Part 12: Monday's Turmoil (Adagio)

Monday's Turmoil (Adagio)

[Music: Exploration]



During the interim, I made a couple new demons on top of 3 Kikimora. The Hare of Inaba in particular is going to be important later, and I made 2 different ones just in case (Io's is more magical oriented). I also made a Hairy Jack and Ogre since we haven't seen either yet, and they're pretty okay. They're both mainly physically oriented, but Ogre is interested in raw damage whereas Hairy Jack's much quicker.

We've seen Tam Lin before, and as you might expect he's pretty good to use.



More importantly, despite having just helped wreck the shit out of Dubhe, just about no one wanted to hang out with Daichi at all.

Almost everyone loves Io though. Can't say I expected either of those.





[Music: Silence]

What's the matter?
Oh...! Hibiki.

[Music: Elegy]

Erm... There was no use going back.
Our apartment building had toppled... I went inside as far as I could, but...
My mom and dad weren't there...
That's good news.
Huh? Oh...!



Thanks, Hibiki...

Io seems to have cheered up a little...

I'll... just do my best and take what comes. Thanks a lot, Hibiki.

Io's shoulders are slumped...

You say your farewells to Io before leaving...

[Music: Exploration]



Ah, Kuze. Daichi's back. Have you seen him already?
Not yet.
I see. I'm sorry, but I think you should talk to him. He'll tell you about your house.
Io is also back. You should see her too.

We, uh, we just did that.

Sorry I couldn't help you more. I'm in a hurry here, so find me later.

Makoto ran off...



Much like with Daichi, a surprisingly low number of people really wanted to go see Joe. Unlike with Daichi, just enough did to make a difference, though!



Hm? Oh, it's you. Man, I'm sleepy...
Wake up.
Mmm... But I'm so tired... I don't think I can stay awake...

Joe seems to be very sleepy...

What about your house?



Joe sounds very detached from the things he relates...

Hmm, although... I do want to swing by my room. This is the only suit I have.
Oh... But there's no work to do. So I guess I won't need them?
Man, something like this comes along, and you have no idea what to do...
Use your brain.
Oh, sure, I'm using it. Hmm... I'm hungry. Wonder if there's any food...

Joe wanders off...



This lets us buy Ogre from the auction now. Okay, sure, whatever.

Since the next thing we're going to do is advance the plot some more, I opted to do a quick free battle to pick up some more skills we might be missing.



...Turns out there are none. Guess we're as prepared as we're getting after all.



So, let's go see what Makoto's new problem is.





Hold it right there...! You're going nowhere!

There seems to be some commotion up ahead...

[Music: Silence]



D-Dammit... What is up with this bitch?



[Music: Countdown]



What...!? You still had allies!?
We can do whatever we want with demons! Here's another!
Hahahahaha! Who's losing now, bitch!?

As you can imagine, more demons warp in. Not really anything major, though.

Dammit...



The only thing here that's new is the skull bird thing partially behind Io's head. We could easily have one, but don't because they're not very good.

You guys... Just in time!
Crap, she's got backup too! Let's get outta here!



We should be able to escape if we can get over there... Hurry!
......! Kuze, don't let them go!
You got it!
Be careful! They've been abusing the summoning app!

[Music: Confrontation]



Notice how the defeat condition is if all 3 dudes escape. We only have to beat 1 to not lose here.

Yeah, no. We're beating all 3. None are escaping.



Out of the 6 skills here, we can get any 4 pretty easily. Other than Amrita, they're all things we've either seen before or can guess what they do from their names anyway.



The exception is Hustle, and we want that ASAP. It's an Auto-Skill which is the human version of a racial skill. I'm sure someone will be mad at me for not picking to get Amrita here, but I just don't need it right now.



The important thing here is that all 3 human opponents move before we can. They have a lower move range, but this can be a bit of a problem at times.



Especially this guy; he's all but guaranteed to escape if you don't know he's coming.



Come our turns Tico pops up to bug us about a new thing again.

Since you have accumulated a reasonable level of experience, we will add the Macca Bonus.
Would you like to hear an explanation of this feature?
Hm...? Macca bonus? Sounds like you could really rake in some scratch.
No.
From this point on, bonus results will be displayed after your battles.
A text message will be sent to you later with details about each bonus.

The long and short of it is you can get extra money by not doing dumb things, or getting anyone killed. You can have that bonus lessened, or outright negated, by doing dumb things or getting people killed though. You also lose some of that bonus by getting your weaknesses hit, which makes covering those even more necessary now.



Much more important is that now that it's Hibiki's turn, it's time to go after his target.



Devil Speed (Hare of Inaba's racial skill) is one of many things that are perfect for that, since it increases how far you can move to 7 spaces no matter what. Equally useful is taking advantage of Animal Leg and bouncing off the Agathion nearby.



Combining the two is even better, but if you're going to do that then it's just as easy or efficient to switch Animal Leg for Bind or Ghost Wounds or even Evil Wave if you grinded enough.



Speaking of this Agathion, though, it's the group that contains the Hare of Inaba that Io is targetting.



Hare of Inabas are pretty balanced by default with more of an inclination towards magic. This means their natural vitality is relatively low, so that combined with a giant weakness to Fire (and Mystic - more on that in a bit) makes it super easy for Kikimora to damn near oneshot them even with their relatively high HP.



Merely cherry tapping it after that is more than enough to give Io an extra 10% max HP.



Now that we've got the Macca Bonus, we see this at every regular results screen. Most of them are self-explanatory and some can go either way, but Casualty exists solely to punish you for getting dudes killed (No Damage and Overwhelm can only ever be beneficial though). Technical is the only one that might be a bit less obvious, but it's a 5% bonus per weakness hit and a 5% penalty for getting yours hit.



We won't dwell on that too much and instead focus on beating up this weird bird thing.



Itsumades aren't all that interesting beyond sometimes poisoning you. Daichi and Tam Lin are goddamn crit machines at this point though; having them spam Snipe every turn nets almost nothing but criticals.



That combined with Kikimora being really, really good at just dealing relatively big numbers makes for an easy fight that results in everything dying.



Y'know as an ailment, I kinda like Poison here. It deals reasonably good damage at a consistent rate, and you get it real early too. There are other, more active, means of instigating it later but this gives Daichi a much needed edge for the moment.

Since it also counts as Mystic elemental, as all ailments are, it cannot be drained or repelled. Elemental affinity here merely affects how likely it is to hit, so being weak to it makes it more likely to hit and resisting it is less likely. Nullification and neutral are the same as you'd expect, though.



Meanwhile, back on the enemy's turn the lone Agathion decided to try and attack Io. Understandable because it couldn't really do much else.

It promptly dies for its troubles, of course.



The other Agathion party then tried their luck, and they brought some hired muscle with them. The problem with Ogres, is that they have a lot of HP sure but they're also riddled with elemental weaknesses.



They can put up a bit of a fight, but focused Fire (or Electricity or Force) take them out in no time.



The Knocker who you'd exect to go after Makoto decided to... not do that. I guess it didn't want to deprive me of the EXP after all.



It also has the benefit of letting Kikimora absolutely destroy a Tam Lin. This is just as possible to happen to ours, of course.



And, amazingly enough, Daichi proc'd that Poison really early. The 11 is in part because this is a rare hit that didn't crit, but also because the other Knocker is still alive; so long as anything on the flanks survive, the team leader takes significantly less damage than you would expect.



Come Makoto's turn, we don't get to actually control her this time. She's considered neither enemy nor friend, which is appropriate enough.



See, like before no EXP is given out when she kills something. Much unlike before, however, the fights are fully automated in the most boring way possible. Further, we cannot stop her from interfering no matter what. This isn't that big of a problem here since its just one Agathion, but it can be more of an issue later.



After Makoto's done getting in the way, Io gets to do things again so we'll take out this other remaining Agathion.



The enemy NPCs turns come up now and because we killed some demons already, they summon new ones. This guy is 4 spaces away from escaping at this point but thankfully they only have a movement range of 3 so we can still catch him on Hibiki's turn.



None of the reinforcement demons are much special... except this guy. You might remember briefly catching a glimpse of one of these in the Cathedral of Shadows before; they're level 11, and this party has 2 of 'em.

So...? Which one do you want me to kill? I'll get the job done.
Ugh... What a pain! This demon's a strong one! Watch out!



We'll worry about that when the time comes, though. For now, Hibiki's off to fight this guy just before he can get away.

[Music: Attack]



All three human enemies here have the Hustle auto-skill. It costs 3 MP to trigger at the start of every skirmish without exception; it grants a 25% increase to both hit rate and evasion. Despite what you might expect, I don't think it's that great later on (not that it gets bad mind you; there's just way better options), but for now it's pretty useful.



Beyond that, though, these guys are super boring. This guys only actual skill is Snipe and that doesn't help him out any and he's taken out very, very quickly as a result.



Mana Bonus is really good for the obvious reasons, and it's weird that guy had it. He had no use for it but it's not coming off of Hibiki for a long time.



Oh and we can't kill humans. We just steal their phones and presumably destroy them later or give them to JPs or something.



Daichi's turn comes around next, and he takes on the Knocker from before. Poison's effect kicks in at the start of every round (so once or twice per fight), and deals exactly 20% of the sufferer's max HP.



This can be pretty useful on its own, and in this case is enough to help take out both Knockers. This one would probably barely survive otherwise, and poison just gets even better later.



In the midst of all this, Joe's been lucky enough to save all his manpower for his target on the other side of the map.



It wouldn't have made much of a difference if he didn't, though. This guy's even less impressive than the others which is saying something.



At least he gets an Auto-Skill out of it. This "warning" might seem self-explanatory and obvious, but it will actually be relevant later.



At this point, we've got all 4 moves we set to crack so we're on cleanup duty now. This Obariyon one of the dudes spawned is right by Io, so she'll take care of that.



Well, near enough. A single Obariyon isn't really a threat any more after all.



The Gagyson party decide to try and deprive me of experience. Instead, Makoto decides to not use Mazan for some reason achieving nothing but getting one of her Agathions killed, saving me the EXP but in return ridding the central Gagyson of most of its MP.



For now though, the Obariyon that's stuck alone is going to try and get revenge on Io. Once again, this is going to end exactly as well as you would expect it to.



Daichi, however, is going to tackle the Gagyson.



Because the leader had wasted 20 MP against Makoto already, the fight was super uninteresting and underwhelming.

See that Elec Dance skill? That's where that 20 MP went. It's kind of a shame that we can't get it here because it's the first of many skills I really want ASAP. To call it "really good" would be understating it; it is the best Electric attack. Yes, better than ones that don't even show up until later.



...To make matters worse, these guys are worth a fucking ton of EXP and Makoto wasted all of it. Thanks, jerk.



The last guy hasn't gotten very far since he started to run, and before he could get away he summoned a new Knocker. There's nothing else around, though, so we're basically done at this point.



He isn't able to put up a fight at all, despite being the most sensibly put together human opponent. Not that it means much when he's alone and not that threatening ayway.



This just leaves the Knocker, and Joe's going to try and beat it down. If he fails, then it doesn't really matter because Makoto's too far to get in the way any more.



Naturally, he doesn't quite take out the Knocker but its alone at this point. And to make it even better...



The Knocker decided to attack him right back immediately afterwards.



This goes pretty badly for it as usual. And with that, we are done.





Hibiki gets to level 11 out of it, which is important for one big reason.



We get to 10 Magic!

[Music: Exploration]



...My apologies, Kuze. I needed your help again.
Things seem pretty tough.

Makoto looks at you seriously...

No... This is the reason JP's exists. We have to be the ones to take care of this.



If the world wasn't in such a state, there probably wouldn't be so many abusing it...
But in these circumstances, it may be more difficult to resist the temptation.
You think so?
...You're strong. No matter what happens, don't lose hold of that strength.

Makoto thanks you again and leaves...



[Music: Silence]

All right, what's next for us? Maybe... Uh...

Daichi seems lost for words...

[Music: Elegy]

Oh yeah. There's... nothing really for us to do...
*sigh*

Io looks downcast...

What do you mean?
Um... Well... I'm not really sure myself...
But I feel like I've run out of options...



I dunno; if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to finish the Dubhe fight. Like, literally wouldn't have been able to. That's pretty useful!

I mean, isn't that so? I was forced to face up to that because of what's happening...
I... have no idea how I can help. It's like, what can a mere kid like me do?
......
We really don't have a choice but to leave the rest to the higher-ups here...

The group falls silent...

[Music: Silence]



Hm...?

[Music: Connected Hearts]

Aren't you kids still in high school? You're young!
Whatever folks say, you got a long life ahead of you. You gotta relax a little.



There is clearly only one option here.

Okay! Let's get lazy!
Uhh, Hibiki? I... don't think that's what he means.
*snrk* Hahaha... Ahahah! Stop... Haha!
Hah! Sweet, I got a laugh out of her!
Yeah... You're right! There's no sense getting all depressed. What was I thinking!?

The atmosphere seems to have improved...

[Music: Exploration]



Huh...!?
Hm?
By who?
Uhh, um, what was his name...? You know, that kid. The Chief of JP's.
Oh... That jerk? Hmm... What should we do, Hibiki?
We have to go.
Y-Yeah... Anyway, we don't have anywhere else to go.



Just go see the guy. Think of it as paying him back for his hospitality.
Ehh... Yeah, you're right. I don't know what he wants us for, but... we should go.
Yeah.

You decide to head to the Diet Building with everyone...



Hm!? Wait... Are you getting a call? How...?
Maybe it's Nicaea.
You think...? They usually send an email, though...

You answer the call.



What can I do for you?
I made the decision to register your phone with JP's' base.
Shijima and Nitta's phones should connect soon as well.
It only works for JP's?



By the way, I asked Akie to pass along a message. Has he done so?
Message received; we're on our way.
Excellent. I have something I need to discuss with you. I'll be at the Diet Building.

Yamato ends the call.

Um... Who was that?
It was Yamato.
JP's' chief...? Oh... Was it about him wanting to see us?



Heyyy... You're right. I've got full bars now.
Thank goodness... But how?

It seems everyone's cell phones are connected again...

Yamato did it. It's a JP's thing.
Oh? The Chief connected it for us?
Awww, he's not such a bad guy after all! Let's see here...

Daichi makes a call...

The number that you have dialled could not be reached.



Is that so? Huh... Let me give it a whirl...
Um... You guys... It's probably because, um...

Io seems to want to say something...

What is it?
Oh... Yes. Thanks.
Well... the reason we can use our cells is because they're in the JP's system now, right...?
But our phones back home and our friends' phones... those haven't been...



Whaaaaa...!? What's the deal with that? Talk about a useless system...
Not necessarily.



I'd say that's better than having no way to contact each other at all.
Hmm, yeah, I suppose.
Mmm-hmm... In our situation, that's more than enough to make me happy...



...To JP's! Sheesh, this guy's got the attention span of a goldfish...

Now that we're done here, we get a new e-mail from Nicaea about the Macca Bonus.



Most of it is uninteresting fluff, but the last bit is all that matters. Even if things go completely tits up at least you never lose money out of it.



We also gain the ability to buy Hare of Inaba and Kikimora from the auction now. Much more important, however, is that now that Hibiki is level 11 it's time to take that random Poltergeist and Obariyon I'd been carrying around to good use.



And just like that, we have a Gagyson of our own. He's definitely sticking around until he unlocks Elec Dance at level 14 at least. Gotta add that to the fusion pool by any means necessary!



Before we finish, let's go see what Yamato wants too. It must be important if he called us to check if we were coming.



Whew, we made it. It's not even noon yet and I'm already tuckered out.
Sheesh, this guy never quits bellyaching...



Yamato leaves...

Awww... Is that a no on the food? Bluhhh...



[Music: JPs -Geomagnetism Research Department-]



Well then. Let's begin.
Go right ahead.

Yamato smiles thinly...

Impatient, are we? Don't be so hasty... I'll get to it.
This morning, we kept our word and escorted you to your houses.



......
......

Daichi and Io look away...

I have a proposal for you all.



Is Osaka safe?
Who knows? It will be quicker to see for ourselves.
For ourselves?



Wh...!?
Uhhh, slow down there a sec. This Osaka thing... You're talking about us?

Yamato looks over the group...

Yes. I mean all of you.
All right.

Yamato smiles slightly...

A wise choice. I'll give you the rendezvous details.



Why do we have to go to Osaka?
Let me ask you this... Will you be saved by waiting? Will that get your lives back?
W-Well... How should I know?
You saw the condition Tokyo was in, didn't you? How did it make you feel?
"There's nothing we can do. Let's wait for the government to sort this out..."
I'd assume it was something along those lines.
Ngh... W-Well, yes, but... I mean, we were helpless!

[Music: Silence]



But this is no ordinary disaster. No one will resolve it for you while you wait.

[Music: Elegy]

Cast aside any such hopes you were harboring. Nothing about your life is guaranteed now.
But...!
If you want to survive... You must think and act for yourselves.



By going to Osaka, we can actively gather new intel rather than standing idly by.
There may even be a clue there that can lead us closer to the truth behind this calamity.
Alright... So that's why you wanna go to Osaka. But why us?





Is that clear? Then I look forward to seeing which conclusion you reach.

Yamato leaves...

[Music: Silence]



......
......

[Music: Connected Hearts]



I guess... We gotta go? Not like I mind. I mean, what else am I gonna do?
I'm interested. If there's any way I can help, it may be better to take action...
But.. what is there in Osaka to find out? Clues about the cause of the disaster...?
Maybe even a solution.



Ughhh! That's it! No more! Going in circles on this stuff won't get us anywhere!



Then we'll get some answers! We'll know what he's thinking or what's going on!
And once we know THAT... then we can talk about this again! That's what I say.
You're... actually right. That may be the best way to go. Let's go to Osaka, okay?
Uhhh... wait, what? We're all going to Osaka? Alright, sure, yeah.
I was always gonna go.



*snrk* Haha...! All right, Shinbashi around 10:00. Everyone remember that.

You chat a little longer and go your separate ways...

[Music: Exploration]



And now the second, and much more important, reason for going to see Yamato immediately was revealed. We can spend time hanging out with him now!

...And we will be, since it's our first opportunity to do so. This will be the case for everyone else too - we will hang out with everyone at least once. Whether we do so more than that remains to be seen, of course.

But since we're spending some time with Yamato, that leaves only one free event before 10. Of course, we could also make him wait until 10:30 if necessary.

As per usual, please make your decision HERE