Part 15: Forward to Fortree

Part 15: Forward to Fortree

Slateport City



We're back in Slateport and here to peruse the black market. What've you got?



Oh yeah that's the good stuff. There's two more locations to buy some sweet Secret Base stuff and then we'll start thinking of where we want our Base. Of course I'm gonna go into ridiculous detail about this mechanic. When don't I?



Since we can't head out east this way (I am dreading these three routes so much holy shit), looks like we're heading to Route 118.



Your POKEMON had an EGG! We don't know how it got there, but your POKEMON had it. You do want it, yes?



Looks like I can breed correctly after years of solely using Ditto. Thankfully we only need to do this two more times.



By going left to right along this line, you can easily do 300 steps each time without interruptions. Add in Slugmom and...



We very quickly hatch a little baby! Good job team, we'll do some more breeding later, but we really need to get out of this area, we've been here long enough.

Route 118 East



Have you met many kinds of POKEMON since I last saw you? There are many, many kinds of POKEMON in this wide world of ours. If you wanted to raise only your favorites, that's fine. Perhaps you find it more fun to raise all sorts of POKEMON. As a TRAIER of POKEMON, what do you think? Of course, it's not any of my business. It would be nice if we were to meet again somewhere.



I could've put this music in when we first got here, as the music is different depending on which side of the route you're on, but the adventurous tune fits so much better for when we're actually heading up to the next city.



At least these have finally grown. However our team doesn't really need 30HP recovery anymore... not that I really use berries all that much.



They did take flight... If they'd get stronger, they'd be able to fly more freely...



There's gonna be a lot of cool new Pokemon and trainers, so buckle up everyone, it's gonna be quite the journey.




Urgh... I crashed... You've got great POKEMON. I'll have to train mine better.



Oh hey this Linoone also has Pickup. Well since we've got it until the next Pokemon Center, might as well milk some items! Since it's above level 20, we'll get some different items than Freesample, so we should definitely level Freesample before too long.



I wish I had the opportunity to say doggo as much as I say birb.



What's on this route? New Pokemon to find in the grass? Haha, I wish, that would make things more interesting coming up.






You know, I forgot how many physical Dark types there are in this game. Holy moley. Absol works despite its typing due to its massive Attack and getting Swords Dance relatively early, though because it's super frail, it makes it difficult to actually set up. When it does get going though, oh baby, it has a good enough physical movepool (through TMs) to actually do some damage, with Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace and eventually Slash at level 36. That's about it though, it has a large special movepool, like most Pokemon with low Sp.Atk, but it does just fine, despite not getting to use STAB.

Pressure increases the PP cost of opponent's moves by 1, even if the move misses or hits an immunity. Very useful to stall out some Pokemon and is an ability usually found on legendaries. It also increases the chance of finding a higher-leveled Pokemon by 50%.



They say that you can't judge a person by their appearance. But often, their looks don't lie...

Don't tell my brother I lost. You have to keep it a secret!



Ooh, it's raining, that's cool.




The BERRY MASTER's garden is filled with uplifting fragrances.



That's some good booty right here. Pomeg Berries raise friendship and lower HP EVs, Grepa Berries do the same, except lower Sp.Def EVs, and Qualot Berries lower Def EVs. There's a bit more to the Pomeg Berry that we'll go over much later. Oh yes we will, ehehehehehe.



I dream of filling the world with beautiful flowers, so I raise BERRIES and hand them out to everyone. You're deserving of one!



Why by stingy? Take another!



Be sure to visit the PRETTY PETAL flower shop near RUSTBORO. Let flowers fill the world!

Two daily berries, just like that. He gives two out of a possible of ten berries, which another character later on can also give out. The Tamato Berry increases happiness and lowers Speed EVs.



He makes me proud, that he does. Incidentally, child, have you heard a good saying lately?



I want you to have this.



Our four grandchildren should become more accomplished than my husband. Joy never goes out of my life!

The Berry Master's wife is even more important. There are 5 phrases to give her that correspond to the last 5 berries in the game (that you can get normally) and can't be found anywhere else. GREAT BATTLE is the only phrase we can do right now, as we don't have the right words for the other phrases obtaining just yet. The Spelon Berry does... nothing! But it's really rare.



(YUKI) Okay! We're beating the TRAINER's POKEMON!



(MIU) TRAINER, your POKEMON are strong because you are friends.

(YUKI) Uh-oh, we lost. Why are you so strong? We've never lost before.

Interestingly, that girl is called Yuki in the Japanese versions too, but remember that Brendan's name is actually Yūki, but that would've been annoying to keep typing out and all that.




Alright, onto Route 119, where there's more rain and tall grass that you can't ride your bike through. Oh yeah, we've switched over to the Acro Bike again and we might actually use it this time!




There's even lightning on occasion! Now it's even harder to tell what's going on, hell yeah SSLPs.



But if you win, I lose... I can't MIMIC you winning the match. That's just impossible... it's burning me up...



Whoop, that was a great match! We're the MIMIC CIRCLE! I hope you enjoyed our performance.



I guess I should talk about them, the Mimic Circle copy your movements, but they're not all mirrored, so you might get surprised when someone turns right when you turn up, or something. I don't really follow their movements. This will be an important mechanic later, so look out for it!




What's so good about mimicry? Fufufu... you'll never understand...



Hey, let's get a new Pokemon.





BANANA DINOSAUR. That's it, what else do I need to say? Okay, it doesn't have the greatest stats, but can be an alright mixed attacker, which helps due to its mixed STABs, but really it's just a super useful HM user. Like most Grass and Flying users, it has fuck all for STAB and has to manage with, uh, Gust and Magical Leaf unless you give it some TMs... which doesn't make it much better. At least it gets Earthquake, Body Slam, Giga Drain, Cut, Fly, Flash, Rock Smash... NO, it's not a HM slave! It's a good dinosaur that can do some good damage if you take the time to raise it. But it's also really slow and weak to a lot of moves, so maybe it's better as a utility mon.



Lot of nice items around. Back to the circle.




Until you go away somewhere, we'll keep on mimicking your every move.



I wish we'd never met... I want to MIMIC you some more. Can you hurry up and move?

Alright, we can move on from the crap circle.



I don't wanna know what's going on in that house, so let's go over to this Fisherman.






Yeah, yeah, don't remind me I have to catch one of these damn things. Look, I'll do it next update, okay? Well, when you finally find one of these damn things, it's basically Magikarp, so it's shit. Though unlike Magikarp, it can learn TM and Egg moves, meaning it isn't stuck with Tackle until it evolves. Oh yeah I have to evolve this fuckin thing too. SHIT. We'll have to wait a bit longer in Emerald to get a Milotic, but it's a hassle getting it in RS by this point anyway, so it's good to wait. Feel free to evolve it whenever, unless you want to keep Flail for whatever reason. Anyway, yeah, don't use it, evolve it when you get to Lilycove.



Go for a SURF on my POKEMON... then fish off its back... it's an indescribably luxuriant moment!



Good little pocket over here.



Some more berries and... could it be? A use for the Acro Bike?



It's a christmas miracle. Not only can we hop up rocks, we can hop along these weird bridge things.



It's only for that Calcium though.




Do you have a POKENAV? It's a must-have tool for any TRAINER. Oh, you do have one! Let's register each other, then! You're traveling light but you have everything you need. You're on top of things mentally and physically, too.



This is quite the wild path we're on, I love it, the wild feeling of Hoenn is great.




I hope you'll give me a rematch without mocking my lack of knowledge. To break away from civilization and awaken the wild spirit within! That's our vision.




Still a lot of trainers in these wilds, but having rain around for Nobunaga is super nice.



Oh, but... that's not fair. You're asking if my parasol is heavy? Your BAG is filled with more junk than I ever carry around.

We lacked potential... Ever since I was a little kid, I always admired BIRD POKEMON...



I mean, you are right that my bag is full of junk, but it still hurts.

"Let's have a good one!"

Let's have a nice single battle with this guy who could really work on his phrasing.



NANI?



You're pretty amazing! Hohoho! Hohoho! I'll try emulating the pep of kid TRAINERS like you!

You're surprisingly good! My surprise attack ended in failure...



A fair few bird nuts around here. No problem now that we have Ice Beam.



Down and out! My bird POKEMON made my dreams of flying come true!



This journey seems a bit straightforward so far. What's there to do around here?




Cheers familiar looking guys, Weather Institute it is!

Weather Institute Takeover



See you guys in 8 hours!



Oh, no... I'll catch an earful for losing to a kid... I should just take a nap in bed...




There's just a bunch of uninteresting grunts around, so let's skip to the main attraction.



You're either absolutely fearless, simply ignorant, or both! You're so cute, you're disgusting! I'll put you down, kiddy!



It's our first Aqua Admin, not particularly dangerous though.



Like not at all. Okay maybe our team is getting a bit overlevelled cause of where our last two members are. Whoops!



It's bad enough to have TEAM MAGMA blunder about, but now there's you! What makes you want to sniff around in our business, anyway?



They appear to be headed for MT. PYRE!

What?! We can't waste any more time here! We have to hurry to MT. PYRE, too! Ahahahaha! TEAM MAGMA, just you wait!




There's plenty of them in the INSTITUTE--go ahead and take it. I've been researching for many years, but it's ridiculous to think that humans can freely change the weather.




Castform is a pretty interesting Pokemon and, like Shedinja, has enough to discuss that it's over here.

Route 119



With that mild distraction out of the way, it's time to move on. Let's go river surfing!



Man isn't it great not having to think about finding Feebas for the moment? Though like that waterfall, eventually I'll have to deal with it and go over them.



Neat, now we can evolve Nuzleaf. Later. When we see its evolution. Alright, back to our journey.

May Encounter



How much stronger have you gotten? Let me check for you! Ready with your POKEMON? Of course you are! Go!

Rival Battle



It's been a while, but now it's time for our fourth rival battle. This Slugma is the rain is the perfect metaphor for how these rival battles will be going forward.



Were you expecting anything else?



How rude. Fake Out has 40BP, 10PP, 100% accuracy and +1 priority to flinch the opponent, but can only be used on the turn the user is sent out. In this gen only, it does not trigger contact related effects.



This Grovyle is pretty dangerous, but we are way too strong for this point in the game, so Nimbus has this. Leaf Blade has 70BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy, as well as a increased crit chance. It's one of the best Grass moves in the game and a huge boon for the Treecko line. That's how sad the Grass type is right now.



Man Nimbus needs something soon, or she'll be having a rough time.



But I had absolutely nothing to worry about! Keep it up! And, here! I have a present for you.

"already visited."

But, to use FLY, you have to get the GYM BADGE from FORTREE CITY. That's important, so don't forget. You should FLY home and visit LITTLEROOT for a change. I bet your mom's worried about you, YUKI. Well, let's meet again somewhere!

Route 119




You just beat that TRAINER, didn't you? It was pretty obvious that you did. The kid looked really upset with a face all red from anger. I sure seem to run into you often. Are you off to FORTREE GYM next? I expect that you'll do well at the GYM. Well, I'll be seeing you!



Scott enjoying that we're a stone cold destroyer of friendships. We'll give Fly to Nimbus soon enough, but right now it's as strong as Peck over two turns and we can't use it until the next badge anyway.



Cheers, Freesample, for the free sample.

"It's our time to shine, whoa, yeah!"
"I emerge to challenge you!"

That totally looks like a hidden item alcove.



You showed me who's the boss! We'll have to take the loss, oh, no! Hit me with another power chord! Leave me alone! Your win you have to atone!

I admit defeat! Those defeated in battle withdraw quietly back into the shadows. That, too, is destiny...



Aw man, there must be something good here, guarded by two trainers AND an invisible object!




To hide a tree, use a forest! To hide a POKEMON, use a POKEMON! There is no deep, hidden meaning to that.



Well that was an adventure getting here. Next time, it seems like quite the city is explorable to us, a good reward.