Part 32

Chapter 28

Alright. Let's get these things done.






Zangetsu's Mission starts off in the Dwarven Castle, of all places. I'm not complaining, dwarves are awesome.



King Giott shows up to talk to his citizens because he's King Giott.

Seriously, this guy is the friendliest, most laid-back monarch I've seen in a game. He's pretty awesome.



Indeed, great were the casualties we suffered in that costly war of the Crystals.

To be fair, 90% of them don't count because they didn't take.

But we strove on! Yes, we soldiered on through the heartache, and...



Once he gets started, the king doesn't know when to stop.



Now it is time to rest for the day yet to come! Make sure not to overindulge this evening!




And they all jump. That weird-looking purple dwarf's jump is pretty pathetic, though.



Seriously, what a weirdo.





What?

Seriously, what's with this weird-ass dwarf? What the hell is "Tali-ho?"



Lali-ho! A dwarf is nothing if he can't jump high. You needa take better care of your legs!



The pub's just upstairs on the right. It's down the corridor between the weaponsmith and armorer!

As you may have guessed, the purple dwarf is none other than Zangetsu going undercover.



Zangetsu is represented by the element of Thunder, which means he casts Thunder-based Ninjutsus. His other ability, Human Kite, is Jump, which makes sense since he strikes down from the sky like lightning.

Seems kind of lame that they have Wind, Fire, and Water represented, but not Earth. Hell, I just assumed he was Earth until I wrote this update and double-checked. God knows more earth spells wouldn't hurt, even if they are useless. Oh well.

He starts off with Shock, and will get a total of four Ninjutsu as he levels. Yeah, Ninjutsu is still as useless as ever, except he doesn't even get Mirage or Smoke.




The timing of these events is essentially either before or during the characters' respective Tales. Luca hasn't joined up with Rydia yet, nor are the dolls destroyed.

Speaking of which, I still need to repair those damn things.




I'm a sucker for praying to the crystals. I mean, since we're busting our asses to save them and all.



Giott wastes no time going to sleep after ending the work day. Speaking of which, does he sleep on his throne? It's not like there's many beds in this castle. Even all the other royalty in the upperworld have bedrooms. Well, except Ceodore, who sleeps with his parents.




These jerks stop me from looting these dwarves of everything they own.



Talking to the dwarves in the pub triggers you to go back to the roof.




The tower is glowing. We'll be seeing that a lot this Tale, so get used to it.



We must inform the king at once!
It's finally begun!
Hey you! Go report, now!



Huh!?



Zangetsu proceeds to jump from the roof of the castle, presumably to his fiery death.



To be fair, it's probably the best suicidal jump the underworld's seen since that time Cid blew himself up.

Seriously, the guy blew himself up. How the hell does that not make him the best Cid?



Zangetsu made a great jump, but failed to stick the landing.

Ah, my back... That was higher than I thought.

Oh yeah, Zangetsu's old. Like, closer to Tellah and TAY-Cid's age then Edge's. And he still kisses Edge's ass as good as any of the Eblan Four.

And that's everything you need to know about Zangetsu. He's old. Even as far as the barebones characterizations of the Eblan Four go, Zangetsu really has nothing going on.



It'll be a short distance to the Overworld once I get through these mines.





This dungeon, like the other Eblan Four onse, is pretty short. In fact, the entire thing is one room.



A room that is incredibly dense with treasure chests.



Which is good, because I could use the healing.




Each of the Eblan Four has a weapon specialty besides katanas. Zangetsu's weapon of choice is the spear, which gels fine with his pseudo-Jump.





Don't ask me where the kite comes from.




Supposedly Zangetsu has the Intellect to make Ninjutsu effective. Which would be nice if he learned more than four spells for it, and even nicer if two of them weren't useless. And would be even nicer if Zangetsu was even worth using at all in the first place.





I assume Flash inflicts Blind. The front Sahagin still hits me, and I have to run away before I get the shit beat out of me.



You'll get upgrades for most of your gear in this one room.



If you use a Tent in any of these missions, the moon phase won't change. Which kind of sucks when you accidentally choose a character who relies on an ability that sucks in the current moon. Zangetsu's abilities aren't affected by the magic-oriented moon, though.



Yeah, not five minutes later and already we have another weapon upgrade. A nine-point attack boost with a lightning-element attack to boot.



Right before we exit, there's a healing pot here. Guess that means a boss is coming up!



Even Zangetsu saw this coming.



It's just a Belphegor, who whiffs an attack on nothing.



Now that's some good damage, Zanny.

Two hits bring the guy down.



I have no time to spare! I'm coming back for you, Master!

And thus ends Zangetsu's Mission.




Now it's time to play with fire!




This time, we're hanging out at the Meteor Crash site.



But what on earth is this!? It's a scene straight out of a nightmare! And this putrid air... It's as if the earth itself is diseased. I don't even want to imagine what would've happened had this meteor struck a town...

Gekkou, ever the optimist.






Well, this isn't going to end well.



Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand.
What!?
Don't even bother. It's futile.

Oh, that Mysterious Girl. Always charming the gentlemen with her graceful presence.



We have honed our bodies under the mighty Master Yang himself!




Yeah, that went about as well as expected.

I warned you.




So the Mysterious Girl decides to just teleport away.




And the monks leap after her.

Yeah, they're fucked.



Unlike the other Tales, Gekkou doesn't have a disguise. He also doesn't get a chance to shop beforehand like the other three.



...Are you kidding me? Gekkou got screwed hard for his special ability. The other three have unique or useful abilities. Hell, even the person who ends up with Steal at least has some utility if you're the type of person who doesn't want to risk killing an enemy before stealing an item.

But a limited version of Throw? That's just plain horrible, even if Shurikens are what you would throw 90% of the time.



I'm just a passing traveler.
S-stop her...and...my friends...
I'm on it. Just stay here.

I...don't think he's planning on going anywhere, Gekkou.

Thank...you...



(I hope you'll rest in peace.)

Gekkou's character trait is being honorable. Which doesn't really make much sense for this Mission, but again, he's part of the Eblan Four. He's not supposed to have character development.



(I'm sorry... But I have a mission to fulfill. I must return to Eblan alive, no matter what.)



Gekkou's weapon specialty is axes, which works with his fiery nature and his attack-oriented build.



Which really sucks because the moon is attack-down, which means I can't kill things in one hit.




You'd think that'd be enough to kill these guys, but no.



Well, guess I'll just reload my save and






Actually, I've got one more thing to explain here.

Normally, when your party dies, you go back to the title screen, reload your save, and try again. Here, the game continues as normal, except the character is dead.

The Eblan Four are actually optional characters, and if they die during their respective Missions, then you won't get them later. Which means if I wanted to, and I really want to, I could kill these assholes off and have Edge solo the rest of the chapter, and wouldn't be stuck with four people I'll never use in the end game.



Since this is an LP and all, I'll instead restart my save and keep all these guys alive, so you can experience first-hand how much they annoy me later.



Again, lots of consumables and armor upgrades litter the area.



I don't think I learn any Ninjustu moves for Gekkou, but he gets Flash at L15, so I'm not missing anything important.



Every time you get near the exit of a screen, you see the M.G. teleporting up followed by the monks jumping after her.

Continue this until you reach the entrance, and...



Why do you insist on following me?
What did you expect!? We've got to avenge our brothers!



I have to give Gekkou credit here. I'm pretty sure most of our heroes would be dumb enough to step in and get themselves killed, even if they are more powerful than these idiots. At least Gekkou knows these guys don't stand a chance.

Avenge?
That's right!
Incomprehensible.
What is?
Abandoning your sole chance at survival like this.
(She's right! Don't be so hasty in throwing away your lives!)



(Honor...)



How about the words "bland," "lifeless," and "Mary Sue?"




So much for the pride of Fabul.



This...this isn't over!
Don't...don't lose hope...

I think it's over, guys.



You actually have a choice of whether to join in or stay back. Needless to say, if you join in, Gekkou gets his ass handed to him and he will die.

So Gekkou does the honorable thing and let the monks get killed.






The interdimensional elevator launch is going to fall behind schedule.



Again, I can't fault Gekkou for repeating that, because, interdimensional elevator?

Of course, she means the Tower of Babil, which Golbez tried to use to reach the moon in the previous game.





(But I have my own honor to uphold...the honor of Eblan!)




So those of you wondering where the tombstone came from, there you go.

I'll admit this is kind of a neat moment for Gekkou, who tries to be honorable despite being aware he let those monks die, even though there was no way he could've saved them.

It's too bad we'll never see this side of Gekkou again. Seriously, they really fucked up the character development of these guys big-time.

Next time, we'll tackle one or both of the other two characters. One of whom develops a rather stalkery obsession with a former hero, and the other who flirts with monsters.

Try to guess which is which!