Text Play: Pokémon Xenoverse #16

Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw region! This is the sixteenth entry in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse!

Now, as is tradition, I will warn you that I will be spoiling this game. 

I strongly recommend that you play this game for yourself before reading these Text Plays. You can download the game here. Now then, let's go!

Last time, we made our way through Mt. Starburst, and we eventually found Abraham, the grandfather of Queen Nuphar. From him, we learned of the origins of Team Dimension and its connections to Versil and Astra. We left off with him leaving and asking us to follow, only to end up having no idea where he went.

So, now we've got to find him. What a pain. We head back to the crossroad area we were in before we made our way to the lava pool Abraham was meditating at.

Let's try the upward path. Might as well. 

I wanted to try the downward path, but the Turtonator won't let you cross it.

So, yeah. No choice to go upwards. The upward path leads to a cave entrance. We go through it and end up in a pathway that has stairways on it. We go up them and to the left. The path ends with a surprise.

Looks like we picked the right path after all. Hooray!

Abraham tells me that we're heading to the Zenith Cave. It's the location of a Xeno Gate, one of four in the entire region. The Xeno Gates don't just let anyone walk through willy-nilly. If you want to go through one of these gates, you have to get a blessing from someone...or something called Luxflon. But that's not the issue right now. Team Dimension is threatening to endanger the entire world. Abraham then proceeds to tell us a tale. An epic tale of the birth of the universe. 

Billions of years ago, the universe was ruled by a Pokémon called Vakuum. And his reign sucked.

Yeah, that was a bad joke. My apologies. Anyway, Vakuum was a big as a planet, and its body burned as hot as a star. The Pokémon, like many beings, struggled with "diametrically opposed intentions." Basically, it struggled with its better and darker natures. These natures were the Light (symbolizing peace/evolution) and Darkness (symbolizing terror/annihilation). The creature was powerful, but even it was not immune to the ravages of time. 

As Vakuum aged, its inner darkness became its own separate creature, not willing to die with Vakuum. This darkness managed to free itself from Vakuum, killing the Pokémon in the process. I imagine it was quite painful.

This caused a massive deflagration. This explosion unleashed life throughout the universe. Galaxies formed. Stars ignited. planets were born. Yeah, it can be implied that this event was this universe's version of the Big Bang. Now I know what you're thinking. "What about Vakuum's light side?" Well, like the darker side, the Light side of Vakuum also became its own being: Luxflon. The dark side became a being called Dragalisk. Further remnants of Vakuum became three Elemental Guardians that were incarnated into the form of three Pokémon: Trishout, Shyleon, and Shulong. The three starter Pokémon of this game. I'm assuming that means in this universe, the starters were the first Pokémon species on Earth. 

When the Earth was formed, half of it was ruled by Luxflon, and the other by Dragalisk. Trishout, Shyleon, and Shulong helped keep Luxflon and Dragalisk in balance. After all, one cannot have Darkness without Light, and vice versa.

Dragalisk banished all life from its realm, seeing it as unnecessary. Refuge was found for it in Luxflon's domain. Luxflon's domain grew prosperous, while Dragalisk's became stagnant and rotten. Dragalisk envied the beauty and prosperousness of his counterpart's realm and decided to do something about that. Dragalisk moved to steal the energy Luxflon used to make Earth so flush with life. Luxflon, aided by the three starter Pokemon, defeated Dragalisk. Despite the defeat, Dragalisk was able to make off with a small amount of that life energy.

Using this energy, Dragalisk was able to create its own life: the X Pokémon. Using these X Pokémon as an army, Dragalisk tried to attack the Earth again. That attack also failed. Dragalisk was 0 for 2, which I'm sure it took well.

Luxflon was so horrified by its counterpart's greed and power lust, it tapped into its own energy reserves to take down Dragalisk once and for all. This caused Dragalisk to end up trapped in another dimension: The Xenoverse. So, basically, the X Pokémon are not native to the Xenoverse. They were exiled there with their creator.

The Earth continued to flourish and develop without Dragalisk around. Over the millenia, the undeterred Dragalisk would continue to try and attack Earth. It did it by tearing the equivalent of fault lines in the space-time continuum. This is why we've been seeing X Pokémon around the game world. They came here thanks to those tears Dragalisk has been opening up. 

Team Dimension wants to break into the Xenoverse. If they succeed, Dragalisk will be released, and the dark Pokémon will take its vengeance on the Earth, possibly even taking it over.

Don't worry, there is hope. As established earlier, the starter Pokémon helps maintain the balance of this realm, and we happen to have one of them. 

This does raise some questions, mainly regarding the starter Pokémon. This story seems to imply that they are more in the vein of Legendaries than the vast majority of the Pokémon we encounter in these games. I think I understand what the story is going for here, trying to explain why there's only one of each of the starter Pokémon. It's something I never really felt needed explanation, though. 

We have to prevent Team Dimension from brining Dragalisk into the world. We're going to need a little extra something to accomplish this. Abraham brings us to another chamber.

Here, we can obtain a power beyond what we have now. That power? Xenoversal Evolution. With this, we can allow our Pokémon to unleash their full potential. The pool behind him is Terrestrial Energy, the energy that Luxflon is using to try and patch up the rifts between our world and the Xenoverse. Only those who have the Earth Core can pass through the Xeno Gate behind it. We also have to have a certain amount of "grudge", whatever that means. This means that Abraham can't come with us. Why can't it be that he just doesn't have the Earth Core, and he wasn't chosen? He says after this, we'll be able to harness Blue Energy! 

He makes a prayer, and a path opens up. We automatically walk over the puddle of Terrestrial Energy to the cascade. Energy courses through it, and we get sucked into the Xeno Gate.

Welcome to the Xenoverse.

Yeah, this is...quite a place. It's definitely barren. There's an eerie vibe to the place. The glitching trees are a nice touch. Showing the two dimensions do not get along very well. Taking a step forward causes someone to start laughing. Another step forward and a shadowy figure walks towards us. The figure claims they don't need to introduce themselves to us. After all...

...they are us. This is our Alter, born and raised here in the Xenoverse. Basically, Alter is our counterpart here in this dimension. This does lead me to wonder. If we have a counterpart here, does everyone else we've met here have one, too? Our parents, Taraxo, Aster, Queen Nuphar? Are there versions of them here as well? Would make sense.

Anyway, the Alter claims that he has no family or friends. This doesn't really disprove my theory as our parents' counterparts may have been lost when Alter was younger. The Alter claims to have watched us every day of our lives, and saw that we got to have family and friends. The Alter wanted them, and it grew to hate us. Dude, it's not our fault you don't have family or friends! 

He wants to take our place in our world, and he's going to beat our Pokémon to do so. Okay. He claims that he's grown stronger and stronger thanks to our "grudge". Wait, our anger? Is that what he means? Our anger about what?

He says he'll be the one to save the world from Team Dimension and find Versil, and he'll finally get to have some glory. He summons his own Trishout, and the battle is on.

Alter Battle!
1st Pokemon: Trishout (Lv. 34) - Defeated by Harrowk and Pelipper.

The Alter is shocked by this defeat. He wonders how he was so easily able to get stomped by us. Why he has nothing and we have everything. The Alter says we should be scared of him. After all, he's our dark side. He notes that we haven't finished him off. That we're still here with him after this. This makes him feel a bit...happy. He vows to follow us, and when our hatred overcomes us, he'll take everything from us.

And with that, he vanishes. The world starts to shake, and Abraham calls us back. We find that the Alter became the Xenoverse Core. it's the essence of the Xenoverse. And its Trishout became the Xenoverse Ring. We got what we need, so let's get out of here! 

Abraham suggests that we try out the Core now. See what it can do. Surely nothing bad could happen from it.

To activate the new power, we have to give the Xenoversal Ring to Trishout and put it in the starting position in our party. When I removed the Terrestrial Ring from Trishout, it reverted to its "pre-evolved" form.

I wonder if that's a result of the starters being remnants of Vakuum. Did Trishout need this ring to evolve into another stage? I do wish I just left the ring off after it first reached its Terrestrial Form back in entry #3.

Well, after looking up Trishout's entry in the game's wiki (Yes, it has a wiki, and it is in English), I learned it doesn't have any natural evolutions. So, yeah. Wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, I gave Trishout the Xenoversal ring, and natually, it changed form again.

What's interesting is that Trishout's Xenoversal form looks more, well...monstrous for lack of a better term. Which actually does make sense. The Xenoverse is a world of rot and decay after all. Abraham describes this version of Trishout as more "savage". Great. I think I created a monster.

Trishout then seems to go nuts, evidently the Blue Energy of the Xenoverse is having a bad effect on the Pokémon's mind. Abraham tells us to get the Xenoversal ring off Trishout. But the Pokémon is not happy with that idea and decides to vanish.

Abraham heads to the top of the volcano. Looks like we've got to go follow him.

We head back to the crossroads with all those Turtonators. The one in front of the downwards path still won't let us go down it. Aw, well. Yeah, I have no idea where Abraham went. But as long as we're here, might as well use the Porygon Center. Thankfully, the cave entrance next to the Porygon Center is the right way to go, as if we follow the path from it, Abraham calls out to us.

Abraham's Scaleon helped track it down, but we have to calm its rage. We try to, but thankfully, someone comes to help us out. 

...Aw, great! The X Gengar is back! I figured we'd encounter him again after the events of entry # , but I didn't think it'd be this soon! And naturally, he has a bone to pick with us. After all, we did free Ishtar City from him. And he wants to use Trishout to get his revenge! We have to battle it!

Trishout (Xenoversal Form) (Lv. 34) - Defeated Phantump. Defeated Harrowk. Defeated Sandygast. Defeated by Scaleon. 

This was a surprisingly tough battle. The Blue Energy really amped it up. Harrowk's Spark did plenty of damage to it. Same with Sandygast's Bulldoze. And Scaleon's Dragon Claw.

The battle manages to calm Trishout down and make it remember us. Yay! The X Gengar is furious at this. He then retreats, saying that his "Lord" (presumably Dragalisk) will take care of this. And he says he'll be back for revenge.

With this issue resolved, we can go back to Ishtar City and face Nuphar. Abraham gives me a little gift: Ikarium H. Ikarium H is this game's version of the old Fly HM. We can use this to instantly go back to cities we have visited earlier. 

We have to leave the volcano to actually use the Ikarium H. And since Nuphar was the reason why we went on this weird misadventure, we fly back to Ishtar City. The holographic Scaleon takes us right back to the Pokemon Center. That's nice of it.

After getting my Pokémon healed up, I decided to take a closer look at Trishout's Xenoversal form.

Yeah, Trishout's Xenoversal form does look monstrous. It's a nice contrast to his Terrestrial form. Whereas his Terrestrial Form looks like a natural evolution of Trishout, the Xenoversal form is more like a savage devolution. It makes sense considering the Xenoverse is supposedly a dimension of rot and decay. Now that we managed to get that whole craziness out of the way, we can go face Queen Nuphar at her pyramid.

Nuphar is happy to see us back and amazed about the Xenoverse power we got at the volcano. She believes that we've achieved our full potential as a trainer. She thinks we're going to have no problem dealing with the canyon issue after getting it. I do appreciate the vote of confidence. She wants to see us use this power, and as such, she invites us to battle her at her gym. She's not going to make it easy for us. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The entryway to the gym is at the top of the pyramid. 

See that guy in there? Talk to him. We've seen him before. He said that he's rooting for us.

He wants to test us out on something: What type of Pokemon does Queen Nuphar specialize in? He gives us four choices: Fire, Water, Ground, Ghost. You may think Ground-type, right? After all, Ishtar City is a desert. 

Nope! Nuphar is a Water-type specialist. It's not hard to notice if you look at her. She wears a blue dress, and her crown is meant to look like a trident. Our mysterious fanboy suggests we use Electric or Sound-type Pokemon against her. I suppose we could use Grass-types as well. Water is also weak against Grass.

He wanted to test our observational skills. We're going to need them here in this Gym. By the way, you see the jar in the screenshot? It contains a Hyper Potion. Grab it. We go down the stairs and we end up in this room.

The man in the funny outfit here is named Abbas. You see, this Gym's challenge is based on the games the Ancient Ishtarians played. The first challenge is called "The Game of Farfetch'd." It works like this: The floor will be dotted with platforms. These platforms will bear effigies of various Pokemon. By reading and decrypting the clues on some pillars, will we find the proper path. One of these pillars is right next to the entrance. It has some glowing writing on it.

Hey, that's Unown writing. It's not hard to translate, as Unown tend to form letters and words in English. The Unown are telling us to "walk on the grass". Which likely means, "walk on the platforms with Grass-type Pokémon on them". I came to realization here.: I'm getting ahead of myself. We're going to need to prepare a team to face Nuphar. She's a Water-type specialist, so I'm going to need a team to counter that. Water is vulnerable to Grass, Electric, and Sound. As such, I'm going to have to build a team to take advantage of that.

Heading back to the Pokémon Center, I decided to look over my options. Naturally, I want to keep my Phantump (Grass/Ghost) and Harrowk (Electric/Flying) on board. they'll be a big help to me in battling Nuphar. Trishout is a Sound-type, but it's also a Fire-type, so...yeah. Sorry, buddy. Same with my Sandygast. It knows Giga Drain (a Grass-type move), but it's partially Ground, which is weak against Water. It does have the Ability called Water Compaction. When it's hit by a Water-type attack, its Defense stat goes up sharply.

 But it won't do a darn bit of good if it's hit by a Water-type attack powerful enough to knock it out with one blow. I also am going to put away my Pelipper and my Masgot. In their case, it's because I want to make space, and I don't want to take any chances. I have Harrowk and Phantump, but I want to have some more Grass and Electric-type Pokémon backing them up. 

I decided to add Hystearic (Grass/Sound), Sewaddle (Bug/Grass), Mareep (Electric), and Bremand (Electric/Sound). And now comes the hard part: Grinding.

It's not so bad. Because of this game's leveling system, grinding is a bit easier. All your Pokémon gain some experience when you battle (as long as you don't faint), so it does make things a little easier. 

And I think that's where we're going to stop this month. I'm going to work on grinding up my new team. Next time, we'll hopefully get to face off against Nuphar herself for our fourth badge! Wish me luck! 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:
(Route )
- Flaaffy (evolved from Mareep)
(Route 12)
- Shuckle
(Route 7)
- Trapinch
- Swadloon (evolved from Sewaddle)

SilverHawks #1 (August 1987)

The 1980s was the era for what became known as the "toyetic" cartoon series. What is a "toyetic" series? Well, it's a term used to describe a series that is basically used to push a toy line. Some of these series would become iconic franchises that are still going strong today, like Transformers. Some have become a lot less known, like say, the SilverHawks.

SilverHawks was an animated series that consisted of 65 episodes. Developed by Rankin-Bass (the same company behind ThunderCats), the series was set in the far future. The titular SilverHawks were a team of cyborg (the theme song described them as "partly metal, partly real") police officers that patrolled the spaceways, protecting the universe from the evil mob boss Mon*Star and his mob. I first learned of this series thanks to Cartoon Network playing reruns of it in the early 2000s. Like many cartoons of the era, it was used to push a toy line. And it also had a comic book series, published by Marvel as part of their Star Comics line at the time.

You may be wondering what Star Comics is. The Star Comics imprint was started by Marvel in 1984 as a way to attract younger readers, basically. The imprint mainly published licensed titles based on various series, like Care Bears, Heathcliff (the longest-running title in the line), Muppet Babies (Yes, long before Disney bought the Muppets and Marvel itself), and comics based on Rankin-Bass's sister series, ThunderCats. It also published original series like Top Dog, Royal Roy (Which actually got Marvel sued by Harvey Comics, claiming it was a blatant ripoff of Richie Rich, leading to the title's cancellation), and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. Yeah, if you ever watched Into the Spider-Verse, you may be familiar with Spider-Ham. The line was short-lived, lasting until 1988. 

The comic we're going to look at here is the first issue of their Star Comics series. It, like the Star line itself was short-lived, lasting seven issues. The last two were published under the Marvel banner due to the Star line going defunct. Let's take a look at SilverHawks #1!

The cover is a Mike Witherby and Jim Sanders III piece. It's pretty good, if a bit basic. It shows our heroes flying towards the camera, the villainous Mon*Star in his organic form looming over them, as if promising great pain for our heroes. 

"The Origin Story"
Writer: Steve Perry 
Penciler: Mike Witherby
Inker: Jim Sanders III
Colorist: John Wellington
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Editor: Howard Mackie
Executive Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins on Hawkhaven, the future HQ of our titular heroes.

"We originally intended to call it 'The Birdhouse', but the idea was shot down. With fists."

A Commander Stargazer is reporting a massive prison breakout on Penal Planet 10. This is especially concerning as among the freed prisoner is a feared intergalactic crime boss known as Mon*Star. The "penal planet" is actually a gigantic space station. On February 2839, the station was hit by the rays from the "Moonstar". The staff try to lock down the station, make sure none of its light reaches him. Mon*Star tries to bribe two of the guards, but they're not going for it. The space criminal furiously pounds away at the paneling of his cell and is able to rip open a gap in his cell's wall, allowing some of the Moonstar's light to reach him. And when it does, a transformation occurs.

"AHHHHHHH, THIS FRIGGIN' HUUUUURTS!"

Now transformed into his more powerful robotic form (How does that work?), Mon*Star is able to escape. He finds his space squid Sky-Runner waiting for him. He transforms the squid into his personal transport, then goes to free the rest of his gang.

Back in HawkHaven, Stargazer transmits the files on the other escapees.

Hardly as iconic as Batman's Rogues Gallery, but they get by.

Mon*Star's gang is a motley bunch, each with their own specialties. Mo-Lec-U-Lar is a shapeshifter, able to turn himself into any object. Melodia is a mad mistress of music, whose keytar can really raise some havoc. She's the gun moll of the gang. She also is likely Lady Gaga's descendant.  

The robotic minotaur-looking dude is Mumbo Jumbo. He's the strongman. The troll is Hardware, the weapon expert of the group. And the angry yellow robot is Buzzsaw. I imagine he's one of the enforcers. Finally, there's Windhammer. His tuning fork grants him the power to control galactic weather patterns. And speaking of Windhammer, he uses said big ol' tuning fork to cause pink lightning to hit HawkHaven. Windhammer is playing fast and loose with that pink energy there.

Anyway, Stargazer could use a hand. Is he the only person there? He doesn't even have a staff?! I mean, he's only one cyborg, he can only do so much. 

We then shift scenes to the Federal Interplanetary Force 1 Headquarters in Nevada. A General Rawlings is discussing a project with a Professor Ghemakin. Ghemakin is an alien that looks like what you get when Spock underwent pon farr with a Skrull woman. The alien professor takes the general to a room where they are creating a new weapon against Mon*Star and his band of blackguards.

"They also have fridges in those cubes!"

These five cubes are cybernetically enhancing five volunteers to be cybernetically enhanced into the SilverHawks. Who are these five brave souls? The first is Jonathan B. Quick, codenamed Quicksilver. The second is a pointy-eared redheaded elf-like being from a world known as the "Planet of Mimes". His real name is unpronounceable, so he's just called "The Copper Kid". The third is T. Boone Pickens. A country boy, he's one of the best, if not the best pilot in the solar system. Codename: Bluegrass. Finally, there are the fraternal twins: Emily and Will Heart. ...why aren't their surnames "Hart"? I mean, "Hart" is an actual surname, and you could still do the "heart" pun as they're pronounced the same. Anyway, the two have a Corsican Brothers-like bond. What one feels, the other does, too. Their codenames are Steelheart and Steelwill. 

It's discovered the twins have a problem. Their hearts are reacting badly to the cybernetic modifications, so they need to be replaced with artificial ones. Ghemakin isn't worried. They'll still be able to do the job, but just end up a bit...emotionless.

Yeah, emotions come from the brain, not the heart. The next day, the SilverHawks' new craft, the Mirage, takes a flight to engage in some wargames with a combat drone. We get to see the Hawks in action.

"*Highway to the Danger Zone intensifies*"

The Hawks manage to dispatch the drone. This bit of play combat also allows the Mirage to show off its own gimmick: invisibility. The five cyborg heroes easily dispatch the drone. The SilverHawks introduce themselves to General Rawlings' superior, who is impressed with them. The next day, the Mirage is being prepared for a trip to space. Bluegrass shows off how he controls the ship.

"🎵 Blue Moon of Kentucky, keep on shinin'...🎵"

Yup, he does it through his electronic guitar, Hot Licks. You can tell this is from the 80s, ha ha. The Mirage them makes its way to space and to HawkHaven. According to Quicksilver, it will be their home for the next few centuries.

Wait, they'll be there for hundreds of years?! That's not exactly a short time by any measure! Don't any of these people have loved ones back home?! Anyway, the group introduce themselves to Commander Stargazer. He then gives them their mission.

"Careful, guys. Mon*Star is a real piece of work. He punched my grandma!"

Yup, go to planet Brimstar and bring Mon*Star and his mob in. Man, the guy has "stars" on the brain, doesn't he? I'm surprised he doesn't call his blackguard brigade the "Star Mob" or "Mob Stars" or something. In his fortress, Mon*Star is informed of the SilverHawks' coming for him by Yes-Man, his snake-like toady. He transforms into his robotic form and orders him to gather the other members of the mob. They're going bird-hunting!

The Mob makes their way to HawkHaven and engages the SilverHawks in battle.

This battle helps show off what the Silverhawks can do. The twins are shown to be powerhouses, Copper Kidd shows off his skills with his throwing discs, etc. Our heroes manage to turn the tide and send the Mon*Star Mob packing.

Commander Stargazer thanks the group for their good work, but the Mob still need to be captured. Our heroes have quite the work cut out for them. 

This comic is...well...basic is how I can describe it. It's a basic origin story for a bunch of cartoon characters for kids. I do wish we got to explore the personalities of the SilverHawks a bit more. That would have been really neat. I got a good chuckle out of the art always showing Bluegrass looking like he is about to bust into a jolly ballad. It's not the worst comic ever, but it's hardly the best. 

If you want to read this yourself, you'll have to search out the back issue bins in comic shops. This has never been collected in trade as far as I know. 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!