Reese

Reese
Pronouns	he/him
Occupation	Beastie Researcher

Reese is an NPC in Beastieball. He is a student of the Beastie Research Society, and he gives the player access to the Beastiepedia as well as a BRS sponsorship.

Story

The player can meet Reese the first time they leave Rutile after replacing Marlin. Upon interacting with him, Reese asks if the player is a Beastieball coach and introduces himself as part of the Beastie Research Society.

Reese adds the Beastiepedia to the player's phone, and then asks the player to initiate a game with a Beastie in the area. During the match, Reese explains that the Beastiepedia will "automagically" collect data about new Beasties, eventually revealing their recruit condition.

After the match has ended, Reese will grant the player a sponsorship from the Beastie Research Society, which pays the player when they complete research.

Later, the player finds Reese in the area north of Jasper, where he stops them and ask if they have been earning money from the sponsorship. He reveals that he was probably not supposed to give out any sponsorships, but it is "hopefully" fine and the BRS is getting useful data from them anyway. He then bids farewell and heads into the Jasper Mines, which lead to Mythwood.

The player might expect to find Reese in the BRS lab when they reach Begonia. However, only Craig can be found there, and he will direct the player to the forest out west. There, the player finds a path leading north that is barricaded with a sign that reads, "Danger. Area is under BRS investigation for unusual Beastie activity. Do not enter." The barricade is easily jumped, however, and the player can enter Miconia Grove, where they find Reese and Celia standing nearby.

Upon interacting with them, Reese will introduce Celia as his boss, who greets the player by saying, "Hello. Can you read? Our signs were quite explicit about not entering." Reese will then change the subject, telling the player, "It's crazy, we were just talking about how the BRS has no budget and isn't supposed to give out sponsorships... So uh... no need to mention anything on that topic... ha ha..." Celia doesn't remember talking about such a thing, but attributes it to their complaining being too frequent anymore.

Rolling with the new line of conversation, Celia agrees that the BRS needs help and explains that they came to help Reese with some unusual Beastie activity happening at his research site. They then say, "If you're a dependable coach... Maybe I'll pretend not to notice if you follow us further." They both leave the player to travel to the heart of the grove further north, where there is a fungal colony and a Rowdy Illugus.

When the player meets back up with Celia and Reese, they explain that Beasties going Rowdy is a relatively new phenomenon, which Celia is trying to study on top of all their other responsibilities. They had been trying to train Reese to coach Beasties so that he can help deal with them, but, in Celia's words, "good coaching takes time to cultivate." Reese insists, "It's okay! You can just say I'm bad," to which Celia concedes. They then ask the player to defeat Reese in a match.

Reese's team consists of Jeremy(#01) the Kaleidarn, Jeff(#02) the Xiphosaur, and Jared(#03) the Trat. He doesn't have anything to say during the match. After losing, he says, "Oh man... You're legit. That's sports, all right!" With this, Celia leaves the two of them to take care of the Rowdy Beastie so that they can return to the lab and continue working on other things.

Reese is a bit concerned about Celia leaving but doesn't protest. If the player speaks with him before starting the match with the Rowdy Illugus, he'll say, "That Rowdy Beastie gives me the heebie-jeebies. They're so unhappy... It's just wrong. You've got to play a match with them and calm them down!"

After placating the Rowdy Beastie, Reese excitedly runs up to the mushrooms, saying, "That Beastie's finally out of the way!! Er, wait, I mean... they live here, I really shouldn't say that. But! This means I can finally check these shrooms out! I'm so curious..." He then puts something in the soil that will help with experiments without bothering the Beasties. He goes on to explain that this is the first time Celia has let him do his own study.

Reese talks for a bit about what he is studying and why. He explains that the mushrooms that Beasties volley actually rely on being hit to spread their spores, and they are connected to the net mushrooms that appear for wild matches. Reese is hoping that, with enough data, his research on the three fungal colonies might help explain why Beastieball exists. With that, he goes back to the lab to continue his work.

Hangouts

First Hangout

By spending 1 Social Battery, the player can call Reese to hang out. He then invites the player to meet him in the Rutile Nature Preserve, where he brings them over to the water to chat. He points out a cool rock, then apologizes for being boring. He talks about the beauty of nature and how, "everything's the way it is for a reason!" He then asks about the player's hometown being in nature-filled Rutile and compares it to the boring, grey quality of his own in Geo City. At the end of the hangout, Reese comments that next time they should go somewhere more exotic for the player, if there is a next time.

Second Hangout

The second time the player calls Reese to hang out, he suggests they meet in the woods outside of Beryl. There, the player finds Reese and their Beastie, Jeremy, standing over a WIPED Humflit. His expression is one of serious concern. Upon interacting with him, he says, "Ah! Thanks for meeting me. While I was waiting, I found this collapsed Humflit..." He explains that Humflit constantly need flower nectar, or else they can starve and crash really easily. Humflit don't live very close to Beryl, so Reese speculates that this one couldn't find any flowers they recognized. However, Reese states that he can make something for them to eat and asks the player to jump and grab some flowers from the nearby trees.

After bringing the flowers back, Reese explains that these ones are normally eaten by Shooga and the like, and while he wouldn't usually interfere with their source of food, the Humflit needs the nectar. He then mashes the flowers with his hands and gently feeds the nectar to the Humflit. Once the Humflit is back up flying again, Reese says, "Great! That's much better! You better hurry back to your usual flower field, buddy!" When the recovered Humflit leaves, Reese talks about his experience volunteering with Beastie Rescue a bit in the past, saying he's never had to handle something like that by himself. He felt much calmer having the player there with him and thanks them for the help.

Reese goes on to talk about Beastie diets, saying, "Generic League-brand food isn't exactly bad for your Beasties... but it's rarely the best thing for them, either." He then says, "Just let me know if you ever want tips! Or if you want to hang out again... haha." With that, Reese leaves and the player unlocks his first set of favors.

Third Hangout

The third time the player calls Reese, he expresses embarrassment at bringing them to the Preserve, since that's where they grew up. This time, he suggests they meet in the Jasper Mines.

Upon meeting Reese in the Mines, he talks about how much he loves seeing wild Beasties. However, he quickly realizes that, as a coach, the player must be tired of seeing Beasties get in their way. The player has the option to say they love seeing them, that they don't mind, or that it's annoying but not a problem.

After moving to a new spot near an old mine cart, Reese comments that it's spooky seeing all of the abandoned mining equipment. He says, "I just think about all the people who must have once been here, running around... But they're all long gone now. Like ghosts!" He goes on to say that the caves must have been very different before the humans left their mark.

When Reese thinks about the effect humans have on the environment, it scares him, and he worries about the Beasties that get displaced by the actions of humans each day. Luckily, once humans left the Mines, the Beasties reclaimed their habitat and are thriving once again. He then asks what the player thinks. They can side with humans or Beasties, or say that it's complicated.

Reese then says, "While we stand pondering, the world just barrels forward... I let all that motivate me in my BRS work. I really want to understand the world better and make a difference in it." This goal is why he is so passionate about his mushroom project, and he is grateful for the opportunity Celia has given him. He doesn't want to let them down and hopes that he can keep working in similar endeavors.

Reese and the player then return to the center of the room, where he thanks them. He says, "There's so much to see in the world if you know where to look." He also says that he tried to be less awkward during this hangout and is hoping it worked. With that, he says goodbye and leaves.

Favors

Through the Contacts menu, you can ask Reese favors to prepare a Special Treat for your Beastie in exchange for 1 Social Battery, which gets them Fired Up and allows them to earn boosted XP.