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We're currently in Dreaming Halls. I had an idea of what I wanted to do this update, but as I approach the endgame my fear of losing this day 1 run is starting to get to me so as a result I may be overpreparing for something I remember being a bit challenging.
Galarian Slowking is not what I'm here for, but I haven't caught one yet since they were added after I went through this area originally.
What I'm here for is a dance partner for Idolachu.
Idolachu's ability is dancer; if any mon uses a dance move, Idolachu immediately copies it without using their turn. This, combined with the ability to learn Revelation Dance, Fiery Dance, Quiver Dance, and Petal Dance means that Idolachu's best partner is... another Idolachu. The faster one uses Quiver Dance, which the slower one immediately copies; then the slower one uses a combat move, which the faster one immediately copies to ensure that whatever was hit stays down. It's a very strong combination.
It may be a bit before we actually see this in action, if at all.
Also replacing Volt Tackle on Redcap with Fake-out using an Ancestral Machine; this shuts down one of the opponents we'll be fighting this update but also is just a good move to have on in general given how often you want to be switching in Redcap.
This is the team we'll be using for what we're about to do. I didn't get a good shot after I had given Kyubey and the Dance Duo items, but I gave them Focus Sash, Expert Belt, and Magnet respectively.
So hey remember when I said you should enter this cave like an update ago? I'm a filthy goddamn liar, you should not enter this cave unprepared.
OST - Emerald Rival Battle
That's because entering the cave throws you into a 3 fight gauntlet that you can't run away from. Our first opponent is April, who has the 3 Hoenn Starters.
I'm leading with Redcap Pikachu and Mega Salamence. Salamence gets an attack buff from Redcap existing, but also Redcap now has Fake-Out, a vital part of my strategy for these fights. First I Fake-Out whoever I perceive as the greater threat (in this case, Blaziken scares me more), and then Dragon Dance with Salamence so that I can sweep.
I one-shot Blaziken with Flying-type Headbutt, and since I figure electric typing wouldn't be great on Sceptile I paralyze them with nuzzle to hopefully keep them from attacking.
Swampert comes out, and since Redap only has electric type attacks, which Sceptile and Swampert are resistant and immune to respectively, I opt to volt switch Redcap to minimize damage they might take. Salamence headbutts Swampert since Sceptile barely poses a problem and Swampert has rock slide, but is just barely shy of KOing.
Kyubey dodges the Rock Slide, although they wouldn't have been in danger anyways because of Disguise; and Rock Slide doesn't do as much damage to Salamence as you'd expect a supereffective move to.
Bringing in Kyubey was the right call, because a Shadow Sneak deals with what remains of Swampert pretty easily, allowing Salamence to focus on Sceptile and win the battle. Woo!
OST - Emerald Gym Battle
Oh, but we're not done yet; that's only the first of 3 battles; next up is the True Professor with the full Kanto trio!
Same idea; Fake out, then Dragon Dance.
I ended up targetting Charizard with both because of a fear of Dragon type moves, but Pikachu shreds them and Salamence attacks Blastoise instead and shreds them too.
Since I only need one more headbutt to win, I spend Redcap's turn on healing Salamence from the previous fight just to be sure I don't lose the next battle. With that, the True Professor goes down.
OST - Emerald Rival Battle
Last battle is against Brom with the Johto Starters, and they are potentially the hardest if you don't come in with a plan.
Brom's strategy is to use the Pledge moves. The pledge moves are a class of moves exclusive to starters that normally deal decent damage, but when used in a double battle on the same turn an ally uses one of the other 2 pledge moves, it upgrades to a 150 power move with a special effect that only one of them uses. Brom intends to use Grass Pledge + Water Pledge here to create a swamp that quarters the speed of my mons while still doing massive damage to my mons.
This strategy falls apart completely if one of the opponents can't attack, either because they're flinched or they fainted. This is the main reason I brought Fake-Out.
A Dragon Dance boosted Flying Headbutt takes out Meganium next turn, preventing the combo from going off. I'm not sure why the Water Pledge is still being used; I was under the impression that cancelling one prevents both moves from being used and wastes the opponent's entire turn. Still better than the alternative though; manage to take out most of Feraligatr's health with a Sky's Vengeance too.
Pikachu takes off the last bit of Feraligatr's health, while Salamence oneshots Typhlosion with Outrage, winning us the fight.
This fight is a surprise gutpunch in a game that hasn't had one to this point; being one of the only fights you can't flee, pitting you against 9 total pokemon, and with one of them using a pretty nasty strategy. I might have overprepared for this fight remembering how it cost me a day on my first playthrough. I also can't take complete credit for this; I was in a VC with both a friend and the only person who successfully nuzlocked the game giving advice; Fakeout Redcap was their idea and I doubt I would have thought of it myself. The thing with any gutpunch is that once you know it's coming, you can prepare for it; it'll only get you once.
Our first reward for beating the True Professor and Co is a level 44 Shred of Hope. Now that we have access to the crystal, the only Shreds of Hope worth our time are those above level 40.
We also get the mega stone for Aerodactyl. Shame that you can only have one Mega Evolution per battle and have to pick and choose which one you want to use.
There's a sliding ice puzzle in the upper part of the room that has both a Seamother's Tear (evolves any Pokémon who can evolve) and a cracked wall leading deeper into the cave.
There's a few of these pretty lights hanging around the second screen of the cave; they don't serve any purpose other than atmosphere.
Sail Fossil! Aurorus was on my final team on my first playthrough; I don't remember why but I feel like I had a good reason for having them; probably Aurora Veil + Snow Warning? Or maybe it was to capitalize on Ice-type Hyper Voice? Either way, no regrets with them.
Glastrier Card! 3 of the sides are good, but that weak side on top makes it hard to use. Definitely not as impressive as Zarude.
A Full Restore in case you used one during the gauntlet; very nice.
This sliding ice puzzle requires you to be smart with which rock smash boulders you break; you want to leave the lower one intact so you can use it to block yourself.
Our reward is a potion? Hmmm...
Another cracked wall. You can't fool me game!
Inside the cracked wall is an elevator; lets take it down to the floor marked "Station".
At the bottom is a small laboratory room. First thing I do is grab the blank card on the table; useful if you didn't have one for the Glastrier above!
I'm assuming that's a Pokédex. Dang, would've been great to keep track of all the mons I've been finding.
: Please... Let us be wrong. Please let there be a chance.
Hmmm. Are they asking to be wrong about there being no hope, or asking to be wrong about a Wanderer escaping the Lighthouse?
: Could this be the Dreamer's ancient twin?
Well that sorta confirms that the Wanderer who they're talking about isn't us; we certainly haven't talked with any of these people.
Pfft. A fellow pun enthusiast I see.
Handy teleport back out; but not yet.
: The keys are cracked and faded with use. You notice a bag of plastic tokens set on top of the machine.
Oh hell yeah, I love gambling! I looooove grinding away to earn that Dratini!
: A series of notes are attached to the side of the machine. It looks like each was added in sequence over time.
: "Restored this old piece of junk. Enjoy." -B
: "What's with the tokens?" -A
: "Just for fun, you can't spend them on anything anymore." -B
: "So there's nothing to spend the coins on?" -A
: "Does everything really NEED a reward? We're not mice in a maze." -B
: It gives out meaningless coins. Play anyway?
Yeah sure, I'll try a game.
It's Voltorb Flip! Combination of minesweeper and picross. It's a sort of solved game, where there's more skill involved than not (but sometimes you still get times where you need to just guess).
That doesn't stop me from failing to do simple addition and making a bad choice though!
I clear the next round though. There's not really a point to playing this other than if you enjoy Voltorb Flip; neat easter egg though. Do the notes added in sequence imply that they couldn't just ask eachother in person?
: ...It's probably fine.
Yeah, it's probably a dehumidifier or something.
Seems like the PCs were starting to infect the Lab.
: The PCs are acting like a doomsday protocol. The network seems to be hunting down some sort of infection. We hoped the ice would keep the tendrils out entirely. Recent developments have caused us to revise this hypothesis.
Seems they weren't safe from infection even here.
Oh hey, it's the keycard one of the books in Shimmering Lake was talking about! We'll be using this shortly.
: The clarity he speaks of... I recognize it's source. I cannot allow him to speak with the Father again. My last loyal students... I hope you do not regret choosing to stand beside me.
The "Father"? I think this is the first we're hearing of them.
: ... Sort of.
Seems like they didn't have a good cook among them.
Let's fly back to the Lighthouse. We're skipping the ice cave wild encounters for now, as I'm low on Pokéballs and money.
We can finally open this strange device that we saw in the first update, but this jerk is in the way. Let's teach him a lesson.
Cofagrigus has Mummy, which means any physical attacks we use on it will cause our abilities to get replaced. I'm sure I won't forget about this in a few images.
Headbutt takes out Haunter in a single hit, while Cofagrigus tries to pull the old Destiny Bond on me (if I KO them before their next move, they drag the attacker down with them).
Since Cofagrigus showed that it's willing to Destiny Bond me, my best course is to Dragon Dance with Salamence and attack it whenever it uses a non-Destiny Bond move. Pikachu whittles down the Mandibuzz that comes out while Salamence buffs up.
Mandibuzz goes down next turn to priority Sky's Vengeance, while Salamence oneshots Cofagrigus... and activates Mummy, removing Aerilate from Salamence. 
So Headbutt is now a lot weaker both because of lack of same type bonus and the bonus granted by Aerilate. Because of this, I opt to gamble on Outrage... which hits a low HP Crobat.
Oh god that's scary.
The False Professor's last mon is Obstagoon, who immediately Obstructs. This is really bad for my gamble; Salamence is locked into Outrage for a few turns, and will choose a random target. If it hits Obstagoon, Salamence will get a defense nerf, and that's scary when Absol is currently rocking 2x attack from Swords Dance.
Thankfully, Salamence chooses the correct opponent this time. Never punished!
...of course, Outrage only lasts for 2 turns instead of 3, so now we have to deal with confusion.
I gamble with confusion for one turn before switching out to Mimikyu to minimize damage taken; not that it probably mattered cause Sky's Vengeance moves first and would have KO'd before Salamence got a chance to attack, but eh.
Cry about it.
Omega Ring? What's that?
I may have unsubtly foreshadowed this earlier in the update. We can now use multiple megas in a single battle!
Let's check out what this machine does...
It's another elevator. The only two floors we can go to are the Lighthouse and... the Hive. Well
OST - Old Chateau
Once the elevator stops moving, the game's title music starts playing. Ominous.
Stepping out of the elevator, we're hit with the title card: Hive Complex.
: This thing... it's some sort of Hive.
Oh dear.
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