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Immediately south of Shimmering Lake is a TM I could have picked up a while back. That's what I get for not fully checking out every exit, heh.
There's a puzzle sprout right at the entrance of the jungle; no reason to put it off!
This one isn't so much a puzzle as it is just playing good at a Pokémon battle. We aren't at too much of a level disadvantage and we have more mons than our opponent.
Case in point, we can one shot Tyranitar with Drain Punch because of type advantage. There's no need to overcomplicate things.
Steelix takes out Lucario; I send out Ninetales despite 4x weakness to steel in order to set up Aurora Veil (halves damage while up, but can only be set up in hail; Alolan Ninetales has an ability that sets hail on entering so it's fine). The veil is just barely enough to not get one-shot, so I use a pain split to get a bit more damage in before fainting.
With an Aurora Veil up, Flygon takes barely any damage and can handle Steelix easily.
Flygon is 4x weak to Ice, so I know I'm probably not living this turn. I opt to set up Toxic with the one attack I get just so Avalugg will go down eventually.
Azumarill is holding a Sitrus Berry, so they'll heal back the half-HP reduction from Belly Drum immediately. Avalugg unfortunately gets a crit and brings Azumarill low.
Instead of protecting to waste the toxic turns, I figured I could KO with a +6 Play Rough. Unfortunately I was just barely shy, and I figured I was dead, but then Avalugg did far less damage to me than I was expecting. In hindsight, it's doing so little damage because of Aurora Veil, and last turn was just the crit piercing through it.
Either way we win these 
It can be a little hard to spot the trainers in the tall grass. Gotta keep an eye out!
Say hello to Mega Pidgeot! As a wild caught mon, they don't have a nickname, but they'll be doing a lot of heavy lifting this update.
: Watch me, dearest. I'll make you proud enough to speak again.
The impression I got of duelists on my first playthrough was that they were terrifying. They usually have some 1v1 designed trick designed to own you.
Judging by his team comp, I assume he probably would have laid Toxic Spikes and/or regular Spikes, maybe Stealth Rocks, and would have tried to make me switch as much as possible. I can only assume because I get an accidental crit here on the Toxapex and it goes down to a single Hurricane.
I run into no less than 6 Forretress in this update, and every single one has a crippling weakness to Heat Wave. Heat Wave singlehandedly makes Mega Pidgeot go from "good" to "incredible", and I regret thinking that the only worthwhile attacking moves were same type moves. Looking at this guy's team, there was probably a good chance that Ferrothorn woud have set up Stealth Rocks.
Gastrodon unfortunately doesn't die immediately to Hurricane, so the Red Card it's holding activates and switches Pidgeot out.
Instead of switching back over to Pidgeot, I'm an idiot and keep Idolachu in to try and KO with Hyper Voice, which it barely doesn't do. Gastrodon rightfully teaches me my place with a super effective Earthquake. RIP Idolachu.
Pidgeot is able to finish the job against Gastrodon and puts a pretty solid dent in Corviknight, just barely not KOing it.
Corviknight gets burned, so it'll faint at the end of the turn, but not before pulling out it's Red Card, forcing Pidgeot to switch out.
It then uses Whirlwind on the newly sent out Entei, which forces them to switch out...
...right back into Pidgeot, just in time for Corviknight to die to it's burn. 
Thanks for saving me a turn of having to switch back into Pidgeot, I guess!
Skarmory lasts an extra turn because of Sturdy, but they're holding a Rocky Helmet instead of a Red Card, and instead of Whirlwind they chose to buff defense. If I were using a physical attacker, Skarmory would probably be hurting me a lot with that Rocky Helmet and high defense, but thankfully Pidgeot is special.
One last Ferrothorn for the road! I wonder if the AI realized I swept their last Ferrothorn and that it had to bring the other one out last to avoid getting oneshot? Unsure.
I still don't get what you mean?
: She proved her worth to everyone, except herself. Self-doubt devoured all she was, until only this remained.
Oh. 
I'll take any help I can get.
Eviolite boosts both defense stats if the Pokémon holding it is able to evolve. If you picked Murkrow or found a Dusclops, this is good on them. There's also a level 33 Shred of Hope if you talk to the rock nearby, which is also a good reward.
Talking to this tree reveals... it's a wild Celebi!? Okay so you can get a second Celebi here if you want to grab a second one of the Silent God statues. You can't get all three statues, which is why I opted for Zapdos at the beginning; they were the only one I hadn't seen or used.
As for Celebi itself... Celebi has an even 100 in every stat. They're probably pretty good if you wanted to use them! They even come with Perish Song, Leaf Storm, and Reflect! You just need to give them a Shred of Hope to get them going.
Poison Barb for boosting Poison-type moves! Might be good on Nihilego?
: Though she was never stable, this is something more. The Crystal Beacon is an endless wellspring. Its abundance nourished the scattered shrubs into a wild jungle. Just as it nourishes her delusions now. ... She asked once if I was her friend. ... I'll leave her as she is. Hiding from everything, queen of nothing.
I'm guessing this journal is talking about the Queen of Orchids? Seems like she's guarding one of the Crystal Beacons we're after.
Oooh, yes please!
Hell yeah. Say hello to Circuit the Raikou!
Raikou was excellent in my first playthrough; they used Thunderbolt and hit stuff hard and fast. They also make decent use of Discharge, being a special attacker. Thunder wave is not to be discredited though, especially given how useful catching Pokémon is in this.
This is the only Channeler in the game!
Jynx and Musharna go down effortlessly to Heat Wave + Muddy Water.
Alakazam's psyshock puts a dent in Eve, so I opt to switch out for Circuit. It doesn't matter though, because Pidgeot moves first on the next turn and finishes both off.
This cave takes us back to Boiling Sands, on the other side of the trainer we ran from before. I didn't think to fight them here; I could probably take them though. Mega Beedrill seems really good; Adaptability making same type attacks better on top of amazing attack and speed means they'll be hitting hard and fast, even if they're squishy.
Venoshock is a 65 power move that becomes a 130 power move if the target is poisoned. I've found it to be kinda niche? Like it's great damage if you get a Toxic off I imagine, but I can't see it being super consistent.
Heavy duty boots seem like they'd counter the duelist we just fought decently well, although the unpredictability of which Pokémon is sent out after Whirlwind or Red Card might throw a wrench in that with only one of these to go around. Their usefulness entirely depends on if the opponent uses hazards.
Oh? Is that so?
Well rumor has it your team is one of the weakest in the world! Ha, gottem.
Curse me? Curse me for what?
omigosh a witch!!!!11!11!1!
Burn her with fire!
Oh no she cursed Eve! Whatever will we do? 
(We won pretty easily)
Mega Mawile was on my team on my first playthrough, and they're incredible. They hit things so hard!
I have no clue how good Electric Terrain is. I think it boosts electric type attacks by 30%? Could be incredible with the costume pikas, but I'm unsure if it's more valuable than, say, Sunny Day.
That's the dilemma where hedgehogs want to be close to each-other to stay warm, but can't because they'll prick themselves, and it's a metaphor for humans being unable to open up to each other out of fear of harming both themselves and others emotionally, right?
Unsure how that applies to your entire team of Ferrothorns being swept by my Awesome Bird (tm) and their Heat Wave, though.
Couple Ultra Balls laying by the exit of this place. Not much, but they'll probably catch you something good if you have any of the Ashen Shard rewards!
Speaking of which, our second-last Ashen Shard! One more and we can get the final reward. Also another Ancestral Machine to learn breeding/tutor moves.
There's an Absol behind a rock smash and cut check.
We only get one Absol, and they can be used as an ingredient for the Nightmare Child. In fact, I have access to all the ingredients, I just failed to do any catching in Boiling Cavern. We don't have access to Mega Absol, which is another reason to use it for the Nightmare Child, but they do have a pretty great attack stat even un mega'd, a really good move in Sucker Punch, they can buff attack with Swords Dance, and they're one of the few mons with access to Perish Song. Neat!
Toxic Orb is behind Absol, and we are soooo going to use this to cheese the hell out of a later fight.
Beyond the Ultra Balls is the Queen's Garden, the location of the other Crystal Beacon. We won't be exploring here this update.
Instead I'm going to buy like 40 Pokéballs to satiate my wild Pokémon catching hunger. We're well past 150 caught btw, but I'm holding off on the final reward.
Alright, lets see what we can find!
I made a sort of collage of what we can find. Charizard and Volcarona seem like the real treasures here. I don't think Mega Sceptile is available, but maybe regular Sceptile is good? Scolipede is one of my favorite designs; cool bug horse is cool 
. Rhyhorn is a statue ingredient we'll be turning in very shortly. I got the impression Shiftry wasn't really good until it got Wind Rider, and even then still not great. Cacturne seems to be a mixed attacker with decent offense and terrible anything else, but Water Absorb probably isn't too bad. Roserade seems like a pretty good hard-hitter, although I'm not sure what moves it has that benefit from Technician so Natural Cure might be better. Unsure how good Decidueye is, don't have enough information. Vileplume and Bellossom both get access to Strength Sap, which is an incredible healing move, but unsure if that alone makes them worth using. Carnivine just seem not great. Lastly, Ferrothorn has consistently been one of the most used defensive Pokémon since it was introduced; but this update should show you just how easily they fall to a strong fire move.
Let's trade in Rhyhorn and Graveler for the Mountain Lord!
A Rhyperior!
No clue why I opted for a Metal Gear name but that was the only thing that could come to mind.
I think he gave me good results in one fight on my original playthrough? I don't remember much about him. He's definitely not as exciting as a legendary or something like Scizor. Maybe I'm just not giving him a fair shake though.
Savescumming a bit; I'm going to be showing off both of the remaining Silent God statue rewards, because I can't show off all of them in one playthrough normally with there not being enough Celebis.
First up is the Guardian of Dreams, which is... Articuno!
Galarian Articuno, to be exact! Galarian Articuno is Psychic/Flying, comes with the ability Competitive (raises Special Attack by two stages if a stat is lowered), and has both Air Cutter for hitting both opponents and Freezing Glare for a strong Psychic move with a chance to freeze. They're pretty good!
Reloading my save to before I gave away the Celebi. Have to be careful not to accidentally save over my last file when quitting out.
The other statue is the Guardian of Ashes, which is Moltres!
Moltres Galarian form, that is. Okay so when I nabbed Zapdos on this playthrough, I was actually surprised because I thought every single statue here was the Galarian form of the birds, having got both Galarian Moltres and Galarian Articuno. Galarian Moltres is Dark/Flying, has the ability Berserk (increases Special Attack by one stage if it goes below half health), and has an incredible move in Fiery Wrath, which attacks both opponents and has a chance to flinch. They're also pretty good!
But I'm not saving over them either yet. I'm not sure which one I want; whether I want Articuno, Moltres, or just keep Celebi. That's something I'll find out next time!
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