Part Seventeen
It's time.
I've kept my squad of six alive throughout all of Kanto. Can they survive one more test?
Time for one final battle against Curtis. Smug prick he is, he starts things off with a massive gloat and an even more massive lie.
Whatever. Let's dance.
He starts off, as ever, with Pidgeot. I've got my best golden girl ready to go, and send out Lacerta. Rock Slide is my best weapon against the big bird but, outlevelled as I am, I set up a Wish on the first turn before I go on the offensive.
Pidgeot, however, opts not to open by attacking but by instead using Featherdance. Well, that's embarrassing. Apparently I'm too weak to even bother killing quickly. And it's not like my Rock Slides were going to one-shot it anyway. It follows up with Sand-Attack to make me even less likely to end this bout soon, and my Rock Slide obligingly misses. Sigh. Well, that's my first Wish wasted, but I use it again next turn anyway as Pidgeot attacks with Aerial Ace. It does a reasonable amount of damage, but enough that I can attack, be healed by Wish, and Wish once again. Cool. Now if only my attacks would hit...
After a couple of turns, I land a Rock Slide for rather pathetic damage. It's better than nothing, though. We trade hits, Lacerta periodically pausing to Wish. I get lucky one turn and have a Quick Claw activation - and it flinches! Sweet. That buys me an additional turn in which I take advantage of not being hit to use an Ether and restore Wish's rapidly-dwindling PP. I use Surf next turn, and it deals more or less the same amount of damage as Lacerta's weakened Rock Slide. Oh well.
A couple more hits bring Pidgeot down to low health - but there's no chance I'll knock it out. Even if another Rock Slide would do enough to finish it, Curtis has a Full Restore, and he predictably brings Pidgeot up to full health. I'm low on Rock Slide PP now, so use another Ether to refresh it - and Pidgeot's next Aerial Ace gets a critical hit, bringing Lacerta too low on health to last the two turns it needs for Wish to work. Oh god, am I going to have to use a Full Restore already?
Apparently so. Oh well. We don't want Lacerta fainting, do we? I heal up, set up another Wish, and resume attacking. Few of my attacks connect, not helped by Pidgeot using Sand-Attack again. Ugh, just die already.
We're at this for so long that I'm convinced I'm going to run it out of PP. And, sure enough, that's exactly what happens. With no attacking moves left, Pidgeot eventually resorts to using Whirlwind, booting Lacerta off the field and dragging in Cassiopeia.
Well, not my choice but it's a good matchup. I'm sure Cassiopeia is more than capable of finishing Pidgeot off. Confident I'll be faster, I use Yawn, but Pidgeot uses Featherdance again.
...y'know what? That ain't happening. Lacerta, switch back in and claim your rightful victory.
HAHA. Got you now.
With her accuracy and offenses intact, Lacerta finishes off Curtis' sleeping Pidgeot with two judicious uses of Rock Slide, gaining enough experience to level up. Well done, girl!
Curtis readies to send out Alakazam. Well, this is a no-brainer. Ophiuchus, you're up! I start off with a Wish right away while Alakazam uses Reflect. Honey, that ain't gonna save you from Seismic Toss but go right ahead. I have five Seismic Toss PP and figure four will be enough. However, after using it twice and setting up Wish, the third hit does enough to knock it out before my second Wish can activate, wasting the move.
Curtis does the sensible thing for anyone facing a frail Normal-type and goes to bring out his sturdy Rock-type Rhydon. Luckily I have just the thing. Sextans, it's you!
Surprisingly, Rhydon is faster than Sextans. Makes sense, I guess, they're both slow Pokemon but Sextans has a Quiet nature and Rhydon is ten levels ahead. It uses Take Down, making my job that little bit easier when it dents itself with a little bit of recoil. (Why on earth doesn't Curtis' Rhydon have Rock Head?) But Giga Drain utterly whomps it, knocking it out in one hit and restoring Sextans to full health.
Okay, three down. Who's next?
...Gyarados.
Okay, I'm not sure who's best-placed for this. Obviously Ophiuchus has Thunderbolt, but she's at half health since she didn't get the benefit of Wish earlier, and I don't know that I want to risk her. I think I have to use Cassiopeia: if I can put it to sleep with Yawn, I can switch Ophiuchus in and hopefully knock it out without too much hassle.
I send out Cassiopeia and quickly Yawn, getting hit by Dragon Rage in return. Hmmm... may as well soak up another hit and set up a Wish to save Ophiuchus the time. I use Wish, and Gyarados hits me with another Dragon Rage before falling asleep. Perfect. Switching to Ophiuchus, I use Thunderbolt, which tragically does not do enough to 2HKO. Honestly...
Neer mind. I use Thunderbolt again and bring Gyarados in range of a KO. Unfortunately, this is when Curtis chooses to deploy another Full Restore. Crap. Now Gyarados is awake and at full health... but my next Thunderbolt paralyses it. Good.
I expect to take a heavy hit so I use Wish again as Gyarados uses Thrash, knocking off more than a third of Ophiuchus' health. Thankfully, she's holding a Leftovers so that makes things a little easier. Let's hope Thrash lasts two turns and Curtis can't heal it. I hit with Thunderbolt again and take another massive hit from Thrash before getting healed by my Wish. Gyarados, however, ends its rampage there, becoming confused - and Curtis heals it again as I attempt to go for the kill. Thunderbolt hits again and brings it down to two-thirds, but now it's free of both paralysis and confusion. Dammit.
Worse still, I'm out of Thunderbolt PP. What to do now...
The priority, of course, is to Wish once again. This I do. Gyarados uses Thrash again. I strike back with Seismic Toss next turn after taking another heavy hit that leaves Ophiuchus' HP on - now I have one Seismic Toss PP left, but Gyarados looks potentially in range of a KO. Wish kicks in and now Ophiuchus is on just over half HP: it can take one more hit. Do I attack or do I heal?
I think the play is to attack. If it leaves Gyarados on a shred of health, I'll either have to use another Full Restore or switch someone else in. Yep. Got to be bold (which she, of course, is). Gyarados uses its final turn of Thrash and absolutely smashes Ophiuchus down to just 11 HP - but Seismic Toss does just enough to finish it off. Hurrah!
Let's not celebrate before it's over, though. Arcanine is up next.
Who the hell can stand up against that. I could fully heal Ophiuchus with one of my two remaining Full Restores, but she's out of PP for both her offensive moves so that's more turns to sacrifice. Ara is at full health, but I'm fairly sure it'll have Crunch and I don't much fancy having him taking even one of those. What I'd really ought to do is put it to sleep, but I don't expect Apus to tank even one hit. Got to be Cassiopeia, then. She has Earthquake, after all, though it'll be annoying to have it blunted by Intimidate.
Cassiopeia has already taken two Dragon Rages to the face, though, so is hovering above 50% of her health. There's a good chance she'll be faster (she seems to outspeed just about everything) but I don't know if she'll be able to survive a Flamethrower at this range. Decisions, decisions. If I get a Yawn off successfully and she falls, someone else could finish Arcanine off... it's risky. But I just don't know what other option I have.
I send out Cassiopeia, then, instantly getting an Attack drop from Arcanine's Intimidate. Promptly, I set off a Yawn, outspeeding Arcanine as it uses Flamethrower. It's a brutal hit - but Cassiopeia, truly the boss, survives with 3 HP left.
Do we have this? I think we just might. I use a Full Restore as Arcanine desperately tries to snipe me with Extremespeed, then falls asleep. Hopefully it'll snooze for enough turns for Earthquake to be effective. Despite the Intimidate nerf, it's still powerful enough to deplete roughly a third of Arcanine's HP - enough to 3HKO? Let's hope so. A second hit, and then a third, proves to be enough.
Okay, it's just Venusaur left. I haven't used Ara or Apus in this fight, and consider both of them... but I don't want to take any risks. Sextans resists Grass moves and has a powerful Psychic - I think that's the route to go. I switch in Sextans and use Psychic on Venusaur as it boosts with Growth, doing enough damage to trigger its held Sitrus Berry.
Venusaur sets up Sunny Day, but it's too late - the battle's over. I use Psychic again and it faints. We did it!
Phew.
Curtis gets all miserable and I revel in his pain.
Yeah me too, but in the sense of never letting them faint once
Professor Oak shows up and opens himself up to a load of predictable jokes.
Oak scolds his grandson for not being loving and caring enough to win, then congratulates me on being the better person. He also asks how my Pokedex is coming along, as if I didn't just show him before heading off to the Pokemon League. He's a forgetful old sod, isn't he?
We leave Curtis the loser stood where he is and head into the hallowed Hall of Fame room.
Well done, team.
Well, our journey was a long and often hard one - but you all did amazingly well. From the outset to right here, you battled like champs and never lost consciousness once. And through much hard work and grinding, we even completed the Pokedex! Truly, we've had a glorious time and we should reflect on that magnificent journey as the credits roll.
...wait, there's still more to do? Oh, yes...
Don't be weird, we just saw each other like 5 minutes ago.
Oak has another attack of dementia and asks to see how much of my Pokedex I've filled in, deeming the 151 species I've registered very impressive. He bids me come with him to his lab, where he confides in me that there have recently been sightings of many rare species not seen in Kanto. He wistfully says how much he'd love to go out and see them for himself, but deems himself too old to do so. ...don't you travel to Sinnoh in a couple of years to do just that? He's just being lazy again and making me do all the donkey work.
Suddenly Curtis barges in and accuses his grandfather of favouring me all the time. He then alleges that he collected more Pokemon than me. Er, unless you've already started collecting species from Johto and Hoenn that's not possible, boyo.
Nevertheless, Oak says he'll want help from Curtis too. He takes our Pokedexes and upgrades them to contain data on more species, deeming this a monumentala moment in history. Curtis, predictably, can't help ruining the moment and tells his grandfather to calm down, heading off in the direction of One Island. Professor Oak then tells me that "Pokemon around the world wait for me!" ...cool, does that mean I get a plane ticket to Unova or Hoenn or somewhere like that? ...no. Well, that's disappointing.
Hmm, I'm sure I heard a rumour that a kooky non-Kantonean Psychic-type was spotted around a certain cave near Cerulean City. Maybe I can catch one of those!
Yes please!
Cool, did that... what next?
Wait, but I completed the Kanto Pokedex? You mean that doesn't count?! C'monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Sadly it seems I am to be rebuffed from exploring Cerulean Cave just yet. Well, I can't think where else on the Kanto mainland one might hope to find exotic, non-native Pokemon. At least without having a radio which plays those spicy Hoennian and Sinnohan tunes.
Looks like I'm taking another trip to the Sevii Islands, then!
Pokedex count: 151/386
Current team:
Cassiopeia the Kangaskhan - level 50
Sextans the Exeggutor - level 50
Ara the Hypno - level 49
Lacerta the Lickitung - level 50
Ophiuchus the Chansey - level 51
Apus the Farfetch'd - level 50
It's time.
I've kept my squad of six alive throughout all of Kanto. Can they survive one more test?
Time for one final battle against Curtis. Smug prick he is, he starts things off with a massive gloat and an even more massive lie.
Whatever. Let's dance.
Pidgeot, however, opts not to open by attacking but by instead using Featherdance. Well, that's embarrassing. Apparently I'm too weak to even bother killing quickly. And it's not like my Rock Slides were going to one-shot it anyway. It follows up with Sand-Attack to make me even less likely to end this bout soon, and my Rock Slide obligingly misses. Sigh. Well, that's my first Wish wasted, but I use it again next turn anyway as Pidgeot attacks with Aerial Ace. It does a reasonable amount of damage, but enough that I can attack, be healed by Wish, and Wish once again. Cool. Now if only my attacks would hit...
After a couple of turns, I land a Rock Slide for rather pathetic damage. It's better than nothing, though. We trade hits, Lacerta periodically pausing to Wish. I get lucky one turn and have a Quick Claw activation - and it flinches! Sweet. That buys me an additional turn in which I take advantage of not being hit to use an Ether and restore Wish's rapidly-dwindling PP. I use Surf next turn, and it deals more or less the same amount of damage as Lacerta's weakened Rock Slide. Oh well.
A couple more hits bring Pidgeot down to low health - but there's no chance I'll knock it out. Even if another Rock Slide would do enough to finish it, Curtis has a Full Restore, and he predictably brings Pidgeot up to full health. I'm low on Rock Slide PP now, so use another Ether to refresh it - and Pidgeot's next Aerial Ace gets a critical hit, bringing Lacerta too low on health to last the two turns it needs for Wish to work. Oh god, am I going to have to use a Full Restore already?
Apparently so. Oh well. We don't want Lacerta fainting, do we? I heal up, set up another Wish, and resume attacking. Few of my attacks connect, not helped by Pidgeot using Sand-Attack again. Ugh, just die already.
We're at this for so long that I'm convinced I'm going to run it out of PP. And, sure enough, that's exactly what happens. With no attacking moves left, Pidgeot eventually resorts to using Whirlwind, booting Lacerta off the field and dragging in Cassiopeia.
Well, not my choice but it's a good matchup. I'm sure Cassiopeia is more than capable of finishing Pidgeot off. Confident I'll be faster, I use Yawn, but Pidgeot uses Featherdance again.
...y'know what? That ain't happening. Lacerta, switch back in and claim your rightful victory.
HAHA. Got you now.
With her accuracy and offenses intact, Lacerta finishes off Curtis' sleeping Pidgeot with two judicious uses of Rock Slide, gaining enough experience to level up. Well done, girl!
Curtis readies to send out Alakazam. Well, this is a no-brainer. Ophiuchus, you're up! I start off with a Wish right away while Alakazam uses Reflect. Honey, that ain't gonna save you from Seismic Toss but go right ahead. I have five Seismic Toss PP and figure four will be enough. However, after using it twice and setting up Wish, the third hit does enough to knock it out before my second Wish can activate, wasting the move.
Curtis does the sensible thing for anyone facing a frail Normal-type and goes to bring out his sturdy Rock-type Rhydon. Luckily I have just the thing. Sextans, it's you!
Surprisingly, Rhydon is faster than Sextans. Makes sense, I guess, they're both slow Pokemon but Sextans has a Quiet nature and Rhydon is ten levels ahead. It uses Take Down, making my job that little bit easier when it dents itself with a little bit of recoil. (Why on earth doesn't Curtis' Rhydon have Rock Head?) But Giga Drain utterly whomps it, knocking it out in one hit and restoring Sextans to full health.
Okay, three down. Who's next?
...Gyarados.
Okay, I'm not sure who's best-placed for this. Obviously Ophiuchus has Thunderbolt, but she's at half health since she didn't get the benefit of Wish earlier, and I don't know that I want to risk her. I think I have to use Cassiopeia: if I can put it to sleep with Yawn, I can switch Ophiuchus in and hopefully knock it out without too much hassle.
I send out Cassiopeia and quickly Yawn, getting hit by Dragon Rage in return. Hmmm... may as well soak up another hit and set up a Wish to save Ophiuchus the time. I use Wish, and Gyarados hits me with another Dragon Rage before falling asleep. Perfect. Switching to Ophiuchus, I use Thunderbolt, which tragically does not do enough to 2HKO. Honestly...
Neer mind. I use Thunderbolt again and bring Gyarados in range of a KO. Unfortunately, this is when Curtis chooses to deploy another Full Restore. Crap. Now Gyarados is awake and at full health... but my next Thunderbolt paralyses it. Good.
I expect to take a heavy hit so I use Wish again as Gyarados uses Thrash, knocking off more than a third of Ophiuchus' health. Thankfully, she's holding a Leftovers so that makes things a little easier. Let's hope Thrash lasts two turns and Curtis can't heal it. I hit with Thunderbolt again and take another massive hit from Thrash before getting healed by my Wish. Gyarados, however, ends its rampage there, becoming confused - and Curtis heals it again as I attempt to go for the kill. Thunderbolt hits again and brings it down to two-thirds, but now it's free of both paralysis and confusion. Dammit.
Worse still, I'm out of Thunderbolt PP. What to do now...
The priority, of course, is to Wish once again. This I do. Gyarados uses Thrash again. I strike back with Seismic Toss next turn after taking another heavy hit that leaves Ophiuchus' HP on - now I have one Seismic Toss PP left, but Gyarados looks potentially in range of a KO. Wish kicks in and now Ophiuchus is on just over half HP: it can take one more hit. Do I attack or do I heal?
I think the play is to attack. If it leaves Gyarados on a shred of health, I'll either have to use another Full Restore or switch someone else in. Yep. Got to be bold (which she, of course, is). Gyarados uses its final turn of Thrash and absolutely smashes Ophiuchus down to just 11 HP - but Seismic Toss does just enough to finish it off. Hurrah!
Let's not celebrate before it's over, though. Arcanine is up next.
Who the hell can stand up against that. I could fully heal Ophiuchus with one of my two remaining Full Restores, but she's out of PP for both her offensive moves so that's more turns to sacrifice. Ara is at full health, but I'm fairly sure it'll have Crunch and I don't much fancy having him taking even one of those. What I'd really ought to do is put it to sleep, but I don't expect Apus to tank even one hit. Got to be Cassiopeia, then. She has Earthquake, after all, though it'll be annoying to have it blunted by Intimidate.
Cassiopeia has already taken two Dragon Rages to the face, though, so is hovering above 50% of her health. There's a good chance she'll be faster (she seems to outspeed just about everything) but I don't know if she'll be able to survive a Flamethrower at this range. Decisions, decisions. If I get a Yawn off successfully and she falls, someone else could finish Arcanine off... it's risky. But I just don't know what other option I have.
I send out Cassiopeia, then, instantly getting an Attack drop from Arcanine's Intimidate. Promptly, I set off a Yawn, outspeeding Arcanine as it uses Flamethrower. It's a brutal hit - but Cassiopeia, truly the boss, survives with 3 HP left.
Do we have this? I think we just might. I use a Full Restore as Arcanine desperately tries to snipe me with Extremespeed, then falls asleep. Hopefully it'll snooze for enough turns for Earthquake to be effective. Despite the Intimidate nerf, it's still powerful enough to deplete roughly a third of Arcanine's HP - enough to 3HKO? Let's hope so. A second hit, and then a third, proves to be enough.
Okay, it's just Venusaur left. I haven't used Ara or Apus in this fight, and consider both of them... but I don't want to take any risks. Sextans resists Grass moves and has a powerful Psychic - I think that's the route to go. I switch in Sextans and use Psychic on Venusaur as it boosts with Growth, doing enough damage to trigger its held Sitrus Berry.
Phew.
Curtis gets all miserable and I revel in his pain.
Yeah me too, but in the sense of never letting them faint once
Professor Oak shows up and opens himself up to a load of predictable jokes.
Oak scolds his grandson for not being loving and caring enough to win, then congratulates me on being the better person. He also asks how my Pokedex is coming along, as if I didn't just show him before heading off to the Pokemon League. He's a forgetful old sod, isn't he?
We leave Curtis the loser stood where he is and head into the hallowed Hall of Fame room.
Well done, team.
Well, our journey was a long and often hard one - but you all did amazingly well. From the outset to right here, you battled like champs and never lost consciousness once. And through much hard work and grinding, we even completed the Pokedex! Truly, we've had a glorious time and we should reflect on that magnificent journey as the credits roll.
...wait, there's still more to do? Oh, yes...
Don't be weird, we just saw each other like 5 minutes ago.
Oak has another attack of dementia and asks to see how much of my Pokedex I've filled in, deeming the 151 species I've registered very impressive. He bids me come with him to his lab, where he confides in me that there have recently been sightings of many rare species not seen in Kanto. He wistfully says how much he'd love to go out and see them for himself, but deems himself too old to do so. ...don't you travel to Sinnoh in a couple of years to do just that? He's just being lazy again and making me do all the donkey work.
Suddenly Curtis barges in and accuses his grandfather of favouring me all the time. He then alleges that he collected more Pokemon than me. Er, unless you've already started collecting species from Johto and Hoenn that's not possible, boyo.
Nevertheless, Oak says he'll want help from Curtis too. He takes our Pokedexes and upgrades them to contain data on more species, deeming this a monumentala moment in history. Curtis, predictably, can't help ruining the moment and tells his grandfather to calm down, heading off in the direction of One Island. Professor Oak then tells me that "Pokemon around the world wait for me!" ...cool, does that mean I get a plane ticket to Unova or Hoenn or somewhere like that? ...no. Well, that's disappointing.
Hmm, I'm sure I heard a rumour that a kooky non-Kantonean Psychic-type was spotted around a certain cave near Cerulean City. Maybe I can catch one of those!
Yes please!
Cool, did that... what next?
Wait, but I completed the Kanto Pokedex? You mean that doesn't count?! C'monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Sadly it seems I am to be rebuffed from exploring Cerulean Cave just yet. Well, I can't think where else on the Kanto mainland one might hope to find exotic, non-native Pokemon. At least without having a radio which plays those spicy Hoennian and Sinnohan tunes.
Looks like I'm taking another trip to the Sevii Islands, then!
Pokedex count: 151/386
Current team:
Cassiopeia the Kangaskhan - level 50
Sextans the Exeggutor - level 50
Ara the Hypno - level 49
Lacerta the Lickitung - level 50
Ophiuchus the Chansey - level 51
Apus the Farfetch'd - level 50
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