Part 32: I Guess It's Fairy Old

I hope y'all like plot. There's a fair chunk of it.



: That can't be... In that underground path... (Cornet's mother runs off here.) Cherie!! Will you please go stop her!? If it has anything to do with Cornet, she goes nuts! I have to go get my weapons, so please go stop Cherie!



: Uh huh.
: It's alright... You don't have to cry. Just wait here, okay?

And now we get to enter the path. It's almost the same as it was when we last entered, except the enemies...



They are much, much stronger than any random encounters we've seen to date. In fact I'd say that the enemies here are roughly on par with those in the final dungeon. If not just a bit more powerful. They're all Dark elemental, though, so it doesn't really mean anything when you can just throw a Sisters' Desire and/or OmegaHoly at them to wipe them all out (almost) instantly.

Oh, and there's one difference in the layout too. Remember the locked door that we couldn't open? It's kinda not locked here...



What a shocker, Golonzo is evil. I never would've seen this coming, he only attacked us twice and plotted against Cornet when we saw him before the contest. Though, uh, what's the giant red thing?

: Oh, my Cornet!!
: Sob, sob... Mommy!!!
: You aren't supposed to be down here!
: I...I know.... Sob, sob, sob...
: Darn! Someboy's here already. Just when I've found the Ancient Weapon.

"Ancient Weapon?" Ah, so it's a rather weak sword that has a use in inflicting a negative status. I wonder if this one will inflict Old making my magic useless.



: I'm sorry to make all of you worry. (The Ultimate Ancient Weapon begins to stir...) It's... It's still alive...
: What's that sound?
: I have a bad feeling about this...
: Run!!




: Cornet!
: I'm okay!
: I remember now. My mother didn't die in an accident! It's this thing that killed my mother...
; Cornet... You're not thinking about taking this thing on? Are you? You do know that there's no way that we'll be able to defeat it, right?
: Then don't! This is a weapon created by the Ancients! I know that you want to avenge the death of your mother, but it's not that easy.
: ...Mother. ...I know this is just a dream. I know that I'll never get my mother back no matter what I do. I understand that. But at least... At least in my dreams...
: Okay, okay. I guess.
: Etoile...
: Let's go!!
: Got it!

Let's take this punk down!



So, remember what Etoile said about how we'd never be able to beat this thing? From my experience, the opposite is true; I've never lost to this thing. I've even tried to do so intentionally (stick it on auto, walk off for a few minutes) and I've still ended up winning. Despite the build up the entire proceeding scene gave, it's really not a hard fight. It's a relatively hard fight, yes, but it's still not as hard as some bosses we've seen already (Centaur and Portrait are both much tougher). It's not even that resilient. Though, it is accompanied by palette swaps of two of our puppets - Duke and Albatross - which raises some questions about them. Incidentally, yes, that is why I brought those guys along for this.

Also, even though it'd have been apparent by looking at the top screen at any point, this is the first time one minor detail is brought to your attention; Kururu is not usable here. This actually makes sense, since we're inside her dreams and all, but if you don't pay attention and managed to not get into a fight on the way here (I just had two) then it'd be possible to only have 3 party members for this battle. Still easy though.





In case it's not already apparent, even though we kicked the Ancient Weapon's arse it somehow lived. Cherie transformed into an Angel, because. She trashed it, reverted back to normal and is apparently out of energy. Mayhap using Great Seal so soon was a bit of a tactical error...

: Mommy!!
: I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Because of me...
: Y...You don't have to apologize...(cough) Y...You showed great courage... I hope my daughter grows up to be like you...

Lady, you don't know the half of it.

: Mommy! Please wake up!
: Cornet... Remember, I'll always be with you... Always. Until you find happiness... Cornet... Please play your horn for Mommy...
: O...Okay...



You should really watch this one. Feel free to close it when it reaches the re-occurance of Let's Go On if you must but I recommend against it. It is important; the visuals moreso than the song.

Go on, go do it. Try to pay close attention to the detail.

You done? You sure? Go watch it again, there is ONE key thing that you really cannot afford to miss.

You think you've got it now? Alright then. Bet you never saw that coming... (with the obvious exception of if you've played this far before)



Yes. Cherie is Kururu. It's been foreshadowed REALLY well.

Though one thing bugs me about this... it - seeing the soul of your death mother leave her body and enter doll - would be kind of hard to forget. Like, Kid-Cornet would surely notice that her toy had grown massively in size and could now talk (so that everyone could understand it), right? We know that the Cherie-possessed Kururu was like that when Cornet was a child courtesy of a flashback in Chapter 2.



: Cornet, this will be difficult for you to hear, but you must know the truth...
: ...Okay, but please don't tell Kururu...
: I agree...

Given that most of the foreshadowing for Kururu = Cornet's Mother's Soul in a Puppet actually came from Kururu herself (primarily in the ways she responded whenever Cherie was mentioned) I'm inclined to think that this is referring to not letting her know that Cornet knows. Or that we invaded her mind. Or even both.

: If you want to know the truth, go to the gate of the Netherworld. Here is the key you need. Know your limits, Cornet.

Now we just have to find where to use this thing. It's not important right now anyway, since we won't be going there for a while.



: Cornet... I...I had a dream... A scary dream... But, you came and rescued me...
: Kururu...
: Oh yeah! We're going to Cape Hope, right? Come on! What are we waitin' for? I'm alright!
: No, no! You must get some rest!
: Huh? But...
: He's right, Kururu. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay.
: ...Alright, if you say so. I'll just catch up with you later.
: Yeah...



: You'll be truly happy if you save the Prince, right? That's what kept you going on this journey, right?
: Go, I'll catch up later...Etoile, please take care of Cornet for me.
: Huh? Uhh... I got things to do, that's right...I gotta wash my hair, that's it... Gotta run! Ta-ta!

So, for the next, er, by which I mean final, dungeon, Kururu can't be added to the party due to needing and rest and Etoile doesn't lend her minimal support because she's a goddamn coward.

This is also why I opted to not use Kururu that much after a while; can't rely on her for most of the game only to have everyone else underlevelled when you need them the most. Since I never played the PSX version (until a while after finishing the port), this caught me off-guard so I had to actually grind just to be able to beat the last boss. Amazing, I know.

Next time: The Princess Doll of Marl Kingdom