Part 9: Rock SMASHING

Part 9: Rock SMASHING

Verdanturf Town


Verdanturf Town: The windswept highlands with the sweet fragrance of grass.
Shidake Town: The highlands where the grass-scented wind blows.
From verdant and turf, and shi (lawn) and take (peak).



It's Verdanturf Town time and right away here's some Nest Balls. They're pretty good, increasing a Pokemon's catch rate by ((40 - Pokémon's level) ÷ 10), so a max of x3.8 for a level 2 Pokemon, but they don't affect Pokemon at level 30 and on. Sure, we'll get a few. Fluffy Tails are also sold, which are basically Poke Dolls, but called Fluffy Tails.



Not too much in Verdanturf, there is a woman next to Wanda's house that tells you have much your Pokemon like you, but I can find that out easily enough otherwise.



This natural environment is doing wonders for WALLY's health. Maybe it's not just the environment. It could be POKEMON that are giving the boy hope.



Because I have a new purpose in life. Together with my RALTS, I'm going to challenge POKEMON GYMS and become a great TRAINER. Please watch me, YUKI. I'm going to be stronger than you. When I do, I'm going to challenge you to another battle.



Sure, Wally, sure. There's another Battle Tent here, instead of where you would go to actually participate in Contests for the first time. Hey, means I don't need to cover that until later!



It doesn't matter what the rules are, or how battles are waged, either. YUKI, I expect you to do the best you can! I visit here regularly in hopes of seeing tough TRAINERS in action in whatever the situation.



Oh, hi, you didn't see that, did you? Well, it doesn't matter. How would you like this TM for your POKEMON?



They battle exactly the way I want them to!



Alright, let's pretend we never saw that and head into Rusturf Tunnel from the other side. And then back out again!

Route 117



These the ones?



Hmm... there are BLACKGLASSES. They're not what I'm looking for... Maybe my glasses aren't around here...



Well sucks to be him I guess. Back to the tunnel!

Rusturf Tunnel



...do they not?




They halted development here to protect POKEMON, right? There's a feel-good story!



Oh hey, he's still digging.



He... he's not just digging the tunnel to come see me. He works his hands raw and rough for the benefit of everyone.




That HM contains STRENGTH. If a muscular POKEMON were to learn that, it would be able to move even large boulders.



That's... wonderful. Please, take some rest at my home.



I feel that was way too easy, but hey, now we've got a connection back to Rustboro!

Route 117



You're that person who not only helped me in PETALBURG WOODS, but also got back my stolen package and then even graciously delivered it to SLATEPORT! CAPT.STERN informed us that the package arrived, too! I thank you very, very much! Why, if I were a rain cloud, I would shower you with gratitude and hail you as a hero! For you, the most wonderful TRAINER, I bear good news! Recently, our company developed a new kind of POKEBALL. As a token of appreciation, this is our gift to our wonderful TRAINER!



Please do try it out! Thank you and bye-bye!



New balls are always good, now we're gonna start rolling in them.



Shame they're both a bit naff. The Repeat Ball is x3 on Pokemon you've already registered in your Pokedex, x1 otherwise. It's alright if you need to obtain more than one of a Pokemon for whatever reason. The Timer Ball can be great, being ((number of turns passed in battle + 10) ÷ 10), maxing out at x4 at 30 turns. It's the best Pokeball, but it can take a hell of a time getting to that point, the opponent might start struggling by turn 30, depending on their PP. However, past turn 5, they're better than Ultra Balls (barely) and beat out the second best ball, the Dive Ball, past turn 25.



Now we can move boulders! Once we have the badge... Also since we'll be evolving a Nincada sooner or later, we need to get another one for Compoundeyes related stuff, it'll be very important. I also got another Skitty.



I'm WALLY's cousin. Glad to meet you! I think WALLY's become a lot more lively and healthy since he came here.



Happy? You bet I am!



What a feel-good story. Let's ruin the good vibes by going to the Battle Tent.

Battle Tent



I asked for 3 random Pokemon to use in the tents and we have Trapinch, suggested by Radio Free Kobold. Its Attack is really high and that's dumb and amazing. Since I want to get these Battle Tents out of the way, I'll be going ridiculously overboard with items and movesets.



Then we have Swellow, by Soup du Jour, which will hit hard, but not as hard as Trapinch. You might think I'm crazy choosing Sky Attack, but it's the strongest Flying move Swellow learns, beating out two Wing Attacks by 10BP.



Finally we have a Shedinja, which is always a great choice, by BlackPersona. Sorry Leraika, maybe Seviper can be a Contest star. It can be a deadly setup sweeper, or it'll fall over immediately. Who knows? I wish I could've changed the OTs, but I need to import from a save to do that and I cba with that.



Here, the TRAINER's trust toward POKEMON is tested. Do you wish to take the VERDANTURF BATTLE TENT challenge? Good. Now, you must select your three POKEMON.




Alright, like the Slateport site, it's 3 on 3 battles, though this time we're using our own Pokemon. HOWEVER, there's quite the catch.



In this facility, you have no choice in what move your Pokemon uses. Why yes that sounds absolutely terrible and it's a good thing this is the only place this mechanic appears ahahahahahahahahahaha fuck me.



So yeah, a Silver Wind would've obliterated this thing, but instead, depending on the Pokemon's nature, it has a chance of going for either an Attack, Defense (setup) or Support (status) move. Swords Dance is a Defense move, so Shedinja, with an Adamant nature, has a 38% chance of using an attacking move, or a 31% chance of a Defense or Support move. Now how would you know this? You don't, the game will never tell you the numbers, which is terrible.



So you might wonder what happens if the Pokemon rolls a move in a category it doesn't know. Well it doesn't do anything. Ain't it great? Thankfully the opponent is also under the same rules, but they don't seem hugely affected by it. With a Jolly nature, Swellow has a 35% chance of attacking, with a 5% chance of using a Defense move and a 60% chance of using a Support. I didn't bother looking at these charts beforehand, so this isn't the best team to bring in, but I don't care that much.



Thankfully for continuous moves, if you commit, you commit, you don't break something midway.



Now comes the fun stuff. When your Pokemon gets below half health, the percentages change! Now it has a 60% chance to use Defense moves and a 5% chance for Support moves. Usually two of the categories just switch percentages or one gets lowered and another gets boosted. It sucks if you don't have the right ability!



Standard battle facility bullshit applies, so it's up to you Trapinch!



Oh thank god. Using a Choice Band when you can't pick what move you'll lock yourself into is, uh, interesting. Thankfully, the Attack category encompasses all attacking moves, so if Trapinch hits the roll, she'll hit something really hard.



I'm so glad there's only 3 of these fuckin battles.



Agreed, let's get this over with and back to normalcy.



Annoying, but Goldeen has nothing to touch Shedinja. It's a super tricky Pokemon to use, but it can wall so many Pokemon it's kinda silly.



I think we're on a roll!



Mmm, beautiful. A weird move to be sure, but Barboach gets it as an egg move from Chinchou.



And I think we've got a sweep here folks.



Especially since we got to +6 inbetween all the knockouts. This system is dumb and I really hate it.



Truth, my brothers.



Alright good start.



Oh. Shit. Wonder Guard is such a fickle guardian.



...are you fucking kidding me? Literally anything else would've been better.



No that does not mean you can piss around, jesus.



Okay good, knock me out before Rollout gets out of control.



Nice one! Swellow knows what he's doing!



Oh good, that lasted five seconds.



Siiiiiiiigh



Alright, I think we've got this! C'mon Swellow...



Stop. Enough. PLEASE.



Oh thank god, let's get the hell out of here.



The bonds that bind your heart with your POKEMON seem firm and true. For the feat of your 3-win streak, we present you with this prize.



Well that wasn't really worth it, but there's only 1 more Battle Tent to go and then we're all done with battle facilities this game. Haha, yep. Totally. 100%.

"without changing direction?"

I might even be able to roll that way. Do you think your POKEMON will want to roll, too? I can teach one the move ROLLOUT if you'd like.



Oh yeah, I completely forgot that there are single use move tutors in this game scattered around the region. Thankfully they're mostly shit, so I don't feel bad about forgetting them. There was Swagger in Slateport and Fury Cutter in Verdanturf. Big fuckin woop. Maybe I'll cover them later if I remember.

Trick House



We will be moving onto the next town in a moment, but since we've got a new badge, we can go for the second Trick House challenge.



And you know how this conversation goes. Through the scroll!



We've got to find switches to cover holes, so a regular Monday for me.




The trainers aren't at the levels of post-Maville Gym though.



I only needed Harbor Mail once, so into the trash it goes.



Well isn't this fun?




Please don't use this puzzle base.



None, they're all closed. Let me go!




Done



Hmm... you're sharp! It took me all night to make the maze... You're almost equal in greatness by one, two, three, four, five places! Fine! You have earned this reward!



Alright, we'll be back after the next, uh, two badges.



Last thing is getting a few evolutions. Nothing too crazy, I want to see a good chunk of mons before we get them and there's not a huge amount we need to evolve so we can see them.






Okay, I'll keep on top of it this time, honest.

Route 111



In the sea we can find Tentacool, but in the lakes we can find Goldeen.



Nest Balls make it a snap.



Away with you, dreaded rocks!



(TY) Hey, lookie here! A tough-looking TRAINER here, of all places! Camera's rolling!



(TY) You're a natural! Got me some prime footage right here!



I knew we were onto something wild when we spotted you! Oh, please let me explain. We travel around everywhere interviewing all sorts of TRAINERS. So, would you give us a bit of your time for an interview? You will? Thank you! Okay, I need you to describe your feelings about our battle, but it has to be short and sweet. Go!



I get the feeling that this will make a great TV show. There's a chance that they'll air this on TV, so make sure to look for us! Okay! We'll be seeing you!



I will get interviewed by these two since it's something fun for later.


"here is very nice, too."

Back to the regular trainers.




Pep pep pep



Alright, guess we're heading onto Route 112.



Nature Power has 20PP and deals a move depending on the battle's terrain. I haven't really talked about different terrains since they don't effect much, but the list of what Nature Power turns into can be found here. Overall, too unreliable to actually make use of, but it can be cool on occasion.



S-Same. Ah, we'll see her again soon enough.

"Come on, sing with me!"


It doesn't matter if you're good or bad at singing or POKEMON. If you have the most fun, you win!




In the grass we can find a new Pokemon. We could've found Machop in RS but they replaced it with Marill for... some reason.



Neat. Cures Burn.



Nobunaga do you know this man?



We already have Strength, so I'll pass. We don't have Rock Head anyway, so it doesn't matter.



God the mental image of a Hiker violently sneezing. How horrifying.



Oh, I get it now. That's why the rest of the crew went out to FALLARBOR.

You got it. And until they come back, we're not to let anyone pass, right.




Ow, my legs have cramped up. Can you grab me some bandages from my backpack? No, that's my POKENAV! Oh, fine, I'll register you. Try hiking, and I mean really pounding, on those mountain trails with a heavy pack weighing dozens of pounds. That, my friend, will get your body in serious shape.



Looks like to progress we need to go into the heart of the volcano itself.

Fiery Path



There's not much to do here, but there's quite a few new Pokemon we can get!





So if you want to be a physical wall, maybe don't be weak to Ground and Rock, but what's here is alright, if incredibly slow. With two alright attacking stats, you can make use of the OK moves you get, such as Body Slam and Flamethrower, though you will have to wait a little before replacing Ember. Aside from that, well, you don't learn any other special moves, but you do get Iron Tail and Sludge Bomb. And, uh, that's it, so Curse up and then maybe do some damage... after taking loads of damage.

White Smoke prevents stat reductions by moves and Abilties, but not self inflicted reductions, or items and status. When first in the party, the encounter rate is reduced by 50%. Just, uh, just use a repel.



Turtle obtained. Yes I know it's a tortoise, but it was easier to say turtle, but now I've mentioned it and now it wasn't easier to say turtle, so oh well.



Alright, what else is there?



It's a floating ball of gas! Levitate gives the user an immunity to Ground moves (bar Sand Attack), as well as Arena Trap, Spikes and Toxic Spikes.




Here's a buff boy and a sludge boy, though the latter is a 2% encounter because Ruby. Stench does nothing in battle, but reduces the encounter rate by 50%.



Slugma is a super important Pokemon you need to get if you want to do any breeding. Magma Armor prevents the Pokemon from being frozen, while Flame Body has a 30% chance of burning the opponent when they use a contact move. Both these abilities will halve the number of cycles Eggs require to hatch, basically halving step requirements. This is absolutely huge, but remember, this is only in Emerald, not in the other Gen 3 games, so do your breeding in this game, it'll be so much faster than anything you'll do in FRLG or RS.



Now that we have our slug gurl, next time we'll be exploring north-west Hoenn.