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Their coming in faster now as I get towards a more interesting part of the game. Hooray! In this part, I do everything up to entering the Gym, for Gyms deserve their own mini chapter.
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Chapter Four
The Rocky Road Express
Having exhausted every possible activity in Jubilife City, I call it quits. Every pokemon, sans Eviscerva, is Lvl. 11 - Lvl. 13, which is more than enough; in all honesty being Lvl. 10 or Lvl. 11 is very acceptable. No matter!
There's a Rival Battle coming up. While I didn't do it for the very first one (as the only difficulty is getting Carpal Tunnel from mashing 'Pound') from now on every 'unique' battle will have it's own specialised segment. I like to think of this as a Let's Play and Walk-through Hybrid.
But back to being in character. I depart in the early morning, because my puppeteer is a night owl and he likes to do these things at night. What a bastard; I want to get to bed, not travel to Oreburgh City. Regardless, I'm powerless to stop myself walking out of Jubilife due east into Route 203. As soon as I step down onto the grass, I spot Ace, who really must have been waiting a long time. He probably didn't expect me to head off in opposite directions to gather some optional things!
He rambles on about going to be the best Pokemon Trainer EVER, and then we battle. Why? Because this is Pokemon, and battle we must.
This is starting to sound apocalyptic where it's every man for himself.
Rival Ace
Second Encounter
Starly - Lvl. 7
Starter - Lvl. 9
The Bad News
Your starter is effectively rather useless at this stage.
His Starly is a bit of an annoyance.
The Good News
Shinx can wipe the floor with both of them he's all you got,
and even an average party can wipe the floor with them.
The Battle
An incredibly easy battle. Even if you don't have Shinx (and you're pretty stupid not to catch one) literally any pokemon that is typed neutrally to these two can just slug it out with their most powerful attack. Common fighting options include Shinx's Tackle, Starly's Wing Attack and Quick Attack and Kricketune's Fury Cutter. If you've outdone yourself and ventured into Route 204, then both evolutions of the Wurmple Family can prove good assets. Meanwhile, for raw damage, Zubat learns Bite at lvl.13 which is probably your most powerful move at this stage.
But even I'm talking too much about this battle. Just whack away. Complimentary video just to show you HOW easy it is.
After making shocked noises that he could possibly have lost with his two pokemon, he decides to take the Oreburgh Gym challenge. Good luck with that, I think to myself.
Either way, I'm by myself again. The key catch of this Route is definitely the Abra. While it's a bitch to catch and even more of a bitch to train, getting an Abra now and training it up diligently will eventually make it grow to one of your top Pokemon. We can get it in a trade later in Oreburgh City, but it carries with it the trade restrictions that come along with it. Personally, I wanted my own.
No. 12
Murdel
Pokemon: Abra
Inspiration: After Del Murder. Obvious, but effective.
Rather like Magikarp, Abra is incredibly difficult to train up. It's only move is Teleport, making it even more useless than Magikarp because it 'removes' you from the area! Mercifully, it does evolve into Kadabra at Lvl. 16, but until then, it's staying firm in my PC Box until I get to a stage where my other pokemon hit similar levels.
The rest of this route is largely uneventful. There's trainers and littered items aplenty, but nothing really worth going on about in more detail. However, the most hilarious exchanges that ARE worth poking fun at are below.
After all of this, Arcus learned Double Team, a brilliant move which, if spammed, renders it mostly unhittable unless facing a 100% accurate move. Furthermore, my dear Arcus evolved at Lvl. 14 to... Staravia! It won't be levelling up till quite awhile, so I better get used to this new design.
I then enter... the CAVE OF DOOM. Actually, it's called the Oreburgh Gate but it's a fairly poky little area, for now. I walk forward and then a big scary man comes at me!
Mercifully, he just wanted to give me a Hidden Machine. Why they are hidden are as of yet, unknown, but alas, it's a welcome gift. It's HM06, Rock Smash, which is perfect for my HM Slave Normalin.
I wander through the cave and encounter a Geodude! The perfect Rock Pokemon for me at this stage of the game. It's annoying, mainly because I had to use Prinnere to just pound it, whittling it's health bit by bit into the red.
No.13
Adamatur
Pokemon: Geodude
Inspiration: By saying it, it sounds rather 'rocky'.
The cave is fairly dull, and as are the trainers. I leave, and is then pounced upon by what I can only imagine to be a descendant of "Man who shows you town" guy who lived in Cherrygrove City in Generation II. His descendant is much more lazy though, and he only shows me direct to the Pokemon Gym. We both notice Ace waiting impatiently outside.
I go speak to Ace, who informs me that he's "Like, SERIOUSLY Tough, bro" and helpfully tells me that he's gone down to the Mines. Before doing so, I decide to explore the town more.
On the second floor of one building, I get a Dusk Ball from a lady who must be bankrupt from handing out free stuff to every trainer she meets. In the next building, a girl wants a Machop for an Abra. I already have an Abra, but I'm fairly certain it's holding an item, so I make a mental note of it for later. Upstairs, a fat dude wants to see a Geodude but can't be bothered literally walking a dozen steps to go to either the Oreburgh Gate or the Mines. Sensing an item out of this, I quickly head to the Pokemon Centre and return. It's then I notice the Geodude I caught was holding an Everstone. An amazing catch, given that it's a 5% chance. I mean, it's pretty useless, but whatever. Free item. I'm drifting off. I show the fat guy a Geodude and I get a Heal Ball out of it.
Meanwhile, the Poke-mart is still awfully ran as ever, though at least there's two clerks. I buy a single Tunnel Mail for completion's sake, together with a exorbitantly priced Net Ball (1000 poke!?!?!).
Back in the Pokemon Centre, I talk to everyone. Our first mention of Team Galactic is by the old guy, who appears to be a voice of reason, wondering why no one is investigating him. Why isn't he chief of police, I wonder. The mystic asks me what sort of trainer people see me as, and I obviously choose Ace Trainer.
Down the escalator, I enter the Wi-Fi room. I'm running an emulator, so I doubt I'd use this at all, but hey, free stuff. In the final tall building, a trainer sees the glint in my pokemon's eye and gives me a Great Ball! Huh, not bad.
Finally, I enter the Oreburgh Mining Museum. It's fairly dead, with just lumps of coal. Joy.
Again, the more humorous exchanges are below:
I know I know, get on with it Formy! I hear you say. But I'm not done here quite yet. Towards the mine, there's a very lucrative Slag Heap that houses two mighty fine items! Besides the visible Yellow Shard and Dire Hit, if you inspect the Slag Heap itself in two points you can obtain...
I scoot back to the Poke-mart to sell off my Pearl. DON'T sell off the Heart Scale - they do have a purpose. Keep hold of them. The Pearl sells off for a tidy 700 poke. Now, an optional location! Route 207 does become a mandatory location after the second Gym, but by going here now, we can access the lower patch of grass to obtain two rather useful pokemon.
Machop eventually evolves into Machamp, and while it isn't the 'best' Fighting Pokemon, it's certainly not bad, and given that Fighting is strong against Rock, getting it now makes sense. Ponyta is more of a long-term investment. It's useless against Roark, but our next gym is Grass, and it's a great Fire pokemon anyway. Both pokemon then, just make perfect sense. I got both, plus an extra Machop for the trade. Also, hidden item alert!
No.14
Mulletoros
Pokemon: Machop
Inspiration: Flying Mullet. From photos, he looks pretty trimmed and fit, and Machop's head as a Mullet style thing going on.
No.15
Ifalna
Pokemon: Machop
Inspiration: Sephiroth (the member) said "Name a Ponyta after me, Cetra". I took the 'Cetra' part of that quote and expanded it and called it Ifalna.
With the spare Machop (who I called Tradebot) I trade it with Hilary and obtain her Abra, called Kazza. As I thought, it held an Oran Berry. While a weak gift, it didn't take much to get, and hey, free stuff.
With literally everything I could do complete, it's finally time to head into the mines. There's only one more pokemon to collect, Onix. I do so, and then actually get on with the story. Oh, outside the mine, to the east is a passage containing a miner and his Machop. Speak to him for a Super Potion. Adequate.
No. 16
Adamatamai
Pokemon: Onix
Inspiration: Firstly to give it some relation to Geodude (while completely separate species, I tend to think them two related) and it's also named after an VII enemy! Gives it a rather Oriental feel, strangely.
After this, I headed down into the mine, and fought a fairly weak miner. He probably should be concentrating on the damn job though; I wonder what Roark would have said. Either way, Floresco wiped the floor with it's Mega Drain. I encounter Roark at the bottom of this dig, and demonstrates to me the 'power' of Rock Smash. He then runs off to the Gym to get ready. To the west of that event, another weak miner get squashed by me, and I find another discarded item: an Escape Rope. Perfect!
And not a moment too soon, for I was beginning to develop consumption. Knowing that the next boss battle will be an important one, I decide to rest up for the battle. I'll fight him tomorrow, I think to myself.
I wonder how Ace fared with just his Starly and Turtwig?
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A brief note about the video: it takes a looong time to upload to YouTube. Once it's complete, you can watch just how easily I wiped the floor with Ace's pokemon. It's only at like 38%, and I've had that running since that battle. Since then, the rest of this Chapter took like over two hours, roughly. It'll take awhile!
Last edited by Formalhaut; 08-06-2013 at 06:24 AM.
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