Last time, I finally...FINALLY...FINALLY managed to conquer the hellscape that was Mt. Snarlet. Man, you have no idea how good it felt to escape that place. It was one of the worst obstacles I ever had to face in a Pokémon game, official or otherwise. I hated that mountain so much, and I am happy to finally have it behind me.
With Mt. Snarlet behind us, we've arrived at Dragnar City. The first thing you notice about the city is that it's rainy. Very rainy. It's kind of funny, because if you talk to the people here, they'll stat talking about how "refreshing" the city is. I'm guessing the rest of Akiba has a generally hot and humid climate if wind and rain is seen as "refreshing". The thing that sucks, though? When the rain ends, it feels muggy all over again. I should know.
Another thing I noticed was that you can't go into any of the buildings. I'm guessing the people in this town got a case of genre savvy and finally got locks for their doors. There's not much here in this place, but I did find the last Gym.
There's a Charizard on the roof! That's neat. I learned from people in town that Dragnar City got its name because many trainers here work with Dragon-type Pokémon. Which have few weaknesses. Lovely.
However, it does make it kind of funny that there is a Charizard on the roof. Charizard is not a Dragon-type. It's a Fire/Flying type. It looks like a dragon, so maybe that's why it's there? Can't enter the Gym at the moment, though. I'm guessing the leader, whoever it is, is out at the moment. All there's left to do is visit the hotel.
Yup, the Dragnar City Hotel. Unfortunately, you can't explore that at the moment, either. There's a guard in front of the stairwell, and the elevator doesn't work unless you have a card. I tried to ask for one at the front desk, but nope. There's not a lot to do in this place at the moment...and I think I know why.
Say hello to Prime Tower. Yes, as in the likely headquarters of Team Prime. Their trainers are tough, but their leaders are pretty darn dumb. I mean, at least Team Rocket tried to hide themselves, and Giovanni had an actual Gym he could use to hide his operations. Sheesh.
Brendan is standing in front of the Tower. I wonder what he's doing there? He explains to me that the Tower is locked up at the moment. It's because Ash cleared Team Prime out. They're pretty much gone now. A bit anti-climatic, if you ask me. Despite this, the Boss of Team Prime has vanished. Nobody has any idea where he went off to. Oh, I think I may have an idea...
Anyway, Brendan isn't just here to chat with me and give exposition. He wants to see how much stronger I have grown as a Trainer since we last met. Alright, let's rock and roll. Battle time!
His first Pokémon was a Swellow. My Luxray roasted that turkey. You know, it's funny they haven't come up with a Pokémon inspired by a turkey yet. Maybe Galar will get one. He next sent out Palossand, but my Venusaur took care of it. Venusaur was the MVP of this battle, taking out three of Brendan's Pokémon single-handedly. Brendan's Swampert fell to it next. Even Mega Evolving couldn't save it. Brendan's Wailord also suffered the same fate. His final Pokémon was a Raichu. I sent out Moguera the Garchomp against it. Moguera wrecked it.
Despite Brendan being beaten, I still was unable to enter Prime Tower. I guess it does make a bizarre form of sense, really. Since Team Prime is basically gone, there's no reason to really explore the Tower, but at the same time...I'm still kind of sad. As I said, this does feel a bit anti-climactic. I kind of expected a big final battle against the Boss at the Prime Tower. Maybe even a double battle teaming with the Dragnar Gym leader! That would have been awesome!
But no. You don't. Makes all those battles against Team Prime seem a bit pointless from a story perspective. Yeah, from a gameplay perspective, you get to make your Pokémon a bit stronger, but it contributes nothing to the story. Anyway, the last major feature of Dragnar City is a bridge in town, with a guard nearby.
It's the bridge leading to Victory Road, which I need all eight badges to enter. Which is hilarious. Remember entry number 17 in this Text Play journey? According to my Trainer Card, I have all eight badges already thanks to the events in that entry. I figured it was a glitch. So, let's just get to the Gym. It's a bizarre Gym as there are no other trainers to battle.
You just walk right in and challenge the Leader...who is the Boss of Team Prime.
It's also here we finally learn his name: Goronda. Things like this have gotten me wondering if this game started as a fan remake of Red and Blue. Also, the Gym is a short walk from the Prime Tower. You'd think someone would have noticed him fleeing the Tower to the Gym...unless there was a secret passage between the Gym and the Tower. Unfortunately, since the Tower is accessible, we may never know.
Goronda may have been one of the toughest Pokémon trainers in this game. He loves throwing Full Restores and Hyper Potions at his Pokémon just when you're about to beat them. Goronda claims that he's working for another Organization that wants to create a new world in another Region. Wait, is he working for Cyrus? How have his activities helped Cyrus?! This makes no sense! Anyway, battle time!
This was Moguera's time to shine! Remember when I said that Dragon-types have few weaknesses? Well, turns out Dragon can hurt Dragon. And my Garchomp is Dragon/Ground. Goronda had his own Garchomp, which packed Mega Evolution, but it was no good. After the win, he actually congratulated me, and gave me the Dragon Badge and TM02 (Dragon Claw). Yeah! So, I finally truly have all eight badges! On to Victory Road! Over the bridge, and through the cave, and we're there! Or so I thought. It's Route 16.
The item in the screenshot is a Max Revive. It's right near the cave entrance to Route 16. There's also another bug in the game. I needed to train up my Primarina, as it was many levels behind the rest of my team. But I could not go back to Mt. Snarlet. I was worried at first, but thankfully, Route 16 has wild Pokémon and Trainers to fight.
I battled a Gentleman on the route who had an Aggron capable of Mega Evolution as his only Pokémon. After I defeated him, he lamented he was too old to be a Champion. Dude, you're not too old. You just need to get more Pokémon. The route ended with Vaclav Town. Vaclav Town claims to be a place where Trainers can get prepared for Victory Road and the Pokémon League. However, it doesn't seem like that. It's a very small town, and the only thing that resembles a Pokemart is a Trainer Goods shop, but I can't get into it. It's got a line in front of it, and I have no idea how to change that. So, I have to go back to Dragnar City for supplies. Lovely. There is also a Trading House here, but I can't seem to get it to work. The town does contain the entrance for Victory Road.
Another is an exhausted Hiker named Cerano. His first Pokémon was an Aggron. My Incineroar easily took care of it with one burst of Flamethrower. His second Pokémon was a Golem...which was beaten by my Venusaur. His final Pokémon was a Camerupt that could Mega Evolve. Still fell to my Garchomp.
There's a third trainer on this route, a Bird Keeper named Arkar. He uses birds. Time for Thundra the Luxray to shine! She took down his Swellow. Biollantus the Venusaur took down his Aerodactyl, after it clobbered my Butterfree. Arker next brought out his Pidgeot, which could Mega Evolve. It managed to hurt Thundra, but she still won out. His final Pokémon was a Braviary, but one blast of Discharge from Thundra took it down. After the battle, he asked if Mega Evolution was awesome. I wouldn't know. I don't think I've ever used it, and his Mega Evolving his Pidgeot didn't help out much.
I continued ahead, and guess who was waiting at the end.
Yup, ol' Ash Ketchum himself. He wanted to have one last battle before I entered Victory Road. I obliged him, if only because I wanted to go ahead. His first Pokémon was a Hawlucha. My Luxray took care of it. Next, he brought out Goodra. My Garchomp beat it with one Dragon Claw. His third Pokémon was a Greninja. It beat my Luxray, but because it lost HP with attacks, it took itself out as well. His fourth Pokémon was a Noivern. Garchomp took care of it. Did I mention Garchomp is a beast? I love my Garchomp. His fifth Pokémon? Talonflame. Garchomp destroyed it. And he also finished off Ash's Pikachu, allowing the battle to be won. Yup, Moguera the Garchomp was the MVP here.
And with that...that's it. No obstacles left. Nothing between me and the Elite Four. Yes, this game has an Elite Four. Naturally, you got to beat them to face the Champion. They're located in this building here.
It's a nice-looking building. Inside is an area that has a shop and a place to heal up your Pokémon. It's an opportunity to make absolutely certain you're ready to go before you engage the Elite Four. You see, in Pokémon games, you have to fight the Elite Four one after the other. No rest, no going to the Pokémon Center to heal after every battle. You have to make sure your Pokémon are very powerful, and you have plenty of supplies to keep them in fighting shape.
Which is something I'm going to have to do. Next time, I'm going to engage the Elite Four, and the Champion...after I do a ton of grinding. Wish me luck on that.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Victory Road)
- Medicham
- Absol (Already obtained)
- Amoonguss
- Skuntank
- Houndoom
- Lycanroc
- Diggersby
- Camerupt (Encountered)
- Ditto (Encountered)
- Bouffalant
- Lickilicky
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