Cutscene The garage: Stacy and the repair #
GEAR 4
A few weeks have passed since the events of Gear 3, we see Ralph in his garage with the robot girl on a litter while he’s touching her mechanical components with his tools. His car is in front of it and its headlights project Stacy, so it looks like she’s standing near him. She says:
“You have been working hard on her, are you not tired?”
“A little, but it’ll payoff”
“Truly, this task would’ve been considered impossible in the beginning, but the progress in this is certain. Good job, driver”
“Thanks, Stacy. I don’t give up on stuff I really want to achieve”
“You work outside and here; you barely have any spare time. I am concerned about your health”
“I’m grateful for it, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine”
Cutscene Lin’s truck #
Suddenly, he hears a louder engine noise near his house, it’s the sound of a truck that parks by his car’s side. Ralph can’t help but get distracted, so he stops for a second and looks at the REO military truck and then sees Lin getting out of it. Ralph asks: “Whose truck is that?”
“Mine. I bought it”
“You what?”
“The junkyard owner you told me about offered me a job, so I took it, bought this truck with the money I got and paid off your debt by doing extra jobs”
Ralp gets surprised, which leads to Lin getting slightly embarrassed and saying:
“What? I can’t just sit down in your house and do nothing”
Ralph then smiles and lifts his fist for a fist bump, saying: “Thanks, Lin. You didn’t have to”
Lin is confused by his fist, keeping her right hand on her hip and the other hand down, saying: “Um… You’re welcome? Why are you pointing your fist at me?”
Stacy says: “Veteran, this is an Earth gesture, specifically American where both parties close their hands and bump their fists as a sign of celebration and friendship”
Lin says: “Oh…” Then she awkwardly closes her fist and does the fist bump with Ralph.
He then points at the robot girl and asks: “Wanna help me finishing her?”
Lin shrugs and answers: “Sure, there’s not much left to do anyway”
Cutscene Waking the PDU: she gets a name #
Screen cuts to a few moments later, showing Ralph putting down his tools and Lin closing off her minicomputers, saying: “Okay, she should be good to go now”
Ralph smiles, then turns two switches on the girl’s body and says: “Time to wake up, sleeping beauty!”
We then see the girl’s metallic ears twisting, her eye opening and spinning around, her eyepatch shining red and a few boot noises, ending with her robotic voice saying: “Boot sequence successful, all systems repaired. Good morning world”, then the girl gets up and in a sitting position on the litter, she then looks at Lin, Stacy and Ralph, who is still smiling optimistically. Seeing through her eyes, we see HUDs informing who the three are. Ralph says:
“Wakey wakey!”
She looks at Ralph and asks: “You are… The opponent, are you not?”
“You still remember everything, don’t you?”
She looks down, sees her hand closing front and back, answering: “What I remember… Are tests, cyberspace, combat training… Waking up in that old colony… Battles in the arena… I remember you. You’re my opponent, what happened? Where am I?”
Ralph shrugs and answers: “Well, you lost the fight, and since you had nowhere to go, I brought you home”
“I lost? That means… My master, did he disassemble me again for upgrades?”
While not making it evident, Ralph felt bad when he heard her saying this, but replied with: “You don’t have a master anymore. Mr. Steinberg was a criminal and was arrested for it. You’re free now, no one to send you to die in colosseums”
The girl’s interface glitched for a moment and she was confused, not knowing how to feel grateful or joyful. She then said: “I’m… Free? I won’t be disassembled or upgraded anymore?”
“No. You’re good now”
“But… Opponent, did you-”
“Hey now, I’m no longer your opponent. My name is Ralph and I brought you to Earth, my home planet. This is Stacy, who is my PDU’s interface and Lin, a friend”
Lin says: “Ahem… My name is…”
“Lin, you’re gonna bug her systems with your real name”
Lin clenches her teeth and says almost whispering: “Argh… The audacity”
The girl says: “I’m… I am unit GX800-”
“No no no… You’re not a number, not a machine… How about I give you a name?”
“A name? Can I… Okay. Permission granted”
“Giselle. That’s your name from now on”
“Giselle… Understood, Mr. Ralph”
“Just Ralph”
“Ralph… Yes, Ralph”
He then approaches her, takes her hand and says: “Come on, get up, lemme show you your new home”
We see her getting up and hovering with her wings.
Home hub Home hub: interactions, side missions, main mission #
After this, the screen cuts to black and skips for a few more days. The player is now allowed to have interactions with Bailey, Dani, Lin and Giselle. The player is also allowed to pick three different side missions, one in Antarctica, one in Chernobyl and one in Atlantis, but the main mission is also an option.
Home hub Opening interaction: the macaroni #
Opening interaction: Ralph gets in after a day of work and sees Dani trying to pick a pack of macaroni high up in the kitchen and Lin checking up her phone when she looks at Dani, she then puts her phone down and picks up the macaroni, giving it to Dani. Lin says:
“If you need help, just ask”
Dani pouts, picks up the macaroni and says: “I don’t need help…”
Lin sighs and says: “Yeah, sure”
“Just… Why is this cabinet so tall?”
Suddenly, Giselle shows up and asks: “Ms. Dani, do you need help?”
Dani says: “No! Why does everyone here treat me like a child?!”
“Please, forgive me”
Dani gets embarrassed and says: “W-wait, I didn’t mean it like that! I just! I just! Uh…”
We then hear Ralph laughing. Giselle turns around and says: “Mist… Ralph, welcome home”
Dani smiles and says: “Welcome home, Ralph!”
Lin says: “Welcome, Ralph”
We hear Bailey from her room, saying: “Hey yo, Ralph!”
Cutscene The main mission: the dragon goddess #
From then on, the player can pick up an interaction, an adventure or the main mission. The main mission will have Giselle hovering up to Ralph, saying: “Mist… Ralph, there are things I’d like to ask you and your PDU’s interface, can you please take me to your vehicle?”
“Sure, let’s do that”
The two leave the house and approach the car. Ralph says:
“Stacy, Giselle wants to say hi”
Stacy answers: “Hello, Rookie PDU, how can I help you?”
“Stacy, isn’t it? You shared some of your data to my databank, didn’t you?”
“Correct”
“So, part of the data points out that this PDU was sent to this planet on a mission to eliminate a global threat after a cry for help was sent to the Galactic Federation”
Ralph says: “Hm… I see, so that’s why the Horse Power fell from the sky like a meteor and landed right in front of me. I’m gonna assume it was Charlie who spent too much time playing with his CB radio telling everyone about aliens invading the planet, which turned out to be true. Guess I did my job then, people stopped talking about aliens since we came back”
“No, the data points out that you haven’t fulfilled your duty yet, the threat is still present”
“Wait, what? I haven’t kicked out the aliens yet? Wasn’t Mr. Steinberg arrested?”
“No, that’s not it. And besides, the alien invasion was deemed legal until you let the Federation know it was all a conspiracy, so that couldn’t have been the threat, at least not initially”
“Oh… So there’s another threat to the world I don’t know of?”
“According to my data, yes”
Ralph takes a breath and asks: “Stacy, is that true?”
Stacy answers: “Yes, driver, everything she said is correct. I apologize for not telling you this earlier, but I’ve been trying to locate the global threat this unit was sent to combat from the moment it landed on this planet, but to no avail. It can be assumed that this threat was already eliminated or is hiding somewhere else”
Giselle says: “Actually, Stacy, I have some clues about where the threat might be hiding and it’s most likely still active, according to my research. I looked up historical articles and-”
Ralph interrupts her, saying: “Woah woah woah woah woah! Hold right there, you two are talking about a global threat, but you’re not telling me what threat that is. How about you tell me that first?”
Giselle answers: “The dragon goddess Quetzalcoatl”
“Que… What?”
“Quetzalcoatl, the dragon goddess worshipped by the Aztec empire. Human sacrifices were offered to her so she would support that empire and not destroy the planet, according to what the cry for help says”
Ralph stays silent for a few moments, then starts laughing and saying “Well that’s interesting. Wanna know why?”
“Yes, please”
He then says it loudly: “Because the Aztec empire ended almost 500 years ago!!! That’s how long it took for the Federation to send help?! If that threat was real, we’d be doomed!”
Giselle says: “She is real, Ralph, otherwise the Federation wouldn’t have sent a PDU to this planet”
“Oh yeah? Then how come in 500 years the world is still safe from her?”
“Because dragons live for thousands of years, 500 years is little time for her, she might be resting now, waiting for the perfect time to attack”
Not knowing what to respond, Ralph says: “Shit… You’re right, I guess. And where is Quelm hiding right now?”
“The city of Eldorado”
Ralph laughs and says: “Come on, really? We’re chasing fairy tales now? That place is mythical, it never existed”
Giselle says: “According to your PDU’s data, you didn’t believe aliens and in lizard people existed either, and yet, it was proven real”
“Ugh… You got a point, but how would I know this place is real?”
Stacy says: “Because data about the place exists, and it was recorded by ancient computers”
“Ancient computers? Was Eldorado some kind of advanced civilization or something?”
“According to the data, yes”
Giselle says: “Stacy, please, allow me to share my data with you”
Giselle then stands still; numbers are seen in her eyes and then Stacy receives the data. Stacy says: “Eldorado located. Amazon forest, around 3000 miles from this location”
“Well that’s gonna be a hell of a trip. Do we need to go now?”
Giselle answers: “Just because the threat isn’t apparent doesn’t mean it should be ignored. We should head to the location immediately”
Choice Choose your companion #
(This is when the player chooses their companion. Canon companion is Giselle though)
Cutscene Leaving home #
“Okay then, lemme pack up my things”
We then see Ralph entering the house again, saying: “Girls, I have a job to do, I’m going to South America with Giselle, I should be back in a few days, alright?”
Lin, Dani and Bailey say, respectively:
“Stay safe, Ralph”
“Hm… Okay”
“Don’t stay out for too long”
Ralph says: “Lin, keep the house safe”
“Will do”
“Dani, take care”
Dani pouts and says: “Wish I went with you on another trip… But okay”
“And Bailey… I won’t stay out for too long, I promise”
She smiles and says: “Okay… Can I call you this time?”
“Sure, I’ll stay in touch, but if anything bad happens, talk to Dani or call Lin, they’ll keep you safe”
Dani hears it and giggles, saying: “Glad you trust me to keep your house safe”
Ralph says: “Sure am, she won’t grab the guns for nothing”
Cutscene Road trip: what is eating, what is love #
We then see Ralph packing up, getting in the car with Giselle, who makes her wings disappear in the same fashion as the Horse Power to sit and then Ralph drives off. A few shots of the road trip are seen, until we see one where Ralph stops by a small food restaurant in the desert to eat. Giselle is sitting in front of him, watching as he eats, he looks at her and says:
“You want some… Nevermind, I forgot you don’t eat”
“What is eating like, Ralph?”
“Well, now that’s a question I don’t know how to answer. I’ve never met someone or something who doesn’t eat, so I can’t explain. It’s just natural, we just do it”
“I noticed that you enjoy eating certain types of food, while others you don’t enjoy as much”
“I don’t know what to say, how to explain how some food tastes good and others don’t… Or what tasting food is like… Sorry, you got me there”
“No need to apologize”
Suddenly, Ralph’s phone rings. It’s Bailey. Ralph answers the call, saying: “Missing me already?”
We don’t hear the conversation, but we hear Ralph laughing and saying: “It hasn’t been five hours since we left / we stopped to eat… Well, I’m eating at least / worried about my diet being healthy I see. Hehe, but I’m eating well / and how are you? Besides missing me / I see, how are the girls? / Yeah, Dani has that motherly instinct on her, but I’m glad she does, and I’m glad she’s watching you / I’ll be sending you pictures, don’t worry / alright then, take care, Bailey”
Ralph puts down his phone and Giselle watches it, asking: “She really cares about you, doesn’t she?”
“The poor girl was wandering through the desert alone when I met her. She has no family or friends besides me and the girls, she had nothing to lose before I picked her up, so she likes having us around”
“Is this what humans call love?”
“Love? Well… Uh… For the sake of not complicating things on your CPU, let’s say it is. I can explain it better later”
“Okay… I’m asking because I found some graphical novels lying around in your house, and some of them talked about love”
“So, you like comics and books?”
“Like? Well… That is a valid way of looking at it”
“Heh. That’s good. I’m glad you’re enjoying things”
“Yes”
Cutscene What is the point of music? #
We then see them getting in the car again and driving off. A few shots of the trip are shown again until we see the car driving along a coast road during the sunset. Suddenly, we hear Stacy asking:
“Driver, can I recommend you a song to listen for this moment?”
“Sure, Stacy! Impress me!”
A road song starts playing and Ralph jams to it, it makes him smile, look at the beautiful sunset and relax. After the song ends, Giselle, who has been watching him the whole time, asks:
“Ralph, what is the point of music?”
“You asked me what eating is like and about love before, right?”
“Correct”
“Music isn’t that much different – just like eating tasty food, reading books, playing video games and watching movies, it all exists to make you feel happy. Well, not just to make you feel happy, art exists to make you feel several different emotions, it just depends on the art you’re consuming. See, I love driving, so looking at this beautiful sunset, this road, the trees and listening to that song makes me happy”
“So art exists to make you feel things?”
“Well… It’s a bit deeper than that. Art is about sharing what you feel, and the musicians who played that song wanted to share their feelings. Art is a way to communicate and connect with other people without just telling them everything… Damn, I feel philosophical now hehe…”
“I see… I think I understand now”
“Big question is… How did you know I’d like this song, Stacy? It’s the first time I heard it.
Stacy answers: “Based on the songs you listen daily, your mood and the environments, I did my research about music and tried to find ones I assumed you’d like”
“Gotcha. Did that song exist before just now?”
“Yes, it was played by this group in 1983”
“Nice. Still surprises me you wanna see me happy by picking up a song, Stacy. You did a good job”
“Keeping the driver in a good mood is a good idea”
Giselle says: “She understands you. She understands your feelings… Stacy, could you share your data with me?”
Stacy answers: “I could, but you wouldn’t understand it the same way. I actually recommend you spend more time with the driver, rookie PDU”
“Oh… I see”
Ralph asks: “Wanna pick up a song, Giselle?”
“Me? Picking up a song? But I don’t understand music”
“Give it a try”
Travel The end of the road: the river #
“Okay…” Giselle then spends a few second computing before touching the screen, which makes Stacy match the specifications and find a song that properly fits it. The result is early 2000s rock, which puts another smile on Ralph’s face, and then he starts jamming, which is still incomprehensible to Giselle. The trip continues with more shots on South America’s beautiful roads, mountains and forests. At some point, the road ended and there were just forests around the car, which was already dirty by the time they arrived. Ralph asked:
“Stacy, where do we go now? It’s the end of the road, literally”
“Now, proceed to the river”
“Wait what? I can’t do that, we’re gonna sink”
“That won’t be happening, trust me”
“Are you telling me my car is now some 007 supermachine?”
“We can discuss about that later. For now, please drive into the river”
Ralph looks at Giselle, who doesn’t react besides looking back, then clenches his teeth in a nervous act and takes a deep breath. He then says: “Alright… Here goes nothing”
Ralph then slowly drives his vehicle towards the water, and to his surprise, as the car appeared to be sinking, it morphed into a hovercraft with a boat hull under and the spaceship’s turbines on the sides. Ralph takes off sweat from his forehead and says: “phew. Thank God it floated. Since when can it morph into a boat though?”
“One of the wrecks in the junkyard this unit landed was a hovercraft, the other was a boat, so data from these vehicles were stored”
“Wait, how and why Charlie had a boat and a hovercraft in the yard? That ain’t Florida or California, that’s Arizona”
“No data on the matter”
“Anyway, where should we go now?”
“Vague data on the entrance, I suggested you keep driving until the entrance is nearby”
“Um… It’s the biggest river in the world; we could end up not finding the entrance at all”
“I will do my best to find it. Rookie PDU, I suggest you help me find it”
Giselle nods and says: “Understood, I will”
Ralph then does as Stacy suggested and drives the vehicle through the river. We see a sequence of shots of the vehicle driving through the river during daytime, sunset, night and fog during morning, then we see Ralph still driving, asking:
“Stacy, I’ve been driving through this river for a whole day and we didn’t find this damn entrance yet, you sure we didn’t miss it?”
“I sincerely hope not”
“You hope? Oh God… Come on, that was a nice trip, don’t make me regret it”
“I’m trying my best to find it, but there is no data of the entrance besides it being in this river. At the very least, if we were far from it, the GPS would’ve been alerted”
“It’s been a whole day though, how is it not far?”
“I’m sorry, the radius of the GPS is big”
“Shit, I just hope we-”
Suddenly, Giselle had her ears wiggling and stayed alert, she pointed to the right and said: “Ralph, there it is!”
“Where?”
“Slow down”
Ralph did as Giselle suggested and was trying to find the entrance. He then asks: “Where is it?”
Giselle is still pointing, with Ralph struggling to see it. She still tries to point it out, until she has an idea and says: “Wait, Stacy, look at it”, Giselle then touches the screen, transferring the pinpointed location to Stacy, who says:
“Entrance found, driver, allow me to take the wheel”
Cutscene The hidden entrance #
“Okay” The vehicle then starts driving by itself until it enters a very discreet tunnel made of leaves and logs. Visibility is very low, as Ralph only sees vegetation from the windshield and it’s getting darker. Ralph turns the windshield wipers on and says: “This is gonna scratch the painting…” and suddenly, the river starts going downwards until the vehicle lands on a wider river underground. Headlights are automatically turned on. Ralph sees the wide dark tunnel and says: “So this is it? The road to Eldorado?”
“Correct. Please proceed”
“Alright then”
Ralph does as suggested and the tunnels progressively change. From black stones with no specific shape to a more rectangular shape and Mesoamerican art on the walls, everything points at the ancient civilization. Giselle looks at the walls and ceilings, asking:
“Ralph, isn’t this art? Everything drawn here seems to be trying to send a message”
“You’re getting it now. Yes, all of this is art”
Cutscene The sealed gate #
Ralph kept driving until he saw a big gate at the end of the waterway, where he slowed down and said: “Well… Looks like we got to the gates of Eldorado. Now what? Do I hit the horn for them to open it?”
We hear a few digital noises from the vehicle while the headlights analyze the gate. Stacy then says: “This gate is firmly locked and heavily encrypted with ancient characters from an extinct language, the system seems to be too complicated for modern machines to access”
“I mean, didn’t you hack your way through space, alien spaceships, area 51 and Earth itself? What could be so complicated about an old gate?”
“The materials, components, language, data and even the power of these systems are entirely different, my data cannot access it, it’s not powered by electricity”
“Jeez. Well, what do we do now?” Giselle twitches her ears, Ralph noticed and said: “You got an idea, Giselle?”
“Maybe. I will try something”
She then leaves the vehicle and hovers near the walls, the ceiling and the gate, occasionally stopping by different spots. She then approached the gate, gently touched it with her right hand and closed her eye. The gate had its glyphs shining green, then made an opening noise and started opening. Ralph was impressed as Giselle flew back to the vehicle, he then asked:
“Giselle, what did you just do?”
“I crossed references between the historical articles I read and the art in the walls of this tunnel, then submit my interpretation to the computer behind this gate”
“So, like, did the computer read your mind or something?”
“For the sake of not complicating your thought process, I will say yes”
“But Stacy said her data can’t access the computer because it’s not powered by electricity”
Giselle is as surprised as Ralph is, and it’s evident by the way she says: “That means I have a sentient mind… My mind was not fabricated; I’m not just a machine”
Ralph smiles, pats her head and says: “Of course you’re not” he then keeps driving through the river.
Cutscene Eldorado #
The city of Eldorado is just like the paintings, and the place is huge, and it’s covered in gold… However, it’s empty, devoid of human life, it’s still in ruins, the remains of an ancient civilization, so Ralph has questions, like:
“Where is everyone? Surely a city so well-hidden like this one should be safer than Area 51, right?”
Stacy answers: “There doesn’t seem to be signs of human life in this place”
“How can you tell? I thought the place was blocking your signals”
“Based on thermal readings, only animals can be detected within a 10-mile radius”
“Wait, so you still have no signals?”
“No. This place doesn’t seem to be located on Earth. At the same time, this isn’t a pocket dimension or an alternate reality”
“Then… What is this?”
Giselle says: “A way to make it simple is that this place is based on Earth, but you can’t see or touch it if you don’t go through that gate, which takes you to a different plane and it’s why Stacy has no signals”
“No wonder the Spanish found malaria before they found this place. The Incas were truly ahead of their time”
Suddenly, Stacy said: “Driver, I detected threats all around this city with the heat signals alone. Please prepare to engage”
“Yes ma’am”
Robot combat Eldorado, ground level #
The Horse Power then jumps from the river to the riverside roads of Eldorado and turns into its robot form. The level is initially open with near floor level roads surrounded by small pyramids, where the player will find enemies like golems, flying robotic birds and giant snakes. That will make Ralph ask:
“Giselle, you seem to know more about this place than Stacy… Or so I assume you know. The Incas had robots here? Is that right?”
“I have no knowledge of this place, all I have in my database is based on myths, legends and assumptions. The texts did mention golems, some on the ground, some flying… It makes sense that they do”
“These guys were something else… Where are we supposed to go though?”
“The texts mention that Quetzalcoatl visited the emperors of the Aztec empire from high places, so it would be logical to go to the highest place”
“I see” Ralph looks at the tallest pyramid in the city and points at it, saying: “that’s where we’re headed then”
Ralph proceeds. After passing through the open areas, taller buildings start to appear near the taller trees and mountain sides. To get through the level and towards the tallest pyramid, Ralph will need to enter some of the buildings that contains elevators, and out of them he will find broken bridges that take him to the other side, and he needs to dash and jump to do so. As Ralph climbs and gets closer to the pyramid, he will find himself in the woods, where more snakes, golems, birds and now monkeys will fight him in big numbers, the monkeys throw projectiles that can be parried back at them. After leaving the woods, he will see himself in an arena with nothing around, which he will find weird and say:
“I don’t know about you girls, but I’ve got a feeling something’s waiting for us”
Cutscene The empty arena #
Just as he said that, the ground started shaking and a hole opened in the middle of the arena, revealing something coming from there, from the elevator that brought it: it looked like a mummified golem in a sitting position hugging its knees… Ralph and Giselle looked at it, partly curious, partly careful until it made some noises and started getting up. What they saw now was a giant Inca warrior mech with a club in one hand, a shield in the other, it was already in fighting stance. Ralph smiled, prepared the Horse Power’s fighting stance and said:
“Bring it on, amigo!”
Boss BOSS: Guardian of Eldorado #
BOSS: GUARDIAN OF ELDORADO
This boss fights as his design suggests: a warrior. He will charge with the shield and swing the club viciously, and the club combo must me parried in every hit, six combos in total, which will result in the Horse Power slashing the warrior in the chest, making it drop the club. The shield will protect the warrior, but it has a health bar and will take little damage unless the player hits it with a dropkick, rocket punch, charged shot or shoryuken. As soon as the shield is broken, the warrior will fight like a lucha libre fighter, which means most of his attacks involve grabbing. He will do a fast tackle from below, which will hit the Horse Power on the ground and allow him to punch the player three times, the first two with each hand, the second one with both, which causes massive damage. If the player is fast enough, the fast tackle can be avoided by pressing R2 before and as soon as the warrior touches them, resulting in a DDT. If the player failed at doing this, they will receive damage from the ground hit, but they can avoid the punches by pressing R2 anytime before e punch hits, which will have the Horse Power throwing the warrior aside and get back to the fight. Aside from this, the warrior dashes a lot and this must be blocked or parried, because it deals a lot of damage. Parrying it will push the warrior aside and will make it fall on the ground, dealing moderate damage, but the player can take this as an opportunity to hit the warrior with a shoulder charge while it tries to get off the ground. The normal attacks, however, are easy to block and parry.
The fight will end with the warrior going for one last grab as his body starts falling apart, then Ralph makes it so the Horse Power dashes toward him and with its spaceship thrusters, pull a DDT so fast that when the warrior hits its back on the ground, it gets destroyed.
Cutscene After the Guardian: magic, not technology #
After the fight, Ralph will celebrate, even if there’s no audience and then will look at the robot’s debris, saying: “He was a robot, but I don’t see any mechanical components in it”
Giselle say: “It appears that this robot was actually a golem, and it was run by what humans call… Magic”
“Not shit, all of the so-called technology here was just magic all along. Wish Dani saw this. Actually, Stacy, do you record our missions?”
“Yes, driver”
“Good, because I wanna show her this. Anyway, I didn’t ask before, but this thing was here to stop us from proceeding to the top of the pyramid, right?”
Giselle answers: “That or it could just be a champion waiting for the strongest opponent”
“Either way, I feel like we wouldn’t get past him without a fight. Oh well, let’s just keep going”. Ralph then proceeds to climb the pyramid, where he gets a good view of the city, he admires the view and says: “This place really is a work of art, isn’t it?”
Giselle answers: “Can civilizations be considered art?”
“Nah, I was saying that metaphorically. Now that we’re at the top, what do we do?”
“Oh. There are probably clues in here, allow me to decipher them”
Cutscene The ocarina #
Giselle left the car and started hovering around the place, and what she found besides the glyphs on the walls and on tablets was an ancient ocarina, but she couldn’t play it herself, so she brought it to Ralph, saying: “Ralph, I found this, and I remember the notes… But I can’t play it”
“I see, you don’t breathe after all. I don’t know how to play blowing instruments though”
“It says here that this is the key to open to door to Quetzalcoatl’s abode”
“Damn… Okay, I’ll give it a try… Just sing the notes and I’ll try to follow”
“Understood” Giselle then sings the notes.
“Alright… Here goes nothing” Ralph then pulls the ocarina near his mouth, but before he plays it, he says: “I really hope this thing doesn’t have time travel powers…” he then plays the instrument in a rudimentary manner, but surprisingly succeeds. A strong light comes from the sky and starts making a noise. Ralph and Giselle are alerted, thinking it could be a threat, but instead, the light pulled them upwards… They are transported to the sky.
Cutscene The flying city #
When they arrive high in the sky, they see temples, pyramids and parts of Eldorado floating above the clouds, much like the Sky Sanctuary in Sonic. Ralph and Giselle are impressed by what they see. Giselle says:
“The city is flying… It’s just like the gate, the robots and the computers from below!”
“Those bastards built their own heaven, holy shit”
“How is all this still active? There is no data about this place’s mechanisms, robots and computers”
“Guess we gotta ask Quazar… Which by the way, I have an idea of where she might be” Giselle and Ralph look at the tallest tower in the flying city, then he says: “Let’s keep going then”
Linear level Temples, portals and the elevator #
Gameplay starts again. Despite being a linear section, the level is maze-like here, so Ralph will need to walk through the bridge roads that take him to temples, and each temple opens a portal to another temple, the player must keep going until they reach the tallest tower, but each temple has enemies that take form of warriors wielding spears and shields, but they’re not as hard as the boss, while the bridge roads have the same bird golem enemies from below. To proceed to the top of the tower, the player will get inside an elevator in the middle of it, and this will take a minute while Ralph and Giselle wait patiently. Ralph will suddenly be shocked and say:
“Oh shit!”
Giselle is worried and asks: “What’s wrong, Ralph?”
“All those robots were made of gold, right?”
“That’s correct, what about that?”
“I don’t wanna think about the bill they’re gonna send us for destroying their robots…”
Giselle tilts her head in confusion, asking: “Who?”
“The citizens of this place!”
“What citizens?”
Ralph stops, scratches his head and asks: “Stacy, did you catch any sings of human life in here?”
Stacy answers: “Negative. Heat detectors have not been turned off since we arrived at this city, be it on ground level or in the sky”
“Damn… They really died off completely?”
“Judging by the results of my observations, yes”
“Well, I guess nobody’s gonna complain about the destroyed robots then”
“Certainty not recommended, driver”
Cutscene Top of the tower: the dragon #
As Stacy says this, the elevator finally arrives at the top of the tower, where Ralph sees a giant shadow on the ground and clenches his teeth in a ‘yikes’ way. He then says: “Uh oh…”
A voice from behind says loudly: “INVADERS… SO YOU FOUND YOUR WAY TO ME”
Ralph made the Horse Power slowly turn around until he saw the gigantic snake-like dragon behind him, wrapped around the tower with its arms on the platform. He responded with: “Um… Sorry, I forgot to knock”
Giselle looks at him, concerned, then the dragon continues: “NOT ONLY DID YOU CROSS THE BARRIER THAT STOPS ANYONE FROM ENTERING MY CITY, YOU ALSO DESTROYED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE DEFENSE UNITS AND MANAGED TO FIND YOUR WAY UP AND TO MY ABODE… HOW ABSURD! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY IN YOUR DEFENSE?”
Ralph puts his hand behind his head and answers: “Uh… Hehehe… Oopsies!”
Giselle closes her eyes and lowers her head in disappointment, saying: “Ralph, please stop”
The dragon says: “OH, THE AUDACITY! THAT’S ENOUGH! YOUR INVASION ENDS HERE AND NOW!”
Boss BOSS: Quetzalcoatl #
BOSS: QUETZALCOATL
The boss fight begins. The dragon is six times bigger than the Horse Power. This fight is inspired by the Lord of Eroded Primal Fire and Dvalin in Genshin Impact and the Undead Dragon in the painted world in Dark Souls: the dragon has both hands near the platform where the fight is set, it will punch one side of the ground after the other and then it will hit the ground with both hands, which is when the player has the opportunity to hit the hands, and it’s recommended to use the sword. Another attack it will use is the solid wind breath, which is similar to any dragon’s fire breathing, but instead of fire, the wind deals continuous physical damage, and that should be blocked. The most dangerous attack is when the dragon lifts one of its hands to try to grab the player, and to avoid it, the player must be close or far to the boss, not in the middle. The grab will have the dragon squeeze the Horse Power, dealing damage, and to break out, the player must quickly tap the ranged attack button, with chances of escaping without taking damage. While using ranged attacks can deal damage to the boss, it is NOT advised to do so, because the player needs all seven rounds to escape the grab and normal ranged attacks deal too little damage, charged shots and rocket punches being the only attacks capable of damaging the dragon efficiently.
After the boss’ health bar is depleted, phase two will start, where the dragon will release the tower and say: “INSOLENT FOOL! YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME?! THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!” and then it will start flying as a heavy wind current goes through the arena. With the boss no longer in reach, the player will need to pay attention when it attacks. It will now attack by firing four solid wind orbs at a time, which all of them can be parried to damage the boss. The physical attacks are more dangerous as the dragon flies around the top of the tower and will go for the player like the snake boss in Devil May Cry 4, but this is also when it’s more vulnerable: with the right timing, the player can hit it with a shoryuken, which will make the dragon scream in pain and be sent flying out of the arena and will fall down before flying back up and screaming: “INSIGNIFICANT PEST!”. The player must be careful not to stay on the ground while the dragon is flying above the tower, as heavier solid wind orbs will fall like bombs and must be blocked if the player isn’t in the air.
After the dragon is defeated in phase two, it will say: “YOU FOOL, DID YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU STOOD A CHANCE?” and then with a tail swing, it will destroy the tower, now the player will enter a sequence of quick time events, showing the Horse Power morphing into its car form and using the spaceship thrusters to jump from platform to platform, driving upwards through the flying debris until it gets close to the dragon’s face, morphing into its robot form at full speed and hitting it with an eagle punch, then the dragon will swing the tail again, and if the quick time event is done correctly, the Horse Power will fly up with a shoryuken and then hit the dragon’s nose with a plunge attack. The dragon will try flying away with the intention of attacking the Horse Power once more, but as the Horse Power falls, it will grab the dragon’s tail, which will make the dragon realize it and it will try shaking the robot off, but the Horse Power holds tight, grabs the tail with the other hand, then gets up and starts dashing over the dragon’s long body, avoiding hazards in the quick time event and then hit the dragon’s nose once more with an elbow plunge, which will make the dragon scream in pain once more and start falling down. To finish the dragon, the Horse Power will grab its nose and start spinning, which results in the dragon being stuck to a piledriver thanks to the Horse Power’s thrusters being pointed down.
Cutscene The dragon falls #
The dragon lands face down in the arena where the player fought the Guardian of Eldorado, and the dragon in its massive size will destroy the tower with its weight before lying down, weak, as we hear another pain sound, but not screaming this time.
Ralph looks at the weak dragon with a smile and says: “Haha! Now add the dragon slayer title to my achievements!”
Giselle is also smiling, clearly happy with the result, saying: “You did it, Ralph! Good job!”
Stacy says: “Well done, driver”
Ralph laughs proudly as he’s still staring at the dragon, but it doesn’t seem to be dying… Ralph asks after a few seconds: “Now what?”
Cutscene The dragon turns into a woman #
Suddenly, a light flashes from the entire body of the dragon and it turns into a woman, who is still lying on the ground like a lazy person. Ralph, Giselle and even Stacy are confused, Ralph then asks: “Wait… Is that the dragon?”
Giselle answers: “According to all data, yes, it is”
Stacy says: “Strangely, there are no signs of threat around her”
Ralph then picks up the speaker and asks: “Hey you!”
The lady on the ground asks: “Hm? What do you want? Didn’t you win already?”
Ralph feels awkward and makes the Horse Power morph back to its car form, then approaches her, gets out of the car and asks again: “You alright?”
“Why do you care? You were very happy you defeated me just now. Suddenly you care about the big bad dragon’s wellbeing?”
“Um… Are you not mad I defeated you, broke your robots and city?”
She sighs and answers: “There were no one in this place but me anyway. At least it was clean before you arrived”
“Again, I’m sorry”
“Oh please, spare me the apologies, you had fun. You’re not sorry”
Ralph looks at Giselle, then shrugs, saying: “Well… I guess that’s that then”
“Hm”
“Stacy, what should I do now?”
Stacy answers: “Insufficient data. Your job was fulfilled”
“But the dragon is alive”
“Yet it poses no threat judging by her current behavior”
The lady answers: “Ugh… Too little, too late. Just like the Europeans and the enemies of the Aztecs, you thought the dragon was big and evil, so you fought me. How bad of me to expect you humans to rationalize, you saw this city, noticed no destruction, noticed how much I cared about it and my robots, but didn’t question whether the dragon is really evil. You’re a bunch of idiots”
Ralph looks away in embarrassment, then asks: “Stacy?”
For the first time, awkwardness can be perceived in Stacy’s speech, as she answers: “Driver, I… But all the data collected from this world to the federation reports that a dragon was the ruler of a vile civilization and an ancient calendar marked by her pointed at the end of civilization… The call for help claimed this, it came from an ancient computer”
The lady answers: “And the victims of the Aztec empire blamed me for their barbaric acts, so some idiot called for help against me? And here I thought humans would realize they were fighting between themselves. This is why I created this city and welcomed the victims of the Aztecs”. She then yawns and asks: “Hey human, do you have any food with you?”
Ralph looks at Giselle again, then at the dragon lady. He then says: “Giselle, could you check the glove compartment?”
Cutscene Chocolate #
She does and hands over a chocolate bar to Ralph, who gives it to the lady. She eats it, gets up, smiles after eating it and starts acting extremely different from her initial behavior, now joyful after eating chocolate. She says: “This is delicious! Oh goodness, I want more!”
Ralph scratches his head and laughs in embarrassment, saying: “Sorry, that was the last one”
“Oh come on, there must be more of these somewhere!”
“I just don’t have any more with me”
“Then take me where you got this!”
“Wait, are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure, why do you question it?”
Ralph looks at Giselle and Stacy before asking:
Cutscene Should she come along? #
“Stacy, should I take her with us?”
“I cannot give you a clear answer, driver. Despite posing no threat at the moment, she is still a dragon, distinct from humans, and judging by her words and data about humans and dragons, there could be issues, although it’s not certain”
“Right… What about you, Giselle?”
“Hm… You took me with you even if I was deemed a dangerous weapon, you took me to eat on the way, so… I don’t see the problem”
Ralph looks at her, then nods, saying: “Yeah, you’re right…” and then he looks at the lady, saying: “Sure thing, Quartz, let’s go buy you some snacks”
“It’s Quetzalcoatl”
“Ah. Okay then Quartz, get in” she pouts, but gets in the car. With all three sitting down and Ralph ready to go, he realizes something and asks: “Where’s the way out again?”
Stacy answers: “I apologize, driver, but my data is still blocked”
Cutscene Opening the dome #
Quartz then asks: “This thing can fly, right?”
Ralph answers: “Uh… Yes, it can”
“Then make it, I can open the dome”
“Dome?”
“Do you want to leave or not?”
Ralph shrugs and makes the his vehicle morph into the spaceship and starts flying off, as Quartz points her hands forward and start pulling them to the opposite sides like she’s ripping off a piece of cloth and a hole is open in the sky. After they pass the hole, Ralph looks at the mirror and says: “The city is gone!”
“Yeah… The city is protected by a dome that hides it from this world’s plane”
“Damn… How did you build that?”
“I doubt you’ll understand. I tried to explain this to humans before. No one understood, despite being a simple explanation”
Giselle said: “I am a robot, you can explain it to me, I will listen”
Quartz looked at her, curious, answer: “Oh… Okay then, it’ll only take two hours”
Ralph sighs and says: “Yeah, simple… Stacy, where’s the closest restaurant?”
“Bogota. We can arrive there in five minutes if you choose to fly, but if you choose to drive, the nearest road isn’t far from here and it’ll take two hours to get there. I assumed you’d prefer driving there”
Ralph smiles and nods, saying: “Damn right I do. What about you girls?”
Quartz answer, whimpering: “Ummmm I want food now!”
Giselle says: “But I want you to share your knowledge, Miss Quetzalcoatl”
Quartz smiles and happily answers: “Of course I can tell you! What is two hours for someone who wait 500 years to have a decent meal?”
Ralph laughs and keeps flying until he lands on the nearest road.
Companion unlocked: Quetzalcoatl
Travel Off-road to the restaurant #
Most of the driving consisted of the Amazon forest, muddy roads which forced the vehicle to morph into an off-road form, small towns and riverside roads, and Quartz kept talking while Giselle listened carefully. Ralph stopped in a parking lot of a cheap food restaurant and Quartz stopped talking as her words indicated: “And that’s how the dome keeps the city hidden from this plane to another, while being physically in the same place. Did you understand?”
Giselle answered: “Yes, miss Quetzalcoatl”
“Any questions?”
“No, I understood it clearly”
Quartz giggled while blushing, she was the happiest she could’ve been in centuries. Ralph looked at the mirror, laughed and said: “Glad you enjoyed the ride, I didn’t understand a word you said, but I’m happy for ya. Anyway, we arrived, and this was Stacy’s pick for a restaurant”
Stacy says: “I hope you enjoy the food, driver”
“I know I will, you never disappoint me. Come on, girls”
Cutscene The feast #
Ralph then leaves the car with the two girls. The screen cuts to the three sitting on a table with Quartz finishing her food with six dishes in front of her. She sits back relaxed with a smile on her face, saying: “Ah… This was the best meal I had in 500 years!”
Ralph is shocked and concerned, saying: “Meal? Girl, you had a feast! Six monster burgers, four pounds of fries, two pizzas, four pastels…”
Giselle says: “And an extra-large soda”
Still smiling and satisfied, Quartz answers: “Beats all the offerings made to me by the Mayans and the Incas”
Ralph sighs and says: “Do you know how much I paid for all that food?”
“Huh? No, I don’t”
Giselle awkwardly says: “Ralph, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand this world’s currency either”
Ralph facepalms, talking to himself: “I should learn to say no sometimes…” then takes his hand off his face and says: “Well, you gotta thank Giselle here for being able to speak Spanish, because I can’t”
Giselle answers: “Actually, Stacy had that language in her database and she shared the data with me”
“Good, I’m gonna thank her too. Let’s go now”
The three got in the car and Ralph said: “Hey Stacy, thanks for teaching Giselle to speak Spanish, because I don’t speak it”
“You’re welcome, driver”
Cutscene She does not want to go back #
“Now let’s bring Quartz back home”
Quartz touches Ralph’s shoulder and says: “Hey, I don’t wanna go back to Eldorado!”
“Why not? It’s your home, it’s safe there”
“But Eldorado has nobodyyyyy! I don’t wanna go back, there’s no one to talk and no food to eat!”
Ralph sighs, asking: “Okay, where do you wanna go then?”
“Well… I don’t know! Anywhere not so lonely and devoid of food!”
“So here?”
“But I don’t know anyone here!”
“Well, do you know anyone who can stay with you?”
“I… Uh…” Suddenly, she realizes and says: “You! You visited me, appreciated my city, my robots and defeated me in a fight! That means we’re friends, right?”
“That’s one weird definition of friendship, but okay”
Stacy says: “Driver, may I remind you that you also fought Danielle and Æ'kςhδmειγη?”
“Stacy, are you trying to say I should bring her to my house?”
“Not at all. It’s your choice in the end”
Quartz says with both her hands making a praying gesture: “Human, pleeeeeeeease! You were so nice to me giving me food and your passenger listened to everything I said!”
Ralph answers: “But I’ve got four other girls living with me already”
Giselle says: “I don’t need to eat or sleep”
Ralph sighs again, saying: “Not you too, Giselle…”
Quartz says again: “Come on human, let me go with you!”
Ralph takes a deep breath, shakes his head and says: “I’m gonna regret this… Sure, Quartz, you can stay at my place”
Now happy, Quartz raises her arms, saying: “Yahooo! Thank you, human! I promise you, you won’t regret!”
“I hope not”
Ralph then leaves the parking lot and drives off.
Cutscene Back at the house #
We see shots of the road trip back to Arizona and some of the sights of Colombia and Central America, from these shots, it can be noticed that Ralph saw some sights of the places he went through until one of the shots depicts Quartz complaining about the trip taking too long, followed by a shot of him making his car morph into a spaceship and fly back to America. It ends with Ralph parking his car in the parking spot and leaving it with Giselle and Quartz. He knocks the door and says:
“It’s me! I’m back!”
Who opens the door is Dani, who quickly gets happy and hugs Ralph, saying: “Ralph! You’re back!” And holds him for a few seconds until she lets go of him, then crosses her arms, pouts and says: “What took you so long anyway?”
Ralph shrugs, saying: “Well, there were some nice sights, nice food and some people I met along the way”
Dani squints while looking at him, asking: “You didn’t bring another girl home, did you?”
Ralph scratches his head, answering with soft laugh: “Well, about that…”
We hear Quartz looking at Ralph’s house and asking: “This is your abode, Ralph? I thought it’d be bigger” She then looks at Dani and asks: “Is this your wife?”
Dani blushes and shouts, angry: “I AM NOT HIS WIFE, DUMMY!!!”
Ralph laughs and answers: “She takes care of the house, that’s for sure”
Quartz says: “So a maid?”
Dani just pouts, Ralph pats her head and says: “I’m sure you two will get along just fine”
Suddenly, Lin comes out of her room, saying: “Oh Ralph, you’re back. Glad you’re here, I have some-” She gets out and sees Quartz, instantly getting serious, pulling her blaster and asking Ralph: “What is this lizard doing here?”
Ralph raises his hands and says: “Calm down, Lin! She’s not like Mr. Steinberg!”
Giselle says: “Lin, I ask you to calm down. Quetzalcoatl is not a Nagharsz and presents no threat whatsoever”
Lin grunts and says: “You traveled all the way to… Well, somewhere far away to fight off a dragon and now you’re telling me it presents no threat?!”
“Yes, there has been a misunderstanding between the call for help and the emergency. Quetzalcoatl was not an actual threat to Earth”
Lin slowly lowers her blaster and says: “She’s still a reptilian… I don’t trust her”
Quartz didn’t flinch at the slightest, just yawned, looked at Lin in the eyes the whole time and said: “Of course you don’t, I know who you are. Aren’t you out of your continent? Or are you not welcome in Egypt nor England anymore?”
Still angry, Lin clenches her teeth and says: “You…”
Ralph raises his hands again and says: “Girls, no need to argue, we’re all friends here”
Lin turns around, saying “Hmpf!”
Dani rolls her eyes and whispers: “Idiots…”
Ralph then asks Dani: “Where’s Bailey by the way?”
“Sleeping. She missed you quite a bunch, so you better talk to her when she wakes up”
“Sure, will do”
He then gets in with Quartz and Giselle.