Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 10: Death in the Sky

So the final stretch of the game starts off with a dream. But it's not Gardevoir this time, but rather Gengar! Having been absent for a while, everyone's favourite bully and rascal shows up to try and eat my dreams and give me nightmares, because Gengar wants to expose me... for some vaguely-defined reason. He rants about me being a human before, and that means I can't be a good person. Interesting mindset there, Gengar!

However, a bright glowing light shows up, and drives Gengar off in fear (and tears, as revealed later). Okay, that's a bit random! It is also a bit random because I'm trying to save the world from a meteor, I think trying to 'expose' my true nature or whatever isn't something that you should be focusing on, Gengar. But the whole point of his character is that he's petty and obsessed with reputation, so okay. 

Gardevoir appears and gives me a bunch of revelations. Turns out that my purpose was to deal with this meteor, which is a fair bit less mystical than I thought it would be. And I don't want to be too harsh on a children's video game released more than two decades ago, but there are a lot of bizarre plot holes here. Gardevoir notes that the original 'me', the human, was selected because of some quality that would allow me to save the world from the meteor. Fair enough, typical isekai stuff. But then it leads to the question of the 'human world' and 'Pokemon world' that has never really been properly explained. The Pokemon in the Mystery Dungeon world clearly know what a 'human' is, and apparently one of their key legends involves a human, a Gardevoir and a Ninetales interacting with each other. A legend that is proven to be true and no one acts surprised that it's true. So at what point did the humans and Pokemon started to diverge? 

Anyway, Gardevoir also notes that apparently, before being isekai'd, I asked the mysterious forces that isekai'd me to wipe away all my memories. Not all of them, just most of them... because clearly I know I'm a human. Just... just not my purpose. Which is handwaved as me not feeling suitable for the job, and whatever I do in the world will fill me with that confidence that I am really the chosen one or something... which, again, not the smartest thing to do because a K-Pg extinction event level meteor is incoming to the world, and also... just what did the memory loss really prove? It's honestly kind of a weird insertion of this 'chosen one' and 'isekai purpose' plot that doesn't really fit all that well. It is telling that Ginji's Rescue Team introduces a different story beat to focus on for its climax; one that's apparently only explored in the epilogue, and that's also the one that most of the people I discuss Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue with remember the most.  

Gardevoir then also explains that at the end of this purpose, after dealing with the meteor, I can return to my world... but that would also mean parting with Bulbasaur. I am sad at this, and Gardevoir talks about how she, too, has to part and be separated with someone she was once close with, but meetings and partings are just a way of life. It's at this point that Gardevoir realizes someone is spying on the dream... and that interloper, Gengar, has ran away crying. 

Yep, again, without spoiling a 20-year-old game, all of this feels like it would've made for a much stronger emotional hook than whatever that was. Oh well!

The game lets me thankfully grind in other dungeons first, which I sorely needed. Not just because of the level thing, which I also desperately need, but I just need more apples! So the meteor is nice enough to continue falling down to earth while I run around some of the previous dungeons, building up Magnemite to use in Sky Tower.

As I head into Sky Tower, Alakazam and Xatu are sitting on Xatu's peak waiting for me. They tell me that the two of them created something called the Teleport Orb... and they also had help from a very shy Ghost-type Pokemon. Aww, Gengar! I mean, he's still scum, honestly, but at least he's helping out. The teleport orb lands us... in the middle of nowhere in the sky, leading to a comical scene where Mudkip and Bulbasaur fall several dozen feet until they land onto clouds that we can walk on. Any explanations to why these clouds are walkable, One-Piece or James-and-the-Giant-Peach style? No, no real explanations. My garlic frog and mudskipper boy can just walk on it just because. 

Sky Tower itself is connected to this cloud platform, and it's a impressive... well, giant tower made of clouds! It really does have a 'J-RPG last dungeon' vibe to it. And as I enter and prepare to fight a horde of Flying-type Pokemon, the first Pokemon I meet is...

...Forretress. 

Yes. The Pokemon based on a bagworm, a type of caterpillar. And not just that, also one that's covered itself in steel, and also has a visual resemblance to mollusks. Yes. Hundreds of feet above the ground, in a remote location where only those gifted with the powers of flight can reach, my first encounter is a metallic bomb bagworm. 

You know what? I'm not even mad. It's so funny, I can't be angry at it. 

Other Pokemon on this altitude are all Flying-types or are beings that levitate. I do get that they don't want everything here to be Flying-types, hence we've got hovering ghosts like Duskull and Shuppet, or levitating Pokemon like Weezing, Sorlock and Lunatone. But Forretress? Really? 

Anyway, after being defeated the first time, I started grinding a fair bit. I have a couple dozen Makuhita dojo tickets, and I decided on the party I wanted to bring to the Sky Tower, which is Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol. I pump up their stats with the pile of gummis and vitamins that I've never, ever used. Maybe that's why I've been finding some parts of the game so hard, I've kind of been gimping myself by not using these as soon as I get them. A bit more grinding to stock up on berries and seeds later, and I am back up on the Sky Tower grind. 

Sky Tower stands a whopping 36 floors, and I really do like the Pokemon population as we go up. Anything that floats or has wings are fair game, so we've got Scizor, Venomoth, Claydol... not sure about the Dusclops, though. Altaria, the dragon-bird made out of clouds, is perhaps the one that's the most sensible to see around.

Perhaps the most dangerous ones to me, however, are Tropius and Flygon, who just plain hit really, really hard and infest the upper half of the dungeon. Tropius is particularly dangerous to me because I run Mudkip as my main Pokemon; while Flygons just deal a lot of area damage in general. 

Through all of this, ranged attacks are my friends. Bulbasaur has Energy Ball, and Mudkip has the glorious Ice Beam, which deals super-duper-effective damage to a lot of Pokemon like Flygon, Tropius and Salamence. Absol having Fire Blast is also great for the Scizors and Forretresses that can tank the Ice Beams. Oh, yeah, the pseudo-legendary Salamence and Metagross show up in the last couple of levels, and those are as scary as they are in the regular main games. 

And, of course, at the topmost part of the tower is... Rayquaza himself. 

And just like all the legendary birds, Rayquaza is on a 'fight first, ask questions later' mentality. His pre-boss fight banter is a rather interesting one, where Rayquaza gives this huge rant about how he has spent the last hundred thousand years in the skies, and creatures on the ground should know their place -- just like how he knows his place in the sky. A bit different for you to get on ground when you're perpetually floating, Rayquaza, but oh well. 

The fight against Rayquaza, I felt, was a fair bit easier than Groudon was. The grinding I did before Sky Tower and through Sky Tower probably helped a fair bit, but Mudkip knowing the 4x effective Ice Beam is most certainly a major factor of why it went a bit easier. 

There is a bit of a gimmick with the Rayquaza fight where sometimes some tiles light up, indicating that a massive gust of wind is about to blow through... but with two of my three party members knowing moves that can hit Rayquaza from anywhere on the battlefield, it really is just a matter of endurance, spamming Tiny Reviver Seeds and Oran Berries, and just chipping away at Rayquaza. He's also got a pretty neat special animation showing off his Hyper Beam attacks. 

Ultimately, Rayquaza falls. And just like the legendary birds, Rayquaza shows that he's not actually done yet, and he's about to charge his Hyper Beam. Before he fires, however, an earthquake -- or rather, a skyquake -- shocks everyone present. Rayquaza is a bit confused about it until Bulbasaur yells at him to look up... and there's a meteor falling down from the skies! It's a really huge meteor, too, and some angles in the cutscenes make it look like it's larger than entire mountains. 

Rayquaza forgets being an elitist about whether you're a Pokemon of the land or the sky, and decides to take aim and fire on the giant meteor. Before he does that, he tries to test Mudkip and Bulbasaur's mettle, asking if they are ready should they turn to collateral damage. Of course, being anime protagonists, Mudkip and Bulbasaur yell something to the effect that they are always ready and wouldn't have came if they didn't know the risks. Rayquaza takes aim, and launches a Hyper Beam that hits the center of the meteor. The cutscene takes a hilariously long amount of time for what's basically just cutting to and from the same shot, but I suppose they spent a lot of time modelling that meteor and wanted some mileage out of it. 

The shock waves from the meteor launch Mudkip and Bulbasaur away... and I cut off to Mudkip in a strange, white smoky plane. Mudkip immediately identify this as him being turned into a 'spirit'. Which means it's the damned afterlife. Right, rather unexpectedly in a game that still mostly plays around the PG-13 rules of Pokemon, we get to see Mudkip in purgatory, in the border between life and death. 

And as Mudkip lies there, Gengar shows up. Gengar makes a whole big deal about going kekekekeh and dragging me to the 'dark realm'. Right, dragged off to hell by a shadow ghost! I also love how my character's first response to that is 'what the heck is the dark realm'? We get a scene of Gengar dragging Mudkip along... but around halfway through, Gengar goes all frustrated and he's obviously acting, because Arceus-forbid he does something nice. Gengar then decides to just 'leave me behind', and I wake up surrounded by the supporting cast on Xatu's mountain. Bulbasaur tells me that he, too, was rescued by Gengar. 

We then get into a bit of a celebratory moment. Xatu notes how the meteor disappearing is going to make the calamities and natural disasters slowly dissipate. The supporting cast gets all happy about it, and there's a bit of a joke about everyone trying to get Lombre held in place so Blastoise could shoot him with a Hydro Pump. It feels a bit odd and a bit too long, especially since Lombre is such a flat character that I'm not sure why he's being bullied like that. 

But as I, isekai Mudkip, watches all of this going on, the ghostly spirit of Gardevoir shows up and tells me that it is time. There's a bit of a whole tearful goodbye as everyone present realizes that my body is starting to break apart and turn into fragments of light. Bulbasaur gets all sad and cries about how this wasn't what he wanted, that we promised to be a Rescue Team, and how everything wasn't supposed to be like this, and why didn't I tell him what was going on. 

As I turn into a ball of spirit-light and float up into the sky, some of the more mature characters like Alakazam and Xatu try to comfort Bulbasaur, saying that Mudkip probably feels just as sad, and there was no real way to communicate it during the adventure. They also reiterate how saving the meteor was the purpose of why I came to the Pokemon world. Most of the characters get a line or two of dialogue, although the only memorable one is Shiftry, who bemoans never really managing to thank me. 

And at that point, as my spirit floats into the sky and the rest of the world of Pokemon mourn my passing, I hear 'voices' -- of whom the game doesn't indicate who -- talking about how my friend is heartbroken, how Bulbasaur is a true friend, and perhaps someday, we'll meet again. 

Then the credits roll. It's completely just words, and I really feel this would've been a lot nicer with like even generic screenshots of the adventures that Mudkip and Bulbasaur has been. As it is, a long unskippable credits scene isn't the best thing to sit through. 

And at the end, Mudkip in the ball of light responds to the mysterious voice he's talking to, saying that he doesn't want to leave, and he wants to go back to his friend. And thus, with the wish and choice being made, the strange powers that be send the ball of light back to the Pokemon world, and I remanifest as a Mudkip in front of my house, where I'm greeted once more by Bulbasaur. 

The end! Though not really, cause the game made sure to tell me that there are a lot more post-game content to deal with, please don't leave. 

But that's it for now from me for Mystery Dungeon DX. It's been a great, fun ride. I never had the chance to play Mystery Dungeon back in the GBA/DS days, since I never managed to find the cartridge for sale; and by the time I had some savings of my own, Mystery Dungeon was nowhere to be found on the shelves. The only way I could enjoy this wacky spinoff had been through strategy guides and the Ginji's Rescue Team manga, and I've seen my friend play through some parts of the story. It's always been fascinating to me that this is a world where we cut away the human portions, and focus fully on having the Pokemon as characters, something that I genuinely didn't realize I needed until I discovered the world of Mystery Dungeon. 

That said, how do I feel about the game? Knowing a lot of the story beats already, none of the plot twists (other than that there's a final level post-Groudon) are particularly new to me, so that is something that might've influenced my opinion on this game. I would also note how grindy the game is, and the gameplay cycle really isn't something that I enjoyed anywhere as much as any of the mainline Pokemon games... or maybe I'm just an old fart now. There are also many aspects of the story where the drama just doesn't hit, particularly everything revolving the 'main mission' of me being isekai'd, who are the powers that isekai'd me, and the specific connections to the human world... 

But ultimately, those are relatively minor complaints. I did truly enjoy the chance to play through this game and the story, and while I don't think I like the gameplay enough to fully complete the post-game -- I'll probably take a crack at some of the early missions -- I am happy to say that I at least completed the main story! So yes, until next time!

Random Notes:

• I will probably do the post-game which leads up to a bunch of revelations about the Ninetales legend at some point... but not right now. I'm not the biggest fan of the Mystery Dungeon gameplay cycle and the novelty has definitely worn off. I do want to take a break from the game and work through my list of other games -- Metroid Prime and Legends of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom are two Nintendo ones I do want to get through -- and so I might do a bit of a 'post-script'. Or I might not. I haven't done one for Shining Pearl, have I?
  
• The name Gardevoir has its root words in French, so in the past couple of dreams she has been signing off with au revoir, which I thought is cute. 
• Another Pokemon that shows up in the Sky Tower is Dusclops, which... doesn't make the most sense either, but at least its pre-evolution Duskull flies up and there's a slight bit of Ghost-type theme on the middle-lower floors. 
• But seriously, I depended quite a bit on Mudkip's Ice Beam. I brought some extra Max Ethers just to reload Mudkip's Ice Beams!
• Another type of items I haven't been using properly are the orbs. I think I used a Petrify Orb in one of the later levels in Sky Tower, and a Power-Up Orb in the Rayquaza fight... I just am one of those gamers that just hoard all the consumables for fear of using them, I suppose.
• I do know what Gengar's deal is, but since his story apparently all happens in the post-game, a lot of what he's doing in the main story really does end up feeling a bit like it comes out of nowhere, doesn't it? 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 9: Magma Core

And so, it begins! After a strange side detour involving the renovation of my new rescue base, the plot-relevant earthquakes begin to happen again. Lombre pops up and begins gathering everyone to the town square, at which point we see all of these other random off-screen rescue teams! They actually exist!

Again, I really would have appreciated one or two of them showing up as a random encounter in town or something, which would've been absolutely doable with the modern technology. Or even in a cutscene when we were being fugitives. But okay. 

We've got a Golbat, Mr. Mime, Rhydon, Meganium, Raichu, Aipom, Scyther, Pinsir, Octillery, Blastoise, Golem and an adorable little Phanpy. They've all been gathered by Shiftry, who calls in the meeting because Team Alakazam hasn't been back yet. Everyone goes into a bit of a panicked discussion, and Shiftry notes that he's going to organize a rescue team and is asking for volunteers. 

Blastoise from 'Team Hydro' steps up to volunteer to lead, which makes sense since he's a Water-type going into a magma-filled location, and he boasts that he can take out Groudon with a single Hydro Pump. Team Constrictor's Octillery also slides up, and they note that she's extremely good in battles of endurance. Not what I associate Octillery with, but okay. The last member is Golem from Team Rumblerock, who's known to be the most brutal of them. He wants to keep Groudon buried underground. Everyone is appreciative of this impressive lineup, and they head off to solve the problem. 

There is, of course, the question why everyone just doesn't march as an army and go deep into the underground to stop Groudon, but that's a question for the J-RPG format in general. 

A day later, however, this hodgepodge team returns back to Pokemon Square, apparently being defeated before they could even see Groudon. Blastoise, Octillery and Golem are traumatized. No idea who pulled their fat out of the fire, though. I guess the just crawled back, injured? Gengar shows up with his 'kekekekekeh' and starts yelling demoralizing stuff, noting that everyone should accept what is impossible. 

And indeed, a lot of the Pokemon in the square are starting to be terrified -- and I do like that the camera focuses on Scyther, Pinsir and Bellsprout discussing about their weakness to Fire. Even Shiftry, who called this mission together in the first place, has to admit that being a Grass-type himself, he wouldn't survive particularly long in the magma dungeon. 

Gengar does a talk about how sometimes it's much better to know when to give up. Which, by the way, is not a bad advice sometimes... but not in a situation like this! Bulbasaur and Mudkip yell that they're going to do the rescuing, which surprises everyone around them. Some of the rescue team members recognize us as the ones that succeeded in the recent fugitive saga and reached the peak where Ninetales lives. 

Bulbasaur gives a speech about how rescue teams are created with the idea of rescuing other Pokemon, and this is exactly a situation like that... just on a bigger scale. Everyone starts holding on to their 'pride' -- their pride as rescuers, and even Blastoise's team gets back up with a 'we've only failed once!' The tone of the conversation begins to change. Gengar and his ugegegeh is extremely angry about this, not accepting that these people would go marching to their certain defeat... but of course, he gets shot down with the crowd now being convinced of the pride of the rescue team. It's pretty neat.

All the rescue teams are apparently planning to head into the magma cavern... which is neat, but none of them are joining my team. Come on, at least lend me the Blastoise! But oh well. It's final dungeon time, and I am heading in with Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol -- I don't think I have a particularly good third option for those that would survive in a Ground or Fire-type dungeon. 

All the shopkeepers have something to say about Bulbasaur's speech at the center of the square, being inspired and resolving to continue supporting us. How about some discounts, though, Kecleon bros? No? Bully for you. 

Magma Cavern is a massive, sprawling 26-floor dungeon, which is a significant increase from the previous couple of dungeons. Mt. Freeze was a mere 20-floor dungeon, and all other dungeons before were shorter length. So yeah, I did a couple of quick runs through lower-level dungeons to stock up on Oran Berries, Max Ethers, Max Revival Seeds and Apples -- both for storage and in the inventory, and then off we go! 

Oh, right before this happens, I get another Gardevoir dream, who tells me that soon, the reason why I was transported into this world will be made clear. She'll tell me all about it once I finish this dungeon or something. Okay, then, keep your mystical secrets. 

And the length of the dungeon is quite debilitating. Thankfully, recruiting still happens as usual, so at least I do have some other Pokemon joining my party. I do try to keep my resources in tow, though, so I went through a record amount of losing teammates and re-recruiting new teammates. There are also fainted Pokemon, including some atypical ones for a volcano dungeon, like Cloyster, Staryu and Jumpluff... which I'm going to assume are perhaps other rescue teams that didn't make it to the depths of the world. 

Magma Cavern is filled with a lot of Ground-types and Fire-types, but, again, there's also a mixture of other Pokemon that would logically be in a cave. We've got expected ones like Magcargo, Rhydon, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Sandslash, Golem, Magmar, Onix and Steelix... but also ones that make their home in caves like Crobat, Grimer, Koffing, Mawile and Arbok. I do like that the population changes from floor to floor, with Sandshrews and Raticates only existing in the top floors, and the bottom floors has the visually impressive Onix and Steelix crawling around. 

Again, I recruit a rather sizable amount of Pokemon, but with a larger party there's a higher chance of individual members getting into 1v1's at the back of a tunnel and dying. I lost quite a few teammates that way. 

I also had the misfortunate of running into one of those ambushes, with a horde of Sandslashes, Grimers and Golems ambushing me. Magnitude, by the way, is insane in this game, hitting the whole room -- which does ruin a lot of my party members' HP, but also the enemies. Those poor, poor Grimers!

Magma Cavern also has a lot of traps, including my bane -- hunger traps. Even accounting for the length of the dungeon, I was struggling a lot with hunger and ended up leaving any fainted Pokemon on the way just to conserve my apples. For the first time, I also start using the Geo Pebbles or whatever the thrown items are called just to conserve PP. I have way more Max Ethers than Apples, but it's neat that the game is making me engage with this mechanic. 

Ultimately, I get to the final dungeons with a little army of a Cloyster, a Sandslash, two Golems and a Grimer. Said Grimer ended up dying rather randomly to a Steelix before I enter the final fight against Groudon, but... what can you do? As we enter the final level, we find Charizard and Tyranitar knocked out. Can we give them apples? I've got at least one... no? Charizard and Tyranitar are struggling to get up, saying that they've been defeated. They tell us that Alakazam is still fighting against Groudon, so we rush deeper into the magma cave.

And Alakazam is just standing there, telling us that Groudon is super-strong... at which point rocks that I assume is Stone Edge or Precipice Edge starts rippling through the ground, and one slams and consumes Alakazam. We don't actually see where he goes, whether he's trapped in the rock or just tossed onto the ceiling of the cavern... but with the NPCs out of the way, Groudon bursts out of the ground with glowing eyes, and lets out a massive roar. 

Groudon is a massive boy, and the fight against him has some arena hazards! Immediately as the fight begins, a quake splits my party all around the battlefield, putting me, Mudkip, rather hilariously behind Groudon. My Mudkip is the party member with super-effective moves against Groudon, so I just launch Water Guns from the edge of the map while the rest of my new recruits swarm Groudon and just continue to pile on. Cloyster isn't very useful because the AI keeps defaulting to non-Water type moves, but the Sandslash and the two Golems at least do their best to pile damage after damage onto Groudon. 

There is also a constant transformation of the battlefield, with magma pools that slowly encroach upon different tiles, forcing me to waste moves actually moving around. Groudon's Precipice Blades and Hammer Arm attacks can hit multiple Pokemon at once, and at one point it starts to spam Roar to knock some of my party members away. This is a bit of a problem for my mercenaries, whose attacks are pretty close-range, but it's good for my Mudkip and especially Bulbasaur, who I want to attack from afar. 

I also spam the shit out of my Oran Berries and Tiny Revival Seeds, thinking that this is the final dungeon. I just wanted a wall of tanks to absorb Groudon's attacks, and while I eventually run out of seeds and lose a Golem, Groudon falls after all the amassed attacks. 

As Groudon collapses onto the ground, three lightning prisons of Alakazam, Tyranitar and Charizard appear... which feels a bit weird. It made sense before when it's Zapdos kidnapping Shiftry, but I felt like effects-wise this would've worked better with Team Alakazam running in from the other chamber or something. Alakazam explains that Groudon is only rampaging because he was rudely awoken, and things should be fine now that he's, er, had a concussion or something? But also apparently Groudon's awakening isn't the main cause of the cataclysms. 

We return to the city where all the assembled villagers and rescue team members are super-happy about our return. But then a telepathic voice starts speaking to everyone, and it's... it's Xatu! Xatu says that the true cataclysm is about to come, and it's... it's a giant meteor! Does this one contain a mysterious alien lifeform? I don't know, but it sure is impressively rendered compared to the more cartoony theme of the game's art style. Xatu says that the meteor's arrival is what's been causing all of the changes in nature all throughout the world, and that the only chance is to awaken the enigmatic legendary Pokemon called Rayquaza. 

Which is cool and all, but then the villagers start asking where Rayquaza is. Rayquaza lives in the sky, in the clouds above all the tallest mountains, making it impossible for an average Pokemon to get up to where he lives. Xatu says that he and Alakazam will combine their psychic powers to teleport myself and Bulbasaur up to the sky to get to the clouds above the world where Rayquaza is. 

Which... which sounds wildly and hilariously irresponsible, but also we've got characters in this town square with the ability to fly. Charizard and Golbat are there! Couldn't they scout the clouds first to see if there's at least a place for us to land? 

But yeah. It seems like there's at least one more level to go through before the story is over, which is absolutely a surprise to me! My main knowledge about the Mystery Dungeon story is taken from the manga adaptation, Ginji's Rescue Team... which positions Groudon as the final battle! So I am genuinely surprised that there was an additional level after this, and that this is part of the main story as opposed to the post-game! Well, next time we're going to the sky, then! 

Random Notes:

• I do like that I manage to recruit a Golem for my party, it makes me feel like the NPC Golem from Blastoise's team actually joins up to redeem himself for his past failures or something. 
• At some point, I've unlocked the Mime Jr. statue as well.
• There has been a bit of a background gag of Dugtrio trying to impress his/their son Diglett, culminating with Dugtrio seemingly disappearing underground, much to the puzzlement of Diglett. I assume this will have a payoff after the sky dungeon.  
• One of the unrecruitable stronger Pokemon I see as a 'boss' in the dungeons is a Lickilicky, a fourth-generation Pokemon. So I'm going to assume that some evolutions and pre-evolutions of Gen I-III Pokemon might show up here. 
• I do love that among the rescue team leaders are a mixture of fully-evolved, fearsome-looking Pokemon and some more mundane-looking ones like Aipom and Phanpy! 
• It really would be cool if Shiftry actually came with us as a party member, huh? He's shown up often enough -- certainly more often than Absol -- and it would make a bit of a thematic sense for him to finally shake off his cowardice.
• I do like that as Blastoise, Octillery and Golem are called up, the surrounding crowd yells out a line or two that sounds like they're from a Pokedex entry. "The jets of water it spouts from the rocket cannons on its shell can punch through thick steel"!
• Within the 23rd floor or so of Magma Cavern is a random mansion, which is a 'Mystery House' that requires an invitation to go in. I've seen these invitations in Kecleon stores, and I am actually completely not sure what would be in here. Being that going through Magma Cavern is a bit of an ordeal, I wouldn't probably go in even if I brought an invitation with me, though. 
• Poor Kyogre! We're just skipping him over in the Hoenn weather trio.
• The major rescue team members (Team Alakazam and Team Blastoise) are hanging out with the rest of the town square citizens now. The dialogue is a bit altered with them all experssing hope that we can save the day, but I don't think there's anything particularly notable. 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 8: Damn Dirty Apes

 After doing some more missions, I, the isekai'd Mudkip, get another dream with Gardevoir. Gardevoir identifies herself as being an agent of the spirits now, and notes that because a Gardevoir's role is to guard and protect their trainer, she's not even angry at the still-mysterious human that abandoned her before. It's supposed to show how selfless and kind Gardevoir is, but I dunno, the game has been making a very valid point at what a complete and utter dipshit the asshole that abandons her is. That's why I'm a human and not a selfless Gardevoir knight, I guess. Gardevoir drops some cryptic hint that I was brought into this world for a mysterious role...

When an earthquake shakes me awake from my dream! At least there's an actual reason this time instead of just vague dream logic waking me up. The citizens are a bit shaken by the earthquake, with Shiftry in particular mumbling that Team Alakazam isn't back. Poor Whiscash, a catfish, is super-sensitive to earthquakes and is panicking over the fact that he can detect many, many more quakes coming soon. 

And then a pair of kooky fun guys show up... Wynaut and Wobbuffet! Wynaut and Wobbuffet's names are puns in Japanese (which is why in the anime Team Rocket's Wobbuffet often pops up at inopportune times; in the original audio he tends to act as a literal punchline to jokes). The localization doesn't really try to translate any of the puns that zoom into Wobbuffet yelling his name out loud... which leads to the scene being a bit of a non-sequitur since Wynaut just looks like a regular guy, and Wobbuffett is just yelling a lot; when presumably the original Japanese script has them give us more puns. 

Their commission is to go into Uproar Cave, where a bunch of Mankeys has been causing a lot of havoc and terrorizing nearby Pokemon including them... so the Rescue Teams just went from helping fainted Pokemon or looking for missing items to... just a bounty hunting board? Although considering the entire Rescue Team organization just ganged up to hunt Fugitive Mudkip down, I suppose it's to be expected. Anyway, with a gang of Mankeys to dismantle, I head off to Uproar Forest... and got absolutely humbled by the level differentials as two Nuzleaf with their Razor Winds wipe my party. 

Razor Wind, by the way, is a shitty two-turn move in the game. In Mystery Dungeon, the turn taken to charge is compensated by Razor Wind hitting the entire battlefield. Taking a turn to charge isn't that debilitating in Mystery Dungeon either since sometimes I need to spend turns to move! 

A couple of training sessions in the Makuhita Dojo later for Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol, and a couple of runs through some of the newly-unlocked dungeons, and some consumption of vitamins and supplements and some TMs (Ice Beam and Shadow Claw for Mudkip and Absol respectively), and I head back into the Uproar Forest. 

Anyway, my second foray into Uproar Forest has me meet my first 'Monster Houses', where a room full of items suddenly has like a half-dozen Pokemon jump down from the ceiling. This happened twice in the same dungeon run! Fortunately, the game gods were merciful and it was mostly Venonats and Aipoms, which are a lot easier to handle. 

Turns out I might have been a bit too panicky, because even with the Monster Houses my second run through it was very easy. Some new faces, of course -- Venonats, Aipoms, Roselias -- and I make a point to avoid the Nuzleafs as much as I can... until I see the three Mankey at the end of the location. The Mankeys are idiots and get angry after looking at us, and there's a boss fight! I like the hilarious mechanic of Seismic Toss, where the Mankey would actually toss people -- including their fellow Mankeys -- into the air and have them land elsewhere on the battlefield.

After beating the Mankey and returning to our base, Wynaut and Wobbuffet give us... a peeled chestnut. Not a chesto berry, a chestnut. Because they're poor, but they didn't think to mention it at the beginning. You know, it's one thing if it's an emergency like saving a lost baby Caterpie or something, but you guys put out a hit and didn't even have the money to pay? Assholes! These guys are the scum of society, and I refuse to entertain them. Charity is one thing, kindness is one thing, but falsely tricking someone to do free work for you is a whole complete other ball game entirely. 

The Mankeys actually rush and want to attack us. Which is fair enough, we did run into their forest and beat them up for no reason. Before a full gang war can happen, however, the Mankeys take a look at the chestnuts I have, and ask for it. They note that hostilities will end if we give them the chestnut... but also no, these guys are also the scum of society. That's just daylight robbery with some extra steps! I'm not doing anything with the chestnut, but it's the principle of the matter. 

Bulbasaur suggests we just give the chestnut, but I actually get a choice and refuse. The three Mankeys become enraged and actually attack us... but as the narrator informs, "the Mankey are weak" and gets defeated offscreen by Mudkip and Bulbasaur. This time, the conversation diverts to whether the Mankey could help us with some physical labour. I don't know Bulbasaur, these Mankeys seem kind of flaky... but Bulbasaur manages to convince the Mankey to work with the promise of chestnuts, renovating our Rescue Team Base. I think the base -- which also doubles as my house -- is fine the way it is, thank you very much.

But then Wynaut and Wobbuffet decide to chime in, noting that they could also help by giving free labour (no doubt seeing first-hand what we did to the Mankey gang sobered them up from their freeloading behaviour) and baby Caterpie even shows up offering the services of his silk to help renovate our base. Okay, fine, fine, renovate it if it makes you guys happy...

...and the very next day, we have a strike because the Mankeys are bored. Fucking pig monkeys. I'd just ignore them, but they've already torn down the walls to my house and covered it with ugly scaffolding and construction tarp.

See, this is why we don't outsource work to shifty workers with poor ethics. The Mankeys will only properly fix our base if we give them more chestnuts. Apparently, after the whole epic about learning our isekai backstory and beating the three legendary birds, this is... how we progress our main quest? Really? This really feels like a side-quest that would be introduced in the first two hours of gameplay. 

So yeah, that's... that's a whole load of weird side-questing. I guess it's to show that life is kind of getting back to normal after the fugitive arc, but it also really kills the momentum from the back-to-back plot-heavy revelations. At least show more earthquakes happening, y'know? Let the citizens discuss more things going on in the background. Even the mail delivered by Pelipper are all gossippy things that don't really matter because they're not even about NPCs we can meet. 

Anyway, I believe next up is when we finish our main story, so I'm off chestnut-hunting for the lazy monkeys. Three Chestnuts later, and the Mankeys finally get off their butts and complete my rescue base. The completed base is pretty cool, being shaped after a giant Mudkip head with a cool flag. As everyone is celebrating, the asshole Mankeys realize that with the building complete, they're not going to be paid in Chestnuts anymore. The lazy bums, instead of trying to join my party or something, decide to... attack and attempt to wreck the base so they can get paid to rebuild it? That's crime! That's probably a plot in a Yakuza sidequest or something! Mudkip and Bulbasaur beat up the damn dirty apes once and for all, driving them away. 

Anyway... yeah. Not the most interesting part of the game. Mystery Dungeon, so far, has been living up to the hype it had back in the GBA years, but this part of the game... which is mandatory, by the way, to complete the main story, is not it, chief. 

Random Notes:

• I do like the brief foreshadowing of Wobbuffet and Wynaut, with a random letter from Pelipper telling us the news that the two of them have been rescued by the completely offscreen 'Team Hydro'. 
• Also in the news given to us by Pelipper is a little speculation column wondering if the elder Kecleon sibling goes into dungeons and salvages items to sell in his shops. That does kind of feel like a 'RPG setting' thing to do, and Kecleon in particular has been proven in-game to be quite powerful combatants, able to summon their whole extended family to beat you up. 
• Dittos have started popping up, and I'm not sure if this happens every time they transform out, but the Pokemon around the Ditto is confused for a turn, seemingly out of shock from seeing the Ditto change. That's cute, actually. 
  
• There is a weird 'random event' that happened during one of the walks through the town, where a Munchlax walks around and drops apples, and we can return it to Munchlax. Munchlax thanks me for it, and gives me a unique held item. That's nice. I know this is a bit of an older game, but I really wished there were more of these 'town' events. 
• I remembered during the slow drip to Generation IV -- when 'slow drip' actually meant anything -- Munchlax, Bonsly, Mime Jr and Weavile appeared in so many of the side projects as cameos. 
• The Seedots in Uproar Forest have Bide. I'm not going to life, I've lost a bunch of Pokemon to Bides in my early Nuzlocke attempts back in the day, and I still have a bit of a visceral reaction to that move. 
• Moves like Seismic Toss and Razor Wind that are literally useless in the base mainline games giving some life in the spin-offs is one of my favourite tropes. 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 7: Absol-ution

Last we left off, we beat Moltres and Articuno, shook off most of our pursuers, and gained an aloof ally in the disaster-detecting death-dog, Absol. As we head away from Frosty Forest, the narration informs us that we passed through some swamps and mountains off-screen. 

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.

But with a new goal in mind, the Rescue Team goes off to Mt. Freeze. Bulbasaur gives us a brief recap of the fact that I, Mudkip, might be the reincarnation of the human cursed by Ninetales, but he has absolute faith in me. Absol knows I'm different, but he kind of... doesn't really care. He's just focused on the job! 

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.

Again, unexpected deaths due to Pupitar aside, there really sin't much beyond length in this dungeon, with it lasting some twenty levels. And this is after a couple of runs through a similarly snowy location! But clear it we did. At the peak of the Mountain, however, we are confronted by Team Alakazam, who made they way after us. Charizard is just itching for a fight and going 'don't think badly of me' for not holding back. Alakazam is a bit more morose, talking about duty and fate and whatnot. Tyranitar is just really grumpy all around. Poor Tyranitar must not have liked the ice!

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. 

As Mudkip and Alakazam are about to clash against each other, a gigantic green flame erupts from the ground and reveals... Ninetales! Everyone is in complete awe at this legendary-as-far-as-this-game-is-concerned Pokemon. Ninetales identifies us as her guests, and Alakazam demands explanations -- particularly revolving around the myth. Ninetales notes that there has been some miscommunication, but most importantly exonerates me from being the human that sacrificed his Gardevoir to Ninetales' curse. 

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. 

Alakazam apologizes for taking a mafia hit to kill me. Tyranitar mumbles something about being riled up by Gengar. Charizard laughs it off, noting that he never believed the rumours in the first place... but you were very much willing to fight me, weren't you, Mr. "I don't know how to hold back" franchise mascot man? 

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. 

We then cut to a rather neat cutscene back in Pokemon Square. Gengar continues to talk crap about our reputation, but some of the local gossipers -- Lombre and Snubbull and the others -- question why Gengar isn't even part of the search. Shiftry notes that he was part of the search all the way until Mt. Blaze, but also makes an offhanded comment that seems to imply that he didn't really try too hard to pursue us that far. 

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.

And to slam in the nail on the coffin, Pelipper swoops in and drops a bunch of newspapers... turns out that Alakazam with his 5000 IQ has the foresight to realize this was going to happen, and wrote ahead to the Pelipper Mail to distribute a bulletin that notes his role as a witness to Ninetales's declaration of my innocence. 

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. 

A lot of the more vocal characters -- Lombre, Snubbull, Bellsprout -- apologize for being so easily drawn in by Gengar's bullshit. Some of the shopkeepers -- the Kecleon bros, Gulpin, Wigglytuff and Persian -- all apologize for not trusting their customer more, and I like Wigglytuff's apology in particular. The other vendors apologize and thank us for not ignoring their shop, but Wigglytuff mumbles a half-hearted admission that she did actually distrust us for a while before handwaving it with an over-the-top CAMPS CAMPS EVERYONE LOVES CAMPS!!!

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. 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 6: Mudkip's Fugitive Life

And thus, begins my life as a fugitive. 

That's a pretty cool line, isn't it? But yeah. Mudkip and Bulbasaur travel the land, and we get a bit of a montage as the game shows huge fissures in the ground, a forest fire, and a volcano erupting. It's a nice bit to show off all of the cataclysms and natural disasters that the world is supposedly experiencing, even if we technically don't interact all that much with it. 

The game finally goes into a proper cutscene with dialogue as we stop in front of the Lapis Lazuli Cave, which is a cave with blue crystals. The game doesn't show it to us, but apparently we're being pursued by a mob of rescue teams trying to claim our bounty. Or, well, to lynch us to death. So Mudkip and Bulbasaur just hop into the Lapis cave. The cave is a bit darker, and I immediately lose Mudkip two floors in due to being ambushed by a Nidorino/Nidorina gang that poisons Mudkip. Bulbasaur didn't last too long after that. And... and I lost the few items I brought with me, but thankfully the game gives me access to the Kangaskhan storage. So long as I don't run out of apples!

Lapis Lazuli Cave has 14 levels and is primarily inhabited by Poison-types like Zubat, Golbat, Nidorino and Nidorina, but there are a couple of others as well like Tangela, Illumise and Bagon. Again, at this point I'm kind of forced to sneak around and try and get to the next floors as fast as possible. Without a third member, it's proving interestingly challenging!

I wish there was more to say about the Lapis cave, but there really isn't. It's just a dungeon, and the moment we get through it, the faceless mob catches up. And so we run towards Mt. Blaze, the Doomed Desolation.

And as expected, Mt. Blaze is filled with Fire-type Pokemon. Good news for my Mudkip, bad news for my Bulbasaur. There are also lava 'lakes', which Fire-types and hovering Pokemon can pass but neither of my boys could. The location is filled with Slugmas, Numels, Torkoals, and the odd Pidgeot that apparently make nests in volcanoes. Oh, and Arcanines. I discover, much to the pain of poor Mudkip, that Arcanines pack Thunder Fang in this mountain. Bastards! Are you guys angry that Ninetales was the Generation I Fire-type that got the spotlight? 

At the peak of the mountain, of course, is, to the surprise of no one, a huge explosion and a legendary bird descends. It's Moltres, who is wasting absolutely no time at all declaring that he is the Warrior of Fire, the mountain is angry, and he is going to be the manifestation of the giant explosive rage. And... and my party got wiped out by Moltres. It is quite challenging that we're just fighting a big legendary boss with two Pokemon! And having one of my party members be Grass-type does make both the boss fight and traversal through the dungeon a bit tough. 

Running a bit low on Oran Berries, Tiny Reviver Seeds and Max Ethers, I had to grind the stony path a couple of times just to get these essentials. It's a bit of a nice sequence to turn my brain off while I listen to a podcast anyway. 

And even then, it still took a couple more tries to fight Moltres! At least the game puts me several floors before the boss fight. Eventually I chanced upon a Link Box or whatever it's called, allowing Mudkip to link Water Gun and Rock Tomb together and so I just banked on having both Bulbasaur and Mudkip run up in front of Moltres and spam the double-hitting moves, and just reviving as necessary. It's a bit more of a 'let's try to outlast the big phoenix' more than anything. 

Ultimately, Moltres falls... and just like Zapdos, he bursts back into life and creates a huge fiery pillar explosion behind him. Bulbasaur manages to talk Moltres down, however, with an adorable 'look into my eyes!' Well, you can't argue with the cute frog eyes of Bulbasaur! There's a bit of a gag as Moltres continually causes the huge fire explosion effect to intimidate Bulbasaur various times through the conversation, which I thought was a bit funny. Moltres essentially tasks us to go and figure out the cause of the natural disturbances that has been disturbing it... which does beg me to ask why Moltres himself hasn't gone off on his own. But birds be lazy, I suppose. 

With Moltres out of the way, Bulbasaur and I go through Mt. Blaze and we get a nice short scene where we overlook Mt. Blaze. Bulbasaur sits for a while and ruminates the idea of just setting up camp there since it's unlikely that the other pursuers can get past Mt. Blaze... but dismisses it when he realizes that Team Alakazam is super competent and smart and will be able to get past it. I mean, there's also the deal of needing to solve the mystery or Moltres will be mad, but that, too. Some of these downtime scenes do drag on a bit, but I appreciate the character they're building up for my partner. 

We get a montage of words on a black screen saying that Mudkip and Bulbasaur continue to go north, past some swamps and cliffsides and caves... which would be nice to see, honestly. But of course, we end up in the snowy tundra becuase there's only one Kanto legendary bird left. Bulbasaur waxes some lyrical about how the icy wastes are cold and there's no sign of life around us. The trees are frozen, beautiful and harsh, all that stuff. 

We're briefly interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious, silent Absol. Bulbasaur is completely terrified of Absol, not even sure if Absol is a Pokemon at all... which is honestly a bit much. Even at this point in the game we've seen weirder Pokemon than Absol! But okay. Again, a huge fan of non-legendaries like Absol and Ninetales getting so much focus in this game. 

I also decide to grind a bit more -- for healing items if nothing else. And the 'Rock Path' has been swapped for 'Snow Path'. The selection of Pokemon is quite cute -- New Snap has caused Furret to be associated with icy locations for me, and Pineco makes sense actually in a way I've never really thought of before. And Snorunts are just icy. Pinecones in the snowy locations! But Nosepass is a bit odd, and Azurill is definitely odd. 

Next up, the proper dungeon is the Frosty Forest, populated with those same Pokemon, but also some ice-types like Piloswine... and just those guys! I'm actually surprised. Were there so little Ice-types that would live in the forest in Gen III? Sneasel existed! But some mountain Pokemon like Rhyorn, Lairon, and even weirdoes like Metang and Ditto pad out the restof the population. Not what I'd expect! 

Ice isn't very good against my team, since poor Bulbasaur is again quite weak to Ice, although Mudkip at least has Rock Tomb to deal super-effective damage. But the Snorunts launch their Powder Snow like sniper rifles from half the map away, so the Frosty Forest is a bit more treacherous to hike through than Mt. Blaze. Around one-thirds of the way in the screen turns black as an ominous voice (it's Articuno, it's obvious it's Articuno) reacts to the arrival of new entities in the forest and wonders if we are the one that has been causing the changes in frost. 

Fighting through the rest of the dungeon, and of course at the end of the Frosty Forest is a little boss arena. It's a little grove where Articuno resides, and just like Zapdos and Moltres before him, Articuno appears in a hissy fit because the temperature in the Frosty Forest has decreased. "Snow that has never melted before" has melted! And of course, Articuno blames us because apparently the Frosty Forest is so remote and secluded that no one else has ever stepped foot into it, and being the only outsiders, Articuno is mighty pissed off at us. 

Articuno is a bit easier for me to deal with, despite Bulbasaur being weak to both Articuno and Moltres. I guess it's a matter of me actually stocking up on Revival Seeds and Oran Berries... but Articuno also feels a lot less aggressive in his attacks compared to Moltres. The fight goes relatively easily as I spam Rock Tomb on Articuno, and I eventually knock him out. 

Also like Zapdos and Moltres, Articuno makes it clear that this isn't his full power... but unlike the previous two, Articuno flies back in. Bulbasaur tries to explain to Articuno that climate change is happening regardless of our arrival or not, but Articuno just gets super angry and starts preparing a massive Ice Beam. It's at this point that a surprise third party enters and strikes Articuno... Absol! Absol, who has been watching us before. 

Absol tells Articuno that natural disasters are happening everywhere, and as someone who can sense natural disasters, his opinion makes Articuno believe in him. Articuno isn't quite as dickish about it as Moltres was, but he also tasks us with preventing the disasters from spreading, before flying off. Really, legendary birds, if you guys are all-powerful warriors ready to kill and abduct random Pokemon, clearly you are invested and powerful enough to also investigate? Silly birds. 

Absol also tells me and Bulbasaur that we need to investigate the calamities and stop them, something that's a bit of a broken record at this point... but unlike the silly birds, Absol decides to join forces. Which means... yes, a new party member! Finally, a third party member again! One of the biggest problems throughout the past couple of dungeons (and frankly, what made it not the most fun experience for me) was forcing me to play as only two Pokemon instead of the 3+ that the game has been conditioning me to accept as the normal. It's something that feels a fair bit more 'J-RPG', a bit more Final Fantasy or something. That's neat!

With all the three legendary birds dealt with, Mudkip's Fugitive Life continues as we go on ahead deeper into the remote north...

Random Notes:

• My playthrough of Mystery Dungeon is a bit more sporadic than the way these let's play segments are played. Case in point, there's a couple of months' break between the previous Zapdos dungeon and Mt. Blaze. The amount of grind kind of put me off until I spent a couple of slow nights just grinding the Stone Path for berries and revives just to stockpile in my inventory. 
• In Lapis Cave, there's a bit of a 'darker environment' thing going on. It mostly has to deal with the long tunnels, which is a lot less visible than other dungeons are.
  
• Meanwhile, Frosty Forest has both the darker tunnels and some watery areas. Mudkip can swim through the waters, but it's a bit sad that Bulbasaur can't do it. Since the game prevents you from having two Pokemon of the same type, I don't think these alternate-terrain bits are ever going to be useful in a regular playthrough. 
• Rock Path is available all the way from Lapis Cave and I think the Zapdos dungeon as well, but Mt. Blaze is the first time I actually need to grind for some items. Losing items really did set me back a fair bit!
• Splash actually does something in Mystery Dungeon! It's not actually useful, but Azurills actually jump and land somewhere else adjacent to me on the map. 
• Mightyenas join Arcanines in assholes with Thunder Fang that bully my poor Mudkip.
• I do know that I've already been complaining about the length of this 'fugitive' arc, but it is kind of a shame that the natural disasters is something that's told to us more than shown. I get that the GBA was a simpler device, but the Switch doesn't really have an excuse not to show us more, like, even visual lava pools in Mt. Blaze or melting snow in Frosty Forest to show how abnormal things are becoming. 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 5: The Tale of Ninetales

Oh yes, it's plot time! Last we left off, the prophet, er, sorry, 'one who stares at the sun' Xatu gave our isekai protagonist Mudkip some ominous warnings about the balance of the world tied to my state as a transformed human. As I wake up, my partner Bulbasaur talks to me and asks if I'm worried, and panics a little about the whole world balance thing before calming down. 

As we enter the town square, the three gossipers Lombre, Snubbull and Bellsprout are discussing about the Legend of the Ninetales, and sends us off up to Whiscash's pond to consult the town elder about the legend of Ninetales. Whiscash, finally relevant to the game, is happy to regale us with the tale of Ninetales. Ninetales has nine tails filled with psychic power, something that isn't actually true for the main series game, but it's always something quite cool that they decided to pick a particularly eerie pokedex entry for what's otherwise an average Pokemon, and use it for the backbone of this entire game's story. 

Anyway, Ninetales -- who's treated here with all the reverence of a legendary Pokemon -- is said to curse anyone who touch any of her tails to be cursed for 1000 years. And, of course, someone did it. And that someone is a human. A human, which is very relevant to my case!

But before that human could be cursed, the human's Gardevoir partner jumped in the way and sacrificed herself to absorb the curse. Taking pity on the innocent Gardevoir, Ninetales asked the human if he would take Gardevoir's place... but the human had already abandoned Gardevoir and fled. Disgusted by this act of betrayal that repaid an act of sacrifice, Ninetales made a prediction that 'that human will one day be reborn as a Pokemon, and the balance will be upset'. 

This, understandably, disturbs both Bulbasaur and myself, particularly since we just got that whole 'balance of the world' speech from Xatu earlier. But Whiscash just laughs it off, saying that it's just a story that no one is sure of the veracity of. It's something he just tells all the time.  

As we go away from Pokemon Square, there's actually a nice scene as Bulbasaur gets depressed momentarily and plods off, asking that we don't do any rescue missions today since he's just so tired. He trods off into the distance... before catching herself and admits that the tale made him doubt me for a bit. It's honestly understandable, especially since he just heard that whole story about how a human betrayed their Pokemon partner! Bulbasaur yells at me that we're friends, the power of friendship is strong, and all that jazz, before we call it a night. 

And, of course, after being absent for quite some time, the ominous dreams happen again. I, Mudkip, end up wrestling a bit with what to do, before finally deciding to speak up as the mysterious silhouette keeps appearing behind me. 

And, of course, the mysterious silhouette is... "I am Gardvoir." she says, her expression actually happy as she notes that she's glad that she could finally speak to me. Gardevoir goes "I am your..." but the dream ends just right before that one crucial word. 

I wake up and realize what's going on in the dream, and jump to the conclusion presented by all the narrative and the dramatic cutoff that I might be the human that abandoned Gardevoir to die, and, yes, all the prophecies are pointing that I might be the cause of some disaster of the highest order as being the human struck by karma and curses to be reborn as a walking mudskipper.  

A bit downcast, I walk out of my little Mudkip house, to meet Bulbasaur... who says that there's a huge commotion in the town square. Uh oh! Conflict! The town's atmosphere is different, and throughout all of this there is no ambient music which adds a lot of atmosphere especially considering the game's been quite intent on waving that main theme jingle everywhere.

Anyway, the entirety of the town is gathered together in the center of Pokemon Square. Even the shopkeepers are out of their shops to talk to us! Bellsprout, Lombre and Snubbull are super excited and shocked that the Ninetales legend is apparently true, but our good buddy Caterpie is very clearly uneasy about something. The camera pans over to who's talking to the crowd... and it's Gengar! Who Caterpie understandably is uneasy with. 

Gengar spins a whole yarn about what he eavesdropped from the Hill of the Ancients... which honestly is quite fair and I blame Xatu's very ambiguous wording for it. Gengar talks about how there is a human that was transported in the Pokemon world, that's the reason of the world's balance being shifted... and the disasters... and if it's not fixed, the UNTHINKABLE will happen. The game insists on using 'the Unthinkable' instead of like, the destruction of the world or a cataclysm or something, which I found to be a bit funny because this is one of the few Pokemon games where a very explicit death is part of the main storyline. 

Gengar's solution -- without disclosing who the reincarnated human is, which I thought is quite clever -- is make it an accepted point among the riled-up crowd that they should just... get rid of the human right? The human can't complain if their presence is causing the disasters and imbalance in the first place, right? The crowd agrees, until Gengar points out the identity of the human... me!

And everyone is shocked. But the Gardevoir dream from the previous night has really shaken up my character, and when everyone demands an answer, all I can say is "... ... ...". You're not Red, Mudkip, you can, and have, actually spoken several times in the game! Bulbasaur in particular is extra-distressed, understandably, but Mudkip is under the impression that he truly is the human that was cursed by Ninetales. Again, very understandably, thanks to the whole Gardevoir-ghost thing. 

Gengar pounces on this and wants to get rid of me to regain peace, and the crowd actually advances on me a bit. Traitors. Traitors! I will remember this. Obviously nothing too graphic happens, but it is a nice moment that I'm sure shocked a lot of younger players back in the day when the helpful NPCs and shopkeepers actually turn against you. That's simply something that doesn't happen a lot in video games!

Fearful of the mob, Bulbasaur and I run off to our house on the outskirts of town. Bulbasaur demands to know why I didn't defend myself, but my response is a very depressed "I want to end the team" or "I'm tired of this". I talk about how I don't deserve on the rescue team, shocking Bulbasaur (we do have greater priorities than the membership of a rescue team, to be fair) and I tell him about the Gardevoir situation off-screen. Bulbasaur insists that I don't actually know what really happened thanks to my amnesia, and goes through a typical friendship speech. He believes in me!

It's at this point that Team Alakazam shows up, and he notes how regrettable things were in Pokemon Square. In the two minutes that I've been gone and talking to Bulbasaur, they conducted an emergency town hall meeting... and the consensus is to get rid of me. Traitors! Persian, Kangaskhan, Gulpin, all of you! Alakazam's dialogue is nicely written to be polite and reluctant, but he is still the bearer of bad news. He notes that he's going to give us one night before he gets rid of me, and goes on a very cool Lion King style speech to tell me to run. Run, survive, and find the truth. 

Because while Alakazam clearly believes in me, he's also got his duty and he can't help me. By the next day, all Rescue Teams will attack me without hesitation. (Incidentally, I know this is a GBA-engine thing, but it'd be fun to see other Rescue Teams as NPCs earlier in the city) They straight up put a kill-on-sight bounty on my head! Alakazam also makes it known by no ambiguous means that he, Charizard and Tyranitar will absolutely be on the hunt. There is no mercy the next time they meet. 

With that glum message, Bulbasaur insists that he still believes in me. Caterpie also shows up, our first rescue client, and does the anime-little-child thing of saying that we all made a promise -- a promise that Caterpie will join in our Rescue Team once he's grown up. And it's at this point when Mudkip finally broke out of his funk that the jolly ditty theme music plays back. That's nice. I like that. 

And we start off the next dawn! Ready to escape! There's a cute bit where Bulbasaur tells me that everyone in town is still asleep, but I can run into town and use most of the resources and shops (other than Makuhita's gym) while literally everyone is sleeptalking through their services. You can even get them to give their tutorial for their services, but with zzz's and snore's tossed in place of parts of their dialogue. That's cute. 

Bulbasaur talks about how we are fugitives now. We need to keep running and never be caught, and I resolve to find out who I am before I'm a Mudkip... even if we have to run all the way to the edge of the world.

As we prepare to go, the NPCs we rescued -- Caterpie and Metapod, the two Jumpluffs, and Diglett -- show up to send us off, making sure we know that we're nice people and that they believe in our innocence. Even Pelipper the postman (er, post-pelican) shows up to drop off a little farewell letter, which I thought was quite nice.

And so, as Mudkip and Bulbasaur leave the city... 'thus begins my journey as a fugitive'. And that's where we'll pick up next time, because this has been quite a long chunk of Let's Play that's just entirely cutscene describing!

Random Notes:

• So yeah, I repeat some of the questions I asked last time -- how are humans in relation to this particular Pokemon world? Becuase clearly Pokemon partners and the existence of humans are a known quantity for this legend -- who everyone understands -- to work, and yet we never see any humans, and the fact that I am a transformed human is such a big deal. That's perhaps the only real questionable plot hole in an otherwise pretty fantastic story for a GBA game. 
• I really wished that Ninetales had been given the Fairy type, especially since Alolan Ninetales is Ice/Fairy. While this game's script does talk about Ninetales's innate psychic powers, it's a pretty fair folk thing to do, isn't it? To curse someone for a thousand years, and to make deals and stuff? It even fits Ninetales as a kitsune. 
  
• While I do appreciate that the target audience for these games are a bit younger, was it really necessary that they repeat a chunk of Whiscash's Ninetales story after I wake up from the Gardevoir dream? Especially since the game prevents me from doing anything but the cutscenes and maybe some shopping, so the scene would be fresh in my mind!
• When the story demands that I go to Pokemon Square, Diglett's little tunnel closes up. That's an interesting way to get around the fact that the little tunnel wasn't there in the original GBA/DS version of the game. 
• I know it's probably a function of this game being a remake, but I really wished Ekans and Medicham were at least there in the Pokemon Square to rile everyone up. Honesly, I wished more NPCs were there, too, in general, which would really hype up the 'mob' vibe. 
• Just to see what will happen, yes, I confirm that Wigglytuff can go 'camps, camps, TAAAAAH' even while she's asleep.
• The next leg of the game is just going to be Mudkip and Bulbasaur, because we don't want to involve the other members of our rescue team who are in camps. It does make sense from a story perspective, I suppose, although a two-player party is going to be annoying once we actually get to the dungeons.