Stealing all the Pokeballs!

The next stop on what has become less of a pokemon gym challenge and more of a pokemon gym sight-seeing tour (there should really be a "Hard" mode) was the Pokeball Factory to the north of town.  I had already scouted this area before my gym battle, so I knew that Team Flare would be there and since they were blocking access to route 15 I knew I had to take them out of town.

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One of the things I really liked about Pokemon Red was that when Team Rocket takes-over Saffron City, you aren't forced to fight them right away.  As a matter of fact, you could go ahead and complete much of the rest of the game and come back to deal with them near the end.  Alternatively, you can fight them right after getting the Pokeflute and gather the sixth gym badge (Sabrina's badge) out of order--earlier than the fifth (Koga's) badge (something I only recently realized is atypical of first time Pokemon Red players).

Pokemon White and, to a lesser extent, Pokemon Y have a real problem with giving the player any control over their own journey.  They are like the overprotective parent who keeps a too-close watch over what their kid is doing, "No, no, no, you can't be going in the sandox now...You just ate, so no going near the pool...Wouldn't it be so much nicer to play ball here where I can see you?"  I think Pokemon Red is like a parent who tells you what you can't do and lets you go free and Pokemon WhYte is the one that tells you what you can do--and the difference is night-and-day.
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Team Flare had taken-over the pokeball factory in order to steal all the pokeballs.  I actually think this is a pretty good move on their part--if they are the only ones with pokeballs then they can either control who gets pokemon or they could get rich while controlling who gets pokemon.  Either way, they control who gets pokemon.

I find it funny how they were the bad guys for stealing all the pokeballs, but that I was the good guy even though I picked up what is most likely an equal amount of pokeball loot from items on the factory floor.  It's not stealing if you found it, right?  Or perhaps it's the universal gaming law of "finders-keepers".

Scrappy is having some trouble these days, so I'm hoping that he will evolve soon.

Current Team:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.35
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.35
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.34
SKRELP/Toxie/lvl.35
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.34
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.35

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Scrappy

You Say You Want an Evolution

I met the Mega-Evolution Guru (who told me to call him Steve) and he was able to answer all of my questions about Mega-Evolution and then I thanked him and went home, having beaten the whole game..


That is what I would say if any of this actually happened.

But no, the Mega-Evolution Guru had about as much to say about Mega Evolution as the Black Belt with the Pokeflute, the Prince of Versailles, the Lost Paleontologist, and the Professor Sycamore: that is, to say, fuck all.  I am personally of the opinion that if you are formally known as the guru of anything, you should be an expert in that field--or at least be able to convince a little kid that you know what you're talking about.

Steve the Mega-Evolution Guru told me that neither he nor anyone else in the world has any knowledge at all about Mega Evolution, but that it involves items and a certain ring that he only had one copy of.

Then, when the gang of Pokemon thieves showed-up, he had me battle Serena (who I assume to be my rival considering she carries Chespin) for the Magic Mega-Evolution Ring.

The battle was a back-and-forth slog--her Meowstic and Absol each took out one pokemon apiece since they were severely leveled over my pokemon, and her Quilladin decimated the rest of my team as I tried desperately to chip away at it with Pikachu.

Apparently, and this I know for a fact was different in the last generation of games, grass types cannot be Leech Seeded, nor Poisoned with Poisonpowder, so in between flinching from Quilladin's repeated Bite and Needle-Arm attacks (eight consecutive turns, are you kidding me?!?), I was allowed to continuously "fail" with Ivysaur.  Since I had Flareon and Aerodactyl in the box at the time, the battle came down to Scrappy vs. Quilladin, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally broke Quilladin's killstreak.

After being rewarded with what is apparently one of the only Magic Rings in the game, I was told to challenge Korrina, the Mega-Evolution Guru's granddaughter, for a gym badge.  Funny, cause I already beat her...I guess that battle wasn't a formal challenge though...

Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.26
IVYSAUR/Ivy/lvl.25
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.25
FLOETTE/Pixie/lvl.23
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.24
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.25

On Rotation: Pikachu, Hippopotas, Kirlia

A Dirty Little Horde

Full Disclosure:  this post took a little long to get out because I got a bit lost in Lumiose City.  It's not like it is hard to navigate, it's just really really big and I'm one of the brand of gaming scum called "completionists" who have to do and see everything before moving on.  The thing is the city is not even all unlocked yet.  By this, I mean that AS PER USUAL, the game has invented some arbitrary reason why certain streets or routes are closed.  This time, it is because the power is out in the northern part of the city.  At least the reasoning in this game totally makes sense, I remember one time when I was a kid where there was no electricity in my town and I also couldn't walk around...outside...in broad daylight.

No, wait, that's right, that never happened and never would.

I made my way to the next route and my next pokemon-catching spree, where I picked-up Doduo for the active team.  It was an obvious choice between him and Farfetch'd, despite the fact that Farfetch'd (and Lickitung, for that matter) is something of a closet favorite of mine.

The Gang of Pokemon Thieves

Here, I met-up with two "supporting cast" characters of the Gang of Pokemon Thieves (my "friends"), Tierno and Trevor.  Tierno is a big guy whose only character trait is that he likes to dance (something that the game will remind you of incessantly), and Trevor's only character traits are that he is shy and smart.  Glad to have such deep and thoughtful characters this go-around!  Go Team!


Trevor gave me some Honey (and I'm glad that I resisted leading with the obvious misleading pun "Trevor gave me some sugar") to smear all over my body (okay, that line got just as creepy just as fast) to attract hordes of pokemon in tall grass.

Once again, completionist scum that I am, I had to try this out, wherein I was set-upon by five Scraggy.  "Awesome!" I thought, "time to add my favorite pokemon from white version back into my team!"

Let me preface this next point with a revelation about my play style: I hate to miss with a move.  As a matter of fact, I have never had a pokemon with the moves Fire Blast, Thunder, or Hydropump, because I would rather sacrifice the extra power for perfect accuracy (all of these moves have a 70% hit rate, and I use instead Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Surf respectively). 

For me, there has never been anything as terrifying as this: seeing all five Scraggy use Sand Attack on me in one turn.

This is bad enough--but then it just got worse, after my move missed, they all used Leer.  At this point I snapped and awoke several hours later in strange surroundings.

Honestly, this was one of the toughest matches I've had, or at least the most frustrating; the gang of Scraggy decimated my squad while I whittled their number down.  In the end I was reduced to just Flabebe (and tears, can't forget the tears), who I found out has a type advantage with Fairy over either Fighting or Dark (the move was super-effective against Scraggy, but Scraggy is Fight/Dark, so I'm not sure which type it was strong against) and was able to capture one of the Scraggy for my team. 

Feeling good about myself, I made it to the next town, Camphrier Town, where the guy I was supposed to talk to about "Mega-Evolutions" there told me to leave.  Obviously, it was time to call it a day.

Current Squad:

FROAKIE/Froakles/lvl.13
BULBASAUR/Bulby/lvl.13
PIKACHU/PikaPi/lvl.11
DODUO/Birdface/lvl.10
FLABEBE/Pixie/lvl.11
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.5

On Rotation: Ralts, Zigzagoon

Scrappy

Since it's early in the mid-game now, there is little new development in terms of story so my musings will have to be put on hold for the moment.

That being said...

The definition of Scraggy is "Rough, Bony and Lean" which I think is a good fit for one of my new favorite pokemon. I replaced "Zoey" the Liepard with "Scrappy" the Dark/Fighting type Scraggy pokemon and to be honest I couldn't be more satisfied. I don't know what it is--but this little guy has some Moxie! (That was a terrible joke that requires explaining: his ability is "Moxie" which raises your own attack stat whenever you KO a pokemon.) I can't wait to see what he evolves into!

Also surprising is how strong Swadloon, newly evolved from Squiggles the Sewaddle, is. If you look at the picture its pretty clear that its a leaf-coccoon, so another evolution is on the way--so "Butterfree 2 the sequel" is yet to come.

Team Plasma, not yet content to let me get through a town in peace, came and stole one of my two irritating friend's (Bianca's) pokemon, so not only did I have to deal with them but also Bianca's incessant whining, but they left after only one battle so that was nice of them. I DO, however, like how they actually take an active role in the game rather than just sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting for you to come by and whip their collective ass. Also I'm beginning to think that they are the Illuminati from the opening cinematic because I noticed that their leader has a red laser eyepiece.

Thanks to Rock Jock, Red, and Scrappy, Gymleader Burgh's bug pokemon did me a huge favor and died for me.  The Insect badge was mine. And immediately after this I battled not one but both of my friends who continue to follow me everywhere I go.  I should have just kept Bianca's stolen pokemon for myself...

Current Squad:

A Pokemon-Catching Spree!

After stealing the "Dragon skull", Team Plasma charged-off into the forest, followed by Gymleader Lenora, some artist named Burgh, and, because the story required it, myself. Burgh ran ahead along the road to "head them off" and told me to traipse through the forest after Team Plasma.

Seeing this as an opportunity to beef up my pokedex, I caught Venipede, Tympole, and Sewaddle.  Soon after, I caught Sandile, Scraggy, and Darumakka. I immediately replaced Pansage with Sewaddle which has turned out quite favorably, but I think I have some big choices to come over Sandile and Scraggy...

Team Plasma did what they do best--suck and burn--and just when I had beaten the last guy, some old guy who talked like an eighteenth-century ass approached me and said that it doesn't matter that I stopped them because, "...this is not the skull of the pokemon that we have been searching for for so long, it is completely unrelated." I'm glad that Team Plasma themselves are coming to grips with the fact that everything they are doing is complete nonsense.  Even I could have told them that a skull--no matter whose it is--is not going to free pokemon.

Burgh and Lenora showed up just in time for the old guy to launch into a ten-minute long monologue about how awesome Team Plasma is and how they are going to free all the pokemon--making sure to tell us all in excruciating detail the explicit instructions on how to foil their next plans. Even more disturbing is how he made sure to tell me that Burgh was a bug pokemon trainer and that he is the gymleader of the upcoming town (and that I should catch some flying and fire pokemon before I battled him).

About fifty minutes later I finally made it to Castella City, which is absolutely massive! I'm not even kidding, this place is HUGE! That last link goes to a youtube video of some guy exploring it.

Zoey (Purrloin) evolved into Liepard, which looks awesome, but isn't any better than she was, so we'll see how long she lasts...

Current Squad: