Text Play: Pokémon Xenoverse #22

Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw region! This is entry number 22 in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse!

Now, before we begin, I wish to warn you, I will be spoiling this game.

As such, I highly recommend you download this game and play it for yourself before you read this. You can do so here. 

Last time...we didn't accomplish very much. You see, back in entry #20, we encountered this big ol' obstacle named Dahlia, a higher-up member of Team Dimension. She had her cyborg goons hold an X Ponyta hostage, forcing its parent, an X Rapidash, to fight us. And the X Rapidash turned out to be a powerhouse. The angry extradimensional Pokémon could transform into a "Thunderstorm Form" (as I like to call it). In that form, it tore through my standard team like a tornado through a town.

Yeah. It didn't help that its stats were much higher than my Pokémon's were, despite my team being of a higher level in general. I had to prepare. As such, I built a brand-new team to take on the X Rapidash. My plan was to take advantage of elemental weaknesses. Rock, Ice, and a couple Electrics. Grinding up this new team took a lot longer than I thought. Mainly because I wasn't able to dedicate as much time as I had wanted to towards grinding my new team up. 

Despite that, I was able to get a strong team. And we couldn't avoid facing that monster forever, so...let's get this over with. 

By the way, don't waste your Xeno Balls trying to catch it here. You can't. You'll see why later. I started out with Bremand. X Rapidash was able to defeat it, but before it fell, Bremand was able to paralyze it, and do same damage to it with Thundershock. I next used Trishout, my most powerful Pokémon. It was able to damage X Rapidash with Boomburst...until it got taken down by a blast of Thunder from X Rapidash. Harrowk and Avalugg were the aces here. Harrowk managed to hit it hard with Hurricane. Luckily for me, Hurricane also caused X Rapidash to become confused. Lady Luck seemed to like me that day as the confusion caused X Rapidash to hurt itself a couple of times. And Avalugg hit the finishing blow with a cool fresh burst of Icy Wind. 

...I couldn't believe it. I...I...I did it. I did it. I BEAT IT. I BEAT IT. I BEAT X RAPIDAAAAAASH!

YEAH, BABY! I DID IT! I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT! OH YEAH! OH YEAH! OH! OH! OH YEAH!

Naturally, Dahlia is none too happy about this little turn of events.

Well, UP YOURS TOO, DAHLIA! UP YOURS, YOU CRUELLA DE VIL WANNABE! I hope the X Rapidash fries you like an egg! 

She tells me her "beloved General" will see her in Westar City, presumably hinting at a rematch. She claims she has no more time for this, but I think in reality, she's afraid of the X Rapidash turning its wrath on her. They vanish like bargain-basement ninjas, and we get a nice little scene of parent and child reuniting. 

Awww.

The X Rapidash seems to be grateful to you for driving away the Team Dimension goons that held its baby hostage. They then pull a vanishing act of their own. And from here, we can move forward. Or more accurately, downwards.

Before I went down, I went to the nearby Porygon Center to heal up my Pokémon and restore my old team. From there, I went back to where we battled the X Rapidash, so we can go forward. Finally.

Once we headed back, I went over to the left and found myself here.

Yeah, we're going to need this game's version of the Cut HM to get through this. Going down takes us to this here walkway.

In case you are wondering, yes. We are still in Sunflare Canyon. It's a big canyon. I can't help but wonder if this place was inspired by the Grand Canyon. Anyway, you may notice that merchant in the screenshot. I have no idea how to get to him. We'll have to remember him.

The walkway takes us further into the Canyon. We can walk past this trainer and find this item box.

It contains a Sky Plate. You can use it to power up Flying-type moves. You can battle the trainer, a cute cowgirl named Coco, if you wish. I chose to, as my old team could use the exercise.

1st Pokemon: Tauros (Lv. 36) - Defeated by Harrowk.

A few steps down, there's another item box, but it's behind another one of those trees that we need the game's version of Cut to get past. Can't worry about it now. There's another cowboy to battle, riding on his Ponyta.

1st Pokemon: Bouffalant (Lv. 37) - Defeated by Harrowk.

Upon defeating him, the cowboy tells us there's an area of the canyon that's hidden. It's because there are alien Pokémon in it. I wonder if it's a reference to Roswell. Or maybe those "alien" Pokémon are actually from the Xenoverse. I did see what looked like a Xenoverse warp zone earlier...

Another couple steps downwards, we see a sign. It just tells us that if we collect an item, the game automatically puts it in the right pocket for us.

Yeah, that was pointless. Near the sign is the entrance to the Steelix Gorge. 

The Gorge is actually quite beautiful. It starts off as a straight downward path. Going downwards, we find an item box.

It contains a Heal Powder. Going further down, there's another path to the right that leads to another item box.

It contains a Lagging Tail. If you give it to a Pokémon, it weighs them down and makes them move slower. ...why would anyone want an item like this?! 

From here, we go further down the Gorge, and we find...Trey.

It looks like he has a couple friends. And they're bad Kikaider cosplayers. And they're accompanied by a certain dual color-haired pain in the neck.

Oh, no. Not Dahlia again.

She's facing off against Trey. Remember him, the Team Dimension-hating cyborg? We last met him in entry #19. Would have really appreciated your help against the X Rapidash, pal. He's got Dahlia throwing a tantrum. She really goes bonkers over her "beloved General's" plans getting delayed. If I were this "General", I'd be committing this woman to a psych ward.

Trey, like me, doesn't care in the least what Dahlia thinks. He basically is all "Screw you, and screw your General, too! You ain't the bosses of me." You tell 'em, Trey! Screw Team Dimension! Dahlia has no desire to battle us. Because she is a coward, and she knows we can beat her. We survived the X Rapidash, what could she throw at us?!

She tells the bad Kikaider cosplayers to deal with us. We have met them before, too. They're actually A & B. I think the last time we faced them was back in Newtron City, all the way back in entry #3. Dahlia starts whining about how the General saw Trey as a son, and Trey broke his heart, blah blah blah awwwww shut up, Dahlia.

Something strange then happens. B starts to battle, but A gets...unresponsive. And then he seems to lose it. It's like he took B's movement very personally.

It does make a bizarre bit of sense. A and B aren't just random letters. If you remember, A means "Authority", and B means "Bravery". Presumably, when it comes to operations like this, A is always in charge, unless a superior officer is present. B jumping the gun must have been seen by A as an attack on his own function. At least, that's how I see it. Anyway, Trey is fed up with this. Can't say I disagree with him on this.

It's here that A remarks that if he was in charge, Team Dimension would have gotten rid of Trey a long time ago. Ahhhh, it's a personal thing. Nice to see these two Daft Punk wannabes are somewhat capable of having human emotion. Anyway, the reason why they have just simply killed Trey is because the "General" wants him in one piece. 

Time for a double battle! Trey is reluctant to have me help, but hey. I want to give these two clowns a whupping, too. Let's rock their worlds!

"...YES! THIS IS A JOJO REFERENCE!"

Double Battle! Trey and I vs. Dimension sergeants A & B!
1st Pokemon: A's Bisharp (Lv. 38) and B's Bisharp (Lv. 38). Their Bisharps are red and blue. I'm assuming the red one is A's, and the blue one is B's. A's Bisharp defeated by Harrowk.

Our victory sends them running.

Yeah, that's right! Run, you robo-cowards! Run back to your General! I hope he turns you two into scrap! After our victory, we get a surprise visitor. Well, visitors.

Yes, it's the X Rapidash and Ponyta from earlier. Trey thought Team Dimension captured them, but nope! The cyborg is actually impressed by this. He shouldn't be surprised. X Rapidash is a powerhouse. I should know.

Remember when I said you couldn't catch X Rapidash during that forced battle? This is why. Trey scans them, and reveals they followed us after that battle. The X Ponyta has actually grown rather fond of us. Evidently, the X Rapidash has decided the X Ponyta is ready to go on her own path...and it wants to join us. Yay! The X Rapidash wants to help take on Team Dimension. Considering what they tried to make it do to us, I don't blame it. Trey agrees to take the X Rapidash as one of his Pokémon. Trey says he will face us again. I'm actually looking forward to it.

The exit of the Gorge is right near us. But before we go, there is one more item box.

It contains a Sharp Beak. It boosts Flying-type moves. And slightly further down is the actual exit. From the gorge's exit, we're here in Westar City.

Yes, Westar City! The city among the sand and dust! I wonder if the city's name was originally "West Star City", but it got condensed into this one over time. This city has a Wild West theme to it, which is pretty cool. It certainly would explain the cowboys at Sunflare Canyon. The first thing I did when I arrived at Westar was head to the Pokémon Center to get my team all healed up. It's the building with the purple roof. I did notice on the way that the color palette of the town is very muted. When I got inside the Center, I saw that the building looked...well, a bit messier than other Centers I've seen. 

A turned-over shelf, a table's glass top being shattered, it's like this place was hit by a typhoon. A nice detail is on the outside, there are broken windows. A man standing in front of a bookshelf tells me the Gym Leader here is a man named Caspar. He's a writer, who's got himself quite a body of work behind him. Enough to fell a bookcase. I envy him. Memo is back as well (he's the guy standing next to the Nurse Joy in the screenshot). When I went to talk to the Nurse Joy at the counter, she also seemed dull and lifeless.

I got the impression from this place that the town is dying, well on its way to becoming something you see in the occasional western: a ghost town. Even the lady at the shop upstairs seems to be lifeless, too. A man named Evolvis (I wish I was making that up) doesn't tell me anything about what's going on, but he does remark that strange things happen if you take a Pokémon called Scaracluo to the cemetery. Thanks, bud. That's real helpful. Although we may want to keep this in mind, anyway...

With my Pokémon all healed up, might as well explore this little town a bit. I doubt there's much here to look at, considering well, everything. The first place I looked in was a house that was located on the left side of the Pokémon Center. The house is occupied by a farmer and his wife. The man wants more kids to help with the crops. When you talk to the farmer's wife, she'll give you a Dusk Stone. It's an evolution stone.

She thought it was a candy.

From here, we go to another house on the left. This house also has a couple occupants. One of the people tells you about a presumed Pokémon called Nunvil. Evidently, this Pokémon has a rivalry with Pupillon. And their fight is over an item called a Dread Pendant. This item, much like say, a Fire Stone, is an evolutionary item. Both of these Pokémon need this item to evolve. Based on what the man states, there may only be one of these Dread Pendants. Otherwise, why fight over it? The other occupant states that he couldn't believe his luck when he got this place so cheap, but now he realizes he's been suckered, but won't say why. Anyway, this house has a ladder. It takes you up to the bedroom. It has a woman in it who grumbles about one of the men constantly complaining about the house's state, but never helps with the cleaning.

The first house to the right of the Pokémon Center is blocked off by a big ol' Blastoise.

This firehouse evidently is the home of this game's answer to the Ghostbusters: G.E.I.S.T. "Ghost Emergency Ignition and Suppression Team". Yeah, "geist" is the German word for ghost.

Although, this does have me thinking. You know those reality shows that follow those paranormal investigators? Well, maybe in the Pokémon universe, quite a few of those "hauntings" they investigate are caused by Ghost-type Pokémon in the mood to play a prank. 

Next to the firehouse is what looks like an abandoned saloon. The second floor has an item box.

It contains a Ghost Gem. It powers up a Ghost-type move, but only once. Not much else here, just a scrap of paper with rhyming words. You don't see what the poem actually is, though. From there, you keep going to the right, and we end up here.

The item box contains an Hp Up. This item can be used to increase the base number of hit points a Pokémon has. If we go upwards from that point, we see the gym of Caspar, the resident gym leader of Westar. 

This here Gym also has a second function. It's the local hoosegow, as the old cowboys would say. Yup, it's a high-security prison. And based on the android standing guard at the entrance, I think we can say that Team Dimension is once again being a pain in the neck.

I wouldn't be surprised if they have plans for the prisoners inside. Likely make them into cyborgs like Trey presumably was. To the left of the Gym's entrance is a big grassy patch. You can catch wild Pokemon there. I went back to the Pokemon Center because I wanted to explore the city some more. Near the Center is a big sign that is a basic "Welcome to the City" sign. And below it is another line of houses.

And yup, Team Dimension's cyborg goons are blocking a presumed exit. Terrific. Are there no police here?!

The house on the left in the screenshot is actually a restaurant. 

Yeah, it looks very...plain. I can't imagine this place gets a ton of customers. From here, you can talk to the two guys, as well as the woman on the right. The woman is the cook, and she is not fond of anyone talking trash about her cooking. If you talk to the guy on the left in the screenshot in the dark red hat, he'll give you some Black Sludge. It can gradually restore the HP of Poison-type Pokémon, but it harms any others you give it to. He got covered in the stuff when he was bathing in some puddles, and it smells real bad.

If you have a Poison-type Pokémon, this would be a good item for it. It's like the Recover move, but an item. Going a bit further upwards, we see something cool.

The patrons get to enjoy a live musical performance. That's pretty neat. I once had a lunch at a place that had live music. It was nice. Although I didn't like the cooked carrots. I don't like cooked carrots. 😒 Next to the singing sombrero here is a ladder. Going up it takes you to this room.

Yeah, it looks like nobody's been up here for a long time. I wonder what this was used for. Likely an attic? There's some papers on the desk, but you can't interact with them. They're just decoration. However, you can interact with the Item Box over in the lower right corner. It contains TM85 (Dream Eater). With nothing else to explore, you leave the restaurant. To the right, there's a woman that if you talk to her, she'll give you some Moo-Moo Milk. 

It's her way of apologizing for mistaking you for a ghost that is bothering her. Knowing this universe, it's either a real ghost, or a Ghost-type Pokémon feeling a bit mischievous. there's a house above the woman, you can enter, but it's nothing special. Going to the right leads to another house.

It may not seem like anything special either, but inside is a man who sells power-up plates. 

These plates enhance the power of certain moves. For example, the Fire Plate enhances the power of Fire-type moves, the Ice Plate enhances Ice-type moves, etc. So, if you want some plates, here's your place to get some. If you keep going to the right, you'll find yourself seeing this garage/stable-looking building. You can't go inside it. Nearby is a sign that points out if you keep going east (the right), you'll find yourself at the Wild Bull Saloon. Ah yes, knowing us, if we go there, we'll end up experiencing one of the classic Western tropes: the saloon barfight. 

We head to the right, and we find ourselves in this clearing. 

As seen in the screenshot, there is an item box located near the well. It contains some Mystic Water. Contrary to its name, it's not a magic liquid, but it's a solid thing. It's a gem that increases the power of Water-type moves. Going upwards will take us to the Saloon itself.

There's some blue-haired woman in front of the building. I guess she's as thirsty as I am right now!

Guess not. She mistakes me for someone named Will, asking if I am picking up some strange electromagnetic waves as well. Considering the firehouse we passed by, I think we can safely assume that this woman is a member of G.E.I.S.T. and she's investigating a possible haunting here. She refers to me as "Little Boy" in Spanish. Wait, is this girl from Paldea? That would make sense, that place is based on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal). She introduces herself as Minta. With a name like that, I expect her to have green hair, not blue.

Anyway, I like her already. Anyway, it turns out she is a part of G.E.I.S.T....but she's not a mere member. She is the head honcho of the group. The big boss. The king kahuna.

 Right, right. She assumes we're looking for Caspar, who is the Gym Leader of Westar. He isn't at the Saloon, though. Minta explains that some men in black have been blocking access to various places for the last few days, including the Gym. Yeah, our old "buddies" Team Dimension.

Nobody knows what they want, and they are unaware of their identity. We tell her about Team Dimension, and Minta is not happy about this. She suggests someone named Chrysler may know about them. After all, this man is supposedly a genius. She asks if we want to meet the other members of her squad. And you know what? Sure. we get to learn something more about Caspar. You see, he's not just the Gym Leader of this town: he's the Sheriff. Which explains why his gym is also a prison. I imagine working at the gym is a form of work-release program for the prisoners.

G.E.I.S.T. works with him quite a bit, so Minta can introduce us. After all, the group does double duty: Firefighters by day, Ghostbusters by night. And paranormal investigation is an important job in Westar, as it's supposedly a very haunted city. So, we have to head back to the Firehouse. The Blastoise is no longer blocking the door. When you come inside, Minta greets you.

She seems like a nice boss. She gives us a guided tour of the firehouse, introducing us to her co-workers. The first place she takes us is to her office. 

Minta says her office isn't much, but I think it's a very nice little workspace. She says the office is where they display their achievements. Trophies and the like. I think that's what those little statues are on the shelf there are. They're neat little statues. I'd love to have those to display. The Blastoise that was guarding the firehouse's front door earlier is hanging out here. Minta reveals that this is her Blastoise. Buster is the name, and Minta considers him just as much part of her team as any of her human workmates. Which makes a lot of sense. I can imagine that plenty of firefighters in the Pokémon universe specially train Water-type Pokémon to help fight fires. 

Buster is a rather unique Blastoise...besides the scar on his face. One time, Minta and Buster encountered some jerks bothering a Cubone. Buster moved to protect the Cubone, but got its water cannons busted up in the process. 

The surprised me. I always had the impression (based on artwork of the Pokémon) that Blastoise's cannons were made of some sort of organic metal, similar to Colossus. Anyway, Chrysler (who we learn is a member of Minta's team), managed to build some prosthetics for Buster. These new prosthetics didn't just allow him to fire streams of water, they also now have a vacuum feature for sucking up ghosts. ...how does that work? Minta nest takes us downstairs to the storage room.

Here, they store their gear and any spare parts they need for it, as well as their vehicles. We're next introduced to Salem. He's a tanned blond who looks like he'd be more at home on a California beach than in a spooky Western town. He's the team's driver, and his boastful nature tends to drive Minta bonkers. She then takes us upstairs. 

Welcome to the relaxation room. After missions, the G.E.I.S.T. team hang out here, and well...relax. We meet another member of the team here: Will. This is the dude Minta mistook us for when we first met her. I don't see how, as he's a blond who likes firefighter cosplay and we're not. Will is a nervous sort. He's not cowardly, he's more of a shy kid. He's also a legacy member, as his father was the founder of G.E.I.S.T. Will doesn't feel ready to truly embrace the team's work, although he clearly is dedicated to protecting his father's legacy. Minta believes all he needs is a bit of confidence in himself. I think she's right, Willy. Have a bit of faith. Minta then leads us back downstairs to meet the last member of the team: Chrysler himself. And naturally for a brainiac like Chrysler, he hangs out in the building's lab.

As Minta states, the lab is the heart of the organization. That makes sense. It's likely here that the group researches paranormal phenomenon and develops new ways to counter malevolent spirits and the like. Chrysler himself reminds me of Sophocles from the Sun and Moon games. Chrysler instantly knows who we are. That's because Minta's transceiver was still on.

Chrysler has no time for small talk right now, as the city is in grave danger. Salem and Will also come to the lab. Chrysler points out that Minta detected strange electromagnetic energies at the Wild Bull Saloon earlier. Minta recalls it was an intense field, more powerful than usual. But she forgot about it when we showed up. Chrysler points out that it was good thing we showed up, because if we didn't, Minta would have ended up trapped in the haunted saloon's ectoplasm. Chrysler believes something about our presence made it disappear. Maybe it was our Terrestrial and Xenoversal rings. 

Minta points out she couldn't detect anything when we showed up. She thinks it's a sign that we are a quite formidable Trainer. Well, there is no need to brag...

...so I won't. Chrysler points out there is still something there inside the saloon. It could be a Ghost-type Pokémon or multiple ones. The team will need a plan to tackle this problem. Chrysler offers to help reprogram Team Dimension's guards to free the gym. He wants to know if we'll help GEIST here with our mission. Sure, why not? Who didn't want to be a Ghostbuster?

The ever-reckless Salem races out to the saloon. The rest of GEIST head out as well, and we'll meet them there. And I think that's where we'll stop this month. You know, it's appropriate that we ended up in a haunted Western town in October. I did not plan that. Honest. Next time, we join the GEIST team as they investigate the haunted saloon. 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:
(Steelix Gorge)
- Sandslash (Encountered, not captured)
- Onix (encountered, not captured)
- Skarmory (encountered, not captured)
- Dugtrio (encountered, not captured)
- Rhyhorn
- X Ponyta
- Dugtrio (encountered, not captured)
- Sandslash (encountered, not captured)
- Vroombug (encountered, not captured)
- Kecleon 
- Beldum (Encountered, not captured) 
(Westar City)
- Chickaboo (Encountered, not captured)
- Miltank