Pokemon Violet Solo Jumpluff Part 8
Asado Desert was an appropriate name in Spanish: "grilled" or "roasted". The topography was mostly a large expanse of sand with few obstacles or points of interest. Luis the Student must have been studying at Santa Royale Community College instead of Uva Academy, since he said "I've got twenty years of study at the academy under my belt". So did Dawn Weston, and her number of failed summer romances rivals the amount of Pokemon in existence.
Jumpluff had a challenging battle against a Lv 38 Espathra with Pluck and managed to capture it after making it breathe in Sleep Powder. Espathra was a pure Psychic ostrich that seemed to be the evolution of Flittle. Espathra's ability Opportunist was an automatic Psyche Up. For those who don't remember overly situational Pokemon moves, Psyche Up copies stat boosts that the opponent has. Tinkatuff the hammer wielding Fairy/Steel type was the evolution of Tinkatink.
Rellor the dung beetle (?) was pure Bug and its Pokedex entry said it was preparing for its evolution. It'll probably become the Bug/Ground type that Ninjask and Shedinja never were. Bramblin was a Grass/Ghost tumbleweed with Wind Rider, an ability that blocked and raised Attack when hit by "wind moves", as Jumpluff found out when she tried Fairy Wind. Wind Rider also gains an Attack boost from Tailwind, so be sure to integrate it into your doubles team.
Ironically, a Rain Dance TM was found by the desert's fallen watchtower. That raises the question of whether Rain Dance creates rain clouds, or merely diverts them to the summoner's area. If the former, it's a wonder there are any deserts remaining on Poke Earth.
At first, I took Toedscool for a weird regional variant of Tentacool, but it was actually an unrelated Ground/Grass monster. It was found in a Tera Raid. Looking at the bottom section of the Pokedex gave me many prizes at once for reaching milestones, from different types of Pokeballs to Stardust to evolution stones.
Iron Treads, the Donphan-like Ground Titan, outsped Jumpluff and knocked her down from 105 to 23 HP with a single Iron Head. Trailblaze dealt very little damage, and Acrobatics was equally worthless. Knock Off punted Jumpluff back to her Poke Ball. Iron Treads will have to be saved for much later in the game, and proves Pokemon Violet still has challenge even for evolved solos.
West Province Area Two on the other side of Asado Desert was another grassy region, filled with Girafarigs and Cyclizars. Cyclizar was a Dragon/Normal type that was the usual mount for trainers in Paldea. REDACTED was so special she had to ride a legendary instead. Grimer was also here for some reason, even though the area didn't seem polluted. The local lighthouse had no rewards worth mentioning for Jumpluff.
Poke Lisbon, or Porto Marinada, was home to the Gym Test for Cascarrafa. First, Jumpluff had to beat up Gym Trainer Hugo's Lv 28 Floatzel and Clauncher to even talk to Kofu. Jumpluff had a secret weapon: Loaded Dice + Bullet Seed! Turns out remembering moves is easier in Violet than in Sword and Shield: go to the summary's move page. This also works with forgotten TM moves. Loaded Dice didn't guarantee 5 shots, but Jumpluff got at least 4. Kofu wanted to spend his money on an auction for Hoenn wakame seaweed, and so REDACTED bid 35,000 Poke Dollars to get it. Porto Marinada's non-Gym-related auctions expected passerby to bid 1,200 Poke Dollars for 40 Fresh Waters. Who buys bottled water at an auction, anyway?
One item in Porto Marinada that was irrelevant to Jumpluff but possibly relevant to other solos was the Assault Vest, which granted extra Special Defense but forbade status moves. Poison Jab and Surf TMs were also available. Surf, the once-great HM, was demoted to lying on a random boat at the edge of town. The reward in Cascarrafa for fighting the route trainers in Asado Desert was an Earthquake TM. For Poison, Ground, and Water solos, my advice is "Go west, young Pokemon!"
Cascarrafa's version of Delibird Presents sold different items, including Leftovers, Light Clay, and even Normal Gems. One person offered to trade a Johto Wooper for a Paldea Wooper. The chain named Veracidad specialized in ripping off trainers: the price for a backpack was 50,000 Poke Dollars. Maybe they also own the bike manufacturers.
Nemona insisted on a "pre-Gym warm-up battle" since Cascarrafa would be REDACTED's 3rd badge. She led with a Lv 21 Rockruff that was peppered with Bullet Seeds. Lv 21 Pawmi died the same way. Lv 22 Floragato, the evolution of Sprigatito, was bipedal much to the dismay of Pokemon art enthusiasts. It was a pure Grass type. Floragato Terastallized into its own type, which couldn't save it from Terastallized Acrobatics. (Acrobatics is 55 power with an item equipped.)
Gym Leader Kufo led with the Lv 29 Veluza from his catchphrase. The disparity between his levels and Nemona's made me wonder if I was fighting the bosses out of GameFreak's intended order. Veluza succumbed to Bullet Seed, and a Lv 29 Wugtrio perished in a similar machine gun burst. Wugtrio looked like a sort of Dugtrio variant, but was actually pure Water. Lv 30 Crabominable could have smashed Jumpluff with an Ice move, but instead Terastallized into a Water type and whiffed with Slam. The first Bullet Seed only shot 4 times, but wouldn't have killed even with 5. Jumpluff emerged unscathed at Lv 37 and won the TM for Chilling Water, a move that lowered Attack (?) if it hit.
Geeta, the "chairwoman of the Pokemon League" was my most likely candidate for Cassiopeia's identity. REDACTED took a Flying Taxi back to Levincia to take on Gym Leader Iono immediately. One item in town was Wise Glasses, which would give a minor boost to Special Attack if equipped. Hassel introduced his fellow Elite Four member, a woman named Rika.
Levincia's Gym Test was the most loathsome yet: participating in Iono's livestream! Iono was desperate for attention, and she had the personality of a YouTube who was desperate for subscriptions to please her algorithm god. Iono's personality aside, the Gym Test was an easier version of Where's Waldo where REDACTED had to spot Clavell. These rounds were interspersed with battles. Gym Trainer Marti sent out a Lv 22 Luxio, and Gym Trainer Michael had Lv 22 Tynamo and Flaafy.
Iono's first monster was a Lv 23 Wattrel, and Jumpluff rolled a 5 hit Bullet Seed with her Loaded Dice. Lv 23 Bellibolt was a pure Electric monster I hadn't seen before. Its ability Electromorphosis charged it up with each hit of Bullet Seed, which sounded worrying. Bellibolt attacked with a paralyzing Spark before being perforated with the next Bullet Seed. Lv 23 Luxio was the Intimidate version, and Bullet Seed was physical. -1 Attack was still good enough to KO with one round of Bullet Seed. Lv 24 Mismagius was the last monster, and changed into an Electric type. Its Hex exploited Jumpluff's paralysis, and she conquered Levincia's Gym with only 37/118 HP remaining. Iono's team outperformed its levels, that's for sure. I think the developers intended for players to go to Levincia before Cascarrafa.
When REDACTED jumped down into Team Star's Fire base in East Province, a Grunt acknowledged it: "Back up, kid! You can't just casually waltz in here like you're one of us stars that run the joint! If you want in, ring the bell over by the entrance and storm the base like a decent person!" Clive said Team Star's bullying had caused many students to drop out of Uva Academy, and that its members were always truant.
The Team Star Grunt at the entrance had only a Lv 25 Houndour, which had no Defense against Acrobatics. To honor the Team Star code, REDACTED withdrew the two ceremonial Magikarps from the box and sent them to auto-battle the Fire types with Jumpluff. The Magikarps actually defeated a few enemies by flopping at them, proving the auto-battle system had no resemblance to turn-based combat.
Mela the Boss of the Fire Crew, however, constructed the ultimate anti-Jumpluff team. She led with Lv 27 Torkoal, and not just any Torkoal. It had Drought for 5 turns of sunshine. Torkoal itself wasn't bad as it died to two Acrobatics and dealt mild damage with Flame Wheel. Jumpluff didn't know the meaning of pain until Lv 26 Revavroom drove into the arena. Unlike Giacomo's Revavroom, the Schedar Starmobile Lv 26 version was Fire type and had a move called Blazing Torque. Acrobatics drained less than 1/3 of Revavroom's HP bar even when Terastallized. The worst news was when Revavroom revealed its Speed Boost ability. Even a Jumpluff couldn't outpace this, and Speed was its one decent stat. Revavroom also had to kill the two Magikarps for the battle to end, and it turned out that the truck knew Overheat too.
REDACTED's next plan was to try to reach Alfornada and its Gym via the Alfornada Cavern. The cliffs were too high to reach. The next best option was to go through Casseroya Lake. Catching monsters was out of the question when they were Lv 50. Flamigo the flamingo was a Flying/Fighting type, and Tatsugiri the Dragon/Water monster was in its Stretchy Form. Going south from there into West Province Area Three, however, was safe because the trainers were only Lv 29. Pokemon Violet follows the Dragon Quest 1 rule of "beware of crossing bridges". REDACTED's next stop is Medali, home to the Normal Gym Leader.
Wild Pokemon Seen: Silicobra, Rufflet, Cacnea, Cacturne, Donphan, Espathra, Tinkatuff, Rellor, Bramblin, Chansey, Hippopotas, Hippowdon, Girafarig, Grimer (Kanto), Shellos, Wingull, Crabrawler, Swalot, Gulpin, Flamigo, Tatsugiri
Tera Raids and random Terastallized Pokemon: Barboach, Toedscool, Cyclizar, Drowzee, Gothita, Zorua