Vs. Kabu

Team Yell greeted me to town in Monsoke City  and Marnie challenged me to a battle. She used a slew of Dark amd Poison types including a powerful Hamster poke.on called Morpeko which kept morphing between a cute forme and an amgry looking forme. It was able to take out nearly my entire team, but Trash was able to tank a hit from it and RETALIATE in the coolest battle conclusion ever.

She wished me luck on my third badge.

I decided to go with pure power on this gym matchup. My team has one very particular counter to Fire in Drednaw, but other than that, I am lacking. I decided to choose reliable pokemon that can take hits and cause heavy damage. Trash is in there as my revenge-killer. Stufful can debuff with Bulldoze. Zorro is my booster.

This challenge had a unique task before hands. Instead of solving a puzzle and battling trainers, my job was to earn points by catching pokemon. The other trainers would not be fighting directly against me, but rather making it tougher for me to weaken  and catch the pokemon. It was fun to be sure, but an unintended side effect of the task itself is that now I had Stuffy, Trash, Zorro, Drednaw, Litwick and Sizzlipede as my gym team.

 

Ninetales takes out stuffy, but he has done his job by lowering its speed with Bulldoze enough so that Trash can Retaliate and take it out in one clean hit.

Trash has to eat an intimidate when Arcane is switched in, so I move Zorro into position for some boosting and snarling. It doesn't mind the burn that it picks up.

Nasty-Plot boosted Snarl brings arcanine to critical health, but Thievul is KOed in the end. Now it is time for Trash to Retaliate again. Another clean KO.

Trash has done her job now, so it is time for her to rest. His final pokemon is Centiscorch, who seems to be the gym emblem itself. Trash fires off a Baby doll eyes and faints in one move.

Drednaw may be a much lower level, but he has Centiscorch in a mismatch.  As a Rock/Water type pokemon, it can tank anything that Centiscorch could dish out. Max Rockfall takes him out handily.

Hitting my Stride

With the Water Badge in my grasp, it was time to travel back to the Steamy City Motostoke for my third: the Fire Badge. Apparently, this particular gymleader is known as a bit of a "rookie-stomper" who serves to weed out trainers who can't cut it in their gym challenge. With my pokemon team starting to reliably hit its stride, I look forward to testing the abilities of Cheeto, Señor Zorro, Chirpy, Stuffy, and the rest.

The big meeting with the chairman over lunch turned out to be much ado about nothing. Nothong new was revealed. No characters were introduced. It was basically a diversion that was meant to remind the player character that eventually the plot was going to happen and not to forget about the mysteries behing Galar, Dynamax, and the Legendaries. I had said earlier that this game doesn't jerk you around and I guess I spoke too soon. In this particular game's defense, there is less fucking around than in previous titles (I will never forgive you gen 5), but episodes like this, few as they are, make me a bit crazy.

Onward to Galar Mineshaft No. 2.

I was able to snag a few more pokemon along the way: Cutiefly, Sneasel, Noibat, and the pokemon that looks like an apple, Applin. I...have no words for it.

Here, I was able to defeat Bede again. After I defeated his four pokemon (he carried the Psychic Galar Ponyta from the reveal several months ago), he seemed to be much more gracious than last time.

He was still a dick, but he is definitely getting more used to the fact that I'm just plain better than him.

In the exchange, Snorkel evolved! I had already seen and battled Drednaw before, but I was still very happy to see him rank up like this!

Vs. Nessa

Riding a wave of momentum after my grassy victory, I blasted my way across Route 5. I picked up a slew of new pokemon along my way: so many that I am still sorting through them all in my head.  I got a fighting type Octopus from a raid battle and the bleached Galar variant of Corsola.  I am fully on board with all of the pro-environmental messaging that this game has and if this is how we get people to take human-caused climate change seriously, then so be it.

As soon as I made it to Hulbury City, I came upon Chairman Rose.  I didn't recognize him at first without his fancy outfit and I was honestly a bit put off at seeing an important story character so off-model in basically joggers and a teeshirt. I was instructed to get my Water badge at the gym and to immediately meet him at the seafood restaurant for what I assume will be boiled Krabby Legs.

The task before Nessa's water gym battle was a fairly standard switch maze.  I had to battle trainers and work my way forward whilst shutting off water pumps to open the way. I made it through fine, but Stufful came out of the task with some pretty sizable damage on her.

Nessa had three pokemon like I did. She led with Goldeen against Stuffy. Stufful had already accomplished her job in getting us here, so She gave off one last parting shot to critically damage the Golden before being taken out.

Now Señor Zorro has just recently learned the perfect move for a situation like this.  He's remarkably bulky as a recent evolution and as such, a move such as Nasty Plot is excellent for him. With two Nasty Plot boosts, his Special Attack triples: Golden stood no chance.

Neither did Nessa's second pokemon: Arrocuda (a barracuda pokemon that knew aqua jet).

When Nessa sent in her final pokemon, Chewtle's evolution Dreadnaw, I considered dynamaxing Señor Zorro, but I was unsure if doing so would reset his stat boosts or not. He's fast, though, so he outran the dynamaxed foe and brought its HP all the way down into the yellow. Dreadnaw retaliated with Max Geyser, which Zorro was barely able to hold on through.  However, I must have overlooked something because Max Geyser triggered rains and Dreadnaw must have the ability Swift Swim because he moved first for the remainder of the match.

Despite his speed, though, Dreadnaw was not powerful enough to defeat my Kaiju-sized Thwackey.

Vs. Milo

Pokemon Sword and Shield continue the trend set in Pokemon Sun and Moon of having a "task" to complete before the gym battle.  In this gym, the task was to herd 20 wooloo forward through several fields to unlock the path forward. I swear to god that everything about this game is designed to pump you up.

Bleppo the Dottler was able to make quick work of the Grass and Grass/Poison with its access to both Bug and Psychic moves. I'm getting sort of pumped about what its Stage 2 evolution is going to be like: Bug/Psychic is a new type combination if I am remembering things correctly.

I made it to the inner chamber and walked onto the field to challenge Milo to my first badge.

I led with Bleppo. Bleppo is remarkably bulky as a Stage 1 cocooned bug, so I figured that it would work as a good scout.

Milo sent in Gossifleur. I have experience with Gossifleur and I was able to take it out handily with Struggle Bug.

Milo's second and final pokemon was Eldegoss. Given the similarities in both name and form, I felt safe in my assumption that it was an evolution for Gossifleur. I felt confident in Bleppo's ability to take it out, but this is Cheeto's tale as much as it is mine, so I swapped in Cheeto for our very first Dynamax team-up!

Before I started Shield Version, I had decidedly negative feelings about Dynamax. I was on board with Mega Evolutions and I was in board with Z moves, but Dynamax was just the newest gimmick--and a lame one at that. 

I am still not sold on Dynamax, but the Kaiju matchup between Cheeto and Eldegoss was pretty cool to witness.

Pokédex:40/66

Current Squad:

Thwackey/Cheeto/lvl 19
Thieval/Señor Zorro/lvl 19
Chewtle/Snorkle/lvl 18
Corvisquire/Chirpy/lvl 19
Dottler/Bleppo/lvl 19

Stufful/Stuffy/lvl 16

On Rotation: Zigzagoon, Growlithe

Upon the Doorstep...

Emerging into the sun from the Mines, I squinted, cinched up my bag, and put on my big boy pants because it was nearly time for me to claim my first badge.

Along the way, I came across a Hardy Sea-Faring Meowth who knows naught of this land-lubbering life and I just had to adopt it as my Steel type. Yeah, I know, it's the best, grumpiest salty captain if the waves. And also it is a cat, so that is always a bonus as well.

My evolution streak continued when Chirpy the Rookidee evolved into Corvisquire. Corvisquire has a great design, but I think that the existence of "Corviknight" as an already established pokemon has spoiled the ending of this particular pokemon's lineage. I like the blue colouration on this pokemon.

Sonia took me to see a giant Kecleon marking in the hillside. She mentioned the "Darkest Day" where all the Giant Pokemon attacked as being somehow linked to Dynamax and this giant Kecleon, but decided that it was time that I run off to get a gym badge. The writers of this story definitely get what the player wants this time around. #gen5worstgenfightme #gen5toomuchdialogue

In order to make things difficult, I had decided at the start of my playthrough that I would be limiting my party size for gym matches. For my first badge, I decided that four pokemon would be a good number to bring along. I had done some recon and found out that the Gymleader Milo is a specialist in the Grass Type. By this, I mean that I was forcibly introduced to him earlier on Route 4.

Vs. Bede

I have been giving Trash the Zigzagoon a lot of attention recently. After my most recent teammate shuffle (henceforth called "the great purge"), I have been waffling with respect to the roles that I have pokemon filling. I have been curious about what Trash has to offer the team other than "Pickup" and those sweet face markings. Trash knows how to party, but she had yet to prove herself.

Bede led with the Psychic type Solosis. Trash was able to take it out handily with its STAB Payback. Hmm. Maybe Trash has a place here after  all...

His next pokemon was called Hatenna and my immediate reaction was just "what the fuck is that?" For some reason, I was seeing a blobfish in its design. I had no clue what type it should be, but my first instinct was water.

It had the ability Anticipation; ancitipation activates  on switch in and clues the trainers in that the opposing pokemon has a super effective move against it.

When I noticed that Anticipation activated,  I knew that something that Trash knew would hit it super effectively.

Trash's Moves: Payback, Headbutt, BabyDoll Eyes, Lick

Since Headbutt is normal and BabyDoll Eyes is a status move this meant that either the dark type Payback or the Ghost Type Lick were effective against it. Since Dark and Giost are effective against the same tyes--Ghost and Psychic--I knew that I could choose either move to hit Hatenna effectively.

Payback scored a huge hit, but Hatenna retaliated with Disarming Voice and sent Trash packing.

I had figured out that Hatenna was either a Psychic or Ghost type and decided to test this out by sending in Bleppo the Dottler for some recon. If Struggle Bug hit it for Super Effective damage, then Hatenna is a Psycjic type. If it hits it weakly, then it is a Ghost.


Just cross your fingers and take a big breath and...

Psychic

Sometimes a gamble pays off.

Bede sent out Gothita for his third pokemon and then it clicks all of the sudden.  He is a psychic type specialist.  For being the best pokemon trainer ever, I sure can be dense sometimes...

Pokédex:33/54

Current Squad:

Thwackey/Cheeto/lvl 17
Nickit/Kat-Kit/lvl 16
Chewtle/Snorkle/lvl 16
Rookidee/Chirpy/lvl 16
Dottler/Bleppo/lvl 16

Stufful/Stuffy/lvl 15

On Rotation: Growlithe, Zigzagoon

Finding Destiny!

In the lobby of the hotel is where I had my first run-in with the evil gang of the title: Team Yell.  Apparently their schtick is that they are the cheerleading squad for one of those two Special NPC's: the goth chick.  I ran them out of town and met her (Marley), ready to battle, but she seemed almost apologetic about her friends' presence.  I did recognize their symbol, though, as one of the gym leader symbols that I had seen at the stadium earlier...

I attended the opening ceremony for this year's gym challenge.  There, the Chairperson, Rose, introduced the challenger as well as the gym leaders.  I loved the ceremony of it all and it really built up the leaders as being worthy of battle. I would point out, though, that only seven of the eight were present.  I am curious as to whether or not Giovanni is visiting the Galar region.

With my first gym battle waiting for me across route three, I made off to meet my destiny...

Gym leader Slow Walk

BenJScar Slow Walk

And then destiny came to visit me instead when Cheeto evolved into Thwackey. I was worried for a bit that it would become less cute when it evolves. While it certainly is not what I would call  "precious" now, I would say that it is still cute--but in a cool way. I'm still really hype on these Gen 8 designs.

I made my way across Route 3, picking up Gossifleur, RolyColy, Growlithe, and others. As much as I wanted to add Gossifleur, I already have devotion to my dedicated Grass slot, so I put her in the box.
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Another addition in this game is PokeJobs. You can do a quick search for a part time job for your pokemon and send them off to manage it for a specified amount of time. I'll update what happens when I get Yamper, Wooloo, and Skwovet back tomorrow.
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At the end of Route 3 was Galar Mine. I was disappointed that Zubat could not be found there (yes you heard that correctly, Golbat is low key one of my favorite pokemon), so I suppose that he was on Thanos' list of cuts. I grabbed Drillbur, Roggenrola (hey I remember you from my White Version Playthrough!), and Woobat. I avoided catching Timburr because seriously fuck that pokemom.

After reorganizing my team, I stumbled across the jerk from the Gym Lobby--the one who told me off. He told me not to come closer unless I was ready to battle.


("Roundabout" plays in the background)