Part 10: Pyrite Town, Part Five (Pyrite Cave) Boss Battle: Vs. Miror B.
Pyrite Town, Part FivePyrite Cave
Pyrite Cave has quite a lot of running around to be done inside. There are, if I remember correctly, three levels to it, with disconnected mazing sections. Pyrite Cave's like Pyrite Building, insomuch as there's very little story, and tons of battling, but now with even more running around. I'll be covering all trainers, optional or not, but the cave is set up such that no Trainer with a Shadow Pokemon can be bypassed. Optional trainers are ones you have to walk in front of, or talk to, on paths that don't lead to Miror B. (the side branches).
Many of the trainers in this cave use Lotad and its evolution, Lombre. In terms of base stats, they're relatively weak, but have stronger Special Attack than Attack, and better Special Defense than Defense. Seeing as we're using Espeon, Croconaw, and Flaaffy, all Special Attackers, this makes them a pinch harder to bring down, but not all that much. Their typing, Water/Grass, give them weaknesses to uncommon types of attacks: Bug, Flying, and Poison, none of which we have. They have resistance to Ground and Steel, double-resist Water, and take neutral damage from all other types. They have two abilities, but I'll go into further detail about them during the final battle of this update.
The first area has a set of stairs downward, and a trainer by the stairs that you have to go out of your way to battle.
ST.PERFORMER SIMES, P$512 {optional}
Anorith (Lv.32, M)
Lotad (Lv.32, F)
SIMES: Oopsie! I lost!
SIMES: You're a surprise! But I'm not telling you where MIROR B.'s waiting.
Further to the right, following a path you don't need to take to even battle the optional trainer, brings us to one of the reasons I like Pyrite Cave, early on in the game: it throws tons of items at you for free. The one's here are Ether, which restores 10 PP of a move, in case you can't get to somewhere to heal or save, which would mean you might run out of Power Points, which are needed to use a given attack. Two Hyper Potions are north of the stairs, and easily missed.
With nothing else but the cave exit, downstairs is our only way of progress. By the foot of the stairs is another optional trainer.
CHASER MAIZ, P$640 {optional}
Koffing (Lv.32, M)
Ralts (Lv.31, M)
Shroomish (Lv.32, F)
MAIZ: Your Pokemon are too strong!
MAIZ: Raising your POKEMON to those levels must have been a hard struggle. You might be our enemy, but you have my respect!
Spiffy Point: Many of the opponent's Pokemon we've been encountering, from the beginning of the game, until now, could easily have been evolved into their next evolution/s. Presumably, this was not done to make the game more fair for the player, who has little choice over their Pokemon, as well as the inability to level up or evolve them. On a related note, Shroomish, a Grass Pokemon that evolves into the Grass/Fighting Breloom, does not learn its final move, the 100% accuracy Sleep-inducing Grass move Spore, until level 52 in the RSE (3rd) generation of games, the movesets off of which Colosseum works.
Also, at this point, Espeon is Lv.32, about 15% away from Lv.33. Continuing right brings us to a medium-sized cavern with two branching paths. Going north progresses us through the cave. Upstairs is mostly optional, but has two optional trainers, who you can completely walk past to get a chest containing 3 Ultra Balls. The first will attack if she spots you, the second will require you to talk to them in order to battle, but won't otherwise. It's a real team effort here at Miror B.'s Pyrite Cave.
CHASER REHAN, P$640 {optional}
Geodude (Lv.32, M)
Lotad (Lv.31, F)
Snorunt (Lv.32, F)
Slakoth (Lv.31, M)
REHAN: Urk! Crashed out!
REHAN: MIROR B.'s unbeatable! You'll lose!
* Espeon grew to LV. 33!
Pokemon Poopsock: Snorunt evolves into Glalie at level 42 in 3rd gen. However, in 4th gen, some Snorunt gain a second evolution: female Snorunt can evolve into the Ice/Ghost Froslass, when exposed to the Dawn Stone.
Spiffy Point: Slakoth, and its final evolution, Slaking, have an ability called Truant: on every turn following a turn they successfully attack on, they refuse to use an attack, making these two Pokemon bothersome to use. Its middle evolution, Vigoroth, has the Vital Spirit ability.
BANDANA GUY NOXY, P$528 {optional}
Lotad (Lv.33, F)
Lotad (Lv.33, M)
Lotad (Lv.33, F)
Lotad (Lv.33, M)
NOXY: S-Savaged...
NOXY: Yeah, you sure are strong. But you're no match for MIROR B. Heheh.
Spiffy Point: Noxy's Lotad are actually at a higher level than any of Miror B.'s Pokemon, save for Miror B.'s Shadow Pokemon. However, despite being at a higher level, Lotad's weak base stats compared to those of Miror B.'s Pokemon make Noxy easier to beat than Miror B. would be.
With no more path left to travel, it's back down the stairs, and northward bound, where we meet the first trainer we have to battle.
RIDER TWAN, P$330
Meditite (Lv.33, M|F) {Premier Ball}
Bagon (Lv.33, M)
Numel (Lv.32, F)
TWAN: Grrr! My POKEMON were shut down?!
TWAN: My POKEMON have won a knockout challenge! You're no average trainer for beating them!
An uneventful battle, a simple Snag. Heaving further north leads to another fork: to the left are a set of downward stairs, to the right, a male Hunter. I decide to backtrack and heal, and remember to talk to Silva, who is still sitting on the ground:
SILVA: Be careful when you go to the cave! The sentinel is tough!
Thanks for that protip, Silva, but we did that last update. After heading downstairs and healing, I check out Meditite. Some of the Shadow Pokemon hold items when Snagged, and Meditite's held item is the TwistedSpoon, which boost Psychic attacks by 10%. With Espeon lacking a good hold item, I take the TwistedSpoon off of Meditite, and give it to Espeon, then deposit Meditite and save. (The other Shadow Pokemon with held items we've encountered so far are Croconaw [Mystic Water, boosts Water], Misdreavus [Spell Tag, boosts Ghost] and Qwilfish [Poison Barb, boosts Poison].
So, what of that Trainer guarding the elevator?
CHASER KAI, P$640 {optional}
Phanpy (Lv.31, F)
Trapinch (Lv.32, F)
KAI: This didn't happen!
KAI: No matter what, this elevator is off-limits!
Spiffy Point: A quick test of trying to switch showed that Kai's Trapinch has the ability Hyper Cutter (which prevents Attack-stat-down effects) instead of Arena Trap (prevents switching of non-Flying or Levitate Pokemon).
And off-limits it is, as previously mentioned.
Heading back upstairs, to where the Hunter is, shows you can walk right past him, and open the chest containing a Full Heal with no incident or battle. But that's no fun.
HUNTER VALEN, P$512 {optional}
Lotad (Lv.32, F)
Whismur (Lv.33, F)
Slakoth (Lv.32, M)
VALEN: No! I'll be punished for this; never mind getting a reward!
VALEN: I'll pretend that I never say you two. Consider yourselves lucky!
* Espeon grew to LV. 34!
Before taking on the trainer who owns Shadow Dunsparce down the left branch's stairs, I elect to take Espeon solo against all of the Pokemon and trainers in Duel Square, as well as one of them a second time. Espeon survives all attacks with about 35% HP remaining.
* Espeon grew to LV. 35!
* Espeon grew to LV. 36!
At level 36, Espeon can and does learn Psybeam, a Psychic attack with 30% more base power, at the cost of 5 PP less than the move it forgets, Confusion. I check around, and no NPCs have anything interesting or new to say, so... back to the caves!
The deepest level of the caves is some sort of water-logged area. A sewer system, perhaps? Underground lake with walkways built? Heaven if I know. What I do know is that standing between myself, and the other side of the bridge (with a Healing Machine and save point) is a trainer with a Shadow Dunsparce. This means that if you want to reset for a good one, it takes a good 3-4 minutes of backtracking from the last save point when the next one is less than 30 seconds away after starting the game from the save point. The battle itself takes about 4-7 minutes, depending on if Dunsparce's Glare paralyzes your Pokemon and increases how many turns it takes to KO the other Pokemon. Oh well.
RIDER SOSH, P$340
Dunsparce (Lv.33, M|F) {Ultra Ball}
Mareep (Lv.32, F)
Cacnea (Lv.32, F)
SOSH: Oh, SOSH doesn't know what to do!
SOSH: No way, no way! I'm supposed to beat someone as strong as you? They must be joking!
To be honest, I did wall-glitch to bring Dunsparce's Heart Gauge to zero bars. I had intended it to be no less than 3/5 full, but I was trying to go for an Adamant one, and the simplest way to check it without battling is the wall-glitch. The point closest to Sosh where you can do this is located in the following place: Enter Pyrite Cave, and go down the stairs. Travel right, to about mid-way through the tunnel between the first two medium chambers. There will be a few barrels there. Unplug the controller after moving as close as you can to the barrels, hold the Control Stick down and to the left, plug it back in, and let go of the Control Stick. It takes a bit of finessing to get it to just the right spot, but you'll know it's there when the image on the screen starts shaking violently but on a regular interval. It took me a decent number of hours to get one I was satisfied with using for the rest of the game, with an Adamant nature and Serene Grace. Personally, I like Rash or Mild, letting me use a mixed moveset between physical and special attacks, but the votes wished for otherwise.
The large platform with the aforementioned save point and Healing Machine has a broken bridge north (making that northern platform inaccessible) and stairs upward. The large platforms are arranged in two columns of three rows, requiring bridges and stairs to the floor above to navigate between them. Upstairs are some more optional trainers.
ROLLER BOY EVAT, P$198 {optional}
Lotad (Lv.32, M)
Lombre (Lv.33, F)
EVAT: What have you done to my POKEMON?!
EVAT: Grr... Is MIROR B.'s age really going to arrive?
North down a long tunnel leads to a medium cavern node, with a tunnel branching off to the right. In the chamber, a very short distance away, is one mandatory Trainer with a Shadow Pokemon guarding a set of downward stairs; going north from there leads to Miror B. and the end of Pyrite Cave. Taking a long tunnel east leads to a series of optional battles and chested items. The latter will be taken first, before finishing up with the former.
RIDER DERID, P$640 {optional}
Pineco (Lv.30, M)
Shuppet (Lv.33, F)
Koffing (Lv.30, M)
DERID: But... This is ridiculous!
DERID: I was under orders to battle with you. Nobody said anything about not losing, so it's okay!
Underachieving: the method of operations standard to lesser Pokemon villains.
After beating (or not, your choice), heading downstairs leads to two branches, off of the upper right platform of the six. Going west forces you to battle a trainer, but yields four chests. Going north at the branch puts you against two trainers, with no reward.
HUNTER MELI, P$640 {mandatory to pass, optional side-branch}
Zigzagoon (Lv.32, F)
Zigzagoon (Lv.32, M)
Linoone (Lv.33, F)
MELI: Waaah! My confidence took a hit!
MELI: Maybe... Is it this place that's bad for my training?
Call it a hunch, but perhaps it is.
The four chests after her include one of six of the EV-boosting vitamins: Protein (boosts Atk.), Iron (boosts Def.), Zinc (boosts Sp.Def.), and Carbos (boosts Speed). (The two not offered are HP Up and Calcium, boosting HP and Sp.Atk, respectively). These can be bought in select locations, for P$9800 per unit, and sold as all other items for half of that value.
CHASER MELA, P$660 {optional}
Natu (Lv.33, F)
Tentacool (Lv.32, M)
Teddiursa (Lv.32, F)
MELA: Where's that POKEMON? I'll never tell you!
MELA: Don't you people have any sense of difection? I bet you're having trouble getting around in this cave!
Actually, no, I'm not. Just on a sight-seeing tour, love. Note the usage of Effective Villain Technique #2: "Make Fun of Your Enemies For No Discernible Reason After Losing".
CIPHER PEON SEMA, P$1360 {optional}
Spheal (Lv.32, F)
Lileep (Lv.31, M)
Dustox (Lv.32, F)
SEMA: It was no fluke that you managed to come out here...
SEMA: While you were all busy wasting time, what became of that POKEMON you're after? Hohohoho!
Spiffy Point: This is the second trainer of the Cipher Peon class we've taken on, the first being Cipher Peon Nore, who brought into Pyrite Building in the first place. Who or what is Cipher? Who knows. Not us at the moment, that's for sure.
So, belated rescue time. We head back up, to take on the last trainer before Miror B., who tries to prevent us from going downstairs.
HUNTER ZALO, P$512
Lotad (Lv.31, M)
Beldum (Lv.31, F)
Lombre (Lv.32, F)
Swablu (Lv.33, M|F) {Great Ball}
ZALO: No! My bright future!
ZALO: You ruined all my hopes of getting a promotion... Sob...
* Espeon grew to LV. 37!
We get our first look of one of my favorite evolutionary lines, which starts with Beldum. All three have the Clear Body ability, which prevents stat reduction caused by another Pokémon's move. Its Psychic/Steel typing resists many popular attacks, leaving it weak to only Ground and Fire types. Sadly, until it evolves to Metang, the only move a Beldum can know in third-gen is Take Down. In offense and defense, it is more physically-oriented than specially-oriented.
The order I actually ended up taking on these trainers in was Meli, Derid, Zalo, Mela and Sema. I head back, heal, and save, then decide it's finally time to confront Miror B. He probably has been waiting in some sleek, hi-tech office, or training in some state-of-the-art battle simulator, or...
What. So, instead of preparing for a climactic battle, he's been... dancing? And this is supposed to be the villainous administrator of a criminal organization? Well, at this rate, the world will be saved in no time.
CIPHER ADMIN MIROR B., P$3,500
Ludicolo (Lv.31, Rain Dish): Rain Dance / Leech Seed / Dive / ???
Ludicolo (Lv.30 Rain Dish): Rain Dance / Leech Seed / Mega Drain / Fury Swipes
Ludicolo (Lv.29, Swift Swim): Rain Dance / Leech Seed / Water Gun / Astonish
Ludicolo (Lv.28, Rain Dish?): Rain Dance / Leech Seed / Razor Leaf / ???
Sudowoodo (Lv.35, M|F) {Premier Ball, Ability: Rock Head}
(The battle attached is just a sample of what the battle was like, and was not the final version of what I saved on; that footage was lost due to hideous de-sync.)
Words fail to transcribe what precisely went down with Miror B. himself, but I can at least comment a bit about the battle, as well as the Ludicolo species. Ludicolo shares the same typing (Water/Grass) as its previous evolutions, Lotad and Lombre. It also shares the same abilities, Rain Dish and Swift Swim. The latter you should know about, back from Mantine and Qwilfish, but the former, Rain Dish, heals 1/16 of its max HP at the end of each turn. Leech Seed inflicted the volitile "seeded" status condition: each turn the afflicted Pokemon is out, it saps 1/8th of the target's HP and gives it to the Pokemon in the position (top or bottom) who used the attack. Interestingly, "seeded" status will vanish, if it was used by the bottom Pokemon, and your opponent has no Pokemon remaining in that position.
Each Ludicolo of Miror B.'s shares two moves: Rain Dance to set up for the other three, and Leech Seed, to wear down your HP and boost its own. We bypassed using the only Pokemon so-far immune to Leech Seed: Bayleef and Skiploom. The other two attacks have a general theme of stalling or HP-sapping, such as Dive (essentially a Water-type Fly or Dig attack) or Mega Drain (40 bp Grass-type attack, half of HP done in damage done is given to heal user). Your best tactic is to aim both of your attacks at a single Ludicolo, to try to take it out in one or two turns. Just be careful that you don't attack the Lv.31 one during the turn of Dive that is underwater, as it will miss.
After the third Ludicolo falls, Shadow Sudowoodo will come out. Any Flying or Fire-types are likely to get hit in the face with a Rock Slide, while Fighting-weak Pokemon run the risk of a harsh Low Kick. Using Dunsparce's Glare or Noctowl's Hypnosis to status Sudowoodo, followed by chipping it down to half-HP is usually enough to guarantee a successful Snag with almost any Ball.
So, we've successfully beaten Miror B. and foiled this part of his plans. What is his brilliant retaliatory measure?
Oh, right. Should've seen that coming, from the way his Peons reacted... right. In the back room is Plusle, and Ein File, and a lovely hold item known as the Macho Brace. It helps make your Pokemon stronger if it holds/wears it during battles, but it cuts down the holder's Speed by a fair deal.
Pokemon Poopsock: The Macho Brace earns the holder double the EVs you get for any Pokemon it gains EXP from fainting. However, the Speed stat is effectively halved while holding it. My opinion? In this game, you aren't trying to EV train, but getting your EVs up as quickly as possible is a great way to make the rest of the game easier. Battle-grinding your Pokemon against some of the ones in Duel Square that give your Pokemon the EVs it wants makes life much easier, but it does take a fair amount of time to do, with battles regularly being about three minutes each.
The Ein File tells us some more about how Purification is a bad thing if you want a Pokemon to remain a Shadow Pokemon, and how they need to find a way to stop it from happening. Be sure to gather these two things, as talking to Plusle triggers a cutscene that brings you out of the cave.
So, Duking decides to grace us with Plusle's presence. It's level 13. Espeon's level 37. Our weakest Shadow Pokemon is level 20. Plusle will likely not see much action, unless much effort is put into it.
Pokemon Poopsock: The one I ended up receiving was Jolly, which boosts its great Speed at the cost of its only good attack stat, Special Attack. This means Special Attacks compared to the average at its level will be 10% weaker. Lovely.
There are a few more interesting things to be said, after the cutscene, from a variety of people.
DUKING: We have to move quickly. We need to gather as much information as possible.
Stalling around getting stuff done has never failed me thus far. You get one or the other, Duking, not both. So, more information it is.
SILVA: MIROR B.'s mob may have been seen smuggling SHADOW POKEMON in from there. I'm going to do a little digging into the underground town of THE UNDER.
Don't count on success with your track record. At least Silva gives us a name to the place the pink-shirt mentioned. When spoken to, Marcia says, "Big people! Please be nice to PLUSLE!". Sorry, Plusle was probably better off in your hands.
Well, at least this makes sense. Maybe we'll be able to fight Duking one day, just for fun? We head into the not-so-secret secret room.
Waaah! You startled me! Oh, it's you guys again! Oh, yes. I didn't tell you my name yet. I'm MARICA's friend. My name is SECC. I'm glad we met you!
SECC: I'm trying to get in touch with kids in other towns to gather information. After all, this is the age of networking!
Try to keep it on the down-low. We don't need secret plans visible on Twitter.
YES: Oh, I wish I knew. I don't understand what it is.
NO: Everyone was saying they're going to make it and talk over it. SECC said they are.
When I get bigger, I'm going to knock out MIROR B., too!
Popping over to the police station gives us a cutscene mirroring an earlier one:
JOHNSON: Owowowow... I'm sorry, CHIEF. But there's big news! You see, CHIEF, MIROR B. and his underlings have left the town... ...Huh? CHIEF? … You're not the CHIEF … I beg your pardon!
> I'm here, JOHNSON... That story isn't new. I've heard about it over and over already.
JOHNSON: Oh! Oh, CHIEF, there you are! You're such a kidder! Ahaha.
One cutscene later, Johnson brags about how good a job he did:
JOHNSON: I'm pretty sure that MIROR B. hightailed it out of fear of me.
Mhm. Let's see if Sherles has anything more competent to say.
SHERLES: So, you wiped out MIROR B. and his gang. Thank you. On behalf of our whole town, I want to thank you two. But there's also bad news. Headquarters warns that there is a mysterious organization that is plotting world domination.
Isn't there always?
SHERLES: I don't know if it has any connection to MIROR B., but you should be careful. Don't do anything reckless.
Don't worry, we will anyway. While we're here, Sudowoodo and Plusle find some rather comfortable spots in the PC.
Likewise, we'll talk to our favorite two Miror B. Peons, about current events:
TRUDLY: You can tell us obvious lies, but we are still not going to leave this safe place!
Wow, they really are terrible criminals. We open the door again, chatting to Trudly inside the cell.
TRUDLY: What?! That MIROR B. took a loss from you?! Come on, how am I supposed to believe that?
Damnit, I KNEW I should've stolen Miror B.'s afro. It'd be a great trophy as well as proof of victory. It's probably for the best, though. There might be a Pidgey nest or Combee hive in there, or something. Maybe there's even a Voltorb in there, and he just grew his hair around it?
As we try to leave town, the fortune-teller, Fateen, stops us, and offers some lovely
FATEEN: But not all is well. I can feel the presence of black auras coming from Shadow Pokemon.
♀: Wow! FATEEN, nothing escapes your notice.
FATEEN: There is but nothing that elude the notice of my fortune-telling. Fwofwofwo. The key to freeing POKEMON from that black aura... It is in the north.
♀: Up north... That's where my grandpa lives, too... Oh no! I forgot! I was on my way to visit Grandpa! He lives in AGATE VILLAGE. That's north of here.
FATEEN: Fwofwofwo. That being north may be no more coincidence. Your answer may be there.
♀: Oh! My grandpa was a famous trainer when he was young. Maybe my grandpa would know something. Let's go see him, [NAME].
Being who I am, I completely ignore them, in order to see if anyone else has fun new things to say. And say things they do! Hm, let's see, who else haven't I bugged... How about that Rogue Cail?
CAIL: But it doesn't matter if that clown's here or not. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that PYRITE's the town for battling. Get ready for this!
ROGUE CAIL, P$560 {optional}
Snubbull (Lv.35, M)
Kirlia (Lv.35, F)
Nuzleaf (Lv.35, M)
Machop (Lv.35, M)
CAIL: I couldn't do it again!
CAIL: Moan... I've learned how tough you are battling. It's a full-body experience.
Surprisingly, Cail's gotten a bit stronger since last we met. Despite the loss of his Shadow Pokemon, his Seedot and Ralts have evolved to Nuzleaf and Kirlia, respectively. In evolving, the pure Grass-type Seedot is now the Grass/Dark-type Nuzleaf, and is now immune to Psychic attacks. All the other Pokemon are at the same level, and he makes for a good opponent for some extra Experience and Heart Gauge-lowering.
Construction Site:
Nothing new going on here.
Outskirt Stand:
Same. No new Balls, or anything. Sorry. However, there IS a news report!
> MIROR B., the brutal crime lord of PYRITE TOWN, has been defeated and driven out of town. Reports claim that two young people were behind MIROR B.'s downfall. Their identities and where they came from are unknown. Thanks to their heroic work, PYRITE TOWN should hopefully return to its peaceful ways.
Peaceful's a bit of a stretch, but there won't be anything in the way of Shadow Pokemon taking place out in the open in Pyrite Town.
Phenac City:
Two things to do here. First, a check-in on the Mayor.
ES CADE: I can tell from the news that you two have been very busy. I think it's splendid! I will continue with our investigation. You can count on us!
Yeah... well... has your investigation turned up anything? No?
Last, an unimportant side-trip to the Pre Gym, to update our P*DA.
> A good trainer always thinks about the POKEMON that are in battle. Oh, hello, you two. Is the STRATEGY MEMO helping your training?
[NAME] showed the P*DA.
Oh, I guess you met a new Pokemon or so. Let's update your data.
One's a bit of an underestimate. Seriously, can't this thing auto-update, or you give all the information at once, and then I just go through and look at...
Okay. Here you go. I hope you'll study it carefully.
And back to the overworld, to head to Agate Village, hopefully for cookies.
Alright, that draws this update to a close. Agate Village is next, with a spoilers-ishly astonishing total of one Shadow Pokemon, Hitmontop, and it should be a relatively short one.