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

Lysandre's Reckoning

No sooner had I caught Yveltal than Lysandre barged-into the door to try to steal Yveltal back from me.  This was the first instance of real hand-to-hand human conflict in the pokemon series and I was surprised to see Lysandre use his obvious height and size advantages to his benefit to just take the pokeball out of my hands after beating me up.
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Nah, I'm just kidding, he challenged me to a pokemon battle instead.

I had the option of using my newly-caught Yveltal.  Remembering how much trouble I had against Mienshao in my last fight, I took the Flying-Type advantage of having Yveltal in my squad and sent Ziggy the Linoone back to the box.
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Yveltal is Dark/Flying, so Mienshao's Hi Jump Kick dealt about 60% damage to me right off the bat, but I knocked him out that same turn with Oblivion Wing, a powerful Flying type move.

Next, against Lysandre's Pyroar, I sent-in Greninja, who was too slow to move first.  As a result, it had to eat one of Pyroar's Hyper-Voice attacks and survived it with exactly 1 HP left (wow).  Water Pulse did about the same amount of damage to Pyroar, but I was able to pick it off by using "Water Shuriken", a move which always moves first.

Pikachu took out Honchkrow in one hit, and then stays-in against Gyarados.  This is Lysandre's final pokemon, and I knew that Pikachu would move first and destroy that Water/Flying type with a powerful Thunderbolt move.  But Gyarados did the unexpected.  Gyarados evolved into Mega-Gyarados.

This is the point where the tide of the battle begain to turn.  Gyarados tanked Pikachu's Thunderbolt--only taking about 50% damage (this will be important later on)--and one-hit-KOed Pikachu with Earthquake.  I sent in Hippopotas to try to whittle its health down with sandstorm, but he was taken out in one hit by aqua tail.  I sent in Venusaur hoping it would survive enough to poison it, but poisonpowder missed and Venusaur died on turn two of Gyadaros' outrage.  Mega Lucario was next.  Mega Lucario was LAST.  It was over, Lucario just couldn't hit Gyarados hard enough with Shadow Claw and my fighting-type moves will be too weak.

But wait a minute...flashback...

"...Gyarados tanked Pikachu's Thunderbolt--only taking 50% damage..."

Exactly half damage?  Could it be?  When Gyarados evolves, is it no longer a flying type?  Will Aura Sphere still work?  I take a chance with aura sphere:  super effective!  Mega Gyarados is Water/Dark!  KO!

Yveltal!

I had just enough time to save my game before Yveltal emerged from its cocoon.  I know that this pokemon was cranky after its slumber because it attacked the first thing it saw: me.

Oh, so that's where the "Y" comes in!  It's all starting to come together now...  I guess the title screen should have given it away to me, but as we have already decided: I am a huge moron.

Legendary Pokemon Yveltal Catch Attempt #1:
Since this was my first attempt at catching a legendary pokemon in "Y-version" I really had no clue what to expect.  I know that the 2-minute cutscene of Yveltal screeching and flexing its muscles was meant to show-off its power, but I wasn't sure if this was going to be a repeat of the Y-version gym battles or not.  Would this be a simple battle or a rough slog?

Yveltal started the battle by killing every single pokemon in my team before I could throw one Ultraball...Okay, time to get serious.

Legendary Pokemon Yveltal Catch Attempt #The Second One:
I decided to stop screwing around and opened with Pikachu and used Thunderbolt to try to take off a big chunk of its health...wait too much...please stop going down...I killed it in one hit...damn...

Legendary Pokemon Yveltal Catch Attempt #C:
Fine, so its one of those "everything-or-nothing" matches huh?  I tightened my belt and decided to take a chance with Nuzzle+Electroball to Paralyze it, then weaken it just enough to keep it alive.  Luck was on my side--Yveltal was now Paralyzed and at an HP level in the red.  Now, its a matter of staying lucky by keeping alive long enough for one of my Ultraballs to bring it in.  Go Ultraball! ... Nope.

Three turns and three Ultraballs later Pikachu is gone and so is Venusaur, but Ultraball #4: Passes the first check, the second check, the third check, the fourth check, caught!  And on the fourth Ultraball too!  Legendaries have either gotten a lot easier to catch (how many Ultraballs did I waste on Mewtwo before I decided to burn my Masterball, anyways?) or I'm just awesome.

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: Gardevoir, Lucario, Pikachu, Skrelp

Super Secret Team Flare HQ: Top Secret

I found Team Flare's Secret Underground Headquarters in the rock-gazebo to the North of the town (exactly where I chased that Grunt I found after I got my second badge).  Team Flare really struck me more as the kind of group that would shell out the money for a moon base.  My Rival Serena was already there waiting for me and followed me down the elevator.  I guess this is it!

Lysandre was waiting for us at the bottom with more expository dialogue to explain the plot to me.  Apparently the legendary pokemon Yveltal is being used to power the device--which is currently charging and at around 99% power.  Here is where Lysandre showed his hand: not only are all the people except Team Flare going to be killed, but all of the pokemon in the world as well, including his own.  Lysandre started crying about this and I'm wondering if he actually told his Gyarados at any point in time.  I imagine a Gyarados would have a few things to say if it knew it was being used by Lysandre to secure its own destruction.  I imagine it would be quite cross with him...

Lysandre admitted that he didn't need to beat me anymore--just to delay me enough so that the machine reaches 100%.  The following battle was actually quite difficult: Lysandre lead with a Mienshao which wrecked my team, but after I brought in Hippopotas to tank all of his High Jump Kicks, I eventually stalled it to death.  Pikachu ate his Gyarados alive despite a huge 10-level difference and Greninja took on Pyroar.  Pikachu then reprised his role of "Destroyer" against Lysandre's Honchcrow.  I may be renaming PikaPi "Pikamonster".

Serena followed me down to the lowest sub-level of the facility via a stairwell packed with Team Flare double battles for the two of us to take-on, and at the bottom, we found the chamber housing Yveltal.  Oh, and a few other Team Flare battles for me to warm-up with.

Current Squad:

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

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Skrelp, Pikachu, Lucario

The Legend of Blah Blah Blah Blah

I think I was a little vague in my last post with reference to the major plot of the game and I admit that this reveals how terrible I am at stressing the importance of things.  Surely the plot of a story is the thing that should be explained in the most detail and not, as I have done, in one terrible run-on sentence?

So here it is in greater detail, and hopefully with fewer grammatical errors:

As I made it to the lowest sub-basement of Lysandre's Cafe Teleporter Maze-O-Madness, I happened upon Lysandre himself and a mysterious man I had seen only once before.  Lysandre was obviously holding the eight-foot-tall man captive (the electrified fence gave that away) and the captive launched-into a monologue describing the 3000-Year Legend:
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Three thousand years ago into the future, back when everything was in black-and-white and there was a lot of film-grain and text on the screen explaining what the actors are doing (fine, I'll stop), there was a man who loved his Floette.  His Floette went off to fight in a war between two nations.  Floette never came back.

The man was apparently so angry that he used science and magic, but mostly science, to resurrect his Floette with a machine he built, but to power his machine he killed scores of other Pokemon in the process.  As it were, all those strange stones around Geosenge City are gravestones of these pokemon, which is just creepy enough to be totally awesome.

After this, he was still really really angry, so he modified his resurrection machine and made it a doomsday weapon, which he used to kill a whole bunch of people and pokemon, ending the war.  A little bit of an overkill, but most definitely effective.

Then his Floette left him anyways.  It's times like these where I wish I knew the definition of irony...

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I am about 100% certain (you read that right) that the old giant in the prison cell was that man from 3000 years ago and if he isn't then he definitely thinks he is--because he all but admitted to it during his monologue.  I am very curious, however, how the legendary pokemon Yvetal relates to this.

Professor Sycamore told me earlier that there was a destructive pokemon called Yvetal linked to the 3000 Year Legend, but this pokemon was not mentioned even once...  Maybe the answer can be found in Geosenge City.

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

Olympia's Psychic Showdown

If nothing else at all, Gymleader Sabrina most certainly taught me one unforgettable lesson that I have retained in the back of my head in every single pokemon game I have ever played: fear Alakazam.

So much is my fear of Alakazam that I always, ALWAYS keep a pokemon who knows a strong dark or ghost physical attack (like crunch) handy with me just on the off-chance that I run into some trainer with either a Kadabra or an Alakazam.  And full disclosure: as soon as I realized White version didn't have any of the older pokemon in it, a part of me heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about coming-across my blood-enemy.

This is something I have never admitted to anyone before.

Part of this fear of Psychic pokemon comes from the fact that there was no way to counter a Psychic type in Red version (Only one Ghost move in "Lick", only two Bug moves in "Pin Missile" and "Twinneedle"--and both of the pokemon that learn these three are Poison types who are weak against Psychic), but another significant portion  most certainly comes from battle wherein Sabrina's Alakazam crushed my pokemon team handily and repeatedly.

Psychic types are not as scary these days what with the abundance of Bug and Dark moves being thrown all over the place, but you can always count on a Psychic battle to be balanced on the edge of a knife: one misread cue and what was once an easy victory is now gone.  Slowbro started using Curse, Alakazam used Calm Mind, Solrock used Rock Polish--these are the last things you see before you get swept away.

Gymkiller Squad #7: Please not Alakazam...

I built this team expecting the worst: bulky pokemon with strong special defenses and Pikachu to paralyze speedy pokemon (like Alakazam) with Nuzzle. 

The battle opened with a turn of luck: I opened with Pikachu and Gymleader Olympia opened with the Psychic/Flying Sigilyph, who I took out handily after it set up Reflect (but thankfully before Light Screen).  Pikachu died the next turn as Olympia revenge-killed me withSlowking, but not before dealing-out some massive damage with Electroball.


I ended-up taking out Slowking fairly easily, but lost Gardevoir and Lucario to Olympia's final pokemon, Meowstic.  I was a little relieved that Olympia left her Alakazam at home, but slightly disappointed that her master pokemon was something I'd already seen and battled multiple times before. 

Greninja eventually took Meowstic out in what seemed to be a war of attrition with Olympia using multiple Hyper potions.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Van Frog/lvl.41
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.38
FLAERON/Hotfoot/lvl.38
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.40
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.40
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.40

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Skrelp