I almost quit...

...I still might.

We all head into Leonard's bunker, and something odd happens. Leo interacts with a computer, and it seems to be more than just common, modern AI. He calls it Ellon (I think, but I'm terrible with names) and starts to feel remorseful. He asks Myra and Star to hang out in his bedroom, so we can meet our new party member. Star is looking for a woman, as well, named Marion. He appears to be a young man, but he's actually as old as Leo. It's "thanks" to the nano tech that he appears young. The two talk about how Marion has probably outaged Star if she's still alive. A strange painting draws our attention as Leo enters. They ask the doctor what this is, and he says it's not a painting. It's a full colored photograph. It's a young, blue haired Leonard and Ellon. There's also the man who attacked us, Limitz. Leo continues by saying Limitz is who cursed Star. Somehow, an old letter is brought up. Star has one, but it's been missing a part of it. Leo just so happens to have the second portion of it. There's a third piece somewhere that Leo tore off long ago. It's a message to Limitz from Ellon, and it tells us how to reach her. Remember the second part. It's a magic spell! So we're heading to the Waterfall of Wishes. I lost my Resurrection Flower somehow, so head back to the creepy larvae.

There's a strange machine just outside because Leo tried to force his way in. It failed. Myra is tasked with speaking the magic spell, and you have to choose from three sentences four times. If you mess up, you have to restart. If you get it right, the waterfall stops, and a new path is made inside. As we get in, we're attacked by starfish! This is Star's first battle, and he kinda sucks. While getting a new flower, I upgraded everyone's gear, but Star does barely any damage with his attacks. But he doesn't know any spells...

Look around the area and head downwards first. In a few rooms, Star will leave the party. He wants to look for something on his own, so it's just the two of us for a moment. Save before venturing on. In the next room is the battle that nearly made me quit. We're attacked by four mobs, all variations of frogs, with different attack patterns. They'll start far away from you, but the big frogs attack with magic from afar. By the time Myra gets there, she'll barely have any LP to attack, and the other two frogs will attack her. It's four on one, and she'll lose. Only do this fight with range! But I don't understand how to learn magic!

You need to put negative points into your element grid. To do this, press Y when you level up. This lets you obtain "dark" energy. Leveling up a few times and using a few Dark Stones, I managed to teach Myra Shot. Her's is different from Leo's, which is super rad! Spamming Shot from both characters will make quick work of our frog problem. Getting there is awful, but it's simple once you're here. As we try to leave, a pink demon attacks us. It pushes us back, but Star backstabs him with his weird tentacle hands. He warned us that he's strange before the first part, but it gets stranger. Another demon shows up, and Star transforms into it. Not only is he immortal, but he can transform into mobs. This is how he learns new spells, so have him kill a lot of riffraff. He still needs the elementary distribution, but at least we can see them.

Keep exploring, and head down before going up. Up takes us to the River Temple, but our goal is outside it. Frozen in stone is Ellon. While Leo sets things up, Myra enters the temple. There's a woman with a strange name from the spell in here. She knows both Leo and Star but speaks on prophecies to us. We hear a scream from outside and get there in time to see Leon. He's our adversary and wants to kill what remains of Ellon. He still feels remorse for what he did in Pioneer Town and blames the magic lady, too. Was she the third person in that cutscene? There are too many blue haired people on the game! We manage to convince him to back down, but I couldn't figure out anything he meant. Then I got lost. Myra seems into him, though. The magic lady wants to test us for Ellon's sake, so she summons three guys. Make sure Star kills to snake lady to learn heal and spam Shot. We'll win, but she warns us that something bad might happen to Ellon. Leo thinks she's in a worse position now between life and death. Return to Leo's house so he can speak to his computer. Ellon is a bit more sentient than before, but she's tired. Leo instructs her to sleep ( and I don't feel right.

Heading back to town, Selphe is waiting for us. We introduce her to Star, who's a womanizer. Importantly, he may have the Earth Crystal, but it's not his. He's holding it for another girl. But we have the Topaz of Light without a proper owner. Selphie wonders where Dorothy is, so she does some scrying. Doro's in a volcano, so we'll head there...

... tomorrow!

The magic mechanic kinda sucks, but I'm too curious about all these characters to quit now. I'm glad I figured it out, even if I'm still confused. By level fifty, though, I'm sure it won't matter.