Part 11: Meteoring Team Magma

Part 11: Meteoring Team Magma

Route 114



Right, let's properly go through Route 114.



Since Nimbus has 10 levels to gain and the opponent's trainers Pokemon refuse to go higher than the third rival battle for some confusing reason despite being nearly by the fourth Gym Leader, we'll be seeing her a lot. Level curves before Gen 4 just fuckin suck.



Nimbus will do just fine with Secret Power, if not being a crazy strong move. I also thought we'd just seen Water Sport, hence the second Mud Sport screenshot. Water Sport has 15PP and reduces the base power of Fire moves by 50% while the user is in battle. Only 3 Pokemon learn this move that already don't resist Fire moves and only one of those is actually weak to Fire moves (Masquerain of course). Do NOT mistake this move for Water Spout, an actually amazing move.



I don't want a POKEMON that's just cute. I adore cute ones that have a quirk or two!

Okay! I'll just fish me a bigger one!



So, bring on your POKEMON!



I think I'll try my luck at landing a big one at METEOR FALLS. There has to be something in there. I just know it.

At least the trainers being so weak means Nimbus can just beat them with little problems. Seriously, it's gonna be a couple updates before she catches up with everyone else. Also spoilers, there's no unique Pokemon to fish up in Meteor Falls, a miss opportunity I feel.




Oh, no! I just had a tasty meal. I'm getting drowsy...



Secret passage behind the house.



Ooh, handy. Persim berries cure confusion, which is useful for self confusion moves, or just to ignore that awful status.




Ahahahaha, good one. That's very funny. Haha... you dick.



I'm sorry everything is so cluttered... When I get engrossed in research, things end up this way... This is embarrassing... please keep this a secret in exchange for this.



You should organize your BOXES so you can tell which POKEMON are in them.

I'm not doing a Living Dex, so no thanks. You get a Seedot Doll in Ruby.



It has a lot of user-friendly features that make it fun and useful, too. It makes me proud that I played a part in its development. Here's hoping that you'll continue research in Storage Systems. From BILL.



(TYRA) Well, sure. I'm in the mood for it. I'll teach you a little about POKEMON.


"taught me!"

(TYRA) What an amazing battle style! I was teaching my junior IVY about Pokemon.



Man so many battles still. Good for catching up since I know my team was getting overlevelled, but getting a fourth and then fifth team member usually balances that out quite nicely.



Way too strong! I think it's great that I can go camping with my POKEMON.




A big body that's all lumpy and hard, enormous horns, and vicious fangs... Ufufufufu... I wish I had a Pokemon like that...



I can't wait for Wargreymon to evolve into a Pokemon like that.



Nimbus is gonna need all the help it can get. If I don't use an EV drink, then I'm saving it for later. Let's catch some cool Pokemon in this route!



Good to get the evolutions, kappa.



While Sing is really not the best move to catch Pokemon with, might as well use it while we've got it. As you'd expect, Nuzleaf is a 1% encounter.



What else is there... er, what's that hissing noise?





Sssssssssssso you want to use this sssssssssssnake? That's a good idea, those are some nice high, balanced attacking stats, if making it a bit fragile. However, it'll need some TM help, as, while it learns some STAB (crazy I know), both Poison Tail and Poison Fang kinda do the same thing and have the same strength. At least Sludge Bomb ain't too far and there are some crazy moves you can learn, like Flamethrower, Giga Drain and Earthquake, as well as Crunch at level 28. Still, is it the best choice for those TMs? With those stats? Yeah, actually, you can't go that wrong with this sssssssssserpent.



Well shit. Poison Tail has 50BP, 25PP and 100% accuracy that has a higher crit ratio and a 10% chance of poisoning the opponent. Bit annoying, but it'll pale in comparison to Sludge Bomb.



Nest Balls: still super good.





Holy shit this thing is good. Good Attack, good Speed and blows its rival out of the water by, one, already knowing SWORDS DANCE and, two, learning Slash very quickly. That'd be pretty good by itself, but it can also Quick Attack to pick off weakened foes, learns Brick Break, Shadow Ball and Aerial Ace and also has a large special movepool it can't use. It hits hard and that's all you need it to do, even if it'll fall over pretty easily.

Immunity prevents the Pokemon from being poisoned. Super nice, prevents Toxic stalling and gives it a nice edge against Seviper.



Considering I never found a Geodude in Granite Cave (10% on the first floor only, I gave up after 20 mins), I'm annoyed I haven't found one through rock smashing either. Like how rare is this damn rock???



Thanks for dousing my fire! You set my spirit on fire. Let's register each other! You really do have to be careful with any sort of fire in a forest. Don't underestimate the power of fire.




The mountains are unforgiving... In the winter, mountains turn deadly with blizzards and avalanches.

Oh, I see. That's good to know. Some POKEMON change so much when they evolve, it's startling!



You're supposed to shout "yodelayhihoo" since it doesn't echo here!



Everyone join in! YODELAYHIHOO!

When I was a wee tyke, I believed there was someone copying me and shouting back, "Yodelayhihoo."

Meteor Falls



Mmm, that's the good stuff. Hope there's nothing to ruin it.

Team Magma Encounter



Heh? I don't know who you are, but if you get in the way of TEAM MAGMA, don't expect any mercy!

Team Aqua Encounter



You're badly mistaken if you think you can have your way with the world!



Heh, it doesn't matter! We've got the METEORITE, so off to MT. CHIMNEY we go! Hehehe! Be seeing you, you TEAM AQUA dingbats!



Ah, so your name is YUKI. At the time, I thought you were one of TEAM MAGMA's goons. Humph... you're one odd kid. TEAM MAGMA is a dangerous group of total fanatics. They engage in destruction, claiming to expand the land mass. They are the rivals to us, the sea-loving TEAM AQUA!



There's no telling what TEAM MAGMA will do at MT.CHIMNEY! YUKI, you should keep an eye out for TEAM MAGMA, too. Farewell!

Meteor Falls



TEAM MAGMA asked me to guide them to METEOR FALLS... But they tricked me. They even took my METEORITE away... and then another similar bunch, TEAM AQUA showed up. After that... I don't understand any of it. But that TEAM MAGMA... what are they going to do with that METEORITE at MT.CHIMNEY?



Ah, very precious as we'll soon see. So yeah, Team Magma, Team Aqua, sounds interesting. Or dumb as hell, either or. Let's catch some Pokemon!





What a curious creature that actually gets STAB right from the get go, wow! Sure, it can't really make use of its Psychic STAB, but it gets Rock Throw and will even learn Rock Slide later on. Now that's something a lot of other Rock types can't claim... fuckin GF. It learns a few Fire and Grass moves with its sun theme, though it obviously can't use them. At least it gets Earthquake and Shadow Ball, but it's not that great, due to a load of weaknesses, though it can take a physical hit or two.



Rolling in items, man.





Unique to Sapphire. If Solrock can only use its Rock STAB, here's Lunatone only able to use its Psychic STAB. It also gets some nice early moves, but instead of Rock Slide, it gets Psychic, which I feel is a much better tradeoff. The only fun move it learns that is moon related is Ice Beam, which, hey, is a damn good move. Aside from that though, it just has a load of physical moves, so it has the same problems as Solrock who has too many special moves. At least it also gets Calm Mind, so it could do something, but it really doesn't get any coverage. Still, not the worst choice.

Route 115



With those two obtained, it's back to Route 115, how crazy.




I've been teaching my POKEMON karate. It looks like they'll get better than me. I'm excited about that.



More scales.




The sand acts as a cushion to reduce impact and prevent injury. This is the perfect place to train.



It felt like we hadn't registered anyone in a while and bam, there's two next to each other. Bluk berries do nothing!




Two levels up there, but I didn't screenshot Nimbus's stats for whatever reason. Hey maybe it'll learn something good?



Incorrect. Well, it could be more defensive, but I don't care about that for single player.





A powerful piggy. Spoink is an alright Psychic type, being pretty strong and bulky on the special side, like a pig is(?), but it has the same problem as Ralts in that it learns very little in coverage, only getting Shock Wave overall. It gets Psybeam for a while, which is nice, but its Attack is way too low to bother with, so don't bother with it and use status moves instead... I guess??? Still, Psychics are still cool and it's super cute, so go for it.



I was meditating with my POKEMON. But this pleace isn't very peaceful...

I have this rare POKEMON. It's enough to keep my satisfied.



Alright, we're done in this area for now. Yes, there's STILL more to Route 115 we'll get to in just a little bit.



Oh hey I finally got around to remembering these items are a thing. Woo.



Off we go back to Mt. Chimney.




Hippity hoppity. There's only like 4 times in the entire game you need to get the Acro Bike and you don't even technically need it for what's coming up, but it makes my life a little easier.



The Magma boys are gone, so up we go.

Cable Car




It's all out war up here.

Mt. Chimney



Perhaps... the truth is somewhere in the middle.



See for yourself what the fanatics of TEAM MAGMA are up to! They're trying to inject the stolen METOERITE's power into the volcano! Doing something like that will cause the volcano's eruption!



Nothing up this side, so the one we need to stop is on the left.



Like, if that thing's power made more land, there'd be more places to live. Everyone'd be happy!



I'm going to build it on hardened lava!

VS Team Magma



Not only do we have to deal with water weirdos, now ground weirdos enter the picture!



A kid like you, you ought to be splashing about in the waves!

Our BOSS says, "It will make everyone happy." But why does everyone keep getting in our way?



But you're too late! I've already delivered the METEORITE from METEOR FALLS to the BOSS!



Now you might be wondering why I'm not using official artwork of the Team Magma Admin Tabitha... well there isn't any for any of the admins, though they do have unique sprites. I'm not gonna use the remake artwork since they're pretty different characters. As in, they have a character. The teams are so much better in the remakes.



Even though I've lost, if our leader awakens that thing... BOSS, hurry! Give it the METEORITE's energy! Hehehe...



Cheers, Freesample, we might need it up ahead. While Tabitha had 4 weak and uninteresting Pokemon, who knows what the boss has.

"activity will instantly intensify...

Its energy will grow deep inside the crater and... fufufu...

"affairs."

It must be you he meant. Humph! So you're thinking of interfering with us, TEAM MAGMA? Now you listen. Long ago, living things used the land to live and grow. That is why land is all important! It is the cradle of all! That is why TEAM MAGMA is dedicated to the expansion of the land mass. It is for further advancement of humankind and POKEMON! And for that, we need the power of what sleeps within this mountain... Oh! There was no need for you to learn that much. But, no matter! I'll teach you the consequences of meddling in our grand design!

VS Leader Maxie





Why IS Dark special anyway? Well Mightyena might be a good boy, it's also not that... good. Sure, its Attack will do it just fine, but you're not getting any STAB and you've got a while until you have a better move than, uh, Tackle. Sure it can learn the good stuff, Return, Iron Tail, Shadow Ball, but notice how I'm listing these attacks for a good number of Pokemon that have no other options. You can only pick one after all, but Strength is a fine move until then. Its other stats are just mediocre so it's not gonna be wowing you anytime soon.



I, uh, don't think Nimbus is gonna do well here, so let's just switch. Also godDAMN this music.



Alright, off to a great start.



Yeah screw this. A Dark type can match up quite well to a Steel type if it dodges every fuckin hit.



Now see this is something Nimbus can fight no problem.





Now with two humps you're still really slow and weak to Water and Ground, but you've got great attacking stats. Getting Rock Slide upon evolving really helps and Earthquake isn't that far away. You've still got a while of using Ember before getting Eruption, but damn is it good, though Overheat might do you until then. Being able to make use of both your STABs and hitting hard with both Rock Slide and Return is pretty nice, but you'll get outsped all the time and the later parts of the game are gonna be a major problem, so beware.



Man this thing hurts.



Stop healing!!!



Wow that one turn confusion sure was helpful. Bleh.



Please stop being faster than everything and just die, thanks.

Mt. Chimney



But, enough. I will back off this time. But don't think that this is the last you've seen of TEAM MAGMA. Fufufu... Even without the METEORITE, if we obtain that ORB... Fufufu...



But... you... whose side are you on? Ah, it doesn't matter. We will remain vigilant and keep up our pursuit of TEAM MAGMA. YUKI, we shall meet again!




Alright, all the crazies have gone, so let's make sure the world doesn't end just yet.



Try one. It's just ¥200. Thank you, dear!

Lava Cookies are like Full Heals except much better cause they're like a third of the price. We will be stocking up on these, oh yes.

Jagged Pass



Now this is what I've always wanted in a mountain. This jagged bumpiness... it rocks my soul!



Yes, I did lose at POKEMON... but, when it comes to the love of the mountains, I have you beat.



Neat. Jagged Pass is one way street unless you have the Acro Bike, but there's not much use for it otherwise. There is one new Pokemon to find though.



Bounced its way into my heart... but not on the team, we've got a little while before member five.



What I am doing in a place like this? What business is it of yours?



Okay, oh-kay! I admit it--you're strong! Don't worry about me. Go wherever you want!

How completely not suspicious.




Will you ever be back in this area? If you do return, I'd like a rematch. Did you know? Some people cleverly ride their bicycles up this horribly bumpy pass.



You might think we'll have to make a few passes down this place since there's a lot of ledges. But nope! If you actually know where everything is, you can do it in one pass AND not need the Acro Bike. Crazy.



Hmm... what went wrong? What is that odd rock protrusion a little up the hill from here?

I feel like I'm falling apart... My bicycle bounced around so much, my rear end's sore...



See, if you know where this Great Ball is (like I, uh, totally did), then you don't even need the Acro Bike. Still crazy.




Can you register me in your POKENAV? If I had an ACRO BIKE, I'd be able to jump ledges.



That was the Jagged Pass and now this is Route 112.



That was Route 112 and now this is Lavaridge Town. Next update is gonna be quite hot, in more ways than one.