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

[Ryudo Lee]

This is pretty much just level grinding.  Fighting the enemies in the Pink Cloud cave is completely worth the time and effort.  A group of them will net 6000 - 7000 exp, and if you're strong enough, you can get those 6000+ exp's without even fighting.  And if you do fight and get hurt, you can just go back to Pink Cloud for a complete restoration.  Also, it's a great way to get rich.  Getting the entire group up to the 60's in level gives a pretty good head start towards getting through most of the rest of the game.


Day 20

Grinding day!  Ness and his friends go back into the cave to Pink Cloud and wander the cave, and go to Pink Cloud to recharge.  They make the circuit over and over and over again, until the group reaches a moderately powerful level.  And "moderately powerful level" means the lowest level in the group is 60.  This is going to take awhile.  And after awhile, it becomes a practice in wading through enemies that can't harm the group.

Ness's Stats
Level: 48 -> 66
Offense: 88 -> 89 -> 90 -> 95 -> 96 -> 99 -> 103 -> 104 -> 105 -> 110 -> 112 -> 117 -> 118 (with equipment, 172)
Defense: 25 -> 26 -> 28 -> 31 -> 32 -> 34 (with equipment, 149)
Speed: 21 -> 22 -> 23 -> 24 -> 25 -> 26 -> 27
Guts: 37 -> 38 -> 39 -> 41 -> 42 -> 46 -> 47 -> 48
Vitality: 28 -> 30 -> 31 -> 32 -> 34 -> 36
IQ: 27 -> 28 -> 30 -> 32 -> 34
Luck: 31 -> 32 -> 34 -> 38 -> 39 -> 41 (with equipment, 61)
HP: 420/420 -> 421/421 -> 424/424 -> 425/425 -> 450/450 -> 453/453 -> 454/454 -> 465/465 -> 466/466 -> 468/468 -> 480/480 -> 482/482 -> 510/510 -> 511/511 -> 513/513 -> 514/514 -> 540/540 -> 543/543 -> 545/545
PP: 135/135 -> 137/137 -> 138/138 -> 139/139 -> 141/141 -> 143/143 -> 145/145 -> 146/146  -> 150/150 -> 151/151 -> 153/153 -> 160/160 -> 162/162 -> 163/163 -> 170/170 -> 171/171 -> 172/172
Exp: 1807112
585597 Exp For next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Rockin delta
Ness realized the power of Healing delta
Ness realized the power of PSI Flash delta

Paula's Stats
Level: 44 -> 63
Offense: 54 -> 56 -> 59 -> 60 -> 61 -> 64 -> 65 -> 66 -> 69 -> 70 -> 71 -> 73 -> 74 -> 75 (with equipment, 121)
Defense: 15 -> 17 -> 19 -> 20 (with equipment, 121)
Speed: 37 -> 38 -> 40 -> 41 -> 43 -> 44 -> 45 -> 47 -> 51 (with equipment, 56)
Guts: 23 -> 26 -> 28 -> 29 -> 30 -> 32
Vitality: 10 -> 11 -> 12 -> 13 -> 14
IQ: 33 -> 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 38 -> 39 -> 41 -> 42 -> 43 -> 44 -> 45
Luck: 23 -> 24 -> 25  -> 26 -> 27 -> 28 -> 31 -> 32 (with equipment, 52)
HP: 157/157 -> 159/159 -> 162/162 ->165/165 -> 166/166 -> 168/168 -> 169/169 -> 180/180 -> 183/183 -> 186/186 -> 188/188 -> 190/190 -> 195/195 -> 196/196 -> 199/199 -> 202/202 -> 210/210 -> 211/211 -> 213/213 -> 215/215
PP: 165/165 ->167/167 -> 169/169 -> 171/171 -> 175/175 -> 180/180 -> 181/181 -> 190/190 -> 191/191 -> 195/195 -> 196/196 -> 205/205 -> 207/207 -> 210/210 -> 215/215 -> 220/220 -> 221/221 -> 225/225
Exp: 1677418
72837 Exp For next level

Paula realized the power of PSI Freeze omega
Paula realized the power of PSI Shield beta (psychic power shield, reflects PSI attacks, one person)
Paula realized the power of Defense Down omega
Paula realized the power of PSI Thunder delta
Paula realized the power of PSI Shield omega (psychic power shield, reflects PSI attacks, entire group)

Jeff's Stats
Level: 43 -> 60
Offense: 44 -> 45 -> 46 -> 48 -> 49 -> 51 -> 52 -> 53 -> 54 -> 55 -> 58 -> 60 -> 61 (with equipment, 119)
Defense: 27 -> 28 -> 29 -> 31 -> 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 38 (with equipment, 153)
Speed: 22 -> 24 -> 26 -> 28 -> 30 -> 31
Guts: 23 -> 24 -> 25 -> 26 -> 28 -> 29 -> 30 -> 32
Vitality: 14 -> 15 -> 16 -> 17 -> 19
IQ: 41 -> 44 -> 47 -> 48 -> 50 -> 51 -> 52 -> 54 -> 56 -> 57
Luck: 18 -> 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 23 -> 24 -> 25 -> 26 (with equipment, 46)
HP:  217/217 -> 225/225 -> 228/228 -> 230/230 -> 232/232 -> 240/240 -> 243/243 -> 246/246 -> 255/255 -> 257/257 -> 258/258 -> 261/261 -> 263/263 -> 285/285 -> 287/287 -> 289/289 -> 291/291 -> 294/294
Exp: 1742111
49494 Exp For next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 38 -> 60
Offense: 80 -> 81 -> 85 -> 86 -> 88 -> 90 -> 94 -> 96 -> 98 -> 102 -> 103 -> 107 -> 109 -> 110 -> 113 -> 115 -> 118 -> 120 -> 123 -> 128
Defense: 68 -> 70 -> 73 -> 74 -> 75 -> 76 -> 82 -> 83 -> 84 -> 87 -> 88 -> 89 -> 91 -> 94 -> 95 -> 96 -> 99 -> 103 -> 104 -> 105 -> 111 (with equipment, 141)
Speed: 28 -> 30 -> 31 -> 32 -> 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 38 -> 39 -> 41 -> 42 -> 44
Guts: 13 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20
Vitality: 16 -> 17 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20 -> 21 -> 23 -> 24 -> 26
IQ: 16 -> 18 -> 20 -> 21 -> 22 -> 26
Luck: 12 -> 14 -> 15 -> 16 -> 18 -> 19 -> 20 (with equipment, 55)
HP: 245/245 -> 255/255 -> 270/270 -> 273/273 -> 276/276  -> 278/278 -> 285/285 -> 287/287 -> 288/288 -> 300/300 -> 315/315 -> 316/316 -> 318/318 -> 321/321 -> 345/345 -> 346/346 -> 349/349 -> 350/350 -> 360/360 -> 361/361 -> 363/363 -> 364/364 -> 390/390
PP: 84/84 -> 90/90 -> 100/100 -> 102/102 -> 103/103 -> 105/105 -> 107/107 -> 110/110 -> 111/111 -> 130/130 -> 131/131
Exp: 1443003
93772 Exp For next level

Poo realized the power of PSI Thunder delta
Poo realized the power of Brainshock omega
Poo realized the power of Lifeup delta
Poo realized the power of Shield omega (power shield, reflects damage, entire group)
Poo realized the power of Healing omega (Ness does not learn this power)
Poo realized the power of PSI Thunder omega

Phew!  That was quite a grinding session.  After that many battles, Ness and his friends take a well deserved rest back at the Dalaam palace.  The next morning, Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has a whopping $235628 in his bank account).  Now at a fairly decent level, Ness and his friends can finally make their way back to Toto and catch a boat towards Scaraba to remove the Kraken once and for all.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Wow. That's a heck of a grind.

... and a very short explanation of it. ;-]

[Ryudo Lee]

Well there's not much else to say other than "walk, kill enemies, walk, kill enemies".  Well... there's also "run my little chunks of XP, run!"

[Ryudo Lee]

A lot more gets done here.  Two boss fights occur, and we begin to reconnect with good old Brick Road.  And Jeff finally gets around to fixing the Broken Tube and Broken Spray Can.

Brick Road actually does become a "dungeon man" in that his body becomes a giant walking dungeon.  Even today, playing this for the umpteenth time, I'm still a little confused as to why anyone would become so infatuated with dungeons as this man is.  And it's not like his dungeon-body is difficult or anything.  There aren't any really powerful enemies.  In fact most of them are actually from the Fourside Department Store, when the spook kidnapped Paula.

Oh and also, Poo leaves the party to go learn PSI Starstorm.  He comes back during a scripted event in the next area.  Starstorm's power is second only to Ness's PSI Rockin.


Day 21

Now more confident than ever in their strength, Ness and his friends set out to continue their journey.  Ness puts in a call to Escargo Express and sends off the Rock Candy, the Hieroglyph Copy, and Poo's Cup of Lifenoodles.  The Rock Candy can be useful later.  Poo teleports the group back to Summers.  They make a stop at the store to purchase a Super Plush Bear, and then they finally head over to Toto.  As they walk along the dock, they suddenly hear that fanfare once more.  The photographer comes down, they pose (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their photo.  Happy with the picture, he flies off again.

Ness approaches the sailor who had told them about his wife who used to make Magic Cakes.  He's elated to know that his wife is no longer talking all that philosophical stuff anymore (though he uses more colorful language).  "Thank you!  You made my wife wake up.  She quit talking about all that serious crap...  Yeah!  Let's work hard!  If you're courageous, get on this boat.  You'll probably see the Kraken and experience getting seasick!  After all, it could only cost you your life, and you got that for free!  Luck will determine the outcome of this voyage.  So, do you want to sail the seas to Scaraba?"  Ness says yes and pays the man for the voyage.  "Ready!  We're reckless, baby!  Bon Voyage!"  He then leads Ness and his friends onto his boat and casts off.

The boat sails on southward, hugging the nearby islands.  After awhile, it comes out to the open sea... and the captain has to stop the boat.  "WAAAAIT!  Wait!  Wait...  I need to stop the boat.  It's been a long time since I was out on the open sea, so I feel seasick...  Oh, man, what am I going to do?  A sailor who gets seasick?"  He pauses for a few moments, and we try not to think about what he's doing during that pause.  "So how come you guys are all right?  So... that bald guy over there... your buddy, right?...  He came from Dalaam?  You guys must be quite the adventurers!  Hahaha!  I'm feeling much better now!  Anchors aweigh!"

Interesting side note: if you go to Scaraba before using the Carrot Key on the rabbit statues in Dalaam, the captain asks about the key, saying "Hey, that's an awfully strange carrot. What kind of bunny would eat that?"

The captain fires up the boat again and continues the voyage.  As they get closer to Scaraba, night falls, and not too soon afterwards, a giant sea serpent approaches the boat.  "H... h... here it coooomes!" The captain shouts as the Kraken approaches.

Ness and his friends confront the Kraken, which is a large green sea serpent, with big bloody teeth, red fins, and no eyes (for some reason).  The Kraken is huge, strong, and can breathe fire!  But Ness and his friends are well prepared thanks to all that time spent slogging through enemies in Dalaam, and so they launch everything they have at the Kraken.  The combination of PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and Big Bottle Rockets quickly becomes too much for the Kraken to handle, and in short order the Kraken is sent to the bottom of the sea, forever.

The captain saw the whole thing, and is left awestruck, but quickly recovers his composure.  "Oh, man!  I thought you guys were just everyday little kids, but you defeated the Kraken!  I also helped in the battle...  I threw my slippers at the beast...  Maybe you didn't notice."

The boat continues down south towards Scaraba.  Now that the Kraken no longer lurks in these waters, boats can sail between Scaraba and Toto freely once again.  The boat pulls up at a makeshift dock at the town of Scaraba and Ness and his friends disembark.

Ness and Poo can now teleport to Scaraba.

Scaraba is a small town, with buildings primarily made of bricks of dried mud.  Ness and his friends explore the town, and find a large marketplace.  Near the marketplace, they find a man hanging around a clump of trees, who warns them that a chubby kid had done his business in the area.  The completely recognizable stench of Pokey still hangs in the air.  They go into the marketplace proper.  There are many things for sale, lots of food, even a man selling snakes.  The only thing that interests the group though is a Crystal Charm for Paula.

Paula's defense is raised from 121 to 122
Paula's speed is raised from 56 to 66
Paula is protected from paralysis attacks

After buying what they need from the market place, they go to head out, only to be stopped by that familiar fanfare of the photographer.  The photographer falls down from the sky, they pose for a photo (fuzzy pickles!) and he proceeds to snap their picture.  Satisfied with his work, he flies off again.  They find a man who is sitting atop a rope.  He mentions that he made a friend who was once a dungeon maker and is now a "Dungeon Man".  He offers them the key to get inside him, but he lost it somewhere.  Didn't Brick Road mention something about being a Dungeon Man? 

A man near the hotel mentions that this town used to belong to the Tenda Tribe, but they went to the back of the Deep Darkness as they were too innocent.  The hieroglyph stone from the Summers museum mentioned the Deep Darkness.  Perhaps this Tenda Tribe should be their next stop.  They go to the hotel and find an arms dealer hanging around in the back.  Jeff loads up on Big Bottle Rockets.  They then settle in for the night... except for Jeff who finally gets around to fixing that Broken Tube he's been carrying around since forever.  He repurposes it and makes it into a Hungry HP-Sucker.  This one can pull HP from all enemies.  Jeff holds onto that one.  The newspaper headlines read "Kraken, the evil sea monster, now gone forever!"  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress, and then they leave the hotel.  It's time to get to go find the Sphinx and do a little dance.

They head out into the desert and hug the eastern border of the desert, trying to keep away from the fauna of the desert.  They come across a couple of pyramids, and Ness ends up catching sunstroke.  Ness heals that with his Healing PSI power.  Continuing along this path they come across another pyramid with a great Sphinx sitting in front of it.  In front of the Sphinx are five stones.  The approach the top stone, and Sphinx speaks to them.  "Are you a thief, a warrior, or one who has come to see my majesty?  You must decide what you really are.  Therefore, what will you do?"  Ness and his friends move from stone to stone, following the pattern the hieroglyph had shown.  (The * indicates the first and last position, it makes a star).
     *
4        3
   2  5

They dance out the star pattern, and the Sphinx speaks again.  "Warriors, enter now.  Search for the Hawk Eye."  The door to the great pyramid behind the Sphinx is then opened.  Ness and his friends approach the door, and then suddenly there is that fanfare again.  Seriously?  While they're out here sweating in the desert heat?  The photographer comes down, the pose quickly (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their photo.  He flies off again, and then Ness and his friends enter the pyramid, to search for the Hawk Eye.

The pyramid is what you would expect from a pyramid, it is a giant stone tomb with many hieroglyphs on the walls.  Inside are many enemies, such as the Arachnid!!!, a venomous spider.  It's also kind of cliché but there are also mummies wandering around the pyramid, the Fierce Shattered Man, a cousin of the Shattered Man they saw in Summers.  They also come across a stone guardian, the Petrified Royal Guard.  They come through one chamber that has a coffin inside, and hieroglyph of a guard on the wall... which suddenly moves off of the wall and attacks the group.  The Guardian Hieroglyph is not really a challenge to the group at this point, due to all the time they spent in Dalaam.  But it does manage to cough on them and give them a cold, which Ness heals with his healing PSI power.  The coffin contains a Viper, which Ness takes.  A poisonous snake is always a handy thing to have.  They continue on.  Another hieroglyph attacks them in a large stairwell, this one though is a Lethal Asp Hieroglyph, and is just as deadly as the real thing.  They come out to a central chamber which has a sarcophagus on a raised platform in the center of the room, two exits on the east wall (one of which they came in through) and one exit on the west wall.  A couple of Guardian Hieroglyphs loiter about... but not for very long.

Ness and his friends push on through the west exit.  It leads down a long stairwell to a room with two coffins inside, a Guardian Hieroglyph nearby, and an exit on the opposite wall.  One coffin has a Speed Capsule inside, the other holds a Cup of Lifenoodles.  Ness consumes the Speed Capsule.

Ness's speed is raised from 27 to 28.

They stomp the Guardian Hieroglyph and Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 61
HP: 294/294 -> 296/296
Exp: 1794155
91101 Exp for next level

They continue through the exit which leads to another large stairwell, leading down.  At the end of the stairwell they find a monster waiting for them, blocking an exit.  It is not a Your Sanctuary guardian, but rather a powerful pyramid guardian, the Guardian General.  The Guardian General is certainly powerful in his own right, but Ness and his friends unleash their awesome powers on him.  PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and Jeff's Big Bottle Rockets put the general down.  And Ness and Paula gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 67
Offense: 118 -> 119 (with equipment, 173)
Speed: 28 -> 29
IQ: 34 -> 35
Luck: 41 -> 42 (with equipment, 62)
HP: 545/545 -> 548/548
PP: 172/172 -> 175/175
Exp: 1883004
85050 Exp For next level

Ness realized the power of PSI Flash omega

Paula's Stats
Level: 64
Offense: 75 -> 79 (with equipment, 125)
Defense: 20 ->21 (with equipment, 123)
Speed: 51 -> 53 (with equipment, 68)
Guts: 32 -> 34
IQ: 45 -> 46
Luck: 32 -> 34 (with equipment, 54)
HP: 215/215 -> 217/217
PP: 225/225 -> 230/230
Exp: 1753310
96508 Exp For next level

Paula realized the power of PSI Fire omega

Ness and his friends go into the room that the general was guarding.  Inside they find a Guardian Hieroglyph, a coffin, and upon exploring the room, they find a floor tile that looks a little out of place.  The coffin contains a Rain Pendant.  Paula takes it an equips it.

Paula's defense is raised from 123 to 136
Paula's speed is dropped from 68 to 53
Paula is no longer protected from paralysis attacks
Paula is protected from ice attacks

Ness inspects the tile, and upon stepping on it, he hears sound of something moving up above.  The tile was a switch!  Ness and his friends return the way they came, going back to the sarcophagus room.  They fight their way through, and Poo gains a level!

Poo's Stats
Level: 61
HP: 390/390 -> 391/391
Exp: 1538929
99183 Exp for next level

Once back in the sarcophagus room, they find that the sarcophagus has moved to the side, revealing a hole underneath.  Ness and his friends fall down the hole to a hidden lower chamber.  In the chamber they see an altar on a raised platform.  On top of the altar there is a gem in the shape of a teardrop with an eye carved onto it.  This must be the Hawk Eye!  They collect the Hawk Eye, smash a nearby Guardian Hieroglyph, and exit through the only door in the room.  That exit leads to another staircase which leads up to a room with a coffin in it, a respawning Magic Butterfly, and another hole.  Ness recharges everyone and restores his PP with the butterfly.  The coffin contains a Diamond Band.  But no one needs that, so it will get sold once they get out of the pyramid.

The hole leads to a small lower chamber, containing a couple of hieroglyphs that attack.  They stomp them and continue through the only door in this room, which leads to a long hallway that is lined with more hieroglyphs that need to be stomped.  Unfortunately, the Super Plush Bear does not make it.  At the end of the hallway is another staircase which leads to a door to the surface.

As soon as they move away from the pyramid's exit, they are stopped by the old man that Poo had seen in Dalaam, when he went to undergo his Mu training.  He greets them, and restores them to full strength.  "Well done.  You have made it!  We finally meet, Prince Poo."  Poo approaches the man.  "The stars foretold that I would meet you here...  So, now it's the time to show you the way of the Starstorm...  For a while, you must live far away from your friends and live with me.  Do you understand?  ...There's only one answer.  I must stop you here even if you don't want to.  Stay with me for a while, do you understand?!"  Wow, he's getting pretty worked up about this.  It must be important. 

Poo turns to Ness.  "It is important that I study and learn the "Starstorm"...  It will be most helpful to us.  ...Once I learn it, I'll meet up with you, Ness.  Trust me... I will see you again."  The old man then continues his speech.  "It depends on Poo's efforts.  That will determine the reuniting of the group.  Be faithful, and wait until the time comes!"  Poo then turns back to the old man, and as he had done in Dalaam, he conjures up a whirlwind which carries himself and Poo off into the distance.

PSI Starstorm is Poo's unique attack ability.  Unlike PSI Rockin, there are only two levels of PSI Starstorm, alpha and omega.  Poo does not learn the omega level until much later in the game, and it's a scripted event.  Ness's PSI Rockin attack comes to him from gaining levels and can gain all four levels of PSI Rockin without a scripted event.  Poo does not learn PSI Fire, like Paula does, but PSI Starstorm takes up the slot where PSI Fire would have gone if Poo would have learned it.

Poo's stats upon leaving the group
Level: 61
Offense: 128
Defense: 111 (with equipment, 141)
Speed: 44
Guts: 20
Vitality: 26
IQ: 26
Luck: 20 (with equipment, 55)
HP: 391/391
PP: 131/131
Exp: 1570284
67828 Exp for next level

Equipment:
Weapon: None
Body: None
Arms: Bracer of Kings
Other: None

Known PSI:
PSI Freeze alpha, beta, delta
PSI Thunder alpha, beta, delta, omega
Lifeup alpha, beta, delta
Healing alpha beta, delta, omega
PSI Magnet alpha, omega
Shield alpha, sigma (shield of light), beta, omega (power shield)
Brainshock alpha, omega
Teleport alpha, beta

Near the exit to the pyramid, they see a native warrior loitering about.  They go to ask him about the surrounding area.  "I am not sure if it was the "Dungeon Man," but... there is a strange looking tower to the northwest.  ...This key I picked up a little while ago shall maybe open the tower.  You may have it, I do not need it."  He then hands over the key to the tower.  A tower to the northwest huh?

Nearby, a merchant sits, peddling his wares.  It's some pretty powerful stuff.  Ness sells off the equipment they don't need, and use the proceeds to upgrade some equipment.  Paula gets a French Fry Pan and finally sells off her Trick Yo-Yo, and Jeff picks up a Crusher Beam, and sells off his Hyper Beam.  The merchant also carries Multi Bottle Rockets.  Jeff sells off the rest of his Big Bottle Rockets and loads up on the Multi Bottle Rockets.  They will have to make a couple of trips, as Ness doesn't have enough money on hand to fill out Jeff's inventory with these things.

Paula's offense is raised from 125 to 139
Jeff's offense is raised from 119 to 133

They travel to the northwest and find the tower that the native had mentioned.  The tower looks like a giant man.  Ness locates the door to the tower and opens it with the key.

Once inside the tower, they come across a sign that reads "Welcome.  You are inside of my body.  ...Brick Road".  Well, that's a little unnerving.  They continue, following the hall until it comes to a split in the path.  A nearby sign reads "My statistics show about 70% of the people go to the right first.  ...Brick Road".  Being the noncomformist that he is, Ness leads his friends to the left... and find a pay phone, a bench big enough for them to rest on, an ATM, and what looks like a hospital.  A sign near the bench reads "If you check into this bench, it's just like checking into a hotel.  ...Brick Road".  A sign near the hospital reads "It's a dungeon owner's obligation to hire a doctor and a nurse.  ...Brick Road".  Ness withdraws some money from the ATM and goes back to that merchant to finish loading up Jeff with Multi Bottle Rockets.  Once properly armed, they go back to the tower.

They head back up to where the hospital, ATM, and phone are and take a rest on the bench.  The bench has a small sign on it that reads "Good Night Bench.  May you relax and recover your health and spirits."  They rested, but Jeff was restless and worked on the Broken Spray Can (finally).  He repurposes it into another Defense Spray.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $242569 in the bank).  It looks like this hulking tower of stone is the realization of Brick Road's dream to become the Dungeon Man!  Ness and his friends prepare to explore Brick Road's new body.  Maybe he can help them find the Deep Darkness.

[Ryudo Lee]

Brick Road, the Dungeon Man has seriously got the madness.  First he gets this dungeon body, then there's all the signs, and the things he collects.  Dungeon Man is the perfect example of the outright craziness that is seen in this game.  It's a wonderful departure from what you'll see in other RPG's of it's era.  I mean, in what other game are you going to see two signs: one stating an opinion, the other agreeing with the first's opinion, and both signs being made by the same person?  Only in EarthBound.


Day 22

Now properly rested and equipped, Ness and his friends can get on with exploring Dungeon Man's body, find Brick Road, and see what he knows about the Deep Darkness.  The go back to the split in the path, and go right.  They find another sign that reads "Keep this board in mind.  ...Brick Road".  Keeping that board in mind, they continue... and find another sign.  It sits below an outcropping of rock, and Ness can see a gift box up there, but there's no way to get to it.  The sign reads "Even though you can't get up there now, you might be able to later.  ...Brick Road".  Maybe Brick Road should have gone into the sign business with Lier.  They see yet another sign, not too far off that reads "Your first goal is to reach the four ropes.  ...Brick Road".  Well, at least this sign had a semi-real purpose.  The sign sits next to a ramp up to the next level.  Ness goes to the right of the ramp and follows the path to a dead end with another sign and a gift box.  The sign reads "Place an item at the dead end.  You are free to take it whenever you want.  ...Brick Road".  Ness checks the gift box.  It contains a Molokheiya Soup.  Well, that's thoughtful of Brick.  Ness and his friends backtrack to the end of the ramp.

They go up the ramp this time and find another bench to rest on, and a nearby sign that reads "You have a long way to go.  Getting some rest and relaxation may save you.  ...Brick Road."  The path splits here, one going up, the other going left.  They go past the bench up the hall and find another sign and a door.  The sign reads "While you explore the dungeon, why don't you make a pit stop?  ...Brick Road."  Ness checks the door, but a voice comes from the other side "I wonder why I'm in this rest room right here.  Just who am I?  What is life all about?...  Oh, I'm sorry.  Did I make you nervous?  I'm not dangerous.  Don't worry."  Obviously, he's going to be awhile.  Ness and his friends go back to the bench and go around to the left.  The path swings around to another dead end with a sign and a gift box.  The sign reads "There is a useful item at the dead-end after you make quite a long walk.  ...Brick Road".  The gift box contains a useful item, as the sign promised, a Cup of Lifenoodles!  Ness and his friends return to the bottom of the ramp.

They go down the path on the other side of the ramp.  They follow it to find another sign.  This one reads "Once a dungeon is built, monsters always start moving in.  ...Brick Road".  Continuing down this path, they find another sign next to a gift box in the middle of the path.  The sign reads "Items that are easy to get to are usually disappointing.  ...Brick Road".  As the sign promised, the gift box contains $5.  Ness finds another ramp, and another path going around the ramp.  They go up the ramp first.  The path splits off going up, and another going right.  They go right first and find a gift box.  It contains a snake.  The sign strikes again!  They go back, and go up the path to find two more signs and a gift box.  The signs read "Don't be a slacker...  If you work hard, you'll get good stuff.  ...Brick Road".  The other sign reads "I couldn't agree more with the opinion on the left bill board.  ...Brick Road".  Okay, now we know he's crazy.  He's putting up signs and then putting up another sign to agree with what he wrote on the other sign.  The gift box contains a Super Plush Bear.  That's good, it can replace the one they lost out in the pyramid.  They go back to the bottom of the ramp.

They continue up the path around the ramp and find a sign.  It reads "I built a bulletin board without a message.  ...Brick Road".  Obviously.  They continue on and find the four ropes that one of the earlier signs had mentioned.  Each rope has a sign at the bottom, and each sign has the same message: "The grass is always greener on the other rope... I wonder why that is...  ...Brick Road".  Ness climbs the first rope, to the next level.  It leads to a hall that comes to a dead end, with a sign "If you work hard, you don't have time to get burned.  ...Brick Road".  They go back down the rope.  This time, they go up the fourth rope.  It leads to another hall that comes to a dead end with a sign "You have a strong-looking body.  Wouldn't you like to be a dungeon worker?  ...Brick Road".  Ness decides, no, no he would not like to be a dungeon worker.  They go back down the rope, and go on up the second rope this time.  This rope leads to another hall which comes to a dead end with a sign "Learn from your mistakes.  Follow this, and you're bound to be successful in EarthBound.  ...Brick Road".  Ooookay.  Ness and his friends go back down the rope.

Through the process of elimination, Ness has learned that the third rope is the one they need to climb in order to find Brick Road.  They climb the rope which leads up to the next level.  They follow this hall around to another two signs near a split in the path, one going left, the other going down a ramp.  The first sign reads "This is the second floor of my body.  ...Brick Road".  The other sign reads "What's a dungeon?  That is my eternal question.  ...Brick Road".  Well obviously, he's had a lot of time to think about it.  They go left.  They find themselves up on an upper level here that goes around a couple of enclosed areas with a hole in each floor.  They can't reach the holes, but they do find a sign that reads "That's a hole down below.  You don't have to worry about this for now.  ...Brick Road".  They find another sign next to a gift box.  The gift box contains $10.  The sign reads "I put out a bulletin board, but it's probably unnecessary.  ...Brick Road".  No s--- Sherlock.  They wander around this area some more and find another bench.  With nothing else of interest up here, they return to the ramp.

At the bottom of the ramp, the path splits off again, one path going left, the other going down.  They go left from here, which goes to a dead end with another sign.  It reads "Inside the dungeon, flash photography is prohibited.  ...Brick Road".  They go back and then go down from the ramp.  It comes around to another sign at about midway across the length of the whole level.  It reads "You are standing right around my belly button.  ...Brick Road".  Well, at least they have an idea of where they are.  They continue on.

The path splits again, one going up, the other going left.  They continue going left.  It comes to a dead end with a sign that reads "There is an item at the dead end, but I have been known to be wrong occasionally.  Sorry.  ...Brick Road".  Now a little miffed, Ness and his friends return to the split and continue up.  There is a sign nearby that reads "This music is one of my greatest accomplishments.  ...Brick Road".

Note: The music in Dungeon Man is a freakin' cacophony...

They continue up the path to find a rope up to the upper level, and a sign nearby.  The sign reads "It smells like flowers here.  If you can't smell it, your nose must be stuffy.  ...Brick Road".  They go up the rope and spy a nearby gift box.  The gift box contains a pizza.  That must have been the "flower" aroma that Brick had smelled and made a sign about.  Maybe HIS nose is stuffy.  They go back around and find another sign and gift box in a little niche in the rock.  The sign reads "Dungeon exploration is tough, but it's also fun.  ...Brick Road".  The gift box contains a Sudden Guts Pill.  From there, they see another rope going up to the next level.  Going up to it, they catch sight of another gift box sitting by itself in another niche in the rock.  It contains a PSI Caramel.

The rope leading up to the next level has a sign next to it that reads "There are lots of monsters up there, but don't stress out.  ...Brick Road".  Don't stress out  Don't stress out!?  There's lots of monsters up there!  Oh wait, Ness and his friends are still insanely powerful.  Okay, all kidding aside, Ness and his friends go up the rope to the next level. 

They find themselves in a makeshift zoo.  A nearby sign reads "This is the third floor of my body.  ...Brick Road".  They find that they are actually on an upper level, which goes around enclosed lower levels that are filled with monsters.  A sign near an area full of Mad Ducks reads "'Mad Duck'  They can be a nice pet if they stay far away.  ...Brick Road".  They go around and find another area filled with Gruff Goats.  A nearby sign reads "'Gruff Goat'  They are a really gruff kind of goat.  ...Brick Road".  Well, what more can be said, right?  They continue on and find an area filled with Slimy Little Piles.  A nearby sign reads "'Slimy Little Pile'  He has a bad habit of burping.  ...Brick Road".  The path splits here, one going up a ramp, and one going around the ramp.  They go around the ramp and follow the path.  It leads to a gift box, a bench, and a sign.  The gift box contains a Wet Towel.  The sign reads "Why don't you take a nice, little rest here  ...Brick Road".  They backtrack back to the Slimy Little Piles.

They go up the ramp here and follow the path to another sign, and a nearby rope to the next level.  The sign reads "'Good job, you finally made!'  There is a board upstairs that says that.  ...Brick Road".  Good to know.  Ness and his friends climb the rope and find a sign that reads, as the previous one had promised "Good job, you finally made it.  ...Brick Road".  They go up and find another sign, and Brick Road's face embedded in the wall.  The sign reads "That face is mine.  (Feel free to talk to it.)  ...Brick Road".

Ness finally comes face to face (pun intended) with Brick Road.  "Welcome!  Long time, no see.  Mr. Jeff, we met in Winters a long time ago.  I'm Brick Road.  Dr. Andonuts finally made me Dungeon Man.  If you want, I'll come with you guys for awhile.  The "Return Hole" is over there.  Jump in that hole and then walk out."  Well, with no information on the Deep Darkness, at least they can search the desert, and have the Dungon Man along for the ride.

They go down the path and find a hole, with a nearby sign.  "'Return Hole'  Jump in with all your courage.  ...Brick Road".  They do so, and land on the third level, near another hole.  They jump into that one, and land on the second level, near another hole, with a gift box nearby.  The gift box contains an IQ Capsule, which Jeff then consumes.

Jeff's IQ is raised from 57 to 58

They jump down this hole to the first level and find themselves back where they started.  They head out of Dungeon Man's body and start exploring the desert.  As they travel, the towering Dungeon Man follows them.  Ness and his friends are already powerful, but with Dungeon Man helping them in battle, the local monstrous fauna don't stand a snowball's chance in hell against them.  And Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 62
Offense: 61 -> 63(with equipment, 135)
Speed: 31->32
Vitality: 19 -> 20
IQ: 58 -> 59
HP: 296/296 -> 300/300
Exp: 1889873
92273 Exp for next level

They go south through the desert and find an oasis.  As they approach the oasis, they hear that all-too familiar fanfare as the photographer falls down out of the sky.  Once again they pose for him while they bake in the desert heat (fuzzy... oh forget it, it's too damn hot), he snaps their photo, and flies off again, happy with the photo.

Ness and his friends continue pushing south with the Dungeon Man following them.  They come to a clump of trees that end up being too much for the towering Dungeon Man, and he gets stuck in them.  "Guarg!  Oh no!  I... am... getting caught in the palm trees!  Mmm... I cannot move.  Well, if I cannot move, it is okay.  Ness, it makes me sad, but I must say goodbye here, at my eternal resting place."  Unable to follow them, the Dungeon Man settles down in his new home, tangled up in the trees.

Nearby, they find a desert native who finally gives them information about the Deep Darkness.  "A scary place called Deep Darkness is on the other side of the river.  The monsters are very strong and you can lose your health just by wandering in the swamp.  Do you want to cross the river, even though you know it's a stupid idea?"  Ness has no choice.  The Deep Darkness is where they must go.  "The swamp is bottomless.  Even if you're swimming, you'll be dragged in.  It is a different story if you have a submarine."  A submarine eh?  It's a long shot, but maybe Brick will have an idea of where to find a sub.  They return to Dungeon Man.

Brick talks to them from the top of his towering body.  "A submarine?  I believe... that I have one in my old vehicle collection.  Please enter..."  Ness and his friends go back inside Dungeon Man's body.  They make their way all the way back up to Brick Road's face, ignoring all the signs this time around.  "There's an old submarine at the back of the dungeon.  It can be used to cross the river.  There's a "Goodbye Exit" ...over there.  It will take you to the submarine.  Don't make a mistake on which exit you take.  You need to take the "Goodbye Exit!"  Hope to see you again!"

They go down past the Return Hole, and the path loops around to another hole with a nearby sign.  "'Goodbye Exit'  Some day, you should enter with courage.  ...Brick Road".  Ness and his friends courageously drop down the hole, all the way down to the second floor, near another hole.  They drop down that hole to the first floor, and they land up on the ledge they had seen when they first came in.  They check the gift box there and find a Talisman Ribbon inside.  Paula equips it.

Paula's defense is raised from 136 to 146
Paula's luck is raised from 54 to 59

They continue down the path to a pay phone with a sign nearby.  The sign reads "I set up a telephone line in the dungeon.  I wonder if that's controversial.  ...Brick Road".  They continue up and find another sign that reads "Old Vehicle Collection.  This is my secret hobby.  ...Brick Road".  The collection contains four vehicles, each with a sign next to it.  There's a Taxi Cab, "Taxi with no engine.  Beautiful, even though the thing doesn't run.  ...Brick Road", a Rusty Bicycle "Rusty Bicycle.  Rust is the perfect brake.  ...Brick Road", an Instant Revitalizing Device (what's this doing here?), "This is a gift from Dr. Andonuts.  Be careful how you use it.  ...Brick Road", and a submarine that's been painted yellow, "Broken down, old submarine.  The yellow color is purely coincidental.  ...Brick Road".  Sure it is.  They take a quick nap in the Instant revitalizing device, and then go back to the pay phone to give mom and dad a call.

With that done, Ness and his friends approach the yellow submarine, and Jeff gives it a look.  "Yes!  It can still work."  Jeff then takes the time to thoroughly repair the submarine, and then the three of them carry it out of Dungeon Man's body.  They dump it in the river and get on board.  Jeff's workmanship, once again, pays off and the submarine works perfectly.  They get across the river with absolutely no problems whatsoever.  They arrive on the swampy shore of the Deep Darkness and disembark from the submarine.  And if they never see another Brick Road sign again, it'll be too soon!

Ness and Poo can now teleport to Deep Darkness.

The Deep Darkness is a huge dark swamp, thick with trees and dangerously deep water.  Nearby they find a strange bird with a telephone on it's head.  A nearby monkey indicates that Ness and his friends can rest here, free of charge.  Ness checks out the phone bird, and it actually is a phone.  Not questioning that, Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $245733 in the bank).  Now that they've found the Deep Darkness, they can continue on their journey.  Maybe this is where they will find this "Tenda Tribe" that someone in Scaraba had mentioned.  And what's more, the hieroglyphs in the Summers museum had mentioned a "Lost Underworld" that is beyond the Deep Darkness.  Perhaps that is where they will find the remaining Your Sanctuary locations?

[Ryudo Lee]

Ah, where would we be without at least one recurring villain?  Here we fight Master Belch again, but he gets his own name confused.  He wants to be called Master Puke, but instead, you see his name as Master Barf in the actual battle.  And Poo comes back too!  And on top of that, Master Barf drops the Casey Bat, which is Ness's most powerful weapon.  And yes, the "Casey Bat" does refer to that epic baseball poem, and so even though it is the most powerful weapon for Ness, it's also the least accurate weapon.  It misses 2/3 of hits, or something like that.  It's really not worth using.


Day 23

Time to start slogging through the swamp.  The Deep Darkness swamp is only slightly worse than the Fourside sewer... but only ever so slightly.  The only reason for that is that when Ness and his friends go through the deeper water, their HP is sapped.  The group comes around and finds a path up onto dry land where they find some monkeys and a business man.  The man says that he is a tough business man to come out this far to find an opportunity.  He offers a store and to be a representative of a doctor who is hiding nearby.  Unfortunately, the store has nothing that they need, so they go back into the swamp.  There is a weapons dealer nearby who is selling Multi-Bottle Rockets, but Jeff is already loaded up.

They push onward until they enter the inky blackness of the Deep Darkness.  They find a gift box in the blackness that contains a Banana.  It gets pocketed.  They enter the darkness and then Ness uses the Hawk Eye.  The Hawk Eye pierces the darkness and the whole swamp becomes visible to the group.

They push on until they come to a patch of dry land, where they are attacked by a group of Pit Bull Slugs, a cousin of the Attack Slug.  They are weak and fall to Ness and Paula's PSI powers.  And Ness gains a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 68
Offense: 119 -> 126 (with equipment, 180)
Defense: 34 -> 36 (with equipment, 151)
Speed: 29 -> 30
Gut: 48 -> 50
Vitality: 36 -> 38
Luck: 42 -> 43 (with equipment, 63)
HP: 548/548 -> 570/570
Exp: 1970857
103921 Exp for next level

Moving on, they continue to slog through the swamp until they find another gift box, this one containing a Beef Jerky.  They push onwards and get attacked by a couple of Zap Eels.  The Zap Eels, fortunately, don't have enough power to take down Ness and his friends.  They continue along this path until they find a Mynah Bird, and a gift box.  As they approach the bird, they hear that all too familiar (and suddenly all too annoying) fanfare as the photographer falls down out of the sky.  They pose (fuzzy pickles!  ...still neck deep in the swamp, but whatever) and he snaps their photo.  Satisfied with his work, the photographer flies off again.  The Mynah Bird offers "Kaweeeek!  Village Tenda's Comes Nobody Far It's Because.  Kweek."  The Tenda tribe must be around here somewhere.  Ness checks the gift box.  It contains an IQ capsule, which Jeff consumes.

Jeff's IQ is raised from 59 to 60

They backtrack around and find a path that they had not gone down before which swings around to another batch of dry land.  They are assaulted again by Pit Bull Slugs, which they stomp, and so Paula gains a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 65
HP: 217/217 -> 218/218
Exp: 1862603
91259 Exp for next level

Going up onto the dry land, they find... the helicopter!  The one that Pokey stole from Monotoli!  Jeff checks it out.  "It's completely broken.  I thought I could fix it, but on re-examination...  ...I noticed that there's no engine.  Mmmm."  What would Pokey want with a busted helicopter engine?  Ness catches sight of a nearby gift box and checks it out.  It contains a Cup of Lifenoodles.  These need to be sent off, first chance they get.  They push on and cross a large section of deep swamp to another patch of dry land.  They find another gift box, this one containing a Souvenir Coin.  Ness equips it.

Ness's defense is raised from 151 to 181
Ness's luck is raised from 63 to 78

They continue along, slogging through the swamp, following the only path through the swamp.  Suddenly, they get confronted by a huge pile of vomit, with a hideous, but familiar, face!  "You may have forgotten, but *Buuuuurp!*...  I'm the return of Belch!  I've fought you before.  Peeeeyouuu!  Don't you remember my ripe odor?  Belch has trained more and has returned much stronger.  Buuuurp!  Belch has also changed his name to Puke!...  Barf!  Vomit!  Barf, barf!  Chuck!  Chuck!  Drown to death in puke!  Don't you think that's an incredibly masculine taunt to throw at you?"  They then get drawn into a fight with Master Barf.  Ness and Paula waste no time in unleasing PSI Rockin and PSI Freeze, and Jeff lets loose with his Multi Bottle Rockets.  Though he has trained to become stronger, Master Barf cannot stand up against this onslaught.

And just when things looked bad for Master Barf, things only got worse for him!  Poo suddenly swooped down from the sky and used his new power, PSI Starstorm, on Master Barf.  It was the final nail in Master Barf's coffin.  Master Barf dropped the Casey Bat, Ness's strongest weapon (unfortunately, Ness misses 2 times out of 3, so we'll just send that to Tracey).  Poo's stats did not change during his time away.  They push on through to another large patch of land with a cave nearby, and so they enter it.

Ness and Poo can now teleport to Tenda Village.

Ness and his friends find the cave inhabited by little blue-green people.  These must be the Tenda tribe.  Unfortunately, they're all shy and won't say much of anything.  Except for one Tenda who is quite chatty.  "There's only one Tenda who's not shy.  It's me, bubby!  You know what?  There's something scary that comes from the underground.  So, we covered up the hole.  There are lots of dinosaurs there.  I went there once, but I came right back, 'cause I was so surprised!  There was a talking stone that talks a lot.  Do you wanna go and see?  I understand.  But I'm not as strong as I look.  I'm sorry, I guess I can't help you.  The guy next to me is strong, but he lacks conversation skills.  He needs to overcome his shyness first."  Indeed, the Tenda standing next to the covered up hole is too shy to talk, or even lift the rock.  Ness finds the eldest looking Tenda, but he's only slightly less shy than the others.  "...We're all shy.  Rumor, I heard a book to fix shyness, there is.  Where?  Don't know.  Just a rumor."

A Tenda standing next to a hole in the wall offers them a place to sleep, which they accept.  They get a good night's sleep.  They start to head back and find a little niche in the cave.  In the niche they find a bunch of junk, an old TV, a tin can, a mailbox, a garbage can, and a working telephone.  Ness checks the trash can and finds a Death Ray.  Jeff takes it and equips it.

Jeff's offense is raised from 135 to 153

Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress, and then they head back out to search for a book to cure shyness.  As soon as they step out of the Tenda Village, the receiver phone rings.  It's Apple Kid again!  "Hello, it's been a while since we talked... this is Apple Kid.  We're having beautiful weather here...  I'm now at Dr. Andonuts lab in Winters.  The doctor doesn't seem to be around right now, but I'm just working on my Eraser Eraser Machine...    !  !!!!!  Hey!  Oh no!  What are you doing to me?  Who are you?!!!..." Then the phone goes dead.

And then it rings again.  This time, it's Orange Kid.  "Ness, I haven't talked with you in ages!  This is Orange Kid.  We're finally coming near to the end of our research on... how to change a boiled egg back into a raw egg.  By the way, Apple Kid is missing.  He left here saying that he was going to see Dr. Andonuts in Winters, and he never came back.  I was hoping to borrow the book "Overcoming Shyness" from him, but suddenly, he disappeared...  I haven't read the book, so I'm not very good at talking... sorry.  I'm also working hard on my invention, so I hope you'll understand.  Say hello to your friends for me!"

So, let's get this straight.  The Tenda Tribe need the book "Overcoming Shyness" to get over their shyness so that Ness and his friends can go into the underground and find the next two Your Sanctuary locations.  But Apple Kid has the book, but it seems he was attacked while in Dr. Andonuts' lab in Winters.  Ness and his friends sure have their work cut out for them.

Poo teleports the group to Winters.  They come to a landing outside of the boarding school that Jeff went to.  They find Maxwell searching the area, and mentions that Tony has gone missing.  They also find the Bubble Monkey's girlfriend, or wife, or whatever it is that monkeys have... she indicates that Bubble Monkey is over at the shore of Lake Tess.  Ness and his friends enter the drug store.

Ness uses the phone here to put in another call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $256796 in the bank).  So, Apple Kid was attacked and probably kidnapped, Tony is missing, and it's a good bet that Dr. Andonuts has been taken too.  Ness and his friends prepare to set out to Dr. Andonuts' lab to see what exactly happened here.

[Ryudo Lee]

I hate getting the Sword of Kings.  I really do.  I mean, it's worth it to spend the time doing it, but it's freakin' hard to do.  Why?  Those damned Atomic Power Robots.  If those things weren't floating around, it'd be much easier to get this thing.  The Sword of Kings is one of those items that drops at a 1/128 chance, and only from the Starman Super.  Sometimes I get it quickly, sometimes I don't.  This is one of those times where it just would not appear, and this turned into a grinding session.  But I got it, finally.  It's totally worth it though, since it ensures that Poo hits 100% of the time.


Day 24

Ness and his friends are ready to tackle the Winters wilderness.  Jeff already knows the way.  But unfortunately, the monsters in the wilderness have grown stronger.  Whirling Robo's a cousin of the Spinning Robo, Wooly Shambler's a robot covered in wool, and Lesser Mooks, a cousin of the Spook, inhabit the woods now.  All are powerful enemies, but Ness and his friends are prepared for these encounters, so they don't pose too much of a challenge.  They fight their way down to the shores of Lake Tess.  They find that the Tessie Watching Club is still here and so they check in with the cook for a bite and a quick nap.

The next morning, Ness and his friends chat up the club members and find that one of their own was kidnapped, a member named Sebastian.  So now Dr. Andonuts, Apple Kid, Tony, and now this Sebastian have all gone missing.  Ness sees the Bubble Monkey waiting at the shore, and so they go see him.  He's already chewing a piece of bubble gum, and blows a big bubble.  He floats over the lake and as she had done before, Tessie comes up out of the lake so Bubble Monkey can land on her head.  She then lets Ness and his friends get on her back and she ferries them across the lake.  They fight their way down from the shore, and Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 63
Speed: 32 -> 33
IQ: 60 -> 62
HP: 300/300 -> 301/301
Exp: 1984159
98386 Exp for next level

They continue down until they find the iron pencil statue that Jeff had seen when he first came through Winters.  This time, however, they have the Pencil Eraser, and so the iron pencil statue is removed.  They fight their way to the cave where Rainy Circle is housed, and make their way to Rainy Circle for a recharge.  Thankfully, the enemies in here have not gotten stronger, and still flee at the sight of Ness and his friends.

They exit the Rainy Circle cave and come to Stonehenge.  They go around south to Dr. Andonuts' lab.  Inside they find the cave man that the doctor had befriended, and Apple Kid's mouse.  The mouse hands them the Eraser Eraser machine and indicates that Apple Kid was kidnapped.  Jeff remembers seeing an iron eraser statue in the cave under Stonehenge, so it's a good bet that they should start looking there.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to save his progress real quick, and then they head out to Stonehenge.

They go into the hole in the middle of Stonehenge and climb down into the cavern.  They make their way to the iron eraser statue and use the Eraser Eraser machine on it.  As the Pencil Eraser had done for the pencil statues, the eraser statue disappeared.  Now they could move further into the cave.  As they made their way through, they found many more enemies like those in the wilderness, plus Starmen!  They found the Mook Senior, a stronger cousin of the Lesser Mook.  The Starman cannot move on it's own, it must teleport around.  Luckily, when Ness and his friends catch the Starman before it teleports, they can get in a surprise attack.  And Ness and Poo gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 69
IQ: 35 -> 36
HP: 570/570 -> 572/572
PP: 175/175 -> 180/180
Exp: 2077010
109024 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 62
Offense: 128 -> 130
HP: 391/391 -> 394/394
PP: 131/131 -> 132/132
Exp: 1645112
99113 Exp for next level

They find a gift box that contains a Spicy Jerky, and continue onward, fighting their way through.  The caves are a giant maze, but Ness and his friends continue pushing through, and stomping the enemies in their way.  And Paula gains a level!

Paula's Stats
Level: 66
Offense: 79 -> 80 (with equipment, 140)
Vitality: 14 -> 15
IQ: 46 -> 47
HP: 218/218 -> 225/225
PP: 230/230 -> 235/235
Exp: 1964278
98310 Exp for next level

Continuing on, they come around and find another new enemy, the Atomic Power Robot.  This robot can restore the health of it's allies and explodes when defeated.  Unfortunately, the Super Plush Teddy Bear doesn't make it through the explosions, but Jeff gains a level.

Jeff's Stats
Level: 64
Offense: 63 -> 67 (with equipment, 157)
Defense: 38 -> 40 (with equipment, 155)
Guts: 32 -> 34
Vitality: 20 -> 21
IQ: 62 -> 63
Luck: 26 -> 28 (with equipment, 48)
HP: 301/301 -> 315/315
Exp: 2082799
103924 Exp for next level

They continue pushing through the caves until they come into a base, like they had seen behind Grapefruit Falls.  Only this base is crawling with Starmen, instead of piles of vomit.  The Starman that they had seen before is all over this place, but they also see the golden Starman Super.  Poo knows the Starman Super holds his precious Sword of Kings, so they stomp Starman Super after Starman Super until they find it.  It takes awhile, and levels are gained.

Ness's Stats
Level: 69 -> 78
Offense: 126 -> 127 -> 131 -> 132 -> 135 -> 138 -> 139 (with equipment, 193)
Defense: 36 -> 38 -> 41 (with equipment, 186)
Speed: 30 -> 32 -> 33
Guts: 50 -> 52 -> 53 -> 54 -> 56
Vitality: 38 -> 39 -> 40 -> 42
IQ: 36 -> 38 -> 40
Luck: 43 -> 45 -> 46 -> 48 (with equipment, 83)
HP: 572/572 -> 575/575 -> 585/585 -> 586/586 -> 600/600 -> 601/601 -> 602/602 -> 630/630 -> 631/631 -> 632/632
PP: 180/180 -> 182/182 -> 190/190 -> 192/192 -> 193/193 -> 200/200 -> 202/202
Exp: 3259816
156707 Exp for next level

Ness realized the power of Lifeup omega (restores everyone's HP)
Ness realized the power of PSI Rockin omega

Paula's Stats
Level: 66 -> 75
Offense: 80 -> 84 -> 85 -> 88 -> 89 -> 90 (with equipment, 150)
Defense: 21 -> 22 -> 23 -> 24 (with equipment, 149)
Speed: 53 -> 55 -> 56 -> 57 -> 58 -> 59 -> 61
Guts: 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 38 -> 39
Vitality: 15 -> 16
IQ: 47 -> 50 -> 51 -> 52 -> 53
Luck: 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 39 (with equipment, 64)
HP: 225/225 -> 228/228 -> 230/230 -> 232/232 -> 234/234 -> 237/237 -> 240/240 -> 243/243 -> 246/246 -> 248/248
PP: 235/235 -> 250/250 -> 252/252 -> 255/255 -> 257/257 -> 260/260 -> 265/265 -> 267/267
Exp: 3130122
154855 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 64 -> 73
Offense: 67 -> 68 -> 69 -> 71 -> 74 (with equipment, 164)
Defense: 40 -> 41 -> 43 -> 45 (with equipment, 160)
Speed: 33 -> 34 -> 35 -> 36 -> 38
Guts: 34 -> 37
Vitality: 21 -> 22 -> 23
IQ: 63 -> 64 -> 67 -> 68 -> 71
Luck: 28 -> 29 -> 30 (with equipment, 50)
HP: 315/315 -> 317/317 -> 320/320 -> 323/323 -> 330/330 -> 333/333 -> 335/335 -> 337/337 -> 345/345 -> 346/346
Exp: 3194815
144115 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 62 -> 71
Offense: 130 -> 131 -> 135 -> 136 -> 138 -> 140 -> 143 -> 144 -> 146 -> 148
Defense: 111 -> 113 -> 117 -> 119 -> 120 -> 123 -> 124 -> 125 -> 127 (with equipment, 157)
Speed: 44 -> 47 -> 50
Guts: 20 -> 21 -> 23
Vitality: 26 -> 28 -> 29 -> 30
IQ: 26 -> 28 -> 29 -> 30
Luck: 20 -> 21 -> 23 (with equipment, 58)
HP: 394/394 -> 396/396 -> 420/420 -> 421/421 -> 424/424 -> 426/426 -> 435/435 -> 437/437 -> 438/438 -> 450/450
PP: 132/132 -> 140/140 -> 142/142 -> 143/143 -> 145/145 -> 147/147 -> 148/148 -> 150/150
Exp: 2827918
110664 Exp for next level

As they fight for the Sword of Kings, they find a couple of gift boxes.  One contains a broken harmonica, the other a PSI Caramel.  Jeff gets the broken harmonica to be fixed later.  After many many many many battles, finally a Starman Super drops the Sword of Kings.

Poo's offense is raised from 148 to 178

With the Sword of Kings safely in Poo's hands, Ness and his friends push onward.  They come into a room with Exit Mice wandering around.  Ness picks one up, and continues on.  In the next room they find another new enemy, the Military Octobot.  There is also three gift boxes, one with a Broken Trumpet inside, one with a Pixie's Bracelet inside, and the last with a Speed Capsule inside.  Jeff gets the Broken Trumpet and Ness equips the bracelet and consumes the Speed Capsule.

Ness's defense is raised from 186 to 196
Ness's luck is raised from 83 to 93
Ness is protected from hypnosis attacks
Ness's speed is raised from 33 to 34

In the next room they find a wall lined with big green glass tubes, each tube hold a person or two.  Ness sees Sebastian and Tony, a Mr. Saturn, Dr. Andonuts, some... random person, Apple Kid, and... another random person.  They all try to communicate with Ness that he should go into the next room.  So they go into the next room and find the leader of this base, the Starman Deluxe.

They approach the Starman.  "You're much stronger *whirrr* than our intelligence indicated...  We were not *beep* prepared for that eventuality...  The Prophecy from the *click* Apple of Enlightenment may be true... but you must not *whirrr* underestimate us." And then it draws them into a fight.

The Starman Deluxe is the strongest of all the Starmen in the base, even more powerful than the Starman Super.  But Ness and his friends power is greater, and the Starman Deluxe falls to Jeff's Multi Bottle Rockets, and Ness, Paula, and Poo's PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and PSI Starstorm attacks.  As soon as the Starman Deluxe was destroyed, the entire base shut down.

They went back to the room with the tubes and they found everyone in the tubes had been released.  Ness checks in with Apple Kid and asks him about the shyness book.  "I expected there to be about a seven percent chance that you would rescue me.  I just thought it was a good opportunity to meet Mr. Saturn.  I also got to meet Dr. Andonuts...  See you.  What?  You're looking for the book "Overcoming Shyness"?  I returned it to the Onett library.  Please use the book to help the shy Tenda tribe.  ...Anyway, because I knew you, I had an incredible experience... wow!  I was kidnapped by some of Giygas' toadies!"

Dr. Andonuts and all the others thank Ness and his friends for their rescue.  Dr. Andonuts states that he wants to get to work on the Phase Distorter.  The Mr. Saturn offers a Saturn Ribbon to Paula for rescuing him.

Paula's defense is raised from 149 to 179
Paula's luck is raised from 64 to 79

Ness and his friends use the Exit Mouse and leave the base.  It leads them all the way back up to the ladder to Stonehenge.  Ness and his friends leave the underground base and go back to Dr. Andonuts' lab.  Apple Kid's mouse indicates that it will make it's way to Saturn Valley.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness now has $404169 in the bank).  With everyone rescued, and the location of the shyness book uncovered, Ness and his friends can help the Tenda Tribe overcome their shyness so that Ness and his friends can get into the underground and find the remaining Your Sanctuary locations.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Wow. 9 levels for everyone is a heck of a lot of grinding. :-/

Thanks for doing that for us.

... or for me, since I seem to be the only one watching. ;-]

[Ryudo Lee]

I think you're the only one replying.  The views count is much too high for just the two of us.

On that note, I need to put this on the backburner for a few days.  I'm preparing for a trip to Jackson to move an entire site.  I should be able to pick this back up next wednesday-ish.

[Ryudo Lee]

I'm baaaa~aaack!

Okay, so a few important things happen here.  First off, we find Overcoming Shyness in the Onett Library (we still avoid getting a map).  And then we go out and purchase the house on Beak Point (Eagleland, Beak Point, see what they did there?).  From there, we return to Tenda Village and hand over the shyness book.  Then two scripted events happen, first the photographer comes down out of nowhere, and then we get to ensure that the player's name that Tony had asked for in Toto is correct.  Afterwards, we get the next intermission message, like we did in Saturn Valley.  And then we move on to Lumine Hall.

Phew!  But we are getting close to the end.


Day 25

Ness and his friends leave the lab and then teleport to Onett.  Onett hasn't changed at all.  Everything is just how Ness left it.  It's been a long while since Ness has been home, so he immediately high-tails it up the hills to go see mom and Tracey.  Mom sends him right up to bed.  After spending so many nights sleeping in hotels, sleeping in his own bed is a wondrous thing.  Ness checks in with Tracey and drops off both of the eraser machines, since they will no longer be of any use.

Ness and his friends head on out and make way to the library.  Once inside the library, Ness catches sight of a young man wearing a white "Shy-Guy" mask.  Normally, this person is very shy, hence the mask.  But today, he's... chatty.  "Oh, hi Ness.  It's another nice day.  What?  You'd like the book "Overcoming Shyness"?  I've read it.  It's a great book.  So you want to overcome shyness also?  You should be able to find it on the bookcase."  They then go into all four wings of the library and check all the shelves until they find the shyness book.

Before leaving town, Ness decides that now would be a great time to go give Onett one more look before heading back to the Tenda tribe.  Ness finds a path he hadn't noticed before, to the west of the Onett hospital.  He follows the path to Beak Point, where he finds a real estate agent selling a small house right here on the point.  What a bargain, he's selling it for only $7500!  Ness runs off to an ATM and withdraws the money for the house and returns to the point to buy it off the real estate agent.

Unfortunately, Ness quickly discovers why it was only $7500.  Inside the house, he finds that it's a dilapidated old shack, and the majority of the back wall is missing.  There is a chest of drawers, a ruined couch, what might pass as a bed, and several holes in the floor.  Ness checks the dresser and finds a magazine article:

"My Secret Life, chapter three." (Story from the previous chapter.)  I was neither a murder suspect, nor a target for an international spy organization.  But I drove a car down the Jersey Turnpike at 80 mph.  ...A police officer pulled me over and asked for my driver's license.  He said I was going 20 mph over the speed limit.  I instantly pointed to my wife and said "I'm in a hurry, my wife is in labor."  Fortunately, my wife actually had a big stomach.  I hoped he'd let me go with this excuse.  "Oh, since it's an emergency.  I'll lead you to the hospital with my police car," he said.  "No, it's not necessary."  "Why not?" asked the officer.  "Uh... well..."  "Let's get going," said the officer...  "No, no!  We can't!  This baby is a demon child!"

Stimulating.  Ness goes to check out the couch and... that familiar fanfare plays again, and the photographer falls down from the ceiling.  Seriously?  Here in this run down old shack?  Oh well.  They pose (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their photo.  He flies off once again, and Ness leaves the hovel.  Ness checks in with Frank.  Frank mentions that Ness looks much stronger, and offers the group a place to rest.  Ness leaves the arcade and, with not much else to do here, teleports back to the Tenda Village.

They come to a landing just outside the cave to the Tenda Village.  Ness and his friends enter the cave and go see the village chief.  Ness hands over the shyness book.  ".....!  Book!  Can fix shyness.  Thanks.  Relax.  I'll read to everyone.  Oh!  Just holding this book in my hands makes me feel like I'm overcoming my shyness already!  I'll really take time to read it to everyone!"  The chief then gathers all of the tribe together and reads the book to all of them.  After the reading, all of the Tenda in the village starting chatting and whispering to each other, now that they had overcome their shyness.

The village chief addresses Ness.  "I'd like to give you some "Tendakraut" in return.  "Tendakraut" is a type of dish that all Tenda like.  It stinks, but it tastes wonderful."  So Ness lets the chief keep the book, and in return the chief gives Ness the Tendakraut.  At that moment, that all too familiar fanfare plays AGAIN and the photographer comes down from the ceiling of the cave.  They pose (fuzzy pickles!) and he snaps their photo.  Happy with his work (or perhaps driven off by the smell of the Tendakraut) he flies off again.

The village chief addresses Ness once again.  Or rather, he's addressing me.  "Hey, you!  I have a happy little question for you...  .....  Ryudo Lee...  Ryudo Lee, are you sure this is the correct player's name?  If it's not right, you can change it..."  And then the name registration window that Tony had provided over the phone comes up again.  But my name is correct, so we'll just say OK.  "Ryudo Lee, are you sure it's what you want?  Are you happy with the name?"  Yes, yes I am.  "Are you absolutely certain?"  Yes already!  "Yeah, I thought that you had made up your mind..."

Okay, with that done, Ness goes to chat up the local Tenda.  One Tenda offers Ness a cup of tea.  Ness accepts, and sits down to relax, clear his mind, and enjoy the tea.  As had happened back in Saturn Valley, a friendly voice enters his mind.

"Like a great tapestry, vertical and horizontal threads have met and become intertwined, creating a huge, beautiful image.

You may have cursed this never-ending journey.  You have known injury and defeat, but you have struggled on to reach this place.  Your in-born intelligence and courage have helped you bring you here.  You have believed in your friends, and as a group, you have supported each other.  Have you ever stopped to consider how much your power has grown?  Now, you could fell enemies in Onett and Twoson with one blow.  As you certainly know, you cannot turn back.  Giygas, the arch fiend of the universe, is growing frightened of you and your power.  He is searching for ways to end your journey.

From here, the challenge grows and your adventure will take you beyond anything you ever imagined.  You are drawing near to Giygas.  Remember, when you are suffering hardships, your enemy is also struggling.

By the way, do you know where Pokey went?  When this cup of tea is finished, your adventure will continue.  Your destiny pulls you in the right direction.  Believe in yourself and press forward.

Ness!  Paula!  Jeff!  Poo!

I wish you luck..."

Ness is still not sure who's voice that is, but it seems friendly and knowledgeable, and most importantly, on their side.  They take a moment to rest in the inn, but Jeff doesn't get any rest and instead fixes the Broken Harmonica.  He weaponizes it, and it becomes the Baddest Beam.  They stay a few more nights, and Jeff eventually fixes the Broken Trumpet as well.  He repurposes it into the Defense Shower.  The Defense Shower raises the defense of everyone in the group during a battle, and can be used multiple times to layer the effect.

Jeff's offense is raised from 164 to 172

Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress, and then goes to find that strong Tenda that can open the path to the underground.  One Tenda mentions the underground.  "Underground, very large area.  Exist.  Dinosaurs.  Big.  Scary.  "Lost Underworld."  Stone.  There is.  Talks lots."  Okay, so there are dinosaurs in the Lost Underworld, as well as... talking stones?  Ness makes a mental note to check out any strange looking rocks and see if they talk.

Ness finds the strong Tenda by the rock to the Lost Underworld.  "Powerful... I... so... show... everyone..."  He then turns to the rock and starts to lift it up.  "Huuuup!  I got it!  I got it!  Eeeee yeah!!!"  He then lifts the rock and throws it far off, as if it were nothing.  Under the rock is a hole with a rope leading down.  Ness and his friends descend the rope.

The rope leads down into an underground cave, with a black rock in the middle, with what appears to be a face carved into one side.  Ness tries talking to the rock, and it answers him!  "Good evening.  I'm a talking rock.  But the rocks around here don't talk too much.  The rock that talks the most is deep down in the labyrinth a ways ahead...  in the "Lost Underworld."  Don't forget to talk to the rock!  It's important!"  Well, stranger things have happened.

Ness and his friends exit the cave through door way on one side and come out into a huge set of caverns, laid out like a labyrinth.  The caverns were full of monsters, such as the Fobby, Hyper Spinning Robo, Uncontrollable Sphere, and the Conducting Spirit.  But Ness and his friend's advanced levels make these enemies out to be little challenge.  But even so, they still have to fight through them.  And so levels are gained.

Ness's Stats
Level: 79
Offense: 139 -> 143 (with equipment, 197)
Speed: 34 -> 35
Luck: 48 -> 49 (with equipment, 94)
HP: 632/632 -> 634/634
PP: 202/202 -> 204/204
Exp: 3433852
147662 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 76
Offense: 90 -> 94 (with equipment, 154)
Speed: 61 -> 62
Vitality: 16 -> 17
IQ: 53 -> 55
HP: 248/248 -> 255/255
PP: 267/267 -> 275/275
Exp: 3285810
165768 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 74
Guts: 37 -> 38
Luck: +1 30 -> 31 (with equipment, 51)
HP: +1 346/346 -> 347/347
Exp: 3345916
149832 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 72
Offense: 148 -> 154 (with equipment, 184)
Defense: 127 -> 131 (with equipment, 161)
Speed: 50 -> 53
HP: 450/450 -> 453/453
Exp: 2953628
146967 Exp for next level

Along the way they find gift boxes.  One contains an IQ Capsule, which Jeff consumes, and they find the Diadem of Kings, which Poo equips, one contains a Rock Candy, one contains a Luck Capsule, which Ness consumes, one contains a Cup of Lifenoodles, and one contains a Luxury Jerky.

Jeff's IQ is raised from 71 to 72
Poo's defense is raised from 161 to 181
Ness's luck is raised from 94 to 95

They eventually come around to the end of the labyrinth and find the guardian of the Your Sanctuary location here in the caverns.  As the others had done, this one too taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the seventh "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..."  And then Ness and his friends are drawn into a fight with the guardian.

The guardian turns out to be the Electro Spectre, a living metal creature with powers of electricity and magnetism.  Luckily, Ness and his friends have awesome strength and Multi Bottle Rockets.  The Electro Spectre has a Psychic Power Shield up, and so using PSI attacks is not safe.  But Jeff's Multi Bottle Rockets make up for that, and while Ness, Paula, and Poo bash at Electro Spectre, Jeff's Multi Bottle Rockets put the final few nails in Electro Spectre's coffin.

Electro Spectre was guarding a hole in the floor of the cavern.  Ness and his friends fall down into the hole and find themselves in another natural cavern.  The walls are covered with a glowing, luminescent moss.  This place is Lumine Hall.  As Ness approaches the largest concentration of the moss, he sees words moving across the wall, as if it was a big news ticker.  The words read "I'm Ness...  It's been a long road getting here...  Soon, I'll be... Soon, I'll be...  Soon, I'll be...  What will happen to us?  W...what's happening?  My thoughts are being written out on the wall... or are they?"  Ness then hears another part of the Sound Stone's melody, and another memory surfaces: he saw a vision of his father holding him.

Ness took out the Sound Stone and put it to his forehead and gathered his thoughts.  As it had done before, it had indeed recorded the sound of Lumine Hall.  At the end of Lumine Hall, Ness and his friends discover another hole.  They gather their courage and jump down the hole.  It is a long fall, but they land safely in a humongous cavern, filled with primitive trees, lakes, and gushing geysers and spout water after a short earthquake.  

Ness and Poo can now teleport to the Lost Underworld.

They start working their way around until they find a fenced-in area.  Inside are a couple of Tenda, and a telephone bird.  One of them offers a secret.  "You're strange, but you smell good.  So I'll tell you a secret.  Did you feel the earthquake a little while ago?  ...You know, we have earthquakes all the time here.  After an earthquake, the hot springs will erupt.  The blue springs are great for recovering health.  The red springs are perfect for healing paralysis or drawing out poison."  The other Tenda just complains about the sounds the telephone bird makes.

Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $427905 in the bank).  Now that Ness and his friends have found the Lost Underworld, they have a few important objectives.  One, explore this place and see what treasures have been left unfound for all this time.  Two, find the talking rock that talks the most, which is supposedly down here somewhere.  Three, find the last remaining Your Sanctuary location.  It's a tall order, but Ness and his friends are strong and together they can accomplish anything.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I do have to wonder what responses you get when being asked if you want to change your name, if you select "yes, change" lots... ;-]

[Ryudo Lee]

You don't get any different responses, it just brings up the input window.  It's an opportunity that they missed out on.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Ah, what a shame. Oh, well. It's been fairly amusing so far, anyway.

[Ryudo Lee]

Some important events happen here.  First off, in order to get to Fire Spring, we have to talk to the rock in the Tenda village in the Lost Underworld.  The rock tells Ness all of the Your Sanctuary locations, even though we've visited them in order already, except for the last one.  There is one mistake though.  The seventh location is not actually Lumine "Hole", it's Lumine "Hall".  The localizers missed that one.  It's actually kind of amusing the way the Tenda have "caged" in the dinosaurs, by building a fence in a circle, since the rest of the cavern is closed off from the rest of the world.  Secondly, we find the last of Poo's kingly equipment, so he's all decked out now.  Third...ly(?) we go in and deal with Fire Spring.  The boss of Fire Spring is actually a twofer, Carbon Dog and Diamond Dog.  You beat Carbon Dog, then you deal with Diamond Dog.  Even at these levels, he's a challenge.  It's a necessity to make his power shield drop so that Jeff's bottle rockets can knock him out without getting killed himself.

With the melody of Fire Spring collected, the Sound Stone's melody is completed, which starts a scripted sequence in which Ness remembers pieces of the earliest days of his life, and then finds himself in Magicant, the realm of his mind.

Magicant was present in the NES Mother game, but was the realm of another person's mind, not the hero's.  And in that game, you could reach Magicant by way of a special item called the Onyx Hook.  Unfortunately, that is not the case in EarthBound.  Magicant is short lived, but very significant, unlike the NES game where Magicant is reachable during the majority of the game (up until the end).

Also, Magicant is weird, which makes you wonder about what goes through that boy's head...


Day 26

Ness and his friends start exploring the vast Lost Underworld.  They find some gift boxes, one containing a Brain Food Lunch, and the other containing a Sea Pendant, and one containing a Guts Capsule.  Jeff takes the Sea Pendant, and Ness consumes the Guts Capsule.

Jeff's defense is raised from 160 to 165
Jeff is protected from fire, freeze, and flash attacks.
Ness's guts is raised from 56 to 57

As they searched the huge cavern, they came across another fenced in area, this one much larger than the previous one they found.  They approach the door, and one of the Tenda on the other side of the door comes up, having noticed the foul aroma surrounding the group.  "You guys smell really good!  *sniff, sniff, sniff*  Who am I?  I'm a Tenda!"  

Another Tenda approaches the door, seeming upset.  "Hey!  What are you doing inside our dinosaur cage?  I'm going to open the door, and you get out of there right now!  I'm the boss, so I will let you out."  The boss Tenda opens the door, and then takes the Tendakraut.  "Thank you for the Tendakraut."  No, thank YOU.  That foul odor surrounding the group finally went away.  Ness and his friends go into the fenced in area (or, rather out?) and find a whole village of Tenda.

Near the entrance is a phone bird, which Ness uses to put in a call to mom and dad.  There is also a talking rock nearby.  This must be the rock that talks a lot.  Ness approaches the rock.  "You finally came, Ness.  Finally, you talk to me.  Listen Ness.  I'm going to tell you something very important.  You may want to take notes.  Ready?  You're the chosen one.  Your destiny is not only yours...  It's the destiny of the whole universe.  There will be a time in which all of you in the universe will overlap each other.  ...It's not necessary to understand now.  Do you remember "Giant Step" in Onett?  That is one of "Your Sanctuary."  It is a spot which gives you power and allows you to realize all your skills.  There was a monster that protected it.  The monster was influenced by the power of the place.  You must have beaten those monsters.  You must reach all of the eight power spots in the world...  When the Sound Stone records the melodies of all eight power spots, you can finally see "Your World."  I'll tell you all of the power spots.
1.   "Giant Step" in Onett.
2.   "Lilliput Steps" in Peaceful Rest Valley near Twoson.
3.   "Milky Well" in Grapefruit Falls in Saturn Valley.
4.   "Rainy Circle" found by Jeff in Winters.
5.   "Magnet Hill" at the edge of the city of Fourside.
6.   "Pink Cloud" which Poo knows.
7.   and... "Lumine Hole" where the shining lichen lives in the cave.
8.   A new place is now going to be opened up to you.  "Fire Spring," located southwest of here.
Listen to the melodies of all eight power spots.  If you do not fail, you may upset Giygas' plans...  Understand, Ness?  The time will come.  The time when the destiny of you and the whole universe will overlap...  It is fast approaching."

Huh.  Well, those first seven places have already been visited.  But now Ness knows that Fire Spring is his next destination.  It's time to start preparing for the battle at Fire Spring, as well as whatever this "Your World" is going to be.  Poo teleports his friends back to Onett so Ness can withdraw some money (the ATM fees out here are outrageous!).

First stop, Summers, to pick up a Super Plush Bear.  Second stop, Dalaam, to load up Ness with Brain Food Lunches.  Third stop, Deep Darkness, to load up Jeff with Multi Bottle Rockets.  Final stop, back to the Lost Underworld, and check the local store there for better equipment.  Ness purchases the Ultimate Bat and sells off his Big League Bat.  Paula gets the Holy Fry Pan and sells off her French Fry Pan.  Jeff picks up a Shiny Coin and sells off his Luck Coin.

Ness's offense is raised from 197 to 211
Paula's offense is raised from 154 to 174
Jeff's defense is raised from 165 to 185
Jeff's luck is raised from 51 to 61

Now properly equipped and fully loaded with all the necessary items, Ness and his friends begin their trek towards Fire Spring.  As they move towards the southwest, they come across a cave.  Inside the cave they find themselves on an outcropping of rock over a dark chasm.  On the other side of the chasm they see a strange monolith, which looks like a slightly twisted spike.  Near the monolith, they see the wreckage of an unidentifiable machine.  Unable to do anything here, Ness and his friends go back to Lost Underworld, and continue on to Fire Spring.

During their journey to Fire Spring, they come across another gift box.  This one contains the Cloak of Kings, the last of Poo's special equipment.

Poo's defense is raised from 181 to 201

With all of his special equipment, Poo is looking more like a king than a prince.  Ness and his friends move on.  They come across a healing geyser, and another fenced in area (otherwise known as part of the Tenda's dinosaur cage).  Behind the fence is a Tenda and a phone bird.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress.  From here, Ness can see the entrance to Fire Spring.  Ness and his friends steel themselves, and then go into Fire Spring.

Inside of Fire Spring is exactly what you would expect.  There is lava flowing down the walls, and many fire based enemies, such as the Psychic Psycho, the Evil Elemental, and the Soul Consuming Flame.  Thankfully, Paula and Poo have enough Freeze attacks to handle the fire enemies.  And so levels are gained.

Ness's Stats
Level: 80
Offense: 143 -> 145 (with equipment,
Speed: 35 -> 36
Guts: 57 -> 60
Vitality: 42 -> 44
IQ: 40 -> 42
Luck: 50 -> 52 (with equipment,
HP: 634/634 -> 660/660
PP: 204/204 -> 210/210
Exp: 3583120
169600 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 77
Luck: 39 -> 40 (with equipment, 80)
HP: 255/255 -> 258/258
PP: 275/275 -> 276/276
Exp: 3453426
171646 Exp for next level

Jeff's Stats
Level: 75
Offense: +1 74 -> 75 (with equipment, 173)
Defense: +1 45 -> 46 (with equipment, 186)
IQ: +1 72 -> 73
HP: +3 347/347 -> 350/350
Exp: 3508714
150601 Exp for next level

Poo's Stats
Level: 73
HP: 453/453 -> 456/456
PP: 150/150 -> 151/151
Exp: 3106611
162401 Exp for next level

As they search through Fire Spring, they come across a gift box with a Moon Beam Gun inside.  Jeff takes that.

Jeff's offense is raised from 173 to 185

Soon they find themselves at the top of Fire Spring, where the final Your Sanctuary guardian sits in wait for them.  As all the others had done, this one taunts Ness.  "You finally got here.  This is the eighth "Your Sanctuary" location.  But it's mine now.  Take it from me, if you dare..."  It then draws Ness and his friends into a battle.

The guardian turns out to be Carbon Dog, a huge dog covered in flames.  Ness, Paula, and Poo waste no time in unleashing PSI Rockin, PSI Freeze, and PSI Starstorm, while Jeff unloads his Multi Bottle Rockets into Carbon Dog.  When Carbon Dog took enough damage, it started shining with a rainbow of colors, and then changed form into Diamond Dog.  Diamond Dog's power shield reflected the damage from Jeff's Multi Bottle Rocket, but Ness was ready just in time with his Lifeup power, and Jeff was spared from falling unconscious.  Ness and his friends bashed on Diamond Dog, soaking the reflected attacks until it's shield dropped completely, and then Jeff unloaded his Multi Bottle Rockets again, taking Diamond Dog out.  With Diamond Dog's defeat, Poo gained a level!

Poo's Stats
Level: 74
Defense: 131 -> 133 (with equipment, 203)
Guts: 23 -> 24
Vitality: 30 -> 31
IQ: 30 -> 31
HP: 456/456 -> 465/465
PP: 151/151 -> 155/155
Exp: 3290677
153304 Exp for next level

With Diamond Dog out of the way, Ness and his friends enter the Your Sanctuary location, Fire Spring.  Fire Spring is a small volcano, with an ever burning flame come from the mouth, and a constant lava flow.  Ness approaches Fire Spring.  He hears the final tune and he suddenly felt like he was being watched by himself when he was a baby.

Ness immediately pulls out the Sound Stone and listens to the completed melody.

You can listen to the completed melody here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLd_q7Ab3J4
(Note, to me the background drums sounds like the drum line from Give Peace A Chance.)

After hearing the entire melody, Ness's vision goes completely white.  He then finds himself walking up a long winding path, the entire world black and white around him, except for the flowers on the ground.  The path leads to a house, his house.  When he reaches the door, his body disappears, but he is still there.  He enters the house.  Inside the house, he sees that everything is how he remembers his home, except that he sees King as a puppy (d'aww how cute!).  He goes up the stairs and heads to his room.  Inside the room he sees a cradle, rocking a baby to sleep.  He hears the voices of his parents.  "Ness...  Hmmm...  I think Ness is the right name for him."  "Ness... he smiled just from hearing his own name.  Do you think he likes his name?"  "Try putting that red cap on him.  Ha ha ha!  It's too big, but it looks good on him..."  "I hope King won't be jealous of the baby."  "Let's celebrate with some Steak.  This baby will grow up to be a hard worker just like you."  "I don't think he needs to be rich or famous...  but I want him to be a thoughtful, strong boy."  "That's odd... the baby bottle that he pointed at seemed to move a little bit...  Hmmm..."

Suddenly, Ness's vision went completely white again.  When his vision cleared, he found himself in a very strange place, and in his PJ's to boot.  The land was oddly shaped.  The trees appeared to be solid cones with checkerboard patterns on them.  Large vegetables stick out of the ground.  He sees a black rabbit with a long tail wandering around.  He also sees Everdred, and the old man that taught Poo Starstorm.

Ness talks to the bunny.  "This is the realm of Magicant, which your mind created.  Why don't you explore your mind.  Take your time, Ness."  After talking to the bunny, the whole world changed color.  Everything became gold and black around him.  Ness goes to talk to Everdred.  "Ness!  Maybe you don't wanna hear this, but you remind me of myself when I was young.  I can't do anything more for you.  Good luck, Ness!"  After talking to Everdred, Everdred disappeared, and the world changed color again, this time becoming snowy white.

Now it's becoming clear what's happening.  Every time Ness talks to someone, the world will change color.  Ness goes to talk to the old man.  "Ness, you've stood on the eight power spots of the earth.  From these, you created Magicant, the realm of your mind.  In Magicant, there's beauty, kindness, sorrow, and hatred.  Of course, there's an evil and violent side of you.  The Sea of Eden sits at the center of those feelings.  It takes you to the truth about yourself." After talking to the old man, the world became dark, purple and black.

That is an interesting revelation to give to a young boy who is supposed to be the hero.  Ness moves on and finds his mother, Tracey, and King lounging around in a small living area.  As they normally do, Tracey offers to store things, his mother makes him some Steak and lets him get some rest, and King is still just as useless.

Ness begins his exploration of Magicant and finds a couple of buildings.  Inside one of the buildings he finds drawings of a telephone and an ATM.  But this is the Ness's mind, so the telephone actually works.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $423417 in the bank).  Ness has stood on the eight power spots of the earth and so has created this world of Magicant in his mind.  The old man had said that the Sea of Eden is where the evil side of himself is.  Ness knows that he must face that side of himself, and so that is his next destination.

[Ryudo Lee]

We're approaching the home stretch here.  Finishing up Magicant gives Ness a massive power boost to his already powerful stats, and an additional 200,000 exp points to boot.  If you're at lower levels, that nets you multiple levels in one sitting.  Here though, it only affords one.  But one is enough, since we get a massive HP and PP boost.

Plus Ness ends up talking to himself...  which is okay, unless he starts answering himself, then he's crazy.

Plus there's a typo in this area.  Kind of funny that they missed it.


Day 27

Ness's stats at the start of Magicant:

Level: 80
Offense: 145 (with equipment, 213)
Defense: 41 (with equipment, 196)
Speed: 36
Guts: 60
Vitality: 44
IQ: 42
Luck: 52 (with equipment, 97)
HP: 660/660
PP: 210/210
Exp: 3722575
30145 Exp for next level

Known PSI
PSI Rockin alpha, beta, delta, omega
PSI Flash alpha, beta, delta, omega
Lifeup alpha, beta, delta, omega
Healing alpha, beta, delta
Shield alpha (shield of light, one person), beta (power shield, one person)
Hypnosis alpha, omega
Paralysis alpha, omega
Teleport alpha

Equipment
Weapon: Ultimate Bat
Body: Night Pendant (protects against Flash attacks)
Arms: Pixie's Bracelet (protects against Hypnosis, increases luck)
Other: Souvenir Coin (increases luck)

Now that Ness is in his own mind, here in this realm of Magicant, he takes the time to talk to all of the creatures, people, and objects that he finds.  He finds that flowers, signs, snowmen, and animals, as well as the people, all have something to say.  He finds a few of his enemies loitering around in his mind as well.  He finds a zombie, he finds Master Belch, he even finds Pokey.  He also finds himself when he was younger.  One bunny with a long tail asks Ness to take his time, since this whole place will disappear when he wakes up.  This is a dream?

Ness continues exploring this realm of his mind, finding most of his friends from Onett, such as Picky and all the boys in the hideout behind the library.  He continues north past them, over a land bridge that crosses a large expanse of water.  He finds a strange looking house, as well as a grave marker next to the house.

Ness checks the grave marker.  It reads "This is Buzz Buzz's tombstone.  He appeared earlier in the game and gave up the ghost before he achieved his goal."  Strange.  Ness goes inside the house.  Inside the house are several strong looking men who have bird heads.  A sign nearby reads "Flying Man".  Ness talks to one of the men.  "I am your courage.  I follow you here in Magicant.  ...My name?  Let's say Flying Man."  Then the Flying Man joined Ness and started following him around.  Ness leaves the building and continues down the path.

Ness comes across the old man once again, just before the path changes shape and color.  "The Sea of Eden is filled with ultimate intelligence.  You can't go there unless you're truly ready.  It's a place where you can touch the truth of the universe.  Going there may bring sorrow."  The color of the land and water changed, but Ness and Flying Man continue on, and begin their approach to the Sea of Eden.

The path abruptly changed, and monsters began to appear.  They found themselves fighting strange enemies such as the Loaded Dice, the Electro Swoosh, the Uncontrollable Sphere, the Care Free Bomb, the French Kiss of Death, and Mr. Molecule.  Unfortunately, through the fighting, the Flying Man falls, unable to keep up the fight.  As he fights on through, he does find a gift box, containing the Goddess Band.  He'll hold onto the Pixie's Bracelet, Paula can use it.  He also locates a gift box that holds the Magicant Bat.

Ness's offense is raised from 213 to 225
Ness's defense is raised from 196 to 216
Ness's luck is raised from 97 to 117

Ness gains a couple of levels as he fights his way to the Sea of Eden.

Ness's Stats
Level: 80 -> 82
Offense: 145 -> 146 -> 147 (with equipment, 227)
Defense: 41 -> 42 (with equipment, 217)
HP: 660/660 -> 662/662 -> 664/664
PP: 210/210 -> 211/211 -> 212/212
Exp: 3930791
183598 Exp for next level

The path eventually spirals around until it comes to a dead end.  At the end of the path is a strange twisted root coming up out of the ground.  Ness touches the root and is suddenly teleported away from this place.  He finds himself neck deep in water.  The water changes color every so often.  This must be the Sea of Eden!

Ness wades through the water, until he is confronted by a Kraken!  The Sea of Eden is full of these things!  But Ness is strong, and can take out the Krakens.  And by doing so, he gains a level.

Ness's Stats
Level: 83
Offense: 147 -> 149 (with equipment, 229)
Defense: 42 -> 43 (with equipment, 218)
Luck: 52 -> 53 (with equipment, 118)
HP: 664/664 -> 666/666
PP: 212/212 -> 214/214
Exp: 4165222
139936 Exp for next level

Ness fights his way to the center of the Sea of Eden.  At the center of the Sea of Eden there is a platform that he can climb up on.  On the platform is the Mani Mani statue.  Ness goes to it and confronts it.  It speaks to him.  "I'm the evil part of your brain.  You can't beat me.  Because you are the one who forced me into being..."

Ness then begins his combat against Ness's Nightmare.  Ness's Nightmare is one tough character, has all of the powers that Ness has, and likes to unleash it's own brand of hell by using PSI Rockin omega.  Ness keeps up the fight by using bashing attacks, and heals himself with Lifeup whenever Ness's Nightmare uses a powerful attack.  Eventually, Ness's Nightmare gets tired of Ness bashing on it, and so puts up a Power Shield.  Big mistake.  As soon as it does that, Ness lets loose with PSI Rockin omega, which puts the final nail in the coffin of Ness's Nightmare.

As soon as Ness's Nightmare disappears, the world around him began to go dark.  And he began to hear a familiar voice at the center of the Sea of Eden.

"Giygas' goal is to destroy you.  Listen carefully!  Everything in the universe could be destroyed at the hands of Giygas.  But he and his followers are also in trouble.  The Apple of Enlightenment has foretold that Giygas' attempt will fail.  It is because of the existence of a boy named Ness.  ...That's me!  Listen.  Free your mind and KNOW what you must do!  Your destiny has already been decided.  You... I... where should we go?  You know deep within the reaches of your mind.  ...S ...Sat... ...Saturn  .....  Saturn Valley... yes...  Go to the valley where the Mr. Saturn live.  ...You'll get something new there.  Soon, Magicant will be no more.  We must be quick!"

(Note, the people who did the scripted missed a line at the beginning of this speech here.  In the US SNES version of EarthBound, the line actually reads "Everything in the unverse could be destroyed at the hands of Giygas.")

Ness realized that the voice speaking to him was his own voice.  It was telling him to go to Saturn Valley!

As everything around him went black, Ness began to feel himself being filled with the power of the eight power spots of the earth.

Ness was filled with the Power of the Giant Step!
Ness's Speed increased by 5! (Speed is now 41)
Ness's Vitality increased by 5! (Vitality is now 49)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Lilliput Steps!
Ness's Guts increased by 5! (Guts is now 65)
Ness's Luck increased by 5! (Luck is now 58)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Milky Well!
Ness's Speed increased by 5! (Speed is now 46)
Ness's IQ increased by 5! (IQ is now 47)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Magnet Hill!
Ness's Vitality increased by 5! (Vitality is now 54)
Ness's Luck increased by 5! (Luck is now 63)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Rainy Circle!
Ness's Guts increased by 5! (Guts is now 70)
Ness's IQ increased by 5! (IQ is now 52)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Pink Cloud!
Ness's Speed increased by 5! (Speed is now 51)
Ness's Guts increased by 5! (Guts is now 75)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Lumine Hall!
Ness's Luck increased by 5! (Luck is now 68)
Ness's IQ increased by 5! (IQ is now 57)

Ness was filled with the Power of the Fire Spring!
Ness's Speed increased by 5! (Speed is now 56)
Ness's Luck increased by 5! (Luck is now 73)

Ness felt his mind clear, and he realized that he had possessed great power!  At that moment, Ness's psychic powers radically expanded!

Ness gained 200,000 Exp!  Ness gained one more level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 84
Offence: 149 -> 152 (with equipment, 232)
Speed: 56 -> 57
Guts: 75 -> 78
Vitality: 54 -> 56
IQ: 57 -> 59
Luck: 73 -> 74 (with equipment, 139)
HP: 666/666 -> 840/840
PP: 214/214 -> 590/590
Exp: 4454226
48528 Exp for next level

Ness finally realized the power of Teleport beta!

Ness made all of the hidden powers his own.  Ness absorbed the power of the land into his heart, and Magicant was no more.  His own voice spoke to him again.  "Now you can wake up.  Your friends are waiting for you.  It is time to get up."

As Ness woke, he began seeing all the power spots in the world, flashing before his eyes, until he finally awoke, lying at the base of Fire Spring.  He found that the Sound Stone is gone, it's purpose served.

Paula, Jeff, and Poo were sitting around Ness as he laid unconscious, and perked up when he started moving.  Ness stood up.  Paula stepped forward first.  "What happened, Ness?  You've been unconscious for a long time..."  Jeff then stepped up.  "You kept saying something..."  Then Poo came up.  "...Saturn Valley?  What's waiting for us there?  Anyway, we need to teleport..."  Paula, Jeff, and Poo rejoined Ness, and Ness used his newly realized power to teleport the group directly to Saturn Valley.

First thing's first, Ness gives Paula the Pixie's Bracelet, and then sells off his Ultimate Bat, and Paula's Diamond Band, with the For Sale sign, and then use the phone in the Mr. Saturn's house to call Escargo Express to send off Jeff's old Baddest Beam, and the For Sale Sign, as that's not really needed anymore.

Paula's defense is raised from 179 to 189
Paula's luck is raised from 80 to 90
Paula is protected from hypnosis attacks

Ness and his friends go to the Mr. Saturn's house and rest for the night.  It's been a long fought battle so far, so they've earned the rest.  Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress (dad says Ness has $455391 in the bank).  Now that they're in Saturn Valley, they need to discover what it is that is waiting for them here, and how it will impact their fight against Giygas.

[Ryudo Lee]

We're approaching the home stretch here.  The big thing in Saturn Valley is the Phase Distorter, the device that can warp through space and time.  But we have to go back to Onett to get an important material to make it work.  And of course, Giygas isn't going to allow that, so he's got Onett under attack.

Also, I put the Night Pendants on Ness and Paula to protect them from Flash attacks.  Flash can be very dangerous, in that it has a chance to do an insta-kill, and Giygas uses it often.  Jeff has the Sea Pendant which protects from Flash as well.


Day 28

As soon as everyone is up, Ness and his friends go out to the village and see what has changed.  In the middle of the village they find the miner from the desert, Apple Kid, Dr. Andonuts, and a Mr. Saturn, all standing around a device that looks like a Mr. Saturn.

Ness talks to Apple Kid first, since they haven't seen each other since the underground base in Stonehenge.  "Excellent, excellent!  Everything proceeded as planned.  Dr. Andonuts, Mr. Saturn and I worked together and finally completed the Phase Distorter.  The purpose of the device is to enable instantaneous travel through space and time.  In this prototype, you can only travel to different points within the same time period.  It is able, however, to search out the locations of enemies.  Right now, it is indicating the presence of enemies in the Lost Underworld!"  This big Mr. Saturn shaped device is a Phase Distorter?  It doesn't look like much.

Ness talks to Dr. Andonuts.  "Yahah!  The Mr. Saturns are incredible folk.  And the Apple Kid...  He is a most exceptional young man, very different from other kids.  ...Well, anyway...  The prototype Phase Distorter has been stolen.  Someone resembling a pig wearing clothes took Mr. Saturn captive and stole the device!"  Must have been Pokey, and they must have built a new device to replace the stolen one.  What would Pokey want with a Phase Distorter?  Well, Ness decides that it's time to see what this thing can do.

Ness and his friends enter the Phase Distorter and fire it up.  It comes to life, but then... disaster!  Ness and his friends exit the Phase Distorter, covered in soot.  Dr. Andonuts approaches them.  "Hmmm... it doesn't work.  One thing is missing...  But that one material cannot normally be found on the earth.  The material I'm thinking of came from a meteorite that fell when I was much younger.  Have you seen a meteorite anywhere recently?"  Why yes, Ness has!  The dang thing woke him up from a dead sleep, and was the catalyst for this entire adventure!  "Eureka!  That's it!  With even just a piece of the meteorite, I can synthesize the material Zexonyte.  ...I doubt that your mortal enemy Giygas, or whatever, will allow you to go to Onett and get a piece of the meteorite.  By now, Onett is in his evil hands.  You must go, though, so take every possible precaution.  The Mr. Saturns have introduced some of their new developments at their shop.  Please check them out before you leave.  ...I wonder what Onett is like at this point in time?..."

Ness and his friends head up to the store to see if they have anything new in stock.  They find that another Mr. Saturn has set up shop here, and that he is selling Night Pendants.  Only Paula needs one.

Paula is no longer protected from freeze attacks.
Paula is protected from flash attacks.

If Onett really is under attack, then preparations need to be made.  Ness gets out some money and then makes a trip to Dalaam, to load up Ness, Paula, and Poo with Brain Food Lunches, and then to Summers for a Super Plush Bear.  Afterwards, they teleport to Onett.

Onett is under attack.  The sun is blocked out and everyone has their doors jammed shut.  Monsters roam the hills of Onett freely.  Mechanical Octobots, Evil Eyes, and the Ghosts of Starmen are there to greet Ness and his friends.  But Ness and his friends fight through, going to Ness's house.  And Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 76
Offense: 75 -> 78 (with equipment, 188)
Defense: 46 -> 47 (with equipment, 187)
Speed: 38 -> 40
Guts: 38 -> 41
Vitality: 23 -> 25
IQ: 73 -> 76
Luck: 31 -> 32 (with equipment, 62)
HP: 350/350 -> 375/375
Exp: 3668009
161892 Exp for next level

Ness and his friends make it to Ness's house.  Mom offers them a snack and a quick rest.  Ness checks in with Tracey and pulls out all of the Cups of Lifenoodles he's been storing with her.  Everyone gets two.

Ness and his friends exit the house and start going up the hill.  They fight their way through more of these powerful monsters, to get to the top.  The teddy bear does not survive.  Along the way, Ness and Paula gain a level!

Ness's Stats
Level: 85
HP: 840/840 -> 842/842
PP: 590/590 -> 591/591
Exp: 4512197
195133 Exp for next level

Paula's Stats
Level: 78
Defense: 24 -> 25 (with equipment, 190)
Speed: 62 -> 63
Guts: 49 -> 50
HP: 258/258 -> 261/261
PP: 276/276 -> 277/277
Exp: 3627084
178576 Exp for next level

Once they reach the top of the hill, they find that the meteorite is indeed still there, and still glowing.  Upon inspecting the meteorite, Ness catches sight of something shiny piece of the meteorite, just within his reach.  He grabs it and then immediately teleports back to Saturn Valley.

Ness approaches Dr. Andonuts and hands over the meteorite piece.  "Ah, yes!  This is fantastic!  What?  Well, I've never actually seen this incredibly rare element before...  It is very intriguing.  All right, leave everything to us, and you get some rest.  This is getting most fascinating!"

Before getting some rest, Ness and his friends teleport back to Summers to pick up a new Super Plush Bear.  Then they head back to Saturn Valley to rest in the Mr. Saturn's house.  After a good night's sleep, Ness puts in a call to mom and dad to record his progress, and then they head back out to see if Dr. Andonuts and Apple Kid are done with the Phase Distorter.

Ness approaches Dr. Andonuts.  "Finally, it's complete!  The Phase Distorter, version two, is equipped with two new features.  First, it can repair your biological functions.  Second, it can save your progress.  Don't be afraid, get right in!  ...There is just one thing, though...  You might not be able to return.  So, make sure you are optimally outfitted.  Are you ready to go?"  Yes, all the preparations have already been made.  Everyone has everything they need to venture into the unknown.  "Even if you're not 100% perfectly, completely ready...  Well, you should be as prepared as possible.  It would be for the best.  Without careful preparation, you would be in big trouble.  I just want to make sure you're ready.  Let me know when your preparations are complete."

Ness double checks everyone.  Himself, Paula, and Poo are all loaded up with Brain Food Lunches, Jeff is loaded up with Multi Bottle Rockets, and they are all carrying Cups of Lifenoodles.  The Super Plush Bear is in good condition.  The entire group is at a fairly powerful level.  They're ready.

Ness relays this to Dr. Andonuts.  "Good.  At last, the time has come.  Are you ready?"  For the last time, yes.  "Remember, the Phase Distorter, version 2, is equipped with two new features.  First, it can repair your biological functions.  Second, it can save your progress.  Don't be afraid, get right in!"

Ness and his friends finally enter the Phase Distorter, version two.  The device comes to life, makes some noise, shakes a little bit, and then disappears.  It then reappears someplace else, presumably the Lost Underworld.  Ness and his friends find themselves on top of a cliff over a dark chasm.  This was the place they had seen earlier, when they were heading to Fire Spring!  But now they could explore the place.

They follow the path around, but are suddenly stopped by the old man who taught Poo Starstorm.  "Greetings!  So, you are finally here!  Excellent!  You are truly excellent!  There is only a little time left!  I'll give you the last power.  I must go now..."  He then takes off in a tornado.  As he flies off, Poo realized a new PSI power!

Poo realized the power of PSI Starstorm omega.

Ness and his friends continue on and find the wreckage that they had seen earlier.  Now standing next to it is a Mr. Saturn, presumably the one that had been kidnapped by Pokey.  They check on him.  "Kidnapped.  I was.  Boing!  Kidnapper.  Bad guy.  Bad guy gone.  Zoom!  Where?  To the past.  Ding, ding!"  To the past?  Pokey was able to time travel?  Well, it makes sense, he did steal the first Phase Distorter.

Ness and his friends continue up the path, and find a dead end, so they back track a little.  When they approach the Mr. Saturn, suddenly another Phase Distorter phases into existence in front of them.  A Mr. Saturn, Dr. Andonuts, and Apple Kid exit the Phase Distorter.

Dr. Andonuts approaches Ness with great news.  "The Phase Distorter has been completed.  We could finish it quickly because of Mr. Saturn's incredible scientific skill...  Giygas is attacking from our exact location, but he is attacking from many years in the past."  He then stops talking about it.  Ness approaches Dr. Andonuts again.  "This is very hard for me to tell you, but..."  And he does not continue.  Ness approaches Apple Kid.  "You must warp to the past and fight, but..."  And he does not continue.  What are they not telling Ness?

Ness checks in on the Mr. Saturns.  The one that came from the Phase Distorter is happy to be reunited with the kidnapped Mr. Saturn.  Ness returns to Dr. Andonuts, who seems to have worked up the courage to say what he needed to say... but first he takes a little walk to the dead end at the end of the path.  Ness follows him.  "In order to defeat Giygas, who is attacking from the past, you must warp to the past.  This can be done by way of the "Phase Distorter 3."  However, the machine cannot warp living things, I mean lifeforms.  Life is demolished in the process of warping.  The only way to accomplish the time travel is to transfer your brain "program" into a robot, and send the robot to the past.  ...The transfer means that your spirit will go with the robot while your body is left behind...  I cannot promise that your spirit will come back after the battle in the past.  Yet, you must understand that the four of you are the chosen ones.  Do you still wish to face Giygas by travelling to the past?"  They've come this far, and this is the only way to finally put a stop to Giygas.  "...Hmmm ...you accept this while knowing that you may not be able to return to your current form, right?"  Ness says yes.  There is no other answer.  "...Yes...  I see...  You have really set your mind on this...  Let me take a good look at you now...  Ness, please give me that red cap...  Ready... stand by..."

From there, Dr. Andonuts, Apple Kid, and Mr. Saturn take over the show.  Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo all have their minds and spirits transferred into robot bodies.  The process is obviously a complex and delicate operation.  But once it's done, the robots are loaded up into the Phase Distorter 3, and Dr. Andonuts says his goodbyes.  "Ness!  Paula!  Poo!  Jeff!... my son...  There is no turning back now.  Ness, activate the Phase Distorter 3 by your own hand, thereby following your own destiny...  Will you do so?"  Ness will do so.  "Only a few people know of your amazing courage, but the number of people you save through that bravery is immense.  I feel very fortunate... to be present at the beginning of this monumental undertaking..."

Ness starts the Phase Distorter, and then it begins the process of travelling back through time.  The world goes white, and when the Phase Distorter completes its process, Ness and his friends step out of the device to find themselves exactly where they were, physically, but in time they had gone back several years.  And now, they were in robot bodies.

The world around them was made of cold stone, all grey.  Perhaps this part of the Lost Underworld had not yet been overgrown with plants yet, or perhaps Giygas had just destroyed all life in this place, except for the many monsters that float around here.  Ness checks the Phase Distorter and puts in a call to dad to record his progress (money in the bank no longer matters).  All that stands between Ness and Giygas now is a path filled with monsters.  No problem.

[Ryudo Lee]

This is it, this is the end.

After reading through this one and seeing what happens at the end, you can see that Gigyas is kind of a tragic character.  Giygas was Giegue from the NES Mother game.  In that game, Giegue crash landed on earth as a baby and was raised by a human couple.  The husband eventually found Giegue's ship, which caused Giegue to want revenge against the humans, as he had trusted them and that trust was broken.  Some children eventually defeated Giegue, but he swore he would be back.

Enter Giygas, who has been gaining power over all these years, and his mind is destroyed by that power in the end.  His quest for revenge ends in the ultimate tragedy.  Not only was all that power not enough, but the cards were stacked against him the entire time.  I particularly like how the final blow is dealt to Giygas.

Giygas was inspired by part a movie that the creator of EarthBound had seen as a child, which gave him nightmares.  The movie was The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty.  Giygas was born from the nightmares he had.

The ending sequence is entirely player controlled.  You can either go straight home, or talk to everyone in the world.  It's your choice.  But once Giygas is defeated, there are no more monsters, so you can't earn any more money, and you can't level up anymore.  Everyone has something to say for you saving the world.  But here, I just take one side route, in that I go back to Tenda Village to collect the shyness book and return it to the library.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this, and I hope that in some small way, I've inspired you to play this great game yourself, and hopefully the original NES game, and the sequel, Mother 3 on GBA too.


Day 29

The only thing standing between Ness and Giygas is a long winding path, infested with monsters.  His destiny is before him, to defeat Giygas and save the world.  No pressure.  This is Ness' destiny, but Paula, Jeff, and Poo are behind him, supporting him 100%.  It's time to end this.

The path to Giygas' lair is long, winding, and filled with monsters, most of them Ness and his friends had met in Onett when it was under siege.  New enemies appear as well, such as the Nuclear Reactor Robot, the Squatter Demon, the Wild 'n Wolly Shambler, and the Ultimate Octobot.  As they fight through, Poo gains a level!

Poo's Stats
Level: 75
Offense: 154 -> 156 (with equipment, 186)
Defense: 133 -> 135 (with equipment, 205)
HP: 465/465 -> 466/466
Exp: 3454896
170754 Exp for next level

Pushing on, they find a gift box, with the Legendary Bat inside.  Ness takes it.

Ness's offense is raised from 232 to 255

Beyond the gift box, they turn a corner and find a strange metallic sphere, floating in mid air.  Ness touches the sphere, and the group is teleported to another part of the path.  Here, they find a new enemy, the Final Starman.  This path is a short one, and leads to another floating metallic sphere.  Ness touches it and the group is teleported to another section of the path.  Fighting through this section of the path, Jeff gains a level!

Jeff's Stats
Level: 77
HP: 375/375 -> 377/377
Exp: 3835079
172697 Exp for next level

At the end of this section of the path is a cave, the final cave.  Ness and his friends steel themselves (see what I did there?) and enter the cave.

Inside the cave is a long series of pulsating tubes.  Ness and his friends follow the tubes to a huge machine, with a large orb in the center.  Is this Giygas?  Ness and his friends approach the central orb, and as soon as they do, the earth starts to shake as Giygas stirs.  The orb in the center of the machine suddenly begins to open, and in the middle of the orb, Ness' face appears.

Pokey then appears, in a mechanical vehicle with spider legs and descends upon the group.  "Ness!  Are you surprised?  It's me, Pokey.  I assist only the strong and able!  That's Pokey.  You guys look pathetic!  The Apple of Enlightenment has already made a prediction.  ...But I won't let what the Apple of Enlightenment predicted take place.  You guys will be beaten by Giygas.  Giygas will be stronger, a more powerful entity than any other!  Why?  'Cause of me.  I was led by Giygas, and now I'm here.  The Apple of Enlightenment couldn't predict this.  Master Giygas.  No, Giygas is no longer the wielder of Evil.  He has become the embodiment of Evil itself...  which he cannot control on his own.  He is the Evil Power."  With that, Ness and his friends are drawn into the final battle against Giygas, and the Heavily Armed Pokey.

Pokey means business here.  No longer satisfied with just laughing at Ness from the sidelines, his machine is a powerful weapon, and will tear into the group at every chance.  He also discharges a stinky gas which lowers offense and defense.  Giygas, on the other hand, can only attack with PSI power, always using various levels of PSI Rockin.  And so to counter this, Paula puts up her PSI Shield sigma, to make all PSI attacks disappear, and continues to strengthen that shield.  Ness and Poo bash on the Heavily Armed Pokey, while Jeff looses his Multi Bottle Rockets at the Heavily Armed Pokey.  They concentrate all their attacks on Pokey, and will deal with Giygas after Pokey has been dealt with.

Once Pokey took enough damage, he pulls out his ace-in-the-hole.  "I understand you guys are already claiming to be heroes.  Well, it is a gazillion years too early for you to oppose Giygas!  You must feel pretty stupid to keep fighting without even knowing what Giygas looks like!  If you were to ever see Giygas, you'd be so petrified with fear, you'd never be able to run away!  ...That's how scary it is!  So, do you want me to turn off the "Devil's Machine?"  Well, prepare to be amazed!"

And so Pokey turned off the Devil's Machine, and Giygas was set free from its hold, and was overwhelmed by its own immense power.  Giygas no longer had a corporeal body, instead it was a large red cloud of energy, it's form looking almost like a face, only horribly twisted.  This is what nightmares are made of, certainly.  Even Pokey fears Giygas in this form.  "So, isn't this terrifying?  I'm terrified, too.  Giygas cannot think rationally any more, and he isn't even aware of what he is doing now.  His own mind was destroyed by his incredible power.  What an all-mighty idiot!  Yep, that's what he is!  Heh heh heh heh... and you... you will be... just another meal to him!"

With that, Pokey runs away, leaving Ness and his friends to fight Giygas.  Giygas is huge, and powerful.  It attacks in ways that are completely incomprehensible to the human mind, even if that mind is in a robot body.  It will launch flash attacks, and lightning attacks.  The Night Pendants, and Jeff's Sea Pendant will protect the group from those flash attacks, and Ness is protected from the lightning attacks with his Franklin Badge.  Even so, the fight with Giygas is hard fought, but Ness and his friends fight on, even if it seems like it's in vain.  Jeff's bottle rockets do nothing, so everyone is forced to just bash at Giygas' form.  During the fight, Ness keeps everyone alive with Lifeup omega, and recharges his PP with the Brain Food Lunches.

Once Giygas took enough damage, Pokey came back for one last session of taunting.  "Heh heh heh heh.  You must really be at the end of your rope.  In this bizarre dimension, you four are the only force fighting for justice...  And here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage in this universe...  Haaaaah!  That's so sad.  I can't help but shed a tear.  You know, my heart is beating incredibly fast.  ...I must be experiencing absolute terror!  Do you want to scream for help here in the dark?!  Ha ha ha ha ha!  Why not call your mommy, Ness!  Say, "Mommy!  Daddy!  I'm so frightened!  I think I'm gonna wet my pants!"  I know you have telepathy, or something, so just try and call for help, you pathetically weak heroes of so-called justice!  No one will help you now!  Ha ha ha haah...  Don't worry, your pitiful suffering will be over soon!"  And then Pokey runs away again.

Giygas' form changed again, it seemed to be phasing back and forth between itself.  Ness and his friends continue their fighting against Giygas, but Paula got a bright idea, and it's all thanks to Pokey!  Paula began to pray.  Paula prayed from the bottom of her heart!  "...Please give us strength, if it is possible...  Please...  .................  Somebody... help us..."

At that moment, in Saturn Valley, the Phase Distorter appears in the middle of the village, and Dr. Andonuts and Apple Kid disembark from it.  Suddenly, they all feel something strange.  One of the Mr. Saturn leaves to go gather the other Mr. Saturn, and they all congregate around the Phase Distorter.  All of the Mr. Saturns felt a new, startling feeling they had never experienced before, and they all started praying for the safety of Ness and his friends.

The prayers of everyone in Saturn Valley reached Ness and his friends, and caused Giygas' defenses to become unstable!  Giygas' form changed again, now the twisted face was repeating in a pattern around them, moving and undulating all around them.  Now when attacking, Giygas would say incomprehensible things, like repeating Ness's name over and over again, or saying "It hurts", or "Friends", or "Ah, Grrr, Ohhh...".  Giygas' mind was clearly gone, but at least Paula is on the right track!  Ness, Poo, and Jeff continued fighting Giygas, and protecting Paula at the same time while she prayed for help.  "...Please give us strength!  Anyone who can hear our plea....  Help us..."

At that moment, in Summers, the Runaway Five are hanging around, enjoying some R&R.  Suddenly, one of the Runaway Five felt something stop him, and he prayed fervently for the safety of Ness and his friends.  The rest of the band gathered around him, and prayed as well.

The prayers of the Runaway Five reached Ness and his friends, and caused a great deal of damage to Giygas.  Ness, Jeff, and Poo continued their assault, and protecting Paula, while she prayed.  "...Please give us strength!  Speed this prayer to all the people of the earth."

At that moment, in Twoson, Paula's father was just coming home.  He then felt something, and went into the preschool to gather his wife and the children.  Paula's father thought he somehow heard his daughter's voice, and prayed sincerely for the safety of Paula and her friends.

The prayers of Paula's parents, and the children of the Polestar preschool reached Ness and his friends, and caused more damage to Giygas.  But Giygas was still attacking, saying things like "Go back" or "...I'm h...a...p...p...y..."  These indecipherable messages were followed by incomprehensible attacks, but Ness and his friends persevered, protecting Paula while she prayed.  "...Please give us strength!  Anyone who can hear our plea...  Help us..."

At that moment, in Winters, within the boarding school that Jeff was living in, Tony suddenly rushed out of his dorm, and gathered the other students, and Maxwell.  Suddenly, Tony felt anxious about Jeff, and he prayed strongly for the safety of Jeff and his friends.

The prayers of Tony and the residents of the boarding school reached Ness and his friends, and caused Giygas even more damage.  This was working, it had to be working, and so Ness and his friends kept it up, while Giygas said things like "Argh!  Yaggh!" and "I feel... g...o...o...d...".  Paula kept praying, and Ness, Jeff, and Poo kept protecting her.  "...Please grant us power!  Anyone who can hear our plea...  Help us..."

At that moment, in Dalaam, a young woman gathers some other women.  She had just woken up from a dream in which Prince Poo had died, and so she began to pray for the well-being of Poo and his friends.  The other women prayed for Poo's safety as well.

The prayers of the women of Dalaam reached Ness and his friends, and caused Giygas even more damage.  Ness and his friends knew they were on the right track, Giygas was taking damage for every prayer that was answered.  They kept protecting Paula, who kept praying.  "...Please grant us strength!  Anyone who can hear our plea...  We ask for this..."

At that moment, in Onett, in the hamburger shop, Frank sits at a table.  He feels something, and steps aside.  Suddenly, Frank recalled Ness's shining young face, and began to pray diligently for the safety of Ness and his friends.

Frank's prayers reached Ness and his friends, and brought more damage onto Giygas.  Giygas' speech was still quite erratic "I'm so sad... It's not right... not right... not right..."  But Paula kept praying as Ness, Jeff, and Poo protected her.  "...Please grant us power!  Speed this prayer to all the people of the earth..."

At that moment, in Onett, in Ness' house, Ness' mother walks down the stairs to the living room.  She feels something, and gathers Tracey and King together.  Suddenly, Ness' mother felt terribly uneasy, and she began to pray for the safety of her son and his friends.

The prayers of Ness' family reached Ness and his friends, and dealt Giygas a powerful blow.  Giygas' form changed again, this time the pattern of the twisted face was smaller and flashing yellow and red now, and moving more erratically.  The noise coming from Giygas was incredible.  Paula prayed again.  "I can't think of anyone else...  ...Someone, anyone... ...please help us."

Paula's call was absorbed by the darkness.

Not to be deterred, Paula prayed again, from the bottom of her heart.  "Someone... can you hear me?!  Please, give us strength!"

Paula and her friends' calls touched the heart of R--------.

R-u------ prayed for the kids, having never even met them before.

The prayers dealt Giygas a more powerful blow.

Ryu-o---e kept praying.

The prayers dealt Giygas an even more powerful blow.

Ry-do Le- kept praying.

The prayers dealt Giygas a powerful blow, causing massive damage.

Ryudo Lee kept praying.

The prayers dealt Giygas the final blow.  With that last blow, Giygas' form suddenly stopped moving for a few moments, and then started to move uncontrollably, and slowly began to become a shapeless static.  As Giygas died, Pokey came back onto the scene.  "Ness!  Now, I... well...  It's going to eem like I'm running away.  But perhaps I'll just sneak away to another era to think about my next plan.  It's a good bet that we will see each other again...  All right!  I'll be seeing you!  So now which one of us do you think is the cool guy?!"  With that, Pokey disappeared.

Giygas' form moved erratically, and uncontrollably, and eventually its form changed from the repeating pattern of the twisted face, to formless static, and then finally imploded into nothing.

The war against Giygas is over...

The robot bodies of Ness and his friends lie broken on the ground in front of the final cave.  One by one, the spirits in the robot bodies leave and fly away.

Back in Saturn Valley, the bodies of Ness and his friends are laid out on the ground, to wait for their spirits to return.  One by one, the spirits do return.  First, Poo.  Then, Jeff.  Then, Paula.  And finally Ness.  Each of them stands as their spirits return.

With the final battle over, the four friends turn to each other.  Poo speaks up first.  "Our travels together end here.  I must return to Dalaam, and use this experience for the good of my country.  Ness, Paula, Jeff...  Let me demonstrate a strange power before I go.  I realized this power as a child.  PSI Farewell!  Now!"  Nothing seems to happen, but they all felt something.  "I'll see you again someday!"  Poo then teleports away, by himself, back to Dalaam.

Three gift boxes fall down to the ground around them.  Jeff then approaches Paula and Ness.  "Paula, Ness...  It was great to hang out with you guys.  It really was.  I'm glad that I had the chance to use some of the theories that I have been studying so hard.  It's remarkable.  .....  If...  Just maybe...  Well, if you two get hitched someday, maybe I'll be the one that fixes your broken electronic appliances.  .....  I'm going to stay here for a while and see if I can learn more from Dr. Andonuts.  I mean, from my dad.  ...So it looks like this is good bye for now, my friends."  Jeff then moves to stand by his father, Dr. Andonuts, and Mr. Saturn.

Paula approaches Ness.  "Ness, will you escort me home?"  Of course he will.  "I'll miss all of you, but, I have to go back to being just a regular kid...  Well, I gotta get going..."  She then rejoins Ness, so he can take her home.  First though, they check out the gift boxes.  Each one contains a letter.

There is the Letter From Mom:
"Dear Ness,
How are you?  Since you left home on your journey, things have changed around here.  For example, I don't have as much laundry.  Also, we don't seem to eat Steak as much as we used to.  I heard that you defeated some universal evil character—what was it, Googi, or something like that?  Well, that sounds really great!  I want to hear all the details, so hurry home, okay?  Tracey, King and I are waiting for you.
Love,
Mama"

There is the Letter From Tony:
"Dear Jeff,
Everything's really going great here.  I wish I could have gone with you on your adventure, even just part of the way, but instead I'm sitting here, waiting for you in Winters.  I want to see you again as soon as possible.  I can't wait to see your cheerful face.  I bet your glasses are dirty...  If you come back, I'll clean them for you!  Like I said, I'm waiting for you.
Yours truly,
Tony
P.S. Don't show this letter to anyone!"

And then there is the Letter From Kids:
Dear Paula,
How are you doing?  I'm fine.
I fine too!
So are me!
Me also!
Me okay.
Please come and play with us again at the Polestar Preschool.  Oh yeah, one more thing, bring us some presents ...if you have any.
Sincerely,
Your friends at the Polestar Preschool"

Ness talks to Apple Kid.  "The chance of Giygas gaining victory with his monstrous plan is 99%.  However, your courage has produced a 1% chance that Giygas fails.  I must come to a deeper understanding of this trait called 'courage.'"

Ness talks to Dr. Andonuts.  "It's a miracle!  A miracle that has only happened because of your great courage!  ...Believe me, I went through a lifetime's worth of stress while you were gone...  I just wish I could have come with you as a robot.  I should have used the Phase Distorter.  What a story that would have been...  "Scientist and four kids save the world!"  Wah ha ha ha ha!"

Ness and Paula finally take their leave of Saturn Valley, choosing to walk rather than teleport.  They find that all the places where monsters used to roam are now peaceful and tranquil.  All the monsters have gone away, with the defeat of Giygas.  Ness leads Paula back through the underground path to Threed, and then walk through the tunnel back to Twoson.

Once in Twoson, they walk up to road to the Polestar Preschool.  When they reach the preschool, Paula turns to Ness.  "Ness...  Thank you for escorting me home.  .....  ...There was something I wanted to tell you, but I've forgotten it.  I'm sure I'll remember by the time I see you again.  Well, I guess this is it...  Good-bye.  Uhhh...  ...So long.  ...See ya.  ...Bye."  She then goes to the front door, gives one last look to Ness and then goes inside.

Well, it's time for Ness to go home, once and for all.  Except that there is one last thing to do.  Ness teleports back to the Tenda Village.  He talks to the village chief who returns the book "Overcoming Shyness" to Ness.  It would be bad if he didn't return this book he borrowed.  Ness then teleport to Onett and makes his way up to the library.  He hands the shyness book over to the librarian.  "...Finally, you've come to return the book.  Seems like you finished it.  You're such a good by.  As a reward, I'll give you a kiss.  *Smack!*"

His cheeks a little redder now, Ness finally makes his way up the hill to his home.  He goes to talk to mom.  "Wow, you've become such a strong, young man.  I'd like to hear all of your stories, but I don't want to annoy you as soon as you walk through the door.  After all your chats with people you met on your adventure are finally over, please come back here.  The photo-man brought an album by.  I'd like to look at it with you..."  But Ness has done enough travelling for one lifetime, so he talks to mom again.  "Did you finish doing everything that you wanted to?"  Ness says yes.  "Okay!  Now you can finally share your incredible experiences with me...  You did so well!"

At this point, the controller is put down, the entire cast of characters are displayed, and the credits roll.  Behind the credits, all of the pictures that the photographer took are displayed.  At the end of the credits, the player "Ryudo Lee" is thanked.

The screen goes black.  And then there comes the sound of the annoying knock on the door to Ness's house.  Ness is woken up from his slumber, and heads downstairs.  It couldn't be Pokey again, could it?  Ness opens the door and Picky comes in!  "A letter arrived from my brother, Pokey... it is addressed to Ness.  There's no stamp, and it's not time for the mailman to come...  Anyway, I brought it over.  It says, "come and get me, loser!  Spankety, spankety, spankety."  ...I wonder where he is?"

THE END...?

You can see the full ending here:
Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aQG7nZx4CM
Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQfbsRqRzYc
(Not my videos, so the dog's name is different, and the player's name is different)

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Wow.

Thanks for doing all that, Ryudo. Your efforts are appreciated.

[Inumo]

Congratulations on making it through! I'll have to read through it more than in passing some day...