The hero is N? No, the hero is YOU! Let's Play Pokemon White!

[Crosspeice]

Part 19: Done Symbolism? Nein!

Part 19: Done Symbolism? Nein!



Things like what I can do with my life, and what I want to do, but... I'm thinking how cool it would be to be a model like Elesa. And then, how cool it would be to do research on Pokemon Professor Juniper... if that's what I want to do, I'm gonna have to know a lot about Pokemon. Sooooo... would you please battle me?

Rival Battle



Man, when was the last Bianca battle? It really was Driftveil City, huh. Something that I think is intentional, but also could've been handled differently, is how the rival battles really peter out towards the end as they both figure out their path and don't fancy fighting you after every badge.



Well this isn't going to go well, Hammer Arm time.



Cool.



Her team is starting to round out, but she could use some heavy hitters, her starter choice leaves her pretty passive.



Yep! Touya, you're amazing! I'm really, really, really impressed, and that makes me want to give this to you!



In Castelia City, my precious Pokemon was stolen by Team Plasma. So I really, really understand! If Team Plasma forces everyone to liberate their Pokemon, there will be nothing but sad people! Touya! Stop Team Plasma! Don't allow Pokemon to be stolen from Trainers who love them! I think that's the truth--or ideal--that you've been pursuing, Touya...



when you're going through so much. All I wanted was to help you relax, Touya. Knowing you, you'll be fine! Definitely! You'll totally be fine! I guarantee it! Anyway, you know what I mean... yeah... so, bye-bye!



It's tubeline. And also a bridge! There's one thing to mention though.



Winter makes this route and the moor more interesting, you can reach nearly everywhere by surfing and hopping out in the right place, but all it does is make some items unavailable, not worth it. Unless you don't really care about that.



Anyway, Damp Rock in the morning, Heat Rock in the afternoon, Smooth Rock during the evening and Icy Rock during the night. We'll be back to talk to her again, I pumice.

Tubeline Bridge



Damn, why do the bridges in this game get such amazing music tracks?



I got overheated. Phew! Anyway, please take this!



This TM contains Flame Charge! If the move lands, the user's Speed goes up! You'll blow by everyone!



There's a squiggle of pixels at the end, I wonder who it- oh. Fuck's sake.



I mean, I'm sure someone can.



This is a long ass bridge, why couldn't you bring me down most of it?



I congratulate you on a job well done. It is my lord N's thought that the two holders of the legendary Pokemon should put their beliefs on the line and strive to find which is the true hero. This is not necessary, however. From his infancy, I provided him with the education required to become the hero of legend. Indeed, he has been so acknowledged by the legendary Pokemon.



The liberation of which I... of which Team Plasma speaks is the separation of Pokemon from foolish people! That's the truth! All Trainers will become helpless to resist us! We alone will be able to use Pokemon! The preparations are complete! When my perfect plan is set in motion, first a few gullible Pokemon Trainers who are unable to resist Team Plasma will release their Pokemon. Then that number will become a hundred, then a thousand... in no time, even Gym Leaders and the Champion will become unable to fight us. Having a Pokemon will be considered a bad thing! Even people like the sad little Bianca, whose Pokemon was stolen in Castelia, will be unable to face public opinion and will release their Pokemon! That's the kind of world we'll make! You may have the Stone, but there's no chance whatsoever that the legendary Pokemon will accept you as the hero. So, if you're not willing to hand over your precious Pokemon, I suggest you search for some courage--because you're going to need it!



Well as fun as a full force farce by Ghetsis is, Tubeline Bridge is pretty empty and uninteresting, unless...



Hey! Who said ya can pass through here? When Friday night rolls around, this place belongs to us, the Black Empoleon! It's like our Gym, kid!



Ah, sorry sir, completely my fault.

Ha! Fine! Brats like you with a future so bright... just go on back home and be nice to your parents. Don't forget your baby bottle!

Hey, you take that back, I will never be nice to my parents, especially my dad, whoever the fuck he is.

What didja say, ya little creep? I'll teach ya to take the Black Empoleon seriously! I'll pummel your pretty Pokemon right down to the ground! With relish!



Neat mon, I'm sure we'll never see it again.



Don't get all high and mighty because you beat me! If you really want to pick a fight with the Black Empoleon, go duke it out with our leader! He's somewhere on this bridge!



This is the Black Empoleon's ultimate paradise... a little pest like you has no business here... it couldn't be that you think you can



...oh yeah, what am I doing here? Sorry to bother you, sir.

That all you got? Nah, you got one option left--get lost! This is our place, the Black Empoleon. We got no place else to go, and we don't want nobody gettin' in our way.

Still, since I'm here, why not become the leader of a bike gang? The only thing that solves problems in Unova is violence!

Gwa ha ha ha! Bring it! You've got your share of guts, kid! I'll show you what the guy who holds the Black Empoleon together can really do!



Aha, you fell into the game's trap of having more Pokemon make you weaker due to standardised level reduction! I'm not a huge fan cause it's not very interesting when most things are the same level.



Get a load of this... from now on, our team's name is gonna be the Black Fraxure! Yeah! We're taking the name of your rough-and-tough Pokemon! It's a wild name for a wilder team! The Black Fraxure! Gwa ha ha ha! That's awesome!



I'm glad we made some new friends, indeed when you beat the leader they'll change their name to the Black _____ of whatever your first mon is. I had a fair few choices, but I like this one the best.

Route 9 Winter



What I just threw was TM56 Fling! You throw an item to do damage to the target, and the damage changes depending on what you throw!



Another short and sweet route but this almost has more packed into it than Route 8? Wild.



For a child like you, a Bicycle is just right! It is healthier, isn't it?



The thread is getting more and more desperate for me to get rid of Tristan.



Bah! I haven't fallen so low that I would somebody's Pokemon like Team Plasma!



You have good Pokemon. Let me see!

Hey, hey! A bad one teamed with another bad one! Do you know what it means? That means we are very bad!



They both had cute pant :3



There are good Pokemon, but there are no bad Pokemon. Everything is up to the Trainer. That's what I think!

Even bad men like us can be friends! What a great thing! Friendship between men and friendship with Pokemon...



These various hooligans don't have very intimidating Pokemon, tbh, let's see if we can get something really dangerous!






Ow the edge. Oh I already said that in the bio. Anyway as a midgame mon, Pawniard ain't bad, it doesn't have great moves, but it'll learn Night Slash shortly before evolving at level 32 and- yeah this joke is gonna get real old soon, this is absolute garbage for something that evolves so ridiculously late. Again, it has bad moves for a long time, working with Metal Claw and Assurance until LEVEL FORTY NINE, where it gets Night Slash. However one positive is its expansive TM list, it learns pretty much every good physical move, not that it gets any better STAB that way. It can do some damage after a Swords Dance but these are pitiful stats for something that will get to level 45 and start to really lag behind. Also this is the gen where Fighting types are freakin everywhere, its Steel typing can only carry it so far. See what levels our team will reach by the end of the game and see if any of these awful evolution lategame mons take your fancy. Spoilers, they won't.



Ah! I wish I could fly down a much, much bigger road. The Pokemon would be happy, too!



Ah here's the department store... well as far as deadend out of the way US malls, yeah this makes sense.

Shopping Mall Nine



Oh yeah, if there's German in the Pokemon world, then yeah there's a German region, was there a Pokemon Hitler? Aside from that one. And the other one.



First floor has the standard items, though it's easier to get it at somewhere you can Fly to, as well as this room full of electronics we can't use, oh well.




Excuse me ma'am, where is your HA pass?



Invigorating Soda Pop for exhausted Pokemon after a battle! Pokemon after a battle! Available in any vending machine!



Here's some TMs we're never gonna buy, cause I spend all my money on balls and revives.



I am a Rich Boy. Even though I lost, I'm not frustrated! Bah! I am a Rich Boy. I will go on a shopping spree to make myself feel better!



Left second floor cashier has some QUICK BALLS HELL YEAH, and some other balls and mail or whatever. If you thought Quick Balls were dumb last gen, well now they're 5x instead of 4x, so there's literally never a reason to not use them.



And then the third floor has the usual stuff I don't use, what fun.



Only one Pokemon evolves from it, so I guess.

So you know Thunderstones make certain Pokemon evolve, then? Niiice! Meeting here must be fate! This is for you!



I don't know what that is. But I'm sure we'll fight it soon?



Hello Waiter Bert.



Our speciality is the best Pokemon battles.




Alright, that took a while, Litwick is a little fragile, but now you've got a cool lamp! Evolve it immediately. It's nothing really against Lampent, it's fine for what it is, but it doesn't learn any good moves through level up that Chandelure can't just learn from TM, like we already have Shadow Ball, and we'll get Overheat in the postgame, well before you'd learn it at level 69, nice. So there's really no point keeping Lampent around unless you don't want the immediate stat boost, or you want to keep using Eviolite? I just can't recommend it, usually the stage before a stone evolution has some utility, but that's not the case here. I really like its design, so it's a shame there's no reason to give it much of a spotlight. Heh, light pun.



This is the first time we're fighting in the Dept. Store, though technically we battled under the basement of Johto's?



I'm very rich, but even I am pleased with the selection at this shopping mall. I want to buy more!



And that is how politics work.



We are cooooool! We hang out here every day!



We're at the end of the route, but that just means we can get distracted by the rest of it.


"It clenches opponents with its left arm and finishes them off with foul-smelling poison gas belched from its mouth."

Quick Balls, fuck yeah.



Ahah, a cave, this route isn't shallow at all!



The Champion occasionally goes in for training, but you aren't ready for this challenge.



Alright fine we'll come back later. I wake up in a cold sweat sometimes thinking about everything I need to cover in the postgame. And then I wake up from waking up in a cold sweat thinking about the sequel.


"Blades comprise this Pokémon's entire body. If battling dulls the blades, it sharpens them on stones by the river."

I'm so glad Bisharp is a wild encounter in the postgame.


"Since they have two divided brains, at times they suddenly try to take two different actions at once."

"They use hypnosis to control people and Pokémon. Tales of Gothorita leading people astray are told in every corner."

And that's it for this route, though we have Gothitelle/Reuniclus in rustling grass. Even though I'm hacking in version exclusive mons, I would still prefer to shove Rare Candy at them than do a 5% rustling encounter.



No...?

Opelucid City



Desperately trying to con everyone with his speech.



Our lord N has combined his power with the legendary Dragon-type Pokemon and intends to create a new world.



Pokemon are different from people. They are living beings who contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. They are beings whose greatness we should acknowledge!



We, Team Plasma, invite you to join us! We all want to create a new world where people and Pokemon are both free! Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you now... please, release your Pokemon. And so I end my plea to you today. Thank you one and all for your attention.



Have we been making Pokemon suffer?

Hmm... maybe we should release our Pokemon like Team Plasma says...

No way! Without Pokemon, I'd be lonely and sad!



The cooperation of people and Pokemon is how Unova came to exist to begin with. If a Pokemon really didn't want anything to do with humans, it would simply leave... capturing a Pokemon in a Pokeball doesn't mean you've captured its heart.



Oh! Mr. Alder! ...and the guy who helped out that time.

What's wrong? What does the wandering Champion who left the Pokemon League need from us?

Briefly, my request is this. Tell us about the legendary Dragon-type Pokemon!

Are you talking about Reshiram? Or Zekrom? What's the sudden interest?

Moments ago, a troublemaker known as Ghetsis was here. He said a Trainer named N has reawakened Reshiram...

Yes! That Trainer called N apparently told Touya here to search for the other Dragon-type Pokemon!



This N, or what have you, presumes to set the two Dragon-type Pokemon against each other in battle to test his convictions?

Oh, no! The Dragon-type Pokemon get along so well!

That's right, Iris. The ones who make Pokemon battle are the Trainers... and it's so the Trainers and the Pokemon can get to know each other better.



No, I guess in this case I should say I'm "returning" to the Pokemon League! Of course, I'll defeat N! I'll teach him about the beauty of this world, where Pokemon and Trainers live together in harmony! Also, Touya, I'll await your arrival! Once you've obtained the Opelucid Badge, come to the League! The Opelucid Gym Leader is tough. Take care! Farewell. I'm counting on you, Drayden and Iris!



Is he OK? He looked kinda scary.

Don't worry, Iris. He is the strongest Trainer in all of Unova. Well, Touya, is it? Come to my home. As Alder asked, I'll tell you everything I can about the legendary Dragon-type Pokemon. Iris, child, please show the way.

You bet! If it's Opelucid City, I can take you anywhere. As for the story of Reshiram and Zekrom, we'll tell you all we know about it! This way!

Opelucid City Erhu






Opelucid City: Time's Dividing Line
From opal, lucid, opacus (opaque sheets of clouds) and perlucidus (sheets of cloud with small spaces).
Soryu City: The city where past and future intertwine.
From 双龍文 sōryūmon, a Chinese pattern resembling two dragons, as well as 蒼竜 sōryū, the Azure Dragon.



Hold on to your butts, it's time for more plot! At least we can do it in a charming, peaceful city like this, I'd hate it to be all whoopy and flashy with lots of blue and black.



What you are holding is the Dark Stone. Zekrom, who will likely awaken from the Dark Stone, and Reshiram, who is already awake, were once the same Pokemon.

That single Dragon Pokemon, along with twin heroes, brought a new region into being. And people and Pokemon had happy lives!

One day, however... the twin heroes, the older brother who sought the truth, and the younger brother who sought ideals, began to argue about how to decide which one of them was right... the single Dragon-type Pokemon that had been with them all that time split its body into two. One sided with the older brother, and the other with the younger brother.

In its pursuit of truth, the white Dragon-type Pokemon sought to usher in a new and better world... its name was Reshiram. And the other, the black Dragon-type Pokemon, sought ideals and usher in a new world--a world of hope. Its name was Zekrom.

Because the two of them were once the same entity, their battle raged endlessly and neither one could be declared the winnter. They simply exhausted themselves. The twin heroes proclaimed that there was no one side that was right and ceased the conflict.

But, but... the two heroes' sons started the battle again! And an instant later, Reshiram and Zekrom destroyed Unova with fire and lightning! Then, they disappeared! But, but... if people work with Pokemon in the right way, we don't have to worry anymore about the world being destroyed. I mean, Reshiram and Zekrom worked hard for everyone and made a new region! So, it should be alright, I think.

True. Pokemon cannot speak. People may hurt Pokemon even more by imposing their selfish thoughts on them. But, no matter what, Pokemon and people believe in each other, need each ohter, and will continue to live together...

Yeah! So I'm never gonna forgive Team Plasma for trying to separate Pokemon and us!

Sorry. We got a little off topic at the end. That is everything we know. Unfortunately, we don't know how to wake up the legendary Pokemon... I made a promise to Alder. You must win the Gym Badge from the Opelucid Pokemon Gym. Iris, you go and be Touya's opponent at the Pokemon Gym.

Yay! Look out! I'm really, really strong, just like Drayden!

"and Pokemon?"

The way we live now, with different beings understanding and forgiving each other, is much richer. That's my belief.

Phew, Game Freak are definitely getting bolder in having you stand in one place and talk to you. Still, we can take Iris next time, at least we're not fighting Drayden, he's scary and has weird facial hair. I mean, it's not like I've been playing the same game twice to show off barely changed version differences.

Opelucid City Black Keytar



Oh fuck.

[Crosspeice]

Part 20: It's Pretty Black or White

Part 20: It's Pretty Black or White



Let's back up and show off a version difference! Wow! It barely matters!

Opelucid City Black Keytar





Opelucid City: Time's Dividing Line
From opal, lucid, opacus (opaque sheets of clouds) and perlucidus (sheets of cloud with small spaces).
Soryu City: The city where past and future intertwine.
From 双龍文 sōryūmon, a Chinese pattern resembling two dragons, as well as 蒼竜 sōryū, the Azure Dragon.



Two different versions of Opelucid City, that doesn't affect the story in the slightest, and two different Gym Leaders, that doesn't affect the story in the slightest. Paired versions make Game Freak a lot of money, but I hate that there's never been a reason to choose one game over another due to how they're practically identical. Oh well, let's explore this city. Twice!

Opelucid City White Erhu. Bless You.



You don't need to put it on a diet! Just let it hold this.



The weight of a Pokemon holding a Float Stone will be halved! That way, you can reduce the damage caused by weight-based moves such as Low Kick and Grass Knot.

"you can make it work?"

You may be able to master it. Here it is!



If a Pokemon holds a Ring Target, it can be hit by a move that would usually have no effect. For example, a Normal-type move would hit a Ghost-type Pokemon. Mastering this item is a bit tough... actually, it's very tough, but think how useful it could be!



So close to the postgame. I'm sure the blockage will disappear for no reason.



Well this house is a bit rude. I think this woman tells you how many EVs it has, but since there's no ribbons, there's nothing to it.



I wonder how my child, Thyme, will spend the future. I'm making a machine that connects the future and the present, but electricity is desperately short. I've heard that in another world, there's another Opelucid City that looks very futuristic. If there is a Pokemon from that world that knows the move Charge, the machine may work. If you're able, would you be willing to lend me a Pokemon like that?



That's quite the tall order, what, you think I can just catch a Blitzle from Route 3 that already knows Charge and then copy the Pokemon's data in pkhex so I don't have to trade? Well it was pretty easy, actually.



Now, please show me the future! ... Oh! So that's what the future is like! My precious Thyme is growing up as such a good kid! ... Oh, it returned to normal... but what an experience! I can't stop trembling! And even though I know the future, I guess my present time won't change. I will return your Pokemon to you. This is my thank-you gift.



Rather than worrying about the future, it is important to live in the present, which connects to the future, as best you can. OK, Thyme! Let's go out later! Today, let's play as hard as we can!



A quest so good I did it twice!



We connected with the past! Father! It's me, Thyme! I owe you an apology... Oh, it returned to normal... but what an experience! I can't stop trembling! I connected with the past... but I guess my present time won't change. Rather than regretting the past... it is important to live in the present, which connects from the past, as best as you can. OK! I'll live positively!



Well that's cute, but if Black is a future version of White, then what does that mean for the official timeline? My canon!!!



And here's another version difference! No, not the hidden item, the Battle House, Triples in White, Rotation in Black. And that's about it for the different Opelucid City, what fun.

"Their destructive force is overwhelming!"


monke



Due to the wide range of elementals this is a pretty tricky fight, remember the monkeys have good offenses! Even if the AI only has the one move to spam.



Though Corazon is a definite nuke, so good to place her in the middle.



Which Pokemon should I put in the middle...? I'm still thinking about it.



Yes! Preparation before a battle is very important for Triple Battles! Now, let's start!



In comparison, this fight is easier.



Like a LOT easier.



The fights are the same in Black, though of course in Rotation. For whatever reason, this fight is downstairs and the monke fight is upstairs. Again, all riveting stuff.



When a Pokemon holding the Destiny Knot is affected by the move Attract, the opponent will also fall in love. It's a bit difficult to use, but I hope it will be useful!




There's one house left to visit, so all badges will be ours pretty soon.



Oh, you have a Prop Case! You must be a huge musical fan, too! [musicalnote.5g] Would you like a new Prop to use in the musical? I am so glad! [musicalnote.5g] You are a huge musical fan! [musicalnote.5g] You should try putting various Props on your Pokemon! That would be fun. [musicalnote.5g]



You know what? I'm a huge musical fan! [musicalnote.5g] If you come see me again tomorrow, I'll give you a different Prop! [musicalnote.5g]

Oh yeah, there was a side mode I... forgot. Yeah. You can get the Gift Box, Fluffy Beard, Big Bag and Scarlet Hat from this guy, and we've seen all the, like, three ways of getting props. Guess I'll go over this damn mode soon enough, I recorded it like months ago just to get it over with and it was exactly as boring and shallow as you think it is. I suppose I can do something else while I'm back.



Anyway, let's beat up the heart beard mayor girl or whatever.

Pokemon Gym



First off, please take this Fresh Water. It'll help you in the challenge ahead.



Let me give you a brief explanation of the trick to the Opelucid Gym! The path around this Gym is shaped like two dragons. This path changes when you step on the switches on the dragons' arms. Pay attention to how the dragons' necks move!

"they can carve out their own path!"


It's an executive decision to not bring John to this Gym, it wouldn't work out for her. And we have no Ice moves either!



This might take a while...



As the name suggests, a Gym Leader is the top of a Gym! The Leader is top of the heap at this Opelucid Gym! If you want to meet the Leader, climb up on the dragons' backs and aim for the top floor!



We'll do just that, this place seems a little complex, but it's very linear, you find dead ends almost immediately.



Is it the thing Clyde told us about? Cause I only believe him if his info is corroborated.



Wow! You beat me! Jump from a triangle mark! When you land on a switch on an arm, the dragon's head will move, and you can move ahead!



Well that definitely happened. What way the arms are raised or lowered depends on where the head goes.



You can probably guess what happens when we step on the other switch.



With Dragon Dance, Tristan has no hope of beating these Fraxure. But hey, it's not like they're the most common opponent in this Gym.



Okay, hold up, I know you think I'm crazy, but due to HM glut and single player coverage, Gamera doesn't really have space for this. Later, sure, but lowering our defenses and then still being slower anyway isn't exactly a winning strategy.



The dragons' arms go up and down... and depending on the arms, the dragons' heads turn right and left and move up and down, too. Listen! Here is a hint! If both arms point down, the dragon's head sinks down, too.



Well that didn't happen, but it's good to be absolutely sure, because this gym puzzle is very complicated and I'm being sarcastic but it's difficult to convey through text.




Ever hear the definition of insanity?



Every person loves Pokemon in a different way. Getting strong with my Pokemon... that's the why I chose.



That's not what we want it to do, but we can hop over and come back later.



I need an adult.



Seed Bomb doesn't make contact, but that's not very helpful in this case.



Advancing or retreating is up to you. But if you proceed, prepare yourself! Moving forward halfheartedly is disrespectful to your Pokemon!



The remakes of these games better add handrails to this place, it's a long way down! Now we go right.




I am a Trainer. I don't have to get strong myself. All I have to do is to support Pokemon so that they can fight at their best.



Another dragon not going where we want it, so we'll need to go around and try again.




Tristan's had better days.



I love Pokemon battles! I never know what my opponent will do. It gives me chills! Win or lose, it's the excitement of the fight that counts!



Alright, we're nearly done, we've nearly looped around to near the start.




Getting stronger... is like walking down a road that never ends, no matter how much you fight... it's what this Dragon Gym is about. It's the secret of the dragons' backs...



The path to the leader is clear, let's fight this little kid and get our final badge!



Tell me... what Pokemon are you using? How will you fight? Ooh, I'm super curious, so let's just get started!

Gym Leader Battle





Iris: The Girl Who Knows the Hearts of Dragons/The girl who knows the heart of dragons
From, well, iris, a wildly colourful plant named after the Greek goddess of rainbows, Iris. Also relates to Shaga, Drayden's Japanese name, fringed iris.





As a Dragon Gym, it's never a pushover, but we should be fine. As you can immediately notice, Iris has nothing for Steel types, though we'll only use PRNDL here to show off how easy it'll be, before only using it if only absolutely necessary.



Damn you 85 accuracy! And best for her to use healing now, the final mon is the only thing I'm actually worried about. After all, Druddigon has Sheer Force, but nothing to use it on! There's a reason for that.



Milli needs glasses, but oh well, not a big deal.






FUCK FUCK FUCK, while we'll be able to play with this toy soon enough, Haxorus is definitely absolutely terrifying. Going all in on Atk is one way to spec something, especially when you give it Dragon Dance to patch up its slightly lower than comfortable Spd. It can even take a physical hit or three, especially when it only really has Dragon Claw for a bit. It gets Swords Dance shortly after evolving, though the Spd increase from DD is preferable in a meta with base 100s everywhere, and it still does a lot of damage until you finally get Outrage at 66.

This is one of the reasons Fairy was created because Steel types dropped to Earthquake and the premier physical wall Skarmory takes NEARLY HALF from Life Orb Outrage, what the fuck. Add in Rock Slide, X-Scissor and Shadow Claw and, well, it doesn't really matter since neutral Outrage will probably do similar damage to super effective coverage, but this thing is incredibly scary. And that's exactly why I chose to use one, even if we might not be able to use it before the postgame.



STOP IT



I was expecting it to use Dragon Tail earlier, there's no way in hell we can switch anything into this thing.



But with a bit of luck and some good monke vibes, we can take this monster down. Phew. Be sure to pick up TM73 Thunder Wave, available in Nimbasa's TM shop!



Whoooa! That was so cool! I'm sooo happy I could battle a Trainer as strong as you!



Hey, that's your eighth Badge, right? That's so cool! Now every Pokemon will do what you ask, no matter how big they are! Know what? I'll give you this TM, too!



Dragon Tail doesn't just do damage. It sends the other Pokemon back to its Pokeball, too! Ooh, hey! I wonder how Mister Alder is doing? I wonder if he's battling that Trainer called N in the Pokemon League right now? Do you know about the Pokemon League? It's past Victory Road, at the end of Route 10!



Oh, by the way, since I gave you all that Fresh Water... don't you owe me some of your winnings? ...I'm kidding! It's just a joke! No, seriously, congratulations!



Wow, eight badges, it almost feels like this LP is nearly over. Though of course this is a DS Pokemon game, it's nowhere close to over. But there is still one more Gym Leader to face, beardface you would say, even if it's pronounced fa-ce.



Despite the city looking different between games, the Gym is identical except for the top dog.



As the mayor, I've given everything to developing the city. As a Trainer, I've simply been pursuing greater strength. But what I'm searching for now is a young Trainer who can show me a bright future. Perhaps you can show me that future, the way Iris has?





Drayden: The Spartan Mayor
From dragon and den.
Shaga: Spartan mayor
From 射干 shaga, fringed iris.



Drayden may have a dumb beard but he's slightly more dangerous than Iris. Their teams are very similar, but their genders are flipped, as well as their latter mons abilities. Now you see why Iris's Druddigon had Sheer Force, it's a little deadlier with Rough Skin instead.



I said before that using Lampent is pretty pointless, but I like it so I'll use it for a bit. She's a little tanky with Eviolite!



Don't need to use Thunder Wave since I can use my female Steel type that I luckily had to take this beast down.

"I don't know how to describe it."

A clean 2HKO with EQ, nothing to it.



I'm grateful we had a chance to meet and battle. Well, now. You've obtained all of the Gym Badges in Unova. Now, all Pokemon will obediently follow your commands. I also want you to have this. It's a TM I'm particularly fond of. It's called Dragon Tail.



Dragon Tail is a move that returns the damaged Pokemon to its Pokeball. In other words, it switches your opponent's Pokemon. Now, I have something to ask of you. Head for the Pokemon League and go after Alder. The Pokemon League is past Route 10, which runs from Opelucid City to Victory Road. I know Alder's strength, but I don't know the depth's of N's power...



An easier time in Black, though I don't purposefully stop myself from using super effective moves and the best counters like in the main playthrough. Also since I'm only using 6 Pokemon, Touko's team is stronger, but only slightly, I haven't beaten every trainer like I do in White.

Opelucid City White Erhu



Oh, I came to report on how to ressurect the legendary Zekrom. I thought it better to tell you in person than over the Xtransceiver. And as for the conclusion... well, I haven't figured it out yet. I'm sure the Pokemon will wake up when it deems someone worthy. More importantly, aren't you amazing! You have all eight of Unova's Gym Badges now, right? You've become so strong! You probably don't even know it, but you've changed a lot since you left Nuvema Town. Well then, I'll show you where such a strong Trainer should head next!



at the Badge Check Gates! Once you get through Victory Road, which is past the gates, you're finally at the Pokemon League! Oh, that just made me think of when I was showing you around the Pokemon Center in Accumula Town.



While I'm contractually obligated to do these, at least with my spicy team picks and thread interaction, I always have a lot of fun.

Thanks! That's the greatest answer you could give! I was really happy to be able to give you three those Pokemon as a present! Because Pokemon create chances to meet more wonderful people and Pokemon! Touya, this is a present for you!



This Master Ball is the most powerful kind of Pokeball. It can catch any Pokemon without fail. This is the only way I can support you, except to say... be true to yourself. No matter what happens, stay strong and keep going with your Pokemon! See you!



Maybe a change in C-Gear skin could make Zekrom more willing to come out of hiding, suggested by Verant on the LP Beach. But that's it for this city, next time, it's onwards to the road of victory. For like the seventh time.

[Crosspeice]

Part 21: All Fifth Roads Lead to Victory

Part 21: All Fifth Roads Lead to Victory



I just heard this on the Xtransceiver. There's a big storm on Route 7! And the storm seems to be different from a natural phenomenon! So strange!

Route 7 Winter



Lightning, that's different. Hopefully this will be the last time we'll be switching back and forth between games, it's getting a bit disorienting.



Now, now, child, don't you go heading into the tall grass. That Pokemon might be too much for you. We'll catch cold standin' around talkin' in this wind and rain. It's not much, but come stay in my home a spell.



no

Come now, just have a little. It's good for you. Would you listen to an old lady's story for a moment? In the Unova Region, you see, there is a Pokemon called Thundurus that creates thunderstorms. It flies around the region and sets loose wild winds and crashing lightning. Have some soup now, dear. It'll warm you up.



The heavy rain is ruining crops I've worked so hard to raise! What a troublesome Pokemon! I thought I would try to catch it, but it flies around so fast that even when I thought I'd found it, it just flew away. In one day, it can make a lap around the entire Unova region. In the mornings, it's in the south, and in the evenings, it's in the north. It shows up here in the evenings!




Well there's the mon we need. And there it goes.



So this is the only roaming Pokemon in this game after the NINE total from Gen 4, so it's nice to scale this back, roaming Pokemon suck. It's also the last one in the series! Well, kinda, but this is the last standard one and it's not that hard to find, since, well, it can only be found in certain areas depending on the time.



The gates will tell you where a storm is occurring, but since they change position as soon as you leave a gate, it's not that helpful. Still, if it's bordering somewhere you know it'll be, you can go back and forth and once you see the storm, we can find it.

Legendary Encounter



Only roamer in the game, so the best thing to use the Master Ball on, like with the Latis in Gen 3.


"Countless charred remains mar the landscape of places through which Thundurus has passed."




The one and only genie, uh, right? Well Thundurus is definitely a storm since it has amazing dual offenses and fantastic Spd. It honestly won't be using a physical set so its Atk is wasted stat points, since it's unbelievably frail, but it doesn't really have the moveset for it anyway. The immediate move to notice is Nasty Plot, which already makes its attacks hit even harder, and in Ubers, it has plenty of rain to drop Thunders down. Unfortunately it doesn't have Hurricane, so it has, uh, Sky Drop or Fly as its best options, let's just ignore that. It gets an interesting variety to work with, has very strong Volt Switches and can slap on Psychic, Sludge Wave, Focus Blast, Flash Cannon and Grass Knot, as well as Dark Pulse from level up, though of course you want Prankster Thunder Wave in Ubers due to being so goddamn fragile. It has a lot of options and is kinda pinned towards 2 support moves to be the most effective, but can definitely slam down hits like no tomorrow.



I'm at soup, so let's get another genie.



There's Tornadus in Black, Thundurus in White, and they follow the same roaming rules: Factoring in the different times for summer and winter, between midnight and early morning, they roam Routes 12-15; in the morning they're on Routes 2, 3 or 18; during the afternoon it's on Routes 4, 5 or 16; in the evening they're on Routes 6-8, and just before midnight they're on Routes 9-11, never forget.



Same as before, good thing we got the Master Ball just before this, eh?


"Tornadus expels massive energy from its tail, causing severe storms. Its power is great enough to blow houses away."




The one and only genie, uh, hey wait this is the same Pokemon but without a good typing! Despite being very similar to Thundurus, one of them is Uber and the other is topdog in UU because it's outclassed by its Therian form in OU. Its main issue is Rain Dance instead of Nasty Plot, which can still help since it gets STAB Hurricane, but it doesn't do much outside of rain, while also being weak to fully accurate Thunders. It learns very similar moves, but no Electric STAB to throw around just isn't as good. Still got Psychic, Sludge Wave, Focus Blast, U-turn and Grass Knot. With Acrobatics and Crunch, as well as Bulk Up, it can use a physical set to pretty great effect and even gets weird coverage in Smack Down, not that that move is really any good. Crazy how removing a typing and boosting move makes so much difference, since they're very similar otherwise, but that's how the storm, uh, crumbles.

Route 10



Enough distractions by the 55 legendary Pokemon in this game, it's time for Route 10, fuck yeah!

There is no end to mastering Pokemon battles!






We're approaching the end, so look forward to like twenty new Pokemon. Here's your little rebel all grown up and it'll do some damage with a great STAB combination and can even take a fair few hits with good defenses and Intimidate. Since Scraggy got Crunch and Hi Jump Kick just before evolving, well there's not much else you'll need. There's, uh, Head Smash at 65, or Rock Slide, Dragon Claw and Poison Jab from TMs, but since no Ghosts or Normal can stand your onslaught, it's really not a big deal. With your low Spd, Payback is also a great options, but due to a modestly high Atk, you need to bust out HJK to really deal damage, which has a tendency of backfiring spectacularly, this is a not a Pokemon that likes its health cut in half. Still, for carrying Scraggy round all this time, this is a good reward.



It's hard to have no end, but if you change your perspective, you'll see we can enjoy them forever!



The Foongus are back, but they won't take me by surprise again!



NANI


"They crush berries with their talons. They bravely stand up to any opponent, no matter how strong it is."




Oh god we're at the endgame mons, why are they SO SHIT??? Game Freak either massively overestimated what levels our mons would be by the end of the game, or wanted to factor in the postgame to use your new friends in. The main issue is twofold, firstly these are terrible stats to last until just before you get a damn Dragonite or Tyranitar, and secondly the postgame trainers will kick the everloving shit out of you, so you won't be able to train it without endlessly swapping out with a Lucky Egg, miserable. Also compared to other such mons that evolve at these high levels, the evolutions aren't really worth it, but that's for later. Like with Larvesta, I just can't recommend using these birds because they can't be used immediately and can't be used in the postgame, and even struggle after evolving. Could you imagine in future games these mons were available early but had the same level requirements? Fucking. Imagine.


"Its wings are too tiny to allow it to fly. As the time approaches for it to evolve, it discards the bones it was wearing."




Let's get the other version exclusive while we're here, because imagine if you took what I just said and applied it to a Pokemon with worse attacking stats. If Rufflet is basically unusable, then Vullaby will have a full time switching habit, what the fuck is this? Their evolutions have their positives, sure, but right now, shove them in the back and don't look back, we've got more important things to do.




Gonna be a lot of Aces in our future.






Oh right, it's a special bug. Accelgor is pretty darn fast, being the 3rd fastest mon in these games, and beats the next obtainable Unova mon by nearly 30 points, it's pretty nuts. This means it's incredibly fragile and has to rely on hit and run tactics to actually survive. It has good enough SpAtk for how much it's invested in Spd, and gets Bug Buzz, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb and Focus Blast to help with that, but it could really use U-turn to get the heck outta there. It also gets Recover, not that it can actually use it, so if going very, very fast and dying in two hits sounds appealing, this is a good mon to do it with.



My heart is not broken. I will survive further fierce battles with my Pokemon, and I will become stronger.




Been a while since we've seen a mid evo, Eelektrik is the only member of its line to actually learn any damn moves, since Tynamo is straight garbage and Eelektross has a bad case of stone evolution learnset. Thankfully after dealing with Tynamo's bullshit for so long, Eelektrik only needs to be kept around for Crunch and Thunderbolt shortly after evolution, and then can be evolved with little hassle. While the evolution won't learn many natural moves, it still learns most of the same TMs, so there's no issue, heck you can evolve it immediately if you'd prefer to Heart Scale Discharge over waiting slightly for Thunderbolt, it's up to you. You could also wait for 69, nice, to get Zap Cannon, but I don't think that's a good idea, do you?



Ugh, where are all these trainers coming from? You're interrupting the good music.



Perhaps the secret of your strength is your commitment.



In the name of love?! Oh, Cheren!

"Pokemon League, right?"

no

Now is not the time for modesty. Worst-case scenario, you'll be battling Team Plasma's boss, N! I need proof you can handle it!

Rival Battle



O-okay, Bianca, we'll talk to you in a minute.



I think that might be the first recorded instance of Razor Wind ever OHKOing something, damn.



Help, this monkey keeps spamming one good move and I don't have a good counter for it!



Samurott is also pretty scary with its high level and our mostly unevolved team. We'll fix that one day...



But I'll drag John and PRNDL to level 48/49 even if it kills them.

Route 10



Yep, you are something else. And I mean that sincerely. Right. Now, I have to make your Pokemon healthy.



Right now, there's no way I can compete with you, Touya. If there is anything I can do to help in the battle with N, just say so...

Touya... there's not much I can do to help you, but I want you to have these!



Stil, it's kind of funny. Everyone's so different.

Funny? At a time like this...

Come on, Cheren. Could you smile just for once? Taking everything so seriously all the time isn't going to change anything. You know... since we've met our Pokemon and walked the same roads together, a lot has happened... we've all changed a lot! We found out that the we want to do and the things we can do are different for each of us, right? That's what's made our journey so worth it. Somehow, all this just makes me happy.



...you are right that we're all different and we should do the things that we can do. There are as many truths and ideals as there are people and Pokemon. The most important thing is that we help each other out. That's why people and Pokemon are always by each other's side. That's what I've come to think lately... Touya! If anything happens to you or Alder, I will do everything I can to help you. That's why I have to keep training and getting stronger. Just... don't be reckless, OK?



Touya! Me, too! I'll do my best to help if I can! So... um... I wish I could say something, like, totally inspiring, you know? Umm... OK... best foot forward!



Everyone's doing what they can. And we'll get distracted and catch new Pokemon!






While not quite as NANI as Foongus, Amoonguss is a pretty even spread of good stats and nice bulk, with low Spd of course, it is a mushroom. Alas, it has an amazing HA that's completely unavailable to us so we'll have to make do with annoying physical attackers. Giga Drain is a great move for it and it'll need Sludge Bomb from TM so its best move isn't Clear Smog, but with other options like Toxic, Synthesis and Ingrain, you can annoy opponents to no end. It gets some interesting toys much later on, like Rage Powder and Spore, but can also work with Venoshock and Energy Ball from TMs. It has an equal attacking stat, but nothing to really go with it, other than Payback and... Astonish? This thing's annoying already, imagine if it could get 1/3 of its health back by just switching out!



You're not what I'm looking for, this is! Our last team member could've been gotten slightly earlier, but having it higher level in the dark grass is just less effort on my part.






Let's catch this before it murders itself quite happily... Bouffalant is nice because it's a good endgame Unova mon, in that it has 120BP STAB and contributes that way. Head Charge isn't as good a name as AFRO BREAK, but it's pretty damn good for a recoil move, since it's only 1/4 instead of the usual 1/3 for its BP. Like Wild Charge also has 1/4 recoil but is 30BP weaker, it really adds up and it's great! Uh, that's about it though, with Reckless you can dish out some major damage, but you will very likely take some first due to pitiful Spd. It's not too bad, it's kinda defensive, but it can also struggle against some types for a bit. Revenge will be the best answer against Rock or Steel types until we finally get the EQ TM, and Payback will be its best option against Ghost types, not great. Still with Rock Slide, Wild Charge, Megahorn and even Swords Dance later on, it's a dangerous buffalo you shouldn't mess with... if you can't OHKO it with Fighting moves.


"Their fluffy fur absorbs damage, even if they strike foes with a fierce headbutt."

We have our canon Gen 3 game representation with this nickname by Blaziken386, because only real stars wear Pokeball afros. Let's see what our new member is like.




Hey, Careful is pretty good, not gonna knock it, especially because we got Reckless first try, though Sap Sipper has its positives.



It's my hobby to win against Trainers!



It's Miror B.'s first battle and, uh, it's a speedy Fighting type that nearly one shots her, so a little unlucky, but since we're getting her so late, Miror B. will be joining us in the League battles, plenty of time to shine.



Rather than enjoying defeating someone, should I aim higher...? I guess the Pokemon League is the place to find a better class of challengers.



Alright finally, we can use this stone to evolve... uh... evolve... what exactly? Hmm.



I'll test myself by fighting against you to see if I'm ready to climb it!



Ahah! If you're a weaker Fighting type then Head Charge can definitely beat you!



Victory Road! It is really amazing! That's the road to the Pokemon League!



To show the respect I feel for you, I would like to present you with this gift.



It's a Dusk Stone. This item makes certain Pokemon evolve. I used one to evolve a Lampent from the Celestial Tower.



Neat. Why is this still a TM???



I'm looking, I'm looking. Oh, you haven't send them out yet.






Alright don't use Jump Kick, sheesh. Anyway, Jellicent is a pretty nice Pokemon in the same vein as Amoonguss, in that is doesn't usually do massive amounts of damage, but it sure sticks around and annoys a lot. All it really needs is Scald, Hex, Toxic and Recover and you're pretty much set. A Burn patches up its mediocre Def and lets it take hits all day. Of course, it has a wide variety of options to make it pretty unique among Water types, which is saying something considering the oversaturated market. Just at a glance it has Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Sludge Wave and Energy Ball. It can even go on the offense in Rain and smack fools with deceptively strong Hydro Pumps or Water Spouts. It has a fair few weaknesses and will definitely take a hit or two, but it can absolutely take those hits and deal something much worse in return, status or otherwise.




And the other gender difference, stark, but there needs to be more to have a point. In any case, no need to mention it looks like the Pringles man, I would never go for such lowbrow humour, you wish you had a moustache like that. I'm showing this off now because, while a trainer does use a male Jellicent, it won't be for a good long while. Take that patriarchy.



I was called an Ace Trainer, but that doesn't sit well with me. 'Cause I just love Pokemon, and I just want to be strong!



We're nearly done with the route, which means we're nearly done with the music. Sniff. No matter, we'll return in a third version and listen to it again, right?






Finally we meet the mon by the music links, even if we could've caught it a while now. Seismitoad has a nice even spread of stats, which helps as its movepool is basically all over the place. It got good moves earlier, but starting with Acid on evolution is not a great start. Still, Scald and Surf are great to slap on, no Waterfall annoyingly, and you'll get Drain Punch at 44, a nice addition. Add Brick Break, Sludge Wave, Bulldoze, Rock Slide, Poison Jab and Grass Knot, and you have to decide what you'll load it with. It detests Grass types, since it doesn't have amazing bulk even with high HP and it won't do as much damage as you'd like sometimes, but for versatility, this is one of the best mons of the bunch, a great pick all throughout the game.






You know, huff, puff, there's a lot of mons in this damn dex. Escavalier is... fucking slow dude, but it makes up for it with a monster Atk stat, matching big hitters like Excadrill and Gigalith. It has a super weakness to Fire, but otherwise it's very solid defensively, using it to its advantage by setting up Swords Dance and tearing through the opponent. Since it evolved from a rough hitter like Karrablast, it doesn't have many defensive options aside from, uh, Quick Guard, Toxic... Substitute? If you evolved it at the right time it'll get Iron Head at 37 and then X-Scissor later on, and can add on Aerial Ace and Poison Jab. Not great coverage, but it can take a lot of hits and boost up to ridiculous levels, so it doesn't really matter. Being the second slowest Unova mon, only beaten out by Foongus, isn't a great look, and its lower HP can let it down, but I'll keep mentioning its Atk stat, it's pretty big!



You have abundant kindness as well as strength.



I think we're ready... for our fifth round of victory.



I would be a bit surprised if you didn't have any of these badges, considering it's a little tricky to ignore them these days.

Road to Victory


















Pass through Victory Road, which lies beyond here, and head for the Pokemon League! Prove that you, too, can be a legend!

Victory Road



Mmm, now that's some good shit, having the build up throughout the badge gates and then hitting that final crescendo as you reach the base of a mountain, I love this Victory Road to pieces. Well, better start climbing.



Alright, four steps and we found a new mon. You can only find Deino in 2 rooms in this place for whatever reason, but surely something hard to find and this late in the game must be good right?


"It tends to bite everything, and it is not a picky eater. Approaching it carelessly is dangerous."




*elongated siiiiiigh* So this is the proper pseudo, since Haxorus and Volcarona just fall short, and boy is it impressive. In like 25 levels. This is Deino's biggest issue, level FIFTY? With those stats??? By this point you could get Gen 3 and 4 psuedo-legendaries, and while it was also kinda miserable getting them to that point, at least you didn't have to deal with Hustle for SO LOOOOOOONG. Here's the bigger kicker, this damn thing doesn't even learn Dragon Claw, it's Dragon Rush the entire way, which makes it as accurate as HYPNOSIS. You can get around this with Dragon Pulse and, uh, Round, but not really with those stats. God this mon makes me sad, because once you grind it up, it's so good! With no game left to use it in! GAH!!!



Thankfully there's one more Pokemon to find and it's not as depressing.


"They attack in groups, covering themselves in steel armor to protect themselves from Heatmor."




Here's something great out of the box, Durant is fast and has some deadly moves that cleans up its mortal enemy with no issue, but that's for later. It learns X-Scissor late for whatever reason, but that's easily fixed by TM, and it starts with Crunch, Iron Head and... Dig. Again, fixable by TM because this thing is freaking insane, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, and the oh so important Hone Claws are very useful to have. You could go with Swarm, but Hone Claws patches up Hustle so you'll be able to use it no problem in MP. Okay it's not great for SP, but some don't have the option! It super duper dies to any Fire attack and can't take hits as well as it'd want to with its lower HP and awful SpDef, but with these kinda stats, it can cleave through a lot. Similar hit and run strats like Accelgor, but it's yet another Very Good Bug in this gen of Very Good Bugs, and there's still a few to go!



No Silver to chase out the trainers, so we've got a lot of tough fights ahead. You better have Moomoo Milk!



The Elite Four are said to be waiting at the Pokemon League. I wonder what kind of people they are.




If we compare body lengths... yeah that's quite the distance.



It's a way to make this place really unique, but now I've got a lot of stones in my shoes and that was a very bumpy and unpleasant experience.


"It breathes through a hole in its tail while it burns with an internal fire. Durant is its prey."




Brutal. Heatmor might be able to take on Durant in lore, but that is not reflected in-game by being a slow, frail mixed attacker. This is reflected in its moveset, being a pretty confused mess that make it hard to beat Durant one on one. Now hey if it hits a Fire Blast, it does do 664.4 - 783% damage, but Durant can just OHKO with a Jolly Life Orb Stone Edge. Sure that's a bit weighted, but Heatmor wasn't gonna find much success with those defenses. It doesn't get Flamethrower for a little while, so Fire Blast is a good option for it, as well as Bug Bite, and then Focus Blast and Shadow Claw from TM. It doesn't learn too many amazing moves, Rock Tomb but no Rock Slide, Aerial Ace but no Acrobatics, though it can use Hone Claws to patch up moves with low accuracy. Still, it can work out fine enough, but unless you really need a Fire type, there's an ant that can serve you much better.



And this is the other room you can find Deino. I guess they like being blind near water? Can they swim? No, they can't.



Two ways to go, ooh this exploration is so exciting!



Uhuh. Why does this bit exist?




Pride does not mean acting arrogantly! I'm really proud of what I have achieved in my life!



Keep at it, champ.



...why is this still a TM???



I'm looking, I'm looking. Oh, you haven't send them out yet.






We cum in peas. Beheeyem is another interesting Pokemon that was built for its HA, since its slow Spd works perfectly with Analytic, but otherwise isn't too great. It can hit pretty darn hard and can take a few special hits in a pinch, but it needs a bit of help since, with the technical exception of Hidden Power, it solely learns Normal and Psychic moves. Getting Psychic and then Calm Mind around evolution is pretty good and we're late enough in the game that it nearly has all the TMs it wants, Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball, with Energy Ball being annoyingly postgame. It can set up its own Trick Room and have 4 turns of fast fun to play with, but its middling Atk isn't that useful, other than Rock Slide, so you'll take a hard hit and hit hard back. Pretty alright.



As a Pokemon grows, its connection to its Trainer will improve, and their bond becomes stronger!




This is the first time we can catch Excadrill from the dust clouds. Also oh fuck it's an Excadrill.


"It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel strong enough to bore through iron plates."

Here's a shortcut, got a few of those, though this one isn't all that great.



Ooh, I wonder what Pokemon would want to do that?




Oh. Ohhhhhhh.



Because I respect my opponents, I want to win against them! That's why I want other people to think they want to win against me!



Yeah yeah, monke, who gives a fuuuuuuuuck, we've finally got Big O!


"It flies across the sky at Mach speeds. Removing the seal on its chest makes its internal energy go out of control."





Aww yeah, it's giant ass robot time. Golurk can learn Fly, which is useful for when I don't want to bring Corazon along and it can pummel foes with hard hitting Shadow Punches. Uh, otherwise it's not too different from Golett, the main move it desperately needs, EQ, will be learned around the same time we get the damn TM for it, bit of a shame. It's just a nice boost of stats when it's very much needed, but it is a little screwed by physical STAB for most of the game. Otherwise, it'll eventually learn Hammer Arm, but there's also Brick Break, Rock Slide, Heavy Slam and Bulldoze. It gets a frustrating amount of special moves it can't use, and it'll take some damage before being able to do much, but this soldier will keep fighting on, no matter what.



That was a worthwhile venture so let's get back on the main path.



Surely Miror B. will be fine fighting this trainer?







Oh shit. Big O save me from the scary Fighting types! Conkeldurr can be gotten pretty early if you have friends and it's a real monster with that Atk, and it can be pretty bulky with high HP softening those physical blows. Low Spd and SpDef give it some weaknesses, but a Guts boosted Focus Punch on a switch in usually makes those weaknesses go away. Of course it does just fine with Hammer Arm and Rock Slide, along with Bulk Up if you fancy staying in, but can also work with Bulldoze, Strength and Poison Jab, still no EQ. It really is the epitome of hitting real damn hard and not much else, and that's just fine, definitely try and get this if you fancy using the line, I'm sure your friend would love to give it back! Also notice how most of the moves I mentioned don't care about Sheer Force, the Rock Slide boost is nice though.



When people move ahead, they get lost, or they stop... at those moments, Pokemon give you courage to keep moving forward!



This is nicely timed, I have plenty of healing items, but recovering PP helps a lot too.



That move is against the Hippopotas Oath, I'll sue for this!



Whether your Pokemon are healthy or not, I'll restore them to full health! I aim to be the best Doctor in the world! But first, I intend to become the best Trainer in the world!



Another shortcut done, though having it for the room itself is a little weird.



Right, what's out here? Nothing? Cool.

"finally I figured out the answer!"

Since this place gets smaller as we go up, we're pretty close to the end. But of course, we can easily head back down.



Solid Rock doesn't help with that, ow.



Read what your opponent wants to do. Your opponent is human and may change plans from moment to moment. Be careful!



We've gotta go all the way to the right to reach here, if you don't remember the exact layout then blind drops aren't particularly fun.



It's fun to watch, and even more fun to fight against them!






It's time to rock, Gigalith is a pretty good option if you can trade, it can't get one shot and it has less weaknesses than your usual Rock/Ground type, so that makes it pretty bulky. It doesn't get very interesting for level up moves, with Rock Slide and Sandstorm being your best options, with Stone Edge and Explosion later on. It doesn't get much help with TMs either, with EQ being far away still and Bulldoze and Strength not really cutting it. Still, that's not too bad with that Atk stat and it can use Toxic to wear down its counters, since it'll take quite a bit of damage with that Spd. And that's about it, it's simple but pretty brutal, just get used to going second.






After the move filled bonanza of Eelektrik, now it's back to no moves with Eelektross. With TM help you could've evolved it at 39 with Crunch and now you can use more TM help to give it some actual coverage, cause it learns a lot! It's one of those darn slow, frail mixed attackers, but unlike most of them, it actually gets enough moves to use both sides. For physical, you have Dragon Claw, Crunch, Wild Charge, Brick Break, Acrobatics, Dragon Tail, Rock Slide and U-turn. For special you have Thunderbolt/Discharge, Flamethrower, Volt Switch, Grass Knot and Flash Cannon, so your best bet is physical, but it's nice to have a lot of options. It having NO WEAKNESSES is pretty cool, but pure Electric isn't a great defensive typing, so it's really not that big a deal, and it will take some hits with low Spd. But with an Expert Belt, it's a terrifying mixed attacker up with the best of them, lot of fun to use.



Winning is good, but winning is not everything... don't lose sight of what's important!



Phew, what a climb this has been, but we're basically at the top. This has been somewhat shorter than most other Victory Roads, but that's because it has about 90% less HMs to pad it out.



There's probably more to this place that we haven't explored, but bored now, off to the Pokemon League!



Okay just kidding I'm unlocking the Fly point so we can easily get back to the top.



We'll unlock the last shortcut, not that it's really needed, and find the final third.

Legendary Battle







We've seen steel defenders and grassy specials, but now is the time for rocking attackers. Terrakion is absolutely terrifying, it has amazing Atk and a great Spd tier, coupling with its phenomenal offensive STABs, Rock/Fighting is a crazy good combo, y'all. Then the madlads at Game Freak decided what it needed most was Swords Dance, Stone Edge and Close Combat. What the fuck. Add in Earthquake or X-Scissor and Poison Jab if you're feeling spicy and then that's it, that's the set. It doesn't get anything else, but it doesn't need anything else. It does have some nasty weaknesses and can be revenged by Scarfers without much issue, but if you let this thing get a Justified boost, you done plain fucked up son.


"This Pokémon came to the defense of Pokémon that had lost their homes in a war among humans."

Oh wow, first ball, guess I got lucky that Gear Grind was just unable to KO it. Thanks PRNDL for being so weak!



There's one last place to slide and we definitely want this TM.



On hey it's that place we were in earlier.



Well, okay, that wasn't really worth it, and while we could hop the ledge...



It's faster to Fly to the top and then head back down. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Alright, into the tunnel.




Was this worth coming all this way?

Pokemon League



Yes it was. We've reached the top, so next time, it's time for our final challenge, the ultimate endurance test, yes indeed, it's time for *checks notes* Musicals.

Fuck.

[Crosspeice]

Part 22: Fun Dressup With Some Elite Fights

Part 22: Fun Dressup With Some Elite Fights

Musical Hall



Climactic finale? A duel between two heroes? Perish the thought, it's time for a tedious side mode! Now I've moaned about Musicals, but it also wasn't that big a deal, like I barely paid attention while I read the forums and it was over in like 30 minutes. But that's not the point, even Gen 4 contests will still kinda fun even if they were twice the length they should've been.



It's a cake from me, the owner! Of course, this is a Prop, so you should attach it to your Pokemon and not eat it. By the way, even if today isn't your birthday, I won't take it back! Why? Because I'm the owner!



It is totally my birthday, there's a few random props you can get from the owner, you'll get the Crown after winning 5 Musicals, a Winner's Belt after winning 10 Musicals and a Tiara after doing a local coop Musical with a friend. Which you totally did. Let's do one of these damn things.



It's the only way to play!



The main immediate issue with Musicals is how little there is to do, this is all we get, 4 different Musicals to participate in. There's no further unlocks, no extra content, the only way to change this is to get a promotional Musical from the Global Link. Which you can't do anymore. Great. So I hope you like watching the same 4 cutscenes over and over again, this is a real treat, lemme tell ya.



Participants for this musical are: Gilda will participate with Tuilerie! Hudson will participate with Redbelt! Touya will participate with Hamlet! Eugene will participate with Peeks! And the show you'll be performing is Stardom. That is a popular show among men. Well, without further ado... let's play Dress Up!

Dress Up!!!



This was recorded a fair while ago, indeed, before Camellia even evolved, so we'll be using Hamlet to show off something pretty awful. Anyway, here's your Props, attach them to your Pokemon to match the theme of the Musical. Oh, what is the theme you might ask? Well the owner did say, Props are in 4 categories, Cool, Cute, Elegant or Quirky, which are liked by Men, Girls, Women and Boys, respectively. How do you know which Prop correlates to which trait? Well you don't and it also doesn't really matter, so unlike Accessories from previous games, I won't be kitting myself out with the best props, because I don't care to.



Are you ready for some exciting gameplay???



Like Contests there is an audience and you do play to them, but like with Props, it barely matters.




The opponents you face will be set Pokemon with a few different Prop presets thought there's not many of them and they appear in any Musical regardless of theme so I hope you like some easy opponents!

Stardom / Video Performance




One positive for this mode is the tracks are bangers, they definitely cared about this mode even if it's offensively boring. But you see those two buttons on the bottom screen? That's the only interaction this mode has, the rest of it is just watching 4 Pokemon do preset jumps and rotates that you have no control over. These are in essence, music videos where all you can do is LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE!!!




Your arm attached props are ways for you to "steal the spotlight", since the longer you're in the spotlight, the more points you gain and the more the audience likes you. You can either use these props to steal the spotlight when someone else is in the solo spotlight or do it at the end of your solo to extend your time. After you've used both of your props, uh, that's it, no more interaction, so sit down and watch the rest of it!



Some props are twirled, some are thrown, it's usually a bad idea to use your props first since the AI is very trigger happy in using theirs the second you do. So it's best to wait until they've done so, so you can steal their spotlight that they themselves just stole.



And that was that, what fun. So why did I use Hamlet anyway? Well, notice how many props I had on compared to the other Pokemon, even the Petilil we were just against. The most Props you can wear is 8 and they can be attached to the Arms, Body, Ear, Face, Head and Waist. Unfortunately some Pokemon don't have such things and to compensate, they get less Props to put on and thus less points! So you need a Pokemon with 2 arms and a visible ear to attach things to or you're just lowering your points for no reason. Some Props have non-standard placements, such as the Toy Cake, which can be placed on the arm or head, not that it makes any difference, but can be a way for you to diversify what you have starting out.



Here's something you can show to your friends! What a great memory or whatever.



In fact, I've received comments for you from the audience! I am really pleased. I will give them to you in order. Hudson's Dress Up performance was very unique! Watching your Pokemon's sharp moves, I also felt unique! Eugene's Dress Up performance was very elegant! Watching your Pokemon's sharp moves, I also felt elegant! Gilda's Dress Up performance was very elegant! Watching your Pokemon's sharp moves, I also felt elegant! Touya's Dress Up performance was very cool! Watching your Pokemon's sharp moves, I also felt cool! Thank you very much for participating in the musical today! Please join another musical again! Have a great day!



Overall, totally cool! The cute Prop was a great accent. I noticed that your elegant factor was a bit subdued today. OK! I'm not going to lose!

Well that was a bunch of words. The owner goes in order of worst to best so you have a vague idea of if you won, and he has a few different comments depending on how well the audience received us. We only really won because we happened to follow the theme, not that I really noticed. That was comment 4/6 in order of how well we did, and the comment the AI will usually get, since they use the same Props in every Musical no matter what. This means if you try even a little bit you'll get better comments and win more often.



Okay now we'll use Camellia and show off her sparkling glory! Aside from various limbs what Pokemon you use do not matter, there's no stats like in Contests and it's purely Prop reliant, so it does avoid the issue some Pokemon like Magikarp or Unown had in Contests. That's about all the positives I have for this mode, so let's do the other three and we can get the fuck outta here.



Next up is Forest Stroll, with the Cute theme. There's at least a few different outfits some Pokemon wear, but I've seen that smily mask Throh enough times to last me a lifetime...

Forest Stroll / Performance Video



Patrat stole the spotlight so I stole it right back!



Then we danced around some more and I threw a cake. There's, uh, really not much to say here.



The Pokemon used Props to convey such abundant expression, just as if they were actors!



That was so wonderful... it may have changed my life. I hope you like this Prop...



I'm not exaggerating! Here, please take this small token of my appreciation.



We scored a lot better in that one, we got the second best comment and we built up enough points that we got some Props afterwards. So I've shown all the Props we get otherwise, the Guitar from the Musician in Route 5, the 4 from Opelucid City and the 4 from the owner, but there's still NINETY ONE left unaccounted for. You can get them from here. That's the only reason to score well, so you get more Props after you win. See why this barely matters? There's two reasons to get all one hundred Props and they'll both become apparent one day, but for now, let's try the third Musical. And by that I mean the second to last Musical.



Here's A Sweet Soirée, an Elegant Musical.

A Sweet Soirée / Performance Video




This is what usually happens, the first AI uses a Prop and then the other two start tripping over each other to use theirs, letting you get the spotlight at the end.



YEAH



Some more point scoring so some more Props. Here's another fun fact, you can only get some Props after doing certain Musicals, such as the ones that match up to the theme. Real fun when you're trying to get the last few.



Last up is the Quirky Exciting Nimbasa. Uh, you can totally tell.

Exciting Nimbasa / Performance Video



That's it, I'm throwing my mallet!



Alright let's use my last prop before the song ends, I'm sure nothing will-



Dammit Pansage!!!




And there we go, that's every Musical, we got 9 props from that, meaning we only have EIGHTY TWO left, so get stuck in and obtain every one. I did this once in a regular playthrough, it really was boring and took a few hours, so I wouldn't recommend it. So we're done, right?



Okay there are some more Musicals we can do, but since I'm using Project Pokemon to download the Global Link file they have, the ones that were uploaded nearly 10 years ago aren't always looked after. So out of the FIVE Musicals you could get, only two really worked. So yes, the amount of downloadable Musicals is more than the base game, but like with all Global Link stuff, you can only download one at a time and also most of them were Japan only. The one we're doing now, Carnival Pokemon or ﾎﾟｹﾓﾝｾﾝﾀｰDEｵｼｬﾚ♪ Pokémon Center de Style♪ was one of two released in the west, since Korea also got all the Musicals. In Japan, this was available from July to Dec 2011 as a Pokemon Center promotion when you bought certain items, and was a password release in US and Europe, lasting from Oct 2011 to Mar 2012.



These downloadable Musicals have a unique track, have mostly set Pokemon with a unique combination of Props and some have unique backgrounds, though this one is the same as A Sweet Soiree. Also for whatever reason some of them have variable themes, though this one is just Cute.

Carnival Pokemon / Performance Video




Shame most people have never heard these tracks cause they're also heckin bangers. Two early prop use makes my life a lot easier.



And I'm glad I only got one of the other Musicals working cause I have fuck all to say anymore, god this side mode is so bad.



Only EIGHTY to go.



But this is the last Musical I could get the work and the last one I'll do. This is ポケモンスマッシュ！ Pokémon Smash!, available from Jun to Aug 2011 via password and of course based on the TV show with the latest and greatest Pokemon news or whatever.



It features the at the time mascots, Oshawott and Zoroark, and the promotion of the upcoming Victini movies. Plural. Since most western fans only know of this show as "the one that wastes your time for 50 minutes before revealing the photocopy of the reflection of the next game's boxart" this wasn't released outside of Japan and Korea.

Pokemon SMASH! / [Performance video not found, I'm surprised I got this far tbh]



Gallant shield Oshawott, I shall steal your glory with my twirling cane.



Here's some flips, uh, I let my umbrella go or whatever. I hope I never do one of these again.



With only SEVENTY EIGHT to go, let's cover the last three Musicals.

Charming Munna / Performance Video



Yeah. That's right. Charming Munna or メロメロ★ムンナ Meromero★Munna was a Musical that everyone would have access to so long as Global Link was actually around. Which it isn't. Not exactly sure why Team Skull stole the lyrics to this but I can assure you this is a completely legit origin story for the team.

MELOETTAAA!!! / Performance Video



Why do I hear boss music...? MELOETTAAA!!!, which was in English as you see there, was released to commemorate the Pikachu short, Meloetta's Dazzling Recital, which aired before the Keldeo movie. It was available July to Oct 2012 and Musicals that were released after B2W2 could be used in either game. Up to a point. So this one and Munna's were just available long enough.

Carnival Ludicolo / [Performance video not found, unsurprisingly]



The last Musical is a slight cheat here since it's only available in B2W2, only available in Japan AND was only available from Nov 2012 to Jan 2013, to celebrate RS's 10th anniversary. But like hell I'm gonna wait until the sequel to talk about this for 5 seconds.



So here's why you do Musicals and get all ONE HUNDRED Props, you get a trainer card star for it, yaaaaaaay. I totally obtained them legit and didn't use an AR code. So we're up to 2 stars before we even finish the game, very nice.



Let's not go back to the Musical Hall for a good 2 years. To give our 9 team members some time in the spotlight, I'm gonna clear the standard trains for the later submissions.



But you're not here for that, I can show that off later. Right now, we have some important battles ahead of us, so it's time to tackle the four elites that are in this league where there are also Pokemon. Yeah.



Oh, uh, first I need to spend all my money on my crutch to get through this first RPG for babies, because as we go through the generations, the games are only gonna get harder. Mainly because of movepools no longer sucking complete shit, and I'm using whatever you guys want me to so I will get my ass kicked since I'm not gonna grind. You don't need to, I have never grinded in my LPs, though I will use the Rare Candy we've collected throughout this adventure so everything is the same level.



Before we head in, let's see the team voted to do the endgame, because I can't bring everyone! Hamlet is pretty fragile, but does A LOT OF DAMAGE! Managed to get some real nice coverage in the endgame, though the best STAB in Hammer Arm isn't too great due to the Spd drop. Took some growing pains, but Emboar always looks great by the Pokemon League, so very happy to have it.



Glad to see everyone warming up to monke, Tristan's voice gives him alright strength and plays similarly to Hamlet, though I wish there was something to use over Cut. Well what he has is fine enough, Shadow Claw is mainly for coverage, as Seed Bomb and Acrobatics do similar damage. The monkeys aren't amazing, but as you can see, they can go through the whole game with little problem.



Corazon is fast. And that's about it, since her nature is kinda screwing with her. If only she actually learned any good physical moves, but being able to deal damage, even chip, before most opponents is still very useful. Swoobat aren't amazing attackers, so it's unfair to expect much, but those stats do make me kinda sad.



Aww yeah, it's Milli time, Bug types, fuck yeah. Hits hard and even a little tanky, while I would love to run something over Steamroller cause of its mediocre power, I cannot trust Megahorn with my life. But I'll probably still use Megahorn like a bitch. A good big bug that'll squash anything in his way.



Big O, activate! I've never watched the show, but despite having some weaker moves, being able to dish out big Ghost hits is always nice. Add in some survivability, and a typing that offers help against 6 types, woo, and you've got a big slow warrior that'll usually take a hit and retaliate back.



Last up is our savior, female Miror B. Good selection of moves, weirdly nice SpDef, and only a little bit of recoil, as a treat, makes this buffalo very dangerous. Our team is either very fast or very slow, but we've got a lot of heavy hitters all around. Miror B. is the main one I can count on to take special hits, but I'm sure we'll be fine.

Pokemon League



The way to express it is simple... you just have to beat the Elite Four and the Champion! You can start your challenge by battling any of the Elite Four, and if you defeat them all, you can challenge the Champion! However! I warn you, once you start your challenges, there's no turning back. If you enter, you must keep battling until you defeat them all... or are defeated yourself.

Enough preamble, we'll head right in to the main event. Though this one is a little different to past ones, since you can fight the Elite Four in any order!



"Four great warriors form this Pokemon League. To the southwest is one who does not fear the Ghost type. To the southeast is one who channels the power of the Fighting type. To the northwest is one who has mastered the Dark type. To the northeast is one who knows the mind of the Psychic type. If you can defeat these warriors with your courage and wisdom, you shall be led to the summit, where the strongest Champion awaits."



We'll be going clockwise, the standard way of tackling this Elite Four, though since they can be faced in any order, they now have standard levels so it doesn't really matter what you face.




One spooky ride and one save later, we're ready to take on the first of the Elite Four.



That's part of a novel I'm writing. I was inspired by the challenger who was just here, and somehow I got a little sad... excuse me. You're a challenger, right? I'm the Elite Four's Ghost-type Pokemon user, Shauntal, and I shall be your opponent.

Elite Four Battle





Shauntal
From haunt. Cool.
Shikimi
From 樒 shikimi, Illicium anisatum, a highly toxic plant burned as incense, 死 shi (death), and 鬼 ki (ghost)





Oh no... not my Gluttony! Anyway, Big O outspeeds you. So this Elite 4 is pretty scary due to all these powerful Unovan monsters with high stats and lots of coverage. We should be fine. Mainly because I have Revival Herbs.



With 2 Wild Charges and a bit of healing, ow that Surf hurts, that's another one down.



Robot! Fight! Robot! Fight! Oh, uh, okay, guess I'll win then. It might seem like I'm blowing past these quickly, but like with the Platinum Elite 4, I have to go all out to take these guys down or they'll absolutely destroy me. I mean, I did bring a goddamn Simisage and Swoobat. These battles will be short and sweet and that's fine, I don't need to focus on them anymore than I need to and also we did waste half the update on useless crap so it works out.






I'm glad the rest of the fight was easy, because there's still... this. Chandelure can be gotten relatively early and will completely annihilate anything in its path. While it seems like it has alright defensive stats, its low HP make them pretty useless, and its lower Spd can be a slightly issue. But with 145 SpAtk, it's pretty hard to go wrong tbh. Slap Fire Blast, Shadow Ball and Psychic on this bad boy and you'll fit so many OHKOs on it. Energy Ball is postgame. And that's about it, it's a very scary sweeper that our team is mostly weak to, so let's lower its Spd and hope for the best.



Now Hamlet is faster than it, so while he faints to Psychic, he deals a real good hit.



No matter, if it's healed back up, Shadow Punch will knock it down.



Alright, you've weakened it just enough, so finish it off with Shadow Ball! ...goddammit, why did you have to be Jolly???



I know a lot of words, but right now I can't figure out how to say this. Perhaps, if the feeling I'm having now is put into words, it will be trapped there. So let me say this... my feeling is you're a great Trainer!

So while Chandelure getting healed twice was my worst case scenario, at least 2 Scalds can take it out. One down...



I'm really sorry you had a bad experience because of me! Oh! It's not your fault! This is how battles always are. Even in light of that, I'm still one of the Elite Four!

Every person who works with Pokemon has a Pokemon story to tell. I've found that stories where people and Pokemon help each other out are far more interesting than stories about only people, or only Pokemon!



There's the first light, so let's see if the next trainer is any harder.



First up, a slow ride up a conveyor belt. Definitely has a wow factor, but it could be a little faster.



Challengers coming one right after another. Well, no matter. I am Grimsley of the Elite Four, and I will fulfill my duty to be your opponent.





Grimsley
From grim, grimace and sly.
Giima
From ギーマ gīma (Vaccinium wrightii), a genus of shrubs that grow cranberries, blueberries, etc, 魔 ma (devil; evil influence), and ブギーマン boogeyman.





Well someone got lucky. This wouldn't be an issue if a supereffective boosted Acrobatics could 2HKO this mon, but guess not.



Moxie is a little scary, but again Corazon is very fast, so it's onto the next threat.






Revenge is a more accurate Megahorn when going second, I am not a crook! Krookodile is a potent threat with high Spd and Atk and gets some deadly moves to help with that. Though it's yet another Ground type that doesn't learn EQ until after you get the TM in the postgame, bah, but Bulldoze will have to do. Foul Play shortly after evolving is a great move to spam, and there's some good variety otherwise. Dragon Claw is a last minute clutch, then Rock Slide and Brick Break round you out nicely. It has an annoyingly good special movepool, with Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Sludge Bomb... Incinerate? Well anyway, it's a scary threat that works out pretty well throughout the game and it looks badass on top of that. What's not to love?



Liepard is fragile, so whatever, best to just cheese it like this.






I might be mad, but there's one mon we need to save us. Bisharp is super spooky, with lots of Atk and can be tricky to take down with its Def. Sure it's really weak to Fighting, but if you switch it into something like Icy Wind or Snarl, suddenly you're waaaaaaay scarier. The Cufant in the room, of course, is LEVEL FIFTY TWO, so this is a postgame mon, which it works really well in. Night Slash is just something to spam but there won't be much postgame left when you get Iron Head at 57. There's a fair bit of coverage like Swords Dance, to be even crazier, Stone Edge, X-Scissor, Brick Break and even Aerial Ace. Like Krookodile it can't use special moves, but it has Grass Knot and Focus Blast I guess. Again, it's just something that deals oh so much damage and you should be very afraid, especially if you don't have good moves against it. You should, but maybe you don't.



That's the way of battle. A real warrior doesn't dash off in pursuit of the next victory, nor throw a fit when experiencing a loss. A real warrior ponders the next battle.



on you--none of that matters. Only results matter. And a loss is a loss. See, victory shines like a bright light. And right now, you and your Pokemon are shining brilliantly.

Now, I'm nothing more than the guy who lost... nothing more, nothing less. Sigh... you should take that strength and test it against the rest of the Elite Four.




We're at the halfway point, but both of these fights are definitely tough ones.



Hmf... you appear to possess a combination of strength and kindness. Very well. Make your best effort not to bore me with a yawn-inducing battle. Clear?





Caitlin
Similar to below, as well as Castle. Eh? Ehhhhhh?
Cattleya
From the flower genus Cattleya, orchids from Costa Rica.








Finishing me off with Focus Blast... So a while ago we covered Duosion and it actually as the same SpAtk, but Reuniclus pours a lot of the extra stats into HP and the defenses. So it's still a nuke, but it's a tankier nuke as well! You're gonna need some TMs so Psychic/Psyshock isn't your only friend, it has very similar moves, so work with those. Shadow Ball, Thunder, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, you know the drill. It won't have as much coverage as Gothitelle, but it nukes way better, and you can even spare a slot for Trick Room, you'll definitely live a hit to then get off 4 fast and strong ones. It's a good choice, but damn it's slow without those strats.



Miror B. taking that super effective hit with her AFRO.



Battle of the birds, who wins out? Well, that was expected.






Save me, Miror B.! So Gothitelle is a little weaker, but more specially tanky than Reuniclus, even with less HP. Like its counterpart, it needs TM help so you're not a solo Psychic/Psyshock, with Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and Grass Knot, with obligitory Energy Ball postgame. It's a little too speedy for Trick Room, but not fast enough for actual sweeping, so uh throw out Charge Beams and hope for the best? It gets some good physical moves, but ew nothing to use them on. Calm Mind works a lot better, especially with how specially tanky it can get. But otherwise they both have pretty set roles that can work well enough. Strong goth for sure, even with its stubby little legs.



Well you gave it a go, Tristan, I'm sure you'll get some exp eventually!



Let's nuke it and move onto the final mon. Could be a little tricky since this thing is t a n k y



We've got some mons weak to Psychic...



But since it's so slow, it falls to two Megahorns. I mean, there's a reason we have this move on two mons, it's so good!



I am very pleased to have battled you.



Don't concern yourself about me. Go on ahead.

In the past, when I battled, the force of my emotions shook me greatly. When my power awoke, I came close to destroying everything around me. That weak person no longer exists... still, sometimes, my determination fails. Always, I aspire to wrap up a victory with elegance and grace. I invite you to be my opponent again in the future, if you wish.



That was a nice catchup with someone we weren't able to battle before, she was pretty tough. But only one fight remains, and boy am I not really ready.



Last slow climb, time to get punched in the face.



In order to master the art of fighting, I'm training under my mentor, Alder. My mentor sees your potential as a Trainer and is taking an interest in you. It is my intention to test you--to take you to the limits of your strength. Kiai!





Marshal
From, well, martial arts. I hope you didn't just realise this.
Renbu
From 蓮霧 renbu (wax apple) and 練武 renbu (practice martial arts). I dunno if that's related.





Yet again Acrobatics just ain't cutting it, but Throh is a tanky mofo, so I don't really blame him.



Still, I was worried about Sawk, so let's try and figure out how to beat this.



Well this could be going better, Sawk kinda runs through my entire team. Uh, because it should be using Grass Knot, right?



Or it could use all of its Stone Edges instead. Neat.



Feel like it went easy on me, but hey, works for me!



Conkeldurr is also very scary, but what if... we just didn't get hit? Crazy idea I know, but that's why Stone Edge can be a bad move. Not that Rock Slide is really any better...






Oh hey, there's a Rock Slide. So for grinding up Mienfoo all this way, wow is the reward worth it. Mienshao was one of the many dangerous Fighting types introduced, no wonder Fairy was made, being incredibly fast and hitting incredibly hard. Regenerator pushed it over the top, since it can U-turn out very easily and heal up the damage it will invariably take, being so fragile. It also means that HJK recoil wasn't a huge issue, letting you fire it off even if the opponent Protects. It needed some coverage against various Ghosts if it didn't just want to U-turn, so had Acrobatics, Stone Edge and Payback, if you wanted a Ghost to wonder why it was going before you, before going oh shit. This thing is very scary, but if you were able to survive its hits, you could take it out pretty easily. It also has weirdly good SpAtk for Calm Mind and Aura Sphere, but when your coverage moves are Swift and Grass Knot, it's not the best idea. Just smash their face in and run away, it's the best strategy.



You can do it Tristan! Oh you get outsped and one shot? Darn. Surely someone can survive a hit???



That's why it is difficult to keep winning. However, I think a heart that desires strength and strives to grow stronger is a precious ideal. That is why I respect you--because you have these things.



The statue in the central chamber will take you to the Champion's room. We, the Elite Four of Unova, are sworn to follow the Champion's order to be neutral. So the rest is up to you!



There are four lights, so let's take on the Champion. That's what we do in a normal Pokemon game, right? Depending on the order of the Elite Four, they do have different things to say, mainly if beaten last, so here they are, because I do that I guess.

Whew! Well done! As your battles continue, aim for even greater heights! Representing the Pokemon League in the absence of the Champion has been my duty as Alder's student. However, there is nothing as empty as words not backed up by strength. A word in your ear, strong challenger... the other members of the Elite Four are far more powerful than I am. Do not underestimate them!

Challenger, if you defeat the entire Elite Four of the Pokemon League, you can go on to challenge the Champion. And you have earned that right. Return to the plaza in the center and check the statue.

Astonishing! You have defeated every member of the Pokemon League's Elite Four. But it isn't over yet. There is one more opponent against whom you must prove your strength. The pinnacle of the Pokémon League, the Champion, Alder... or, perhaps, that man called N has defeated him and taken his title. I don't know which one you will face, but check the statue in the central plaza, and continue to the final room.

Somehow, you managed to defeat the entire Elite Four of the Pokemon League. Check the statue in the center of the plaza for the way to the Champion's room.




I'm sure Alder is a tough enough dude to beat Team Plasma, they've been almost mythical figures, Champions, so there's no way he'd lose.



Oh for- you had ONE JOB!!!

[Crosspeice]

Part 23: Truth or Ideals

Part 23: Truth or Ideals

King Encounter



Never again will Pokemon be made to suffer or be held captive by humans. It's all thanks to my friend, Reshiram! You may have the title of Champion... but you can't stop me with just a title. Your soft heart has left you weak. Years ago, you lost your Pokemon, your partner, to sickness. In order to forget the pain in your heart, you wandered Unova... who knows how long it's been since you've had to fight with your full strength? I actually kind of like that about you, though. As a Trainer who far outmatches the Champion, I shall issue an order across Unova: Trainers of the world, free your Pokémon!

I beg you! Separating people from Pokemon... do anything but that!

You and I both put our beliefs on the line and fought with all our strength. And I won. Do not say another word.



In the future I envisioned, you obtained a stone. And, indeed, you have. That Dark Stone... Reshiram is responding to it. Stop. This is not the suitable place for the legendary dragons! From the ground, rise up!



Pokemon League Under Siege
















...that's one way to make an entrance. I can't even start questioning the logistics about all of this, but I think the bad guys might be winning.

Carrying Out a Mission



The king's words will resound from the heights to all below. You must come to the castle, as well. Everything will be decided there. Whether Pokemon will be liberated from people, or whether Pokemon and people will live together... we will see whose belief is stronger... and our result will change the world.



You did well to get this far.

Somehow, I beat the Pokemon League, but it wasn't easy.

Er... I have to congratulate you.

I became stronger because I understood what I want to do. Touya! Tell N this... some people grow stronger by being with Pokemon. My Pokemon and I are proof. Together, we learned and became stronger.



I should have been able to demonstrate the bond between me and my Pokemon. That would have shown that brat the worthlessness of his outrageous dreams. So, his convictions were the real thing... be careful. The ones who change the world are always the ones who pursued their dreams. Touya, I ask this of you. Even if Pokemon and people are separated, nothing good will come of it. Please let him know that!



Hmm, well the black staircase looked a lot better before the crush, but anyway, while we might not have Zekrom, our ideals must shine through. And nothing will stop us!

N's Castle



Bronius: When the Way is forgotten, duty and justice appear.

Ryouku: One can lose the forest for the trees.

Gorm: If you make a mistake and do not correct it, that is a second mistake.

Rood: Superior men understand what is right. Inferior men understand what will sell.

Zinzolin: There are not two suns in the sky, nor two sovereigns over the people.



Giallo: If anything should happen to our king, it would be disastrous. It would ruin Ghetsis's perfect plan! Our lord N will be disappointed, but the six of us shall defeat you here!



Giallo: You... you're Driftveil's...?!

Hrrmph! Ain't just me!

Victory is Right Before Your Eyes!



Not only are we stronger than you, but there are a lot of us!

Bronius: Accursed Gym Leaders!

Ignoring Team Plasma... that would be a terrible thing for us Gym Leaders to do.

Bianca asked us to come, too.

...

I'm fine! Don't worry!

No need to worry!

Holder of the Dark Stone, please proceed!

N's Castle



Now! Acrobatics!!

Your Pokemon, they are doing their best for you, right? Why would you want to be separated from them like that?

We have been and will continue to be together with Pokemon.

Things aren't gonna go th' way ya fellas think they are! I'm sure o' that!

I do not appreciate stubborn people.

...

I can empathize with some of what you say, but I can't forgive the way you reject everything else!



I've been waiting in the abyss for this day. No one shall interfere!

Ryoku: We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. We've done everything in our power. All we can do now is believe in our lord N... and wait.

Giallo: Ghetsis called us the chosen ones. He chose us and gathered us here so we can change the world! For us, defeat is impossible!

Bronius: You shall not interfere with Team Plasma... or our king!

Gorm: A single fallen leaf signals the start of autumn. We know our history. The emergence of this castle is the harbinger of change in Unova...

Zinzolin: It is the way of the universe to take from excess and fill emptiness. Taking Pokemon from people is restoring balance to nature!



We got some impressive backup, though it feels like some are missing... in any case, let's explore this castle, see if we can find others aside from N, who might not be as hostile to us.



Now many Trainers will admire our lord N and follow his orders! In other words, they will do whatever Team Plasma says!



Aww, poor widdle Pokemon. They had to do what we told them.



In this castle, you may rest your Pokemon and access your PC. Fear not. First, have your Pokemon rest in that room. When they are healed, it is our lord N's wish that you be moved to the innermost part of this castle.



Trainer. Before you go to confront my lord N, please take a moment to rest... ah, good. Both you and your Pokemon regained energy... Trainers battle to practice their skills and to grow in experience, but never to hurt their Pokemon. My lord N has realized this, deep down in his heart... but he has spent too much painful time here in this castle to admit it...



N has been separated from people since he was young. He was brought up with Pokemon... Pokemon that were betrayed, mistreated and hurt by bad people... Ghetsis deliberately brought only those poor Pokemon closer to N. N was touched by their plight, and started pursuing the truth, thinking only of Pokemon. N's heart is pure and innocent. But there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence.



Hey, uh, you remember these two from the opening, right? Right??? Well Anthea and Concordia are such important characters that they have no BW artwork nor separate pages on Bulbapedia. They're a bit more overt in Japanese, being called the Goddess of Love, Verbena, and Goddess of Peace, Helena. Though Anthea is from the Greek goddess of women, Hera, and Concordia is from the Roman goddess of peace, Concordia, so it amounts to the same thing and we'll never see them again for the rest of the LP byyyyyyye.



We're fully healed, so it's time to on N, he's behind this door for sure!



I guess with Alder being away, the Pokemon League has been pretty quiet, letting them go unnoticed. Someone probably should've mentioned that before we started collecting badges, but whatever.



calculated and planned. He's been thinking about how he can manipulate people's hearts as he wishes.



Best grab anything we can, we won't be coming back for a long time.

"Trainer's PC!"

If our king wills it, we can steal every Pokemon stored in a PC Box and release them all!



This castle is the hub of Team Plasma's--no, Ghetsis of the Seven Sages'--scientific capability! A manifestation of knowledge!



some Pokemon to me. I've been spending time with them... and I don't think I want to let them go. I... may not be cut out for Team Plasma.



But as far as I'm concerned, a Pokemon is just a simple tool. I don't understand...



Pokeballs... from my point of view, they are items that keep Pokemon confined. But for Trainers like you, they are a way to bond with Pokemon... if you run out of Pokeballs, come see me. I will give one to you.



We're not trapped here, but I don't have much reason to go back anyway.



Godspeed Plasma Grunt with warping powers and Plasma Grunt with infinite Ultra Balls, we'll never see them again.



If you were curious, N's Castle never appears on the map even though we're inside it at the moment. How neat.



It will also reveal how you feel about protecting the current world, where people live with Pokemon.



I don't feel anything, even when I go into the room... but you may feel something.

N, the Pokemon Child

"It says Harmonia on it..."





I feel like we don't know N very well...



to themselves. That's why their plans were thwarted.



But, if we manipulate their hearts... people will release Pokemon voluntarily.

A Trainer who loved Pokemon until yesterday... will release Pokemon today. Tomorrow, another Trainer will let Pokemon go...



Alright, top floor, this is it, the final battle, the- GAH



The castle that appeared as if it were enveloping the Pokemon League is a symbol. It means Unova will change. The king of this castle is the strongest Trainer in the world. He is accompanied by the legendary Pokemon. He has defeated the Champion. Added to all that, his heart burns with the desire to improve the world. If that's not what makes a hero, what more do you need? Now that the stage is set, we can seize people's minds and hearts. We can bring into being the world that I--no, that Team Plasma- desires more easily than you can imagine! We and only we will use Pokemon, and we shall rule the powerless populace!



I've kept my silence so no one could piece together what I planned. Now, those painful days are at an end! Go! Onward! Discover whether you have what it takes to be a hero!



The throne room.




I will prove the value of my beliefs even if it means my Pokemon friends get hurt! Since you've come this far, I believe you are equally determined. If that's so, prove it to me! Show me the depth of your determination!



You haven't yet been recognized as the hero, have you? How disappointing. I actually kind of liked you a little. Through our many battles, I got the feeling that you might be a Trainer who truly cares for Pokemon!



But I was kidding myself. The idea of Trainers getting to know each other through battles is ridiculous! You have two options. Challenge me to a fight you can't win, or leave this place and watch the birth of a new world where Pokemon are free of people!



N's Reshiram















Your Dark Stone is... I mean, Zekrom is...



a powerful force, which is... now... being released!

Zekrom's Awakening

















N's Castle



They were once one life. One Pokemon. Complete opposites, yet the same. Reshiram and Zekrom are Pokemon that appear before the hero they recognize. Ah... I see. You really are a hero, too. I'll tell you what that Pokemon is saying to you. "I want to battle with you. Try to make me your friend and ally." It plans to test you to see if you are really pursuing ideals. I, also, am curious to see how powerful you are. Now, catch Zekrom and make it your ally!

Zekrom Battle







The Deep Black, Zekrom is a powerful force to be reckoned with, 150 Atk is pretty incredible, and it even has 120 SpAtk for a few choice moves. This applies to both dragons, so it comes at the cost of their Spd, but if you just want to smack something really damn hard, this is a great choice. It needs to reach level freaking 100 to learn its best move, Bolt Strike, but the results are worth it, it's so good. Otherwise you don't have a huge amount of coverage, even if Dragon and Electric compliment each other very well.

For great spam, you have Outrage or Dragon Claw for your other STAB and then... that's it. Other physical moves like Zen Headbutt or Crunch don't really cut it in Ubers, but the excellent SpAtk lets it be cheeky, going for Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, and even Volt Switch. It does have a nasty habit of getting walled by Ferrothorn or have its Choice Band Bolt Strike stopped cold by a Ground type, as well as being easy to revenge kill. But make no mistake, even some resists really, REALLY don't like taking these massive hits that would make even a Dialga falter.



An impressive legendary to be sure, HOWEVER, since we are required to catch this to progress the story, Reshiram and Zekrom thankfully have a 45 catch rate instead of the standard 3, letting us get them with ease. A first turn Quick Ball is a 40% chance and damn I like those odds. It being a required capture is interesting in itself, since you could have the PC and Party fully maxed, right? There's 24 boxes so it would take kinda forever, but the Pokemon will simply vanish after you beat it, the story continues as normal and you can then catch it later in Dragonspiral Tower. Simple. And of course since it's all very plot related, it's shiny locked, been a while since we've seen this. I showed off the animated sprite because even the turbine colour changes, it's very cool.


"Concealing itself in lightning clouds, it flies throughout the Unova region. It creates electricity in its tail."

Since it's also very story related, if you have a full party, then you can swap someone for Zekrom. We will be doing this, it's canon after all, and we'll send Corazon back, since she had the least votes for the Elite Four vote. Fret not, she'll be back to challenge the Elite Four again, I'm sure.



Zekrom, who is said to lend its power to the hero who searches for ideals, has recognized your power and now agrees to stand by your side...




Uh, since I only threw a Quick Ball since Anthea healed me... no I'm not.



But enough talk, have at you!

Hero Versus Hero





Hero of Truth: Natural Harmonia Gropius
While a bit of a weird name, it speaks to his almost inhuman... nature. From natural numbers, harmonic functions and Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School and one of the pioneers of modernist architecture. Again, really interesting mix to a really interesting character.






So it's dragon against dragon, we might have a slight disadvantage at first glance, but there's a couple things in our favour.




Firstly, N will always, ALWAYS go for Fusion Flare on the first turn, so we can hit back with a 200BP Fusion Bolt. This would mean we could get hit by a double power Fusion Flare on the next turn, you can chain them infinitely, but the game doesn't do that, thankfully. Also we have Dragonbreath whereas Reshiram has Hyper Beam in its place, meaning it purposefully cannot hit us super effectively. Let's show our ideals are stronger!



Well I've got plenty more where that came from!



Though since we don't have a physical Dragonbreath, we barely don't do enough damage. Still, it's good he used a healing item now, as you can see, the rest of his team is kinda terrifying.



So truth won over ideals, but that's not important because like with most anime, a big robot can come and solve all of life's problems.






This nice ice cream that is actually an icicle, of course there's no ice cream Pokemon, is a bit of a mixed bag. It has some good stats for how late it evolves, though we've seen much worse requirements now, but its main problem is it's an ice cre- er, I mean, icicle, so it gets fuck all for moves. Its immediate issue is Blizzard and Flash Cannon are its only two notable moves. N isn't giving it a bad moveset on purpose, this is the best it gets! Even B2W2 tutors don't save it since it'll only get Signal Beam and Uproar. Yikes!

Its second, more insidious, issue is its 95 Atk, that's pretty good! It has basically nothing to use it on, wow that's really bad! It doesn't get any kind of physical coverage aside from Facade, Explosion doesn't halve defenses anymore, so it's not that great, and Avalanche is a poor substitute. It's just bizarrely designed since it could've used those stat points in stuff like Spd or even HP so it could be somewhat tanky. But nope, this two scoop is gonna have a rough few years ahead of it.



I will appreciate the chip damage against your later mons, but why did he go for a 4x resisted Steel move over a fully accurate 2x resisted Blizzard?



Oh come on you can't even get it under half with a 4x effective move? It doesn't even have Solid Rock! Honestly more and more I regret not using Camellia due to how absolutely fucking useless you shitty monkeys- oh, Reshiram put a Reflect up. Right. Right, I knew that.



Tristan can take this Carracosta down no issue, so anyway, moving on. This pile of gears is our next foe and, hmm, I don't remember it having Focus Blast. Perhaps this is a-



Oh for fuck's sake. I was even being clever and going for Megahorn, but no you just had to ruin it by not only hitting a Focus Blast, but also critting with it as well?!



But yeah it's a Zoroark. And a Rocky Helmet is pretty bad cause that's a chunk of exp we just missed out on, but you could've used Flamethrower to knock me out instead! Nah.



Unsurprisingly a Stone Edge from an Archeops nukes Hamlet from orbit, but Miror B. is able to take at least one hit, something I've been relying on so much in these last few battles, and knock it into Defeatist.



...but it's still faster and knocks itself out with that DAMN item again, Stone Edge doesn't make contact, why do you keep being smart by being stupid???






The eternal spin... Klinklang takes a long while to get to and is almost worth it, kinda? 100 Atk is pretty sad, tbh, but it's not as sad as its movepool! It's no longer recommended using special moves due to how far behind they'll be, even if it's the only coverage you can really think of. You don't get Wild Charge until B2W2 for some stupid fucking reason, so your best moves are Gear Grind, Return and Rock Smash. That's it. I suppose I can also recommend Giga Impact since it really is that fucking dire. Now, it does get Shift Gear, which is a pretty damn good move for the right stats, but aside from Volt Switch or even Charge Beam strats, there's nothing else this mon can use. So it's bad, pretty really bad, but it's fine because you don't have it anyway, save that disappointment for the postgame! Haha...



A shame that Milli can't finish the job, but Hyper Beam still hurts. You know who can take advantage, though? Of course, Big O saves the world.



Everything's ruined. The truth I held... the dreams Pokemon shared...



Reshiram and I were beaten. Your ideals... your feelings... they were stronger than mine, it seems...



Each of them choosing a different hero... is that even possible? Two heroes living at the same time--one that pursues ideals and one that pursues truth. Could... could they both be right? I don't know. It's not by rejecting different ideas, but by accepting different ideas that the world creates a chemical reaction. This is truly the formula for changing the world.

Ghetsis's Ambitions



Harmonia with me? You good-for-nothing boy!



reawakened the legendary Pokemon now was to give MY Team Plasma more power! Power to control the fearful masses! That at least was well done.



You lost to an ordinary Trainer! There is such a thing as being too stupid! Add it up, and you are nothing more than a warped, defective boy who knows nothing but Pokemon...



This doesn't change my goal. My plans have not been disturbed! In order to rule this world utterly, in order to manipulate the hearts of people who know nothing, I will have N be the king of Team Plasma. But, for that to work, you--since you know the truth--you must be eliminated!



Wasn't Team Plasma's goal to liberate Pokemon?

That was just a convenient lie that I needed to create Team Plasma. Use your head. What's to be gained from letting go of useful things like Pokemon? Certainly, manipulating Pokemon helps people expand their possibilities. That much, I can agree with. So it naturally follows that only I should be able to use Pokemon!

You fool! That's a ridiculous idea!

You can say whatever you want. A Pokemon, even if it's revered as a diety, is still just a Pokemon. Touya, so what if it chose you! That doesn't mean you're a threat. Come on! Now you'll face ME in battle! I can't wait to see the look on your face when you've lost all hope!

Touya!



Ghetsis Battle





G-Cis/Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius
From the G and Cis (C♯) musical notes, which is the pitch of the timpani used in his battle theme. The combination of the two is a tritone, a dissonant musical interval.





You wanted a final boss? THIS is a final boss, just as soon as we get past this Toxic stalling Cofagrigus that is taking on our legendary dragon quite handily in addition to taking away our ability. Hmm, probably unrelated.



We'll use some healing items so we can take this damn thing down, but we won't use Zekrom for the rest of the fight, using it once was enough, thank you.



This is when I would've loved No Guard Dynamicpunch, but Brick Break it is, and it does not do.



Oh he's sending this out next. Hmm. Well, before I dive into why this is a terrifying monster that can basically 2HKO my entire team, what exactly is my plan against it?



Switch between Milli and Tristan with Revival Herbs until it runs out of Fire Blast PP and then Milli can hopefully 2HKO it with STAB Megahorn. Do YOU know of a better plan???






It's working! It's working! Know what doesn't work? This pile of trash you have to suffer with for another 14 levels so it finally drops Hustle. It would've been pretty alright otherwise, though of course it's miserable to grind to 64 regardless. I dun get eet, by the time it fully evolves you have nothing left to do in the game, so Hydreigon is solely for postgame. I mean, that's obviously the point, but why do you need to go through 63 levels of Hustle hell to get to this point. And then they make it a mostly special attacker! Gaaaaaaah! But yeah, moving on.




The moment you've been waiting for. We've seen quite a few Dragon and Fighting types that dominated in such a way that Fairy need to be created. Well, here's the main reason, this thing is RIDICULOUS, the only thing that stops it from tearing through OU is its mediocre 98 Spd, which just goes to show how RIDICULOUS powercreep is. But get around that with some good prediction, or a nice lategame sweep and this mon can 2HKO pretty much anything you can think of, its movepool is RIDICULOUS and it learns basically anything you can think of. It's resisted mainly by Steels, but has Flamethrower or Fire Blast for such things, as well as Focus Blast and even Surf.

It mainly just nukes what's in front of it with Draco Meteor, even a lot of Steel types don't fancy a Choice Specs hit, while other sets can be more consistent with Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse and Roost. For other hit-and-run measures it can go for U-turn, but it usually prefers all out offense. There are a lot of scary things out there, like Dragon and Fighting types that can outspeed and OHKO it, can be a little fragile against those 100+ Spd monsters. But if you're on the wrong end and you make the wrong switch and get blasted back, this demonic dragon can cleave through teams with little issue.



Well I was hoping Miror B. would tank that like it would all the others, but hey you noticed how none of the Focus Blasts in this update have missed? Good times. On another note, this Hydreigon does super effective damage against N's entire team. Again, probably unrelated.



These two were never huge worries, but I have to go all out so I'm not summarily dismantled. So let's take a moment to discuss the music, on the pretty mediocre DS speakers, it's very easy to see why this would be memed to heck into Dennis. But with my proper headphones, I can hear the gap in pronunciation so that... well, still doesn't sound like Ghetsis, but it also sounds like Gay Tits, which hey, may have been intentional.



Our last threat is quite a big one, feels like there's Fire attacks freakin everywhere.



But a burn makes it much easier to deal with. Still dealt enough with Wild Charge that I missed out on more exp... but it's fine. It doesn't bother me. We've got a lot of evening out to do in the postgame.

N's Castle



I created Team Plasma with my own hands. I'm absolutely perfect! I AM PERFECTION! I am the perfect ruler of a perfect new world!

Now, N... do you still think Pokemon and people should be separated?

Mwa ha ha! Since I couldn't become the hero and obtain the legendary Pokemon myself... I prepared someone for that purpose--N! He's nothing more than a freak without a human heart. Do you think you're going to get through to a warped person like that?!

Alder, it's a waste of valuable time listening to him ramble on. He is the one without a human heart!

You're right. He's truly pitiful. N... I'm sure you have much to think about. I know you were not pursuing the truth because of Ghetsis's manipulation, but because your heart was truly inspired. That is why you were able to meet the legendary Pokemon!

But... I have no right to be the hero!

Is that so? What you and the legendary Pokemon are going to do from now on... that's important, wouldn't you say?



Up till now, we've been fighting each other over our beliefs! Yet, despite that... why?!

N, even if we don't understand each other, that's not a reason to reject each other. There are two sides to any argument. Is there one point of view that has all the answers? Give it some thought.



You're damn right I wanna be with you now that this hero stuff is done. I mean, uh, continue.

Farewell



I was shocked when I heard what your Pokemon was saying. I was shocked because that Pokemon said it liked you. It said it wanted to be with you.



I couldn't understand it. I couldn't believe there were Pokemon that liked people. Because, up until that moment, I'd never known a Pokemon like that. The longer my journey continued, the more unsure I became. All I kept meeting were Pokemon and people who communicated with one another and helped one another. That was why I needed to confirm my beliefs by battling with you. I wanted to confront you hero-to-hero. I needed that more than anything.



No, actually... I didn't understand them, either. No way I could measure up to you, when you had met so many Pokemon and were surrounded by friends...



What I should do is something I'll have to decide for myself.



Wonderful dreams and ideals give you the power to change the world! If anyone can, it's you! Touya! Well, then...



Ending: Onwards to our own futures




Bloody hell, that's the ending. You know, it's been a while since I've played through this game and properly paid attention to the story and the characters.



And you know, it's still so damn good. Sure, when I play these games, I would rather be playing the sequels, but there's a reason I still wanted to play this game regardless, man the story is just damn good, and the ending is still loads of fun, with tough battles, a wide scale of a massive castle, and an emotional sendoff.



There's a few issues here and there, while N is an amazing character, we unfortunately never see his side, in a way this story really should do, to make it seem like it's two equal ideologies clashing. While I'm sure there's not much reason to separate people and Pokemon, people do all kinds of fucked up shit in our world, we're never really given a reason to believe it's something that should happen. Maybe it's because we're biased on one side, but the whole game we're told over and over that it's a terrible idea. Who knows, maybe it is, but N was chosen as the hero, so his side should've gotten more weight to it. And of course it's undermined by Ghetsis pulling the rug out, wow what a surprise, I feel we should've gotten some non-Team Plasma examples that could've helped N's case.



Still, admittedly that's not what they were probably going for, since N is the one changed throughout the game, and the game is still great despite any weird issues I might have. Only Unova Pokemon is a breath of fresh air and while this region is a straight line, damn is it a fun straight line. Coming from Gen 4, these games feel so good to play, and that's why I love coming back to these, even if we're getting one step closer, bit by bit, to my favourite games in the franchise. Anyway, there's still plenty to go through until then and it's a DS game, so of course there's a lot of postgame to do. I can't wait!




Best Wishes! Until the day we meet again.

[Crosspeice]

Part 23: Black or White

Part 23: Black or White

King Encounter



Never again will Pokemon be made to suffer or be held captive by humans. It's all thanks to my friend, Zekrom! You may have the title of Champion... but you can't stop me with just a title. Your soft heart has left you weak. Years ago, you lost your Pokemon, your partner, to sickness. In order to forget the pain in your heart, you wandered Unova... who knows how long it's been since you've had to fight with your full strength? I actually kind of like that about you, though. As a Trainer who far outmatches the Champion, I shall issue an order across Unova: Trainers of the world, free your Pokémon!

I beg you! Separating people from Pokemon... do anything but that!

You and I both put our beliefs on the line and fought with all our strength. And I won. Do not say another word.



In the future I envisioned, you obtained a stone. And, indeed, you have. That Light Stone... Zekrom is responding to it. Stop. This is not the suitable place for the legendary dragons! From the ground, rise up!



Pokemon League Under Siege
















...that's one way to make an entrance. I can't even start questioning the logistics about all of this, but I think the bad guys might be winning.

Carrying Out a Mission



The king's words will resound from the heights to all below. You must come to the castle, as well. Everything will be decided there. Whether Pokemon will be liberated from people, or whether Pokemon and people will live together... we will see whose belief is stronger... and our result will change the world.



You did well to get this far.

Somehow, I beat the Pokemon League, but it wasn't easy.

Er... I have to congratulate you.

I became stronger because I understood what I want to do. Touya! Tell N this... some people grow stronger by being with Pokemon. My Pokemon and I are proof. Together, we learned and became stronger.



I should have been able to demonstrate the bond between me and my Pokemon. That would have shown that brat the worthlessness of his outrageous dreams. So, his convictions were the real thing... be careful. The ones who change the world are always the ones who pursued their dreams. Touya, I ask this of you. Even if Pokemon and people are separated, nothing good will come of it. Please let him know that!



Hmm, well the black staircase looked a lot better before the crush, but anyway, while we might not have Reshiram, our truth must shine through. And nothing will stop us!

N's Castle



Bronius: When the Way is forgotten, duty and justice appear.

Ryouku: One can lose the forest for the trees.

Gorm: If you make a mistake and do not correct it, that is a second mistake.

Rood: Superior men understand what is right. Inferior men understand what will sell.

Zinzolin: There are not two suns in the sky, nor two sovereigns over the people.



Giallo: If anything should happen to our king, it would be disastrous. It would ruin Ghetsis's perfect plan! Our lord N will be disappointed, but the six of us shall defeat you here!



Giallo: You... you're Driftveil's...?!

Hrrmph! Ain't just me!

Victory is Right Before Your Eyes!



Not only are we stronger than you, but there are a lot of us!

Bronius: Accursed Gym Leaders!

Ignoring Team Plasma... that would be a terrible thing for us Gym Leaders to do.

Bianca asked us to come, too.

...

I'm fine! Don't worry!

No need to worry!

Holder of the Light Stone, please proceed!

N's Castle



We got some impressive backup, though it feels like some are missing... in any case, no time to talk to them, let's find N as soon as possible, no time for dillydallying!



In this castle, you may rest your Pokemon and access your PC. Fear not. First, have your Pokemon rest in that room. When they are healed, it is our lord N's wish that you be moved to the innermost part of this castle.



Trainer. Before you go to confront my lord N, please take a moment to rest... ah, good. Both you and your Pokemon regained energy... Trainers battle to practice their skills and to grow in experience, but never to hurt their Pokemon. My lord N has realized this, deep down in his heart... but he has spent too much painful time here in this castle to admit it...



N has been separated from people since he was young. He was brought up with Pokemon... Pokemon that were betrayed, mistreated and hurt by bad people... Ghetsis deliberately brought only those poor Pokemon closer to N. N was touched by their plight, and started pursuing ideals, thinking only of Pokemon. N's heart is pure and innocent. But there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence.



Fine, I'll talk to these two, as a treat. You, uh, remember these two from the opening, right? Right??? Well Anthea and Concordia are such important characters that they have no BW artwork nor separate pages on Bulbapedia. They're a bit more overt in Japanese, being called the Goddess of Love, Verbena, and Goddess of Peace, Helena. Though Anthea is from the Greek goddess of women, Hera, and Concordia is from the Roman goddess of peace, Concordia, so it amounts to the same thing and we'll never see them again for the rest of the LP byyyyyyye.



We're fully healed, so it's time to take on N at the top of this castle, let's go go go go go.

"an ideal hero."

It will also reveal how you feel about protecting the current world, where people live with Pokemon.



I don't feel anything, even when I go into the room... but you may feel something.



Oh like I have time for dull backstory, N's a pretty evil guy that I must crush in battle! Nothing else I find out will change that!!!



Alright, top floor, this is it, the final battle, the- GAH



The castle that appeared as if it were enveloping the Pokemon League is a symbol. It means Unova will change. The king of this castle is the strongest Trainer in the world. He is accompanied by the legendary Pokemon. He has defeated the Champion. Added to all that, his heart burns with the desire to improve the world. If that's not what makes a hero, what more do you need? Now that the stage is set, we can seize people's minds and hearts. We can bring into being the world that I--no, that Team Plasma- desires more easily than you can imagine! We and only we will use Pokemon, and we shall rule the powerless populace!



I've kept my silence so no one could piece together what I planned. Now, those painful days are at an end! Go! Onward! Discover whether you have what it takes to be a hero!



Get out here, N, I'm gonna kick your ass!




I will prove the value of my beliefs even if it means my Pokemon friends get hurt! Since you've come this far, I believe you are equally determined. If that's so, prove it to me! Show me the depth of your determination!



You haven't yet been recognized as the hero, have you? How disappointing. I actually kind of liked you a little. Through our many battles, I got the feeling that you might be a Trainer who truly cares for Pokemon!



But I was kidding myself. The idea of Trainers getting to know each other through battles is ridiculous! You have two options. Challenge me to a fight you can't win, or leave this place and watch the birth of a new world where Pokemon are free of people!



N's Zekrom

















Your Light Stone is... I mean, Reshiram is...



a powerful force, which is... now... being released!

Reshiram's Awakening

















N's Castle



They were once one life. One Pokemon. Complete opposites, yet the same. Zekrom and Reshiram are Pokemon that appear before the hero they recognize. Ah... I see. You really are a hero, too. I'll tell you what that Pokemon is saying to you. "I want to battle with you. Try to make me your friend and ally." It plans to test you to see if you are really pursuing truth. I, also, am curious to see how powerful you are. Now, catch Reshiram and make it your ally!

Reshiram Battle







The Vast White, Reshiram is a terrifying force to be reckoned with, 150 SpAtk is pretty incredible, and it even has 120 Atk for a few choice moves. This applies to both dragons, so it comes at the cost of their Spd, which is Reshiram's biggest issue, alas. Now this isn't much of a problem in this game, but B2W2's Kyurem-W and Regenerator Ho-oh make this middling, SR weak, physically weaker mon a slightly tough call in Ubers. However, it has some very devious tricks up its sleeve and with Groudon helping it out, sun boosted Blue Flare is the second strongest attack in the game, barely behind rain boosted Water Spout from Kyogre.

Also, it can patch up its Spd with Flame Charge and tear through fragile teams that weren't expecting it. Dragon and Fire provide nearly perfect coverage, so it's very difficult to resist. Otherwise, you also have terrifying Draco Meteors, Focus Blasts and even immediate Solarbeams in sun. Like with its other dragon, it has its weaknesses, its Spd chief among them, but make no mistake, even some resists really, REALLY don't like taking these massive hits that would make even a Dialga falter.



An impressive legendary to be sure, HOWEVER, since we are required to catch this to progress the story, Reshiram and Zekrom thankfully have a 45 catch rate instead of the standard 3, letting us get them with ease. A first turn Quick Ball is a 40% chance and damn I like those odds. It being a required capture is interesting in itself, since you could have the PC and Party fully maxed, right? There's 24 boxes so it would take kinda forever, but the Pokemon will simply vanish after you beat it, the story continues as normal and you can then catch it later in Dragonspiral Tower. Simple. And of course since it's all very plot related, it's shiny locked, been a while since we've seen this. I showed off the animated sprite because even the turbine colour changes, it's very cool.


"When Reshiram's tail flares, the heat energy moves the atmosphere and changes the world's weather. "

Since it's also very story related, if you have a full party, then you can swap someone for Reshiram.



But please, we don't need the handholding of an overpowered god monster because they think this last battle is too hard for us babies. I'm gonna take N down with the friends I've made along the way!




Uh, since I only threw a Quick Ball since Anthea healed me... no I'm not.



But enough talk, have at you!

Hero Versus Hero





Hero of Ideals: Natural Harmonia Gropius
While a bit of a weird name, it speaks to his almost inhuman... nature. From natural numbers, harmonic functions and Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School and one of the pioneers of modernist architecture. Again, really interesting mix to a really interesting character.






Xtra Dill is a great counter to this legendary dragon, it really doesn't have much to touch us! And of course it wouldn't go for Fusion Bolt on the first turn if it doesn't do any damage. Though that doesn't help much either.



Well you can try with that, but getting Rocky Helmet damage puts you just under half, for another EQ to take you down!



Damn, bamboozled by a Night Slash Klinklang, but at least it wasn't a complete wash. I still think a Fire Blast would've nearly KOed, but dammit stop ruining my fun!



Acrobatics solves most of my problems, but when it doesn't, a Water type usually does.



See, no problem. Sure it's not exactly the best way to show off this fight, but come on, I'm five generations deep into these LPs, I'd go crazy and take, like, 6 years to properly show everything off. I'm also glad I skipped the Orre games too, as well the Battle Frontiers, should catch up to the main series by 2018 at this rate!



So what did that accomplish? Oh ye of little faith, I know exactly what I'm doing at all times, it's why it only took 15 updates to get to this point in my Black LP. Imagine if I went to all the stupid side areas and fought every trainer? Ugh.



Can't take it on in mostly one shot with Sturdy still active. And now we can end with the battle of the birds!



Oh Rock Slide didn't flinch. Fine, we'll solve our problems with Xtra Dill, like I did the last 4 Gym Leaders.



That's cute.



Zekrom and I were beaten. Your truth... your feelings... they were stronger than mine, it seems...



Each of them choosing a different hero... is that even possible? Two heroes living at the same time--one that pursues truth and one that pursues ideals. Could... could they both be right? I don't know. It's not by rejecting different ideas, but by accepting different ideas that the world creates a chemical reaction. This is truly the formula for changing the world.

Ghetsis's Ambitions



Harmonia with me? You good-for-nothing boy!



reawakened the legendary Pokemon now was to give MY Team Plasma more power! Power to control the fearful masses! That at least was well done.



You lost to an ordinary Trainer! There is such a thing as being too stupid! Add it up, and you are nothing more than a warped, defective boy who knows nothing but Pokemon...



This doesn't change my goal. My plans have not been disturbed! In order to rule this world utterly, in order to manipulate the hearts of people who know nothing, I will have N be the king of Team Plasma. But, for that to work, you--since you know the truth--you must be eliminated!



Wasn't Team Plasma's goal to liberate Pokemon?

That was just a convenient lie that I needed to create Team Plasma. Use your head. What's to be gained from letting go of useful things like Pokemon? Certainly, manipulating Pokemon helps people expand their possibilities. That much, I can agree with. So it naturally follows that only I should be able to use Pokemon!

You fool! That's a ridiculous idea!

You can say whatever you want. A Pokemon, even if it's revered as a diety, is still just a Pokemon. Touya, so what if it chose you! That doesn't mean you're a threat. Come on! Now you'll face ME in battle! I can't wait to see the look on your face when you've lost all hope!

Touko!



Ghetsis Battle





G-Cis/Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius
From the G and Cis (C♯) musical notes, which is the pitch of the timpani used in his battle theme. The combination of the two is a tritone, a dissonant musical interval.





Alright here's the final boss, boy who didn't see this coming. Man this story would be a lot better if it wasn't so predictable! Still, I can use Xtra Dill to avoid Mummy, though it doesn't really matter.



Oh please do heal this mon instead of something else. 4 EQs later...



So this is a huge problem, as always. My plan for this monster is to land a Thunder Wave on it. So it either misses Focus Blast or it uses all its PP.



Sheldon can live a hit, but non-STAB Megahorn can only do so much.



There we go, that's slowed it down enough for Nanna to take it out!



Uh, almost take it out. That was lucky.



Bit of tag team to take down Eelektross and Flappy BOI works out to give the BOUFF lots of recoil.



A quick Revival Herb so the birb can take the kill, then Bisharp is kinda whatever, special Sheldon hurts quite a bit.



You wanna know? I'll tell you.



p u p p y

N's Castle



I created Team Plasma with my own hands. I'm absolutely perfect! I AM PERFECTION! I am the perfect ruler of a perfect new world!

Now, N... do you still think Pokemon and people should be separated?

Mwa ha ha! Since I couldn't become the hero and obtain the legendary Pokemon myself... I prepared someone for that purpose--N! He's nothing more than a freak without a human heart. Do you think you're going to get through to a warped person like that?!

Alder, it's a waste of valuable time listening to him ramble on. He is the one without a human heart!

You're right. He's truly pitiful. N... I'm sure you have much to think about. I know you were not pursuing the truth because of Ghetsis's manipulation, but because your heart was truly inspired. That is why you were able to meet the legendary Pokemon!

But... I have no right to be the hero!

Is that so? What you and the legendary Pokemon are going to do from now on... that's important, wouldn't you say?



Up till now, we've been fighting each other over our beliefs! Yet, despite that... why?!

N, even if we don't understand each other, that's not a reason to reject each other. There are two sides to any argument. Is there one point of view that has all the answers? Give it some thought.



So you wanna fuck or what?

Farewell



I was shocked when I heard what your Pokemon was saying. I was shocked because that Pokemon said it liked you. It said it wanted to be with you.



I couldn't understand it. I couldn't believe there were Pokemon that liked people. Because, up until that moment, I'd never known a Pokemon like that. The longer my journey continued, the more unsure I became. All I kept meeting were Pokemon and people who communicated with one another and helped one another. That was why I needed to confirm my beliefs by battling with you. I wanted to confront you hero-to-hero. I needed that more than anything.



No, actually... I didn't understand them, either. No way I could measure up to you, when you had met so many Pokemon and were surrounded by friends...



What I should do is something I'll have to decide for myself.



Follow the path of truth to make that dream a reality, and someday you will achieve all that you dreamed of! Well, then...



Ending: Onwards to our own futures



And that's the end of Black. Darn this idea to act like this was the final story part of my Black LP to show how both games are opposite, yet the same equal decision. Maybe that's because truth and ideals are vague enough that they're interchangeable, but I still think it's really cool.



This took some extra time to do and I hope you spot all the differences I made between the two updates so they weren't a complete copypaste, it was really fun figuring this out, had to plan it a fair bit in advance. After all, who knew answering a question differently in Chargestone Cave would change his final words to us?



Despite playing the same game twice, it was a great time, we're not done with Black yet, but there's only one thing to really show and it won't take long to go over, so the adventures of Touko will come to a close. Maybe this story will continue in 2 years, oh I'm so coy and subtle and shit or whatever.



As for which version I prefer? Well, N works better with ideals, while we slap him with cold hard truth, but I do prefer how Reshiram fits with him, since he's also pursuing his own truth, and it's our ideal world that stops him. Again, this is vague enough that you can make your own justification, but I think it works. Still prefer White overall, mainly due to one more thing in the postgame, but that's about it. See ya next time for the last third or so of the game, this LP... is not over by a long shot. Oh boy... ah, I love it really.




Best Wishes! Until the day we meet again.

[Crosspeice]

Hope you've been enjoying this LP so far, I'm glad I can post here for free and without the shackles of something truly awful. I know I haven't had much for you guys, it's been hard thinking of ways to keep this thread talking, but my next LP will have a lot more viewer participation, I pumice.

[Crosspeice]

Part 24: Please Stop Kicking My Ass

Part 24: Please Stop Kicking My Ass

Nuvema Town




It's postgame time again, after a crazy adventure we're back home with another Trainer Card star under our belt. There's only two left to get, you can probably guess what, but they sure won't be easy!



...Mom what did you do while I was away?



Amazing, absolutely, meeting these two Pokemon of legend!

Ah, ah, this is...

Oh! I still wear my disguise! Pardon! Or, rather, let me introduce myself.

He's Back Motherfuckers!



My name... ah, no, I shall inform you of my code name only. My code name, it is Looker. It is how I am called! Behind the scenes in this region of Unova, an organization called Team Plasma conspires... this I have heard, and therefore, to this region I must come, but...



And the members, they have gone upon their separate ways! This is what I hear, most certainly! But, however! However, but... the ones known as the Seven Sages--still they hide themselves in the Unova region. And so, in the end, it explains why I must ask this of you, Trainer of amazing skill! Travel the Unova region and search it up and search it down for the Seven Sages! Alder, the Champion of renown, recommended you to my notice.



Do it yourself you damn dirty cop.

Ah, ah! Yet once more shall I ask! If you please, travel the Unova region and search it low and high for these Seven Sages!

Well, okay, since it's you, a lot has happened since my Plat LP for me to be on edge.

Excellent! I thank you! Now I feel as if I have perhaps a million people on my side. Permit me to give you this into your hands!



...that's a Super Rod, right?

Yes, correct! It is certainly a Super Rod!

Weren't we talking about Team Plasma's Seven Sages? What does this have to do with looking for those people?

I see... it is truly Touya's mama to ask so! What a magnificent question! I admire it! It is my pleasure to answer. Absolutely nothing!



I see...

Yes, I shall provide the explanation of this, the Super Rod! First! Face the water and employ the rod! Second! Concentrate your focal point! When it occurs that these Pokemon bite, "!" will indicate. Immediately, reel in! For the rest, Touya, I depend upon you!

Nuvema Town



Well, no worries. I think you should just do what you want to do. You're practically a grown-up now!



By the time I went to get the Striaton Gym Leaders, everything was over...

If that's the case... I let Ghetsis escape when the Shadow Triad created an opening.

...Ghetsis? The Shadow Triad?

I'll tell you later what happened in the castle. It's more important to ask what you plan to do now, Bianca.

You know what? You know what! I'm gonna go to White Forest!

That's the city on the other side of Route 16 when you leave from Nimbasa City. Hmm. If you go that way, you might be able to meet all sorts of Pokemon you've never seen before.



I see you're all here! Just a moment ago, I got some National Pokedex data from an acquaintance. Since you're here, let's upgrade your Pokedex with the National Pokedex data. I'm sure you'll be visiting a wider range of places. Naturally, that means you'll be encountering more Pokemon. Let me see your Pokedex for a sec! There you go, Bianca! Next up is Cheren! And last, but not least...



You can now switch your Pokedexes to the National Mode Pokedex. Completing the National Pokedex will surely be a big challenge. So, take your time, enjoy yourselves, and meet lots of Pokemon.



It looks like there are tons of Pokemon I don't know yet! Oh! Ooh! I want to show Mom and Dad my Pokedex! I gotta go! Let's meet again somewhere, OK?!

Huh. Bianca's as impetuous as ever, no matter what is going on. I think I'll travel all the way around Unova, starting at Route 1 again. I'm sure I'll discover lots of new things. Could be I'll encounter the Seven Sages along the way... and, Touya, if we spy each other along the way, let's battle again, OK?



Hoo boy, over 600 Pokemon and like sweet fuck am I gonna catch them all. This postgame is pretty big and we've got a lot of stuff we're able to immediately do. Of course we'll catch all the new Pokemon we'll encounter along the way, but before I can think about that, I need to restock and see what's new where we currently are.



We've still got around 15 or so left to see in the Unova dex and that'll take a bit of time.



Aurea Juniper is only really interested in our Unova seen count, while Cedric Juniper is who we go to for our National caught count. So hey, first female professor, good stuff, but it's her father who actually does the heavy lifting. What a shame.



So you might not have noticed we didn't get any rods throughout this game, that's because the Super Rod is postgame only and it's a way to get a lot of new Pokemon without much difficulty. For the most part you can just fish up a new mon, once you get past all the damn Basculin, but Route 1 is a bad example since the new addition is quite rare outside of rippling water, which usually contains the evolved form, or a separate, rarer Pokemon.



YO WHAT THAT'S A 5% ENCOUNTER!!! So yeah, Feebas can be found pretty commonly by fishing in rippling water, but if you don't want to evolve it, with a sweet new trade item we'll find later, then you can try and fish up a Milotic. Or just do it first try like me, hell yeah. A lot more fully evolved and never before encountered Pokemon are available in the wild in these games, it's pretty great.



We haven't really seen these dex entries before, a lot of them are copied from DP or HGSS, sometimes a mix of both. And while we head out for some more supplies at Shopping Mall Nine, the bulletin board now mentions an outbreak of a Pokemon.



Like Gen 4, there's a LOT of Pokemon we can get through swarms each day, with some really interesting additions. Like hell yeah, gimme as many Tyrogue as I want! Of course, like before, I ain't evolving all this shit.

As for the Pokemon from these outbreaks, weeeeeeeeeell, you've got Mankey, Farfetch'd, Doduo, Exeggcute, Sentret, Yanma, Pineco, Smeargle, Tyrogue, Shuppet, Wynaut, Hippopotas and Croagunk. There's also Houndour, Shroomish, Plusle and Volbeat in Black, and Paras, Poochyena, Minun and Illumise in White. We'll catch basically none of these. Get used to this.



Oh hey the cave on Route 9 is open. We're not going in. No, out of all of the places we could go, such as the eastern area of Unova, we are of course gonna start with...



Hi there, Touya! I heard about these Pokemon statues, and I came to look into their origins!



It's called Darmanitan. It's sleeping, so it's become like a stone. When I quickly measured how long they've existed... it was amazing! Around 2,500 years! Seems like they went to sleep that long ago. That means they've been here since before this place was in ruins, when the Relic Castle was flourishing. Perhaps they were guarding the city. These Pokemon... they are either in a state in hibernation or meditation, so if you wake them, they will become active once again. And then item that wakes up Darmanitan is actually... this RageCandyBar! That's why I will share one with you, too, Touya!



Well, I'm headed back to the Pokemon Research Lab. Be seeing you!



The ancient Pokemon statue responded to the RageCandyBar. The Pokemon was a sleeping Darmanitan! The awakened Darmanitan attacked!


"Its internal fire burns at 2,500° F, making enough power that it can destroy a dump truck with one punch."




Woo, we can talk about this pile of trash. While Hidden Abilities were only really available from the Dream World, there were two you could get from this game, and a fair few more in the sequels. Shame that both the examples in this game are just awful. Now Zen Mode Darmanitan can work, see in about 10 years, but this one has a lot of issues it needs to overcome. Firstly, you need to be below half health to activate it which isn't a great way to start, especially for a defensive form like this one. So just pretend its HP stat is halved, to show how useless its defensive stats really are. Secondly, Fire/Psychic is a great offensive typing, but a pretty terrible defensive one, which doesn't help this half health wall attempt. And finally, what the hell are you doing making DARMANITAN a special attacker??? It gets some moves at least, Fire Blast, Psychic, Focus Blast and Grass Knot.

And, uh, that's about it. Fine moves in theory, but remember that the physically immense Darmanitan will have these moves for half of its health, which are basically useless for it. While also having a HA that was useless. With how fragile Darmanitan is, it's quite likely you'll be lower than half health to then start tanking, which is a pretty bad combination. So Darmanitan-Z is bad because of how much of a pain it is to actually use, hell Belly Drum would give you the form, but also gives you a useless +6 boost to Atk! On the off chance that Darm-Z did attack, it would hit really damn hard, but of course due to the Spd drop as well, an opponent could hit Darm-Z two times, one to knock it into the form, and again after the Spd drop. Overall, anything that you could mention as positives, the higher defenses, and the incredible power this form has, the downsides are just so big it's not worth bothering with.

Relic Castle



I have a very good reason for coming here first, though we're about to see how ready we are for the postgame. As for RageCandyBars, we've gotten two so far, but we can get multiple of them to awaken all the statues, if you wanted, at a later point.



Hmm, wonder why there's a random Plasma Grunt here, after the team disbanded? Probably nothing.



Alright, you wanna go then, huh? I've taken on loads of grunts, what's one more!



W-wait...



WAIIIIIIIIIT!!!



Alright, so here's BW's postgame, where everything is put at a set max level and if you came from the story with a team of 6, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. This is one of my biggest problems with the game, I haven't been looking forward to this at all. Now there's some Trainers that use older mons at basic stages, so it's not that bad. But any evolved Pokemon 20 levels higher than us is basically miserable to fight and I'm gonna need a lot of healing items to keep up.



Though of course there are bright spots. Firstly, you obviously get a crapton of experience from this so when you get levels and reduce the gap, it's honestly not too bad. Especially once some of these damn Pokemon finally evolve. But also because a lot of wild Pokemon are higher level, you can quickly make the difference if you want to add them to your team. Also you don't HAVE to fight the trainers if you don't want to, you can just grind Audino until you're strong enough to do other things. But I'm a right pain, me, so I'm gonna drag a level 43 Klang with me through the postgame so it can finally fucking evolve.



I was his lookout so he wouldn't be interrupted... stupid, stupid, stupid me! Plus, weak... and did I mention stupid? It all adds up to nincompoop!



Wild Pokemon are only slightly stronger than we are, which is a slight issue since it also means repels aren't usable! This is why I'll be using Corazon for most of the postgame to catch Pokemon, since she can also run away from most of them!



Still, in these new areas we'll find a good chunk of new Pokemon and some Quick Balls make this much easier!



Postgame Onix, what a world.



This place is a little bit of a maze but you head towards the bottom middle, since the rooms in the top middle hide the true layout. Just think of this place like a dick and balls and you want to hit the bottom of the shaft, usual Saturday night, eh, eh?



Oh hey it's one of those guys. Uh, whatever his name is. Look, I've been playing this series for nearly 20 years but I don't remember the Seven Sages by look, even with this LP. Fucking sue me.



Just in these last two rooms is a guaranteed Claydol encounter, great fun when you can't repel them.



But the Shadow Triad said that Ghetsis has gone somewhere, right? The Seven Sages... we always said we were complete when the seven of us were together. Now I don't know the meaning of those words anymore. I guess I don't mind, even if we were being used, but the dream is over. I no longer need this. Ghetsis gave it to me, but I have no use for it.



This Relic Castle and our own castle are both crumbling... but what's different is that this Relic Castle is the remains of a civilization. And our castle left nothing behind...

Looker Appears



I am an officer of the International Police, and you must satisfy my request for certain information!

Understood. But we don't know much about Ghetsis or our lord N! We haven't even figured out if they are father and son...



Now, Ghetsis notwithstanding, there yet remains but 5 of the Seven Sages still at large. They are thinking--upon what topics? They are hoping--upon what chances? This is of the utmost urgency. At once! On the way!



How did he even get down here? Well anyway, we'll find some Seven Sages here and there but they are quite scattered across the region, so it'll take a bit.



Anyway, here's not the reason we actually came down here, but might as well die.






O fuck. So if you can somehow catch this not-legendary-but-basically-legendary Pokemon before it utterly annihilates you, then you can utterly annihilate the tough postgame, or your friends and family. Learning Quiver Dance when it evolves from the miserable Larvesta is one of the best feelings in the series, and getting Heat Wave one level later is also amazing. But since it learns moves every 10 levels it's not something to really grow along with you. It is one of the few Bug types that can actually survive in OU, despite taking HALF of its health from Stealth Rocks, strictly because its so ridiculous, only needing one Quiver Dance to usually get going. After that, it nukes anything in its way with Fire Blast, Bug Buzz, Psychic and Solarbeam on sun teams.

It's also a weirdly good choice on rain teams, since it combats sun teams with its powered up attacks, and is able to use fully accurate Hurricanes. If you're sticking around a while, you can use a specially bulky set with Fiery Dance to constantly boost past any walls in your way, as well as becoming physically defensive if you land a Flame Body burn or use Will-O-Wisp. It is one of the best Pokemon in the series, especially in a meta full of Stealth Rock, which speaks to how that move can help counter very dangerous Pokemon. Since Volcarona will destroy you if you give it a chance, and it will have many chances throughout a battle.



So hey, this Volcarona may be 25 levels higher than us and have absolutely bonkers stats, but it's either catch this, or level up Larvesta! I think you can understand my choice. Still, PRNDL can survive a +1 Bug attack to paralyze it and if it uses Heat Wave then I just restart, simple really.



Then we can buy some turns with Big O, since if we lower its Spd enough, it'll want to keep going for Quiver Dances. It 2HKOs our entire team anyway, and throwing balls ignores the Spd boosts, so I really don't care if it boosts up loads.



And we're dead. I wonder if this room doesn't count as a cave, since Dusk Balls should have a 40% chance of capture in these circumstances. That's definitely not the case, I threw like 40 over some different attempts and didn't last long enough to really throw other balls. Would make sense if this was technically an outside area due to the local sun god.


"When volcanic ash darkened the atmosphere, it is said that Volcarona's fire provided a replacement for the sun."

Still, with a 17% chance of a first turn Quick Ball, this was gonna happen eventually.



Anyway, let's get outta here.




Let's go up and up and up and don't forget this.



And up and up and up.



And this is what we actually came here for, finally Big O has good STAB, Miror B. no longer needs Revenge to damage Steel types and John will have something for coverage when she... finally evolves. Postgame time babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.



Let's enter our first new area, it's time for the postgame to really starting kicking my ass!

Route 11 Spring

"dans ma mémoire."

Go 5 minutes into a new area and already the locals don't speak English! Bah.



The enemy levels will remain terrifying for a long time, but against unevolved Pokemon, it's not too bad.



Les paysages que nous avons admirés... les gens qu nous avons rencontrés... les Pokemon avec qui nous avons croisé le fer... ils resteront á jamais gravés dans ma mémoire.



If you were wanting some late evolution Unova mons on your team, it's probably much better waiting until the postgame to get them for your team. We can find Bisharp in dark grass at level freaking sixty, but it's 5% so I won't bother hunting it.



to understand one another. Do you think you can win against us?



Ah, a trainer with evolved Pokemon... this is gonna be difficult.



Still, with 6 Pokemon on our side and lots of healing items, it's only a matter of time before we win.



We kinda get wrecked by Water types but with enough chipping down we're just fine.




I enjoy working as a Ranger, but I love to spend my time with Pokemon! Whatever happens, I won't leave my Pokemon!



There's two other things we'll find in the postgame as well: waterfalls, and good TMs.



There's a lot of new Pokemon to be found in the regular grass, with Audino in rustling and Basculin in the water, as you'd expect. Gliscor can be found in rustling grass, if you wanted to save a Razor Fang.



Lots of nice hidden items, too, gonna need them...



Can't find this in the water, weirdly. Hey remember when I ran out of Pokeballs catching this in my Yellow LP and just didn't bother until later? Definitely wouldn't do that now lol



The dark grass is very important to go over in a minute, but we have another trainer to deal with. Hoo boy.




Gamera can mostly handle this Dewgong, mainly because of a Quick Claw flinch.



Corazon thankfully survives a +2 Superpower, but Pelipper is the main issue, especially if it never misses a Hurricane.




Maybe I should train my body and mind by standing under a waterfall!






We're about to get a real taste of FREEDOM! This is why Rufflet and Vullaby are not really worth training, aside from all the other issues listed previously. Might as well just catch them here! And it is honestly worth catching to help you with the mean postgame, since it hits pretty damn hard and it's not massively slow. Crush Claw and Superpower are good moves to use, and by catching it in the dark grass, it's not far from Brave Bird, since it doesn't learn Acrobatics like a bad bird. It's not a hugely amazing reward for a lot of levels of Rufflet work, but it can be very useful for the rest of the postgame. Add in Rock Slide, Shadow Claw and U-turn, and you've got a very interesting coverage hit and run attacker, definitely fun to use. But again, only really useful if you catch it at a high level in the postgame, not if you get it in Gen 7's early game where it's 40 levels away from being good. Fuckin morons...


"They fight for their friends without any thought about danger to themselves. One can carry a car while flying."

Dark grass is much more useful in the postgame, since it's a 10 level boost and that usually carries some evolved Pokemon that would be a hassle to get otherwise. Also who wouldn't want to catch a level 60 Gligar???



Ah, Corazon you're so good in the lead. There's plenty of random trash items we'll never use but they had to be placed somewhere, so might as well get these "rewards". Also since we won't see it otherwise and I'll just evolve my, uh, legitimately caught Vullaby, might as well go over its evolution.




Now it's tank time, Mandibuzz is also not worth the effort to evolve it, at least in single player. It definitely works a lot better with its stalling tactics and good defenses. It's let down by its Flying type for the most part, it's neutral to a lot of types, but two immunities and good support moves do a lot to help it. Since it sticks around for a fair while, it kinda uses Nasty Plot well enough as its enemy slowly succumbs to Toxic, Air Slash and Dark Pulse. Whirlwind, Substitute, U-turn, Torment, this bird can be a real pain if you let it, though it would become much more reliable in the sequels with the Roost tutor. In any case, while not the flashiest of mons, Mandibuzz can be a real pain to take down when you're not ready for it.



Like with Gen 2, there's a lot of variety with fishing, so let's give it a go!



Eh sure, I'll roll with whatever I encounter, since I also could've got Seaking fishing in rippling water, but I'm not exactly wanting to fill 500 spaces in an LP.





Then we've got the Surfing encounter and the other mons I fancy catching while I'm here. There's also Karrablast and Amoonguss, for some reason, just so you have something to get in the way of the mons you want to encounter.



...g-gracias?



Aah, a nice one mon trainer that we can flinch down cause we're lucky bastards.



Quand j'aurai beaucoup, beaucoup voyagé, je rentrerai á la maison, et je pourrai raconter tout plein de choses á ma famille!



No, it's a bridge like a village... no, it's a bridge like a bridge... no, it's a village like a village... oh, I'm so confused!

Village Bridge



Well it is a bridge and a village, but it's not a town so I'm not going over it. Right now I'm only interested in one place in particular.



Both you and your Pokemon are healthy and energetic! If you get tired, please talk to me. I'll let you take a nice long rest.



Next house. Hello and goodbye.



...so is this my house now?



Let me introduce myself. I am a member of the Hip Waders. As the name suggests, it's a fishing club! Why don't you join up and enjoy some fishing? Awesome! Now you are the second member of the Hip Waders! Here we go! I'll announce the official Hip Waders Catch of the Day! The Pokemon we're fishing for today is Lumineon! If you catch one, please show it to me!

The reward for doing this is 5 Dive Balls, which we'll be able to buy soon enough, so it's kinda whatever.

Village Bridge Beatbox



Now it's time to liven up this place, there's 4 NPCs that'll add something to the music, been a while since we've had something like this.

Village Bridge Guitar



Alright enough of them fat beats, though all 4 new tracks do stack, like in Accumula Town. Remember that far back? We'll hear them all at the end.

"in the world!"


There's trainers and wild Pokemon in this place, so it's technically a new route. These 6 mon trainers are great ways to train John and PRNDL up. Evolve already damn you!!!



Nice variety of stuff as we slowly fill in our dex. Sure there's some Pokemon you'll never find in this region, but we can get damn close.



The book I am reading now was written by Professor Juniper. It says the origin of Pokemon is still a mystery.



HMs got you down? Bibarel is still a great choice, can nearly learn all the HMs in this game.

Village Bridge Enka Vocal



Neat. This is what most people remember the Village Bridge for. We'll talk about it more in just a moment.



We've caught all the new mons in the grass, so what's our fishing encounter this time?



Ah, Hoennian Basculin. I know it's different fish but it's a joke shut up.



Two corners of the map left, what will we find?

Village Bridge Grass Flute



That's all four, Derleth, Aickman, Russo and Koontz, the D-A-R-K Musicians of Village Bridge. Named so because their Japanese names, Tambo, Son, Gatchi and Reizo spell out tasogare in their initial katakana, meaning dusk. You can hear that in the vocals. Speaking of the vocals...

Village Bridge Ensemble



俺はね鴎に惚れた黄昏親父。
Ore wa ne kamome ni horeta tasogare oyaji
I am a geezer standing in the dusk, mesmerized by the gulls. x2

俺はね鴎に惚れた黄昏親父。
Ore wa ne kamome ni horeta tasogare oyaji
I am a geezer standing in the dusk, mesmerized by the gulls. x2

青い海を眺めては涙、
Aoi umi o nagamete wa namida
Gazing fixedly into the blue sea, I bemoan with shed tears,

青い港は鴎飛び去って。
Aoi minato wa kamome tobi satte
as I yearn for the lovely gulls soaring above the blue harbor.

That's deep man. Why is this here? Who fucking knows, but it's because they did that little bit extra for the music here that this place is so memorable.



Well that was fun, now to bash my head against another trainer. I'm having fun.



Oh yeah you're high enough level to learn that. Shit!



Suppressing Mold Breaker should be illegal. But a quick Memento later and we're all done.



In the Village Bridge, a lot of bricks support each other and keep the bridge from collapsing. That's how the bridge has kept its shape for over 100 years.



The running joke of my main character not being able to eat has lasted way longer than I ever thought possible.



Oh it's so nice having actual STAB.



You are great! I want to hire you. What do you think? Will you work here as a Waiter? That's great! I'm so glad!



The fuck's a work?



Then, I'll make sandwiches to fill their orders. You'll serve the sandwiches to the customers who ordered them. Please be careful, and don't serve them to the wrong customers! Thank you! I hope you'll do a great job!



Gah, what the fuck is that thing? Well I doubt we'll see another one.



One shot of espresso, got it.



Double shot of espresso, alright mate.



And the Hot Wings challenge? No prob.



Well done! Thank you! Give me a second to make the sandwiches. ... The sandwiches are ready! Please serve them to the correct customers.



Much, munch... yummy! My Pokemon is also happy.





Okay, looks like I got them all right, phew. Since you can say no to giving a customer a sandwich with no repercussions, you can mix up the order at any step of the process and it doesn't matter, so long as you have the right number of each sandwich and actually remember who gets what.



Perfect! The customers seem to be satisfied, too. This is a thank-you gift. You've worked really hard!



Well that's a nice berry, but I don't exactly fancy my wages being paid in food.



There's still a wide area of Unova yet to be explored, so we'll do so more next time!

[Crosspeice]

Part 25: East Coast Represent

Part 25: East Coast Represent

Route 12 Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter



No excuses, but here's some more of the postgame. Been quite a while since we've had a seasonal variety in route music. This is unfortunately the last one, but it's definitely a good 'un.

"Please take a look!"

Route 12 is very short, but has a lot to it.




No it's fine, John doesn't need exp anyway...




They must have been tired because they were running around. Aww! So cute!



Lots of items and Pokemon to grab as well, but we'll get to that in a moment. In any case, Tristan can finally, FINALLY, upgrade his Seed Bomb after nearly thirty levels.

"but I am also interested in you."


This is the Bug Catcher's final form.



Even similar Pokemon will have different behavior and appearances in Unova and other regions.



I could give these mushrooms to that gourmet on Route 5, but while I've been sweating about money issues for a little while, I'm not that desperate and it won't be an issue soon enough.




Weird that Paras isn't available on this route.



There's a few rarer mons on this route that become a little easier to find in doubles grass. Ow.




Gotta get used to high level basic stage mons having very good moves that hurt, but thankfully don't OHKO.




The Pokemon Day Care on Route 3! If you leave two Pokemon there, you may find an Egg!



Have you prayed to your Quick Ball god today?

"but I am also interested in you."


Am I somewhat mad for dragging these two mons to evolution? Well it's kinda working, but I do have the pick and choose my battles. Also I'm cutting out all the healing, or quick stops back to the reviving village woman for a smoother experience.



The unevenness of this landscape... we can tell that the flow of a river created the undulation.




Oh hey a double battle, been a while. Thankfully it's just two Swoobat, so if we can slow them down, they won't do much damage.



To battle well in a Double Battle, we have to know our partner's Pokemon moves.

I think the Pokemon in the Pokeballs totally understand how you feel!






There's a lot of goddamn Pokemon on this route, with Metapod and Kakuna being version exclusives. If you fancied some evolutions then they're in rustling grass, especially useful in getting Vespiquen, as well as Sunflora and Butterfree/Beedrill.



Ow. Okay, that's all of them, let's get outta here.

Lacunosa Town





Kagome Town: Kagome is woven triangles.
From 籠目 kagome (kagome lattice, a pattern of holes in a woven bamboo basket) and 囲め kakome (surround).
Lacunosa Town: Methodical and Orderly
From lacunosus clouds, characterized by a net or honeycomb pattern.



Since early times in Sinnoh, people made a bouquet of Gracidea flowers to give someone to show their feelings of appreciation.



Dunno what a Sinoo is, but Lacunosa Town really does not have a lot to it, so I'm gonna scrape the bottom of the barrel to be here as long as possible.

"a worthy opponent."

I can look at a Gym Badge and tell you that story. Can I see one of your Gym Badges?



Man, that was aaaaaaaages ago now, remember how I used that Purrloin for Retaliate fodder? Good times.



Would you like to hear an old story of Lacunosa Town? Bear with me, because I'm an old lady who likes telling tales the old-fashioned way!

There's a great big hole at the back of this town. A long time ago, a huge meteor fell from the sky and made the big hole. A very scary monster was hiding inside the meteor! People say the monster appeared in the village at night, bringing a cold wind, and it stole away people and Pokemon... so the villagers built big walls to keep the monster out and made a rule that no one could go out after dark. ...of course, nowadays nobody believes in such things. But you know... even now, the people of this town stay inside after dark. Isn't that strange? I guess old stories and old traditions have some influence on our current life.



That's really about it for this town, but as stated, everyone's inside at night. It's cute, there wasn't much reason to give this pitstop town with nothing much to do a fun personality. But they did so anyway, because why not?



...w-what? What do you want, now? Did you pick now to listen to my stories? Mmm... OK, I'll tell you... behind our Lacunosa Town, there's a big hole in the ground. That hole, way in the past... aaaahhh, I'm so tired... that hole, there was a... a big... crashed down... inside was... big, scary... really scary... Zzz... zzz... zzz...



I'm sorry to leave my wife lonely, but that's the life of a powerful executive. Oh, this is a souvenir from a business trip, but she does not seem to need it, so I will give it to you.



I leave on a business trip again tomorrow. I think of myself as a role model for businesspeople.

And that's it for Lacunosa Town! On Sunday night we can get a Pecha, Leppa, Lum or Bluk Berry from this guy and we'll never come back here for this LP, let's get outta here!

Route 13 Spring



Route 13 is where we'll be spending basically the rest of this update, because it's pretty big and also very easy to get distracted along the way.



When Pokemon use moves, or when they see you and catch your eye, your heart beats a little faster, doesn't it?



And of course there's tons of new mons to find. At least we can space these out a bit.



Cut rears its ugly head again. Hopefully we're nearly done with this damn HM.



Oh hey, wonder what this is doing here?




Hey who gave Mothim Quiver Dance? What has mankind wrought???



I'm happy when I am with my Pokemon! That means I will be happy for years to come! Because I'm always with them!



Hmm, sounds like a sidequest. Let me just get distracted at least 5 times before we finish this.




Ah man hope the letters didn't fall in the water...



Artists can be divided into two types... some draw what they see, and some draw what they can't see!



Oh hey, there's one!




Alright, let's head down and try to find some. Surely they'll just be out in the open?



I really miss repels working, you guys...




Ah geez, more Water Pokemon to struggle with. Though maybe he won't have any evolved mons.




I want to go deep-sea fishing using the Royal Unova that leaves from Castelia City!



Fishing time, what will we find. Fishing time, I'm running out of Net Balls.




Wow, two encounters! There's also a rare chance at a Luvdisc, but there's other ways to get Heart Scales now, so it's not important.



Well, could this be it? It fell on my head just now. Here, give this to Wingull.



A wrinkle in this sidequest is you might overlook this guy who gives you a Gram. Bit annoying, but I'm sure it's just the one.



Surfing encounters you say?



hiyah



Easy way back, and we've found a new little item. Give a Prism Scale to a Feebas and trade it, it'll evolve into Milotic. Neat, now you don't have to bother with miserable Beauty raising. And of course, Milotic is free to catch if you're a little lucky.



You ready to get eaten by a monster? No not like in your animes.

Giant Chasm



That exit down there is the way forward, but this cave has a few important things to it as well.



I wasn't in a huge rush to catch some mons on Route 13 since some can be found in here as well.



And since this is a cave, we'll be getting stopped every 5 steps for an encounter. What fun.




Dunno why these strength boulders are really here, if it's just for one item.




There's not really an icy postgame area, kinda already did that with Icirrus City and its surroundings, so this will have to do. Plenty more to catch. Again!




Star Pieces are becoming a bit too common so a new tier of rare sellable was introduced. Though it can't be sold in these games, only given to the ore maniac in Icirrus City for a fat 60k. Still, this is the only one we'll find unless you get stupid lucky with held items.



Hey Nack.



This is the only spot of water in the Giant Chasm, so let's get it done.



Pretty standard, with a rarer chance of Poliwhirl. If you get lucky fishing in rippling water, then you could get a Poliwrath, first time that's been available to catch. ...okay there was XD, but who remembers trash I LPed nearly... 3 years ago. Ah fuck.



Ugh, FINE, I'll go around.




This just means you don't have to go all the way around for the entrance if you have Strength. And you should. I can moan about it sometimes, but slotting in those boulders is very satisfying and it also means you don't need the HM when you've done them all.



Alright, into the crater.



Since this quite out of the way, in the postgame no less, the Pokemon around here are very strong, but Corazon can run away from all of them, so it's okay. Boy it's almost like I planned it that way.



...how many Pokemon are from space, anyway?



We go in a spiral pattern with a bunch of ledges to stop you going back, so make sure to get everything, there's some good stuff!




Slight pain to catch as always, but you definitely need one for breeding. Well technically we need two, but since I'm not planning on any breeding, I'll just grab the one, whatever.



Since the level of Pokemon is higher, we'll find level 65 wild Pokemon in the dark grass, the highest in the game! And here I am moaning about being underlevelled, I can be a real drama queen sometimes.



Oh hey it's a Metang, doesn't the entire Beldum line have 3 catch rate because you didn't actually catch it in Gen 3 so it didn't really matter. Yeah, that's fun. Anyway, it's a terrible idea to actually try and catch one. Sure, you can even find a Metagross, as well as Mamoswine and Clefable, in the rustling grass, but that's still not a good idea cause it will actually murder you.



But if you're not a little bitch you'll catch one no problem. I am a fucking moron for trying to catch Pokemon during the day, though, so it's counterbalanced.



Here's a great reason to come here, finally Water types no longer have to be discount Ice types with inaccurate Blizzards, they are now better Ice types.



Hmm, there's a path on the top right we can't reach. But there's a small clearing in the bottom right. I wonder what we'll find.



Meh. But the TM is way more worth it, here's the Blissey slayer. But not the Chansey slayer, it has Eviolite.



That's everything we can grab, so let's reflect on our journey in the crater's centre.




As a millennial, the prospect of running towards a terrifying monster sounds like my kind of Saturday night. Ah shit I really am writing this on a Saturday night WHAT HAS MY LIFE BECOME

Kyurem Battle







Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. Kyurem seems to have a lot going for it, nice HP, incredible dual offensive stats, and pretty good defensive stats. So why is it UU? Well, it's the jack of all trades, mixed sets aren't really a thing these days, so investing fully into physical or special means you're throwing 130 stat points away. Especially because it doesn't really have a physical set, Outrage, Shadow Claw, Rock Slide, no physical Ice move at all. Well I'm sure that last part won't be an issue later. The best you could maybe attempt on a mixed set is slapping Draco Meteor on the end of a physical set, so special it is. Now Dragon and Ice coverage are a little redundant, but it gets stuff like Hyper Voice, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon and Focus Blast for some fun stuff.

No the main issue is its typing, Ice types have a hard time making it in OU and it still doesn't help it really overcome Steel types. Also, as a Dragon, it has a lot to live up to, and 95 Spd is just short of other mammoths like Haxorus and Hydreigon. Add in all the speedy Fighting types and you can see how OU is a very unfriendly environment for it. And then it gets outclassed by its other forms 2 years later. Well, maybe it doesn't mind. On paper, this thing looks great, but then you have some things dragging it down and they're a little too big to overcome. In OU at least, it absolutely tears UU apart.



Anyway since this is a legendary Pokemon nearly 30 levels above us, it 2HKO our entire team. Even Eviolite PRNDL can't survive it since John doesn't need it for this fight.



So let's throw some balls before it kills us and we need to restart.


"It generates a powerful, freezing energy inside itself, but its body became frozen when the energy leaked out."

Thanks, Pokedex.

Route 13 Spring



Well that was a fun diversion. Weren't we in the middle of stuff? Might as well catch a Tangela on the way back.



...wait. No. Nooooooo... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO



Is my fishing rod bad? Or is it my fishing skill that's bad? I always catch the same Pokemon.




That's all the water encounters done, well the ones I care about. There's quite a bit of variety, we can find Starmie in rippling water, same as Corsola, as well as Pelipper from just surfing around. Fishing in rippling water also nets us Cloyster and Kingler.



Hi... please have a battle with me.



Ah, the last mon John needs to beat as a Fraxure. God what a stupidly long journey this has been. Hopefully the rest of the mons are easy to beat and don't use OHKO moves!




I heard a parasol is a must on the beach... but I'm the only one who has one?



:sickos: It's all worth it though, actually has less Atk than Skulletor, if you can believe it, but has better increases in other stats. Damn John is so good and I cannot wait to actually unleash it on the rest of the postgame.



Treasure hunting is fun. Sometimes things are buried in the sand dunes. Actually, I just found something! But it's the same one as I found before, so I will give it to you.



I'll be hunting for treasures here tomorrow, too. I may find something, so if you have time, stop by.



Definitely worth coming back here every day, that is some primo stuff here. The flutes don't do anything anymore, alas, so you can only sell them. But this is the only place you can find them. The Shoal Salt and Shoal Shell are Hoenn confirmed but also don't do anything, while other items, like the Lucky Punch and Lucky Egg can only be gotten here otherwise. Everything else could be a hassle to obtain, but are available through other means.



Very well. Let me reward your passion with some absolutely astounding moves. They're the ultimate moves! Shall I teach them to your Pokemon? Hmm... well, that is fine, as well. Visit if you have a change of heart.



I'm long past the point of ever teaching my starter their "ultimate move", pah. Like with the Comet Shard, this is the only Pearl String you'll naturally obtain, though it isn't held by wild Pokemon. It sells for a fat stack of 25k maniac cash, but again we won't have money issues very soon.



But I don't know how to use it. You can have it if you like.



I have another one. Take this, too!



They say there's a sunken temple at the bottom of the sea around Undella Town. Those plates were resting in the temple. Maybe they're treasure...



...I got it! Wingull dropped it. Here it is. Please give this to Wingull! Tell Wingull not to drop it this time!



I'm not so good at talking, so I write mail instead. I can write all about my trip and how it made me feel.



Didn't get distracted along the way, no sir. Bit annoying that two of the Grams are held by people, not really much of a hunt. But at least they're not far.




Thank you, Trainer! When we see happy Pokemon faces, we feel happy, don't we?

The reward is a good one though, damn this TM is nice for the endlessly switching singles doom meta I stay far away from.




Feels like this massive route never ends. But hey, what's better than one team member evolution?




Because my own Pokemon are the best ones for me!



In a little bit PRNDL will learn Shift Gear to round out its... depressing moveset, but it has everything it really needs, so I'm happy. Those are perfectly good stats and who doesn't love gear gear gear?


"They are kind but can be relentless when defending territory. They challenge foes with tusks that can cut steel."
"Its red core functions as an energy tank. It fires the charged energy through its spikes into an area."

Boy, imagine if we had Unova mons that took even longer to evolve???



Don't forget about this huge island over here.



We've nearly got everything on this route, but there's also Tangrowth and Crobat in the rustling grass. I'm glad there's shortcuts to some evolutions if you really don't fancy doing it one way.




Using Big O has been a bit annoying with all the Water types, but this is one isn't too bad.



The secret of fishing... isn't it "hurry up slowly"?



Nearly done with the length of the route, now for the width. It never seems to end... oh hey, we got the DeepSeaTooth quite a while ago. Nice to finally get the item Clamperl cares to use.



What is this, the good TM day?



Uh, thanks.




Big O saves the world!



If Pokemon are good friends, they will be filled with power!

The Abilities called Plus and Minus are the best combination! Right?



There's a bit of a gauntlet to the end of the route, but our newly evolved team members will handle this just fine!



Oh. Well shit.



The quiet sound of a multitude of waves endlessly overlapping... it's like a first-class orchestra... doesn't it sound like that?



Gimme your money boomer.



Cool



...looking back, when I had ups and downs, my Pokemon were always there for me.



Don't forget about the sandy bar up here, it's vaguely important or whatever.



Neat, took 3 attempts in rippling water, but now we have a slow way of getting Heart Scales. Just do the daily quest in Driftveil.




How about that? Sounds pretty great, doesn't it?



Please stop kicking my ass.



I walk on the sandy beach... because I love footprints!



Just before we finish this hell of a route, here's the last mon we're missing. ...I mean, we didn't really make much progress on the Unova Dex, but this is fine too, r-right?



Can you believe it?



Do you have a villa in Undella? You are rich! As a token of our new acquaintance, please accept this!



Thanks, uh, I don't need it. Undella Town is similarly small, but does have a bit going for it. Can't help to explore it a bit, right?



So, teach this move to your Pokemon, and you can dive into the sea!



Inside this Hidden Machine is Dive! The darkest parts of the sea are called diving points, and if you use Dive there, you can dive all the way to the bottom of the sea!



Ugh, I don't wanna think about what Pokemon I'll have to saddle that move with. Hmm, not that I've really seen any dive spots in my journeys. Still, let's poke around these villas, what's the worst that could happen?

Oh hi Cynthia

[Crosspeice]

Part 26: Little Fish, Big Pond

Part 26: Little Fish, Big Pond

Cynthia Encounter



What an uncanny resemblance... it's surprising to meet another Trainer who has intense eyes like that Pokemon Trainer. What's your name? ... OK. I'll remember that! Touya, nice to meet you. I'm Cynthia. I'm a Pokemon Trainer, too, like you. I have an insatiable curiosity for researching Pokemon myths.



I'm staying here at my friend's villa so I can investigate them. In order to get to know each other better as Pokemon Trainers, I would like our Pokemon to have a match. Would you care to be my opponent? Ha ha. You prefer to take things slowly and rationally, am I right? When you're ready, come and talk to me. I'll be happy to see you.

Undella Town



Let's not come back for a very long time. Instead hey, here's some Dive Balls, they're cool or whatever.

Undella Town Summer



Undella Town: A Town of Rippling Waves
Fom undulatus, clouds with wavy patterns. They have names for everything, damn. Also derived from umbrella and underwater.
Sazanami Town: The sound of the ebbs and flows of the waves.
From さざ波文様 sazanami-mon'yō, a pattern based on ripples and 漣/小波/細波 sazanami (ripple).



Quite. There's really not much in Undella until you Alolan it up and visit during the Summer, when things actually happen. Because no point going outside unless it's summer.



Not too much actually changes, there's not much to this place overall tbh, but at least people are in the other villas now! We'll need this evolution in just a moment.



I've been relaxing in Undella Town too long, and I've gotten a little chubby. If Cinccino was by my side, I can get some exercise by training it, and that'll help me lose weight. Would you trade my Munchlax with Cinccino? Phew! All right, let's trade!




Been a long while since the last trade, Boldore for Emolga on Route 7 if you remember, but it's definitely worth it, since the Snorlax line can't be obtained in these games otherwise.



Please take good care of Munchlax. It spent a summer with me. I will work hard to train your Cinccino and get some exercise!




Well it's a free Leftovers, otherwise whatever.



And that's it for Undella Town in the summer, this last bit is doable any time, but is something we'll finish up much later.




Scared pottah?



I like you! I will let you see a very special thing, so follow me!



This is my dad's villa, and I can use it freely! But when I came here, surprisingly there was nothing to do, so now I'm bored. As you may know, my dad is totally obsessed with items at the ruins... hey, you're bored, aren't you? Come here tomorrow, too! I don't mind having a battle with you!

This is a new daily thing we can do to battle various rich people and take their money. Pretty worthwhile, but it ramps up in the usual postgame way so it'll be a while before we can actually do this. I know I'm delaying quite a few things, but I don't want to die!



And as you can see, my hobby is to collect rare items! In fact, this outfit is ultra expensive and rare. Can you see it? Can you? There's something that this billionaire wants to get his hands on, even if it means spending a lot of money. Do you have such a rare item? Do you?



How many damn item maniacs are there. Well we can sell flutes to this guy for 8k each, but the main thing he wants is stuff found in the ruins. So let's head there and solve all our money problems.



Quick beach comb, and let's explore the- oh, some rippling water.



Wayyyyyy, all the new water encounters in Undella Town are more common in the bay so might as well catch them here.




One new fish to pick up and we've found a dive spot. We'll waste a moveslot on Gamera in just a moment. During Winter, you can find Spheal and Sealeo but I don't fancy changing my computer clock for every little thing, I already do it enough and it's the one annoying thing about showing off most things in these games.



Nice to add Hamlet back into the party just to fight a bunch of overlevelled Water types. I'm good at this.



Alright, we've finally seen male Jellicent, I can sleep easy.



OK! I will challenge Pokemon in Gyms all over the world! Where do I find Water-type Gyms... Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, right?




They say a temple sank to the ocean floor in Undella!



Alright, another mon to add to the- siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh



That's it for new encounters, Mantine and Wailord can be found in rippling water, or Walrein in Winter.




If you're wondering if there's anything above the surface aside from trainers, the answer is uh no.

"is really an adventure!"


Oh hey Hamlet can beat a Water type without getting oneshot, that's nice.



I am on vacation all year round...



The swimmers here are very talkative.



Have your Pokemon learned the move Dive? Dive is good! Great! 'Cause it's Dive!



yes



I heard that Cynthia swims secretly when nobody else is around. And I heard she is great! Just great!




Was wondering when I'd encounter cute birb. Now let's go for a deep dive to some ruins, it's gonna be a blast.

Abyssal Ruins



Don't think of Dive in the Gen 3 sense, there's only one place to visit and it has four entrances. We'll go in via the left entrance first.






Alright, it's maze time. You have 500 steps to steal everything not nailed down and maybe even progress further into the ruins for better treasure. Since maps of this place were made of squares, I decided to make my own one using the actual in-game layout, so refer to that if you want to know where I am. There's not really an easy way to show this since this place is just collecting items.



You can find the other 14 Plates here, you might want them, might not, and there's a bunch of hieroglyphs that are a little complicated to translate, but it is very worth it. We're given the transliterations in the sequel, but it still requires a cipher to figure it out, and the fun thing is the cipher changes each floor.



That's 100 steps. So there's 33 symbols, 25 of them correspond to the alphabet, one symbol is missing due to how one letter is missing from each floor. 4 symbols correspond to numbers that are used on this floor and the last four symbols are not translated as they refer to an individual, Pokemon or otherwise and are left intentionally blank in the sequel's transliteration.




So once you have the symbols match up to the alphabet, it's still unreadable because of the cipher, you need to read them backwards and upside down, as in, you read it bottom to top and then right to left. So the first pillar we encounter at the entrance reads SDROWSGNIKOTNETSIL, which is reversed to Listen to King's words. There's no punctuation or anything of the sort, it's a very simple code.



300 steps. There's a bunch of Relic items in the ruins, especially on later floors, that can be sold to the billionaire for lots and lots of money. It's definitely worth to come here even if you don't intend to pick up everything, the items on the later floors can be sold for a buttload.



You have to translate the pillars blocking the way if you want to have an idea of what to do to progress. This pillar is the only one to change depending on how many steps you took to get here, 190 or more reads TSOLSTEGGNIKON, No king gets lost. That's fine, I'll be grabbing everything here for the most part before I move on.



There are some pillars that tell you how to get the middle with little difficulty, but otherwise they tell a story of a long lost king. This is likely referring to the brothers that bonded with the legendaries, depending on the version, but it could also refer to a descendant, since it seems to only refer to one individual.



450 steps. The story reads as follows: Listen to King's words. Primes lead to truth. King is brave. King never loses hope. King is kind. King has a dream. Kind is adventurous. King accepts all. King turns 2nd corner. King turns 3rd corner. King turns 5th corner. King turns 7th corner. Have the heart of King. Here we praise King. King's light shines. King moves his people. King acts with love. King fought hatred.



This king guy seems like a real top bloke. It's been 500 steps, so we're kicked out, but can easily dive back in to get more things. It'll take a few attempts to get everything, but having a map open showing the items can really speed along the process.



I don't need to show me picking up every item, but I have an image buffer to talk about other things. So the way to the center is something you'll do quite a few times, but the game makes it easy for you. The left entrance takes the least amount of steps to reach the center, and if you turn at the prime junctions, as in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th from the entrance, then you will always reach the middle. Each of those denominations is represented by a single symbol btw.



We've picked up every item in the left and bottom entrances, since they pair together quite nicely, so we can leave and then re-enter to restart the turn count. Let's go up a floor.




Go on, brave King.





Another floor, another maze. Though there's some better stuff here, there's less steps to grab them in. But that's fine, you can just use the cipher to find out where to go. Well, not exactly, since this is a smaller floor there's no directions and there's an additional step to add to the cipher. See, the symbols shift up by one so they correspond to a different letter than the floor below. So a symbol that meant E last floor now means D, and the same will happen on the next floor, so D will become C.




Well that's enough of 2F for the moment, now we'll go through the top entrance to grab a few things.



Things were grabbed, so now for the right entrance.



And there was only a couple things left, 500 steps gives you a lot of leeway. So now we'll dive to the left entrance for the rest of this place to quickly get to the middle in around 160 steps. Follow the prime rule, or just head for the top right and then go straight down when you reach the middle, pretty simple.




Least we can quickly get through this floor now. You just head to the right, wrap around and then take the first junction. The prime rule still applies to all floors, it's a nicely designed maze.




Yes you need Flash to get through here, the writing tells you all about it. Or, not exactly, see in the transliteration, it uses the translated alphabet from the first floor, so this pillar becomes EFFSHBGJFOJIT, which is actual gibberish. You need to know to apply the letter shift to higher floors to then make it Shine if agreed. Otherwise, the rules are the same.



Since I got every item on 2F I didn't have much time of 3F, so we'll have to do this all over again.



As for the story on this floor: Life is gratitude. Eating is receiving life. Good or evil isn't all. Do not be barbaric. One must not waste. All is precious. Wars create tears. Shine if agreed.





Alright, last maze, though it's quite easy to find what you need here.



Got most things on this floor, so I think we just need one more trip to completely clear this place.



So, from the top.



Prime rule to reach the middle within 190 steps.



Same rule to reach the flash, aaaaaahhhhhhh.



And then the final hurdle, once we picked up the final 3F item. The cipher has moved two steps on, E is now C as an example so this says FGGTICHKIPQTVUVEC. That doesn't really mean anything, so let's go over the whole story for this floor: King talks to all beings. Saved all from waves. King is hope for all. Think, act with love. Act strong if agreed.



And there we go. Interesting that this king has the same power N has. Perhaps N is more of a king than he thinks, being an orphan that knows nothing of his lineage.



And our final prize. The crown is the only thing up here, aside from LORE, so we're done here. The cipher is now 3 steps up, so E is now B and as a coincidence one letter in each of those steps never appeared so we don't know one of the symbols. 1F never has Z appear, 2F never has Y, 3F never has X and 4F never has W, it's quite strange. For the final floor: King defeated ? alone. ? joined King in a day. King called ? beings. King is hope and future. The great King ?.



The mystery washes over us. As well as the torrent of water. So the King's name is transliterated in the sequel (and I'll go over it now so we're not waiting two years to talk about a minor thing) as various dots, which have a different length depending on the language. In the ruins they're a single symbol, unlike anything else in the language, but we can make some speculations. Since it's 5 characters in Japanese/Korean, 8 characters in English/French/Italian, and 7 characters in Spanish, it's proposed to be Harmonia, since it fits in all contexts. Very interesting. The other 3 symbols are all different, so they possibly refer to different individuals, but they all have the same number of characters, so they perhaps represent 3 different forms of one creature?

Well they're 4 characters in Japanese/Korean/Spanish, 5 characters in English/Italian and 7 characters in Spanish. This is something we don't know since they can't be names of Pokemon, as no Spanish Pokemon name is different to an English Pokemon name as of Gen 5, and there's nothing too notable that can fit in each context. It's possible that it just refers to great events the king does and it's not something we need to know the specifics of, but if it's a descendant of the brothers who created the Unova region, then they might not be referring to the legendary dragons. The symbols themselves don't actually mean anything, since they translate specifically to the alphabet, so we can't really take their shape into account. In any case, it's a pretty interesting puzzle to think about. I like it. Anyway, let's get some FUCKING MOOLAH!!!



I was told it was at the innermost part of the Abyssal Ruins! I think it is understandable that you-



You only get one Relic Crown, but he'll ask you every time you talk to him if you want to sell it, so fuck it, gimme all that cash.





Bitchin. I'll keep one of every other item and not bother selling the Coppers, doing it one at a time is pretty annoying. If you do want to give him everything, then you get a tidy profit of $1,706,000, which will last us the entire game. Yes, you can go over 1 million to not limit you from selling all this stuff in one go. Finally, we can buy a bicycle!

Route 14 Summer



That's enough lore for one update, make sure to delete Dive and never use it again.



"It can manipulate an opponent's memory. Apparently, it communicates by flashing its three different-colored fingers."

There was a hidden item I was trying to pinpoint, but instead I ran into two encounters instead.



It wasn't in the grass anyway...



The amount of Fisherman and Swimmers we've fought in the last two updates...



You! It's impressive that you have a Super Rod!



We could stay on the lower end, but there's waterfalls, so let's use them!



Are you not making friends with Zekrom? There is a saying... if somewhere in this world there is someone who understands you, if feels like that person is right beside you, even if you're as far apart as the end of the land and the top of the sky. As my lord N and his Pokemon understand one another, so, too, do you and your Pokemon understand one another. Which is my reason for giving you this...



The legend of Unova is about Pokemon and people working together to build a new world! The message is that simple and that strong. If changing the world makes you a hero, anyone can become a hero. As each of us changes what is in our power to change, so the world itself changes.

Looker Appears



I am an officer of the International Police, and you must supply the information I request!

Indeed, I shall. Team Plasma changed me, but it could not change the world. I'm looking forward to seeing how you lot will do.

I beg you will accept my thanks! Now, Ghetsis notwithstanding, there yet remains but 4 of the Seven Sages still at large. What do they think of? What do they hope for? I am intensely interested to know this. To depart at once!



That's some deep stuff in a remote waterfall area. Now to shift completely to a random trainer battle.



what the fuck



With the Pokemon move Waterfall, a Pokemon can climb a waterfall! ...there is not move called Mountainfall.

Abundant Shrine



Nestled deep in the mountains is this cool little place. As if we weren't distracted enough.



Very worthwhile to come here, though Hamlet already has this move. Still, this is the second BalmMushroom we can get, unless you fancy 1% chances, so we don't need to sell this.



Of course we'd find this as one of our last new water encounters. If you fancy your luck in rippling water you can also get both Slowbro and Slowking, very handy.




Now that's just rude...



I scrape my legs a lot 'cause I'm wearing shorts. But I'm fine! My Pokemon lick the scraped parts!





Remember when Chimecho was one of the rarest Pokemon in the game?




Sorry, my PC is a real stinker.



Ya ever poured boiling water on your flaming horse for fun and profit?



I was writing this and that on the wall. Oh, I will never show it to you! ...because it's my secret!




We've barely touched the Pokemon on Route 14 but this place has a bunch of new encounters as well.



I wonder how many mushrooms I actually have...

"so I want to have a battle with you!"


Neat.



The Pokemon called Burmy can change their forms depending on where they battle! Isn't that great??



What is a deity to a champion.



Hey get back here, you haven't kicked my ass yet!



Great Landorus... is it a strong and kind Pokemon?



That's not true! The Pokemon that brings bad thunderstorms is a different Pokemon!

No, silly, you've got it wrong!



If you wreck the shrine, it can't punish that stormy Pokemon if it comes back!

But that doesn't make any sense! If a Pokemon does a bad thing, Great Landorus will come to help us, whether it has a shrine or not! You're the silly one!



They say that when Tornadus and Thundurus were whipping up storms that damaged houses and fields all over the Unova region, Landorus made them stop. That's a story from way long ago, when my grandpa was a little boy. So if Tornadus and Thundurus come here again, Great Landorus may come back. That's what my grandpa told me!



Hmm, we have one of them, but getting the other one could be tricky. It's not like I can just copy over the .pkm file in 5 seconds. Or can I?




We're not done with these areas just yet, but we'll be back in just a moment, after all how could I call myself a Pokemon fan if I didn't get a third genie???

[Crosspeice]

Part 27: Bridged the Gap

Part 27: Bridged the Gap



Sup, since I did some save editing again like I do every now and then, I changed some things up, like the C-Gear skin again, suggested by blaziken386, as well as a couple other things.




Touko was even kind enough to give her legendaries, not like she'll need them for anything. And not like we'll need Reshiram for anything, but version exclusives dammit!



We'll Surf back through the mists to the shrine, with that "trading" done, we only have one legendary left!



Still a couple mons left but Misdreavus/Murkrow are rare version exclusives so I wasn't worried about missing them.



Now would be a good time to save.

Landorus Encounter







Eh, worth a shot. So there's three of these mons and yeah, the lack of imagination with their designs is kinda lame, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use this monster. Sheer Force is a pretty amazing HA that it can use a lot of moves with, like Earth Power and Stone Edge, but its main claim in Ubers, because it's a monster in OU, is being a very effective sand sweeper. Sure there's a lot of weather going around, but boosting its EdgeQuake combo by 30% is a great idea.

It immediately shows off with Swords Dance and can then sweep behind a sub, it only needs 2 moves after all, or it can use its effective mixed nature to go for Focus Blast and Grass Knot. It can even be pretty cheeky and nail switch-ins with Smack Down, letting it terrorize an opponent with EQ next turn. It has a fair share of weaknesses, such as 4x Ice, which a lot of Ubers can struggle with, but it has some key immunities as well, and it has a great Spd tier that lets it get the jump on a bunch of base 100s. Great Pokemon to use, but at least there's only 3 of them!



This damn thing 2HKOs my entire team in sand or not, so it's just a free turn for me.



And since I don't fancy relearning Lick, this is the best we'll get. Still, with Dusk Balls, this is a 9% chance of capture.


"Lands visited by Landorus grant such bountiful crops that it has been hailed as 'The Guardian of the Fields.'"

Alright, not too bad tbh. I was hoping that catching all these Pokemon would result in a clutch crit catch during a legendary encounter, but that never happened. Oh well, least we're done with miserable catching for the rest of the game! Very happy about that.



And one last mon to grab before we leave. If you don't fancy them stones then you can get Ninetales and Honchkrow/Mismagius in the rustling grass.

Route 14 Summer

"It's a perfect picture!"


Oh right we were in the middle of a route or whatever.



On a bridge! A sentimental Trainer after his defeat! This is also a good, tragic picture!




Ahh, please have mercy.



If we could greet anyone in the world with "Let's have a Pokemon battle!" that would be wonderful!



We're gonna quickly head back to the entrance of Abundant Shrine as this is the only way to get to this Ace Trainer.



We haven't seen an Ace Trainer in the postgame yet, they're pretty scary! They pack fully evolved mons of all kinds and have an average level of 68 instead of the 64 we've gotten used to.



We can squeak by but PRNDL's resistances and Thunder Wave support are just so, soooooo good.



Fall down seven times, stand up eight! The more I rise up, the stronger my mind grows! That's why I thank you for each round that I lost!



Last obstacle before the end of the route. It's another scary team time!




PRNDL I love you.



With a friend, you laugh twice for happy things, and you cry half for sad ones. That is the joy of living with Pokemon.




Since we were on the water a lot, we didn't run into the last few encounters on this route. Not a big deal, we're done with other gens, but there is, gasp, one Pokemon we can get for the Unova dex!



And it took so long to show up we got the 5% encounter before it. Cool!


"It wields the fur on its arms like a whip. Its arm attacks come with such rapidity that they cannot even be seen."

Get over here! At a slightly higher chance than Bisharp on a previous route, not that I could tell, we might as grab this. Only found evolved in the dark grass, but Corazon can nigerundayo so it's not too bad. For the rustling grass... it's just Wigglytuff. Neat. Of course, this entire time you assume that Audino and even Emolga take up most of the encounters, so don't count on it.

White Forest



And so we have made it... to the last main location in the game. God this place sucks. But it also doesn't suck. I'll go over it in a minute.



But recently, I've been thinking I want to test the strength of the Pokemon I've met.



Ooh mail. So first issue this place has that you immediately notice, it can be pretty damn empty. The amount of people that are in this location depend on how quickly you get here from the start of the game. 10 people on the first day and then one leaves each day after that until you hit the minimum of one. How long ago did I start this LP...? Well it's not a big deal, you can invite people over from another game, but if you don't have another game, well you're right stuffed now aren't you.



At least the people you find here will determine what Pokemon you can catch in the grass. All at level 5, all pretty useful for filling the National Dex. There's 30 different people you can encounter and thus 30 new Pokemon to find.



What people you have here will also determine what items can occasionally be found on the ground. Otherwise this house is about all that's here.



In White Forest, people live in harmony with nature and with Pokemon. Please listen to the voice of the forest. It's saying "Bienvenue!" Ho! Hoo! Hoo! I do research into the Pokemon that live in this forest. In theory, you should find Aron living in this forest. If you see Aron in this forest, please let me know. That will be proof that Pokemon are living in this forest.



Well we can show the requested mon to that guy for a Chesto, Pecha, Leppa, Lum or Bluk Berry daily, and there's some triple battles. Let's dig in!



Hope there's lots more postgame to go, we've still got a lot of catching up to do.



Thankfully these battles aren't too bad if you focus down an enemy and the slowly pick them apart.



Hey I was using that!



But this Reuniclus doesn't seem to be very offensive, so we're mostly done here.



I'll work even harder raising my Pokemon!



You can only fight these trainers once, so savour this content in White Forest while you can.



Ah that's gonna hurt.



Still, it's the only real threat since the other two mons are pretty well covered.



There are so many things to consider, but that is part of the fun of Triple Battles!



Quite, we're about done here, but let's see if we can't find some more content... on the flipside. And by more content I mean much, muuuuuuch worse content.



Yes we're back to Black for the final time. Partly because we're out of version differences to show off after this point, and partly because going through the postgame with a low level team again sounds like my ninth circle of hell. The other eight circles are my last eight LPs, of course.



Thankfully you can get through Route 15 without fighting a Trainer pretty easily. Here's the other version.

Black City



So Black City and White Forest are mirrors of each other. Based off the same principle, invite people from one to the other to fill it up but what you can find lying on the ground for free in White Forest, you can instead buy at extortionate prices in Black City.



This is the city of dreams, greed, and more greed. And I am Black City's boss, so I'm a whirlpool of greed! This city is filled with vibrant people who are like big piles of greed. Hmm. Try defeating 10 of the people outside. Then I'll repay your greed.



And instead of catching as many Pokemon as you want to complete your Pokedex in White Forest, you can instead fight trainers for money and experience. You might be seeing which version got the raw deal here.



Though not all trainers are the same level, a good chunk are standard postgame, but some aren't exactly worth it. For every 10 you defeat, so something you can do daily if you have a maxed out city... or once every 10 days if you have a pile of garbage like me, then you'll get a fat stack of 10k dolla from the owner. Wow, as if money is really hard to come by after the Abyssal Ruins.



Still, what are AR codes if not the answer to all life's problems? Both areas look pretty nice when fully lived in, so let's see what fun Pokemon can be found.





Oh what fun, I'm not gonna catch every mon here, only 10 people appear at one time after all, but let's see how Black City stacks up.



The houses never have anything no matter the size, but it's quite the metropolis now.



Now hey, getting as much of an item as you want can be useful, but I think it's best if we did a full comparison of both locales at once.





I've made a little chart for you to show what each person offers for each place. They're ordered by their base points, which I'll go over in just a moment, and shows what item they sell in Black City, or drop in White Forest, as well as the Pokemon they'll spawn in White Forest. They'll use the fully evolved form in battle in Black City, both forms in the case of Ralts and Wurmple, and they're all a slight pain the arse to actually keep around due to the point system. From their base point amount, the entire city loses 5 per day, but gain 3 if you visit the area. You have to battle them/talk to them in each version to increase their individual points by 10. And that's it, so it's a lot of micromanaging for not much benefit honestly. So looking at both versions, we can surmise the advantages White Forest has over Black City thusly:

Not only can you catch and then obtain the mons you would see in battle in Black City, you can also just pick the item up for free. Now granted it's pretty hard to get the item you want in White Forest, but finagling the right person into your game's location is a pain regardless and that shouldn't really be a point in Black City's favour. Also its main draw, that being infinite battles, are undercut by not all the trainers being at a good level and there's a perfectly amazing infinite grinding spot in the sports courts in Nimbasa City, I mentioned how useful they'd be on the first visit. So Black City really doesn't have much point to it unless you want to buy a bunch of stones and then a bunch of shards for... well, nothing much really. Even the sellable items are way past the point of profit, obviously, and the clear advantages White Forest offers make it the superior version. But to be fair, if you don't care about the Pokedex, White Forest mostly offers fuck all, so let's just get outta here already.

Route 15 Summer



Farewell Touko, have fun in your shitty city, let's move on to the final postgame route. Oh yeah there's also rotation battles in the big building. One guy has a Gothitelle, Krookodile and Galvantula, with the other having a Beartic, Excadrill and Heatmor. I don't want to fight them with my team because I don't want to die, and AI rotation battles suck shit.



mi viene tanta voglia di una lotta.




La strada percorsa non si cambia! Ma su quella da percorrere può accadere ancora di tutto!



Lot of tourists around here, and for good reason.

Poke Transfer Lab



You came here. That means you are a visitor? Huh? No? You came all the way here? Ah, you are a Trainer? Are you in the middle of your journey? Ah, this is your Trainer Card?



Great! You may be able to... Professor Paaaaaark! Quick, quick!



Professor! Do you have a minute? I think you do. Listen! This kid is a Trainer who has all the Gym Badges. All of them! I am sure this Trainer can operate it!

I have told you many times. This invention is great indeed, but without a professional Trainer...



Fantastic! Fantastico! Yahoooooooooooooooo! What a great day! Great! Unbelievable! Hi, I am Professor Andrew Park! You! Er...

Touya!

Touya! Are you willing to participate in an ambitious experiment that will make history? This device is called Poke Transfer. It connects...blah blah blah... ...called DS system...meanwhile... ...blah blah...of molecules...and then... ...while evoking...blah blah... ...ergo, energy particles will... ...blah blah...and if the frequency... ...as you see...with faraway Pokemon... ...the Alpha waves...blah blah...following which...reach convergence... ...blah blah... spectacular results!

To put it more simply, if you use this device, you may be able to bring Pokemon here from other regions. But just for safety's sake, the Pokemon you're transferring shouldn't be holding anything! So make sure to take their items first.



You are a fantastic Pokemon Trainer! Will you participate in the great experiment of the century? You need two DS systems to use Poke Transfer!



Phew, that's a lot, but it's pretty simple. You use a Pokeball catapult minigame to bring over previous gen Pokemon, it's definitely worth it, but requiring two systems is a slight pain, I won't bother.



I used this minigame a lot back in the day, and you quickly get used to timing your shots to hit Pokemon. If you hit the bush the mon is hiding in it'll jump out in the direction it was facing so you can easily snag it, even legendary Pokemon that jump pretty quickly. While any Pokemon you don't catch in time are sent back to the Gen 4 game, all the remaining mons are put to sleep when time is low, so you should be able to grab them easily at that point. And like in HGSS, there's no daily limit, do this as many times as you want! There's two things, the Movie 13 Celebi and shiny beasts will not activate their events if brought over this way, because of course not, and the Spiky-eared Pichu is trapped in its game, never to be free.

Oh! This Pichu needs to stay where it is. It appears to have traveled through time. It has been affected by traveling so far through time with Celebi. It'll be risky to transfer it, so it's best for Pichu to stay where it is.

Route 15 Summer



Now we leave, never to return.



I would be very happy if you would trade my Rotom for your Ditto. My heart is beating so fast! OK, let's trade!




Thank you very much! Please treat my Rotom with love! I will also take care of the Ditto that you traded to me!




Ditto is easy enough to catch, so might as well do this, it's the only way to get Rotom in these games. That's it for trades! Some good ones, some bad ones, whatever. Also there's a second Pokedex skin we can get, it's the last one, what a neat feature or whatever.



I only came to the other side of the route to quickly trade, so we'll head back to the other side and go from there.



Listen. My love for my Pokemon is the best in the world. Nobody can beat it.



Hopefully the encounters here won't be as much of a pain as last route's.



Yoo-hoo, are you a Trainer?!




The Altaria was a pain because it crit the only mon I have to take it down, but the rest of the mons weren't a big deal.




I am checking to see whether Pokemon that came from other regions by Poke Transfer have escaped.




Well that was... worth it? At least this is as devious strength puzzles get in these games.



Are you lost in your journey? No... in your life? At times like that, if you fight, you'll know!



At least this isn't STAB, so Milli can somewhat tank this.




Life itself is a journey, and it's natural to get lost sometimes! Some truths you can find only when you get lost!



Have we found all the TMs yet???



Watchog is only in the dark grass at a 5% rate for some reason and somehow I found one in like 10 steps?




Last trainer on this route, so hopefully she doesn't kick my ass.



When people try to do what they can't, they become clumsy. If they do what they can do very well, they can always be themselves!




We're done with this safari area, who knows how many mons around here are actually local. But there is one more mon left to find.



Thankfully not as hard to catch as Metang, but you can try your luck and find Tyranitar in the rustling grass, along with Gliscor and the oni twins.



Ugggggggh, fine.




Thankfully there's not many Rotation Battles in this game, cause facing the AI is never fun. Of course this is a Triple Battle in Black, same trainer, same Pokemon. Like you can see the issue, she swaps in Alomomola against Tristan. But I was swapping in Milli for Beheeyem, so she did something smart by being dumb!



It feels so random how they swap in, again using Hydro Pump on Tristan. Do they just expect me to switch??? Am I being outsmarted???



Still once one mon goes down, it's much easier to predict switches.



Now you can have Rotation Battles with your friends!



Oh hey it's another bridge.


"Swanna start to dance at dusk. The one dancing in the middle is the leader of the flock."

Feels like a long, long time ago that we caught a Ducklett on the Drawbridge.

Marvelous... and also a song!



OK! I'm going to get all fired up! Ready all Patrat! Everyone gather up!



This--the li'l Patrat with the biggest belly! It's holding a Big Mushroom! Ready, set, go!




You follow that? Well I'm never great at these, but I'm think I've got this.



You are... ... ... ... totally correct! Receive your prize, a Big Mushroom from that Patrat!



That marks the grand finale of our Patrat show! Thank you, one and all!



Ghetsis is gone. He went off somewhere alone after we rescued him from the castle.

From the day Ghetsis saved our lives, we have sworn to be loyal to him. Even now, after he ordered us not to search for him.

Also, Ghetsis said to give you this...



As well as this...



And this, also.



Ghetsis... where did he find these? What was he planning to do with them? Why did he give them to you? There's no way to know now. Is he testing you? Or... using you?

We, the Shadow Triad, have always been and will always be the loyal servants of Ghetsis. And Ghetsis's ambitions will never cease!

Never shall we meet again. Farewell!



Well that's one way to get these items since we can't trade them up. What was Ghetsis doing with these anyway? Was he collecting other regions legendary items to find ways to awaken the legendaries here? I'm sure it'll all be explained in the sequel.



Here's your chance. I will sell you the secret Pokemon Magikarp... for an unbelievable $500! How about it? Interested?



I'm a different man to when I last bought something like this, this is a great deal!




It'll take, like, one postgame Audino to evolve this thing, and you can't get Magikarp anywhere else in these games, so it's highly recommended. It also has a guaranteed 31 Speed IV!



And that's it for the bridge, crazy how much they can squeeze in such a small area.



Next time, since we're done with all the postgame areas... uh... now what?

[Crosspeice]

Part 28: Round Region Roundup

Part 28: Round Region Roundup

Route 18 Autumn



Hi there, I'm gonna put off the scary postgame fights as much as possible, so here's some goofing around the region doing everything else we can.



There's two new fishing encounters past the Feebas part. Well, technically three, but not really.



This place has the same ocean smell as where I was born... Ghetsis wandered the lands of this world all over, collecting knowledge of all kinds while searching for like-minded people. From the moment we met, he understood what I desired. The ability to understand the minds and the needs of others... this is an ability that everyone needs to survive. My lord N is a kind and excellent person who understands the hearts of Pokemon. But, conversely, perhaps his ability to understand the hearts and feelings of people is not developed enough. But... even that was part of the perfection of Ghetsis's plan. When it comes to Ghetsis, I cannot separate the truths from the lies. See this? I received it from Ghetsis, but I no longer need it. I hope you can put it to good use.



Someday, if my lord N develops the ability to understand the feelings of people as well as Pokemon, I would like us to gather again. More than anything, I want to see N confront Ghetsis.



I am an officer of the International Police, and there are so many things you must tell me at once!

If that is what you desire...

Many thanks! Now, Ghetsis notwithstanding, there yet remains but 3 of the Seven Sages still at large. What it is they are thinking, what it may be they are hoping, this is the information I have need of. Quick and soon, say I!



Last fishing encounter, since we have a nice secluded spot. For whatever reason Chinchou can be found here at a 1% chance, I don't know why. In rippling water we can also get Kingdra and Qwilfish, and I won't go for either.

Dreamyard



Now that we're the Champion we have the power to remove CONES from the overworld, finally letting us access this area. We could've gone here first thing, but I didn't want my ass kicked even more cause the trainers down here are a little tougher than the ones we saw on the new routes.

"Don't you think?"


Spooky stuff down here, but we're much better equipped for it all now.



No matter how much you research, Pokemon are full of new discoveries!



There's even a "fun" gimmick, the trainers will instead run away if they see you, so you need to ambush them round the corner.



You don't really think about it but it's fun that this world has such advanced technology and fantastical creatures, but also full confirmation of supernatural human abilities with espers.



We're gonna be punching a lot of tapirs.



The things we can explain with logic are half of the world... the rest, we explain with feeling! Because the world is full of wonders.



Power spots are a long way away, LP friend.




To tell you the truth, everybody has Dream Mist. 'Cause if you can make a dream come true, it's the same as having Dream Mist. Right?




I dream to be LPing White 2 already.



The Dream Mist of the Pokemon Musharna... the secret has been unlocked, but it must be a great ability.




Hell yeah, hit me with 20BP Stored Power!



Dreams slip away when they almost come true... if you don't grab important things tight, you will lose them.

"I see you, but are you a dream?"


If we went here immediately after starting the postgame, we would've needed a few trips to the center, but now we can take on these... many, many trainers in one go.



Talking about dreams, Fennel's Pokemon DW! This is some great research! Are you doing Game Sync, too?



Alright, last one, starting to feel like a Gen 1 route in here.



I don't think it's possible for Haxorus to accept a special TM, they simply cannot comprehend it.



Good thing I only record on Friday nights!



Look at these top tier postgame items.



Uh, let's ignore him for a minute.



Were you surprised? Oh, Trainer-who-destroyed-our-castle, I was quite surprised by you! If you surprise them, both Pokemon and people leave themselves open. While they're in a state of surprise, they can't use their powers like they normally would. Our intention was to surprise people by making our castle appear and showing off the legendary Pokemon... At that moment, we planned to deeply impress people's hearts with the awesome power of Team Plasma and the brilliance of our new world. Now that I've seen the strength of spirit in you and the Gym Leaders, I wonder how effective that strategy would have been, after all. Maybe that strength of spirit is what's needed to take Pokemon to the next level? Hm... I'm sorry to have wasted your time with this silly conversation. Take this with you.



My lord N's dream... you were the one who put a stop to that. Please don't ever forget that.



I am an officer of the International Police, and there are so many things you must tell me at once!

Musharna is said to appear here. Its Dream Mist makes you see dreams, but they are nothing but illusions. The dreams you realize with your own abilities are the real dreams.

Accept my thanks! Now, Ghetsis notwithstanding, there yet remains but 2 of the Seven Sages still at large. What it is they are thinking, what it may be they are hoping, this is the information I pursue. Until we meet again!



This is one of the few cases where dark grass is used for a different encounter pool, it's the only way to get postgame mons in this area.





I dunno why I'm still catching all these mons.



It's better than Awakenings I guess.



How has it taken me this long to get that image?



Hey at least I get one new Unova mon per update, we're really running out! We could've caught Musharna the first time we came to this area in the rustling grass, but you can wait for this Friday one because it has its HA! Yes it's only Telepathy and that's useless in singles, and yes that means the only HAs you can naturally get in this game are both terrible, but, uhhhhh, it's a new Pokemon!


"The mist emanating from their foreheads is packed with the dreams of people and Pokémon."

Yo that was a crit catch on a stationary encounter, so catching everything is completely justified!!! Shame it happened on the last one, but oh well.




And back up top to catch the last of the mons here, since Venomoth can only be found up here for whatever reason.



Let's have a battle! Yay! I'll show off how I trained this Pokemon!



Here's a random feature that never came back after this gen, we can battle against a past trade partner with the Pokemon we gave them! The gender and Ability is the same, so of course I had to give her a damn Own Tempo Petilil, and the level can also change. If you did the trade when you could then it would be the standard postgame level, but if you traded her a Cottonee/Petilil above 65, it would be 5 levels higher in the battle. This means it could be level 100, technically making these the highest level non-facility trainers in the series!



I had a great time! I traded my Pokemon with yours, and on top of that, we had a great battle. I'm so happy to be with Pokemon!



The scenery is exhilarating, the battles are exciting. The ticket is $1000. Would you like to get on board? We are leaving the port shortly. Bon voyage!

Royal Unova



The number of Trainers aboard the Royal Unova today is 3. Please enjoy the trip.




Ah... this is really pretty. ... ... ... GAH, we don't have time for this! Here's the full observation deck journey, but this ship requires you to go fast if you want to get the reward for beating all the trainers!



you need help finding Trainers! Today... as for people, we have 1 on the port side and 2 on the starboard side.

"you'll find only one Trainer there today."

Our goal is to find and battle every Trainer within 3 minutes, but we have a few obstacles in our way for that, since we need to find them within the 15 cabins, 9 red and 6 blue. Thankfully time within menus, talking and battling does not add to the timer, but you need to check as many rooms as quickly as possible, and indeed talk to the right people. Every 45 seconds the ship's whistle goes off to give you an idea of how much time you have and when your hear the fifth whistle, one is blown when the ship sets off, you're out of time.



First thing is to check behind the blue doors, if you're lucky, you'll find a Maid, a class that'll only battle you. A Backer will never battle you, and they're one of 5 classes that instead of just talking will instead give you a lengthy conversation that will move time forward to the next whistle, no matter how long away it is. The other four are:



Thankfully we have the least amount of Trainers to fight, it depends on the day, though it'll also change the reward, so if we find a lengthy talker, we'll be alright. We've just gotta figure out which one of these passengers behind a blue door will fight us.




Alright cool, the Gentleman was the only one in the blue cabins that could be a long talker, so we could talk to him last without an issue, knowing by process of elimination that he had to be a trainer.



Now with the only Trainer behind the blue door out of the way, we know that the only trainer on the left, or port, side is behind a red door, and the remaining trainer on the right, or starboard, side is also behind a red door.




We'll leave the potential long talkers to last and hey we got lucky in not having to risk it.



All you can do is make my big robot angry, that won't end well for you.



I can have Pokemon battles while I'm being rocked in the ship. Plus, I can see Pokemon that are rarely seen. I am soooo happy!



Alright bitchin, she was the last of the regular passengers to talk to, after this I had to try my luck between two potential long talkers. But this was before the fourth whistle, so I wasn't worried.



You needed to use Trump Card about 4 more times before it did any real damage!



I am enraptured with the royal Pokemon battle...



Good work team, it's not too bad once you figure out how to narrow down the trainers. You talk to the crew to figure out how many Trainers are behind each coloured door, then you check behind the blue doors, hoping for a Maid. Then you talk to each passenger behind the blue door, leaving the long talkers for last and hope for the best. Repeat for the red doors. Sometimes you just gotta be lucky if long talkers are all that's left, but if you do it quick enough you can find two without much issue.



You've defeated all the Trainers on the ship! Please accept this prize.



Thank you for sailing with us on the Royal Unova. Have a nice day!

Oh yeah, the ship only sails during the evening, you probably noticed that. For sailing on Monday, Weds and Friday you beat 4 trainers for a Lava Cookie. This reward was for 3 on a Tuesday. For beating 5 on a Thursday you get an Old Gateau, for beating 6 on a Saturday you get a RageCandyBar, and for beating 7 on a Sunday you get a Rare Candy. Neat.



Yo it's time for more fishing!!!



As you'd expect, you can get Huntail and Gorebyss in rippling water, though they're version exclusive, so you gotta trade if you want both of them!



Next up is the SPORTS COURTS, though we won't be training in them. Yet. Well, I'll try to avoid it as much as possible, cause where's the fun in grinding past any postgame difficulty?



Great... so all the Pokemon in here are around level 65 and they refresh daily, there's two stadiums and you can do them both once a day. Oh and there's 10 trainers total, up to three more can appear in each stadium from a large pool, they usually have 2-3 Pokemon and they'll give you items after battle. Why the hell does Black City exist, again?



I should practice more on Pokemon handling, too.

Unwavering Emotions



So I believed, until I met Alder here. But, winning in Pokemon battles isn't all there is to life. Once I learned that lesson, my eyes were opened to many different things. We all have our own brand of strength, people and Pokemon alone. The strength to make our dreams a reality, the strength to protect what we hold most dear... Why do I think this way now? It's thanks to you, Touya... and Bianca... and Alder... if only N could see this, too, someday. I'm going to take a long, hard look at myself on Victory Road. I'm going to think about what I can do and who I can become... visit me sometime, if you want. We'll have a battle like old times.



Need to restock on Moomoo Milk again, I go through a lot, these postgame fights are hard! Here's incense or whatever.



Guess what? Still not done with fishing.



This is why it's weird Chinchou is so rare on Route 18, because they're pretty uncommon here, along with Lanturn in rippling water. Also Luvdisc, which explains where that woman gets her Heart Scales from once a day.



I trained and trained the Minccino that you traded me! Don't be surprised if it's too strong for you to handle!



Same mechanics as Dye in Nacrene City. Unfortunately this isn't a thing for all the trades, I did give that other guy a damn Gigalith after all, but it's a cute little thing they added in for the heck of it.



When I train Minccino, it reminds me of you... thanks for the trade!



All right. I've got time enough to satisfy your curiosity.



...breathing. Having a heart that beats. That is a simple existence and nothing more for a living being. That may be the definition of living, but I don't think that defines life.



The experiences of joy and suffering are a vital part of being alive. Ghetsis gave me the sensation of being truly alive... what did he mean to accomplish? That isn't what's important.



Right now, I'm shivering. I'm suffering, but I'm alive.



Pokemon and people live by being together and relying on one another. That might be how you feel. If that's so, is it necessary to separate people and Pokemon? By talking to you, I've discovered that there's much I need to think about... I wish I had more to give you in thanks... here, take this.



My lord N said that he wanted to make Pokemon perfect... but, even if the relationship between Pokemon and people stayed as it now is, Pokemon can aspire to perfection...



Indeed! I am an officer of the International Police, and I demand to hear all you know about Team Plasma!

It's too cold and I'm already tired of shivering in here. If you'll give me some time to think, I'll tell you what I know. So... take me with you.

Thanks many times over! Now, Ghetsis notwithstanding, there yet remains but 1 of the Seven Sages still at large. The thoughts they are contemplating, the hopes they are anticipating, these--these are what I want to know! Until our next meeting!



More monologues from the Seven Sages you say? Well if you insist.



Here in the Chargestone Cave, Ghetsis tested your ability... once more, we will test you to learn what it is you are. Team Plasma, come out!



Yow! It's an enemy ambush!

Ex-Team Plasma Battle



Gah, bloody Air Slash. Well this shouldn't be too bad compared to the last time we fought a postgame Plasma Grunt.



This kid is the real thing!

Because of you, I'm now ex-Team Plasma. Being an ex doesn't sound cool, does it? How are you going to make it up to me?



They're using the old staples, so it's not bad. Even in the postgame, they never use anything but Gen 5 mons.

"live together."

An ex-Team Plasma member becomes an ordinary Pokemon Trainer... this was that moment.

The Pokemon of our Team Plasma are also fighting for their Trainers. It was so obvious that I overlooked it... thank you for reminding me of that. Here, I'd like you to take this.



Pokemon do their best for their Trainers even when they are injured. I wonder whether my lord N understands what that means?

Looker Appears



I am an officer of the International Police, so you would be wise to share all you know.

Those who left Team Plasma and are behaving with respect and understanding toward Pokemon... them, please forgive! However, those who won't interact with Pokemon in a kind and honest way... even I will never forgive them!



Touya, there is something of which we must speak. A report has been received. By me. Far from here, a sighting occurred of a person like N and--a dragon Pokemon. I must instantly go to confirm the complete confirmation of this report. I will see you again, and soon!



There we go, that was the reward for finding all the Seven Sages. Looker is a huge liar, we'll never see him again in this game, but that's because he has three random concluding lines and we got the worst one.

Thank you a lot! Eh, Touya... on a topic I must speak to you. Having received such a report, of someone far from here, who has seen a person like N and... a dragon Pokemon. I am on my way to verify the veracity of this information. We will meet again one day!

I thank you profoundly! Curiously, Touya... there is a topic on which we must speak. A report has reached my ears of someone far from here. Indeed, this someone has spotted a person like N and a... dragon Pokemon. I depart to validate the validity of this information. We shall meet again, so until then, adieu.

Those are a bit more conclusive, but whatever, onto the next destination.



My old partner is resting here in the Celestial Tower. It was the first Pokemon I received when I became a Trainer. I come here to ring the bell and comfort its spirit. It was a strong Pokemon. It was courageous, noble, and kind... together, we madly pursued strength... without even knowing the meaning of strength. But, in the same way that all stories have a beginning and an end, all lives have an end, as well... it was then that I understood that strength isn't something that remains unchanged forever. However, the joy one feels in being with Pokemon--that is the real thing. In order to spread the word, I left the Pokemon League and kept traveling... that's right! Traveling is wonderful. I've met many different Pokemon, many different Trainers, and now I've met all of you. Well, Touya, I'll be waiting for you at the Pokemon League!



Yeah, we'll uh, get right on that. Soon. I pumice.




If you come again tomorrow, you might be able to find a Fossil of your own. So come out and play if ya want!



Praise be, yadda yadda, it'll take a bit of time to get all the previous fossils, but they're not version exclusive so go nuts.



Woah, what a rare Pokemon or whatever. For whatever reason you have a 1% chance of fishing up Dragonite even though Metagross was 5%. Still, because you get them at such high levels it doesn't matter, they evolve nice and easy.



And this right here, the last regular fishing encounter we can get. Wasn't that fun? Of course there's a ton of evolutions and rarer Pokemon in the rippling water, but I'm good thanks.



We're nearly done with the region, just one last route to visit.



Since we have Rotom, here's where we can change the form, very handy. I did talk about these forms, since they're quite different in comparison to Gen 4, but I can post them here again so they're in their "proper place".



So while all Rotom forms were Ghost/Electric in Gen 4, starting from Gen 5, each of the forms are a different type, therefore getting STAB on their exclusive move, as well as being much more interesting to use, though their moveset didn't change much. Let's start with the best one, the nice defensive Water type only weak to Grass and is able to abuse Gen 5's metagame with endless rain and ignoring all these damn Ground moves. Hydro Pump is an incredibly dangerous move, especially when rain boosted. It's also great against other rain types to drop Thunder on them and firing off Discharge for paralysis. All of the forms appreciate the Ground immunity, but this machine was able to make the most use of where it ended up, mainly because its move was the best and rain being so good. Pretty good considering it didn't even learn Scald!



Nice and compact, ignoring a 4x Ground weakness is great, but they usually carry Rock moves, so it's not too amazing. Overheat is a fantastic move, but it can't really be spammed like others. In the searing sun, it absolutely demolishes and Electric always pairs nicely to take down those Water types that try to take advantage. But with all the rain everywhere, it became a bit too easy to dampen and didn't learn any other Fire moves to help with it, always a shame.



Definitely the happiest form, it doesn't really benefit from Ground immunity, since it would be neutral otherwise, but it's always appreciated. Unfortunately the Grass type is usually a problem, but with all the Hurricanes flying around, not being weak to them helps a lot. Leaf Storm has the same problems as Overheat, but isn't boosted by any weather, so it's harder to recommend. Still, it can muscle past Ground moves and still really sting against rain teams. But without any other Grass moves, it's not too impressive otherwise.



Ooh, what's in the fridge? Disappointment? Okay... Frost may be the biggest, but it ain't the best, in hail, Blizzard is very deadly, but it's very unreliable outside of it and an Ice type is never a positive, balancing out its Ground immunity and neutrality to Steel. Still, it can deal with the Water types that try to stop it and it's an amazing neutral attacker with those STABs, but in the age of Fighting supremacy, its low Speed screws it over, even though it's also the rein of Dragons.



And then we come to the worst form. Firstly, its ability is completely useless, but maybe if it held an Air Balloon it can underflow and wrap around to being good again. No? Well if it was introduced in Gen 5, it probably would've gotten Hurricane, but instead we've got Air Slash. It's a perfectly fine move, but it's pathetic compared to all the others, and isn't too useful. While having the same type as Zapdos and Thundurus might sound good, it doesn't really help and has to rely on its Electric moves to push it through. Being limited to one move on the other STAB doesn't work too well if it's terrible, it turns out!



Next time, there's only one area left before we run out of ways to put off the hard battles. Hoo boy.

[Crosspeice]

Part 29: Okay, NOW We're Ready

Part 29: Okay, NOW We're Ready

Challenger's Cave



The last area in the game is no pushover, especially because you need to waste a moveslot on Flash! Sure you don't need it, but there's some nasty ambushes in this place.

"I'm sure you love them, too."


Eh, I'm indifferent towards this series, obviously.



We will keep walking! As long as the road goes on... as long as I am with my Pokemon!



Another floor, another ambush.



That is literally what this update entails, what the heck.




Pokemon training Pokemon... if they live in the rugged wilderness, it can happen naturally.





We're nearly finished catching Pokemon as well. Unova Dex? What's that?




Well I am pretty legendary.



In the story I know, the legendary Pokemon was training its student Pokemon.



As always we have one Pokemon missing and we find the 5% encounter before it. One game too early, pal.




Alright, only one floor left, and it's a real doozy.



There's a giant lake, but we can only skirt around the edge for now.



Better be healed up, cause there's one ambush in particular I've been looking forward to.






Now I use Bulbapedia for a lot of my images due to how it's the easiest and best looking method, but they're not massively interested in showing off regular trainer teams. That's fine, I haven't had much need to, but Serebii does have all this info and this is definitely an exception. Holy mackerel this team is pretty intense.



This is gonna be a pretty tough battle, but we've been closing the gap this entire postgame. And honestly this isn't the last difficult generic NPC so this is great practise for that!



Fair enough. Main thing is hit them as hard as we can so someone can come in and clean up.



Still, as you can see, his movesets aren't perfect, they're nerfed for a reason. But he can definitely dish out some terrifying damage if you weren't prepared.



High level Excadrill is pretty spooky, but thankfully it can waste a couple turns on dumb stuff.



Our days with Pokemon are full of happiness, and our joys will grow as we live together!




We're over the hump so let's grab everything we can.



Neat, once we've finished with the Unova Dex, one day, we'll be at nearly 300 Pokemon caught. Great practise...



Missing the ring.




Nice to get, though Stone Edge wasn't something I really felt we needed, Rock Slide is annoying enough without less accuracy and PP!

"when you are happy!"


Julia isn't as bad as Shaun, but her mons are pretty damn tricky. After all, without Hamlet how can I take down a Wormadam?



I wonder if the AI would've switched to a predicted Fire move for Flash Fire.



This Cloyster is actually a huge problem, we've struggled with all the postgame Water/Ice types, especially since I don't have Tristan.



We're able to slowly whittle it down but it 2HKOed the entire team with Surf and Icicle Crash. Thankfully it didn't have Shell Smash.



When I've been happy or sad, the Pokemon have always been with me. I hope I can stay with them as long as possible.




That's that all done, got some decent rewards, main thing I'm looking for is exp. Now let's go to the Pokemon League, turn 360 degrees and walk away.



When you confront yourself, you have to notice things about yourself that aren't too flattering...



My mentor told me you were here, so I came to see. Listen. Even if you lose in battle, if you surpass what you've done before, you have bested yourself. Take the opportunity of a battle to look at your opponent, look at the Pokemon involved, and look at yourself!

Are those Alder's words?

Maybe. But I'm borrowing them. What I want are battles with Trainers who believe in themselves like that... when I mix it up with a Trainer like that, both my Pokemon and I get even stronger. Well then, I'll be waiting for your challenge in the Pokemon League.

I guess that's that. OK, Touya! Accept this Pokemon battle!

Rival Battle










Got real Challenge Mode in here, Cheren is definitely a tough fight, but we're slowly closing the gap, so it shouldn't be that bad.



Is a little annoying that he has two Pokemon pop out of nowhere, not only would that have been a fun progression as he figured his strength, it also would've made his team wayyyyyyy less boring and shitty. Still, it does have that surprise element.



Please stop kicking my ass.



And then from one threat to another. At least the gem only boosts the first hit of Outrage.



Save me Gamera!!!



And of course he still has the monkey, and I don't blame him, this thing is fast and does a lot of damage!



But yeah Unfezant is still whatever. Good team, shame it only got good outside of the starter in like 5 minutes of the LP's end.



I'll keep battling many Trainers and Pokemon like this, and if I can learn what kind of person I am, it will open my path. I'm sure this path will lead me to become the person I'm meant to be. Pokemon will always be with you and me as we go down our paths. Our important friends, Pokemon...

Undella Town



Well have fun in a cave for 2 years, we've got our last bit of training before we're "ready" for the Elite Four rematches. It's gonna be one hell of a time.



You have an extremely bored look on your face. I don't mind having a battle with you!



If we beat up this Buizel every day then eventually we'll get enough exp!



I've been so dreadfully bored at my father's villa! May I join you?



Feels like Bounce always paralyzes... anyway, we're gonna beat up rich people's pets for sport.



In my father's villa, I have too much time on my hands. Please come for a visit tomorrow, too. I will have a battle with you.



May I trouble you for another battle? Let me see... first, please have a battle with my little brother!




Two for two on Bounce paralysis, but you can see where this is going. We can fight against the Riches every day, but in order to add more people to the villa and the table, we need to fight them all in a row. Every day. Until we're done. Bit annoying, but it's some unique fights outside of the SPORTS COURTS and this is how we're gonna get those final levels.



And now, I'd like to see in what ways your skills exceed theirs.



The earlier battles aren't much to worry about, but they'll ramp up quickly and there's no breaks, so you best be prepared. Luckily you can get a gajillion dollars in the bay outside.



And of course PRNDL getting Shift Gear is just so nice to make it start contributing again, though its tankiness is much appreciated.



Undella Town is a relaxing and comfortable place. But my grandchildren seem somewhat bored. Please come visit us tomorrow, too. My grandchildren will be happy to see you again.



Wanna see me punch a Buizel?



...wanna see me do it again?



And, uh, yeah we'll do this for a bit. The team we're training up is the one that'll tackle the E4, so the ones who missed out last time, John, PRNDL and Gamera, as well as Corazon, who got swapped out at the last minute and please don't make me do it without a fast Thunder Wave. We've also got Hamlet, because of course, and then there's one free slot, so uhhhhhhh, Milli, because fuck yeah Bug types.



Otherwise not much to these, especially when you figure out the smoothest way of getting through them.



That's one pair of grandparents.



Oh no!



Anyway, giving Milli +2 Atk is an interesting idea.



It didn't really work out.



Hoho! No matter how old I get, Pokemon battles are fun! This kind of excitement is not bad from time to time! Please come back anytime. Next time, I will win!



Day 5, let's recap.




What fun.



Alright, hope you're ready for what comes next.



Woah, it switched out on the last turn of Perish Song!



Ah, the billionaire's wife. Who actually does most of the work because the hubby is captivated by vanity projects.



We'll need PRNDL in the lead now so this Weavile doesn't wreck shit.




Thankfully with a DD, John can outspeed and oneshot this Excadrill cause OH MAMA THAT'S SCARY



I may not look like it, but I am very familiar with Pokemon. I would like to have a battle with you someday again.



Dawn of the final day.




Are you having fun yet?



I didn't show them, but that's 5 for 5 in Bounce paralysis. What the fuck.



I'm glad I bought 60 Moomoo Milk before this, I'm at half that now lol



Still, this is a good chance to make sure we're all ready for the final battle. All Heatmor can do is use +2 Stockpile, since the AI doesn't like going further. Whatever, gives me plenty of time to prepare.



Thank fuck this one doesn't have Sand Rush.



Alright, what ya got for me?!






Despite being an important trainer, you might have noticed these movesets are a little scuffed. They're the level up moves!



And I get why, doing this section of 6 battles in a row took like 20 mins so I definitely wouldn't have liked a proper fight with items and crafted movesets and all that shit at the end of this.



Still, our team is now much stronger than when we started, exp flows freely in this game.



It's still not an easy battle by a long shot.



Oh no!



Anyway, being one level away from Outrage neuters this a bit, but I don't fancy facing any more Haxorus for a while.



Sigh. I guess... it's still too early to identify myself as the head of the family. You should be proud of yourself for defeating the distinguished Trainer family, the Riches!



And there we go, you can't come back tomorrow to refight them, but we got all we needed from them.

You're awesome! I don't mind giving you a little credit!

None of the Riches is a match for you... I admire your strength!

Children of today are very strong in Pokemon battles. Hoho! I wonder if my grandchildren can become Trainers like you?

Hoho! Pokemon battles with the entire family! We all had a good time!

It's a complete defeat... the Riches sincerely wish you every success to you in the future.

Nimbasa City



Anything else I'd want to do is either best left until after we beat Alder, or from taking on the Battle Subway, but there's one small thing we can do to round off this update, using the Super Singles Pokemon chosen by yooooooouuuuuuuu!!!



Next to the Pokemon Center is the Battle Institute, something we can now try out. There's not much point to doing so, but might as well.



Please bear in mind that once you start the challenge, you will face five battles without a break. Now, the Battle Test begins! Please go inside!



As you'd expect, these trainers pull from the Battle Subway pool, though they quickly move through the various groups, the last couple battles are definitely a challenge. But since we have some properly powerful Pokemon, we should be just fine. We'll go over all of them next update, but I am super excited to use them!



Unsurprisingly for most of this it'll be the Choice Scarf Moxie K. Rool show.



Since this is a test, we're being graded on how well we're doing, you gain points for doing a variety of things in battle, and the final point total gives you a rating at the end. As you'd expect from good ol' Game Freak, the various ways to earn points is... weird.



We're getting pretty lucky with these leads, which is good because we want to deal as much damage as possible. Here's how the score breaks down:

+1000 for winning a battle; +80 per fainted opponent, so Doubles is technically better, but also riskier; +30 if the opponent took at least one turn, +15 if they did not; +5 for each switch; +4 for each opposing attack rendered ineffective through typing, ability, or ineffective status due to type (using Thunder Wave on a Ground type for example); +2 for each opposing attack that is not very effective.

-80 per Pokemon fainted on your side; -10 per turn taken; -10 for each ineffective attack on the opponent, same rules as above; -2 per resisted attack on the opponent. Finally, you get 1 point for each of your Pokemon's percentage of total health at the end.



Phew, no Sturdy. So we're doing really well so far, we're not taking any damage, we're taking out most opponents with super effective attacks and they're even getting a turn in. The main way to lose points is your Pokemon fainting, so since you only lose -5 points overall for switching, you should do that as often as you can to get the advantage.



GodDAMN these leads are amazing.



That's the power of +2 EQ, baby! Though we did get tagged by a Leaf Tornado accuracy drop... but I'm sure it'll be fine.



FUCK, oh well at least we've got plenty of Speed.




Alright, locking myself into Crunch might work out, but 3rd battle going well so far.



Huh, was predicting a Water move with that switch... oh there it is!



We get a bit unlucky with the last mon, so that's another faint.



...and another one, I should've gone for Focus Blast, but I need to ease myself into throwing my entire streak away with this move. If Focus Miss had hit, then K. Rool would've relied on Stone Edge, and I'm not sure if I could've OHKOed with that.



Another good lead, damn!



It barely survived, but since it was a 2-turn Outrage, we're outta here.



Now these thread submissions are first come, first serve, so I didn't clock on that all the Singles submissions was mono-Dark, whoops! Still, they all have different roles so I'm very happy to use them, I mean I did beat the Battle Hall with a Slaking and the Battle Arena with a Shedinja, I'll use whatever, it's more fun that way!



Let's get our Moxie in for- oh ffs, fine, switch out!



...and we've lost because I went for Focus Miss instead of Flamethrower! We can lose in this mode, we just won't get the points for the battle. And it's also kinda fucking embarrassing. Still, we got a bit unlucky towards the end, such is not using save states to solve all my problems.



Oh. The AI decided not to KO me and I managed to land two Stone Edges. That just makes me feel real great about myself. Well I'm just happy we cleared it, it's pretty hard!



The result is Elite Rank! That's something you can brag about!



Meh, the only way to really get Master is have none of your Pokemon faint, more or less, most of the points you lose or gain barely matter compared to that. Thankfully this doesn't do anything, even for Master, so I'm not gonna bother.



But what does matter is doing a Battle Tower 3 times in a row with little variation. Fun!

[Crosspeice]

Part 30: Not So Fresh

Part 30: Not So Fresh



Oh boy it's the battle facility. It's gonna be a long one but we'll need to unlock the Super trains first, so we'll use the regular team from before we took on the Elite Four, should be fine, right?

Battle Subway




The first two sets of the regular trains are pretty easy, since you'll rarely find evolved Pokemon, but the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly, especially for the team we have.



Since I'm crunching this into one update, understandably the 10 sets per battle type, 210 total battles if you don't lose, means that I'll be skipping over A LOT.




But at least for these very early battles, there's really not much to show. Unova opponents only and the trainer you face determines what Pokemmon from their pool you'll randomly get. We'll get fully evolved Pokemon soon enough, but usually the movesets aren't particularly scary.



Onto the final set!



Not often that we actually have a Pokemon faint, but Mienshao is one of the few terrifying opponents.



Special Garbodor is also dangerous with this team, since it has a lot of super effective coverage.



And just like that we're at the boss.



I am the Subway Boss Ingo. I will choose the next destination based on your talent. Do you understand Pokemon well? Can you hold on to your principle? Will you go on to victory or defeat? All aboard!

Subway Boss Battle





Subway Boss Ingo
From ingoing.
Subway Master Nobori
From 上り線 nobori-sen (in-bound line)





Here's the first real challenge. When I mentioned before that you could clear the standard lines with your in-game team, I'll definitely retract that these end battles wholly depend on what team you have, they're hard as hell.



You ever been swept by a Garbodor?



That gets WORSE if you hit it with a contact move??? Still, that's what save states are for, it's the only way doing these battle facilities for you guys is even remotely feasible to show off!



See, it's just that easy.



Your talent has brought you to the destination called Victory! However, your journey has just started. When you choose your next destination, go full speed ahead!



That's the Super train unlocked, we'll tackle that soon enough, but make sure to talk to various NPCs, you'll get items as your streak increases!



Next up is the longer battle mode, where everything is wilder but slightly laggier due to my ageing laptop, so it takes longer to get through these sets. It's fine, I'm sure double battles are only a small part of this facility.



I think we'll be fine with this gaggle of pairs, so let's talk about the Pokemon themselves. Like in previous facilities there's a bunch of different Pokemon that have different sets, depending on the opponent you're facing, which changes as you go up in sets.



As you increase in your sets, the opposing Pokemon will get higher IVs, and the usual mediocre even split of EVs in two or three stats. Natures are fixed, but gender and the non-HA ability isn't, so that can make for some interesting variety.



I promise we're getting higher in sets, it just depends on what trainers we fight. There's quite a few that only appear in Sets 1 and 2, and other that only appear in Sets 2 and 3, but with 110 different Trainers, and 2-4 of the same class sharing the same pool of Pokemon, you can get all sorts here.



While having a slow lad in Big O isn't the best for this facility, it still works wonders.



We've gotten a pretty tricky trainer for the last fight, but not having any Fighting weaknesses helps a lot, here in the Fighting weak gen.



I was not ready for specially offensive Audino.



This ramped up a lot faster than Singles, but since there's more Pokemon to pull from, you've got a slightly higher chance of getting some not fun combinations. Let's finish up!



I am a Subway Boss. I like Double Battles. I like combinations of two Pokemon. And I like winning more than anything else. So let's start a great battle in which every Pokemon uses various moves.





Subway Boss Emmet
From emitting.
Subway Master Kudari
From 下り線 kudari-sen (outgoing line)





So Durant is one of the most terrifying mons due to its incredible coverage. The only recourse is hoping for a Hustle miss since it outspeeds Corazon. As for Emmet's team, it seems pretty familiar, because for whatever reason he uses a near identical team to Ingo. Though his Klinklang has a different set for whatever reason, it's something I never really noticed until now. Weird.



Anyway even with Durant out of the way there's still the other 3 mons to overpower us and OHKO before we can 2HKO them. But so long as Garbodor misses Focus Blast, Crustle misses Stone Edge and Big O is somehow still alive to take on Klinklang, this team can get by with no issue. Oh, and an AR code that makes us take no damage, but I didn't fancy having to try again, so yeah, pretty easy.



I lost against you. Because you are the strongest Trainer I've fought lately. You're a verrrrry strong Trainer! Yup! It was fun! Ride the trains some more!



And now for the final standard line, more double battles. Except this time half of my team is with a braindead AI, yaaaaaaaaay



Here's what Hilda's rolling with, Beartic is okay, but it's slow, which is bad, and it likes going for Icy Wind because ooh spread damage. Ugh. Conkeldurr would be fine if it didn't have the best damaging move as Superpower, since the AI does not conserve it for when it needs it. And it's strategy of Fling Iron Ball is godawful, the AI will only use it when the opponent is weak to Dark and even then it's not a guarantee, so out of all the battles I had with it, it used Fling ONCE and had pathetic Spd the rest of the time.



Still, because this is only set 2, I did a set waaaaaaaay back when we first reached Nimbasa, remember, we'll be just fine. Mostly.



John and Gamera are helping, but this early on the AI can carry us most of the way.



Next up for Hilda is... the Conkeldurr again? This time in the lead?! Uggggggggh, and then an alright Golurk that can't have No Guard because it's a HA. Can also have Klutz Lum Berry because fuck you.



Outside of a few weird battles the fights are getting pretty tough, but we'll manage.



Wow, a Fling use! Hopefully Hilda doesn't weigh me down too much in the boss battle.



The fellow over to the side is also a Subway Boss, Emmet. Will a Multi Battle help us cover each other's weakness? Or will you show your overwhelming power? I look forward to seeing how well you fight. However, it is difficult to win unless you and your partner are in total sync.



Follow the schedule. Everybody smile! Check safety. Everything's ready! Aim for victory! All aboard!







Oh hey they're using the same team again except here's a Galvantula. This is the third time we've faced this special Garbodor and it always wrecks my shit.



YOU HAVE EARTHQUAKE GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH okay let's try this again.



Oh right the Durant is still here. Well Golurk can be a nice distraction while the real hero appears.



I lost together with Ingo. Your combination is the best, perfect! You're verrrrry strong Trainers. Yup! It was so much fun!



What you showed us is a spark as Trainers. However, let me say just one thing. Winning against us is a milestone in your life. You can rack up more and more. Please move on toward an even greater goal!



Okay, we're done with the preamble, now we can actually start the facility properly using Pokemon chosen by yooooooouuuuuuu



We saw them in the Battle Institute but here they are properly, can we do a mono-Dark run? Boy I hope we don't run into any Mienshao or Durant!




First up is a fast and furious krok by FoolyCharged. Great mon to lead with and he'll ramp up super quickly. Nice coverage, though have to be wary of locking myself into EQ, as well as Stone Edge.




Next is Lernie the Hydr- NANI?! So thankfully there's no Team Preview in the subway, so Don Fluff by Blaziken386 can fool the AI completely. It's not a huge issue what he's disguised as since both mons don't offer much protection, though K. Rool would stop Don Fluff being hit by Electric attacks. The AI doesn't notice that Don Fluff should have Levitate as Lernie so they'll still go for Ground moves, but we can draw Ice and Dragon moves easily enough. He's fast and hits really damn hard, it's all I need him to do.




Finally we have the real monster that I definitely trained up all the way. Lernie by Badger of Basra is thankfully not choice locked in any way so she has some nice freedom in her moves, especially when she wants to nuke something. Might think having Don Fluff is a bit redundant but he's slightly faster and having two special attackers is always nice, will matter a fair few times. Also lets me use Focus Blast without being locked into it.

Battle Subway



Story of my life down here is being able to use one move and then getting walled by the next mon. Choice items are great, but you gotta be ready to switch often, or be stubborn.



Otherwise, considering this is where things really start and we've got a looooooooong way to go, I'll be skipping over most of it. It's a shame honestly, since you're facing fully evolved mons with proper sets from the start, it's pretty damn hard, 7 sets of brutal battles. And it was fun, I could show nearly every battle if I wanted, they had something interesting in all of them. But fuck me does it take a super long time. I did pace myself with this, but it still took forever, and honestly how much of this do I really need to show? The mons submitted were all amazing, but it is just a load of battles, not too great for this format. Next time I'll stream it, kay babz?



We're gonna see some janky sets to start with, like with the previous facilities, there's usually 4 sets per mon that gradually increase in effectiveness as you go. There's 190 different trainers in the Super lines and they're bringing some heavy stuff.



Here we can see "Lernie" getting hit by Bulldoze, honestly all the trainers in battle facilities are cheating bastards.



Also thanks guys for giving me loads of inaccurate moves. WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME SO




Please stop kicking my ass.



Ah, save states, I love you so much. Understandably running mono-Dark means I have a few things to worry about. Still, even during sets I can reload from a state and rest my streak to reroll what Pokemon I face. The trainers are the same but they draw from their pool again. Saves my heinie a lot because goddamn did I lose a ton, this place is hard yo.



Fast users of Focus Blast are also a massive pain, cause they're everywhere. So good I faced it twice in one set!




Otherwise while there's a few hiccups, this team is tearing through, though singles are pretty easy to sweep through with the right tools.



When I'm not dealing with fast bullshit, I'm dealing with slow fast bullshit!



Now that we're past battle 22 we see Veterans and Gentleman show up, who just have legendary Pokemon. Only half of the male Veterans have legendaries while no female Veterans have them, which is standard sexist bullshit!



Thankfully because all of the legendary's sets could show up, it's not that likely you'll get the deadly sweeping one, so they're not too bad. Still a miserable pile of stats.



Why is everything SO FUCKING FAST



Easy K. Rool legendary solo, what of it?



Oh yeah you have Outrage, nearly forgot. Onto the final set!




We have some ups and downs, but we're ready for the final challenge.



Let me introduce myself... I am the Subway Boss Ingo. What can I see after winning, winning, and winning? Where is my destination? I've kept thinking, and I've learned one thing. That is, you cannot know what happens after winning without winning. Therefore, I will exert every possible effort to battle with you. All aboard!

Subway Boss Battle





Get outsped, bitch! Definitely a glow up from before, but both teams were scary in their own way.



But I'm ahead by one KO, so we'll be just fine.



Even if the AI cheats, "Lernie" will be able to close it out. Or maybe it's Lernie? Who can tell.



I am glad that I fought so hard against a wonderful Trainer like you. That's right! You grow stronger by matching yourself against a strong opponent. Please do your best and run toward the destination, an even higher state.



That's one line conquered, some very nice rewards. We could keep our streak going, and it's best to do so in the Super Singles due to how quick battles are, and you'll keep getting rewards from your fellow line-goers, though there's less and less as you climb higher. You get a PP Up after 21 victories, a Rare Candy after 28 and then a bit of a gap before a Lansat Berry at 105 victories, then another gap before a Starf Berry at 203 victories. Since there's no berry patches anymore, rip Dream World, this is the only way to obtain these now, and just the one. It sucks! But they also suck so it's whatever.



Alright, doublade time, so what wacky mons have we got this time?




Contrary Serperior is fucking illegal, I love it so much. SmugSnake by Explopyro just spams Leaf Storm to get to +6, and also has a great amount of healing due to max HP EVs. Leftovers is better used on another fellow doubler, so Sitrus Berry and +4 Giga Drain is usually enough to get SmugSnake back to full health with no issue. I also misread the moveset page and thought Serperior couldn't learn Twister and gave it Dragon Pulse instead, but it's an egg move, whoops! The higher BP was appreciated, even if Twister ain't a bad doubles move for fast mons.




For more illegal HA shenanigans, here's Archer by Leraika where there's a lot of flinching going on. King's Rock gives attacking moves a 10% chance to flinch, and 5 hits of that totals to 41%, and having STAB Tail Slap makes this a very deadly combo, since it's 5 37BP hits. Bullet Seed might seem a bit redundant with two other Grass types, but it's an important move to have because it CAN'T MISS!!! I love this mon, but using it in a battle facility is just asking for trouble with those move accuracies. At least Rock Blast got boosted to 90 this gen.




Madame Puff by Jade Rider is usually the opposite of how I roll, I'm not a huge stall fan, even if it has its use, and a mon that's Taunt bait is pretty risky. But with other mons distracting the opponent, when she gets set up this Pokemon will never fucking die, Leftovers and two sources of Leech Seed make infinite Substitutes and there will be quite a few times where she'll be the last mon standing. Even if all she does is constantly have her sub broken without being able to do much else, that's a lot of turns for the other mons to put some work. Definitely has her place on this team.




Last up is Lumiere by MadmanIncorporated that burns so brightly I might have to worry about his teammates! Hopefully I can pull off some Flash Fire strats but with Fire Gem Heat Waves, it almost seems like overkill. Overheat is great to close out stuff with, but Shadow Ball is a nice way to not lower my stats or use up the Gem when I don't want to. I miss gems, bros. Has a specific EV spread to help outspeed and survive various things and while I didn't notice, it definitely helped.

Battle Subway



This is why it's usually recommended Cinccino uses Life Orb, since he'll fall short on power even with a really strong STAB move. Still, it's always a lot of guaranteed damage and softens up enemies for SmugSnake to ramp up with.



Still, the coverage is very, very nice, these two will just annihilate anything in their path.



Some take a bit more effort, but that's an easy first set.



We've still got two other mons that can enjoy the lead fun! Since it's not as immediate as the other lead, I'll only do it for the one set, but it means they get some spotlight.



But even though it seemed like we're having an easy time, this is still a battle facility, so we'll face some tough trainers on occasion. Thankfully this Mandibuzz was also not running any attacking moves so even with Taunt I could take it out with Struggle. Ever seen that before?



You can explode on me, I'm behind 7 substitutes.



Let's keep moving on. Ow.



That's twice Madame Puff has kept me from reloading a save state. Doing the latter is a million times faster, but hey at least I don't need to count it as a death. I've still died like 40 times, but meh.



Nice Solid Rock lol



Man this fast rat thing is real nice to have.



It dies kinda easily though, but that's the price to pay.



While this is taking quite a while to get through all the battles, doubles are pretty slow compared to 3v3, I'm flying through with no many problems. It's a weird mishmash of mons, but they're working well together. It helps that the two leads are super damn fast.



Haven't shown SmugSnake much, but he's just been blitzing through most things, it's so good.



And now we're over halfway through this place. Starting to feel the battle fatigue now, since there's not much to focus on and show.



Oh yeah some trainers here just use Eeveelutions and they're nice and free this late on. Otherwise every battle is pretty tough, but doubles requires more thinking with who does what instead of Choice Scarf Crunch go brrrrrrrr



Here it is, the mythical Toxic/Minimize/Softboiled/Mud Bomb Blissey. You'd better hope it has Natural Cure since the AI really hates switching. Thankfully I landed a Toxic early on so instead of trying to pathetically Mud Bomb Madame Puff's sub, it had to keep healing the Toxic damage.



That battle would've been 10 minutes longer in Gen 4, hoo boy. Onto the final set!



Both SmugSnake and Lumiere would see that "not very effective" text as more of a suggestion.



We got some easy Eevee teams and some tough men in fursuits, but we're ready for the second final challenge.



I am a Subway Boss. I like Double Battles. I like combinations of two Pokemon. And I like winning more than anything else. This time, I am really serious. Really serious. Because if a battle is not serious, it is not fun.

Subway Boss Battle





Well that's an annoying miss, but I decided to not show any of the previous Leaf Storm/Tail Slap misses for my sanity.



Thankfully we landed the other Tail Slap and Excadrill was soundly 2HKOed by Leaf Storm even without Life Orb.



Stop that!!!



Our shiny one is faster therefore better therefore Eelektross will fall to another Leaf Storm. Right?!



I am a Subway Boss, but I lost against you again. But I feel good. Because it was very fun! You want to win, and I don't want to lose. That's real. When we clash in battles, I feel very excited!



Now for more double battles, but worse! Since we have 7 submissions, then that's 7 mons we can mix and match with in the two slots. Now, I couldn't bring myself to have Madame Puff in the lead position, I was many hours in and wanted this facility to be over, but that meant Don Fluff could strut his stuff in the lead position, as intended.



You've got 7 more chances, Hilda, please don't be bad.

Battle Subway




Slow, but both of these mons are pretty damn good. Would've preferred them in like set 5 but it's fiiiiiine.



I mean you could've waited until Madame Puff resisted that but I get it.



Times Madame Puff completely walled the opponent and singlehandedly won me the match: 3.



There's still a lot more to go, but let's do our best!




Lernie and Madame Puff are joined by yet another fucking Beartic holy shit I'm sick of getting these, and a pretty damn good Krookodile. I wonder if the AI chooses what you don't have, be weird if you could double up.



Please no more Mienshao...



Still, having Ice attacks is nice for the many things weak to it.



Madame Puff wins this if this Breloom isn't Poison He- FUCK




Now with Archie and SmugSnake, role reversal, is the Krookodile we just had, but worse, and a Braviary that is way too happy to use Superpower.



Oh hey that Meganium had a Sitrus Berry, bonus!



Now that's what I call teamwork. M-Mostly...



We're flying through these, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. The light is doing this again in the sequel. Yaaaaaaaay.




Lumiere and Lernie get joined by two pretty illegal mons. These would be what I'd hope to get on set 7, but here's fine.



Oh god Aerodactyl, but thankfully we have another mon who finds "not very effective text" a suggestion. Even if the recoil immediately knocks it into Defeatist.



Overall, nice easy set with some strong peeps. Now to throw it all away.




Joining "Lumiere" and Lumiere is another fucking Beartic. We've had this exact set 3 times in a row now, and out of 10 sets, 4 of them have had Beartic. Also a terrible Excadrill, but maybe after a Swords Dance it can be dependable. Thankfully it never went for Metal Sound.



Still at least this Beartic ain't that bad, instead we get an Excadrill that just Digs all the time.



This is actually Lumiere, so you goddamn done fucked up now son.



Still, while this is set 5 and every fight is kinda scary, we're surviving just fine. I even missed a Focus Miss! I don't wanna try doing that again...




Joining, uh, totally Archer, and Archer, is a tried and tested friend and an alright Bisharp. Dunno why it's lumped with Rock Smash, but Sucker Punch helps with its Spd issue, so I'm happy with it overall.



Oh hey it's been a while since we last saw a legendary. Didn't fight any on the Super Doubles for whatever reason. Thankfully they're more manageable in the Multi since you can focus down their ally and they can only bring two terrifying stats instead of four.



We then face two Landorus in a row, because fuck me apparently. But even with a Tail Slap miss, we can count on a lot of goddamn damage.



Archer can just flinch down a Heatran instead, strategy in motion.



Kill me now.



Oh hey where did this shiny Zoroark come from?




Dawn of the final set, thank fucking god. Joining the illegal twins of SmugSnake and K. Rool is an Accelgor that already died before I could go over it and a bad Sawk that'll get outsped before it can pull off any Reversal strats. And also waste time enduring when it doesn't need to. Perfect for the final set!!!



I promise we'll get our act together eventually.



Figured it would do that so switching out SmugSnake was the best move.



Yo is that Accelgor actually getting an attack off and then surviving?!



No? It's SmugSnake doing so instead? Then good day to you sir.



Now we're playing with power. I have no idea how K. Rool survived that.



And as we close with a Yawn Darmanitan set being the only reason I won, it's time for the final battle of the Subway. Boy this took a really long time, but I still had fun, it wasn't 170 tedious battles of the Battle Hall, or the absolute despair of the Battle Palace, it was difficult, but I had seven cool peeps to help me through it and it would've been an absolute blast if it didn't take 45 minutes for each set.



Well, there is nothing else to say for the person who comes all the way here. Let's have the greatest battle, better than ever before.



Follow the rules. Safe driving! Follow the schedules. Everyone smile! Check safety. Everything's ready! Aim for victory! All aboard!

Subway Boss Battle






At least at the end of this we end with a niiiiiice easy fight. Mainly because SmugSnake is fucking illegal, but Accelgor is actually able to do things?! The fuck???



That's not stopping me.



THAT'S NOT STOPPING ME



Last obstacle is a pretty scary mon, but this Rock Slide didn't take me out and just activated my berry, so if I don't get paralyzed, yer dun!



We lost against you again. But I am satisfied. You are too strong! The strength you have, your trust in your Pokemon, their never-ending support! Yep! It was the most fun battle ever! Please come back soon!



The best combination of you and your Pokemon. It is incredible! When you and someone else combine, your engine powers something special! If you like, please challenge us with a different combination.



...could we be the best partners ever?!

At least take me to dinner first! N never took me for dinner... so yeah, that was the Battle Subway, that was pretty cool, but I don't wanna do it again for at least 2 years! Now that we've seen all that they're about, Ingo and Emmet are... interesting I guess. They seem a little weird, Emmet especially, but since they barely show up they don't make much of an impression. So of course it should be no surprise that they are incredibly popular in Japan, 2nd and 3rd in a male character poll taken shortly after the game's released, just after N of course. I will never understand it.



No. Beating the Subway Bosses on all three Super lines nets us yet another colour for our trainer card. There's only one left and it's a real doozy, lemme tell you. So what next, what else is there to do in the postgame?



We should go and have a Champion time, because I can't get my pension unless I actually enter into the Hall of Fame!

[Crosspeice]

Part 31: First Time Champ

Part 31: First Time Champ



Oh hello, you know what we're here for, it's time to become the Champion. Sure we beat N, who beat Alder, but that's not how it works! I think.



We've got the three who missed out last time, Corazon since she was dropped for a dragon, such is life, Hamlet, because of course we need our starter. And then, uh, Milli, because fuck yeah Bug types. Pretend I used sports courts to get my team on even footing, though if I had just stuck to 6 mons throughout this LP, I wouldn't need to catch anyone up. So no grinding here. Never have, never will, I hope I've clearly shown you don't need to in any games I've done so far.



We'll go over the 3 team members that didn't get a shot at the Elite Four last time, Gamera got a little laden with HMs towards the end, but has a nice collection of moves. Solid Rock should help more than it does but it has let him survive way more and makes his slowness and mediocre typing not a big deal. Having STAB on Rock Slide is also really nice, something that is clearly not on our other members.



Took forever to come into its own and does as well as it can with the moves it has, PRNDL works really well as a physical wall that can now boost up and really do some damage. Shift Gear has actually made it super useful and there's a lot of scary things I want to not take damage from coming up. Also paralysis on something way tankier than Corazon is clutch. Despite getting no love from daddy GF, PRNDL keeps spinning anyway.



Now I don't fancy using psuedos or actual legendaries, that's a bit much for the main game, so sure I'll use this regularly available Pokemon...? Also took a while, but John was never in much danger of really falling behind. She annihilates most things in her path, especially after a DD, and is also somewhat physically tanky and speedy as well, honestly a little busted. But hey, why not use some busted mons on occasion, it's good I've been able to expand the roster and go for mons I wouldn't otherwise.



In myself, I seek to develop the strength of a fighter. And shatter any weakness in myself! Prevailing with the force of my convictions! Victory, decisive victory, is my intention! Challenger, here I come!

Elite Four Battle







It's time for the fight of our lives. We're starting with Marshal because fucking hell he's really scary please stop hitting me. They add in some non-Unova mons and have scary movesets all around. Far cry from the first E4 rematches in FRLG huh?



Good to get the healing out of the way early, I'm not too worried about this mon.



I am worried about this holy shit!!!



Corazon definitely struggles against these postgame opponents, but damn she is so useful when I need her to be.



But of course she does need help against these multiple scary monsters. That's why it's a team effort!



Now yes I did just activate Guts, should've seen that coming, but due to its relative slowness, I'm not that worried about Throh.



This I am a little worried about. Thanks Solid Rock.



Still, just need to get a little lucky and we'll be just fine. Marshal either kills you or you barely kill him back, there's a reason why every single LP has paralysis in some capacity, holy moly.



And Corazon can 1v1 a postgame boss Pokemon if it doesn't attack and has a 4x weakness to Psychic! I'm so proud.



So, there are no guarantees of winning. But the determination to be strong and to continue to grow and improve is itself a great strength. It's the determination that you show that makes me respect you.



You should deepen your bonds with your Pokemon by battling with them. In times past, I wandered all the regions of the world in pursuit of strength... one day, I met my mentor and began to grasp the wisdom of making strength and internal quality... and one day, I decided to become part of the Elite Four of Unova... for some reason, the battle we just had brought those fateful times back to mind.



We're fighting the four... in reverse! Woaaaaahhhhhhh



Hmf... it's you again. Still, you possess that combination of kindness and strength. Yet you seem stronger than before... do be sure not to bore me with a snooze-inducing battle, is that clear?







We've got some nasty opponents coming up, Caitlin even changed her ace, which feels illegal. Thankfully she starts off nice and easy because boy do Musharna love sleep strats.



I'm glad PRNDL didn't 2HKO because now she can waste healing on it.



Now you might be thinking I've got mad trying to paralyze a Magic Guard user, but it only ignores the damage from Burn and Poison and that. Last gen you couldn't fully paralyze a Magic Guard mon, but they reverted that this gen.



Damn you Megahorn!



And damn you Rock Slide, man this is annoying. Still despite all of Sigilyph's coverage, there's one mon it can't touch.



And good thing too, since I can slow this down and scramble for ways to beat it. But we're a lot stronger than when we faced Steven's Metagross all those years ago!



Didn't get fully paralyzed, so our other Psychic weak EQ user can take it out.



lol Levitate



If only Milli wasn't part Poison, but that's why I chose him, because we already had a Grass type.



you are an elegant and excellent Trainer. Your Pokemon also have class. I am very pleased to have battled you.



I still can't win. The reason I came here in the first place was to encounter Trainers like you...

In the past, my untrained heart made my power run wild. I was forbidden to battle. All I craved then was to experience the pure excitement of battling like this. Hee hee... although I'm embarrassed, I can't help smiling right now.



Next up it's me irl.



It's more important to master the cards you're holding than to complain about the ones your opponent were dealt. Let us begin. And may the best Trainer win! Contests like this are proof that you are really living...







Hell yeah tanks. Grimsley's changed his lead, which is also illegal, but we have a fair few ways of dealing with Dark types.



Right, onto something I can't paralyze my way through.



Thanks Solid Rock!



Next up, we do get a bit lucky dodging a Head Smash, but even this is completely fine since we paralyzed it. Now hey, I said I never grinded, but I never said how I'd beat these terrifying opponents. Use all the tools you're given and you'll beat this game for ages three and up with little issue.



And also there's some Pokemon we'll never have issue with, no matter how much level disparity there is.



Onto the fang extraordinaire.



Still, PRNDL is at +4 Spd, +2 Atk for this reason, and Fire Fang is kinda whatever. For the last mon... we know how this is gonna go.



Even in this situation, there must be a way... to win.



That's battle. A good contender just seeks the next victory without bragging after winning, and without getting upset after losing.



What's interesting and troubling is that it's not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn't always land heads or tails. Sometimes it may never land at all...

Excellent! The nice thing about Pokemon battles is they teach the loser something, as well. That said... you should take that strength and test it against the rest of the Elite Four!



Last up, of course, big kitty goth girl.



That was part of a novel I wrote. I absolutely love writing about the close bonds between the Trainers who come here and the Pokemon they train. Could I use you and your Pokemon as a subject?







Oh no, not my Plus ability! Anyway we can just boost past this, easy.



And that was expected, but damn PRNDL, who knew you could do so much damage at +2?



And then Gamera can strut his stuff, thanks Solid Rock!



And then the streak ends but I was surprised how well he matched against this team!



Ow, stop always having coverage that's supereffective on Hamlet.



The epilogue of this story is about to begin.

Unexpected, and no one gets the exp due to recoil, but it's the price we pay for coverage that isn't shit.



For all the words I know, I can't figure out how to say this... putting my feelings into words would just be a trap. All I will say is I feel you're even greater than I thought!



can go on to challenge the Champion. And you have earned that right. Your story is yours and yours alone. Please weave a wonderful tale!



If he's lost to Cheren or something I swear to god... anyway, like before the various four peeps have different dialogue depending if you beat them last, pretty similar to before

Every person who works with Pokemon has a Pokemon story to tell. I've found that stories where people and Pokemon help each other out are far more interesting than stories about only people, or only Pokemon!

Astonishing! You have defeated every member of the Pokemon League's Elite Four. But it isn't over yet. There is one more opponent against whom you must prove your strength. Check the statue in the central plaza, and continue to the final room.

You have defeated the Pokemon League's Elite Four. You have earned the right to proceed to the Champion's room. Making an entrance is not the point. Once you're there, you'll need to unleash your power to the fullest!

The strength shown by you and your Pokemon has deeply impressed me... please, continue to the next room to face the strongest Trainer of the Unova region!

Also Shauntal had a quote at the start of her fight, one of five she could choose from, some quotes from past trainers, others that set the scene.

"The Trainer's thoughts joined with the Pokémon's mind, and a lustrous Aqua Ring unfurled..."

"'Do you know Thunderbolt?' was his first greeting to me. It wasn't until after we battled that I learned his name was Volkner."

"The tiny but strong Pokemon looked up at its Trainer and saw the seeds of doubt taking root as together they faced their toughest opponent yet. The Pokemon sounded a soft cry of reassurance, and the battle began..."

"I have no idea what day it is today, but I will never forget it for the rest of my life."



I don't know what he's thinking now, but I'm sure he realizes that different people and Pokemon have their own paths to follow. Say now, how about a match with the strongest Trainer in the Unova region?

Champion Alder Battle





Champion Alder
From the alder tree, the alder moth, which feeds on the alder tree as a larva, and alderman, a high ranking English county council member...? Uh, okay.
Champion Adeku
From アデク adeku (boxleaf eugenia), a plant that hosts various species of moth larvae.





The final challenge until we enter the Hall of Fame. Hmm, seems a bit Hamlet weak. Music seems familiar but can't exactly... oh hey, he stole this from the Subway Bosses! Has he no shame?!



Of course it's not that easy to just sweep through a Champion team, but I'm sure we'll be fiiiiiine, this is what we trained for!



Better this than later on, but I have a strat for this ace. And no it isn't paralyzing it! Surprising I know.



And yup, this is for the best since once it oneshots something with Overheat, it just loves getting back to normal with Quiver Dance. This is your chance to take it down, otherwise you'll have to sacrifice something Fire weak again.



Pleeeeeeease don't do that again!!!



Okay phew, onto the next threat.



Thankfully locking itself into Outrage gives PRNDL a chance to sneak in, but it wears off quickly and we're smacked with a Superpower. That's why Milli is nice and fast and does lots of damage.



Sorry, you're 4x weak to Fire and choosing Tepig is pretty easy to do in this game.



And that's about it. This might have seemed like an easy fight, but he was still waaaaaaay stronger than me and I took every advantage I could to take care of the more dangerous threats. And then there were some mons, like this Vanilluxe, that just kinda can't do shit most of the time. He's an easygoing Champion that uses what he wants, even if it means he's not the most terrifying, and I can respect that.



Am I being overpowered?! This is nothing! I will overpower you!



Finally, we have beaten the Champion. Now we can start the postgame!




It exists to commemorate the Trainers and Pokemon who have demonstrated their stellar strength and kindness of heart.



With your skill and persistence, you have earned your place in this Hall of Fame. Your name, the account of your journey, and the history of your battles will all be recorded here. I hope all of this becomes a support to you and helps you grow stronger. Now, Trainer, you and the Pokemon who fought by your side will be recorded in this machine!



Hall of Fame






















Took long enough, but yeah, yeah, thanks for the awesome reboot Mr. Iwata, there's still a bit of this update left and still so many things to do!



Those are some nice trophies. Now that we're in the postgame's postgame, there's a couple new things for us.



There's three team members who need to be back in the spotlight, and they'll have their hell of a fight soon enough, but they need to catch up a little.



Woo wallpaper.



And here's everyone in their full glory. Also shows how out of order I record this shit but try and hide it to make a cohesive narrative! You have no idea what goes behind the scenes, sometimes even I don't.



When I was looking at my Pokedex, I realized something... I met so many Pokemon during my journey. I just want to learn more and more and more about the little darlings!



Bit late for that but thanks anyway.

I have to study lots of Pokemon research, but I don't mind. This is the answer I found during my adventure! It's actually a lot of fun! And I have an idea! Every now and then, come have a Pokemon battle with me, OK? 'Cause by doing that, I'll learn a lot more about Pokemon!



Would you have a Pokemon battle with me today? Great! Touya! We're battling indoors, so don't get too worked up!

Bianca Battle










Even though she has the same levels as Cheren, for whatever reason we can't rematch Bianca until AFTER we've beaten Alder, so she's usually not that difficult to fight, especially with the team we just used.



Still, with the additional Pokemon she has, and because she has Serperior, she actually has a really nice balance of Pokemon. Yes that was a factor in choosing Tepig, though of course the pattern for the starters was decided long ago. I'd argue she has a better team than Cheren!



No Contrary at least, only a madman would use something like that.



Thankfully got low enough that John could come in without worry. We'll be using Tristan, Big O and Miror B. as much as possible during this fight, but they will need help.



Musharna have just been easy pickings this update...



I have also fought enough Chandelure to last a lifetime. Please no more.



Thankfully not as scary as previous Mienshao we've faced... but it's still a freaking Mienshao. Plz stahp.



Still, I wouldn't have gotten this far if I didn't abuse my cheese as much as possible. Boy it's gonna suck if there was a terrifying ace that was immune to Thunder Wave!



You're really a strong Trainer. I love your style of Pokemon battling, Touya. Somehow your Pokemon look like they're having so much fun!



We're done. There's only two important fights left and nothing to ignore grinding with, so again, uh, pretend I sports courts it since I have a team of 9, still no grinding. On each day of the week Bianca tells you a different fact about a weird Pokemon evolution, like Eevee or Feebas, and she can be refought on weekends.



Last thing is to do what we could've done a while ago, and see every Pokemon in the Unova Dex, all 152 of them. Since we're White, we can never see Mandibuzz, though Black players can see Braviary, but there's also Ferrothorn and Zweilous as gaps that will never be filled. There's also a few weird mons that you won't see from trainers, discounting the sports courts cause I said so and it includes such Pokemon as:

Audino. Seriously. Only trainers in sports courts have them, and only two at that.
Zorua, gotta talk to that girl, otherwise you'll wonder what the hell N was using.
Foongus, which is also pretty weird.
Ferrothorn, as mentioned. N is the only one to use a Ferroseed too.
Rufflet/Vullaby, so opposite versions will miss those, Braviary is used by two trainers.
Durant, which I'm kinda glad about, man that thing is terrifying.
Larvesta, though you wish the AI would use them.

There's also a distressing number of Pokemon that are only used by one trainer like Crustle, Stunfisk and Hydreigon, how could they??? All in all, you definitely weren't meant to try and see all of them so it's weird there was quite the emphasis put on that. At least we're nearly done.




As for the missing mon in question, it's good that we never faced it cause boy this is a pain in the ass to fight! It is the definition of a tank, though its low HP is a real shame, since it only has two weaknesses. They're important weaknesses, sure, but that didn't stop it, since it comes with pretty passable Atk and be a surprise threat in Trick Room. Its main issue is Ferroseed is a right pain to actually raise, but then you get Power Whip when you evolve, so you can get right to smacking. Gyro Ball is next and then maybe Bulldoze if you wanna fight Fire types, but it's best to just lay down Ingrain, Toxic, Substitute and Protect, boy does this thing not die when it wants to. It can also chip with Sandstorm, slow everything with Thunder Wave, and surprise opponents with Swords Dance or Curse, Poison Jab and Shadow Claw. Leech Seed is an egg move, alas, so it's not something you can try until later, but when this mon gets going, it never stops. Spike damage!




"After it has eaten up all the food in its territory, it moves to another area. Its two heads do not get along."
"This brutal Pokémon travels the skies on its six wings. Anything that moves seems like a foe to it, triggering its attack."
"It makes a nest out of the bones it finds. It grabs weakened prey in its talons and hauls it to its nest of bones."
"It fights by swinging around its three spiky feelers. A hit from these steel spikes can reduce a boulder to rubble."

It's just that easy, apparently, but nothing an Exp Share can't handle. Pretty sure I covered all 152 Unova mons, don't exactly fancy checking, but what's left? Surely I wouldn't be crazy enough to actually complete the Unova Dex? And maybe even what's beyond?



Well in the next, and final update, we'll see just exactly what's left to do in this game.

[Crosspeice]

Part 32: Two Years Until New Events

Part 32: Two Years Until New Events



Two hard postgame battles left and this is the easy one. Still gonna be a bit rough, but it's only a Game Freak employee, they don't know how to make difficult battles anymore.

Trainer Battle







Who knew the starting Pokemon could be so dangerous? This is Shigeki Morimoto, a designer and programmer at Game Freak, having been at the company since the beginning. As he elaborates in further games, he has quite a few stories from the early games, the Pokemon he's designed, such as Mew, Mankey and Piloswine, and the challenges they faced, such as Gen 2 Kanto and making version differences. He was also the game director for Emerald and HGSS.



Well okay. There's only one battle to really use the best move Hamlet can learn, but better late than never!



The three monkeys are already a pain with their even attacking stats and good coverage, they didn't need the berry as well!



Thankfully the early mons, even with their 15 level advantage, can either get screwed over by their shallow movepool or their mediocre stats. Sometimes both!



Please stop kicking my ass.



It's just that easy!



Phew, quick and fun postgame battle. I wasn't worried about this one though.



I lost, but I learned a lot from you. Besides, it was fun! Come back again tomorrow.



I've put this off until it was literally the last thing left, but let's go and die.



I do want our Pokemon to have a match... are you prepared to be my opponent? Before I send out my Pokemon, my heart always begins to race... interesting... my Pokemon in their Pokeballs are radiating a happy feeling. Are you the reason? What are you?

Cynthia Battle







Okay, phew, so Cynthia is incredibly dangerous to fight, you better be damn prepared. Shame that Alder gets a bit overshadowed in his own game but he has his Pokemon and Cynthia has hers. Spiritomb loves spamming Double Team, becoming a huge problem very quickly, but thankfully a +2 Dragon Claw can OHKO it.



Onto the next problem, Milotic does incredible damage if it can land its attacks. Definitely do not status it or it'll never fall to physical attacks!



Bit of a pain, but hey, Miror B. is a good special tank, so should be just fine to-



SIGH, at least Hamlet is faster.



Here's a Braviary, nothing on my team survives a Brave Bird.



Buuuuuut I can just send out Big O a couple times and that's enough recoil damage to send it packing. By far the easiest to take down despite iit OHKOing everyone.



Otherwise Eelektross is the easiest to take down since it doesn't do immense damage unlike everything else Cynthia uses.



Thankfully Lucario is also very weak to a Golurk, what are the chances I'd have one for this, eh? But of course, that's only 5 of her Pokemon down. We still have the biggest issue.



Alright, without an Ice move or any way or really slowing it down outside of like Lick Tristan, what the hell do I do about this? Only Miror B. can really take a hit from this damn thing, but can't really take it on either.



The main way to get past this mon is dodging Stone Edge and Dragon Rush. Otherwise it just kinda cleaves through you, and that high of a level means it's super fast, so even Ice moves won't do much if you can't get a hit in!



But using the classic strat of reviving two mons and constantly switching between them, Tristan and John were able to deplete it of Stone Edge and Dragon Rush. Main reason why I chose Tristan was because he resisted EQ and neither were OHKOed by Crunch.



After a couple of hits, we can have our two relatively bulky mons be fully revived and survive an EQ, hitting back with what we have. Miror B. saves the day!



You are a really great Trainer!!



You certainly bear a resemblance to that Trainer who faced Giratina... oh, pardon me. I was just thinking out loud. I love being here in spring and summer. I can't stay all year, because there's so much to investigate in Sinnoh, as well. You're a great Trainer, and it would make me happy to see you again sometime.



But if I did, there would be a mountain of research materials piled up... am I right? Cynthia, enough for now! Next time, clean up.



But... I also love to travel the sky with a Pokemon when it's using Fly!

I must say it's difficult for people to draw out a Pokemon's charm if they don't have any themselves.

There's quite a few women that visit Cynthia in her villa during the spring and summer, and you can rematch her once a day during the spring. Caitlin and Shauntal visit in the spring, while Lenora, Iris, Skyla and Elesa visit in the summer.



Right, we're done with battling and whatever so let's catch the last 4 Pokemon we can't get without, ugh, interacting with other people.



"It is thought that Conkeldurr taught humans how to make concrete more than 2,000 years ago."
"Compressing the energy from its internal core lets it fire off an attack capable of blowing away a mountain."
"They fly around at high speed, striking with their pointed spears. Even when in trouble, they face opponents bravely."
"When its body dries out, it weakens. So, to prevent dehydration, it wraps itself in many layers of thin membrane."



And there we go, we're done! I evolved a bunch of mons offscreen and their dex entries will be at the end of the update so I'm not shoving 20 of them at you at once. Victini doesn't count for Unova Dex completion, so you only need 152 to finish it. But of course, there's still some we haven't met yet.





Yes it's time for yet more event Pokemon. Unlike previous games, only Victini can be caught in an event, Keldeo, Meloetta and Genesect were dsitributions only as Game Freak moved away from in-game items that let you encounter them. I think it's fine, since it's a moot point these days anyway, if they were event items or just events we wouldn't be able to obtain them now anyway. And if you could get the items, you have ways of getting the mon either way. Bit of a shame that there's no way to get these mons, but at least there's a bit of content with them.

As for Keldeo, this was first obtainable after B2W2 released, but could be obtained in any Gen 5 game. The Shotokan Keldeo was available between June to Aug 2012 for the release of the 15th movie, Kyurem VS The Sword of Justice. It was first available in the west from Aug 2012 to Jan 2013, but only for BW, since the sequels weren't released until October 2012.


"By blasting water from its hooves, it can glide across water. It excels at using leg moves while battling."




So we get to the next mythical, took around 25 updates, but how is my little pony that I've obtained legitimately? It was an absolute terror in OU due to its fantastic special stats and Spd tier. Now Sacred Sword is a physical move that ignores defensive and evasion changes, but what if Keldeo got its own version of the move, Secret Sword, that was a special attack that hit the opponent's Def stat. Combined with Hydro Pump, Calm Mind and Aqua Jet, you've got a very dangerous set to behold. Water and Fighting is an amazing combo and after a few boosts, there's very few that can properly resist it, especially the walls of Chansey or Blissey due to Secret Sword.

Usually Keldeo relies on Hidden Power for any kind of coverage, but can also use Choice Specs to just blast through anything. With Scald and Toxic it can also fit into other roles to surprise those expecting a more offensive attacker. It's definitely walled by a fair few mons due to its limited movepool, but it got exactly what it needed. Like with Victini, Keldeo has yet to be available as shiny.



Let's get into the first event, we'll need all four muskedeers for this.




A bright red mane... and a lush tail... and a single, noble horn! It's exactly like the old legend! For Keldeo and the three legendary Pokemon of the Unova region--Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion--this forest has a special meaning. It seems like it would be best if you knew this story, as well. Would you mind listening to an old man's story for a moment?



a single young Pokemon was separated from its parents. Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion teamed up to take care of this Pokemon. The three acted as its parents and taught it the knowledge and the moves it needed to survive... the young Pokemon grew rapidly, and developed a power that surpassed its three caretakers. However... one day, that Pokemon disappeared from the forest. No one knows why. But when I think about it... young ones are always reckless and drawn to adventure...



It looks like they are all happy to see one another again! I wonder if those three are trying to teach Keldeo something?

"Secret Sword!"

If it weren't for you, these Pokemon never would have been able to meet again here in this forest that holds so many memories for them. I'm sure they are very happy that they were able to meet a Trainer like you.



A verdant forest and clear water... for Pokemon, this forest is like a paradise. It's also very important for people, so I want to take good care of it!



Well that was neat, no Resolute form though, that's next game. All we need for the next event is Meloetta.




Because Meloetta didn't get her own movie, instead a recycled anime arc from the earlier cancelled Plasma arc, she was distributed at the same time as Keldeo in cinemas, between Jul and Oct 2012. It was released a bit later in the west, from Feb to Apr 2013, and was thus always available in B2W2 games.


"Its melodies are sung with a special vocalization method that can control the feelings of those who hear it."




Dancing through the night, Meloetta is a very powerful and surprisingly specially defensive attacker that is let down a little by her Spd. Her unique form change isn't that useful since it requires Relic Song, which isn't a great move and the form change makes it switch between attacking stats, which as we saw with Zen Mode Darmanitan isn't a very useful way of battling. It mainly sticks to special sets, but it can use Relic Song to surprise opponents and smash them with Close Combat. She can use a Choice Specs very nicely and blast opponents Psychic, Hyper Voice, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, hell even Hyper Beam if you feel fancy.

She can work very well with Calm Mind sets to further bolster her great stats and just hopes to not face Pursuit or Sucker Punch. A Ghost immunity is really nice and with Leftovers and Substitute, can also stick around and boost up to staggering levels. Since she doesn't resist many attacks and has below average Spd, she doesn't quite make it in OU, but is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Alas, like with Victini and Keldeo, never had its shiny released, that's three now!



sepia-toned memories. It was a song my mother loved... it makes me feel so nostalgic. Would you like to hear the melody?

Relic Song







that it filled people's hearts with joy. Then sorrow darkened the entire world, and the Pokemon lost the melody... also, at the time, some red shoes were lost somewhere... when you came through the door, I remembered the melody! And the Pokemon that had forgotten how to dance began to step lightly once more! You are the inspiration. You are a mysterious child... let it sing the Relic Song. Aria Forme will become Pirouette Forme, and vice versa.



While it's not particularly useful, we'll go over Pirouette Forme in just a moment. Now we have the last event at the P2 Laboratory, featuring that darn robotic bug, Genesect. For those keeping track, my favourite Pokemon is Espeon, but of course you need a full team, so I have 5 more I consider the best, after that it gets a little hazy. We've seen Giratina-Origin, Lairon, Rotom-HEAT and now Genesect. It's just so GODDAMN COOL. It'll be a fair while before we see my last favourite Pokemon, but it's a real good, big one, I assure you.




Right, uh, anyway, Genesect did get its own movie with Mega Mewtwo Y, though at the time it was just called Awakened Mewtwo, spoilers. It was first released over Wi-Fi for B2W2 games from Aug 11th to Sep 14th 2012, though was quickly made again, this time as a shiny, for its movie, Genesect and the Legend Awakened in Jun to Sep 2013. The west got the regular version, from Oct 7th to Nov 12 2012, but we've never had the shiny version available to us. Bastards.


"Over 300 million years ago, it was feared as the strongest of hunters. It has been modified by Team Plasma."




We've attacked and dethroned god, so what's next for the last Pokemon in a Pokedex? A resurrected bug in a robot shell? FUCK YEAH! With a big ol' blaster that doesn't really get used since Techno Blast is a bad move, Genesect is an absolute terror with its dual offenses and excellent Spd. It falls just shy of the great 100 baseline, but a Choice Scarf fixes a lot of issues, especially because it likes to hit and run with stupidly powerful U-turns. Unfortunately Genesect gets a pretty mediocre physical movepool and since it's banished to Ubers for being an absolute menace, it doesn't use its Bug STAB for much. The best it gets is Iron Head, a B2W2 tutor move, or Extremespeed and Blaze Kick from the cinema event.

Still, it has an excellent and wide special movepool thanks to its cannon, so it can carve out an excellent revenge killer niche. While Techno Blast changes typing with its Drive, it's weaker than Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Thunder, making it pretty pointless. The only interest is Water Techno Blast, but that's kinda whatever. With a Download boost, Expert Belt and all the coverage you can want, this bug might be incredibly fragile in Ubers, taking half health from various big Draco Meteors, but as a speedy killer, it can't be matched.



You... it couldn't be... the fact that you are here means you came to learn about the secret of Genesect!



Then we enhanced the Pokemon with the power of science! It is the strongest Pokemon in history!! But, our lord N was not interested in this Genesect that was modified by the power of science! "Science damages the natural beauty of Pokemon! They're perfect beings!" That's what he said... so our research was halted, and this facility was closed... However!! The Genesect research is all mine! So if you want to know Genesect's secret, you'll have to beat me in battle!



Ah, hmm, since you can do this event as soon as you get here, well, Dudley isn't that strong. Oh well, that's not the important aspect of this event.






So here's the other form or whatever. If she was by herself, Meloetta-P would've been pretty amazing with those stats in the Fighting and Dragon gen, but unfortunately she's screwed over by the Relic Song transformation, making it much easier using Meloetta-A instead. Still, if you can somehow get this to work then you can go for a mixed set, usually a bad idea, and go hard with Close Combat. Then it depends how hard you want to invest in this, you need to waste a moveslot on Relic Song, and you would prefer for Meloetta-A to attack if she needs to, so you should at least have Psychic, what does that leave you? Stone Edge, Acrobatics and Return are fine coverage moves, but you can only use so much. It's more useful to have Meloetta-P appear when you have the chance to smack something with CC and then switch out to remove the debuffs, since that also changes Meloetta back into Aria form. Also the form change doesn't go off if the sleep chance of Relic Song is removed from Sheer Force, a weird technicality. Anyway, it's a slight pain to use, so don't bother.



Not exactly a fight I wanted to end the LP on, but at least we put a nerd in his place, my lifelong goal.



I forgot my duty as a Scientist is to make the world happy. So, this must be what I get for trying to make a Pokemon into a tool for fighting... I'm going to wash my hands of this Genesect matter... I don't need this anymore... I'll give it to you.



The item I just gave you was made for Genesect. When it holds an item like this, it changes the type of the move called Techno Blast, so it can always have an advantage. ... There was another one in my other pocket...



I'd rather not. For whatever reason they made the event only drives for a bad move that Genesect doesn't want to use... version exclusive. You get the Burn and Shock drives in Black and Black 2, and the Douse and Chill drives in White and White 2. I don't know why they bothered, but there we go, that's the events for this game, hope you enjoyed them! Man this update's gonna be kinda short, huh...



They did go to the effort of making the drive on the sprite actually change colour. No I haven't made templates for the 4 different Genesect forms, since they change one thing and I'm not that crazy enough. I thought about it though. Anyway, uh, since we completed the Pokedex, might as well go see Professor Juniper?

Juniper's Lab



How is your Pokedex coming along? Can I see it? Let me see... oh, you've seen 156 Pokemon in the Unova region! Amazing! Truly amazing! You've met all of the Pokemon in the Unova region! Congratulations! Now here's your next challenge: see how many of those Pokemon you can catch! I'll keep evaluating for you! Keep up the good work!



Amazing! Absolutely amazing! You've caught every Pokemon in the Unova region! Congratulations!! Keep up the good work!



Sigh, maybe one day it'll be worth filling the Pokedex. But since I was close enough, or something like that, I filled the National Pokedex. 649 is a pretty big number but it wasn't that hard, tbh.



So you're here to show me how your Pokedex is coming along, right? I see! You've caught 649 Pokemon, then... ... ... This blows me away! It's so wonderful, I'm at a loss for words. You... you've truly accomplished something truly outstanding. Filling up the National Pokedex makes you a Trainer among Trainers! I'm so happy I was able to meet a fantastic Trainer like you! I thank you from the bottom of my heart.



Let's go get our other "rewards" for doing this. Boy I seem a little tired of completing the National Pokedex for not much. Still, that's our last Trainer card star, turning it White... or Black. Magic. Shame we got the worse of the two, but this one honestly wasn't that bad. You also ONLY need 636 Pokemon to complete it, since it doesn't require Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta or Genesect. Boy that's a long list now.



Oh! You've caught every kind of Pokemon in Unova! Wow! Excellent! We'll give you an award!!



I will send this award certificate to your house! How did you meet all the Pokemon to fill up your Pokedex? Did you work long and hard to catch and raise them? Did you receive them as gifts from friends? Maybe you got some in trades from around the world? Though everyone's Pokedex may look the same, the stories they contain are all unique!



your Pokedex! To honor the efforts you have made in completing this Pokedex... allow me to present you with this award!



Neato.



And there we have it, these are gonna be a little bit anticlimactic since we're not catching any Mythical Pokemon at the end of an LP, but I still find this stuff really interesting anyway. That's 5 sets of Pokemon all finished up and stored away, surely I must be nearly done! Thank you very much for reading, I love these games so much, and what's more is there's sequels that are even better!!! So let's start in an unfamiliar place, climb through the four seasons and take on a crazy science man in a floating fortress. That's right, my next LP is of course... Etrian Odyssey II!


"It moves along the ground as if sliding. Its swift movements befuddle its foes, and it then attacks with a vine whip."
"It can stop its opponents' movements with just a glare. It takes in solar energy and boosts it internally."


"Strict training is how it learns its flowing double-scalchop technique."
"One swing of the sword incorporated in its armor can fell an opponent. A simple glare from one of them quiets everybody."


"It rescues people stranded by blizzards in the mountains. Its shaggy fur shields it from the cold."
"It loves sweets because they become energy for the fire burning inside its body."


"The tuft on its head holds water. When the level runs low, it replenishes the tuft by siphoning up water with its tail."
"Males swing their head plumage to threaten opponents. The females' flying abilities surpass those of the males."


"They shoot paralyzing liquid from their head bumps. They use vibration to hurt their opponents."
"Upon finding a small Pokémon, it weaves clothing for it from leaves, using the cutters on its arms and sticky silk."


"Like the wind, it can slip through any gap, no matter how small. It leaves balls of white fluff behind."
"They never allow prey to escape. Their jaws are so powerful, they can crush the body of an automobile."


"Groups of them beat up anything that enter their territory. Each can spit acidic liquid from its mouth."
"They are intelligent and will cooperate to catch prey. From the ground, they use a running start to take flight."


"Their white fur is coated in a special oil that makes it easy for them to deflect attacks."
"Starry skies thousands of light-years away are visible in the space distorted by their intense psychic power."


"When Reuniclus shake hands, a network forms between their brains, increasing their psychic power."
"Swallowing large amounts of water, they make snow clouds inside their bodies and attack their foes with violent blizzards."


"The fate of the ships and crew that wander into Jellicent's habitat: all sunken, all lost, all vanished."
"When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrically charged threads."


"They coil around foes and shock them with electricity-generating organs that seem simply to be circular patterns."
"They crawl out of the ocean using their arms. They will attack prey on shore and immediately drag it into the ocean."


"This ominous Pokémon is feared. Through cities it wanders, searching for the spirits of the fallen."
"It absorbs a spirit, which it then burns. By waving the flames on its arms, it puts its foes into a hypnotic trance."


"It leads a group of Pawniard. It battles to become the boss, but will be driven from the group if it loses."

[Crosspeice]

And we're done. Thanks for reading my first LP on this place, it's really cool I can post this for easy reading for everyone now. I'll be back soon enough for B2W2, but the labyrinth calls me yet again, so please come and submit something in the Etrian Odyssey II thread, it's gonna be a blast!