Let's Play! Jordan Plays Pokemon Omicron (In Blackfist City)

Here is part ten.

かたわれ時: And this is why I'm glad I have y'all. I do know what SCP is, I just completely missed that the game referenced it. There are more like that, with varying degrees of quality.


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We've now reached the next town, and there actually isn't much to do here. Nonetheless, rest stops are always appreciated.

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I do not have a Rapidash. But that sounds like a worthwhile trade.

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Oh, bless your heart. Dream big.

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Again, be glad you don't know.

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Fascinating. Battle skills run in that family.

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Do those look like water tiles? I don't think so.

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Y'know, at least in the anime, battles are shown to be pretty intense ordeals for the Trainers as well.

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What is it with people just giving us items? I'll put this to good use against wilds.

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Thanks, but I hope you're doing your part, too, Miss Ace Trainer.

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I feel like you'd both enjoy Lucario. Also, yet another coding error as the Klinklang isn't actually a proper character, hence why it's moving into the wall.

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Here is the aforementioned trade. There's actually another trade for this exact species in a couple of towns.

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HELL. YES.

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Your follower actually stays behind you running at breakneck pace (though they're uninteractable). I'd love to see how that would work with Escavalier. Or Snom.

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Aw, glad you're liking it. Also, another overworld Shiny. That's three, which is two more than I've ever gotten playing Pokemon. (And even that one was an Odd Egg Shiny in Crystal, so 1/7 and not 1/8192.)

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Rocky:
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(Also, overworld Rotom, that's cool.)

On the left end of town, we come to the one important thing we need to do:

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Well, that certainly hits different nowadays. We shall now approach the sick Pokémon without a mask.

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....um, sure.

This requires the Medical License we received all the way back in Zarivar (this is one of the old Mystery Gifts). Anyway, let us proceed.

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Wait, why are we trying to catch it? Wouldn't this work better as a gift? I dunno, let's just get this over with. Again, as with all static encounters, save before engaging, as it will not return if knocked out.

Named Andrea, after an anime character who owned several of the species. (Yes, a boy named Andrea. Shoot me.) But there's something special about this guy...

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It turns out the infection is actually quite beneficial. Andrea will be coming with us for a little bit.

It only takes one wild battle for Wisp to catch it. Newt then gets it next battle. Andrea, though you will be with us only a short time, your services are invaluable. (And since being in the PC pauses the progression of the virus, we can bring him back out to infect new squadmates.)

With our team healed and some of it infected, it's time to leave Kariba Town and enter...

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  • Route features: Sandstorm
  • Encounters: Sandshrew (Zeta exclusive), Phanpy, Baltoy (Omicron exclusive), Hippopotas, Sandile (all 17-20)
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Named Shade, after the glasses-wearing Sandile who became a key member of Ash's Unova team, and added to the squad. He will replace Rocky, whose low Speed and multiple 4x weaknesses have become a bit of a liability. IVs: 20/8/1/26/9/10, Impish, Moxie. He's gonna need a bit of work, but I look forward to using him.

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Named Bertha, after the Sinnoh Elite Four member using Hippowdon as her ace (in DP).

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OH MY GOD I FOUND A PHANPY! Named Trunks due to its trunk being pretty important in its lore.

Shade catches up to the team at level 26, with a moveset of Assurance/Sand Tomb/Mud-Slap/Swagger. Not a lot of TM help for him. Everyone has Pokerus; this has resulted in Shade gaining 41 Speed EVs while grinding. Let us progress.

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How tall am I, exactly? Tall enough for this kid to be wowed, I guess.

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Yet another "Literally Cannot Touch Wisp". Uproar 2HKOes, and Wisp levels up.

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This can touch him. Uproar still 2HKOes.

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Wisp gets Whirlwinded into Cheeky, but not before chunking the Pidgeotto with Uproar. Sure, Cheeky, you can have the KO. Wisp gets a second level-up.

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Why, thank you. And I do like to wear shorts. Just not in the wintertime. I may or may not live among people who make such a qualifier necessary.

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More Berries for us; the Chestos are of course quite useful.

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We do have one last encounter to snag; Libre levels up while fighting wilds in search of it.

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And here it is. Named Callista after an anime owner. Progressing down the route:

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Brick Break just wipes this out.

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Time to abandon ship. Shade makes his Trainer debut here, using Swagger and Assurance to bring Emolga down, albeit at the cost of paralysis.

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I've beaten two Olympus Commanders and at least a half-dozen Ace Trainers already. Bring it.

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Bubble Beam OHKOes.

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This, fortunately, is the gen before it gets Bullet Seed as a starting move. Bubble Beam needs three hits to take it down, and Tatsu levels up.

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Tatsu is unable to finish the sweep, so into Shade to clean up. Elgyem has Hidden Power (Fighting, as is standard for route Trainers--see Psychic Edward in Hoenn and his HP FIghting Abra that no doubt surprised a few players), but Shade survives.

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Why, thank you.

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To her west is a feature that was never implemented. A Trick House isn't necessary, but since this game is big into incorporating cut or region-specific features, I'd have no objections. Oh well.

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Here's the Tamer with the Johto starters. Newt handles this one with Brick Break.

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No Water move on this guy, but he does have Rage. Newt actually handles him thanks to a Headbutt flinch, leveling up.

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Flame Burst OHKOes.

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Basically the same after-battle as the Kanto Tamer.

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Well, this should be fun. Unlike the Hoenn sandstorm, this one will not block you from passing, simply having overworld sand. There are also no encounters in this desert (hence why the sandy Pokémon were found in grass). Let's throw some music on to set the mood:


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We're able to sneak by the handful of Trainers around the plateau in the center of the desert and snag these. Some notes on this iteration of the Go-Goggles:
  • They need to be equipped from the Bag; once done, they cause overworld weather to dissipate entirely.
  • They need to be reequipped each time a location is entered, which is rather inconvenient, to put it lightly. They can be registered (which I recommend as long as you're in this general area).
  • They may work on rainy routes as well? I'll have to test that next time we come across one. I do know there is one specific area where they don't work (intentionally).
Let's go fight some peeps.

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Which of the three Rock moves this Geodude is carrying will he hit us with? Shade switches into a Rollout, probably the most dangerous of them. Shade does eventually take him down, though he loses half his health.

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+1 Sand Tomb would do a lot...if it hit. So Shade has to switch out. Libre comes in and OHKOes with Brick Break. Level-up for both mons.

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Yeah, I kinda am.

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Return 2HKOes.

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Durant actually outspeeds Cheeky, but she eventually prevails despite the type disadvantage, leveling up.

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Wait, why does a random Ranger in the desert have a last-Pokemon inset like boss fights? It isn't actually because there's a major character (the third Olympus Commander, whom we have not yet met) who shares her name, is it? Because wow, that's an oversight. Anyway, Cheeky completes the sweep.

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Sand Tomb 2HKOes. "But wait, isn't Assurance stronger and 100% accurate?"

Alright, fine. I didn't mention this because I was saving it for a specific point, but: While the Fairy type is implemented with its type interactions, the devs did not make the other major adjustment to the type chart for Gen VI: Steel still resists Dark and Ghost. Thus, Assurance is neutral against the Steel/Psychic Beldum.

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How much can Quick Attack do? Quite a lot, actually, especially when Raichu gets two of them off due to Sand Tomb not being an OHKO.

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Even resisted Feint Attack is too much at this low health. Into Libre, who actually makes good use of Encore to lock Bronzor into Feint Attack, then 2HKOes with Brick Break. Shade picks up a level.

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LET'S GOOOOOO! Replaces Assurance.

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On the east side is an almost-exact copy of Ranger Artemis. Come on. Wisp OHKOes the Sandshrew and chunks the Durant considerably, but Metal Claw threatens a 2HKO and he has to switch out. Tatsu finishes the Durant, and then we see...

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Oh, that's different. Late screen, after Tatsu has finished 2HKOing him.

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Oh no, poor baby! Anyway, Brick Break 2HKOes.

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"Oh, you're trying to Roost off the damage? Surprise Encore!" Libre actually gets PP stalled out of Roost, but eventually bad AI gives him an opening and Brick Break carries the day. Libre levels up.

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I have Goggles, it's fine.

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Uproar 2HKOes, giving Wisp a level. He declines to learn Payback.

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After calming down, Hypnosis + Night Shade takes care of this Graveler.

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Damn right I am. Proceeding south, we reach...

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...and run into an Olympus-shaped roadblock. (Also, there is a sandstorm across town.)

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Jake, being Jake, refuses to step aside.

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Jake? Jake, they kill people, buddy. Don't talk shit unless you can back it up.

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I'll say this much: They sure know how to wound someone's ego.

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Oh, so you want to take out your frustrations on me? You're gonna regret that one.

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And here we go with the second rival battle. (Against literally no background.) Moveset: Dragon Claw, Ember, Smokescreen, Scary Face. If you picked Horsea in the Escape Route, Jake's lead is instead a Croconaw (Ice Fang/Bite/Water Gun/Dragon Claw). If you picked Bellsprout or are playing a solo run, he has a Grovyle (Brick Break/Screech/Quick Attack/Absorb).

Cheeky 2HKOes with Return, leveling up.

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As with Libre, replaces Wing Attack.

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This is what you send against a Flying-type? Moveset: Payback, Brick Break, Swagger, Sand-Attack. Aerial Ace OHKOes.

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Moveset: Take Down, Iron Defense, Metal Claw, Mud Slap. Cheeky takes over half of her health out before going down. Tatsu comes in to finish her off, leveling up.

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Replaces Headbutt.

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Moveset: Smokescreen/Bubble Beam/Agility/Water Gun. His Magmar will have Clear Smog/Flame Burst/Feint Attack/Smokescreen; his Weepinbell will have Vine Whip/Poison Powder/Acid/Growth. Tatsu wins the Seadra duel thanks to a crit.

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Talk shit, get hit, my guy.

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I am the Protagonist, and you are but a mere Rival. You cannot surpass me. The plot says so.

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Well, he is a man of his word. We need the next Badge to use it, of course. After a bit more bluster, Jake leaves and we're free to proceed into Agassiz proper. First stop, as always, is the Center.

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We've heard about this guy. Custom Move is 70 BP, 15 PP, 100% accuracy, physical, and makes contact. The type will remain the same for every Pokémon it is taught to. Useful for filling in coverage gaps or giving a mon reliable STAB for a type it doesn't have (if you need physical Poison STAB, this is legitimately your best option outside of level-up movepools).

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We generally don't hear about NPCs having Badges, even though it can be assumed in some cases (Victory Road Trainers, for example, have to have all eight to even be there).

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I do not envy this woman. Imagine being greeter for this town.

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Something something I don't like sand.

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Sure I do.

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Is this a shallow parody of Christian/Satanist conflict? Seems like it to me.

To the southeast of the Gym is a broken Move Tutor. He claims to be able to teach Mega Punch or Mega Kick (player's choice), but Newt, who learns both moves, is unable to learn either here.

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We see Jonathan defending the Gym from Team Olympus, who have occupied the large structure to the southwest. That will be our eventual destination, but we have more to do in town first.

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Well, good thing I have a Dark-type now.

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There are three of these around town, and they are all catchable, which is nice for Omicron players as Sandshrew has been version-exclusive thus far. We catch this one and name him A.J. after an anime owner.

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There's a lot of potential in the Rock type when it's not being used as the first Gym. Hopefully we'll see it here.

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(Truncated) Sassy is +Special Defense, -Speed. I love me a good tank, but we'll pass for now. (Although if a future potential squaddie has a -Attack or -Special Attack Nature, this will at least alter that.)

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I guess we really are just tall. Sure, both characters who've said this are kids, but that's my headcanon and I'm sticking to it.

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How much does she dislike it? Well, she's on the other side of the house, and:

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(Truncated) She'll offer the most convenient in-game trade thus far.

...you know what? Do it for the kid. BRB. Besides, it might help us for the Lottery.

The Surskit we receive is named Beady and is Modest. Very nice.

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Indeed, two overworld Fossil mons.

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Frustration TM before Return TM, that's...certainly a choice.

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Number four. There's one more area of town we haven't explored. Heading northeast into some hills:

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Oh, shoot. Everything okay?

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Secret Base, you say?

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Relax, pal. We'll take care of it. Five of our six can learn Secret Power; I opt to give it to Shade, who can get the most in-battle use out of it, replacing Mud-Slap. As it turns out, we actually don't even need the move to enter here, the main entrance of the base.

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Notice the room we have in this place. And notice the large amount of cash I have on hand.

Next time: We're gonna have some fun.

The Squad:
  • Newt (Magmar): Lv. 25, Fire, Flame Body, Flame Burst/Brick Break/Headbutt/Smokescreen
  • Tatsu (Seadra): Lv. 26, Water, Poison Point, Bubble Beam/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • Libre (Hawlucha): Lv. 26, Fighting/Flying, Unburden, Brick Break/Aerial Ace/Roost/Encore
  • Shade (Sandile): Lv. 28, Dark/Ground, Moxie, Crunch/Secret Power/Sand Tomb/Swagger
  • Cheeky (Staravia): Lv. 28, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Aerial Ace/Quick Attack/Double Team
  • Wisp (Haunter): Lv. 28, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Uproar/Night Shade/Shadow Punch/Hypnosis


Click here to return to the Index.
 
Last edited:
You know, why were the pictures repeated halfway through?
Ah, thanks for alerting me to that. It should be fixed now. This is why I write the script, so to speak, and then insert my screens last. This is not the greatest text editor, but it was actually even more work to write in another program and then paste that in.

But wait Ice is weak to rock.

Granted this is unless the entire gym is Geodude/Onix/Rhyhorn and they all die to Ice anyway.
Oh, don't worry. It's not triple Rock/Ground.

It's quadruple Rock/Ground. Although the only available Ice-type by this point is Rotom-Frost (and you can trade for Castform in the Secret Base which can be Ice-type with hail up), so this, while an amusing error, isn't that big of a deal.


While I'm here, folks, might as well inform you now: The next update will not make any story progress. The Secret Base is, at least IMO, the signature feature of this game, and it's going to take a lot of time (and a lot of money) to show everything it has to offer. Part eleven will be devoted in its entirety to. Part twelve will involve fighting Team Olympus at the Psychic Temple and then challenging the Agassiz and Fianga Gyms.
 
As explained earlier, the entirety of this update will be devoted to upgrading and exploring our Secret Base. It is thus a little bit shorter than usual, but I think the next update will make up for that. Enjoy.

So, we have a base now. Not a little playhouse where we can play capture-the-flag with random people over the Internet, but an actual base for us to use in our fight against Team Olympus.

By the time the base is fully upgraded, we will have access to multiple Pokémon, potentially infinite items, and infinite money (though the process for getting the latter two can be tedious).

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We have a lot of money and a lot of things to spend money on. The cheapest and most self-explanatory things to buy are a Poke Mart worker and entrances in other places (including locations we have yet to visit). The exit always leads to whichever entrance you last accessed the base from.

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To demonstrate, here's the Fianga entrance. The various entrances are all tower-shaped like this.

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After purchasing the entrances and Mart worker, here's what we have to buy. From cheapest to most expensive:

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The Fossil Master, well, sells Fossils. Any and all of them through Unova. Unfortunately, it's going to be awhile before we can revive them.

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The Trainer exists for powerleveling. He has a team of six Audino (except at level 100 where only three fight), giving you the potential for huge XP yields (and even more because of the bonus XP from Trainer battles) However, he will not let his squad get beaten down for nothing. He charges 3000 yen per 10 levels, although he will pay out 20% of this when defeated.

Audino does learn damaging moves by level-up (Pound at 1, Double Slap at 10, Secret Power at 20, Take Down at 30, Double-Edge at 50, and Last Resort at 55). So don't overpay for a battle your mons can't handle.

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The Trade Master offers a variety of unique trades, one offer per day. Six species are available only through this manner: The Natu line, the Elekid line, and Castform. These trades are as follows:
  • Castform traded for any poisoned Pokémon.
  • Darumaka, which will evolve into Zen Mode Darmanitan traded for any mon with 10 or fewer HP.
  • Elekid traded for any Dragon-type.
  • Mawile (pure Steel, remember) traded for either a level 1 mon or an Egg.
  • Natu for anybody.
  • Pikachu apparently coded to learn Volt Tackle for any mon nicknamed Dave.
  • Rufflet traded for any mon with 10 or fewer HP.
  • Sableye traded for any mon holding a Great Ball.
  • Spiritomb traded for any Water-type.
  • Tyrogue traded for any mon with 1 HP remaining.
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Screw it, I'm catching one of these. Named Bucky, after the character of the day from the anime episode The Dunsparce Deception, whose arc revolved around finally catching a Dunsparce.

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The Dungeon is the first of several "expansions" available, which entails several rocks blocking areas of the base being removed. This involves a dungeon-crawling minigame akin to the Mystery Dungeon series, albeit with main series combat. Woobat and Swoobat are available for capture on odd-numbered floors, while Yamask and Cofagrigus are available on even-numbered floors. On the first couple of floors of your first trip, you can also find items. The Dungeon can be escaped by using Dig or an Escape Rope, or just going to the end.

A nice feature here is that opponents will only engage if you run into them, not if they run into you. So you can avoid encounters (and the Swoobat and Cofagrigus should be avoided if possible, as they're at level 30 and 35, respectively) through simple patience.

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Named Heartnose, after the heart-nosed bat native to East Africa.

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Ooh, an interesting item! I have multiple Ground immunities already, but it may be useful in the future.

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Replaces Smokescreen. If you can bring down a Swoobat, the XP yields are pretty solid.

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LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This is Earthquake before the third Gym. I am so happy! Shade picks it up, replacing Sand Tomb.

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Good Lord, this dungeon is difficult to navigate. The good news is that you can use the Bike. The Ghost-types on this floor are much easier to navigate around.

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Named Tut after the Egyptian influences.

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Another helpful item early! Keep in mind this is the Gen II-V held item iteration.

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Look at this item luck! Items do seem to be sparser on the lower floors, though.

After God-knows-how-many floors, we're spit out back in the base. Let's continue with the upgrades.

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The Mining Cave is empty...or is it? Interacting with the inside wall gives us the option to mine:

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It's the Sinnoh Underground minigame! Obtainable items include the weather rocks, Everstones, Evolutionary Stones (Thunder, Water, Fire, Leaf, Sun, Moon), Oval Stones, seven Fossils (Helix, Dome, Old Amber, Root, Claw, Armor, and Skull), Hard Stones, Heart Scales, Iron Balls, Light Clay, Revives, Max Revives, Odd Keystones, Shards, Star Pieces, and Rare Bones.

In other words: Infinite money.

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From the first session. You can do this for hours on end.

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The game will tell you how many items are available in each dig; if you snag them all, the game ends early.

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The final upgrade is this platform. One item per day from a list (the same list used to generate items in the Dungeon). We get a second EXP Share for now.

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Once everything's purchased, we can touch this gem here...

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...and upgrade the cave to a proper structure. Any uncaught Dunsparce will become Misdreavus instead.

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So let's catch one. Named Nelson after the character of the day from Entei at Your Own Risk!, who intended to use his Misdreavus to capture Entei.

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We also get another item, and holy crap IV Stone! This means we can technically have infinite IV Stones, if you have infinite patience.

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The Skeleton Key serves as the HM Item for Secret Power, and we don't even need the field move itself to access it! There's also a bed which can be used for a very quick healing spot (must be interacted with from the top). There are stairs in the southeast leading to the Dungeon, and a hole in the wall to the northwest to the Mining Cave.

The first second-tier upgrades available are various Pokemon: Gastly (who we already have), Magnemite, Shuppet, and Mr. Mime, all of which will appear in the Dungeon as well. (I'm not screening the purchase screen because it contains spoilers.)

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And here is our next squadmate. I've loved rolling with double Flying-types for a while, but I've ultimately decided that Libre's time with the squad has come to an end. As the rest of the squad evolves and catches up statwise, his attacking stat will drop off. Plus, he doesn't get a stronger one-turn Flying move aside from Acrobatics--and while Unburden Acro is a staple of Hawlucha in competitive play, consumable items in single-player modes are, well, consumed. That gets tedious and potentially expensive.

Shade is both very good--Earthquake provides an easy way to check for a Sturdy Magnemite, as otherwise it would drop--and very bad due to being dropped by Mirror Shot.

Named Buzzy Bo, in homage to Chuggaconroy's LP of Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, where Magnemite is a friggin' amazing teammate. I hope our Buzzy Bo will replicate its performance here.

Stats: 28/18/9/18/11/3, Lax, Sturdy. Decent. I teach it Acid (replacing Magnet Bomb), accompanying Spark, Mirror Shot, and Metal Sound. Bit of an awkward moveset.

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Named Kodai after the antagonist of the thirteenth movie, who owned a Shuppet.

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Named Delia after Ash's mother.

The next upgrade is for the Trader: If you turn down his initial offer, he will change it for the day.

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The Mythologist exists to aid us in Legendary hunting. Y'know, because the game doesn't have a wiki or anything. I shall refrain from sharing his wisdom, lest I spoil anything.

I run out of money at this point and have to head back underground to mine for more stuff. We're not going anywhere until the base is fully upgraded, but that will take some time and money.

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We can rematch Gym Leaders, chosen randomly from all Leaders purchased each time the main area of the base is entered. Their teams are in the mid-to-high fifties, so don't do that just yet. Like with the entrances, rematch privileges can be purchased for Leaders we have yet to meet. And in an obvious programming error, the game doesn't check against Gym Leaders you've actually gotten Badges from, leading to an exchange such as this:

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That's Jonathan, whom we have met, but are currently unable to battle until we chase Olympus out of the Psychic Temple. (No, you can't cheese progression by buying the rematches and then beating the other six Gym Leaders at the base.)

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The Tailor allows us to change our overworld sprite.

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Here are all of the alternate costumes we have available to us.

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The PokeGear Designer gives us two additional Cards.

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The Jukebox allows us to change the overworld music, which persists until reset to default. You can set a custom soundtrack if you'd like as well. The Trade option allows us to simulate a trade for the purposes of evolution (trade-with-item evos must be holding that item). Which means:

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We have a Gengar before the third Gym. Or a Golem, if Rocky were still with us.

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Finally, Professor Oak stops by to give us some reinforcements. We may choose one starter each of the Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova trios. One of them will be joining us.

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Starting with our Unova pick, we'll opt for Snivy so we at least pick one Grass starter from the bunch. Named Trip, after Ash's Unova rival. All starters come at level 10.

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Totodile is of course our Johto selection. Named Wani-Wani after the starter mon of anime character Marina, counterpart of Crystal protagonist Kris.

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Chimchar for Sinnoh, named Flint after the Sinnoh Elite Four member who uses Infernape as his ace in DP and Masters.

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And finally, Torchic for our Hoenn choice. Named May after the Hoenn protagonist, whose anime counterpart uses the line, and she will be joining the squad. Newt has served us well, but his time has come. This technically constitutes boxing my starter, which I am normally loathe to do. I really have little justification for this aside from liking the typing--Magmortar's pretty good in this game.

May's stats: 21/19/18/19/14/20, Adamant, Blaze. I'm honestly amazed I got a pick this good and a female. (I did SR, but I SR only for a female--the IVs and Nature are gravy.)

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So here's a random thing I've decided to do. Retired squaddies and our various utility mons will be the exclusive denizens of Box 1, renamed to the Box of Honor. This also allows for quick swapping around if I do need a utility mon for something.

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I've gone with a unique setup to train May up to the rest of the team. Andrea is positioned between May and Buzzy Bo to infect them both with Pokerus. Albo the Aipom and Trunks the Phanpy both have Pickup, and Tatsu's just chilling in slot six.

I have just enough cash to pay the Trainer for a level 10 battle. May should be able to handle it.

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...oh. That was the first Audino, BTW.

Well, this is a problem. I'd have to backtrack quite a ways to find wilds May can comfortably take on. Time for a new plan.

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Here we go. Libre holds the Lucky Egg, May an EXP Share. STAB Brick Break should obliterate the Audino, plus Libre has Roost to keep himself healthy if necessary.

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There we go! Libre levels up even facing mons sixteen levels his junior, while May picks up five levels. One more and she evolves, giving her access to Brick Break and thus an easy way to mow down Audino by herself. All we have to do is leave the base and pick off one of the Sandshrew roaming around town, and...

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There we go. Brick Break replaces Double Kick which replaced Scratch. May can now easily sweep through a level 10 Audino team, leveling all the way to 21.

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Our first Pickup. An Escape Rope isn't the worst thing to have. I get a second Escape Rope and an Antidote through the rest of the training session.

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May is all caught up. Her HP stat has ballooned thanks to the Audino she's trained against. Before we end this update, a couple of errands to run:

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The Go-Goggles do indeed protect against rain.

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Shade's Attack IV is 8. We're gonna change that. After that, we make the long trek back to Agassiz and prepare ourselves for our next encounter with Team Olympus at the Psychic Tower, and the Gym battle that will follow.

Next time: Our new team takes on some familiar foes.

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Seadra): Lv. 26, Water, Poison Point, Bubble Beam/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • May (Combusken): Lv. 28, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Brick Break/Ember/Peck/Bulk Up
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 28, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Uproar/Night Shade/Shadow Punch/Hypnosis
  • Shade (Sandile): Lv. 28, Dark/Ground, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Secret Power/Swagger
  • Cheeky (Staravia): Lv. 29, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Wing Attack/Quick Attack/Double Team
  • Buzzy Bo (Magnemite): Lv. 30, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Mirror Shot/Acid/Spark/Metal Sound


Click here to return to the Index.
 
Last edited:
Alrighty, so here's the sitch. I took a break from the game for a couple of days and, like a fool, closed the browser window I was writing this update in. I thought the draft would save, but it didn't. Good news is I still have my screens, which means I can reconstruct most of what I was doing, although I probably won't remember exactly how battles went. Still, the writing may be a little choppy, so apologies in advance for that.

So, we last left off having explored the Secret Base and picked up two new squadmates. I believe this will be our final team, unless a glaring weakness presents itself. I don't believe it will, as I have a pretty solid defensive core--between Buzzy Bo, Wisp, Shade, and Tatsu, I have at least one switch-in to every type, and several immunities to take advantage of (seven of them, in fact, across the squad). Offensively, I'll eventually have STAB on twelve different types, plus a VoltTurn duo with Cheeky and Buzzy Bo. (I was tempted to pick Infernape over Blaziken because of U-Turn, but Blaziken gets better dual STAB earlier and hits harder generally.)

With all of that out of the way, let's head to the Psychic Temple.

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The receptionist is oddly calm for the building being under occupation.

For encounters, we have: Kadabra, Hypno (Zeta exclusive, lower floor only), Spoink (intended to be Omicron exclusive but available in both games on the upper floors), Chimecho (rare), Solosis, and Elgyem, all at levels 18-20.

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As for Olympus, we have a Grunt gauntlet to fight through, akin to Pokemon Tower. Like at the Onega Museum, the Grunts have single Pokémon, but unlike at the Museum, their partners are fixed. A shame. I really like the idea of randomized Grunts.

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Weirdly, dialogue implies we've previously encountered some of these folks, even though they're using different partners. Of course, we can't actually tell. #NameTeamGrunts2020

Anyway, May wipes this one out.

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I'm sure your family would be proud of you.

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Wisp has a fairly easy time with this.

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Well, that sounds like a you problem.

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Shade has little trouble here.

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Named Sabrina after the Kanto Gym Leader.

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More item luck as we head back to base to heal.

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Named Bounce, because it bounces.

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Easy money for Shade.

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Named Doyle after an anime Trainer who owned one.

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Wild grinding leads to this. Shade was falling a bit behind, so the evolution comes at a very opportune time.

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Same matchup, same outcome.

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Why, yes. Yes, I am.

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Feint Attack stings, but Sneasel is frail and facing a Gengar, so Wisp can handle the matchup.

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Similar deal here, with Shade being able to take an Icy Wind and OHKO back.

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Shouldn't have joined Team Olympus, then. Then I'd only defeat you once.

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Even wounded, Tatsu is able to deal with this.

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And another win for Wisp.

This is the final Grunt to face. Scaling to the fourth floor, we find the Commander in charge of the occupation, who is being stymied by a lone guard.

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This guard has some guts. Although, a dangerous Pokémon being up there is exactly what Olympus would want. Also, while the game hasn't been entirely consistent on its font colors, I'm pretty sure that's not a "sir" you're talking to. (She's probably meant to be androgynous. Only so much you can do with sprites, I guess.)

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As she said...Credit to the guard, though, he's holding his ground well.

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Jonathan has been watching the scene, and here elects to intervene. We thus confirm that the Commander here is Artemis, the third of the trio whom we have yet to face. (We battled Athena in Onega Town and Apollo at the Pokehadron Collider, remember.)

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These two have a history, I see.

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Oof, that is some horribly-written exposition. And oof, Jonathan may or may not be that good of a person. I have to wonder what's going on in the Versyn Pokémon League that they'd hire a (suspected) murderer. (Though XY does give us a Team Flare member turned E4.)

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Twist that knife, Artemis. As if someone commanding an organization responsible for untold numbers of deaths has any moral high ground to stand on.

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Still Artemis speaking through all of this, despite the change to blue text. We will not battle her this day, but she has won the battle of wits. Although she doesn't get what she came for--making this the first occasion we have fully prevented Team Olympus from attaining its objectives--she gets the very nice consolation prize of wounding Jonathan's ego.

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I don't care what she did to you. You do not use that word.

Jonathan then notices us.

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We noticed. I would recommend therapy.

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That works too, I guess. The Gym is now open to us. Before we head there, however, we have one more catch.

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And there it is. Named Icarus, after an astrophysicist from the anime who was close friends with an Elgyem. After healing up, we can finally hit the Gym.

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As noted, this is a Rock Gym, though as it's not the first, I'm hoping for something better than a Geodude/Onix/Ace structure. The puzzle involves progressing along a path and interacting with the Strength boulders along the way, which converts them to stones that bridge the gaps between paths. There is also an overworld sandstorm, so keep the Go-Goggles handy, especially if your main coverage for this Gym is special. Three Gym Trainers here, all mandatory.

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Camper Liam reference, and a better battle than him to boot. The matchup looks shaky but Lunatone doesn't actually have a Psychic move, so May can Bulk Up/Brick Break to victory.

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The Defense boost allows May to survive a Magnitude and Sturdy 2HKO in return.

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Similar situation as the Lunatone, similar outcome.

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As we'll see soon, I'm actually a couple of levels ahead of him. ;)

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Yes, that is a Skyrim reference. No Rock move on this Kabuto, so it's actually more time-consuming for Cheeky than actually difficult.

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Omanyte is a bit more of a problem because of Rollout, but Cheeky still wins, leveling up. STAB, full-power Return is a monster to have this early.

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This Lileep can't touch her. Cheeky completes a sweep she had no business even staying for.

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Well, I sure hope not.

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More Skyrim references, and more Fossils! (Dun-dun-dun!) Tatsu has no trouble with this one.

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Smack Down hurts, but Tatsu prevails once more, leveling up.

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Thanks to an Agility set up earlier, Tatsu's able to outspeed and oust this.

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Daily item drops from the base. The IV Stone goes to May to improve her Attack.

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Here's a look at the squad before we face Jonathan. Wisp is holding the Lucky Egg and Shade the Amulet Coin. We're now caught up to where I left off playing.

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Jonathan has a partner with him. A worthy choice.

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And so we shall. Let's do this.

Jonathan carries one Super Potion and one Hyper Potion.

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Moveset: Fury Attack, Stomp, Scary Face, Horn Attack. This is legitimately worse than a regular Trainer moveset (which would have Rock Blast). Wisp completely walls this, so, after a couple of Scary Faces...

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Moveset: Smack Down, Rock Throw, Rock Tomb, Tackle. A bit better. Smack Down is legitimately scary because it removes Levitate, but this is an Onix facing a Gengar. Wisp does prevail (albeit taking more damage than necessary thanks to Hypnosis misses, and also Smack Down), leveling up.

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Moveset: Rollout, Earthquake, Magnitude, Rock Blast. STAB Edgequake, hoo boy. Wisp is grounded, so he'll get nuked. I want to pivot into Cheeky for a free Intimidate and then go to Shade on the Rock move, but I misclick and go right to Shade...but Jonathan forgets Wisp is grounded and goes for Rollout, giving Shade an easy switch. Earthquake 2HKOes, giving Shade a level and a Moxie boost.

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Here's the ace. Moveset: Superpower, Crunch, Stone Edge, Earthquake. Crunch is too early (level 41). It's a scary mon to face with four high-power attacks capable of ripping through most teams...

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and Shade one-shots it with +1 EQ. GG. Only Rhyhorn remains.

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Bless your heart. One C press later and that's officially it.

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Getting steamrolled like this is stress relief? Good on you. I personally would find it very stressing.

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Fun fact: This is not a unique Badge name. In the Pokemon Live! musical--yes, in those long-ago days of Pokemania, there was a musical--Giovanni gives out a Diamond Badge for defeating his mechanized Pokemon named MechaMew2, capable of learning and using any move in the series (including over the four-move limit). Yes, really. I hope the reference was intentional, because it's an impressively deep cut.

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I'm at, what, 111 screens so far? We can do Fianga this update, too.

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Ooh, Rock Slide will be very nice for our mons. It will go to Shade (replacing Secret Power since we have the Skeleton Key) and May (replacing Peck).

With that, we are done with Agassiz Town, except for one more thing...

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There's a path to the east of the base entrance. It's blocked off by a rock initially, but once the Badge is obtained, we can follow the long path through the mountains around Agassiz and pick this up. The Machete is the HM item for Cut, and we don't even need to teach anyone the move itself to get it. As it should be.

Hyper Potions and Super Repels are now available for purchase at Poke Marts. After healing, we make the trek north to Fianga to take on the fourth Gym.

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Ooookay then. Shade and May should have a solid time here. The puzzle is spin tiles, except without the spinning and with unbreakable rocks to block certain paths. There are no Gym Trainers to face. It's really not that difficult.

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Um, y'all, I don't think you're in Orre anymore.

Yes I know Orre's based on Arizona and not Kansas don't judge me

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PK-096 has one Super Potion, one Full Restore, and one unique Trainer Class--a neat touch, I think.

Moveset on this Klink: Gear Grind, Shift Gear, Charge Beam, Screech. Screech and Shift Gear are too early (levels 39 and 48, respectively).

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The power of Hypnosis/Night Shade. PK has burned his Super Potion as well in this fight. One down, four to go.

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Moveset: Gyro Ball, Future Sight, Iron Defense, Psychic. It does get off a Future Sight, which forces a switch to Shade. Crunch is only neutral damage in this game, but it does allow us to bypass the "Levitate or Heatproof?" mindgame.

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Shade needed three hits thanks to an Iron Defense, but he pulled it off nonetheless.

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Moveset: Iron Defense, Sacred Sword, Iron Head, Shadow Sneak. Iron Head (level 42) and Sacred Sword (level 47) are too early.

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Two up, two down. Shade levels up.

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Moveset: Metal Claw, Zen Headbutt, Pursuit, Agility. Agility is too early (level 38). It, too, drops.

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The ace. Moveset: Mirror Shot, Spark, Thunder Wave, Metal Sound.

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Look at Shade tanking a Mirror Shot! From a Magneton, no less! A second level for you, fine sir! He would learn Dig at this level, but he already has EQ and we have Escape Ropes, so what's the point?

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Please don't crash. I need your Badge.

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So it does realize the role it currently serves? Is it learning? Or would it hand out Badges to anybody who got past it in the mines? (Also, Android Badge. Insert your phone-related jokes here.)

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Flash Cannon would've been really nice, but this works, too.

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Um, Gym Guide? You wanna come here and reboot this thing? Or maybe tell the League we need a new Gym Leader?

Anyway, we can use the rock in town to access the base. We can now purchase Revives from Marts, but nothing else--still no Ultra Balls after four Badges. Uggh.

There's actually more we can do in Fianga. A certain NPC told us to report back to him once we'd gotten the third Badge. We now have four, so we can see what he has for us. We'll do that, however, in the next update. I promise that won't take nearly as long.

Next time: We meet some old friends and fight some old enemies, as we take on a new role for Pokémon: Police officer.

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Seadra): Lv. 28, Water, Poison Point, Bubble Beam/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • Cheeky (Staravia): Lv. 30, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Aerial Ace/Quick Attack/Double Team
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 30, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Uproar/Night Shade/Shadow Punch/Hypnosis
  • Buzzy Bo (Magnemite): Lv. 30, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Mirror Shot/Acid/Spark/Metal Sound
  • May (Combusken): Lv. 31, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Brick Break/Rock Slide/Ember/Bulk Up
  • Shade (Krokorok): Lv. 32, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger


Click here to return to the Index.
 

Attachments

Part thirteen, in which we do cop things. Likely minimal story progress to be made in this episode, since we actually have two Police Club missions open to us. Warning: Intense battles ahead.

I'll also note that updates have been and likely will be a bit slower due to IRL stuff and the fact that I've been playing the shit out of other games (I'm currently addicted to FTL: Faster Than Light). I am not abandoning this playthrough, it'll just take a bit longer. Thank you for your patience.

michaeloche: Well, hello there! Fancy running into you again after all this time! And while Snakewood is a pretty low bar to clear, trust me: This game is plenty wild in its own ways.

CoolMan6001: Yeah, it's not a very good Gym. The Gym Trainers showed a fair bit of diversity with Solrock/Lunatone and various Fossils, but Jonathan somehow falls harder into the Geodude/Onix/Ace trap than Roxanne and Roark.


I'd highly recommend stocking up on healing items before doing any club missions, as they all take place on separate maps from the main game world and you won't be able to run back to the Secret Base or a Pokemon Center to heal. A fully-upgraded base will have both a Mart worker and the Mining Cave right behind them, allowing you to get some cash or Revives.

When we're all set, we can head into the police station right below the Pokehadron Collider and talk to the dispatcher to accept our first mission.

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Indeed I am. What've you got for us?

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More Olympus activity? Sounds like a job for us!

We immediately transition to the mission area, where another cop briefs us. The game tracks the day/night cycle while on these maps, but only the battle background changes to reflect the time--the overworld maps are always daylight.

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Sir, I need three Badges minimum to even take this job, and I actually have four. I'd say I know what I'm doing.

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Thank you. Now, what's the job?

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Um, yah. Those are the established rules of the Pokemon world since time immemorial. You didn't bring your own Pokémon with you?

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So once again, the grownups have shown themselves hopelessly incompetent and it's the Child Protagonist's job to clean up their mess. Here we go.

No encounters in this grass, which lets us focus solely on the mission at hand. A short ways around, we see exactly who we're dealing with.

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Team Rocket has a storied history of having its ass handed to it by kids. Shall we add to that history?

Turn one, Cheeky sets up a Double Team while Wisp sleeps the Golduck, who is the bigger threat with Water Pulse and Confusion. Arbok's Crunch does very little thanks to being Intimidated. Golduck survives a double-up the following turn while Arbok whiffs a Screech. Turn three, Wisp whiffs Hypnosis against Arbok, Golduck wakes up and misses Fury Swipes, and Arbok uses Acid to little effect. This sets up a double knockout on turn four, with Cheeky picking off Golduck with Quick Attack while Night Shade takes out Arbok.

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Not good for Wisp between Psybeam and Sucker Punch. He's gotta get out of there. The Raticate is the bigger threat (a rare sentence), but fortunately isn't carrying Pursuit. Buzzy Bo makes its battle debut as Cheeky gets Sucker Punched but takes 60% off Raticate with Return.

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Here's the board after that turn. Musharna does not take kindly to being deemed the lesser threat, and Buzzy Bo gets crit-confused coming in. An inauspicious start for the mon intended to serve as the team's defensive glue. Fortunately, Cheeky dodges a Sucker Punch and KOs Raticate, leveling up. Wisp also picks up a level. Buzzy Bo hits Mirror Shot through confusion and drops Musharna's accuracy, while Musharna opts for Defense Curl.

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Gotta say, the Rocket is perfectly on-brand with this team. Well done, game. Cheeky focuses on the Golbat, but everything goes south on the next turn: Cheeky gets confused and slept despite the Evasion boosts while Buzzy Bo hits itself. This is not looking good. Neither of them can really stay in--unfortunately, May is facing down two STAB super-effective moves, so it's up to Shade and Tatsu. The double-switch pays off as they both get in cleanly, only taking a weak Swift for their trouble.

Now it's Rock Slide time. Tatsu sets up Agility while Shade claims the KO on Golbat and flinches Musharna. The Rocket's been taken out of the fight, leaving us in a 2v1. A Crunch/Bubble Beam double-up takes Musharna down, leaving one opponent remaining.

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Bubble Beam/Rock Slide takes this Mightyena down with no trouble. That was a legitimately scary battle for a moment there, but we have prevailed.

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As Arceus is my witness, I am that fool. And as you'll soon see, those fools will cause you more trouble than you could ever imagine.

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All evolved so far, these boys are bringing the heat. Tatsu barely gets by this Arbok, earning herself a level.

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Self-Destruct. Ah, well, could've been worse. It's not like I have a shitton of Revives (including an infinite source of Max Revives) or anything.

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Brick Break OHKOes.

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What is it with everything having random Dark coverage? Wisp shrugs it off--Gengar isn't so frail when it's facing second-stage mons at best--but it's annoying.

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Uproar 2HKOes, Wisp surviving a STAB Bite and leveling up.

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Can't sleep me if I sleep you first. Night Shade is roughly a 3HKO.

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Why, thank you.

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Let's see how that works out for you. Not well for this Dunsparce, at least.

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Another one? Another one bites the dust. Tatsu levels up, the last squaddie to reach level 30.

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Replaces Bubble Beam due to the more consistently useful secondary effect. We do have to be mindful of PP usage.

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Simple attrition is threatening at this point.

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So close... Cheeky can just pick it off.

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Protagonist Power, six against three, having three Dunsparce...

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This is a close matchup. May prevails thanks to a Rock Slide flinch, leveling up and then declining to learn Quick Attack. (Why does Combusken learn Quick Attack so late, anyway?)

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Murkrow has a free KO but opts for Haze, allowing May to claim a second KO before succumbing to poison. You gotta be kidding me.

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Aerial Ace just barely misses the OHKO. Cheeky levels up.

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Oh come on, battling isn't that hard on the Trainer.

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Don't worry, I'll make this qui...aw, crud, Intimidate.

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...and Return crit.

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Hey, that's not from Kanto or Johto! Still fits the team nicely IMO.

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This win nets Cheeky a level. She is offered Take Down but refuses.

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Another victory, but at great cost.

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Cheeky finally falls, although she nearly OHKOes this Gloom first. Shade mops up.

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I love how everyone's just befuddled that we keep winning. They just don't understand Protagonist Power.

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Plot time! And what's this?

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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Grunts aren't allowed to negotiate deals like this.

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I did all the work so you can get all the credit, huh?

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Well, if you were arrested before the details could be communicated to the rest of your Teams, this could kibosh the entire operation right here. But somehow I doubt that's the case.

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Take 'em away, boys.

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It's Mewtwo, isn't it? It's definitely Mewtwo.

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Ooh, actual payment? I'll take that, thank you.

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We're teleported back to the main game world. As we have four Badges, we can immediately undertake the second mission, which we shall momentarily. First, shopping and:

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Okay, seriously, what is this luck? Let's see...Buzzy Bo, your SpA IV is only 18, right? Let's fix that. Once we're done with that, we can take our second job:

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Sigh...amateurs.

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We're dropped...in Pallet Town, albeit with the Route 1 grass replaced with a tree exit. It seems Oak decided to head home for a bit before running into his little pickle. With Red, Blue, and Ash seemingly all unavailable to liberate their hometown, the job falls to us. For atmosphere, enjoy this piano rendition of the classic theme.


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A difficult battle for Buzzy Bo, because powders. I had swapped Acid for Flash simply for convenience getting through Shadow Path, but it actually comes a little in handy here for obvious reasons.

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Fucking Confuse Ray, man. Parafusion is too much for Buzzy Bo, so Tatsu comes in in relief, except she gets confused to almost-death. We're even with the level curve for this mission, so these are going to be much more difficult. Be sure to pack as much healing as you can afford.

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Shade survives on one HP. This single Golbat has nearly KOed half my team. Level-up for Buzzy Bo.

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And he has another one. I have to let Shade go down and use...I guess Wisp, since May would get nuked.

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Wisp is going to carry this team for the next little while. He levels up and...

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Replaces Shadow Punch. At last.

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I'm definitely keeping Uproar for a little while, because it lets Wisp do shit like this.

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The only reason I switched around on the first Golbat. God, Buzzy Bo needs this. Now, as a Magneton, it can finally be the tank I brought it onto the team to be.

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Furret has STAB Slam and it hurts. At least Tatsu gets a level for her troubles.

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Into Buzzy Bo who does much better against this. Especially when she Self-Destructs.

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A win for Buzzy Bo, but not effortless.

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No Fire move on this Houndoom (it gets Fire Fang next level), but it does have Roar which kinda sucks. Tatsu gets roared in, but since she's weak, I ask May to handle it instead, which she does.

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You must be new here. Getting wrecked by kids is Team Rocket's entire shtick.

Red's and Blue's houses are locked, so no respite (or extra Grunts) in those.

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Shade picks up the OHKO and the level.

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Do I risk Swagger here? I do and Golbat breaks through, but +1 Rock Slide is an OHKO anyway.

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Rock Slide miss, but this Honchkrow is convinced I'm switching and goes for Pursuit, giving Shade a second chance and a second level as well.

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Outsped, good Lord. May at least levels up.

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Buh-bye.

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Houndoom Baton Passes into this, which leaves May paralyzed, but falls nonetheless. A second level for her. The Houndoom drops next, giving May another level. Lucky Egg plus experience scaling plus evolved mons equals a metric fuckton of XP.

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The cavalry has arrived. Wisp 2HKOes with minimal effort, leveling up.

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Flawless victories thanks to Hypnosis, resulting in another level. This becomes the first battle I don't need a healing item after for!

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Intimidate plus Stockpile makes this a slightly tedious but ultimately easy battle for Cheeky. There's her first level...

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Aerial Ace crit to OHKO here.

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...and second level. What is it with Furret being a problem for this team?

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Taken out by a second Aerial Ace crit.

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An evolution well-deserved, and very well-timed too.

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Sludge 2HKOes, you gotta be kidding me. Buzzy Bo just walls this, but whiffs a Mirror Shot and has to eat a Self-Destruct. Levels for both Tatsu and Buzzy Bo.

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Shout-out to Mirror Shot missing all. The damn. Time and being at zero PP after this exchange as a result. 85% is quickly becoming my least favorite accuracy tier.

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This isn't going to beat me with Double Hit into Self-Destruct, is it? I use Flash just to be safe; Weezing whiffs a Double Hit and fails to KO with Self-Destruct.

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No way I'm beating this, so into Wisp to block the Double Hit and 2HKO back. Buzzy Bo gets its second level.

Having felled the Grunts, we proceed into the Lab to check in on Oak. Tip: Before you do this, heal.

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Caught without much to defend himself, Oak pleads for help. It's here...

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...but the Rockets have what they came for.

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They're long gone...wait, what are you doing?

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You're telling me you had a full team of six on you and you just let the Grunts walk all over you? (TBF, I have a full team of six and you saw what they did to them.)

So, surprise boss fight. None of Oak's team have custom sets. That means this Tangrowth has Mega Drain and Knock Off, which are no-goes. Tatsu swaps out for May, who sets up a Bulk Up and then nukes Tangrowth with a crit Ember.

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Back into Tatsu, my lone Water resist. It's at this point that I look at my team and realize this may be a problem. Then Tatsu gets beaten down and I realize it's really a problem. Fortunately, Blastoise tries to flex by Spin-killing, misses it, and gets poisoned. He rectifies his mistake next turn. Into Wisp, because such is my only recourse.

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Oh yeah, Oak has a Full Restore. (Two of them, actually.) Wisp's Shadow Ball 2HKOes so it makes little difference.

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Shadow Ball 2HKOes, leveling Wisp up, but Dragon Rage takes a chunk off him.

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Aaand this has Pursuit. Except that Yanmega tried to Supersonic rather than go for the kill shot, meaning Wisp prevails with a sliver.

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Assuming Petal Dance KOes, I go into Buzzy Bo to at least Flash and paralyze him. I'll need a million Sparks due to having no PP for Mirror Shot (I then realize I have a Leppa Berry and didn't use it before the battle like a fool), but maybe some combination of full paras/bad AI/Double-Edge recoil/Petal Dance confusion allows me to prevail?

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JK, only needed the former two. Second level-up for Wisp.

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Oh yeah, he has a sixth. Turn-one Flash for an accuracy drop and to eat her Disable, and then pray we outdamage Wrap/Slam with Spark. Thanks to a full para and a crit, we do. Buzzy Bo just barely misses a level-up.

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Sigh...I wish I could say this was out of character, but then again:

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Granted, I do have the option to dress as a Rocket Grunt, but even if I did, the Rockets assaulting the town are all guys. What are you doing, man?

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Psychic...armor...there's gonna be Mewtwo shenanigans, aren't there? (Fun fact: Armored Mewtwo is officially a thing now, thanks PoGo.)

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They'd better be! Do you have any idea how many healing items I had to use? (Nine Hyper Potions, three Paralyze Heals, and a Max Revive. Yah.)

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Ten of them, to be precise.

...Apology accepted. We're immediately warped back to HQ after this, no debrief or anything. We cannot proceed further in this storyline until we obtain the next Badge. Not that I'd want to. While lucrative for XP, these missions are not for the faint of heart or levels.

We head back to base to heal, shop, and pick up our daily item:

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It's as if the game is apologizing for not making Ultra Balls available for purchase yet... Alternatively, it could be painfully obvious I started playing Pokemon seriously in Gen VI, when you only needed three Badges to buy them.

With that, we've done enough for this update.

Next time: We resume main story progress.

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Seadra): Lv. 32, Water, Poison Point, Brine/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 33, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Mirror Shot/Spark/Flash/Metal Sound
  • Shade (Krokorok): Lv. 34, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • May (Combusken): Lv. 35, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Brick Break/Rock Slide/Ember/Bulk Up
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 35, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Aerial Ace/Quick Attack/Double Team
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 37, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis


Click here to return to the Index.
 
Well, to be fair dude, this game is going to take you a long time to get done with. Take your time. You're not as slow as me. ;).

Are you going to play past Vesryn as well?
 
Here's the next part, y'all.

King Feraligatr :
I am planning to go through Aroma, yes. God knows how well I'll fair in the Phoenix Iota since that's largely built around competitive play (with a ton of broken shit) and I am not that, but I want to at least show as much of the game as possible.


We've retreated to base and resupply and lick our wounds. The good news is that the entire team is several levels higher, which will help against the challenges to come.

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Here's a look at the team as we begin this segment. With Cheeky evolved and May soon to follow, we shouldn't have to rely so much on Wisp for heavy lifting.

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Here's a daily item drop. A tad underwhelming, TBH, but who knows, maybe May will need a Gem-boosted Flare Blitz to muscle past something.

We have enough cash to replenish our supplies thanks to payouts from the Grunts (and if we didn't, we can mine for vendor trash). So after leaving and making the trek back to Agassiz, we can finally leave from the southwest of town and enter...

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This is a two-story cave route a la Mt. Moon, but with two separate paths, leading to different destinations, one of which only becomes important later. No Trainers in here, but there are several items, making this the first route with item pickups resembling an actual Pokemon game.

Catches, all levels 20-22: Meditite, Solrock (first floor only), Lunatone (second floor only), Scraggy, Joltik (Omicron exclusive), Durant (Zeta exclusive).

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Named Tate after the Mossdeep Gym Leader.

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The first path we're going to take involves this ladder. There are several of these.

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Named Jumper, for a jumping spider.

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Named Concetta after an anime owner.

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Finally, a decent item pickup.

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Named Lotus, after the yoga position the species' official artwork depicts it in.

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Handy, although the extent to which I want to spread it around is limited. May and Shade both benefit from having Rock Slide.

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Named Liza, of course.

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The ladder we took takes us to an exit, which leads us here. Turkana Town is another waystation for now, but it will be important at a later point. I'd recommend stopping here if for no other reason than to establish a Fly point.

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We immediately find out the town's main landmark and why we can't do much right now.

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Indeed I am. I make it a point to always have one on a team.

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We can't do this trade because Dodrio isn't available for a loooong time.

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Usually sayings like this are a dead giveaway the town is hiding a dark secret.

Heading north leads to the Tarkana Stone, which is gated off by a cop. What's going on?

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Oh, now I'm really curious. Probably a Legendary since that tends to be what Olympus is after. Well, might as well talk to some people.

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Aw, poor guy...

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I know Bug Catchers are generally a joke to us, but in-universe as well? That's not cool. Besides, some of the coolest Pokemon ever are Bug-type. Volcarona. Scyther and Pinsir. Scizor. Heracross. Scolipede. Genesect. Snom.

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Ah, the classic Facebook status game. Annoying as fuck, but I did smile at the reference.

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Now that's what I like to see!

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Cosplaying Pokemaniac or actual talking Pokemon? The world may never know!

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Remember that. It will be important later.


The dude next to him is a repeat of the event in Superior Town. We can mine all three of those, so I'll just pick Fire.

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What the hell?

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Suuuure.

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Seems legit.

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Oh, an Apricorn Ball! As with a lot of the item handouts, this comes with a brief explanation of its weight-based catch bonuses.

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We can't take this trade either, although that won't be true for long. Maractus can be found on the next route.

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Oh, screw you!

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To be fair, Aaron of the Sinnoh Elite Four once used a Dustox and Beautifly. (As if we needed another reason to dunk on Diamond and Pearl.) But Ampharos is a cool Pokemon indeed.

So that's Turkana. We head back to 309 and navigate around a couple of ladders before running into this guy.

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Sure, bud. What do you need?

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Dude, I have, like, eight of them. We don't actually give him a Heart Scale. Instead, he moves aside to reveal...

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Yeah, finding Heart Scales in this is hard. I mine just for giggles (finding a Revive, a Light Clay, and a Yellow Shard), but we can also just give him a Heart Scale.

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Not exactly the best trade, IMO. Super Potions are on the very edge of viability by this point and Heart Scales are, well, Heart Scales. But hey, we helped this guy. This trade is repeatable, should you wish to take advantage of it.

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Here's the next route, which does have Trainers. Mons obtainable on this route:
  • In the grass: Charmeleon, Roselia, Maractus (all 22-24). Note that Maractus can be flipped for a Wynaut, if you're into that.
  • Good Rod: Luvdisc, Basculin (both 20-24). If you elected to keep the Old Rod, you'd have Magikarp and Luvdisc (both 18-20).
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So let's catch some things. Named Toby after an anime owner.

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Named Victoria after the Winstrate mother.

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Named Zippo after Ritchie's Charmeleon. Shoutout to Ritchie, by the way. Zippo is a dope nickname for a Fire-type.

Charmeleon is hard to catch. Starters of course have the 45 catch rate, and Dragon Rage makes it difficult to keep a single mon in lest it be 3HKOed.

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Brine 2HKOes and Tatsu levels up, albeit not without taking one hell of a Dragon Claw first.

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Yeah, skill helps. Props for delaying your evo for Dragon Claw, though, you clearly have something.

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Yeah, y'all know how this ends. Shade levels up.

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Ditto. Um, actually, that's a Monferno

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Look at that XP gain! (Admittedly Lucky Egg-boosted, but still!) Shade picks up a second level and turns down Scary Face.

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I mean, they're probably just fine at doing Ranger things. They're just not cut out for this.

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Something something whole new world. Tatsu handles this easily, although Sturdy means she must take a hit first.

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As above.

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No Sturdy for you, so Tatsu completes the sweep and levels up.

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Damn right I am.

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...you're gonna be named Aladdin and not reference anything? Okay then. (Unless this is the reference; I confess, it's been quite a while since I last saw Aladdin.)

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The Hoenn Tamer starts with a Combusken duel! Peck does negligible damage as May sets up and OHKOes with +1 Brick Break, leveling up.

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Brick Break OHKOes. Good thing, too--Mud Shot would have hurt.

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Grovyle outspeeds, but Brick Break OHKOes anyway.

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Replaces Ember. Our Kickin' Chicken is officially online.

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We'll definitely get up to that in due course.

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Can't touch this...

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...but you can touch everything else. Mirror Shot into Spark into level-up finishes Beedrill off.

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Replaces Spark, although Buzzy Bo isn't particularly fast. It'll still be good to have a 100% accurate special move.

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Sturdy means we can survive a Brick Break, but Mirror Shot whiffs. Uggh. Into Wisp to remove the T-Spike (can't do that 'cause Levitate) completely wall this,

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Bye Bye, Butterfree.

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Three Bugs and an Ampharos? I gotta know the story behind this. Anyway, Shadow Ball OHKOes this and 2HKOes the Heracross. Wisp levels again.

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I hope the Rangers are more competent than the cops here. We will see shortly.

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Bieber jokes were old hat even in 2014.

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Return OHKOes and Cheeky levels up.

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No, it's perfectly valid not to. Just don't think hating him is the peak of comedy.

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I don't like that story very much.

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Brine 2HKOes (though I waste time and HP by trying to finish her off with Twister to save Brine PP).

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Brine 2HKOes and Tatsu levels up.

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Brine doesn't even 2HKO, but bad AI and a flinch allows Tatsu to Twister her way to victory. It had Signal Beam and probably could have finished her off.

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It's not a plot twist, you just forgot I'm The Protagonist.

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This experiment is not going to end well for you.

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Everybody dies to Earthquake (or EQ+Crunch if necessary). Shade levels up.

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Yeah, a Moxie Ground-type is just not a good matchup for you.

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Oh, this is just sad.

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To be fair, Fire Fang is still gonna hurt. Enough so that a switch is necessary. May comes in and OHKOes with Rock Slide.

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Even if everybody had their XY movesets, Flareon only gets Flare Blitz at 45.

This is the final Trainer on the route, allowing us to access...

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Despite being named Town, there is a lot to do in Kivu. First going to the Pokemon Center, as usual:

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Aww, that's wholesome. We'll definitely do that shortly.

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There's our next objective. Also to the east is water, meaning we need Surf to progress.

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There's always one. Also, Olympus had been beaten back at one point.

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Um, sure buddy, go get 'em. North of this guy is the path to the Gym, which also has a Secret Base entrance. To the east is a beach. Luvdisc and Basculin (20-24) can be fished up here.

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'Tis indeed! We can't actually get Clamperl yet.

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Okay, calm down, buddy.

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There's a Black Belt jogging--well, more like sprinting--along the beach. He cannot be interacted with.

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Why, yes I am.

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Performance anxiety, or does it just not give a damn?

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Nice find! Sadly, nobody other than Wisp can learn it. That's it for the outside NPCs.

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How precocious of you.

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All I'm saying is, child Gym Leaders usually aren't that strong. This kid better be the real deal.

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A second Absol trade? What does he want for it?

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The last game I played before this was Crystal. Instant Morty flashbacks. But yes, I do plan to.

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Wisp has carried this team on his back for several routes now, and we also have Shade to back him up. We got this. But, of course, Lie to Advance the Plot yet again.

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If you don't have a Dark-type or a Normal-type with a decent Dark or Ghost move, this Absol trade is well worth taking, especially because you can trade anyone for him. But even if you don't, there's still something for you here:

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Another one of these.

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This route won't open up for a while. A long while.

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And here's Ranger HQ. We'll leave it for the next update.

Next time: Go, go, Poke Rangers! Also, backtracking.

The Squad:
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 34, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Mirror Shot/Electro Ball/Flash/Metal Sound
  • Tatsu (Seadra): Lv. 35, Water, Poison Point, Brine/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 36, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Aerial Ace/Quick Attack/Double Team
  • May (Blaziken): Lv.36, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Blaze Kick/Brick Break/Rock Slide/Bulk Up
  • Shade (Krokorok): Lv. 37, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 38, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis

Click here to return to the Index.
 

Attachments

Part fifteen.

lucariomaster2: And this is why I'm glad I have y'all. Welcome aboard! (Also, I missed a Calvin & Hobbes reference. I am ashamed.)

かたわれ時: It's closer to a direct-to-DVD action flick than a horror movie, I think.

michaeloche: It's basically a double reference: Both to Queen itself and its teenage/twenty-something "born in the wrong generation" stans who fill YouTube comment sections the world over. Excellent NPC work there.


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As what will become usual, a shot of the squad before we begin the episode.

Our main objective for this episode will be to join Versyn's branch of the Pokemon Rangers and complete a mission available to us from them. But first, there's some cleanup around the region to do, which we'll be able to do courtesy of:

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Not yet... Lie to Advance the Plot, for the second time in two episodes!

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Thanks! Goes on Cheeky (replacing Aerial Ace), and you're probably wondering which Badge we need to enable its use in the field. The next one? As it turns out...

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It's actually the Android Badge that allows Flying.

I have a tradition. Whenever I play a Pokemon game, as soon as I am able to Fly, the very first thing I do--including healing from the most recent Gym battle--is Fly home and see my mother. I'm very close with my own mother IRL, so it's basically me playing out the exact thing I would do were I on an adventure far from home and given the power to travel anywhere within seconds.

Problem is, home is destroyed, and our mother is beyond our current reach. But we do know where our house once stood, and we know where we began our journey. And so we shall travel to Nyasa Town, to visit these locations once more.

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There is no practical purpose in making this trip. We have not unlocked anything further here, there is nobody we can speak to, and there isn't even a heal spot available (which I don't need anyway since the team is fully healthy). We've even seen these two spots before, when we first traveled here to liberate the Pokehadron Collider. I am doing this expressly because even in a game such as this, where you literally cannot go home again, I nonetheless feel the call of home.

To actually access something we couldn't before, we travel to Onega.

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North of the Berry fields, this path was blocked by two Cut trees. Taking the Machete to one allows to access this.

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This is a Hidden Grotto, an implementation of a feature exclusive to BW2. Unlike their Unovan counterparts, Hidden Grottoes in Versyn are geared exclusively toward catching Pokemon rather than obtaining items, which you absolutely cannot. Each day generates a single encounter (or none at all), which is determined when the Grotto is first entered that day.

Available in this first Grotto are Beedrill, Bulbasaur, Butterfree, Charmander, Ekans, Kangaskhan, Tangela, and Farfetch'd. Our encounter for this day is a Bulbasaur, which we've already caught one of, so after a token check for a Shiny (no dice), we'll reset and skip it.

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In Kariba, we can cut down a tree in the northeast and find this. That does it for Cut backtracking; there'll be a lot more when we get Surf in a little bit. For now, we return to Kivu to chat up some Rangers.

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Hopefully you will prove better at this than the police.

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I can see how dirty it is.

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All awesome perks.

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Not a team player, are we?

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Ooh, that sounds like a job for us.

At the far end of the building is a PC (usable) and the Rangers' recruitment officer.

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I'll gladly sign on. We can speak to her again to begin the introductory mission. As with the other club missions, be sure to stock up on healing items before leaving.

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Not that I've played a Ranger game, but this certainly sounds up their alley.

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We're on name terms already? I like this better already.

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The mission is another "beat up a bunch of Grunts and then a boss" map. We shall do so now.

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Three up, three down. We might be a little overleveled for this one. Cheeky does not help this by adding one.

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Believe it, pal.

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"Passed", because poor literacy is highly overconfident.

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Mirror Shot 2HKOes and Buzzy Bo levels up.

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This Jumpluff is legit difficult. Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, and Mega Drain all on the same set, plus he outspeeds, so our best attack is the inaccurate Mirror Shot. We end up using Flash to get by it; this in conjunction with a Mirror Shot accuracy drop gets us the win and a second level.

Poor Buzzy Bo...don't worry, Flash Cannon is only three levels away...

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Two Mirror Shots and an Electro Ball prevail, although Vileplume hits a Stun Spore through -1 Accuracy.

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Crit Electro Ball OHKOes even at 40 BP. Buzzy Bo picks up its third level.

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Yeah, I'm kinda good at this. Just a bit.

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Joke's on you, I want to take everyone down.

Brick Break OHKOes and May levels up.

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A second Brick Break OHKO.

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Blaze Kick misses and May gets poisoned, but her second attempt OHKOes on a crit for her second level.

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Helooo, underleveled Mandibuzz. Two Rock Slides later and it's goodbye, underleveled Mandibuzz.

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He's right, it is a dead end. No big deal, though. Next Grunt.

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Aerial Ace kinda hurts. Shade still wins, but is left weakened.

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If Fearow outsped, Rapidash definitely will. Into Tatsu, who sets an Agility up but just barely wins thanks to Fire Spin + Take Down.

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We're Pursuit trapped, yay. At least Tatsu can get a hit in before going down. Cheeky comes in and OHKOes with Fly.

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Nuked. Cheeky levels up.

What's that? Why did Cheeky take a hit? Well, Yanmega used Uproar. But Cheeky came in after a mon fainted. Did I try to set up Double Team? No, I did not.

Behold, probably the single most glaring programming error I have found in this game thus far: Sending in a Pokemon after losing one will not, in certain situations, end the turn and allow the player to select a move. I can confirm this to be the case in the case of multi-turn attacks such as Uproar.

I love this game to death, but God, is it horribly programmed in some spots.

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So this mission is so unimportant to Zeus that he didn't even bother sending one of his Commanders, instead delegating it to a lieutenant. Good to know.

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Tatsu gets a second chance and takes good advantage of it, 2HKOing the Kingler and leveling up.

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Sigh...replaces Brine, Tatsu really needs the power. Besides, she'll have Surf soon. Please don't double-miss or something.

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You can just be forced out by Seed Bomb. Come on out, Wisp! Shadow Ball 2HKOes and Wisp levels up.

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OHKO. I genuinely wasn't expecting that one.

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My mans here has the Elemental Monkeys and a random Kingler for some reason. Only a 2HKO here, so close.

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Well, of course not. You have to train them too.

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The overconfidence continues. His Krokorok has Intimidate. Mine has Earthquake and crits. Level up.

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Magical Leaf is no bueno, so into Cheeky to handle it. Return almost KOs, and then...

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Uggh. Electro Ball picks him off, at least.

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Easy money with Mirror Shot into Electro Ball, though at the cost of paralysis.

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Paralysis + confusion + hail damage = no fun. Into Cheeky for the finish...

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FUCK CONFUSION. Okay, Shade, you can live an Ice Shard, right?

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Lord God almighty, almost didn't. Okay, only the boss left. Let's heal everybody up before we take him on.

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This is definitely the plot of one of the Ranger games, isn't it? (It is.)

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You got a name, "Gruntmaster?" No? Than I don't care.

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A close battle, requiring an Agility, a resisted Hydro Pump and a lucky Poison Point proc. At least Tatsu picks a level up.

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This Axew has Dragon Dance + Dragon Claw, and I have no Fairy. Oboy. Twister does over half, so a flinch or greedy DD would have won. But alas. Shade picks it off with EQ.

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Y'all know how this ends. And yes, he leveled up.

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It's almost like we're in a Pokemon game or something.

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Yeah, what she said!

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Presumably she has a Fire-type to use Burn x2 on it. Mission complete. Let's head back.

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Daily item drop. After healing and restocking, we head south of the base entrance to take on the Gym.

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The usual from Gym Guide. Nine Gym Trainers, two mandatory. It's a Ghost Gym, of course, so Dark-types and Normal-types (especially with Ghost or Dark coverage) are your best bets, as well as speedy Ghost-types that can blast the opposing Ghosts before being blasted themselves. I actually feel pretty well-covered here: Shade of course is a Dark-type, Wisp can outgun most of what the type can throw at us, and Cheeky and Buzzy Bo can at least handle things defensively in a pinch.

The Gym is also shrouded in darkness--of course--but nothing a quick use of Flash can't solve.

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First, we see the second gimmick of this Gym: The Gym Trainers are "invisible". Second, since we're into references in this game, I'm gonna sing the Doom Song now!

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Set up an Agility and then three up, three down with Hydro Pump. Tatsu does not get her level yet.

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I know, that's why I have one.

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The names here are prime e d g e. +1 Blaze Kick OHKOes both of these. May does level.

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There are sixteen other types, you know.

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Double Team is still useful even this late, allowing Cheeky to evade two attacks as she OHKOes the Haunter with Fly, leveling up. Her second mon is a Gengar, and it fares little better.

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My Ghost is better than yours. Wisp is offered Dream Eater on the level-up, but while we do have Hypnosis, it doesnt offer much in the way of useful coverage, so that's a no-go.

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Yawn Shadow Ball.

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That's...worrying.

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No, you're not.

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Mirror Shot into Electro Ball does the job, but Sableye has Knock Off, oh no! Fortunately, this is pre-Gen VI Knock Off, which is only 20 BP with no extra boost for removing an item.

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The bulkier Dark/Ghost falls to two Mirror Shots, and Buzzy Bo levels up.

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My Water matchup is atrocious. Well, might as well fire off a Rock Slide--

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Wat. Ah, level advantage is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

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Blaze Kick, Blaze Kick. After the Ranger and Police missions, this is a cakewalk.

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Wat. Sometimes it's better not to ask questions.

Anyway, we've cleared a path to Graham, but there are still more Trainers to fight.

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Oh, that's actually a cool name.

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Equally cool is the easy sweep. The Mismagius actually outspeeds, but goes for Growl, which doesn't save him. Shade finishes oh so close to level 40.

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Just don't faint, Tatsu. That's all I need from you. A Hydro Pump into a couple of Twisters does the job, Tatsu levels up, and...

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Aaaaat laaaaast...

Swift Swim is back, plus the defensive boosts are huge. Tatsu really feels like she's been falling behind, and I almost forgot why I love Kingdra so much in this game. But you'll see why, and it won't be long, either. You will see.

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Meanwhile, we have this guy to swiftly dispatch. Wisp hits level 40, the first on the team to reach that point. We head back to base to heal up, and then return to finally face Graham. Let's see how good this kid really is.

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Indeed I have...hold on, is that a Shedinja?

Yeah, make sure you have (preferably multiple) ways to hit a Shedinja. If all else fails (a lot of Solo Mode runs, for example), head over to Agassiz and see the Custom Move Tutor. Even mons with weak SpA will at least get this specific situational use out of physical coverage.

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Yeah, yeah, kid, let's get to it.

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That's a good point, actually. So let's see what you got.

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Graham has one Full Heal and two Full Restores available to him.

Haunter's moveset: Lick, Confuse Ray, Night Shade, Shadow Punch. It's okay, you can have Shadow Ball.

Fly OHKOes and Cheeky levels up. Haunter doesn't switch immediately because she does have a move to hit us with (Confuse Ray), but of course it does nothing.

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One of the two aces. Moveset: Hypnosis, Zen Headbutt, Dazzling Gleam, Psybeam. Held item: Black Sludge. Yes, no Ghost moves. Dazzling Gleam is in the game as a TM, although we can't get it for a long while. I presume it's legal since Gengar can learn it by TM in the main series. Neither Psychic attack is one Gengar can legitimately learn.

This is honestly a bizarre and nonsensical set. The intent seems to be the surprise factor of Gleam to take any Dark-types out of the way, but aside from that, it completely neuters I normally wouldn't do this, but: Hey, want a better set idea? Shadow Ball, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam. (Focus Blast would be too mean for this point in the game, IMO.) Preserves the intended purpose of Fairy coverage, keeps Psychic coverage if that's what you're into for some reason, hits the specific Normal-type I'm using, and is all-around a much scarier opponent, which an ace should be.


Anyway, Fly OHKOes. We took a hit trying to set up a Double Team, but that's honestly fine.

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Moveset: Gust, Ominous Wind, Hex, Astonish. Like, I get that this thing has no better Flying STAB, but come on.

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Bulbapedia said:
Gust can hit Pokémon during the semi-invulnerable turn of Bounce, Fly, and Sky Drop, and if it does, it will have its power doubled.
:facepalm:
Amid the thousands of different interactions in Pokémon, even veterans are bound to forget a couple. Embarrassing, certainly, but we shall press on. Call it karma for shittalking Gust.

Into Buzzy Bo, who KOs, burning both of Graham's Full Restores in the process.

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Moveset: Shadow Ball, Shadow Sneak, Hex, Curse. Potential oppurtunity to showcase a physical Ghost, but then, Banette's movepool is barren in that department.

Mirror Shot nearly OHKOes, giving Banette the chance to use Curse. He doesn't Sneak before going down, allowing Buzzy Bo to survive the exchange.

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Moveset: Swords Dance, Shadow Sneak, X-Scissor, WIll-o-Wisp. Not holding a Focus Sash, which...just, come on.

We'll let May handle this one. She comes in on a Swords Dance (of course), Shed doesn't even Shadow Sneak, and that's the battle, resulting in a level-up for both her and Buzzy Bo.

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Replaces Mirror Shot.

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You lost, kid. It's okay, it happens to all of us.

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So Jake was here too. Of course he was.

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That's a great attitude to have. Solidarity! (Also, oftentimes the adults are downright incompetent.)

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"Necro", oooh, sounds appropriately spooky. This unlocks Surf for field usage. We get Shadow Claw as a TM--

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Nevermind. The name is e d g y, but also a really good idea since Shadow Claw is kinda weak without its crits.

Zombie Strike: Ghost, Physical, 90 BP, 90%, 15 PP, Contact. No additional effects, but an incredibly wide distribution. Not only does any physical Ghost-type get it (and almost every Ghost-type, period), but a ton of Normal-, Poison-, and Psychic-types do as well.

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Sounds like you have a bit of a grudge. And it's hard to beat your brother with a no-STAB, two-illegal-and-suboptimal-Psychic-moves Gengar.

But don't worry. We'll take him down.

With our fifth Badge in hand, we'll call the update here. We've done a lot in this one.

Next time: Backtracking! Also maybe some more police and Ranger work.

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 38, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Hydro Pump/Acid/Twister/Agility
  • Shade (Krokorok): Lv. 39, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 39, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Flash Cannon/Electro Ball/Flash/Metal Sound
  • May (Blaziken): Lv. 40, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Blaze Kick/Brick Break/Rock Slide/Bulk Up
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 40, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 40, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Fly/Quick Attack/Double Team


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Zombie Strike seems like such an unnecessarily macabre name. Off the top of my head, Grave Strike would be equally as fitting for what the move is without being quite as... out-of-place.

Maybe that's just me, though.
 
Part sixteen, at long last. There will be no story progress since we've opened up two more missions, plus we have backtracking.

lucariomaster2: It's an example of how this game has a strange mix of genuinely compelling storytelling and "Ow The Edge". Zombie Strike as a move name falls squarely into the latter category.

Also, it reminds me of Snakewood. That's not exactly a good sign.


Last time, we blew up a mind-control device and snagged our fifth Badge. That Badge unlocks a mission for each of our clubs. Plus, we have ourselves an HM to get. So let's hop to it.

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Here's the squad. Shade is one level away from evolving, I can almost taste it.

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Item drop. I'm going to have to put one on Buzzy Bo to steal a KO off a Ground-type at some point.

Meanwhile, now available from Poke Marts: Full Heals, Max Repels, and, at last, Ultra Balls.

Our first objective is to get Surf. To do that, we simply need to head for the beach, where an old friend awaits us.

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Sure thing. Let's see what you've got.

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Jeremy's lead Granbull is also his ace. Well, he's certainly putting his best foot forward. Moveset: Headbutt, Bite, Roar, Scary Face. That's a solid moveset with just level-up moves.

Setting up is unsafe due to Scary Face and Roar, so we elect to just fire off a Hydro Pump, which misses. When it does hit, it very nearly OHKOes, with a Twister finishing her off.

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Moveset: Horn Attack, Double Kick, Poison Sting, Leer.

We opt to set an Agility up on this, since Horn Attack is doing very little. Hydro Pump OHKOes, Tatsu levels up, and...

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Replaces Twister. We have proper Dragon STAB now!

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Jeremy's third mon will be the starter weak to your Escape Route starter. Movesets are:
  • Weepinbell: Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Acid, Vine Whip
  • Seadra: Surf (!}, Agility, Twister, Smokescreen
  • Magmar: Confuse Ray, Feint Attack, Flame Burst, unknown fourth move (I'm filling in my knowledge gaps from the game's wiki, and it doesn't have that listed)
Dragon Pulse OHKOes, the benefit of a nine-level advantage.

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Moveset: Fly, Take Down, Safeguard, Sing. Hydro Pump OHKOes.

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It's called level advantage. You could've used a couple of more levels.

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And there it is. It goes on Tatsu, of course, replacing Acid. Acid's only real use would be against Grass/Fairies, and since Whimsicott hasn't had its type changed, those straight-up don't exist. This also allows Tatsu to keep Hydro Pump as a nuke.

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We heard that elsewhere in town as well. We'll head across the water in due course. First, however, time for backtracking!

What can we get from Surfing, exactly? Well, first, a ton of new Pokemon. Areas we've previously visited have Surfing and Good Rod encounters, and many of those tables are unique. In the interests of saving you from having to read "Here's another Water-type I'm not going to use. I name it after [anime character who used it/game character who used it/something from its origin section of its Bulbapedia page]" thirty times, and to save myself a couple of dozen screens in editing, I'm just going to list them behind hide tags. So:

For each location, the Surfing encounters will be to the left of a semicolon, the Good Rod encounters to the right.
  • Zarivar Town: Tentacool (14-19), Remoraid (14-16), Mantyke (15-16); Shellder (16-19), Krabby (15-16), Barboach (17-18)
  • Route 301: Totodile, Oshawott (4-7); Goldeen, Magikarp, Finneon (all 7-12)
  • Route 302: Squirtle, Wooper, Surskit (all 7-12); Magikarp, Qwilfish, Mantyke (all 12-18)
  • Routes 303 & 304: Tentacool (7-12), Wingull (8-12), Lotad, Poliwag (both 7-12, both rare)
  • Route 307: Shellos, Oshawott (both 7-12); Goldeen, Remoraid, Carvanha (all 12-18)
  • Route 310: Krabby, Wingull, Corphish (all 22-24); Luvdisc, Basculin (both 20-24)


  • Barboach: Nero, after the Whiscash from the anime who swallowed a friggin' Master Ball to avoid being caught
  • Krabby: Rave after, well, the Crab Rave
  • Shellder: Pebbleman, after an anime Trainer who owned a Cloyster (fought against Ash in the Indigo Conference and lost)
  • Tentacool: Jilly, its RB beta name
  • Mantyke: Jack after Jack Walker, a supporting character in the ninth movie, who made use of multiple Mantyke and Mantine
  • Oshawott: Scalchop, after that seashell the species carries
  • Finneon: Zoey, after an anime Contest Coordinator
  • Squirtle: Gary, after Blue
  • Wooper: Olesia, after an anime character who ran an entire Day Care's worth of Wooper
  • Wingull: Peeko, after Mr. Briney's Wingull
  • Shellos: Zoey, after an anime character
  • Carvanha: Aqua, after the team it serves as the signature mon of
  • Luvdisc: Caserin, after Misty's Luvdisc from the anime
  • Basculin-Red: Stripe, 'cause it has stripes
  • Corphish: Hey Hey, after the Corphish from Mystery Dungeon: Explorers and its catchphrase


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By Surfing out from Route 304, we find our second Mega Stone and the first we can actually match to its holder. It might be helpful to demonstrate how this works.

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Stopping at base to use the PC and buy more Ultra Balls--this catching spree having burned through the 30 freebies we had and then some--we get this as a daily item drop.

Dark Epitaph: It's an OHKO move. The game includes OHKO moves for every type lacking one except Fairy; however, Dark Epitaph is one of only five such moves the player can actually obtain, and one of only two teachable via TM. It is learnable by every available fully-evolved Dark-type, meaning Shade can pick it up once he gets that last little bit of XP.

So, time to powerlevel Sale the Magikarp. Some of our old friends get to see some action: Libre comes out to kick the crap out of some Audino, while Albo the Aipom and Trunks the Phanpy will provide Pickup support. Sale is, of course, holding an EXP Share to safely reap half of the benefits of Libre's labor.

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Replaces Encore, I guess. Sure. Have fun.

Sale is level 18 after one Audino session; I elect to swap Libre for Newt and hit the Dungeon to get the remaining two levels, using the Swoobat (level 30 with only one attack, although it is STAB Air Cutter) as our training dummies. In time:

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We're in business. Now all we have to do is slap the Mega Stone on, find a victim that won't immediately annihilate us, and we can do this. This Gastly will serve as a suitable victim.

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It's...a bit awkward, graphically speaking. You press Z to toggle the Mega, and...

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...the text references a Mega Ring we seem to have had from the start (again, there is no Key Stone we're given at any point), and the Pokemon "transformed" a la Meloetta or other mid-battle form changes rather than "Mega Evolved into Mega Whatever!". But we do have a functioning Mega Gyarados, Water/Dark, 95/155/109/70/130/81, Mold Breaker. I won't be using Sale, but between the early Mega and getting it at a higher level, Magikarp is hardly a bad pick for this game.

Back at base, we swap the main squad back in and pick up another Fire Gem for the daily item drop. (The benefits of taking multiple real-life days to do these updates.)

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I missed a trainer on 307, LOL. Somehow Shade still doesn't get enough XP for the level-up.

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Here is a second Hidden Grotto. Available for capture here are Bagon, Beedrill, Butterfree, Charmander, Ekans, Farfetch'd, Mr. Mime, and, as seen here, Tangela. We'll catch this one and name him Meduza, the species' name in the Red & Blue beta.

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Over on 310 we run into this. It will be important later. This is to the north of the bridge; to the south are two more immediately important finds.

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I could stick this on May to boost her Blaze Kicks, but Bulk Up is a better setup move overall for our purposes.

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Eventually, I get tired of the almost-full XP bar and just let Shade knock out a Corphish to get it over with already. He declines Foul Play before evolving.

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Entering the hut on the southern island, we find...is that a Shiny Snorlax? That's an odd overworld encounter to include. Well, only one thing to do here:


As usual, save before engaging.

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To answer the question: Not quite. If you've played Insurgence, you know what this is, at least in concept.

Delta Snorlax: 160/110/65/65/110/30, Grass, Thick Fat/Immunity/Gluttony (HA). This one is level 25, with a level-up moveset of Vine Whip/Belly Drum/Yawn/Chip Away, and holds Leftovers.

"Delta Species", to quote the sparse Pokedex entry shared between the various examples of such, "are Pokémon that have a different type than usual." The mechanic appears to reference EX Delta Species, a TCG series of 113 cards featuring various species relying on different Energy types than their usual, including Fire/Metal Flareon, Lightning/Metal Latias (normally Colorless), and Fire/Metal Tyranitar (normally Darkness). Delta Pokemon in this game share Abilities, most of their learnsets, and usually base stats with their base forms, with the primary differences being typings (of course) and learnset changes for the sake of STAB. With two specific exceptions, Delta Species are counted as entirely separate species in this Pokedex, rather than form changes.

Delta 'Lax loses access to several TMs and Tutor moves (though this is more of a "trimming the fat" kind of reduction; Delta keeps most of Kanto's best coverage moves and even picks up a couple like Poison Jab), but it does pick up Slack Off by level-up, which...let's be honest, we all wanted 'Lax to have.

Compared to the regional variants GameFreak introduced two generations later, and some of this game's own Fakemons, Delta Snorlax is almost too restrained. "What if Snorlax but Grass-type and with reliable recovery" really isn't that exciting of a premise, TBH. Nonetheless, we snag him and name him Flute, after the instrument used to wake him up. (Delta Species also keep their base species' catch rate, which in this case is 25, and Lefties made that already-difficult catch even harder. Glad it didn't have Slack Off.)

After that catch, we fly to Fianga. Both clubs have new missions for us, but the Police Club's has lower-leveled enemies. As usual, stock up on healing before setting out. The city has a Secret Base entrance to mine for selling items if you're low on cash.

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It seems we've uncovered the motivation behind attacking the Psychic Temple. Perhaps we can snag the New Species Pokemon for ourselves someday?

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Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

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Here we are. And here is some music for you as we explore this place. A Grunt gauntlet awaits us, and, apparently, so does Mew.

(Using the ORAS version since I never got to either event in Emerald, and I usually prefer the newer title's soundtrack anyway.)

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Set up a Bulk Up against the Ariados and then sweep. (I forgot to heal, so I slapped Leftovers on May instead of the Lucky Egg, hence why she doesn't level up but does heal.)

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You're not wrong, but you also have zero room to speak on this issue.

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This dude knows what's up. This non-fight gives us the ability to rotate the team before the next Grunt. Both Grunts in the second row and the one on the left of the third row also surrender without a fight.

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I'd say this guy doesn't go quietly, but his Arbok certainly does.

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Arbok Intimidated us, so neutral EQ won't OHKO this Vileplume. A Swagger for chip damage and to avoid getting Stun Spored certainly helps. With the Lucky Egg back on, Shade levels up.

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Goodbye.

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Oh, I'm sure he'd like to.

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Double Uproar crit to open this battle.

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Uproar into Shadow Ball fails to KO, and Wisp gets slept. Not that it matters, because Poliwrath has Hypnosis/Double Slap/Submission/Dynamic Punch and cannot touch us. The perils of straight level-up movesets. Wisp levels up.

The last three Grunts stand down. Onto Giovanni, I guess.

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Yeah, yeah, big talk. Back it up, big guy.

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You'd think he means business, but no custom movesets, so no Ground move for Buzzy Bo to fear. Flash Cannon is a clean OHKO.

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Right for the ace, which does have dual STAB. Time for some pivoting: Cheeky on the Bulldoze to Intimidate, then Shade on the Rock Blast. Shade OHKOes with EQ, earning levels for Buzzy Bo and Cheeky.

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Replaces Double Team. Cheeky is tied with Wisp as the fastest mon on the team, but her base Speed is still only 100.

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The Nidos drop like flies, with Shade leveling up after 'King and declining Foul Play.

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The game doesn't really even consider you a proper boss trainer, but go off, I guess.

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Stopped an organized crime outfit allied with terrorists from capturing a Legendary? Seems like a pretty good outcome to me.

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Okay, that's definitely a problem.

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He doesn't have Mew, he just has the ability to make something stronger than Mew. Wonderful.

The mission ends, and we head over to Kivu to see what the Rangers have for us--after we actually remember to heal, of course.

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We have a stop to make first, though. Goes on Cheeky for her Attack. Anyway, the next Ranger mission:

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Yes, I have played read a Bulbapedia plot synopsis of Shadows of Almia in the course of researching for this playthrough.

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So beat up some Grunts and then a boss? Sounds easy enough. Will Olympus provide an actual challenge for us?

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Here we are. Let's hit it.

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And we'll beat you, too. Return almost OHKOes.

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Another near-OHKO.

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Cheeky survives a Sucker Punch to 2HKO with Fly. The level-up is well-earned.

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Cry harder. Into the desert we go.

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Toxic. +1 Blaze Kick still OHKOes, but let the timer begin. At least May levels up.

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OHKO or bust...or rather, whiff a Blaze Kick, then narrowly miss the OHKO only for Wobbuffet to think it's Gen III and Mirror Coat, and somehow narrowly survive Toxic damage across three turns. As you do.

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Blaze Kick OHKOes, giving May a second level. She's offered Slash, but nah.

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Dragon Pulse 2HKOes, Giga Drain be damned. Tatsu levels up.

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Surf is enough for this one (especially with a crit).

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This Scizor tanks a Hydro Pump, pretty impressive. Tatsu snags a second level.

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Oh, we'll just see about that.

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No u.

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Damn, even without Eviolite, P2 is bulky as hell, surviving a +1 EQ.

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The worse we have to fear from this is Swagger, and even then Shade breaks through

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It really do be like that sometimes.

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Flash Cannon 2HKOes, but Buzzy Bo gets hit with a Confuse Ray first.

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Another 2HKO...fucking Confuse Ray! Taking two Shadow Balls is impressive, but Buzzy Bo can't really do much back. Into Shade, the healthiest member of the team who won't get annhiliated, who finishes the exchange off and levels up.

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Earthquake 2HKOes, Shade surviving a STAB Body Slam in the process.

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That's your problem, not mine.

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Well, you certainly did find a challenge, didn't you? Shadow Ball 2HKOes, with Wisp taking a Crunch and leveling up.

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Bye. Also, a Golett here? Really?

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Another 2HKO.

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Never.

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May sets up two Bulk Ups on a Dig, then 2HKOes. I usually hold off healing mons until they're up to battle to save resources, but...this is not a good time to have my entire team one hit from being wiped.

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At least +2 Blaze Kick carries the day. The level-up partially offsets sand damage.

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Rise a thousand times, and I will strike you down a thousand times. Anyway, boss fight coming up, time to spam Hyper Potions.

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Good. You should have.

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Oh, I've been looking forward to this.

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Moveset: Hypnosis, Fire Blast, Calm Mind, Psychic. As much as it probably should, Ninetales cannot learn Psychic. Ability: Drought. Yep, Buzzy Bo is staring down a sun-boosted Fire Blast, which also makes Tatsu less effective. Hoo boy.

Truth is, Buzzy Bo isn't that useful in this battle--as befitting the name, all of Apollo's mons have Fire coverage. I've opted to give Buzzy Bo a Focus Band I found in the Secret Base; its role will be to chip the Ninetales. Thanks to a miss, it's able to get two hits off.

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A single Hydro Pump is enough, even in the sun. The chip probably helped a lot.

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Moveset: Rock Slide, Explosion, Psychic, Earthquake. Explosion is too early (49). Hydro Pump into Surf takes it down.

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Moveset: Bounce, Wild Charge, Flame Charge, Flamethrower. Bounce is technically legal via tutor, hence why I italicized it versus underlining it, but it's too early for level-up (45). In a strange AI decision, Rapidash opts to Flamethrower (4x resist!), allowing Tatsu to fire off a Hydro Pump. He then tries to get cute with the Flame Charge KO, but Tatsu survives that and Surfs, leveling up.

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Guess who forgot permanent sun was a thing and tried to count sun turns? Anyway, moveset: Bug Buzz, Flamethrower, Air Slash, Stun Spore. So we're just making up movesets now? (Larvesta does get Buzz, but at level 70.) Tatsu's done enough, so we switch into Cheeky and OHKO with Fly.

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Good, get out of here.

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Gracious in defeat, if nothing else. The mission ends immediately after this, without a debrief. Back to base to heal and...

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What is this luck? Okay, Tatsu, guess you're getting a perfect too, even though yours is 28. (It would technically be more efficient to start improving Speed IVs at this point, but Tatsu is actually the weakest attacker on the squad and needs all the help she can get. And with that, let's call it an update. It's taken enough real-life time.

Next time: We set our sights on the east.

The Squad:
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 40, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Flash Cannon/Electro Ball/Flash/Metal Sound
  • Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 42, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Surf/Dragon Pulse/Hydro Pump/Agility
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 42, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Fly/Quick Attack/Agility
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 42, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis
  • May (Blaziken): Lv. 43, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Blaze Kick/Brick Break/Rock Slide/Bulk Up
  • Shade (Krookodile): Lv. 44, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger


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Attachments

Part seventeen.

lucariomaster2: It's great, isn't it? Even the Rockets, while largely faithful to their main series counterparts, field a more diverse roster that doesn't feel entirely out of place. The other wonderful thing about the teams is that they largely bring fully-evolved mons, which makes them more of a challenge while giving the player a correspondingly better reward for beating them, so the Grunt gauntlets are much less of a chore.


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Here's the squad as we prepare to leave Kivu Town. We're actually a bit overleveled, which is what happens when you have a Lucky Egg that early in the game, However, there will be a major level jump in a little while.

We get another Sun Stone as our base item drop. Ho hum, and so we leave the base and leave town on the back of our faux-Lapras.

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Available for capture on this route: Tentacool and Wingull (24-29) on the waves; Luvdisc and Basculin (20-24) on the rod. This is a water route, so not much more to do other than fight some people.

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Hopefully your swim meet goes better than this battle.

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Click Electro Ball three four times, because Tentacruel is a bulky boi, and win.

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Best of luck to you. I know those can be brutal.

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Um, ma'am, you saw me first, so I don't know what you're complaining about.

Agility on the Protect, then Return sweep and a level-up.

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I'm sorry, who lost to pressing the C button three times?

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Shadow Ball 2HKOes, with Azumarill opting to set up the rain for his teammates rather than get a hit in himself. That'll be a level for Wisp.

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Rain-boosted Aqua Tail incoming...nah, let's go for Twister. Gen I-Inspired AI strikes again.

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Water type is the best type. You just have to, you know, actually use Water-type attacks.

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They certainly could be, which is why we do the club missions. Lots of bonus XP.

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Gone. Buzzy Bo levels up.

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Damn right I am.

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Sure you can! The Vaporeon actually survives a Return and gets an Aurora Beam off, so kudos.

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There's just something about NPCs being awed by you instead of brash.

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This is east of Swimmer Thomas, at the southwestern part of the route.

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Um, who?

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Unlike Silver, we cannot name him later. Qwilfish has Brine, but level advantage plus a Rock Slide crit allows May to simply muscle through a mon that resists both of her STABs.

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This Whiscash has Magnitude and Mud Bomb (which I can't just Bulk Up to survive and may result in an accuracy drop). But then, you have the weird AI--we kick out to Cheeky on a predicted Ground move only for Whiscash to use Amnesia. Against the physical mon it has three super-effective attacks to hit. Return OHKOes.

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Return OHKOes after the usual Protect dance, leveling Cheeky up.

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Totally relatable. I've done that a few times myself.

It's Tatsu's turn in the rotation, just in time to find...

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LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Replaces Agility. Swift Swim Mode, activated. Let's find a lucky NPC to test this against.

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Ah, you'll do just fine.

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Set the rain up, and what the hell, let's throw a Hydro Pump.

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"Not very effective", my ass. Look at that damage. That is with level advantage, granted, but we here on Smogon know just how powerful 2HKOing resists actually is.

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That's a crit, but still, OHKO with Hydro. (Still took a hit because Swift Swim Floatzel outspeeds.)

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Is that a neutral target I spy? Whiscash does survive a Surf and Magnitude for weak damage, but a second Surf finishes it off. Level up!

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Rain actually ran out the turn before, and we do not want to take a rain-boosted Aqua Tail, so we'll just Dragon Pulse (remember, Azumarill is NOT a Fairy-type in this game) for an easy 2HKO.

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I mean, you kinda were. Not your fault, though.

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There is now. Shadow Ball OHKOes and Wisp levels up.

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Not taking it because the rare situations where Shadow Ball doesn't nuke something are covered by Uproar.

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A second OHKO.

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No shame in losing to the protagonist. You'll get better.

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Even Quagsire cannot withstand The Power of Friendship (TM).

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Neither can this Azumarill.

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Agility on the Prot...oh, you actually attacked. Crap. Either way, down you go.

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Now you Protect. Aargh. Either way, OHKO and level-up.

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That's the spirit. Keep at it.

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I don't think I can. I KNOW I can. Rock Slide OHKOes.

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Bulk Up to reset the Attack drop and better take the Aqua Tail, and Gyarados whiffs, followed by a Rock Slide flinch.

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May takes the Aqua Tail comfortably at +1, and even a -1 Rock Slide 2HKOes.

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Yeah, I reckon being beaten handily by a Fire-type isn't doing much for your confidence.

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First Full Restore of the run, that's nice.

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This is a second Swimmer Josiah, same Pokemon and all. Buzzy Bo sweeps this and levels up.

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...yeah, this isn't much of a fight. Earthquake just misses the OHKO while Milotic opts for Rain Dance.

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Gracious in defeat. I appreciate that. She'll be the final Trainer we fight.

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We've reached the next town. Once we make landfall, we find two Tubers running around on the beach.

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Oh Lord, kids. I'll leave you to it. After this, healing is of course our main priority.

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I mean, I'm her kid, would. you like to fight me? No? Oh...okay...

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Fair enough, but someone clearly does. We'll be headed there shortly.

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That's fucked up, but also strikes me as waaaay out of character for the Joys, so I'm gonna call this an e d g y. Anyway, let's talk to some folks.

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I understood that reference.

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The game isn't quite stooping to poop jokes. Just fake-out poop jokes.

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Not to worry, we're on the case!

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Well, there's also Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Almia...

(He means within this game. There is. And we will be tackling it. This is going to be a long project.)

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She really isn't, fam. Props to you for sticking with your one-and-only, at least.

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Haha, meta joke. We'll see what that is shortly.

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Uh-oh. We can probably handle that, but it's not gonna be easy. The Shrine lays just to the north, but there are some buildings and a couple of landmarks to check out.

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This lighthouse is blocked off until very late in the game. The kid has more to say, but showing it will display MAJOR spoilers. Like, there's a specific name which gets dropped that would give an entire section of the plot away.

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The tickets in question are event items. We actually have one of them, and it'll be our first priority for next time.

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The problem with rambunctious NPCs like this is that they're hard to interact with. You basically have to corner them to talk to them.

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This is why Giovanni owns one in the anime. Very regal. (And, of course, compare to Alolan "Garfield" Persian.)

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This is where we'll turn in the Ancient Tomes once we have all twelve, so remember this place.

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I applaud this. I love universes where magic and science coexist and aren't inherently opposed forces. We get to this guy by looping around the Shrine, which also gives us access to more NPCs and this:

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Goes to Buzzy Bo, the slowest on the team, who has not had very much EV help at all in this regard.

  • Buzzy Bo: 30 (after the Carbos)
  • May: 38
  • Cheeky: 62
  • Wisp: 83
  • Tatsu: 91
  • Shade: 93

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Up ahead would be the exit from Cycling Road, but like with the Trick House, it was never implemented. (Considering we've had Fly for a while, it strikes me as a little late to put in a Cycling Road. Even in Kanto, where you can get Fly before accessing Cycling Road, you don't have to reach Fuchsia before getting Fly.)

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This gentleman will give you a Happiny Egg. Oval Stones can be mined, so this is a much easier way to get a Chansey than the 1% encounter in the Safari Zone.

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Oh, geez. It doesn't actually matter which "yes" you pick.

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This is an interesting shop. Bob sells the type-enhancing items for 2,000 yen a pop, while Stan sells the Gems for 200 yen each. Fire Gems can be obtained through Secret Base drops, while Hard Stones can be mined. I've bought a few Ultra Balls for an upcoming event, so with my remaining cash I buy a Mystic Water, Black Belt, Black Glasses, Charcoal, Dragon Fang, and Magnet; I'll come back for a Metal Coat, Sharp Beak, Silk Scarf, Soft Sand, and Spell Tag when funds permit.

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Uggh, cringe. (I am Black American IRL and have had to put up with a lot of this from people thinking they "relate better" to me.)

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But at least we get something nice out of it. The Instant Lapras serves as the HM Item for Surf, which is primarily beneficial for physical Water-types (since special Waters can reteach it without much of a penalty).

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No. No, you don't. That's about it for the town, so it's time for plot. To the Shrine we go!

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How nice of you.

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I have to know how this works internally. Were the siblings promoted at the same time? Did one of them have a different codename until the other was promoted? Are those names they were given or took for themselves? Are they actually siblings?

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He does have Shaymin, that makes a second Legendary. Or is that not good enough for him?

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Aha! This is Pokemon, where even gods can be felled. But if you have a Pokemon said to guarantee victory for its trainer, your god is fully invincible. (And so would anybody else.)
Obviously, Team Asgard will be seeking to capture the Wishmaker for a similar purpose. If you can wish defeat upon your enemies, same result.

The screen shakes.

WARNING: There will be a bright yellow screen coming up. Prepare your eyes accordingly.

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Here it comes...

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Yeesh, yellow is a harsh color to flash the screen. The siblings think they can simply bring this god to heel, which, without a Master Ball, they can't immediately.

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I'd like to imagine our character clearing her throat loudly at this. "AHEM..."

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Still on that, are you? No more recent defeats to be salty over? (The Ranger Club missions are optional, so he won't reference the battle over the second Gigaremo that the player may or may not have taken. You could program a check for completion of that mission and an extra/altered line of dialogue, but that's a minor complaint.)

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...oh, you do have another Master Ball. Not to worry, we can still take you both! We just...have to...actually engage both of you...

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Oh? Who's this?

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Look at this! An Elite Four who doesn't just sit on their asses all day and actually takes a stand when the region is threatened! (Also, three guesses on her type specialty. First two don't count.)

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Ohhohoh, y'all don't stand a chance.

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It's a Multi Battle! (Also, text error: Our side should introduce their mons separately.)

Swanna has Rain Dance, Aqua Ring, Roost, and Air Slash. Stantler has Take Down, Confuse Ray, Calm Mind, and Role Play. Vulpix has Flamethrower, Captivate (too early), Roar, and Pursuit (which it can't learn at all).

On turn one, I put the Stantler to sleep while Swanna Air Slashes Vulpix and gets a flinch. Perfect first turn. A Shadow Ball finishes Vulpix off next turn.

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The Ponyta has Flame Charge, Wild Charge, Bounce (technically legal as a tutor move), and Flamethrower. This can OHKO Swanna, so we make him go night-night. Swanna sets up Aqua Ring for herself while Stantler stays asleep. Shadow Ball OHKOes Ponyta, making the Hypnosis unnecessary, and Swanna sets up rain while Stantler uses Role Play on Wisp to grab Levitate.

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All four mons on the field are now immune to Ground, for whatever it's worth. Solrock has Hypnosis (which it cannot learn), Rock Polish, Rock Slide, and Psychic. It drops to a crit Shadow Ball before it can do anything. Stantler takes an Air Slash and chunks Swanna with Take Down, but knocks itself out with recoil.

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Lunatone has Rock Polish, Psychic, Rock Slide, and Heal Block. By this point, Swanna can sit back and heal while Wisp sweeps.

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Fury Cutter, Slash, Heal Pulse (which would actually be worth something if Apollo's team was still standing), Swords Dance. He, too, drops to a Shadow Ball.

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The usual bluster despite getting their asses kicked by not even the Elite Four member.

Morgan's back two are a Floatzel (Whirpool/Aqua Jet/Swift/Double Hit) and a Walrein (Hail/Aurora Beam/Swagger/Body Slam). Our matchup against Water is...shaky, to put it lightly. May my decision not to field a Grass-type for this team not bite me in the ass hard when we reach her.

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When will you people learn?

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Quick, use a move you don't actually have (unless Morgan used TM05 while nobody was looking}!

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Yes, that is how the move works.

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I think you've mixed the two Mythicals up, Artemis. Victini doesn't grant wishes. But hey! Olympus wishes us dead! That means we're a threat to be taken seriously, which is worth a lot.

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The Chrome Circle is the geographic term for this landmass we're currently on.

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Graham is quite jealous of his brother. I'm intrigued to see how his brother feels.

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Hey, look at that! We can grab an item--

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ARE YOU KIDDING ME?--and mine to get enough cash for the rest of the type-enhancing items. We'll fly back to Superior and improve Buzzy Bo's Speed IV (a tragic 3). After that, we head back to Bob to pick up a Metal Coat, Sharp Beak, Silk Scarf, Soft Sand, and Spell Tag. We're far enough ahead of the level curve for now that I feel comfortable retiring the Lucky Egg for now and actually using proper held items.

With all of this done, we'll call it an update for now.

Next time: Son of a glitch! Also, we haven't seen Jake in a while. I wonder what he's up to?

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 43, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Surf/Dragon Pulse/Hydro Pump/Rain Dance
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 43, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Flash Cannon/Electro Ball/Flash/Metal Sound
  • Shade (Krookodile): Lv. 44, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • May (Blaziken): Lv. 44, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Blaze Kick/Brick Break/Rock Slide/Bulk Up
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 45, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Fly/Quick Attack/Agility
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 45, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis


Click here to return to the Index.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Here's part eighteen. We've been doing this for two months, so thanks to y'all for sticking with it. Warning: Shit's about to get weird.

King Feraligatr: You can't say it's all edge and no point, that's certainly true. It's the juxtaposition of an honest crack at storytelling, which indeed has its moments, and the "Ow the Edge" we've come to associate with many a fangame that fascinates me about this game.


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Here's the squad as we prepare to leave Ladoga. I've elected to quit passing the Lucky Egg around, which both keeps us from trivializing the entire game with level advantage while also giving us a more consistent item slot against those foes who can keep up. Shade is holding Soft Sand, Buzzy Bo a Metal Coat, May Charcoal, Tatsu a Mystic Water, Cheeky a Silk Scarf, and Wisp a Spell Tag.

Our first destination is the dock on the southern end of town.

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We received a ticket from the Mystery Gift dump all the way back at the beginning of our journey. This will be our third visit to an existing locale, and our second to Kanto. (And you thought Kanto pandering started with XY.)

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Well, that's always a nice word to hear.

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We see the FRLG layout, which raises several questions about when exactly this game takes place. (Remember that the island blows up from a volcanic eruption prior to the events of the Johto games.) The Center, Mart, and Lab are all inaccessible. On the upside, unlike when we visited Pallet Town, we do at least get Cinnabar's theme.

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Oh, Arceus. Oh, Arceus.

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"Volcanic eruption", riiiight. I'm sure this is going to be what actually happened to Cinnabar in this universe, with the volcano used as a cover story. Take a moment, if you will, and process the sheer surreality of the encounter that's about to follow.

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I cannot imagine what it feels like to be Blaine here, to see his home devastated by...by this thing which he cannot possibly comprehend.

Save and make sure you have plenty of Ultra Balls.

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So, here are some fast facts about our world-destroying friend here:
  • It will not duplicate items.
  • It will not corrupt your Hall of Fame data or otherwise mess with your game.
  • It is Normal/Flying, 33/136/0/6/6/29, with Sky Attack and Water Gun as its only moves. With a single exception, it can learn any TM from its original list that remains a TM in this game and those only.
  • It has a unique Ability, Glitch. This will immediately KO any opposing Pokemon which makes contact with it. So we should not do that. (If you were to do this event later, such as once you have access to False Swipe, you will need to keep that in mind.)
  • It has a Shiny sprite! (Screens courtesy of thesuzerain, lead developer, while testing the event.)
So, time for some pivoting. With Shade up front, I'd probably opt to use Swagger and then start throwing balls, but this thing has STAB Sky Attack and could KO itself. So we go into Cheeky to Intimidate it as it charges a Sky Attack, then into Wisp to put it to sleep. It nearly OHKOes at -1. Wisp manages to sleep it, and I have no idea how to chip this thing without wiping it out.

We have a single non-Ultra Ball in our Bag, a Heavy Ball. Assuming this MISSINGNO is implemented according to its RB form, it weighs 1,590.8 kilograms, good for the maximum +40 bonus.

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...yeah, that's all I can say. And it wakes up. And thus, we settle down into our cycle of "Wisp used Hypnosis!" and "Shoot! It was so close, too!"

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Only took four balls in total, that's actually not bad.

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Oh, so that's why the Heavy Ball didn't work. (And I thought I was clever.)

We see that, contrary to its name, MISSINGNO has a number in this Pokedex. And a proper Dex entry. Just take a moment and look at this. MISSINGNO exists as an actual, honest-to-God Pokémon.

I want to do some testing with this thing. Nobody would dare use it on a serious team: Its defenses are paper-thin, its movepool too narrow, its speed

Not named. I do not name Legendaries. And while MISSINGNO isn't technically a Legendary, it's close enough.

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I WAS KIDDING! Okay, to be fair, it's hardly out of left field. (Also, how do you repair this?)

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Are there any survivors? I'm not sure. We'll have to leave Blaine to mourning the dead and rebuilding, however, as we must continue our journey...and see what our newest catch can do.

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It is so weird to be playing with this infamous glitch as if it were just another mon.

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Here it is in the party screen and the overworld. We teach it Earthquake and Fly because why not.

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Here it is using a field move! In this case, Flying to Zarivar so we can take it into the grass on 301 and let it fight some things that won't annihilate it.

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Here it is on our side of the field.

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And here is Glitch activating. (I had it use Sky Attack.) No funky sprite corruption (though that would legit freak me out, so in that respect I'm actually happy), the opponent just drops. Notice that this thing, at level fifty, took six points of damage from a level 5 Wurmple using non-STAB Tackle. Total experience yield: Three. More damage taken than experience gained. (Isn't experience scaling grand?)

That's enough fun with MISSINGNO. It has served on the team, even if purely to satisfy my curiosity, so into the Box of Honor it goes. We Fly back to Ladoga and prepare to actually leave and continue our journey.

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Hey, a guard! Glad to help.

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Available for capture on this route: Gligar (26-30), Vespiquen (26-30, Zeta exclusive), Mothim (26-30, Omicron exclusive), Trapinch (26-30), Tropius (28-30, rare).

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Hey, how'd that Swimmer get over here?

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Wow, you have the same name as an Elite Four member, I hope you're good! Not that we'll know, as Rock Slide OHKOes.

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EQ easily carries the day.

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You go, Karen. Chase that dream. Let's go catching.

  • Mothim (lv.27, male): Hawkmoth, after the death's-head hawkmoth.
  • Tropius (lv. 30, female): Banana, 'cause it has bananas.
  • Gligar (lv. 29, female): Latoya, after the daughter of the anime Gligarman.
  • Trapinch (lv.26, female): Solana, after a Ranger from the Shadows of Almia anime special


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I'd love to give her my Tropius, but alas.

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Wow, Tropius is popular, huh?

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He certainly is equipped to handle a Tropius. What he is not equipped to handle is Buzzy Bo.

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There the game goes making the same joke I just did.

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Per wiki, the encounter rate is 2%. Good luck with that.

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I was expecting a Noctowl. Either way, May clicks Rock Slide twice and levels up.

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I hope that wasn't an innuendo or anything.

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Look over here! POW! Now I KO your Pokémon!

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By then I'll be looong gone, buddy.

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This battle probably doesn't help her clothes--or her team, who are simply two more for May.

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...she said, more concerned with her clothing and nails than her Pokémon which have just been obliterated by a chicken.

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A second Full Restore, sweet.

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When I last played this game, I could've sworn this NPC was in the Ranger HQ in Kivu. It's a charming, if obvious, reference.

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Anyway, let's beat up her team. The sucky part about being overleveled is that this route-clearing becomes an absolute chore.

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C'mon, don't be so hard on yourself!

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You have an entire plain to bike. Chill.

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Tatsu rides the waves to an easy sweep.

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Certainly.

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Nice team, at least. This is not a clean sweep, as Cheeky gets Intimidated twice thanks to Trace and the Gardevoir survives...to use Calm Mind. Yeah.

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Yeah, Gardevoir and Gallade are pretty far from the edge. In fact, they're super effective against a lot of it.

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Ouch. That one aged like milk. (If you don't get it, these days 4chan is known for being a bit more than "edgy".)

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Hey, look, a better explanation of Pokerus and why a virus manifesting as a no-drawbacks buff to its host actually makes sense!

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Let's see it.

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Indeed you do. Flash Cannon 2HKOes; 99/83/87 defensive stats aren't anything to sneeze at, although the offenses certainly are.

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Very good. Not gonna lie, this is an interesting plot thread we're following here.

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We even have a Fighting-type for this battle of honor. Blaze Kick OHKOes.

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I think I see the team setup here. 'Top has Intimidate, allowing him to survive a Blaze Kick. But only one.

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'Lee drops in one kick.

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What is it with people on this route having no self-confidence?

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Roadblock here, so we're forced to go southeast. This one will clear sooner than you think.

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And another Full Restore, nice.

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What's that saying about statistics?

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Fighting Rotom, cool! It uses Double Team...not so cool. Flash Cannon eventually 2HKOes.

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Flash Cannon into Electro Ball 2HKOes.

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I've beaten 100% of my opponents thus far, thank you very much.

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Aww, awkward Super Nerd. Poor guy.

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This is somehow a 2HKO. I'm guessing that's a roll, but nonetheless, most impressive.

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This, however, is not.

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I definitely understand that (although my crippling fear of being alone usually overrides that). The outside world is definitely scary right now, for a variety of reasons.

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Indeed I am, and...oh, Tatsu is gonna feast on this poor Hiker! At least the level gap is narrowing. Kabutops has Sand-Attack, which he's able to use twice, once on the setup turn and once after a Surf miss. So this may take a bit more effort.

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Tatsu effortessly beats the Aerodactyl, but Omastar takes a bit more trouble thanks to Surf misses. Two Mud Shots negate Swift Swim entirely. Also, we have another Fossil Trainer. Shouldn't you be in Jonathan's Gym or something?

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If you do want to run Kingdra physically, hold off and Heart Scale this. Waterfall and Outrage are coming, but you'll get more mileage out of its other setup moves for now.

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Back to the sweep, a Surf miss results in getting Swaggered, but Tatsu beats the coinflip and accuracy rolls twice to handle the Bastiodon easily.

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Best of luck to you. It's not terribly far now.

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We got TM87, 'cause we're so HM02.

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Yeah, you're gonna lose that bet. Especially with Shade up to bat.

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Done and done. And given the typically high money yields from Gamblers, we just won a lot more than five bucks.

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So...Game Corner? Game Corner.

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Indeed it is. Your team is also cool. And so its its weakness to Cheeky's Return (even Lucario is 2HKOed).

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If your bridge-building skills are indeed that good, they'd be pretty hard to top, even with a Lucario.

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Yawn. Who will Wisp feast on today?

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Buh bye. Level-up for Wisp.

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Yeah, yeah. Get Gengar'd.

I would heavily advise retreating to heal before proceeding further. We find a Focus Sash at base, which may be helpful later. After healing and returning to the bridge:

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Oh, no. Tell me Olympus is not about to jump us here.

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Oh, whew. It's just the rival the game plum forgot about for the last several areas.

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I literally just heard you say world domination. In which case, good luck contending with us and Olympus.

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It's right here, in my Bag. Now, I would just give it to you, seeing as you are relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things and I have no use for it, but I'm pretty sure Pokémon doesn't allow that.

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Dude. I can literally show it to you. It's right here.

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Fine, your arrogance shall be your downfall.

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Rival Two (especially in the earlier games) is typically among if not the hardest fight you'll have faced to that point in a game. In this game...not so much. EDIT IN POST: This is actually Rival Three, but the Agassiz battle wasn't particularly noteworthy either, so the point stands. Index has been updated to clarify.

Moveset: Thunder Wave, Substitute, Swagger, Foul Play. Yes, we have a SwagKeys set in a non-competitive context. Klefki cannot learn Swagger except via the TM Jake explicitly states he does not have, so this is illegal.

I have opted for a held item swap: May is holding our sole Lum Berry, although depending on the AI she may not even need it. It turns out she does, as Klefki goes for Swagger turn one. Thanks for the +2!

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Moveset: Take Down, Iron Defense, Mud-Slap, Metal Claw. He drops to a Brick Break.

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And here we go. Moveset: Bubble Beam, Agility, Twister, Ice Beam. His Magmortar has Confuse Ray/Flame Burst/Focus Blast/Feint Attack, and his Victreebel Vine Whip/Venoshock/Growth/Poison Powder (oof).

Brick Break OHKOes.

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Moveset: Payback, Brick Break, Swagger, Sand-Attack. Also drops.

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Yeah, it is. For you. Moveset: Ember, Smokescreen, Scary Face, Dragon Claw. His Magmortar will be paired with a Grovyle (Screech/Brick Break/Quick Attack/Absorb), and his Victreebel with a Croconaw (Ice Fang/Water Gun/Dragon Claw/Bite). Another Brick Break fells him.

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With those movesets? Hell yes, you are.

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LOL get gud scrub.

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Oh come on, way to pile on. I feel bad for the kid now.

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...aaaand now I don't. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

May took no damage, so after giving her her Charcoal back, we're honestly good to continue. And we shall do so...next time.

Next time: The trek to Treader Town continues.

The Squad:
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 44, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Flash Cannon/Electro Ball/Flash/Metal Sound
  • Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 45, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Surf/Dragon Pulse/Hydro Pump/Rain Dance
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 46, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Uproar/Night Shade/Hypnosis
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 46, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Fly/Quick Attack/Agility
  • Shade (Krookodile): Lv. 46, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • May (Blaziken): Lv. 46, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, Blaze Kick/Brick Break/Rock Slide/Bulk Up


Click here to return to the Index.
 
Last edited:
When I meant that this game had way more redeeming qualities than some other edgy fanworks, I meant in terms of features and gameplay. The plot itself is still a disjointed mess. Many "edgeworks" are all about the edge to the detriment of just about everything else. ZO tries to improve on the gameplay at least.
 
Here's part nineteen. At over 250 screens, it's the longest update yet, and it was a bit of a slog at times. Well, most of the time. But nonetheless, here it is, just in time for the New Year.

King Feraligatr: Ah, yes. That much I can agree with. Things like the Secret Base, Custom Move Tutor, and IV and Nature adjustments are wonderful features, but the story does leave some things to be desired--for example, it more-or-less forgot we had a rival for a little while.

lucariomaster2: Minor spoilers, but he doesn't progress in that direction. He keeps the Klefki/two starters/Aggron/Scrafty team, although he will have a couple of surprises for us...


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Here we are as we begin our next section. Not much to look forward to by level-up, except Brave Bird on Cheeky (49; incidentally, May can pick up that same move at that same level) and Discharge on Buzzy Bo (51).

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The second of three routes comprising the trek to Treader Town, 313 is a maze of bridges and platforms. It functions like a cave with regards to encounters, with wilds descending from the skies to ambush you. Those encounters are: Swellow (26-32), Mandibuzz (26-32), Staravia (26-32), Honchkrow (26-32), Gliscor (26-32, rare), and Skarmory (28-32, rare).

Swellow, lv. 32, male: Charti, after the Charti Berry, which wild Swellow have a 5% chance of holding in the wild in Gens IV and V (and thus this game)
Mandibuzz, lv. 26, female: Queen, inspired in part by its Japanese name, Vulgina (possible portmanteau of vulture and regina, the Italian word for queen)
Skarmory, lv, 29, female: Miki, after an anime character
Honchkrow, lv. 28, female: Allegra, after a character from the tenth movie


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What you can blame me for is wiping out your team. On the level-up, Buzzy Bo is offered Screech, but come on.

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Buh-bye.

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You're not very patient for a fisherman, are you?

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Skarmory, I assume? Anyway, Uproar 2HKOes. It's been a while since Wisp has needed another move.

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Another 2HKO, but Wisp is taking solid hits in the interim.

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Another 2HKO, barely hanging on.

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It is a Skarmory, so it might improve your matchup...

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I swear, the overconfidence of these Trainers...

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Don't let your mouth write checks your ass butt can't cash, son. (Sorry. Shouldn't swear in front of kids.)

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And here, five Gyms and change in, are our first Rare Candies, in two dead-ends surprisingly close to each other. We may need these later.

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I'd love to. Just don't let your dreams get crushed when Shade sweeps you, 'kay?

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Shade levels up.

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That's more like it!

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Return is a 3HKO. Granted, level advantage and Silk Scarf, but still, not bad for facing a Skarmory. (A competitive damage calc for reference: 252+ Atk Silk Scarf Staraptor Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 59-69 (17.6 - 20.6%) -- possible 5HKO)

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Try getting a couple more. There's some pretty good ones here!

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Okay, that's two routes with NPCs hyper-obsessed about a 2% encounter.

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Easy money. Cheeky even outspeeds the Alakazam.

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At this point, it's becoming repetitive:

Before battle: "I'm the greatest ever! Let's battle!"

Loses

"OH GOD NO MY ENTIRE LIFE IS OVER!"

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It's not like I want to be on this bridge! Anyway, Kecleon tries to get cute by setting up a Substitute on the Rain Dance, but two Surfs take care of him.

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Two Surfs, two KOs, one level-up.

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See, that's what I like to hear. That's the last Trainer to fight in this maze, allowing us to find the exit and enter...

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This route is a simple, five-floor cave. No items (for now), no Trainers, and only Phanpy, Donphan, and Drilbur (all 30-34) to catch. We catch a Donphan and name her Pygmy (after the Borneo pygmy elephant), and a Drilbur named Clay (after the Unovan Gym Leader). Once those are done, we can finish the route and enter...

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The sixth Gym is here, as well as some other stuff. To the north is Mount Press, which is currently literally locked off to us, so we'll need to do things here before climbing the mountain. First, of course, the Pokemon Center.

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Do you get it? It's the meme cry! Isn't it so funny, guise?

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This game has not pulled its punches (except when it does). We know to be careful.

Now, you've mostly seen us steamroll the last few routes and story events. That may end with this battle. Avery will have a full team of six, complete with items. We're sufficiently overleveled to weather that storm, but if you're not, be prepared.

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Considering how strict Centers apparently are in this game, perhaps not.

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Y'know, I am glad the Bug Catchers have someone to look up to. Anyway, let's meet some people.

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I see somebody on the dev team liked that one dude in Pacifidlog. Both answers lead to the same place, which is a fine antijoke, but not a trick I'd exactly rely on. There's a house here that we need to visit, because:

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The Game Corner thing is good to know, actually. (They're a Lottery award.) You can also get them from mining, which is how we have a clean dozen. Also, just like the Move Deleter, the Relearner provides an in-universe explanation for his services. Anyway, let's get to it:

Buzzy Bo: Tri Attack, replacing Metal Sound.
May: High Jump Kick, replacing Brick Break. I'll also swap her held item to the Black Belt, though not until after Avery because Blaze Kick will of course be helpful in a Bug Gym.
Cheeky: Close Combat, replacing Agility. (Quick Attack still has niche use for capturing or beating out opposing priority.)


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Popping outside, we learn that Mom has been fighting Olympus on multiple fronts. Good work, the information war cannot be neglected.

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Even if you are not as old as this guy, never forget to rest. Self-care is, genuinely, important.

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Some of you are going to see this and react in...some way, IDK. The rest of us will know what he's talking about momentarily.

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Rimshot

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I'd say pretty well.

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Is this a quiz? Sure, let's do a quiz.

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Well, every good quiz has a warmup question. Kanto, next question...

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Plasma are of course the antagonists of the Unova games...

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I actually incorrectly guessed Unova and had to try it again. Turnback Cave is, of course, the cave where the portal to the Distortion World lies. (Guess who hasn't actually played enough of Sinnoh to know that?)

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Unova, Pokestar Studios.

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Orre, Shadow Pokemon.

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That is also Orre. For a reward, we get:

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We'll want this for a later minigame.

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What is this game and why is everyone so obsessed with it?

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Hey look, an actual puzzle. Note that you do need to talk to her from specifically behind her.

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He will accept any Pokemon for this trade. We're actually going to do this trade (and a couple of others) in a moment. The other two kids reveal that they're here on summer break from school. (Or Christmas break, at time of current play. Or no break at all.)

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God, the time and money you have to spend on food prep...and you have two kids...

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Mr. Briney? What are you doing here?

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Talking to him breaks his movement script--you have to exit and reenter the house to reset him--but he does give you something nice. We need Avery's Badge to use it in the field, but if you have a physical Water-type, feel free to slap it on right now. That's every house, leaving us with just two locations remaining.

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The game then does a legit Hurry Along sequence to show us around. Damnit, I was gonna do it myself. Okay then, cue the music.

(In case you haven't caught on, I really love the XY soundtrack and will use every available excuse to use as much of it as possible in this playthrough.)

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No official license means no pesky European ratings boards to worry about, so feed that gambling addiction to your heart's content!

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We start with zero coins. Once this tutorial finishes, we'll have to buy a few.

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That's also the extent of my knowledge about this game, so I'm flying blind here. (It's actually not that complicated. Also, is this a fourth-wall break for the player's sake or does Final Fantasy exist in-universe here?)

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We'll go with a Water deck since Water is my favorite of these types and (though I'm pretty sure this doesn't mean anything) we already have the Phione card from the quiz earlier.

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Did you know there actually isn't a lottery in the Unova games? Surprising, I know, given how much of a big friggin' deal Powerball and the lot are in the States. Given the ten trades we have available to this point (plus those from the Trade Master at base), you can get some pretty decent odds.

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And now, cue the only appropriate music for this locale:


(Fun fact: The extended version of this track I originally wanted to use got nuked by the copyright bots as I wrote this.)

Sound files for Voltorb Flip actually exist in the game's directory, suggesting that this game might have had that option instead of or even alongside the slots. (What missed potential to have both games in the same Corner!) But alas.

So, I mentioned that the reason I'm unfamiliar with Triple Triad, aside from not having played Final Fantasy VIII, is that this is my first time actually playing around in the Game Corner. Why's that? Well, let's take a look at the prizes--to do that, we only need to talk to the cashier, who gives out both the coins and the prizes. I go ahead and buy a nice stack of 500 coins, since I more than have the 10k to spare. First, your Pokemon:

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Pretty standard Gen I list. Breaking it down:
  • Abra and Clefairy can already be caught much earlier in the game, and they're not terribly rare (though Clefairy has to be caught at night). You probably should have an Alakazam (Pokegear trade) and Clefable (Moon Stone in Fianga) by now if you're planning to use either one.
  • This is the earliest you can get a Dratini, which will be a Dragonair when it catches up to your team, but its best moves will be Surf, Dragon Rage, and probably Dragon Tail, unless you decide to push to 47 for Dragon Rush. (Keep in mind I am overleveled.) Remember that the line is in the Slow experience group in a generation with experience scaling. You'll probably end up spending a lot of time or money (or both) to catch it up.
  • Scyther can be found earlier, but it's a Safari Zone encounter, so it's fair to grab one here. You can buy a Metal Coat in Ladoga for an instant Scizor, then turn in a Heart Scale for Bullet Punch. Both mons will have X-Scissor for Bug STAB at level 41. Scyther itself isn't too shabby either with Technician Wing Attack; both mons also have a decent coverage option in Brick Break (more valuable for Scyther) and of course are part of the coveted False Swipe by Level-Up Club.
  • Porygon...hoo boy. You can get both the Upgade and the Dubious Disc in the same location, giving you an instant Porygon-Z if you so desire, but you're stuck with the middling first stage for a while, with no Tri-Attack until level 51, leaving you with Tackle--yes, Tackle--as your lone STAB. Psybeam, Signal Beam, Shadow Ball, and Discharge provide solid coverage options, at least.
So those are your mons, which aren't the worst in this environment. We're still in the midgame and you'll have plenty of time to use Dragonite, Scizor, or Porygon-Z if you want. So what do we have for TMs?

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Respectively: Ice Beam, Smack Down, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower. If you've played this game, you know why this is a terrible TM list. If not, in a nutshell, none of these TMs are unique to this location. In fact, the most expensive TM available is one you already should have. It's on the beach in Kivu, if you remember.

Now, would that be bad if the other three were picked up on Victory Road or similarly late? No, that's a long stretch of game ahead. To spoil a bit, the other four can be purchased at the Department Store, which we have not yet encountered, but is coming up. Obviously those will be a lot cheaper. There are a couple of arduous areas ahead, where having, say, Thunderbolt on Buzzy Bo would be nice, but is the loop of mining Rare Bones and Star Pieces, converting those to cash, and then converting the cash to coins worth it? Not really. Even Thunderbolt--reliable Electric STAB for Buzzy Bo and coverage for Wisp--isn't worth it for me.

But first, some other games. I want to try the lottery, which I normally wouldn't, except for the ten in-game trades available to us by this point. I have shown all of them and where they are, and we've made one already.

  • My own Trainer ID: 40844
  • Dizzy (Spinda): Old Man Bud, ID 02769. Traded for Edgar, the original Abra we caught. (I bought an Abra, a female named Sabrina, to check the starting level of the mons you get from the Game Corner. That one comes at level 9.)
  • Beady (Surskit): Lass Karla, ID 35022. That was the trade back in Agassiz.
  • Ganymede (Shelmet, becomes Accelgor): Gamer Thomas, ID 50273. Traded for Carabus the Karrablast in Fianga.
  • Lancelot (Karrablast, becomes Escavalier): Gamer Thomas, ID 15099. (The same NPC copied, but fortunately a different Trainer ID.) Traded for Scaly the Shelmet in Fianga.
  • Picasso (Smeargle): Crazy Artist (yes, really), ID 00851. Traded for ET the Clefairy in Fianga. Picasso comes with Technician and a perfect Attack IV, for some reason.
  • Ricochet (Wynaut): Samantha, ID 31221. Traded for Toby the Maractus in Turkana.
  • Shadow (Absol): Hiker Larry, ID 28411. Traded for Smash the Goldeen in Kivu.

With several new IDs in hand, let's grab a ticket. Remember that you don't need to have them in the party, just in the PC is fine. The rightmost worker handles that.

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Yes, please.

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For those unfamiliar with lottery mechanics, the check starts with the rightmost digit. Since none of these IDs end in a 6, no dice for today. Oh well.

Next to the lottery worker is a second attendant, who is the person to see about Triple Triad.

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The game recognizing that yeah, the Pokemon/Final Fantasy playerbase is not a perfect overlap, so maybe a bit of explaining is in order.

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So I'm aware. Specifically VIII, XIV, and the Portal mobile app.

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It'll be better to see this in action, I think.

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Ah, so we're playing for keeps, huh? Makes things exciting. There's stakes. Except not really because that's all we get from this. No cash, no items, no ability to craft items from cards.

She'll also sell us some cards (for straight cash, no need to convert to coins). Prices range from 100 yen for presumably weaker cards, to 8,000 for stronger ones, to 12,000 for an Onix. You can buy multiples of each card, and it's also important to note that cards sell for one-quarter of their purchase price, rather than the half you usually get. Since we have a Water deck, we buy one each of the other Water cards. (This is purely thematic and probably won't positively affect gameplay.) These are:

  • For 250 yen: Barboach, Magikarp, Poliwag, Surskit, Wingull, and Wooper.
  • For 500 yen: Finneon, Goldeen, Luvdisc, Oshawott, Remoraid, Shellos, Squirtle, and Totodile.
  • For 1,000 yen: Horsea.
  • For 2,000 yen: Basculin, Corphish, Corsola, Kingdra, Qwilfish, Seadra.
That's as high as I go before seriously contemplating what the hell I'm doing. So let's actually play.

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I'm only going to play once for demonstration's sake. If there were substantive rewards, I'd go for them, but since we only get our opponents' cards, there's no practical incentive to play much.

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Even as somebody who proudly makes full use of easy modes in gaming, this feels a bit...handholdy. The attendant leads us through the door and into a room set aside for play, where our opponent greets us.

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Ranger vs. Ranger, the way it was meant to be! ...or something.

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So here's the setup phase. The Phione card we got for free is actually pretty decent at 6s all around (unlike Phione itself), so we'll use it. Joining it for this match will be Wartortle, Marshtomp, Dewott, and Kingdra.

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Completed setup.

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[153]
We get to go first. We can see our opponent has a dangerous Ferroseed and a Pawniard, but not much else to worry about.

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...and here I am after winning. That's it? Yes, this game is actually a fair bit simpler than it implies, although there is the low difficulty level to account for.

Okay, okay, let's go talk to some people, and then we'll hit the slots, I guess.

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Haha, gambling addiction funny... (He says, having made a gambling-addiction joke in this very post.) Most of the other NPCs say some variation of "Must...keep...playing...", except for this Rocket Grunt:

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And we get another card.

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Here's the slot screen. I'm going to attempt to get to 4000 and grab Thunderbolt.

A cherry in the top-left or bottom-left corner is an automatic win. Thus, if you manage that, you can just mash C twice and be guaranteed to make your money back. This provides a tedious, but reliable-ish way to grind coins. Your best shot for sevens is getting one in top-left; this gives you the most time to line up the other two diagonally.

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Triple sevens! Got it in under twenty minutes.

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Halfway home, only took a few hours.

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Two jackpots in three spins to bring it home! Now repeat the process for Ice Beam and Flamethrower! (lolnope)

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Goes on Buzzy Bo (replacing Electro Ball) and Wisp (replacing Uproar). Buzzy Bo also swaps held items, taking the Magnet. Let's hit the Gym.

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Let us remember that Heracross, Volcarona, and Scizor exist, among others.

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In short, expect an actual fight. There are five Gym Trainers, as well as a series of puzzles which must be completed to progress. Matchup-wise, May and Cheeky are going to be our best options, while only Shade has much to fear.

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You've already used this joke. The Hoenn Bug Twins fall to a Thunderbolt each.

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Props for not saying "Light-years measure time, not distance!", at least. After beating him, we come across our first puzzle, which uses the overworld sprite of a sign.

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It's the Ruins of Alph puzzles! Once solved, the sign disappears and we can move on.

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Sturdy allows Forretress to toss a Spike, but Wisp has no problems otherwise.

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No Vs. Seeker and Gym Trainers can't be rematched anyway...sorry.

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Ninjask, outspeeding May, opts for Agility (#GottaGoFast). Whoops.

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Oh hey, a regular Trainer with a Shedinja. May whiffs a Blaze Kick, leading to Sheddy landing a Confuse Ray and actually managing to take some damage off her.

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Doing so reinforces the purpose of Gyms as a test for Trainers rather than as an insurmountable roadblock. Even so, a good Gym shows off the diversity within a type, with regards to secondary types, movepools, stats, and even designs.

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The second puzzle. Although it seems like it can be bypassed, you do have to complete it to get to Avery.

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And here's the third.

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The fourth, straight ahead.

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Shade, you're up! Shade whiffs a Rock Slide, allowing Butterfree to set up Tailwind--uh-oh--and then use...Tailwind again. Sigh.

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Pin Missile mercifully only hits twice. This was the first actual difficulty we've had in a while, and only because of a 10% miss chance.

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Yes...that's what a Gym Leader means. (Okay, that one was a stretch, sorry.)

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That's a...curious line to lead with. Flash Cannon 2HKOes.

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Buh-bye. Buzzy Bo becomes our first teammate to hit 100,000 XP!

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Foreshadowing. Or just a r.eference.

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We have a choice of puzzles for our final gate. The game prefers you pick the one on the right:

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And so we shall. The controls are a bit different for this one: You hold down C and press an arrow key to move the tiles around.

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Here's the other one, for reference. Here you press C to rotate both the tile selected and the tiles surrounding it. You can solve them both if you're up for a challenge, but you don't have to.

The puzzles stay solved if you need to duck out and heal, which is very nice. Once we do, we can approach Avery.

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I like this guy!

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Avery has two Full Restores available. He is also the first opposing Trainer (based on normal progression) to have a full team of six with held items. His Pokemon aren't actually higher-leveled than those of his Gym Trainers, instead relying on items and movesets for difficulty. Be prepared.

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Moveset: X-Scissor, Growth, Spore, Poison Powder. Held item: Focus Sash. I've elected to let May keep the Charcoal instead of swapping for a Chesto Berry. For insurance's sake, I'd prefer her to have the power boost. Since she double-resists Parasect's only attack and there's a chance she doesn't even use Spore, getting put to sleep is no big deal.

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Sure enough, Parasect opts for poison instead. This will hurt more in the long-term. I opt for a Bulk Up on the heal turn, since there is a Fire neutrality on his team. Obviously the next Blaze Kick wipes her out.

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Moveset: Iron Head, Iron Defense, X-Scissor, Reversal. Reversal is too early (level 49), as is Iron Defense (40), although that's technically legal by Tutor. Not that it matters.

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Oh God. This is why I used Bulk Up. Moveset: Bug Buzz, Fiery Dance, Giga Drain, Quiver Dance. Held item: Weakness Policy. Every move here is either too early (70, 100, and 59, respectively) or Tutor-exclusive. This is unfair.

You know what else is unfair? Rock Slide. OHKO.

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Moveset: Shadow Sneak, Curse, Disable, X-Scissor. Held item: Focus Sash. Curse and Disable are outright illegal, Not that it matters for much. We opt for a Rock Slide turn one in case it doesn't Sneak (it does); the following Blaze Kick does it in.

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Here's the ace. Moveset: Bullet Punch, Night Slash, Swords Dance, X-Scissor. Held item: Scizorite. Technically fully legal because Night Slash is an Egg move in addition to coming at level 45.

Knowing a Bullet Punch is coming, May has done enough. Anybody but Shade can switch in here; I opt for Tatsu as she resists it. Scizor instead opts for Night Slash (predicting Wisp?).

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Programming error here. Switching should always happen before Mega Evolution unless the Pokemon going Mega has and will be using Pursuit.

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Tatsu sets up rain, but Surf doesn't do the job, and she takes an X-Scissor followed by a Night Slash. This results in a second panic switch; this time I go to Cheeky, except Avery heals. Cheeky's Fly dodges two attacks (oh, now it uses Bullet Punch), and we get a rare chance to use Quick Attack as the finishing blow.

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Moveset: Swords Dance, X-Scissor, Baton Pass, Protect. Baton Pass is too early (level 45). Thanks to Speed Boost, Fly once again dodges two attacks, OHKOes, and the Swarm Badge is ours.

This is the start of the game's difficulty spike. Since we overleveled it wasn't as bad for us, but you can easily see how it could get out of hand otherwise. Bug may be a crap type offensively, but multiple setup sweepers plus multiple Weakness Policies and a Mega Scizor equals a thrilling time--or a bad time.

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You're a Gym Leader. You know how this goes.

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Not gonna lie, that was a pretty sweet time. This Badge enables Waterfall for field use, and I'm pretty sure you know what the TM is.

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This is the first Gym Leader since Gideon to use their signature TM on their team at all, much less so regularly. Sure, having a QD+3 attacks Volcarona at level 40 is unfair, but I'm glad the game finally remembered this key piece of Gym design.

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As I said, this game is not pulling its punches.

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As we're going to heal, we see a story event brewing.

WARNING: Stock up on healing items before triggering this. You'll see why shortly. There are Club missions available and Waterfall will allow us to pick up one thing, but we're actually going to save those for later, since plot. So let us approach the door to Mount Press.

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That seems pretty obvious. Victini (or Jirachi) is not the actual engine here, merely insurance in case someone can take down a god among Pokemon. Like us. The Grunts affirm the plan.

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Is that...a name? For a Grunt?

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Then why doesn't he face us himself, huh?

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Another comedic moment. Or is it?

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The answer is some number of "Verys".

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I have a feeling what Dave is trying to say...

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This is the point of having Victini, remember.

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Legendary does not necessarily equal overpowered. Contrary to what some believe.

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Ah, they were talking about themselves doing it. Well, not much of a chance for them, I'm afraid.

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Ah, so this may be a coup attempt. The Grunts are indeed with her.

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The meeting concludes. But Athena is no fool...

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Yeah, yeah, let's just bat--

I cannot believe I missed the next screen. I have the game on autosave because I do forget to save, and of course the one time I actually want to go back and replay a long cutscene, I just reload to the next section.

Athena says "Tell me, does this smell like chloroform to you?", and instead of battling her, we are knocked unconscious and kidnapped. I was planning to just end the update on that screen--the perfect cliffhanger! Pokémon never goes that far!--but alas, this text description will have to do. It was, my first time playing, a real "Holy shit!" moment (chalk that up to me being easily impressed), and I hope I could convey that here.

Next time: Shit gets real.

The Squad:
  • Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 46, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Surf/Dragon Pulse/Hydro Pump/Rain Dance
  • Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 46, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Thunderbolt/Flash Cannon/Tri Attack/Flash
  • Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 47, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Thunderbolt/Night Shade/Hypnosis
  • Shade (Krookodile): Lv. 47, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Swagger
  • Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 47, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Fly/Quick Attack/Agility
  • May (Blaziken): Lv. 48, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, High Jump Kick/Blaze Kick/Rock Slide/Bulk Up


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