Hello, and welcome back to the Torren Region! This is entry #5 in my Text Play of Pokémon Insurgence!
Last time, we hit a bit of a milestone. We made our way through Suntouched City, where we got to get filmed capturing some Pokémon. The main event of our adventure in that city was at the Gym. We defeated Orion, a specialist in Fire and Grass-type Pokémon, his team themed around the power of the Sun. Upon his defeat, we earned our first badge in the Torren League: the Thermal Badge. We also encountered the villainous Taen, and Orion got a little vindication for one of his eccentricities. So, yeah. It was quite a month.
But that is all right behind us. We're now starting to make our way to Vipik City, to face Xavier for badge #2. Hopefully, things with him will be a little calmer. Now, as is tradition, I want to warn you all that I will be spoiling this game.
As such, I strongly recommend that you play through the game yourself before you read these Text Plays. You can do so right here. And with that out of the way, our feature presentation!
We're continuing our way through Route 3. It's a nice peaceful route, with lots of grass, gentle lakes, and we got to battle a couple trainers along the way. It's a good place to grind up your Pokémon team, and perhaps add a few more to the collection. It's on our route that we meet this nice old lady.
She's a spry old Trainer, saying that if we think our Pokemon can take hers, we got another thing coming. Oh, this is going to be fun! In the good way.
(Socialite) Barbara
1st Pokémon: Gloom (Lv. 28) - Defeated by Shiro the Charmeleon. Put Gabite to sleep. Gabite grew to level 26, and Shiro reached level 29! Palpitoad grew to Level 29 as well. Thank you, EXP Share!
2nd Pokémon: Bellossom (Lv. 26)- Defeated by Shiro. Emolga grew to level 26. Thank you, EXP Share!
Evidently, she appointed herself the tollkeeper of the route and lets us pass. Whatever, lady. Luckily, we don't have to go much further to get to another town.
Welcome to Metchi Town! This place was first mentioned in the last entry. You see that house in the screenshot? Well, below it is a guy who has something to tell us.
I wonder who he's talking about? It can't be Nora. Since we last saw her, she presumably is still in Suntouched City, preparing to battle Orion to get her own Thermal Badge. Unless she beat him quickly and found another way to get here faster than us. That is certainly possible. He said she clomped across a bridge so loudly he could hear it in his house. That seems to indicate that whoever this girl was, she was in a hurry. A really big hurry.
Ah well, there's nothing we can do about that now. Let's go inside the house, shall we?
The house has a bookcase, and among the books is one labeled "Pre-Calculus Vol. 4." If you accept reading it, the game mocks you for it.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
I mean, I'm sure that there are people out there who would have wanted to read it. I mean, I'm a math guy, and I'd like to see a peek at what a textbook in the world of a Pokémon game would have been like. Would have been a nice bit of quiet worldbuilding. A shame. Anyway, the guy in the house with the buzzcut has an Egg for sale. He found it on his own Trainer journey and doesn't need it. I don't know, it could have hatched into a very handy Pokémon.
He offers it to us for just 3,000...PokeDollars? PokeYen? Just what is the currency of this world called? Anyway, we buy the Egg. The other guy says he came here to get himself a Secret Base. I wouldn't mind getting one of those myself. I mean, I think we have the money, thanks to those Gold Nuggets I got thanks to Debug Mode. We'll have to find out where we can get one here. Anyway, I walked a bit downwards, and I learned this bit of info.
I do kind of like that there are small quiet towns like Metchi in this game. It makes logical sense that not every place in a Pokémon region is going to be a bustling city. A lady walking around nearby remarks the legendary "Kami-trio" are here in Torren, hiding somewhere. She finds it awesome. I'm not sure what Pokémon she is referencing, though. Maybe they're Legendaries created for the game? I don't know. Let's investigate the house in the screenshot.
Hey, a Luxray! I've used those before. They're really good Pokémon in my opinion. The dark-haired guy lampshades kids always saving the day in these games. I think it's meant to give kids a feeling of accomplishment, that they did something that matters. Good for the self-esteem. The blond-haired person reveals they own the Luxray, and they've had many good times together. That's nice. The lady sitting with the blond person gives us a gift: TM57 (Charge Beam). Thanks, ma'am! You rule!
Charge Beam has the chance of giving our Pokémon a power-up if it uses the move. That would be an interesting move to teach a Pokémon that can learn it. The bookshelf in the house has a tome on the Infernal Cult. I decide to read it. Know thy enemy, and all that.
The Infernal Cult was the first team to come to Torren. The book uses "team" instead of "cult", which makes me wonder if they were a Team Rocket-esque crime syndicate at first, and eventually morphed into a cult. Appropriately, the cult specializes in Fire-types. Their big goal is to capture Heatran and Groudon.
This is interesting. Heatran was one of the Legendary Pokémon of Diamond and Pearl. It's a Fire/Steel type, so it makes sense these Infernal guys would be after it. Same with Groudon. It's a Legendary of Ruby and Sapphire, and it's Ground/Fire.
Nobody is sure why they're after these two Pokémon. Thing is, Team Magma were after Groudon because they wanted to increase the land mass of Hoenn, so maybe their goal is something similar. This theory starts making more sense with Heatran. Heatran was believed in myths to be born from a volcano and is the embodiment of the planet's molten core. It's plausible to assume they want to increase Torren's land mass like Team Magma with Hoenn.
The Infernals mainly operate in the northern areas of Torren. Would explain why we haven't encountered them yet. Metchi is in the middle/southern end of the Region. And speaking of south, if we go down, we end up here.
The guy there in the screenshot moved here from Helios City after living there for a year, and he's loving it here. I don't blame him. Metchi does seem like a nice quiet little town. For some people, a nice quiet little town is right up their alley. I personally don't mind it, but some excitement wouldn't hurt every now and then.
A couple of things in the screenshot did catch my eye. One is what looks like a big nest with some large eggs in them. Is that some kind of decoration? I can't imagine a Pokémon that could make a nest like that would do so in the middle of a town, even a quiet one like Metchi. If it is a sculpture, it certainly is a unique idea for one. Real life cities do get decorated with crazy sculptures. For example, the big "LOVE" sculpture in Philadelphia.
(the more you know)
You can also see on the screenshot a little blue rock-like guy next to that lookout tower. I wonder what that was. It's too small to be a Super Mario 64 Thwomp. I think it's a Pokémon. We'll have to catch that.
(remember this)
Anyway, let's look inside the house in the screenshot.
The bookcase in there has a book about something called "The Dream Realm". According to the book, the titular realm is a place associated with Darkrai. Every human has their own dream realm, which means there are tons of them out there. A person can enter their personal Dream Realm if they fall asleep in the presence of Darkrai. Huh. Remember back in entry #1 when Persephone tried to summon Darkrai? I wonder if this whole Dream Realm stuff was a part of the reason. I mean, she did say that she wanted to know why she wasn't chosen by him like Nora was with Celebi, but I can't help but wonder if maybe there was more to it now.
And speaking of Persephone, I can't help but wonder if she's finally noticed we're gone by now. I mean, I can imagine that in-universe, quite a bit of time has passed since Mew and our mysterious benefactor helped us escape from the Darkrai Cult. A couple weeks at the least. Maybe Mew and our mysterious benefactor are somehow keeping them at bay? I mean, if the benefactor can command Mew, I can imagine they are capable of just about anything.
Yeah, there's no point puzzling over that right now. Let's talk to the people in the house. Maybe we'll get another TM or some other nice gift! The little kid on the left points out that some of the water in the city is darker in color. Could mean that you can Dive down there. Notice I capitalized the word "dive". If you ever played Ruby and Sapphire, you know what I mean.
The green-haired person asks us if we know Nora from Midna Town. Know her? Well, yes. We've crossed paths. The person reveals something interesting to us. This house is her childhood home. She grew up here. And the green-haired person is their sibling.
Yeah, she's a Metchi girl. Who knew? Before we leave the house, there is one more thing we should do: look at the TV. Trust me on this. If we look at the TV, we get a surprise.
Yup, we got a Rotom! Rotoms are neat. It was also easy to catch thanks to the Master Balls I obtained from Debug Mode. And that's pretty much it for this house. Across from it to the left is a Pokemon Center. It's just a standard Center, not a big mall like in Suntouched. Above the house is a bridge. It allows us to cross the river that goes through the city. And once we reach the other side, a friend is there to meet us.
Hey, Nora! How you been? Did you get a Thermal Badge as well? She's come to Metchi because she wanted to visit her home. She wants to talk to us about something, but first, she wants to battle. She's been training with Celebi, and she wants to put it to use.
(Rival) Nora
1st Pokémon: Honedge (Lv. 26) - Defeated by Shiro the Charmeleon.
2nd Pokémon: Celebi (Lv. 29) - Defeated by Grotle.
3rd Pokémon: Swadloon (Lv. 27) - Defeated by Shiro.
4th Pokémon: Bayleef (Lv. 29) - Switched out for Floette. Defeated by Shiro.
5th Pokémon: Floette (Lv. 28) - Defeated by Grotle.
Nora's Floette is no joke. It was a nightmare thanks to its Grassy Terrain and Wish moves. Despite that, we still won. Poor Nora laments that even with Celebi, she couldn't win. She's starting to get convinced that the prophecy was about her than us. Yeah, we are the main character of the game, after all. She wants us to talk to Damian. He felt trustworthy to her, so she told him about Mew and Celebi. However, she likely didn't make it clear enough that it was supposed to be a secret.
He's headed southward to Vipik City, so she hopes we can help remind him to keep it on the down-low before he blabs to anyone. She'd do it herself, but she has other plans. Really? She couldn't have taken a couple minutes to say to Damian "By the way, this is something you have to keep quiet!"
I mean, was it really that difficult for her?! Come on! sigh Ah, well. Hopefully Damian was able to figure out that and not say a word. As I keep saying, nothing we can do about that. Let's keep exploring Metchi. Besides, I want to find out where exactly I can get me a Secret Base. There was a house near the end of the bridge where we battled Nora, so let's take a look inside.
As usual, there is a bookcase we can interact with, and there is also a TV in which we can find a Rotom. Yeah, all the TVs in Metchi have a chance of spawning a Rotom. The bookcase has a book that talks about the relationship between Cubone and Kangaskhan. The book claims that the skulls that Cubone wears (in Pokémon lore, Cubones are Pokémon that wear what are presumably the skulls of their deceased Marowak mothers) are actually Kangaskhans. This theory comes from the fact they both share the same ability: Parental Bond.
Well, I don't doubt that the two Pokemon do share the same ability, I don't really buy they are related. Baby Kangaskhan look nothing like Cubones. Their lore both revolve around families, but they're themed differently. Cubone is themed around loss, and Kangaskhan is themed around nurturing. Yes, they both have mother motifs in common, but that's really it. By the way, here's a really fun fan interpretation of Cubone. It's worth a read. I love TV Tropes.
Right, sorry. The Hiker in the house remarks that there's a Day-Care Center in Metchi, which is a place to breed Pokémon. He claims that they don't know about something going on over there, ranting about a Starly and a Beedrill. I have no idea. He's probably drunk.
(drunk)
The lady with the visor actually has something useful to say. She tells us a sect of the "Rangers" is in the region. She has no idea where they are, but she'd love to join up! Hopefully they're the good guys and she gets to join up! 👍
Going downwards from the house, we talk to a redheaded guy near a tiny lake. He tells us Metchi Town got its name from a former Gym Leader named Metchi. She was a Fairy-type specialist and was one of the Gym Leaders of Torren when it was first founded. She also was undefeated. After her retirement, her Gym was closed up, and the town was renamed in her honor. Makes me wonder what the original name of this town was. And I wonder why they closed her Gym. Couldn't they find anyone to take it over? Did she leave it to anyone? We get no answers, but we do learn that this is why they sell Secret bases here. Maybe she had one?
A guy dressed as a farmer explains that there used to be a Rattata infestation in the forest east of here. But it got cleared out, and they now use the space for Secret Bases. Speaking of Secret Bases, where can we get one? Well, once we leave the house, we go to the right to a set of stairs. Those stairs take us downwards to this area here.
This guy right here is the man who sells Secret Bases. He's the Secret Base Manager. He has clients all over the world!🎵He's been everywhere, man! He's been everywhere!🎵 He gives us a rundown on Secret Bases. Secret Bases are the equivalent of "man caves" for Pokémon trainers. They can be decorated with trophies, plush toys of various Pokémon, and a Trainer can even hire people to work there for various things. By "hiring people", he means like a Nurse to heal your Pokémon, Trainers to help grind your team up, that kind of thing.
You can even visit the Secret Bases of any friends you have. And if you're feeling a bit jerky, you can lay traps around your Secret base to make it harder to enter. You can also play Captrue the Flag or visit their Friend Safaris. I'm assuming that these are online features this modded version of Insurgence does not have. And these Secret Bases are dirt-cheap. They only cost 5 PokeDollars. It's a bargain!
(woo-hoo)
Now that we own a Secret base, we have to decide on a theme for it. This determines the general look of the Base. We can change this at any time completely free, but if we do, we have to redecorate the place all over again. There are several choices: Forest (if you're a nature-loving sort), Evil Base (if you want to let your inner supervillain out to play), Volcano (if you love the heat...and also want to let out your inner supervillain. Hey, it's not that strange. Ernst Stavros Blofeld had a base in a volcano), a Frost Castle (if you like Frozen), the Cyan Cavern (if you are a fan of spelunking), and the Mossy Ruins (If you want to feel like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft). There are also miniature versions of the themes. Presumably if you want a smaller base.
I chose the Mossy Ruins theme because I like the Indiana Jones movies. Yes, I also liked Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny.
(deal with it)
We now have a Secret Base. The Manager gives us a tablet that we can use to buy decorations and place in the Base. We can also access out Base from any Pokémon Center. Just look behind the bookcases they have there. Customizing the Base is something we can do later. Right now, I want to continue exploring Metchi Town. Once we go back up the stairs, we can talk to this Ryu wannabe.
He gives us a Focus Band. If you give a Pokémon this item, it works like the Ability Sturdy, allowing it to survive a hit that would have knocked it out with just one hit point left. Sometimes, just having one hit point left can mean the difference being victory or defeat. Basically, I may give a Pokémon this. There's a house below Ryu there, let's take a look inside. I always found it funny in RPGs that people will just happily let you come in their houses...
The bookcase in here has a book about Secret Bases. It basically tells us they are a big deal in Metchi, and basically are a big source of income for the town. The book also offers a possible explanation for how Trainers can access their Secret Bases from seemingly anywhere: that the Manager somehow communicated with a Pokémon like Hoopa or Palkia. Personally, I think it's Time Lord tech.
The boy on the left wishes for a girlfriend. Hey, we saw a girl who wanted a boyfriend earlier. Maybe we could have had them meet and see if they hit it off. Would have been a nice little side-quest. The old lady tells us she loves Grass-type Pokémon. And she gives us an item that can be used by said Pokemon: A Miracle Seed. This seed powers up Grass-type moves like Vine Whip and Razor Leaf. It's a handy item for non-Grass Pokémon that have Grass-type moves. Maybe I'll give it to Krystal. She's a Psychic/Fairy, but knows Razor Leaf.
(Batman hmm)
Anyway, if we go upwards a little bit, we'll end up here.
Hey, there's the PikaTaxi guy! Wayyyyy up there, up at the top of the screenshot. I really should use that. And there's this guy who ran all the way here from Kanto. I think he's spewing BS.
(just saying)
And that's this area pretty much explored. If we go downwards, we'll end up here in this area.
The blond guy says that some Trainers find Metchi a bit of a confusing place to navigate. To get out of the town, you have to go southwards, down the river. If we go right downwards, we find an old man sitting on a white bench. There's a bunch of these benches around him, as well as a bunch of Spearow. You can't try and catch them. I gave myself one with Debug Mode.
If you talk to the old man, he'll tell you he's been a resident of this town his whole life. He remembers a time when people would feed themselves from the nearby Berry Patches, as it was one of the only real sources of food in the area at the time. What, nobody like fried Spearow? But people learned to farm and fish, and people's palates have grown since then. Yeah, that was weird.
Anyway, if we go upwards, there's another house, nearby a bridge.
Behind the house is a green-haired dude with a cape. He says that to him, the best Pokemon are those with the best move sets. It's why his favorite is Smeargle. Smeargle has a move called Sketch that allows it to copy a move that was used on it. Sketch is the only move it learns. It can't learn new moves from TM or HM, and there are some moves that Sketch can't copy. So yeah, it's versatile, but limited. Let's just go inside the house in the screenshot.
Hey, a Shuckle. The blue-haired person gives us an item that will help us with breeding Pokémon: A Destiny Knot. A Destiny Knot will help us master Pokémon genetics. Their words, not mine. It's a red string that can be held by a Pokémon in battle. If it ends up infatuated thanks to moves like Charm, the Knot causes the caster to be infatuated, too. The blonde laments her lack of a boyfriend.
The bookcase in the house has a book on the Pokémon World Tournament. Every decade, it's held in a different place. I'm guessing it's like this world's Olympics. Unova, Orre, and Salkra has held such tournaments in the past. Torren will host the next one, but the area is still under development. This tournament is known for hiring various famous trainers like Red to battle people there, and even Gym Leaders like Blaine have appeared. It gives the idea this Tournament is a massive deal. According to the book, Steven also appeared. I know that he's dead at this point, so the last Tournament had to have happened before he died. I wonder how long it's been since the last tournament? Has to be around 10 years, as they're held once every decade.
However, for some reason, due to a lack of prominent Trainers in recent years, the Tournament has lost its luster. The book says it "fell into disrepair", but that's a phrase used to describe buildings. Torren's people hope that they can help make it prominent again. Yeah, we really need to deal with this cult problem.
And that's this house all explored. Nearby is a bridge. If we cross it, we end up here.
Remember what looked like a big nest we saw earlier? I thought it was some kind of statue. Turns out that it's a roof decoration. This is the Day-Care Center. If you want to do some Pokémon breeding, you can do it here. We'll have to remember this place.
(remember this)
There's not much else here. Well, there's a Delta Ditto hanging out next to the watchtower near the Center. Except for this little area to the left of the Day-Care Center.
You see that patch of grass? In the trees at the left-hand side of the screenshot. That patch of grass is very weird. You see, if you step in it...
You end up here. It works the other way around too, as on the screenshot, we're stepping on another patch of grass just like the one that took us here. The blue-haired NPC there also remarks that those patches of grass are weird if you talk to them. I wonder why that's here. Was it originally planned for something that got removed from development? I don't know.
(shrug)
Anyway, we go to the right, pass the bridge, past the guy on the bench with the Spearows...and it takes us nowhere. Just to a bunch of tall bushes. So, I think we can consider Metchi Town explored. So, onward to Vipik City. How do we get there, you may ask? Well, the river that goes through Metchi, of course!
(of course)
With our Instant Lapras, we can travel downwards, taking us here.
Welcome to Route 4. Route 4 has a long twisty river that cuts through the footpath, almost forming a dollar sign in shape.
...how do non-Trainers go down this route? I mean, there's no bridges to walk across. Is there an alternate path for non-Trainers? I know, it's a gameplay thing, but I can't help but wonder this stuff. Anyway, if we disembark on land here, we'll find another Hidden Grotto.
I caught a Lv. 10 Poliwhirl there. You can also find a Squirtle, Panpour, or a Delta Sunkern there. I also encountered and battled a green-haired Trainer nearby. He's all "SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT". Okay.
(Ace Trainer) Jay
1st Pokémon: Duskull (Lv. 30) - Defeated by Gabite with a bit of help from Leech Seed provided by Krystal the Delta Ivysaur
2nd Pokémon: Omanyte (Lv. 29) - Defeated by Grotle.
3rd Pokémon: Kabuto (Lv. 29) - Defeated by Grotle. Grotle bulldozed through Kabuto and Omanyte with Razor Leaf thanks to them being Rock/Water.
That was fun. We head further down and see this nice old lady.
I bet she is a really fierce Trainer. She says the "spirits" called her to defeat us.
(Medium) Jess
1st Pokemon: Litwick (Lv. 29) - Defeated by Palpitoad.
2nd Pokemon: Drifblim (Lv. 28) - Defeated by Emolga.
3rd Pokemon: Rotom (Lv. 28, Electric Form) - Defeated Grotle. Defeated by Krystal the Delta Ivysaur.
I think the spirits were messing with you, lady.
(I'm just saying)
She confesses that she made up the whole spirits thing. She was just hoping to whup us. Lady, we're not some marks you can con money out of with religion! You can just say you wanted to fight us!
(come on)
You may have noticed the little set of stairs leading up to a slightly elevated ridge. If we follow the ridge, we can see this Fearow.
We can battle and catch the Fearow, which is what I did. If you catch or defeat it, it drops TM116 (Pluck). Going further down, we encounter a river. Instant Lapras always is handy! Once we cross the river, we end up down here.
I wonder what that guy is doing there. Is he just enjoying the sights? I mean, it is a rather pretty area. Or maybe he's just waiting for Trainers to battle. For he is Jerome, and he is the mightiest fan of Pokémon!
(PokeFan Archie) ...yeah, bit of a goof there.
1st Pokemon: Breloom (Lv. 30) - Defeated by Shiro the Charmeleon.
Funny thing is, he lampshades the goof by saying he has no idea why people call him Jerome. Don't feel bad, pal. People get my name wrong all the time. Yeah, not at the level of Archie vs. Jerome, but still. It happens to me quite a bit. We keep going down, crossing the river, and then we encounter this sailor.
Makes sense he'd love this route. We go through a big twisty river.
(Sailor) Charlie
1st Pokemon: Qwilfish (Lv. 31) - Defeated by Krystal the Delta Ivysaur.
2nd Pokemon: Basculin (Red Stripe) (Lv. 29) - Defeated Krystal with Crunch (Dark-type move, super-effective). Defeated by Grotle with Razor Leaf. Grotle got poisoned badly thanks to Qwilfish's Toxic Spikes.
We keep going down, go through some trees...
And welcome to Vipik City.
(finally)
When we first walk the path, we meet a young lady (she can be partially seen in the screenshot, in the lower left). She warns us that Vipik City has a massive landfill. In fact, it collects garbage from all over Torren. Unfortunately, all that garbage rotting and decomposing has left the city smelling like, well...garbage. I mean, this sounds like some very poor city planning.
(just saying)
I should know. I live near a dump...well, it also has a lot of recycling facilities. And it's not right inside the town I live in or right near it. It's a good distance away. Enough of my rant, let's explore this town!
There's the Pokemon Center, and a house. The lady in front of the house in the screenshot reveals a little bit of Xavier's history. If you don't remember, Xavier is the Gym Leader of this city. The lady tells us that he used to be a Pokémon Ranger, but he quit for some reason. It's why he has such strong bonds with his Pokémon. In the games, Rangers are a class of Trainers one can battle. In-universe, they work like National Park Rangers, protecting the wild, as well as helping keep Trainers safe on their journeys.
I do like this, as it helps show that Xavier isn't just some obstacle we have to get past. And I always liked the concept of the Pokémon Rangers. It makes sense that in a world with creatures such as these, there would be people dedicated to protecting wild Pokémon, their environment, and the Trainers on their journeys. It also fits the whole subtle themes of one-ness and respect for nature that the games have.
(get on with it)
Right. We enter the house.
The lady tells us that a place called Gaea Town, located northwest from here, used to have a Gym itself. But it's empty now as the First Augur vanished. Or more likely died. That is weird. You'd think there'd be someone there running it just in case. Did he not name a successor just in case? The guy in the hard hat works at the Dump. Taking garbage is actually a money-making thing for Vipik. He gets paid to transport garbage there. That explains a lot. I imagine other towns pay top PokeDollar to Vipik to take in their garbage. If we talk to the Volbeat, we get a Bug Gem. It's a one-use item, able to increase the power of a Bug-type move.
Anyway, this house has a second floor.
I'm assuming this kid is the child of the other two residents. He offers to give us a Good Rod if we show we caught over 25 Pokémon. That's not a problem, so now we own a Good Rod.
(woo-hoo)
So, that's this house explored. The Pokémon Center here is one of the bigger ones. It has a clothing shop and a barber, and if you talk to a bald old man in the lower area near the benches and vending machines, you get a free Super Potion...after he grumbles about young people wanting free items. Yeah, yeah.
(roll eyes)
Going to the left of the Pokemon Center, we encounter another house.
Well, two houses, actually. The one on the left has two floors, and has two people inside, a redhead person and an old lady. The redhead remarks that the Darkrai Cult is the scariest Cult in the Region. Trust me, I know. Then, amusingly, they wonder why Darkrai is a pure Dark-type, when it'd be more sensical for it to be a Dark/Ghost combination. I imagine that, you know, considering it's called Darkrai, having it be pure Dark does fit. The old lady says that she always wanted to go to Helios City. She wants to see the towers there, as they get real high up. Maybe we can send her some pictures, as we'll have to go there ourselves in the future.
Going upstairs, we see a kid with an Igglybuff. The kid is developing a chemical that can accelerate a Pokémon's growth. It's for using on Pokémon eggs, reducing the time they take to hatch. Basically, we take less steps. He offers to put it on an egg of ours, charging only one PokeDollar per step. That would be nice, as we have an egg in our possession. We got it in the Shade Forest in entry #2, remember? However, I don't have it on the team at the moment, and I can just use Debug Mode to hatch it anyway. So, thanks, but no thanks. Hope you find a guinea pig-I mean, customer soon.
In the house on the right, the bottom floor contains a man who wants a Floette. He'll give out a Sneasel in return. No problem! Thanks to Debug Mode, I can provide a Floette for him. The Sneasel is nicknamed "Razor". That is a cool name.
The top floor has a dude with a visor on his head. He tells us his favorite Pokémon is Volcarona, because it's a powerhouse. He asks us what our favorite is. You can't answer it, so there's no reason to. Waste of time.
Near the two houses is a guy with a hard hat. He expresses respect for us as he tried training Pokémon in the past, and it didn't work out for him. He gives us a Cleanse Tag. It's basically a Repel with unlimited steps. Slap this on the lead Pokémon in your party, and wild Pokémon won't attack you.
Nearby the houses is the PikaTaxi guy. Up above is an old woman who complains about the state of current Pokémon. Back in her day, they had 151, unbalanced types, unoriginal designs, and she liked it! Yeah, with Winds and Waves coming, I think we're going to break 1000 when it comes to the number of Pokémon (if we haven't already. In fact, I think we may have already with Scaret and Violet), but having more balance in types? Yeah, I'm happy with that. Sabrina was a pain in the original Red and Blue because Psychic was broken back then. I remember having to evolve my Eevee into a Jolteon because it could learn Pin Missile. Pin Missile was one of the only Bug-type attacks that could do any real damage to Psychic-types back then.
Near the old lady is a guy who remarks the First Augur used to visit Vipik often. In fact, he loved the place. But since he vanished (more likely died), it's gone downhill. My guess is his visits motivated people to do something about the smell. We go back around to the Pokémon Center and head downwards.
Hey, free Great Ball! There are a couple people hanging around the area, but I didn't catch them in the screenshot. A dark-haired person remarks that they liked to swing on the trees like Tarzan as a kid thanks to their long vines. They're hoping that the trees don't get cut down. Xavier also supports this. I do like the tree designs here. They're so unique, and I'm hoping they stick around as well. Nature is nice.
There's also a green-haired person nearby who just remarks about Hidden Grottoes. If we go to the right, we find these two houses.
They are nice-looking houses. I'll give this game that. The house on the left has a blonde woman and a bald man. The blonde woman just says she loves Fire-types. Yeah, they are neat. The bald man makes an interesting statement: the Elite Four have never been beaten...but that's because he thinks they've never been challenged. I do find that a bit hard to believe. I mean, I can't imagine that nobody has ever tried to take on the Elite Four here. The Elite Four tend to arguably be
Anyway, we go upstairs, and there's a dude in a black suit. If you give him 2,500 PokeDollars, he'll give you an egg. You can accept if you want. That was weird. I get the feeling this will bite us in the butt...
The house on the right has another dude in a black suit. If you talk to him, he'll give you a Heavy Ball. A Heavy Ball is a PokeBall designed to make it easier to capture larger and, well, heavier Pokémon like Snorlax and Wailord. Upstairs, there's a blonde woman that laments that Vipik used to smell better and had trees that were properly trimmed. Again, having a garbage dump right near town? That's just poor planning. Anyway, we see two people talking to each other near the houses. You can see them in the lower right in the screenshot of the houses. They're blocking the path out. Presumably, they'll leave after we beat Xavier.
A young boy next to the houses also laments the state of the town. It used to be beautiful, but no longer. You really get the impression Vipik is going through a downturn right now. Thing is, the kid thinks Xavier is behind it, calling him a hippie. Funny thing is, I can't imagine a "hippie" allowing a garbage dump right near a town. It's possible Xavier is just a scapegoat. I mean, as I have said before, I always saw Gym Leaders as more in the vein of famous athletes. Sure, they can stand up and use their voice to promote causes, but they aren't policymakers. That's their job. If Vipik's dump is really causing these problems, that's a failure on the city government, not on Xavier.
Anyway, if we go further to the right, we end up here.
The little girl in pigtails says she loves Marowak, because it can hit hard. Thing is, Marowak is not known for being quick. She's hoping that it can Mega-Evolve somehow. I get the feeling that this is foreshadowing... Well, we'll cross that bridge if we can get to it. The three men there are guards. They're protecting the entrance to the Dump. They tell us to come by when we're older. I mean, I get it. Our character is a kid, and garbage dumps can be dangerous. I just find it funny that this bit of real world logic is in a Pokémon game, where children are allowed to catch and train magic monsters that can potentially level continents. It's funny to me.
Well, since we can't go to the Vipik Dump, maybe we can look around some more. I headed back to the Pokémon Center and went upwards. Maybe the Gym was in that area. Why not check it out? After all, we've got to get Badge #2. On the way there, we encounter an old friend.
Hey, it's Damian! How have you been, pal? He's getting ready to take on the Vipik City Gym himself. And someone suddenly appears behind him.
Uh, Damian? There's someone right behind you. Just came out of nowhere, like a horror movie villain.
And she heard Damian mention that Nora and I were chosen by Mew and Celebi.
Thankfully, Damian managed to convince her she was hearing things.
She heads off on her way...somewhere. Who knows? I get the feeling we'll see her again in the future. You have to be careful, Damian! That's not supposed to get out!
Anyway, we don't battle him or anything. He just says he's preparing to face Xavier too and walks off. I can imagine some saying it's a bit disappointing we don't battle him. I get it. We don't get to see ow he's grown as a Trainer, but I don't mind it. I think it's a bit more realistic. Not every person we meet will end wanting to fight us. Sometimes, they just want to chat, and that's okay. After Damian heads off, we can move forward. And as it turns out, he was right near the Gym.
I guess he got the same idea we did. I admit, I don't find the Gym building itself here that impressive-looking. I don't know why. It does stand out from other buildings in the city, which is a good thing. Gyms should stand out. I think maybe it was just my expectations of Xavier. I kind of expected his Gym to look like a big ol' greenhouse or a forest, as his specialty is Bug and Poison-type Pokémon. Again, it's just my personal expectations, and that's all. It still does stand out from other buildings in town, and that is okay. I just wish it stood out more. Besides, as the phrase go, it's not the outside that's important, it's the inside that matters. If we walk around the Gym, we can find a Delta Tentacool.
Makes sense there'd be one here. Vipik has a lot of trees. It's a nice place for Grass-types. And considering the Dump, I would not be surprised if we saw some Poison-types like Grimer and Muk, as well as some Trubbishes.
Well, with the City seemingly completely explored for now, we can work on a team to counter Xavier. Now, as we learned when we faced Orion, Xavier's team likely will be at the Medium level, so he'll have a Shuckle (Lv. 33), Heracross (Lv. 33), Tentacruel (Lv. 34), Haunter (Lv. 34), Croagunk (Lv. 33), and a Beedrill (Lv. 35). So, I'm going to have to get my team at around maybe levels 36-38.
As for what Pokémon to use to counter them, well...my thoughts are this. Of my existing team? Well, I could use Palpitoad to counter Shuckle. Shuckle is Bug/Rock. Unlike the Grass-type Grotle, Bug is not super-effective against Water. Also being a Water-type, Palpitoad can counter Rock.
Shiro the Charmeleon would be handy against Heracross and Beedrill. Fire beats Bug. Krystal the Delta Ivysaur can be helpful against Croagunk as it's a Poison/Fighting dual type. Which means the Psychic-type will hit it extra hard. To counter Haunter, I'm going to have to put in a new team member. It being Ghost/Poison means it can possibly wreck Krystal. Ghost is good against Psychic, after all. Maybe I'll keep my Gabite or train up my Sandshrew. Gabite is part-Ground, and Ground is great against Poison.
To counter Tentacruel, I may use Emolga. Emolga is part-Electric, and it's not as vulnerable to Poison as a result, and Electric is also super-effective against water. Being part-Flying, it can also help against Beedrill and Heracross.
So yeah, not as much adjusting this time around. Sorry, Grotle. You'll have to sit this one out. Grass is vulnerable to Poison. In its place, I brought in that Sneasel I got. I was also thinking of bringing in a Murkrow, but I decided maybe this is good enough for right now. So now I have to grind this team up to face off against Xavier.
It's not so bad. The EXP Share is a beautiful thing. And that's where we're going to have to stop for now. Join me next month when I hopefully get to take on Xavier. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each ither! If you like waht I write and want to give my blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Metchi Town)
- Alomomola (obtained by fishing)
- Rotom
- Spearow (obtained by Debug Mode)
- Delta Ditto
(Metchi/Vipik River)
- Ducklett
- Barboach (obtained by Debug Mode, can be caught by fishing with Old Rod)
- Chinchou (obtained by Debug Mode, can be caught by fishing with Super Rod)
- Corsola (obtained by Debug Mode, can be caught by fishing with Super Rod)
- Krabby (obtained by Debug Mode, can be caught by fishing with Good Rod)
- Mudkip (obtained by Debug Mode, can be caught by surfing with Instant Lapras)
(Route 4)
- Cyndaquil
- Fearow
- Furfrou
- Abra (encountered, didn't catch)
- Wingull
- Frillish
- Doduo
- Minccino
- Squirtle (obtained by Debug Mode, can be found in the Hidden Grotto)
- Panpour (obtained by Debug Mode, can be found in the Hidden Grotto)
- Skiploom
(Vipik City)
- Floette (obtained by Debug Mode)
- Sneasel (obtained by trading Floette)
- Zapdos (obtained by Debug Mode. I felt like getting a Zapdos. Zapdos is cool.)
- Delta Tentacool
- Murkrow (obtained by Debug Mode)
