Part 17

Finally, land!

Finally, a new page!

Fron? I think we should watch out for those rocks.

What's tha-


Well that was a wonderful landing.


Are you alright, Tia?

I think so. Unless I'd dead.

I don't think so.

Well, in that case I'm fine. Let's go get some ice cream!

Let me just help you up, first.


Let's hope it is an inhabited building and not some sort of deathtrap!


It says 'The Research Institute of Doctor Pascal.' That means we made it!


Looks like our luck is changing.

Oh you poor fool. You know not the meaning of those words.

I really probably shouldn't say things like that, huh...

Uh... what are all those... things inside the lab?

*sigh*


I have. Robots.

Robots?

Well usually they aren't made of buckets. Or if they are the buckets aren't full of water.

Back up a bit.

You know machines? Things that are inanimate but help you do things? Those sorts of objects?

I follow.

Imagine if one of them was... not alive exactly, but it could think and move on its own and murder people.


Tia, why is your grandfather shouting 'buzz' every few seconds.

I'm not sure, let me call him.


Well, he is a bit hard of hearing.

And sight? Is he hard of sight? Does he always attack people who visit him.

Well, he is a bit... you know.

We'll just have to fight our way across the lab?

Why not? It wont be the first thing we've had to fight lately.


Robots have no interesting qualities whatsoever. They only move when you get close, so this is another braindead mission.


Jumpslash is, as always, your friend here. It kills them in one hit in most cases. To win, you need only get Tia to Pascal. Fron won't work because only the power of family ties can break the curse of being a crazy inventor.

This time:
-The levels, they are up.


Or maybe you just hate me. You don't hate me, do you grandpa?


I was going to call him a Nutty Professor, but then I thought about it and I don't remember anything about that movie...'s commercial. Because that's all I ever saw.


They didn't seem so interested in drowning you. They were really trying to punch you. With their hands of wood.

One of them splashed me and the water was really cold, okay?


Wait, what? How do you know about that?

Come on, grandfather, we'll tell you everything.


I don't know what any of that means, but I'll assume it means you're smart.


Does Pascal have any chairs?

What do you think the robots were made of?


(Uh oh.)

*GENERIC ALARM NOISE*

Is something else coming?


Well, we'll hold them off while you repair it, alright grandpa?


Let's get going, then.


Well, those don't look so tough.

Sea Bug shells are hard enough to withstand having boulders thrown at them. They have just one weakness.

They're really easy to tip over?

You got it.


Hey Fron, I was looking at the bag of our stuff we grabbed back on the pirate ship, and I think there was a lot of stuff in here that wasn't ours.

Finders keepers, I guess? Couldn't this wait?

Don't worry, Fron. I think these are magic arrows. Just leave this to me.

So here's the deal with this mission: Sea Bugs move towards lab. If enough get there you lose. If you hit them once, they fall over for a while. This is a very hard mission IF you do it wrong, but if you just use the magic arrows and Tia's song attack (which damages all enemies) you can win easy. Observe:


Just turn around and hit each of the three groups in turn. Even if you get a "miss," as in no damage is done, it'll still flip them over. This mission has just become your bitch, and if you do happen to need a trump card, you have the sing attack.

This week:
-Do I really need to list the fact that they level up every time? They haven't given us any items in ages, so I might as well just let you assume that they level up unless otherwise noted.


Whoa, how did they suddenly get so far?

It might have something to do with the horrific screeching noise that suddenly started coming out of the lab.

Is that the repulsion system or did Pascal go crazy and start screaming?


I still don't understand any of what you said, so I'll keep hoping it actually means something.


Sure.

Yeah!

PLEASE!


...

...uh... Nope.

Never crossed my mind.

So how DO they work?


It's helium. The wind spirit is helium.


Bye grandpa! I love you! Even if the chances of us surviving this flight are looking slimmer every moment!


My precioussss...


Ohgodohgodohgod my arms are tired and I'm going to fall into the desert and possibly die and even if I don't it's the desert so I'll still die but for different reasons. I don't like this at all.

Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine. NEXT TIME, that is.