EarthBound high playthrough log part 5

Several more attempts at the Dept store, still no progress... guess I'll check the guide and see if there's anything I can do here besides grind.

Actually, looks like I just need to get to the Dept store boss with both Ness and Jeff alive, then I can defeat him in one turn with Ness's PSI and Jeff's Big Bottle Rocket... er wait no, I only have a normal bottle rocket. But I do have the counter-PSI unit which would be really useful against the boss who mostly only uses PSI.
looks like there are Super Bombs I can get for Jeff to make the enemies more manageable. but I have to deposit some items and run back and for the revive Jeff and then travel to Threed.. Oh wait, those are only normal bombs and normal bottle rockets I can get there... I missed my chance at buying big bottle rockets and super bombs at Fourside Dept Store before this event happened... damn

Also I learned these present enemies can only move in a straight line, so it is possible to avoid them if you can't despawn them.

There we go.. I got there with both Ness and Jeff... the strategy is just to spam PSI Weed beta and bottle rockets and he's dead in two or 3 turns.

At this moment, PAULA should be... Monotoli...

It looks like staying on the inner sidewalk when you're on the outskirts of Fourside lets you avoid running into angry taxis and other enemies... I gotta be careful here with NESS at very low HP and no PP.
Hotel newspaper:

Mysterious Dept Store blackout caused by mouse.

So hint guy says to go to the Cafe... nothing I can do at Monotoli building yet... oh yeah I recall someone there was specifically saying to me "Monotoli is definitely not here."
Someone else is hanging out here trying to find Monotoli.. and the woman here says she hears something outside...

People are gathered around the alleyway where Everdred is on the ground.. he stole something that carpenter from Happy Happy Village.. a strange colored doll called a Mani Mani... he came here trying to sell it, and Monotoli stole it from him. He gets his evil power from "that statue."
Oh yeah... that statue from the creepy guy's basement, which ended up in Happy Happy Village.. now it's part of the Fourside plot.

I'll tell you only once. At the cafe, check... behind... the counter...

He leaves a haiku poem as his last words...

When on your way out
Be sure that you say goodbye
then lock the door tight.
This is my final request... Don't follow me. I must be on my way...

And then he gets up and walks away, not even pretending to be injured anymore...

Checking that location in the cafe make me go into this strange neon version of the world, where Yes and No mean the opposite

Welcome to Moonside.
Wecomel to Soonmide.
Moonwel ot cosidme.

I get nearly killed by a gas pump and a fire hydrant... NESS misses home...
Talking to some random stranger on the street...

Hello, and, goodbye

Then suddenly you get warped to behind Monotoli's building
But the edge of the lawn acts as a barrier I think? And the only way onto the neon street is blocked by a guy who won't let me through to where the Mani Mani statue is because I'm not a guy whose eyebrows are connected and who also has a gold tooth.

Some kid counting backwards...

257 256 255 254 253... So what's your problem? If you don't want anything, get outta here. I'm counting backwards.

Then when you talk to him a couple more times and he gets to 0, he's like:

I am surprised

Woah.... so meta.... he is surprised that when counting backwards from a positive number you eventually reach 0.

How about I sharpen you? You don't want me to sharpen? Sidem oonsi demoon. Welc welc omewelc omeome.

Hey! Parking meters! And you're walking around! Ha ha ha... That's so funny.

At the dinosaur museum:

Do you know whose bones are on display here? The answer is... your bones. My bones. Bone's bones. Bone bone bone.

The humor in this game just got a lot more strange... like what even...

The educational museum sign asks me why I came to moonside.
Another warping NPC...

I will send you first and you second... to the hospital.

Then he literally warps me to the hospital

Got attacked by "abstract art", which is a painting of what looks like a man with a moon face and a snowman standing outside under the crescent moon... even the enemies here have some really creepy strange subtext...

I'm not sure, but the homesick status... does that make it so you have less accuracy the more HP you have, and more accuracy/luck the less HP you have?
I refuse the doctor's offer to look me over... and he says

You must be homesick. That's not nothing you need to be ashamed of.

I think the warp NPCs are progress... exploring on your own always just seems to lead to dead ends... only some of the warp guys lead to progress.. others just send you back and respawn the enemies.

I get an invisible party member following me now... he says he'll stay out of fights.

Finally got to the hotel... the phone is jumping up and down like it's possessed... oh yeah, the doctor told ness that calling his mom is the most important thing right now...
But first I have to talk to these hotel clerks.

Mani Mani Mani Mani Mani Mani Mani Mani

Invisible guy

Don't you wish you had a gold tooth like mine?

Yeah I get it, with this invisible guy with a gold tooth following me around, I can now get to the Mani Mani statue. Mani Mani Mani

OMG this music after I refuse to sleep at the hotel... it's really slowed down now and there are monkey noises... what...

Ha! everyone is someone! Don't you think so?

Yes

Moo nsi dem oons ide.

The invisible guy surprised the man standing behind the monotoli building, we can now get the Mani Mani statue... oh, it's that thing from the cave near Onett...
Monotoli standing in front of it, says "I am not Monotoli" and warps away.

After I defeat this boss, I return to the normal world, I find out I've been in the cafe warehouse this whole time

Apple kid calls says he'll give me a yogurt machine... wow this kid is incredibly useful...

OMG, I get it, suddenly the weird speaking pattern of that cafe clerk makes sense now... he was also under the influence of the Mani Mani statue...

Finally back in Fourside... a monkey comes running to meet me and says the Talah Rama requests my presence back in the desert... Apple Kid's delivery guy says he dropped the yogurt in the desert. Then monotoli's maid comes and asks me to get the trout flavored yogurt for their special guest. It's pretty obvious where to go next... that monkey paradise hole in the desert that I couldn't do anything in before.

Stayed at the hotel again to see the news...

Over 50% of Fourside citizens now support Anti-Monotoli campaign.

- Dusty Dunes Desert part 3 -

The Talah Ramah cave... oh man this is like the Majora's Mask gibdo cave... or rather this monkey cave was the original version of it. Various paths lead to dead ends with a monkey that gives you an item that you need to get through another path.. one monkey tells me I need to find Dragonite in this cave.
Need a gold banana... need a hamburger... got a protein drink... this is all about keeping track of stuff (don't cheat and use notes imo that defeats all the challenge)

Got the dragonite... okay now I'm not sure if there's anything I still need here or not? checking a guide just in case... oh yeah of course, I need to come back here with the pencil eraser that I left with Tracy... I guess now that I don't have all that junk inventory to worry about on my next trip through this cave, it's not that big a deal coming back through here again.

Wow... the Talah Rama is actually this meditating monk dude... or, I think he is? I can't really tell if the monkey is the one talking to me or if it's the monk...

Talking some really cool eastern philosophy stuff...

Truth speaks through space and matter and makes itself known to human beings. I was waiting for you, and you came. This was destined to happen. In truth, all is pre-determined....
NESS, PAULA, JEFF and POO, when these four powers gather, twisted space will bring back peace to this world.

lmao it kinda feels like both the monkey and the monk sprites are talking to me as one entity or something.
He give me the yogurt dispenser... right, that's what I came here for.

Then he give me something else...

I'll give you a special skill to help you move through space as you wish. Learn the skill from the monkey over there...

Ah, so it's the monk who was talking this whole time

Ness learned PSI teleportation.. now I can easily get back to any town I've been to instantly.

- Fourside part 3 -

I give the yogurt dispenser to Electra, Monotoli's maid, and she lets me up to the 48th floor. A sentry bot asks me for a code, then counts down from 10, then fights me.
This top floor is a confusing sequence of hallways... like a square office building layout... and there's all these top tier items I'm finding that I have no room for until I find Paula and/or Poo...
This miniboss... Clumsy Robot... the sentries were easy but this thing kept fully healing itself... It looked like I was going to be able to beat it, but then unexpectedly the Runaway 5 came in and pulled the plug on it.

Monotoli hides in fear from Ness.. Paula tells us to listen to his story...

I've become so weak since I lost the Mani Mani statue. I'm sorry I kidnapped Paula.

He explains that the Mani Mani statue creates an illusion, attracts evil spirits and weakens your heart. That power scared him so much, he hid the statue in Jackie's cafe's warehouse... and I guess that warehouse became Moonside.

NESS, your name appeared in cryptic messages.

Stop Ness, and do so by your own hand. Or... Don't let them go to Summers. Or... Make sure they known nothing of the pyramid...

Anyway, the evil side will be in trouble if you visit Summers.

That's where my next destination is... I bet Summers is where I'll meet the 4th party member, and Giygas is trying to keep us away from Summers because he's afraid of the 4 of us being together.
Monotoli pushes the bear statue in front of the door we came from, and opens the hidden door to the airport so we can go to Summers I think... oh no, Pokey stole the helicopter

Paula stops and gets dizzy right before we leave... she senses that we have to go back to Threed in order to get to Summers.

Apple Kid calls again, and tells us he's discovered the primary enemy of us and all of humanity.. and that he's trying to invent a machine called the phase distorter to help fight against it. He's looking for a wandering scientist, Dr. Andonuts...
Then orange kid calls and says he's still looking for a way to change boiled eggs into raw eggs...

The UFO back at Threed has been repaired by some no-name NPCs.. we can now get back to Winters to get Dr. Andonuts help with getting to Summers.

The monkeys and a caveman are hanging out with Andonuts... they told him about a cave north of Stonehenge.. and he sees that this place is important to us and he won't interfere.

Oh yeah, I that melody boss I passed by before with solo Jeff... almost forgot about that. Now that I'm here again I can finally get the 4th melody. This Shroom boss fight was intense... but luckily I had enough resources to deal with all the status effects and uncurable shroom disease...

PAULA now level 35, JEFF now level 37, NESS 46... after getting this 4th melody at Rainy Circle and returning to the lab, Jeff's dad has upgraded the UFO so that it can now take us to Summers. Stopped right after getting there.