Infiltrating Team Galactic's HQ

The guard posted in the warehouse doesn't even want to try to stop me. I use my newly obtained key and open the metal doors. The doors open and then the key breaks. Oh come on. Oh well, I'm in. Team Galactic is doomed now. They just don't know it. The next person I see is dressed in a lab coat. One of their "energy" researchers? He doesn't try to stop me. But the next guy does. All he has is a Golbat, which damages Sekhmet and gets several attacks in due to confuse ray. Sekhmet eventually snaps out of it and demolishes the bat.

My next obstacle leads with Dustox. I switch from Anubis to Apsu. Dustox whirlwinds, bringing Anubis back out. I switch back to Apsu. Dustox whirlwinds, bringing Ryujin out. I switch back to Apsu. Dustox uses silver wind. Finally. I have Apsu use ice fang. Dustox uses light screen. Dustox uses psybeam. Apsu's strength finishes Dustox. Bronzor is next. I switch to Sekhmet. Two crunches devastate the Bronzor, but somehow it hangs on. I'm baffled that Bronzor managed to take that punishment, but of course the spark that follows puts it down.

The next one I run into doesn't try to stop me. They're learning that they cannot win. Progress, at last. Now I just need to find their leader. The next one only has one pokemon, but it's a Glameow that's higher in level than any of my current team other than Articuno (Hanuman and Inanna are in storage for now). Ninhursag trades attacks with Glameow and giga drain is too much for the feline. Now I have to go through some stupid puzzle with panels on the floor the teleport between the rooms of this headquarters. Why would anyone design something this stupid? Then again, these people are insane. So it probably has something to do with that.

The next idiot seems to think that a victory over me will mean that he will be promoted to commander. He leads with Wurmple, so I don't think it's going to happen. Dustox is next, and Sekhmet struggles a bit, but is victorious. His last pokemon is Cascoon. Ryujin closes the battle with dragon rage. On my right is a staircase and on my left is another teleporter. I try the teleporter first. This time I run into a scientist that is willing to try to stop me. His Kadabra goes down in one bite from Apsu. His second Kadabra does likewise. I am unstoppable.

The next drone doesn't try to fight me. Like I said, they're learning. The leader will show himself soon. Or maybe they'll do something sneaky and underhanded. Then I remember that I'm the one that broke into their base just now. Whatever. I find a key that lets me open some doors and doesn't break this time. Team Galactic's greatest weakness is apparently their tendency to leave keys lying around. Another one of their grunts doesn't make any move to stop me. But as I am turning a corner, another one spots me and does challenge me. His Stunky poisons Sekhmet, but her spark defeats it. I heal Sekhmet and continue.

Another one runs up to try to stop me. He has Bronzor and Stunky, both of which Apsu easily defeats. I run into a dead end and have to turn back. Stupid puzzles. Then I realize that I can use my new key to open the gates at the front entrance of the building. So I do that. No one tries to stop me and I access a new part of the building. Two more Galactic morons wait in a hallway and challenge me to a doubles battle. Apsu and Sekhmet each bring down a Golbat. Their other pokemon are a Silcoon and a third Golbat. Apsu ice fangs the Silcoon into frozen oblivion and Sekhmet's spark takes out the last Golbat.

Another scientist tries to stop me. I think I'm getting close. Apsu easily defeats his Kadabra. The scientist states that the boss of Team Galactic is a scientific genius. That's not really a clue as to his identity unless it's Rowan, and come on, Rowan is not secretly the leader of Team Galactic. That would be silly. No, it's someone else. But who? I should know this. I keep feeling stupid every time I think about the fact that I don't know. But I'm crushing everyone that gets in my way as I rampage through their headquarters. He'll show himself soon enough.

Two more of them challenge me to a doubles battle. They admit that I've gotten quite the reputation and that they want to defeat me because anyone that puts me down gets a big promotion. I use Apsu and Ninhursag against their Croagunk and Stunky. As always, my opponents don't stand a chance. They use another Croagunk and another Stunky. Such variety. Their last pokemon is Glameow. Apsu finishes their second Croagunk while Ninhursag giga drains Glameow. Master: 5, Galactic losers: 0.

I play with the teleporters some more and find another door. I open it, and then I see him. It should have been so obvious. Cyrus. Of course. He is annoyed that I came here to save the legendary pokemon because it is illogical. No really, that's what he says. That, and he intends to punish me for being illogical. Cyrus, you're insane.

He has three pokemon. He leads with Murkrow. It's level 40. Oh. This could be a problem. Articuno, I may need you to back me up on this one. Sekhmet brings down Murkrow with spark. She's hurt, but she manages to do the same against Golbat. Cyrus is down to his last pokemon: Sneasel. If only I had Hanuman with me. I switch to Apsu. This Sneasel is level 43, which is a bit disconcerting. But Apsu, at only level 36, beats the icy pokemon. Barely, but that's good enough.

Cyrus claims that the source of my strength is compassion, and that emotions are bad or something. He's insane, but whatever, he's beaten too. He wants to reward my courage, so he gives me the "Master Ball." It will, he says, unfailingly catch any pokemon in the wild. But he has no need of it, so he's giving it to me. Well, I suppose that's good.

Here's where it gets interesting: he has no interest in the three pokemon from the lakes. He tells me where I can go if I wish to free them. He apparently had some need for them before, but they are no longer useful to them. He got what he wanted. But he also tells me that he is going to the peak of Mt. Coronet, where we first met. He intends to end this universe and start a new one. That seems impossible, but I dismissed Team Galactic as incapable of anything before and they did all this. Even if he can't destroy the universe, he might do something catastrophic. I'll have to investigate this.

I follow the teleporters. The first scientist I come across says something about how the experiment went too far. The second scientist also seems shocked at whatever it was they did, but wonders aloud what the thing that they made will be used for. I enter the next room and see them. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf are all sealed into strange chambers. Commander Saturn is in the room. He is annoyed that Cyrus would let me come and go freely. He insists that Team Galactic eliminates everything in its way. He'll put a stop to me, supposedly.

His first pokemon is a Kadabra. Apsu takes a huge hit from Kadabra's shock wave, but hits back even harder with bite, taking Kadabra out. Ninhursag beats his Bronzor. His Toxicroak is a bigger problem. Sekhmet goes down against Toxicroak. Apsu barely hangs on again, but wins. Saturn is dismayed that he lost, but steps out of the way so that I can free the legendary pokemon. As soon as I press the button to open the devices trapping them, all three float into the air and, hover for a moment, then fly away. Commander Saturn gives me some information...

"Our boss crafted a Red Chain from crystals he took from the three pokemon. That Red Chain is what he needed to shackle something on Mt. Coronet. But that's all I know. Who knows what he's planning to do up there?"

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think this is actually serious. I thought I would end this whole affair when I raided the Team Galactic headquarters, but Cyrus already got what he needed. He's already demonstrated that he is dangerous. And since no one else has been able to do anything about him so far, I'd better go to Mt. Coronet and stop him myself...

Ryujin

Apsu pushes those boulders out of my way and I begin exploring the cave. My bicycle is necessary to get through some muddy slopes and over some rocks. But ultimately the rocks seem to be impassable. Curious. Anubis gets stronger as my team takes down Zubats and Bronzors. I also encounter a new dragon pokemon called Gible. I capture one. His name shall be Ryujin. After probing the cave as well as I can, I fly back to Veilstone and buy some more healing items.

In Veilstone City, one of the members of Team Galactic that I defeated earlier sees me. He is spooked, even though I'm not really sure which one he was. They all look the same to me anyway. He runs away. In his haste, he drops a key. I pick it up. This could be useful. The front door of the headquarters doesn't provide any noticeable access to most of the facility. I guess when you're running a diablolical cult full of bandits hellbent on creating a new universe by destroying lakes and raiding power plants, keeping most of the operation hidden is, well, something.

This key is probably for something in their warehouse. Maybe, just maybe this will give me the advantage I need. I can't be sure it's not a dead end, but I am going to try to infiltrate Team Galactic's headquarters. They brought the legendary pokemon here. There's some point to all of this. I cross most of Veilstone City and find the entrance to their warehouse wide open. This is it.

Sure, they've been bullying the people of Sinnoh without consequence. Sure, they have access to some powerful explosives. Sure, they've abducted the legendary lake pokemon. Slave couldn't stop them at Lake Acuity. They have some good planning and no one even seems to know just what the plans are for. And sure, I still don't know who their leader is. But I've battled them lots of times. They may be devious, but every single time I have clashed with these morons, I have won. And now I'm in their base, where I will kill their dudes. These guys are in so much trouble now.

Anubis

I fly to Solaceon Town. I check on Cai Shen and Phlogeus. Both have grown considerably in my absence. I decide to leave them there for now. I don't want to abandon any of my pokemon, but those two haven't been with me for a while. I don't know how I might be able to use them. I should come back for them once I sort out this Team Galactic affair.

While I'm cycling, the egg finally hatches. It's not Lucario. This is a pokemon I've never seen before. It's called Riolu. I'm not upset. This is obviously an immature form of Lucario. It will evolve into Lucario eventually, just like Inanna started out as a Happiny and eventually evolved into Chansey and then a Blissey. Welcome to the team youngster. Your name will be...

...Anubis.

Snowpoint City

I can't fight these members of Team Galactic. They're blocking my way to the lake. I want to fight them. I want to kill them. But I can't. Some force is stopping me. It's infuriating. I hear them talking and they don't even seem to be aware of me. They aren't there to stop me. I don't hear anything about Slave either. Maybe whatever they're up to here is different from what they did at Lake Valor. From what I hear them saying, they seem to be here to stop the local gym leader. Since I am apparently incapable of dealing with these two pawns myself, I'll have to try to find the gym leader. That's my only lead.

As Nyx clears another wild Machoke from my path, I think about Team Galactic. Something one of the morons standing around at Lake Valor said. I just can't place it. Someone is in charge of this. Someone is the real villain here. The ones I've been fighting really have been mostly idiots. And that lulled me into complacency. But whoever is behind all this is truly dangerous. Who is their leader? Hanuman incinerates a Snover. I need to find the leader of Team Galactic. That's the only way this is ever going to end. Even if I stop them at Lake Acuity, even if Slave already did, they'll try again with some other scheme. Apsu beats a wild Medicham. I stopped them at the windworks and they still went on to do what they've done at Lake Valor and Lake Acuity. Legendary pokemon are connected to their plans, but I don't even know much beyond that. Nyx deals with another Machoke. If I can't find the leader, I need help. Well, let's get to this gym leader then. Maybe I'll find Slave along the way.

I enter Snowpoint City. It's small. I ask around, but the locals don't seem to know anything. There's no sign of Slave. I check the Poke Center. Still nothing. I heal my team, although I haven't the slightest idea what it is I'm preparing for right now. I investigate the rest of the city. There's a sailor who longs to ferry a powerful trainer somewhere. There's a temple I'm not allowed to enter. All that's left is the gym. Well, that seems a logical place to find the gym leader.

Of course, there's this big, stupid puzzle to reach the gym leader. And I'll have to fight my way through other trainers. Oh well, I was going to defeat every trainer in this gym eventually. And the gym leader really is my only lead right now. I modify my team slightly: Nyx goes back into storage and Nanabozho joins the team again. Now to solve this snowball puzzle and reach the gym leader.

My first opponent in this gym makes some stupid ice puns and leads with Pelipper. Sekhmet's spark makes quick work of it and does the same for the Golduck that follows. Her last pokemon is Steelix. I switch in Hanuman and have him use close combat. Steelix strikes back with ice fang. Hanuman hits with flame wheel and finishes the battle with a rock smash. My second opponent uses only Snover, so a flam wheel ends the battle as soon as it starts.

The third trainer I face leads with Floatzel. I switch to Nanabozho, but that works out poorly. Floatzel easily defeats him. Aqua Jet hurts Sekhmet, who devastates Floatzel with a spark. Floatzel nearly finishes Sekhmet with quick attack, but my feline perseveres and triumphs with a second spark. My opponent brings in Sneasel. Hanuman closes the battle with flame wheel again. I heal my team.

My fourth opponent leads with Sneasel. Flame wheel. Then she calls in Tentacruel. I switch to Sekhmet. Tentacruel hits Sekhmet with poison jab, but goes down after two sparks. Number five uses only Snover. Flame wheel again. Hanuman has really been on a tear since he evolved into Infernape. Number six has only one pokemon, but this time it's Quagsire. I don't really know what to do here, so I switch in Nanabozho. Quagsire puts Nanabozho to sleep with yawn. I switch Apsu in on an earthquake and have Apsu use strength. Quagsire uses yawn again. I switch back to Nanabozho. Quagsire uses amnesia. I switch Apsu in on another earthquake. Apsu's strength eventually brings Quagsire down. I wake Nanabozho up and break the remaining snowballs in the stupid puzzle. Now I can reach the gym leader.

"You want to challenge Candice?"

I was more concerned with this Team Galactic problem...

"Sure thing! It was waiting for someone tough!"

Uh, if you insist. I'll try to make this quick and painless...

"But I should tell you, I'm tough because I know how to focus."

That's cool, Candice. Oh no, I just made one of those stupid ice puns. It was an accident!

"Pokemon, fashion, romance...It's all about focus! I'll show you just what I mean. Get ready to lose!"

Yeah, that's not going to happen. She leads with Snover. Flame wheel by Hanuman for a one-hit knock-out, as always. Her next pokemon is Abomasnow. Flame wheel doesn't quite finish it off. But now her pokemon is burned. Abomasnow uses swagger. I switch to Nanabozho. Candice uses a hyper potion to heal her Abomasnow. I have Nanabozho jump kick, which does significant damage. Abomasnow uses swagger again. Jump kick again. Abomasnow goes down. Candice calls in Medicham. I switch to Apsu. Medicham uses bulk up. Apsu surfs. Medicham uses ice punch. Apsu surfs. Both pokemon are in danger of being finished off by the hail that Snover summoned. I switch to Nanabozho. Candice uses a full restore. Medicham's ice punch takes Nanabozho out. I bring in Sekhmet. Medicham uses force palm, paralyzing Sekhmet. Crunch weakens Medicham. Sekhmet can't take another hit. I switch to Hanuman. Medicham uses bulk up. I don't know if Hanuman can win this one. I have Hanuman use flame wheel. Medicham uses bulk up again. Medicham can almost certainly take Hanuman out now, but it's pretty softened up from all the attacks it's taken. I leave Hanuman in and hope the next flame wheel ends this. Medicham bulks up again. Candice's own hail works against her, finishing Medicham. Finally. She's down to her last pokemon: Sneasel. She has her Sneasel use faint attack, which does little damage against Hanuman. Flame wheel takes Sneasel out in one hit. I must admit, that's the hardest time a gym leader has given me so far. I never had to resort to Articuno and I was carrying an egg so I was only using five pokemon, but still, it was a pretty good fight.

"Wow! You're great! You've earned my respect! I think your focus and will bowled us over totally. Oh, that's right! I'm supposed to give you this!"

She gives me the Icicle Badge and a TM. She's just acting like a normal gym leader. Maybe she doesn't even know anything about Team Galactic. This has been entirely useless. I mean, I was going to clear this gym out eventually, but I'm trying to stop Team Galactic right now. This was nothing but a distraction.

Wait! There might be one thing I can salvage from this. Slave always beats gym leaders before I get to them. I check at the front. Slave is certified at this gym. He beat Candice already. He's been here. That means I'm on his trail, possibly. Or something. I check the Poke Mart. No sign of Slave. I'd better try the lakefront again. I fight through a few wild pokemon to get there.

The guards that Team Galactic posted are standing around. They're not blocking my path anymore. They seem bored. I rush past them. Slave is there. So is Commander Jupiter. It looks like he might have made it. I hear Slave speaking...

"You're not getting away with this, Team Galactic!"
"Oh?" Jupter responds. "Are you finished already? Your pokemon aren't bad, but you're laughably weak. You honestly thought you could save the pokemon of the lake? And become the Pokemon Champion? Dream on, little kid. But eww, it's so cold here. Let's go back to the Veilstone HQ."

She walks past Slave. She sees me...

"Oh? Don't I know you? We met in Eterna City. Listen. Team Galactic is going to do something huge for everyone's sake. That's why you should keep out of Team Galactic's way. Don't come whining about poor pokemon and other trivial junk like that. Don't waste your time coming to our HQ in Veilstone. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She runs off. I try to follow her, but somehow, I go the other way. I'm checking on Slave. He seems stunned. Then he talks to me.

"Yeah, that's right! I couldn't do anything against Team Galactic! That pokemon called Uxie...It was suffering..."

Oh no. He had to see that. And he couldn't stop them. Poor kid.

"I'm going to get tougher..."

Me too, Slave.

"It's not about winning or losing..."

Apparently not. I've won every battle against them, but we still seem to be losing the war. Team Galactic now has all three of the legendary pokemon they sought to capture and I still don't know who their leader is.

"That's not good enough..."

The thing that's driving me crazy is that I should know who their leader is. Or I feel like I should, anyway.

"I have to be stronger..."

Slave leaves. I surf across the lake. I investigate the cave. Somehow, when Commander Saturn set off that bomb in Lake Valor, it made these caves rise up out of the water. But this one is empty, just like the others. There's a wide, very shallow pool of water. The legendary pokemon were in these caves. They were but they aren't now. Team Galactic captured them. Why? What's so important about these pokemon? It's some mad scheme. These guys are a cult. A dangerous cult. What are they up to? I go back. Everyone is gone. The lakefront is empty.

I fly back to Sandgem Town. Professor Rowan is in his lab. He asks me how my Pokedex is coming along. It's as though this whole mess never happened. Dawn is nowhere to be seen. The whole Team Galactic saga has been very unfortunate. I failed. Dawn failed. Slave failed. Team Galactic got what they wanted and left. I do have one clue: their headquarters is in Veilstone City. They won't just let me walk in the front door, of course. I'll have to find a way in. But first, like Slave, I need to become stronger. Once I'm ready: I will take on the whole of Team Galactic, if that's what it takes.

The Long, Icy Road

I weave my way around some rocks and am intercepted by a trainer. I need to keep my cool. This is going to be a journey. I can't keep worrying about how much time I might have. Trainers will continue to challenge me and lose and give me money. Worrying will not make them stop. This first one only has an owl thing anyway and Sekhmet ends the battle in one hit. The next trainer has only a Bronzor, so Hanuman ends the battle in one hit. A ninja boy ambushes me from a concealed pit. Enki surfs over his Skorupi and Sekhmet knocks his Golbat out of the air with spark. I am making good progress.

Apparently, in order to reach the next road, I have to navigate tunnels in Mt. Coronet. Disappointing, but there's no avoiding it. Worse still, my path is blocked by boulders. I have to turn back and get Apsu. A wild Meditite blocks my path. Nyx makes quick work of the little guy. Another Meditite attacks me before I reach the exit. I fly back to Celestic Town and switch Enki for Apsu. I return to the cave. Apsu pushes a boulder out of the way and Hanuman clears some rocks out of my way. I enter a foggy tunnel. Just what I need. I have no clue where I'm going and I can't see a thing. Slave, I sure hope you're not counting on me to back you up this time.

I have to fight my way through another Meditite, but Nyx always handles them with impunity. A wild Graveler attacks next, but Apsu can deal with those easily. A wild Golbat appears and is much more annoying. My pokemon can't hit it through the fog and it keeps using confuse ray. Eventually Apsu finishes the bat with a bite. I would face fewer wild pokemon if I knew which way to go. Oh look, another Graveler. And another. Another. Why do they keep attacking me? What did I ever do to them? A wild Machoke appears. I have Nyx do this one because of her immunity to Machoke's attacks, but he does manage to damage her with a seismic toss. Apparently using foresight has this effect? More research is needed. My next obstacle is something called Clefairy. What is this thing? It looks weird. Whatever it is, it cannot stand up to Hanuman's rock smash. Neither can these rocks that keep getting in my way. There's another Meditite. Nyx heals herself before taking this one down. And yet another Meditite. Make it stop!

I have Apsu use surf to cross a body of water. Of course, Golbat can still fly, so one attacks me. And right after that, a Zubat attacks me. The fog makes them nearly impossible to hit. This is exceedingly annoying. Yet another Golbat attacks me. I seem to be going the wrong way. Nyx defeats another Machoke. I have to deal with yet another Golbat. Who died and made me vanquisher of bats? Oh, Graveler again. Hey, there's daylight. I rush to the end of the tunnel...

...and right into snow. At least I'm out of the caves for now. A trainer challenges me. I soon realize that the hail falling on us damages pokemon. Well, not ice-types. But other pokemon take damage over time. This seems odd, as the weather isn't hurting me and I'm more fragile than these creatures. The hail even finishes Apsu, who was severely weakened by my opponent's Kadabra. Fortunately, I invested in some medicine for occasions like this. Apsu is revived once Sekhmet gets revenge against the offending Kadabra.

The snow is thick and I have trouble wading through it. Another trainer sees me and challenges me. Sekhmet beats her Golduck with spark. Apsu beats her Ponyta with surf. Her last pokemon is Sudowoodo, a giant pickle or something. Apsu deals with that one too. I continue to struggle in the snow and some jerk shows up on skis to mock me. He seems to think that his Sneasel will stand some sort of chance against me. I don't know what Sneasel is, but Hanuman demolishes it anyway. I find a lodge where I can rest, but I don't really have time for this. The snow is thick and progress is slow.

The next trainer to challenge me has Lopunny, which is probably what Nanabozho will evolve into. Hanuman fights the rabbit to a standstill and the hail finishes Lopunny off. My next challenger leads with Mr. Mime, which Apsu takes out in one hit. Nyx eliminates his Machoke after a few gusts. Hanuman demolishes his final pokemon, a Sneasel. Hanuman learns a move called close combat and, even better, evolves into Infernape! Now he looks even more intimidating.

I march through what is turning into a blizzard. Another trainer ambushes me. What is he doing out here in this kind of weather? This guy leads with Raichu. I switch to Sekhmet. Raichu keeps using thunderbolt. Sekhmet is paralyzed and the combination of several thunderbolts and the hail is wearing her down. The hail finishes her off. Hanuman, newly evolved into a super monkey with fire on his head, is faster than Raichu, and finishes it off with ease. I have Articuno deal with the Pelipper that follows. Apsu surfs to take out Hippopotas, ending the battle. I return to the lodge to heal my team.

A skier, concealed by the blizzard, ambushes me with an icy pokemon called Snover. One flame wheel ends that confrontation. Another skier easily chases me down. The snow makes walking very, very slow. I hate this. Hanuman flame wheels his snover out of commission right away. Sekhmet takes some damage from his Golduck's fury swipes before putting it down in two hits with spark. Hanuman defeats another Snover in one hit. Type advantage is a wonderful thing. My opponent's last pokemon is yet another Snover, which calls for yet another flame wheel by Hanuman.

Another one of those ninja boys is hiding in the snow, but I see him. Apsu has just learned ice fang, so I try it out on his Zubat. And his Golbat. And his other Zubat. I have to say, ice fang works pretty well. For his Croagunk, I switch to Hanuman and flame wheel the frog. Hanuman takes a mud bomb to the face in return, but the hail finishes Croagunk off.

The next skier leads with Mantyke. Sekhmet's spark deals with that. Hanuman flame wheels his Sneasel. I collect my winnings and continue running through the blizzard. I find an HM for rock climb. I probably need that move to scale those strange paths in the sides of some of the steep slopes I've seen. I'll worry about that later. I find another house. The man there says that he lost his HM. I realize this must have been the rock climb HM that I just found. He rewards me for my honesty, even though I didn't actually tell him anything, with an icicle plate. Um, good? I don't know.

Another ninja boy bursts from his hiding place in the snow. Apsu crushes his Skorupi. Sekhmet beats the boy's Golbat. She learns crunch, which looks promising. I have no idea which way to go. The next skier leads with Marill. Sekhmet takes care of the skier's Marill with spark and her Clefairy with crunch. Immediately after defeating the skier, I run into one of those crazy, gi-clad men. Wearing a gi in a blizzard? Really? Alright, flame wheel on Croagunk, switch to Nyx and gust away his Machoke. He switches to Onix. Fine then: back to Hanuman to smash Onix with close combat, and then back to Nyx to gust away Machoke. Easy.

I find another house. The woman there gives me a spell tag. I am challenged by yet another trainer. It's like the snow lures them here or something stupid like that. They're probably part of Team Galactic in disguise, here solely to slow me down. I'll probably have to kill them. Apsu beats this trainer's Roselia. Sekhmet takes out her Seaking. I rush through some tall grass that is inexplicably thriving in the constant snow. Nyx clears another wild Machoke from my path. I see Team Galactic up ahead. Maybe I'm not too late! A wild Snover attacks. Really? Now of all times? I can see them. They're right there. Those are the bad guys, Snover. Go get them. Not me.

At last, I've made it. These two are just pawns. I'll fight my way through them and whatever else Team Galactic throws at me.

Lake Valor

The first floor of the library looks just like it did when I left it. Slave must be higher up. I check the next floor for him, but the only person there is the same kid that was there earlier. I start to panic a little: these library patrons are moving, but they stay in the same general areas. They're not studying or anything. They just stand around. This is not normal. I ascend the next staircase. Slave is waiting for me.

"Hey, Master! Over here! This way!"

He leads me to a table. Dawn and Professor Rowan are seated at the table. Oh. We're just having a Pokedex meeting or whatever. I can probably improvise my way out of this. Sure, I haven't been catching many pokemon. But I'm the most powerful trainer we have, and that should count for something. I'm doing my part my raising pokemon to become stronger so that they evolve, rather than just catching a whole bunch of them. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Slave tries to sneak away, but Rowan wants us all to be present. Well, ready or not, we'll see what the old man wants.

"Hm! Everyone's here finally. Master, everyone, listen. You may have forgotten already, but I study the evolution of pokemon."

Speaking of which, professor, did you know that I just had one of my pokemon evolve? Really, right before Slave brought me here. I was sweeping my way through every trainer in the Canalave City Gym, where I just earned this new badge. And my Tentacool evolved into...

...Yeah, he's ignoring me. I don't think he's here to chew us out. That's a relief. He stands up.

"But the more I study, the more mysteries appear and multiply. Pokemon that evolve, and those that don't..."

This would be fascinating if he'd actually give us some details. It's like someone saying, "I research geology" and not actually getting around to saying anything about geology other than "it is so confusing."

"What makes them different from each other? Do those that are immature as living beings evolve to ones more mature? If so, what do we make of the legendary pokemon that don't evolve? Are we to assume that the legendary pokemon are complete as creatures?"

Is he serious? He's serious, isn't he? Guys? Guys? Yeah, I'm not getting any help from Slave or Dawn on this one. I sigh deeply.

"This is where you three come in." In the three lakes of Sinnoh, there are said to be mirage pokemon. If we can obtain data on them, it may shed some light on how the process of pokemon evolution works. I need help from each one of you on this grand undertaking. Help me find these pokemon that are considered to be mirages."

Well, this does sound like an interesting errand. I get where he's going with us. The lakes. Three young trainers that are apparently unprotected by child labor laws. How perfect for him. But I already investigated one of these lakes. There was nothing of interest. Slave notes that he never received a pokedex. Professor Rowan points out that Slave apparently bolted from the lab before Rowan could give him one. Oh Slave, you and your shenanigans.

"Now, there are three lakes. Fortuitously, there are three of you."

Oh, who called it? That's right. I called it.

"You should therefore split up and investigate the lakes individually. Dawn, you go to Lake Verity."
"Will do!"
"Slave, I want you to investigate Lake Acuity. That would take you almost to Snowpoint City. The road there is harsh. I need a tough trainer to go."
"Uh, yeah, of course! Gramps, you know how to call it! You can tell I'm the hotness!"
"And that leaves Master with Lake Valor. The lake is between Veilstone and Pastoria, if memory serves..."

I know exactly where it is. I didn't visit the lake itself because Cyrus posted some volunteers to keep people out on no authority whatsoever. Don't worry, professor, I'll take care of...

...earthquake? The building shakes for several seconds. Rowan, startled, continues...

"Has it stopped? Are all of you unharmed? Let's go outside, but be careful. I'm concerned about the city."

We gather outside the library. Rowan is suspicious.

"That tremor. That wasn't a natural occurrence."

A sailor runs up to us.

"Hey, hey! Old dude and kids! Something big just happened! They're saying there was a huge explosion at Lake Valor! Ka-Boom! Like that!"
"Gramps," Slave says uneasily, "I'm going to the lake! I have a bad feeling about this!"

Rowan is obviously upset. He instructs me to investigate Lake Valor anyway, but to be very careful and not get in over my head. What? In case the lake blows up again? He intends to take Dawn and investigate Lake Verity. Dawn is worried about me.

"Master, you'll be OK, won't you?"

Against my better judgment, I comply. The bad feeling I had before is back with a vengeance. Still, Dawn and Professor Rowan have promised to get there to back me up as soon as they've checked on Lake Verity. And if all else fails, I have my pokemon to protect me. Besides, with Articuno, I fly somewhere safe in no time.

I fly to Veilstone City and cycle to the lakefront as quickly as I can. I arrive, and look on in horror: the lake really has been blown up somehow. It's dry. Magikarp are flopping around helplessly on the ground. People are standing around. I walk passed them in a stupor. And then I notice: everyone else here besides me is wearing a Team Galactic uniform. One of them walks up to me...

"We set off the Galactic Bomb! Its blast force was phenomenal!"

No! I curse myself for ever doubting everyone that thought these lunatics were a threat. The bomb was real. I've been a fool. Before I know it, he's battling me. My heart isn't in it. I switch to Hanuman without even looking at the opposing pokemon. It's Golbat. Air cutter deals hefty damage, but Hanuman is still mostly alright. I've been careless. And now I'm letting this braggart, who just admitted to an act of heinous terrorism, get the better of me. I've never lost a battle, and now someone from Team Galactic, that incompetent bunch of half-witted thugs, is getting the better of me. Team Galactic, the people who just blew up Lake Valor for some stupid reason. And I let them get away with it. And now I'm letting them hurt Hanuman. Poor Hanuman. Always loyal. He's been with me from the beginning. I need to switch. No, not back to Enki. No, not the egg.

It's delayed but entirely unsurprising: I snap. Hatred consumes me. Articuno, destroy these freaks! I don't even pay attention to what moves Articuno is using. The other pokemon don't stand a ghost of a chance. I advance toward the Team Galactic scum, ready to break him. I'll have Hanuman set him on fire, then I'll...

"So, you're tough. Big deal What do you think you can accomplish? There's one of you up against the entire Team Galactic. By now, another crew should be on their way to Lake Verity near that puny little Twinleaf Town!"

Lake Verity? No! Dawn! Professor Rowan! I have to warn them. I turn and run. Another Team Galactic freak intercepts me. I am aware of Hanuman incinerating his pokemon, but I am not really paying attention to the battle. I am panicking. I've got to stop them. Lake Verity. Oh no. No! Oh, look at that. Nyx is evolving. I should tell Professor Rowan about the success I've been having with evolution. Maybe it can help his research...

...Professor Rowan! Lake Verity! I'm distracted. I need to stay focused. I need to help Professor Rowan. He might not know the danger. Another Team Galactic monster offers to make me flop around in the mud like the Magikarp are doing. You sadistic creep. I demolish her pokemon in the battle without even really trying. I forgo killing. This is an emergency. I need to get control. I need to focus. There's a cave. What's going on? A hundred voices in my head are screaming at me. "Lake Verity." But something is going on. I take a look...

"The mission is proceeding without a hitch. The boss should be pleased. Everything is for everyone, and for the good of Team Galactic! I recognize your face! You're the child who raided the Team Galactic building in Eterna! Humph! Jupter should be ashamed of herself, being beaten by a child. But anything and anyone that opposes eam Galactic must be crushed! Even the very thought of opposition will not be tolerated!"

Commander Saturn. That's who's behind all this, apparently. I'll smash him in battle and then beat the answers out of him. He's answering to someone. And I have a feeling that this is about more than wrecking a few bodies of water. Whispering to myself that Dawn and Professor Rowan will be alright, I stand and face this villain. Sinnoh is counting on me here!

He leads with Kadabra. I switch to Sekhmet. Shock wave. Paltry damage against an electric type.
Embargo. Not going to save you, Saturn. Sekhmet uses spark Kadabra barely hangs on. Kadabra heals itself with recover. Sekhmet ends the fight with a bite. Toxicroak is next. Hanuman hits hard with flame wheel, but Toxicroak takes him out with poison jab. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Oh yes, I went there. Articuno eliminates Toxicroak with a single aerial ace. Saturn brings out his last pokemon: Bronzor. Sekhmet paralyzes it with spark, strikes again with spark, then finishes the battle with a well-placed bite.

Saturn is impressed and frustrated: "Gah! Even I, a Commander, only managed to buy us time? But that's fine. A child like you will never be able to stem the flow of time! Team Galactic will get the three legendary pokemon of the lakes! With their power, we will create an entirely new universe! By now, Mars should have captured the pokemon of Lake Verity..."

He vanishes. Or something. How long was I in that trance? Did he hypnotize me? I run out and, thanking whatever mystical forces endowed me with Articuno, fly to Twinleaf Town. I hop on my bicycle and pedal to the lakefront. Professor Rowan is there. So is Team Galactic. I'm not too late! Oh, you freaks are in trouble now. Rowan tells me what I already know: that Team Galactic is after the legendary pokemon. He implores me to help Dawn. I rush forward...

...right into a Team Galactic ambush. They even admit that they're only trying to stall me. They know they cannot win, but if they can keep me occupied while Mars does her job, it won't matter. No time to fool around then. I switch Enki out for Articuno and take their Glameow down with Sekhmet's spark. But they're stalling, so I'm not encouraged by this. Every second counts. Golbat is next. This battle seems to be taking forever. Articuno cuts that one down in one hit too. Thank you, Articuno. You're the best. While Articuno is finishing off the opposing team, I revive Hanuman. Every second matters here. I see Dawn up ahead. Of course, I underestimate Team Galactic again: there's another ambush waiting to stall me. Hanuman and Sekhmet work together to demolish the opposition in a few attacks.

All obstacles out of the way, I reach Dawn.

"Master! It's T-team Galactic! Oh no! The pokemon of the lake..."

Mars is standing right there. I confront her...

"That face! It brings back bad memories. I'm taking about the windworks. I caught a whole lot of trouble for that little incident. What's with the look on your face? You do remember me, don't you? Fine, whatever. I'll tell you who I am again! I'm Mars, one of Team Galactic's Commanders. So, what is it? Are you some lovey-dovey couple to the rescue? Not a chance! Not even a teeny one! You're all going down!"

She couldn't be more wrong. Her Golbat pulverizes Enki, but he manages to set up toxic spikes. I notice that her Golbat is higher in level than any of my pokemon except (of course) Articuno. I have Enki set up barrier. Golbat gets several hits in because bite makes Enki flinch. I use a hyper potion on Enki. Golbat keeps attacking. With barriers up, Enki is hitting Golbat harder than Golbat can hit Enki. Surf beats bite and air cutter eventually. Bronzor is next. Extrasensory does a lot of damage to Enki. Mars brings out her last pokemon: a level 39 Purugly. Toxic spikes finally matter. Enki can't win this and I know it. I switch to Nyx. Purugly drops Nyx in one hit with faint attack. Hanuman goes down from one slash. Sekhmet survives a slash despite already being wounded. She hits back with a powerful spark. Very powerful, actually. I'm proud of her. But Purugly's berry heals it and Sekhmet can't possibly take another hit. Neither can Enki, I'm guessing. I switch to Articuno. Purugly uses hypnosis. Articuno never wakes up, but it doesn't matter: toxic spikes finish the job.

"I lost again," Mars whines. "So, first the windworks and now Lake Verity that I owe you for! This shouldn't be happening to Team Galactic's Commander...Calm down, Mars...I've done my part in all of this...My mission was to transport the lake's pokemon to our HQ...That's right! I accomplished my mission without a problem! Team! We're pulling out! The boss is waiting at the HQ! The pokemon of the three lakes are connected somehow. Thanks to Saturn's grandstanding at Lake Valor, a cavern appeared here. It was the cavern where the pokemon Mesprit slept. Mesprit appeared too, probably to go help its friends. That worked out well for us. It was super easy to catch. So now we've got them all: Mesprit, 'the Being of Emotion.' Azelf, 'the Being of Willpower.' Uxie, 'the Being of Intelligence.' Now that we have them all...You can look forward to what plans Team Galactic has for them!"

And somehow, despite everything that these creatures have done, I can't even try to stop them. They're gone. The next thing I know, Professor Rowan is talking to me.

"I see. This also occurred at Lake Valor. Another legendary pokemon was taken by Team Galactic. Both of you went up against fully-fledged criminals. The fact that you're unharmed is reason enough to celebrate. But what about Lake Acuity? Is Slave safe?"

I don't know, Professor. I don't know. He's always been going places faster than me, earning every gym badge before I get a chance to. If anyone could get to Lake Acuity in time to stop them, it's him. But if he's failed, if they've hurt him, I will bury each and every one of these freaks. I will not stop until they are in the ground. Dawn frets about the pokemon of the lakes. Rowan seems to be on the same page as me, though.

"Master, I need you to go to Lake Acuity right away. I'm worried about Slave."

I agree. Everything else can wait. Slave might be able to take care of himself, but even if he so, if there's some chance that I can help stop Team Galactic at Lake Acuity, I have to try. I know it will be a long journey. Articuno cannot fly me there because I've never been there yet. I'll have to fly to Celestic Town and make the trek on foot. I cannot believe Team Galactic has finally gone and done it. I thought they were harmless. I was so wrong. Articuno is anxious. Well, Articuno is a legendary pokemon after all. I think that Articuno feels some sort of kinship with these legendary lake pokemon. I have a bad feeling that Team Galactic is going to kill these pokemon as part of whatever their scheme is. And just who is their mysterious leader anyway?

Canalave City Gym

I put my precious egg away for now. My team for this gym consists of Enki, Hanuman, Apsu, Sekhmet, Nyx, and Articuno. Nyx is substantially lower in level than the rest of my team, but whatever. These trainers are probably chumps anyway and this is an opportunity to train my underused ghost-type.

My first opponent has only a Steelix. Enki's surf ends the battle uneventfully. The next trainer uses only an Onix. I play with him for a bit before having Apsu end things in one hit. So far, so easy. There don't seem to be any more trainers here. Then I find the elevators. This gym has some sort of elevator puzzle. How droll. I ascend and confront my next opponent. He uses Onix, Onix, and Onix. That means one hit with surf, one hit with surf, and one hit with surf. The trainers in this gym have a serious weakness to water-types and it's pretty much unconscionable. I mean, this is a port city. Come on.

I finally run into a trainer that doesn't have 100% of his team weak against water: he uses Skorupi and Steelix. Enki brings down Skorupi in two surfs despite not having a type advantage. I switch to Hanuman for his Steelix. Hanuman fares rather poorly and takes heavy damage from an iron tail and a rock tomb, but ultimately puts the metal worm down with flame wheel. I continue to navigate the stupid elevator maze. Note to self: kill whomever designed this. My next opponent uses the formidable Onix/Onix combination and, of course, surf makes quick work of him.

What's this? Enki is evolving! Now he's a Tentacruel. Excellent. I seek out the next hapless trainer to try out my newly evolved warrior. Oh look, an Onix. One hit with surf as usual. Informative? No. But Enki does look more majestic now. Next is Steelix, so I bring Hanuman out. Flame wheel does unimpressive damage. I switch to Apsu. Steelix uses only screech, so my pokemon take no damage (the effect of screech is to lower the defense of the pokemon that is screeched at).

My next opponent catches me by surprise, I'll admit: she uses a water-type. Azumarill. No matter. I have Sekhmet. I am tempted to try Nyx for this, but she seems to be gaining levels anyway, thanks to the item she is holding. Sekhmet's spark easily defeats Azumarill. I continue a little further and reach the end of the elevator maze. The gym leader is a stern man with purple, spikey hair. How silly.

"Ah! That's Oreburg's Gym Badge! I see, I see! You've defeated my son. But that's no surprise. He still has much to learn. In place of my son Roark, I, Byron, will take your challenge!"

He leads with Bronzor. I switch to Hanuman. Bronzor uses flash cannon, which does paltry damage against Hanuman. Flame wheel devastates Bronzor. The metal disc thing (I don't even know) retaliates with confuse ray. I switch to Nyx. Bronzor puts Nyx to sleep with Hypnosis. Bronzor damages Nyx with flash cannon and extrasensory. I switch Hanuman in on the next flash cannon and score the first knock out with flame wheel. Byron uses an impressive armored pokemon called Bastiodon. I assume flame wheel will damage whatever this thing is. Flame wheel barely hurts Bastiodon, and Hanuman is hurt by its "ancientpower" attack. I switch to Enki. Bastiodon goes to sleep and regains health, then wakes up because of the berry it was holding. Enki's surf scores a critical hit. Bastiodon uses iron defense. Enki strikes with another surf. Bastiodon goes to sleep again, restoring all of its health. This thing has very impressive defensive capabilities. I instruct Enki to keep on surfing. It takes three more hits, but Bastiodon goes down. Byron is down to his last pokemon. I bring out Hanuman against his Steelix, but promptly switch to Apsu because Hanuman is too hurt to win this fight. Apsu enters on a nearly harmless gyro ball, retaliates with surf, takes another puny gyro ball, and surfs a final time. It's over.

Byron is impressed. Of course.

"You were strong enough to take down my prized team of pokemon. In recognition of that power, I give you this: the Mine Badge!"

He keeps talking. Yeah, yeah. I'm so great. We all know. But seriously, why don't you use six pokemon instead of just three? Wait, what?

"And now you have six gym badges. That means all pokemon up to level 70 will obey you without question."

What? Articuno will finally stop being such an impossible brat. Oh glorious day! I snatch my useless free TM and dash to the exit. And for the first time in my life, well, the first time in my memory since I found myself suddenly waking up as a ten-year-old resident of Sinnoh anyway, something happens that I never expected I would live to see. I run right into Slave. He doesn't run into me. No, I mean it. I run into him. And he doesn't even notice. He's too fixated on my new gym badge.

"Hey! That's the Mind Badge! Good going! You're tough enough to consider becoming the Pokemon Champ. Of course, I'm tougher, so it's not going to actually happen."

Oh, you're so funny.

"Anyways, Master, come with me to the library."

Interesting. I return to the Poke Center to heal my team in case Slave is planning some epic ambush. But somehow, I know that's not what this is about. I have a bad feeling about this. It's just a casual invitation to the library from a friend. Nothing wrong with that. Somehow, I feel like something terrible is going on. I try to shake the feeling off. It's irrational. Mostly to prove to myself that I'm not worried, I stroll over to the computer and calmly switch Apsu for the egg. I'm not really going to be in some epic battle at the library and this egg needs to be with me if it's going to hatch into a wonderful, magnificent Lucario. But enough of this. Slave is a good friend. It would be rude to keep him waiting.

Iron Island

The cave has a sort of entrance chamber with two descending paths. I take the left path. As I suspected, there are trainers here. A boy scout challenges me. His Luxio paralyzes Ninhursag, but does little damage. Unfortunately, the toxic spikes I had Ninhursag set up were a waste of time: my opponent's only other pokemon is a poison-type: Stunky. I win of course, but Inanna and Hanuman are both beaten down and poisoned before it's over. I heal them and continue. The cavern is not particularly large. As I am on my way out, a wild Golbat attacks. For this, I use Sekhmet. The wild Golbat manages to do some damage, thanks to disabling Sekhmet with confuse ray. But my electric cat wins, of course.

The path on the right is more extensive. I am challenged by another trainer. She was out on a picnic? In a cave? Seeing Staravia, I switch from Ninhursag to Inanna right away, but this Staravia nearly defeats Inanna. I manage to put the bird to sleep, then switch to Sekhmet to finish it. My opponent's other pokemon is Cherrim: a grass type. Hanuman deals with that one easily.

A wild Graveler attacks me, and Ninhursag easily defeats it. A wild Golbat attacks me. I switch to Sekhmet, but confuse ray gives her trouble again. I bring Khali in and get the stupid Golbat out of the way with psybeam. A wild Onix attacks. This cave is going to wear my team down. Ninhursag brings that one down in one hit. A Graveller. One hit. Rock-types are no problem if I lead with Ninhursag, but Golbat is considerably more irritating. The next Golbat brings Sekhmet down. Furious, I bring Articuno out. Articuno is feeling disobedient, but eventually attacks.

I revive Sekhmet. I am running low on healing items. In my haste to investigate this island, I neglected to purchase supplies. How foolish of me. I find a super repel lying on the ground. Now seems as good a time as any to use this. Despite the super repel, I encounter another wild Graveler and another wild Golbat. Articuno actually levels up after defeating that last one.

I find, of all things, an elevator. In a cave? Why? At the base of the elevator are two descending paths. I choose left first again. A sharply dressed young man stands in my path. He sees me and addresses me...

"...You are?"
I tell him my name.
"OK, you're Master. I'm Riley. I'm a trainer and yes, it is a bit odd that I would be training here."

Finally, someone who is actually honest about this! He admits that it's a bit odd. Riley, I like you already.

"If you'd like, we could team up. The wild pokemon here are restless."

Excellent. And he offers to heal my pokemon too. It will be just like that time I teamed up with Cheryl. Oh, and then there was that other time that I teamed up with Mira. Well, Cheryl used Chansey and Mira used Kadabra. Maybe Riley, who seems sensible enough, will use more than one pokemon?

We are ambushed by two wild pokemon and I get the answer to my question. Riley only has one pokemon with him. Something called Lucario. It seems to be a steel-type bipedal lupine creature. I want one. Maybe Riley can tell me where I can catch a Lucario of my own. We meet two hikers and battle them. Riley's Lucario strikes with devastating power, bringing down a Graveller and a Zubat, but then the hikers use Machoke, which takes Lucario out with a technique called vital throw. Now I'm on my own. But that's not really a problem: I have Khali. Psybeam brings down the Machoke and a Golbat. Khali is heavily damaged, but all the hikers have left is Onix, so I'm not worried. A pain split, psybeam, and payback knock Onix out.

Together, Riley and I wade our way through hordes of wild pokemon. As always, when I have someone with me, wild pokemon attack in pairs, which means more experience for my team. Riley has a tendency to order his Lucario to metal claw the same pokemon I'm attacking, but it's not like anything down her poses a threat anyway. I even see a wild Steelix. But I don't bother to catch it. I should catch something while I'm down here. What I really want is a Lucario. But there are none to be found. I should ask Riley about that. He mentions that Byron, leader of the Canalave City gym, asked him to become the leader of the Oreburgh City gym, but that Riley let Roark take the position instead. Also, Byron is Roark's father. I'll defeat the whole family if I have to.

Two men in hard hats challenge us. Ninhursag and Lucario must be having a fun time demolishing all these rock-types. We continue fighting our way through wild pokemon. Riley becomes worried. The wild pokemon, he asserts, are unusually restless. This indicates that something must be wrong. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but we are being attacked a lot. Then again, caves seem to have that effect. I mean, I get attacked by wild pokemon a lot when I'm in caves. It happens. I guess we'll see. Riley does seem the sort to know what he's talking about. Well, whatever is going on, this is certainly helping my team to level up.

Two trainers ambush us. Ninhursag uses toxic spikes. She's eliminated by a Floatzel's ice fang. Hanuman comes out, but never has a chance to attack, taking hits from aqua jet (by Floatzel) and wing attack (by Pelipper). Finally, some semblance of a challenge! Well, not really. Khali dominates the rest of the match with confuse ray and psybeam. They do manage to bring Lucario down as well. I'm not happy that some of our pokemon fainted, but it is nice to actually feel like I was in a real battle for once.

We encounter two Team Galactic morons by another elevator. Riley rushes toward them...

"I get it now. You're responsible for agitating the pokemon. I don't care what good reason you may have, but I don't want you bringing any trouble into my mine."

It's his mine? He never mentioned that.

One of the Team Galactic idiots responds. "We're Team Galactic! We'll take all the pokemon we want! Isn't that right, partner?"

The other idiot replies. "You said it, brother! So that's what we're gonna do! We're abducting all the pokemon from this rusted-out Iron Island."

Riley is looking pissed off. "To share in all the joys and all the sorrows. That is how all the trainers and pokemon live in Sinnoh! I won't allow anyone to defy that code of ethics! Come on, Master! this is one battle we can't lose!"

Riley needn't worry. I don't lose against Team Galactic. Well, I don't lose, period. But this will be easy. Very easy. They lead with Glameow and Zubat. Ninhursag sets up two layers of toxic spikes while Lucario metal claws two Zubats down. Then they bring out Golbat. Toxic spikes was apparently a big waste of time. Golbat and Glameow knock Hanuman out. Lucario finally finishes Glameow off with bone rush right before Sekhmet paralyzes Golbat. They send out Croagunk. Poison-type. Immune to toxic spikes. This is infuriating. Golbat confuses Lucario. Sekhmet brings Golbat down. I switch to Khali, who psybeams Croagunk. The Galactic imbeciles send out their last pokemon: Stunky. This confirms that toxic spikes were indeed useless. I have Khali use confuse ray, switch to Ninhursag, and leech seed the skunk. Lucario strikes the final blow.

The Galactic dummies flee in terror. Riley thanks me for my help and offers a pokemon egg. Is it Lucario? I can't carry the egg because I have a full team, so he offers to wait for me. I rush out and, am, of course, attacked by a wild Golbat. I switch Hanuman to the lead. But apparently that doesn't matter right now. I find an exit to the cave. I don't want to keep Riley waiting, so I return to Canalave City immediately. In the Poke Center, I exchange Ninhursag for Enki and put Inanna away, leaving a spot open for the egg. Then it's back to Iron Island. Of course, I have to fight my way through wild pokemon again. Nothing notable though.

Riley gives me the egg. Excellent! Wait, that's wrong. It's too close to "egg-cellent" and that's just stupid. I apologize. Anyway, this egg is totally going to hatch into a Lucario and I will name it, well, I'm not sure yet. Maybe it won't be Lucario. But it had better be Lucario. Riley had the only one I've ever seen and I have no idea how to find another one. But I know that it will take a lot of time for this egg to hatch. I've been there before. Inanna. But it will be worth it.

I return to the first elevator and take the path to the right: the only part of this mine I haven't explored yet. There's a trainer down here. He uses Onix (rock smashed by Hanuman) and Graveler (one hit from Enki's surf). I have to struggle through several more wild pokemon (mostly Graveler, and if it uses selfdestruct on anything but Khali or possibly Articuno, I'm in trouble). Another trainer challenges me, and his Graveler defeats Khali with rock blast. Enki gets revenge for me with surf.

And now I seem to have explored all of Iron Island. I fight my way to the surface and fly to Veilstone City to buy supplies, something which is long overdue.

Canalave City

In the Poke Center, I learn from a fellow traveler who picked up the strength "HM" in the same spot I did that defeating this city's gym leader is necessary to use the technique for moving boulders. This should make no sense, but I'm starting to understand how this world works. Excellent. I will defeat this gym leader and have Apsu move some boulders around for me. But first, to explore the city itself.

Canalave City seems to take its name from the word "canal." It functions as a port. Or rather, it used to. That's what one of the citizens says anyway. It was a hub of cargo transportation "in the old days." The "old days" couldn't have been that long ago, since there are some cargo ships sitting right there on the water. I can see them. I find a place called "Harbor Inn" but the door is, unlike almost every door I ever encounter, actually locked for once. Interesting.

One of the houses has a man claiming to be a "move deleter." He can make pokemon forget moves. This doesn't seem useful, but whatever. In another house, someone gives me a TM because I am a trainer. There's also a Poke Mart. I do need to stock up on supplies. I should remember to do that. A woman in the Poke Mart mentions something about "Iron Island." It might be worth checking out. I step onto the bridge and begin crossing the canal to reach the other side of the city. This seems like one of those points where Slave is going to run right into me. Ah, there he is.

As usual, Slave is one step ahead of me: he has defeated the gym leader. He's moving up in the ranks of trainers, but always tastes defeat when he goes up against me. I intend to make this battle no exception. I should have changed my team in anticipation of this, but the current team will do. He leads with Staravia. I set up two layers of toxic spikes (I've learned from previous battles that two seems to be the maximum). They won't hurt his Staravia, but he has five other pokemon. Staravia misses against Enki with take down, then uses double team. Next we exchange attacks. Aerial ace for Slave and Surf for me. Both pokemon are badly damaged. I switch Sekhmet in. Slave is clever, and sets up double team some more. Now his Staravia will be very hard to hit. Fortunately Staravia's attacks don't do much damage and Sekhmet finishes it off. Slave sends out Ponyta. I bring Enki back in. Ponyta does a little damage, but surf demolishes it. Next, I pit Hanuman against his Heracross. For some reason, Slave has his Heracross use the ineffective night slash against Hanuman. Two flame wheels put the bug down. Now Slave brings out his strongest pokemon: Prinplup. Sekhmet is faster and has a super-effective move, so this part is quite easy, really. Finally, with most of my team unscathed, Slave resorts to his last pokemon: Roselia. Too easy. The toxic spikes fail to poison Roselia (being a poison type and all). Flame wheel nearly ends the fight in one attack. Roselia retaliates with grasswhistle, putting Hanuman to sleep. Roselia uses leech seed. I switch Sekhmet in. Roselia uses giga drain. Slave knows he cannot win, but he's still trying to make a fight out of it. Or possibly he's delusional. I haven't ruled that out. Roselia defeats Sekhmet with giga drain due to a critical hit. Nanabozho ends things with a quick attack.

Slave, having been defeated at my hands yet again, tries to keep his spirits up.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just a bit better than me, as usual. But listen up! Let me tell you who's going to take on the Pokemon League and become the Champion. You guessed right! It's going to be me! Anyways, you should be able to take the Gym Leader here. Hurry up and go make the challenge!"

With that, he turns and runs back the way he came. I do intend to challenge the gym leader, especially now that I know I need his badge to move boulders. But first, I want to see the rest of this city. Is that a library? Yes! Excellent. The gym can wait. Finally, a city with a library. Books, books, books! Of course, the strange properties of this world won't let me actually pick any of them up, but it's still comforting to see them sitting there on the shelves. All of the books on the first two floors are impossible for me to pick up. Somehow, the third floor is different. I seem to be able to "read" one book on each unit of shelving here. But I can only really read what seems to be an excerpt and somehow I am compelled to reshelve the book instantly after that. Nevertheless, these books do give me some insight into Sinnoh. Apparently Sinnoh is absolutely soaked in mythology and superstition, which is consistent with what I've seen so far. Predictably many of these myths deal with pokemon. Most of the mythology seems to be folk stories on the relationship between humans and pokemon. Some of the myths deal with ancient beings that created the world. Having read everything I can here, I leave the library.

Barging into another house, I find a reporter from Jubilife TV wanting to interview me. Oh no, my trespassing has finally caught up to me. The police are waiting outside. Great. Nope, I was wrong. Enough of this. I move on. I meet a man who mentions Iron Island. The trainers in this city apparently go there to work out and to train their pokemon. I need to find a way to get there, though. Articuno doesn't know how to fly to any islands yet. I find a man with a boat who will take me to Iron Island for free. I just need to decide whether to do this before or after crushing everyone in the gym here. If the local trainers congregate there, perhaps I can learn their weaknesses before taking on the gym leader.

Before leaving, I change my team. Ninhursag replaces Enki for now. Inanna replaces Nanabozho. Khali replaces Kazza. The trip seems to take almost no time at all. I barge into a small house on the island. No one is home. Well, there is a cave here. I'm sure that's where the trainers are.

Fuego Ironworks

I traverse some weird, winding corridors. This place doesn't look like I'd imagine an ironworks would look. Whatever. A "worker" that's standing around challenges me. Let's see what the freaks here can do, then.

The first trainer leads with Machop. Enki takes a beating, but defeats the fighting pokemon with surf. The Machoke that follows is stronger, and my poor Enki doesn't stand a chance. Kazza, who is becoming one of my most powerful, gets revenge. And that's it. Well, he did manage to beat one of my pokemon, which is better than what that stupid swamp could do. I should have switched to Kazza as soon as Machoke showed up. My mistake. I revive Enki and continue.

There are arrows on the floor in some places. As soon as I step on one, I find myself spinning uncontrollably in the direction the arrow was pointed and don't stop moving until I hit a wall. Then I regain control of myself and it's like nothing happened. This is crazy. It makes the whole thing some sort of weird maze. Well, it's not a tough maze, anyway. So I try to ignore how stupid this is.

My next opponent only has one pokemon. It's Steelix, a nice metallic pokemon for this iron-themed place. It's higher in level than Enki, but with surf, I have the advantage and the battle is over quickly. A few looted items and a ton of arrows later, I meet my next opponent. Again, I'm only facing one pokemon. This time it's Rapidash. Enki's been doing well with surf lately, so I take my chances, but the fiery horse is too fast and stomps Enki before he has a chance to do anything. I bring Hanuman in. Rapidash is too strong. Hanuman gets a hit in, but takes a lot of damage from the stomp. Getting desperate, I start reaching instinctively for Articuno. I resist the temptation, and switch to Nanabozho. The rabbit takes several hits and gets caught in a fire spin. But somehow, Nanabozho outkicks the horse.

These trainers do have stronger pokemon, but if they only use one or two, I'll have the advantage. Or perhaps that was the last of them. I seem to be in the center of the place, having worked my way around the perimeter. I meet Mr. Fuego. We talk for a while. The man is obviously unhinged. He put the arrow trap things on the floor because he thought it would make it easier to get work done. I humor him while waiting for an opportunity to get the hell out of here. This is clearly a dangerous man and I am getting nervous. He gives me some useless item because I took the time to visit him. I feign gratitude and make an outwardly calm, but quick, exit. I reach the door and fly away. There's nothing else for me here and my team needs healing.

I find another place where I can explore where I could not before I had surf. Of course, that means fishermen along the docks. And that means more battles in which I switch Sekhmet in so for a quick victory and a little extra spending money, although I've no idea what I'm supposed to spend it on in this insane world. The first fisherman I encounter leads with Gyarados. Sekhmet brings it down easily with spark and does the same for the next Gyarados, but she does take some damage from dragon rage before finishing them off.

The second fisherman is one of those stupid ones that leads with Magikarp, so I take the opportunity to set up toxic spikes. Then I take the opportunity to set up barrier. With Enki's defenses massively enhanced and anything that comes out being poisoned, he should be hard to remove. This is assuming I'm not making extra work for myself on account of this trainer using Magikarp after Magikarp after Magikarp. Nope, Gyarados is next. But Gyarados is part flying and will avoid the toxic spikes. I switch to Sekhmet again. Gyarados bites. Sekhmet flinches. Gyarados twisters. Sekhmet sparks, but Gyarados doesn't go down. This one is tougher than usual. Gyarados dragon rages. Sekhmet can't handle that. Nanabozho comes in with a quick attack to finish Gyarados off. It doesn't quite get the job done. The second one does, though. Just when I think we're making a battle out of things, I'm back to squashing Magikarp. Enough of this! Hanuman takes that one out in one hit. The next one requires two hits with rock smash. And the last one goes down in two rock smashes as well.

I surf through some rocks only to be challenged by a guy in a sailor suit. He might be an actual sailor, but I'm just going to assume it's more of this costume nonsense and ignore it. First up is Mantyke, which is easy enough for Nanabozho to smash. But then the sailor or whatever he is brings out Gyarados. Sekhmet is down. I could try to revive her. Instead I switch to Hanuman. That doesn't work. I switch to Kazza. But apparently I am outpredicted, because this trainer has his Gyarados use bite, which would have been terrible against Hanuman, but devastates Kazza. Psybeam wrecks Gyarados and confuses it, so I pull off the win.

It looks like the next city is up ahead. I just have to defeat one more trainer, and then I can explore a new city. Excellent. This trainer is only using one pokemon, and it's Luxio. Enki would fare poorly against and electric type. I switch to Kazza, who will probably be knocked out in one hit because he's so wounded, but it will spare Enki, at least. The Luxio confuses Kazza and Kazza actually finishes himself off. Unfortunate. Hanuman heavily damages the cat with flame wheel. Luxio retaliates with roar, which somehow forces Hanuman out and switches Enki in. This Luxio is pretty hurt, so I try to finish things with cut. Not enough damage. Luxio doesn't use an electric attack, though. Instead it's another roar. This time roar randomly switches Enki with, haha, Articuno. Goodbye little cat. I'm off to loot some berries and then it's a new city: Canalave City.

I enter the city gate. I'm stopped by Dawn's father. Apparently Professor Rowan sent him to find me and upgrade my Pokedex. I'm also asked to look out for Team Galactic because they might be up to something. Not like I care. I let him play with the Pokedex and pretend I care. Good, he's gone. It's not like I've been dutifully catching pokemon for this project. I wonder how long until they're onto me? Maybe they already are. Well it's not like they can do anything to stop me at this point. I resolve to continue ignoring the Pokedex project and, passing by the thirsty guard, enter Canalave City. I go straight to the Poke Center. Heal now. Explore later.

Not so Great Marsh

Note: I started this because I wanted to casually experiment with narrating and it seemed like a fun idea. Apparently I would rather avoid writing even if it means not playing Pearl than play Pearl and write about it. Well, I've also been busy and I have been playing other games a lot, but still, I'm annoyed about this. So, after a year, I'm making an effort to start this up again...

I fly around, exploring. I find a swamp and check it out, winning money from trainers foolish enough to challenge me. Why are they hanging out in a swamp anyway? Enki has a drawn out battle against a Goldeen, but for the others, I generally just have Sekhmet rip them apart. I need stronger opponents. I find a house in the middle of this swamp. People live here? Just when I think I've cleared the swamp out, I find a dock with some fishermen. Sekhmet makes short work of all of them with a little help from Enki and Nanabozho. I don't even bother using the rest of my team this whole time. Everything is a water-type here. These trainers have never heard of balance, or something. Barboach is immune to electric attacks, at least, but still that's not enough to save these guys. And if I'd brought Ninhursag, they'd be even more doomed.

I am ambushed by a collector. Well, we all know what this means: three of the same pokemon. And it will be weak, whatever it is. It turns out that this collector uses Geodude. Enki's surf demolishes each one in a single hit. As usual, I'm so much better than everyone else that it's not even interesting.

There's a "scientist" standing around who finds it reassuring to be standing on the damp soil of the swamp. Is everyone in this world crazy? I pit Kazza against his Kadabra. Annoyingly enough it doesn't work. The Kadabra is far too weak to actually defeat Kazza, but is able to use deblitating moves to stall. I switch to Nanabozho to finish this one off. Next, I am ambushed by two "rangers." What do these professions even refer to? Is Sinnoh one big costume party? Even together, they stand no chance against Kazza.

I arrive at a place called "Pokemon Mansion." This might be worth checking out. I loot some berries and am challenged by a pair of elderly trainers. Perhaps they have lots of experience and will pose some sort of challenge? Nope. That was easy. I see a sign for Hearthome City, so I head there to heal. I return and am ambushed by two trainers again. I know what's going on now! I can't believe it took me so long to realize: my reputation precedes me. I have beaten so many trainers that now they've taken to challenging me in pairs because they think they might have a better chance that way. It all makes so much sense now. These two use Buneary and Luxio, so I play the same game, switching Enki for Sekhmet (close enough to Luxio, I suppose). I see the flaw in this double-teaming stratagem trainers have developed to combat me, though. If two trainers ambush me, each one with one or two weak pokemon, that's still only two to four weak pokemon against my six strong pokemon. So this isn't much of a threat. I head into the mansion.

There are a bunch of maids wandering around the mansion. Maybe the owner will be a powerful trainer. I doubt it. Well, at least I'm scoring some loot. Apparently no one minds if I just walk up and grab items. The maids are standing right there. They don't care. Property rights and the concept of theft may or may not exist in Sinnoh, I'm not sure yet. In one room, I find the owner of the mansion. He's a man named "Backlot." He is obviously insane. Next I go to his "trophy garden" which looks like a bunch of the same tall, pokemon-infested grass I see all over the whole continent. Yeah, definitely insane. I take out a few wild Roselias in the "garden." Enough of this. I fly away and look for more places to explore, especially with surf.

At first I don't find anything. Then I notice a narrow stream and surf along it, reaching some place called "Fuego Ironworks." My team is partially weakened from all the attacks by wild pokemon (mainly Tentacool). So I heal them with some potions and head inside. Maybe this is where all the competent trainers are hiding...