Part 23: Chupichupyoi Temple
Ocho brings everybody back to Tazmily. The music has changed once more – it’s slow and mournful. When you walk around the village, you will only find thirteen of the forty villagers remaining:
- Alec (doesn’t believe in Pigmask’s ideology)
- Wess (same as Alec)
- Nippolyte (No reason given, but has never owned a Happy Box)
- Ed (No reason given; the rest of his family has left him)
- Lighter (wants to stay in the village, but is considering leaving)
- Fuel (Lighter’s son)
- Bronson (really likes the beach and doesn’t want to leave)
- Nana (nobody told her where everyone was going)
- Thomas (doesn’t want to leave his store behind)
- Pusher (must stay because he’s mayor)
- Elmore (married to Pusher)
- Ollie (Pusher’s son)
- Sebastian (has landed a job in the city and will be leaving soon)
Of the thirteen villagers who are staying, only eight of them actually wish to remain. This once lively village is now becoming a ghost town. The prospects of the big city were too much to ignore, and one after the other, people migrated. It all started with Fassad’s speech, when only four people were somewhat intrigued by Happiness. None of them completely bought into it at first, but all it took were three Happy Boxes to transform the village. From that tiny exposure, everyone became hooked in only three years. Though prosperity was rising, familiarity between neighbors declined. Everybody gradually became more concerned about themselves to the point that they would abandon their lifelong friends to live in a thriving city. Because Tazmily’s population was declining, it only made sense that departure from it was the only way to live happily. This was done at the expense of the few who never bought into Fassad’s ideology. Lighter, a citizen who was never interested in ‘happiness,’ is now considering leaving Tazmily – not out of sadness, but out of loneliness. What will happen to Lucas and his companions? Before any of that is decided, they must find Ionia and his Needle, which lies near Alec’s house in the mountains.
As you walk through the Sunshine Forest, the song that plays in the village continues here. The trees are gone, and all that lives in the forest are Chimera abominations. Since the beginning of the story, the Pigmasks have burned everything to the ground and replaced the natural with the artificial. Their motives are still unclear, but their plans are succeeding, despite the resistance from Lucas and his allies.
As you venture through the mountains, back to where everything began, Kumatora recognizes where she is and instructs you to head through Argrilla Pass, also called “Stumble Pass.” To lighten the mood, Lucas and friends trip and drop the jar of pickles that Mixolydia gave them. Boney is tasked to sniff out where it went.
After that, you fight against the Mystery Metal Monkey. When you defeat it, you have “a good experience” rather than receiving experience points. Just what is this monkey? Next, you have to travel through an extensive cave to reach Ionia’s house. In a a secret path, “Cuddle Bombs” await your doom, attaching to you and exploding if you don’t defeat them soon enough. At the end of the path, you encounter Negative Man: a yellow, blocky creature who is eternally sad. He seems to not like how this story’s going either.
Once you navigate through Argrilla Pass, you find Ionia’s house. You hand over the jar of pickles, which Ionia says will be the last thing he eats before he disappears. His Needle is located inside Chupichupyoi Temple, which is protected by vines frozen in time. To get past the vines, you need to sprinkle Waters of Time onto them.
When you leave to go to the Temple, you encounter a Mr. Saturn, who says, “POLISHED INTO SHINY SPARKLE THING. NO WORRIES. I GIVE BACK AT YOU.” He gives back Lucas’s Courage Badge, and it’s revealed to be the legendary Franklin Badge! In both previous EarthBound games, the main character wore the Franklin Badge, which is said to have been worn by Benjamin Franklin during his experiments with electricity. In battle, it reflects electric attacks back at the enemy.
Lucas and his companions head forth to Chupichupyoi Temple. Watch who greets them as they arrive:
When they arrive, they find the Pigmasks, along with the Masked Man, struggling to get past the vines frozen in time. The soldiers notice you and commence battle. After the soldiers are defeated, the Masked Man fights you himself, waving his lightning sword. At Tanetane Island, his lightning attack knocked everyone out instantly. But thanks to the Franklin Badge, the lightning reflects back at the Masked Man, keeping everyone safe.
The song that plays when you fight the Masked Man is very interesting. Technically speaking, the time signature is 71907/40120, which is absolutely ridiculous. In practicality, it’s 29/16, which is still really weird. It is near impossible to combo your attacks against him. I’d like to imagine that this oddly specific time signature represents the deep complexity of the technology that is embedded in this Masked Man to even keep him alive, which is reminiscent of the Reconstructed Caribou from Chapter 1. If just one screw loosens off his helmet, he’ll probably die. If just one line of code in him isn’t completely perfect, he’ll explode. The Masked Man is the epitome of Chimerism.
After the Masked Man is defeated, sparks emit from his body and he flies away to safety. Lucas sprinkles the Waters of Time onto the frozen vines, clearing the entrance. Inside Chupichupyoi Temple lies Ionia’s Needle. Before Lucas pulls it, Ionia comes teach Kumatora one of the strongest attacks in the game: PK Starstorm. She was never meant to learn it, and even the Magypsies are hesitant to use it, but a time as dire as this calls for her to know its power.
After Kumatora is taught PK Starstorm, Lucas pulls his third Needle. The earth quakes, bright colors paint the walls of the temple, and an intense burst of smoke erupts from the ground. Right as Ionia is about to disappear, he senses Locria nearing the final needle at a “lively, filthy place.” Before he can instruct Lucas any further, he disappears; Kumatora sadly stares at the ground.
Before anyone can discuss what happened, festive music is heard outside the Temple! When everyone goes out to investigate, a limousine parks right outside the entrance, with the driver referring to the boy as “Master Lucas.” Where did this car come from, and where is it taking everyone?
This concludes part 23 of the analysis. In the next part, we will see where the limousine takes us.