Part 9: Good Samaritan

Update 08: Good Samaritan


Azalea Town: Where People and Pokémon Live in Happy Harmony!
(Azalea is from the, well, azalea shrub, in the Rhododendron genus and have a reddish brown colour)
Hiwada Town: The town where Pokémon and people live happily together.
(Hiwada is the name of the Japanese cypress, a tree with a reddish brown trunk, which is also where Hiwada-iro comes from)

Azalea Town

"standing guard."

: Aren't I a good Samaritan?



Well this is a good first impression for a town. Team Rocket. Grrrrrrrrreat. Cool hidden item though.



: Also known as the RAINMAKER WELL. Locals believe that a SLOWPOKE's yawn summons rain. Records show that a SLOWPOKE's yawn ended a drought 400 years ago.



Well let's have a look around and see what we find. Azalea is pretty small, but there are a few places of interest.



Behind this Kurt guy's house, we have a WHT Apricorn. We'll be making use of this a bit later.



: MARINA, eh? You want me to make some BALLS? Sorry, but that'll have to wait. Do you know TEAM ROCKET? Ah, don't worry. I'll tell you anyhow.

: TEAM ROCKET's an evil gang that uses POKéMON for their dirty work. They're supposed to have disbanded three years ago. Anyway, they're at the WELL, cutting off SLOWPOKETAILS for sale!

: So I'm going to go give them a lesson in pain! Hang on, SLOWPOKE! Old KURT is on his way!



Huh, can run pretty fast for an old geezer. But yeah, that was Kurt (from curt, a synonym for obstinate (stubborn refusal to change opinions or actions)), or Gantetsu (from Ganko-ittetsu, obstinate). He's gonna make us some special balls using Apricorns. Uh, later.



Well... I suppose we should make sure he doesn't get into trouble.



Wait! Scratch that, Gym time!

"heard it's tasty!"

: Aren't you glad I told you that?

Aw man, now I want one myself. Guess I can save up the money for that guy. In time.

"Encyclopedia"

Guess it's not Gym time just yet, so let's explore the town some more.

"from the town."

: The forest's protector may be angry with us... It may be a bad omen. We should stay in.

I can feel it in my boooooooones.



Hrm.



Time for some more SHOPPING. The Charcoal is another one of those 10% boosting items, this time for Fire moves. I would not recommend it mainly because it's stupidly expensive.



Aw gosh darn it, I'm poor again.



Nothing left to do but head into the Slowpoke Well, since the Rocket guy is gone now.

Slowpoke Well



: The guard up top took off when I shouted at him. But then I took a tumble down the WELL. I slammed down hard on my back, so I can't move.

: Rats! If I were fit, my POKéMON would've punished them... Ah, it can't be helped. MARINA, show them how gutsy you are in my place!

Alright, let's see what we're dealing with.

Team Rocket Challenge



: He startled me so much that I fell down here. I think I'll vent my anger by taking it out on you!

Team Rocket Battle



Here we go, facing up against the terror team from three years ago. Fully fledged criminals! They must have some real tough Pokemon.



lol jk



: Everything we do is for profit. That's right! We're TEAM ROCKET and we'll do anything for money!

As an aside, there's a fair few characters that don't have Gen 2 artwork, so instead I'll be using Stadium 2 head shots. While the Johto Gym Leaders have no clean, full body artwork to use (similar to Lance in Gen 1), they have their own headshots from the game manual. So yeah, bit of background trivia for ya.



Surprise, surprise, you can find Slowpoke here. When you don't find a million Zubat.



Curse (Noroi: Curse/Slow (it can mean both depending on the kanji used, hence the move's effect)) is a very interesting move. It's the only move with the ??? type (and is a status move with 10PP), since it has two distinct effects depending on the type of the Pokemon using it. If it's a Ghost type, the user sacrifices half of its health (and can faint from this) to place a Curse effect on the opponent, which causes them to lose 25% of their health at the end of each turn until they switch out. Can be pretty nasty. If the user is not a Ghost type, it instead raises Attack and Defense by one stage and lowers Speed by one stage.



I pressed down and A here, but the game only read the A part, so I used Bubble instead of Hypnosis. Whoops!



Eventually one is captured. Huzzah.



: Yeah, just try to defeat all of us!



Hey, challenge accepted gurrrrrrl.



It's like, wrong and stuff. I dunno, maybe MARINA doesn't have much of a moral compass compared to SATOSHI.



Only two fools to go.



: If we obeyed you, TEAM ROCKET's rep would be ruined!



I need a third team member soon, cause I'm just going through the levels.



Yeah, even he agrees.

"POKETAILS?"

: It's tough being a ROCKET GRUNT!



Oh? Scandalous!



Aww. Now I really wanna punish these guys. So let's go do that.



: If you interrupt our work, don't expect any mercy!



Well, uh, this isn't really a boss. But this is quite a high level, so it might be tough?



Smog (Sumoggu) is a pretty weak Poison move with 20BP, 20PP and 70% accuracy with a 40% chance to poison. That, uh... that's a pretty bad move, but some Poison types don't really have a choice, alas.

"time!"

Overall, not a tough fight, but that is cause I'm getting a tad overleveled.

"three years ago."

: But we continued our activities underground. Now you can have fun watching us stir up trouble!





: TEAM ROCKET has taken off. My back's better too. Let's get out of here.



Woah, trippy.

Azalea Town



: You handled yourself like a real hero at the WELL. I like your style! I would be honored to make BALLS for a trainer like you. This is all I have now, but take it.



Cool, we can definitely use this very soon.



: Collect them from trees and bring 'em to me. I'll make BALLS out of them. You have an APRICORN for me? Fine! I'll turn it into a BALL.



Ooh, wait, I can show off something cool!



Since I had a break in recording, the apricorn grew back.



New to Crystal, we can have Kurt make multiple of a ball. These WHT Apricorns can be turned into Fast Balls, which aren't that great, but might as well have a few.



No matter how many apricorns we give him, it'll always take him a day to make them, so this new feature can get you a lot of BALLS very quickly. Though we still need to build up our Apricorn stock.



: He'll make good BALLS for you, so please wait!

Sure thing. As an aside, this girl is called Maizie, but only in the anime and manga. Her dad works for Silph Co. TRIIIIIIIIVIAAAAAAAAAA

"tector."

Oh these wacky people, praising Slowpoke and worshiping an onion fairy.



Apparently Kurt and Oak know each other. I forgot to check the other side of the picture, which is of a stern woman, most likely Agatha. Unlike the manga, there's no mention of Pryce or the Day Care Couple.



Kuuuuuurt, it's been, like, two minutes. Are my balls done yet?



Alright, alright, I'll wait.



Oh, uh, okay. Guess we're doing this now!

Egg Hatching





The Egg hatched! Into an... Egg? No, wait, that's just its body. I think.

Azalea Town




HP: 35 | ATK: 20 | DEF: 65 | SP.ATK: 40 | SP.DEF:65 | SPD: 20 | TOTAL: 245
#046: Togepi



We're gonna keep this kid around to speed along its evolution, but it's just not something we can use, unfortunately.



We did say we'd call Elm when it hatches.



: What? It hatched? Wow! What kind of POKéMON is it? Please come show me now!

Ehhhhhhh, I'm kinda far away right now. I'll get back to you later.



Gym time!

Pokémon Gym



: BUGSY's young, but his knowledge of bug POKéMON is for real. It's going to be tough without my advice. Let's see... Bug POKéMON don't like fire. Flying-type moves are super-effective too.

It's a Bug gym and how easy it'll be really depends on your starter. Hope that Chikorita solo nuzlocke run is going well so far!

"We come first!"

AMY: Hi! Are you challenging the LEADER? No way!

(For twins, you only get the dialogue of the one you talk to. I'll be including the other one as well, might as well.



Unfortunately, this isn't a double battle. Those don't exist yet.



Kakarott's fun times.

"a shame."

AMY: You're really strong!



Hey, I'll happily use a Bug when they aren't shit in like... 7 years.



Man, I cannot be arsed going out to buy loads of Antidotes... I think I've got, like, 2.



They are the eternal mystery. I mean, uh, as a girl with fabulous blue hair, I could say that boys are weird for not liking, uh, flowers and shit.

"you're mighty!"

: But my grown-up POKéMON are pretty tough too!




HP: 35 | ATK: 70 | DEF: 55 | SP.ATK: 45 | SP.DEF:55 | SPD: 25 | TOTAL: 285
#070: Paras



Thanks for taking the poison bullet, Kakarott. Poisonpowder is a Poison status move with 35PP and 75% accuracy that poisons the target, aside from Poison and Steel types. Last gen, Stun Spore was the best powder of choice. Now it's Sleep Powder. Poisonpowder will never be number one.

"moves..."

Ahahahahahahahahaha, man, time to use another Antidote.



Look at me.



Loooooooooooooook at me.



Gah! Don't scare me like that.



A blessing and a curse.




HP: 45 | ATK: 25 | DEF: 50 | SP.ATK: 25 | SP.DEF: 25 | SPD: 35 | TOTAL: 205
#028: Kakuna



Harden (Katakunaru: Stiffen) is a Normal status move with 30PP that raises Defense by one stage. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.



Never gonna complain about free experience.




HP: 65 | ATK: 80 | DEF: 40 | SP.ATK: 45 | SP.DEF: 80 | SPD: 75 | TOTAL: 385
#029: Beedrill



Ah the multi hit moves. How I haven't missed you. Fury Attack (Midare Dzuki: Disturbed Stab) is a Normal multi hit move with 15BP, 20PP and 85% accuracy. It can hit between 2-5 times, with a 37.5% chance for 2 or 3 hits each and a 12.5% chance for 4 to 5 hits each, so the average power of this move is 45. Woo. Unlike the last gen, any of the hits have independant damage, so any of the hits can be critical.

"evolve. Really!"

I think most players would be at the point where something of theirs would have evolved by now. Uh, maybe.



Anyway, after this excruciating Gym puzzle (they don't make 'em like they used to), it's time to face the leader.



: My research is going to make me the authority on bug POKéMON! Let me demonstrate what I've learned from my studies.

Gym Leader Battle VS Gym Leader Bugsy






Bugsy: The Walking Bug Pokemon Encyclopedia
(From, uh, bug. Yeahhhhhh)
Tsukushi: The Walking Bug Poke-Encyclopedia
(From tsukushi (horsetail or snake grass), mushi (bug) and tsukutsukubōshi (a type of cicada))




HP: 50 | ATK: 20 | DEF: 55 | SP.ATK: 25 | SP.DEF: 25 | SPD: 30 | TOTAL: 205
#025: Metapod



Okay, so Bugsy starts off pretty bad, what with using both of the cocoon evolutions, but maybe they might have something crazy up their sleeves.



A'ight, cool.




HP: 70 | ATK: 110 | DEF: 80 | SP.ATK: 55 | SP.DEF: 80 | SPD: 105 | TOTAL: 500
#110: Scyther



Yeah, this might make things interesting. This is reason why Bugsy has a shitty team otherwise, cause you need to be on your toes for this thing. It can be pretty dangerous and those kinds of stats at this level is a little bit silly.



Mainly because of this move. Fury Cutter (Renzoku Giri: Consecutive Cut) is a Bug move with 10BP, 20PP and 95% accuracy. Now you might think, pfft, whatever. But after each consecutive hit, the base power of this move doubles, up to a cap of 160BP, after five turns. Since Scyther can be kinda tough to take down without super effective moves, this makes prolonging the battle a bad idea. Thankfully, there's a slight chance it'll miss and the boosted power will reset, so if need be, you can use status or debuffs and that to keep it down.



That damage can add up pretty quickly, so after three turns, Jeremiah is down and Fury Cutter now has 80BP.



This could've gone really badly if I didn't have Kakarott as back up. Thankfully, it seems that even at max power, Fury Cutter wouldn't have been able to one shot me.



And since Jeremiah weakened it enough, one Ember is all we need to finish it off.



But there we go, not a bad battle overall.



Oh, right, uh, he still has one left.



Well, might as well see what it can do.



...



So anyway, that was the perfect Gym battle, really, and what I strive to show every time. Give each opponent their own spotlight and let them showcase their strategy in such a way that I can show a simple, if effective counter to it. Bonus points if I can make it a close one, yet always being in control of the situation and showing off what our team can do. Hopefully the next Gym goes this well...

Gym Leader Defeated

"on POKéMON!"

: My research isn't complete yet. OK, you win. Take this BADGE.

"BADGE?"

: If you have it, POKéMON up to L30 will obey you, even traded ones. POKéMON that know CUT will be able to use it outside of battle too. Here, I want you to have this.



: If you don't miss, it gets stronger every turn. The longer your battle goes, the better it gets. Isn't that great? I discovered it!

: Bug POKéMON are deep. There are many mysteries to be explored. Study your favorites thoroughly.



: With people like you, the future of POKéMON is bright!



That makes two badges, so still plenty to go.



And next time, we'll head towards the location of the third Gym.