Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw region! This is the eleventh entry in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse!
As is tradition, I will be spoiling this game.
As such, I recommend playing the game for yourself before reading this blog entry. You can download the game right here. Don't you worry, the game is obviously playable in English. I wouldn't be playing this game otherwise. And with that's let's get going.
Well, we did it. We actually did it. We beat Princess Vanilla and got our hands on the Sugar Badge.
With the third Gym behind us, there's not really any reason for us to stay in Milkiway City any longer. It's time for us to move ever forward. But where do we go next? Well, we have to hit the Gravity Tunnel!
Don't ask me, I didn't name this thing. To get to said tunnel, we go to the northermost part of the town, right at the entrance to Princess Vanilla's castle. The gate with the two pink-armored guards at the sides of it. From there, we head right. We pass by the Move Tutor's house until we reach this dude who gives us a bit of info about the Gravity Tunnel.
According to this old man here, if you like fossils, you'll like the Gravity Tunnel. There's a ton of them there. Although I have no idea why it's called the Gravity Tunnel. Yeah, I do get it from a meta perspective, the names of things here are all references to space and the like, but from an in-universe perspective, why is it called the Gravity Tunnel? Is gravity acting screwy there? Well, only one way to find out!
When we leave the entry/exit tunnel of the town, we find a sign.
It warns us that it's possible to get lost in the Tunnel, so make sure you have plenty of supplies. There's a store in Milkiway City's Pokémon Center where you can get extra medicines and Pokéballs if you need them. Never hurts to have plenty of Potions and the like. You never know what'll happen.
Before we go into the tunnel itself, as the screenshot shows, there is a short grassy path that leads to the Tunnel's entrance. It has a few trainers to fight and some wild Pokémon to catch if you want to make some additions to your collection. After all, the slogan of the franchise is "Gotta catch 'em all!"
When you enter the grassy area, there's a bit of a fork in the road.
Ha, ha, ha. But seriously, there are two directions to go: up to the entrance to the Gravity Tunnel itself, or to the right. If we go all the way to the right (past a Trainer), we end up here.
Our access to the box is hindered by a big ol' rock. Luckily, we got a fix for that.
Remember that Perseum H we got? Well, we can use it on this rock. And once we do, we get a Shuca Berry. This Berry weakens a Ground-type attack if it's super-effective against the Pokemon holding it. For example, you give it to a Pikachu. Pikachu is Electric-type. Ground-type attacks would destroy it. This Berry reduces the damage it would take. I'm not sure how much it muffles damage, though. And since this is the only Shuca Berry I have, I have no desire to test it. Anyway, let's enter the tunnel!
When we enter the Tunnel, there's a sign that tells us that a nice Hiker named Ropert who will take us out of here if we ask him. I wonder if he's the same Hiker that would help us get out of the String Forest if we needed him to? You may remember the String Forest from entries number 6 and 7.
Anyway, if you like Geodude, the Gravity Tunnel is full of them. I had caught one earlier, so I don't need one here. The thing is, I love the Geodude line. I wanted to use one in my team, but Graveler (Geodude's evolved form) becomes Golem by trading, and I can't trade in this game. But that's not a problem at all. I remembered that I got the Pokémon Transfer device from Taraxo, so yeah. I'm gettin' a Golem!
I headed upward and to the left, and I found a box.
Inside the box is a Repel. It's handy if you want to go through places like this. We head further upwards and to the right. We pass by a Trainer we can battle, but then we find an old friend.
Another merchant! Haven't seen one of those in a while! This merchant sells various Berries. He also sells Great Balls and Super Repels if you want to add some Pokémon to your collection, or you just want to get through the tunnel. As shown in the screenshot, there's also a nearby fisherman you can fight. You can also fight the merchant if you wish. You can also battle the merchant. If you win, you get a Rare Candy. An instant level-up for a Pokémon! I mean, if you want to. I don't use them personally.
From here, we head back to the right. From here, we can go upwards and then to the right. From here, it's understandable where the warnings about getting lost here comes from. It's another maze.
At the first crossroads, you can go downwards, and battle a Hiker.
The box there contains a Max Repel. We head further down and go right. It's here we meet Rupert the Hiker.
That's him, the guy in the blue hat. We go further right and see a box.
The box contains an Ultra Ball. We'll have to head upwards next and fight the guy in the Karate gi up there. We go right past the fighter and end up here.
I have no idea what these things are. Rocks? Hunks of cheese?
Yeah, the Perseum H we have isn't going to do us any bit of good here. We're going to have to backtrack!
Yup. But I did encounter something interesting. During my travels through the cave, I caught this Masgot.
It looks a bit different from the Masgot I've seen before and have on my regular team. I don't think it's a Shiny Pokémon, as they tend to just have unusual coloring, not a different appearance. And it's not an X Pokémon, as meeting this thing had the standard battle intro, not the special intro X Pokémon get. I think this might be a variant, similar to the Alolan variants seen in Sun and Moon. Thanks to Rupert the Hiker, I was able to head back out to the Tunnel's entrance and make my way back to the Pokémon Center. My curiosity was getting the better of me, so I headed back to Milkiway City. Once I got to their Pokémon Center, I looked into this funny new Masgot I got.
It is the standard Bug/Ground type, but as the screenshot shows, it knows Ember. Ember is a Fire-type attack. My Masgot never learned this attack. So yeah, it's got to be some kind of a variant. I assumed the Masgot I got was the standard version, so it's neat seeing that it also has a variant here in Eldiw. Helps make Pokémon seem more like real-life animals. Look up Darwin's finches to understand what I mean.
From there, we headed back to the Tunnel to try and go through it again. This time, at the crossroads, I went upwards. It led to another crossroads where you can go to the right or further upwards. There's another wandering trainer here to fight, if you want to. I decided to go to the right. It led me to what appeared to be an underground lake.
And right in this corner here is another box.
It contains a Super Repel. You can also fish in the water if you wish. Heh. I'm a poet without even knowing it.
Heading back to the Tunnel from the Pokémon Center, I decided to go straight ahead at the first crossroads. It led me to go slightly downwards, nearby this Trainer.
From there, we head further to the right and downwards. We pass by another Trainer and also see a box.
Inside the box is a Dusk Stone. This path appears to be a dead end, so yup, time to backtrack! I went back to the first crossroads, then headed back to the second one. This time, I went further upwards. That path took us up here.
Hey, a Porygon Center! Been a while since we've seen one of those. The man next to the big rock there will sell you special rocks that extend the length of time that certain moves' effects will last. Mainly moves that affect the weather on the battlefield if you're battling a Pokémon. Sunny Day, Rain Dance, and the like. The sign in the screenshot there reveals that this is another crossroads, but they're to two different towns. The left will take you to Fortbelt Town, and the right will take you to Ishtar City.
Fortbelt Town and Ishtar City. As I've pointed out before, the names of town, cities, and various places in this game are space-themed. Nebula Ranch, Milkiway City, etc. The names Ishtar and Fortbelt did throw me off. After all, Ishtar was the only name I knew of...as a Mesopotamian goddess. I looked into it, and it turns out that there is an asteroid named after her. There's also an area on Venus called Ishtar Terra. So, it still keeps with the space theme there.
The name "Fortbelt" threw me off harder. I'm assuming that it's a reference the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That's the only thing I can think of. Anyway, we got a choice. Do we go to Forbelt Town, or Ishtar City?
Well, I figured let's go to Forbelt Town. Ishtar City gives me the impression that it's a major place to go in the place, so likely we'll end up there anyway. We head to the left, then upwards. There's another trainer on a hoverboard that you can battle on the way if you wish to. And we find ourselves here.
Hey look, another one of those big rock/block of cheese-looking things. Combined with the big rock, that means the path they conceal is impossible to enter for now. But as the screenshot shows, it's not a complete dead end. The box contains a Star Piece. And once we go down the ladder...
And we find another crossroads.
Okay. We can go to the left, or downwards. I'm going to try the left first. The left leads to another crossroads: Up or down. We head upwards...
Hey, wait a minute! I remember these guys!
Yeah, these Daft Punk wannabes! We first encountered them in entry #3! They were occupying Newtron City to get their paws on the Terrestrial Plate! What're they doing here?! We talk to the guy, and there's no battle or anything. The nearby box contains a Revive. We head downwards to find...
More of those guys. Well, I guess this way is a big ol' dead end...
And that's where we'll have to stop for now. I'm sorry that this entry ends here, but it's necessary to maintain my putting up these Text Plays at the end of every month. Next time, we're going to explore this cave further. I get the feeling we're going to see A and B again...
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!
Pokemon Obtained
Grassy area before the Gravity Tunnel
- Stunky
- Excalibould
- Plusle
- Pepequeno
Gravity Tunnel
- Larvitar
- Drilbur
- Aron
- Diglett
- Roggenrola
