Guardener

* Battle
* Fatal
* Overworld

Traps offenders for easy cooperation.

**Guardener** is the miniboss of the Steamworks, encountered in the Greenhouse.

## Profile

### Appearance

The Guardener is a tall robot with large pistons for arms, red eyes, a Delta Rune on her torso, and a thick cylinder on her head that gives the appearance of a hat. She is evidently quite old due to the obvious damage (in particular her missing legs, which appear to have been torn off), coupled with the overgrown flora on top of her head.

### Personality

The Guardener is a defense-robot first, protecting the Steamworks' garden as if it were her own kin. Upon finding one of the flowers squished, she first labels Clover as a level-3 threat, before quickly escalating the situation to a level-10 and attempting to execute them immediately. The Guardener isn't very social either, as when the backup robots asked to be called "just to hang out," they were met with silence.

However, that isn't to say that the Guardener isn't a complete murder-happy nature machine, as shown when 3 had arrived late and gave it a flower as a consolation prize, allowing it to still attack even when it had showed up late. Though after the battle, she could not understand why her creator, the head office or anyone else at Steamworks was unavailable for her report, and regretted ever waking up.

## Main Story

### Neutral/Pacifist Route

Guardener ambushes Clover and Ceroba Ketsukane when they are leaving the Greenhouse. Because they trampled on the white flowers on the path before her, she tries to report them to staff for a level 3 offense, but malfunctions and accidentally reports it as a level 10, which is punished by extermination. When Clover defeats her, Guardener realizes the current state of the area and tries and fails to correctly report the offense as a level 3 and contact Chujin. She then chooses to leave Clover alone and hibernate and isn't seen again.

### Genocide Route

When Clover gets to Guardener, she can be seen being told by Axis to stay put in order to be safe from them. When she sees them, she quickly goes back into the ground. Thus, her fight gets skipped.

## In Battle

During Guardener's battle, she will ensnare Clover in white vines, incapacitating the FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY buttons. They can be released by pressing each of them three times, which will waste a turn each time.

### Attacks

* Guardener will release 3 piston arms which will attempt to crush the SOUL. One on the right side of the bullet board, then one from the top descends quickly, before retreating and one from the bottom quickly rises.
* A single piston will be released horizontally, followed by 4 plants will shoot a pellet upwards.
* A single plant will bud followed by three pistons that progressively get lower from the top of the bullet box.
* A gear in the corner will repeatedly shoot pellets from every direction that may overwhelm you.
* A gear slides into the middle of the bullet box, and spawns walls while spinning in one direction, before quickly switching to the other.
* A gear slides from the bottom before a piston crushes it, making the gear explode into large fragments.
* Plants will grow from every side. First the bottom, then the right (-->), then the top, then the left (<--)
* Two mini-robots will be summoned. The one on the right (righty) will shoot a cannonball, before it breaks on the left's (lefty) shield and turn into 3 fragments.
* The robots will throw an assortment of items like axes, swords, and cement bricks.
* Two pistons from the top-left and bottom-right will shoot upwards. If you're near lefty, it will shoot arrows, while if you're near righty, it will shoot balls which will fragment if they hit the arms.
* A robot will appear after the two robots have left. It will appear on the left-side of the bullet box and aims at the SOUL. However, it has laser sight on that tells you exactly where it's aiming.
* The two robots will return and throw grenades and dynamite which will explode a moment after entering the bullet box.

### Strategy

Clover needs to release all 4 buttons to be able to use the 3 other ACTs. Clover is then able to spare Guardener by Pleading 5 times to fully lower their offense level. Going for the ITEM button first allows Clover to use healing items, as no other buttons can provide HP restoration.

The attack pattern will not change, so remember which turn you are on and look at the Attacks in preparation. However, on the 9th turn, the attack will randomize until all menus have been clipped. Only then will the pattern continue.

On the turn that you get all menus free, the two-piston attack with lefty and righty will start. It is *highly* recommended to choose the top-left, as righty can't shoot if you're behind an arm. However, if you choose the bottom-right, not only lefty can hit you, but righty can shoot his pellets which WILL fragment and you need to dodge alongside the arrows.

### Flavor Text

* *Guardener ensnares you!* **[Encounter]**
* *Traps offenders for easy apprehension.* **[Check]**
* *Should take her rage down a few notches.* **[Check, spare conditions met]**
* *A great hostility is blossoming!* **[Neutral]**
* *White spores swirl through the air.* **[Neutral]**
* *Smells like lawnmower clippings.* **[Neutral]**
* *Guardener looks down upon you, twitching slightly.* **[Neutral]**
* *Guardener slams her arms into the floor in agitation.* **[Neutral]**
* *Guardener waters your cage.* **[Neutral]**
* *You're starting to think you've had your fill of plants.* **[Neutral, after freeing menus]**
* *Guardener gives it all she's got!* **[Neutral, after freeing menus]**
* *Guardener twitches at an alarming rate. This can't be good for her.* **[Neutral, after freeing menus]**
* *You pick some flowers and offer them. Guardener is too distracted.* **[Gather]**
* *You criticize Guardener for bugging out and attacking you. This does not help anyone.* **[Antagonize]**
* *You plead with Guardener and it seems to have an effect. Offense level lowered!* **[Plead once]**
* *You try to convince Guardener to stop fighting. Offense level lowered!* **[Plead twice]**
* *You tell Guardener that this is a misunderstanding. Offense level lowered!* **[Plead three times]**
* *You ask Guardener to think about what she's doing. Offense level lowered!* **[Plead four times]**
* *You use rational in hopes of de-escalating the situation. Offense level lowered!* **[Plead five times]**
* *Guardener cools down as steams seeps from her arms.* **[Spare conditions met]**

### Quotes

* *I HAVE INCAPACITATED YOUR OPTIONS. I ASK YOU COOPERATE WITH ME.* **[First turn]**
* *ACCEPT YOUR OFFENSE, TRAMPLER.* **[Second turn]**
* *YOU MUST LEARN THAT PLANTLIFE IS IMPORTANT. MORE IMPORTANT\_ THA;N YOU. /***[Third turn]**
* *IF YOU DO NOT YIELD, I WILL CALL FOR BACKUP.* **[Fourth turn]**
* *YOU ARE A HANDFUL. I AM GOING TO COUNT TO 3.* **[Fifth turn]**
* *1...* **[Sixth turn]**
* *2... NOT BLUFFING.* **[Seventh turn]**
* *3... [CALLING BACKUP\_]* **[Eighth turn]**
	+ **[Lefty]** *you called for help, guardener?*
	+ *CORRECT. THIS TRAMPLER DOES NOT VALUE THE GREENHOUSE.*
	+ **[Righty]** *what is the offense level, miss?*
	+ *10 - TERMINATION.*
	+ **[Lefty]** *level 10!? i mean, of course!*
	+ **[Righty]** *we are sorry, offender. guardener says you deserve termination*
	+ *THEY KNOW. I JUST SAID THAT.*
	+ **[Lefty]** *sooo...*
	+ *ATTACK.*
	+ **[Lefty]** *right.*
* *\_KEEP IT UP\_<* **[Ninth turn]**
* *PLEASE/ STAY IN YOUR\_CONFINES* **[Tenth turn, and every subsequent turn until menus are freed]**
* *CLEVERLY DONE. YOU HAVE GAINED MY RESPECT. BUT YOU HAVE NOT GAINED MY MERCY. BOTS, \_ATTACK.* **[Eleventh turn]**
* *JUST YOU AND I AGAIN. TOO BAD I CAN NOT GROW TIRED. FOR YOU, THAT IS.* **[Twelfth turn]**
* *ADEQUATE JOB. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.* **[Thirteenth turn]**
* *STILL STANDING? YOU ARE RATHER UPSETTING.* **[Fourteenth turn]**
* *JUST WAIT UNTIL MY CREATOR HEARS ABOUT THIS. YOU WILL GET A LONG LECTURE. A LECTURE MORE PAINFUL THAN ANYTHING I AM DOING. TRUE TORTURE.* **[Fifteenth turn]**
* *AFTER THAT, THE HEAD OFFICE WILL GIVE YOU AN AWARD. "EXCELLENCE IN RUINING GUARDENER'S DAY" DESERVED.* **[Sixteenth turn]**
* *WAIT- YOU- YOU / \_I. ... [>/OFFENSE LEVEL LOWERED\_] . . . OH. WHAT HAPPENED? THERE S\_SEEMS TO BE A GAP IN MY MEMORY CORE. I AM SORRY.* **[Seventeenth turn]**

## Gallery

Backup (Left)Backup (Right)Backup (3)A blueprint for the Guardener found earlier in the room she is fought in.
## Trivia

* "Guardener" is a merge of the words "guard" and "gardener."
* If you're fast enough at the beginning of the fight, you can attack Guardener before freeing yourself from the vines. Doing this won't actually remove the vines from the FIGHT command, and can only be done once before the fight continues as normal.