Pastoria City

I like variety, so I modify my team again. At the Poke Center in Pastoria City, I add Apsu and Inanna to my team, replacing Kazza and Khali. The other trainers in the Poke Center babble about the "Great Marsh." I do not care. Marshes are dumb. However, I do notice that by the gate to this "Great Marsh" there stands a follower of Team Galactic. What with Sinnoh's police or whoever unable to deal with these fools at all, I take this as a sign that I will in fact have to enter the Great Marsh because some task I must perform to deal with Team Galactic will involve doing so. I curse my luck. Maybe I won't have to go in. Maybe I can just kill this guy now?

The Team Galactic follower talks about some package from Veilstone and how he has to "set it off." He disregards me as just some kid with only three gym badges. I was unaware that this is considered paltry by Team Galactic standards, considering that every one of them I've faced has been puny. I consider taking the issue up with him, but no. No point in that. He's an idiot anyway.

I loot some berries and speak with the locals, but all I ever hear about is the Great Marsh. Eventually, I find a move tutor who offers to teach my pokemon moves in exchange for heart scales. I will keep this in mind for later. I barge into a house with some neurotic woman who gives me a berry and asks me to please plant it somewhere. Little does she know that there is no chance of that ever happening. Berries do not belong in the ground. They belong in my backpack. All of them. Every berry in Sinnoh. I will have them all.

I decide to take on the gym while I'm here. Once again, Slave has already been here. That boy is always one step ahead of me. Or more than that. Probably more. No matter, I'll deal with him if I have to. Maybe I'll have to kill him. This gym uses some series of lifts and gates with water that block my path. It's some stupid puzzle that forces me to weave around the gym fighting trainers, which is fine because these trainers are going to be fun to destroy. Inanna gets beaten up by a Buizel immediately. I switch her out and have Sekhmet bring down the otter or whatever it is Buizel is supposed to be. I am annoyed that Inanna is so heavily damaged. Even though her exp. share should let her keep improving without actually fighting, I use hyper potion to restore her and then continue with the rest of the gym.

The next trainer uses Barboach, which doesn't hurt Inanna much, but does get her confused using water pulse, so I switch to Sekhmet again. This trainer is either smart or lucky, because he has Barboach switch to mud slap when Sekhmet comes out, and the ground-type attack hurts her. I switch to Ninhursag. One hit from giga drain takes out Barboach. Wait, do any of these trainers use more than one pokemon? I mean, it's kind of a bad idea to only use one when you could use six. Whatever.

I spoke too soon. The next trainer has two pokemon. First, there's Wingull. I have Inanna use minimize, making her a difficult target while the Wingull struggles to hit her over and over. Then I switch to doubleslap. Almost no damage. Inanna's attack is too low, but defensively she's one of my best. I should pair her with an effect that poisons enemies. Eventually, I become bored of watching Inanna slap the bird around, so I switch to Articuno, who immediately gets confused by supersonic. Annoyed, I switch to Apsu. Dragon rage makes quick work of Wingull, who was already wounded by Inanna's repeated slaps. Up next is, well, another Wingull. Apsu crushes it in one hit though. Easy. Why did I ever take this guy off my team in the first place? He's awesome.

The next trainer uses Azurill. Sekhmet takes some damage switching into the thing's attack. I really need to just make her first in my lineup. Marill is next, and I gather that it's the next form of Azurill. Sekhmet is proving useful against the water types that this gym is filled with. I apply a super potion to Sekhmet and move her to the front of my lineup. She wipes out the next trainer's Goldeen, but Barboach is immune to electric attacks somehow. I switch to Apsu while Barboach is trying a ground attack, which Apsu is fortunately immune to. I think Barboach is probably a water/ground pokemon. Apsu dominates it, whatever it is. This trainer isn't done though: he still has Gyarados. So of course I leave Apsu in. My Gyarados is better than your Gyarados! Apsu hits with dragon rage, takes damage from the foe's bite, then strikes again with dragon rage, winning the battle.

One more trainer left before the gym leader. He leads with Shellos. Apsu and I have some fun with that. Then there's a major upset. This guy's Wingull beats Sekhmet. He hit her with supersonic right away and she never managed to attack. Apsu strikes with dragon rage, but Wingull uses supersonic again. Unlike Sekhmet, Apsu manages to score a hit despite the confusion and demolishes the Wingull. Next it's Shellos again. And I switch to Hanuman because I can. Bad idea. Shellos wins that fight. I am screwing everything up here. Apsu comes in with Shellos already hurt and with lowered defense thanks to Hanuman. Now that nothing else is in my way, I revive Sekhmet and Hanuman, then use some super potions before facing the gym leader.

"Welcome! I don't get challenged very often. The glory that you are now beholding is the Pastoria Gym Leader! That's right, I'm Crasher Wake! My pokemon were toughened up by stormy white waters! They'll take everything you can throw at them and then pull you under! Victory will be ours! Come on, let's get it done!"

Uh, okay. He leads with Gyarados. Sekhmet's spark handles that problem. Next is Quagsire. Spark doesn't work. Oh, another ground pokemon. I have just the thing for that. Go, Ninhursag. One hit from giga drain eliminates Quagsire. Crasher Wake brings in Floatzel. Ice fang beats Ninhursag. Oh. I wasn't expecting that. Inanna, make yourself useful. Or not. Ice fang takes her out too. Your turn, Sekhmet. Pursuit hurts Sekhmet and spark hurts Floatzel, but he eats a berry, restoring himself somewhat. The next spark nearly finishes Floatzel and paralyzes him too, but he gets revenge with an ice fang that drops Sekhmet. I bring in Hanuman to finish Floatzel off. Crasher Wake uses a super potion. Well, he's definitely putting up a better fight than I expected and he's the strongest trainer I've faced so far. He makes a mistake though. Floatzel is a water type and should have the advantage against Hanuman, but Crasher Wake has his pokemon use pursuit, which is weak against Hanuman. Paralysis makes the otter slow enough that Hanuman wins. Well, that was kind of close I guess, but I still had Apsu and Articuno to fall back on.

Crasher Wake takes the loss well and gives me a new gym badge and TM. I take my crippled team back to the Poke Center for some healing. I notice that the Team Galactic follower is still at the gate to the Great Marsh. I confront him again. What now? Now I have four gym badges instead of just three, that's what. You want a piece of this? He runs away, making some excuse. I chase him down and he insults me, pretending that I am no threat. I am just about to have Apsu bite his head off, when Slave runs right into me from behind. The Team Galactic follower gets away. Slave doesn't seem to notice. He does challenge me to a battle though.

I see that you're still using Starly, Slave. That's cool. Say hello to electric death, Starly. Oh, and there's Ponyta. So burn slows Apsu down, but you're still outmatched. And there he is: your very first pokemon. Prinplup. I knew you'd be using him. But did you know that giga drain works really well on water types? What else do you have, Slave? Roselia? Well, you remember Hanuman, right? Or was the last time too painful? Yes Slave, I am telling you that you lost. That's because you did.

Slave says that I should chase down the Team Galactic guy. I was trying to do that before a certain someone challenged me to a battle. I head back to the Poke Center and heal my team from the epic battle that just happened, then it's off to renew my pursuit of the Team Galactic follower. Once I get to the beach area, following his tracks is easy. He sees me and sees that I see him, but he refuses to battle me because it would be a waste of effort. Coward. He tries to lose me in the hotel, but I spot him. He tries to get away again. I chase him down. He tells me that I leave him no choice. His pokemon will KO me.

It turns out that all he has is one Glameow. Sekhmet brushes the cat aside in one attack. My opponent trudges away, dejected that he didn't get to make his delivery because apparently I stopped him by battling him. This doesn't make any sense. I consider still having Apsu bite the guy's head off, but then I see Cynthia.

Cynthia talks about the folklore of Lake Valor. Some pokemon on an island in the middle of the lake. Then she asks me if I've seen the group of Psyduck on Route 210. I most certainly have! She gives me medicine to use on them. She thinks it will help with my pokedex. Well, I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I fly to Solaceon Town and administer the medicine. It works. The Psyduck disperse. Just as I am about to explore the path they were blocking, Cynthia walks up behind me.

"Oh, good. You used the SecretPotion I gave you. Psyduck are known to suffer from chronic headaches. But no one's been able to figure out what triggers the headaches. Oh, yes! Can I ask you a big favor?"

Uh, you just had me come here to do something that you could easily have done yourself. And then you came here anyway? Well, what's your favor?

"I want you to deliver this Old Charm to my grandma in Celestic Town. I know there are some rare pokemon between here and Celestic Town, so it will be worth your while to go."

Sure, why not?

Ode to Articuno

Articuno, you are fantastic.
Burning eyes and wings of cold.
Articuno, you are majestic.
Fierce, loyal, brave, true, and bold.
And best of all, now we have Fly.
Rising up into the night.
Glorious phoenix of ice.
Touching down and my streets are sky.
Freezing ev'ry thing in sight.
Also, your plumage is nice.

Fly!

I leave home and take to the skies. Flying is awesome. And very fast. I return to some of my old stomping grounds, beating the crap out of wild pokemon with Nanabozho, who really doesn't have particularly powerful attacks despite being higher in level now. I decide that I want Khali back. Since I'm in Veilstone City again, I might as well check out the famous department store.

Right away, someone gives me a fashion accessory. I'm still not doing contests. I might have to just blow the contest hall up. That might solve things. Anyway, I spend a whole lot of money on medicine and on ultra balls (in case I run into rare pokemon or something). Most of my money, actually. But it's fine. I'll get more by beating trainers just like I always do. The second story has nothing of interest really. There are some nutritional supplements or something, but they're way too expensive. Well, if I feel like wasting money on a TM, I can revisit the third floor, so that's cool I guess. The fourth floor has only junk. The fifth floor has some vending machines and a guy who gives me a sticky barb. Enough of this. I pass through the southern gate, where a man informs me that Route 214 is "chewed up." Look, I don't care about scenery, I just want to get to Pastoria City.

Of course, I'm ambushed by a trainer right away. Preying on unsuspecting travelers, are we? Well, you got more than you bargained for. She tries to trick me with the old "look behind you." Since I don't fall for it, she reluctantly calls out her Gastly. Ninhursag uses leech seed and stun spore, crippling the enemy, but night shade has hurt her too much, so I switch to Articuno. Somehow, my opponent anticipates this and Gastly immediately hits Articuno with confuse ray. I switch to Khali. Gastly hurts her with sucker punch, but falls easily to astonish. Up next is another Misdreavus, so I can't resist leaving Khali in. Mine is the stronger ghost and next comes Kadabra, so of course I switch to Kazza. The two yellow demon things fight it out in a confusion war. Kazza seems to be weaker, but pulls ahead in the end. Barely.

My team is slightly damaged, I fly back to Veilstone City's Poke Center and heal them. How did I ever get anywhere without this move? I return to the road, looting some berries from the unsuspecting earth and planting none in return. I find a small cave. Inside is a man known as the "Ruin Maniac." He challenges me to a race. He'll keep on digging his tunnel or whatever and I'll try to catch one of each variety Unown. I decline, but he seems to ignore this. Whatever, it's a bad idea for a race anyway and Unown is really weak. I smash my way through some rocks blocking my path and run into another ruin maniac. This one challenges me to a battle. Excellent.

He leads with Cranidos, which hurts Ninhursag, but she hits back with magical leaf, defeating that pokemon. He brings in Bronzor. I decide that leech seed is in order. So is stun spore. Bronzor is highly resilient against Ninhursag's cuts, so I switch to Articuno. Bronzor puts Articuno to sleep with hypnosis. Maybe shopping was a good idea: I use an awakening. I have Articuno use fly, which smashes the metal disc beyond recognition. Next is Geodude, so Ninhursag gets to see action yet again. One hit from magical leaf and the battle is over. My opponent makes some excuse and hands over his cash.

I am challenged by yet another ruin maniac, which is odd because I don't see any ruins around here. This one uses only Shieldon. I could probably just immolate this one with Hanuman, but instead I leech seed and stun spore, then switch to Khali so that Shieldon is seeded, paralyzed, and confused all at the same time. Ruin maniac, you are so outclassed.

Ninhursag rips through a wild Graveller before I reach the next trainer, then she takes his first pokemon out in one hit. Buizel. And grass is good against water. This is so easy. Of course, this is one of these trainers who uses only one species of pokemon, so Ninhursag's magical leaf is doing overtime. She does go up to level 22, so that's good, I guess. Basically, Ninhursag has become what she was when I used her back in Oreburgh City: a wrecking ball that makes everything too easy. The only wild pokemon out here are rock types, and it's magical leaf again for them.

Another trainer challenges me, saying that for the sake of his collection, he takes on trainers he knows he can't beat. What? That doesn't make any sense. Whatever. He leads with Roselia, but of course mine is better. Both Roselias become paralyzed, though. Ninhursag has cut and the other Roselia only has grass attacks, so she beats him. After that, I switch to Hanuman for flame wheel against the rest of the Roselias this loser will throw at me.

And then I am challenged—by a private investigator? Oh well, I mean he has pokemon and I'm willing to take his money, so whatever. But if he's investigating me? Well then, I'll just have to kill him. Ninhursag magical leafs her way through all three of this guy's pokemon, all of which are Goldeen. Another collector challenges me next, and since he leads with Ponyta, I assume that he'll be using three of them. Too bad I don't have Apsu right now. I switch to Sekhmet, who is immediately burned (I use burn heal). Sekhmet defeats the pony, but not by much. Your turn, Kazza. Easy.

Next I'm challenged by a trainer who only has Wormadam (and only one, not three like everyone else on this route). I switch to Hanuman, but he never gets a single hit in, being afflicted with confusion and having his attacks blocked by protect. Hanuman, you just went down against a bug. Shameful. I switch to Articuno, who refuses to attack. This time, when Articuno tries to nap, I bring in the awakening. One hit from ice beam and it's all over. So yes, lady, I did teach you something about pokemon. I taught you that you suck.

Soon I'm ambushed by a "psychic." But if you were really psychic, you would have known that I was going to switch to Kazza, so you wouldn't use sucker punch right away. And then you'd know that I was going to use psybeam, so you would have used sucker punch. Moron. I get off Route 214 and enter the Valor Lakefront. Two strange men block me from getting to the lake. Actually I didn't really want to go to the lake anyway, I just didn't know what lay beyond the path they were blocking. Well, now it's time to have Khali scare them off or something. After all...

Oh. These two are rather oafish, but it's clear that they were placed there by Cyrus. That man is unstable. And apparently he commands the obedience of idiots. I sure hope he never runs into Team Galactic, as they have a lot of idiots. Well, perhaps it's best to postpone this anyway. Removing these two peons would tip Cyrus off that I'm worried about how unstable he is. I continue south. There are some ornate buildings, a woman who dropped her suite key, and a fat guy who won't let me take the road east because of a blackout. Whatever. According to him, it's Sunyshore City that's had the blackout. The one I'm looking for is Pastoria City. If he's still blocking the road later, I'll probably have to kill him. I check my map. Sure enough, Pastoria City is the other way.

I explore this resort place, barging into all of the buildings. They're booked and I don't have any reservations, but they do heal my pokemon. How nice of them. There's also a restaurant where I can beat up on some trainers and take their money. Awesome.

Up first are two people on a date. They use Roselia and Clefairy (three of them because he's a collector and that's what collectors do, I guess). Psybeam makes quick work of them. Then it's another dating couple, this time with Bonsly and Sudowoodo. They also have a Pichu, but everything goes down in one hit anyway. Next I face an older couple using Lopunny and Starly. I switch Ninhursag for Sekhmet while Kazza psybeams the Lopunny. Kazza does take a hit and the wing attack does negligible damage to Sekhmet, but both of the opposing team drop, only to be replaced by Glameow and Hoothoot, and both of them take one hit. Kazza is dominating this place. After that, I guess I'm battling some kid and his mom? They use water types, so Ninhursag has some fun. I switch to Sekhmet and Khali for variety before I destroy the Aipom they send in after that. Finally, I battle a reporter and her cameraman. They have Murkrow and Luxio, so I switch to Sekhmet and Khali again. Khali takes some punishment, but Sekhmet demolishes them. They use Pikachu and I switch to Hanuman before having Sekhmet finish the battle.

I continue toward Pastoria City along a beach. It's kind of far, I guess. I wish I could just fly there, but apparently I can't. Some kids playing on the beach battle me and are easy prey to Ninhursag's giga drain. I run into a few more trainers, easily beating them with giga drain. There's an odd man living in a house on the beach who can supposedly look at a pokemon's footprints and know all about it or something. I mostly ignore him, but for some reason I am compelled to accept the ribbon he awards for Ninhursag having such a close bond to me. Enough of this. I head away from the coast, find some berries, and take them. I'll have Sinnoh stripped of berries soon enough.

Finally, I arrive in Pastoria City. Someone there tells me that some trainers deliberately keep their own pokemon from evolving so that they learn certain moves. Interesting. Another person gives me a fashion accessory. Ugh. Do I have a sign somewhere on my person that reads, "Pokemon Coordinator"? I barge into a house, but find nothing of interest (some loser doesn't want to give me a scarf, which is fine because I'm already wearing one.

I notice that suddenly I am able to fly to Pastoria City. It's no longer blocked. I do so. This takes me right to the Poke Center. Apparently all the places I can fly to except home are Poke Centers? Let's check. Yes, that appears to be the case. Bizarre. I fly back to Veilstone City. I fly to Pastoria City again. Then back to Veilstone. Pastoria again. Veilstone again. Pastoria. This is awesome. Flying is the best.

Veilstone City

Undaunted by my meager frame the drones from Team Galactic move to block my path. I could instruct Kazza to blast their feeble minds or something, but instead I turn back, processing new information. This warehouse supposedly belongs to Team Galactic. And I say "supposedly" because they seem to simply lay claim to whatever happens to interest them, relying on threats of violence to crush dissent. I am unmoved by threats of violence, not because of any particular conviction, but simply because such threats made against me are impossible to carry out.

After exploring Veilstone City for a bit, which mostly consists of barging into houses, as I've grown accustomed to doing, I arrive Team Galactic's Veilstone Building. The warehouse can wait. This architectural abomination commands my interest for the moment. Well, one door leads to nothing but an empty room, but the next has the front desk. The drone there states that this is Team Galactic's Headquarters, but then corrects himself and calls it their "Veilstone" building. Enough of this. The other people here are also useless. I head south, encountering some cratered lumps of rock. Boring. I leave and check out some more buildings. There's a "game corner" that has nothing but slot machines. I chat with the clientele, because if they're pathetic enough to waste their money on this nonsense, maybe I'll get some amusement out of whatever they have to say. One man tells me that his daughter is the gym leader here and that she's tough. A gym? Finally, something that isn't stupid.

I scour the city for the alleged gym. Just as I find it, I also find Dawn. She makes some excuse and then leaves. It seems that she is embarrassed because I caught her shopping in Veilstone City instead of out in the field working on the Pokedex project. Whatever, Dawn. It's not like I actually care about the Pokedex project. I enter the gym. Slave has already beaten the leader, of course. But that just means this should be easy, because I always beat Slave before.

This gym is obsessed with fighting types and fighting moves. They're even wearing gis. What dorks. Nanabozho beats the crap out of a Meditite to start things off, which shouldn't happen if these trainers were any good, as Nanabozho isn't very strong. The next trainer leads with Machoke, and after getting one hit in, I switch to Kazza. He takes a huge hit from vital throw but strikes back with confusion, finishing his opponent. Another Meditite is next, so I switch to Ninhursag. Although Meditite can hit harder (and this one is higher in level), Ninhursag has an advantage with leech seed and stun spore working against her foe, and she wins in the end. Against the third trainer, my team is getting worn down, so I have to switch to the heavy hitters. Nanabozho is immediately called back, with Sekhmet paralyzing and then pulverizing the Machoke, but just as he's nearly finished, he gets a lucky hit with karate chop that takes Sekhmet out. I send Kazza to finish the job. I have him use confusion on the next Machoke too, but the fighting pokemon withstands the attack and gets revenge with "revenge." Two of my team are down, but Ninhursag dispatches the Machoke. Next comes—another Machoke, of course. But this one is in for a surprise: he's up against Hanuman. Machoke does surprisingly well, but ultimately can't handle the heat.

The next gi-adorned zealot I approach doesn't battle me. He simple assures me that the gym leader will crush me. Whatever, coward. I move on to another trainer. Unsurprisingly, he is using Machoke. Nanabozho does some damage, but gets beaten by karate chop. Hanuman finishes the job with flame wheel. Then comes Machop. And at a high enough level that it should have evolved, but nevermind that. Yet another Machoke is there to seismic toss Hanuman into oblivion, but the Machoke goes down in flames just in time.

And now I have a clear choice: I can face the gym leader with what I have, or I can go back and heal my team fully as well as possibly switching some pokemon for others. Khali would dominate the fighting types that are so popular here. If I don't go back, I will almost certainly have to rely on Articuno to win. Is that acceptable? I decide that it is. Let's see what you've got, Maylene.

Meditite. And Hanuman is nearly finished. So I switch to Articuno, who virtually ignores the confusion that Meditite uses against him. Articuno promptly begins napping. Stubborn bird. Meditite throws everything it has at Articuno, who sleeps through most of it, then takes Meditite out in one hit once he gets around to actually fighting. Maylene sends in Lucario. I tell Articuno to aerial ace, but he ice beams instead, which almost finishes the Lucario, but the pokemon annoyingly hangs on and fights back. Metal claw actually manages to damage Articuno pretty impressively, but a second ice beam ends things for Lucario. Maylene calls out her last pokemon—another Machoke. What is it with this gym and Machoke? Whatever. One hit from aerial ace and the battle is over. It always helps to have an invincible ice phoenix acquired under bizarre circumstances.

Blah blah blah, she learned from this loss, whatever. I take my new gym badge and complementary TM and leave. As soon as I'm out the door, Dawn is waiting there. She wants my help. She dropped her pokedex and Team Galactic took it. Oh, maybe that was why she was embarrassed earlier? Articuno did a good job and deserves a break, what with having used a full four attacks in that battle. So I heal my team at the Poke Center and meet Dawn in front of the Team Galactic Warehouse.

On one side: justice. On the other: stupidity. Dawn is using Clefairy. My stupid opponents are using Beautifly and Dustox. While Nanabozho is busy totally outclassing Beautifly, the other two pokemon are using silly moves like protect and gravity (makes everyone earthbound, which is interesting I guess). Beautifly goes down for good soon, only to be replaced by Stunky. Dustox gets switched for Croagunk. Nanabozho is taking too much damage for my liking, so I switch to Ninhursag. Together, Clefairy and Ninhursag bring down Croagunk, but Dustox comes right back out, and Stunky has really hurt poor Ninhursag. Your turn, Sekhmet. Stunky finishes Clefairy, but Dawn isn't out yet, and calls in Kadabra, who dominates the Dustox with psybeam. Stunky hurts Kadabra badly, but Sekhmet hurts Stunky even more. I think I'll let Dawn finish this one, so I'm switching to Ninhursag again. Annoyingly, the Galactic drone has his Stunky change targets, and slash takes Ninhursag out. I bring in Nanazboho. Kadabra doesn't actually use an attacking move, so Stunky actually slashes him until he faints. Dawn brings in her strongest pokemon that I've seen so far and presumably her ace-in-the-hole: Grotle.

The Galactic drones hand over the pokedex and run away. Dawn quickly disregards the encounter with them and announces that she is heading to Pastoria City and the great marsh. While I'm sure lots of pokemon live in swamps, that really doesn't sound like anything I want to do right now. Well, the drones are gone, so I stroll into the warehouse. I find an HM for fly. There is another drone standing around, but he's clueless and doesn't try to battle me or anything. He talks about "those things" being moved to Pastoria City. I don't care. Then again, I might as well set out for this Pastoria City, as I've run out of things to do here in Veilstone City.

And I will do that soon enough. But first, I teach Articuno the move "fly." It's not that I'm interested in using the move in battle at all. But I've heard that I can use it to quickly travel. For some reason, some invisible force is blocking me from flying anywhere except for a few specific locations. I can fly to any of them, but the spaces around and between those locations are inaccessible with this type of travel. How absurd. Oh well. One of the locations is apparently right in front of my house. I turn in for the night.