Chapter 1 - THE PLOT

A soft rumbling… Our story begins in the bedroom of Eddie, who lives near the shore in Salado Town. A startling knock on the door wakes him up, it is his Mother coaxing him out of bed with breakfast made, saying that his father had already left for work. Stumbling down the stairs, he makes it to the table and sits, his Mother not in the room. She comes in moments later with the mail, saying that he has a letter from Amber.
“Dear Eddie,
Guess what day it is, Eddie! It’s been a whole year since I met you. Do you remember? I remember it really well. It’s going well over here in Luckton, although there have been a lot of earthquakes lately. I really want to see you again. Maybe you can come visit me! If you can, I’ll be sure to have my mom cook Fish. I know that’s your favorite.
Your friend,
Amber”
With it being mid-summer, and Eddie being a young teenager with relatively few responsibilities, decides to go see Amber. He wasn’t really having much fun staying home anyway. He loved his family, but he had very few (if any) friends. His Mom picks up on his desire to go rather quickly (she figured that he’d want to go see a friend after so long), though Eddie asks anyway. Of Course his Mom says yes, and Eddie, a little too excited, nearly rushes out the door. His mom catches him at the door, telling him to change out of his PJ’s. He goes up to change, and before he leaves, his Mom tells him to pick up his fishing rod out on the beach and scolds him lightly for leaving it out there in the first place. She then says Mother things, be safe, change your undies daily, etc. As he is about to leave, Gates bursts in tackling Eddie to the ground (Eddie can hear him say something to the effect of: where you goin’, can I come? You’re not going to leave me behind, are you?). His Mom picks up on Gates eagerness and suggests that Eddie take him along. Gates agrees and Eddie doesn’t mind either.
The two go to the beach to pick up Eddie’s fishing rod (the player can explore the town, but can’t leave until the fishing rod is obtained), when an earthquake rocks the village. A big fish is thrown out of the water and is trashing violently, leading to Eddie’s first fight (Gates is not a ‘true’ party member). Upon defeating the fish, he heads back home (toward town). When he arrives at his house, his mother steps out, and asks him if he is all right. She then joins the party (very briefly) and they walk to town to see what happened (fighting a few enemies along the way (MOM POWER!!)).
Upon seeing the destruction in the village (speaking to people is optional, one must talk to the mayor, who feels the village will need help rebuilding), Eddie’s mother volunteers Eddie to go to Luckton to ask for assistance, perhaps even asking Amber if she wanted to come. Eddie agrees and goes off to Luckton. After fighting a few monsters and climbing a bit, they happen upon a fallen star and a cricket. The cricket explains that Fallen Stars sell things that they picked up in space, and Crickets hold onto Shells and items for you, as well as record things that have happened. The Cricket advises them to stop and set up camp, sending Eddie to collect firewood (perhaps encountering an angry tree here and there). Eddie also happens to find some flint (or a rock that causes sparks easily) and kindling to light it with. (This could show Eddie’s skills and how comfortable he is in nature. Also perhaps the ability to fish would be adequate for this game, think how pokemon fishing works. Also, after this, whenever the party finds a ‘campsite’ they won’t just see a random fire burning, they’ll make one automatically.)
After resting for the night, The two (Eddie and Gates) get up and (after eating some food that Eddie brought along) start to enter the tunnel. The cricket tells them to be careful and the falling star blinks (happy blinks ^ _ ^). They enter…and its pitch black. Gates implies that a torch would be handy (decision time! The player can continue on without the torch and have a much harder time fighting the boss, or they can backtrack, pick up log or something and make a torch. OR if they went to town before the earthquake and picked up a flashlight from one of the villagers they wouldn’t have to worry about it at all.). Walking further into the tunnel they encounter the Big Collared Lizard, trying to scare them back (he sensed the upcoming earthquake, but wasn’t very good at communicating that point). Upon defeating the lizard, the ground starts to shake. Unexpectedly, the lizard lunges and knocks Eddie forward (toward Luckton) with his tail while tackling Gates the opposite way. The tunnel collapses and separates them, Eddie, not knowing if Gates survived. Gates barks back, and tells Eddie to get out of the tunnel as fast as he can. Eddie agrees (of course) and rushes out. He reaches Luckton with no other major incidents (The player should not be able to bypass such an important party member…unless we want to go hard mode. If you want to give that option to the player, it must be irreversible, considering the bridge that the player must use gets blown up. This would provide an extra challenge to those wanting one. Anyway…) He finds Amber (the player can explore the town a bit, and will get some hints as to what may be happening but otherwise going to see Amber is almost necessary), and tells her what happened in the tunnel. She says that it might have something to do with the strange activity at the Rift that divides their continent in three. (perhaps another earthquake can happen here and the two see the energy in the sky coming from the Rift). They decide to go to the Rift to investigate the cause. Amber mentions that they can travel through the Rainy Jungle or Wild Plains. (Storyline is slightly affected by your choice, as well as enemies.)
They travel through the jungle/plains, and as they approach the end, Amber spots a trapped Jungle/Savanna Kitten. Nearby, an intimidating Dragon-like Boy (Ryu) stands near the kitten when Amber spots it. Amber and Eddie think that the kitten is in danger (from the dragon thing) and prepare to attack. The boy, noticing the two, hastily flies away, not wanting to be seen, while the cat still wants you to leave (and attacks). During the fight, Eddie and Amber can decide to attack the Mother, or the tree that as fallen on the kitten. Attacking the tree will make the Mother cat angrier and more vicious; however attacking the tree enough will free the kitten (at which point the mother will grab the kitten and run). If the player chooses this strategy, Eddie will be rewarded with the Catnip charm (dropped by one of the cats…or Ryu perhaps), which halves the damage dealt by feline enemies. If the player simply beat the mother to a pulp and then freed the kitten (or not they don’t have too), they get to feel bad that they just beat up a cat. >:( Jerks.
They almost off the bridge when the earthquake happens (with energy bursting out) and breaks the bridge, sending them plummeting to a certian death…until Eddie whips out his fishing rod (with super strength cord, of course) and is able to catch a ledge with a perfect cast and save them both! However, now they’re stuck…until a mole comes along and offers to help if Eddie and Amber will fight him afterwords. Leading them through Blackwood forest, an open topped cave/path/tunnel with trees etc. growing along the bottom. A fight and a little conversation later, and the mole points the way to the next mole etc. etc. Eddie and Amber have no idea where they are going (though they notice that it is getting colder), but the moles seem to have an idea of who or what could be causing the earthquakes, however they think that the mole to ask would be the top mole, Darth Mole (ha…its punny). He turns out to be more of a wise sage than a fighter (though you’ll still fight him, he’ll be the 3rd strongest mole you fight throughout the tunnels). He directs them to the proper exit, saying that he does not know what they will find, but there is a city that is home to a couple strange people that may be of assistance. (for a save point…there could be a mole cricket. Hehe.) He offers to fight them again anytime. (The other moles will not fight after this.)
Eddie and Amber emerge from the forest into a snowy landscape. As they continue on looking for this city, a blizzard picks up. They try their best to find shelter, but fail and collapse (Eddie first, then Amber). Eddie finds himself alone in a firey labyrinth with a charred sign: “ate Chimera should escape (charred) civilian should come across (charred)” and hearing unearthly sounds. Upon wandering the strange red tinged metallic hallways, Eddie finds Amber and the two try and find a way out. While exploring, they find bizarre firey people (the citizens of Icy City). Talking to most of them will result in them “attacking” you (trying to help you), and Eddie and Amber deliriously fight back and run when it seems a whole crowd of them is after them (they even see one really tall flaming menace, but he doesn’t do anything (Leder getting ready to leave)). Suddenly learning PK Flash and blinding the fire people, they seem to outrun them, but they hear strange sounds coming closer, then they see it, the Ultimate Chimera (they don’t know that it’s called the UC) in all its frightening glory! They run and the UC gives chase until they are cornered (they player has the option to prolong the chase by using PP to do PK Flash, but eventually will run out), Amber sometimes thinks she hears a voice coming from that monster, but is too distracted by the UC to care, and they are ultimately cornered. Then he charges and their world goes black.
They wake up with blankets wrapped around them and sitting near a fireplace. Kura enters and introduces himself, and explains how he found them running around the city like maniacs and he had to knock them out. He warmed them up as best he could (having one hand didn’t make things easy). While they recover, the three talk, where Eddie and Amber learn that Kura doesn’t really remember much about who he is or why he is missing his arm etc. and Kura finds out about their quest to find the source of the earthquakes. Kura tells them of Dr. Andonuts, but insists that they recover first, and that he will go get him, as he lives nearby. At this point players take control of Kura and go on a mini quest to fetch and escort Dr. A to Eddie and Amber. Dr. A explains the source of the problem (near Dragon’s mountain) and gives them the balloon (I’m thinking a small blimp, inflated and assembled by pulling a string) to cross and some fast acting medicine to help them heal instantly. Eddie and Amber now have the chance to wander around town and talk to people. As soon as they leave the city, Kura catches up to them and wants to come along, to maybe find out a little more about himself. (After this, there is even more dialogue for the Icy City citizens. Reacting to Kura of course).
They head to the rift (all three of them) and encounter a Mr. Saturn trying to escape from a leech and failing, Eddie and party jump in to help. The grateful Mr. Saturn leads them to Saturn Valley, where they are asked to help clean up a leech problem. After fighting a few Leeches, they fight the Gooey Saturn-Leech. Upon its defeat, the leeches die. Next, a Mr. Saturn gives Eddie PK Teleport. They then continue on to the Rift. They inflate and use the small blimp to cross the rift, but darn their luck, more energy bursts out and strikes the balloon, causing it to plummet. Thinking fast, Kura jumps out and flies, pushing the balloon so that they crash in Death Marsh instead of falling to their deaths. While in flight, another beam of energy grazes Kura and blasts off his left wing. He is knocked unconscious from the intensity of the blow (even though it only grazed him) and he falls. The balloon just clears the rift, but Kura is still falling. Eddie jumps into action yet again, casting his fishing line perfectly and snagging Kura; the laws of physics are still against him, has he nearly slides off from the weight until Amber helps out, and Kura still rams into the side of the cliff, but other than that they all live. They rest a bit and try to revive Kura.

The player is now in control of Kura, as they walk through a bizarre dream world. He starts in a lit up part of town (reminiscent of Icy City) and can talk to a few people there, though they speak what Kura thinks that they think of him. Upon exploring more, the lights dim as he walks further away from the city. He sees images race by that seem familiar (Lucas, Hinawa, and Flint). He encounters typical Magicant enemies as he ventures deeper and the world around him gradually becomes more of a red hue. A familiar, unsettling theme can be recognized in the background (King P’s theme, though again, remixed to a point where you can only barely recognize it). Kura reaches a point where the surroundings are blood red and he comes upon a shadowy mass. It attacks (maybe words are exchanged, maybe not). This is the remnant of Porky’s brainwashing inside of Kura. It is formless and constantly changing shape into terrible images of Kura’s past (none immediately recognizable, but include: Spidermech Porky, Miracle Fassad, and Masked Man. Again, think shifting silhouettes, not a direct reference). Kura (and the player) tries his best to win, however can’t seem to defeat this shadow. The red background intensifies and Kura feels his mind slipping away, until three people he doesn’t truly recognize (Flint, Hinawa, and Lucas) jump in front of Kura and protect him from the spreading shadow. The three attack, a flash of light, and then darkness.
After this, he cut back to Eddie and Amber and Kura sleeping by the campfire. A shadow slips away from Kura and he wakes up shortly after. They then enter the marsh. They are fine making their way through it until a heavy fog sets in, lowering visibility to nearly zero. They press on as far as they can, but the constant enemies are taking their toll and they are completely lost (we could have them enter the same area over and over again for a set number of times). Until Kura sees something, someone…someone he recognizes. He can’t make out who it is, but he rushes to follow him/her as it moves away. This chase continues until they find themselves out of the marsh…with no one there. Kura tries to explain to his friends, but is very confused and disappointed. (The person he saw could be one of two people, I’ll let you decide. It could be Kura’s mother, or Ryu. Either add a neat little twist to the game. I personally like Ryu, though when I first thought of this idea, I had Hinawa in mind.)
They enter Limestone Village, and ask for a guide to Dragon’s mountian and are met with no help at all. They search town for anyone willing to go until they find Zack. They had heard other villagers gossiping about him, alluding to his strange behaviors and a certain badge that he has (“did you see that thing that Zack was studying? Why is he climbing trees during storms wearing metal?”). They also heard more about the origin of the village, how Dr. Andonuts and another man (Leder) helped them restart (hence how all the villages have sewer systems and functioning infrastructures). Suddenly, they hear commotion in town. All four going to investigate, they find a strange shadow figure in Kura’s likeness. It dashes forward and a quick fight ensues, after a few hits, Kura’s Shadow grabs the weakest member of the party (Zack) and escapes. The villagers show some concern over Zach’s plight, but none seem eager to confront that shadow, they also start becoming uneasy around Kura, due to his arm and his likeness to the shadow. Kura also has a moment where he feels that that thing wouldn’t even exist had he not let it escape (talking only to Eddie and Amber, of course).
Eddie, Amber, and Kura agree (with little discussion) to go and save Zack. The sewers here do not have sidewalks, so they must walk through the muck. The party fights all sorts of disgusting monsters here, many with poisoning and even nauseating attacks. They catch up to Shadow Kura, and a battle ensues. Shadow Kura uses Zack as a shield sometimes, so they must cautious. (Once through the battle, if Kura is knocked out, he is revived by something (perhaps his sheer determination to beat this shadow, or maybe “someone” else lent a helping hand). At 1/3rd health, ShadowKura will drop Zack and use a sword to fight instead. Once defeated, ShadowKura will try and strike all three party members down with his lightning attack. If the party succeeded in not killing Zack (by not attacking when ShadowKura was shielding himself with him and even if his HP is 0 at the end of the fight), then Zack will jump in front of the party and use his badge to reflect it back at ShadowKura, who then slithers away. (I like the idea of Zack having the Franklin Badge; if you don’t, we can always just have Zack push everyone behind Eddie if you want him to have the Badge or something like that. I really want to give that ‘bad ending’ option.)
Upon coming back to the village, many of them tell you that you smell like crap and that you should shower or something. The mayor (or someone important, Zack’s father?) lets them stay at the inn (or Zack’s house or something) for free so they can use the facilities to wash up. This will be where Zack is formally introduced as he tells a bit about himself and his past endeavors and dreams. He also explains about the Franklin badge, and how that fight confirmed his theories of what its abilities were, and that now he just needs to figure out how it works. They then talk about their incentive to get to Dragon Mountain. Zack tells how he has always been fascinated by the place, but could never get through Death Marsh and that he has tried many times, but keeps running into a mushroom monster. He then expresses that he loves mushrooms, but this mushroom beast seems to mind if he snacks on it, and always runs him out of the Marsh. After reassuring the group that he could guide them through the marsh with his homemade map, he joins the party and now they can head to Dragon Mountain. They go through the marsh with relative ease and fight and defeat the mushroom monster.

Making their climb up the mountain, the party begins to see strange artifacts the further they go up (a mask here or there, some signs or metal, very sparse). They encounter Ryu midway up. He seems to be struggling with something, and begins to go on a rampage as another, very powerful Earthquake happens. Ryu attacks the party ferociously, however if the party can survive (get his HP down so much), Ryu will come to his sense and fly away to the top of the Mountain. Near the top, they encounter a very, VERY, tall man. Zack knows of him, and Kura has talked to him (albeit it was nearly a one-sided conversation). They try talking with him now as he gazes toward the center of the peak (think Mt. Doom…only with a little more room to stand and less lava and more Dragon). Not getting an immediate response they set up camp nearby. Before they go to sleep, the man speaks. He introduces himself as Leder; he assumes that they are here concerning the earthquakes. He tells a story of the world before this one, and how a boy was able to change that. He awoke the Dragon and it destroyed the world and rebuilt it at the same time. However, the Dragon did not notice the flying city above it crashing to Earth. He notes that Dragon Mountain as they knew it is not Dragon Mountain. The Right half is the mountain, the left half is the remains of the floating city that pinned the Dragon’s head in the mountain.

He continues to say that during the rebuilding process, the mind and heart of the boy melded with that of the Dragon. Since the Dragon was not finished rebuilding, the boy had not been freed from the mindmeld. The boy’s body could not stand the great power coming from the Dragon for so long, and it disintegrated. The boy was able to construct a body for himself using the Dragon’s power, but that also bound him even further to the Dragon’s mind. Ryu then ventured out to explore the new world. However, the Dragon began to grow frustrated that he could not escape this choke hold, and began to thrash. Ryu then returns to the Mountain to try and calm the Dragon down. He has been doing fine, until recently. The Dragon’s frustration is turning into anger, and will eventually turn into rage. The darkness in the Dragon’s heart is growing quickly. Leder ponders if the Dragon is feeding off of the darkness in Ryu’s heart, or if it came from some other source. He tells them that if they can find a way to free the Dragon, they would save this world that Ryu is trying so hard to protect. He finally tells them to get some rest.

Later that night, Kura is restless, and simply can’t fall asleep. He goes off to be alone, only to find Leder awake as well, holding something. Kura can’t get a good look at it before he notices him and put it away. They have a late night conversation. Leder asks why Kura is up. He replies that he feels that he is responsible for all of this somehow, but he can’t remember anything. Leder hesitates, then asks why he feels responsible. Kura explains the flashes that he keeps seeing, and they lead him to think that he is the one who made the world such a bad place the first time around. Leder then says that it is up to him to discern the truth. Kura then asks what if he doesn’t like the truth that he finds. Leder replies to have a little faith in himself. That what he did in the past does not matter now. That He has friends that care about him, and that whatever happens, he should not lose faith in those whom he loves. And that they never lost faith in you. Kura is confused by the statement, and Leder pushes him off to bed.
The next morning, the party walk to the center of the mountain. Ryu suddenly appears and tells them to run, but is quickly silenced by another earthquake and the dark side of the Dragon takes over Ryu. Ryu tells them how he wishes he had never recreated this world, what good have you humans ever done for me? or for yourselves for that matter!? Ryu attacks, and everyone fights their best except Kura, who is contemplating the ambiguous things that Leder said and the strange familiarity that comes from Ryu.

With the darkside of the dragon defeated, The Dragon Boy’s body crumbles to dust when he is defeated, and his spirit apologizes for letting himself be influenced so much by the Dragon’s power. His spirit takes a familiar shape and Ryu and Kura have an emotional moment as Kura’s memories rush back. The two embrace (kinda…I would find it hard to hug a ghost) and they comfort each other…until something strange happens…

The dark side of the dragon merges with another shadow, the dark side of Kura, and attempt to take over the dragon. The resulting surge of power breaks the dragon free (blows half the mountain (the New Pork part) off), and it starts to go on a rampage. Ryu, determined to let this new world prosper, charges at the dragon, letting it eat him (even though the others don’t know that he meant to do that). A fight ensues, led by Kura, and their attempts to damage the dragon don’t work. The dragon knocks out all party members except Kura (they are still conscious, but unable to fight). Ryu reaches out to Kura, urging him to remember the love that he has for their mother, father and each other, Ryu then uses the struggling good energy of the dragon to call the people of the island. Telling them to think of those they love unconditionally, just to think about them, and to savor that feeling. These feelings are absorbed by Ryu (via the good dragon) and Kura and are unleashed with a joint PK Love.
The dark side of the dragon is destroyed, and the dragon (now good again) spits Ryu and Ryu fades, his connection to the Dragon finally severed. Kura hugs him, crying, and Ryu reassures him that he won’t be gone, just watching from a distance. Kura responds confidently that he knows. Ryu vanishes, wishing Eddie and his friends good luck and to take care of the new world. Amber and Eddie help the exhausted Kura to his feet, and Zack comments on how cute a couple they make. Eddie and Amber ignore him. They look out over the continent and watch as the Rift seals itself, leaving the land whole. They watch as the Dragon flies away and vanishes over the horizon, turning into pure light. The cast of characters starts, going through everyone, but when reaching Eddie, he continues walking and the player is brought back to the mountain for the epilogue.
Zack wishes to go with Leder and Kura to Icy city to meet the famed Dr. Andonuts. Eddie and Amber decide to tag along, since it is on the way home. They fly away in Leder’s blimp and reach the Icy City, at which point Zack and Kura leave the party. Eddie and Amber now can go anywhere and talk to anyone, including Zack and Kura (Kura is much more outgoing and confident now than before and the village begins to see past his arm and love him.) Eddie leaves Amber in Luckton, and continues on home…only, the tunnel is blocked, right? Wrong! The moles came and dug a brand new tunnel for anyone to use. Upon getting home, Eddie’s mother welcomes him home and says that his father is waiting for him at the beach when he’s ready.
Eddie’s father tells him that he found an island with the most bizarre people that he might want to check out. Upon reaching the island, Eddie does find some strange people indeed! For this is the community of Starmen.net! All sprites and a few lines of dialogue from the members will be placed here. All those who contributed the most to creating this game will be in the credits theater.

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