Last time, I beat Trung in the second Gym and got the Aqua Badge. And now, let's go to Route 6! At the entryway there, a crossing guard suggests to me that I should go to a place called Rocky Cave if I want to train and grind up my Pokémon. That's nice of him. On the route, I passed by the cave, and there was a Hiker standing near by.
He explains that one needs the HM called Flash to travel through it, and he gives me one. Can't I just have a lantern or flashlight instead? I went inside the Cave, anyway. There's a Nurse Joy in the cave, which is rather handy. I'm not going to complain about this. I think this was also the first time I encountered a Double Battle in this game. I got both the opponents' numbers for my Pokégear.
I battled a burglar on the route, and after I beat him, he pleaded with me not to tell the cops. I'll tell you what, pal. You put back all the stuff you stole, and I won't say a word.
The route is a rather short one, leading right to the third city we visit in this game: Tsukachiga Cityhome of such sites as the Pure Tower and Natural Park. What is the Pure Tower? And is the Natural Park this game's version of a Safari Zone? Might as well do some exploring as long as I am here.
Above the Pokémon Center is the entrance to the Natural Park. I was told that the Bug-Catching Contest take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On the other days, the Park has nothing but Hoot-Hoot at night, and during the day are a bunch of Pokémon that I already got (Weedle, Caterpie, Kakuna, and Pidgey). I decided to give the Bug- Catching contest a try. One gets about ten minutes to catch as many Bug Pokémon as you can. Also, unlike the Safari Zone, you can bring one of your Pokémon with you to help weaken your targets. Nice.
I got my butt kicked by a Scyther. Blasted Sport Balls were useless. I HAD ITS LIFE BAR IN THE RED. BLAST YOU, SCYTHER!
I lost some money, and I didn't even place in the contest with the Butterfree I caught. Dang it. On the other hand, the Park is nice, if a bit small. And the grass patches and fountain form a Pokéball design. That's neat.
A little girl near the Pokémon Center just told me a bunch of people have taken over the Pure Tower. Ah, so we're going to meet the villains of this piece here. I wondered how long it would be until they showed up. I also learned at the Pokémon Center that Pure Tower is the tallest tower in the Akiba region. I laso learned that there is someone named "Mr. Fuji" living in town, and that he's a "great person". Maybe I should go see what the hype is all about.
I went over and met him, and all he said was that Pure Tower has some Ghost-type Pokémon, and that there are some bad folks there. Could the villains be there to get some of the Ghost-type Pokémon? How very...Team Rocket. Okay, time to kick their butts.
As can be seen, Pure Tower is essentially a giant mausoleum for Pokémon. Trainers come here to bury and pay respects to their beloved Pokémon. While here, I learned the name of the red-suited villains of this adventure: Team Prime. Yeah. Are they a bunch of Optimus Prime fans? Because I don't think he'd approve of their doing villainous things in his name. Or maybe they just really like prime numbers. I did find a bunch of Team Prime members around this golden tombstone.
I get a feeling that whatever is buried at that tombstone's plot, it's not someone's Pokémon. What are these guys even doing here? Why would they come to essentially a giant Pokémon mausoleum? Unless...Oh, God. Don't tell me, there's going to be some Frankenstein-esque antics going on here. Huh. People building Pokémon out of pieces of other Pokémon. Pokémon chimeras. Now there is something I'd like to see a fangame explore.
Anyway, considering that it's a Pokémon game, it's up to me to clear them out and send them packing. A cop at the door wishes me luck. Now I understand why there were no cops in the games until Gen VII (Sun and Moon/Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon). Cops are friggin' useless here. During my rampage through the tower, I found there were a couple of Pokémon Rangers nearby, but they were no help. They seemed to be more interested in battling me than stopping Team Prime. Why are they even here, then? Give me a hand, dang it! In a cool bit, one of the Team Prime grunts I fought turned out to be Looker! He healed up my Pokémon for me. Thanks, man! He does something useful!
I got a call from Jeff on my Pokégear, and he wants a rematch. Okay. I easily beat him, then went back to the Pure Tower. While on the 4th Floor, I found TM30 (Shadow Ball), and also this symbol on the ground.
I wonder what that is. Some kind of glyph? It looks similar to that symbol around that golden tombstone. Also, one of the Team Prime grunts I fought had this Pokémon: A Deino. In a funny bit, I honestly thought that was not a real Pokémon. There are nearly a thousand species in the games so far ,so you can understand my confusion. I doubt there is anyone on Earth that knows them all by heart, Pokerap or no.
I went up to the 5th floor of the Pure Tower, but a gust of wind kept me from going any higher. There was another golden tombstone on this floor, with a Team Prime grunt nearby.
The grunt started with a Level 10 Bagon. I sent out Butterfee. Sleep Powder and Confusion took care of it easily. The Grunt's last Pokémon was a level 14 Axew. Butterfree did a bit of rinse and repeat. Fair credit to the Axew, its Dragon Rage hurt her bad.
The Team got what they wanted, so that battle felt pointless. But I did encounter Brendan again. Turns out he's some kind of undercover agent in this game. I think. Anyway, once I left the tower, there he was. We ended up battling. Yeah, it's annoying. At least he had the decency to heal up my Pokémon for me. So, that was good of him.
He brought out a Staravia, which I countered with my Luxio. It tried to use Double Team to increase its chances of evading Thundra, but she turned it into Kentucky Fried Staravia in one blast of Spark. Brendan's second Pokémon was a Turtwig. I brought out Torracat. Torracat scored a critical hit with Fire Fang, and Turtwig was gone. Brendan's final Pokémon was a Heracross. I switched to Slate the Geodude. Magnitude 6 didn't do too good, so I switched out again to Butterfree. Gust scored a critical hit, and Heracross went down.
After the battle, he wished me luck, as he had another mission. I wonder what Team Prime wanted in that Tower. The Golden Tombstones were odd, but they didn't seem to hint at anything. Weird.
While in the Pure Tower, I caught a ton of Pokémon, but two of the native pocket monsters were a nightmare to catch: Litwick and Murkrow. I encountered Murkrow a bunch of times, but it was really hard to catch, as it easily broke out of Pokéballs and Great Balls. Bulbasaur was a big help here, with a mix of Leech Seed and Poison Powder. The other was Litwick. Not because it couldn't be contained, but because I think the encounter rate for that Pokémon was seemingly really low. Luckily, I did manage to catch both. Now I can put Pure Tower behind me and move on ahead to the next Gym.
And that's where we'll stop for now. Join me next time, as we hit Route 7 and beyond!
Pokémon Obtained:
- Slakoth
- Lotad
- Bellsprout
- Grimer
- Pidove
- Pineco
- Brionne (evolved from Popplio)
- Torracat (evolved from Litten)
(Rocky Cave)
- Sandshrew
- Machop
- Zubat
- Woobat
- Aron
(National Park)
- Sunkern
(Pure Tower)
- Koffing
- Elgyem
- Sableye
- Shuppet
- Gastly
- Banette
- Gothita
- Misdreavus
- Solosis
- Litwick
- Murkrow
(Route 7)
- Foongus
- Oddish
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