 -> 32 -> 33 -> 37 (with equipment, 52)
Defense: 9 -> 10 -> 12 (with equipment, 37)
Speed: 7 -> 8 -> 9 -> 10
Guts: 11 -> 13 -> 14 -> 16
Vitality: 8 -> 10 -> 11
IQ: 9 -> 10 -> 12
Luck: 10 -> 11 -> 12 -> 14
HP: 123/123 -> 150/150 -> 153/153 -> 155/155 -> 165/165 -> 166/166
PP: 45/45 -> 50/50 -> 51/51 -> 60/60
Exp: 25967
2286 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Flash alpha
Ness realized the power of Lifeup beta

Once he was done teaching the cultists a lesson, he moved through the cave, and found that the other side of the cave came out behind the cabin he had seen earlier.  He goes into the shack.  He finds that the cabin is really a prison, and finds a girl in the cell, and her only companion is a teddy bear.  The girl tells Ness that she had dreamt of him.  This must be Paula!  She tells Ness that Carpainter has the key to the cell hidden away.  She tells him that Carpainter can control lightning, and so to protect himself, Ness must wear the Franklin Badge.  Ness takes the badge, and heads out to go face Carpainter and put a stop to this ridiculous cult.

As soon as he steps out of the cabin he is surprised to see Pokey waiting for him, and Pokey is flanked by two Insane Cultists and a Spiteful Crow.  Pokey approaches Ness and confronts him.  "Hey Ness!  You're just here to bother me, aren't you.  You can call me Master Pokey, since Mr. Carpainter made me an important person in Happy-Happyism.  You should join us, but I know you won't... I'm glad I joined...  I'm not going to fight you, but these guys will... Later potater..."  Pokey then runs off and the Cultists and Crow move in to fight Ness.  Ness dispatches them with relative ease, since he had take the time to grind some levels.  Pokey had stayed to watch the fight, but once Ness won the fight, Pokey ran off, presumably to warn Carpainter.

Ness goes back to the village.  Ness makes his way to the large house in the middle of town and enters it.  He finds that the house is filled with Insane Cultists, but almost all of them are distracted by their prayers.  Ness pushes his way through, and a few move out of the way for him, but Ness has to fight his way through a few more.  And Ness gains another level!

Ness's Stats:
Level: 21
Vitality: 11 -> 12
HP: 166/166 -> 180/180
PP: 60/60 -> 61/61
Exp: 28441
5035 Exp for next level

Ness makes it through the throng of cultists and finds a couple of gift boxes, on holding a Croissant and another holding a Skip Sandwich.  Ness pockets these and continues pushing through the crowd.  Ness finds a door at the opposite end of the building.  Inside, a man sits behind a desk.  As Ness approaches, the man screams... because he didn't know what else to do.  Ness goes up a set of stairs nearby and finds an older man in a blue suit and holding a paint brush standing in front of an altar.  On top of the altar is the very same statue that Lier had dug up in his basement in Onett.  What's that doing here?  Ness approaches the man.

The old man, Mr. Carpainter, speaks directly to Ness.  "Thanks for coming!  I've been waiting for you.  I need your assistance to help make the world blue and change it into a happy and peaceful society.  Will you be my right-hand assistant?"  Ness refuses.  "If you don't want to be my right hand, my left would be just fine...  Just kidding!  Your existence is a problem for me and my religion.  Defy me, and I'll end your pitiful game!"  And then lighting came down from the ceiling, but was reflected by the power of the Franklin Badge.  With his lighting useless, Carpainter draws Ness into a fight.

Carpainter proves himself to be a powerful foe.  His paint attacks are stronger than those of his cultists, he can cast the same psychic shield that Buzz Buzz had used, and he is able to cast his lighting at Ness.  Although the psychic shield nullifies Ness's PSI Rockin attack, it does not protect Carpainter from Ness's strength.  Luckily though, the Franklin Badge protects Ness from the lighting attacks and they are reflected back at Carpainter.  With Carpainter's most powerful attacks being rendered useless, Ness is able to defeat Carpainter.

Defeated, Carpainter returns to being a normal old man, realizing that his mind was being controlled.  "Do you see the Mani Mani Statue behind me...  Since I got the statue, I have been doing peculiar things.  Please forgive me, if you can...  I just wanted to have a normal life.  I apologize to everyone."  He then gives Ness the key to the cell where Paula is being held.

Ness goes back downstairs.  The man behind the desk voices his awe for Ness for going after Mr. Carpainter.  Ness goes back to where the cultist were praying and found that most of them had cleared out.  A few were lingering around, but they didn't want to fight.  They wanted to leave.  Ness left the house, and found Pokey waiting for him outside.

Pokey approached Ness.  "What a horrible nightmare.  I somehow woke up.  Ness, let's be friends again.  Please answer me.  I promise to be good.  ...uh ...okay?"  Good for what?  Ness's skepticism in Pokey is well founded, it seems.  Pokey slowly walks away, and then suddenly turns back to Ness. "Hah!  I lied!  See you, sucker!" And then he runs away.

Ness talks to a few people around town, and the general consensus is that they were being controlled, just as Carpainter had been, but now they had woken up, as if from a dream.  Ness, satisfied that all is well now, goes to let Paula out of the cell.  Paula tells Ness that they should be getting back to Twoson, but it could be dangerous.  Since she can use some pretty deadly psychic powers, and that they can combine their strength.  She grabs her teddy bear and goes with Ness.  Ness also gives the extra Travel Charm to Paula.

Paula's Starting Stats
Level: 1
Offense: 2
Defense: 2
Speed: 2
Guts: 2
Vitality: 2
IQ: 2
Luck: 2
HP: 30/30
PP: 10/10
Exp: 0
8 Exp for next level
Paula's starting PSI abilities:
PSI Freeze alpha

Paula is now protected from Paralysis attacks.

Ness and Paula exit the cabin.  The photographer's fanfare sounds off and the photographer falls out of the sky.  Ness and Paula pose for a picture (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps their photo, and then makes his exit.  Ness and Paula return to Happy-Happy Village.

When they make it through the cave to the village, they find that all of the blue paint has been stripped off of everything, and the village is now as bright and colorful as Onett and Twoson.  Ness takes Paula to the store and buys her some equipment.  He buys her a Fry Pan, a Copper Bracelet, and a Ribbon.

Paula's offense increased from 2 to 12
Paula's defense increased from 2 to 32

Ness and Paula go to the farm house, and the man offers them a place to rest, free of charge this time.  After a rest, they go back to the store where Ness gives mom and dad a call (since the pay phone in the store is the only phone in town).  Mom says that she's heard that Ness has a new girlfriend on his journey, but doesn't say much since she gets the distinct feeling that she's right next to him.  Dad records Ness's progress (and says that he has $3945 in the bank).  With Happy-Happy Village back to normal and Paula rescued, there is only one more thing on Ness's mind in this place, and that is the cave that couldn't be painted blue.  Ness and Paula decide to go check it out.

[Ryudo Lee]

With a little extra time this weekend, we take the time to level grind for Paula to get her up to level 20, and then tackle the second Your Sanctuary location, Lilliput Steps!  Note: There's someone in Happy-Happy Village that makes mention of Lilliput Steps, but I can never remember who.  I'm playing this game directly from memory, so I already know where all the Your Sanctuary's are, and most of the 1/128 items (I really only get the Sword of Kings though) so I will most likely be missing a few plot-important conversations here and there.  I also wish I could use custom fonts here, because there's a Mr. Saturn in Happy-Happy Village, and it's just not the same to talk to Mr. Saturn without that special font.


Day 6

All that's left in Happy-Happy Village is that cave that a young man had said that could not be painted blue.  Ness and Paula head in there.  They find that it is populated with moles, bats, and bears.  The moles, Mole Playing Rough has powerful claws, but will sometimes end up confusing themselves.  The bats, Mr. Batty try to use PSI powers, but have trouble concentrating, and will also end up confusing themselves.  The bears, Might Bear, is simply a bigger, stronger enemy.  Ness and Paula hang around near the entrance, fighting enemies to get Paula up to Ness's levels.

Along the way, Ness and Paula find a Great Charm in a gift box.  Ness takes it for himself.

Ness's defense is raised from 37 to 38
Ness's speed is raised from 10 to 15

Paula's Stats
Level: 1 -> 20
Offense: 2 -> 3 -> 7 -> 8 -> 11 -> 12 -> 13 -> 16 -> 17 -> 19 -> 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 23 -> 25 (with equipment, 35)
Defense: 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 (with equipment, 38)
Speed: 2 -> 3 -> 5 -> 6 -> 8 -> 9 -> 10 -> 11 -> 12 -> 13 -> 14 -> 15 -> 18
Guts: 2 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 10 -> 11
Vitality: 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6
IQ: 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 11 -> 13 -> 14 -> 16
Luck: 2 -> 4 -> 6 -> 9 -> 10 -> 12
HP: 30/30 -> 33/33 -> 35/35 -> 37/37 -> 38/38 -> 45/45 -> 48/48 -> 50/50 -> 51/51 -> 54/54 -> 60/60 -> 63/63 -> 66/66 -> 67/67 -> 68/68 -> 75/75 -> 78/78 -> 79/79 -> 81/81 -> 90/90
PP: 10/10 -> 11/11 -> 15/15 -> 20/20 -> 22/22 -> 25/25 -> 30/30 -> 31/31 -> 35/35 -> 40/40 -> 41/41 -> 55/55 -> 56/56 -> 58/58 -> 65/65 -> 67/67 -> 70/70 -> 80/80
Exp: 26633
4865 Exp for next level

Paula realized the power of PSI Fire alpha
Paula realized the power of PSI Shield alpha
Paula realized the power of PSI Thunder alpha
Paula realized the power of PSI Freeze beta
Paula realized the power of PSI Magnet alpha
Paula realized the power of PSI Fire beta

Ness also gains a few levels!

Ness's Stats
Level: 21 -> 26
Offense: 37 -> 38 -> 41 -> 44 -> 45 -> 46 (with equipment, 61)
Defense: 12 -> 13 -> 14 (with equipment, 40)
Speed: 10 -> 11 -> 12 (with equipment, 17)
Guts: 16 -> 18 -> 19
Vitality: 12 -> 14
IQ: 12 -> 13
Luck: 14 -> 16
HP: 180/180 -> 181/181 -> 183/183 -> 210/210 -> 211/211 -> 213/213
PP: 61/61 -> 62/62 -> 65/65 -> 66/66
Exp: 61808
9153 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Rockin beta
Ness realized the power of Healing beta

They also locate another gift box that holds a croissant.  What a croissant is doing in the middle of a cave is beyond them.  Another gift box contained a PSI caramel.  Ness handed that over to Paula for her to hold and use, later.

At the end of the cave, Ness and Paula see an exit, being guarded by a giant mole.  They approach the mole, and it taunts them.  "You finally got here.  This is the second "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..." It says, and then draws them into a fight.  The giant mole, Mondo Mole, would fight Ness and Paula by itself.  Mondo Mole had very sharp claws, and was very strong.  But Ness's new PSI Rockin beta and Paula's PSI attack powers quickly became too much for Mondo Mole, and he finally accepted defeat.

Ness and Paula go through the exit that Mondo Mole was guarding and finds a small clearing, with two trees, and a path of tiny footsteps going between them.  This was the place of the Lilliput Steps!  Ness approached the footsteps and suddenly heard another tune, and another memory came to his mind, a brief vision of a baby in a red cap.  That had to be his red cap.  Ness put the Sound Stone to his head and gathered his thoughts, and sure enough, the stone had recorded the melody.  Ness pocketed the stone, and then led Paula back through the cave.  As it was in Giant Step's cave, the enemies here fled at the sight of Ness and Paula, since they had defeated Mondo Mole.

Once back in Happy-Happy Village, Ness sold off his old Travel Charm, and then put in a call to Escargo Express to come and collect the Cup of Lifenoodles, using the funds from the sale of the Travel Charm.  They went back to the store and put in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says that Ness has $9009 in the bank now).  With Happy-Happy Village back in a peaceful state, and the second "Your Sanctuary" location uncovered, Ness and Paula are ready to go back to Twoson, and find a way to make it to Threed.

[Ryudo Lee]

With Happy-Happy Village being returned to normal, Ness and Paula get to return to Twoson, go see the Runaway Five, and get to the zombie-infested town of Threed.  That's right, zombies.

Fun fact, in the japanese version of EarthBound (Mother 2) the Runaway Five were called the Tonzura Brothers, and looked a lot like the Blues Brothers, complete with black suits.  The creator of the Mother series, Shigesato Itoi, even went on record saying that the Blues Brothers were a source of inspiration here.  He got a lot of inspiration from pop culture for this, most notably from the Beatles.  Even the series name was inspired by a John Lennon album.  Unfortunately, all of those pop-culture references has created a massive legal snafu which has pretty much permanently put the brakes on ever re-releasing EarthBound onto the Wii Virtual Console.  For more information, see this article (SFW).


Day 7

Ness and Paula make their way out of Happy-Happy Village and through the cave to Peaceful Rest Valley.  Between the two of them, the enemies in the valley pose very little challenge.  They come across the bridge that was broken to find that it's been repaired.  One of the young men from Happy-Happy Village is standing on the bridge, and tells Ness and Paula that he fixed the bridge as a sign of apology.  Well, apology accepted.  Ness and Paula cross the bridge, which is now a shortcut through the valley, and they make it to the cave to Twoson.

Once in Twoson, Ness takes Paula back home.  The boy outside who had cried about Paula being missing is now smiling ear to ear.  They go inside, and speak to Paula's mother.  She's thrilled that Ness saved Paula.  She gives her blessing for Paula to go with Ness on his journey, and offers them a hand-made band-aid (Ooo!  That rhymes!), the "Hand-aid", to take along with them in case they get hurt.  Ness gives it to Paula for her to hold onto.  Paula's mother suggests that they go talk to Paula's father.

They go into the back where Ness had originally talked to Paula's father, but he's not there.  They go to check upstairs, and he suddenly comes in through the door they entered.  He too is thrilled to have Paula back.  He too gives his blessing to let Paula go with Ness on his journey to save the world, though he's still very worked up about the whole thing.  Paula reassures her father that they can take care of themselves and that in Threed, the next town, they will meet another friend, and between the three of them, no one can stand in their way.

Ness takes a moment to give Paula a chance to be upstairs in her room for a few moments, and finds a gift box with a teddy bear in it.  They take the teddy bear and head back out.  Once they are out of the preschool, a man approaches Ness and Paula.  He says that Everdred is looking for them, and has something for them.  He then takes off back to Burglin Park.  Ness and Paula walk over to Burglin Park and go to Everdred's house at the back of the park.

Once in Everdred's house, Ness finds Everdred pacing around.  Ness goes to talk to Everdred, and he speaks about serious matters.  "I was going to ask you to be my partner, but I know you'll refuse.  It's written all over your face.  If you accepted, I was going to give you some money.  Actually, I can't keep the money now anyway.  Let me give this to you.  It's 10,000 dollars.  Use the money any way you like.  You cannot refuse my generosity.  Just accept it.  Now I plan on looking for the evil Mani Mani Statue that Lier X. Agerate unearthed in Onett.  I'll see you at another time, in another space."  Ness takes the wad of bills, and doesn't ask where it came from, since it's probably best that he doesn't know.

Ness and Paula take another walk around town, and find the hospital, which Ness had not visited before, but had been mentioned by the tour guide lady.  He goes in to see what is so special about the hospital that it needs to be mentioned to passers-by.  Nothing of real note is found in the hospital, except for one man in a hospital room who says that he was bitten by zombies in Threed, and that he left something important in the Threed hospital.  Wait, did he say zombies?  At that point, Ness and Paula leave, feeling just a little creeped out now.

Ness remembers that one of the lead singers of the Runaway Five had mentioned that he wanted to meet Paula.  So the two head out of Burglin Park and make their way to the Chaos Theater.  He's so thrilled to see Paula that he gives Ness a backstage pass!  They head inside the theater, now armed with the backstage pass.  

As soon as they try to go into the theater, they hear that now all too familiar fanfare, and then the photographer falls out of the sky.  Once again, they pose for a photo (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their photo.  With that done, he flies off into the sky again, and they enter the theater.  Inside they find a woman at the front counter, asking for tickets.  A man wanders around the front counter, having lost his ticket.  A police officer stands guard at the manager's office door.  They decide to go talk to the manager, Mr. Poochyfud, as one of the lead singers had mentioned to Ness that they were being cheated.

Mr. Poochyfud says that the Runaway Five owe him a lot of money and will be staying at the Chaos Theater until they pay him back.  They leave the manager's office and decide to go backstage to talk to the band.  They show the pass to the ticket taker at the front counter and go into the theater.

The theater was packed.  Every table had people at it, and the stage was lit up brightly.  One table had some business men at it.  One of the business men says that it might be tacky to entertain their business partner with a Runaway Five show.  Another couple of men sit at a table, and one of them is surprised that the theater had been filled.  A woman at another table mentions that the man outside is her boyfriend.  A rude young man admits that he just cut one when Ness gets close.  Another man, obviously a fan, states that the Runaway Five are going to be world-famous someday, as a statement of fact.  Two older women stand at the stage, obviously lifetime fans of the band.  One says that she sometimes gets sweat or spit from the band, the other says that going to these shows is her life.  One young man at a table questions Ness about baseball.  Another man at a table admits that he's impressed that a boy of Ness's age gets into the Runaway Five's music.  A man and his daughter at a table tell Ness that the father is tone-deaf, and the daughter just loves ragtime.

Ness notices a girl wandering around the theater.  They go talk to her and she says that she was invited to go backstage, but she doesn't have a pass.  She notices Ness's backstage pass and begs him to take her backstage, and that she could pose as his sister.  Ness agrees, and she drags Ness and Paula backstage.

Ness chats with the band.  The two lead singers, one a chubby man in a red suit, and the other a thin man in a green suit, the drummer, a saxophone player, and a bassist, make up the band.  They each tell Ness that they are in debt, and could pay it off if they had 10,000 dollars.  Ness shows them the wad of bills and they tell him that they could get out of their contract with that, but to be careful, as they could get cheated out of it.  Ness and Paula head back to the theater, just in time for the show to start.  On stage, a sixth member of the Runaway Five appears, playing the keyboard.

Rather than try to explain the show, you can watch it here (not the best quality, but it will do): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvU3dgir6xU

Ness and Paula go back to see the manager, go behind his desk and hand over the wad of bills.  Suddenly confronted with enough money to cover the Runaway Five's debt, Mr. Poochyfud is surprised and is not sure what to do.  But he does the right thing and releases the band from their debt.  Upon hearing that, the band comes into the manager's office to thank Ness personally and give their regards to the manager who had cheated them, one by one.

The first lead singer, in the red suit, comes up and says "Well, what do you know?  This little nipper took us from a nightmare to a dream..." and then he heads out.

The second lead singer, in the green suit comes up and says "Ow!  This means we can get out of this dump!" and then he leaves.

The drummer comes up and says "I'm a good driver.  C'mon, I'll show you." and then he heads out, to the band's bus.

The bassist comes up and says "All right, let's move on to the next town.  I'm sure our ol' hunk o' junk will get us there..." and then he goes to the bus.

The saxophone player approaches the desk, a little worried "I didn't make a spectacle of myself, did I?" he asks, and then heads out.

Ness and Paula leave the manager's office.  The man who had lost his ticket sniffles and laments that he'll never see the Runaway Five's show again.  Ness and Paula leave the theater to find the band's bus outside, ready to leave.  The lead singer in the red suit invites them to get on the bus and they will take them to Threed.  Their bus is so loud that no ghosts will approach them.  Ness and Paula get on the bus.

The drummer backs the bus up... onto the sidewalk (Hey sidewalk!  Get out of my way!) and then takes off for the Twoson-Threed tunnel.  The bus plays some Runaway Five music at a very loud volume as they drive.  As promised, when they enter the tunnel, the ghosts approach the bus, but get scared off by the loud volume of the music, and so the bus makes its way into Threed.

Threed turns out to be a very gloomy town, seeming to be enveloped in night, with monsters roaming the streets.  The band drops Ness and Paula off by the hospital.  The lead singer in the red suit mentions how gloomy the town looks, but is sure that Ness and Paula can light the place up with their own little brand of sunshine.  He gets back on the bus, and before they leave, the drummer sticks his head out and says for them to look for the band playing in some theater in Fourside.  The bus leaves.  Ness and Paula first go to find a hotel to stay in, since it had been a long trip.  They find a hotel, after catching sight of a circus tent in the middle of town.  By the hotel, a young man says that he saw a suspicious woman talking with the zombies around here.  Did he say zombies?

Ness and Paula enter the hotel, the "Threed Sunset Hotel", and booked a room for the night.  The next morning, Ness checked the morning headlines, and finds that the newspaper is a little different than normal.  Rather than being the normal newspaper, it was now called the "Zombie Herald", and the headlines read "Destroy the humans!  Hold the town for our glory, and for the glory of our master!"  Zombies again?  Ness and Paula go to the front desk so that Ness can give mom and dad a call to record his progress (dad says that Ness now has $9012 in the bank).  Threed seems to have some massive problems, and it's up to Ness and Paula to put it all right.  Paula mentioned meeting another friend in Threed, but it seems that they would have to take care of the zombie problem first.

[Ryudo Lee]

How are the town name puns working for you?  Onett, Twoson, Threed, Fourside?  See what they did there?

Today we start fighting the zombies that have taken over Threed... except that they fight back and capture Ness and Paula.  And it's left up to Jeff to save them!  Well, Jeff and a monkey... who likes bubble gum.

EDIT: Added info on how the IQ stat works for Jeff.


Day 8

After a brief rest in the Threed Sunset Hotel, Ness and Paula start checking out what is going on with all the zombies.  The first place they check out is the big circus tent in the middle of town.  Inside they find some people who are discussing the zombie problem, and how to solve it.  Their ideas, though, are lacking.  Ness and Paula leave the tent and resume searching the town.

They go into the drug store and get some new equipment.  Ness buys a Minor League Bat for himself, and a Thick Fry Pan for Paula.  They sell the Sand Lot Bat and the Fry Pan.

Ness's offense is raised from 61 to 72.
Paula's offense is raised from 35 to 45.

They head back out, and go to the hospital.  Ness remembers the man who had said he had left something in the Threed hospital, so Ness searches for it.  In one of the rooms, which was unoccupied, Ness sees a dresser, and checks it's drawers.  Inside one of the drawers he finds an Insignificant Item.  Was this the item the man spoke of?  It must be, though it seems pretty insignificant.  Ness and Paula leave the hospital and continue searching the town.

The south side of town has a wide open space, where some circus carts are stored.  A sign states that no tents can be pitched in this area without permission.  With nothing of interest here, Ness and Paula head to the north side of town.  Along the way, a man in a black suit tells Ness that the HQ of the Zombie Relief Corps is in the circus tent in the middle of town.  So that's who they were.  Ness and Paula continue on.

Along the way, they check a few houses.  Some people have their doors barred.  One man in a black suit and black hat lets them in and lets them in on a little secret.  He is a con man, who used to work for the zombies, but he also betrayed them.  He tells them the secret of the zombies.  "Belch gives life to the zombies, but Belch works for Giygas, who I heard might be female.  Well, I'm not really sure whether Giygas is a male or a female.  I'm a helpful con man, don't you think?"

Also along the way, a young man tells Ness that there is an underground path at the edge of the graveyard that takes you somewhere, and that when you get through the path, they will meet a dirty, stinky, ugly, powerful monster.  That must be this "Belch" that the con man had mentioned.

Ness and Paula continue north, and find the graveyard that the young man had spoken of.  They go into the graveyard and find it infested with ghosts in trashcans, and flies that all attack them.  The flies, the No Good Fly, is a weak opponent and can be taken out with insecticide spray, which they find in a trash can at the opposite side of the graveyard.  The trash can ghosts, the Smelly Ghost, can take and deal a good bit of damage before being taken out, and likes to vent it's odor to make Ness and Paula's eyes water.

As they push through the graveyard, Paula gains a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 21
HP: 90/90 -> 93/93
PP: 80/80 -> 81/81
Exp: 31584
5708 Exp for next level

Paula realized the power of Offense Up alpha

As they make their way through the graveyard, they find two zombies guarding what looks like an open manhole.  This must be the underground path the young man spoke of.  The zombies do not attack, but rather look Ness and Paula over, but do not let them pass.  Unable to do anything else here, Ness and Paula decide to head back to the hotel.

As they approach the hotel, they see the con man standing at the corner of the building next to the hotel.  He draws their attention to a woman in front of the hotel.  He mentions that she's been seen hanging out with less than reputable types (another young man said the same thing earlier).  They approach the hotel and see the woman go inside the hotel.  They follow her, and she leads them back to the rooms, and into one of them.  When they enter the room, they find themselves surrounded by zombies and ghosts.  They had walked right into a trap.  The monsters attack and render Ness and Paula unconscious.  

They wake up in a dark room with only one door.  They check the door and find that it's locked up tight.  Paula then turns and begins to pray, as she had done to call Ness when she was locked in the cabin.  "I'm calling out to you who I've never met... I'm calling our friend who we've never met... Jeff!  Jeff!  We need your help!  I am Paula and I am with another friend, Ness...  We are trying to contact you..."  

Paula's prayer speeds across the earth, and ends up in Winters, a small country to the north.  Within Snow Wood Boarding House, two boys sleep in their dorm room.  The room is clean except for a pile of junk in one corner.  One boy with blonde hair and glasses is Jeff , the other with dark red hair is Tony.  Jeff is woken up from his dream, where he is being called to.  "I am Paula, and I am with another friend, Ness... We are trying to contact you... If you hear me, please wake up and... head south!  Only you, though far away, can save us, Jeff... Please hear my call and begin heading south...  Jeff!  You are a friend who we've never met...  But you are our one and only hope!"

Jeff sits up and gets out of bed.  Such a passionate call for help must be answered!  He checks on Tony.  Tony, half-asleep, mumbles something about a dream he just had about Jeff.  As Jeff is about to leave the dorm, Tony gets up wondering where Jeff is going.  The dorm rules say you can't leave the dorm at this time of night, and if you get caught, you get punished big time.  But Jeff is determined to leave, and so Tony tags along, and mentions that there's some stuff in the locker room that he should take with him.

Jeff's starting stats
Level: 1
Offense: 2
Defense: 2
Speed: 2
Guts: 2
Vitality: 2
IQ: 2 (Jeff uses IQ to repair broken items.  He needs a certain amount of IQ points to repair certain items.)
Luck: 2
HP: 30/30
PP: 0/0 (Jeff never uses PSI so this stat will never grow)
Exp: 0
4 Exp for next level

Jeff also has $2 on hand.

The first thing Jeff does before heading out is to toss the useless junk out of his pack.  The Ruler and Protractor are going to be completely useless to him, so he drops them in the pile of junk in the corner, leaving him with only a Big Bottle Rocket (can be useful in a fight), a Boiled Egg (yum!), and a Broken Spray Can (he can fix this).

Coming out of his dorm, he finds some other students chatting in the hall.  They talk about a monster in the lake named Tessie, and that there are cave boys at Stonehenge, as well as a secret entrance to somewhere under Stonehenge.  Jeff keeps that in mind, and goes to check in on his neighbor.  Inside, he finds several gift boxes.  They all contained hand decorated cookies and had all been prepared by his neighbor for Tony's birthday.  Jeff gets a nasty streak all of a sudden and snatches all the cookies, much to the displeasure of his neighbor.  Tony doesn't seem to mind though.  His neighbor's roommate tells Jeff that if he is thinking of going out that he should check in with Maxwell downstairs in the lab, since Maxwell always looks out for the other students.

Jeff and Tony head downstairs and enter the lab to find Maxwell hard at work.  Maxwell mentions that he's having trouble with his project, but wouldn't be if Jeff's father, Dr. Andonuts, were here.  The good doctor is supposedly an astounding person, according to Maxwell, and that he was the first leader of the Ultra Science Club, and that he's greater than Einstein or Heisenberg... and also very strange.  He gives Jeff a key to the lockers in the locker room, though it's a little bent.  He then mentions that if Jeff should head out, he should give Maxwell a call and he'll record Jeff's progress, just like saving a game!

Jeff takes the key and heads into the locker room.  Unfortunately, the key is bent and won't fit into any keyhole.  He goes back to Maxwell to tell him about the problem with the key.  Luckily though, Maxwell had just finished his latest invention: the "Machine that Opens Doors, especially when you have a slightly bad key"... or "Bad Key Machine" for short.  Jeff takes the Bad Key Machine to the locker room and checks all the lockers.  Most of the lockers are empty, but he does find a Holmes Hat, a Pop Gun, and a Broken Air Gun.

Jeff's offense is raised from 2 to 18
Jeff's defense is raised from 2 to 12

Now properly prepared, Jeff and Tony head outside, and finds the way blocked by a gate.  Tony goes to the gate and gets down on all fours, offering himself as a step to get Jeff over the gate.  As Jeff climbs the gate, they say their goodbyes, and Jeff heads out into the wilderness.

Nearby there is a drug store "Best Friend".  Inside, Jeff finds a monkey at the entrance (a monkey?) and a woman standing by the counter.  The woman asks Jeff to take the monkey since he's really noisy.  She offers the monkey to Jeff if he buys a pack of bubble gum, for $1.  Jeff agrees and gives the monkey a piece of gum.  The monkey blew a bubble so big that it raised him off the ground a few feet until he sucked it back in.

Jeff sees that there's a phone on the counter and takes the opportunity to give Maxwell a call to record his progress.  Once that was done, Jeff and the Bubble Monkey prepare to go back out into the wilderness and head south to rescue Ness and Paula!

[Ryudo Lee]

So today Jeff makes his trek through the unforgiving Winters wilderness.  And by unforgiving, I mean, Spiteful Crows are annoying to deal with, and I burned through all my cookies on the first Gruff Goat.  But that's beside the point.  Tessie is also introduced here (see what they did there?  Ness?  Tessie?) as a living, prehistoric ferry.  And there's also a dungeon, Stonehenge, and cave boys.

There is also a sort of an unspoken challenge in this particular area.  The "Best Friend" drug store also carries the T-Rex's Bat (not to mention the Coin of Silence).  But by the time that Ness has the ability to get here, everyone already has more powerful equipment.  But the enemies in the wilderness will drop cookies from time to time, and you can sell them to the store.  Of course, this takes hours of work, to get Jeff to earn the money to buy just the T-Rex's bat, and I ain't doing it.  But someone else did.  (linku! SFW)


Day 9

The wilderness of Winters is a rough an unforgiving place.  Luckily, Jeff has cookies.  Unfortunately for Jeff, there are Spiteful Crows out there, who like to steal cookies, as Ness had learned the hard way.  But Bubble Monkey is actually quite useful in a fight, as opposed to some other animal companions.  King.  Jeff also runs across Runaway Dogs, which don't pose much of a challenge either.  But fighting them pays off, and Jeff levels up!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 2
HP: 30/30 -> 31/31
Exp: 7
9 Exp for next level

Continuing on, Jeff and Bubble Monkey come across a tent in the wilderness.  They check it out and find a couple of young men camping out.  They offer some tea and a place to rest, as well as a worried comment about how all the tame animals in the wilderness have gone wild.  Feeling well rested now, Jeff and Bubble Monkey head back out into the wilderness.

They eventually come across another tent, but this one is unoccupied.  They continue on and find a bunch of men constantly looking through binoculars, looking out over Lake Tess.  Jeff learns that these people are part of the "Tessie-Watching Club" and are waiting to see "Tessie".  One of them mentions that the wind is always blowing when Tessie appears, another has a crazy notion that Tessie may be living in the woods, and one other believes that they will be able to see Tessie in the morning.  If that's the case, then Jeff feels the need to find a place to sleep for the night.  Jeff finds a tent with a phone in it, and puts in a call to Maxwell.  He looks around and finds that one of the tents is the club's cook's tent.  He offers Jeff and Bubble Monkey some stew and a place to sleep.

Once again, Jeff has a dream of someone calling out to him.  "You are a friend who I have never met before...  Jeff...  Head south...  I am Paula...  If you hear this message, go to the south..."  Jeff awoke from the dream, and unable to go back to sleep he decided to make himself useful and fixed the Broken Spray Can he was holding.  He repurposed it and made it into the Defense Spray.

When morning came, Jeff and Bubble Monkey stepped out of the cook's tent just in time to see the sun rise.  A breeze passed over the area, rustling up some leaves, and a whirlpool has suddenly appeared in the lake.  The club members are all excited, hoping that they will finally get a chance to catch a glimpse of Tessie!  Jeff approaches the lake's shore, then suddenly he hears a fanfare and sees a man falling out of the sky.  He lands on the shore and announces that he will take a photo of Jeff.  He snaps Jeff and Bubble Monkey's photo (fuzzy pickles!), and then flies off into the sky.

Not unnerved by this strange event, Jeff moves to the shore to get a better view of the whirlpool in the middle of the lake.  Once there, Bubble Monkey demands some gum from Jeff.  Jeff gives the monkey a piece of gum.  Bubble Monkey does his thing and blows a big bubble and it lifts him off the ground.  He floats over to the whirlpool and hovers there for a moment.  From out of the whirlpool a big purple head with a peaceful smile on it's face emerges, connected to a long neck, and a large body.  Bubble Monkey gently lands on her head and sucks the bubble back in.  This must be Tessie!  Tessie approaches the shore and allows Jeff to get on her back.  She then ferries Jeff and Bubble Monkey across Lake Tess.  Tess lets them off on the opposite shore, hangs around for a moment, and then swims off back into the lake.  Those club members must be ecstatic.

Jeff moves on, continuing south.  He comes across another wild animal, the Gruff Goat.  The Gruff Goat is a very strong enemy who tramples and tries to gore Jeff with it's horns.  But they're worth a level or two though!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 3 - 4
Offense: 2 -> 3 -> 6 (with equipment, 22)
Defense: 2 -> 5 (with equipment, 15)
Speed: 2 -> 5
Guts: 2 -> 3
IQ: 2 -> 3 -> 4
Luck: 2 -> 3
HP: 31/31 -> 34/34 -> 36/36
Exp: 47
41 Exp for next level

Jeff finds the way south blocked by an iron statue in the shape of a pencil.  With no way to erase this obstacle (see what I did there?), he looks around and finds a nearby cave, with a nearby sign that reads "(This dungeon has no entrance fee.  Come on in!)"  Dungeon?

Jeff steels himself and enters the cave.  Inside the cave he finds a maze made up of rather short rocks.  A sign nearby reads "Welcome to my modest dungeon!  ...Brick Road".  Jeff isn't sure who Brick Road is, but continues on.  He starts making his way through the maze, which ends up being much easier than it looks.  He does find a few enemies, such as the Rowdy Mouse who was guarding a gift box with a bread roll in it.  Jeff pockets the bread roll.

Jeff comes across a duck, the Mad Duck, who tends to fall down, but has the ability to disrupt PSI use, and can drain PP, though that does nothing against Jeff since he doesn't use PSI.  Not much challenge there.  He also comes across a strange jelly enemy called the Worthless Protoplasm, who is just as it's name implies, as it tries to size up the situation, and in the end confuses itself.

Through the fighting, Jeff gets another couple of levels!

Jeff's Stats:
Level: 5 -> 6
Guts: 3 -> 4
Vitality: 2 -> 3
IQ: 4 -> 5 -> 6
HP: 36/36 -> 45/45 -> 47/47
Exp: 180
124 Exp for next level

Jeff continues looting the dungeon and finds an Insecticide Spray, a Broken Iron, and... another sign.  The sign reads "Watch for falling materials!  ...Brick Road".  Jeff suddenly hears that fanfare again, and the photographer falls down from the ceiling of the cave.  Jeff and the monkey pose for a photo (fuzzy pickles!), and the photographer snaps their photo and flies off again.  Jeff and the monkey continue on with their looting and find a croissant, and finally a Stun Gun.

Jeff's offense is raised from 22 to 30.

Jeff and Bubble Monkey find their way to the opposite end of the cave, and find a phone and another sign.  The sign reads "Way to go.  Please come back again.  ...Brick Road".  Jeff puts in a call to Maxwell, and then heads out of the cave to find a man with an odd mustache waiting outside the cave.  He introduces himself as Brickroad, the dungeon developer.  "I've devoted my life to making dungeons.  Well, by combining my skills and Dr. Andonuts intelligence, I can become "Dungeon Man," the first combination of human and dungeon in history." He says to Jeff, and then offers Jeff and Bubble Monkey a place to rest for the night.

Jeff continues south and finds another cave.  Hopefully this is not another of Brickroad's dungeons.  Jeff and Bubble Monkey enter the cave.  The cave is dark and dank and populated with more Rowdy Mice, Attack Slugs, and Struttin' Evil Mushrooms (which are like their Ramblin' cousins).  Fighting these nets Jeff another couple of levels!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 7 -> 9
Offense: 6 -> 8 -> 9 -> 10(with equipment, 34)
Defense: 5 -> 6 (with equipment, 16)
Speed: 5 -> 6
Guts: 4 -> 6
Vitality: 3 -> 4
IQ: 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9
Luck: 3 -> 4
HP: 47/47 -> 49/49 -> 60/60 -> 61/61
Exp: 821
287 Exp for next level

He does find a gift box with a hamburger in it though.  He pushes on through the cave and finds a rope.  He climbs it, to find another rope which he climbs to find a gift box with a Cheap Bracelet inside.

Jeff's defense is raised from 16 to 21

Jeff and Bubble Monkey climb back down the ropes and continue through the cave to find another gift box with a Bottle Rocket in it.  Jeff holds onto that, it can come in handy later.  They also see that the only way through is to go up, but there is no rope.  Jeff sees that a rope is up on a cliff, but there's no reaching it.  Or is there?  Jeff gives Bubble Monkey a piece of gum, and the monkey does his thing.  He floats up to the top of the cliff and throws down the rope for Jeff to climb up.

Jeff climbs up the rope, and one more rope to reach the top and is confronted by another mushroom, which he dispatches easily, and gains another level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 10
Defense: 6 -> 7 (with equipment, 22)
IQ: 9 -> 10
HP: 61/61 -> 63/63
Exp: 1140
412 Exp for next level

With that out of the way, Jeff sees a monster guarding an exit to this cave.  Jeff approaches the monster, but it dismisses Jeff, saying "Only Ness can absorb the power of this place."  Unable to do anything here, Jeff looks around and finds another exit.

Immediately upon exiting, Jeff and Bubble Monkey find themselves standing outside of Stonehenge, and sees a female monkey.  Bubble Monkey immediately takes an interest in her, and gives chase, leaving Jeff by himself.  Jeff, remember that someone had said that something strange was around Stonehenge, checks it out, and finds a small entrance to a cave in the ground in the middle of Stonehenge.

He climbs down into the cave and finds himself inside of some glowing tunnels.  But the path is barred by another iron statue, only this one is shaped like an eraser.  Unable to move any further here, Jeff leaves the cave and continues south, but gets confronted by a Cave Boy.  The Cave Boy is as strong as he looks (if not stronger) but thankfully cannot hit the broad side of a barn.  But fighting the Cave Boy brings another level to Jeff!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 11
Offense: 7 -> 9 (with equipment, 36)
Vitality: 4 -> 5
HP: 63/63 -> 75/75
Exp: 1758
346 Exp for next level

A man standing near Stonehenge decides to educate Jeff in what this place is.  He says that this is Stonehenge, and that UFO's sometimes visit here.  Yes, THAT Stonehenge.  Jeff continues south and finds a laboratory.  He enters the lab and finds a scientist, balding, grey hair, mustache, and wearing glasses very similar to Jeff's.   An odd machine that looks like an oversized locker stands in one end of the room. It's labeled "Instant Revitalizing Device (In only a few seconds, this machine fully revitalizes you, just like a good night's sleep.).  Jeff uses the device and is revitalized.  A phone sits on the table nearby.  Jeff puts in a call to Maxwell.

Jeff talks to the scientist.  "Mr. Brickroad, the dungeon maker referred you, right?  And not only that... What?  Who?  Myson?  Oh... I... can't... I can't believe it...  You're Jeff, my son.  It's been maybe 10 years since I last saw you.  I'm so glad you're such a healthy boy.  Uh, those glasses look good on you."  He then offers Jeff a donut, but was only offering since he wants one too.  He also asks if Jeff checked out Stonehenge, and Jeff tells him what he saw down there.  Then the big question, why are you here, here asks.  "Oh, I see.  That girl named Paula must have sensed I was here.  Ok, I'll try to help you out.  I'm trying to make a Phase Distorter that can connect two points in space and time.  It's still incomplete.  I'll let you use another invention I call the Sky Runner.  It's a little bit old but it'll certainly help."  He explains how the Sky Runner works, that it will give a message when it gets close to it's destination, and then invites Jeff to get together with him again in another 10 years.

Jeff approaches the Sky Runner, which looks like a fat flying saucer and gets into it.  He sits there for a few minutes, not sure what to do.  Dr. Andonuts comes over and tells him to press the button on the controller.  The Sky Runner starts up and takes off into the sky.  It flies through the clouds for awhile, and then dives down to get a look at the land.  Jeff sees that they are flying over a big city.  The Sky Runner goes back up into the clouds for awhile and then dives back down, now flying over a desert.  It goes back up into the clouds, and then comes back down, now over Threed.  As it flies over Threed, the Sky Runner starts beeping, the message that it is close to it's destination!  Jeff steers it around town, using the messages to pinpoint it's destination.  It turns out that it's destination is a smaller graveyard near the large graveyard.

Jeff brings it in for a landing, but brings it in too hot and crashes the Sky Runner into the graveyard, and it falls down into a hollow chamber under the graveyard.  Jeff pulls himself from the wreckage of the Sky Runner and finds himself in the presence of a boy with a red cap, and a girl in a pink dress.  This be Ness and Paula.  They approach him.  "Man, oh, man, did that ever scare me!" Jeff says.  "The Sky Runner... I guess it took a little damage while landing...  Oh well...  You don't have to explain a thing... I'm Jeff.  I came because you called me.  I'm not very strong, really near-sighted, kind of shy, and I tend to be a little reckless.  This is just the way I am...  I hope you want me to be your friend... Okay?"  Jeff asks.  Ness and Paula agree, and Jeff joins their party.

The first thing Jeff does is use his Bad Key Machine on the locked door, allowing the three to escape this prison.  The door leads to a short tunnel, at the end of which is a ladder.  They climb the ladder and come out near the hole where the Sky Runner had crashed.  They leave the smaller graveyard, and find a path going north.  They follow it to a larger grave, sitting all by itself.  As they approach it, they hear that familiar fanfare, and the photographer comes down from the sky.  They all take up a pose (fuzzy pickles!), the photographer snaps their photo, and flies off again, pleased with his work once again.

The three of them decide to pack it in for the night, and head to the hotel.  They all get a good night's sleep, except for Jeff who fixes the Broken Iron, repurposing it and making it into the Slime Generator.  In the morning, Ness checks the headlines "Two human kids escape by somehow opening their cage" it reads.  One of the bellhops mentions that the zombies got some kids in this hotel, and recognizes that it was Ness and Paula that were kidnapped!  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $8817 in the bank now).  With their new friend Jeff with them, it seems that nothing can stop this trio, and now the bigger problem of the zombie infestation needs to be dealt with.  But between the three of them, no problem is too big.

[Ryudo Lee]

I took a little vacation, which is why I had stopped doing this for a few days.  But I'm back now and ready to kick this back into full gear.

Today we finally set out to begin work on eliminating the zombie menace around Threed.  This involves a couple of boss fights, and couple of very lucky coincidences.  Hey, every game has to have a zombie segment, right?  I especially like talking to the zombies after they've been captured.  It's an interesting take, that they'd still have enough of a mind to be able to talk to you.

This day is ended by making it to Saturn Valley.  I don't know if anyone here has seen a Mr. Saturn, but my description of them is pretty sub-par.  You can't really describe Mr. Saturn.  Mr. Saturn is Mr. Saturn is Mr. Saturn.  I'll elaborate more on Mr. Saturn on the next post.


Day 10

Ness, Paula, and Jeff set out to get rid of these zombies that are terrorizing Threed.  The big question though, is how?  They walk around town to find out.  They see a couple of people run into the circus tent, obviously looking for a place to hide.  They continue on and find an arms dealer.  Jeff sells off his old Pop Gun, his Stun Gun and the Defense Spray and buys a Toy Air Gun.

Jeff's offense is raised from 36 to 44

They head to the south and find a young man wandering around in the area where tents aren't supposed to be pitched.  He tells Ness that he works for the monsters, since the humans seem to be losing.  He also says that the zombies' leader likes Fly Honey, and makes his followers collect it.  Sure, that makes sense.  Bees make bee honey and flies make Fly Honey.  Right.  The zombie leader gets his strength from eating peanut butter and Fly Honey sandwiches.  Well, that doesn't sound too appetizing.  The young man also says that he's got lots of Fly Honey stored in the tent to the south.  Perhaps that tent should be checked out.  After all, no tents are supposed to be pitched in that area.

As they approach the entrance to the tent, suddenly a scary face appears on the canvas and lets out an angry noise "Gaaoooorrgg!!!" and then attacks them.  The Boogey Tent had lured them into a trap!

Boogey Tent is a powerful monster, but it simply cannot stand up to the combined might of Ness, Paula, and Jeff.  Ness and Paula unleash PSI Rockin' and PSI Fire, while Jeff finally makes use of that Big Bottle Rocket that's been sitting in his pack for so long.  Boogey Tent was only able to get off one attack during this barrage, and spit out Fly Honey onto Ness, making him all sticky and unable to move.  Yuck!  But the Big Bottle Rocket is what finally did in Boogey Tent.  They definitely need to get more of those.  And Jeff gained a few of levels!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 11 -> 14
Offense: 9 -> 11 -> 12 (with equipment, 47)
Defense: 7 -> 9 (with equipment, 24)
Speed: 6 -> 8
Guts: 6 -> 9
IQ: 10 -> 13
Luck: 4 -> 7
HP: 75/75 -> 77/77 -> 80/80 -> 82/82
Exp: 3592
936 Exp for next level

As soon as Boogey Tent falls, they see a garbage can being looked over by two zombies.  The zombies look over at Ness and his friends and then run away in terror.  Ness checks the garbage can and finds a Jar of Fly Honey inside!  He pockets the jar.  That could come in handy later.

Even with Boogey Tent taken down, this still does not solve the problem of all the zombies in town.  Ness and his friends start heading back to the hotel to plan their next move... and then the Receiver Phone starts ringing.  Ness answers it.  It's Apple Kid!  "Hello, this is Apple Kid.  I just wanted to let you know that I finished a pretty unique invention.  I'm not sure if it will help you or not...  It's called "Zombie Paper," and it can be used to trap zombies.  It works kind of like fly paper...  All you need to do is place the paper on the floor of a tent or something...  You've seen at least one tent around, right? .... And then the zombies get stuck to the paper when they move around inside the tent.  You can catch a lot of zombies this way... In fact, I bet you could get rid of all the zombies that are terrorizing the area with this paper!  Anyway, I just asked the Mach Pizza delivery man to deliver the Zombie Paper to you, Ness.  You should get it pretty soon.  I've never actually seen a zombie, but if there really are any, Zombie Paper would be very useful... I'll be calling you if I come up with anything else..."  What luck!  Apple Kid pulls through again.  Not like that useless Orange Kid.

So Ness and his friends wander a bit, waiting for the Mach Pizza guy.  It doesn't take too long for a pizza delivery man to approach the kids.  "While delivering pizza, this weird guy asked me to help him out... He wanted me to deliver this to someone named Ness ...who is wandering around Threed.  No one else knows about this, right?  Let's just pretend that you're Ness, and I'll give this to you.  Oh!  Hello, Ness!  Jut go along with me on this one, okay.  I made the decision that you're Ness, no matter what...  That's right, Ness... *wink, wink*  I've done my duty and given you Apple Kid's thingamajig.  Well, goodbye..."  What luck, again!  But what if he had talked to someone else?  Well, no time to think about it.  Ness takes the Zombie Paper and heads for the big circus tent.  

The people inside the tent are all for using the Zombie Paper to trap the zombies, and so Ness lays the Zombie Paper down on the floor of the tent, and then heads out to the hotel, to give the paper time to work its magic.  Ness and his friends take a well earned rest, and while they rest in the hotel, the Zombie Paper draws out the zombies in the area and they all get stuck to the floor of the tent.  Ness and his friends wake up and check the headlines "Boogey Tent falls!  Young human to blame!"  A little grim satisfaction there.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress, and they decide to keep on moving.

They check in on the circus tent and find the floor littered with zombies, all flat on their backs, some moving, some not, and those that are moving say some nasty things, and one even asks for help, but stuck to the floor like that, they can't do much of anything to anyone anymore.  Ness and his friends leave to go finally check out that passage behind the graveyard, now that there should be no zombie guards there.

They fight their way through the graveyard.  Though there are no zombies, there are still flies and ghosts.  But they make it to the passage and find it unguarded.  Ness leads the way down into the passage.  It's dark and dank and full of more zombies and ghosts and flies.  But there are a couple of caskets, one of which holds a Skip Sandwich DX and another that holds a Silver Bracelet.  Ness equips that and gives Jeff his Copper Bracelet.  Also, Jeff gains a level!

Ness's defense is raised from 40 to 45
Jeff's defense is raised from 24 to 29

Jeff's Stats
Level: 15
Offense: 12 -> 13 (with equipment, 48)
Speed: 8 -> 9
IQ: 13 -> 14
HP: 82/82 -> 83/83
Exp: 4593
1140 Exp for next level

At the end of the tunnel, they find what can only be described as a moving, sentient pile of vomit.  And it talks too!  Ewww... "Gyork!  Gyork!  Since you had "Fly Honey," I considered you a friend.  But actually, you're just a commoner!  I am the mortal enemy of your kind." it says, and then attacks.

The Mini Barf proves to be a powerful foe, being able to spew out poisonous gas that makes Ness and his friend's eyes water.  But they still unleash their most powerful attacks, PSI Rockin', PSI Fire, and Jeff launches his last bottle rocket.  A few rounds of those attacks and the Mini Barf gives up the ghost.  Also they all gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 27
Offense: 46 -> 48 (with equipment, 74)
IQ: 13 -> 14
Luck: 16 -> 17
HP: 213/213 -> 214/214
PP: 66/66 -> 70/70
Exp: 72786
8303 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of Hypnosis omega.

Paula's Stats
Level: 22
Offense: 25 -> 27 (with equipment, 47)
Guts: 11 -> 12
HP: 93/93 -> 96/96
Exp: 37611
6241 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 15 -> 17
Offense: 13 -> 14 (with equipment, 49)
Defense: 9 -> 13 (with equipment, 33)
Speed: 9 -> 10
Guts: 9 -> 10
Vitality: 5 -> 7
IQ: 14 -> 16
Luck: 7 -> 8
HP: 83/83 -> 105/105 -> 108/108
Exp: 7785
1581 Exp for next level

The Mini Barf gives up some information before it passes away.  "I wanted to get your Fly Honey and gulp it down.  Master Belch and I love Fly Honey.  Gyorg Gyorg!..." and then it passes away.  Ness and his friends find a ladder that the Mini Barf was guarding and climb it.  They come out of the passage and find themselves in a rather beautiful valley, untouched by human civilization.  But according to what has been said, this valley may just be the hiding place of the leader of the zombies.  Ness and his friends push onward.

They find a man willing to sell a few bits of food and drink to them, but unfortunately, they didn't bring any money, so they have to pass on his offer.  He does inform them however that there is a village nearby with many... interesting people, and suggests that they pay that village a visit.  A village usually has a place to rest, so that's what they intend to do.  The man continues and says that the name of the village is Saturn Valley, but sadly, it's not on any map.

Ness and his friends push on through the valley, which follows a river.  They try to avoid the enemies in the area as the fight to get through the passage was a tough one.  The enemies here aren't too strong, just some Red Antoids and Farm Zombies.  It's the Hard Crocodiles that cause the most problems.  They eventually come across a gift box.  Ness opens the box and finds a bomb.  Bombs are always useful, and so he pockets it and continues until they find... another gift box.  Ness opens it and finds a Protein Drink.  Seriously?  Who leaves something like that in a place like this?  It gets stuffed in the inventory and they move on.

Nearby is a cave.  Inside the cave are a few Violent Roaches, which aren't much of a challenge for the three of them.  But at least Jeff gains another level.

Jeff's Stats
Level: 18
Offense: 14 -> 15 (with equipment, 50)
IQ: 16 -> 17
HP: 108/108 -> 109/109
Exp: 9780
2240 Exp for next level

A side passage in the cave contains a gift box with a Bottle Rocket inside.  Finally, something that's actually useful.  Ness hands that over to Jeff.  They backtrack and continue on through the cave, fighting off another roach, and find the exit.  The find themselves in a lush valley.  As they come around to a large clearing, they finally come to the village the man spoke of.  This must be Saturn Valley.  The people wandering around the village  look more like... well... little pink people, with big noses, short legs, whiskers, a big nose, and a single hair on the tops of their heads with a red bow on it.  And all of them look exactly the same.  They all talk in a strange dialect.  Ness approaches one of the strange people.

"We feel groove!  Hi ho.  Me Mr. Saturn.  This place, all are Mr. Saturn." He... or it... says.  How do they tell the difference?  Not wanting to spend more time than necessary on that, Ness and his friends search the village for a place to rest and find a Mr. Saturn who's more than willing to put them up for the night.  Only, Jeff doesn't get any sleep.  He works through the night, fixing the Broken Air Gun, and rebrands it into the Magnum Air Gun.

Jeff's offense is raised from 50 to 54.

The Mr. Saturn also has a phone in his house, so Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad say that Ness has $10197 in the bank).  Now that they're rested, they can check out this village of strange people, maybe restock, and get on to finding this Master Belch and save Threed once and for all!

[Ryudo Lee]

This one took me all day to do.  Keeping track of three sets of stats isn't as easy as it looks, and eventually I'll be working with 4 characters worth of stats.  But thankfully, Poo uses only one set of equipment, or none at all, so I don't have to be tracking too many powerups there.

An interesting bit of trivia here.  When EarthBound was first marketed to the US, it used a marketing campaign that was "This game stinks".  Mostly because of the boss that's being fought in this part, Master Belch, who is a giant living pile of vomit.  Seriously.  Unfortunately, it was that ad campaign that really made this game suffer back in the day.  They didn't mean the game was bad, it was that you'd be fighting some terribly nastified foes.

Also, back in the day, when I first played through EarthBound, ever, I got killed by Master Belch like three times.  Of course "level grinding" wasn't a term back then.

Mr. Saturn is something that was added new in the Mother series.  Mr. Saturn was not in the NES Mother game, but was added into EarthBound.  The text font that is used for Mr. Saturn is actually inspired by the creator's daughter.  The creator of EarthBound said that Mr. Saturn is supposed to symbolize innocence in this game, which is fairly obvious when you find the Mr. Saturn working Belch's Fly Honey line.  The Mr. Saturn take on a more important role later in the game though.

At the end of this, we get to the coffee break.  This is one of a few breaks where Ness sits back and reflects on his journey.  He gets some words of encouragement during these breaks.  But who is speaking them, I have never been able to find out.  Is it himself?  Is it the Apple of Enlightenment (which is another mysterious character), or... or I don't know, something else entirely?  After saving after the break, I list everyone's current stats at that save point.

Milky Well is next.


Day 11

Once morning came, Ness and his friends set out to explore Saturn Valley.  The houses of Saturn Valley appeared to be cylindrical huts with a cone roof, and a similar red bow to what the Mr. Saturn wears on the top of the roof.  It seems that since all the Mr. Saturn all look alike, their houses should match.  Well, there is one Mr. Saturn that seems to buck the trend.  The village doctor, another Mr. Saturn, calls himself Dr. Saturn, and prefers to sit in a trash can.  It's unknown how exactly he performs surgery, but since Ness and his friends are in tip top condition, there's no need to find out.

During their exploration of the village, they came across a gift box at the top of a short ladder.  Considering the Mr. Saturn's odd nature, this is probably normal around here.  The gift box contained a Rust Promoter.  Ness grabbed it and stuffed it into his inventory.  A nearby cave contains three trashcans.  Ness digs around in them and finds a Sudden Guts Pill, a Protractor, and a Broken Spray Can.  The broken can goes to Jeff for fixing later.  All this other extra stuff needs to be sold off.

One of the Mr. Saturn laments that there were once "many many" Mr. Saturn living here, but slowly are becoming fewer, and no one seems to know why.  Ness and his friends continue exploring the village and enters another cave at the top of a ladder.  Inside this cave are a few more Mr. Saturn.  Speaking to these Mr. Saturn reveal a few important bits of information.  One says that he will give Ness a special thing, but not now, but on the way back.  Back from what?  Another Mr. Saturn says that there is a base behind Grapefruit Falls, but it requires a password.  The password, which this Mr. Saturn saw Belch perform is that someone will say "Say the password!" and then you have to stand still for three minutes.  Another just speaks of how he saw a scary guy go into Grapefruit Falls.  Probably Master Belch.  The last Mr. Saturn simply advertises the village store, but more importantly tells them that they have the Secret Herb and Horn of Life, two very great items (but not as good as the Cup of Lifenoodles).

Ness and his friends continue through the village and find themselves in the village store, at the top of another ladder.  What is it with Mr. Saturn and ladders?  They have such short stubby legs.  It doesn't really matter though.  Ness sells off some unneeded items such as the Skip Sandwich DX, the Bomb, the Rust Promoter, the Protein Drink, the Sudden Guts Pill, the Protractor, the Insecticide Spray, Jeff's Cheap Bracelet and Toy Air Gun.  With the money from that sale, Ness uses the phone in the store to put in a call to Tracey to send someone to come pick up a few things.  They wait for the Escargo Express guy outside, and when he arrives, they hand over the Backstage Pass, the Pak of Bubblegum, and the Bad Key Machine.  They all have to go, as they have long since outlived their usefulness.

Once that bit of business is concluded, they go back into the store, withdraw some money, and start shopping.  Ness and Paula pick up Bionic Slingshots, and sell the Minor League Bat and Thick Fry Pan.  Paula and Jeff both get Great Charms and Silver Bracelets, and sells off the Travel Charm and Copper Bracelets.  Paula picks up a Red Ribbon, and sells off her old Ribbon.

Ness's offense is raised from 74 to 80
Paula's offense is raised from 47 to 59
Paula's defense is raised from 38 to 49
Paula's speed is raised from 18 to 23
Jeff's defense is raised from 33 to 39
Jeff's speed is raised from 10 to 15

Once the refit is done, they continue exploring the village.  They find a tall ladder which leads to another Mr. Saturn.  How did he get up there?  He says that Threed is full of zombies and that there is something terribly stinky behind the falls.  They come across another couple of ladders that appear broken, as they do not reach to the top of the cliff they are on.  A nearby Mr. Saturn says that a lot of his friends were taken behind the falls, but doesn't know why.  It's time to go check out Grapefruit Falls, rescue the other Mr. Saturn, and put an end to the zombie infestation in Threed... but first a nap, and a call to mom and dad to record Ness's progress.

Ness and his friends head out of Saturn Valley the way they came, through the cave, and continue following the river north until they find a wide waterfall, Grapefruit Falls.  As they approach the falls, that now familiar fanfare sounds off and the photographer comes down out of thin air.  Ness and his friends pose (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps their photo.  Pleased with his work, the photographer takes off back into the air.  Ness finds a path behind the falls and comes to a door.  He approaches, someone says "Say the password!" and Ness stands still for three minutes.  You know, the falls are pretty, but it gets old staring at them for three minutes.  But thankfully, the password is good, and once three minutes are up, Ness and his friends are let inside with a "Okay... you may enter."

Once inside, they find themselves inside the base, the floor and walls are all covered with metal plating and the walls have many metal tubes snaking across them.  Metal railings keep people from falling over the edge.  A sign near the entrance reads ""Safety First" Don't get injured!  Burp!"  Burp?  Well, the master of this place is called Belch, so it probably fits.  Ness and his friends begin working their way through the base to find Master Belch.

They come around the first corner and get stopped by a little pile of barf, much like the Mini Barf they had fought in the passage from Threed.  "Did you bring some "Fly Honey"?  It's Master Belch's favorite."  Ness says that they did bring it, and the little pile lets them pass, warning them not to drop it.  They continue on, and find a ladder leading down, and a door.  They enter the door to find themselves attacked by Farm Zombies.  These are weaker zombies, so they go down fairly easily.  The zombies were protecting... a trash can.  Inside the trash can is a Bomb.  Ness pockets it and heads back out.

They go down the ladder and are immediately set upon by a multitude of little red round creatures called Foppy's.  The Foppy is relatively weak, but they attack in numbers.  But a blast of PSI Rockin or PSI Fire sends them packing.  The find another ladder leading down, which leads to another door.  Inside the room they are attacked by more Farm Zombies.  They are dispatched with PSI Rockin and a few physical attacks.  And Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 19
Offense: 15 -> 17 (with equipment, 56)
Speed: 10 -> 11 (with equipment, 16)
IQ: 17 -> 18
HP: 109/109 -> 112/112
Exp: 12725
2658 Exp for next level

The zombies in this room were guarding two  trash cans.  Inside the trash cans are an IQ Capsule, and a Broken Laser.  Both go to Jeff.  Jeff consumes the IQ Capsule.

Jeff's IQ is raised from 18 to 19

They head back out and up the ladder and continue on.  They find a conveyor belt moving jars of Fly Honey, and two Mr. Saturn working the line, who are chained to heavy metal balls.  The Mr. Saturn are both tired from their work, but intend to do it well.  A couple of small piles of barf loiter in this area, but do not attack.  One tries to make the gross sounds that Master Belch does, but fails.  The other proudly says that Master Belch is just the slimiest, but that he's serving some Giygas guy, but cannot believe that.  Continuing on, they stomp on more Foppy's.  And so Paula gains a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 23
Offense: 27 -> 28 (with equipment, 60)
IQ: 16 -> 17
HP: 96/96 -> 99/99
PP: 81/81 -> 85/85
Exp: 44299
6936 Exp for next level

They locate another ladder going up, which leads to another door, being guarded by another little pile of barf.  It approaches, quite upset.  "So, you're the ones who destroyed the zombies that I assigned to Threed!!" and then it attacks.  The Slimy Little Pile isn't a pushover, but a barrage of PSI Rockin, and PSI Fire take it down.  Ness goes through the door the Slimy Little Pile was guarding to find another Slimy Little Pile and a few Mostly Bad Fly's guarding another three trash cans.  More PSI Rocking and PSI fire and a few shots from Jeff and these enemies go down in a blaze of fail.  And Ness and Jeff gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 28
Offense: 48 -> 52 (with equipment, 84)
Defense: 14 -> 17 (with equipment, 48)
Speed: 12 -> 13 (with equipment, 18)
Guts: 19 -> 22
Vitality: 14 -> 17
IQ: 14 -> 16
Luck: 17 -> 19
HP: 214/214 -> 255/255
PP: 70/70 -> 80/80
Exp: 81538
10675 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 20
Offense: 17 -> 19 (with equipment, 58)
Speed: 11 -> 12 (with equipment, 17)
Guts: 10 -> 12
Vitality: 7 -> 8
IQ: 19 -> 20
Luck: 8 -> 10
HP: 112/112 -> 120/120
Exp: 16537
3031 Exp for next level

The trash cans contain a Vital Capsule, an HP-Sucker, and a Calorie Stick.  Ness gives the HP-Sucker to Jeff, since he is the best with such items, and consumes the Vital Capsule.

Ness's Vitality is raised from 17 to 18

Coming out of that room, the group is attacked by another group of Mostly Bad Fly's, but they fall to a PSI Rockin attack.  They go back down the ladder and continue on until they find a room, which is empty except for a Magic Butterfly.  They leave the room, and re-enter to see if the Magic Butterfly comes back like it did at Giant Step, and indeed the Magic Butterfly is back!  It's a respawning butterfly!  This is a good place to do some grinding on Foppy's.  Using the butterfly room to recharge, they go back and forth to the area where all the Foppy's gang up on the group, and stomp on them for awhile, at least until Jeff is finally up to speed.

Ness's Stats
Level: 28 -> 34
Offense: 52 -> 53 -> 55 -> 58 -> 60 (with equipment, 92)
Speed: 13 -> 14 -> 15 (with equipment, 20)
Guts: 22 -> 25
Vitality: 17 -> 18
IQ: 16 -> 18
Luck: 19 -> 21
HP: 255/255 -> 270/270 -> 272/272 -> 273/273 -> 275/275 -> 285/285 -> 287/287
PP: 80/80 -> 82/82 -> 90/90 -> 91/91
Exp: 179826
2903 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of Paralysis omega
Ness realized the power of Shield beta

Paula's Stats
Level: 23 -> 32
Offense: 28 -> 31 -> 32 -> 33 -> 35 -> 36 -> 37 -> 41(with equipment, 73)
Defense: 8 -> 9 -> 10 -> 11 (with equipment, 52)
Speed: 18 -> 21 -> 22 -> 24 -> 25 -> 28 (with equipment, 33)
Guts: 12 -> 14 -> 17 -> 18
Vitality: 6 -> 7
IQ: 17 -> 19 -> 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 23 -> 25
Luck: 12 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16 -> 17
HP: 99/99 -> 105/105 -> 106/106 -> 107/107 -> 108/108 -> 111/111 -> 112/112 -> 113/113 -> 116/116 -> 135/135
PP: 85/85 -> 95/95 -> 97/97 -> 99/99 -> 100/100 -> 105/105 -> 106/106 -> 110/110 -> 115/115
Exp: 146844
17278 Exp for next level

Paula realized the power of PSI Magnet omega
Paula realized the power of PSI Thunder beta
Paula realized the power of PSI Shield sigma
Paula realized the power of Defense Down alpha
Paula realized the power of PSI Freeze delta

Jeff's Stats
Level: 20 -> 30
Offense: 19 -> 21 -> 23 -> 24 -> 28 (with equipment, 67)
Defense: 13 -> 14 -> 17 -> 18 -> 19 (with equipment, 45)
Speed: 12 -> 13 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16 (with equipment, 21)
Guts: 12 -> 13 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16
Vitality: 8 -> 9 -> 10
IQ: 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 24 -> 25 -> 26 -> 28
Luck: 10 -> 12 -> 13
HP: 120/120 -> 123/123 -> 125/125 -> 126/126 -> 135/135 -> 137/137 -> 138/138 -> 140/140 -> 150/150 -> 151/151 -> 152/152
Exp: 114825
16663 Exp for next level

One last visit to the butterfly room for a recharge and they're ready to go and face Master Belch.  As they approach the back of the base, they are stopped once again by another pile of barf, guarding a door.  "Aren't you the Fly Honey delivery boy?  What's the password!  It doesn't mean I don't trust you.  Just say it!  Say it now!  Someone so quiet is either extremely shy or extremely dangerous...  What a suspicious fellow!" and then it draws them into a battle.  Fortunately, this Slimy Little Pile is not stronger than any other that they've fought, and this one goes out with a whimper.

Ness and his friends go through the door into another room.  Sickly green puddles litter the floor, and a much larger pile of barf with a hideous face waits at another door for the group, and taunts them when they come near.  "Buuurp!  So you are Ness?  ...I see... Gyork!  Gyork!  Gyork!  There's a prophecy that a boy will destroy Master Giygas.  Heeg!  Heeg!  Heeg!  You make me laugh so hard... If Master Giygas is scared of someone... he would have to be worse than the greatest evil... Garg!  Ga!  Garg!  Ga!  Ga!  Ga!  I'll take you down big time, so get ready for the worst fight of your life!  Gha Gha Gha!  Get ready to feel the pain of true nausea!  Ghe Ghe!  Come on, let's go!" and then Master Belch draws them into a battle.

Master Belch is a truly disgusting creature, but he has a massive weakness.  Fly Honey.  That's right, everyone's been saying it: Master Belch loves Fly Honey.  So Ness opens the Jar of Fly Honey for Master Belch, who then proceed to ignore the battle to wolf down the Fly Honey.  This leaves him open to a massive barrage of PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and Jeff's bottle rocket and HP-Sucker attacks.  It doesn't take long before Master Belch's favorite food becomes his downfall.  And Ness gained one more level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 35
Offense: 60 -> 61 (with equipment, 93)
Defense: 17 -> 19 (with equipment, 50)
Vitality: 18 -> 19
IQ: 18 -> 19
Luck: 21 -> 22
HP: 287/287 -> 300/300
PP: 91/91 -> 95/95
Exp:
Exp for next level

Before expiring, Master Belch offers a few parting shots.  "Looks like it was an even fight... Buurp!  But, Master Giygas has managed to get the Mani Mani statue into Fourside.  The city will soon be in worse condition than living in your own puke!  Suffer, spanky!  Gha, Gha, Gha, Gha, Gha!  Buuuurp!"  With Master Belch gone, the door he was guarding becomes accessible.  Ness and his friends enter, to find a cave with a couple of escaped Mr. Saturn.  One of them tells Ness and his friends that they smell bad.  Well, neither of those Mr. Saturn are spotless either.  They get through this passage and come out back in Saturn Valley, on the ledge above those ladders that were broken, but are now fixed.  There is also a hot spring here.  The group goes into the hot spring to wash off all the dirty gunk that had collected on their bodies from fighting the piles of puke.

A nearby Mr. Saturn offers Ness a cup of coffee.  Ness accepts, and takes a moment to clear his head and relax.  As he does this, a friendly voice speaks to him.

"You've traveled very far from home...

Do you remember how your long and winding journey began with someone pounding at your door?  It was Pokey, the worst person in your neighborhood, who knocked on the door that fateful night.

On your way, you have walked, thought and fought.  Yet through all this, you have never lost your courage.  You have grown steadily stronger, though you have experienced the pain of battle many times.

You are no longer alone in your adventure, Paula who is steadfast, kind and even pretty, is always at your side.  Jeff is with you as well.  Though he is timid, he came from a distant land to help you.  Ness, as you certainly know by now, you are not a regular young man... You have an awesome destiny to fulfill.

The journey from this point will be long, and it will be more difficult than anything you have undergone to this point.  Yet, I know you will be alright.  When good battles evil, which side do you believe wins?  Do you have faith that good is triumphant?

One thing you must never lose is courage.  If you believe in the goal you are striving for, you will be courageous.  There are many difficult times ahead, but you must keep your sense of humor, work through the tough situations and enjoy yourself.

When you have finished this cup of coffee, your adventure will begin again.  Next, you must pass through a vast desert and proceed to the big city of Fourside.

Ness... Paula... Jeff...

I wish you luck..."

Who was this voice speaking to him?  Was this his own inner dialogue?  Or was this something else entirely?  Certainly, it is benevolent, but it's source is a mystery.

Once he was done with the coffee, Ness takes note of another cave near the hot spring.  A sign next to it says "Hole <Milky Well.>  What this... Ding!  Ding!"  Milky Well must be the next Your Sanctuary!  But Ness and his friends have fought hard, and it is time to rest.  As they turn from the sign, they hear that all too familiar fanfare as the photographer comes down from the sky once again.  They make their pose (fuzzy pickles!) and get their photo taken.  Satisfied with his work once again, the photographer leaves the way he came.

Ness and his friends make their way back to the home of the Mr. Saturn that lets them sleep in his house.  On the way they stop by the Mr. Saturn who promised to give them something special.  "Here is present.  I hand you Cup of Lifenoodles.  I hand you Mr. Saturn Coin.  I no hand you my Stagbeetle... Oh!  Tease you!  I have no something."  Ness pockets the Cup of Lifenoodles and the Stagbeetle, and equips the coin.

Ness's defense is raised from 50 to 82
Ness's luck is raised from 22 to 40

Ness goes back up to the store to sell his old Hard Hat, and uses the money to get Escargo Express to pick up the Cup of Lifenoodles.  That particular item is worth saving.  And since no one needs the Jar of Fly Honey anymore, that can go too.

With that, Ness and his friends go and get a rest.  Jeff gets no rest once again, and fixes the Broken Laser, making it into the Laser Gun. 

Jeff's offense is raised from 67 to 79

In the morning Ness gives mom and dad a call to record his progress (Dad says that Ness has $32172 in the bank).  After such a peaceful rest, and with the next Your Sanctuary in sight, Ness is ready to tackle anything.

Current stats after the coffee break.

Ness
Level: 35
Offense: 61 (with equipment, 93)
Defense: 19 (with equipment, 82)
Speed: 15 (with equipment, 20)
Guts: 25
Vitality: 20
IQ: 19
Luck: 22 (with equipment, 40)
HP: 300/300
PP: 95/95
Exp: 186849
15421 Exp for next level

Known PSI:
PSI Rockin alpha & beta
PSI Flash alpha
Lifeup alpha & beta
Healing alpha & beta
Shield alpha (shield of light, reduces damage) & beta (power shield, reflects damage)
Hypnosis alpha & omega
Paralysis alpha & omega

Equipment
Weapon: Bionic Slingshot
Body: Great Charm
Arms: Silver Bracelet
Other: Mr. Saturn Coin

Paula
Level: 32
Offense: 41 (with equipment, 73)
Defense: 11 (with equipment, 52)
Speed: 28 (with equipment, 33)
Guts: 18
Vitality: 9
IQ: 23
Luck: 17
HP: 135/135
PP: 115/115
Exp: 151674
12448 Exp for next level

Known PSI:
PSI Fire alpha & beta
PSI Freeze alpha, beta, & delta
PSI Thunder alpha & beta
PSI Magnet alpha & omega
Shield alpha & sigma (both are psychic shield, blocks all PSI attacks)
Hypnosis alpha & omega
Paralysis alpha & omega

Equipment
Weapon: Bionic Slingshot
Body: Great Charm
Arms: Silver Bracelet
Other: Red Ribbon

Jeff
Level: 30
Offense: 31 (with equipment, 79)
Defense: 19 (with equipment, 45)
Speed: 16 (with equipment, 21)
Guts: 16
Vitality: 10
IQ: 28
Luck: 13
HP: 152/152
PP: 0/0
Exp: 121848
9640 Exp for next level

Equipment
Weapon: Laser Gun
Body: Great Charm
Arms: Silver Bracelet
Other: Holmes Hat

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Nice to see the effort you're going to resulting in, well, results.

[Ryudo Lee]

Thanks, though I realize now that I could be doing it better, like making a big table with everyone's stats, which would make them so much easier to track.  Maybe I'll work that in the next time I do something like this.  I was considering doing screenshots, but there's so much to see in this game that I would only have a few sentences in between screens. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hindsight, 20/20. :-/

I figured you'd want to know someone was watching, rather than feeling you were doing all this for no purpose, is all.

[Ryudo Lee]

I'm not entirely sure what Milky Well was inspired from.  As I stated before, there are a lot of things in this game that were inspired by other works, mostly from the Beatles.  The cave to Milky Well is full of enemies that are tougher than they look.  On my first run through, I died so many times that I bypassed Milky Well until after I had gotten Poo in my party.  Of course, there are only three Your Sanctuary locations that you must do to continue on, Giant Step being one of them. The other five can all be done in any order, but they all must get done one way or another.  I'm doing them all in order anyway.  I'm a little OCD like that.

In the desert, there is actually a small glitch in the game.  If you hug the rocks along the side of the road as you move through the desert, you don't get affected by the sun, and therefore have a lesser chance of getting sun stroke.  And the gold digger who asks for food will take any food item.  I once gave him a cookie and he was satisfied.

Also, apparently Ness can understand monkeys.  I don't quite know how that works.  So I'm just interpreting that as Ness getting the gist of what the monkeys are trying to communicate.


Day 12

After a long soak in the hot spring after the fight with Belch, and a good night's rest (except for Jeff who burned the midnight oil), Ness and his friends are ready to tackle the one last obstacle here in Saturn Valley: Milky Well.  Ness leads the group up to the cave leading to Milky Well, and heads on in.

Inside the cave they found new varieties of enemies.  They find a cousin of the Mobile Sprout, the Tough Mobile Sprout, a new mushroom, the Struttin' Evil Mushroom, and a new enemy, the very much plant-like Ranboob.  All are tough nuts to crack, but with the party's advanced level, even these monsters aren't too much of a challenge.  Almost as if expected, the Tough Mobile Sprouts dropped a Sprig of Parsley, and so Ness pockets it.

The other end of the cave leads to another part of the valley, though it is still populated with these monsters.  Thankfully though, a Magic Butterfly flutters nearby, to help the group recharge.  They push through, following the valley to another cave.  Inside the cave they find a gift box with a Coin of Slumber inside.  Ness gives it to Paula as it's defense bonus is not as good as his Mr. Saturn Coin, but better than her Red Ribbon.

Paula's defense is raised from 52 to 57
Paula's luck is raised from 17 to 27

They push on through the cave and find the guardian of the Your Sanctuary location.  As the others had done before, it taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the third "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..." and then it draws them into a battle.

The guardian ends up being the Trillionage Sprout, a huge living root with a golden sprout on it's head, along with eyeballs and a mouth.  It is backed up by two Tough Mobile Sprouts.  Ness and Paula unleash PSI Rockin and PSI Fire, while Jeff fires up the HP-Sucker.  The Tough Mobile Sprouts can't hold up to the PSI barrage and fall quickly.  But Trillionage Sprout is much tougher, and continues the fight.  Unfortunately, the HP-Sucker is useless, so Jeff is relegated to fighting with his gun.  With the Tough Mobile Sprouts out of the way, Paula switches to PSI Freeze, while Ness continues his attacks with PSI Rockin.  After a few waves of PSI attacks and Jeff's marksmanship, the Trillionage Sprout finally gives up the ghost, and fades away.  And they all gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 36
Offense: 61 -> 67 (with equipment, 99)
Defense: 19 -> 20 (with equipment, 83)
Speed: 15 -> 16 (with equipment, 21)
Guts: 25 -> 27
Luck: 22 -> 23 (with equipment, 41)
HP: 300/300 -> 303/303
PP: 95/95 -> 96/96
Exp: 204619
18630 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 33
IQ: 23 -> 24
Luck: 17 -> 18 (with equipment, 28)
HP: 135/135 -> 136/136
PP: 115/115 -> 120/120
Exp: 169444
13426 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 31
Offense: 31 -> 32 (with equipment, 80)
Vitality: 10 -> 11
IQ: 28 -> 30
Luck: 13 -> 14
HP: 152/152 -> 165/165
Exp: 139618
12555 Exp for next level

Ness leads his friends through the opening that Trillionage Sprout was guarding.  The come out in a clearing with a pool in the center.  The pool is of a milky white liquid, with a fountain spraying more of the liquid.  They had found Milky Well!  Ness approaches Milky Well, and once again hears a tune, and a memory comes to his mind: he hears his mother from far away saying "Be a thoughtful, strong boy..."

Ness put the Sound Stone to his head and gathered his thoughts.  And as it had done twice before, the tune of Milky Well was recorded within the Sound Stone.  With three of the Your Sanctuary locations visited, and their tunes recorded, Ness is finally ready to move on.  The voice he heard while he drank the coffee had told him to cross the desert and go to Fourside.  That must be where the next Your Sanctuary is!  But Belch also said that the Mani Mani statue had been sent to Fourside.  This journey seems to get more complicated with every step.

Ness and his friends go back the way they came.  The monsters all run at the sight of them, since they had defeated the Trillionage Sprout.  The cave to Saturn Valley is a tight fit with all the monsters, so Ness and his friends actually have to fight their way through.  They eventually get back to Saturn Valley.  All of the Mr. Saturn are happy that their friends are back and that the ladders reach the hot spring now.  One Mr. Saturn mentions "I think new things...  Difficult things... From now."  Another Mr. Saturn says "Impressed!  Someday, sometime we help you."  Knowing Mr. Saturn, that's a promise Ness can take to the bank.

They stop for one more rest, call mom and dad to record their progress, and then begin their return trip back to Threed.  They leave Saturn Valley and follow the river back south and head back through the underground passage.  This time, however, the underground passage is completely empty.  There are no ghosts or zombies or anything to challenge them.  When they come up out of the passage, they find that the darkness surrounding Threed has been lifted, and Threed's beauty shines forth.  Several people from the town were gathered there, and all praised Ness and his friends for their bravery.  One of them even mentions that the ghosts in the tunnel are now gone, and the busses can get through!

One more piece of business before moving on to the desert.  Ness remembers the man in the Twoson hospital had mentioned that he had lost an item in Threed, and Ness still has that Insignificant Item.  Ness decides to catch a bus back to Twoson and return it.  They find a bus stop in front of the hotel.  The bus is rather expensive though.  $2 per person for a ride.  Well, at least it's non-stop to Twoson.  Ness pays up and they all get on the bus.  The bus drives on through Threed and then through the tunnel to Twoson.  As Ness was told, the ghosts are no longer there, so the bus goes through and makes it safely to the Twoson bus station.

Ness and his friends head to the Twoson hospital and find the man who had lost the Insignificant Item.  Ness hands over the item.  "Thank you!  You've made me so happy!  After my life, this is the second most important thing to me!  Because you're so kind, I want to give you this Magic truffle.  It's a souvenir from Scaraba."  The man gives Ness the Magic Truffle.  Ness hands it off to Paula, who can make better use of it.  Ness makes a stop off at the Department Store to sell off things they don't need, like old equipment, and the fairly useless HP-Sucker.  It served it's purpose, but against bigger enemies like the Trillionage Sprout, it's useless.

Ness thinks that there has to be a better way to get rid of junk while on the road.  Wasn't there a guy selling signs in Burglin Park?  What if he had a For Sale sign?  That would be useful, wouldn't it?  Ness goes to check out the sign salesman.  The salesman says that his stuff isn't selling all that great, and so would like to sell his "For Sale" sign.  Talk about desperate tactics.  Ness buys it off him.  Now he can set up shop anywhere!

Ness and his friends return to the bus station and catch a bus back to Fourside.  They get on the bus and ride through to Threed.  The driver asks them if they want to get off at Threed, but Ness says no and the bus continues.  It goes through another couple of tunnels, and then comes out into the desert... right into a massive, bumper to bumper traffic jam.  The bus driver says that he can't just sit here, and so drops Ness and his friends off at the back of the traffic jam and goes back towards Threed.  One man reveals the cause of the jam: a herd of buffalo crossing the road.  This will probably take awhile.  It'll probably be faster to walk.  So Ness and his friends decide to walk through the desert.

They back track a short way to find a path, and instead find a drugstore.  They go in, grab some cash from the ATM, and make some purchases.  Ness gets a Mr. Baseball Bat, and sells his Bionic Slingshot.  Jeff trades in his Holmes hat for a Coin of Slumber.

Ness's offense is raised from 99 to 105
Jeff's defense is raised from 45 to 65
Jeff's luck is raised from 14 to 24

They also pick up some Wet Towels, as they could easily get sun stroke by walking through the desert.  They leave the drugstore and find a path behind it which leads to a weapons dealer.  The gun that he has for sale isn't any better than Jeff's Laser Gun, but he does carry bottle rockets.  Jeff picks up a few.

Now better prepared, the group continues on through the desert, and come across a hole, with a monkey nearby.  Ness gets the gist of what the monkey says.  The monkey indicates that they live in the hole, and that they have a caretaker of some kind.  Ness and his friends go into the hole to check it out, and find an old man meditating, and hovering in mid-air.  The man is instantly recognizable as the great Talah Rama, but it appears that he is deep in his meditation, and so doesn't respond to Ness.  Unable to go any further, Ness and his friends leave the hole.

They push on through the desert, following the big rocks along the side of the road, until they come to a gift box, which contains a Big Bottle Rocket.  Ness hands that over to Jeff, and they continue on.  They keep close to the rocks, as they provide some shade and relief from the sun.  They eventually come across a small building, with a scruffy looking man in a hard hat, standing next to a backhoe.  A sign near the building says "Dusty Dunes Headquarters for finding buried gold."  Ness has a chat with the man near the heavy machinery.  He says that he's proud of the hole he's dug, and that he had been asked to find some buried gold, and then he felt obligated to find it.  But it's hungry work digging up buried gold, so he asks Ness for some food.  Luckily, Paula still has a Skip Sandwich on her, so they give him that.  Being grateful in the presence of charity, the man promises that if he finds buried gold, he'll give it to Ness.

Ness and his friends go into the building to find another man in a hard hat.  He offers them a place to sleep for the night, which they accept.  There is also a phone in the building, which Ness uses to call mom and dad to record his progress.  Then they push on once again.  They stay by the rocks until they find a path back to the road, which has now cleared, and they now stand at the tunnel to Fourside.  Ness and his friends hoof it through tunnel, which leads to a bridge, which leads to... the photographer!  He comes down out of the sky, Ness and his friends pose (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps their photo.  He takes off, and Ness and his friends continue along the bridge to another tunnel which finally leads to Fourside.

One of the city's residents mentions that Fourside has been prosperous since Mr. Geldegarde Monotoli hit it big.  So this Monotoli must be the person that Ness will have to see if he's going to make any progress on the Mani Mani statue, and the Your Sanctuary location.  They make their way to the hotel, the "Monotoli Grand Hotel" and book a room for the night.  Jeff doesn't get any sleep once again, and fixes the Broken Spray Can, making it into a Defense Spray.  The next morning, Ness checks the headlines again, though the bellhop proudly proclaims that this is a service exclusive to this hotel only.  The headlines read "Over 70% of Fourside citizens support Monotoli".  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $34359 in the bank).  The city of Fourside can be just a dangerous as it is impressive.  Belch had said that the Mani Mani statue had been brought here.  Ness remembers what it had done to Happy-Happy Village, and Mr. Carpainter.  What could its powers do to a huge city like Fourside?

[Ryudo Lee]

There's a lot going on in Fourside, but there's only one semi-sandbox event, which is the Your Sanctuary location.  I say semi-sandbox because you can't actually get there until you trigger an event in the next town, Summers.

The first thing that needs to be done in Fourside is to once again save the Runaway Five from their own gullibility, which, at lower levels, is a feat and half.  I should know, I've done it before.  To get the Runaway Five out of their contract, you have to go back to that mine in the desert, but there are five, count 'em, five bosses to fight in a large maze.  This is where some of the quirkiness of this game comes in.  All five bosses, every last one, claims to be the third strongest boss in the mine.  No one wants to claim to be the strongest, and none want to claim to be the weakest.  It's kinda funny when you think about it.

There are two separate shows that the Runaway Five put on in Fourside.  One is fail (before freeing them of their contract), the other is win (after freeing them of their contract).  I included links to YouTube videos of those shows.  They're not my videos, but they serve their purpose.


Day 13

After a good night's rest, Ness and his friends head out of the hotel to start exploring the big city of Fourside.  There's a lot to see here, but the first stop is going to be the department store.  Along the way, they are told by a man that The Runaway Five from Twoson are popular here in Fourside.  They've been playing to a packed house at the Topolla Theater every day.  They pass the theater as they go to the store, and make a note to go check in on the band later.  Another man wonders about the guys who were digging for gold, and muses that they'd be able to pay off a million dollar debt very easily with the gold they'd find.  Another man mentions another act at the Topolla Theater, a singer called Venus, and says that she's better than the Runaway Five.  That remains to be seen though.

Continuing on, they pass a Dinosaur Museum.  That's probably a good place to visit as well.  As they pass the museum, they come to the Department Store... which is currently closed.  An old man waiting for the store to open mentioned that since Monotoli became the owner, this department store began having strange happenings.  Well, that's not ominous, is it?  A sign on the door says "Temporarily closed. ... Gwaargh!"  Yep, nothing ominous here.

Next door to the department store is the Monotoli building.  Perhaps it's time to go and see this Monotoli in person.  Ness and his friends enter the building.  They go into the elevator.  A very self-conscious lady works the controls.  "This elevator is only for Master Pokey's use.  It goes directly to the 47th floor.  Quit staring at my hips... why don't you stand somewhere else instead of behind me?" She says, and then promptly sends the group to the 47th floor.  Did she say Master Pokey?

At the 47th floor landing, a couple of bodyguards loiter around.  There's a door to the hallway, and another elevator  One of them asks if Ness is Master Pokey's friend.  Well, sort of.  But the bodyguard says it's okay to visit him.  They go through the door to the hall, and take the first door in the hall.  Inside, to no one's surprise, is Pokey, wearing a red striped suit, flanked by a couple of bodyguards.  Ness confronts Pokey, but of course, Pokey gives his usual attitude.  "Oooo la la.  This... this is my poor old friend...  Ah... what's your name...  Pig's Butt... no no, Ness!  Didn't you come here to beg me for some money?  Oooo la la.  Don't you recognize me?  I'm Master Pokey!  Pokey!  Get it?  I'm no Geldegarde Monotoli's partner, and I give him political and economic advice.  I heard there were some ratty-looking kids asking for Mr. Monotoli...  Was that you Ness?  This isn't a place for the likes of you!  Get outta here!  Now, loser!"  And then Pokey's bodyguards grab Ness and his friends and show them the door.  "You must never show your face around Master Pokey.  You got that?" One of them says, and then they both go back into Pokey's office.  Well, that could have gone better.

So Ness and his friends leave the Monotoli building and wander around town for a little while.  They come across a man in the park who seems a little confused.  He says that a man who looks just like Monotoli is usually seen going in and out of Jackie's Café.  That'd probably be a good thing to check out.  So they go find this café.  It's not hard to find, though, with the big CAFÉ sign on the building.  The café is a fairly small place, only two tables and a small bar.  The people inside don't seem to know anything about Monotoli coming into a place like this.  With that lead dried up, Ness and his friends leave.  Perhaps it's time to go see what's going on with the Runaway Five?

The group goes to the Topolla Theater.  Once inside, they have to buy a ticket, since they no longer have a valid backstage pass.  The first thing they do is go check in with the manager and ask about how the band is doing.  The manager is a blonde lady behind a big desk.  "So, you're a Runaway Five fan, huh?  What?  Excuse me?  No, no!  This band owes me a million bucks.  If they break their contract, they'll be in deep doodoo with the police.  The police would probably say "Hey, you guys!" or something like that...  Unless you're able to pay a million dollars on their behalf?  You'd have to find buried gold, or you would never be able to pay such a huge sum of money.  Ho ho ho...  Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!"  Looks like they've been cheated.  Again.  Ness and his friends go into the theater and find the door backstage.  The backstage guard was told about them and lets them enter.  The band all tells them that they have indeed been cheated again with a phony contract and that they are stuck.  The saxophonist tells Ness something oddly prophetic.  "To meet Geldegarde Monotoli, you'll need our help.  I don't exactly know why... it's just a hunch."  Yep, that's a third not ominous thing they've seen today.  They head out of the backstage area to watch the show.

Unfortunately, with a million dollar debt hanging over their heads, the show is very much subpar.  Rather than try to describe the levels of fail the band achieves, it's better to just watch a video of it.  Be warned, it's not pretty.  Missed cues, bad choreography, and a showboating saxophonist really makes this show painful to watch.

See the show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWIV9Xgpm-A

After that sad display, perhaps it's time to go check on the progress of those miners.  The band REALLY needs to get out of that contract, and fast.  Ness and his friends leave Fourside, and head to the desert, on foot.  Once back at the desert, they go back the way they had originally came, going through the desert, and hugging the rocks to keep from getting sun stroke.  Once they arrive at the mine, they find that a whole lot of progress has been made.  The little hole in the ground has been expanded greatly, and there's even a crowd of people around the site to watch the miners work.  Ness and his friends enter the hole.

Once inside the mine, they find the miner they gave the sandwich to earlier, and he looks exasperated.  "I didn't have a problem digging until this... I found a maze.  Lots of monsters appeared, so I couldn't proceed.  There's 5 big moles...!  If I beat the monsters, I can continue on.  I think I have a bleeding ulcer from worrying too much.  I'm helpless to really do anything."  Which is code for 'hey you kids go clean out the mines for me, kthxbye.'  And so Ness and his friends head into the maze to find those moles.

The enemies in the maze are numerous.  There is the Noose Man, some kind of weird living rope tied into a noose.  Then there is Jeff's old friend, the Mad Duck.  There is also the Thirsty Coil Snake, a cousin of the snakes from Onett.  And finally there is the Gigantic Ant, which appears to be a cousin of the Titanic Ant, but stronger, and with a poison stinger.

Pushing on through the maze, they come across the first mole... except that it tells them that it's the third most powerful mole.  Well, at least there will be two moles weaker than this one right?  "I am one of the masters of this hole.  There are five masters in all.  We are all moles, of course.  I believe I'm the third strongest amongst us.  Take your best shot!"  It draws them into a fight.  The Guardian Digger is protected by a Power Shield which reflects physical damage.  But Paula showed him just how much his shield is worth by hitting him with her most powerful PSI Freeze attack, which knocks him out in one hit (lets hear it for level grinding).  And she and Jeff gain a level for it.

Paula's Stats
Level: 34
IQ: 24 -> 25
HP: 136/136 -> 137/137
PP: 120/120 -> 125/125
Exp: 183253
19815 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 32
Offense: 32 -> 33 (with equipment, 81)
Defense: 19 -> 21 (with equipment, 67)
Speed: 16 -> 19 (with equipment, 24)
Guts: 16 -> 18
IQ: 30 -> 31
HP: 165/165 -> 166/166
Exp: 153427
21609 Exp for next level

The Guardian Digger was protecting a gift box.  Inside the box is an IQ Capsule.  Ness gives it to Jeff, who then consumes it.

Jeff's IQ is raised from 31 to 32.

They push on through the maze until they find another gift box with a Big Bottle Rocket inside.  Ness hands that over to Jeff.  Unfortunately, those rockets won't be very useful with the Guardian Digger's power shield.  But regardless, Jeff will hold onto it.  The push on and come to another Guardian Digger.  This one proudly proclaims that he... is the third strongest.  "I'm really the third strongest master.  I'll destroy you now!"  Now it's obvious what's going on here.  These moles are nuts.  Just like his other brother, this Guardian Digger falls to Paula's PSI Freeze attack.  And Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 37
HP: 303/303 -> 305/305
Exp: 227911
17823 Exp for next level

This Guardian Digger was also protecting a gift box.  Ness opens it and finds a Coin of Defense inside.  It won't do Ness any good, so he gives it to Paula.

Paula's defense is raised from 57 to 67
Paula's luck is raised from 28 to 31

Moving on.  They continue navigating the maze until they come to yet another gift box.  This one contains a Calorie Stick.  At this point, Ness has stopped questioning why someone keeps putting food items out in dungeons like this.  He takes the Calorie Stick and moves on.  They come to ANOTHER gift box.  This one contains a Teddy Bear.  Well, that's convenient.  They can use a Teddy Bear.  They take it with them.  They eventually come to a crossroad.  In the center of the crossroad they find some Exit Mice and a couple more gift boxes.  The gift boxes contain a Picnic Lunch and a Croissant.  Ness grabs them, and picks up an Exit Mouse for the ride.

They go straight north from the crossroad to find another gift box in a side passage.  Inside the gift box is a Secret Herb.  Ness grabs it and continues north to find another Guardian Digger, who also claims to be the third strongest.  This joke is getting old.  "My strength falls between the second and fourth strongest masters.  Do you wanna test me?"  Sure.  But he fails the test once Paula hits him with her PSI Freeze attack... but it just wasn't enough this time.  But Ness gave him a good whack and he fell.  Only two more to go.  This one too was guarding a gift box.  Inside is a Guts Capsule.  Ness takes it and consumes it.

Ness's guts is raised from 27 to 28

Ness and his friends return to the crossroad and goes south this time... but get attacked by a pack of Noose Men.  They are dispatched, and Paula gains a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 35
Offense: 41 -> 43 (with equipment, 75)
Defense: 11 -> 12 (with equipment, 68)
Speed: 28 -> 29 (with equipment, 34)
Guts: 18 -> 19
Luck: 18 -> 19 (with equipment, 32)
HP: 137/137 -> 139/139
Exp: 203811
20978 Exp for next level

Continuing south, they find another gift box, this one with a bomb in it.  That could be useful.  Ness holds onto it, and they continue on.  And find another Guardian Digger, who also has a delusion of being average.  "I'm truly the third strongest master of this hole.  I'll demonstrate the power of being third to you!"  And Paula demonstrates the power of her PSI Freeze.  Guess which one was stronger?  Go ahead and think about that for a minute, we can wait.  Anyway, Jeff gained a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 33
HP: 166/166 -> 169/169
Exp: 180681
19509 Exp for next level

This Guardian Digger was protecting two gift boxes.  Inside them are a Luck Capsule and a Platinum Band.  Ness takes them both for himself.

Ness's defense is raised from 83 to 108
Ness's luck is raised from 23 to 24 (with equipment, 42)

That leaves only one more Guardian Digger.  Ness and his friends fight their way back to the crossroad, but unfortunately the Teddy Bear does not make it through these fights,  so that they can go through the west path, and from there, south.  Along the way, Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 38
Offense: 67 -> 68 (with equipment, 106)
Guts: 28 -> 29
Vitality: 20 -> 21
IQ: 19 -> 20
HP: 305/305 -> 315/315
PP: 96/96 -> 100/100
Exp: 246387
23406 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Flash beta

Continuing on that path, they find a ladder to a side passage that contains a gift box.  Inside is a Super Bomb.  That too, gets pocketed for later use.  Pushing on, they eventually find the final mole, who stubbornly proclaims himself the third most powerful, even though he's the only one left.  "Ha ha ha.  You've fought the strongest master of this hole, the second strongest master of this hole, the fourth strongest master of this hole, and the weakest master of this hole!  I'm truly the third strongest master of this hole.  Now you see the true advantage of being third!"  And that advantage is that he falls easily to Paula's PSI Freeze attack and Ness's PSI Rockin attack.  This guardian digger was protecting a gift box which contains a PSI Caramel.  It gets pocketed.

Once all the Guardian Diggers are defeated, the other monsters in the maze disappear.  Ness gets the Exit Mouse out, who then leads the group to the entrance of the mine.  Once they exit the mine, they hear that oh so familiar fanfare, and the photographer once again drops out of the sky.  He snaps their picture, while they wait, baking in the sun (fuzzy pickles!) and then he flies off again, satisfied with his work.

They exit the dig site and talk to the miner, who is more than pleased with the groups handiwork.  "You've gotten rid of the monster?!  Good job.  Ok, from here on, just let me dig...  You'll see, I'll find the buried gold!  Before I start digging, I'm going to set a careful plan of action..."

It was a hard fought battle, so Ness and his friends go into the building for a well deserved rest.  Afterward, Ness calls mom and dad to record his progress, and then the group heads back to Fourside, on foot.  As they are crossing the bridge, they see that they are being followed by the miner's backhoe.  The miner comes out to greet them.  "Ness!  Greetings!  I'm George, Gerardo Montague's brother.  Gerardo is in his mine, but he hasn't found any buried treasure yet.  We did, however, find a Diamond instead.  Gerardo told me to give it to Ness.  Here it is... please take it." He says, and then hands Ness this huge diamond.  This isn't treasure?  Wow.  I'd like to know what their definition of treasure is.  "Well, I've got to go... I'm busy working at the other mine... busy, busy, busy!"  He then hops back into the backhoe and drives off back to the desert.

This Diamond is big and beautiful.  It has to be worth a mint!  Those guys really came through on their promise.  This could easily get the Runaway Five out of their contract, and then some.  Ness takes it to the theater.  They buy a ticket to get in, and then go see the manager.  The manager is suddenly absolutely surprised when Ness shoves the huge diamond in her face.  "Yaaaieeee!!  That that that Diamond... you're going to pay with that Diamond?!  O... o... okay, th... that's fine.  I'll rip up this contract."  And as promised, she rips up the Runaway Five's phony contract, and then tries to play it off.  "Don't tell anyone about the Diamond...  Now the Runaway Five are free!  ...You should thank me.  That Diamond is worth maybe... MAYBE... $50.  So I gave you a bargain."  But then she whispers to herself "I made lots of money..."

Then the whole band comes in, and like they did in Twoson, each one thanks the group.
"Sorry about bein' such troublemakers!" One of the lead singers says.
"We won't be so gullible anymore...  Well, our fans are waitin' baby..." The other lead singer says.
"Let's just do this one last show and then get outta here..." The drummer says.
"All right!  Thanks again!" The bassist says.
The saxophonist comes up and sings. "Money, that's what I want.  Money, that's what is hot.  Money, that's what I want.  Money, it's what we ain't got 'cept freedom, freedom, reedom is what we've really sought!"  He  then does a little dance.  "Money, that's what I want.  Money, that's what is hot.  Money, that's what I want..."
Then one of the singers comes in and drags him out to the stage.

Ness and his friends go into the theater to see the final show.  This time, the show is not made of fail.  This time, they pull out all the stops.  They hit all their cues, they bring out Venus, and end the show by bringing their BUS out on the stage and drive off with Venus!  What a show!

You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zZgQ7_I8f0

With the Runaway Five all squared away, Ness and his friends head out of the theater.  A man outside the theater mentions that the Department Store finally re-opened.  But it's been a long day.  Ness and his friends head back to the hotel for a well-earned rest.  Ness checks the morning headlines "Over 70% of Fourside citizens support Monotoli".  No change there.  Yet.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $47725 in the bank).  The next stop in Fourside is the department store.  Something odd is going on there, and it needs to be investigated.

[Ryudo Lee]

In this section, we go to one of my favorite parts of EarthBound, Moonside.  Moonside is a mirror image of Fourside, only it looks like a giant neon velvet painting (as well as can be done when rendered in 16 bits).  Moonside has got to be the most quirky place in the entire game, and that even includes Saturn Valley.  You know how kids still do that whole "opposite day" thing, where yes means no and no means yes?  Well, take that, add in some more craziness, and you have the basic Moonsidian.  There's so many people to talk to, so many funny things that they say, but I just power through Moonside.  But if you ever get a chance to play EarthBound, talk to everyone in Moonside, most of the comments are pretty funny in their own way.


Day 14

Ness and his friends head on out of the hotel to investigate the Department Store (and do a little shopping while they're there).  When they enter the store, they find a mouse who seems to think that something is going to happen here, such as the lights getting turned off.  How strange.  Well, Ness grabs some money from the ATM and goes on up the escalators.  This store is huge!

On the second floor, they find a back room where an arms dealer is hanging out, selling his wares, which includes the Big Bottle Rockets.  Jeff grabs a Hyper Beam, and loads up on Big Bottle Rockets while he's at it.  He also gets rid of the smaller Bottle Rockets, the Bomb, and the Super Bomb.  The Big Bottle Rockets will be all that he needs.  Also, in order to hold an extra rocket, Jeff gives Paula his Laser Gun to hold onto for awhile.  On the third floor, there's a tool shop from which Paula gets a Chef's Fry Pan, and Paula and Jeff get Gold Bracelets, and then sells off their silver bracelets and Paula's Bionic Slingshot.  On the top floor there is a sports shop, but it has nothing that Ness can use at the moment.  There's also a toy store.  They buy a Trick Yo-Yo for Ness and Paula, a Coin of Defense for Jeff, and a new Teddy Bear.

Ness's offense is raised from 106 to 114
Jeff's offense is raised from 81 to 91
Jeff's defense is raised from 67 to 92
Jeff's luck is raised from 24 to 27
Paula's offense is raised from 75 to 89
Paula's defense is raised from 68 to 83

At the back of the top floor is an unoccupied office.  Strange for an office to be so easily accessed.  Oh well.  Back down to the ground floor.

As soon as they get past the pay phone and ATM, suddenly the lights flash on and off, and then go out completely!  During the confusion, something rushes between Ness and Jeff and abducts Paula!  Once they settle down, the PA system comes to life.  "Your attention please, would the customer from Onett, Mr. Ness, please proceed to the office on the fourth floor.  That was customer Ness, 4th floor office... Gwaaaaaaaaagh!"  And then the PA system went silent.  Ness and Jeff head back up the escalator to find themselves now surrounded by monsters!

They find themselves fighting living guitars, the Musica, living records, the Mystical Record, and living cups of coffee, the Scalding Cup of Coffee!  The Musica has a tendency to fire off Electrical Shock attacks, which, when aimed at Ness, gets reflected by his Franklin Badge.  The Mystical Record is simply a physical fighter.  The coffee likes to spill itself all over Ness and Jeff, but often drops a cup of coffee when it is defeated.  Unfortunately, the Teddy Bear does not make it to the fourth floor.  Jeff, however, gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 34
Offense: 33 -> 34 (with equipment, 92)
Vitality: 11 -> 12
IQ: 31 -> 32
Luck: 14 -> 15
HP: 169/169 -> 180/180
Exp: 200591
27157 Exp for next level

On the third floor, the PA system comes to life again.  "Ness, Customer Ness, please hurry to Paula... Gwaaaaaargh!"  They continue up to the fourth floor and get past the toy store, and the voice comes back over the PA system. "Ness, Customer Ness... Gwaagh!  Gwaargh!!"  Now it's just taunting them.  Ness and Jeff finally enter the office at the top floor.

Behind the desk in the office stands a strange tentacled creature, with two eyes on stalks and one eye at the base of the eye stalks, and an insincere grin on it's mouth.  "Gwaaagh, Gwarrrgh!  You finally made it.  This department store is gonna be your grave!  Gwaaagh.  You will be gone, and you'll be burning in...  Well, you'll go to heaven!"  And then it draws them into a fight.

The Department Store Spook is a powerful foe indeed, but Ness and Jeff are prepared.  Ness uses PSI Rockin', while Jeff fires off his Big Bottle Rockets.  The Spook can use some deadly PSI powers, but between Ness's PSI and Jeff's rockets, the Spook is soon put down for good.  And Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 39
Offense: 68 -> 70 (with equipment, 116)
IQ: 20 -> 21
Luck: 23 -> 24 (with equipment, 42)
HP: 315/315 -> 316/316
PP: 100/100 -> 105/105

Ness realized the power of Lifeup delta

The Spook, having been completely outmatched here, gives up some information and a parting shot before passing on. "...Even though you could beat me...  Master Giygas will avenge me...  At this moment, Paula should be...Monotoli... Gwaaaaarrrrgh!!"  Ness and Jeff leave the office and as soon as they do, the lights in the store come back on.  Everyone in the store seems confused by the power outage.  Ness and Jeff purchase a replacement Teddy Bear, and then head out of the store.  As they pass through the toy section on the fourth floor, they hear that all too familiar fanfare.  The photographer comes down from the ceiling, snaps their picture (fuzzy pickles!), and flies off again.  Wow, that guy has perfect timing.  Ness and Jeff leave the department store.  This time the lights do not go off.

Ness and Jeff take a break at the hotel.  The headlines now read "Over 90% of Fourside citizens support Monotoli", and then on page 17 "Mysterious department store blackout caused by mouse".  Well, that's almost true.  Ness and Jeff head out to find Monotoli.  The last lead they had was Jackie's Café.  They decide to check there.

Once inside the Café, a lady in the back of the Café mentions a loud noise outside.  And in a caffeine induced haze she says "Must be the seventh inning stretch, and the fans are singing "Take me out to the ballgame" at the stadium."  Well, a commotion outside should be checked out, nonetheless.  Ness and Jeff leave the Café to find a crowd of people surrounding a nearby alley.  Ness and Jeff can just barely see someone lying on the ground.  Is that... is that EVERDRED?  Ness and Jeff try to push their way through the crowd, but no one will budge.  One boy says that he will move if they give him something.  Ness still has that picnic lunch from some time ago, so he gives that up.  The boy moves, and Ness approaches Everdred.

Everdred has seen better days, but manages to explain himself.  ".....  *Wheeze, wheeze* ... ..... Aren't you Ness...?  ...I can't see too well... Everything's blurry... You are Ness, aren't you?  It's me, we met in Twoson... Everdred from Burglin Park.  You must remember.  I'm the best thief around.  That... Carpainter in Happy Happy Village was hiding something... *wheeze, wheeze*... strange.  I stole it, and thought about selling it in the big city..."  So that's how the Mani Mani statue moved from Happy Happy Village to Fourside.  "An old, city-wise man called it Mani Mani.  It's a strange-colored, doll-looking thing.  ...Ohh... *wheeze*, I'm in pain.  ...and ..... Monotoli tricket me and stole it... from me!  He tricked a thief!  He wanted me out of the way because I know his secret... He gets his evil power from that statue!  ...Listen!  I'll tell you only once.  At the café, check... behind... the counter..."  It makes sense.  The Mani Mani statue corrupted Mr. Carpainter, and now it's corrupting Mr. Monotoli.  "...Before I go, here's my last haiku poem: When on your way out, Be sure that you say goodbye, then lock the door tight.  This is my final request... Don't follow me.  I must be on my way...  Woah...  So... long!"

Everdred then got to his feet.  The crowd parted and let him go on.  He stopped and stared at one of the women in the crowd, and then wandered off.  Respecting his last request, no one followed him.  Ness and Jeff entered the Café and made their way to the counter.  Behind the counter they found a panel that appeared normal, but when they opened it.......

? ? ?

Ness and Jeff opened their eyes to find themselves still in the café, only the café was very very different.  It appeared that the entire place was made of neon lights.  The people in the café spoke very strangely.  The man behind the counter said "No, that's right.  I am the host here."  One of the people at a nearby table said "What?  Fourside?  Are you still sleeping?  This is Moonside."  Another person at the table said "Yes, that's wrong.  I am the hostess here."  Another person explains ""Yes" is "No" and "No" is "Yes."  It makes perfect sense in Moonside."

A monster floated around the café, and attacked them as soon as they came near.  It appeared to be a gasoline pump.  The Robo-pump was basically a ticking time bomb.  Ness and Jeff had to dispatch it quickly.

Leaving the café, they found that the city of Moonside was much like the city of Fourside, only it looked like a giant neon city, swarming with monsters, and full of people who talked in their strange language.  One man outside the café seemed to have trouble speaking.  "Welcome to Moonside.  Wel  come  to moo  nsi  ns de moons ide."  Another man seemed to have the same affliction. "Welcome to Moonside.  Wecomel to Soonmide.  Moonwel ot cosidme."

More monsters appeared, like the Enraged Fire Plug, which was a living fire hydrant that would spray water at Ness and Jeff.  Ness and Jeff eventually come across the Moonside version of the Monotoli building.  Unfortunately, the only path around is blocked by a sailor.  "The Mani Mani Statue is up ahead, but I'm going to stop you right here.  Don't even think about getting past me, 'cause you aren't with a guy whose eyebrows are connected and who also has a gold tooth."  Ness and Jeff, now knowing what they need to look for, head out to find the man with the unibrow and golden grill.  They fight their way back north (or is it south here?), and Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 35
Offense: 34 -> 36 (with equipment, 94)
Defense: 21 -> 22 (with equipment, 93)
Guts: 18 -> 19
IQ: 32 -> 33
HP: 180/180 -> 181/181
Exp: 229689
28022 Exp for next level

They eventually come across some blonde guys in Hawaiian shirts that say "Hello!  And... good-bye!" And then they somehow teleport Ness and Jeff to another section of Moonside.  After a few of these teleports, it becomes obvious that these guys are a maze of sorts.  The one by the Hospital seems to be the one that will send them in the right (wrong?) direction.  After that teleport, Ness finds a gift box with a Night Pendant inside.  Ness equips it.

Ness's defense is raised from 108 to 122
Ness's speed is dropped from 21 to 16
Ness is protected against Flash attacks

A nearby teleport man brings them to another section of Moonside, with a gift box containing a Handbag Strap, which can be useful in battle.  Another nearby teleport man sends them to another area of Moonside with a giftbox containing a Secret Herb.  A man in a black suit seems to be a wannabe teleport man. "Hello!  And... good-bye... Shall I...?"  Ness tells him no, and he teleports them away, with a "Then... good-bye!"

Ness and Jeff find themselves in a room with no doors or windows, only a light and a man walking around, doing nothing.  "I'm really busy doing nothing, so I don't have time to talk to you.  If you need something, talk to my partner.  He's right over there... see?  You mean you can't see him?"  But even though he can't see him, Ness can feel the presence of another person in the room.  Ness approaches where he thinks the man is and tries to talk to the man.  "Can you see me?"  Ness answers no, since that seems to be how Moonsidians work. "Ha ha.  You can, huh?  He he.  You've become a real Moonsidian, haven't you?"  Well that went nowhere.  Ness talks to the man doing nothing about how to get out of here.  "What the...?  You're looking for some kind of door?  Well, you're not gonna find one!  So, get out of my face, loser...  I have no patience when people interrupt me while I'm busy doing nothing."  Ness and Jeff are suddenly teleported away.

They find themselves in a hotel room.  They head for the door, but are suddenly stopped by a voice.  It was the partner of the man who was doing nothing.  "He he ha!  It's me!  You can see me, right?  There's something interesting about you, so I'm going to follow you.  Don't worry, though... Heh heh... If you get into a fight, I'll stay out of it..."  Can't really expect more than that.

They exit the hotel room, with the invisible man in tow.  He speaks up again.  "Heh heh.  You can't see me... right?"  "Hyuk huyk.  Hey!  Don't you wish you had a gold tooth like mine?  Give me a smile!  Heh heh"  Gold tooth you say?  Ness grabs some money from the ATM and rents the hotel room for a quick nap.  The Moonside newspaper's headlines read "Mani Mani is  always Mani Mani  at Mani Mani with all Mani Mani  Mani".  What else would one expect from a Moonside newspaper?

Ness and Jeff leave the hotel, assuming that the invisible man is still following.  They don't get far before he speaks up again, just giggling to himself about his gold tooth.  But he speaks up again not too soon after that.  "Uh... Heh heh... Yo!  Don't you think my eyebrows rock?  Check'em out... they're connected!"  Well, that confirms it.  The invisible man is the man the sailor is looking for.  Ness and Jeff make their way to the Moonside Monotoli building, and speak to the sailor blocking the path.  "The Mani Mani Statue is up ahead, but I'm going to stop you right here.  Huzzah!  You really surprised me!  You're the man whose eyebrows are connected and who has a gold tooth!  How about we dump these kids and go get something to drink!?"  He then walks off, presumably with the invisible man, leaving the path to the Mani Mani statue wide open.

The Mani Mani statue sits in front of the front door of the Monotoli building, and sitting in front of the statue is an old man.  Ness approaches the old man.  The old man, in a panic, blurts out "Don't do anything to me!  I am... I am not Monotoli!"  And then he disappears.  Ness turns to the Mani Mani statue, intent on breaking it.  But the statue itself attacks!

The Evil Mani-Mani is strong, and has powerful PSI attacks.  But Ness and Jeff are well prepared for this battle.  The Mani Mani starts off with Paralysis, and Ness is rendered numb, but that doesn't stop him from using his PSI Rockin attack, and Jeff lays down an assault of Big Bottle Rockets.  The Mani Mani statue is simply overwhelmed by Ness and Jeff's combined strength and is quickly defeated.  And Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 40
Offense: 70 -> 73 (with equipment, 119)
Defense: 20 -> 22 (with equipment, 124)
Speed: 16 -> 18
Guts: 29 -> 31
Vitality: 21 -> 23
HP: 316/316 -> 345/345
PP: 105/105 -> 106/106

Ness and Jeff are enveloped in a bright light, and then wake up as if from a dream to find themselves inside of a warehouse.  At their feet is the broken Mani Mani statue.  It was an illusion device, and by breaking the statue, the illusion was dispelled.  They leave through the only door in the warehouse, into Jackie's Café, where they had entered Moonside.  

As soon as they step into the Café, they get a phone call.  It's Apple Kid again!  "Hello, this is Apple Kid.  I've come up with another wacky invention that I think has real potential.  Maybe you won't, but anyway... it's called the "Gourmet Yogurt Machine."  It makes many different flavors of yogurt.  The only problem is, right now, it can only make trout-flavored yogurt... So I'm having the machine delivered to you via Escargo Express.  It's coming "Neglected Class."  Hopefully, you'll get it soon.  Yeah, everything is... *Kabooom!*  Uh, I'vegotsomeproblemsheregottago, bye!"  Well that didn't sound too good.  Who the heck would want trout flavored yogurt?  Apple Kid certainly missed the mark on that one.

Ness and Jeff leave the café, and suddenly see a monkey waiting for them outside the café.  It rushes toward them, but ends up hitting the wall of the café.  It seemed as though it had expended some PSI energy, because when it hit the wall, there was a small explosion (very small) which left the poor monkey covered in ash.  Ness checked on the monkey.  The monkey attempted to communicated with Ness, and Ness got the idea that the monkey had come from the desert.  Perhaps he had come from that hole he had seen, with Talah Rama living in it.  Perhaps now he could get a chance to talk to the guru!  The monkey headed off again, utilizing whatever PSI it was trying to use, and hit a tree, and then took off again.

At that moment, a man came around carrying a few packages... which looked a little worse for wear.  This must be the Esacargo Express Neglected Class delivery man.  "Whew!  I just got here from the Dusty Dune desert.  There was this sunbathing guy, and he told me about a cave with lots of monkeys... or was it orangutans?  Anyway, he said... well... uh... I forgot.  Yep, I forgot... actually I forgot the stuff I was supposed to deliver, too.  I think it was some weird machine to make trout-flavored yogurt.  Yeah, I forgot it at the desert... I'm not going back that way, so don't ask me to get the package...  I mean, it's your package, right?  So YOU go get it!  Go on, get out of here.  Maybe that thing I forgot is important to you... So... have a good time in the desert!"  But... it's not all that important.  Who the heck would want trout flavored yogurt?  And why would anyone send anything by way of THAT guy?  Ness makes a mental not to never ever use Neglected Class again.

But as the delivery man walks away, a woman in a maid's outfit comes around the corner.  "Hello!  I heard you talking about trout-flavored yogurt.  I'm a maid who serves Mr. Monotoli, and I'm looking for trout-flavored yogurt to give to our special guest.  If you know anything about it, please tell me!  I've been searching and searching..."  Special guest?  Must be Pokey.  Well, this might be a way to get closer to Mr. Monotoli, and Pokey by association.

Ness and Jeff first head to the hotel for a well earned rest before they venture out into the desert.  The morning headlines now read "Over 50% of Fourside citizens now support Anti-Monotoli campaign", and on page 23 "Lonely demise in the city.  Long-haired man with beard, sunglasses and aloha shirt found in street".  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $54145 in the bank).  With the Mani Mani statue and it's spell over Fourside broken, a little bit of peace is starting to come back to the city.  Now, Ness needs to go to the desert, make his way through a hole full of monkeys so he can get guidance from the wise guru, Talah Rama... and find the trout-flavored yogurt machine too.  Yuck.

[Ryudo Lee]

Seriously.  Monkeys.  Lots of monkeys.  And every single one of them wants something.  The hole in the desert with all the monkeys in it is a huge maze, and is basically one big item-trading sequence.  It's pretty monotonous, but a necessary event.  Talah Rama says some pretty cryptic things, and mentions the fourth character, Poo.  So now the fourth chosen one's name is known.  And Ness gets to learn one of my favorite PSI powers, PSI Teleport.  Not only can you go back to every major town that Ness has been in, but you can also go back to Winters, even though Ness has never been there.  Going back to Poo's hometown is sort of understandable, but the reasoning for that will reveal itself later.  But at least now we're one step closer to putting Fourside's primary quest to rest.  Next stop, Mr. Monotoli's office.


Day 15

It's not something that seems all that hygienic, nor appetizing, but Ness and Jeff set out to go into the hole full of monkeys to find the trout-flavored yogurt machine.  A hole in the desert full of monkeys.  Yeah, that sounds like fun.  But it needs to be done, in any case.  It's their only way to get into the Monotoli building in order to save Paula.  Ness and Jeff catch a bus to the desert.

The bus drops them off outside the desert drug store.  They go behind the drug store and down the path behind it to the hole that Ness had discovered earlier.  They enter the hole and go through the cavern.  Talah Rama is no longer blocking the entrance, and so they are able to enter.  Inside, they find two monkeys blocking two entrances.  One indicates that it wants a Skip Sandwich.  The other seems to want a Picnic Lunch.  Unfortunately, Ness and Jeff have neither of those things.  So they head back up out of the hole and go to the drugstore.  They purchase the Skip Sandwich and Picnic Lunch and make their way back to the hole.

Ness gives the Skip Sandwich and Picnic Lunch to the monkeys.  Satisfied with their meals, they monkeys move out of the way and allow Ness and Jeff through.  The hall that the Skip Sandwich monkey was blocking contains a chest with a Wet Towel inside.  Ness takes it.  Perhaps a monkey will want it?  The hall exits to another room with two monkeys blocking two more exits.  One of them seems to want a Protein Drink, the other one... speaks in English!  "If you have a Pizza, please give me one."  It then suddenly switches back to monkey speak, as if he had made a mistake.  Well, unfortunately, Ness and Jeff have neither Protein Drink nor Pizza, so they head back to the monkey that wanted the Picnic Lunch.  They go through that hall and find a chest with a Pizza in it, just what they need!  They continue through that hall though to find another two monkeys, blocking two more exits.  One monkey wants a Wet Towel, and so Ness hands it over.  The other monkey, a female monkey, wants a Pizza.  Ness gives her the Pizza, just for kicks.  Inside her hallway, there is a chest with another Pizza inside.  Well, now there's a pizza for that other monkey.  The hall leads to another room with only one monkey inside.  The monkey gives Ness a Fresh Egg.  Ness backtracks to the Wet Towel monkey and goes in that hall.  That hall has two chests, one with a Hamburger inside, and the other with a Ruler inside.  Continuing through that hall, they come to a room with two more monkeys, blocking two more exits.  They both want hamburgers.  Ness gives his hamburger to the one on the right.  He moves away, and Ness goes through that exit.  It leads to a room with a chest in it that contains a Flame Pendant.  Ness gives it to Jeff.

Jeff's defense is raised from 93 to 107
Jeff's speed is dropped from 24 to 19
Jeff is protected from fire attacks

Ness backtracks back to the first monkey that wanted a Pizza.  He hands over the pizza and he moves.  Ness goes into that hall and finds a Protein Drink.  They continue on and find another room with two monkeys.  One seems to want a big banana.  The other wants a hamburger.  Having neither of those, Ness backtracks to the monkey who wanted the Protein Drink.  Ness hands it over and the monkey moves.  Ness goes into that hall to find a chest with a hamburger in it.  Ness continues to find another room with two more monkeys.  One monkey makes noises like a cat, a bird, a frog, and a dog, instead of a monkey.  Ness bets that a Fresh Egg would help here... except that the Fresh Egg he had gotten had hatched into a chick.  The other monkey, a female monkey, wants the Ruler.  Ness hands over the ruler and goes into that exit to find a room with another female monkey inside.  She gives Ness a large banana, labeled King Banana.  Perhaps that monkey who wanted a large banana would want it.  In order to cure the strangely chattering monkey, Ness lets the chick go, and backtracks to find the monkey who had given him a Fresh Egg.  Ness gets the egg, and brings it back to the strange monkey.  The monkey eats the egg and recovers.  He was blocking a room with a garbage can in it that contains a Neutralizer.  Ness hands that over to Jeff.  He can use that.

Ness and Jeff backtrack to the room with the monkey who wanted the large banana and the monkey that wanted a hamburger.  Ness hands over the hamburger and the King Banana.  The monkey who wanted the banana blocks a room with two chests, one with a hamburger inside, the other with a Picnic Lunch inside.  Ness backtracks to the other monkey that wanted a hamburger, and finds a trash can with a broken tube inside.  Ness gives that to Jeff.  He can fix that.  Ness and Jeff backtrack to the King Banana monkey, and go through the door that was blocked off by the monkey who wanted the hamburger, to find a chest with a Bag of Dragonite inside.  Ness keeps a hold of that.  Ness goes back to the hall protected by the King Banana monkey and continues through that hall.  Ness finds a room with a monkey, and an iron pencil statue blocking a door.  That must be where Talah Rama is.  Ness fires up the old Pencil Eraser and the iron statue disappears before their eyes.

They enter the next room to find Talah Rama meditating in the middle of the room, with a monkey loitering about, and a couple of chests nearby.  Ness approaches Talah Rama.  Talah Rama begins speaking, sharing his wisdom.  "The truth of space and time moves through the universe like a wave...  Truth speaks through space and matter and makes itself known to human beings.  I was waiting for you, and you came.  This was destined to happen.  In truth, all is pre-determined...  Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo, when these four powers gather, twisted space will bring back peace to the world.  Do you understand?  It doesn't matter.  Proceed as you wish.  Open the treasure box and take what is inside with you.  ...Did you come in search of this?  Someone left it behind in this hole."  Tala Ramah hands over the trout-flavored yogurt machine.  Yuck, but a necessary evil.  "The adventure that lies ahead won't be easy.  I'll give you a special skill to help you move through space as you wish.  Learn the skill from the monkey over there...  Would you like to learn this special power?" Ness is all too quick to say yes.  What an opportunity, to learn a special power from such a guru!  "Ha ha ha.  That's wonderful!  Speak to the monkey over there."

Ness approaches the monkey, and the monkey leaves, wanting Ness to follow him.  Ness checks the chests first.  One contains a Cup of Lifenoodles, the other contains a Brain Food Lunch.  Ness and Jeff leave the hole, following the monkey, up to the surface.  The monkey leads them to the road going through the desert and then uses some PSI power to run down the road at an incredible speed.  The monkey disappears with a sonic boom.  After a short while, there is another sonic boom, and the monkey reappears and comes to a stop near Ness and Jeff.  Ness gives it a try and ends up teleporting himself to Fourside, and then returns to the monkey.  The monkey, satisfied with Ness's performance goes back to the hole.

Ness realized the power of PSI Teleport alpha
Current Teleport destinations:
Onett
Twoson
Threed
Fourside
Saturn Valley
Winters

Ness gives Tracey a call for a pickup.  Ness sends out the Bag of Dragonite, the Cup of Lifenoodles, and the Slime Generator (it really has no use at this point).  Ness puts in another call to Tracey to send off the Neutralizer.  As nice of an item as it is, it's just clutter that's taking up space for Big Bottle Rockets.  Ness and Jeff teleport back to Fourside.

They head to the hotel to get some rest (and a bath, after being around so many monkeys).  The next morning, the headlines remain the same.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $45765 in the bank).  With the yogurt dispenser in hand, Ness and Jeff finally have a way to get up into the Monotoli building to rescue Paula!

[Ryudo Lee]

Okay so here we finally hit the half-way mark.  Pokey gets driven out of Fourside, and the group makes their way back to Winters, via the Sky Runner.  The first time I played this through, I thought I had to use PSI Teleport to get to Winters.  Unfortunately, if you teleport to Winters instead of using the Sky Runner, Bubble Monkey won't be at the lake to get Tessie to carry you across.  You have to use the Sky Runner to trigger Bubble Monkey's move to the other side of the lake.

And here is where another forced Your Sanctuary is located.  The one that Jeff passed up.  You have to fight the guardian here (it's name is actually "Shrooom!") and see Rainy Circle to get Dr. Andonuts to modify the Sky Runner.  Beyond this point, all other Your Sanctuary's can be done in any order, except for one, but that one is much later down the line.  And this is like a halfway mark.  Rainy Circle is the fourth location, so we're halfway done with the Sound Stone's song.


Day 16

With yogurt dispenser in hand, Ness and Jeff head to the Monotoli building, ready to make their way to the top and rescue Paula.  But they make a quick detour into the department store to pick up some more Big Bottle Rockets for Jeff and a new Teddy Bear.  When they exit the department store, they see that maid is waiting for them outside.  They go to speak with her.  She immediately notices that they have the yogurt dispenser, and snatches it away from them.  She's so excited about the trout-flavored yogurt that she offers to make some for Ness and Jeff, and invites them up to the 48th floor of the Monotoli building, and then takes off.  Ness and Jeff follow her.

They go up the elevator they went up before.  The self-conscious operator is still there.  "Quit staring at my hips...  why don't you stand somewhere else instead of behind me?" She says.  The elevator goes up to the 47th floor.  Ness and Jeff cross the landing to the other elevator.  Another elevator operator seems to be expecting them.  "Shhh!  Quiet!  Aren't you Ness?  Mr. Monotoli's maid, Electra, told me about you.  I'll take you to Mr. Monotoli's office on the 48th floor.  Only you may go." She says.  The elevator goes up to the 48th floor.

The 48th floor is a quiet place, and for good reason.  As soon as they leave the landing and go out into the hall, they are stopped by an armed Sentry Robot.  It demands a secret code and gives them ten seconds to say the code.  But since they don't know it, the robot attacks.  The Sentry Robot is strong, armed with bottle rockets and a laser gun, but thankfully, they must be expensive since there are only a few of them.  Jeff's bottle rockets are enough to scrap them.

The 48th floor is a maze of offices, but Ness and Jeff search every office, and fight off more Sentry Robots.  Jeff's Big Bottle Rockets get a good workout here.  And they both gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 41
Offense: 73 -> 74 (with equipment, 120)
Luck: 24 -> 25 (with equipment, 43)
HP: 345/345 -> 347/347
PP: 106/106 -> 107/107
Exp: 323310
28784 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 36
Offense: 36 -> 37 (with equipment, 95)
Defense: 22 -> 23 (with equipment, 108)
Speed: 19 -> 20
IQ: 33 -> 35
Luck: 15 -> 17
HP: 181/181 -> 184/184
Exp: 258309
31771 Exp for next level

As they search the building, they find a few gift boxes.  One contains a Sudden Guts Pill (which Ness uses during the fights with the Sentry Robots).  The other contains a Vital Capsule, which Ness consumes.  

Ness's vitality is raised from 23 to 24

They also find Electra's room, and she forces a helping of trout-flavored yogurt on them.  Ick.  Near Electra's room, they find the lobby to Mr. Monotoli's office, which is guarded by a little robot.  But this little robot is no pushover.  The Clumsy Little Robot packs quite a punch.  Ness uses the Power Shield on himself and Jeff.  Unfortunately, the little robot is quite the powerhouse, and is quite prepared.  Ness and Jeff have to rely only on their weapons instead of PSI and rockets, as the little robot is too fast for Jeff's bottle rockets, and has the PSI Shield up, rendering PSI Rockin useless.  The little robot seems to be able to dodge many of Ness and Jeff's attacks, and when it takes damage, it keeps eating Bologne Sandwiches to restore it's health, but Ness and Jeff keep pressing the attack.

As it starts to seem like this little robot can't be defeated, a bunch of guys rushed into the room!  It was the Runaway Five!  Lucky quickly ducked behind the robot and flicks a switch on its back.  "I flipped the switch, and it stopped.  Ha ha ha hah... Geez, what a loser robot.  It was so easy to stop!  That was quick thinking!"  Yeah, well they weren't actually trying to hit this thing.  The Clumsy Little Robot finally falls over, defeated.  If only they had known about that switch earlier.  They find that the entire band had come up to help them.  After all, Ness and his friends had helped them out so much.

"We don't have any money... we are strong, however..." The saxophonist says.
"We would like to pay you back...  We'll help you in whatever way we can..." The bassist says.
"Let's break into the room next door... 'Cept I need to go to the bathroom first..." The drummer says.
"I thought that I heard a girl's voice..." One of the singers says.
"The room next door seems suspicious somehow..." The other singer says.

Indeed, the double doors leading to the next room seem ominous.  Ness enters the room and finds himself in a large opulent office, with a large stuffed bear next to the door.  He sees the old man he had seen in Moonside, and Paula, safe and sound nearby.  They approach the old man, and he suddenly backs off.  "Stop!  That's enough!  Please stop!  I give up!  I really do!"  He then runs off and hides behind Paula, shaking in fear.

Ness and Jeff approach Paula.  "...Ness!  You finally made it here!  ...I'm fine.  I believed you'd come and save me.  Mr. Monotoli isn't really a bad person.  Take some time to listen to him."  She says.  Ness and Jeff turn their attention to Monotoli, and now that he's no longer under the influence of the Mani Mani statue, he tells all.  "Look at my skinny arms, thin body, and gray hair... I've become so weak since I lost the Mani Mani Statue.  I'm sorry I kidnapped Paula.  I haven't done anything to her.  ...Paula is a nice girl." He says to Ness.  He then turns to Paula.  "Paula.  Return to Ness.  I'm sorry I've created so much trouble for you."  Paula then returns to Ness's group.  Ness then turns back to Monotoli, and he continues his tale.  "..... I'll tell you everything.  The Mani Mani Statue creates and illusion.  It attracts evil spirits and weakens your heart.  The power scared me so much, I hid the statue in the warehouse at Jackie's Café.  I often went there to pray.  .....  Cryptic words appeared to me while I was in the illusion.  Ness, your name appeared in the cryptic messages.  "Stop Ness, and do so by your own hand."  Or... "Don't let them go to Summers."  Or... "Make sure they know nothing of the Pyramid"... I don't fully understand the messages, but someone obviously doesn't want you to go to Summers.  ...Evil... Giygas... or something... I could hear the name...  Anyway, the evil side would be in trouble if you visit Summers...  Oh!  On the contrary, you should definitely go to Summers, especially because they don't want you to make it there.  .....  Summers is located across the ocean.  Take my helicopter.  I'll open the door to my heliport."

Monotoli goes to the bear next to the door and moves it effortlessly in front of the door.  A panel on the far wall slides up the wall, revealing a secret passage.  Monotoli comes back to them.  "You must go on!  Ness!  This is your destiny.  Paula, it's time we said goodbye.  Take care."  Ness and his friends go into the passage.  They come out of the passage onto a heliport on the top of the Monotoli building, upon which rests a yellow helicopter.

When they approach the helicopter, the rotors suddenly start spinning, and the helicopter takes off.  It hovers around them, and then Pokey sticks his head out the window to taunt them.  "Ness, you pin-headed idiot, you're just a half-step too slow!  I'm getting outta here!  Since Monotoli has become a plain, old man again, I have no more use for him.  This helicopter will really come in handy.  Looks like you're the world-class loser again!" And then he flies off.  When did Pokey learn to fly a helicopter?

Ness returns through the passage and lets Monotoli know that Pokey stole his helicopter.  "Pokey took the helicopter... I hope he's okay..."  Ness and his friends go to leave Monotoli's office.  Paula suddenly stops, as if she's getting a vision or something.  "Oooh... I was a little dizzy, but now I'm okay.  ...to get to Summers... we need to go back to Threed.  Yep, somehow I know that's where we must go..." She says.  They leave the office and find the Runaway Five waiting for them.

One of the lead singers approaches them.  "Wow!  You guys did a lot while I was in the bathroom!  Ha ha ha ha...  You want to get to Threed as soon as possible?  We can take you to Threed in our tour bus.  I'll get the bus and waiting for you just outside the building..."  They then head out.  Ness and his friends follow.

As they approach the elevator, Ness gets a phone call.  It's Apple Kid!  "Hello!  How are you?  This is Apple Kid.  I think I'm a real genius...  In fact, I know I'm a genius.  Why?  Well, I have discovered the primary enemy of you and of all humanity.  We have to fight and defeat this being...  To do so, we need to invent a machine called the "Phase Distorter."  I've got to find the wandering scientist, Dr. Andonuts, and make the distorter.  So, I may be gone for a while.  Later..."  Jeff knows where Dr. Andonuts is!

They go down the elevators to leave the Monotoli building.  As they're leaving, Ness gets another phone call.  It's... Orange Kid?  "Hello!  This is Orange Kid.  Sorry I haven't called lately.  I'm still working on the way to change boiled eggs into raw eggs.  It's taking longer than I thought...  I'm going to really work at it, though... talk to me later."  Yeah, you do that.  Ness and his friends exit the building and find the Runaway Five's bus ready and waiting for them, with one of the singers standing next to it.  "Okay!  You can get on the bus now..." He says.  Ness and his friends waste no time and get on the bus.  "All right... on to Threed!" The driver says.

The Runaway Five crank up the music and the bus drives on through Fourside.  They go through the tunnel, cross the bridge, go through the tunnel to the desert, drive straight on through the desert, and go through the tunnels to Threed.  They drop off Ness and his friends in the same place they did the first time they came to Threed, just north of where Boogey Tent was pitched.  One of the singers comes out to give a farewell.  "All right!  We made it!  I'm sorry we couldn't do more for you.  Remember, though... we're on your side.  When you're having a tough time, just think of our songs and imagine the Runaway Five singing somewhere far, far away...  By the way, why did you need to come back here?  You must have forgotten some very important item or gadget here...  How's that for a guess?  Am I close?  Well, you don't have to tell me...  See you later and good luck!"  He then gets back on the bus, and the bus drives off.

So what is in Threed anyway?  The only thing that could possibly get them across the ocean would be Sky Runner, but that's wrecked, isn't it?  Well, with some time on their hands now, perhaps Jeff could fix it.  They go up to the graveyard where Ness and Paula were imprisoned and go into the hole where the Sky Runner crashed.  They enter the crash site, and find that the Sky Runner is mostly fixed, by two of Threed's citizens, in thanks for ridding the town of the zombies.  Jeff checks out the Sky Runner.  "Ah!  Here's the problem, and it's not too tough to fix.  Hang on for a second or two..." He says, and then gets to work.  In a short time, the Sky Runner is back in working condition.  "There!  That should do it!  Now, if we board, the Sky Runner will take us back to Winters.  With Dr. Andonuts' help, I can modify the machine to fly to Summers.  ...If Dad, I mean Dr. Andonuts, is not available, I'll have to figure it out by myself.  Anyway, let's go back to the lab in Winters.  ...That's it...  Go, machine, go!"

Ness and his friends board the Sky Runner.  It immediately takes off through the hole it had crashed through, and returns the way it came when it brought Jeff to Threed.  It goes through the clouds in the sky, over the desert, back through some clouds, over Fourside, back through the clouds, and then comes down over Dr. Andonuts' lab.  It makes a slow descent down into the lab, and manages to land inside the lab without crashing.

Once inside the lab, they find Bubble Monkey and his girlfriend waiting for them in the lab.  The girl monkey seems thankful for Jeff taking care of Bubble Monkey during their trip through the Winters wilderness.  Bubble Monkey approaches Ness and indicates that Jeff had passed a special place that perhaps Ness should check out.  The two monkeys then leave the lab, hand in hand.

Dr. Andonuts is indeed there in the lab, along with a cave man.  Ness approaches Dr. Andonuts.  "Oh!  You surprised me!  You're Ness, aren't you?  Jeff wets his bed sometimes.  But other than that, he's a good boy.  Take care of yourself and Jeff!...  The Bubble Monkey said there's a cave north of Stonehenge.  I've known about it for a long time.  The locals call the area "Rainy Circle," but I haven't been there.  I wonder what's inside the cave... I uh, huh... I understand...  While you're checking out that place, I'll work on remodeling the Sky Runner.  Oh yes, yes.  My co-worker, Big Foot, dislikes violence.  He's such a nice guy, and he loves people.  He often shares his beef jerky with me..."

Ness takes a moment to use the Instant Revitalizing Device for a quick nap, and then puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress.  With that done, they head out of the lab and go through Stonehenge to get to the cave where Jeff had seen the Your Sanctuary location.

Ness approaches the guardian of the Your Sanctuary location, and like the others before it, it taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the fourth "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..."  And then it draws them into a fight.  The guardian turns out to be a giant living mushroom, Shrooom!  But Ness and Paula's combined PSI powers and Jeff's remaining rockets make short work of this guardian.  Shrooom doesn't even get off a single attack.  But that leaves Jeff without any rockets left.  But on the bright side, levels are gained!

Ness's Stats
Level: 42
Offense: 74 -> 76 (with equipment, 122)
IQ: 21 -> 22
HP: 347/347 -> 360/360
PP: 107/107 -> 110/110
Exp: 374124
9005 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 35 -> 37
Offense: 43 -> 45 (with equipment, 91)
Speed: 29 -> 31 (with equipment, 36)
IQ: 25 -> 27
HP: 139139 -> 140/140 -> 143/143
PP: 125/125 -> 135/135 -> 136/136
Exp: 252936
20156 Exp for next level

Paula realized the power of PSI Fire delta

Jeff's Stats
Level: 37
Offense: 37 -> 38 (with equipment, 96)
Guts: 19 -> 20
HP: 184/184 -> 187/187
Exp: 309123
15733 Exp for next level

Ness and his friends go through the exit that Shrooom was blocking.  It comes out to an enclosed valley.  In the middle of the valley is a puddle of water into which rainwater is perpetually dropping.  Ness approaches Rainy Circle, and then suddenly hears another tune, and a memory surfaces to his mind.  He caught a whiff of Steak, but just for a second.  Ness put the Sound Stone to his head and gathered his thoughts.  As it had done before, the Sound Stone had recorded the tune of Rainy Circle.  The song was starting to come together.  Now Ness has visited half of the Your Sanctuary locations.  Only four more to go.

Ness and his friends leave Rainy Circle, and exit the cave.  They cross through Stonehenge and make their way back to Dr. Andonuts' lab.  As they cross through Stonehenge, they hear that all too familiar fanfare as the Photographer falls down from the sky.  They pose for a photo (fuzzy pickles!) and the picture is taken.  Satisfied with his work, the Photographer flies off into the air from whence he came.  Ness and his friends go back to the lab.  They check in with Dr. Andonuts.  "Hmm... ...It looks like you found something out.  I finished remodeling the Sky Runner.  You can leave for Summers whenever you wish.  It shouldn't break this time...  Well, maybe..."  He says.  They take a quick rest in the Instant Revitalizer Device, and then Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $53297 in the bank).  With a path to Summers opened up thanks to the Sky Runner, Ness and his friends are ready for the next leg of their adventure... on to Summers!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Wow. Only half complete?

This is a heck of a long game.

[Ryudo Lee]

Yes it is a long game.  And what I'm doing here is mostly core plot stuff, and I'm really just powering through it.  There are so many other things to see in this game.  Every person in the game has something unique, and often quirky to say.  And some people will even say different things based on who is leading the party (say if Ness is unconscious and Paula is leading everyone around).  Plus there are the 1/128 items, and other challenges.  As I said before, there's so much to see and do in this game, it's crazy.  But crazy in a good way.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Well, don't feel you have to power through it. We're more than happy to watch as you faff about. ;-]

... heck, that's what I do in Borderlands, and people seem to be amused. Albeit not very many of them, at the moment, but I hope that that improves as time goes on...

[Ryudo Lee]

Yeah, but I'm typing this out by hand, in a Word document.  The document is 86 letter sized pages long so far.  I think my hands would fall off if I faffed about.  Maybe I should have set up one of those live streams...

[Ryudo Lee]

The Magic Cake is not a lie!

Seriously man, what was in that cake?  That's gotta be some pretty strong stuff to cause a dream/vision/hallucination/bad trip of that magnitude.

...

Now I want some.

So yeah, now the whole party comes together.  Poo is a pretty reliable character, and he's fairly unique.  He's the only one in the party that needs an item in his inventory to use PSI, and he's the only one in the party that can restore PP with a bottle of water (just 1-2 PP, but it's better than nothing).  He can also fight without weapons, which is good too.

Also, the phone call from Tony is one of two times that you can enter your real name as a player.  This comes into play at the end of the game, in a way that I think is pretty cool.


Day 17

Ness and his friends hop into the Sky Runner, ready to be whisked away to Summers.  Dr. Andonuts comes over to see them off, and Jeff takes the controls.  The Sky Runner launches up out of the lab and into the sky.  It comes down over a port, going over many boats in the water.  It then comes over a beach, and tries to come in for a landing.  Unfortunately, Jeff loses control and it crashes... and then explodes.  Ness and his friends survive the crash landing, but the Sky Runner did not.  It got broken into tiny little pieces.  But with PSI Teleport, it doesn't matter that the Sky Runner is now basically shrapnel.

Ness can now teleport to Summers

Ness and his friends leave the beach, and start exploring the resort town, Summers.  The first thing they notice when they leave the beach is an unoccupied food cart.  Who could this belong to?  They go down the road and find the hotel.  As they approach the doors, they hear that all-too familiar fanfare as the photographer comes down out of the sky.  They pose (fuzzy pickles!), the photographer snaps a picture, and then flies off again.  They check out the hotel, "L'hotel du Summer".  Fancy, and expensive.  They don't even have a regular phone in there, it's a pay phone.  The bellhop obviously mistakes Ness for someone else.  "Thank you again Poke... Uhhh, Mr. Ness."  Looks like Pokey got here first.

They leave the hotel and continue down the road.  They find a restaurant.  They go inside and wander around the restaurant, no one stops them.  As they go to the back of the restaurant, they hear that fanfare again.  Seriously?  Twice in only a few minutes?  The photographer comes down from the ceiling and lands on a table.  They pose again (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps the photo.  Happy with his work, he goes back out the way he came.  Now more than a little tired of the photographer, Ness and his friends leave the restaurant.

They continue down the road and find a shop.  This is more like it.  They enter the shop and proceed to empty Ness's bank account.  All the stuff in Summers is really useful, but also freakin' expensive.  Ness grabs a Big League Bat, and sells off his Trick Yo-Yo.  All three get Lucky Coins and Diamond Bands, and sell off the Mr. Saturn Coin, Platinum Band, two Gold Bracelets, and two Coins of Defense.  They also get a Super Plush Bear.  That pretty much cleans Ness out.

Ness's offense is raised from 122 to 130
Ness's defense is raised from 124 to 137
Ness's luck is raised from 45 to 47
Paula's defense is raised from 83 to 113
Paula's luck is raised from 32 to 39
Jeff's defense is raised from 108 to 138
Jeff's luck is raised from 30 to 37

There is enough left to give Escargo Express a call and finally get rid of Jeff's old Laser Gun.  And enough left for a stay at the hotel, but that will wait until later.

They continue down the road and find a big white building with a sign that says "Club Stoic".  Ness tries to go in, but he's stopped at the door.  "This is not the Stoic Club.  Please be on your way..."  Huh?  Well, fine.  Be that way.  Ness and his friends continue down the road, and find a museum.  Museums are boring, so they pass it up.  Next door they find the Summers hospital.  With no need for a hospital, they continue on, and come to the end of the road.  Around the end of the road, there are many other buildings, mostly people's homes.  It turns out that this is the port town of Toto.  A nearby sign has some graffiti on it.  "Ness can eat my shorts!  For a neighbor, he's a loser!"  Yep, Pokey's been here.

Ness and his friends continue on into Toto.  A nearby sailor mentions that to get to Scaraba, one needs to cross the ocean.  Unfortunately, there is a monster called the Kraken, that lives in the open sea, and attacks ships that pass through.  So that's why all the boats are here at the port and not out sailing.  Ness goes into one of the nearby houses.  A man in a yellow jumpsuit offers the low down on the Stoic Club in Summers.  He says that a secret phone number needs to set up a reservation to get in.  He then tells Ness the number.  That could be interesting.

Ness and his friends leave the mans house and suddenly the Receiver Phone starts ringing.  It's not Apple Kid this time.  It's Tony!  "Hello, Jeff?  Oh, happy day!  I finally got a hold of you...  Oh, Jeff!  Hi, it's me—Tony.  I'm collecting player's names for a school project.  You know, players just like you!  That's right, you—the one holding the controller.  Would you register your name, please?  Don't spell your name wrong!"  Oh wait, that's a message to me, not to the characters.

At this point, a new name entry screen pops up, asking for my name.  So let's see... "Ryudo Lee", yep that should do it.  OK.  "Thanks, game player!  Thank you very much!  Is this correct?"  The screen comes back up, but I spelled it right.  We're all good.  OK.  "I apologize for any trouble this may have caused you.  Don't put my friend Jeff in any dangerous situations, okay?  I worry about him.  I really do...  Well, talk to you later...  ...Jeff...  I hope that I can see you again when you are feeling up to it...  From T-O-N-Y...  You got that?  Well I've been on the phone too long...  Gotta go...  Good luck...  Take care...  So long...  This time, I'm really gonna hang up.  Goodbye."  Tony's a bit annoying, but he's got a heart of gold.  Back to the game.

Ness and his friends spy another sailor standing near the steps leading to his boat.  They go see if they might be able to catch a ride.  "I don't feel like sending a ship out.  I'm worried about my wife...  I'm not afraid of the Kraken!  .....  My wife's totally ignoring her Magic cake business.  These days she spends her time hanging out in a strange club.  We no longer have any mutual interests to discuss.  Is our relationship over?  ...*Sigh*"  It seems like Ness is forever solving other people's problems.  A strange club eh?  Well, Ness just happens to have a phone number for such a place.

Ness and his friends go into the Museum and borrow their non-pay phone and put in a call to the Stoic Club to set up a reservation.  "Hello, this is the Stoic Club.  Oh, Ness, sir!  Would you like to make a reservation?  Certainly.  We are looking forward to having you here.  Thank you."  Well, that was easy.  Ness and his friends leave the Museum and head to the Stoic Club.  This time they are not stopped at the door.  Inside the club they find a small stage with a rock in the middle of it, a couple of tables, and a whole bunch of people looking at the rock on the stage and talking about various philosophical topics... none of which can be deciphered into plain English.  Suffice it to say, they're just blabbing in order to hear themselves talk.  But one man mentions something that's actually in English!  "You know, I really want to eat some Magic cake.  It's a mysterious work of art...  I can't get that cake off my mind.  There's only one woman who can make Magic cake...  She's hanging out in this club.  Yeah, she's over there at the entrance..." and then his conversation devolves into some philosophical nonsense.

Ness goes to talk to the woman near the entrance of the club.  She says some indecipherable philosophical things, and is suddenly surprised when Ness asks her about her Magic cake.  "What?  What?  Magic Cake?  You came all this way just to eat my Magic Cake?"  Ness says yes.  "I see... okay...  Why don't you stop by a little cart out on the beach later?"  She then leaves the club.  Ness is sure that he knows which cart that is, and goes to the unattended cart that he had seen earlier.  Now, though, the woman from the club is there with a piece of cake for him.  "I don't know who told you.  You came from far off just to eat my Magic cake?...  I thought making cakes would be the best career for me.  Dig in!  I used all leftover materials.  This is a very special Magic cake!"

Ness eats the cake.  This cake is no lie.  It really is magical.  In fact, it knocks Ness out completely, and he has a dream.  It was a very clear, and very strange dream.  Ness saw a far off land, floating around on clouds that have a pink tint to them.  He suddenly knew this country.  Dalaam, in the Far East.  He saw a great palace, the palace of Poo, the Crown Prince of Dalaam.  And then he saw himself as Prince Poo.

Poo was sitting on his throne, his old master standing next to him.  His master turns and speaks to the Prince.  "Prince Poo, the time has now come for you to undertake your final trial.  Go to the "Place of Emptiness" and endure this final test.  I am praying for your success in this final stage of your training."  Poo stands from his throne and finds his belongings in three nearby chests.  One contains a Brain Food Lunch, another contains a Cup of Lifenoodles, and the last contains a Brain Stone.

Poo's starting stats (unlike everyone else in the party, Poo does not start at level 1)
Level: 15
Offense: 32 (Poo cannot equip any weapons except for the Sword of Kings)
Defense: 26 (Poo cannot equip any defensive items except for the Bracers, Diadem, and Crown of Kings)
Speed: 11
Guts: 5
Vitality: 7
IQ: 7
Luck: 6
HP: 108/108
PP: 37/37
Exp: 6000
1390 Exp for next level

Known PSI
PSI Freeze alpha & beta
PSI Thunder alpha & beta
Lifeup alpha & beta
Healing alpha & beta
Shield alpha (Shield of light, reduces damage, one person) & sigma (Shield of light, reduces damage, entire party)

Starting inventory
Tiny Ruby
Bottle of Water

Notes on Poo: Poo must always carry the Brain Stone in his inventory, or he cannot concentrate to use PSI.  Poo actually can equip yo-yo's, but doing so actually lowers his offense.  Poo's only useful weapon is the Sword of Kings, and that is a 1/128 item that will be found later on, but until then, Poo will not have a weapon equipped.  Poo can raise his PP by drinking bottled water, only Poo can do this.  Also, like Ness, Poo learns a unique attack PSI power.

Poo leaves the palace.  It seems that Poo is popular with the ladies.  One of the women in the palace confesses that Poo is her favorite, and includes a blush and a giggle.  Continuing on, Poo goes down into the village in Dalaam.  The women in the village complain that Poo spends too much of his time training and not enough time with them.  He checks the houses in town, and finds a few chests.  One contains a Jar of Delisauce, one contains a Bowl of Rice Gruel, and the last contains a Bottle of Water.  He continues on all the way down to the southern end of Dalaam, which splits off to the east and west.  Off to the east side is a cave that is blocked by, of all things, three rabbit statues.  Unable to get past them, Poo goes the other way.

The path leads to a land bridge to a lonely island.  A sign nearby identifies this place as "Mu, the place of nothingness.  People who train here must first clear everything from their mind.  If you can make your mind blank and learn the true meaning of "Mu," you'll pass through.  Mu is Mu..."  An old man stands next to a rope leading up to the top of Mu.  Poo talks to him.  "You have nice eyes.  ...You must be Prince Poo.  Long ago, I completed Mu Training.  I want to show you a higher level of intelligence...  However, I'm still realizing and learning this high level...  I'll see you again.  So long!"  The old man then summons a small tornado and it carries him off into the wind.

Poo climbs the rope up to the top of Mu, and then settles down to meditate.  As he meditates, a woman's voice comes to him, trying to distract him from his training.  "Ah!  Prince Poo...  I am a messenger from your master...  He sent me to tell you that you must stop your meditation immediately.  Prince Poo!  You must come back with me instead of staying in a place such as this.  Your Master wishes it... please rise, Prince...  Your highness, you must give up this trial for now... believe what I say, it is the truth..."  Except that his master would send no messenger, and so Poo ignores the woman and continues his meditation.

As Poo meditates, he is suddenly confronted by a spirit.  "Prince Poo...  I am the spirit of your ancient lineage.  To complete your trial, I am going to break your legs.  You will lose the use of them.  Do you accept this?"  Knowing this is part of his trial, Poo accepts, and the spirit indeed, breaks his legs.  "So, Prince Poo... you cannot walk, as your legs are broken.  Next, I will tear your arms off...  I shall then take your arms and feed them to the crows.  The taking of your arms...  Do you accept this?"  It is all part of the trial.  Poo accepts.  The spirit then separates Poo's arms from his body, leaving Poo's body broken and mortally wounded.  "Ah, Prince Poo...  Without legs and arms, you can only lie there...  Now, I'll cut your ears off.  You do not mind my taking your hearing away, do you?  Do you accept this?"  Poo is in no state to refuse.  Poo accepts.  The spirit takes Poo's ears, and Poo falls deaf.  Poo can no longer hear the spirit speak, but the spirit talks directly to Poo's mind.  "So, Prince Poo.  No legs, no arms and no sound...  By floating words through the air, I must ask you...  Do you care if I take your eyes?  Do you want to live in eternal darkness?  I shall steal your sight...  Do you accept this?"  Poo accepts, knowing that he can complete this training.  The spirit takes Poo's eyes, and Poo becomes blind.  The world turns to darkness, and spirit continues speaking directly to Poo's mind.  "So, Prince Poo.   Now, I can only communicate directly with your mind.  Your mind is all you have left...  In the end, I will take your mind, though you probably don't want to allow that, do you?  So... you can't answer?  You can't even move?  Are you sad, are you lonely?  If you lose your mind, you also lose any feelings of sadness...  Do you accept this?  I will take your mind, Prince Poo, know that I will possess it..."

Poo opens his eyes, and finds that he is perfectly fine.  He had completed the training, and survived the encounter with the ancient spirit with his entire body, legs, arms, ears, eyes, and... mind(?) intact.  He hears a man's voice come up from the town.  "Prince Poo!  You have now completed your training!  The old Master must be so pleased!  Hurry, now, and return to the palace."  With his work done here, Poo climbs down from Mu and heads back to the palace.  He goes back to his throne and speaks to his master.  "I am proud.  You have completed your Mu training.  There is nothing more to teach you from the holy writings.  Prince Poo, I shall relay a message to you from Eternity.  The evil entity that controls all wickedness is preparing for the greatest struggle of all time...  The only ones who can challenge the entity are three boys and one girl.  One named Ness is the leader of the four.  One of the boys is you, Prince Poo.  Now that you've completed your training, search out Ness at once.  For all beings, for earth herself...  I pray for growth in the might of the four."  From his experience with the Mu training, Poo gains levels!

Poo's Stats
Level: 15 -> 18
Offense: 32 -> 34 -> 35 -> 37
Defense: 26 -> 30 -> 33
Speed: 11 -> 13 -> 14
Guts: 5 -> 7
Vitality: 7 -> 8
IQ: 7 -> 8
Luck: 6 -> 7
HP: 108/108 -> 120/120 -> 122/122 -> 125/125
PP: 37/37 -> 40/40 -> 42/42
Exp: 12000
2137 Exp for next level

Poo realized the power of Shield beta (Power shield, reflects damage, one person)
Poo realized the power of Teleport alpha
Poo realized the power of Teleport beta (tornado teleport, the group spins around in a circle to build up speed to teleport)

Poo then uses his newfound Teleport ability and teleports directly to Ness's location in Summers, on the beach.  Poo stands before Ness.  "My name is Poo.  I am the one who will fight beside you.  I am the servant of Ness.  I will obey Ness.  Ness!  My life is in your hands."  Poo then joins the group.  Well, that's quite a charge there.  But at least now the entire group of four is together.  Look out Giygas, here they come!

Ness can now teleport to Dalaam

Ness and his friends all go to the hotel for a good night's rest.  The next morning, Ness checks the headlines: "Yesterday the same as the day before yesterday.  Today to be the same as yesterday."  Well, at least they're consistent.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says that Ness has $8610 left in the bank).  The chosen four are now all together.  There is still one thing left on Ness's mind.  That museum.  Maybe it should be checked out before they go to Scaraba.  Who knows, they might learn something useful.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Yeah, but I'm typing this out by hand, in a Word document.  The document is 86 letter sized pages long so far.  I think my hands would fall off if I faffed about.  Maybe I should have set up one of those live streams...

Heh. Yeah, that does put a damper on the ability to wander about vaguely. ;-]

[Ryudo Lee]

I should note that the guard in the Summers museum mentions Poo in passing if you don't have Poo in your party.  But I bypassed that whole scene.

We then take a detour and go after Magnet Hill, one of the three Your Sanctuary locations that can be done in any order, once you trigger access to them.

Also, there is a chest in Magnet Hill which contains the Carrot Key, which is what will move those rabbit statues in Dalaam.  Since they are the only rabbits in the game, it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination that you need to give the carrot to the rabbits.


Day 18

Ness and his friends leave the hotel and make their way over to the museum, the Scaraba Cultural Museum.  The receptionist mentions that part of the museum is being remodeled, but lets them in anyway.  Once inside, the museum, they find many old coffins from the pyramid ruins in Scaraba.  They find who they assume is the museum curator wandering around, mumbling to himself.  "Why would Mr. Spoon froom the Fourside museum try to call me?  I bet he just wants to brag about something...  Well, let him try...  I wonder what he wants to tell me?  Bah!  I dare him to try and upstage me...  Oh!  Pardon me...  I was just talking to myself... *cough*"  How strange.

Ness and his friends head to the back of the museum and find some stairs leading up to the next floor, to the area that's being remodeled.  A guard at the door stops them, but then takes notice of Poo, and his tiny ruby.  "This room is being remodeled, so I can't show it to you...  Oh, the samurai kid is here.  Will he be giving me that gem?"  Poo hands over the ruby.  "You're such a good student.  I'm impressed by your passion for learning.  Come in."  The guard then unlocks the door.  Inside the next room is a large piece of stone with hieroglyphs carved into it.  Next to the display, a couple of monsters roam around, and attack Ness and his friends.

The monsters are the Shattered Man, a petrified mummy.  It is strong and can deal out massive amounts of damage and can reach out with an icy touch to freeze someone in place.  But Paula and Poo solidify him with their PSI Freeze attacks.  And levels are gained!

Ness's Stats
Level: 43
Offense: 76 -> 77 (with equipment, 131)
Guts: 31 -> 32
Vitality: 24 -> 25
Luck: 27 -> 28 (with equipment, 48)
HP: 360/360 -> 375/375
Exp: 398455
17623 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 38
Offense: 45 -> 46 (with equipment, 92)
Guts: 19 -> 20
Luck: 19 -> 20 (with equipment, 40)
HP: 143/143 -> 144/144
PP: 136/136 -> 137/137
Exp: 277267
22553 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 38
Defense: 23 -> 24 (with equipment, 139)
Vitality: 12 -> 13
IQ: 36 -> 37
HP: 187/187 -> 195/195
Exp: 333454
28586 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level 18 -> 23
Offense: 37 -> 40 -> 43 -> 45 -> 48
Defense: 33 -> 34 -> 38 -> 39 -> 41
Speed: 14 -> 16 -> 17
Guts: 7 -> 8
Vitality: 8 -> 11
IQ: 8 -> 9 -> 10
Luck: 7 -> 8
HP: 125/125 -> 126/126 -> 165/165 -> 166/166 -> 168/168 -> 169/169
PP: 42/42 -> 45/45 -> 50/50 -> 52/52 -> 53/53
Exp: 34346
2116 Exp for next level

Poo realized the power of PSI Magnet alpha

Once those monsters are taken care of, Ness checks out the hieroglyphs.  Unfortunately, he can't read them.  Fortunately, Poo can.  "To fight against the invaders, we built this pyramid fortress.  However, our efforts were futile, and we lost.  Nonetheless, our pyramid was protected by the gods of Scaraba.  The invaders will be reborn every millennium and will attack again.  Even now, the invaders hide beyond space and time and build their evil stronghold.  A place out of time is beyond the Dark, and is even farther beyond the Lost Underworld.  The Deep Darkness is shrouded, it is without light.  Only one with the Hawk Eye can pierce the dark.  The Sphinx now watches over everything, waiting for the coming of a truly brave hero.
     *
4        3
   2  5
Dance in front of the Sphinx!"  Poo then puts two and two together.  "Ness!  Let's go to Scaraba.  The pyramid is the key!"

Ness turns to the guard.  "Excellent!  Do you feel like you're really experiencing this great historical period?  The experience is more valuable than a small gem... Ha ha ha!  The other day, a rich kid came to Summers by helicopter...  He also took a picture of the Hieroglyphs.  I got lots of money from him.  Heh heh heh."  Looks like Pokey came here too.  Ness and his friends go to leave, but then the guard stops them again.  "Wait one second.  Here's a picture of the hieroglyphs just for you.  It's a reward for studying so hard.  Use it in your Human Civilization class.  Ha ha ha!"  He hands them a picture of the hieroglyphs that Poo had just read.

Ness and his friends go to leave the museum.  As they get to the front desk, they notice that the receptionist is gone, and the phone is ringing off the hook.  Ness answers the phone since no one else seems to want to answer it.  "Hello!  Is this Mr. Fork of the Scaraba Cultural Museum?...  It doesn't sound like you...  Well, I'll quickly tell you my story, 'cause I'm busy, busy, busy!  I found something so extraordinary that mere words could not do it justice.  What do you mean "who am I"?  Don't you recognize my voice?  It's me, Mr. Spoon from the Fourside Museum of Natural History!  Look Mr. Fork, I'm not exaggerating this find!  I'm telling you...  It's fantastic!.....  It's outrageous!..."  Well, something that fantastic and outrageous should be investigated.  Ness and his friends leave the museum, and teleport back to Fourside.

Once they arrive in Fourside, they do not go to the museum.  Instead, the first thing they do is go to the Department Store and load up Jeff with some badly needed Big Bottle Rockets.  Then they go to the museum.  They head into the museum and take a good look at the huge dinosaur bones on display.  As they approach the display, they hear that all too familiar fanfare, and once again the photographer comes down out of nowhere for a picture.  They all pose for the photo (fuzzy pickles!) and the photographer snaps the picture.  Satisfied with his work, he flies off again.  After that little interlude, they start looking for Mr. Spoon.  They find him at the back of the museum, blocking a door.  "You want to know about something "extraordinary"?  .....  Hmmmm...  ...You know, there's a new singer named Venus at the Topolla Theater.  Could you bring me her autograph on an eraser?  Then, I'll show you something extraordinary."  ...Oh, if you can get her autograph on anything, don't worry about the eraser...  I don't care if the autograph is written on toilet paper..."

Okay, so to see this extraordinary thing, Ness needs to get an autograph from Venus.  Well, maybe his ties with the Runaway Five could get them that autograph.  After all, the Runaway Five's last performance here in Fourside included a special appearance by Venus.  Ness and his friends go to the Topolla Theater.  They buy a ticket and head into the hall.

Venus puts on a good show.  The stage is dark and she stands in a spotlight, and sings her heart out.  A crazed fan tries to get up on the stage, but her bodyguards handle him.  You can see the show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IALCZN-OYnU

After the show, Ness and his friends go backstage.  The guard lets them through, since they are friends of the Runaway Five.  Ness goes up to talk to Venus about an autograph.  "Oh, you want an autograph?  Okay, I'll give you my autograph on this banana peel...  Here you go.  Oh, and this is a bonus..."  She hands over the signed banana peel and gives Ness a kiss on the cheek.

Ness and his friends head back to the Fourside museum.  They make their way to the back and hand over the signed banana peel.  "You got it!  That banana peel has an authentic "Venus" autograph?  Yep, there's no doubt about it!  Now for my promise.  I'll tell you about something "extraordinary."  In the next room, there is a light shining from far, far below the manhole.  There, I found a huge, monster rat!  I'm not trying to pull your leg...  I'll let you go there and check it out for yourself."  A huge monster rat, eh?  Sounds like a Your Sanctuary guardian.  Mr. Spoon moves off to the side and lets Ness and his friends go through the door.

In the next room is an uncovered manhole, which leads into the Fourside sewers.  They are immediately beset upon by many enemies.  There is the Filthy Attack Roach, a cousin of the Violent Roach.  There is also the Deadly Mouse, a much stronger cousin of the Rowdy Mouse.  As well, there is also the Stinky Ghost, a cousin of the Smelly Ghost from Threed... it lives in a trash can, hence the name.  They push through, grinding their way through the enemies to get Poo up to speed.  They find in trash cans a Croissant, a Broken Spray Can, and a Rust Promoter DX.  They also find a room with a respawning Magic Butterfly, and use this room as a place to recharge and level grind, primarily for Poo.  The Super Plush Teddy Bear, sadly, does not survive the grind.

Ness's Stats
Level: 43 -> 46
Offense: 77 -> 81 -> 82 (with equipment, 136)
Defense: 22 -> 24 (with equipment, 139)
Speed: 18 -> 20
Guts: 32 -> 34
Vitality: 25 -> 26
IQ: 22 -> 24
Luck: 28 -> 29 (with equipment, 49)
HP: 375/375 -> 390/390 -> 391/391 -> 393/393
PP: 110/110 -> 120/120 -> 122/122 -> 123/123
Exp: 506454
20635 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 38 -> 41
Offense: 46 -> 51 (with equipment, 97
Defense: 12 -> 15 (with equipment, 116)
Speed: 31 -> 32 -> 33 -> 34 (with equipment, 39)
Guts: 20 -> 23
Vitality: 9 -> 10
IQ: 27 -> 28 -> 30
Luck: 20 -> 22 (with equipment, 42)
HP: 144/144 -> 146/146 -> 150/150 -> 152/152
PP: 137/137 -> 140/140 -> 150/150 -> 152/152
Exp: 385266
5920 Exp for next level

Paula realized the power of Offense Up omega
Jeff's Stats
Level: 38 -> 40
Offense: 38 -> 40 -> 42 (with equipment, 100)
Defense: 24 -> 26 (with equipment, 141)
Speed: 20 -> 21
Guts: 20 -> 23
Vitality: 13 -> 14
IQ: 37 -> 38 -> 39
Luck: 17 -> 18 (with equipment, 38)
HP: 195/195 -> 197/197 -> 210/210
Exp: 441453
2183 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 23 -> 33
Offense: 48 -> 52 -> 54 -> 56 -> 59 -> 61 -> 62 -> 65 -> 68
Defense: 41 -> 44 -> 45 -> 46 -> 49 -> 51 -> 52 -> 56 -> 59
Speed: 17 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 24
Guts: 8 -> 9 -> 10 -> 11
Vitality: 11 -> 12 -> 13 -> 14
IQ: 10 -> 11 -> 14
Luck: 8 -> 9 -> 10 -> 11
HP: 169/169 -> 170/170 -> 171/171 -> 180/180 -> 182/182 -> 195/195 -> 197/197 -> 199/199 -> 210/210 -> 213/213 -> 215/215
PP: 53/53 -> 55/55 -> 56/56 -> 70/70 -> 72/72 -> 73/73 -> 74/74 -> 76/76
Exp: 142345
8667 Exp for next level

Poo realized the power of Brainshock alpha
Poo realized the power of PSI Magnet omega
Poo realized the power of PSI Freeze delta

Once Poo learns PSI Freeze delta, the group moves on to find that giant rat.  They have to actually slog through the sewer water to get there.  But they've been through worse.  When they reach the end of the sewer, they find the guardian blocking a ladder going up to the surface.  As the others had done before, it taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the fifth "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..."  And then it draws them into a battle.

The guardian turns out to be, just as Mr. Spoon had said, a giant smelly rat, with some mushrooms growing on it's behind.  The Plague Rat of Doom is a terrible foe, with a powerful biting attack and the ability to poison its opponents.  But Ness and his friends unleash a barrage of PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and Jeff's Big Bottle Rockets.  The Plague Rat of Doom manages to poison Paula before it falls, however.  But Ness clears that up right quick with his Heal power.  And more levels are gained!

Ness's Stats
Level: 47
Offense: 82 -> 84 (with equipment, 138)
Defense: 24 -> 25 (with equipment, 140)
Luck: 29 -> 30 (with equipment, 50)
HP: 393/393 -> 395/395
PP: 123/123 -> 125/125
Exp: 535272
33102 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 42
HP: 152/152 -> 153/153
PP: 152/152 -> 153/153
Exp: 414084
11528 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 41
HP: 210/210 -> 212/213
Exp: 470271
17779 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 33 -> 35
Offense: 68 -> 70 -> 72
Defense: 59 -> 60 -> 61
Speed: 24 -> 25
Guts: 11 -> 12
Vitality: 14 -> 15
IQ: 14 -> 15
Luck: 11 -> 12
HP: 215/215 -> 225/225 -> 228/228
PP: 76/76 -> 77/77
Exp: 171163
18279 Exp for next level

With the Plague Rat of Doom out of the way, Ness and his friends climb the ladder up to the Your Sanctuary location.  They come out into a walled off section behind the Department Store.  In the middle of that section is a hill made of magnets.  This is Magnet Hill!  Ness approaches Magnet Hill, and suddenly hears another part of the Sound Stone's tune, and another memory comes to his mind.  He caught sight a baby's bottle, but just for an instant.  Ness then put the Sound Stone to his head and gathered his thoughts.  As it had done before, the Sound Stone had indeed recorded the tune at Magnet Hill.  Now five parts of the melody had come together.  Only three more to go.

Behind Magnet Hill sits a chest.  Ness opens it and inside is a key, that looks like a carrot.  What could a Carrot Key possibly open?  Wait, weren't there strange rabbit statues back in Dalaam?  Ness and his friends go back into the sewer and make their way back the way they came.  As in the other Your Sanctuary places, all the monsters here in the sewer all run away at the sight of Ness, as he had taken down the Plague Rat of Doom.

Once they got out of the sewer, back into the museum, they make their way back outside.  As soon as they step foot outside the front door of the museum, there comes that now familiar fanfare as the photographer drops down out of the sky.  They pose for him (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their picture.  Happy with the photo, he flies off once again.

Well, now the group has some choices.  They can either go back to Toto and catch a boat to Scaraba, or they can investigate the rabbit statues in Dalaam.  They have a carrot key, and there's no reason to think that it wouldn't work on the rabbit statues.  After all, they are rabbits.  Rabbits like carrots, right?  Can't argue with that logic.  Ness and his friends teleport to Dalaam.

Once they come to a landing in Dalaam, the first thing they do is go into the palace.  As they approach the palace, guess who shows up?  Yup, that fanfare plays again and the photographer drops out of the sky.  They pose again (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps a photo.  With that settled, the photographer flies off, and Ness and his friends enter the palace.  They go into the throne room and... that fanfare plays AGAIN.  Seriously?  Sigh.  They go through the motions for the photographer (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps a photo, then takes off.  There in the throne room, Poo's old master sets them up with a place to rest in the throne room.  After a good night's rest, Ness puts in a call to mom and dad (dad says Ness has $35186 in the bank).  Ness and his friends have come a long way, but they're not about to stop now.  Those rabbit statues must be protecting something important.  It must be another Your Sanctuary location.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Ah, you didn't get Jeff (was it Jeff?) to pull an all-nighter and fix the broken spray can?

[Ryudo Lee]

That is actually randomly determined every time you sleep somewhere, except in the Instant Revitalizing Device.  He has the IQ to fix the broken spray can, but he doesn't fix things every time he sleeps.

[Ryudo Lee]

Just a short one today.  The only thing we're doing is getting through the cave to Pink Cloud and getting that melody.  That sets us up for a massive level grinding extraordinaire.  The monsters in this cave provide a good bit of exp, and some of them will fall immediately when snuck up on.  This cave is my favorite place to grind.  I get Ness up to around level 65 and that pretty much sets it for the rest of the game.  Ness gets another good level boost later in the game, so I don't want to level him up too high at this point.


Day 19

Ness and his friends leave the palace and head all the way south, to where the path splits towards Mu, and the rabbit statues.  Ness approaches the statues and offers up the Carrot Key to the statues.  Strangely enough, the rabbits and the carrot disappeared all at once.  Now Ness and his friends could explore the cave the statues were protecting.

Inside the cave they find many new enemies.  The first is the Tangoo, an odd snakelike creature with a human head that plays a flute.  It's haunting melody can put anyone to sleep.  The Thunder Mite is a living cloud that can fire off thunder bolts.  Ness's Franklin Badge makes those useless against him.  There is also the Conducting Menace, an electrical skeleton.  It too casts thunder bolts, but is weak against ice attacks.  One of the strangest enemies is a floating pair of lips called the Kiss of Death, which, as it's name implies, can bestow a death curse.

From the entrance there is a rope leading up to another level and a path leading to the left.  They take the path as far as it will go and find a doorway to another section of the cave.  They follow this part of the path as far as it will go and find a rope leading down to another path.  They follow that path to a gift box, which contains the Bracer of Kings.  The bracer is give to Poo, and he equips it.

Poo's defense is raised from 61 to 91
Poo's luck is raised from 12 to 47
Poo is protected from Hypnosis attacks

With nowhere else to go, the group turns back and heads back to the first rope they saw.  Along the way, Paula, Jeff and Poo gain a level each.

Paula's Stats
Level: 43
Offense: 51 -> 52 (with equipment, 98)
Speed: 34 -> 35 (with equipment, 40)
Luck: 22 -> 23 (with equipment, 43)
HP: 153/153 -> 156/156
Exp: 429450
32695 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 42
Offense: 42 -> 43 (with equipment, 101)   
Speed: 21 -> 22
IQ: 39 -> 40
HP: 213/213 -> 216/216
Exp: 489317
45559 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 36
Offense: 72 -> 78
Defense: 61 -> 66 (with equipment, 96)
Speed: 25 -> 28
Vitality: 15 -> 16
IQ: 15 -> 16
HP: +12 228/228 -> 240/240
PP: 77/77 -> 80/80
Exp: 190209
20921 Exp for next level

Poo realized the power of Healing delta

They climb up the rope to the next level, and find another rope, which they climb as well.  The path continues left, and leads to a hole.  They jump down the hole to find... more holes, more enemies, and a gift box.  They stomp the enemies, and Ness gains a level.

Ness's Stats
Level: 48
Offense: 84 -> 88 (with equipment, 142)
Speed: 20 -> 21
Guts: 34 -> 37
Vitality: 26 -> 28
IQ: 24 -> 27
Luck: 30 -> 31 (with equipment, 51)
HP: 395/395 -> 420/420
PP: 125/125 -> 135/135
Exp: 574435
37478 Exp for next level

The gift box contains a Sudden Guts Pill, and so it gets pocketed.  There are three holes here, and so the group takes the farthest one to the left.  It leads to a room with a gift box and another hole.  The gift box contains a Rock Candy.  That gets taken for later.  They go down the hole here.  They land near another hole and a path leading to the left.  They take the path to the left and find a doorway being blocked by a Your Sanctuary guardian.

Ness approaches the guardian, and as the others had done before, it taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the sixth "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..." and then it draws them into battle.  The guardian is Thunder and Storm, the physical personifications of thunder and lightning.  Thunder and Storm can cast thunder bolt attacks and is generally a powerful foe.  Even though they command the powers of the storm, Ness and his friends wield powerful forces of their own.  Ness, Paula, and Poo unleash PSI Rockin and PSI Freeze attacks while Jeff looses his Big Bottle Rockets.  The freeze attacks solidify Thunder and Storm's body allowing all the other attacks from the group to go off without retort.  Only two volleys of these attacks bring Thunder and Storm to their knees.  And so Paula, Jeff, and Poo all gain a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 44
Offense: 52 -> 54 (with equipment, 100)
Speed: 35 -> 37 (with equipment, 42)
IQ: 30 -> 33
HP: 156/156 -> 157/157
PP: 153/153 -> 165/165
Exp: 485504
15354 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 43
Offense: 43 -> 44 (with equipment, 102)
Defense: 26 -> 27 (with equipment, 142)
IQ: 40 -> 41
HP: 216/216 -> 217/217
Exp: 541691
42424 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 36 -> 38
Offense: 78 -> 80
Defense: 66 -> 68 (with equipment, 98)
Guts: 12 -> 13
HP: 240/240 -> 243/243 -> 245/245
PP: 80/80 -> 83/83 -> 85/85
Exp: 242583
17444 Exp for next level

Thunder and Storm disappear from the cave door they protected.  Ness and his friends go through and find themselves standing on a large cloud at the very bottom of Dalaam.  The cloud is pink in color.  In the middle of the massive cloud is the slowly swirling bits of cloud, Pink Cloud.  Ness approaches Pink Cloud and as all the times before, he heard another part of the Sound Stone's tune, and a memory came to his mind.  He caught sight of his mother when she was young.  Ness touched the Sound Stone to his head and gathered his thoughts.  As it had done before, the Sound Stone had recorded the melody of Pink Cloud.  Only two more melodies to go!  Ness began to wonder, just what will happen when all of the melodies come together?

Ness and his friends leave Pink Cloud.  All of the enemies in the cave ran away at the sight of them, as Thunder and Storm had been defeated.  Ness and his friends fall down that hole they saw earlier, which leads them to the gift box where they had found the Bracer of Kings.  They go back the way they had came to the entrance of this cave.

But Ness and his friends are not done in Dalaam just yet!  With such powerful enemies surrounding a Your Sanctuary, this is the perfect place to hone their skills, and level grind like there's no tomorrow.  Well, it can be done tomorrow at least.  They go back to the palace and get a good night's rest.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $46176 in the bank).  Tomorrow, massive amounts of level grinding!  After that, on to Scaraba!