Part 7: Duking With Dakim

Part 7: Duking With Dakim




Daahahah! Treacherous? You didn't really think that a worm like you could win? All you had to do was hand over the TIME FLUTE without making a fuss. It's your own fault for getting hurt. Since you're not cooperating, I don't have any choice but to haul you off to EIN's LAB.



And now you've come to mess with me, the great DAKIM! Don't make me laugh! I'll pound a lesson into your flesh and bones, so you'll never even think of bothering me again!



You ready to face another Admin? Don't kid yourself, you're not ready.

Cipher Admin Battle









Yep, already we're facing a Protect + Earthquake combo. If you don't have ways to really deal with this, especially when his actual Ground types use this move, you're in a lot of trouble.



Metang is the weak link in his team, so it'll go down first if you hit it hard enough. You do having something that can hit a Steel type, right?



Because of Gen 3 mechanics, Marshtomp gets sent out to get hit in the face with a Razor Leaf. It's the simple things in life.



While Magnolia can make short work of Golem, with Earthquake and DoubleEdge, this mon can be a super big problem, especially if your main answers to it get weakened by Earthquake while it protects.




Magnolia can take out both opponents, so Dhalsim will heal him up.



Well this is pretty easy, on to the last two of Dakim's mons.



Shadow Legendaries. We're halfway through this game now, are you prepared to catch them?



This is



REALLY BAD

Entei, 3 catch rate (3%, very low health, Ultra Ball, paralyzed, 4% with Timer Ball at 20+ turns, 7% at 40+ turns), starting moves: Fire Blast, Bite, Leer, Shadow Rush/Sunny Day

There's no Master Balls to help you with this roamer, Entei is a Pokemon that will snap this game's difficulty in half, so long as you can catch it now before it snaps you in half. While it has slightly higher Attack, its SpAtk is nothing to ignore and Fire Blast will destroy any Grass, Bug or Ice types for the rest of the game, no question. Bite is a bit pointless since Fire Blast will do more than a 2x super effective hit and with Sunny Day you can combo with Solarbeam, making a very potent special attacker that will easily clean up the game for you, if you're struggling at certain points. It'll take a while to purify too, so you'll get a lot of mileage from Shadow Rush and it'll really appreciate Return. Those are its only options though, but even with this much, it'll completely wreck. It's not even the best legendary we can get in this game...



Ow. We'll try and recover from this and we'll be fine if Mawuh takes out Camerupt, since we do NOT need it to use Earthquake again. I mean, uh, it's good that Dakim weakened Entei for us, makes our job a little easier.



I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE DONE THIS



I didn't have that many Revives on me and when you're down to your last Pokemon, it becomes very hard to revive something up and switch it in no problem, as the AI picks their moves AFTER you've taken yours, so they're free to target the half weakened mon you've just sent out and faint it again. It's a vicious cycle that can easily lose you a battle, so better to just restart now.

Uh, oh yeah, since we reset against a Shadow Pokemon (even if we never threw a single ball at it), Shadow Pokemon Resets: 2 3



Let's try this again with Dhalsim and Magnolia, since I'll give the really tough fights a go without knowing much about them (aside from what I remember the last time I played) and lead with whatever Pokemon need to level next. The second time around I'll lead properly and know how things go down, so it should be fine!




Uh, most of the time.



This combo is getting old, but I really can't do anything about it, aside from tank with Magnolia.




Poor Marshtomp can't catch a fuckin break.



It can be a real problem though, if it lowers your accuracy with Muddy Water and Mud Slap, or Speed with Mud Shot. Definitely glad I took it out. I've never seen Metang not Earthquake.



There we go! Mawuh can easily outspeed and take out Camerupt, cause it can be a real problem, as we saw, since Entei doesn't have Protect.



Okay, now comes the hard part. According to the one speedrun of this game I saw, apparently the bonus catch rate ends at Sudowoodo, but maybe it lasts longer than that, cause a 4% chance of capture is pretty rough and definitely not the case. After catching a million legendaries at the end of Emerald, I feel like the ones in Orre are a little bit easier to obtain. But we don't have the ~numbers~, just the models!



Alright, we need to weaken it a bit more, another Octazooka is probably a good idea, right?



Oh no wait, now it's only got one more Shadow Rush before it faints. But, really, what are the chances of that?




The game only gets harder from here folks, thank god I savestate when it's only the Shadow mon left. Shadow Pokemon Resets: 3 4



Let's use Mawuh's Psybeam instead and try again.



Okay, the fifth ball, that's pretty good! Again, I'll just pretend it's a 4% chance each time even though it's probably higher and just walk around thinking I'm hot shit.

Mt. Battle




I'm pulling out for now. You go to EIN's LAB and help out there.

As you wish, sir!

This isn't over yet. Stronger POKEMON are being made even now. You'd better get serious about training your POKEMON for our next meeting. Daahahah!



Cipher seem to drop a lot of items on the ground. This is far from the last one.



I'm VANDER. I'm an AREA LEADER here at MT. BATTLE.

I'm ANCA and this is THOMAS. We're glad to see you!



This is the TIME FLUTE. I happened to find it while I was on my training trek. It's said that the TIME FLUTE will summon CELEBI, but just once. There must be something about CELEBI that frightens them. They obviously don't want CELEBI to encounter SHADOW POKEMON. But let's not spend any more time here. Let's go back.



B-But... are you certain? May we really have something this precious?

Of course you may. I'd rather have you use that TIME FLUTE than have those crooks take it by force. Use it, and save the SHADOW POKEMON from their sinister plans. By the way, you two seem to have been fighting that gang for a long time. You should come here for training, then. It will toughen you up much, much more. I have to warn you, though. If you come up against me, I won't ease up one bit. I'll be waiting!



Steel Wing is just sitting there after saving Vander for some reason and our team could really use the healing. But now, we can take on Mt. Battle and try and climb the whole thing. It's, uh, kinda worth it, but it's a pretty long challenge that will strengthen your team a fair amount.



As you climb the mountain, you'll get Poke Coupons, which you might recognise from Pokemon Battle Revolution, a game much worse than this one. What kind of prizes can we get from here?



Holy shit that's some good stuff, I want allllllll of it! Let's discuss the prizes and how we won't be getting any of them until either the end of the game, or postgame here.



Now that we've defeated Dakim, there's actually a lot that's changed around the region, including stuff I could've done earlier, but decided to do now. Like this trainer, she's someone we can only fight now!




Nice going Dhalsim. Anyway, despite my grumbling of the prizes, I will be climbing up Mt. Battle in the Story mode. However, I won't be using our team, otherwise they'd get loads of exp and become too strong for the main story, which I don't want. So I'll be doing something the developers probably expected you to do in the main story and use all the Shadow Pokemon we've obtained! Or, more specifically, those who've been purified, since that's more fun, including Umbreoff and Plusle! I'll be intercutting that inbetween regular updates, but we'll just continue as normal otherwise.




Dhalsim needs to get evolving fast, since he's too frail to be particularly helpful right now. The bad luck certainly isn't helping.



Best head back to Agate.

Agate Village



Alright we'll go talk to Grandpa. Uh, Rui's grandpa, he's not ours yet. I mean, uh, ever.



So, how goes it? Have you trounced the cretins that raided MT. BATTLE? I expected nothing less of my own grandaughter! And, of course, THOMAS! Hmhm... I see! So VANDER conferred the TIME FLUTE upon you. Then, what are you waiting for? Depart for the RELIC FOREST and summon CELEBI at once. I wonder what will happen. I find it quite exciting.



Good. I'll try to reach you at this number if anything happens. This makes us pen pals! Hohoho. I would be useful if one could summon CELEBI whenever one desired. But that, of course, isn't possible. Luckily, as it is inscribed on the SMALL TABLET, the RELIC in the RELIC FOREST is imbued with CELEBI's power. If a SHADOW POKEMON is ready to throw open its heart's door, you must visit the RELIC.

Well, thanks to you two, things are back to normal at MT. BATTLE. They should resume training there right away. THOMAS, even if it's just once, train at MT. BATTLE. I'm sure it will make you even stronger.



I guess we should use that Time Flute on something. But there's a couple other things first.



After selecting moves I wondered if Swellow had any Flying moves for Dhalsim to worry about. It did! But I won the 50/50 on who the AI would attack, so lucky me!



Soon Mawuh won't need the Exp Share. Sure, he probably doesn't need it now, but this is just quicker.



I have had enough of Dig for a while.



Hoo boy, you're strong. Where do you study? You know, I bet you'd win at the PHENAC STADIUM. I guarantee it!



Do you know about COLOGNE MASSAGES? Yup! All POKEMON love being treated to COLOGNE MASSAGES! POKEMON get very happy if you massage them with different kinds of SCENTS. Actually, I have an extra COLOGNE CASE with me. You can have it.



Oh thank god the final mechanic to do with Shadow Pokemon, now I can talk about the whole system in a Side Notes instead of being weirdly coy about it. Scents are a quick way to purify Pokemon if, like the Day Care, you have money to burn. You won't, so don't, buy healing items and Pokeballs instead.



That's it for Agate Village for now, so let's use this flute thing.



Just use the flute in the Relic Forest and select the Pokemon you want to purify. Bam! Instant purification, no matter how much the Heart Gauge had. However, there's only 3 Time Flutes in the game and you can probably guess where one might be, so pick your purifications wisely.



Alright, next is this place that we heard about from... uh... how do we know the location of this place anyway? Dakim mentioned Ein's Lab, but did we see this as we left Mt. Battle or something? Ah, whatever, time to raid another Cipher base.



Gah! Stop doing that!



Hmm, well we should head to Pyrite station, since there isn't anything we can do here for the moment.



Don't forget this! Gotta stay close to the fence, or you'll walk into the map loading zone and that's no fun.

Pyrite Town



I reckon they're afraid of payback from their organization. Oh, wait, THOMAS, was it? Your P*DA number, please. I'll be in touch with you just as soon as I hear anything.



Good work Johnson, I was worried you were a complete fuckup for a minute. We could've gotten Sherles's number any time after Duking's first email, as that causes a few changes in the world, but we were busy and beating Dakim does more for us anyway. See, I'm justifying stuff I forgot about! If you did get Sherles's number, then he'll send you the email instead.

THOMAS, it's SHERLES. We just apprehended a pair of thugs we believe to be MIROR B.'s underlings. We may be able to lean on them for information. We have them locked up, so hurry over to PYRITE.




I recognise that hair and goggles combination!



Looks like Johnson fucked up. We could've gotten this Jail Key earlier when both Sherles and Johnson were at the windmill station, but you can get it now, so it doesn't matter.



It's just another thing that does with this, that, and everything else you caused! It's all your fault!



Oh no, she dropped the Elevator Key!



There's nothing else in the other cells, Trudly and Folly are still too scared of Miror B. to leave.



But while going to Pyrite Building is important for two reasons, we'll head towards the Colosseum.



Not to fight in it, don't be silly, but because we can fight this guy, after Duking's first email. Though going all the way up here then all the way back down isn't hugely worth it. But it's what I do anyway.




It almost wasn't worth it, but I'm showing every battle we can do at least once!



Now let's head back to Phenac City. Well, after getting some more Pokeballs from Outskirt Stand.

Phenac City



Uhuh, well that was worth coming here...



Oh, I guess you met a new POKEMON or so. Let's update your data. Okay. Here you go. I hope you'll study it carefully.



I'd say a new Pokemon or so is accurate to the amount we've met. Anyway, we've had six Pokemon for quite a while, guess what time it is.



Okay, gotcha! This is making me feel sort of giddy! When you're ready to go, go to the BATTLE AREA in the center, and stand at the left-hand side.



I hope you weren't looking forward to this.

Justy Battle







Oh stop it Dhalsim, they haven't even done anything yet. As you can see, fighting Justy SUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS, I hate him so much. Sure, this isn't a fight to use Dhalsim in, but he needs exp dammit!




I hope you weren't doing anything later today, we're gonna be here a while, with the evasion boosts and the Sandstorm damage.



Still, if you can hit, Justy ain't that bad. We could've fought him much earlier, since we can get a full party halfway through Pyrite Town. But he's got some levels, so let's do it now for the cool reward. It makes the whole shitty thing worth it.




And to top it all off, he's even the first trainer in the game to use ITEMS. Did you think something was missing? They're pretty rare in these games, thankfully, since this game can throw enough bullshit at you.



We're missing every now and then, but Dhalsim is still getting stuff done.



Phew, that's a relief, the animations were getting a bit long.




Aww maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan



I never want to see Justy again after this. Too bad he's in the next game.



Still at least when we actually hit him, he's not that tough, especially since he doesn't like attacking you much.



And of course there's a Light Screen. Christ.




Okay maybe Octazooka isn't the best move for this fight. TOO LATE NOW!



It's doing piddly damage with Magnitude, but since I can't hit it, it'll wear me down eventually. This is not a fight I feel like I need to heal for.



But when I land this Toxic, it's done, even if I don't hit it.



I then hit it twice immediately after. Neat.



Look at this. My palms are drenched with sweat. There's no shame in this loss! I'm one lucky guy for being a part of this spectacular battle. I'm glad I got the opportunity to battle with you. I want you to have this. Consider it a memento of our battle!



Fuck you, but thanks for the move.



Not hugely potent right now since Dhalsim keeps fainting, but it's a very important move to get no matter the game. Last up on this update is the Phenac Colosseum!



Okay, please enter the STADIUM through the doors to the right or left side. I hope you give it your best effort and go for victory!



We're taking on the Phenac Colosseum now since you need to have no Shadow Pokemon in your party to do so, so the best time to do so is after Agate Village, but nothing's stopping you doing so with just Espeon and Umbreon.

Colosseum Battle



You can do this earlier because there's no evolved Pokemon in this Colosseum, so despite the kinda high level, you can very easily beat this place just using your starters. That would've given Carbuncle way more exp than he needed at that point and given us some TMs we wouldn't have been able to use, so there's really not much to this place now that we're strong with a nearly full team. I'm just doing this for the TMs, the cash prize and the chunk of exp we'll get.



The victory means you have won the $5912 cash prize! And, as a championship prize, you have also won a TM18!




Onto the second set of four fights with our Rain Dance TM. I'm not gonna bother showing anything here, there's nothing to show, none of my Pokemon faint and I nearly knock out everything in two hits. Don't worry, the other Colosseums in this game have more to them, so when we go after Pyrite Colosseum soon enough, I'll be dedicating more time to it.



Mawuh has caught up with the rest of the team, so now we can shelve the Exp Share, I won't be needing it again. Woo Sunny Day, we've already got it.



If you thought the levels and opponents might get more difficult as the challenge went on... it really doesn't. Fight this Colosseum whenever, there's not much to say about it, I can't think of anything interesting that happened and it took 30 mins to do and I don't fancy going through all the footage just in case.



This is a good prize to get, the Giga Drain TM, as it's an option for a lot of Grass types, even if it doesn't do a huge amount of damage. A lot of TMs are locked behind Colosseum challenges, as you can see, which sucks for some of the later ones you can't challenge until the end of the game.



And the last trainer. What a crazy time we had here.



Now this is what we needed. There's four sets for each Colosseum, after that the trainers repeat and you get nothing else for it, so it's infinite exp I guess. Magnolia should probably have Giga Drain, but with team support and Sunny Day helping not just him but other members of the team (later), I think it's the best choice.



Alright, we're about done here, so next time, we're heading back to Pyrite Town to see if we believe in miracles.