Part 37: Episode 36: The Battle of Sudden Flame

Well, we have one gimmick boss fight out of the way! Only two more this disc! Yeah, if it wasn’t for Infodump Fest 2000 this would be a pretty short disc. We have two and a half more required dungeons and a short optional one left.

But let’s get back to our work at hand. We got the staff! All is sunshine and butterflies!


The game is nice enough to give us a quick exit to the first screen from the boss chamber. They are rarely that kind. So its a short trip to the exit and our first speedbump to happiness. Everything starts shaking.

Dart: "It cannot be.... Is that the Divine Dragon!?"

Miranda: "Don't be silly!! It's too early!! !!"

Ah, yes. I remember when the Divine Dragon sent us an invitation to his next attack and asked us to RSVP. It was all a trick to think we were actually going to get to go to his party!


Everything gets awful dark as the Dragon flies low enough overhead to blot out the sun over the party. Its kind of large, ya dig?

Miranda: "Oh no, Deningrad!!"

Dart: "We gotta run!!"


Ancestor Blano: "Did you get the Dragon Block Staff!?"

Dart: "We did! But the Divine Dragon!"

Ancestor Blano: "I know! I am teleporting you to Deningrad!!"

Meru: "Ancestor! It's too much! You don't have power like in the old days do you!?"

Ancestor Blano: "We have no time left to think!!"


Ancestor Blano passes the time watching Dragon Ball Z and attempts to emulate their power ups. This continues into a “Aaaaaaahhhhhh!” Let’s see how much good this does him.


Meru’s mom and dad run on screen as the teleport orb jerks around spastically in the background.

Ancestor Blano: "I'm fine."


He may be fine, but he’s still a failure!


Meru’s father starts work on a teleport spell himself.

Meru's Mother: "I would like to see the future that Meru and her friends create!!"

Her mom joins right in and starts pouring power into it too.


Guaraha flies in from off screen and joins the TP party. Hell yeah. We’re getting us some power of friendship all up in this joint. There is no failing now!!!

Ancestor Blano: "Go on! Dart!"

And we fire off into the distance at mach 2. Which is just about right to get us in town to view the aftermath.


Click to Watch a Dragon Fuck Shit Up


Ah yes. A beautiful day to go shopping in Deningrad. A burning 30 degrees out, not sure how they can stand that heat!


A chance to enjoy the scenic views of the Crystal Palace.


And it’s currently migration season for the rare and elusive Divine Dragon.


Daddy, why is that quarter mile long dragon looking at me funny?


The Dragon starts off with some good ol’ fashioned fly by destruction like the first time it visited town. Boooring we saw that shit already.


The Divine Dragon is more than willing to give us a new viewing experience though. It opens up some weird missile launcher on its chest and starts firing away.


RATHER excitedly I might add. I think in about two thirds of second he fired more fireballs than took out Seles back in disc 1.


The balls streak down and pretty much completely wreck everything in sight.


He then flies out to a cliff overlooking the city to admire his handy work.


And start charging for the coup de grâce.


Yes. This dragon does have a giant, fuck off cannon on his back.


Which he is MORE than willing to fire directly at the Crystal Palace. Didn’t we have some friends or something in there?


Oh.


A small golden glowing object falls from the top of the tower.


Somewhere on the way down it fires off a beam all the way to the god damned moon.


Which has giant waves of lightning race over its surface. Huh, didn’t they say something about the Signet in the tower sealing something in? That’s kind of worrying.


Job done, the Dragon flies off leaving Deningrad a complete wasteland.


Miranda: "We're too late!! Is, is this Deningrad!? The Crystal Palace is destroyed!! Queen Theresa!! Don't be such a laggard!! Shana is in the castle too!!

The ol’ city ain’t looking too good these days. For reference here’s how it looked about 20 minutes ago


Gotta love what they’ve done with the place.


Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "Ah.... S, Sister...Miranda?"

Fourth Sacred Sister Setie: "Sister Miranda, are we...alive?"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Good. It seems you are not injured either."

Fourth Sacred Sister Setie: "I, I was scared."



Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "Did you get the Dragon Block Staff?"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Yes, we got it."

Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "Now, we can prepare for the next raid."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "What do you mean 'next'?"

Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "The psyche that the Divine Dragon sent towards the Crystal Palace was a black, bottomless mass of hate. There must be a 'next'."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "I won't let him!"

Fourth Sacred Sister Setie: "What about Queen Theresa!? Is Queen Theresa safe!?"


Now, when trying to get an injured and knocked out soldier awake some people would maybe try to shake them, or yell at them. Maybe use your fancy “healing magic” if you happened to be the White Silver Dragoon. Miranda just slaps the side of the guys head. I hope those leather gloves are thick cause slapping a metal helmet has to sting.

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Hey!! Wake up!!"

Holy Knights Gate Keeper: "Ah, yes ma'am!! Sister Miranda!!"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Take care of these two!!"

With their incompetent guard now up and functioning Miranda books it further into the castle.

Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "Don't worry. Queen Theresa is safe. Wink is fine too. Everything is fine, thanks to her."


Dart finally strolls in a minute later.

Dart: "Are you all right!?"

Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "We are fine. Sister Miranda went upstairs."

Dart: "What about Shana!?"

Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "She should be upstairs too.”

I’m not entirely convinced there IS an upstairs any more after the chunks we saw fall off this thing.


Dart: "Wink! Are you all right!?"

Up to this point Dart has never actually met Wink on screen. WE have seen her in flashbacks and the like, but he hasn’t.

Third Sacred Sister Wink: "I am fine. Sister Miranda gave me treatment."

Dart: "!! Shana's room!!"

Yeaaaah. The path to it on the left is kind of completely gone now.

Third Sacred Sister Wink: "Wait! Miss Shana is alive! She must be upstairs with Queen Theresa."

Dart: "I got it!!"


Meru: "Wow!"

Dart: "What is this light?"

Albert: "What is going on?"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "I don't know. When I came here it was already like this."

Dart: "Shana!?"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Queen Theresa!! Where are you!?"


We are all shocked to find that the source of mysterious power is Shana. Who is currently kind of defying gravity and floating three feet off the ground.


The threat over, she finally drops the protective magic and falls to her knees on the ground.

Dart: "Shana!!"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Queen Theresa!!"

Shana: "Dart!?"

Dart: "It's me! Can you understand?"

Shana: "Dart.... Everybody.... You are safe. How about Queen Theresa?"

Queen Theresa: "Ah...."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Queen Theresa!!"



Dart: "Don't worry. Queen Theresa is safe."

Shana: "I'm relieved."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "I couldn't live if something happened to Queen Theresa. I'm relieved. I'm really relieved."

Queen Theresa: "You cannot call Setie a crybaby anymore."


Aw she isn’t a completely heartless bitch. Our little Miranda is growing up.

We then have a little fade to black time skip while presumably everyone is out cleaning the town up and doing head counts.


Queen Theresa: "Everything has calmed down anyhow. Welcome back. And no one was lost. Fortunately, the damage to the people seems to be minimal. I assume we had the blessing of the Divine Tree."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "What was that light? It was as if it were protecting Queen Theresa and Shana."

Dart: "Yes, the light was...."

And then after our jump forward we immediately flash back to before the attack!



Shana: "Not really, but I cannot stand still."

Queen Theresa: "I see. It seems that all we can do is trust them and wait."

Shana: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Queen Theresa: "What is happening!?"


Well that was an illuminating twenty seconds telling us pretty much exactly what we already knew


First Sacred Sister Miranda: "My sisters were guarded by the same light as well! Everyone was saved by you!"

Shana: "But I don't know anything about this power. This power is forcing Dart to face danger. And, I harm people! The people in Seles too, it was my fault."

Dart: "That's not true! It was Doel who did that!"

Shana: "Who am I?"


Second Sacred Sister Luanna: "She passed out."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "It was my fault. I didn't know anything and I told her too much. Where are you going?"


Dart moves away from the still passed out Shana. Who is apparently REALLY good at sleeping on her feet. Both the Sisters have their hands down, she’s still leaning slightly forward like when she landed on Dart. And he’s two feet to the right.

Dart: "To the Mountain of Mortal Dragon."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Are you leaving Shana like that!?"

Dart: "I'll come back after I defeat the Divine Dragon. Miranda, could you take care of Shana?"

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Are you telling me to stay here!?"

Dart: "The Divine Dragon is not the only monster in the Mt. of Mortal Dragon! You are a Sacred Sister of this country. There is no obligation for you to come with us."

First Sacred Sister Miranda: "Did you forget? I am one of the Dragoons, the same as you. I have no intention to withdraw from this battle. Besides, Shana told me. 'Please take care of the rest'. I intend to keep that promise.

Queen Theresa: "We have reached an agreement. Everyone, I am counting on you."

Dart: "Yes, Your Majesty. Please trust us."

Possibly we could have asked the Dragon Spirit to pick someone that fit into the party a little more cleanly. Just maybe. Anyway we apparently pick up our statue like Shana and drag her down to the Inn which is in surprisingly good shape. We apparently kicked all the refugees out so Shana could rest in peace.


Dart: "I'll bring everybody here."


Haschel: "I didn't know you could be sensible, Meru! Ha ha ha!"

Meru: "Of course! I learned how to care for others from them!"

Lies and treachery. She’s just making them relax so she can hope to get a glimpse later.

Haschel: "We gotta get going."

Albert: "We will be back soon."

The first half of the group walks out and the rest wander in.


Miranda: "Are you all right?"

Rose: "I cannot believe your timing."

Miranda: "That is no way to talk to a friend!"

Rose: "I haven't seen your power as a Dragoon, have I?"

Miranda: "Are you saying you don't trust me!?"

Shana: "Please stop. Miranda is fine. She can do better than me."


Rose busting in with the ice cold shot at both Miranda and Shana.

Miranda: "Is she like that all the time?"

Shana: "Actually Rose is concerned about me."

Miranda: "What a clumsy woman."


Ok, so it’s not an exciting picture. But Kongol gets about four lines a disc so he can show up on screen once in a while.

Dart: "I am leaving."

And Dart just kind of walks out while Shana just sits there. Smooth operator up in this joint.


Then he heads outside and we are pretty much ready to rock.

Dart: "Let's go to the Mt. Dragon Tomb."

Although we have one last thing to do here. A nice five stardust and a turn in and our next stardust item.


Our first two are actually both on this carpet. One here and one more on the other outside edge. If you need to hit up the shop keeps they are now in the tent right in front of us.


The Clinic has relocated upstairs of the Inn. And has a Stardust.


The last two are in the Crystal Palace. One on the broken path to Shana’s room.


And the last one is up in the throne room itself. 45 acquired. 5 to go. Awww yeah.

Martel is now standing by the exit of the city giving aid to the wounded. Hand over our most recent pile and we get a Rainbow Earring.


The only thing it doesn’t stop is instant death, so pretty handy. We can just about toss out any status protection items we have now. Although I kind of regret this in the next dungeon!

So next time, we get to come face to face with the Divine Dragon itself. You better hold onto your butts.