Last time, yours truly played his way through the Descent Tower, kicked the butt of Team Prime's boss, and evidently got my sixth badge. I think. Yeah, turns out the boss of Team Prime was this game's version of Giovanni. It's weird. The save screen tells me I have six badges, but my Trainer ID only displays five badges. Is this another bug?
Anyway, after all that craziness at Descent Tower, I found myself back at Event Hall, near Misty Island. It's the area of the island that has the statues of Rayquaza, Latios, and Latias. Speaking of Latios, he's evidently decided to stick with me. Neat. I also can't seem to get into Misty Island itself for some reason. Since Tsukachiga City is nearby, I decided to head there and stock up on some supplies. Once that was done, I went back to the Event Hall. There's this guy there.
He can't take care of his Shuckle anymore, and he wants someone to take care of it for him. So, I agreed to do so myself. I have a Shuckle now. Nice.
Shuckle are funny Pokémon. They look funny, their name is funny. I don't mean funny in the insulting way. I mean funny in the likable way. They're funny Pokémon, and I can't help but like Shuckle because they are funny. I don't think I pointed this out here before, but there's a lady here who literally sells Mega Stones. They're pretty expensive, though. Mega Stones are supposedly pretty rare, which justifies the expense. You see, they're brought about by exposing an evolution stone to the power of Kalos's legendary Pokémon Xerneas and Yveltal. Kalos is the region you explore in Pokémon X and Y. So, Mega Stones come from Kalos. Makes sense, as they were introduced in Pokémon X and Y.
I can imagine they're pretty rare. Well, enough dawdling, time to meet the guy with the Unfezant (Yeah, I spelled it wrong in the last entry. My bad, sorry. To be fair, there are nearly a thousand species of Pokémon in the games now, it's hard to keep track). The Unfezant transported me right back to Okimira Town! After I arrived, the Unfezant is sticking around, in case I want to head back. I hope it's cared for here. I don't think that should be a problem. Professor Oak has a lab here, so I think it'll be well-cared for in the meantime.
And we got Red in front of my house.
Dude, can't we do this in front of Oak's lab? Anyway, he said that my dad had already left...wait, didn't Red tell him that I was coming home?! Red said he had a gift for me, so why didn't he wait so he could give it to me in person? Also, my character has a dad?! Either way, we have our battle.
He starts out with Pikachu, but my Gabite is able to take it down with one Dig. However, it ended up paralyzed thanks to Pikachu's Static ability. Next was Snorlax. I countered with Venusaur, using the Leech Seed/Poison Powder combination. I switched out with Incineroar, and Darkest Lariat finished it off. Next was Blastoise, and my Luxray stepped up. Blastoise was able to beat it, despite Luxray having the type advantage, but she managed to do some damage. Venusaur was able to finish it off. Charizard was next.
Red had Charizardite X, so it Mega Evolved into Mega Charizard X. However, Primarina was still able to beat it with two blasts of Sparkling Aria. Next was Venusaur, and I brought out Incineroar. Easy win for one of the newest Smash Brothers. Finally, there was Lapras. Since Luxray was out, I brought out Venusaur again. Lapras had Blizzard, so it was able to bring the flower-frog-dino Pokémon down. Lapras still got Leech Seeded, though. I brought out Butterfree, who sent it to dreamland with Sleep Powder. It woke up quick, but Leech Seed finished the Lapras off.
With that, I beat Red. As such, he gave me the gift my dad intended to give me: HM04, Strength. Now, I can go to the next town, whatever that place is called. I'm going blind on this as I have no guide. There is a wiki, but it's not very helpful. I saved the game (always save often, kids!), and discovered something interesting. I had put sixty hours into this game so far. I have literally played this game for nearly three days' worth of time. Crazy. It really does add up.
I decided to go back to the Event Hall, as I have no idea what to do next or where to go. I also had a battle with a beachgoer outside of Misty Village. He mostly used Water-type Pokémon, so I saw an opportunity to give Thundra a bit of a workout. I felt bad for her after the clobbering she took at the water cannons of Red's Blastoise, so I figured letting her knock around some Pokémon in a battle would cheer her up a bit.
Thundra hopefully is feeling a little better, but I'm still stuck. I went back to Tsukschiga City, looking for something to do. I could do the Bug Catching Contest again, but I'm still a bit bitter over that Scyther escaping me. Screw you, Scyther. I did some exploring to help me think, and I found this.
Evidently, that's what I'm going to need the Strength HM for. I am a moron.
Ugggggggh. Anyway, I used my HM to teach Moguera the Gabite Strength. What's at the other end of the rocks. This cave!
I don't think it was named. Anyway, a Hiker there says he's going to Insester City. What a name. Another Hiker talks about a Mysterious Beldam Clan in this cave. Yes, the "Mysterious" was capitalized. I'm guessing they just think it makes them look "cool" or something. This guy keeps talking about Beldam, so I'm going to call this cave "Beldam Cave". I found a Metal Coat here.
There's a ladder in this cave that takes you to the top of a mountain. Nearby, there's a rock that needs to be Rock Smashed that leads to another entrance. That entrance leads here.
Those two items? Well, the gold-and-silver one is Old Amber. The other, the one that looks like purple/pink stars, is actually a Mega Stone. Metacrossite, to be exact. Even though it's supposed to be called Metagrossite. So, I can now Mega Evolve a Metagross. With nowhere else to go, I head back down. The real way out of the cave is south of the ladder. Just go straight down, and try to avoid the Aggron if you don't want to battle it. There's a Heart Scale near the exit.
When leaving the Beldam Cave, I found TM17 (Protect) nearby in a grass patch. Welcome to Route 7! I passed down the Route until...well, look who it is.
It's Ash! What is he up to? Well, he was waiting to meet me on this route. I would ask how he knew I'd be here, but I realized something. Pokémon Regions tend to be rather...direct with their routes. There's usually only one route you have to take to get somewhere. And since I don't have any Pokémon that can use Fly (you still have to have been where you intend to go anyway), I presumably have to take this route to get to Insester City. So, yeah.
Ash explained that he wants a bit of payback for his losing to me when we last battled. Huh. Ash never seemed like the revenge-seeking type to me, from what I saw of him in the anime. One thing I am thankful for in this game is that Ash heals up my Pokémon for me before we fight. On this Route, I had encountered Linoone, Bibarel, Lopunny and Watchog. I admittedly didn't catch any of them, as I had their pre-evolutions, and I can always raise them.
Ash's first Pokémon was a Hawlucha. My Butterfree easily took care of it with Sleep Powder and Psybeam. Next, he brought out his trademark Pokémon: Pikachu. And it fell like a domino against my Gabite. Ash then brought out his Greninja, which became Ash-Greninja. It was able to wreck my Luxray and Venusaur, despite them having type advantages. Greninja was able to beat most of my Pokémon easily, but they were able to wear it down enough for Primarina to finish it off. It was also able to easily take down Ash's Talonflame and Noivern.
Ash is frustrated, but decided to head to Insester City and face the Gym there. He does seem a bit out of character to me. I figured I might as well head there myself. But on the way, I encountered an obstacle.
This is not a problem. I got the Surf HM! Yay! So, off to Insester City! On the way, I ended up in Flomola Town, a small town for fishermen. Not much here, except for the Fatial Ship.
I can ride on it if I have a ticket. The Surf ride was rather uneventful. Not really any wild Pokémon. There were swimming trainers and some wild Pokémon, but they were easy to avoid. And with that, I arrive at Insester City. When I got there, there were a couple of houses. And one of them contains a Bug-Catching Club.
One of them gives me a gift because why not?
I have no idea if the name is supposed to be a reference to something. Yeah, you can bet why this place is called Insester City. There are tons of bugs here. There's a Gym in town, and I'm betting it's a Bug-themed gym. I decide to do a little exploring. Get the lay of the land, as it were. And I ended up finding something that shocked me.
Yeah, more Team Prime grunts. I should have known that beating their crazy Giovanni-looking boss at the Descent Tower wouldn't be the end of this. These guys are like cockroaches! What're they up to now?! But there is something more positive here. This city has a Safari Zone!
I've always had rather mixed feelings about the Safari Zone. On one hand, I like the Zone because there's always such a wide variety of Pokémon to catch. It's fun exploring the Zone and seeing what is there. On the other hand, you can't bring a Pokémon with you to weaken the wild ones to make them easier to catch. You literally need luck on your side there.
Despite my mixed feelings, I went into the Safari Zone. The first Pokémon I encountered there was a Nidoking. I couldn't catch it.
Caught a Nidoqueen, Wormadam, Audino, Gloom, Vigoroth, Volbeat, and Carnivine. Encountered Pinsir, Liepard, Munchlax, Vespiquen, Watchog, male Nidoran, Gravele, Ninjask, and Nidoking (the very first Pokémon I met here). Encountered 16 wild Pokémon, caught 7. I think that's pretty good. I'll try it again some time.
I thought I'd check out the Gym. The thing about the Gym is it's likely one that specializes in Bug-type Pokémon. I only have one Fire-type to counter it, my Incineroar. But I do have some Flying-types. And Flying is strong against Bug, so time for some team adjustments and grinding!
...A lot of grinding. Hoo boy...Man, I wish my Exp. Share was in the Sun/Moon style. Would make this a LOT easier. Maybe I can make some further adjustments...
I decided to explore the gym a bit. I wanted to get the lay of the land, as it were. Have an idea what I'm in for.
Not much there...except for those signs. I do like the forest theme. It fits a Gym that work with Bug-types. Let's take a look!
Hey, puzzles! I like puzzles! Well, this kind of puzzle. In this case, you take the tiles and arrange them in a way that forms a picture of a Pokémon. This one is a Kabuto. One of the trainers here has an Armaldo, and is surprisingly tough.
And I think that's going to be it for now. I have a lot of grinding to do to prepare for this gym. I wish I had more Fire-types to aid my Flying-types. Maybe the Safari Zone has some. A Litleo and Pansear would be helpful right now. So would a Charmander. I do have a Pidgeotto, though...
Anyway, I hope you all wish me luck! Thanks for reading! If you liked reading the blog, spread it around! If you want to give this blog a little extra support, please feel free to drop a tip in my Digital Tip Jar!
Pokémon Obtained:
- Route 8
Krabby
Stunfisk
Pidgeot (evolved from Pidgeotto)
- Safari Zone
Nidoqueen
Wormadam
Audino
Gloom
Vigoroth
Volbeat
Carnivine
Krabby (Shiny)
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