Part 7: Minecart Meanness

Update 06: Minecart Meanness



Welcome back, everyone! Having returned Arnie's brother home and added another little bit of love energy to our meter, it's time to move on with Sunny Peak... First though, it seems our favourite merchant has relocated.



Oh yeah! I just got some new stuff in! For a limited time, it's all on sale!

Oooh, new (possibly terrible) deals. Tell me more.



For you two, it's on sale for a mere five sunflower seeds!



Oh, what a wonderful co-incidence. We just happen to know of a rusted minecart close by.

Got anything else, bud?





...Yeah, no. We're not paying twenty (or nineteen) sunflowers seeds for something that's free just a few screens away.



At least he appears to have one genuine, satisfying bargain on offer this time.



Won't stop us knocking one seed off the price, though.



v

A quick inspection to confirm that it is actually filled with oil...



...and we can walk on over and Putput it on the minecart.

Are you ready to Gogo, ham-fans?



What an eye-watering, heart-pounding ride! Just the sort of thing you need in an adventure game.

Seems like there was an alternate path too... But how to access it?





Perhaps this rusty switch will aid us in this endeavour. Now...



Only one way to find out if it worked!





And there we go; progress made!





Fine and dandy, folks. Thanks for the concern though.





That is it, right?



Uh... Sure... Let's go with that.



You two are pretty sharp!



We gotta get back to gatherin' rocks!

Oh... all right.

Well, guess we stumbled into their secret spot. These two were nice enough to let us stay, though... So let's explore.



For starters, we have another three rocks just lying around near the exit... But what's in the room to the south?



.....

Okay, then...

...Actually, that gives me an idea.



Yeah, that's the ticket. (Artwork by my buddy Chu, after their first peek at that image. They're also the one responsible for the Squalltaro pic from earlier in the thread.)



Too bad that we can't take this with us just yet. Guess we'll have to come back for it later.





There's only one place left to go, then. The Sales-Ham was blocking this rope during his first sales pitch, so we couldn't explore up it until after helping the brothers reunite.



Ah, so this is where Spat got to. And he's taken a hostage this time!



You with all your fond memories of luuuuuv! Well, don't forget this!





So sorry to interrupt, but...





Sure, call it whatever you like. We're still going to save the hostage!

Okay, what are our options here?





Saying hi is only met with gloating, sadly. How about a different tack?



...the stench... of evil...

Well, um... Perhaps violence is the answer!



Nope.

Wait a minute... I know what always defeats evil!



The power of friendship!



...



... Spat doesn't want to be our friend, goons.



So much so, he even stepped away from us.

...Hmmmm... Let's do it again!





He steps back, and...



Don't say that, pfpth!!

Oh, a Looney Tunes moment. You shouldn't have, game.



See you next fall, Spat!



How unlucky for you this costume has wings!

...Looks like Heyhoo-Ham was right; Spat can fly! Or at least swim through the air at a snail's pace...







Oh, thank goodness. Spat's going to leave us alone for now.



We can get a little extra dialogue out of him if we try to step off the bridge before he leaves, though.



And with that, Spat's icon vanishes from our map.





Oh, hi there. Almost forgot about our seed-scraffing friend here.



this rope... Would you pakapaka it, please?



Sure thing, buddy.



...Sunflower seeds must be good for your muscles or something.



Thank you so much. Let's hurry for home!



Done and done. Now to reunite these two...





There was this guy named Spat who said there were more delicious things to eat on the peak... Um, but it was all a lie... There was... um...



...Japanese female confirmed. A fan smack is anime as it gets.



Ahhh!





Add one to the counter, folks.



With that, we've saved our third loving relationship.



*Sigh... That was quite a long break, right? Okay, then! It's time to get going again!

Mm!



Hehe... And with that, there's just one last thing to do here in Sunny Peak.



In the time it took to leave and come back, these two have gorged themselves on sunflower seeds. (This means we can Hamlift under their sunflower for a whopping twenty seeds.)



The real reason to come back though, is to gather up this one last Ham-Chat.



...Yeah, everyone knows that feeling. And on that note, I'm glad to say that we're done with Sunny Peak for the time being! Next time, we'll hopefully find ourselves in some nice new locale.

Bonus video:

Nice haul today.