What Lurks at the Bottom

You find her far from home in cold, dark corners.  Once you have left civilization, once you have left the farthest reaches of the sun--then you are nearly there.  Deep in the ocean depths--far below the waves and secluded from watching eyes--in a world of its own.  That's where Mareanie lurks.
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Having Completed my Fire Trial and taking the Firium-Z as my prize, I was free to move north to greener pastures.

I took that Firium-Z and made my way south to catch a Happiny.

See, I really do like the collection aspect of these games.  It gives me this perverse sense of joy to see my Pokedex fill up with new captures.  The new pokedex completion interfaces introduced in this game only make this compulsion even more strong.  Not only do they give you a completion percentage for the entire pokedex, but completion percentages for each island you visit.  In addition to these, the game shows you a sort of trophy case arrangement of all your catches.  A lot of the presentation in this game reinforces the gameplay tenets.  I know that Gamefreak has long ago abandoned "Gotta Catch 'em All" as the slogan for the franchise (it is currently "Train On"), but I really relish the thought of working to truly snag one of each.

I found Mareanie in the Melemele Sea.  I suppose "found" would be slightly false of me to say: perhaps "tracked" would be more correct.  Truthfully, I knew it was there because my pokedex had guided me to that spot.  Indeed, it had even indicated that I would need to fish for it.

I hooked a Corsola.  While I was trying to capture it, it called allies.  One of these allies turned out to be the Sea Star pokemon "Mareanie"

Turns out, Mareanie was a pretty horrible ally because the very next turn, the pokemon turned on its partner; it used "Bite" on Corsola.

I looked it up and it is a pokemon that is based on the Crown-of-thorns Starfish.  This is a venomous echinoderm that consumes coral as its primary source of food.  I told my students this and then had to continue by explaining that coral is actually a creature related to the jellyfish (they are both cnidarians) which absorbs silicates from its environment and incorporates them into its body structure.

This starfish, like all starfish, has an water circulatory system.  This means that the water it lives in helps with circulation--and also that much of its body's structure is seawater.  If it is ever taken out of its habitat onto dry land, it would deflate.  Even its sharp spines, so stiff that they could make short work of exposed flesh, lose their stiffness when not immersed.

Luckily, Meanie the Mareanie didn't deflate once I brought it back with me onto dry land.  I added her to my team.

She has an ability called "Merciless".  This ability causes all of her moves to cause critical hits on opponents that are already poisoned.  Coupled with her attack "toxic spikes", she is going to be a fun and brutal pokemon to use.

I arrived at the "Lush Jungle".  Who thinks this is going to prove to be a grass trial?


Current Squad:
Brionne/Pako Pako/lvl 22
Crabrawler/Ppunches/lvl 21
Salandit/Sassy Sally/lvl 21
Oricorio/Ori-Chan/lvl 22
Steenee/Bouncee/lvl 21
Sylveon/Sly/lvl 20

On Rotation:
Grimer/Sludj/lvl 20
Misdreavus/Missy/lvl 19
Trumbeak/Pip Pip/lvl 21
Mareanie/Meanie/lvl 17

Pokedex: 89 caught

Adding Phantump to the Creepy List...

Not much has occurred in my game since I stopped Team Flare from stealing the pokeballs and then stopped myself from making an obvious "balls joke" about it.  I think this is just because I have been screwing around again, this time with my new super rod (as well as spending several evenings trying to catch an Electrode before it self-destructs).  The route East took me through a busted-down building and a very vertical, very creepy grasslands full of weird grass/ghost pokemon. 

Along the way, Frogadier evolved into Greninja, who is absolutely awesome.  For the first time since pokemon Sapphire version, I haven't had to try to convince myself that I like a starter pokemon.  And yes, since I love pokemon Sapphire so much, I will go marry it...
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The previously mentioned grass/ghost type in question is a new pokemon called Phantump.

Phantump continues the pokemon "tradition" of having at least one pokemon with a ridiculously creepy or macabre pokedex entry:
>Phantump - Stump Pokemon: According to old tales, these pokemon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.

This reminded me of a few other creepy pokedex entries:
>Gengar - Shadow Pokemon: To steal the life of its target, it slips into the prey’s shadow and silently waits for an opportunity. 
>Drifloon - Balloon Pokemon: It tugs on the hands of children to steal them away. It is whispered that any child who mistakes Drifloon for a balloon and holds on to it could wind up missing.
>Cubone - Lonely Pokemon: The stains on the skull it wears are from its tears. It wears its mother’s skull, never revealing its true face. 
>Banette - Puppet Pokemon: This Pokémon was originally a pitiful plush doll that was thrown away. It seeks the child that disowned it. 
>Yamask - Spirit Pokemon: These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves in past ages. Each retains memories of its former life. Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.
>Kadabra - Psi Pokemon: It happened one morning - a boy with extrasensory powers awoke in bed transformed into Kadabra.
>Drowzee - Hypnosis Pokemon: If your nose becomes itchy while you are sleeping, it's a sure sign that a Drowzee is standing above your pillow and trying to eat your dream through your nostrils.
>Cacturne - Scarecrow Pokemon:  If a traveler is going through a desert in the thick of night, Cacturne will follow in a ragtag group. The Pokémon are biding their time, waiting for the traveler to tire and become incapable of moving.

And this just scratches the surface...

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.38
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.37
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.37
SKRELP/Toxie/lvl.37
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.37
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.38

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Scraggy

Red Shifting Pokemon

After getting over my initial horror over the opening cinematic I finally booted up the game and selected the name "Jack" because it reflects my badassitude and general disregard of "the rules" and "the man".

I was immediately introduced to my two friends (a statement that seems increasingly more nonsensical the more I re-read it) who I did not get to name "Gary" and "Jerkface"...there's a girl named Bianca and a guy named Cheren. The "Oak of the moment": Professor Juniper sent us all a nicely wrapped gift of pokemon to "start our journey". Apparently this game isn't even giving you the illusion that this adventure is spontaneous.

I chose Tepig, the fire pig pokemon because Oshawatt the otter is absolutely ugly--and seriously--look at this guy! An absolute Scoochie-woochie (a word my little brother made up to describe the adorable Ratattas in Yellow version) if I do say so myself...

I named him "Red" because there isn't enough room for "Waggleton P. Tallylicker III". I still regret not naming him "Pignition"...

So after battling not just one of, but both of my rivals (thereby destroying my room at home), we were off to do the usual tasks of acquiring pokedex (is that plural?), learning how to catch pokemon, etc. Incidentally I realized that whenever I send my Tepig out into battle the selection is "Red--> Shift". Which makes me laugh because its proof that the pokeverse is expanding! (That was a science joke).

Current squad: