Part 98: 12/10/11

12/10/11

Today was the day.



Guy With a Backpack: My brother passed out yesterday… No one at the hospital knows what caused it…
My parents are saying it's because of the poisonous fog…
Bespectacled Student: Don't worry about what's causing it! I have great news for you!
I joined a club called the Healing Club. It's going to teach us how to neutralize the toxins in the fog!
It's pretty popular in my area. I know a lot of people who are in the club.
Why don't you join, too? Ask your brother to join the club!
Guy With a Backpack: C-Can you tell me more about it!?
I'm seriously starting to worry about my health. I've been starting to feel ill recently, you know.
But your club can cure me!? If it's that popular, it must work, right!?

I heard there were a lot of cults cropping up a while back, some crap about the world coming to an end. Looks like we're going to see more and more of this until we fix this fog.



Mr. Kondo: I heard that on TV yesterday, and I'm pretty sure that's right!
…Okay then, let's have a timed foot race. The faster you are, the faster you get a break.
But before that, I have a question for you. How 'bout Souji, since he's looking straight at me.
Which toe is important to running?

They're going easy on us because of the fog I think.



Mr. Kondo: Good. The big toe is important for kicking off the ground.
On the other hand, or should I say foot? The pinky toe is rarely used. I heard it may even degenerate in the future.
As a little side note, horses are built kind of like they're standing on one finger. Well, four single fingers.
Alright then! As Souji said, the big toe is important! Don't ever forget that, guys!

The lobby of Junes was full of creepy people.





Rise sensed a huge Shadow in the Heaven Paradise. It wasn't obviously related to Adachi but really there's no reason to take chances with these things.

VIDEO- "Lost Okina"

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Boss Battle: Lost Okina
This is a really annoying fight. He's only vulnerable to a few forms of elemental damage and completely immune to physicals. At the same time, though, he's largely nonthreatening. He will use Masukunda to reduce your agility, Stagnant Air to increase the probability that you are hit with status effects, and Navas Nebula, an attack that does damage and can exhaust. That's the whole damn fight. Amusingly Naoto is actually the best character for this fight because Almighty is by far the most effective form of attack against the boss. For defeating it we get a Chakra Ring, an accessory that halves the SP usage of the character who has it equipped.

We returned to the creepy room and entered the portal. We found ourselves in a twisted parody of Inaba itself.



Ahaha! I told you to come after me, and you actually came!?
Don't you guys have anything better to do? What a bunch of losers…
"Let's find the culprit ourselves!" "Let's meet up at the special headquarters today!"
Am I right, or am I right? Man, it's embarrassing. How old are you guys?
Ahahahahahahaha! Oh crap, my stomach's hurting…
C'mon…
You're all students, right? Shouldn't you be studying instead of wasting your time with this?
Study hard, get into a good college, work at a respectable company, marry a cute girl…
Why are you guys so desperate when it comes to something so useless? Won't you regret it once you're adults?
What's up with this guy? Out of all the things we've dealt with in this world, he pisses me off the most!
We're not letting him get away!

We pushed on ahead, but it turned out we were walking right into a trap.



…Huh?
Uh, where are we? Sorry, give me a sec…
……
*gasp * S-Senpai!
I can't find any exits!
Oh no… What should we do…?
See?
I told you. Students should go home and study.
Why can't you listen to me…? You'll never become well-behaved members of society if you keep this up.
Oh well, have fun in there.

We pushed ahead, but found ourselves blocked by a barrier.



Ahaha!
That's right! As you have guessed, I'm waiting for you just beyond here.
But did you really think I'd just let you through?
Grrr…!
There has to be a way to open this!
Let's look around for clues, Senpai!

Back in the middle of the room was a hole in the ground. We didn't have much option but to see what was in it.



The world below was twisted, and the very air was red.



Oh, you were able to escape!
Not bad, not bad! You guys are better than you look.
…This place seems different from where we were before.
It feels like Adachi has complete control over the area, just like that door we couldn't open…
I have a feeling this won't go that easily. Be careful, Senpai!

We pushed deeper, and the atmosphere only got more oppressive.



What are you trying to accomplish, putting yourselves in danger like that?
Trying to see "justice" done?
…Is that really justice, though?
Aren't you just doing this because you want a little spice in your boring lives?
What's the difference between that and a criminal who gets his kicks by murdering people?
…You see what I'm getting at?
There's still a lot of time left. Give it some thought…
……
To be honest, I can't completely deny what he said…
But that doesn't justify what he did…
Right, Senpai?

We were starting to get a bit dragged down. Luckily we had a supply of charms capable of creating an exit, allowing us to return to the entrance to recover. It also gave me a chance to finish Margaret's request.



A Trumpeter with Mind Charge… You have successfully completed the quest…
……
That was my last request…
Congratulations…
You've been through many challenges, and I hope you grasped their meaning.
You see, the results never mattered.
I wanted to see you yourself struggle and complete the requests…
You approached each challenge thoughtfully… And in doing so, you trained your soul…
As I predicted, you have shown me that your soul is strong.
It's been wonderful… For the first time in ages, I became very excited.
But remember, one's soul is fragile. The purer it is, the stronger it gets, but it can easily be led astray.
It can take so little as a handful of senseless words… such as a lie or a rumor.
Please remember that.
Now, I have to give you something as a reward.
Here… I want you to have this.
> Obtained Spiral Brooch.
It's only an object… But at the same time, it's an expression of myself.
I'm sure you'd know, since you've struggled so much for me, right?

In a funny way I think I do know what she's talking about.



Then again, I'm still pretty confused about some of the other things she's said.



There's nothing more of your heart that I need to see. I understand you quite well now, so…
…Thank you.
As I thought, you're the person I had been waiting for…
When the time comes… It is you who will provide my answer…
*chuckle * I look forward to it…

No idea. We pushed back into the twisted world, and this time Adachi decided to mess with us.

VIDEO- "Mandala World 3"

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This place is surprisingly boring, you know… Why don't we play a game to pass the time?
Let's see…
How about this!?
You can't encounter the Shadows here.
Try and reach me without the Shadows catching you!
Ready, set, go!
What the? Ooh, he gets on my nerves!
I'll never forgive him for this!

We managed to evade the Shadows and reached a sealed off portion.



As your reward, I'll fight you!

Of course, it was a trap.



The only thing you deserve is to fight against Shadows.

Boss Battle: Chaos Fuzz
This is an amusing little fight. You start out against a single Chaos Fuzz. Chaos Fuzz will always Summon more Chaos Fuzz in until they hit a critical number, at which point they start fighting normally. So what you need to do is kill all of them at the same time. Try to keep their health about even at all times, this is pretty easy really, and so short I don't even have it in its own video.



But how long can you keep it up?
Hmph, like that had any chance of stopping us. Let's go, Senpai!

The skies only got redder as we moved on.



Who really wants it, huh? Isn't it just you guys?
What good is the "truth" if you're the only ones satisfied by it?
See, you just want to satisfy yourselves…
I'm not sure what he's getting at, but the murder victims won't be able to rest in peace like this…
Isn't that right, Senpai?

Hell with this guy and his bullshit.



Everyone's fiercely latching onto it.
Let's say you guys catch me, and that "truth" is proven false…
What do you think will happen then?
…You don't get it? It's simple.
They'll simply latch on to that instead. Nothing about them or the world will change.
That's the "truth" you're all looking for…
Gee, what a smartass. What's with this guy?
He can blabber about logic and try to dodge the truth all he wants, but what he's done can't be forgiven!
We'll make him pay for his crimes! Let's go, Senpai!

We reached a strange spiral hallway, it seemed we'd found the center of this place.

VIDEO- "Mandala World 6"

Click Here For Video!

Hm? There's something in the center of this area!
Ready, Senpai!?

And at the center, we found the source of Adachi's barrier.

VIDEO- "Envious Giant"

Click Here For Video!

Let's go, Senpai!

Boss Battle: Envious Giant
This is a funny little boss fight. The Giant pretty much just spams Megidoloan the whole fight, which can hurt so be ready with Mediarahan. He's largely insulated from most elemental magic, but is critically vulnerable to physical attacks. I almost kill him with a single non-crit Power Charged God's Hand. The trick though is that he also has High Counter, so sometimes those will get repelled back at you. I'd suggest you use Debilitate on him if you've got Trumpeter, which you should. That'll make his damage output drop substantially both in reducing the damage his Megidoloans do and their accuracy, and he'll take much more damage. Once he's dead, you'll be able to enter the door back in Magastu Inaba.



Let's go back, Senpai!

We called it for the day at that point. We don't know what Adachi will have in store for us in person, so we're all going to get prepared…