Part 34: Restoring a Previous Session

Last time, lasers fired and everyone died. I think that brings everyone up to speed.



Actually, plot gimmicks happened and Brain ends up somewhere that looks like a past version of Rococo. The house that belongs to him in the future now belongs to someone named Polon, who's gone to get medicine. The first course of action is to see how our hero can mess up the time line.



After starting a Past Rococo conga line.



First off is this guy. He's collecting funds for building the Mayor's House, and takes 10G, 100G, and 1000G donations. He stops taking money at the 9000G marker, stating he has enough funds now for the project. Technically, you don't have to give him any money, but our hero is drowning in cash.



Next is the Shop. The owner spent all his money and doesn't have the cash to open his store. Spotting him 5000G helps him get back on his feet. Doing so actually has an immediate benefit - he sells all the basic consumables for half price and sells Scrap 2s. Not too shabby.



Talking to this lady is required to move the plot on. Apparently Polon has head down to the Cave area to gather the ingredients for medicine. With not much else left for our hero to do here, he heads off after her.



Which means going through some very familiar areas again. The enemies, however, are all things our hero has encounters before. They're basically stocked with baddies found from back in the Volcano and Shrine areas. Gelgels, Poisons, Quickbirds, that sort of thing.





Which, while not very threatening, still give decent enough experience to nab a level. With Charge at 30, expect Pinky's Energy to go up by 10 a level. This will be a pretty necessary precaution soon.



The Past Forest has a capsule in the same place as the original Forest, though this one holds a Scrap our hero hasn't come across before. There's no Invention Machine around here, so a level will needed to be gained before this new Scrap can be utilized.



Until then, it's time to travel through the River again. There's no bridge, but a fallen log serves well enough.



And the only capsule here is a Cure.





Getting to the Cave Mouth and heading inside results in plot. This Hacker-looking guy is actually part of a theft ring in the area. Showing him we mean business is required to fight him.



This isn't a boss, but it does introduce the Hacker replacements for the area: Big Fans. They are surprisingly hard-hitting, being able to nail Pinky for 20-odd damage along with having a Knight-esque ability to randomly block an attack. Fortunately, Pinky's been stacking the Energy, so they're still easy to take down.



Polon warps our hero back to her house, where it is discovered that she mistook our hero for this oddly familiar guy in the bed. I don't really see the resemblance, but okay.





Now that Polon's house is accessible, these two new schematics can be learned. They won't be used, but at least they're in the collection.



Also, the Past Mayor apparently has a thing for Polon. Moving along.



One of the children outside mentions that a girl was looking for our hero, and that she is over at the shop. This is Cookie, who mistakes us for the bedridden guy as well. It's hard to show in screenshots, but she talks very slow. She requests that Brain head to return to their ship over in the Forest of Illusion.



Fun fact: If you skipped making the Chameleon Glasses, like we did, she actually gives you a pair. Even if you know where the ship's entrance is, you still need to use the Glasses to enter the first time. So, it's pretty nice that she does this.



Before that, though, it's time to screw with the timeline some more. This time it's Romeo and Juliet's ancestors. Apparently this is the time where their feud started, with Juliet's relative accusing the other family of stealing his jewelry.



The poor woman pleads that she did no such thing, but he won't listen and runs her out of his house. Following her back to her place results in her voicing her confusion over why this is happening.





Using the Relay to talk to her cat reveals the truth - there's a sticky-fingered mouse stealing things. The feline gives our hero the location of a hidden mouse hole. Going in leads to a vent system, at the end of which is...



The missing jewel.



And another case for the game to prove me wrong, this time with the whole "examinable from the front" detail about hidden items mentioned way back at the beginning of the LP. Checking the crates around the room result in a Scrap 3, Scrap 7, Scrap 9, and 3000G. Giving it to the angry man makes him realize his mistake and he goes to apologize.



With that little bit of time shenanigans dealt with, it's time to move the plot forward by heading to the Forest of Illusion. This time around, it's even more linear than in the present. There's no forks or anything to worry about, other than some familiar faces like Powermoles and the improved version of the Spider.





Which leads to this clearing. Prinky and Igor are here scouting out a spot for their home. However, there's "something" about the place that doesn't seem right. Putting on the Chameleon Glasses reveals the hidden ship, which Brain climbs right up into.



Space doors.



Inside, the space travelers all mistake our mousey main character for the bedridden Rask, until Napoleon - the robot from the Shrine - scans his genes and corrects everyone. This renews their worry about their missing companion until Brain pipes up that he knows where Rask is.



One of the two space travelers - a guy named Gateau - doesn't trust our hero, and sends Napoleon along to be sure. I'm not sure what he means by "humans like Brain" since Brain is a mouse. Maybe he just doesn't like non-humans.



The right-hand door of the ship is now unlocked, and leads to an Invention Machine. The baddies defeated thus far haven't given enough experience for another level, so it's here that the newly discovered Scrap 10 is combined with the Scrap 3 from the hidden room to make the top tier of Boots.



And we combine a Scrap 7 with that mysterious Scrap B to make a Little Robot, much like the one given to the elderly lady. Rest assured that it's for temporal shenanigans.



Pinky's a hoverbot now. Boots 6 has the same range as Boots 4, but has a few more points of Guard. More Guard is always appreciated, especially with how hard the Big Fan was hitting.



Napoleon makes himself invisible to avoid detection, by the way, and questions why our hero is a mouse. Leaving startles and intrigues Prinky and Igor, since it looks like Brain disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere. Convinced there's something special here, they agree to build elsewhere.



Running through the Forest of Illusion reopens the other location over here. The forest actually changes up a bit in the interim, but following the same tactic as the original Forest of Illusion leads to the exit.



Prinky works fast - having already set up a foundation. However, he and Igor cannot do this alone and he pines for some help. Perhaps there's something Brain can give him to do that.



This'll do nicely. Brain gives him a Little Robot made using a Scrap made by a Little Robot found here in the future. We've perpetuated a self-sustaining time loop - like that one Chaos Emerald in Sonic 2006. And our hero gets 3000G for his paradoxical efforts.



Returning home results in Napoleon flipping out. Then Polon and Past-Mayor showing up and flipping out. Then they all leave.



Unfortunately, Napoleon leaving is a bad thing. Rask mentioned he crashed while looking for a place to hide the Master MacGuffin, and that Gateau isn't supposed to know about it. So, he tasks our hero to go stop the robot before he spills the beans.





Unfortunately, Napoleon made some serious time getting back to the ship and both he and Gateau are long gone. Cookie tells our hero that they've both headed for the Caves, which is a Bad Thing.





Despite the Caves being a location visited before, the layout is a lot different and is utterly crawling with Big Fans. However, the Drill is still going to be seeing some use here, either to continue onward or to get loot.





And murdering every single of one of them in his path does more or less what one would expect it would. Pinky's almost tripled his Energy in the course of three levels. And it's not slowing down any time soon.





Drilling open two blocked passages and following a side path results in two Repairs and a Clean.



Just beyond the two drillable walls is a suspicious looking Big Fan. Being a mouse, he pays our hero no mind as he activates a secret door. Once he's through, Brain mimics and follows suite.



Turns out Rose is here, and both of them were sent 100 years back in time thanks to the Master MacGuffin. However, she's stolen the Past MacGuffins from Rask's crash site to recreate the Master MacGuffin in this time. To make things worse, she's still upset that our mousey hero ruined her plans...





So she drops him down a hole.



The impact being strong enough to fling a couple key items to other parts of the cave structure. Delightful.

Next Time: Rat to the Future