So Zeta Slow: Let’s Play Pokémon Zeta

[Quackles]

Cyrus is cold, aloof, edgy and connected to Giratina, so obviously fans would think he's the best villain ever and needs to be in their fangame.

My one encounter with Gen 4 was Platinum, where after battling Cyrus, you have to fight Giratina, and I remember Giratina being balls-hard - doing things like taking critical hits and losing only a sliver of its HP bar.

Forget Cyrus. When are Pokémon fangames gonna have more Giratina?

[Solitair]

Cyrus is cold, aloof, edgy and connected to Giratina, so obviously fans would think he's the best villain ever and needs to be in their fangame.

My one encounter with Gen 4 was Platinum, where after battling Cyrus, you have to fight Giratina, and I remember Giratina being balls-hard - doing things like taking critical hits and losing only a sliver of its HP bar.

Forget Cyrus. When are Pokémon fangames gonna have more Giratina?

Giratina turned out to be pretty important in Insurgence, but so were several other legendaries from the first six generations.

[Solitair]

Route 303 technically branches, but there's only one viable path forward. We'll see where all three go.





To the west is Route 304. It's a dead end, even with Surf. There's one thing we can get later, but otherwise the encounter table is the same as Route 303 and this route doesn't have much going for it. I get the feeling most of it was dummied out of the game.



Here's the Daycare Center. I think this is the earliest I've seen access to a Daycare in any Pokémon game.



"I help take care of the precious Pokémon of trainers. Any Pokémon you'd like to have raised you can leave in my husband's care."

For all the faults of TheSuzerain's fangames, I like that there's an elderly gay couple running the Daycare and it's no big deal.



Looks like they have plenty of business, too. Inside we have a Pidgey, Doduo, Poochyena and Giragarig, and the pen outside has a Cyndaquil, Blastoise and... Grovyle, I think? We don't need to use his services right now, though.







I thought that Rarity could tank all these birbs and take them out with Rock Throw. He almost made it, but with his accuracy lowered from the first Pidgey's Sand Attack, he was running out of PP and I decided to switch him out.



Here's me getting poor Rabies knocked out because I thought she could finish her off. Unfortunately she's slower and has a level disadvantage with no type advantage to offset it.



I don't think these broken character marks are going away anytime soon. I'd fix them if I knew how.







That's the problem with having two trainers double-team you out in the open.





I vaguely recall in Insurgence that there would be the occasional bastard trainer mixed in with all the speedbumps on basic routes. This feels like one of them.





So much for my Plan A.



Rabies couldn't do much but Sand Attack the Ponyta so it doesn't murder all of my team. After two turns she crumpled as well.



Here's how you actually use Helping Hand.



After the Growlithe, I get this easy choice.



This choice wasn't so easy.



These two have a good setup, but thankfully we now have our higher-level mons hitting the Ponyta before it can get off another Flame Wheel.



The Herdier is sturdier than I expected, but it doesn't hit nearly as hard.





The other ranger doesn't talk. Whatever the case, they make a good team.



Here's some rocky bits north of the woody bits.









This is the second thing off the beaten path. It's a simple maze made less simple by us being unable to view it all at once.



The interesting mons down this road make it much more worthwhile than Route 304. I didn't want to spend money on Repels, but Rabies is the next best thing.



Pin count +1. This one will take a while to come back to.





At the end of one maze, I find another.



It always rains outside Midnight Mansion. Sometimes the screen flashes with lightning. When I leave battle, it takes until another flash to see anything more than the rain effects.



All the weirdos and goth kids like to hang out here, too. Let's recruit some!











This one broke five balls and took down two of my team before he gave up.






gets defeated!

Team Asgard has claimed whatever's inside this place, but their guard is tempting fate with this awfully specific condition. We'll be back.





Oh hey, it's the base form of that Pokémon everyone hypes up! I have a request for it to be my trump card.



HOLY FUCKING SHIT!





Dragon Rage deals a guaranteed 40 damage, which is comically OP at this point in the game. My position is less than enviable, but I choose to press on regardless.









Luck really wasn't on my side that day. I also lost most of my balls, including the Great Ball I just picked up.


Pokémon from further harm.

I think this is the first time I've ever blacked out since I played Silver as a kid. I thought I would lose much more money than this. Maybe losing to a trainer would hurt my wallet more, but I'm not going to find out if I can help it.



After my team gets patched up again, I decide to focus on something else for the time being.





My attempt to cheese this fight with Rabies is met with an attack on her accuracy.



Thus begins a ridiculous war of attrition.



Yeah, fuck that.



Rabies does end up winning the battle, but only with a timely assist from O'Hara.


...I was wrong?


I'm near you.





He just has a couple of normies.





This kid'll be in for a rude awakening before the decade's out.



oh my sides they ache


They say it's possessed!







That's not the type you need to worry about!



Here's some more berries. We'll get a good place to farm them momentarily, assuming I have time to kill doing that.



Well, that kinda sucked. Next time, we'll see what Onega Town—



Want to guess who already has two Gym Badges? You have two guesses, and the first one doesn't count! That's right! Me! Maybe I'll make a Gym! These Gyms are awful, anyways.



...(sighs contentedly)...



What am I doing? You! Me! Lets go!







Ironically, the rival battle is far from the most painful I get into on this Route.



Technically he's not wrong.



His starter wouldn't stand a chance even if I let it stay awake.





...Just pass. I've had enough of you anyways.



As I was saying, next time we'll see what Onega Town has to offer.



Route 303 has Blitzle instead of Rapidash, Pidove instead of Hoothoot, and Purrloin instead of Poochyena. Drowzee is Zeta-excusive on this route, whereas Spoink is much more common in Omicron.

In Midnight Way, only Zeta has Nosepass and Gible, while Omicron has far more Diglett. Midnight Mansion has Purrloin instead of Poochyena.

[Solitair]

Sorry about the delay. I decided to duplicate the LP on Something Awful.

[The Flying Twybil]

I actually forgot the rival was even a thing. I was almost about to like the writing there for a moment.

I suppose this means we should get a harbinger of the end a Gible if possible, since Dragon Rage is so busted.

[Commander Keene]

Yeah, Mosmero doesn't bother me much for whatever reason, but Jake suuuuuucks. I suppose that's kind of on purpose, though? You did have the option to turn off the "swag" at least when you first met/named him.

[Quackles]

This LP is pretty swag!

Jokes aside, things are starting to get interesting. Gible with Dragon Rage is terrifying at this point, and I love that they let you get one so early.

[The Golux]

It helps significantly that of all the 600 club, Gible's the one that evolves at reasonable levels both times.

[Solitair]

Alright, I'll give that one to you. That's a Diglett next to him, if you couldn't tell in the evening light.



Curious.


But then he got injured, and he works at the Gym now! You should go fight him!

Hmm, what does this remind me of?





On second thought, hold off on Onega Town for now. I've got a score to settle.



Yes, I know it's technically not the same Gible, but this is the closest I'll get.



I try to play smarter and keep it from raging through my team.



It went off much better than I thought it would!






Oh, wow, I'm so happy and...
...I'm a failure aren't I?

Nothing's stopping you from going on to bigger and better things! Unless you don't have another Pokémon to swap the Magikarp out with, in which case I guess you're screwed.


Gideon, the Gym Leader then!

Unlike Devon, it's not very hard to find something that can get that advantage on Gideon.









I decide to hold off until I'm ready to go on a catching spree.


He even had an exhibit at our museum!


That doesn't make him any less of a Gym Leader, though!

There's that deja vu again!





Sadly no art assets could convey this better than a text box. There's something here I ought to prepare for.



You gonna block the door so nobody stops you? No? It's working pretty well for the guy at Midnight Mansion.



Right now the only function of the Pokégear is to show you the region map. Yes, only now do we get a map. I'll show it later.


everywhere, and some legends even say
that Shaymin once lived here.

Alright, that's another pin. What are we up to, twelve? Twenty?



Ok! What is your name? Kate! What a lovely name.





Mostly because I didn't prepare before fighting him the first time.



Meditite tripped me up specifically because I'm using Hawlucha, but Riolu is specifically meant to trip you up.

Hmmm... Interesting.



Yeah, I think he's just challenging enough to make a good first boss. He's not Faulkner from Gen 2, whom you can steamroll pretty easily, or Orion from Insurgence, who you have to grind too much to match.

Oh! I'll have to give these answers back to HQ!



Here, have this!



Have a nice day!



My, that's a lot of berries. Shame about the complete lack of watering can, but I might try farming berries at a later date.



Some extra Pokémon lie beyond here. We'll come back later.


Gideon, the passionat Grass-type trainer!














I wish their parents would come home soon!




He's the best!

He's not wrong, though.



A Pigeot flies overhead as Kate contemplates the nature of her existence.







Starting from our home, we went east and started going clockwise to get to our current position. This map has a few inaccuracies beyond Route 304 not actually going to Yangtze Town across the sea.



Here's where that scientist told us to go.







Here's the second one. Nothing else in the house responds except...





The static is morphing into words!





Have you played a Pokémon game since 9/11? Do the words on screen mean anything to you? Then it shouldn't be too hard to answer this one.

What? You are correct!



"No one can ever know that I was responsible for that Max Headroom airwave hijacking!"









This animation is pretty rad.



But the wild Rotom was too spoopy.







Oops. Time to reload. Thank God I didn't have autosave on when something like this can happen.



It took another reset and about ten minutes to catch it.





TV Tropes tells me this is a pretty OP choice for the early game, but since it just tried to murder Kate I'm not inclined to let it on my team right now.



Back in Midnight Way, I find another cutie.



I mean cutie in the LobCorp sense, of course.



Tochinoshi loses all SP and panics.



Let's try again. Tochinoshi can actually take one Dragon Rage and still go.



As always, O'Hara's Sleep Powder gives me some much-needed leeway.





I might change this nickname down the line as well. I'm not feeling it that much.



At least this one can't murder us all in six turns if he feels like it.



Not that much of a step up, as you can see.









This fucking Gastly locked Tochinoshi into a battle where she couldn't hurt the enemy and toyed with her a bit instead of just finishing her off and letting me move on.



Let's stop putting this off. If you don't like how the Safari Zone works in these games, I sympathize.




before!

In case you don't know, you're not allowed to actually battle. You can throw a rock, a bait, or a Safari Ball, and that's it.


We live in Fianga City.

In theory, rocks make mons easier to catch and more likely to run away, while bait does the opposite. The attendant said that rocks would lower a mon's health, too.



Apparently, each Zone's Legendary is what attracts all the strange Pokémon there. You better believe I'll catch one!

In practice, players don't bother with anything but the Safari Balls themselves. And yes, you read correctly, there are multiple Safari Zones in this game! Contrary to what this guy says, not all of them have legendaries, just a majority.



I don't think the main games have Safari Zones anymore. Can't say I'll miss them that much.



See? Pretty limiting, isn't it?



You never know how many chances you have with any given mon in this place.





Still, at least the Pokémon selection itself is pretty good, even if it doesn't quite justify the mechanics outlined above.







You also have a limit on how much you can walk before your safari ends. It's more than you think, but less than you'd hope.


find anywhere else!



I wasn't going to spoil where to find each legendary, but if the game wants to name one now, who am I to argue?





Stating things multiple times makes you right!





Someone got TheSuzerain so angry he predicted the existence of that one Spongebob meme.







Yeah, I'm not doing all that again for this guy, too.


Looking for Pokémon?


feminism and the economy?

Let's see, trans people are the gender they say they are, most economists are liars, and the pursuit of equality is cool and good. Dunno about the post-mosternist bit, but that's okay; nobody does.













"Pushmipulyu" wouldn't fit.









Your safari game is over!

I gotta go back in. The list demands it.



I just remembered how much trouble I had getting a Tauros. Let's see if getting it is my only goal this time in the Safari Zone. Note the Safari Ball counter.



Yep! This too me somewhere between forty minutes and an hour, I think.







Here's all the pals I got, some of which are not in fact Bum Selects.





That's a little better. Next time, we finally meet our villains.

[Quackles]

Nice to see this LP back again! And I note that LobCorp memes are spreading...

[EMN]

This. This. This is my irrational hatred. No fangame can get the name of the currency right! It's Pokédollars! Don't forget it! Poké is what they use in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon!

And yes, it's still Pokédollars in Japanese, not Pokéyen or whatever. At least according to Bulbapedia.

[The Flying Twybil]

Alas, Safari Zone, you had so much potential as to what you could've been. The idea of just running into a place filled with unique pokemon and getting to play the game differently is a good idea on paper, but it has always been executed so aggravatingly. You have to pay to enter, the rock and bait just don't work in your favor mechanically, and the limited time alongside the occasional required story progression nestled in them.

I think it'd be a lot better at minimum if say, certain pokemon reacted better to bait, and like, maybe some will try and charge you if you get close, requiring you to daze them with a rock or something (if you don't they run you off, exiting the encounter). As long as they can run away, it's annoying. I mean what was all that in most of the early gens about it being dangerous to go into grass without pokemon because like everything seems to be super hostile? Safari Zone seems to suggest that they'll just run away. Curse you, Professor Oak, you bamboozled us!

But for real though, why are you even allowed to throw rocks? That's just kind of mean.

(Though, I suppose the other option is pitfighting them into submission, so one of these options seems ostensibly worse than the others. Pokemon's world is just in a nutshell. Hell, that's probably why psyducks have headaches to begin with, they're trying to make sense of the wacky-ass world they're in.)

[TeeQueue]

Back in Midnight Way, I find another cutie.



I mean cutie in the LobCorp sense, of course.



Tochinoshi loses all SP and panics.

Axew is a cutie in every sense of the word, to be fair. 11/10 pokemon, would pet in any form.

[Quackles]

But for real though, why are you even allowed to throw rocks? That's just kind of mean.

I think they changed it to mud in later gens. You're not trying to hurt them, just annoy them.

[Solitair]

What a beautiful morning.



Kate won't let us progress until we beat Gideon and Team Asgard.



Which means it's time for another bit of grind.







Thought I'd snag something on Route 302, too.







You sure you don't want to block the door? That's working out great for the guy in front of Midnight Mansion.



Your loss.





As with Jake, I'm going to be using fan-made replacement sprites for Team Asgard's grunts and commanders, this time courtesy of Siveran. The default sprites for the grunts are just Team Rocket recolors.



The grunts here will only have one Pokémon each, usually this one.



Pawniard is Dark/Steel, so it's quad damage time!



This is the only loss quote they have, so I'll just skip over that for the rest of the museum.




Get out of my face!



I already fought a much scarier Riolu than this one.



Or not?



Thanks for taking one for the team, Duo.






archaeology!

It's just a joke, bro!



I decided to try out one of my normies. Kesha is already starting to find her niche with Sing and Encore in her moveset.



You don't say? I haven't heard anything of the sort today.



One Pawniard later...



Where are the four Rocket brothers when you need them?





Here's something different.



Karrablast is Bug-type, so Duo should be able to handle it. Duo almost loses his place in the pecking order, though.









Of course its counterpart, Shelmet, isn't far behind.



It's quite a bit tankier than Karrablast, so it manages to give Duo another run for his money.



Sorry, who are you again?



Another Pawniard. It's "DrainWAP" spelled backwards!





The community seems to be pretty down on these multi-hit moves, so I figure I'd toss this one first.



I don't need you questioning my minmaxing choices, dude.







Probably shouldn't have sent Duo in at half health. Sorry!





I think it's safe to say there are too many grunts in here, even if they're giving me free experience.





Same basic weakness, but at least it's a different mon.







I am goon. I am without shame.





The higher-ups in Team Asgard also have replaced sprites. Meet Odin.

... ... ... No, you say? Fine!











Here's what Freyja's sprites *used* to look like:





We've already seen the first two members of her team before.





She recognizes the utility of Hoothoot's Hypnosis move...





...but can't take proper advantage of it.





I know that this guy will Counter Duo's attack, but don't trust my own Hypnosis enough not to fall for it.



This just isn't Duo's day, is it?



Boomstick doesn't last long, either, but it wore down the Riolu enough for Catharsis to finish him off.



I was hoping that Boomstick could be a good match for this one.



Beldum is Steel/Psychic, but thankfully only appears to know Take Down, so Catharsis isn't in that much trouble.





He can't quite win the damage race on his own, though.





So this is where Duo's luck went.



You just said that!



We have what we came for! The Time Caller! You have proven you are a threat to our cause. Watch as we catch a legendary Pokémon and become unstoppable!


Asgard' rise to power!

We just jump outside. No transition.

Sableye, use the Time Caller!

SABLEYE!





Wait... that was my pin.

It's Shaymin! Amazing! The Time Caller was successful in calling Shaymin from another time! Now go, Master Ball!



That was my pin! I called dibs, you bald bastard!

Excellent! Shaymin is ours! The legendary Pokémon of purity! Soon, the most powerful Pokémon in the world will belong to us, and we will be unstoppable!





He won't even give me the courtesy of kicking my ass. Pillaging my home and attacking my mom was one thing, but this is the last straw.



Or something like that. Gym time!



Still haven't remembered to teach OokiSpooki that Poison-type move that would come in handy for this gym. Thinking he couldn't get a weakness otherwise, I decide not to take him along.



On the other hand, I went through a lot of trouble to get my hands on Beeach, and now it's time for the payoff.





As is appropriate for a Grass-type gym, the Onega Town gym features a... teleport maze?


Our leader, Gideon, uses powerful grass-type Pokémon. If you want to beat him, Flying, Fire, Bug, Poison or Ice types should work! That's a lot of types! Be careful not to use Water, Ground or Rock types though. Grass is extra-strong against them!

It's time to graze the grass!



oh that's not good



Just gonna skip ahead to me looking up the solution in the wiki. Nobody likes teleport mazes. If you think you do, you're wrong.


about teenager things...

If I can't even beat a kid, who am I as a Gym Leader? An actor? A person?

What I was hinting at earlier with Gideon's backstory is that I've seen it before in Pokémon Reborn. The Ice-type leader, Serra, is a model who aged out of the business, and she isn't shy about letting you know it. She was one of the more tolerable Reborn characters, but still talked way too much like all the rest of them. Zeta/Omicron is structured much more like a canon game in the early stages, so we won't dwell on Gideon's angst for much longer. Overall, I'm not sure how I feel seeing this same character trait twice in different fangames.

But you're young. Why am I boring you with the laments of an older man? Let's battle!



Despite my ambivalence about his personality, I really like Gideon's character design. He looks like a cross between an old-timey professor and the Green Man archetype.



Uggh. Fine, here's the good sprite of him:





Yeah, there's no way in hell this is gonna work right now. Sorry, Beedrill fans.



Lacking the ability to nail us with a guaranteed coverage move, Gideon instead starts off with a status effect that Grass-types are wont to cause.



His Chikorita can also stall us out with Synthesis.



Speaking of status effects.



I didn't stock up on antidotes for this or any other battle. Usually I just buy balls to get new mons and fumble my way through battles.



The Chikorita stayed asleep longer than I expected, but less than I hoped. He beats Duo with his next attack.



Fuck it.



Gideon has four Potions, and uses his first one here. Will he have time for the rest of them?



Not that it makes any difference to MuchaLucha, who has to be wondering why Kate even bothers with other Pokémon at this point.





Come on, Boomstick. This is your time to shine. You can do this.



I start by laying out a DoT on Leafeon, since those have worked pretty well for me in the past.





We aren't done with status effects, though. Not by a longshot.



Here's the signature move of Gideon's latter two mons. It has a higher attack power on heavier opponents, so basically Low Kick with a different type.



Good thing Boomstick hasn't evolved yet.



Despite this healing, Boomstick's Ember wins out, and gets him more than a whole level of experience.



I decide to tempt fate once more. Maybe I thought MuchaLucha would get hit harder by Grass Knot, or maybe I just wanted someone else to have the spotlight this time.



Nature Power turns into a different attack based on the terrain. It can cover a bunch of different types that way, but the power of the resulting attack is always pretty high.



Since this counts as a building, we get a Normal-type move. Gideon might not be able to hit our weaknesses, but he can at least bypass our resistances.



At least you got one major victory under your belt.



The usual ringer cleans up after him.



Wait, what? How are you related to Erika?





Zeta's evolution animation puts our Pokémon in the spin cycle, or on one of those paint-spin-splatter thingies I used to see at the county fair.





Now we're cooking with gas.


That's fine. I must be slipping, I suppose. Take this, anyways.



And I suppose you deserve this, as well.



This TM contains Grass Knot. It's a very special Grass move, as it has no set amount of power. Instead, it gets stronger the heavier your opponent weights.


But don't expect that victory to be long-lived.

Hey, look what happened to me. I went from a world-famous actor to a chump Gym Leader of Onega Town.

Let's get out of here before he gets ready for his close-up.



Time for another list! The next gym is actually a bit farther off than usual, so our new cutoff point is halfway there. Here's what we have on offer:

Shadow Path
Dwebble
Karrablast (5%)
Shelmet (5%)
Pawniard

Fianga City
Bellsprout
Togepi
Smeargle
Zangoose
Seviper
Bonsly

Route 306
Pikachu
Poliwag
Plusle
Minun

Good Rod
Shellder (Zarivar Town)
Krabby (Zarivar Town)
Barboach (Zarivar Town)
Finneon (Route 301)
Mantyke (Route 302)
Dratini (Safari Zone 1)
Remoraid (Route 306)

Route 307
Nidoran F (5%)
Nidoran M (5%)
Oddish
Carvanha (Old Rod)
Burmy
Cherubi (Headbutt)
Chatot
Tranquill
Timburr (Headbutt)
Deerling
Foongus (Headbutt)

For the first time, this will be a simultaneous vote between SA and LP Beach. Recommend new team members (preferably with nicknames) and maybe I'll put them on my A-team. Also, we can only pick one of either Zangoose or Seviper, so even if you don't want to mainline either I could use a vote on which one to take.



Freyja's Omicron counterpart is Athena, who has a Mienfoo instead of a Beldum and looks like this in the base game:



Echothethird's custom sprites for Olympus grunts (the same Team Rocket recolors as Asgard in the base game) and Athena:

[campion]

Get a Pawniard called Beckett, because it's good and lets you beat Team Asgard with their own mon

[Espella]

I've always been a fan of the Lumineon line even though everyone seems to think it's super forgettable or something, so go for a Finneon named Finn (if male) or Lumina (if female)

[Quackles]

I vote for a Togepi, and call it Quackles.

(That's where this username was from. I used to have a Togekiss named just such, and I liked the name so much I took it for myself.)

[Solitair]

Before we proceed, I'm gonna do a couple of things I ought to have done a while ago.





Maybe Lick was a better choice to discard, but I'm not thinking of very many situations where Spite would actually come in handy.



I had to reload because I confused EVs for IVs on the stats pages.







EVs are on the left and IVs on the right. Now Boomstick's Special Attack is about as high as it can go.


tough, even Team Asgard stays away!



The Vesryn Spear is the big island on the right side of the map. We won't be visiting anytime soon.





You're welcome.















I think there are two missing, but this is a pretty good spread.



More birbs fly across the screen as I get ready to leave.









That's better.




I can hear them cry out. I need to help them.

Oh hey, it's N!

.........it's Team Asgard. The souls of the Pokémon call out to me, tell me to stop their evil plans.

N is an antagonist from Black and White, the first generation that I didn't play. He was raised by wild Pokémon and became the puppet leader of Team Plasma. The real brains behind the operation tricked him into thinking the average trainer-Pokémon relationships are worse than they really are. I haven't actually seen the whole plot of the games play out, but long story short, it was just a few bad apples and you're doing the right thing. Don't think too hard about it even though we brought it up.

I must help them. Out of my way!



Boy will his face be red when he finds out I already solved the problem back in that direction.


their sins!



We won't have that ability for a while yet. Let's put a pin make a mental note to come back.



This one's not blocking anything, so why would we want to?



Next comes two more boulders we can push into dead ends to proceed.



We can't actually get this item ball without cheating. There's nothing in it; the devs just put it there for funsies.



Here's the only item we can actually pick up. The Shadow Path is pretty short.






The legendary Pokémon will belong to us!







A MOON STONE will let you evolve certain Pokémon!


Town!


Karrablast for my Shelmet?

Karrablast and Shelmet can only evolve if traded for each other. This is the game's way of letting you evolve them, now that online trading is no longer possible.





Daddy's favorite move is Cut, and Bonsly can't even learn it! I don't know what he was thinking, catching all of those Bonsly.








move. Hee hee!


on the Pokémon League! Then maybe I'll beat the four Sigil Halls and maybe even find out whats inside the fifth one!

The what now?

And while I'm at it, I may as well check out the Simulation Depot. Hm?





Oh boy!

>Gyms

There are 8 Gyms in the Vesryn Region. They're buildings filled with tough trainers. Beating all the trainers will let you face the Gym Leader. The Gym Leader is usually a tough fight, but if you win, they'll give you a badge marking your amazing feat. Sometimes, traded Pokémon won't listen to you if they're high level. But the badge will make stronger Pokémon have more respect for you, and they'll listen more! Often, the Gym Leader will also give you a TM that represents the type their Gym is based off of. Get all 8 badges and challenge the Pokémon league!

Weird that we're getting an infodump on this after we've already beaten two gyms, but sure.

>Pokémon League

The Pokémon League is a place only accessible after you get all eight Badges. In the Vesryn Region, if you look at a Map, it's at the top of the circular island. There, you can fight the Elite Four. The top four official trainers in the world! ...AND you have to fight them all in a row, without healing your Pokémon! It's a very difficult test, and if you do, you get to fight the League Champion. If you can beat the League Champion, then you BECOME the League Champion, and get to be famous forever!

I mean, you can use items between fights, just not visit the Pokémon center.



The league is at Quasar Plateau, in the archipelago at the center-north edge of the map.

>Sigil Halls

The Sigil Halls are a challenge that only exists in the Vesryn Region. They're in the Vesryn Spear, the landmass on the far east of the region. There are 4 Sigil Halls still in operation. The Hall of Victors, the Hall of Heroes, the Hall of Champions, and the Hall of Masters. The Sigil Halls are owned by the Elite 4. Only someone who's defeated the Elite Four can have the honor of facing their appropriate Sigil Hall. In fact, the Sigil Halls are a lot like Gyms, but for the Elite Four. It's too bad what happened about the last Sigil Hall, though.

>5th Sigil Hall

There isn't really a 5th Sigil Hall. But people call it that anyways. Its supposedly a place where a powerful trainer has gone to meditate for many years.

In most Pokémon games, becoming the new Champion means you've gotten to the end, barring some postgame content here and there. In Zeta and Omicron, it means you've hit the halfway point.

>Sim. Depot

The Simulation Depot isn't as cool as the Sigil Halls, sorry. It's a place where you can battle simulated trainers that don't really exist. It's the orange building in the middle of this city!

Said trainers are the Zeta/Omicron dev team. They're nowhere near as bullshit as the dev team challenge in Insurgence, but they're still currently out of our league.


I've spent my life dedicated to mastering the HM Cut!


You'll have to ask him for a copy!

JAAAAAKE!




Steel-type user robot that destroys challengers with perfect ease!

Will it try to kill us? It is an AI and this is a video game...


It really is a beautiful place!


PK-096! It's a battling robot so intelligent, it can apparently think for itself!! You'll need to take on the Agassiz City gym first, though.



Here's our final starter. We only get one shot to catch it.



I immediately blow it and have to reload to before I first entered Shadow Path.



While I'm here, I snag the only Pokémon in the Path that's on my list.







Oh! It was holding a berry!




Beautifly. Do you have a favorite Pokémon?




It's all technology here, no nature! I love it!


He knows how to create his own moves for his Pokémon!


Asgard!








that I can choose whatever I want!

uggggggh



Let's try this again.



Why is this Bellsprout in a house inhabited by people, yet still a wild Pokémon? We may never know.





I dunno. She looks like a Wendell, doesn't she?


He used to be back here......he would give out free Pokémon Eggs to whoever wanted one! I hope he didn't get caught...


Leader in Blackfist City!

Doesn't that mean he's outgrown that dream by now?


Pokémon. But they're awful people! So I changed my mind.







That's good! That's good!



Oh... a shame. I was trying to give away this Zangoose... You know what? Take it anyways. I can't stand this Pokémon myself.



If you guessed that he'll give you whatever you don't pick, you're right.



I'm glad the thread went with Zangoose, and not just because I personally prefer it to Seviper.




Graham is his name! Quite a fierce Ghost-trainer he is, too!


They even gave him a Sigil Hall over in the Vesryn Spear! We visit every other week.

Readers of the Insurgence thread might remember Graham and Tobias as the replacement Champions you fight at the end of the Elite Four rematch. I'm curious to know what their deal is.


He owns the Pokémon Storage System here in Vesryn. Isn't that neat?

I don't know if we'll ever meet Wyatt in person, but now we've changed the name of Someone's PC. Whoopee.


I wouldn't give away my skitty for anything!


real test. To train them is my cause!

Only '90s kids etcetera.




Apparently, some of them are easy, but they get more difficult the more you beat. They say that once you beat all 10, you get a rare item. I'm excited!

In addition to the dev team, you can also fight a whole bunch more trainers, including Weevil Underwood from Yu-Gi-Oh and some Yogscast people. They are also much too high level to fight right now.


I can administer medical amnesiacs to Pokémon to make them forget moves.

Oh, but what's this?





Strength doesn't seem *too* bad, but I want to make room for something else that might be better. I can always re-teach it later. It's not like I need it on the field anymore.







I'm sure nobody else thought of this before me, and also that it will still make sense after evolution.


I sell rare items to those who are worthy! Oh, I'm sorry. You're not doing a Nuzlocke. I'm afraid I can't help you.

Thank God for that. I don't know what this guy's inventory is, and I don't expect to find out.



Here's the other half of the Shelmet-Karrablast trade.








Yeah, I know it's not very good. It's a Work in Progress!

I suddenly regret doing this LP.


I am a cop!


killing black people!



Nah, he doesn't actually say that. I was just joking. This game was released several years ago.



This at least captures the how likely real police are to help you if you're in a jam.


It's tons of fun!

So yeah, this isn't actually anything like a real police force. We'll be fighting villain teams in this sidequest.


like.


difficult, too dangerous. Please, return when you have obtained the Diamond Badge!

The phases of the Police Club quest are gated behind me getting more badges; the game expects more training out of Kate than real-life police departments do out of their new hires.


I've got this Pokémon Egg here, see? How about you take it off my hands, no questions asked?

Sure, why not?



Oh, that's why not. Gimme a minute.


things in here! And no, you'll never get in to the Collider from the tube itself! And no, you can't get into the tube from up north! Where are you getting these ideas?


summon a powerful Pokémon!

One trip to Wyatt's PC later...


Now go! If anyone asks, you don't know me!






It's lead by 4 figures who's battling skills are incredible. The three comanders are Thor, Loki and Freyja. Leading these three, and the leader of Team Asgard itself is a man called Odin. Odin apparently has a legendary Pokémon!




They're little statistics every Pokémon has that can change their abilities. My favourite nature is Adamant. I can make one of your Pokémon have an Adamant nature, if you'd like.



I don't know why I'd want this, but I'll keep it in mind for now.


But Caspian City is even bigger!




Diggy diggy diglett!


...too bad! I don't deal with wimps like you.


...? I'M LOUD? YOU CAN BE LOUD TOO!



No thanks.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING, KID.


No, better! My Pokémon creates art! I'll trade it to you, if you like. My Smeargle, that is. However, I'll require a Clefairy in return. What do you say?

Nah.

That's fine! Art doesn't require YOUR validation!



Here's why we won't be getting a new badge for a short time. We need the third badge to use Cut, and...


over our Pokehadron Collider!

...we need to fight the bad guys again before we can even try to get that badge.




Usually I work at the PokeHadron Collider... but apparently it's been taken over by Team Asgard!



Even though we can't challenge this town's gym, we can still take its Ancient Tome.



This makes the third one in our collection.


Perhaps a secret lies inside?

Wow, that was a lot to take in, huh? Next update, we start our march north.

[Carpator Diei]

that I can choose whatever I want!

Oh great, now the term 'PP Up' has been forever tainted for me.

The prospect of more than 8 gyms is a bit menacing, but unlike Reborn this game at least has the good sense of breaking the whole thing up into two sets to make sure that there's some sense of accomplishment somewhere in the middle.

[The Golux]

Yeah, eight gyms and then some harder challenge areas that are like gyms is more manageable than freaking eighteen gyms.

[Solitair]

There are two full routes on our way to Nyasa Town.



The first one features a great many people laying in wait for us on these bridges over the water.


Fancy a battle?





O'Hara and Breloomish will be getting a big workout here.



I was gonna use Sleep Powder, but this Poliwag beat me to the punch.



Nevertheless.



This move hits decently hard, but Breloomish can take it and heal up.







At least one more trainer on this route has these same defeat quotes.





Oh, here we go.



At least they put up something of a fight. Considering how quickly I expect trainer's Pokémon to rise in level, this is probably the last chance the game has to waste our time with enemy Magikarp.



Already we're seeing returns from Mega Drain. That one attack healed O'Hara for 15.


it?



Every single fisherman you fight on this route has these defeat quotes. I'm gonna keep a tally of how many we fight.


Want to battle?





These two normies like to use Growl and Sand-Attack to buy time. It doesn't work.



This Bidoof's a bit tanky, but nothing we can't handle.



Whoops, spoke a bit too soon.









Throughout this route, I'm gonna be keeping DELICIOUS EGG with us until we see what's inside.


rest of our lives, challenging any and all trainers who walk by!





Same basic type setup, more wrinkles.



Skitty manages to lock both members of my team down.



O'Hara falls to one Doubleslap.



Tickle lowers both Attack and Defense.



Mienfoo doesn't get the chance to do anything.



That's two.

















I don't wait to send out MuchaLucha this time, given Nincada's type.






Hi! Lets battle!





An Aipom with Tickle is less impressive outside of a double battle.





All of these fishermen are facing the water, not impeding me in any way. I'm doing this to myself.





Ha, get wrecked.



The direct approach almost works, but the second Goldeen doesn't press the advantage like I do mine. This guy says the same thing after defeat as the last fisherman.


Shape up! Let's battle!





These Carvanha throw us a nasty curveball.





This makes the third fisherman who has two identical Pokémon and uses the same defeat quote. A good sign of things to come.



While there are decent lines like this here and there, I've noticed that the game has trouble coming up with dialogue for its trainers sometimes.



These Finneon use Rain Dance and Attract. It's not very effective.



Number five.



Oh, you're one to talk about wasting time, motherfucker.





O'Hara seems good on healing herself right now. I'm not keen on making room for a 5 PP move right now.







Breloomish has gained enough levels that Doubleslap doesn't sting nearly as bad this time.



At least he phrases it differently.



Here's the point in the video where I wander around talking to people again, my mind so addled by repetitiion that I can't remember who I already fought.



I catch something in the wild for a change of pace.







As I head back to the Pokémon center...





Welcome to the team! Sadly he doesn't come with Extrasensory.



Interesting feature. I can use up one of the other kinds of Balls in my bag to change the cosmetic appearance of Quackles' ball. I decide not to, since I'm not yet made of money.



He could probably use some levels, too.



I tried to catch this one, too. It didn't take.





Quackles went from 1 to 9 from this fight alone. Gotta love the share trick.








ages!

Back to the grind, with fisherman number seven.



We get off-brand Magikarp this time.



It's as much of an obstacle as you'd expect.



Number eight.



Boring!


Fisherman at the top of this route!

Number nine. At least we're doing this for a reason.





I might be able to have Quackles run interference in some fights. We'll see.


At the same time!





Interesting wrinkle, but nobody I'm using is weak to Psychic.



This is more of a problem. Not only is Breloomish weak to Ice, but there's no animation for this attack!



For the eleventh time we see a glimmer of individuality in our opponent before our victory snuffs it out.





Defeat every fisherman in this Route and upgrade your Old Rod to a Good Rod! Amazing deal!


You did the challenge!

And wow! You have an Old Rod!





I didn't realize you had to give up your Old Rod for this. I felt a bit conflicted; there are mons we can catch with both rods that are apparently more common with the Old Rod. Still, we can't get the Good Rod any other way, so we have to say goodbye to an item it almost makes obsolete.

There you are! Good luck with the fishing!



Nevertheless, we have access to a bunch more Water-types with this baby. We won't get the Super Rod until after the last badge, so we'll get plenty of use out of the Good Rod. Next time, we drag ourselves to the end of the next route.

[Quackles]

Awwww, Togepi

[Solitair]

Up until now, I've been picking my party by looking ahead to the trainer fights and choosing what has a type advantage, regardless of level. I figured it would be a good way to keep a lot of my team experienced without having to grind too much.



After the day I've had crossing Route 307, I might have to change my methods.


Agh! What's my engineering degree good for if I can't build things with it?







The rain makes it less super effective than it should be.



This is the first moment where I realize that I might be in trouble.



Poor Boomstick. You'll get off the bench someday.







The route has super tall grass mixed in with the regular kind. I think the only difference is that you can't ride your bike in the bigger kind.



Even the wild Pokémon are giving me a run for my money.



While restocking on balls and medicine, I decide to get a Repel for emergencies. Let's see how well that works out.







I couldn't think of a better name.







Boomstick wins two battles of attrition.



At least we're getting some good training in today.





Pursuit deals double damage to your mon if you try to switch it out. By the time I realized this, it was too late.



Not bad, but you've still got a ways to go.



Most of the update footage that I'm cutting out consists of me going to the Pokémon center and back. Rest assured, it happened several times.



This one knows Mirror Move, and used it in response to GoldenCalf's Horn Attack. It also fucked up one of my other mons pretty bad with Fury Swipes.







Not that I expect WesCraven to be a physical powerhouse, but it couldn't hurt.











Annoying, but Catharsis has three attack moves. He can deal with it.



I have a feeling Catharsis will be useful for a long time, given how his arsenal's turning out.



The next fight is with a Pikachu. WinButton took a Quick Attack and beat it.



Not even the rain can protect this Burmy from QUAD DAMAGE.









Here's what the team looks like at the start of one trip back. WinButton was knocked out by a wild Nidoran M.



Tranquill evolves from Pidove, which can't be found in the wilds of the Vesryn region.



Burmy evolves into different Pokémon depending on sex, so I felt like getting one of each.









Refreshingly weak for this route.







Route 307 is shaped a bit like a dollar sign. You have move back and forth on the sides to go up, but in the center there's a shortcut with ledges. More Oran berries in those trees, too.







Boomstick goes down like a sack of potatoes. I should have just sent Catharsis out from the start.







Welp.





Thank God.





WinButton goes down to a Psybeam.



Again, the state of my party at this point.



:argh:



That was way too close.





Surely a Repel will save me, I thought.



Not if my Pokémon are lower level than the mons I'm trying to repel, it won't!





Fuck you.



I remember that being the worst of it.




You're up!







Okay, so that's a Fighting-type move.



Surely Shellos wouldn't use that move twice in a row on a mon that's weak to it, I thought.



Of course, that doesn't mean that my opponent won't have a super-effective STAB move, either.



Even without hitting Catharsis's weakness, it still managed to wear him out a lot.



Oh no.



Thankfully TheSuzerain decided to be merciful and not have this Burmy's Hidden Power be super-effective against Fire-types.







It's also good that my ploy to make this Pikachu's attacks inaccurate worked as well as it did.



I did push my luck with it too much, though.



Eh. I think each move WesCraven already has serves a purpose, and he doesn't need another niche.





Nah, you deserve a promotion.





Turns out I needn't have healed Catharsis. Oh well. Seeing all these folks in a line makes me realize that Cyrus and N are in a slightly different resolution than everyone else, almost like they were made for a different console or something.



Talking to anyone except Professor Oak makes Kate go behind him. Talking to him pans the camera up for this standoff.

Odin! This has gone on long enough! I know why Team Asgard has taken over the PokeHadron Collider, and let me tell you, you will never succeed!



I don't know who's saying this. It's not colored blue like Oak's previous statements. I'll just assume it's still him.

There will be no danger as long as we can keep you from finding it!

Is that so? I know someoen who might disagree with you! Isn't that right... ... ...Kate?!



Everyone gets an exclamation point over their heads and turns around.



He's bluffing, right? If they truly have the Time Caller, then the world as we know it could be doomed!



Sorry, Mom. I, with my level 15 Pokémon, couldn't stop them from stealing an ungodly powerful artifact from an unguarded museum.

No... ...no... ...No! It can't be!


all those years ago... ... ...you could have had a taste of this!


the legendary Pokémon!

It... ...can't be...


Pokémon enslaved!



"If I can't get away with using legendary Pokémon to reshape the world in my image, neither can anyone else!"

Wahaha! I won't fight you today! Shaymin, clear us a path! We're done evacuating Nyasa Town, lets go to the PokeHadron Collider! See you later!



Odin, Freyja, and the grunts flanking them vanish.

... ... ...this is not good. They've found one of the most powerful artefacts known to mankind, and they've already used it to summon a rare and powerful Pokémon!







He lives in Superior Town, and he researches legendary Pokémon. I need you to go see him. He has a book explaining the origins of the universe. Kate, you need to know how big a threat this is. That book explains everything. We'll wait for your return.



Talking to each of them in sequence gets you this:

You have to go, Kate. Do what the Professor told you.

Please, Kate. Do what the Professor says.

Go! We'll await your return. Find the book in the Legend Researcher's lab!

Child, leave. Do as your master commanded. But take this to help you. It is the TM Protect. It's a very powerful move that totally blocks all opposing attacks. However, it doesn't work if you use it multiple times in a row.



I'm still watching you, buddy.



Alright, time to trek way the hell back over—



Or not. Thanks for making life a bit easier.



The transition drops me off in the LEGEND RESEARCHER's house, but I book it for the Pokéon center because boy do I need it.



Turns out we can read this book after all. We just have to wait until the plot requires it.

"In the ancient void, there was nothing. Then, there was an egg. A golden egg, a powerful egg. Inside this egg, there was beast known as Arceus. Arceus, the original Pokémon. Arceus created the world as we know it, Time, Space and Antimatter, and created awe-inspiring beasts to guard them. Arceus created life to inhabit the world, and then sealed himself away in his own dimension. Before he did this, however, he created a Pokémon to—"

So does this mean we won't get Arceus worshippers like in all the other fangames? Fine with me.





What is with you people and walking into my Pokémon? Give them some space!

Sorry about the mess... ...oh? The Professor sent you here? That must mean... Team Asgard found the Time Caller, right? This... ...isn't good. We need to talk. How do I put this? Remember that Unown you saw in the cave? It was pretty powerful, right? Imagine that kind of power, times a couple billion, and you have the power of a legendary Pokémon.


something from the past to the present.

Effectively, it calls a Pokémon from another time. If Team Asgard has that, then they could catch every legendary Pokémon ever! And if they... ...if they... ... ...Remember how I told you to go visit Wilson in Fianga City? Wilson is one of the lead scientists at the PokeHadron Collider.


Collider if they use the Time Caller.

... ... ...You read the myth of Arceus, right? Well, it says that Arceus created the universe and then fell into a deep sleep. But least year, I asked myself, if Arceus created the world, who maintains it? Suddenly, everything began to click into place. Those strange writings nobody could understand, those weird hieroglyphs...


watch over the universe in his absence.

The scriptures say this Pokémon can travel through time, bend dimensions, and more. ... ... ... ...maybe I'm exaggerating. But can you imagine if such a Pokémon fell into Team Asgard' hands? You better go. Go find the Professor and tell him what I told you.



Once we leave the guy's house, we go back where we came from.



It's very worrying, isn't it? Your mother went off to Blackfist City, over in the Chrome Circle, that giant circular island in the center of the region. Team Asgard has quarantined Nyasa Town... There's only a few stragglers left and—



The screen shakes from left to right as exclamation points emit from our heads.




Town...


...oh my god... ...they've destroyed it.

I have to go. ...and Kate? I'm sorry.


look scalable.

That sounds reassuring. But before we take Kate on a walking tour of her destroyed childhood, let's go fishing.



After we fight one last trainer, that is.







Kind of a dick move to put this trainer on the shortcut back, but at least she's not hard.



That's not the worst thing that can happen to you, trust me.


your progress.

Turns out this game can detect my laptop's battery. Thanks for the warning.































Sugar Ray would also be an acceptable nickname.



















Man, lookit all these pals. I gotta make a new box for them soon.



Next time, I beef the fuck up and bring down the hammer.

[Quackles]

Is it just me, or is the level curve slightly steeper in this game than in mainline Pokémon?

[Solitair]

Is it just me, or is the level curve slightly steeper in this game than in mainline Pokémon?

I don't know for sure, but it's starting to feel that way. It's definitely harder than the canon games.

[Nanimani]

Yeah, definitely harder. On the other hand, your issues with the levelling curve *seem* like they're coming from the same place as the guy doing a blind run of Fire Red. All the party switching out is cool and gives us a chance to see a lot of team members, but it does mean keeping up with the curve is a lot harder.

[Espella]

Glad to see Finneon made it to the squad, he never gets enough love.

It's really surreal to see Cyrus being a (somewhat?) good guy, seeing as his last appearance in Platinum is him assuring you he will keep trying until he finally achieves his goals of eliminating the human spirit and all that. Maybe they're going with the manga ending where he eventually reforms, but that always seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me when they drove the "Cyrus literally has no emotions" angle so hard in the games.

[Solitair]

How can everything I know and love be gone, just like that?







We've come full circle. This way lies Zarivar Town.



This door only goes one way, so make sure to save before going in.



We drop down into the far end of the collider, and walk several screens down until...





Team Asgard took the high road and evacuated the city because we knew you pathetic scientists would mess up! At least... At least the Time Caller worked! Divaevus, the Traveller, has been called from the Ancient Times! Divaevus' power... We could move anything through time! Anyone! Any object!



Team Asgard would be invinicible! Now we only have to catch it!







Kate! Freyja told me all about you! You nearly messed up our plans in Onega Town! That's it! You're going down!



Here are Thor's original sprites:





A brief aside, before we fight him. You might have noticed his mons out before battle, and gotten the idea that this is an Electric-type specialist. Simple enough, I thought when I noticed this. Surely now is the time for WinButton and Mew, right? Well, the Zeta/Omicron wiki happens to have the full movesets of every major battle, and here's his:



Did you catch that? Thor's Pokémon have a frankly bananas variety of coverage moves, some of which I'm pretty sure you can't put on your own equivalent mons. One of them isn't even Electric-type, and it's conveniently the one that you don't see before battle. Every single one of them has an Ice-type move, and guess what Ground-type mons are weak to? Doubly so in WinButton's case?



This got me to consulting the chart. I've scribbled out the names of all the types that all of Thor's Pokémon can hit with a weakness. The little tilde signs are types that'll be weak against two out of three. This constrains my options quite a bit, but I am nothing if not prepared.

SIX HOURS EARLIER:



First, expanding the hall of fame to account for those who helped me beat Freya.



Second, I use my Acid and Brick Break TMs a few times.



Third, I bring Kusanagi back to the TV it came from.

The static is morphing into strange shapes.



Which shape would you like to touch?



Normally I'd pick the lawnmower, to give another meaning to the Kusanagi name, but oven is the option that makes it least vulnerable against Thor.

Touched the oven. Huh? Rotom is reacting! ............Huh? Rotom changed shape!



Finally, the grind.







Here's my team, hours later.











Putting Kusanagi in Heat Forme replaces Thunder Wave with Overheat.



NOW:







We start with these two trading blows. Elekid is faster, but Boomstick is hardier and with higher special attack. Boomstick wins.



Carvanha is Water/Dark, and thus weak to Brick Break. Really, I could have one-shotted him with either of the Fighting-types I brought, but even one non-STAB Brick Break from Beeach is good enough to utterly wreck him. Beeach wins.





Now that she's fully evolved, Tochinoshi is so beefy that an Ice Punch and Superpower don't even take her out of green HP. Luxio doesn't fare nearly so well against her. Tochinoshi wins.


Impossible!

I swear I thought that Thor would be much harder than that, but I guess he didn't have the stats to back up his moves. I almost regret putting as much preparation into the fight as I did.



...The Time Caller! I'll use it to revive my Pokémon! Go!


Tremble before our might!

Almost. If he wasn't such a cheater.





The brown-haired scientist walks between his fellows and right up to Thor.

Of the Elite Four! The legendary Dragon-type trainer and Pokémon Creator!

I didn't know I had such a following here! Now screw off, Asgardian scum!

Odin will hear of this, be sure of it!




Asgard member is no easy feat. I offer you my congratulations.

My name is Wilson. I used to work here, in the SCP department. SCP stands for Synthetically Created Pokémon.

Gotta contain 'em all!

After 681 different experiments, I finally came across success. I became one of the greatest trainers in the region. Hmm... It was lucky we caught that Asgard agent in time. The only reason I actually came here was to find you.



He told me you were a fantastic trainer. I see now he told the truth. Hold on... I feel as if I know you from somewhere... You look like somebody I used to know. I'm sorry. There's something in my eye.



You'll need a Pokémon that knows Surf though, and you'll need 4 Gym Badges to use that. You should challenge the Agassiz City Gym, to the South, and the Fianga City Gym, when you're done.

He's wrong; neither of those gym badges let you use Surf. That's the badge after them.

I... I should go.



I'm guessing Kate couldn't bring herself to call him a coward on Aria's behalf. I'm also guessing that he's Kate's deadbeat dad. I'm pretty sure I didn't look that up before playing the game.



All these other scientist pop into existence the moment Wilson leaves. Let's see what they have to say.



This is the general line a couple of them have when they don't have anything else to say.



On second thought, go back to the generic line.

I should give you something in return... Oh! I know! I'll give you Return in return! It's a move that's strength depends on how close your Pokémon is to you. Do you want me to teach a Pokémon



I can only teach it once, so be sure it's to a Pokémon you want!



Boomstick's been with me since the beginning, and he's starting to come into his own. I'm pretty sure I have another mon with Headbutt if I need to use it in the field.







I'd ask if Kate had anyone's permission to take that, but my roommate never eats his leftovers and it drives me nuts, so she can feel free.





We tried to clone Mew, the legendary Pokémon! I left them in the end, but I stole some DNA. I can't seem to get the cloning right, but I made this weird thing.



Oh damn! It's escaping!



Zeta recognizes how valuable Ditto is to breeding and gives you only one chance to catch it. I probably should have gone out and switched for weaker mons to better catch it, but oh well.





I do get it, after a few broken balls. I should probably stop buying regular Pokéballs at some point.





Lucky us. Alucard would have to pay through the nose for one of these.



Eww... is it moving?


Lets just science instead!


Wilson doesn't come by very much– it was extremely cool to see him again.


and created this thing. I'll trade you for it!

A ferret? What's that? Is it like a Furret?



That's gonna be tricky, but I think I can do it.



Before I work on that, I put Tochinoshi in the Hall of Fame and replace him with our new Ditto.







Good job, Beeach. You've earned a little vacation.



I had two ideas on how to get a 1 HP Pokémon for trading. Bowie the Zangoose learns False Swipe, but not until level 29, so that's out.



My other idea was getting a fresh catch poisoned and waiting for it to wear off. I didn't remember where to find wild Pokémon that could poison mine, and not a single one of my mons can do it, so I couldn't just hope for a double battle to come up.



But I got very lucky and found another solution. This Shroomish can only deal one damage with Absorb, and Kricketot can Growl at it until Tackle only does the same amount.



Bingo! Time to get outta here.







For Kate's Kricketot, Scientologist Cruise sends Eevee. Scientologist Cruse bids farewell to Eevee.



Take good care of Eevee.





Your Pokémon was holding an Egg! We don't know how it got there, but your Pokémon had it.

Talking to the man inside will tell us how much Beeach and Duplicator have leveled up. It's the guy outside who tells us the important news.



You take good care of it.



If no egg is present, he'll tell you the pair's compatibility. Seems getting an egg this soon was another stroke of luck for me.



Beeach gained one level and Duplicator two. It costs 500 Pokébucks to get them both back. Not a bad deal.



Now to run laps around the Pokémon center. With Boomstick's Flame Body ability, it takes half as long as usual.



The egg is animated, bouncing up and down. I'm guessing that's what they looked like in Gen 5.



After some training...







Finally!



For Kate's Beedrill, Chef Derek sends Munchlax. Chef Derek bids farewell to Munchlax.



Take good care of Munchlax.

I don't know if traded Pokémon can be renamed in this game yet, because I fucking forgot to save my game after I got my hands on Eevee and Munchlax. If I can (and if nobody stops me), I'm gonna name this little guy BigChungus.

Regardless, it's time for the next list. Maybe I should have put the Collider's Pokémon on the list because of how this update turned out, so I'll just leave it to the thread whether or not they want to see our new Ditto and Eevee in battle, and also what we'll evolve Eevee into. Leafeon and Sylveon are currently off the table, for reasons I won't get into now.

There's also the matter of places on the road to the next two gyms, which we'll be fighting back to back:

Route 308
Espurr
Helioptile

Kariba Town
Corsola
Absol (trade for Rapidash, so it might take a while)

Route 308.5
Sandshrew
Phanpy
Baltoy
Hippopotas
Sandile

Agassiz Town
Surskit (trade for Sandshrew)

Secret Base
Different Pokémon available here are locked behind different Secret Base features, so I don't know how long it'll be until I have access to each one.
Dunsparce
Natu
Tyrogue
Elekid
Sableye
Mawile
Castform
Spiritomb
Darumaka
Rufflet
Woobat
Yamask
Misdreavus
Magnemite
Mr. Mime
Shuppet
Chikorita OR Cyndaquil
Treecko OR Torchic OR Mudkip
Turtwig OR Piplup
Snivy OR Tepig

Psychic Temple
Chimecho
Solosis
Elgyem



Thor's Omicron counterpart is Apollo, who uses Fire-types instead of Electric-types. Here's his old sprites:



And his new ones:





As you can see, there's much less coverage, presumably because Fire has more weaknesses and it's harder to predict what I'll come at him with.

[Quackles]

OK, this game's difficulty is definitely higher than mainstream, now.

[Solitair]

Zeta thankfully allows you to rename Pokémon you get from in-game trades. My new Munchlax may just be a Little Chungus now, but I'm working on changing that.



Not much seems to have changed in Fianga City. The Asgard grunt is still sleeping in the Pokémon center. The important thing is that we can proceed to the next town.





Space is warped and time is bendable.





This guy has an Ivysaur, a Charmeleon, and a Wartortle.









Only the Charmeleon proves to be a significant obstacle. It has this fucking move, and I didn't bring a good counter to Fire-types.



Thank God that's not the only move it uses.




Hahaha! Get it?





The Magnemite is of no consequence, but Hidden Power is always hard to plan for.



Halfshark currently has no STAB moves, just Ice Fang. I don't use her very much in these next few updates.







I honestly have no idea when to evolve BigChungus. I'll probably max his affection after I'm done with the training I'm giving him on the way to Agassiz Town.





She also has a Lopunny.

















Wooper and Quagsire both take QUAD DAMAGE from Breloomish's Mega Drain.










Don't worry!

Boomstick soloed his whole team.





Never seen this before. Maybe I shouldn't have let it get knocked out.







Um, sure?



My services don't come cheap.



Pokémon center's thataway.







Okay, I get it. You can stop doing this now, game.



Things don't go well.



I make sure to bring QUAD DAMAGE for round two.









...This isn't the PC storage guy, is it?



This one uses Whirlwind. It's more annoying than challenging.



Otherwise they go down easy to my zappy boys.









Smash cut!








Do you really think I'm that great a trainer?



Wasn't Blue champion for only a day before he lost to Red? Did he turn things around when we weren't looking?



This Numel quickly got Static on the ropes, but then stopped attacking until Static beat it.







I went ahead and used this place's Pokémon center to rest between those last couple of battles.




I need to keep exercising!







"Give that egg to one of your Pokémon. It will mature and gain experience much, much more quickly!"


Earlier on today, we felt the town rumble... I wonder what that was all about?


Leader has a brother in the Elite Four? Isn't that cool? They're both really tough trainers!


of being part of the Elite Four!


It's too bad I don't have one...



Soon.




So long as we have brave trainers like you fighting the good fight!


powerful machines.


very powerful.



This Klang is actually one square below where you might think it is. Kind of a weird sprite overall.






Why have Rock AND Ground type, two types that are pretty much the same thing?

Yeah, yeah, we've all heard it before.


like lawnmowers and refridgerators!


over a machine, though.


I'm keeping it in my yard until it goes away.


I've always wanted one!

I wish I had one to trade. Absol's the shit.

Oh, that's alright.




I really do like Kariba Town though, its very nice!





Okay, take it!



Now scram!



I'm not seeing much of a speed increase, though it's funny seeing how fast the sprites animate while I ride.





...Oh! That Medical License! You're a doctor?

You might remember the Medical License as one of the Mystery Gifts we got at the start of the game.





Kate hears "help," and thinks "help yourself to."



Of course, actually catching the Corsola is easier said than done. We need to lowball the attacks to avoid knocking it out, and also keep it from healing itself whenever it feels like.



Some attempts later, I managed to wear it down and make it use all its Recover PP, allowing me to catch it after several minutes.







I don't think we can ever return the Corsola to this guy, so... did we just steal someone else's Pokémon? He doesn't mind letting us have it, but he also doesn't know Kate's not a real doctor. Either he wants to put his mon's suffering out of mind, James Sunderland style, or we're defrauding him of a dear companion. What could be worth this moral quandary?



Oh shit, that'll do it. That "PKRS" indicates the presence of Pokérus, a status that spreads through your party and causes Pokémon to gain double EVs! Even after the disease cures itself, the benefit remains. Pokérus is so rare that I didn't know it existed before I started looking up stuff about later games online, and here it is, just like that. Sorry, old man; it's not my fault you don't know a good thing when you see it!

Next time, we experience true grit.

[Carpator Diei]

Space is warped and time is bendable.

Is there any good reason why they didn't just put the town exit in the bottom row of trees?

Also, I too only found out about Pokérus from the internet. It's such a weird design decision to have a super-rare virus that's never explained in-game, is actually beneficial for some reason, and affects another mechanic that's never adequately explained. It was probably supposed to be a schoolyard-rumour thing, but I can only imagine it leading to a few 5-years olds panicking because they think they Pokémon are dying.

[Quackles]

I love it.

[Solitair]

I love it.

Sometimes this game has good jokes, or at least jokes that get a groan out of me. I wish Suze could have come up with more and didn't have to resort to copy-pasted dialogue so much.

[Solitair]

At this point I definitely think I'm getting too many friends for my own good.



Let's blow this one-hadron town.



Apparently you can have half a route. There's more to this place than some of the integered routes in this game.



Berry nice to see you again.









It looked like this guy had standard Youngster fare, but his Pidgeotto ain't half bad and Mew is a bit underleveled for it. Still no STAB moves on her, by the way.





Okay, that's the last one of these I hope to see. You get three, game.







I love Return.





You're no Ozzy, but you'll do, I guess.


real trainer?





She has Nincada, Heracross and Elgyem. Interesting lineup, at least.







Unfortunately, the devs never implemented their version of the Trick House, even though it seems they planned to at one point.





This time we've got second-form Johto starters.



Sure, more coverage is always nice.



Did he make it over here, too?





The path abruptly turns sandy a bit further down. The sandstorm is annoying, but there is a quick fix.













At least your mons won't be hurt by the sandstorm?








for their own!



Does she have the same name in Omicron? If not, that's bound to be confusing.



Especially since she has a near-defeat quote! Randos don't normally get these!






Toughen up, kid!

I didn't say anything! There's a guy north of here who you can pick a fight with, if that's what sets you off!



To be fair, my Pokémon do need to toughen up.



I also love Brick Break, and that Beeach can learn it.







Minun's here, too.



Hhhnngh. It was a tough call, not having access to Boomstick's stats at the time, but I did decide to get Fire Punch instead of Flame Burst.





I don't think we can do anything for her. Sorry.



Yeah yeah yeah. This one's literally the other Artemis, but with the male ranger sprite, and a Shieldon instead of Anorith.


desert isn't the funnest place I've been to.



Beldum, Raichu, Bronzor.







Going south, we find a confrontation brewing.



Green hair guy is Loki, the one Asgard commander we've yet to fight. His Omicron counterpart is Artemis, but not either of the Artemises we just defeated.

Team Asgard has business here— and you do not!

That's what you think! Team Yoloswag beats Team Asgard any day!

At least he's trying to help?

Team... I'm sorry, what?

Team Yoloswag 5eva!



Nevermind. Look, you're not even worth my time. I have better things to do!





You're no rival of mine if you get in my way! Prepare to lose! We'll put this HM up at stake! Whomever wins, gets it!

"What are you gonna do, beat me?" says soon-to-be-beaten rival.







Charmeleon might not be a Dragon-type, but boy does this game like giving it Dragon-type moves.



If you don't know why Aron is in Jake's party, think about what it evolves into. Think about it and groan.





This one's a bit easier to understand.




the world has ever known! You better watch out, Kate! Take this HM, I did promise!



You can't use it until you beat the Gym here in Agassiz— which you'll never do. You're just not good enough! Now scram! I'm off to bigger and better things! Yoloswag out!


the land is dry, and, well, everything's pretty dry. Enjoy your stay!

At least the humor is also dry. And yeah, the sandstorm is still going on even in town.



Some Sandshrew stand around town. You can fight and catch them if you want.


I used to be quite the trainer back in my day... My Hitmonlee and I got four badges!


I'm getting ready to take on Jonathan!


I can create a unique move that only your Pokémon can learn! You can customize the type and name of your Custom Move at any time, and I can teach it to any Pokémon for 5000 Poke. Just talk to me if you'd like to make a custom move!

I think this is just like Hidden Power, except it's Physical and you don't have to fuck around with IDs to get the type you want. If I really need a good coverage move, I'll come back here.


But I heard that the Elite Four are even stronger!

That's how it works, alright.






I worked really hard to get it, but she doesn't seem to appreciate it. It's a very rare Pokémon, and it cost us a lot of money!

Maybe not a good idea to spring a pet on someone as a holiday gift? Just saying.


lot of different moves. Also, every Spinda is unique! There are over 4 billion possible ways Spinda can look!


I... I really like Sandshrew... But I don't know how to catch a Pokémon on my own... I have a Surskit, but I don't like it very much. It's awfully mean.



It won't be hard to get one, but nobody requested either Sandshrew or Surskit. Maybe later, kid.


though?

I have no idea what that balloon tail thinks it's doing.


That's why I'm in this desert with a swimsuit on! The sandstorm is painful!




Ouch!

I put the goggles on between screenshots.


This stupid Secret Base will be the death of me! ... There's a secret base in that cave up there. You can go in there and have it if you want. It's been infested by Dunsparce! Here, take this.



I think this is the first time anyone has ever found Dunsparce intimidating.

The main entrance to the Secret Base is just up there... But you can purchase Secret Entrances all over the region, to access it from even overseas! You'll need to use Secret Power on a Secret Entrance you've purchased to get in though.



"Agh! Get out of the way!"



For all its faults, this game knows how to make an entrance.



Oh God. I mean, "Oh Arceus."

Answer yes: Good! I have enough trouble with all those damn Giratina-ists earlier today!
Answer no: Wow! He's only the leader of all the Pokémon!





I CAN TEACH A POKEMON MEGA PUNCH THEN! IT'LL HELP A LOT!

This doofus can teach Mega Punch or Mega Kick, but the wiki says none of your mons are eligible to learn them. I dunno if they meant to do this as a joke or just glitched it.




They're little statistics every Pokémon has that can change their abilities. My favourite nature is Sassy. I can make one of your Pokémon have an Sassy nature, if you'd like. I can only do this once, however.

I don't know how many of these nature changers there are in the game. Definitely not enough for every possible nature.



Kate is so tall even her trainer card can't contain her.


Let me tell you a secret: Jonathan, this town's leader, uses Rock-type Pokémon! If you want to challenge him, bring along Ground, Water, Grass or Ice type Pokémon!






the rest of them are in that tower!




They just look so damn cool!

To this man, they're so close and yet so far.


Isn't it cool?

Wait, there are two of them. Are they not both yours?




... ... ... ...Huh? There was a book inside!



Number four.


stronger it is! This move... this move does the opposite! This move gains strength the less your Pokémon trusts you!



This seems like more trouble than it's worth. Pokémon trend to liking you more without you having to do much of anything. You have to try to make them hate you.



It's been a while since we had anyone to make small talk with in here. I guess it's pretty hard to top the PP Up guy.


Many powerful Psychic Pokémon rest here to recharge their abilities.


sandstorm.


in.

As before, Kate gates off her own progress. I'd guess two more badges are necessary to pass?



Welcome to one of the most extensive features of Zeta/Omicron. Even Insurgence didn't put this much utility into its Secret Base, or at least I don't remember it that way.



These prices aren't too bad. Here's what's for sale:
Mart Worker is just another Pokémart. Not much to say; there's no reason to use it when a real mart is this close.
Fossil Maniac will sell us a wide variety of fossils for 1000 pbucks each. We can't actually make Pokémon from them for several towns.
Trade Master will offer one of a selection of trades once a day, all with esoteric requirements and many with mons you can't get anywhere else.
Trainer is a shortcut to leveling up your less used Pokémon, and what I've been looking forward to getting all game.
Mining Cave is the mining minigame from Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, only without the little orb things you could use for currency in the underground.
Dungeon is presumably what it sounds like. More unique Pokémon here, though I'm not sure how it works yet.
Platform allows access to a platform with an item ball on it, which respawns daily. It picks a random entry on a table of neat things to give you.
The rest of the list is secret entrances, available regardless of whether we've been to the other side or not.


react?

That's just the first tier of upgrades. Here's how we get the next tier.



I buy the level trainer immediately, of course.


level!



As with Insurgence, this guy uses Audino, the infamous EXP whale, and lets them self-destruct without hurting your mons. It's a godsend in a game with this many options that need grinding to become viable.



One problem. The fee for battling a party of Audino at a set level is 3,000 pbucks for every ten levels you want your punching bags to have. By contrast, the fee in Insurgence is 180 pbucks per ten levels.

...Next time, I'll have to figure out a way around this.

[Quackles]

Hmm. I wonder if there's any way of grinding money, so that you can grind XP?

also what's this about giratina worshippers

[Solitair]

In all likelihood I will be taking next Monday off to focus on volunteer work and preparations for my other LP.

[Solitair]

Oh hey, turns out Cheat Engine works just fine on this game, and the anti-hacking measures I'd heard about don't care or aren't there.

Let's get started, then!





A small correction: the Audino you train on in this game do not immediately give up for easy experience. You have to fight them the normal way.



At level 10, they're mostly pushovers to my team anyway, but at level 20 they start becoming annoying and formidable. I didn't even try to train at higher levels; it's best just to match the mons you want to train to what's at or below their lowest level.



You had also better be ready to deal with six of the same Audino moveset in a row. Bring a party full of backup mons in case the one you want to train gets worn out.



I'll give Flash to one of the Best Pals if I need to go through a dark cave again.



Despite the price and the effort it takes to beat this guy, he's still probably the best way to grind in the game, provided you have the cash (or can cheat your way around the cash requirement).



Fans seem to like Dunsparce. Let's try catching one.







I'm swiping left on using it for now. Or swiping right. Whichever one indicates I'm not interested.



Let's see what Kate got herself for the holidays.



Yep. Normal Pokémart stuff.



Old Amber's on this list, too. That covers everything from the first five gens.


each one unique in every way!

Hey! I have a trade for you! I was about to give it away, but you can have it if you act now! I have a Pokémon called Natu. It is a Psychic/Flying type.



We get an easy request to start with. I don't feel like doing it right now, though.

Ok then! I'll keep this until you decide you want it. I can't take any new trades until you take this one.



Purchasing the Mining Cave upgrade removes the rock blocking the entrance.



Examine any segment of wall and you can play a little game.





You have a limited number of strikes to uncover the items inside before the wall collapses. I don't know if it's possible to switch to the sledgehammer, but there's not much reason to.



In the original mining game from Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, the most common items you'd find were orbs. I don't remember what exactly they did, but they were vendor trash. Everything you mine here has a more direct use. Pictured are a Heart Scale, a Damp Rock and an Icy Rock.



Here's a Revive, a Heat Rock and an Old Amber, which would be much more valuable if I couldn't just buy one in the base.



Yellow Shard, Green Shard, another Old Amber. I thought they were supposed to be rare. You get the idea.



The dungeon entrance is also unblocked.



Selecting "no" on this prompt will put you in the dungeon without an Escape Rope. Hope you don't select it by accident!



We can't stop here! This is bat country!



Colliding with one of the roaming mons triggers a battle. Woobats are level 20. Let's not do this.



Kate found one Focus Band!

After a bit of winding tunnels and a few dozen bats, we get a reward.



Even if you're not walking into a mon, it'll still strike if it feels cornered.





The next level down has Yamask and Cofagrigus, the only other mons you can find in the dungeon when you first unlock it. I got bored and used the Escape Rope after seeing them.



The Platform is the most expensive upgrade at this tier of the secret base. The item ball gives you something once per day. Here's what the wiki says you can win:

-20 Great Balls
-20 Ultra Balls
-Master Ball (1% chance)
-Air Balloon
-Choice Band
-Exp. Share
-Fire Gem
-Focus Band
-Focus Sash
-IV Stone
-King's Rock
-Sun Stone
-TM15 Hyper Beam
-TM26 Earthquake
-TM?? Dark Epitaph (fanmade move, Dark-type one-hit KO)

If you want something specific, save before examining the ball. Good luck getting that Master Ball!



You instinctively know that if you touch it, your base will be forever changed. Touch the stone?

This won't work until you've bought all of the available upgrades, though new entrances are optional. You'd better get all the Dunsparce you want now, because they'll be gone after this and they're not available anywhere else.



Pretty swanky!



Here's where the dungeon is now. This is the point where I hit "no" and realize what that does.



Might as well get all of these after I reset. Leaving the secret base always brings you to the entrance you last used. You can't use it as a form of fast travel, especially not for the places you haven't been yet.



Um, wow, this is quite a find. Thanks! I didn't realize until I was compiling the update that this is where the daily item platform is in the upgraded base.



Attached is a note:
You can use this Key as a replacement for Secret Power, for use on the Secret Power Entrances scattered throughout the region. For easy identification, these Entrances are shaped like towers in their appropriate towns.

Cool. We never actually need to teach our Pokémon Secret Power, except to use in battle. Those level 20 Audino get good use out of it.



Here's the mining cave entrance, all the vendors we've purchased, and a whole bunch of Misdreavus we can fight or catch.



New upgrades!
Professor: Gives us one of each starter set from Gens 2-5. So that's four good Pokémon in total.
Trader Upgrade: If we don't like their offer, we can get a mulligan once per day.
Mythologist: Offers vague, borderline useless hints on where we can find this game's legendaries.
Pokégear Designer: Upgrades our Pokégear with more functions than just the town map.
Tailor: Lets you change your clothes.
New Pokémon to wander around the base and dungeon. None of these are exclusive to the secret base, but I might as well unlock them eventually.
Gym leader rematches: Yes, even the ones we haven't beaten yet are available to be challenged. Their levels range from 55 to 70, which is enough deterrence for me right now.



Regardless, I have a gym to prep for.



The one and only! Let's see if I can get up to some shenanigans with this.



I'm probably wrong here, but I felt like if Rarity's speed isn't up to snuff, it's not worth using a turn to change that.



I decided that's enough to take on the Psychic Tower.



Sorry, Psychic Temple. It's also a tower.

Many different trainers come here to train themselves against a myriad of Psychic Pokémon. At the moment, the top floor is closed, but you can explore the other ones if you wish!



If I felt like fighting, I'd just let Static Bite the lot of them.



But we're here for trash pickup.



Each of the grunts brought only one Pokémon, but at least none of them are clones this time.



I'll see if I can't get Beeach a better Bug-type attack later on.




support my family. Can't you just let us be?

Ah, the old "economic anxiety" trick.



This one has a Pidgeotto.







Golbat.



What kind of edgy fangame is this? It missed a prime opportunity for a swear.




Get out of here!

Slugma.



Finn's not shaping up to be much of a powerhouse, but even he can get a type advantage.





The west side of the next floor is suspiciously free of obstacles.



Another Furret. When I said these guys weren't clones, I meant in dialogue.



Even if Kate wasn't standing in his way, I seriously doubt a raise was ever on the table.





Cool, yet another reason why we need Medicare for All. He sends out a Sneasel.







Weavile. The evolution doesn't make much difference to Boomstick's fist.



What, did they get banned off Twitter or something?


That's just embarrassing!


rare Pokémon!

Kirlia.


This won't happen again!





A staircase to nowhere! Good one, but I saw it coming.





This one is slightly tougher than the rest of them. Rarity got confused and I had to send in Static to clean up.





Okay, they're starting to get cloney again. Time to finish this place off.





The screen shakes because Loki used his big boy voice.

Sir! I'm afraid I cannot! It's against protocol! A dangerous Pokémon has taken up roost there! It could be hazardous and life threatining (sic)!

You idiot! That's what Team Asgard is here for! Now move out of hte way, or I will be forced to hurt you!

Sir! I cannot! It would be against the—



Loki! Just let the poor guard be, alright?


Didn't visit the Gym? Why? Scared of an old friend?

Jonathan... Its been a while. How's that criminal charge faring? I thought your sentence lasted at least another two years!

They let me out early, for good behaviour. They knew deep down, that it wasn't me who killed that family...


Tsk, tsk... what a shame.

Ah, here's the edgy bullshit I was craving!



I think not. And seeing as this foolish guard is standing in Team Asgard's way, I'll be taking my leave.

"I have a strict schedule of not jerking off and memorizing breakfast cereals to keep."

I'll be sure to warn your parole officer about you threatening people. Ta-ta!

The screen darkens, and Loki vanishes with his posse.




It's a feud that goes back a long way. Hey kid, can you help me relieve some stress?

You look like a tough battler. Come help me out in my Gym, alright? See if you can beat me. I need to loosen up. ...See you then, if you're up to it.


there! I'm afraid I cannot let you visit the top floor!

Of course this guy tells the truth to the obvious bad guy and lies to me. The real infestation of uncontrollable vermin is in Fianga City.

The cops. I'm talking about them.

Regardless, we're not getting past this guy for a while. The ultimate defense in the world of Pokémon is a guy blocking the way who refuses to battle you.



Let's see what Jonathan's got in store.


Jonathan, the leader, uses Rock-type Pokémon. That means you should be careful not to use Fire, Flying, Bug or Ice-types. That's a lot of different types! The best types to beat rock-types are Fighting-types, Steel-types, Water-types, Grass-types or Ground-types. Best of luck to you, future champ!

Of course there's a sandstorm in here, too. What were you expecting?



Ground-type attacks, you say?







Going back to train, I noticed that the level trainer reset his price, and I couldn't find the right value to change this time. So fuck it, Kate has ten times as much money now.







It's about damn time Mew gets a decent move. I know she'll learn Earthquake on her own much later, but I need it now.







So much for Headbutt.



Now that everybody's at least level 24, I decide to give the gym a shot.



I like the layout of this gym. You can't walk on the sandy parts; you have to push the boulders into the gaps to make a path elsewhere.



Remember Brock's gym? I remember Brock's gym.



Jonathan's trainers have a decent variety of Rock-types. Lunatone, Solrock, lots of fossil mons, a few that negate normal attacks Rock is weak to.



Rock is still a weak type for type defense, so Finn can solo this guy's lineup, barely.





One stepping stone down.







Quad damage! I guess Finn also got quad damage against the last guy's Graveler, but anyone can do that.



The enemy Onix managed to get a Stealth Rock off before it also got quad damaged. Breloom wouldn't do so well against Aerodactyl.











You like Skyim, huh?



I traded Leech Seed for this. Breloomish shared the same niche as O'Hara before she evolved, and it doesn't make sense to keep her in that niche now.



I just realized that the reason the Gen 5 sprites are so blocky is because of the different presentation given to battles in Black and White. My previous explanation relied on me mistaking Gen 5 for Gen 6. I have failed you all.




Jonathan!

Unfortunately for my attention span, he's right.



The path is now clear.





Don't ask me about what Loki said. I don't want to talk about it. You're here to battle, right? Then bring it on!



Ugh, fuck off with this sprite.



That's better. I like to think that's the lucky rock from Parasite he has in his hand.



The original reason I took Beckett with me was to use Metal Claw, but he's one level short of that. Instead, we just trade hits for a while.





I find it a little funny that the leaders in Zeta keep blowing their healing items as soon as possible. It wasn't like that in the canon games, right?



Somehow, despite the healing assistance, Beckett got lucky and clutched it out.



I will not be using Beckett for the remainder of this fight, despite him learning the move I wanted.



This is from one Mach Punch.





If trends continue, Finn will not be a regular on my team for much longer, so I might as well give him an easy ride to the hall of fame now.



Being a himbo can't hurt, though.





Really impatient to have BigChungus evolve already. Maybe this fight will make him love me enough for that.



Rollout hit him too hard, so that's not happening just yet.



Boy, that's another lucky break! We got this.







This badge lets you use the HM Cut outside of battle. This should grant you access to the Fianga City Gym! And here. Take this too!



This is Rock Slide! Its an awesome Rock-type move that has saved me many times. We should battle again sometime!

I am cautiously stoked to find out if that "murdered family" thing comes up again. Next update has the next gym, but I figure I'd ask about what we should catch on the way to the fifth one now.

Onega Town Hidden Grotto
Charmander
Ekans
Farfetch'd
Tangela

Route 309
Meditite
Lunatone
Solrock
Scraggy
Durant

Turkana Town
Wynaut (trade for Maractus)

Route 310
Roselia
Luvdisc (Good Rod)
Basculin (Good Rod)
Maractus

As long as we're getting thread participation out of the way early, I'll be taking a set of starter mons from the secret base professor next time I go on an upgrading spree. I can get one and only one from gens 2-5; since Totodile, Chimchar and Oshawott are available in the wild later, I'm disqualifying each of them from this poll. Which ones should I take?
Chikorita or Cyndaquil?
Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip?
Turtwig or Piplup?
Snivy or Tepig?

[Quackles]

Huh. That was... tonally inconsistent.

BTW, I always vote Treecko.

[Kiana]

Loved the LP so much that I made an account, so...

A Chikorita named Coolbeans and a Tepig named Francis (Bacon). Turtwig's my favorite DPP starter, but I can't think of a nickname. No preference for gen 3 starters.

Edit: Oh wow, didn't realize until I posted how long ago the last LP post was.