Part 22: Future's Past Present

Update 18: Future's Past Present



It's Gym time!

Pokemon Gym

"tives."

: If you win, they may tell you some deep secrets about ECRUTEAK.

...are you gonna tell me about what type this gym specializes in? What I can do to win? To avoid doing? No? Okay.

"POKéMON?"

I will do when I know the type!



Ah, a Ghost type Gym. Or a Poison type Gym? Well it doesn't make much difference.



Mean Look (Kuroi Manazashi: Dark Look) is a Normal status move with 5PP that prevents the target from switching as long as the user stays in battle. It can be a bit annoying, but it'll be pretty useful later on. Boy am I looking forward to that update...



Good time for levels. Rain Dance (Amagoi: Rain Prayer) is a Water status move that causes the Rain weather effect. Weather lasts for five turns and overwrites other weathers. Even if the current weather is active, you can use the move again, though the turn count is not reset back to five. Anyway, Rain itself has quite a few effects: it boosts Water moves by 50% and reduces Fire moves by 50%, as well as the base damage of Solarbeam. Synthesis, Morning Sun and Moonlight recover half as much HP and Thunder has 100% accuracy.



It's finally time.




HP: 65 | ATK: 65 | DEF: 65 | SP. ATK: 50 | SP. DEF: 50 | SPD: 90 | TOTAL: 385
#073: Poliwhirl



: No normal-type attack can harm them!

Well at least I don't have something with just normal moves.



Jeremiah's gotten a bit of a boost, but we've still got some time before we get to the real good stuff.



Now careful where you step, or you'll be sent to the start. The path to take is simple enough.



Ooh, we could use one of those.



Now unfortunately, they made a Ghost gym in a game with only four Ghost types, so get used to seeing a few of the Gastly line.



This does mean they're all fragile and easy to take out, but boy does it get monotonous.



: The path is right before our eyes!



And that's the secret. It's pretty simple.



: Then spring came again. We have lived together a long time.



Gosh darn old timer talkin bout how old he is.




You don't stand a Ghost of a chance. Man I feel dirty for typing that, but I had to eventually.



Spite (Urami) is a Ghost status move with 10PP and 100% accuracy that lowers the target's last move's PP randomly between one and five. Five PP can be a big difference on some moves, but that involves you surviving the move they just used. And PP Ups make it less effective.




Okay, I think we're more or less ready for the leader.



For whatever reason, you can just step up and reach the end, instead of going on a longer path.

"revered."

: It's said that a rainbow-colored POKéMON will come down to appear before a truly powerful trainer. I believed that tale, so I have secretly trained here all my life. As a result, I can now see what others cannot.

: Just a bit more... With a little more, I could see a future in which I meet the POKéMON of rainbow colors. You're going to help me reach that level!

Gym Leader Battle VS Leader Morty






Morty: The Mystic Seer of the Future
(From mortis, Latin for death, or mortuary)
Matsuba: Clairvoyant ascetic
(From matsuba, pine needle, matsu, the end, and ma, evil spirits. The pine tree was considered to be a charm that wards off evil spirits.)



Okay, as you can see from the team overview, Morty has some pretty nasty strategies. So let's see what he can do.



Uh, or not. Right then, next Pokemon!



It's Jeremiah's time to shine, kinda. Sure we're using its worse Special Attack, but Surf is still a great move no matter what.



This is one problem with using Hypnosis as your main strategy, it is liable to miss. So onto the third Pokemon.




HP: 60 | ATK: 65 | DEF: 60 | SP. ATK: 130 | SP. DEF: 75 | SPD: 110 | TOTAL: 500
#060: Gengar



This Gengar can be pretty dangerous if you let it, so this is a good way to make sure it doesn't happen.




And there we go, threat eliminated.



Maybe this one can show off what it can do?



Never mind then...



: All right. This BADGE is yours.

Pokemon Gym



: By having FOGBADGE, POKéMON up to L50 will obey you. Also, POKéMON that know SURF will be able to use that move anytime. I want you to have this too.



: It's SHADOW BALL. It causes damage and may reduce SPCL.DEF. Use it if it appeals to you.

: I see... Your journey has taken you to faraway places. And you have witnessed much more than I. I envy you for that...



: I was cowering in the corner out of pure terror!



And that's quarterhalf of the badges obtained. But man, I feel a bit bad for taking down Morty so easily.



Let's give him another chance.

Gym Leader Battle



The first Gastly isn't a huge deal as it can't do much other than trap you, Curse you and Spite you.



Sticking with just one Pokemon in this fight is a bad idea, since Curse damage racks up fast.



And the damage just keeps racking up. Night Shade (Naito Heddo: Night Head) is a Ghost move with varying power, 15PP and 100% accuracy. It does damage equal to the user's level, but it doesn't affect Normal types. Otherwise, it does not take type effectiveness into count.



While a strategy revolving around Hypnosis is very risky, when it works, boy does it work. Making you unable to move and sapping your health is pretty good when you can't heal.



Alright, round 2. I will not use Hypnosis to be fair so it can use its strategy.



(Finally it landed Hypnosis, geez) Uh, yeah, Dream Eater (Yume Kui: Dream Eat) is quite a dangerous move, with 100BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy that only works on sleeping targets.It lets Gengar do a fair amount of damage and heal most of its health back. If you're asleep for like 8 turns, then you're hosed, cause you ain't living through that. But the process of actually putting something to sleep and then attacking it means the move isn't exactly the best Psychic move damage wise.



But again, it relies on the move actually landing...



And yeah, the last Haunter still doesn't do much. But it could be annoying!

Pokemon Gym



We'll just stick to the original beat down for a more even distribution of experience. Anyway, Shadow Ball (Shadō Bōru) is a Ghost move with 80BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy that has a 20% chance of lowering the target's Special Defense. That doesn't exactly match up with the move since its physical, so none of the Ghost types can effectively use it for STAB. But it is a great attack for a physical Pokemon, so expect it on one team member eventually.

Pokemon Center



Now it's time to see exactly what we can do with this Time Capsule. But for that, we need another person, someone from the past. Hmm, who could that be?

Route 22



: ...?



: ... ...

Pokemon Center



Welcome to a synchronous Let's Play. It is perfectly possible to trade between two games on a PC. However, it requires a completely different emulator, converted save formats and mapping two different control schemes to not go crazy. But yes, we are able to move any legal Gen 1 Pokemon we wish between the two games! Truly, this is the future.

: Please apply here. Before opening the link, we have to save the game.

: You can travel to the past and trade your POKéMON. Would you like to travel across time?



Obviously I wasn't able to do the usual Fraps recording, so I just did normal screenshots. No blink animations to fuck things over, at least! Though there are various cursors as I worked through the technical difficulties. It's all good now!



: We need to change the look here...



Ah of course, I was a boy three years ago, after all.



There's a couple of small differences between how the Cable Club was handled between generations, but Yellow thinks we're just another Gen 1 game.



Gah, fucking Steam! Didn't think my windows were that far down, but anyway, let's start the trade.



One big difference is that you can't view your other guy's team in Gen 1, but you can in Gen 2. To save me catching a load of rubbish, I just cloned Joey's Rattata to have trade fodder. I should note that to have the best cloning results, turn off the game a moment or two after the whole "Saving..." box has completed. Just keep experimenting for the best results.



This is gonna take a while, however. Trading has never been particularly quick.

Trading Trading




And voila! Ikue is now in a Gen 2 game!



Before too long, everyone's been moved over. So now it's time to leave.



In Gen 2, you simply need to walk out the door, but in Gen 1, you have to restart the whole game.




And with that, our trading time is over. Thanks to SATOSHI for the help. Maybe we'll need him in future. In any case, you may have noticed that all our old team are holding items? Well, let's delve deep into the mechanics of the Time Capsule. But first, we can talk about all three of the Kanto starters.


HP: 45 | ATK: 49 | DEF: 49 | SP.ATK: 65 | SP.DEF: 65 | SPD: 35 | TOTAL: 318
#226: Bulbasaur


HP: 39 | ATK: 52 | DEF: 43 | SP.ATK: 60 | SP.DEF: 50 | SPD: 65 | TOTAL: 309
#229: Charmander


HP: 44 | ATK: 48 | DEF: 65 | SP.ATK: 50 | SP.DEF: 64 | SPD: 43 | TOTAL: 314
#232: Squirtle

Phew, with that out of the way, let's have a look at some of these items. In the Side Notes for this update. Cause goddamn, there's actually a fair amount to talk about. Next update, we'll see what we can put to work with this new fangled Surf move of ours...