Pokémon Black Scramble
The rules of the Scramble (copy+pasted from my previous post):
Game: Pokémon Black
Difficulty: depends on the Pokémon; be lenient on the restrictions of weaker Pokémon like NFEs (I will accept one NFE at max), but go nuts on the stronger Pokémon.
And please, above all else, no more restrictions like Cryst's
I can trade from White 2, but I'd prefer to only have one Pokémon from there (besides Joltik). All other Pokémon must be obtainable before Elesa and fully evolved before Clay, and I would like a starter.
Also, I would like to use
this little guy.
Current Scramblemons:
Predicted final moveset: Thunder Wave / Thunder / Volt Switch / Charge Beam
Predicted final moveset: Needle Arm / Sucker Punch / Aerial Ace / Petal Dance or Pin Missile
Predicted final moveset: Fire Blast / Earthquake / Stone Edge / Flame Charge (subject to change)
Predicted final moveset: X-scissor or Aerial Ace / Earthquake / Rock Slide / Swords Dance or Sandstorm
Predicted final moveset: Shell Smash / Toxic or Stealth Rock / X-scissor / Rock Slide
Predicted (and only possible) final moveset: Hydro Pump / Hurricane / Surf / Fly
(although sadly, I might not even get up to Hurricane level)
Updates:
Hey, what's this about a 65000-character limit all of a sudden? Guess I'll have to link to subsequent parts instead of editing them in from now on.
Chapter 3: The Performing Cactus and the Helpful Hermit Crab
The rules of the Scramble (copy+pasted from my previous post):
Game: Pokémon Black
Difficulty: depends on the Pokémon; be lenient on the restrictions of weaker Pokémon like NFEs (I will accept one NFE at max), but go nuts on the stronger Pokémon.
And please, above all else, no more restrictions like Cryst's
That's the main thing that made my previous Scramble painful at all.Every time he is switched in, or uses a move, you must shout (out loud, for real) a cheerful slogan or chant
I can trade from White 2, but I'd prefer to only have one Pokémon from there (besides Joltik). All other Pokémon must be obtainable before Elesa and fully evolved before Clay, and I would like a starter.
Also, I would like to use
Current Scramblemons:
Comments: So basically, it's a mono-Electric Joltik that must solo Skyla, Shauntal's Chandelure, and Alder's Volcarona. The latter two are going to be a pain, but the first one, not so much. At any rate, all Trainer-owned Bug-types too. Leavanny and opposing Galvantula are gonna be a pain. Oh, and can't run from or switch out against Fire- or Flying-types doesn't seem too bad (and I can understand why you excluded Rock).@Mygavolt Take Jolt the Joltik. Jolt loves firing jolts of electricity at its foes. As such, it may only use thunder wave, electro ball, electroweb, discharge, thunderbolt, thunder, volt switch, charge beam, and wild charge. Furthermore, it wants to prove that bugs are not weak to flying or fire. As such, it must solo Skyla, Shauntal's Chandelure, and Alder's Volcarona. Furthermore, it may not run from a wild battle or switch out when against a fire or flying type. Furthermore, it wants to be the best bug in the world, so it must solo all trainer-owned bug types (excluding other pokemon's solo's).
Predicted final moveset: Thunder Wave / Thunder / Volt Switch / Charge Beam
Comments: I don't really care if it's easy (I mean, it's a Maractus), and the restrictions are okay as of now, but I don't know about the Musical restriction...I speak for everyone when I say that Musicals aren't the highlight of BW1, but we'll see.@Mygavolt
Get Jack the (male) Maractus.
Now, Cactus Jack was once defeated by a crocodile of some variety. As such, he must fight any Sandile (And their evolutions) whenever able. He also must eventually take down Grimsley's Krookodile alone.
However, Jack can only use Physical attacks, with the sole exception of Petal Dance. To be able to learn Petal Dante though, he must first achieve the highest rating at the largely disliked Pokemon Musical. ("In this musical, it's not an overstatement to say that *insert name here*'s Pokémon was the lead role.")
I'm a bit on the edge whether this would be too easy, but hey, semi-obscure references are cool.
Predicted final moveset: Needle Arm / Sucker Punch / Aerial Ace / Petal Dance or Pin Missile
Comments: Hey, nice backstory, and this sounds pretty fun. The Fire-type restriction, though, means that I'll have to keep a coin (or the attack die I used in my prior scramble, or random.org if all else fails) handy wherever I go. About Marshal...we'll see. I'll attempt the solo, and if it turns out that I can't even handle Throh, I'll back out and just stick with Conk.You said you wanted a starter that isn't Snivy, so you could combat fire types? Well here you go! You get FireFight the Tepig. This Tepig hates other fire types, after a fire killed his best friends, a Lillipup and a Pidove. He doesn't know what Pokemon caused it, so whenever a fire type is about to be sent out, flip a coin. Heads, he solos it, Tails, he doesn't. Also, he cannot cause any damage against the Lillipup and Pidove families, as it reminds him of his friends perishing. He also wants to prove he is a good Fighter, so solo Marshall (if you don't want this, solo his Conkeldurr instead) GL;HF
Predicted final moveset: Fire Blast / Earthquake / Stone Edge / Flame Charge (subject to change)
Comments: I must say, I like the broken English name, and thanks for the resistances. This looks fine to me. Soloing all Grass-types doesn't sound too much like a hassle, considering the lack of Grass-types that can handily deal with Excadrill.@Mygavolt
Get Doriru the male Drillbur (fits the rock/flying resist). Doriru dislikes plants since their roots always block his way when digging, so he must solo every grass types. He also hate any weather other than sandstorm, so always switch him out when non-sandstorm weather is present. He was once owned by a trainer whom he loves until Team Plasma forced them apart, so Doriru must participate at least twice in every battle against Team Plasma members (if the opponent only has 1 poke, solo with Doriru).
Predicted final moveset: X-scissor or Aerial Ace / Earthquake / Rock Slide / Swords Dance or Sandstorm
Comments: Sounds good to me as it is, sort of but not really like a =( replica. Sturdy might also come in handy if I ever want to avert a sweeping crisis or use 2 healing items in one turn.@Mygavolt
A little gift from me: Solid the Dwebble.
Solid wants to be the best wall ever. He already has a good ability for a wall: Sturdy. As such, when you catch him, he HAS to have sturdy.
The first part of being a good wall is to help support your teammates, so Solid needs to have at least one support move(Stealth Rock, Toxic, Sandstorm, and if you can trade him to White 2 for tutor moves, Block and Knock Off)
He is also aware of his species' status as Shell Smash sweepers, and as a wall, he wants to protect his teammates, so he has to learn Shell Smash and use it to defeat any opposing pokemon that are at a higher level than him.
Any questions, PM me. Good luck!
Predicted final moveset: Shell Smash / Toxic or Stealth Rock / X-scissor / Rock Slide
Comments: Sounds like fun, and thanks for allowing me to evolve past 43 (this was specified via PM). Even though Surf and Fly are way too tempting to not use during battle (especially Surf), I will take meticulous care to not violate the restrictions. Admittedly, I have done this several times in my Scrambles, sometimes resetting and sometimes just letting it slide. Hopefully, though, I won't be an idiot and do it again.@Mygavolt: You get Amnesia the Wingull. Though handy for learning HMs, all that forced knowledge has given Wingull a bad case of long term memory loss. Whilst Wingull can learn Surf and Fly, he can never remember how to use them in battle. Instead he may only use his other two moves. Every time Wingull learns a new move via level up, he forgets the oldest move he knew. Thus, he may only use the two most recent moves he has learnt. In addition, he has completely forgotten how to use TMs, and so may only use level up moves, and has also temporarily forgotten what level he is supposed to evolve at, and will only remember how to do so at level 40 (this is so it's not possible to get two support moves and no attacks...shhh, it's a secret ;)). Because Amnesia's mind is so cloudy, it must switch into every psychic type you encounter and fight until either pokémon faints, in the hope that the psychic mind manipulation will reawaken it's memories. In addition, Pelipper must solo at least two of Caitlin's Pokémon. Upon doing so, it will suddenly recall all of it's memories, and be able to use all four of it's attacks in battle.
Predicted (and only possible) final moveset: Hydro Pump / Hurricane / Surf / Fly
(although sadly, I might not even get up to Hurricane level)
Updates:
Welcome to the first official update of my Pokémon Black Scramble! My plan for this update saga, like the previous, is to provide prose updates that end at a Gym Leader, along with a recording of beating said Gym Leader (well, the first update will comprise the 1st and 2nd gyms). The quality of these videos is not top dollar, so I'll also provide a text-based breakdown of the Gym Leader battles. Also, just a heads-up, these updates will not be my top priority because, you know, I'm in college, and sometimes I'd rather be playing other games like TF2 or Guitar Hero.
At any rate, I'm going to try a new style for these updates by formatting them like journal entries. I hope you'll like it, but even if you won't, let's get this show on the road!
September 7, 2013, 8:21 PM
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon!" exclaimed a woman's voice. "My name is Professor Jumiper. Everyone calls me the Pokémon Professor!" She sent out a Minccino, and she went on a rant about how this world is full of Pokémon
and other trite things that the other Pokémon Professors generally include in their intro spiels. I, frankly, was paying no attention and dozed off. Suddenly, she gave me a light slap on the cheek and said, "Well, that's enough from me… Could you tell me about yourself? Are you a boy? Or a girl?"
Oh, I'm obviously a girl, I wanted to say, just to tease her. Maybe she had prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces; a disease mentioned in 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, an amazing game). But, I wanted to be honest because, search my to-do list if you will, but I'm pretty sure a gender change is not something I'd want to have happen. "I'm a boy," I said to Juniper.
"I'd like to know your name. Please tell me," she urged.
Still hungry for information, huh? I thought. How did you even bring yourself to summon me here even though you don't know me, and then extort information from me? Personally, I wouldn't bring myself to talk to strangers unless I had to. Like now, for instance. At any rate… "My name is Myga," I said. While I can be honest about my gender, I'd prefer to have an alias as opposed to disclosing my real name. I mean, you never know who might be reading this journal.
"That's a wonderful name!" Juniper exclaimed, almost as if she were forced to. "Well then. I'm going to introduce you to your two best friends!"
Introduce me to my two best friends? If they were my two "best friends," why would she need to introduce me to them? Whatever. I guess this means these two buffoons and I will be running into each other quite often. Cheren, difficult but honest, looks a bit like Io Otonashi from Acchi Kocchi (to me, anyway).
I don't know. It's only a slight resemblance, but it's still a resemblance.
Anyway, Bianca, flighty but hard-working, not much else to point out. She trusts the three of us with one Pokémon each, and upon receiving mine, my adventure will truly start (or so she says). Before that, Juniper struck me at blinding speed, knocking me out cold…
…and thus did the real story begin.
September 7, 2013, 9:00 PM
"Myga!" A voice woke me up from my coma. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Cheren. "I heard from Professor Juniper. We can have a Pokémon?" he asked for confirmation, pointing to the gift box that lay before us.
That's about the extent of what she said, I would've said if I weren't thinking, but I didn't want to hurt Cheren's feelings or anything like that. I mean, he's supposed to be one of my "best friends." Speaking of best friends, where's Bianca? Did she trip on her way here? Did she run into a bunch of thugs who took all her money? No, she just can't keep track of time. Better late than never, I guess?
"Bianca…" Cheren sighed as Bianca arrived and apologized for her tardiness. "I've known for ten years that you have no sense of time, but…seriously…"
Ten years? So that's how long these two have known each other. Get a room! I thought jokingly. That aside, there was nothing left at this point but to pick our Pokémon and go. I'm sure Bianca and Cheren were just as excited to get started as I was.
"They were delivered to Myga's house, so Myga gets the first pick," Bianca said.
"Naturally," Cheren agreed.
Why thank you, I thought. Although, I have a feeling that Cheren is going to counter my type like every other rival. What about Bianca, though? She looks quite submissive, so she might pick the leftover Pokémon. At any rate, I guess there's no avoiding it. I walked up to the gift box right in front of me, wondering if this was too good to be true—perhaps rigged with a trap—but it wasn't. Who was I to mistrust such an outgoing person as Professor Juniper? Speaking of whom, she left a note on top of the box that said,
"I've brought three Pokémon, one for you and one for each of your friends. Please settle your choices politely. Enjoy your Pokémon! --Professor Juniper"
I cast aside the note, undid the ribbon, and looked at the three Poké Balls that caught my eye. I felt each of them. The one on the left felt like a blade of grass, the one in the middle was warm to the touch, and the one on the right felt damp. Suddenly, a scroll appeared out of thin air. I unfurled the scroll and read it. It said,
"You get FireFight the Tepig. This Tepig hates other fire types, after a fire killed his best friends, a Lillipup and a Pidove. He doesn't know what Pokemon caused it, so whenever a fire type is about to be sent out, flip a coin. Heads, he solos it, Tails, he doesn't. Also, he cannot cause any damage against the Lillipup and Pidove families, as it reminds him of his friends perishing. He also wants to prove he is a good Fighter, so solo Marshall (if you don't want this, solo his Conkeldurr instead)
GL;HF--powergo1"
After I finished reading the scroll, my hand moved on its own and picked up the warm Poké Ball. Cheren and Bianca walked up beside me. Bianca picked hers first, the left ball, which seemed really odd to me because my train of thought was that the rival who wanted the advantage would pick first. I guess Bianca was just trying to be nice. I blushed, thinking, How thoughtful of her.
Ironically, just when I thought that, Bianca stepped to the center of the room and pointed to me, exclaiming, "Hey, we should battle Pokémon so we can get stronger!" Well, she might not have said it verbatim, but that's about the gist of it. Even though Cheren objected due to how much even little critters could level a house (I mean, a bunch of rats took a million lives, thinking back to the Black Plague), Bianca insisted, saying that they wouldn't do much harm because they're "weak."
Bianca threw her Poké Ball, and out came a grassy snake, Snivy. Out of mine came a blazing pig, Tepig. The two kept ramming into each other, but in the end, Tepig came out victorious. However, the room became a mess! Perhaps as an apology fund, Bianca gave me P500. Cheren provided free healing services for both parties and decided he wanted some of the action for himself. He promised he would be meticulous and not cause as much of a mess as Bianca had.
Cheren threw his Poké Ball, and out came an otter with a scalchop on his belly, an Oshawott. Despite coming out from the damp ball, which was almost the polar opposite of the warm ball, Tepig still emerged victorious from the fight of Tackles. Cheren also forked over P500, even though he, unlike Bianca, had nothing to compensate for. Earning money for winning…just sounded like a mucked-up concept to me. Oh, well. It is what it is. If people want to give me money as a way to admit defeat, then so be it. And, at any rate, now that we had our Pokémon, it was time to head off on our adventure! First, though, we had to apologize to Mom for making such a mess upstairs. She, however, just brushed it off as another task for a later time. Not only that, but she gave me free healing and a cross-transceiver (or Xtransciever for short, but man, that's hard to spell). Meanwhile, Cheren headed off to Juniper's lab while Bianca went to settle family matters.
I headed out and happened upon Bianca, who went to her house as a Woobat flew in front of my face. I looked in the direction it flew and saw a flock flying into the distance. Then, I looked forward and thought, This may seem stalker-ish, but I wonder what Bianca's up to. I mean, she's one of my "best friends," so it wouldn't hurt to check on her every now and then. Besides, knowing her, she might have ulterior motives for not immediately heading to the research lab.
I walked into Bianca's house and heard her dad yell, "No, no, a thousand times no!!!" This made me cringe. So this is what she meant. As Bianca tried to console her angry dad, she turned her head and spotted me. She blushed and walked off as if nothing had ever happened. Even though her dad sounded furious, we silently decided to leave him behind and head off to the research lab. There, we met Professor Juniper, who trusted us three with the Pokédex (one for each of us) and told us to meet her at Route 1. It was at that moment that I could truly call my Tepig by its designated name: FireFight.
September 7, 2013, 10:55 PM
As I headed to Route 1 with my "best friends," Bianca yelled, "Myga… It's this way!"
Cheren explained why they weren't actually on Route 1 by saying, "Bianca says if we're starting a journey together, she wants us all to take our first step at the same time."
Okay, so that's what you were going for, I thought. Bianca gave a count and we marched forward. Even though they mentioned only taking one step, we actually took three. I guess she was too caught up in the moment. At any rate, we happen upon Juniper first thing after our first…three…steps. She tells us how to catch a Pokémon, but I used the time to write because I already know the information. Just as I finished the phrase, Juniper gave me 5 Poké Balls. At that moment, I thought I was going to go and catch everything I saw, but another scroll appeared out of thin air. I unfurled it and read it. This one said,
"Myga,
Whether you know it or not, you have officially accepted the Scramble Challenge. In this challenge, various scrolls will appear before you, telling you what Pokémon you can use. If a Pokémon is not listed on a scroll you have found, you cannot use it in battle. You should have 6 Pokémon in your party before the 4th Gym Leader and fully evolve them before the 5th. Your challenge is over when you defeat Alder, the Pokémon League Champion.
Good luck and have fun--the Administrator"
Okay, so going on a Pokémon-catching rampage is out of the question, I thought. I guess I'll just have to proceed through this route with FireFight. Down the route, I encountered a Lillipup. I sent out FireFight, but he refused to fight. Why? I wondered. Then I took another look at the scroll that appeared before I obtained the Tepig. "…he cannot cause any damage against the Lillipup and Pidove families, as it reminds him of his friends perishing." I see. I ran off, leaving the Lillipup alone. When I reached the end of the route, Bianca and Cheren deprecated that I only had FireFight, but they let it slide. Professor Juniper called via Xtransceiver and said she'd be waiting at the Pokémon Center. There, she gave Bianca and me a tour of the Pokémon Center—the pink-dressed lady, the PC, and the blue-aproned vendors who sold basic merchandise like Poké Balls, Potions, and Mail. I decided to buy 4 Potions just in case, and then I headed outside.
To my surprise, there was a bunch of orange-haired men wearing weird gray suits and a green-haired brown-robed man who stepped forward and identified himself as Ghetsis. The latter man gave a long lecture about liberating Pokémon which, once again, I ignored in favor of writing in my journal. Suddenly, as everyone filed out, another green-haired man, one in more casual clothes and even a ballcap, approached me, identified himself as N, and revealed his ability to understand Pokémon. He challenged me to a battle, determined to "hear [my Pokémon's] voice" again.
The result of the battle was a Purrloin reduced to cinders and an N who was determined to "make Pokémon [his] friends." At that moment, I wondered, I might encounter Lillipup quite frequently from here to the next town, and Tepig simply refuses to fight any Lillipup. And, by the scrolls, Tepig is the only Pokémon I can use. Maybe another scroll will appear, providing an exception? Hoping to find an answer, I took a nap.
September 8, 2013, 11:00 AM
The scroll appeared on my face when I woke up. When I unfurled it and read it, it said,
"FireFight the Tepig is allowed to fight Lillipup and Pidove before obtaining the C-Gear, but cannot use Fire STAB on those two species. However, once the C-Gear is obtained, it cannot harm the two species.
--the Administrator, approved by powergo1"
I looked at Tepig. It looked as if a surge of determination flowed through it. I imagine it was thinking, It's okay as long as I don't burn 'em. However, I'll still limit myself to Trainer-owned Lillipup (and Pidove, although I don't think there are any before obtaining the C-Gear) so that I don't revoke traumatic memories too much.
At any rate, I proceeded down Route 2 and acquired the Running Shoes from Mom. This meant I wouldn't be creeping along like a Shuckle any longer. I stormed through the route, taking down everything in my path, and I encountered Bianca. She challenged me to a battle without hesitation or second guesses, and I won handily, being careful not to burn her poor Lillipup. She, in turn, vowed to get stronger and left.
After that, I arrived at Striaton City for the first time. I combed the area, finding an X Speed on the ground and a guy in some back alley who gave me a Dusk Ball. Not much to behold, although Dusk Balls can be pretty effective if used right. After that, I took a path east into what was called the Dreamyard, fought all the Trainers within, and acquired the Pansage. Of course, I wasn't going to use it, otherwise a scroll would've appeared by then.
After that, knowing that there would be danger dead ahead, I decided to stock up on Potions until I had 20 in count. Then, I headed to the Trainers' School, as the person blocking the Gym told me to, and then I saw Cheren. I could tell he was determined to learn—he read the blackboard information about the Poison status out loud and wanted to test the usefulness of items against me.
The results: the Oran Berry Cheren gave to Oshawott proved to be useful because it took 4 Tackles instead of 3 to kill. Knowing that, he gave me 3 Oran Berries so that I too could experience their usefulness. With a smile, I headed to the Gym. Instead of the guy with the sunglasses who blocked me before, I saw a man with green hair. He asked what my starter was, and I said Tepig (again, I wanted to be honest). He then retreated to the interior of the Gym, warning me that I should be ready for a type disadvantage. As I stepped through the Gym, the guy with sunglasses from before identified himself as Clyde and gave me a Fresh Water. This will definitely help when Potions and Oran Berries are just not enough.
Through the battles, I realized that FireFight took a load of damage from the first Lillipup (even if it was from a critical hit). I thought, Why not get stronger on Route 2? Then I realized the growth rate would've been too tedious to deal with, so I decided to just come as I was. At the end of the Gym were three waiters—one with green hair, one with red hair, and one with blue hair. The blue-haired one, who identified himself as Cress, was the one who decided to challenge me.
However, just one battle, and I thought, How is that Panpour beatable? (Tackle was roughly a 3HKO at -1, and +2 Water Gun was indubitably a clean OHKO) I mean, it's going to be tedious, but I'm going to have to grind my way out of this, and I shall no longer limit myself to Trainer-owned Lillipup as long as I vow not to use Ember.
September 8, 2013, circa 1:00 PM
Okay, never mind. It only took a level up to 15, at which level it learned Flame Charge. Here's how it went down.
FireFight vs. Lillipup
I used an X Speed to get the jump on Panpour in the near future as Lillipup started Working up. Tackle took 3 hits to kill, and FireFight took a +1 Bite from the Lillipup.
FireFight vs. Panpour
This was supposed to be the bane of my existence. FireFight used Tail Whip twice, took a +1 Water Gun from Panpour, and then the Tepig's flames were intensified. With this new power, he Flame Charged the Panpour, who used Work Up again, as if to apologize that he beat the Tepig up badly in the previous match, and the battle was won for me.
"Lose? Me? I don't believe this," Cress said in bitter shame.
Shouldn't have wasted that golden opportunity on a Work Up, I thought. At any rate, I now have the Trio Badge! On a less exciting note, I have TM83 Work Up! I left the Gym with a happy look on my face. Waiting for me outside was a woman with glasses and a lab coat who identified herself as Fennel, Juniper's friend. She took me to her lab and enlisted me to find some Dream Mist in Dreamyard. She then gave me HM01 Cut, saying it would help me on my quest. I walked to the other side of the room, where there was a pink bed with a machine attached to it, as well as a PC, which I used to magically heal FireFight. I looked past the bed and saw a school girl with glasses dressed in blue who identified herself as Amanita, the developer of the PC. She provided nothing useful aside from that little bit of information. As for Cut, I decided to teach it to Pansage because the second scroll said, "If a Pokémon is not listed on a scroll you have found, you cannot use it in battle." It said nothing about using it to cut down trees.
Anyway, as I walked through Dreamyard and had Pansage Cut the tree in my way, Bianca came along and asked, "Are you looking for the mysterious Pokémon too?" (or something along those lines), which I assumed in layman's terms meant that she was searching for the Dream Pokémon Munna. We headed farther in and found the Munna we were looking for. However, with this fortune, there had to come trouble. Two orange-haired people of evenly distributed genders wearing grey suits—the ones from Accumula, who identified themselves as Team Plasma—showed up and tried to force the Dream Mist out of Munna. Of course, it was up to me to stop them.
FireFight took out the hopeless Patrat and Purrloin with Flame Charges, but the Plasma Grunts were desperate enough to continue with their forceful ways. Fortunately, though, Ghetsis appeared and threatened to issue punishment, forcing the Grunts to flee from the scene…or at least, that's what it looked like at a glance. No, that "Ghetsis" was nothing but an illusion, one made by Musharna to save the poor Munna. As a reward for our compassion (or so I thought), they just left the Dream Mist behind for Fennel to pick up and return to her home. After surveying the Dreamyard for any extra items (although not much good came out of that), I followed suit. When I got to Fennel's house, she gave me a C-Gear and lectured me about Game Sync and whatnot, then Amanita gave me a Pal Pad.
As I left Fennel's house, another scroll appeared before me. This one said,
"Myga,
Congratulations on beating Cress without using Pansage! Sure, the AI was dumb, but a win is a win, right? Anyway, this message is to tell you that you have two Pokémon awaiting you from another dimension in Unova. They will appear as Eggs, with scrolls that define their species and restrictions. Please head to the Pokémon Center in Striaton to receive them.
Again, good luck and have fun--the Administrator"
I went to the Pokémon Center, just like the scroll had said, and acquired the two Eggs. One felt like static was emanating from it, and the other felt damp. I decided to go for a run to Accumula Town, just to clear my mind. Suddenly, the staticky Egg hatched! Out popped a Joltik and a scroll. The scroll said,
"Take Jolt the Joltik. Jolt loves firing jolts of electricity at its foes. As such, it may only use thunder wave, electro ball, electroweb, discharge, thunderbolt, thunder, volt switch, charge beam, and wild charge. Furthermore, it wants to prove that bugs are not weak to flying or fire. As such, it must solo Skyla, Shauntal's Chandelure, and Alder's Volcarona. Furthermore, it may not run from a wild battle or switch out when against a fire or flying type. Furthermore, it wants to be the best bug in the world, so it must solo all trainer-owned bug types (excluding other pokemon's solo's).
--Mulan15262"
This is going to be a tough one, I thought. Thankfully, for my convenience, the Joltik had a full-Electric moveset right off the bat: Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Charge Beam, Volt Switch. I ran some more, and the damp Egg hatched. Out popped a Wingull and another scroll. This one said,
"You get Amnesia the Wingull. Though handy for learning HMs, all that forced knowledge has given Wingull a bad case of long term memory loss. Whilst Wingull can learn Surf and Fly, he can never remember how to use them in battle. Instead he may only use his other two moves. Every time Wingull learns a new move via level up, he forgets the oldest move he knew. Thus, he may only use the two most recent moves he has learnt. In addition, he has completely forgotten how to use TMs, and so may only use level up moves, and has also temporarily forgotten what level he is supposed to evolve at, and will only remember how to do so at level 40 (this is so it's not possible to get two support moves and no attacks...shhh, it's a secret ;)). Because Amnesia's mind is so cloudy, it must switch into every psychic type you encounter and fight until either pokémon faints, in the hope that the psychic mind manipulation will reawaken it's memories. In addition, Pelipper must solo at least two of Caitlin's Pokémon. Upon doing so, it will suddenly recall all of it's memories, and be able to use all four of it's attacks in battle.
--Alienjesus"
This one was born with Fly, but didn't know how to use it in battle. I was wondering why it didn't have Surf, then I realized that Wingull is incapable of learning it, even though Pelipper can. At any rate, I had to get these two up to speed before continuing my adventure.
September 8, 2013, 10:00 PM
So, Jolt and Amnesia had reached Level 8, so I proeeded to Route 3. There, I see two buildings, one of which was a Nursery home in which there was an Aide who was always willing to heal. Beside the daycare was a playground with plenty of young and/or inexperienced Trainers who were willing to fight (although they didn't put up much of a fight against me). I ran down the route and found none other than Cheren, who wanted to test how worthy I was to have the Trio Badge (which, to be fair, was not really).
"We have the same number of Gym Badges. We should be equal in strength," Cheren complained after witnessing the tag team in Amnesia and Jolt that took down his Oshawott and Purrloin with little effort (although Amnesia vs. Purrloin dragged on quite a bit). Suddenly, at that moment, two Plasma Grunts ran right on past us (and we excused them for some reason) and Bianca entered the scene with a little girl whose Pokémon Team Plasma stole, so the story goes. Obviously, it was up to us (me and Cheren) to run off and catch the thieves.
I headed west, where the Grunts went, and happened upon a cave in front of which Cheren was standing. We walked in and beat the Grunts (and two backup Grunts) without breaking much of a sweat (except Amnesia isn't too good at pulling its weight). After the Grunts and Cheren left, a scroll popped out of thin air. This scroll said,
"Get Doriru the male Drillbur (fits the rock/flying resist). Doriru dislikes plants since their roots always block his way when digging, so he must solo every grass types. He also hate any weather other than sandstorm, so always switch him out when non-sandstorm weather is present. He was once owned by a trainer whom he loves until Team Plasma forced them apart, so Doriru must participate at least twice in every battle against Team Plasma members (if the opponent only has 1 poke, solo with Doriru).
--zerobreaker000"
Just then, I searched the cave for Drilbur, having happened upon an Ice Gem, a Grass Gem, a Dark Gem, and an Electric Gem in that order. When I found the Drilbur, I caught it and exited the cave. I then took another look at the scroll. I saw, in fine print at the bottom of the scroll, a heads-up that I would not obtain another Pokémon to use until after the 3rd Gym Badge. After Bianca and the little girl thanked me for my (and Cheren's) deed (and gave me Heal Balls), I decided to crash at the Nursery home for a while.
September 25, 2013, 5:20 PM
Man, it's been a long time. It's what college does to a gamer. I just thought I'd continue this journey to get the first chapter of this journal over with (and for the "prosperity" of my YouTube channel).
Anyway, as I proceeded down Route 3, Cheren walked up to me from a patch of dark grass. He mentioned that the wild Pokémon there were more savage than in ordinary grass and even attacked in pairs. He said he was heading to Nacrene City, so I followed suit. There, he greeted me, showed me to the Pokémon Center, and gave me some Chesto Berries (which I can only imagine as foreshadowing). At that moment, I decided to take a momentary break for unexplained reasons.
September 28, 2013, 11:00 PM
When I woke up, I decided to give myself a tour of Nacrene City and the area west of it. In the process, I found a Revive in a pair of train tracks, a Super Potion embedded between two flowers, TM94 Rock Smash from a nice lady near Pinwheel Forest, and an Ether lying on the ground right near her. After that, I went to train outside of Pinwheel Forest since the interior was blocked off by a bunch of Plasma Grunts standing in formation. In the process, FireFight evolved into Pignite, Amnesia proved to have the slightest amount of worth, and FireFight smashed a Star Piece off of Challenge Rock. While I know this can be done every day, I shall opt to only do it this once.
Now, after all that, only one locale remained for me to examine: the museum. I knew all along that this was the most important, hence why I left it for last, so now I have no choice but to go check it out. Suddenly, N exited the museum and challenged me to a battle, a test of strength, one of many clashes between truth and ideals. His Pidove and Tympole were burnt out by Jolt's Thunderbolt, where Timburr was much more hardy, to my surprise neither succumbing to the confusion induced by Amnesia nor to the mud flung in his eyes by Doriru. After facing defeat, N walked away, triumphantly plotting to gain the power of the legendary dragon Zekrom.
After a quick trip to the Pokémon Center, I headed into the museum. The first thing I noticed was a scientist admiring a Dragonite skeleton. (Sure, I'm not supposed to know it's a Dragonite, but what else could it be?) Suddenly, the man, who introduced himself as Hawes, stopped what he was doing and gave me a tour of the museum. As per usual, I didn't pay much attention until he presented to me the library in which the Gym Leader (who is apparently also his wife, Lenora) was waiting. I headed in without hesitation.
Now, while the place looked like any other library, it simultaneously gave off the vibe of a gym, and, like last time, there was a blackglasses guy who gave me a Fresh Water. After defeating the Gym Trainers and opening up the path to a secret basement, it crossed my mind that Lenora was going to be a huge pain since Satomi's Herdier took out Doriru with half its life force remaining, despite my constant healing efforts at the time. Thus, I decided to train up outside of Pinwheel Forest before attempting to fight Lenora.
After the training session, I headed into the basement of the library. There awaited Lenora, my adversary. Here is how our battle went down. (You can also view the video below.)
Doriru vs. Herdier
Doriru got two Rock Smashes off while being faced with a missed Take Down and a successful Leer. Next, Doriru used Mud-slap, which fortunately caused Herdier to miss a potentially fatal Take Down, and finished the job with one last Rock Smash.
Jolt vs. Watchog
I watched in horror as Watchog Retaliated with vengeance driven by the fall of Herdier and squashed Jolt like the bug she was.
FireFight vs. Watchog
Watchog used Hypnosis and put FireFight in a deep sleep. Unable to wake up, even after 3 turns, Watchog Leered the pig to -2. Fearing the worst, I had him fall back and let Amnesia take the brunt of whatever hit the rodent decided to dole out.
Amnesia vs. Watchog
I watched in horror again as Watchog Retaliated with a serendipitous power similar to the one driven by vengeance and smashed Amnesia like the…bird she was?
FireFight vs. Watchog
Still struggling to wake up, FireFight took two Retaliates, a Fresh Water, another Retaliate, a Crunch, another Fresh Water, and another Crunch. Before he woke up, Watchog Leered the pig to reduce him to -2 Defense (the second Crunch contributed to this count). However, FireFight sped himself up using Flame Charge and followed up with a Rock Smash, at long last slaying the baneful rodent.
After the battle, Hawes came down and reported that Team Plasma was out "stealing bones." Upon hearing the news, Lenora dashed out of the library with her husband and requested that I come too. I decided, Eh, I'll just wait. Little do they know I have the inexplicable power to move through time while my surroundings stay still.
To be continued…
Post-Chapter Progress Report
Amnesia the Wingull (Female, Lv. 19)
Serious, Keen Eye
- Water Pulse
- Mist
- Fly (cannot be used in battle)
- Growl (to be replaced with Surf)
Honestly, the "Every time Wingull learns a new move via level up, he forgets the oldest move he knew" is a lot more detrimental than I thought it would be. With usually just one attacking move, there's not much it can cope with one-on-one. Supersonic kept missing, too.
Doriru the Drilbur (Male, Lv. 18)
Mild, Sand Rush
- Rock Smash
- Metal Claw
- Mud-slap
- Fury Swipes
As of now, Rock Smash and Fury Swipes are my only two choices. I can somewhat live with Mud-slap, what with its STAB and accuracy reduction, but since it's Special, it doesn't do too much damage. In due time, though, I have a feeling that Doriru will become a great asset to my team, maybe even the great asset.
Jolt the Joltik (Female, Lv. 18)
Naughty, Compoundeyes
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
Not much to say about this right now. Thunderbolt is quite an item early-game, but not as much as AFive's Confusion was. To be fair, there is a respectable power difference between the two. Anyway, I believe wholeheartedly that the mono-Electric moveset will do a lot more harm than good in the long run. Should be fun, though.
FireFight the Pignite (Male, Lv. 20)
Lonely, Blaze
- Tackle
- Rock Smash
- Ember
- Flame Charge
What can I say? He's my starter, he's been with me through the first Gym (which I'm oh so grateful to have made it out of alive), he's my only evolved Pokémon as of now, and he took out the Watchog which would've swept my team otherwise. Plus, I don't really mind being unable to fight the Lillipup or Pidove families, and there aren't many Fire-types around to apply the second restriction to.
At any rate, I'm going to try a new style for these updates by formatting them like journal entries. I hope you'll like it, but even if you won't, let's get this show on the road!
September 7, 2013, 8:21 PM
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon!" exclaimed a woman's voice. "My name is Professor Jumiper. Everyone calls me the Pokémon Professor!" She sent out a Minccino, and she went on a rant about how this world is full of Pokémon
and other trite things that the other Pokémon Professors generally include in their intro spiels. I, frankly, was paying no attention and dozed off. Suddenly, she gave me a light slap on the cheek and said, "Well, that's enough from me… Could you tell me about yourself? Are you a boy? Or a girl?"
Oh, I'm obviously a girl, I wanted to say, just to tease her. Maybe she had prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces; a disease mentioned in 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, an amazing game). But, I wanted to be honest because, search my to-do list if you will, but I'm pretty sure a gender change is not something I'd want to have happen. "I'm a boy," I said to Juniper.
"I'd like to know your name. Please tell me," she urged.
Still hungry for information, huh? I thought. How did you even bring yourself to summon me here even though you don't know me, and then extort information from me? Personally, I wouldn't bring myself to talk to strangers unless I had to. Like now, for instance. At any rate… "My name is Myga," I said. While I can be honest about my gender, I'd prefer to have an alias as opposed to disclosing my real name. I mean, you never know who might be reading this journal.
"That's a wonderful name!" Juniper exclaimed, almost as if she were forced to. "Well then. I'm going to introduce you to your two best friends!"
Introduce me to my two best friends? If they were my two "best friends," why would she need to introduce me to them? Whatever. I guess this means these two buffoons and I will be running into each other quite often. Cheren, difficult but honest, looks a bit like Io Otonashi from Acchi Kocchi (to me, anyway).
I don't know. It's only a slight resemblance, but it's still a resemblance.
Anyway, Bianca, flighty but hard-working, not much else to point out. She trusts the three of us with one Pokémon each, and upon receiving mine, my adventure will truly start (or so she says). Before that, Juniper struck me at blinding speed, knocking me out cold…
…and thus did the real story begin.
September 7, 2013, 9:00 PM
"Myga!" A voice woke me up from my coma. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Cheren. "I heard from Professor Juniper. We can have a Pokémon?" he asked for confirmation, pointing to the gift box that lay before us.
That's about the extent of what she said, I would've said if I weren't thinking, but I didn't want to hurt Cheren's feelings or anything like that. I mean, he's supposed to be one of my "best friends." Speaking of best friends, where's Bianca? Did she trip on her way here? Did she run into a bunch of thugs who took all her money? No, she just can't keep track of time. Better late than never, I guess?
"Bianca…" Cheren sighed as Bianca arrived and apologized for her tardiness. "I've known for ten years that you have no sense of time, but…seriously…"
Ten years? So that's how long these two have known each other. Get a room! I thought jokingly. That aside, there was nothing left at this point but to pick our Pokémon and go. I'm sure Bianca and Cheren were just as excited to get started as I was.
"They were delivered to Myga's house, so Myga gets the first pick," Bianca said.
"Naturally," Cheren agreed.
Why thank you, I thought. Although, I have a feeling that Cheren is going to counter my type like every other rival. What about Bianca, though? She looks quite submissive, so she might pick the leftover Pokémon. At any rate, I guess there's no avoiding it. I walked up to the gift box right in front of me, wondering if this was too good to be true—perhaps rigged with a trap—but it wasn't. Who was I to mistrust such an outgoing person as Professor Juniper? Speaking of whom, she left a note on top of the box that said,
"I've brought three Pokémon, one for you and one for each of your friends. Please settle your choices politely. Enjoy your Pokémon! --Professor Juniper"
I cast aside the note, undid the ribbon, and looked at the three Poké Balls that caught my eye. I felt each of them. The one on the left felt like a blade of grass, the one in the middle was warm to the touch, and the one on the right felt damp. Suddenly, a scroll appeared out of thin air. I unfurled the scroll and read it. It said,
"You get FireFight the Tepig. This Tepig hates other fire types, after a fire killed his best friends, a Lillipup and a Pidove. He doesn't know what Pokemon caused it, so whenever a fire type is about to be sent out, flip a coin. Heads, he solos it, Tails, he doesn't. Also, he cannot cause any damage against the Lillipup and Pidove families, as it reminds him of his friends perishing. He also wants to prove he is a good Fighter, so solo Marshall (if you don't want this, solo his Conkeldurr instead)
GL;HF--powergo1"
After I finished reading the scroll, my hand moved on its own and picked up the warm Poké Ball. Cheren and Bianca walked up beside me. Bianca picked hers first, the left ball, which seemed really odd to me because my train of thought was that the rival who wanted the advantage would pick first. I guess Bianca was just trying to be nice. I blushed, thinking, How thoughtful of her.
Ironically, just when I thought that, Bianca stepped to the center of the room and pointed to me, exclaiming, "Hey, we should battle Pokémon so we can get stronger!" Well, she might not have said it verbatim, but that's about the gist of it. Even though Cheren objected due to how much even little critters could level a house (I mean, a bunch of rats took a million lives, thinking back to the Black Plague), Bianca insisted, saying that they wouldn't do much harm because they're "weak."
Bianca threw her Poké Ball, and out came a grassy snake, Snivy. Out of mine came a blazing pig, Tepig. The two kept ramming into each other, but in the end, Tepig came out victorious. However, the room became a mess! Perhaps as an apology fund, Bianca gave me P500. Cheren provided free healing services for both parties and decided he wanted some of the action for himself. He promised he would be meticulous and not cause as much of a mess as Bianca had.
Cheren threw his Poké Ball, and out came an otter with a scalchop on his belly, an Oshawott. Despite coming out from the damp ball, which was almost the polar opposite of the warm ball, Tepig still emerged victorious from the fight of Tackles. Cheren also forked over P500, even though he, unlike Bianca, had nothing to compensate for. Earning money for winning…just sounded like a mucked-up concept to me. Oh, well. It is what it is. If people want to give me money as a way to admit defeat, then so be it. And, at any rate, now that we had our Pokémon, it was time to head off on our adventure! First, though, we had to apologize to Mom for making such a mess upstairs. She, however, just brushed it off as another task for a later time. Not only that, but she gave me free healing and a cross-transceiver (or Xtransciever for short, but man, that's hard to spell). Meanwhile, Cheren headed off to Juniper's lab while Bianca went to settle family matters.
I headed out and happened upon Bianca, who went to her house as a Woobat flew in front of my face. I looked in the direction it flew and saw a flock flying into the distance. Then, I looked forward and thought, This may seem stalker-ish, but I wonder what Bianca's up to. I mean, she's one of my "best friends," so it wouldn't hurt to check on her every now and then. Besides, knowing her, she might have ulterior motives for not immediately heading to the research lab.
I walked into Bianca's house and heard her dad yell, "No, no, a thousand times no!!!" This made me cringe. So this is what she meant. As Bianca tried to console her angry dad, she turned her head and spotted me. She blushed and walked off as if nothing had ever happened. Even though her dad sounded furious, we silently decided to leave him behind and head off to the research lab. There, we met Professor Juniper, who trusted us three with the Pokédex (one for each of us) and told us to meet her at Route 1. It was at that moment that I could truly call my Tepig by its designated name: FireFight.
September 7, 2013, 10:55 PM
As I headed to Route 1 with my "best friends," Bianca yelled, "Myga… It's this way!"
Cheren explained why they weren't actually on Route 1 by saying, "Bianca says if we're starting a journey together, she wants us all to take our first step at the same time."
Okay, so that's what you were going for, I thought. Bianca gave a count and we marched forward. Even though they mentioned only taking one step, we actually took three. I guess she was too caught up in the moment. At any rate, we happen upon Juniper first thing after our first…three…steps. She tells us how to catch a Pokémon, but I used the time to write because I already know the information. Just as I finished the phrase, Juniper gave me 5 Poké Balls. At that moment, I thought I was going to go and catch everything I saw, but another scroll appeared out of thin air. I unfurled it and read it. This one said,
"Myga,
Whether you know it or not, you have officially accepted the Scramble Challenge. In this challenge, various scrolls will appear before you, telling you what Pokémon you can use. If a Pokémon is not listed on a scroll you have found, you cannot use it in battle. You should have 6 Pokémon in your party before the 4th Gym Leader and fully evolve them before the 5th. Your challenge is over when you defeat Alder, the Pokémon League Champion.
Good luck and have fun--the Administrator"
Okay, so going on a Pokémon-catching rampage is out of the question, I thought. I guess I'll just have to proceed through this route with FireFight. Down the route, I encountered a Lillipup. I sent out FireFight, but he refused to fight. Why? I wondered. Then I took another look at the scroll that appeared before I obtained the Tepig. "…he cannot cause any damage against the Lillipup and Pidove families, as it reminds him of his friends perishing." I see. I ran off, leaving the Lillipup alone. When I reached the end of the route, Bianca and Cheren deprecated that I only had FireFight, but they let it slide. Professor Juniper called via Xtransceiver and said she'd be waiting at the Pokémon Center. There, she gave Bianca and me a tour of the Pokémon Center—the pink-dressed lady, the PC, and the blue-aproned vendors who sold basic merchandise like Poké Balls, Potions, and Mail. I decided to buy 4 Potions just in case, and then I headed outside.
To my surprise, there was a bunch of orange-haired men wearing weird gray suits and a green-haired brown-robed man who stepped forward and identified himself as Ghetsis. The latter man gave a long lecture about liberating Pokémon which, once again, I ignored in favor of writing in my journal. Suddenly, as everyone filed out, another green-haired man, one in more casual clothes and even a ballcap, approached me, identified himself as N, and revealed his ability to understand Pokémon. He challenged me to a battle, determined to "hear [my Pokémon's] voice" again.
The result of the battle was a Purrloin reduced to cinders and an N who was determined to "make Pokémon [his] friends." At that moment, I wondered, I might encounter Lillipup quite frequently from here to the next town, and Tepig simply refuses to fight any Lillipup. And, by the scrolls, Tepig is the only Pokémon I can use. Maybe another scroll will appear, providing an exception? Hoping to find an answer, I took a nap.
September 8, 2013, 11:00 AM
The scroll appeared on my face when I woke up. When I unfurled it and read it, it said,
"FireFight the Tepig is allowed to fight Lillipup and Pidove before obtaining the C-Gear, but cannot use Fire STAB on those two species. However, once the C-Gear is obtained, it cannot harm the two species.
--the Administrator, approved by powergo1"
I looked at Tepig. It looked as if a surge of determination flowed through it. I imagine it was thinking, It's okay as long as I don't burn 'em. However, I'll still limit myself to Trainer-owned Lillipup (and Pidove, although I don't think there are any before obtaining the C-Gear) so that I don't revoke traumatic memories too much.
At any rate, I proceeded down Route 2 and acquired the Running Shoes from Mom. This meant I wouldn't be creeping along like a Shuckle any longer. I stormed through the route, taking down everything in my path, and I encountered Bianca. She challenged me to a battle without hesitation or second guesses, and I won handily, being careful not to burn her poor Lillipup. She, in turn, vowed to get stronger and left.
After that, I arrived at Striaton City for the first time. I combed the area, finding an X Speed on the ground and a guy in some back alley who gave me a Dusk Ball. Not much to behold, although Dusk Balls can be pretty effective if used right. After that, I took a path east into what was called the Dreamyard, fought all the Trainers within, and acquired the Pansage. Of course, I wasn't going to use it, otherwise a scroll would've appeared by then.
After that, knowing that there would be danger dead ahead, I decided to stock up on Potions until I had 20 in count. Then, I headed to the Trainers' School, as the person blocking the Gym told me to, and then I saw Cheren. I could tell he was determined to learn—he read the blackboard information about the Poison status out loud and wanted to test the usefulness of items against me.
The results: the Oran Berry Cheren gave to Oshawott proved to be useful because it took 4 Tackles instead of 3 to kill. Knowing that, he gave me 3 Oran Berries so that I too could experience their usefulness. With a smile, I headed to the Gym. Instead of the guy with the sunglasses who blocked me before, I saw a man with green hair. He asked what my starter was, and I said Tepig (again, I wanted to be honest). He then retreated to the interior of the Gym, warning me that I should be ready for a type disadvantage. As I stepped through the Gym, the guy with sunglasses from before identified himself as Clyde and gave me a Fresh Water. This will definitely help when Potions and Oran Berries are just not enough.
Through the battles, I realized that FireFight took a load of damage from the first Lillipup (even if it was from a critical hit). I thought, Why not get stronger on Route 2? Then I realized the growth rate would've been too tedious to deal with, so I decided to just come as I was. At the end of the Gym were three waiters—one with green hair, one with red hair, and one with blue hair. The blue-haired one, who identified himself as Cress, was the one who decided to challenge me.
However, just one battle, and I thought, How is that Panpour beatable? (Tackle was roughly a 3HKO at -1, and +2 Water Gun was indubitably a clean OHKO) I mean, it's going to be tedious, but I'm going to have to grind my way out of this, and I shall no longer limit myself to Trainer-owned Lillipup as long as I vow not to use Ember.
September 8, 2013, circa 1:00 PM
Okay, never mind. It only took a level up to 15, at which level it learned Flame Charge. Here's how it went down.
FireFight vs. Lillipup
I used an X Speed to get the jump on Panpour in the near future as Lillipup started Working up. Tackle took 3 hits to kill, and FireFight took a +1 Bite from the Lillipup.
FireFight vs. Panpour
This was supposed to be the bane of my existence. FireFight used Tail Whip twice, took a +1 Water Gun from Panpour, and then the Tepig's flames were intensified. With this new power, he Flame Charged the Panpour, who used Work Up again, as if to apologize that he beat the Tepig up badly in the previous match, and the battle was won for me.
"Lose? Me? I don't believe this," Cress said in bitter shame.
Shouldn't have wasted that golden opportunity on a Work Up, I thought. At any rate, I now have the Trio Badge! On a less exciting note, I have TM83 Work Up! I left the Gym with a happy look on my face. Waiting for me outside was a woman with glasses and a lab coat who identified herself as Fennel, Juniper's friend. She took me to her lab and enlisted me to find some Dream Mist in Dreamyard. She then gave me HM01 Cut, saying it would help me on my quest. I walked to the other side of the room, where there was a pink bed with a machine attached to it, as well as a PC, which I used to magically heal FireFight. I looked past the bed and saw a school girl with glasses dressed in blue who identified herself as Amanita, the developer of the PC. She provided nothing useful aside from that little bit of information. As for Cut, I decided to teach it to Pansage because the second scroll said, "If a Pokémon is not listed on a scroll you have found, you cannot use it in battle." It said nothing about using it to cut down trees.
Anyway, as I walked through Dreamyard and had Pansage Cut the tree in my way, Bianca came along and asked, "Are you looking for the mysterious Pokémon too?" (or something along those lines), which I assumed in layman's terms meant that she was searching for the Dream Pokémon Munna. We headed farther in and found the Munna we were looking for. However, with this fortune, there had to come trouble. Two orange-haired people of evenly distributed genders wearing grey suits—the ones from Accumula, who identified themselves as Team Plasma—showed up and tried to force the Dream Mist out of Munna. Of course, it was up to me to stop them.
FireFight took out the hopeless Patrat and Purrloin with Flame Charges, but the Plasma Grunts were desperate enough to continue with their forceful ways. Fortunately, though, Ghetsis appeared and threatened to issue punishment, forcing the Grunts to flee from the scene…or at least, that's what it looked like at a glance. No, that "Ghetsis" was nothing but an illusion, one made by Musharna to save the poor Munna. As a reward for our compassion (or so I thought), they just left the Dream Mist behind for Fennel to pick up and return to her home. After surveying the Dreamyard for any extra items (although not much good came out of that), I followed suit. When I got to Fennel's house, she gave me a C-Gear and lectured me about Game Sync and whatnot, then Amanita gave me a Pal Pad.
As I left Fennel's house, another scroll appeared before me. This one said,
"Myga,
Congratulations on beating Cress without using Pansage! Sure, the AI was dumb, but a win is a win, right? Anyway, this message is to tell you that you have two Pokémon awaiting you from another dimension in Unova. They will appear as Eggs, with scrolls that define their species and restrictions. Please head to the Pokémon Center in Striaton to receive them.
Again, good luck and have fun--the Administrator"
I went to the Pokémon Center, just like the scroll had said, and acquired the two Eggs. One felt like static was emanating from it, and the other felt damp. I decided to go for a run to Accumula Town, just to clear my mind. Suddenly, the staticky Egg hatched! Out popped a Joltik and a scroll. The scroll said,
"Take Jolt the Joltik. Jolt loves firing jolts of electricity at its foes. As such, it may only use thunder wave, electro ball, electroweb, discharge, thunderbolt, thunder, volt switch, charge beam, and wild charge. Furthermore, it wants to prove that bugs are not weak to flying or fire. As such, it must solo Skyla, Shauntal's Chandelure, and Alder's Volcarona. Furthermore, it may not run from a wild battle or switch out when against a fire or flying type. Furthermore, it wants to be the best bug in the world, so it must solo all trainer-owned bug types (excluding other pokemon's solo's).
--Mulan15262"
This is going to be a tough one, I thought. Thankfully, for my convenience, the Joltik had a full-Electric moveset right off the bat: Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Charge Beam, Volt Switch. I ran some more, and the damp Egg hatched. Out popped a Wingull and another scroll. This one said,
"You get Amnesia the Wingull. Though handy for learning HMs, all that forced knowledge has given Wingull a bad case of long term memory loss. Whilst Wingull can learn Surf and Fly, he can never remember how to use them in battle. Instead he may only use his other two moves. Every time Wingull learns a new move via level up, he forgets the oldest move he knew. Thus, he may only use the two most recent moves he has learnt. In addition, he has completely forgotten how to use TMs, and so may only use level up moves, and has also temporarily forgotten what level he is supposed to evolve at, and will only remember how to do so at level 40 (this is so it's not possible to get two support moves and no attacks...shhh, it's a secret ;)). Because Amnesia's mind is so cloudy, it must switch into every psychic type you encounter and fight until either pokémon faints, in the hope that the psychic mind manipulation will reawaken it's memories. In addition, Pelipper must solo at least two of Caitlin's Pokémon. Upon doing so, it will suddenly recall all of it's memories, and be able to use all four of it's attacks in battle.
--Alienjesus"
This one was born with Fly, but didn't know how to use it in battle. I was wondering why it didn't have Surf, then I realized that Wingull is incapable of learning it, even though Pelipper can. At any rate, I had to get these two up to speed before continuing my adventure.
September 8, 2013, 10:00 PM
So, Jolt and Amnesia had reached Level 8, so I proeeded to Route 3. There, I see two buildings, one of which was a Nursery home in which there was an Aide who was always willing to heal. Beside the daycare was a playground with plenty of young and/or inexperienced Trainers who were willing to fight (although they didn't put up much of a fight against me). I ran down the route and found none other than Cheren, who wanted to test how worthy I was to have the Trio Badge (which, to be fair, was not really).
"We have the same number of Gym Badges. We should be equal in strength," Cheren complained after witnessing the tag team in Amnesia and Jolt that took down his Oshawott and Purrloin with little effort (although Amnesia vs. Purrloin dragged on quite a bit). Suddenly, at that moment, two Plasma Grunts ran right on past us (and we excused them for some reason) and Bianca entered the scene with a little girl whose Pokémon Team Plasma stole, so the story goes. Obviously, it was up to us (me and Cheren) to run off and catch the thieves.
I headed west, where the Grunts went, and happened upon a cave in front of which Cheren was standing. We walked in and beat the Grunts (and two backup Grunts) without breaking much of a sweat (except Amnesia isn't too good at pulling its weight). After the Grunts and Cheren left, a scroll popped out of thin air. This scroll said,
"Get Doriru the male Drillbur (fits the rock/flying resist). Doriru dislikes plants since their roots always block his way when digging, so he must solo every grass types. He also hate any weather other than sandstorm, so always switch him out when non-sandstorm weather is present. He was once owned by a trainer whom he loves until Team Plasma forced them apart, so Doriru must participate at least twice in every battle against Team Plasma members (if the opponent only has 1 poke, solo with Doriru).
--zerobreaker000"
Just then, I searched the cave for Drilbur, having happened upon an Ice Gem, a Grass Gem, a Dark Gem, and an Electric Gem in that order. When I found the Drilbur, I caught it and exited the cave. I then took another look at the scroll. I saw, in fine print at the bottom of the scroll, a heads-up that I would not obtain another Pokémon to use until after the 3rd Gym Badge. After Bianca and the little girl thanked me for my (and Cheren's) deed (and gave me Heal Balls), I decided to crash at the Nursery home for a while.
September 25, 2013, 5:20 PM
Man, it's been a long time. It's what college does to a gamer. I just thought I'd continue this journey to get the first chapter of this journal over with (and for the "prosperity" of my YouTube channel).
Anyway, as I proceeded down Route 3, Cheren walked up to me from a patch of dark grass. He mentioned that the wild Pokémon there were more savage than in ordinary grass and even attacked in pairs. He said he was heading to Nacrene City, so I followed suit. There, he greeted me, showed me to the Pokémon Center, and gave me some Chesto Berries (which I can only imagine as foreshadowing). At that moment, I decided to take a momentary break for unexplained reasons.
September 28, 2013, 11:00 PM
When I woke up, I decided to give myself a tour of Nacrene City and the area west of it. In the process, I found a Revive in a pair of train tracks, a Super Potion embedded between two flowers, TM94 Rock Smash from a nice lady near Pinwheel Forest, and an Ether lying on the ground right near her. After that, I went to train outside of Pinwheel Forest since the interior was blocked off by a bunch of Plasma Grunts standing in formation. In the process, FireFight evolved into Pignite, Amnesia proved to have the slightest amount of worth, and FireFight smashed a Star Piece off of Challenge Rock. While I know this can be done every day, I shall opt to only do it this once.
Now, after all that, only one locale remained for me to examine: the museum. I knew all along that this was the most important, hence why I left it for last, so now I have no choice but to go check it out. Suddenly, N exited the museum and challenged me to a battle, a test of strength, one of many clashes between truth and ideals. His Pidove and Tympole were burnt out by Jolt's Thunderbolt, where Timburr was much more hardy, to my surprise neither succumbing to the confusion induced by Amnesia nor to the mud flung in his eyes by Doriru. After facing defeat, N walked away, triumphantly plotting to gain the power of the legendary dragon Zekrom.
After a quick trip to the Pokémon Center, I headed into the museum. The first thing I noticed was a scientist admiring a Dragonite skeleton. (Sure, I'm not supposed to know it's a Dragonite, but what else could it be?) Suddenly, the man, who introduced himself as Hawes, stopped what he was doing and gave me a tour of the museum. As per usual, I didn't pay much attention until he presented to me the library in which the Gym Leader (who is apparently also his wife, Lenora) was waiting. I headed in without hesitation.
Now, while the place looked like any other library, it simultaneously gave off the vibe of a gym, and, like last time, there was a blackglasses guy who gave me a Fresh Water. After defeating the Gym Trainers and opening up the path to a secret basement, it crossed my mind that Lenora was going to be a huge pain since Satomi's Herdier took out Doriru with half its life force remaining, despite my constant healing efforts at the time. Thus, I decided to train up outside of Pinwheel Forest before attempting to fight Lenora.
After the training session, I headed into the basement of the library. There awaited Lenora, my adversary. Here is how our battle went down. (You can also view the video below.)
Doriru vs. Herdier
Doriru got two Rock Smashes off while being faced with a missed Take Down and a successful Leer. Next, Doriru used Mud-slap, which fortunately caused Herdier to miss a potentially fatal Take Down, and finished the job with one last Rock Smash.
Jolt vs. Watchog
I watched in horror as Watchog Retaliated with vengeance driven by the fall of Herdier and squashed Jolt like the bug she was.
FireFight vs. Watchog
Watchog used Hypnosis and put FireFight in a deep sleep. Unable to wake up, even after 3 turns, Watchog Leered the pig to -2. Fearing the worst, I had him fall back and let Amnesia take the brunt of whatever hit the rodent decided to dole out.
Amnesia vs. Watchog
I watched in horror again as Watchog Retaliated with a serendipitous power similar to the one driven by vengeance and smashed Amnesia like the…bird she was?
FireFight vs. Watchog
Still struggling to wake up, FireFight took two Retaliates, a Fresh Water, another Retaliate, a Crunch, another Fresh Water, and another Crunch. Before he woke up, Watchog Leered the pig to reduce him to -2 Defense (the second Crunch contributed to this count). However, FireFight sped himself up using Flame Charge and followed up with a Rock Smash, at long last slaying the baneful rodent.
After the battle, Hawes came down and reported that Team Plasma was out "stealing bones." Upon hearing the news, Lenora dashed out of the library with her husband and requested that I come too. I decided, Eh, I'll just wait. Little do they know I have the inexplicable power to move through time while my surroundings stay still.
To be continued…
Post-Chapter Progress Report
Amnesia the Wingull (Female, Lv. 19)
Serious, Keen Eye
- Water Pulse
- Mist
- Fly (cannot be used in battle)
- Growl (to be replaced with Surf)
Honestly, the "Every time Wingull learns a new move via level up, he forgets the oldest move he knew" is a lot more detrimental than I thought it would be. With usually just one attacking move, there's not much it can cope with one-on-one. Supersonic kept missing, too.
Doriru the Drilbur (Male, Lv. 18)
Mild, Sand Rush
- Rock Smash
- Metal Claw
- Mud-slap
- Fury Swipes
As of now, Rock Smash and Fury Swipes are my only two choices. I can somewhat live with Mud-slap, what with its STAB and accuracy reduction, but since it's Special, it doesn't do too much damage. In due time, though, I have a feeling that Doriru will become a great asset to my team, maybe even the great asset.
Jolt the Joltik (Female, Lv. 18)
Naughty, Compoundeyes
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
Not much to say about this right now. Thunderbolt is quite an item early-game, but not as much as AFive's Confusion was. To be fair, there is a respectable power difference between the two. Anyway, I believe wholeheartedly that the mono-Electric moveset will do a lot more harm than good in the long run. Should be fun, though.
FireFight the Pignite (Male, Lv. 20)
Lonely, Blaze
- Tackle
- Rock Smash
- Ember
- Flame Charge
What can I say? He's my starter, he's been with me through the first Gym (which I'm oh so grateful to have made it out of alive), he's my only evolved Pokémon as of now, and he took out the Watchog which would've swept my team otherwise. Plus, I don't really mind being unable to fight the Lillipup or Pidove families, and there aren't many Fire-types around to apply the second restriction to.
June 12, 2014, 3:15 PM
Oh, yeah, it’s been a long time.
Not that long, AZ, but thanks for the humor. But anyway, now I’m back to it, I guess. So, after an arduous battle against Lenora, I was ready to investigate this “stealing bones” business. Once I headed out the Gym/library into the museum, Team Plasma stood ravenously before the Dragonite skeleton and snatched it without remorse. Naturally, we—Lenora and I—were in pursuit within a moment’s notice. Rather, I thought Lenora would pursue them. But, when we exited the museum, Burgh appeared seemingly out of nowhere, along with Bianca and Cheren (the former of whom gave me a Dowsing Machine). While my two “best friends” were delegated to keep the museum safe, Burgh and I were headed to Pinwheel Forest—of course, not before a trip to the Pokémon Center and Challenge Rock. I said I’d only visit Challenge Rock once, but since I can and there’s no real reason not to, I’ll go back on my word.
So, heading into Pinwheel Forest, I met up with Burgh, who told me to take the winding road into the forest as he decided to take the broad path to destruction. What is he, a bodhisattva? (Disclaimer: I am not a Buddhist.) Planning ahead, I notice that the first twins encountered both have Sewaddle. So, Doriru will have to solo them both. How will that be accomplished? Thankfully, Wingull has the move Mist, which does nothing to contribute to the battle (outside of protecting from String Shot, but what does that matter?). In the end, that twin battle was much of a struggle. To emphasize the insignificance of Mist, neither Sewaddle used String Shot at all. They just kept spamming Razor Leaf (and used Bug Bite when Jolt came in as I had to revive Doriru) and each died to three attacks.
Word to the wise: Save often when doing a Scramble. You never know when you could slip and defy one simple restriction. Thanks to a simple error, I ended up having to start over from Nacrene Museum. But, thankfully, I found out a new strategy in the Doriru doubles solo: just have Jolt meaninglessly use Thunder Wave on Doriru, duh.
While exploring Pinwheel Forest, I went to buy some Repels because Sewaddles got annoying (because forced Doriru solos and Razor Leaf does a butt ton). So, after a long and semi-arduous (stupid Grass-types) journey through the winding road, the last Plasma Grunt finally handed over the Dragonite Skull, after which some sage named Gorm gave some long-winded lecture about the Seven Sages and Ghetsis’ plan and whatnot. After all was said and done, Burgh headed back to his Gym and Lenora gave me a semi-useless Moon Stone (semi mainly because it will yield great money when I sell it in Icirrus) for my trouble. So, with this semi-crisis being settled, I shall end today’s entry.
July 22, 2014, 9:00 PM
Hiatus, hiatus, hiatus. I might as well just abandon this scramble all together if I care this little about it. (Disclaimer: I won’t.) Anyway, now that the Dragonite skull matter is settled, time to cross Skyarrow Bridge, home to the most advanced graphics in the game! En route to Castelia, the first ever curved city! (Thank you, based Nintendo.) First off, I want to visit the Battle Company. On the first floor, a janitor greets me with warning, which gets me more pumped to climb to the top!
On the 47th floor, I learn immediately that Amnesia takes on Herdier as well as a fly takes on a swatter (i.e. not at all). I head back to heal my injured bird, interrupted by some rude girl standing at the counter who starts talking about Geonet (which is of trivial importance, let alone in this situation) like nothing ever happened. The nerve of some people. Next battle, I recklessly lose FireFight to a Bide I wasn’t even paying attention to (blame multitasking). Then I move on to some female Clerk (cue melodramatic rant) with the most annoying Petilil in the freaking universe and had to reset because of the sheer stupidity, annoyance, and cowardice of the hellish creature.
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Mega Drain
- Synthesis
You. piece. of. crap. I really wish you would rot and die. (end melodramatic rant)
Okay, Battle Company, take two. How about I leave that pile of doggy dung Petilil for later and grind Doriru a little? Also, courtesy of prior research, I found a trainer with 3 Basculin, so...experience for Jolt, I guess. Oh, I just remembered: there was this one guy who gives out an Eviolite, so I will try to find him. On the way, I think I’ll go talk to the Dancer at the fountain. Bad idea. He forces me into a Pansage battle, which I don’t see going any better than the Petilil hell I went through. I mean, as if the Vine Whipping wasn’t enough, he has to pull critical Bites out of his nuts. Thankfully, the battle only took 2 Super Potions from my supply of 13. Also, there’s a vending machine, so I can stop by and get some Lemonade. It’s only P350, after all—half the price of Super Potions, which don’t heal quite as much. Not to mention I’ll be needing my fair share of items in the near future.
So, I found the Eviolite guy. (He’s in the building closest to the Route 4 exit gate.) Now, at the very least, Doriru can take Mega Drain hits better. Or, would it be better to carry a Chesto Berry because of Sleep Powder? I shall experiment with the latter instead. Perhaps Jolt would be more fit with the Eviolite. He has a big Gym solo (Burgh’s Gym) coming up, after all. Enough Battle Company for now, though. As a moment of respite, I’ll go find the other Dancers (as the Pansage guy enlisted me to). Knowing that one of them has a Pansear, I flip a coin for FireFight. Heads. That means the monkey is going down. Two Rock Smashes and a Tackle, 10 HP lost. Nice and easy.
The other Dancer is down dumpster alley, so I’ll just head there and WHOA WHO JUST SHOUTED!? Ah, just some guy who lost his sunglasses and gave me a TM of Flash. On a more important note, the Panpour of the next Dancer was easy prey to Jolt. Nice, clean OHKO. At last, the dance team has been formed, and I receive an Amulet Coin for my “troubles.”
Feeling too exhausted to run back to the Pokémon Center, I enlist the help of Amnesia for (if memory serves) the first time in this playthrough. Still reluctant to take on the hellish Petilil, I head straight to floor 55 of the Battle Company. Knowing that there will be Psychic-types, Amnesia will have her fun in the sun. Woobat was easy, but Munna proved to be an obstacle (Psybeam KO’d from 34 HP and Moonlight is a bugger). Thankfully, Doriru cleaned up shop with a critical Dig (post-Moonlight).
Now that I think about it, maybe Burgh’s Gym won’t be a full solo with Jolt. I forgot that
So, poor planning on my part; good thing I saved before the Sewaddle Trainer. Take two. This time went a lot more smoothly, seeing as he kept spamming String Shot for a good 3 turns, which was just enough for Doriru to conquer the beast. With continued planning ahead (please don’t think less of me for this), the next Trainer will have elemental monkeys, starting with Pansear. The coin landed tails this time, so I’m free to take on the Pansear with whomever, and I choose Amnesia (she’s behind, after all). Meanwhile, I can leave Panpour for Jolt and Pansage for Doriru. The janitor I met earlier has no required solos or potential restriction violations, so I can just take him on with FireFight. After an easy victory, the janitor hands over an Exp. Share, which I will only use if Amnesia's moveset poses a problem (i.e. if its only attacking move is Quick Attack or Pursuit).
Now, I feel it’s time to take on the hellish Petilil anew. This time, Doriru is (slightly) stronger and has a countermeasure (albeit temporary) against Sleep Powder, so I might have a chance (with a little luck). Son of a gun, where is my self-confidence? *starts battle* Rather, why am I using Metal Claw? Rock Smash has a better chance to lower Defense than Metal Claw does to boost Attack. Neither has done either and the seeds have been thrown (and Doriru is in killing range), so time to YOLO with Fury Swipes. *hits 3 times, KOing Petilil from about 60%* Okay. Finally, it’s over. Now to prepare for Cottonee. Time to switch out to remove the seeds, heal up, and switch back in. Through the process, I find a STUNning revelation (by which you can guess what move Cottonee used). Going back in, Fury Swipes does about 1/8 damage per hit (and hits twice, of course) and Cottonee misses Stun Spore. The next Fury Swipes hits 3 times (go figure) as Cottonee lays down the seeds. The final Fury Swipes (3 hits) is enough to take out Cottonee. So, the grassy clerk is finally slain!
This calls for yet another moment of respite (in the form of a break). Heh-heh.
July 23, 2014, 11:00 AM
See, I told you I’m not abandoning this scramble. Although, I will admit that there is a certain motive behind my sudden dedication: I am also doing a super randomizer playthrough of Black with custom rules, and I don’t want to pull ahead of my scramble on randomizer. While I would like to sit here and talk about all the fun I’m having with super randomizer, I have some ground to cover, so I won’t waste my time.
With the Battle Company and the dance crew taken care of, I suppose I could venture ahead to Route 4 and see how far I can go. Prior experience tells me there’s a Bianca encounter ahead, and prior research tells me no obligatory solo leads, although there is a restriction lead in Herdier. Perhaps I should move the Eviolite to Amnesia because I feel like using her.
Okay, no. I visited Route 4 and there’s no rival encounter yet. That happens after the Gym, I suppose. Oh, well. I guess while I’m here I can catch something nice. Oh, wait. Upon further research, Dwebble and Maractus don’t appear until Desert Resort, which is past the blockaded area. Okay, I guess I’ll take on these Trainers instead. I might just use a combination of Jolt and Doriru (mostly the latter) because they’re going to need serious preparation for Burgh’s Gym. Being as OCD as I am, I may also bring in FireFight sometimes, just to get him ahead of the game (because he’s my starter). While in this training session, I would like to extend my thanks to the rest house in Route 4. It is really helpful to not have to backtrack too far. Another thing: Amnesia’s Keen Eye actually proved to be useful (stupid Sand Attacking Roggenrola).
With that little training session out of the way, it’s time to pay the Gym a visit. There, I am greeted by Cheren, who had just completed the Gym before me, and Burgh, who abandoned his post in favor of chasing Team Plasma down. It figures that Cheren has to tell me about his experience when I don’t even get an immediate opportunity to follow suit. Anyway, off to the pier where Burgh told me to meet him. There, we figure out they stole Bianca’s Munna, and a stray member who was gunning for another Pokémon fled upon seeing Burgh. In hot pursuit, Burgh and I find a building near the Gym that the Plasma members are guarding. The Plasma guards claim there’s nothing in there, but we beg to differ. Two easy Sandile later, everyone (Bianca and her bodyguard, Iris, included) headed into the building. After a tirade from Ghetsis and a reasonable counter-argument from Burgh, Team Plasma willingly relinquishes Bianca’s Munna, and I obtain a Yache Berry from Iris and a Smoke Ball from the ground (how appropriate, since Team Plasma showed a smokescreen at the Nacrene Museum; someone must have dropped a Smoke Ball on accident). In more important news, Burgh returns to his Gym. Now, it’s time for the real challenge (of this update, anyway).
Prior research tells me I have to lead with Doriru for every Trainer encounter except two: the last Trainer and the Gym Leader himself. I give Doriru the Eviolite to take Razor Leaf better and Jolt the Amulet Coin for extra earnings (just in case). Needless to say, I stop to talk to the guy who greets me and receive my Fresh Water for the Gym. Wait, Fresh Water for a Gym. Are you trying to make a statement here, GameFreak?
In the end, the Gym Trainers were fairly easy, seeing how the AI is not, how you say, intelligent enough to spam Razor Leaf; instead, they do idiotic stuff like String Shot and Tackle from the get-go. But, well, this is early-game AI, so it’s to be expected (remember Cress?). Hopefully, though, Burgh will not take live combat so lightly. We’ll see.
July 24, 2014, 12:40 AM
Burgh, the Gym Leader of Castelia, has been taken down after a long and arduous quarrel between Doriru and Leavanny. Watch the following video below (beware: it's stally) and/or use the log provided further below.
Jolt vs. Whirlipede
Thunderbolt is a solid 2HKO and Whirlipede's Poison Tail does about 1/4 HP. Easy victory.
Jolt vs. Dwebble
Thunderbolt brings Dwebble down to healing range as Dwebble's Smack Down reduces Jolt to about 1/4. Charge Beam does about half damage and Thunderbolt finishes Dwebble off.
Doriru vs. Leavanny
Okay, this is the real lengthy part. Leavanny's Razor Leaf does almost 50 damage per hit, which is more than half for Doriru. Meanwhile, Doriru's Metal Claw only reduces as much of the HP bar as the "Lv." label takes up. Due to a critical, I was forced to bring in Jolt as revival and healing fodder, then stall Leavanny out of Razor Leaf PP (thankfully I bought all those Lemonades earlier) until it could only use Struggle Bug. Then, it was smooth sailing from there (although I did have to use another healing item).
No post-battle events happened unlike with Lenora, so that concludes this entry. I hope to continue this journal in the near future. Thanks for reading!
To be continued...
Post-Chapter Progress Report
Amnesia the Wingull (Female, Lv. 21)
Serious, Keen Eye
- Water Pulse
- Mist
- Fly (cannot be used in battle)
- Growl (to be replaced with Surf)
Literally nothing has changed about Amnesia. It's just something that switches into Psychic-types and is extremely limited in move selection.
Doriru the Drilbur (Male, Lv. 24)
Mild, Sand Rush
- Rock Smash
- Metal Claw
- Dig
- Fury Swipes
Doriru, you're failing me. You can barely take Leavanny's Razor Leaf, even with the help of an Eviolite, and you struggle against a freaking Petilil of all things. I really hope you get better in the future.
FireFight the Tepig (Male, Lv. 24)
Lonely, Blaze
- Tackle
- Rock Smash
- Ember
- Flame Charge
Nothing has changed with this guy, either. Still my starter, still hits hard. Wasn't used too often in this chapter.
Jolt the Joltik (Female, Lv. 24)
Naughty, Compoundeyes
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
MVP of the chapter right here. Its Speed is stellar (relatively, at least) and Thunderbolt hits like a truck. Passed its solos on Burgh with flying colors. I have a good feeling about this one, even if its moveset is monotype.
Oh, yeah, it’s been a long time.
Not that long, AZ, but thanks for the humor. But anyway, now I’m back to it, I guess. So, after an arduous battle against Lenora, I was ready to investigate this “stealing bones” business. Once I headed out the Gym/library into the museum, Team Plasma stood ravenously before the Dragonite skeleton and snatched it without remorse. Naturally, we—Lenora and I—were in pursuit within a moment’s notice. Rather, I thought Lenora would pursue them. But, when we exited the museum, Burgh appeared seemingly out of nowhere, along with Bianca and Cheren (the former of whom gave me a Dowsing Machine). While my two “best friends” were delegated to keep the museum safe, Burgh and I were headed to Pinwheel Forest—of course, not before a trip to the Pokémon Center and Challenge Rock. I said I’d only visit Challenge Rock once, but since I can and there’s no real reason not to, I’ll go back on my word.
So, heading into Pinwheel Forest, I met up with Burgh, who told me to take the winding road into the forest as he decided to take the broad path to destruction. What is he, a bodhisattva? (Disclaimer: I am not a Buddhist.) Planning ahead, I notice that the first twins encountered both have Sewaddle. So, Doriru will have to solo them both. How will that be accomplished? Thankfully, Wingull has the move Mist, which does nothing to contribute to the battle (outside of protecting from String Shot, but what does that matter?). In the end, that twin battle was much of a struggle. To emphasize the insignificance of Mist, neither Sewaddle used String Shot at all. They just kept spamming Razor Leaf (and used Bug Bite when Jolt came in as I had to revive Doriru) and each died to three attacks.
Word to the wise: Save often when doing a Scramble. You never know when you could slip and defy one simple restriction. Thanks to a simple error, I ended up having to start over from Nacrene Museum. But, thankfully, I found out a new strategy in the Doriru doubles solo: just have Jolt meaninglessly use Thunder Wave on Doriru, duh.
While exploring Pinwheel Forest, I went to buy some Repels because Sewaddles got annoying (because forced Doriru solos and Razor Leaf does a butt ton). So, after a long and semi-arduous (stupid Grass-types) journey through the winding road, the last Plasma Grunt finally handed over the Dragonite Skull, after which some sage named Gorm gave some long-winded lecture about the Seven Sages and Ghetsis’ plan and whatnot. After all was said and done, Burgh headed back to his Gym and Lenora gave me a semi-useless Moon Stone (semi mainly because it will yield great money when I sell it in Icirrus) for my trouble. So, with this semi-crisis being settled, I shall end today’s entry.
July 22, 2014, 9:00 PM
Hiatus, hiatus, hiatus. I might as well just abandon this scramble all together if I care this little about it. (Disclaimer: I won’t.) Anyway, now that the Dragonite skull matter is settled, time to cross Skyarrow Bridge, home to the most advanced graphics in the game! En route to Castelia, the first ever curved city! (Thank you, based Nintendo.) First off, I want to visit the Battle Company. On the first floor, a janitor greets me with warning, which gets me more pumped to climb to the top!
On the 47th floor, I learn immediately that Amnesia takes on Herdier as well as a fly takes on a swatter (i.e. not at all). I head back to heal my injured bird, interrupted by some rude girl standing at the counter who starts talking about Geonet (which is of trivial importance, let alone in this situation) like nothing ever happened. The nerve of some people. Next battle, I recklessly lose FireFight to a Bide I wasn’t even paying attention to (blame multitasking). Then I move on to some female Clerk (cue melodramatic rant) with the most annoying Petilil in the freaking universe and had to reset because of the sheer stupidity, annoyance, and cowardice of the hellish creature.
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Mega Drain
- Synthesis
You. piece. of. crap. I really wish you would rot and die. (end melodramatic rant)
Okay, Battle Company, take two. How about I leave that pile of doggy dung Petilil for later and grind Doriru a little? Also, courtesy of prior research, I found a trainer with 3 Basculin, so...experience for Jolt, I guess. Oh, I just remembered: there was this one guy who gives out an Eviolite, so I will try to find him. On the way, I think I’ll go talk to the Dancer at the fountain. Bad idea. He forces me into a Pansage battle, which I don’t see going any better than the Petilil hell I went through. I mean, as if the Vine Whipping wasn’t enough, he has to pull critical Bites out of his nuts. Thankfully, the battle only took 2 Super Potions from my supply of 13. Also, there’s a vending machine, so I can stop by and get some Lemonade. It’s only P350, after all—half the price of Super Potions, which don’t heal quite as much. Not to mention I’ll be needing my fair share of items in the near future.
So, I found the Eviolite guy. (He’s in the building closest to the Route 4 exit gate.) Now, at the very least, Doriru can take Mega Drain hits better. Or, would it be better to carry a Chesto Berry because of Sleep Powder? I shall experiment with the latter instead. Perhaps Jolt would be more fit with the Eviolite. He has a big Gym solo (Burgh’s Gym) coming up, after all. Enough Battle Company for now, though. As a moment of respite, I’ll go find the other Dancers (as the Pansage guy enlisted me to). Knowing that one of them has a Pansear, I flip a coin for FireFight. Heads. That means the monkey is going down. Two Rock Smashes and a Tackle, 10 HP lost. Nice and easy.
The other Dancer is down dumpster alley, so I’ll just head there and WHOA WHO JUST SHOUTED!? Ah, just some guy who lost his sunglasses and gave me a TM of Flash. On a more important note, the Panpour of the next Dancer was easy prey to Jolt. Nice, clean OHKO. At last, the dance team has been formed, and I receive an Amulet Coin for my “troubles.”
Feeling too exhausted to run back to the Pokémon Center, I enlist the help of Amnesia for (if memory serves) the first time in this playthrough. Still reluctant to take on the hellish Petilil, I head straight to floor 55 of the Battle Company. Knowing that there will be Psychic-types, Amnesia will have her fun in the sun. Woobat was easy, but Munna proved to be an obstacle (Psybeam KO’d from 34 HP and Moonlight is a bugger). Thankfully, Doriru cleaned up shop with a critical Dig (post-Moonlight).
Now that I think about it, maybe Burgh’s Gym won’t be a full solo with Jolt. I forgot that
in which sense Doriru’s requirement to solo all Grass-types takes priority. Point is, Sewaddle and family are Doriru’s prey, not Jolt’s. Why this all of a sudden? The next Trainer has a Sewaddle. Ah, Dire Hit with Razor Leaf. Interesting combination. Oh wait, Bug Bite...he stole my Chesto Berry. *resets*it must solo all trainer-owned bug types (excluding other pokemon's solo's)
So, poor planning on my part; good thing I saved before the Sewaddle Trainer. Take two. This time went a lot more smoothly, seeing as he kept spamming String Shot for a good 3 turns, which was just enough for Doriru to conquer the beast. With continued planning ahead (please don’t think less of me for this), the next Trainer will have elemental monkeys, starting with Pansear. The coin landed tails this time, so I’m free to take on the Pansear with whomever, and I choose Amnesia (she’s behind, after all). Meanwhile, I can leave Panpour for Jolt and Pansage for Doriru. The janitor I met earlier has no required solos or potential restriction violations, so I can just take him on with FireFight. After an easy victory, the janitor hands over an Exp. Share, which I will only use if Amnesia's moveset poses a problem (i.e. if its only attacking move is Quick Attack or Pursuit).
Now, I feel it’s time to take on the hellish Petilil anew. This time, Doriru is (slightly) stronger and has a countermeasure (albeit temporary) against Sleep Powder, so I might have a chance (with a little luck). Son of a gun, where is my self-confidence? *starts battle* Rather, why am I using Metal Claw? Rock Smash has a better chance to lower Defense than Metal Claw does to boost Attack. Neither has done either and the seeds have been thrown (and Doriru is in killing range), so time to YOLO with Fury Swipes. *hits 3 times, KOing Petilil from about 60%* Okay. Finally, it’s over. Now to prepare for Cottonee. Time to switch out to remove the seeds, heal up, and switch back in. Through the process, I find a STUNning revelation (by which you can guess what move Cottonee used). Going back in, Fury Swipes does about 1/8 damage per hit (and hits twice, of course) and Cottonee misses Stun Spore. The next Fury Swipes hits 3 times (go figure) as Cottonee lays down the seeds. The final Fury Swipes (3 hits) is enough to take out Cottonee. So, the grassy clerk is finally slain!
This calls for yet another moment of respite (in the form of a break). Heh-heh.
July 23, 2014, 11:00 AM
See, I told you I’m not abandoning this scramble. Although, I will admit that there is a certain motive behind my sudden dedication: I am also doing a super randomizer playthrough of Black with custom rules, and I don’t want to pull ahead of my scramble on randomizer. While I would like to sit here and talk about all the fun I’m having with super randomizer, I have some ground to cover, so I won’t waste my time.
With the Battle Company and the dance crew taken care of, I suppose I could venture ahead to Route 4 and see how far I can go. Prior experience tells me there’s a Bianca encounter ahead, and prior research tells me no obligatory solo leads, although there is a restriction lead in Herdier. Perhaps I should move the Eviolite to Amnesia because I feel like using her.
Okay, no. I visited Route 4 and there’s no rival encounter yet. That happens after the Gym, I suppose. Oh, well. I guess while I’m here I can catch something nice. Oh, wait. Upon further research, Dwebble and Maractus don’t appear until Desert Resort, which is past the blockaded area. Okay, I guess I’ll take on these Trainers instead. I might just use a combination of Jolt and Doriru (mostly the latter) because they’re going to need serious preparation for Burgh’s Gym. Being as OCD as I am, I may also bring in FireFight sometimes, just to get him ahead of the game (because he’s my starter). While in this training session, I would like to extend my thanks to the rest house in Route 4. It is really helpful to not have to backtrack too far. Another thing: Amnesia’s Keen Eye actually proved to be useful (stupid Sand Attacking Roggenrola).
With that little training session out of the way, it’s time to pay the Gym a visit. There, I am greeted by Cheren, who had just completed the Gym before me, and Burgh, who abandoned his post in favor of chasing Team Plasma down. It figures that Cheren has to tell me about his experience when I don’t even get an immediate opportunity to follow suit. Anyway, off to the pier where Burgh told me to meet him. There, we figure out they stole Bianca’s Munna, and a stray member who was gunning for another Pokémon fled upon seeing Burgh. In hot pursuit, Burgh and I find a building near the Gym that the Plasma members are guarding. The Plasma guards claim there’s nothing in there, but we beg to differ. Two easy Sandile later, everyone (Bianca and her bodyguard, Iris, included) headed into the building. After a tirade from Ghetsis and a reasonable counter-argument from Burgh, Team Plasma willingly relinquishes Bianca’s Munna, and I obtain a Yache Berry from Iris and a Smoke Ball from the ground (how appropriate, since Team Plasma showed a smokescreen at the Nacrene Museum; someone must have dropped a Smoke Ball on accident). In more important news, Burgh returns to his Gym. Now, it’s time for the real challenge (of this update, anyway).
Prior research tells me I have to lead with Doriru for every Trainer encounter except two: the last Trainer and the Gym Leader himself. I give Doriru the Eviolite to take Razor Leaf better and Jolt the Amulet Coin for extra earnings (just in case). Needless to say, I stop to talk to the guy who greets me and receive my Fresh Water for the Gym. Wait, Fresh Water for a Gym. Are you trying to make a statement here, GameFreak?
In the end, the Gym Trainers were fairly easy, seeing how the AI is not, how you say, intelligent enough to spam Razor Leaf; instead, they do idiotic stuff like String Shot and Tackle from the get-go. But, well, this is early-game AI, so it’s to be expected (remember Cress?). Hopefully, though, Burgh will not take live combat so lightly. We’ll see.
July 24, 2014, 12:40 AM
Burgh, the Gym Leader of Castelia, has been taken down after a long and arduous quarrel between Doriru and Leavanny. Watch the following video below (beware: it's stally) and/or use the log provided further below.
Jolt vs. Whirlipede
Thunderbolt is a solid 2HKO and Whirlipede's Poison Tail does about 1/4 HP. Easy victory.
Jolt vs. Dwebble
Thunderbolt brings Dwebble down to healing range as Dwebble's Smack Down reduces Jolt to about 1/4. Charge Beam does about half damage and Thunderbolt finishes Dwebble off.
Doriru vs. Leavanny
Okay, this is the real lengthy part. Leavanny's Razor Leaf does almost 50 damage per hit, which is more than half for Doriru. Meanwhile, Doriru's Metal Claw only reduces as much of the HP bar as the "Lv." label takes up. Due to a critical, I was forced to bring in Jolt as revival and healing fodder, then stall Leavanny out of Razor Leaf PP (thankfully I bought all those Lemonades earlier) until it could only use Struggle Bug. Then, it was smooth sailing from there (although I did have to use another healing item).
No post-battle events happened unlike with Lenora, so that concludes this entry. I hope to continue this journal in the near future. Thanks for reading!
To be continued...
Post-Chapter Progress Report
Amnesia the Wingull (Female, Lv. 21)
Serious, Keen Eye
- Water Pulse
- Mist
- Fly (cannot be used in battle)
- Growl (to be replaced with Surf)
Literally nothing has changed about Amnesia. It's just something that switches into Psychic-types and is extremely limited in move selection.
Doriru the Drilbur (Male, Lv. 24)
Mild, Sand Rush
- Rock Smash
- Metal Claw
- Dig
- Fury Swipes
Doriru, you're failing me. You can barely take Leavanny's Razor Leaf, even with the help of an Eviolite, and you struggle against a freaking Petilil of all things. I really hope you get better in the future.
FireFight the Tepig (Male, Lv. 24)
Lonely, Blaze
- Tackle
- Rock Smash
- Ember
- Flame Charge
Nothing has changed with this guy, either. Still my starter, still hits hard. Wasn't used too often in this chapter.
Jolt the Joltik (Female, Lv. 24)
Naughty, Compoundeyes
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
MVP of the chapter right here. Its Speed is stellar (relatively, at least) and Thunderbolt hits like a truck. Passed its solos on Burgh with flying colors. I have a good feeling about this one, even if its moveset is monotype.
Chapter 3: The Performing Cactus and the Helpful Hermit Crab
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