Then a cutscene happens where the three-party team goes through an icy path with a massive wave of blizzard, and Mudkip gets another existential crisis as he wonders if he's doing the right thing. Bulbasaur notes how the scenery is starting to repeat and if three is even anything in the far north that we are traveling. But this is quickly handwaved aside with the power of friendship... and it's about time for another cryptic dream!
Gardevoir -- or rather, her ghost -- appears again and talks to me. 'Finally, you have arrived'. Gardevoir's ghost even appears in the overworld, but neither Bulbasaur nor Absol are able to see her. Gardevoir tells me that on top of a nearby mountain called Mt. Freeze is where Ninetales lives. And Ninetales will tell everything, apparently. Gardevoir doesn't really say much more beyond that, and her 'beware-' is cut off randomly.
It took me two runs to clear Mt. Freeze, mostly because at some point a Pupitar managed to unleash a critical hit Thrash upon poor Absol and one-shot it. Still, I did feel like this location was a lot less frustrating to traverse compared to the previous two dungeons. Maybe the simple fact of having more teammates makes it a lot more fun because I have more options? Absol's movepool isn't the widest, but it's definitely something more than what I had before.
Mt. Freeze has a bunch of interesting Pokemon, in that despite its name, there really aren't many Ice-types. Glalies are around, which is expected in an icy mountain, but also Seel... which isn't a Ice-type you'd associate with a mountainpeak. Pinecos are still around from the previous icy area. But the rest? We've got a strange mix of powerful Normal-types like Zangoose, Vigoroth and Slaking... and also vaguely draconic or dragon-related Pokemon like Shelgon, Swablu and Pupitar. Also, Sevipers and Chimechos are around.
What follows next... is not a boss fight as I expected, but an animated cutscene! Which, considering the game engine and how it has to count for around a dozen different potential player/partner Pokemon, I must commend them on doing a serviceable one. It starts off as just the two parties running at each other, but it devolves into some clashes. Mudkip and Bulbasaur, by necessity, needs to use physical tackles, but the fact that they bothered instead of just fading to black is much appreciated. Mudkip fights Alakazam as the two leaders, Absol and Tyranitar slam onto each other, and a surprisingly acrobatic Bulbasaur hops circles around Charizard.
Being the cryptic fair folk that she is, though, Ninetales dodges the question when Alakazam demands the identity of the cursed human; and also does not give any explanation as to why I, Mudkip the isekai'd human, landed in the Pokemon world. Bulbasaur bawls at this revelation, which is a bit over-the-top but still kind of cute. At least our primary goal of clearing my name is done.
Ninetales also notes that the 'human that abandoned his Gardevoir' and 'global warming cataclysm' prophecies are completely unrelated, and that it shouldn't be stitched together. Indeed, the changes in the local weather patterns and the cause of all these cataclysms is something else entirely... and the shifting of the tectonic plates is going to awaken something -- a much more powerful elder creature slumbering deep beneath the earth itself... Groudon. The Legendary Pokemon of the Land, who lies slumbering within magma after his continent-warping battle with his ancient rival Kyogre.
After hyping Groudon up, Team Alakazam decides to go off and try to stop Groudon's awakening, noting that Groudon is way more powerful than any of the legendaries we've faced before.
After hyping Groudon up, Team Alakazam decides to go off and try to stop Groudon's awakening, noting that Groudon is way more powerful than any of the legendaries we've faced before.
And it's at this point that Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol return back to town. The confidence that they have unnerves Gengar, who regardless goes back to demanding out blood. Bulbasaur announces how we've met Ninetales and were declared innocent, but Gengar rather sensibly asks for proof... which we don't actually have to bring back. The other townspeople get sick of Gengar, though, and start yelling at him for being a nasty provocateur. Our little fanboy Caterpie is the first to speak up, and Shiftry also gangs up on Gengar. And finally Lombre and Snubbull begin to join in too.
With our reputation restored and Gengar 'gehgehgeh'-ing to panic, Team Meanies runs off while being chased down by Shiftry and the other villagers. Caterpie is left behind to welcome us back home, and finally, finally, Mudkip's Fugitive Arc is over. It's a nice little narrative mechanic, exploring several long dungeons to really feel the impact of the plot, but I for one am very happy to be able to recruit Pokemon again into my little army, er, rescue team.
At this point gameplay returns back to the pre-fugitive days, and I go off and grind a bit of the prior dungeons to recruit some new allies and to stock back up on Oran Berries and whatnot.
Kangaskhan is the only one who isn't surprised, being confident that we didn't betray the Pokemon Square. Considering that Kangaskhan's service is the only one out of the town NPC services we could access during the fugitive arc via the statues, it makes sense that she's secretly on our side all along.
Also a somewhat interesting reaction is Whiscash in the pool, who is morose that so much trouble happened because he told the myth of Ninetales without considering the consequences and it spiralled out of control. No!!! Grandpa fish!!! It's not your fault!!!
Anyway, with that huge part of the storyline done, I'm just happy to relax and do smaller dungeons for a while, gathering items before the plot finds me again... next time, in Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX!
Random Notes:
- l do really like the elevation of Ninetales to an almost-deific stature. Even Absol too, as well. The way Bulbasaur talks about Ninetales, it's like she's not a creature that most people are sure exists or not... I like that a lot. I like writers being able to pick and choose interesting Pokemon that would fit into folklore and turning them into more epic roles.
- The Slakings in Mt. Freeze look quite intimidating, but they still have their mainline game's Truant ability, meaning they skip a couple of turns. They don't hit anywhere as hard as their mainline game counterparts, though.
- Mt. Freeze also has a weather mechanic -- Hail -- which deals damage over time to my party members. I was focused on getting to each subsequent staircase as fast as I could, but in a more completionist run this would've been a lot more annoying.
- Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team Red & Blue predates the Alolan games by a significant margin. Therefore it is quite interesting that this game associates the original Kanto Ninetales with an icy peak almost a decade before the actual Ice-Fairy Alolan Ninetales was introduced.
- The game does a great job with 'panicked' portraits and 'crying' portraits, yeah? Gengar, Medicham and Bulbasaur all have really great expressions thanks to the portraits.
- In one of the random missions I do, I manage to recruit a bunch of Pokemon... one of them being Onix, which has a much larger body, taking up four spaces on the battlefield. It's more disadvantage than anything since enemies have more spots to gang up on you (which is why the legendary birds and their jacked-up stats are a bit more fair) and particularly annoying because when I want to move, I can't actually push Onix around despite Onix being in my party.
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