Part 10: Chapter Ten: Hidon Away All My Secrets

After Booth's defeat, we go back to Elekees and talk with Dr. Ash to plan our attack on Gara.



Dr. Ash: Gara's castle is on the upper continent. (Yeah, there's an UPPER upper continent) I'll give you my invention even though it's name is funny. Anyway, take this and your ship will be able to sail up the waterfall. The castle of Gara is in the west, I hear. Bon voyage!

Got Niagaran!!



We take the invention whose name isn't any funnier than anything else in this game and head upstream.



Up the waterfall...



And drop anchor on a patch of land here. We then head west.



Gara's castle is close by, but it's blocked off by mountains. The entrance is hidden in a nearby town called Amaboss.





Guards: We don't need any men here. Go away now!

They even have their own Decatas up here. Only difference (besides the gender discrimination) is that we won't be getting help from any eccentric diggers up here, so we head off the other direction for a town called Dengers.







Despite the plurality, there's only one actual burglar here who you need to avoid.





You can't get it back either. Best to just not talk to him at all. The only person of importance here is the Playboy bunny, as we'll need to buy 3 outfits to disguise the male members of our crew.



That's kind of disturbing when you think about it. Back to Amaboss we go.



We can't take more than two steps before the guards get suspicious and change their minds.

Guards: ...Wait!! You are suspicious characters...come with me!

They arrest us and take us before the town leader.



Look, I don't know what's going through your head but I can assure you I did NOT want to dress like this.

Leader: I can't believe you would wear such a weird outfit since this morning......? You guys are male, right?... [->Yes No] ...You're brave I guess. Do you think you can get out of this town unharmed?... Well, I've been waiting to meet ones like you for long time. Please do me a favor.

*sigh* Always happy to help.

Leader: This town's been ruled by Gara, and I think it's strange with no men here. Please! Destroy Gara! [->Yes No] Yes? Thank you...

Well, it coincides with our own interests. At least we're not fetching someone's gold statue or un-dogging people.

Leader: These lady warriors are called Kustera. Join them and destroy Gara!

Kathy and Beth joined you!

Leader: The way to Gara-Castle is the underground of this building. Please!

We set off for the castle after checking out the armor shop here. There's a few upgrades for Tina and Leona.



I like how we're supposed to "join them and destroy Gara" yet there's a gate here that they wouldn't be able to cross. After a short trip through the cave, we come to Gara's castle.







This castle doesn't have any teleporters, but despite that it's slightly more complex than Booth's castle.



We put the Ice Armor on Cody, which brings his defense up quite a bit. Gara waits patiently for us in the uppermost tower.



Gara: I'll take a revenge for Dram and Booth.



What RPG would be complete without the token half-naked female villain? Gara's no slouch, but compared to Booth she's not as difficult. Leona finally learned Mirror 3, so we use it to increase everyone's defenses against magic. Cody gives himself a boost with Power 2. Tina boosts everyone with Fast 3. Dan uses Bomb 2 and heals the party with Regain 2. Afterwards, we keep up a consistent pattern of Burn Blade, magic attacks, and Regaining from Gara's hit-all magic like Freeze 3 and Storm 2. Her melee attack can also put us to sleep, but she doesn't use it that often. We win 7815 and as Gara falls, an unexpected visitor shows up.

Gara: Darn! Dram...Booth...Sir Homncruse!



Homncruse: I, Homncruse will take over your hatred. These good for nothing Aqutallions! Your father suffers eternally by my hands. Join your father! Witness the power of darkness!...ah, ha, ha, ha! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!



Once again, Homncruse attempts to blow us away.



...unsuccessfully. Gara's castle is reduced to rubble and the chopper takes us back to Elekees.



Dr. Ash: The Gyrocopter that we've prepared for just such an emergency came in handy. But, I still can't believe you beat Booth and even Gara. Such deeds may be expected of those who inherit the stars of Actos. Please keep going until you defeat Homncruse! As a farewell gift, I will give you that Gyrocopter. I heard Professor Parakless has the secret of Homncruse. Professor Parakless lived in Hidon on the lower land. Good-bye guys!

You got Gyrocopter!



Freakin' sweet. The Gyrocopter is all ours. AND we won't be bugged by random encounters while in the sky.



The uppermost continent has been completely blown to pieces, so we can no longer visit Dengers or Amaboss. Not like we need to, anyway. Our business up here is done, so we head back down to the lower world.





Mylawn's been rebuilt, and with some new additions. There's a theater and a smithy (but no blacksmith). Since the warehouse is up and running again too, I drop off some of the now-useless items like the orbs and Tacosmin. A kid in Dynamite's lab gives us a Vita-Plum, which fully recovers the party's HP. Very nice indeed, but we can only have one at a time. We leave Mylawn for now and head for the house by Clarken's cove to get our final Kustera.



Shark: I've been waiting. Finally you have everyone. Let's join to fight together!

Shark joined you!

We then go to Codo to recruit Gonta the blacksmith. A man in the smithy there tells us that Gonta is upset and hid in the temple.



Going in through the back door...



Gonta: I hate making only pots or knives. I want to make a great weapon! Hey, aren't you soldiers? I bet it could help you. Say, can I join you? [->Yes No] All right! Now I can leave this town! I'm Gonta the blacksmith. I'll work for you now.

Gonta the blacksmith joined you.

He leaves for our smithy back home. He won't sell anything quite just yet, though. We take the Gyrocopter and depart for Hidon, which is surrounded by mountains.





The townspeople tell us that this is a forgotten town that was once prosperous until Parakless dug up graves and started doing some shady research. His abandoned lab is up the mountains through the Misty Pass.





The enemies here are pretty tough with their hit-all attacks and magic. This makes for a good grinding spot, as you can get over 500 exp a fight.





Bolt Storm's a good combo attack that can deal 60-70 damage a pop. As we enter the lab, a hologram of Parakless appears.



Parakless: Homncruse is my son...

That's not true...that's impossible!

Parakless: He was born as a result of science. After learning the make-up of humans, I set out to create an artificial man. I kidnapped a girl from Hidon...uncovered graves...worked on experiments...finally, I succeeded. I created an artificial man...Homncruse! But Homncruse was born as a child of evil...he grew up in Rimstera and destroyed me...then, he used my time machine to escape. Homncruse...!! My dear son...!! Come back to me!!

So yeah, "Homncruse" is an Engrished "Homunculus". And I actually think it was for the better. Not only would "Homunculus" be a dumb name for a villain (much like naming someone "Overlord" or "Dragon" or something), it would have been a spoiler. See? Broken clock. In the very back of the lab is a "4-D Machine". We activate it and it sends us to a strange place.



Inside the shrine are 4 tiles which tell more of Homncruse's story.









After leaving this place, Bosen shows up.



Bosen: But, I wonder...could Homncruse be destroyed without the Orb or MetlSwrd?

Us: Bosen...where the devil have you been? Why didn't you try to help us?

Bosen: Anyway, you can reduce Homncruse's power by half if you disable the Rimstera lab. The entrance to the laboratory is in the town of Donto. Go to it! Ray!

Off to Donto we go, then.

Alright, I'll try to sum this up the best I can. Parakless creates Homncruse, who turns evil and escapes to the future to try and take advantage of their technology. He brings it back to the past i.e. our time and this is when the Aqutallion (who are also from the future) try to stop him. They win for the time being, but grow old, and Homncruse comes back and is able to defeat them. Thus, the torch is passed to us and we must finish the job. Apparently, he has some kind of link to this Rimstera lab, which is where he grew up, and destroying it will weaken him. But the only way to finish him off for good is with the Orb and Metal Sword.

Some of that is speculation on my part. I can't tell what got obscured in translation and what is simply not explained at all by the game. When I first got to this part in the game, I thought it was pretty cool, but going through it again, I realize that it's actually kind of confusing. Well, until next time...

See Ya!