No Quarter: Battle at the Summit

What better way to truly test the strength of my new pokemon team than to battle my rival--a trainer whose strongest pokemon is 13 levels higher than mine?

Serena seems to have been busy since the last time we have fought each other, having added a bulky Altaria to her team in addition to her fully evolved Chesnaught and Vaporeon.  The presence of Absol and Meowstic are the pokemon on her side that shy her team away from being a true "Bulky Offensive" squad (my second favorite battle strategy, by the way).
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The "Rival as your friend" thing that the Pokemon series has been glomming-onto since Sapphire version has never really worked for me until fairly recently.  I guess I can attribute this to me being a dumb teenager for most of that time (I think I was fourteen when Sapphire version came out) and the one thing teenagers like more than pretending that no one understands them is being contentious. 

As a result, I wanted all of my enemies to be true enemies--and all of the battles all the time to be "epic" or "badass" without really knowing what either of these words really mean.  Even as early as last year I didn't like the "Friendly Rival" trend because I thought it was juvenile.  Now, though, I think I am starting to see what Nintendo/Gamefreak is going for.

Your rival doesn't have to be a huge jerk or even a classic "bad guy" to be threatening--and they don't need to be an imposing presence to challenge you and get you excited about a fight.  In real life there are surely people who are asses who give you a hard time.  These are people that you just can't wait to "show" as in "I'll show you one day" or "some day you'll see".  These types of rival-characters follow naturally from the "mean jerk" trope that was so especially pervasive in the 90's and early 2000's.  I am not saying that this trope is not currently relevant or motivational, but it is less effective at creating a compelling story.

More often than not the real motivators in life are the friends you know.  They are always challenging you to score better on your tests, work harder at your job, lift the bar for five more pounds, or do one more chin up.  In real life, you always feel better competing against these people as friends and rivals--and the result is a lot more of a fulfilling "hero's journey".  Battling Serena is about testing your mettle and your intestinal fortitude--and it is not one bit less exhilarating than battling Blue at the end of Pokemon Red...well, maybe just one little bit...

Now I should really stop talking about this--before I say something crazy like, "Pokemon Y has taught me to be a better person".
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The battle itself was something of a stall-fest with Serena tanking-out most of my hits and me learning how to use my Venusaur's Mega-Evolution.  Up until this point I have been using Mega Lucario and Mega Aerodactyl, but since Aero' has been left in the PC for the trip through Victory Road, I wanted to test out the durability of Mega-V.

Part of the reason the battle took so long was that I was using the opportunity to figure out what Venusaur can and can't handle in terms of stalling.  My Venusaur is currently running Sleep Powder/Poisonpowder/Leech Seed/Solarbeam at time of writing, so knowing what it can set-up on is crucial to my future Elite Four success.

The results of my experimentation: Mega Venusaur is an absolute tank.  Victory against Serena: 4-0.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.54
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.52
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.51
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.53
DRAGALGE/Toxie/lvl.49
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.49

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Hippowdon, Scrafty

The Vile Lysandre

Lysandre certainly takes the cake for being the most evil person in the pokemon world.  Let me elaborate.

As the battle came to a close, Lysandre made note that before we removed the Yveltal batteries, the machine still had enough power to be fired exactly once to destroy the facility.  Lysandre was trying to take us all out with him.  Cue Metroid-Style Escape!

Lysandre killed himself while trying to kill the kids that defeated him.  This is a bit crazy, but the thing is, he kept his pokemon on his person when this happened, so he also killed all of his pokemon.  I can't be the only one that finds this a little macabre: he killed himself and killed his pokemon too.  I don't know what could be more evil than this.  I guess the real-world analogue would be if you set your house on fire and died with all your pets and family.

I guess it makes sense for Pokemon to be able to die--otherwise what is the purpose of Lavender Tower?  I have just never actually witnessed the death of a pokemon.  I was the last one to see that Gyarados alive...then I beat it up...and then it was gone forever.  My character was the last person to see that Gyarados, and the last thing I did to it was Aura Sphere it in its big, stupid face.
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The pokemon gang was apparently doing a lot off screen to help the cause and this only came up at the very end.  After escaping from the facility and watching the whole place get vaporized and sucked back into the earth, we all regrouped amongst the ashes. Tierno (the dancing one) was apparently helping to release all the captured pokemon in a nearby route and Trevor was helping evacuate the town (or something). 

The fact that you were a part of a big Anti-Flare effort actually goes a long way towards bringing you in as a believable main character--and makes the world a lot more alive.  This is much easier to swallow than the idea that you could single-handedly take out all the Rockets.  The whole game is a lot more believable from this standpoint.

I never quite got the idea of purposefully disturbing Groudon or Kyogre--who are literally in the process of tearing the world apart at the time that you hunt them down to battle them.  In this game, you do end up fighting a scary legend, but it kind of happens by accident.  When you end-up catching Yveltal, its really only because the thing was so angry from being asleep for so long that it wanted to hurt you.  You weren't just looking for trouble and a new catch, you were attacked and you sent out your pokemon to defend you.  You only catch Yveltal because if you don't, it would hurt you.

A lot about this game is incredibly well thought-out, especially when compared with previous installments of the game.  This may be the best game since Red version.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.42
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.41
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.42
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.41
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.43
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.40

On Rotation: Lucario, Gardevoir, Pikachu, Skrelp

Team Flare Makes a Move

No sooner had I left the gym than I got a Holo-message from Lysandre, the fellow with the lion's mane who introduced himself to me as the villain near the start of the game (which was nice of him I guess).  Apparently, he was sending this message to trainers everywhere that he was ordering Team Flare to kill everyone in the entire world.

I guess I kind of forgot what was going on in this game and this message reminded me that there was still a story in this thing--and now it is most certainly the time for me to figure out what is going on. 

I pursued Team Flare to Lysandre's Cafe in Lumiose City and found the secret entrance hidden behind the bookcase in the back guarded by two Team Flare Table-Waiters.  This seems familiar...
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Another one of the things I really loved about the earlier games is that they would tell you what to do (or not) by making you put the pieces together yourself.  Pokemon White (and, to a lesser extent, Pokemon Sapphire) spent far too much time talking about what was going on and where you should go.  Go to the Dragonspiral Tower, which is where the legendary dragon pokemon are found, Now go to the Relic Castle to get Zekrom, No, Zekrom isn't here, go back to the City with the Swamp whatever it was called in that game.  That game could not stop explaining things to you and I just felt dumb having to deal with its constantly condescending dialogue.  Not to mention the dialogue was shit to begin with.

This game is kind of a happy middle-ground.  I was shown Lysandre's Cafe earlier in the game in a scripted story event where I met the Professor (on my second tour of Lumiose City), so I knew where it was and that Lysandre owned it.  My fellow Pokemon Thief gang-member (and game Rival) Serena told me that we should look for Team Flare's HQ.  All I had to do was put these two pieces together and I found the place.  Not quite as difficult as curing cancer (and most certainly not as hard as figuring out the opposite-day logic that you needed the Pokeflute to get into the Silph Co. Building), but it was enough to make me feel good about using that fancy Graduate-School education I've been neglecting for the past two years.

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After battling Lysandre himself (he had a Pyroar, go figure), I made my way through a conveyor-belt/teleporter maze, trying to find the administrator with the lift key (yup, definitely been here before).

Along the way, I encountered battles ranging from easy to absurdly difficult.  Of special note was a Malamar which kept boosting its own stats while using Superpower (due to its ability, which raises stats instead of lowering them) and one particularly hairy match against a high level Drapion, who used Acupressure two consecutive times to luckily sharply raise its Attacking power and Speed.  That Drapion tore me apart my first attempt.

At the end, I was treated with a story that I guess was supposed to explain all the "3000 year legend" references people have been making this whole game, but which in reality just made matters even more confusing.  The story was about a guy whose Floette died making a machine that brought it back to life at the cost of the lives of many other pokemon.  Team Flare made it perfectly clear that their doomsday machine is the same machine as this one.

After I failed to stop Team Flare from activating the machine, I was pointed in the direction of Geosenge City again.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.41
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.40
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.42
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.42
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.40
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.40

On Rotation: Pikachu, Gardevoir, Lucario

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

Too Many Pokemon!

I previously noted that it is important to have a variety of pokemon available to catch and add to your team early and then to funnel in new pokemon in an even and consistent way--something that Ruby and Sapphire had a serious problem with--but this is just plain comical.

So I caught Snorlax (cause I always catch Snorlax), found the game's pokemon breeding center, went through a cave, Bulbasaur and Froakie both evolved (into Ivysaur and Frogadier, respectively), I found a town, found a second cave, and along the way I caught Seviper, Drifloon, Zubat, Axew, Croagunk, Onix, Sandile, Helioptile, Hippopotas, Lunatone, Solrock, Machop, Cubone, Inkay, Illumise, Ducklett, Spoink, Absol, Mienfoo, and Wingull.  Of these, I briefly had on my team: Seviper, Absol, Mienfoo, Machop, Cubone, Onix, Croagunk, Axew, and Helioptile. 

...And then I realized that I was going absolutely bonkers with all the new pokemon: I was like a fat school kid on Macaroni and Cheese day (something I have years of experience at, as a matter of fact). 

Ultimately, I decided to just leave it up to my little brother to pick for me: welcome to the team, Hippopotas.


I was originally sent to the last town to ask about Mega Evolutions, and the people there sent me on my way to Ambrette town.  When I got to Ambrette town, I found the professor I was looking for and he told me to go piss off and explore the aforementioned "second cave" (only accessible by riding on top of a Rhyhorn).  He must have had an important meeting...or perhaps he just didn't like the idea of some snot-nosed kid asking him about things he has never heard of JUST BECAUSE he is a scientist.  Because all scientists know all of science...right?   

Hint: wrong


Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.18
IVYSAUR/Ivy/lvl.18
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.18
FLABEBE/Pixie/lvl.17
PIKACHU/PikaPi/lvl.18
DODUO/Birdface/lvl.17

On Rotation: Hippopotas, Ralts

The Good Kind of Tough Choices

I ended-up spending a lot more time than I expected screwing-around in the Route 4 hedge maze getting a feel for this new fairy type and I still haven't decided on whether I prefer Ralts (who was on my main team back when I played Sapphire Version and has always been a sleeper favorite of mine) or this Dandelion thing I just caught.  Ralts is a known commodity, but Flabebe, as I have found after fighting the scores of Combee that inhabit Route 4,  is something of a Special Defense Tank.  I have always been more of a fan of stall-teams, probably because I'm such a huge pussy, so having a Special Tank like Flabebe is fairly fulfilling for me.  For now I'm just going to keep a seven-pokemon rotating roster until I decide I'm tired of something.  These kind of tough choices are the good kind, I feel.

Professor Sycamore as he appears in Pokemon Red

As soon as I made it to Glitch City (Lumiose City), I met up with Professor Sycamore, who immediately challenged me to a battle.  I was expecting a battle against three magnemite or maybe a
Porygon, a Grimer, and a Cubone (These are typical pokemon carried by a "Super-Nerd") or something weird like that, but he surprised me with Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle.

Updates: Fire type added

And it is at exactly this moment that I found out that Fairy Type Attacks are not very effective against Fire Type Pokemon (sigh).  I updated my chart to reflect this new data, but Flabebe still has not forgiven me for this oversight.


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I'm not quite sure if I was good all this year, but apparently Christmas came for me anyways: Professor Sycamore gave me my choice of his three pokemon.  I was thinking of picking up Charmander because I really wanted to see that Charizard in 3D, but I decided to stick to my roots and pick Bulbasaur--who was my very first pokemon ever.  I named him "Bulby".

Which brings up that question of what to do with my pokemon team--which is now made up of eight pokemon.  Bulbasaur, Froakie and Raich--I mean, Pikachu are non-negotiable and I'm still pretty high on Flabebe and Ralts...

Guess I have an eight-pokemon cycle for now!

My gang of pokemon-thieving friends arrived just after the battle so that Professor Sycamore could give us all a nice pep talk about following our dreams and finding others who have different views or some "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" nonsense like that. I really wasn't paying attention, I was too high on Bulbasaur at this point--which is a problem because I think he said something important about Mega-Evolving Bulbasaur in his monologue and I definitely missed it.  Hopefully this isn't going to be a problem (SPOILER: it probably is).

On the way out the door I met the obvious villain-du-jour Lysandre.  Why did I immediately identify him as the villain?  Because he said he wanted to save the world.  Only bad
guys say things like that, this is the first thing you learn at protagonist school.  I should have been intimidated, but who can be scared of a guy named Lysandre?  That's like being afraid of a guy named Lloyd!

Current Squad:

FROAKIE/Froakles/lvl.13
BULBASAUR/Bulby/lvl.10
PIKACHU/PikaPi/lvl.11
BUTTERFREE/Felix/lvl.11
FLABEBE/Pixie/lvl.11
FARFETCH'D/Quacklin'/lvl.11

On Rotation: Ralts, Zigzagoon