Thursday, February 29, 2024

Text Play: Pokémon Xenoverse #26

Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw region! This is number 26 in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse! 

As usual, I wish to make a warning: I will be spoiling the heck out of this game.


As such, I highly recommend that you play the game for yourself before reading these Text Plays. You can download the game here. And with that out of the way, let's do this!

Last time, we started working on preparing a new Pokémon team to take on Caspar, the resident Gym Leader of Westar City. Caspar is also the sheriff of the town, and the warden of the local jail, El Purgatorio. Caspar is a Ghost-type specialist. He likes his Pokémon to be nice and spooky.

I did consider adding my X Sharpedo to the team, as it is part-Ghost. Thing is, Ghost is weak to itself, and I didn't want to take any chances. So, yeah. Sadly, I couldn't include it.

It's a shame. I really wanted to try out that X Sharpedo. See what it could do.

Ah, well. I also decided to add Murkrow to my team. During my grinding process, I found myself learning something interesting: the Rexquiem line is vulnerable to Ice and Grass. So, no letting Rexquiem get hit by Ice-type or Grass-type attacks.

As I said in the last entry, my grinding goals were to get my team up to levels 40-45, as Caspar's Pokémon were at levels 37-40. I continued on with the grinding. And grinding. And grinding. And grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding...

Right right, sorry. Once I was satisfied with my Pokémon's power levels, it was time to enter the Gym. Before going inside, I made sure we went to the shop in the Pokémon Center and got plenty of supplies. Battling all those Miltank got me lots of Moomoo Milk, which heals 100 HP a pop. But I still wanted to get lots of healing items and the like. Why? Well, once we enter this Gym, we cannot leave it until we make our way through it. 

So, now that we are all ready to go, let's conquer this gym!

Once we go inside, we meet a familiar face.

Hey, it's...that guy! 

He's the guy who always wishes us luck whenever we come to gyms. I believe we last saw him in entry #17, when we went to Nuphar's gym. He says he's a "ghost that is haunting us". It's a joke. Get it? because this gym specializes in Ghost-types.

He tells us that being inside this gym is like being inside a jail.  

...like inside a jail? 

...Like inside a jail?!

Dude, this is a jail! There are actual criminals in this place! These people aren't here because they accidentally forgot to return library books on time! And this is an actual gym! The Pokémon League in this region are clearly blitzed out of their minds!

Anyway, like in Nuphar's gym, we have to use our brains to get through this place and reach Caspar himself. The Ghost-wielding sheriff left a series of riddles that we have to solve to face him. We have to note every detail, especially what prisoners say to you and the colors of the gems that decorate the various rooms of the gym. I suggest keeping something you can use to write things down with you when going through this gym.

With that, let's explore a bit. The main room of the Gym isn't really much. Just a ladder and Caspar himself.


If you try and walk up to him, the screen goes black, and you end up down here.

The ladder in the main room takes you down here, too. And if you noticed something when we entered the gym, we got a costume change. We are now clad in the stereotypical black-and-white striped shirt of a prisoner. I guess that means we are a prisoner of the gym now.


In the upper-left corner of the hall, at the left-hand edge, there is a prisoner hanging out, and he gives us a set of directions.

2 steps forward, two to the right, five upwards, and finally three to the left. Hmm, it's clearly a route to walk, but where can we apply this?

Well, there is an open door right near him, so maybe it can be applied there. We go inside, and...

IT'S SO RED! MY EYES!

OH GEEZ, WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BRIGHT RED LIGHT?! 

Alright. Okay. I tried walking the way that priosner said, but it didn't seem to do anything. Maybe this applies to another room. He didn't say it would apply to this room, after all... 

There appear to be these...galleries when we first walk in. I can't describe exactly what these things are, but the one on the left contains some photographs. One is of a photograph of Sunflare Canyon, signed by a prisoner named Rod Aruka. Aruka was a native of Johto, an Azalea Town boy. He was obsessed with photography and owned a loyal Dark-type Pokémon. His own criminal career started when he went to Eldiw and witnessed a robbery at a place called Vega's Casino. He took a picture of the robbery, and it evidently did something to him. It convinced him that crime was the perfect subject for photos. Basically, he ended up becoming a criminal himself, photographing his own crimes. He was a cruel man, as he got a life sentence here. Couldn't have lasted that long, as he photographed his own crimes.


 In the middle is a second picture. It's of an item of great value Aruka had found in the past. It appears to be a stone. The photo also depicts a Pokemon next to it, and their colors match. 

There's also a third picture next to that one, also taken and signed by Aruka. He wrote a note on the back.

"You can think I'm a criminal if you want, but what I do is pure art. This room ain't a jail cell--it's a real gallery where you can admire my beloved photos. I got something to tell those who will be locked into this cell...the rock at the top right hides what you're looking for. - Rod Aruka." 

Yeah, it just occurred to me. We're in Aruka's cell. Man was a photographer. His cell is bathed in red light. Aruka turned his cell into a big old darkroom. Likely he earned the privilege for being well-behaved. 

Anyway, the next gallery, the one on the right side, also contains some photos. 

As shown in the screenshot, one is of a man named Charles Fire. He has a black and red Pokemon. There is writing on the back, but unlike the last two photos, it's unreadable.

The one next to it is burned, but unlike the last photo, we have some legible writing on the back. 

"That damn Gym Leader Bryce got me cornered with his Ice-type Pokémon."

Yeah, the game makers goofed up here. I think they meant Pryce. Pryce was an Ice-type specialist, the Gym Leader of Mahogany Town in Johto. There's also another photo, this one of his arrest. According to this photo, "Charles Fire" is a pseudonym. Whatever his real name was, he's from Unova. Little is known about the life of "Mr. Fire", except that he's a ruthless criminal. His victims all were given telltale scarring from a Fire Fang attack. 

And I think that's where we'll stop for today. I meant to go further than this, but grinding ate up all my time. Hopefully, we'll get through this gym next time! Wish me luck! Thaks 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!

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