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.
Monday, July 18, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
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.
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...
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...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Everybody's Going Surfing
After teaching Apsu the move Surf, I begin using the move to explore watery areas that had previously been inaccessible. I find that I cannot use this to traverse Lake Verity, because there's nowhere to take off. I have to be level with the water for this move to work, which is stupid, but whatever. There are plenty of other places to check out, starting with the beach south of Sandgem Town.
While we're in the water, this cute little blue pokemon called Tentacool attacks me. Apsu beats the crap out of the adorable little guy, then just because I feel like it, I chuck a Great Ball, which captures the Tentacool. That's my first new pokemon in quite a while. What to name him? Enki!
I absolutely have to try little Enki out. I've been relying on Apsu too much anyway, and it wouldn't do to overemphasize water pokemon on my team. But Enki is also a poison-type and so is Ninhursag, so there's that to consider. I decide to change my lineup completely. I go with Enki (just taught him Surf and Cut), Nanabozho, Kazza, Hanuman, Sekhmet, and Articuno.
Back in the water, a Wingull decides to attack. This looks too dangerous for Enki, so I switch to Sekhmet. It will be her first battle since she evolved. The bird Quick Attacks a couple of times, but drops in one hit to Spark. Good job, Sekhmet, you get a cookie.
Two children with flotation devices challenge me to a battle on a small island. Nanabozho Jump Kicks their Marill and Enki uses Barrier, but their Shellos gets the better of him. I switch to Kazza. Nanabozho makes little progress, but is still holding his own against Marill, but then Kazza easily finishes Marill with Psybeam. Shellos hits Nanabozho. The next Marill to switch in eats a Jump Kick, then Kazza finishes it while Nanabozho, barely hanging in there, Quick Attacks. Just when I'm about to celebrate, they bring in their last pokemon: another Shellos. Annoyed, I figure we'll just finish the job in one shot, with Nanabozho throwing in a Quick Attack and then Kazza using Psybeam. But Shellos takes both hits, then Body Slams Nanabozho, who faints. That didn't go the way I wanted it to. Enough of this. I bring Enki back in and have Kazza finish the battle with Confusion.
I fly back to the Poke Center, coming to terms with the fact that I'll have to make more such trips with this younger, weaker team than I would if I were only using my highest level pokemon. Hopping on my bicycle, we're back to the water in no time. I navigate through some rocks, and a swimmer challenges me to a battle. She leads with Goldeen. I have Enki use Toxic Spikes, because that seems fun. Goldeen uses Aqua Ring and Flail, which do some damage, but not a lot. I set up a Barrier while my opponent tries to confuse Enki with Water Pulse. I have Enki start using Cut, but it would take too long to get through Aqua Ring and Goldeen would win this battle. Foreseeing this, I switch to Sekhmet. Goldeen goes down in one hit to Spark. I hope you're taking notes on this, Enki. Up next for my opponent is Goldeen, which comes in poisoned by the Toxic Spikes, but goes down in one hit to Spark anyway, just like Goldeen always will, because Sekhmet is awesome. I switch to Nanabozho for the next Goldeen. Jump Kick doesn't do much damage and neither does the poison, but Frustration does enough, apparently. The swimmer has one last Goldeen to throw at me. Frustration doesn't seem to do much, this time, but with the help of Toxic Spikes, Nanabozho trimuphs over the fishy foe. Before I make it to the next swimmer, a wild Tentacool attacks. Let's see how you fare against one of your own, Enki. Quite well with Cut, I see.
The next swimmer uses a different fish called Remoraid. I try to have Enki set up Toxic Spikes. He nearly goes down for the count when Remoraid uses "Bullet Seed." I switch to Kazza and eliminate Remoraid in one hit. Then I switch to Sekhmet and give my opponent's Psyduck the same treatment. Exploring another island, I get attacked by a pelican. "Pelipper." Enki is far too weak to even try, so I make a switch, and Sekhmet only needs one hit, as usual. Right after that, another Tentacool attacks, but it's the same story.
I Surf between an island and some rocks and am intercepted by another swimmer. I'd gladly match my Tentacool up against his Mantyke (which appears to be some sort of small ray), but Enki is just to weakened, so I bring in Sekhmet for the usual. I switch to Hanuman against the swimmer's Remoraid, beating it down via Rock Smash. Finally, he brings in his Tentacool. Having recently learned that Tentacool is a poison-type, I have Kazza ready with a Psybeam.
Navigating some more rocks, I meet another swimmer. I lay down two layers of Toxic Spikes before the swimmer's Buizel immobilizes Enki with attract. I switch to Sekhmet for the one-shot knockout. The same for the Seaking that comes out next. But when this swimmer sends out Medicham, I bring Enki back in. Barrier should help here. Medicham tries to meditate, raising her attack, but that won't catch up to Enki's barrier. Medicham surprises me by switching to confusion, which heavily damages Enki. But Enki's surf does the same, and Medicham is weakened by the toxic spikes. Enki hangs on after another confusion, throws another surf at Medicham, and both pokemon remain standing. Toxic spikes finish the job.
I have Sekhmet beat down a few more wild pokemon in the water, then we encounter yet another swimmer. He has Shellos. Nothing I'm carrying looks that strong against Shellos, so I call Articuno for this one. At first, Shellos keeps paralyzing Articuno with body slams. I begin to regret my decision. Then an aerial ace hits, and that's all I need. Articuno ignores my instruction to use fly against the Gastrodon that follows, but ice beam works too, so I don't really care.
At last: land. So what do I do? I go and battle a fisherman. He leads with a Level 28 Magikarp. Why? I take the opportunity to set up two layers of toxic spikes and to fully barrier Enki before launching any actual offense. The first Magikarp takes several cuts to go down. But once that's taken care of, I let toxic spikes do most of the rest of my work for me. The Finneon that follows uses strange attacks, but isn't able to do much, so I don't care. My opponent definitely saves the best for last. He sends out a Gyarados and it's even Level 32, which is one level higher than Sekhmet. Speaking of my Sekhmet, she takes a dragon rage when she switches in. Ouch. Gyarados then uses leer, but Sekhmet ends the battle in one big spark.
I wade through a forest of wild pokemon and come to a house. I hope that there's something good inside, but all I find is an old man telling me to bring him a level 79 pokemon. Enough of this. I make a mad dash out of there, taking out yet another Gastrodon as I go. I start thinking that maybe I should try to catch a Shellos for my team. A collector blocks my path, though. His Hippopotas is easy prey for Enki's surf. His second Hippopotas survives and finishes Enki with bite. Hanuman finishes that one off, but then the next Hippopotas (I guess there's some rule that being a collector means you only use one species of pokemon) beats Hanuman. I try to finish the fight with a quick attack by Nanabozho, but Hippopotas somehow withstands it and the sandstorm finishes my rabbit off. Kazza easily wins, though. My opponent mentions something about a "pal park." I can only assume that the nearby building has something to do with this. But I accidentally let another trainer see me, so I have to battle yet again before resolving this mystery. Kazza dominates a Staravia in one hit, and Sekhmet narrowly loses to a Girafarig, so I let Kazza finish the fight once more.
Unfortunately, it seems that this pal park thing is still under construction and there's nothing for me to do here. So I fly back to the Poke Center to rest my team. We'll explore more later.
While we're in the water, this cute little blue pokemon called Tentacool attacks me. Apsu beats the crap out of the adorable little guy, then just because I feel like it, I chuck a Great Ball, which captures the Tentacool. That's my first new pokemon in quite a while. What to name him? Enki!
I absolutely have to try little Enki out. I've been relying on Apsu too much anyway, and it wouldn't do to overemphasize water pokemon on my team. But Enki is also a poison-type and so is Ninhursag, so there's that to consider. I decide to change my lineup completely. I go with Enki (just taught him Surf and Cut), Nanabozho, Kazza, Hanuman, Sekhmet, and Articuno.
Back in the water, a Wingull decides to attack. This looks too dangerous for Enki, so I switch to Sekhmet. It will be her first battle since she evolved. The bird Quick Attacks a couple of times, but drops in one hit to Spark. Good job, Sekhmet, you get a cookie.
Two children with flotation devices challenge me to a battle on a small island. Nanabozho Jump Kicks their Marill and Enki uses Barrier, but their Shellos gets the better of him. I switch to Kazza. Nanabozho makes little progress, but is still holding his own against Marill, but then Kazza easily finishes Marill with Psybeam. Shellos hits Nanabozho. The next Marill to switch in eats a Jump Kick, then Kazza finishes it while Nanabozho, barely hanging in there, Quick Attacks. Just when I'm about to celebrate, they bring in their last pokemon: another Shellos. Annoyed, I figure we'll just finish the job in one shot, with Nanabozho throwing in a Quick Attack and then Kazza using Psybeam. But Shellos takes both hits, then Body Slams Nanabozho, who faints. That didn't go the way I wanted it to. Enough of this. I bring Enki back in and have Kazza finish the battle with Confusion.
I fly back to the Poke Center, coming to terms with the fact that I'll have to make more such trips with this younger, weaker team than I would if I were only using my highest level pokemon. Hopping on my bicycle, we're back to the water in no time. I navigate through some rocks, and a swimmer challenges me to a battle. She leads with Goldeen. I have Enki use Toxic Spikes, because that seems fun. Goldeen uses Aqua Ring and Flail, which do some damage, but not a lot. I set up a Barrier while my opponent tries to confuse Enki with Water Pulse. I have Enki start using Cut, but it would take too long to get through Aqua Ring and Goldeen would win this battle. Foreseeing this, I switch to Sekhmet. Goldeen goes down in one hit to Spark. I hope you're taking notes on this, Enki. Up next for my opponent is Goldeen, which comes in poisoned by the Toxic Spikes, but goes down in one hit to Spark anyway, just like Goldeen always will, because Sekhmet is awesome. I switch to Nanabozho for the next Goldeen. Jump Kick doesn't do much damage and neither does the poison, but Frustration does enough, apparently. The swimmer has one last Goldeen to throw at me. Frustration doesn't seem to do much, this time, but with the help of Toxic Spikes, Nanabozho trimuphs over the fishy foe. Before I make it to the next swimmer, a wild Tentacool attacks. Let's see how you fare against one of your own, Enki. Quite well with Cut, I see.
The next swimmer uses a different fish called Remoraid. I try to have Enki set up Toxic Spikes. He nearly goes down for the count when Remoraid uses "Bullet Seed." I switch to Kazza and eliminate Remoraid in one hit. Then I switch to Sekhmet and give my opponent's Psyduck the same treatment. Exploring another island, I get attacked by a pelican. "Pelipper." Enki is far too weak to even try, so I make a switch, and Sekhmet only needs one hit, as usual. Right after that, another Tentacool attacks, but it's the same story.
I Surf between an island and some rocks and am intercepted by another swimmer. I'd gladly match my Tentacool up against his Mantyke (which appears to be some sort of small ray), but Enki is just to weakened, so I bring in Sekhmet for the usual. I switch to Hanuman against the swimmer's Remoraid, beating it down via Rock Smash. Finally, he brings in his Tentacool. Having recently learned that Tentacool is a poison-type, I have Kazza ready with a Psybeam.
Navigating some more rocks, I meet another swimmer. I lay down two layers of Toxic Spikes before the swimmer's Buizel immobilizes Enki with attract. I switch to Sekhmet for the one-shot knockout. The same for the Seaking that comes out next. But when this swimmer sends out Medicham, I bring Enki back in. Barrier should help here. Medicham tries to meditate, raising her attack, but that won't catch up to Enki's barrier. Medicham surprises me by switching to confusion, which heavily damages Enki. But Enki's surf does the same, and Medicham is weakened by the toxic spikes. Enki hangs on after another confusion, throws another surf at Medicham, and both pokemon remain standing. Toxic spikes finish the job.
I have Sekhmet beat down a few more wild pokemon in the water, then we encounter yet another swimmer. He has Shellos. Nothing I'm carrying looks that strong against Shellos, so I call Articuno for this one. At first, Shellos keeps paralyzing Articuno with body slams. I begin to regret my decision. Then an aerial ace hits, and that's all I need. Articuno ignores my instruction to use fly against the Gastrodon that follows, but ice beam works too, so I don't really care.
At last: land. So what do I do? I go and battle a fisherman. He leads with a Level 28 Magikarp. Why? I take the opportunity to set up two layers of toxic spikes and to fully barrier Enki before launching any actual offense. The first Magikarp takes several cuts to go down. But once that's taken care of, I let toxic spikes do most of the rest of my work for me. The Finneon that follows uses strange attacks, but isn't able to do much, so I don't care. My opponent definitely saves the best for last. He sends out a Gyarados and it's even Level 32, which is one level higher than Sekhmet. Speaking of my Sekhmet, she takes a dragon rage when she switches in. Ouch. Gyarados then uses leer, but Sekhmet ends the battle in one big spark.
I wade through a forest of wild pokemon and come to a house. I hope that there's something good inside, but all I find is an old man telling me to bring him a level 79 pokemon. Enough of this. I make a mad dash out of there, taking out yet another Gastrodon as I go. I start thinking that maybe I should try to catch a Shellos for my team. A collector blocks my path, though. His Hippopotas is easy prey for Enki's surf. His second Hippopotas survives and finishes Enki with bite. Hanuman finishes that one off, but then the next Hippopotas (I guess there's some rule that being a collector means you only use one species of pokemon) beats Hanuman. I try to finish the fight with a quick attack by Nanabozho, but Hippopotas somehow withstands it and the sandstorm finishes my rabbit off. Kazza easily wins, though. My opponent mentions something about a "pal park." I can only assume that the nearby building has something to do with this. But I accidentally let another trainer see me, so I have to battle yet again before resolving this mystery. Kazza dominates a Staravia in one hit, and Sekhmet narrowly loses to a Girafarig, so I let Kazza finish the fight once more.
Unfortunately, it seems that this pal park thing is still under construction and there's nothing for me to do here. So I fly back to the Poke Center to rest my team. We'll explore more later.
Celestic Town and Hearthome City Gym
I chat with some of the locals. The consensus seems to be that Celestic Town is old and remote and there's nothing of interest here. I can live with that...
...or not, apparently. And old woman on the street complains about a "spaceman" who is threatening to blow the town up with a bomb. That would be Team Galactic getting in my way again. Time for me to return the favor. I locate the ruins and confront the Team Galactic member, who probably doesn't have a bomb anyway. He screams at me...
"This town is insignificant! There's nothing of value here."
I'm so sorry that I forced you to come here and bother me about it. Oh wait, you're here on your own, idiot.
"It doesn't need to exist, so I'll blow it up with a Galactic Bomb!"
Wait, you actually have a bomb? Please tell me that the "Galactic" in the bomb's name is an understatement.
"If you try to mess with me, I'll shut you down with a Pokemon battle. So, what's it going to be? Are you going to mess with me?"
I should say yes. Everything compels me to say yes. I know I can crush this fool. The whole town is depending on me. But for no reason I can fathom, I tell him that I won't mess with him. It's a lie, but he has no way of knowing that.
"That's right! Very smart! You know what's good for you! Team Galactic has come out to the boonies like this for everyone's sake. Your cooperation is appreciated. Now, where is my partner?"
Too smug. So I tell him that I've changed my mind. Apsu makes short work of his Beautifly, then Hanuman destroys his Croagunk. Easy, as always. My opponent immediately runs away. I contemplate catching him and interrogating him about that bomb so that I can take it for my own machinations, but before I can act, that old woman sneaks up behind me and grabs me, telling me how awesome I am for saving the town. She then says something about and old charm and how Cynthia is her granddaughter. I pretend to care. Or I don't. Not sure, really. The old woman takes old charm from me and invites me to look at the ruins.
In the ruins, I find a strange cave-painting depicting three pokemon in a triangle formation united against some demiurgic entity. Fascinating. The old woman talks with me about the painting and gives me an HM for Surf, which I'll need a gym badge in order to use outside of battle, of course. I try to accept that this must make sense somehow. I fail.
As I exit the ruins, I find Cyrus standing by the doorway, speaking to no one in particular as far as I can tell...
"There appears to have been an insignificant struggle here."
Is he talking about the cave painting? Come on, that thing's ancient. Who knows what it really depicts? Or maybe he's talking about how I stopped Team Galactic just now, in which case, yes, that isn't really significant. I do it all the time. It's like a full-time job for me.
"Everyone should step back and view things from a bigger perspective. Yes, a bigger perspective, one that is on a universal scale."
Uh, sure.
"My name is Cyrus."
Who is he talking to? I already met him, so we don't need introduced. And I don't see anyone else.
"I seek the power to create a new world, a world without strife."
We've gone over this before, I'm sure of it.
"However, that power seems to be unavailable here...We've met before, yes?"
Indeed.
"It was at Mt. Coronet."
Maybe he's just a bit absentminded?
"If you discover any power derived from the legends of Sinnoh, inform me. For that power is what I need to create my new world."
With that, he departs. I try to follow him, but something, I have no idea what, keeps me frozen in place. Then once Cyrus is out of sight, suddenly everything is back to normal and I can move again. I rush to look for him, but it's as though he disappeared. Did Cyrus do that to me or was it a coincidence? And how did it happen? Eventually, I elect to stay and explore this quaint town. Someone gives me a pair of "blackglasses" for my pokemon. Whatever. In one of the houses, an old man sells special pokeballs: dusk balls, timer balls, and quick balls. I stock up on them. They should be useful later. Most of the rest of the locals just talk about Mt. Coronet or whatever. Someone gives me an analog app for my Poketch. Kind of silly. In Cynthia's grandmother's house, I find a book with some text about mythical pokemon, but nothing particularly enlightening.
Or maybe it is. From the book, what an old man (Cynthia's grandfather?) tells me, and the cave painting in the ruins, I think I'm piecing together the puzzle regarding this mythical trio of pokemon. One of them is associated with intelligence, another with emotions, and the third with willpower. And these three are, according to legend anyway, also associated with natural dwelling places. Mesprit, the one that is associated with emotions, would live in Lake Verity, right by my hometown. But I cannot explore the lake until I can use Surf outside of battle.
I fly back to Hearthome City, hoping the gym leader has forgotten to keep ducking me. I get a pleasant surprise: the gym is open. I use the elevator. On the second floor, I meet a sign...
"Question: 3 plus 5 plus 7 is?"
Fifteen, obviously. Then I see arrows pointing to the three doors ahead of me, each with a different number. I take the door that the 15 arrow points to. The others probably have pit traps or something. I open the door, and there's a sign telling me that I was correct, followed by another elevator. I see how this works. But what do the other doors lead to? I must know! I run back and open another door. A trainer challenges me...
"Ehehe! You threw the quiz so you'd get to battle with me, right?"
Well, yeah. She only has one pokemon: a Misdreavus. She wounds Apsu with Psybeam, but he hits back with Bite, nearly ending the battle in one move. Somehow, Misdreavus hangs on and retaliates with Pain Split, severely damaging Apsu he closes the battle with a second Bite. Now I see how this works. Wrong answer lead to battles. So of course I have to answer incorrectly on purpose to battle as much as possible. But first, to do something about my team for this gym: if I'm to fight ghosts, I must bring Khali. She's one of my strongest anyway. I heal, switch Inanna for Khali, and take the unopened door.
My opponent uses Gastly and Haunter. Khali Psybeams Gastly away immediately, but has to use two attacks on Haunter. Yet again, an easy victory. I read the next sign. Why, what's 12 plus 28? Uh, maybe it's thirty. No? Alright then, Psybeam away another Gastly. Oh, Khali learned Payback. Excellent. Anyway, Psybeam again, and another one's gone. And one more time. Done. Well, maybe it's fifty? No? Khali gets a chance to try out her new move on a Drifloon. Then just for variety, I switch to Sekhmet to handle this trainer's Misdreavus. I guess the answer was forty the whole time!
3 times 13? 93 sounds close enough. Khali gets a Confuse Ray to the face in her battle against a Haunter. I want to conserve Khali's strength, so I switch to Ninhursag. Haunter puts her to sleep. I use an Awakening. Haunter uses Confuse Ray again. I switch to Apsu. Haunter hits with Hypnosis again. I use another Awakening. Haunter shadow punches Apsu and then lands another Confuse Ray, so Apsu's Bite fails and he hurts himself instead. I guess this trainer is making a battle out of things. Alas, he's far too outmatched for his minor success here to matter. I tell Apsu to finish Haunter off with Bite, but he hurts himself, and takes two Sucker Punches before finally hitting. Let's see, the other wrong answer, ah there it is, 33. Khali takes another Drifloon down with Payback, but she's starting to hurt from it. I leave her in, figuring she can handle another Drifloon. I have her use Confuse Ray, then Pain Split, before switching to Ninhursag to Leech Seed the Drifloon, then to Apsu. Switching is fun. Drifloon prolongs things by using Stockpile and Swallow, but I don't mind that at all: Leech Seed is still doing its job and healing my team. Eventually, Apsu is fully healed. I could have just used Bite and then a potion, but it's the little things in life that bring me joy, or something.
The next sign changes things up, asking me what the answer to the first question was. Was it two? No? Khali dominates Haunter, and then is put to sleep right when he's almost finished off. She takes a nasty Shadow Ball. I switch. Sekhmet falls to Shadow Ball. Apsu finishes Haunter, then Gengar. I heal my team, then choose the door that the sixteen arrow points to. This trainer leads with Misdreavus. Khali faces one of her own. The two ghosts square off, exchanging shadowy and devastating attacks. Khali is the better ghost, of course. I don't train slouch ghosts. I switch to Ninhursag and my opponent brings in Drifblim, the bloated form of Drifloon. I Leech Seed, of course. I try switching to Khali to absorb some healing from the Leech Seed, but that backfires, as Drifblim knocks her out with Payback. This calls for Sekhmet. I have Sekhmet use Swagger to confuse the blimp, then paralyze with Spark. I revive and heal Khali, then approach Fantina, the gym leader...
"Ohohoho! Finally, you have arrived! Since I came to this country, always I try to learn new things. They hold Contests in this city? I say to myself, enfin, I will excel."
Is she...
"That is why I dress this way. C'est une performance!"
Is she French?
"Also, I study Pokemon very much. I have come to be Gym Leader. And, uh, so it shall be that you challenge me. But I shall win. That is what a Gym Leader does, non?"
Non.
She leads with Drifblim. I instruct Khali to Confuse Ray. Best to save Khali's remaining power, though, so I switch to Sekhmet. Confuse Ray wears off, but Sekhmet's Swagger confuses Drifblim anyway. Sekhmet's Spark finishes the job, but she's taken a beating herself. I may not be able to use her against anything else in this battle. I switch back to Khali to fight a pokemon I've never seen before: Mismagius. Is that the evolved form of Misdreavus? And if so, how do I turn Khali into that?
Mismagius uses Magical Leaf (somehow). Khali gets a Confuse Ray in. I have Khali Pain Split, but it does almost nothing because Mismagius hurts herself anyway. Then Shadow Ball finishes poor Khali. I've made a big mistake. Apsu is able to take advantage of Mismagius' confusion and dominate her with Bite, emerging completely unscathed.
I switch to Ninhursag and Fantina switches to Gengar. Ninhursag gets to use Leech Seed again, but Gengar's Poison Jab is somehow so powerful that Ninhursag is overwhelmed. I switch to Hanuman. Gengar wins that fight. I switch back to Ninhursag. Poison Jab almost finishes her off, and she strikes back with Giga Drain for paltry damage. Leech Seed almost finishes Gengar off, but Fantina uses a hyper potion. The battle continues. Gengar uses Confuse Ray and Ninhursag hits with another Giga Drain. Gengar Shadow Claws and Ninhursag Giga Drains again. Fantina could finish Ninhursag off, but she has Gengar uses Spite for some reason, and Ninhursag actually brings Gengar down!
Once the battle is over, Sekhmet evolves into Luxray. Excellent. I emerge from the gym triumphant, and am immediately intercepted by Cynthia...
"I'm so glad to see you! You're not very easy to track down. My grandma told me about what took place in Celestic Town. Thanks for what you did in the ruins! But that Team Galactic..."
I know, they sure are nutty, aren't they?
"I thought they were just an eccentric bunch of freaks...''
That sums it up, except for their penchant for sucking at pokemon battles.
"You know, talking about how they're going to make a new universe and all."
Reminds me of that Cyrus guy. You should have heard him, Cynthia.
"And that weird way they dress, too. I thought they were harmless. It appears as if they're a lot more trouble than I thought..."
I'd prefer to think of them as more of a nuisance. But if you want to upgrade it to "trouble" then fine.
"I mean, stealing and hoarding Pokemon...That's just plain wrong. By the way, did you find the ruins interesting at all? If you did, you may want to visit the library in Canalave City. They have some ancient books that you might find interesting. It may also be of help to the completion of your Pokedex."
Oh, please don't bring the Pokedex into this...
"I think you ought to go there. OK, bye-bye for now!"
I'll keep that in mind, but first, I want to try this whole surfing thing...
...or not, apparently. And old woman on the street complains about a "spaceman" who is threatening to blow the town up with a bomb. That would be Team Galactic getting in my way again. Time for me to return the favor. I locate the ruins and confront the Team Galactic member, who probably doesn't have a bomb anyway. He screams at me...
"This town is insignificant! There's nothing of value here."
I'm so sorry that I forced you to come here and bother me about it. Oh wait, you're here on your own, idiot.
"It doesn't need to exist, so I'll blow it up with a Galactic Bomb!"
Wait, you actually have a bomb? Please tell me that the "Galactic" in the bomb's name is an understatement.
"If you try to mess with me, I'll shut you down with a Pokemon battle. So, what's it going to be? Are you going to mess with me?"
I should say yes. Everything compels me to say yes. I know I can crush this fool. The whole town is depending on me. But for no reason I can fathom, I tell him that I won't mess with him. It's a lie, but he has no way of knowing that.
"That's right! Very smart! You know what's good for you! Team Galactic has come out to the boonies like this for everyone's sake. Your cooperation is appreciated. Now, where is my partner?"
Too smug. So I tell him that I've changed my mind. Apsu makes short work of his Beautifly, then Hanuman destroys his Croagunk. Easy, as always. My opponent immediately runs away. I contemplate catching him and interrogating him about that bomb so that I can take it for my own machinations, but before I can act, that old woman sneaks up behind me and grabs me, telling me how awesome I am for saving the town. She then says something about and old charm and how Cynthia is her granddaughter. I pretend to care. Or I don't. Not sure, really. The old woman takes old charm from me and invites me to look at the ruins.
In the ruins, I find a strange cave-painting depicting three pokemon in a triangle formation united against some demiurgic entity. Fascinating. The old woman talks with me about the painting and gives me an HM for Surf, which I'll need a gym badge in order to use outside of battle, of course. I try to accept that this must make sense somehow. I fail.
As I exit the ruins, I find Cyrus standing by the doorway, speaking to no one in particular as far as I can tell...
"There appears to have been an insignificant struggle here."
Is he talking about the cave painting? Come on, that thing's ancient. Who knows what it really depicts? Or maybe he's talking about how I stopped Team Galactic just now, in which case, yes, that isn't really significant. I do it all the time. It's like a full-time job for me.
"Everyone should step back and view things from a bigger perspective. Yes, a bigger perspective, one that is on a universal scale."
Uh, sure.
"My name is Cyrus."
Who is he talking to? I already met him, so we don't need introduced. And I don't see anyone else.
"I seek the power to create a new world, a world without strife."
We've gone over this before, I'm sure of it.
"However, that power seems to be unavailable here...We've met before, yes?"
Indeed.
"It was at Mt. Coronet."
Maybe he's just a bit absentminded?
"If you discover any power derived from the legends of Sinnoh, inform me. For that power is what I need to create my new world."
With that, he departs. I try to follow him, but something, I have no idea what, keeps me frozen in place. Then once Cyrus is out of sight, suddenly everything is back to normal and I can move again. I rush to look for him, but it's as though he disappeared. Did Cyrus do that to me or was it a coincidence? And how did it happen? Eventually, I elect to stay and explore this quaint town. Someone gives me a pair of "blackglasses" for my pokemon. Whatever. In one of the houses, an old man sells special pokeballs: dusk balls, timer balls, and quick balls. I stock up on them. They should be useful later. Most of the rest of the locals just talk about Mt. Coronet or whatever. Someone gives me an analog app for my Poketch. Kind of silly. In Cynthia's grandmother's house, I find a book with some text about mythical pokemon, but nothing particularly enlightening.
Or maybe it is. From the book, what an old man (Cynthia's grandfather?) tells me, and the cave painting in the ruins, I think I'm piecing together the puzzle regarding this mythical trio of pokemon. One of them is associated with intelligence, another with emotions, and the third with willpower. And these three are, according to legend anyway, also associated with natural dwelling places. Mesprit, the one that is associated with emotions, would live in Lake Verity, right by my hometown. But I cannot explore the lake until I can use Surf outside of battle.
I fly back to Hearthome City, hoping the gym leader has forgotten to keep ducking me. I get a pleasant surprise: the gym is open. I use the elevator. On the second floor, I meet a sign...
"Question: 3 plus 5 plus 7 is?"
Fifteen, obviously. Then I see arrows pointing to the three doors ahead of me, each with a different number. I take the door that the 15 arrow points to. The others probably have pit traps or something. I open the door, and there's a sign telling me that I was correct, followed by another elevator. I see how this works. But what do the other doors lead to? I must know! I run back and open another door. A trainer challenges me...
"Ehehe! You threw the quiz so you'd get to battle with me, right?"
Well, yeah. She only has one pokemon: a Misdreavus. She wounds Apsu with Psybeam, but he hits back with Bite, nearly ending the battle in one move. Somehow, Misdreavus hangs on and retaliates with Pain Split, severely damaging Apsu he closes the battle with a second Bite. Now I see how this works. Wrong answer lead to battles. So of course I have to answer incorrectly on purpose to battle as much as possible. But first, to do something about my team for this gym: if I'm to fight ghosts, I must bring Khali. She's one of my strongest anyway. I heal, switch Inanna for Khali, and take the unopened door.
My opponent uses Gastly and Haunter. Khali Psybeams Gastly away immediately, but has to use two attacks on Haunter. Yet again, an easy victory. I read the next sign. Why, what's 12 plus 28? Uh, maybe it's thirty. No? Alright then, Psybeam away another Gastly. Oh, Khali learned Payback. Excellent. Anyway, Psybeam again, and another one's gone. And one more time. Done. Well, maybe it's fifty? No? Khali gets a chance to try out her new move on a Drifloon. Then just for variety, I switch to Sekhmet to handle this trainer's Misdreavus. I guess the answer was forty the whole time!
3 times 13? 93 sounds close enough. Khali gets a Confuse Ray to the face in her battle against a Haunter. I want to conserve Khali's strength, so I switch to Ninhursag. Haunter puts her to sleep. I use an Awakening. Haunter uses Confuse Ray again. I switch to Apsu. Haunter hits with Hypnosis again. I use another Awakening. Haunter shadow punches Apsu and then lands another Confuse Ray, so Apsu's Bite fails and he hurts himself instead. I guess this trainer is making a battle out of things. Alas, he's far too outmatched for his minor success here to matter. I tell Apsu to finish Haunter off with Bite, but he hurts himself, and takes two Sucker Punches before finally hitting. Let's see, the other wrong answer, ah there it is, 33. Khali takes another Drifloon down with Payback, but she's starting to hurt from it. I leave her in, figuring she can handle another Drifloon. I have her use Confuse Ray, then Pain Split, before switching to Ninhursag to Leech Seed the Drifloon, then to Apsu. Switching is fun. Drifloon prolongs things by using Stockpile and Swallow, but I don't mind that at all: Leech Seed is still doing its job and healing my team. Eventually, Apsu is fully healed. I could have just used Bite and then a potion, but it's the little things in life that bring me joy, or something.
The next sign changes things up, asking me what the answer to the first question was. Was it two? No? Khali dominates Haunter, and then is put to sleep right when he's almost finished off. She takes a nasty Shadow Ball. I switch. Sekhmet falls to Shadow Ball. Apsu finishes Haunter, then Gengar. I heal my team, then choose the door that the sixteen arrow points to. This trainer leads with Misdreavus. Khali faces one of her own. The two ghosts square off, exchanging shadowy and devastating attacks. Khali is the better ghost, of course. I don't train slouch ghosts. I switch to Ninhursag and my opponent brings in Drifblim, the bloated form of Drifloon. I Leech Seed, of course. I try switching to Khali to absorb some healing from the Leech Seed, but that backfires, as Drifblim knocks her out with Payback. This calls for Sekhmet. I have Sekhmet use Swagger to confuse the blimp, then paralyze with Spark. I revive and heal Khali, then approach Fantina, the gym leader...
"Ohohoho! Finally, you have arrived! Since I came to this country, always I try to learn new things. They hold Contests in this city? I say to myself, enfin, I will excel."
Is she...
"That is why I dress this way. C'est une performance!"
Is she French?
"Also, I study Pokemon very much. I have come to be Gym Leader. And, uh, so it shall be that you challenge me. But I shall win. That is what a Gym Leader does, non?"
Non.
She leads with Drifblim. I instruct Khali to Confuse Ray. Best to save Khali's remaining power, though, so I switch to Sekhmet. Confuse Ray wears off, but Sekhmet's Swagger confuses Drifblim anyway. Sekhmet's Spark finishes the job, but she's taken a beating herself. I may not be able to use her against anything else in this battle. I switch back to Khali to fight a pokemon I've never seen before: Mismagius. Is that the evolved form of Misdreavus? And if so, how do I turn Khali into that?
Mismagius uses Magical Leaf (somehow). Khali gets a Confuse Ray in. I have Khali Pain Split, but it does almost nothing because Mismagius hurts herself anyway. Then Shadow Ball finishes poor Khali. I've made a big mistake. Apsu is able to take advantage of Mismagius' confusion and dominate her with Bite, emerging completely unscathed.
I switch to Ninhursag and Fantina switches to Gengar. Ninhursag gets to use Leech Seed again, but Gengar's Poison Jab is somehow so powerful that Ninhursag is overwhelmed. I switch to Hanuman. Gengar wins that fight. I switch back to Ninhursag. Poison Jab almost finishes her off, and she strikes back with Giga Drain for paltry damage. Leech Seed almost finishes Gengar off, but Fantina uses a hyper potion. The battle continues. Gengar uses Confuse Ray and Ninhursag hits with another Giga Drain. Gengar Shadow Claws and Ninhursag Giga Drains again. Fantina could finish Ninhursag off, but she has Gengar uses Spite for some reason, and Ninhursag actually brings Gengar down!
Once the battle is over, Sekhmet evolves into Luxray. Excellent. I emerge from the gym triumphant, and am immediately intercepted by Cynthia...
"I'm so glad to see you! You're not very easy to track down. My grandma told me about what took place in Celestic Town. Thanks for what you did in the ruins! But that Team Galactic..."
I know, they sure are nutty, aren't they?
"I thought they were just an eccentric bunch of freaks...''
That sums it up, except for their penchant for sucking at pokemon battles.
"You know, talking about how they're going to make a new universe and all."
Reminds me of that Cyrus guy. You should have heard him, Cynthia.
"And that weird way they dress, too. I thought they were harmless. It appears as if they're a lot more trouble than I thought..."
I'd prefer to think of them as more of a nuisance. But if you want to upgrade it to "trouble" then fine.
"I mean, stealing and hoarding Pokemon...That's just plain wrong. By the way, did you find the ruins interesting at all? If you did, you may want to visit the library in Canalave City. They have some ancient books that you might find interesting. It may also be of help to the completion of your Pokedex."
Oh, please don't bring the Pokedex into this...
"I think you ought to go there. OK, bye-bye for now!"
I'll keep that in mind, but first, I want to try this whole surfing thing...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Fog
I head north on Route 210. I notice something odd in the thick, tall grass ahead. Apsu has to beat down a wild Ponyta for me to get closer. Easy enough. And it turns out that what I saw was just some kid who thinks he's a ninja. We battle, of course. Apsu makes quick work of his Geodude with dragon rage. I switch to Inanna, put the next Geodude to sleep, and bring in Hanuman to rock smash the helpless, uh, rock. And of course, my opponent's third and final pokemon is another Geodude. Ninhursag gets this one (in a single hit).
I fight my way through weeds and little flaming ponies to another anomaly in the field that can only be another fake ninja. This one uses Zubat. Sekhmet is confused. This calls for Articuno. Next is a cute little guy called Skorupi. Cute, but outmatched by Sekhmet.
From what my opponents have said, there are three fake ninjas hiding out here for no reason. I hunt the last one down in the same manner as the first two. He only has one pokemon. It's Stunky. I keep things simple and just let Apsu dragon rage my problems away.
Cynthia said something about rare pokemon living in this direction, but so far all that I've seen have Ponytas and Kricketunes. Maybe I'll find something good later.
Or maybe it will get impossibly foggy just as I'm thinking that and I'll be attacked by a Psyduck. Probably one of the ones who blocked this road earlier. You're going down, roadblock. Sekhmet defeats the annoying pokemon in one hit, but suffers some damage herself. She'll need healing before she enters combat again.
And then there's the matter of the fog. Some guy is saying that the move defog could clear this stuff. It's not impossible to get around here, but I'd rather adventure elsewhere. Maybe I'll see about that defog move later. I fly back to the Poke Center, heal my team, and am on my way again.
I know! Wayward Cave. Apsu could push the boulders out of the way with the move strength. I would also need a gym badge to use the move for some reason. How does that even work? What power does the gym badge have? If only I could remember, but I haven't paid attention that nonsense. While I'm considering this, a policeman accosts me. He might be onto me. Have I committed any crimes? I probably have. I'll probably have to kill him...
...or battle him? And that's really easy because his two pokemon are weak and go down in one hit each. With that out of the way, I consider the situation. I need a gym badge to use strength outside of battle, for whatever twisted reason. There's a gym in Hearthome City, but the leader wouldn't battle me. I fly back just to check on that. Maybe she's ready? Flying is awesome.
But the gym leader is still ducking me. Slave's name on the statue in the entrance mocks me. He beat her, but when I show up, she's nowhere to be found. Enough of this. I have a delivery to make. Forget the fog. I can navigate through anything. Or just fly back to town once I'm impossibly lost and start over. Either way, really.
Unfortunately, the fog also seems to have the property of making attacks less accurate in battle, as I find out when the next ninja boy challenges me. Apsu brings down one Zubat. I get so tired of missing the second one that I eventually switch to Articuno, whose never-missing aerial ace is useful in this situation. Sekhmet defeats the boy's Golbat. Against his Skorupi, I use the fog to my advantage by having Ninhursag leech seed, then switching to Inanna and using minimize repeatedly. It's a slow, but tortuously inevitable ending for my opponent.
Inanna evolves into Blissey. Yes! Too bad she has literally no offensive capability. Still, she manages to sing a Grotle to sleep in my next match, which is fun. Eventually, I switch to Articuno and win. The fog turns out to be more annoying than actually impeding. So I press on.
I am challenged by two trainers at once. They use Raichu and Gyarados. I switch Apsu out for Ninhursag and try to hit Gyarados with an electric attack. It works, but Sekhmet is wounded. Enter Hanuman. Eventually, Raichu falls.
Most of the trainers here are "ace trainers" (but they're not actually good or anything, that's just what they're called). The next one tries to use Mothim to poison Apsu, but of course I use an antidote and hit back too hard for the bug to handle. Onix is next, and sounds like a job for Ninhursag, who wins in one attack. Finally, there's Luxio, and I resort to the leech seed/minimize trick again.
The next trainer is far more annoying. He uses Dustox. It seems impossible to kill. Eventually I just use Articuno. That works. After that, I face a gi-wearing trainer who uses Machoke. I have to heal both Ninhursag and Inanna. This fog has definitely become irritating. The Machoke succumbs to leech seed and I continue stumbling through this infernal fog.
I meet another ninja boy. This one uses Croagunk (one hit from Hanuman's flame wheel) and Golbat. Sekhmet is too weakened to beat Golbat, although the fog is what really makes that difficult. Apsu finishes the job. I keep walking. I am challenged by a bird keeper. Apsu makes quick work of her owl pokemon.
Finally, just when I think I'm about to get out of this fog-infested abyss, I am ambushed by an old man. He leads with Buizel. I switch from the badly damaged Apsu to the only mostly damaged Ninhursag. I use toxic spikes, leech seed, and then giga drain, which misses enough times that my opponent's aqua jets and quick attacks nearly force Ninhursag out. I switch Inanna and let the toxic spikes do their job against the old man's Girafarig. Or rather, I would, but the Girafarig does a few moves, then uses baton pass and brings in Machoke. Tricky. But now both of them are poisoned. Machoke takes Inanna out with low kick. I don't have much left. I need to heal my team. But Hanuman isn't too damaged right now. I call him in. The poison still does most of the work. Girafarig's psybeam devastates Hanuman. Sekhmet is badly damaged and Ninhursag couldn't take a psybeam. So it's all up to Articuno. And of course, Girafarig is useless against Articuno.
I loot some berries and head into Celestic Town. I make a beeline for the Poke Center. We need the rest.
I fight my way through weeds and little flaming ponies to another anomaly in the field that can only be another fake ninja. This one uses Zubat. Sekhmet is confused. This calls for Articuno. Next is a cute little guy called Skorupi. Cute, but outmatched by Sekhmet.
From what my opponents have said, there are three fake ninjas hiding out here for no reason. I hunt the last one down in the same manner as the first two. He only has one pokemon. It's Stunky. I keep things simple and just let Apsu dragon rage my problems away.
Cynthia said something about rare pokemon living in this direction, but so far all that I've seen have Ponytas and Kricketunes. Maybe I'll find something good later.
Or maybe it will get impossibly foggy just as I'm thinking that and I'll be attacked by a Psyduck. Probably one of the ones who blocked this road earlier. You're going down, roadblock. Sekhmet defeats the annoying pokemon in one hit, but suffers some damage herself. She'll need healing before she enters combat again.
And then there's the matter of the fog. Some guy is saying that the move defog could clear this stuff. It's not impossible to get around here, but I'd rather adventure elsewhere. Maybe I'll see about that defog move later. I fly back to the Poke Center, heal my team, and am on my way again.
I know! Wayward Cave. Apsu could push the boulders out of the way with the move strength. I would also need a gym badge to use the move for some reason. How does that even work? What power does the gym badge have? If only I could remember, but I haven't paid attention that nonsense. While I'm considering this, a policeman accosts me. He might be onto me. Have I committed any crimes? I probably have. I'll probably have to kill him...
...or battle him? And that's really easy because his two pokemon are weak and go down in one hit each. With that out of the way, I consider the situation. I need a gym badge to use strength outside of battle, for whatever twisted reason. There's a gym in Hearthome City, but the leader wouldn't battle me. I fly back just to check on that. Maybe she's ready? Flying is awesome.
But the gym leader is still ducking me. Slave's name on the statue in the entrance mocks me. He beat her, but when I show up, she's nowhere to be found. Enough of this. I have a delivery to make. Forget the fog. I can navigate through anything. Or just fly back to town once I'm impossibly lost and start over. Either way, really.
Unfortunately, the fog also seems to have the property of making attacks less accurate in battle, as I find out when the next ninja boy challenges me. Apsu brings down one Zubat. I get so tired of missing the second one that I eventually switch to Articuno, whose never-missing aerial ace is useful in this situation. Sekhmet defeats the boy's Golbat. Against his Skorupi, I use the fog to my advantage by having Ninhursag leech seed, then switching to Inanna and using minimize repeatedly. It's a slow, but tortuously inevitable ending for my opponent.
Inanna evolves into Blissey. Yes! Too bad she has literally no offensive capability. Still, she manages to sing a Grotle to sleep in my next match, which is fun. Eventually, I switch to Articuno and win. The fog turns out to be more annoying than actually impeding. So I press on.
I am challenged by two trainers at once. They use Raichu and Gyarados. I switch Apsu out for Ninhursag and try to hit Gyarados with an electric attack. It works, but Sekhmet is wounded. Enter Hanuman. Eventually, Raichu falls.
Most of the trainers here are "ace trainers" (but they're not actually good or anything, that's just what they're called). The next one tries to use Mothim to poison Apsu, but of course I use an antidote and hit back too hard for the bug to handle. Onix is next, and sounds like a job for Ninhursag, who wins in one attack. Finally, there's Luxio, and I resort to the leech seed/minimize trick again.
The next trainer is far more annoying. He uses Dustox. It seems impossible to kill. Eventually I just use Articuno. That works. After that, I face a gi-wearing trainer who uses Machoke. I have to heal both Ninhursag and Inanna. This fog has definitely become irritating. The Machoke succumbs to leech seed and I continue stumbling through this infernal fog.
I meet another ninja boy. This one uses Croagunk (one hit from Hanuman's flame wheel) and Golbat. Sekhmet is too weakened to beat Golbat, although the fog is what really makes that difficult. Apsu finishes the job. I keep walking. I am challenged by a bird keeper. Apsu makes quick work of her owl pokemon.
Finally, just when I think I'm about to get out of this fog-infested abyss, I am ambushed by an old man. He leads with Buizel. I switch from the badly damaged Apsu to the only mostly damaged Ninhursag. I use toxic spikes, leech seed, and then giga drain, which misses enough times that my opponent's aqua jets and quick attacks nearly force Ninhursag out. I switch Inanna and let the toxic spikes do their job against the old man's Girafarig. Or rather, I would, but the Girafarig does a few moves, then uses baton pass and brings in Machoke. Tricky. But now both of them are poisoned. Machoke takes Inanna out with low kick. I don't have much left. I need to heal my team. But Hanuman isn't too damaged right now. I call him in. The poison still does most of the work. Girafarig's psybeam devastates Hanuman. Sekhmet is badly damaged and Ninhursag couldn't take a psybeam. So it's all up to Articuno. And of course, Girafarig is useless against Articuno.
I loot some berries and head into Celestic Town. I make a beeline for the Poke Center. We need the rest.
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