Part 38: Nice Ice Price, Pryce Baby!

Update 30: Nice Ice Price, Pryce Baby!

Route 43

"thugs in black."

: They left this behind. It makes me uncomfortable. Could you take it away?



: Use this gate to avoid walking in the grass.



We're gonna do a couple of things before we take on the Gym, such as picking up the best TM for Mothra. Sludge Bomb (Hedoro Bakudan) is a Poison move with 90BP, 10PP and 100% accuracy and a 30% chance of poisoning the opponent. It's very easily the best Poison move in, well, the franchise. Poison types that can't learn this move, such as Crobat, or Venusaur, definitely miss out. This is the main reason why I picked up Venonat here, as having a good STAB move nearby makes it much more usable.



Now that the signal is gone, the Lake of Rage is back to normal and there's a couple new things we can do.



: I may yet realize my dream of seeing the world's largest MAGIKARP. Do you have a ROD? Please help me if you do.

Well this is something that pops up every few games or so: bringing a Pokemon of a certain size to a guy. It seems pretty random, but if you bring a Magikarp larger than 41.9 inches, you'll get an Ether. That's it. I have no idea how the game calculates Pokemon size, probably by picking a random number or whatever.




Indeed, the only Water Pokemon you can catch in this area are Magikarp and Gyarados.



I believe this is the Moon Stone, which is the final item Mom buys for you. But not the final thing Mom gets you.

"caught!"

Fish fish fish.




Same.

"POKéMON all day."

I'm doing that too, but thankfully we've got a bit of a dry spell before the next large batch of catchables.



: It's gone? Oh, darn. I came here for nothing? I know--let's battle!




HP: 73 | ATK: 76 | DEF: 75 | SP.ATK: 81 | SP.DEF: 100 | SPD: 100 | TOTAL: 505
#126: Ninetales

"pink BUTTERFREE."

A shiny Butterfree??? Nah, it wouldn't suit pink.



Alright, time for the Gym. I did miss one of the trainers, but I'll get him before we head to Blackthorn.

Pokemon Gym



: He's said to be good at freezing opponents with ice-type moves. That means you should melt him with your burning ambition!

All I really have is my BURNING SPIRITU. I am a shonen protagonist after all.




HP: 90 | ATK: 70 | DEF: 80 | SP.ATK: 70 | SP.DEF: 95 | SPD: 70 | TOTAL: 475
#177: Dewgong

"about my skills..."

That crit saved me a good three minutes.

"can't do a thing!"


Good luck freezing me with your PIECE OF SHIT



Mothra's basically caught up. And just in time to participate in the Gym battle.



Yeah, I'll probably keep Flame Wheel on Kakarott for a while, cause it's different.



Yaaaaaay, ice puzzles. This one has been burned into my psyche, so we won't be having any problems with them in Gen 2. Maybe not for Gen 4.



Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee



The secret behind his low, low ice prices?



Level ups for all.



: He meditates under a waterfall daily to strengthen his mind and body.



But thinking is hard!




HP: 65 | ATK: 50 | DEF: 35 | SP.ATK: 115 | SP.DEF: 95 | SPD: 95 | TOTAL: 455
#153: Jynx



I'm precisely skating around to all the trainers for experience!



: It's fun, isn't it? But hey--we're not playing games here!

...?




HP: 50 | ATK: 50 | DEF: 40 | SP.ATK: 30 | SP.DEF: 30 | SPD: 50 | TOTAL: 250
#191: Swinub

"with my POKéMON!"

One day, I will be radical like you, home dog.



The path to the leader is pretty obvious, so let's make sure Mothra is ready for her first Gym battle.



: I, too, have seen and suffered much in my life. Since I am your elder, let me show you what I mean. I have been with POKéMON since before you were born. I do not lose easily. I PRYCE--the winter trainer--shall demonstrate my power!

Gym Leader Battle VS Leader Pryce






Pryce: The Teacher of Winter's Harshness
(Pryce is from, well, ice. That's all Bulbapedia has. Wonderful.)
Yanagi: Teacher of Winter's Harshness
(Yanagi is the Japanese name for the Willow tree. Willow is Pryce's middle name.)



So Pryce is a pretty disappointing Gym Leader. Ice is a cool type to fight (no pun intended), but having lower levels than the previous leader, along with two Pokemon that are practically the same, just makes it a mediocre fight. Still, we'll give it a go, especially because I want to put off what's coming up next.




Well that Seel was very notable. Probably. I wasn't paying attention. Icy Wind (Kogoeru Kaze: Chilling Wind) is an Ice move with 55BP, 15PP and 95% accuracy that lowers the opponent's Speed by one stage. While it can be useful, usually a Pokemon can just learn Ice Punch instead, which is a better TM that you can obtain more than once.



Man, I've had this fight like thrice in this Gym so far.



I do not have the patience for this bullshit right now. Onto the final Pokemon.




HP: 100 | ATK: 100 | DEF: 80 | SP.ATK: 60 | SP.DEF: 60 | SPD: 50 | TOTAL: 450
#192: Piloswine



So, since Piloswine won't be much of a threat, let's at least see what it can do.



Despite having a great Attack stat, this Piloswine only knows one physical move! The Ice moves it has won't really do much, especially since we have Jeremiah out.



The dangers of using Blizzard (Fubuki), a good Ice move with 120BP, 5PP and 70% accuracy and a 10% chance of freezing the opponent. Since it's accuracy is lower than last gen, Ice Beam is a better move, but it's risk versus reward, really. So choose whatever. It's best paired with Hail, but this Piloswine's got Mist instead! Wonderful.



I wish this was a more interesting fight, but they can't all be winners. Maybe next time.



: With your strong will, I know you will overcome all life's obstacles. You are worth of this BADGE!

Pokemon Gym



Ooh, our power levelling paid off!



While an evolved Mothra would've been nice for the Gym, it didn't make much of a difference.



Fuck off.

"stats of POKéMON."

: It also lets your POKéMON use WHIRLPOOL to across real whirlpools. And this... This is a gift from me!



: That TM contains ICY WIND. It inflicts damage and lowers speed. It demonstrates the harshness of winter.

: When the ice and snow melt, spring arrives. You and your POKéMON will be together for many years to come. Cherish your time together!



What a cool guy.

"something else!"

: That was a hot battle that bridged the generation gap!



Only one more to go! Crazy to think at this point in the Yellow LP, we were practically done with the game. In fact, Yellow only had 30 updates! Man, that game was fuckin small...




HP: 70 | ATK: 65 | DEF: 60 | SP.ATK: 90 | SP.DEF: 75 | SPD: 90 | TOTAL: 450
#109: Venomoth

Mahogany Town



Oh, it's the timid guy. Has the other Pokemon been stolen too? I also just realized I haven't called my MOM since, like, Goldenrod and I feel bad. Who the hell put me in charge of this trainwreck LP?



: I called because something weird is happening with the radio broadcasts. They were talking about TEAM ROCKET. MARINA, do you know anything about it? Maybe TEAM ROCKET has returned. No, that just can't be be true. Sorry to bug you. Take care!



Oh no

Rocket Radio Transmission



: After three years of preparation, we have risen again from the ashes! GIOVANNI! Can you hear? We did it? Where is our boss? Is he listening?



Hey, let's just ignore all that bullshit and see how our team is doing, woah! Kakarott is, unfortunately, more or less the same. He hasn't really done all that much since he hasn't changed all that much. Soon he'll be more useful, but right now, he's just a bit meh.



Jeremiah is also pretty meh, but like Kakarott, will become very useful and very different very soon. In what way? Well, you'll just have to find out. But man, her low Special Attack is starting to make her a pain to use.



Churchill doesn't really need to change, as she kicks ass no problem all by herself. I might make a couple changes to her moveset, but right now, she does what she needs to do, which is good, as she's not exactly going to improve a huge amount any time soon.



While Helios is a long while yet from being remotely fitting of his stats, he still hurts like hell thanks to the Friend Ball. He shouldn't see too many drastic changes to his movepool until much later when we actually get the damn moves he wants.



And finally, newest addition Mothra has caught up quite nicely. Sure her moveset isn't too great right now, but with her flipped stats, she can be very interesting indeed. She's still got a few things to learn, so eventually, she'll be pretty darn sweet.

Goldenrod City



Alright, let's see what's going on here.



Mafia out on the streets, while the residents hide away. Now where have I seen that before?



Oh, that's why he's outside the Game Corner. Sneaky bastard.



: It was such a long struggle...



I think it is my business. Mainly because the plot won't progress unless I do something about it, so... as much as I don't want to because it's kind of a boring slog...



Next time, we fight a load of weak trainers. It's gonna be great fun, I'm sure.