Earthquake
Earthquakes are a common occurrence throughout the plot of Little King's Story.
Appearances
The first mention of earthquakes comes from a note found on Skinny Ray's desk, regarding his concerns for the recent tremors. It is in this note when Skinny Ray first outlines his theory that it is not the ground that is shaking, but the whole World and surrounding universe, as he has observed that the stars are also shaking and falling to the ground.
After Corobo has defeated his second King, the earthquakes make their debut. A brief cutscene plays out, where an earthquake hits Alpoko, felt by everyone in the Castle. The camera's focus then shifts to the inside of the Bony Tunnel, where one of two piles of trash will be shaken out of the way due to the tremor. After the King has defeated his third King, an almost identical cutscene will also play out. The King will receive several letters at this time complaining about the earthquakes.
Each Princess has their own strategy on how to survive cope with the Earthquakes, revealed during a Princess Talk.
While exploring Skull Plains, several Gold Stars will fall to the earth, able to be collected and traded for 777,000 Bol each. These stars also fall after each king is defeated, before the princess is rescued.
Shizuka's princess quest involves recovering UFOs that crashed into the ground after an earthquake knocked them out of the sky.
After the defeats of the fourth, fifth and sixth Kings, earthquakes will also occur. Skinny Ray will then desperately attempt to convince the King that they should be addressing these tremors, calling for a voting session to be held after each one.
Verde's Salary quest mentions that she needs a higher pay to afford a place to live after her house was destroyed by an Earthquake.
After the World has been succesfully unified, a cutscene occurs in which a Huge Earthquake shakes the entirety of Alpoko, broadcasted by TV Dinnah. It is at this point that everyone begins to listen to Skinny Ray, and support the creation of his Flying Machine to explore beyond the universe, to find the source of the earthquakes.
Ending
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The following events take place towards the end of Little King's Story.
After Corobo successfully takes the Flying Machine beyond the sky and outside the limits of the known universe, the source of the Earthquakes is discovered: the World exists within a box, and four rats have been eating away at it, causing the entire World to shake. During the Final Boss fight against these rats, a phase of the fight will have the rats slam into the box in an attempt to end it for good. This causes the worst earthquakes seen so far, and the longer this phase goes on for without the rats being defeated, the more of Alpoko is destroyed in an apocalypse:
- At 10%, New Island will sink.
- At 20%, Sobamanjaro will explode and spew lava.
- At 30%, the Public Broadcast Tower will have a UFO crash into it.
- At 40%, the Eggan Civilization Ruins are flattened.
- At 50%, Bony Tunnel will collapse.
- At 60%, the Forest Cafeteria is engulfed in a geyser of magma.
- At 70%, the Giant Cherry Tree is ripped from the ground.
- At 80%, Dark Valley collapses.
- At 90%, Alpoko is hit by shooting stars.
- At 95%, Farmland is swallowed by a chasm.
- At 97%, Castle Town is crushed by a falling moon.
- At 99%, the entire World is destroyed except Alpoko Castle. The HUD displays the text "one last push until the end of the world". If Liam's Salary Statament quest has been completed, then Liam tweets the Rats a final time. A unique camera angle is used, focusing on the Box Theater, until the phase is completed, or...
- At 100%, the end of the World. Game Over. A unique piece of art of Corobo will display, before the Game Over screen continues as normal. However, nobody will attend Corobo's funeral, as they have all perished in the armageddon.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.