Part 5

Okay, let's see what's going on in Dorah. Starting off with the Clechia Quarter...



Well, I guess that's a bit better than "Big Elephant".








:arse:

Let's get out of the Clechia Quarter and away from this depressing chatter.


Oh.


Well, at least someone in this place likes me.


No prizes for guessing that's where we'll be going soon.




Don't worry about that, I think I'm getting it drilled in pretty well here.


I suspect this "place" thing is going to be a running theme.



Let's barge into people's houses and spy on them!



Ah, a warm welcome.


I think there's a difference between "unite" and "subjugate", old man.


Right, time to get out of here.


Then where do all the Clechia come from?
(Also: fuck, a typo!)


I wonder what the Clechia smell is. Probably the same smell of poverty and despair I knew so well when I was a student.


Aww, he's not in? That's a shame, I was hoping for some more abuse.


Christ, even little boys are talking smack at me.

There's a hospital off to east, the Information Bureau which we can't enter now to the south, and the Academy to the North. Let's check out the hospital and then the academy. (There's an equipment/item shop as well, but I think asking for audience participation on that will just hold things up a lot.)




Note to self: replace barbells and training equipment with bath and shower set.








Let's check out the Academy.


My first fan!










Well, this looks ominous. Let's find out what's in the box, and then I've got to advance the damn plot before everyone falls asleep.

Right! Time to find out what's in the box, and then start splattering rival Battlers so we can get a move on with the story!


Not a good sign.


Zenna then shoves you over to the box, opens it and runs away.


Well, I'm fighting a bee. I guess people don't rate my skills too highly. What next, electric mice and smiling axolotl?

As it turns out, however, this bee is actually very strong. It hits twice as hard as Big Elephant, and ate a bunch of White Rays and sword slashes upside the head before it finally went down.

With the bee vanquished, we can finally see what's in the chest.


Thanks, Zenna.



Suggestion noted. Let's get armed... and dangerous.


Ah, oldschool short item names. As you can see, there's no way we can afford a full upgrade. That's okay though, because we're going to be rolling in it soon. For now, I'm just going to get a new set of weapons, including my first spear. Spears are great this early on in the game, since one of the first skills you learn is Double Thrust -- two attacks in one turn isn't to be sniffed at this stage.

Now, at this point a lot of people head straight off to the coliseum and struggle through the next fight. The gatekeeper is giving you a hint when he says you should train...


He means for you to grind on the monsters outside of town. Thank God for ZSNES's fast foward function.


Just imagine a whole bunch of these. After grinding our way through five or so levels, it's time to finish our equipment upgrade and crush our rivals with our great new stats and skills.


Over 8000CR.


Time for some ass-kicking.



Thanks for that, Mr Announcer.






NOT IF MY LIMBS GET YOU FIRST!


As you can see, we've learned a few new tricks during training, and we've got loads of TP to use them with now.


I think we'll go for this option, though.

One mighty headbutt from Filena's steel noggin, and we've already knocked off about a quarter of the poor guy's HP.



A few more of these...



...and Balabas' broken body lies bloody on the arena floor, and is unceremoniously carted off.

Outside the arena, a slightly familiar-looking man is waiting for us.

Eh, it's better than "Please, sleep with me!" or "Tee hee, I'm your wife!".




You know I'm 16... right?


Thanks for the tip, Nest. I've found that headbutting my foes until they lie broken on the floor works pretty well.


I don't think you're a very good role model.


Crap, characters with names being referenced. Guess we're going to be seeing a lot of them.


A taboo dance? I like the sound of that.



Let's head back home for a nap.



Hahaha, I stole Lila's bed!

And now, more slaughter.


...Two of them?


Shiiiiiit.


I'm not sure if tag-teaming a 16-year-old girl is very brave.




Golath, I do not appreciate that attitude. <>



Thanks to my fast forward training, these stones hurt.



More stones!


TOTAL BATTLERS SHAMED BY BEING STONED TO DEATH: 2
Don't mess with Filena.

Fillardo isn't much of a challenge either, but he seems like a nice guy, so I'll use my cool moves on him. Then...



A few more skills, and he's toast.






Bring out your dead...!


Looks like it's time for some plot.
Let's head back home. For some reason, Lila isn't her usual perky self.


Oh, great. The air-headed wench has started thinking.




DECISION TIME
This decision has absolutely no bearing on anything except this dialogue tree, but I figured I might as well leave this to you guys since there isn't much interaction.