In spite of Laika’s apprehensions, the story wasn’t going to move forward if we didn’t visit the unreasonable dragon, so we made for the center of town. When we got there, however, we found not Flatorte…
“Oh my, oh my! It’s so nice to see all of you! Please, come in and have some tea with me! I’ll bring out snacks as well, if you give me just a moment.”
…but a pixelated version of Momma Yufufu!
Unreasonable, my foot! She’s as reasonable and approachable as could be! She’s offering us tea, even though we showed up totally uninvited!
“I’m known as the unreasonable dragon,” said Momma Yufufu. “Oh! Do you have an inn to stay at tonight? If not, you’re welcome to spend the night here!”
This is the worst miscasting ever!
“We’ve need of a dragon’s power, and that need has brought us to you. Would you be willing to fly us wherever our quest compels us to go?” asked Beelzebub, moving the conversation right along.
“I’d love to, really, but the monsters have built a tower on the mountain just beyond this hidden village, and my draconic power has grown weak ever since. It seems they’re using some sort of magic.”
Oh, I know what that means. We have to beat a boss in the tower before she’ll fly us places.
“But as it happens, I have just enough power left to carry you around! So certainly, I’d be happy to help!”
“No! Miss Yufufu, you mustn’t!”
What?! Pecora jumped in before I even had the chance!
“We’ll resolve your issue with the tower, and you can fly us around afterward! It would be unacceptable for you to transport us before we go through the proper steps!” said Pecora.
“Oh, really? In that case, I’d be most obliged if you’d help,” said Momma Yufufu.
Pecora heaved a sigh of relief. Apparently, she was even more dedicated to making sure we didn’t break the game’s story than I was.
Momma Yufufu treated us to dinner that night, and we stayed at her place before setting out to deal with the tower the next morning.
“Take care storming the tower! Oh, and please take this with you! It’s an item that will fully restore the health of you and all your friends. Also, take this plant—if you eat it, it will let you see the weak points and current HP of all the enemies you encounter between here and the end of the tower!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’d really appreciate if you’d stop lowering the difficulty level for us, Momma Yufufu…”
✦ ✦ ✦
This game’s a challenge in so many ways I wasn’t expecting it to be.
✦ ✦ ✦
The tower’s boss turned out to be Nosonia the butterfly demon, who we beat with ease in about five turns total…or so I thought, right up until the post-battle twist.
“Ugh! Well played! It looks like it’s time for me to reveal my true form!”
She’s a multi-stage boss?!
With a brilliant flash of light, Nosonia changed from her butterfly form…into an enormous caterpillar.
“Pretty sure you have that backwards! Why would you turn back into your childhood form?!”
“Well, because doing it the other way around would’ve meant waiting here as a worm for ages. That would’ve been awful, right?”
Then ask the devs! It’s their job to take care of that!
“You’re my savior, Miss Azusa, and it pains me to have to fight you like this, but I’m going to have to ask you to please die now, thank you very much!”
“Please don’t bring our real-world relationship into this! The story is making no sense!”
Anyway, we beat the caterpillar in two turns.
“Why are you weaker after you transform?!” Beelzebub roared. I, on the other hand, was more or less used to this game’s crappy design by that point…
✦ ✦ ✦
With the tower’s boss defeated, Momma Yufufu and the other dragons regained their power. That meant she could transform into a fully draconic form and carry us wherever we needed to go.
“If we have a way of flying, we’re probably pretty far along in the story now,” I said as we soared through the skies. Flying on a pixelated dragon was a new and weird experience.
“Hmph. Is that just how it goes, then?” asked Beelzebub.
“Yeah, exactly. There’ll be places all over the world we can only get to via dragon, and our next step’s to visit them all. We’ll solve problems in all those remote areas, and that should gradually get us closer to fighting the demon king.”
“‘Gradually’? ’Tis remarkable we’d have the time, considering we brought down the demon king’s tower stronghold. What sort of ruler would be so lax with their response to a loss like that? I see no evidence their forces have any sort of plan at all.”
“That’s just another of those things… But, I mean, think about Pecora. She’s so crazy strong, she could more or less handle everything on her own, right? That’s just how it works sometimes…”
Eventually, we found a village located in a field surrounded by an almost unnaturally tall and perfectly formed circle of mountains. We asked around for information there and received a few tidbits:
There was a lake to the south of the village, and a group of sages lived on an island located at the very center of said lake.
Those sages had the ability to draw out a truly incredible power in heroes like us unlike anything we’d ever seen before.
There was also a barrier set up around that lake, and we’d need to obtain a Crest of Courage from a nearby cave in order to get through it. Without one, there’d be no way to bring down the barrier.
We’d also need to get ahold of a small boat to cross the lake in.
The monstrous armies were drawing closer and closer to the village by the day. Time was of the essence.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, this is a complicated state of affairs… It seems we’ll have to go through an extended process this time,” Laika said as she took the time to note down everything we’d learned. Her conscientious nature really shined through at times like these.
“Well, that’s pretty normal, really. Having to go through a whole process and solve a few problems to reach your next destination is standard fare. It’d be pretty boring, otherwise,” I said.
“I suppose I can see that. More importantly, though, we should take this chance to search for treasure chests and hidden items in the village,” Wynona declared.
✦ ✦ ✦
“My instincts are telling me this village will be destroyed before long. A number of the villagers dropped hints to that effect, and it seems likely at some point, any action we take will trigger an army of monsters rolling in and razing the place. We should collect everything we can before that happens.”