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Part 7: Bad for Team Plasma!
Castelia City
Welcome back to the world's longest chase, I wonder if they'll be easy to find.
I think so, yeah.
No other Team Plasma members, nor any of the Seven Sages, are inside. ...if you think I'm lying, why don't we have a little battle and find out?
I... had a thought! I'll take care of this weak-looking runt, so you can show off by handling that tough-looking guy over there!
Oh, please! Touya, I'll leave that one to you!
Poison Tail still blasts past these fools.
Badbadbadbadbadbadbad! Bad for Team Plasma! Or Plasbad, for short! It's in my best interests to go report to the Seven Sages right now!
Even with directions from the Xtransceiver, I couldn't figure it out!
Team Plasma is inside. The stolen Pokemon may be in there as well. OK, I'm going in!
OK! This time, I'll join the fight! Come on, Bianca. You, too!
W-wait! Touya! You come, too!
Ghetsis Encounter
So, what would you say is the guiding principle of Team Plasma, anyway? "Take what you want from people"?
I thought it would be amusing to prepare a hideout right in front of a Pokemon Gym, but we were detected more quickly than I imagined.
Indeed... no matter. We already have an exceptional base of operations. Is everyone familiar with the legend of the founding of the Unova region?
I am! It's the white Dragon-type Pokemon, right?
The white dragon appeared before a hero who sought the true way to knit together a world fully of many warring people. This white Dragon-type Pokemon shared its knowledge--and bared its fangs at those who stood against it. Together, the power of this Pokemon and the hero brought unity to the hearts of everyone in the land, and that is how Unova was created.
If we can win people's hearts and minds, we can easily create the world that I--I mean, Team Plasma--desires!
Here in Castelia, we have a lot of different kinds of people. Everyone's ways of thinking and lifestyles are very different.
One thing we all have in common is that we care a lot about Pokemon. Even people meeting for the first time can talk about Pokemon. Talk or battle or trade... remember your speech at Accumula Town? You were responsible for leading me to rethink my relationship with Pokemon. For that, I thank you. At that time, I made a promise... I swore to myself that I would dedicate myself to Pokemon even more strongly! What you guys are doing... aren't you going to strengthen the bond between people and Pokemon even more?
Myah-ha-ha-ha! You ae quite hard to figure out--a little more intelligent than I'd expected. I am fond of intelligent people, you see. You'll enjoy hearing about this... from every corner of the world, I have gathered knowledgeable people for our king's benefit. You could call them the Seven Sages. Very well We will submit to your opinion and be on our way. That girl over there... return her Pokemon!
Munny, I'm so glad to see you again!
Bianca! Why are you thanking them? They take people's precious Pokemon!
It's just... I'm... I'm so happy that my Munna is safe.
The friendship between Pokemon and people can be very touching. But, in order to liberate Pokemon from foolish people, we will revive the legend of Unova--and win the hearts and minds of everyone. Farewell...
Castelia City
What do we do if anything's happened to the other stolen Pokemon?
It's OK. Thank you, Iris! No one was hurt. More than anything, I got my darling Pokemon back again!
OK, if you're happy...
What is everyone planning to do now?
Oh, it would be sensational to look around Castelia City, but...
Don't worry! I'll keep on being your bodyguard!
Iris...
Uh-hm. That's great! Iris is a dazzling Pokemon Trainer, but maybe not at home in the big city yet. So, a little give-and-take, hm! People and Pokemon need to help each other out!
Also, thanks for looking for the Pokemon! Here, this is for you!
Well, then, Touya. I'll be waiting in the Gym.
They are a speedy bunch. Well, with all that over with, I guess it's time to take on the Gym, right?
Oh you sweet summer child, there's still many things to do in Castelia and most of it isn't available!
It seems a bit early for event locked items but this can be accessed as soon you reach Castelia, so let's do it for some last minute Gym training. Thankfully the Liberty Pass was released over Wi-Fi, as well as some retail stores outside of Japan, but of course it's been nearly a decade since you could legitimately obtain it. From Sep 18th to Oct 18th 2010 in Japan and Mar 6th to Apr 27th 2011 in NA and Europe. This would also be the last mythical event item obtainable in the series and boy do I not miss them. Now if these had been just regular events you could get through gameplay, no issues there, but all this timed bullshit that hasn't been around for years and years is completely pointless now and I much prefer them not wasting their time on small events hardly any players ever experienced.
Would you like to go to Liberty Garden? Your timing is perfect. The ship is about to leave. Please get aboard ship and wait.
Off to an unprecedented island adventure!
Liberty Garden
Ah the welcoming committee. From one Plasma plot to another.
We're back to the event only islands that only show up when you visit them.
I won't let you interrupt us!
In the basement of the lighthouse built over 200 years ago, the mythical Pokemon Victini was sleeping!
That accounts for 2 ships in the piers, now what about the other two... and since you can access this area upon reaching Castelia, the levels reflect that, so it didn't really matter when we did this event.
Although I lost, I won't move! I will follow my orders!
We'll need this.
"in a small basement on the island!"
Selfish people are making Victini suffer...
Would you like me to help by healing your Pokemon? Please stop Team Plasma's tyranny!
Only a little bit of exp to go until Tristan becomes useful again!
Pant. Scraggy is a cheeky little thing that barely has the Atk stat to survive the 20 or so levels before it evolves. It gets nice early moves in Faint Attack and Brick Break and then gets Hi Jump Kick and Crunch just as they're starting to lag behind. Sure, you can get it pretty early but it's gonna be a long journey until that point, so it's recommended to catch it later at a higher level, especially when you can give it Rock Slide and Poison Jab around that time to make it more interesting. It's definitely usable but we're starting to see some late evolution levels that drag it down somewhat, and this is on the light side!
If you are exposed to Victini's energy, you can win any kind of battle.
"of competition..."
We can obtain a power that would make us invincible! That is the value of this mythical Pokemon, Victini! This is a secret room meant to hide Victini! Two hundred years ago, a certain rich person bought this entire island and hid Victini in this underground room. After that, no one saw Victini, and it became a mythical Pokemon... We, Team Plasma, will liberate Victini from this room and use its powers to make our goal a reality! We won't let a brat like you get in our way!
Fun times are being had by all.
Still, a Watchog isn't terrifying anymore and now we can finally evolve Tristan.
It looks like I underestimated your strength. But Victini won't be so simple! Look! Looks like it's waiting to test your strength. You'd better get ready!
Just before the third badge is an interesting time to try and catch a legendary, but might as well give it a shot.
Legendary Pokemon
Jumping jackrabbits it's a 100 average stat mythical that we can use right now! As you'd expect, Victini is pretty damn amazing, able to use any move it really fancies, is stupidly fast for this part of the game and... needs some TM support to actually get some good moves, cause it's spread out until level 97, meaning it doesn't learn anything stronger than Confusion until level 41 with Flame Burst. Not that it really makes a difference, even Confusion will hurt for most of the game with those stats, but you'll be waiting until level 49 for Zen Headbutt and 73 for Flare Blitz, so it'll need some help if you want to give it some variety. When you get to the Move Reminder by the sixth Gym, you can also give it one of its signature moves in Searing Shot, it'll need some PP Ups to be a reliable attack, though it'll definitely destroy anything in its path.
And that's not even talking about its Ability, which makes all moves 10% more accurate, so Zen Headbutt will basically never miss and Fire Blast, Thunder, Focus Blast, they all become much more reliable moves, hell it can even use Will-O-Wisp effectively. But what if... it could get even more powerful, if it had another signature move, as well as incredibly powerful alternatives that were event only? Well, that would be ridiculous... right?
Even though it's a 3 catch rate legendary, it having Endure is quite nice, even if it doesn't affect the final catch chance too much, and hey, your monkey can easily paralyze it.
Otherwise we'll be here a little bit, at least we can buy Great Balls and got the freebie Dusk Ball, along with the Quick and Timer Balls from the Battle Company. Even still, our situation now gives us a 6% chance of capturing it and a fully powered Timer Ball is 13%. Slight pain. But anyway, Victini has another signature move that's event only, for some reason, which is a shame because V-Create is one of the best moves in the series, at a staggering 180BP that only lowers Def, SpDef and Spd. That's really not a big deal if you've got a Choice Scarf, and you can always switch out if the drops get a little much. Man, imagine if you could boost it via crystals, or give it to an even stronger Pokemon like Rayquaza... haha.
But it gets better, of course it does, Victini was blessed with ridiculous event moves, if you preordered tickets for the 14th movie, itself 2 different movies to lean into the game's gimmick, between Apr-Aug 2011 you could get a V-Create Victini with Fusion Bolt AND Fusion Flare, as well as Searing Shot, giving it excellent Electric coverage. Oh and it gets better, during the Pokemon Happy Christmas 2012 event, you could get a Victini from Nov 25th to Jan 6th that knew V-Create, Blue Flare, BOLT STRIKE and GLACIATE, giving it amazing coverage that is still used on Victini sets to this day. Because of course everyone got them. Bolt Strike is a ridiculously powerful coverage move and Glaciate tagged switch ins so Victini could blast them with a strong move next turn. By itself in game it's a pretty good mon, with all these additional events moves and special treatment, it becomes one of the most terrifying Pokemon in the series. If you were in Japan during a 5 week period, of course.
"This Pokémon brings victory. It is said that Trainers with Victini always win, regardless of the type of encounter."
Oh right, talking so long about event moves we caught it. It was pretty quickly, actually, but I did reset a few times so I didn't waste too many Pokeballs, I'm not made of money! Last thing to note about this very interesting little pixie is it properly introduces Shiny Locks. There have been Pokemon that couldn't be shiny in some way due to events and such, like Celebi in Gen 3 and Spiky-eared Pichu in Gen 4, but Victini is the first of a long line of Pokemon that cannot be shiny even if you encounter them in-game, no matter how many times you reset this encounter, it will never be shiny. And so far, Victini has never been available as a shiny, in its 10 year stint in the franchise. Shame too, it's really fucking good!
I'm gonna shove it in a box for 2 years, just saying.
Good thing the police were here to de-escalate this violent protest! Haha, topical... acab.
up to no good has been captured! Victini is a mythical Pokemon that is said to radiate energy from its body... when Pokemon or people come into contact with that energy, it fills up their bodies, and they exhibit more power than usual. That's why there was no end to the people who wanted to use Victini for their own evil ends... I'm sure the rich person who built this underground room for Victini was sincerely trying to help it.
Thanks to you, Victini has a new destiny that does not involve being used in Team Plasma's schemes. Making sure no one misuses Victini's powers is now your duty! Also... in the Unova Pokedex, Victini was assigned a special number: zero. I've heard the special number was assigned in the hope that Victini's power to bring victory would be shared with the Trainer who travels with this Pokedex...
We cornered the crooks with our high-speed police boat! We will return to Castelia City! Please come on board, too!
Thank you! I'll be right there! I can't believe it when people are led astray by Pokemon's astounding abilities and try to misuse them... but it's only when we face Pokemon with a good heart that we can make a brighter future!
At least it ended well, police interference aside. Indeed, Victini is number 000 in the dex, though you'd only see this if you caught it through hacking, or saw it through hacking, it's not required to complete the dex, but we have it anyway.
Alright, that's Bedloe's- I mean, Liberty Island finished, are we done with event islands? Well technically yes, but for me the next one is an event.
Unity Tower
It's the United Nations! Well geographically Ellis Island but this island can only be accessed by registering your location on Geonet and then making an international trade. This doesn't require the GTS, though it does help, if you make a local trade with 2 international Geonet locations, that counts too. Since Japanese players can only register an area in Japan on Geonet, this area wasn't accessible until the international release, funnily enough.
Since emulators aren't the easiest thing to get online and trading, I just warped here instead of accessing it legitimately. It unlocks the location in-game, no misdirection here, no sir.
Unity Tower is the place where Trainers come from all over the world. That's why I work hard every day doing security checks to protect those young Trainers. Don't loiter around here and cause trouble. ...'Kay, you can pass.
There's 131 recognised countries by the game and if you trade with someone from there, you can go to their floor and have a chat with them! There can be 5 trainers per floor, up to 20 total in the building, any past that will replace older trainers. Yes from Swaziland to Columbia, Nigeria to Senegal and even forgotten countries like Canada, you can trade and visit with all kinds of people. Please do not fill out every floor of Unity Tower, this is a bunch of pointless fluff and there's no reason to ever come here, or indeed come back here.
Castelia City
Now are we done with event related stuff? We're still just before the third Gym, remember. Well, while I was visiting Unity Tower, some weird girl from... Jootoo, I believe it was, gave me this!
SO, you remember the event Celebi that we obtained in HGSS that also let us travel in time to fight a redhead's dad or whatever, well if you use the Relocator to send it to these games, then you unlock another event. Since this is a rare mythical that's already done its event, you might think it's all done and you can send it through the standard gen hopping method is okay, but of course not! Why would it be???
Oh, that little boy was really Zorua! So cooooool! It looks like Zorua and Celebi are really good friends! I'm sure Zorua wants to go with you and Celebi! Trainer, do you have a Pokeball?
Zorua had been waiting for Celebi here! Now, I am relieved!
Man I don't even remember any other events where you could actually choose the Pokeball... right so with all of this mess and a 13th movie reference over with, is this event Pokemon actually worth using? ...oh I'm meant to say yes here, well too bad, they tried to repeat the success story of Lucario, but they missed out on a couple key factors. Firstly, it was pretty damn easy to get a Riolu and it being in an Egg made people more attached to it, especially since Riley showed off how strong and cool it could be, secondly Lucario has a pretty wide moveset and could fill a lot of different roles, and thirdly, the movie it was apart of was kinda alright, people remember it fondly at least.
Zorua has none of those, locked behind the Relocator Celebi for whatever dumb fucking reason, thankfully they fixed this for B2W2, making it much more available there. It's also not very good in comparison, it has alright stats, it's certainly usable, but it's really fragile which doesn't help much, it's stuck with Faint Attack until it evolves and gets Foul Play and has really poor TM options, its coverage is dire and its unique move of Night Daze isn't until level 64, about when the game freaking ends!!! Also while the DP movies are perfectly fine, no one really says the Zoroark movie is one of their favourites, so it suffers from lack of success. Now I've used this mon before, it was alright, I was tempted to use it for the LP, but more interesting options popped up. It's just nothing special, when it's being presented as anything but!
"It changes into the forms of others to surprise them. Apparently, it often transforms into a silent child."
Oh yeah, they even screwed up when it comes to its ability, since it can disguise itself as the sixth slot of the party. In the same generation as Party Preview. Hrm. It fools the AI super easily, but after one hit the disguise breaks and usually one hit is all that's needed to take a big chunk out of it. But okay, anything else we need to go over before we finally beat the Gym?
...oh godfuckingdammit there's still this thing. OKAY, so the Lock Capsule is an unreleased event item that you get in HGSS and does... nothing! It does sweet fuck all in that game, so you've got to send it up through the Relocator and get it in these games before you can do anything with it.
But OF COURSE, it's just not that easy, since it was unreleased you can't just hack it in and hope it works, you can only send it through the Relocator if you got the Mystery Gift in HGSS and only THEN will you be able to open up the Lock Capsule, it's all documented at least, but man I've had enough of these damn events, let's just wrap this up.
You have a Lock Capsule in your Bag... I am the only one in the whole world who can open the capsule. I can open it in the blink of an eye! Look! As you can see, I opened it swiftly and with precision! Inside the capsule... what your heart most desires... a Technical Machine! Hm. There's a letter with the Technical Machine... "I entrust the Technical Machine in the Lock Capsule to a trustworthy Trainer in the Unova region. Don't allow it to fall into the hands of villains like Team Rocket..." Even though I opened the Lock Capsule, I can't unlock a closed heart. I am a sad clown, indeed.
Our reward(?) for doing all of this unreleased nonsense is TM95 Snarl, an okay doubles move that is otherwise unobtainable. The TM is easy enough to find in B2W2, but you can't get it in this game legit. Still, you can get Snarl in these games, mainly from trading with B2W2 and breeding, but there was an event Zoroark during summer 2011 in various countries that gave it Snarl. This could be bred down, as well as Sketched by Smeargle. Anyway it's absolutely not worth it but hey, at least we have it.
And we're done? We're done. Alright, Gym time!
There's no way I'm letting Pansage stick around for any longer than it has to, next best move is Acrobatics at 31, which we can just get through TM, no thanks.
"Ill tempered, it fights by swinging its barbed tail around wildly. The leaf growing on its head is very bitter."
Well let's talk about the three monkeys and finally free ourselves from this curse, but I jest, Simisage is my favourite of the three, like with most Pokemon, you can use this just fine, it's a pretty alright mon. They survive on what TMs they get, since you're out of level up moves, and hey, Seed Bomb is a good one to end on, nice and dependable damage, especially this early. It doesn't get many special options aside from postgame Energy Ball, but Acrobatics, Brick Break, Rock Slide and even Focus Blast can work well. You can only do so much with those stats but by the end of the game you'll have a fine collection of moves and it'll be just fine. That's the most I can say about these mons since they're relatively limited.
So, talking about relatively limited, here's the least popular Pokemon in the series. It's canon, during the lead up to the 19th movie there was a vote for which Pokemon would be distributed. Arceus won, since it being a distribution vote skewed things a bit, but Simisear ended up in last place, something had to after all. Nothing really against it, it's a perfectly fine Pokemon, but Unova is REALLY not lacking for amazing Fire types so it gets left behind easily. Its move at 22 is Flame Burst, which is the worst out of Seed Bomb and Scald, but it'll last until Fire Blast, and it gets the good coverage of the other monkeys, which is nice for a Fire type, so Acrobatics, Focus Blast, Rock Slide, Grass Knot, the monkey is... good? It looks dumb, but hey so do you, so give it a try if you really want, it'll last just fine!
And here's the best monkey, though it's a Water type, so that's kind of unfair, but Scald is already a fantastic start. One hit to Water types is suffering with Blizzard until postgame Ice Beam but with the nice coverage the monkeys get, it can also work with Grass Knot, Acrobatics and Rock Slide, along with Focus Blast, Surf and Waterfall later on. Though again, the Unova region has no shortage of excellent elemental Pokemon, so all the monkeys are so easily outclassed, but that should never be held against a Pokemon, feel free to use whatever. Even if it's not something particularly popular, the stats and movepool of these repetitive simians mean they're perfectly fine picks. Just. Fine. Now let's never talk about them again.
Pokemon Gym
I bet, with all of the bustling people, you started feeling worn down on your way to the Gym. Never mind! This will help. Take it!
The theme of this Gym is walking through walls. At first glance, these funny honey walls may look impassable or even impossible. If you try hard, it'll work out. So I say. But... if it doesn't, here's a sweet tip: step on the switches on the floor!
Well this is never going to come off.
Push button, receive progress.
It's a nice Gym... for a clown to battle in!
If you step on two switches, two lamps will light up and a gate will open! This is also an art!
GAH
When you step on the switch, the one that pops out is--moi! On that note, have a battle with moi!
Somehow we survived this little rock cutie, yes you are, oh yes you are!
That's your clown fact of the day. To learn more of these facts, please turn on the news.
Woo gameplay.
I'll channel my gratitude into my Pokemon's moves and... make sure it gets to you!
Bug/Grass is a cool offensive type and a terrible defensive one, so our team is having very little trouble, but this isn't a Gym I was worried about. Oh no.
If you hadn't stepped on that switch, I'd still be stuck hidden away. That's right! Bug Gym Trainers like to be bugged!
Alright, just one more switch to press after we pressed a switch to press a switch to press a switch.
"outrageous and mysterious charms?"
At least this Gym is short, but the early ones are never massively interesting, especially for a type you shouldn't have much trouble with, even with Servine!
Aww yeah, Milli is getting even better, but this isn't even his final form.
Alright! Love these early evolutions, now let's talk about-
"Protected by a hard shell, it spins its body like a wheel and crashes furiously into its enemies."
AHEM, I said, let's talk about Whirlipede, it's a midgame cocoon, which is an... interesting concept. It works somewhat since unlike Swadloon it actually learns new attacks before it very quickly evolves again, and uh by that I mean one in Venoshock. And since it has pretty alright moves in Poison Tail and Bug Bite, it's nice and tanky while being able to dish out some damage. There's... not much to say otherwise since it evolves so quickly, and is thus just a fleeting form like most cocoon Pokemon, but at least there's more to talk about, it's pretty alright.
It's buggy time.
My bug Pokemon are scurrying with excitement about getting to battle you. Let's get straight to it!
Gym Leader Battle
Burgh: Premier Insect Artist
From, well, bug, and burg, another word for city.
Arty: Most insect artist.
From artichoke, artist and artisan.
Hamlet could solo this Gym since we're keeping up in level, but we've got other overpowered evolved Pokemon to use instead!
Tristan 2HKOs with Seed Bomb, he's good now! His voice is pretty crazy too. He's thinking about changing it.
Leavanny is the only reason you might have trouble in this Gym, and boy is it a problem if you don't have a Grass resist, since it'll tear you to pieces with crit Razor Leaf. Oh, here's one.
Struggle Bug is only an issue if you're using a special attacker, but that's the least of your worries against its 103 Atk and 92 Spd, holy moley. Still, it can't do much against Fire types, and if you head north, there might be a little round nuke waiting to bail you out.
Aww... I lost. Whatever! Losing to you doesn't bug me because you are a-MAZ-ingly strong! This is the Gym Badge! You beat me, so it's yours!
It's the Insect Badge! It's insectible--I mean, incredible! If you have three Badges, Pokemon up to Lv. 40 will obey you, including traded Pokemon. Because I'm a generous guy, I'll also give you this.
Struggle Bug also lowers the Sp. Atk of the target that was damaged. I'm the best guy to tell you, it's the little things that count! How many discoveries have you made since you started your adventure? When I was a kid, my innocent heart was captured by the beauty of bug Pokemon. I drew with them and battled with them, and after all this time, I continue to discover new things. A world shared with Pokemon is a world swarming with mysteries.
You swatted aside our Gym Leader Burgh's tricky attacks... I can barely imagine how much stronger you're going to get!
Alright, we're all done in Castelia City, finally. Nice to end it on an easy note, wonder if the next Gym will be as easy? Ahahaha. Please don't look at my team's matchup.
Could you do me a favor? Let's have a Pokemon battle! Iris has trained me, and I've become a little stronger. I should be able to protect my own Pokemon now. Let's meet at the gate to Route 4! OK, see you later!
Gate
So is this a date? I'm tentatively calling it a date.
You remember the promise you made on the Xtransceiver, right? So, let's get right to our Pokemon battle! But, before that...
They said we can have a Pokemon battle in the gate as long as we're not careful not to break the electric bulletin board. I'm the new-and-improved version of me! It's gonna go great this time! Let's start up our Pokemon battle again!
Bianca Battle
It's been a little while since a rival fight, let alone a Bianca fight, so this should be fun.
Though the game is lowballing what level we should be at. That's fine.
Ew, no. And Tristan continues to tear through.
Could've been a slight pain with enough boosts, but Tristan doesn't take much damage anyway, at least the team is relatively equal in levels again.
And a flinch seals the 2HKO. Bit rude, but Corazon needs to evolve already!
You know, since we left Nuvema Town, I've met a lot of people and I've been thinking about what I want to do in life! When you look at it that way, Pokemon have given me a lot of new experiences. Having my Pokemon stolen was just really hard, and I felt really unsure... still, I gotta say I'm really glad I went! I've learned so much on this journey. And I also learned that being with Pokemon is really, really important!
Being in the big city definitely changes you, seems Bianca had quite the adventure, but hey, that was a nice rival fight, hopefully we won't have another one for a while-
Goddammit!