Part 53: Feelin' Hot Hot Hot! (Magma Cavern)

...I'm... in that dream again...



...Gardevoir...



It's tomorrow, isn't it? That you take to that underground dungeon.

Yes. They make it sound like one terrible place. I wonder if we'll be okay...

You will be fine. I am certain that you will succeed, Jake. You have my support. Please, go with strength.

I will. Thank you. I'm feeling a little braver now!

By the way... Gardevoir, do you know? What it's like underground? Or what Groudon is like?

No... I'm sorry to say I can't envision it.

Okay. I thought maybe you knew something, the way you said it.

No. I only wanted to give you encouragement. I'm sorry.

No, no. That's fine too! I'm happy you tried to cheer me up. Thank you.

But... there is one thing that I can foresee.

Huh?

Your role... is coming to its end, little by little.

My role... is ending...?

You became a Pokémon in order to fulfill a certain role, and that role brought you here.



Now, that role... is finally drawing to its conclusion.

Gardevoir, tell me! What's my role? Why did I become a Pokémon?

When the time comes... I think I can tell you when this adventure is finished. Au revoir...

The next morning...



Morning, Jake! Get a good night's sleep?

Um, pretty good...

This is it! Let's give it our best and rescue Alakazam!



(Gardevoir said she will tell me everything when this adventure is over. Is going underground the adventure she meant? Will she tell me if we rescue Alakazam's team?)

Hey. What, are you stunned? Let's go, already!

R-right! Sorry!





So this is it... the underground cavern where Groudon is.

Look at the flowing streams of lava!

It wouldn't surprise me if the dungeon is scorching hot.

It's a good thing I've got you here.

Other rescue teams should already be inside. Let's get in there and give it our best!

Go, Team Hugs!



Welcome to Magma Cavern! This is a pretty straightforward dungeon; most of the Pokémon are evolved forms and can't be recruited, so we can get everything we want to do done on a single trip. It's the longest dungeon yet, so bring some good food and maybe even two Max Elixirs (though we made do with one).



Unfortunately, we can't recruit several of the unevolved Pokémon here because we don't have the right Friend Areas yet; we'll have to come back post-credits if we want to get some Sandshrew hugs. In the meantime, Jake borrows Sheldon's X-Ray Specs to help us swiftly retrieve the loot from each level.



We've acquired over 500 Gravelerocks through grinding, mostly off-screen in the Great Dungeon Offensive. Time to put them to work softening up critters. (This Raticate got softened too much and started to run, so we finish it off with another rock or two.)



As you might guess, Magma Cavern is an excellent source for Red Gummis; we also find several Gray and Silver Gummis. Red is Fire, while Gray is Rock and Silver is Steel. Jake brings home a few of each and chows down on the rest.



Lava pools start popping up as we head deeper and deeper into the Cavern. With All-Terrain Hiker, Jake could cross them, but Sheldon couldn't, and anyway there's no reason to in this dungeon.



This Kecleon store has a disappointing selection, but at least we can offload a few items (like a Secret Power TM and a Stamina Band) to make room for more useful items. Some day we'll attempt to recruit a Kecleon; today will not be that day.



As usual, Jake does most of the work, but having a Water type in this dungeon is certainly welcome.



The cavern grows darker and more open as Team Hugs continues to descend; more and more the caverns are delineated by magma instead of rock.



There are plenty of Iron Thorns and Silver Spikes in this dungeon, but Gravelerocks continue to be both more useful and more dangerous. More useful because we can throw them over walls and hit Pokémon that aren't in a straight line in front of us; more dangerous because, since they do fixed damage, enemy Pokémon can do more damage to us with them than with any of their moves currently.



Jake picked up Fury Swipes off-camera in the Howling Forest. It's an extremely useful move in PMD because it hits multiple times-- and because this game calculates move damage a bit differently than the main Pokémon games, that means it does a lot more damage than veterans of those games expect. It also rolls a separate to-hit for each blow (another change from the main games, IIRC), which makes it more likely we'll tag evasive foes at least once.



Case in point about the dangers of Gravelerocks in the wrong paws: this Mawile (you can juuust see it in the lower-right) takes Jake down to 44 HP before he defeats it, and it could have gone worse if it hadn't thrown one of its rocks at Sheldon. That's the least healthy Jake gets in this entire dungeon.



Compare and contrast this Silver Spike hit. Jake barely noticed it.







Sheldon could have learned Skull Bash, which is a move that hits pretty hard, but takes two turns to use (charges the first turn, unleashes the second). I don't like waiting, so I don't bother.



Deeper and darker still grows the Magma Cavern. Still, it isn't anything Team Hugs can't handle, considering how over-leveled they are.





GRAAAAAAAAH! (I am displeased by your presence in this cavern!)



Graaaaaah... (Could this have been resolved without resort to violence?)



GRAAAAAH GRAAAH! (Your might is impressive! I would join your endeavors!)

Um, Sheldon, I can't understand a word he's saying.

He wants to come with us. I think.

Yay!

Detritus (Onix, #095) is hugged! Pokémon hugged: 30. (Thanks, menstruates on stage (name)!)

You may recall that Pokémon have different sizes, measured in terms of stars; our party can never be larger than six stars total, but as most Pokémon are only a single star, this is seldom a more restrictive limit than our 'three enter the dungeon, four while in it' limit. Onix, however, is a four-star Pokémon, which means we had to leave everyone else behind just to recruit him. The other four-star Pokémon, the 'largest' in the game, are Gyarados, Lapras, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Dragonite, Steelix, Lugia, Ho-oh, Wailord, Milotic, Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza. Note that size isn't strictly based on height or weight.



And at last we reach the end!



Of the first part of the dungeon.

Let's take a break; my feet are killing me!

Works for me. I've never been so hot!

Team Hugs's newest member:

Next time on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: so what part of this dungeon was supposed to be the hard part again?