Part 32: Fiery Caverns

Hello everyone and welcome back! Before we can take care of business in the Fiery Caverns, there's a few outstanding requests to take care of.



First off, we're all the way back in Shade Forest, the game's first route.





The old Wrath was, bluntly, terrible. So this is his replacement.





Not bad. Not bad at all. She'll do for our purposes!



This will hopefully make Zeratanis happy, who has been after me about a Gyarados since I started this LP.



This's also another request from the first couple of updates. Our old Roggenrola wasn't very good, but this new one...





This new one is damn good.







So, now that we're equipped to properly handle this cave, let's meet the new team.





Centaurion replaced Karate Chop with Drain Punch, but is otherwise the same.





Dracolich is much the same as he has been. He hasn't seen much action lately, but that is due to change within a couple of updates.





Wrath is well-named. Not very much to say about her. She has extremely high attack and is going to roll all over the trainers in the cavern.





Hetfield is just as dangerous as Mega Fancy. Everyone always goes to Water to take out Fire-types, but never overlook Rock!





Speaking of which, Fancy is here in much the same capacity as Hetfield. She will make any Fire-type cry with her Earthquakes.





Beeisel is extremely powerful, but she won't see any action in this update. She's here for moral support!



This one's gonna require some maps.



This is the Infernal Cult's version of the Whirl Islands dungeon. Unlike that one, however, the layout isn't a rat's nest of a maze.



Skip the first ladder.



The first Infernal Cultist is just past the water barrier.



Fittingly, they have Groudon as a battle emblem.



Having ankle-length hair has to be the most infuriating thing. It's bad enough when someone accidentally gives you a flat tire... imagine if someone steps on your hair. That's gotta fuckin' hurt.





Doctor Horrible that is, and Doctor Horrible you ain't.



Like usual, I'm skipping the splash introductions because they're nameless grunts that don't look anything like Neil Patrick Harris.







The Fiery Caverns have a few rock puzzles. This first one is easy enough, just gotta push the boulder in the front of the hole.





Once we push it through, we'll just follow it down.





If you would kindly direct your attention to the right side of that map... you can just feel the boulder-pushing puzzle waiting over there. We fell down in the upper left. The ladder we skipped earlier is in the left middle.





Zenith is their leader's name.







Please ignore continuity errors between this shot and the last. I certainly didn't come back 10 minutes later because I forgot something.



Normally I'm annoyed by these, but this one I don't mind.







Because we're now done with these until the postgame. Of the eight Meloetta puzzles in the game, we can only complete five while still in story mode. The remaining three either require Rock Climb, or are only available in areas that don't open until postgame.





Now back to the rock puzzle.



The lavafall at the bottom of the image is the ultimate goal.



Push it off the ledge and then push it right until it stops.





Down three squares...



Push it left until it stops.





Push it down.





And then you gotta go all the way around.



And then push it left 7 times.



Circle around again and drop down from above.



Then roll it all the way south.



Circle around one last time...



And then push it left to its destination.







Blocking the lavafall instantly cleared up the lava pool below. Sure, why not?



From here we're home free to enter the third chamber.



While it should come as zero shock that the Infernal Cult is after Groudon, we don't fight him in this cave. That fight comes much later!









This room is pretty straightforward.





At least we're teaching these cultists to not underestimate kids!



The last boulder puzzle is much longer than the others.



Um...? While I don't want to bring realism into this, I don't quite think a wooden bridge would serve as a proper way to cross a large lake of lava.







There's a reason for that, too!



Highly-trained?



Before we start on the puzzle, once we get the next Mew DNA ability, we can return here to get another Delta Pokemon so...





















Meet Delta Snorunt's line. You may have seen Mega Delta Glalie already. Someone on the forums, whose name escapes me, has it as their avatar.

Delta Snorunt is pure fire type, with White Smoke (Prevents other Pokemon from lowering its stats) and Flash Fire (Hidden; Powers up the Pokemon's Fire-type moves if it's hit by one)as its abilities. At level 42 it evolves into Delta Glalie, or if it's female, at any time via Dawn Stone.

Delta Glalie is Fire/Rock type and has Rock Head (Protects the Pokemon from recoil damage) and Flash Fire (Hidden), while Mega Glalie has Foundry (Foundry causes all Rock-type moves used by the Pokemon with this Ability to become Fire-type and receive a 30% damage boost, in addition to all other modifiers).

Finally, Delta Froslass is Fire/Ghost type and has Competitive (Boosts the Sp. Atk stat when a stat is lowered) and Flash Fire (Hidden), while Mega Frosslass has Magic Guard (The Pokemon only takes damage from attacks).

Glalie looks kinda funny, but is an all-80 base stat wonder. So it's not good or bad at any one particular thing, and it doesn't learn enough rock moves to make Foundry particularly fun or interesting. (It learns friggin' Rock Blast at 42!) Froslass is alright, but there's better fire types out there, though it does learn Fiery Dance as a move. You get both mega stones right next to where you find Delta Snorunt.

Moving on...



I can just barely manage to fit the third rock puzzle in the RPG Maker window. The goal is in the far upper middle, where that large ring of white boxes sits.



Push the rock down the ledge...





Then go all the frickin' way around.



Push the boulder all the way left.





Down three squares...





Then left to the bridge.





Then up until it stops.





And again from the left this time.





Push it up two and then right five squares.





All the way up!



Left three squares and then all the way up once again.



And then you just push it left into the lava pit and... is that wooden bridge floating on the lava? What the fuck!







On the other side of the impossibridge is the boss fight!







: Amy, am I ever glad to see you. I heard about what happened with Damian down in Audrey's base. Listen... I don't know what's going on with him, and I don't know how to cure him.



: I'm happy you're here. I was worried I'd have to fight the Infernal Cult by myself.



: -and as it turns out, everyone was interpreting the prophecy wrong!



: Yes! And it had fantastic news! That hero? They'll defeat all the other cults just fine.





be joining us willingly.

: Exactly. Which means our gift is more powerful than we ever believed.



: You were with us at the library when we heard that prophecy.

Yeah, that's the librarian dude, Zachary, with differently-colored hair.

: You were supposed to be on our side! You told us how important that prophecy was- special information that the cults don't know! And now... you're just sharing it to Zenith and Infernal! You betrayed us! We don't have our advantage anymore!

Let's just say there's a reason that Zachary has a portrait now.

: Your advantage was gone long before that.



: Then you... you...

: You never did ask my name. You really should have. Names are important. They have power.

stupid library at all.

: Having to wear hair dye was awful in itself. When the three of you showed up and that oracle finally appeared... Every tiresome moment there became worthwhile when I finally heard him predict our victory. And now we don't fear children, or any kind of prophecy.



: We'll never help you. You're crazy.
: You act like you have a choice. But so be it. If you want a fight, then that's what you'll get. So, Amy, Nora. Come at us. Show us what you can do!





If I had to describe Zenith's team in three words? "Pas de probleme." His highest level is 61, and between four members of our team, we have him entirely on lockdown.



Blaziken is up first. Wrath slams into her with an Aqua Tail.





Low Kick doesn't work well against a flying type.



This is a speed boost Blaziken, but it doesn't matter.



When you have a single HP and you're against a Gyarados that can smash either weakness, you're going to have a bad time regardless.



Centaurion vs Excadrill.



Fighting trumps Steel.







The one downside to Irrelephant is that Fancy no longer has her 1hit KO protection. That Overheat hurt quite a lot!



Hetfield doesn't have a mega forme, so he's protected from this Volcarona's Giga Drain.



Rock Slide, plus Hetfield's insane stats, plus 4x weakness to rock. It's a beautiful thing!



Zenith's last pokemon is Magcargo.









Mega Magcargo isn't very good. Its BST goes up by 20 points total. I... it's faster to just show before and after images of its BST than try to explain it.





Trying to turn it into a glass cannon is an intriguing concept. Except it's slow as fucking molasses still. Wrath is fairly quick, and her only water attack not only hits for supereffective, but hits against its nerfed physical defense.



Supposedly its ability, Vaporization (Vaporizes water moves when used and damages Water-type Pokemon every turn) protects it from water moves, except Wrath one shot it with Aqua Tail. So who knows.



Is that just something every cult leader says by default? Audrey said it every time we beat her, and now Zenith is joining in.

joining us.

: We've spent enough time stalling. I'm going to show you exactly what we're capable of. Groudon... duke of the earth... Rise! Show yourself to your loyal servants!











: Excellent. Time to go.
: What? How... how did Groudon join you so easily? Where was the ritual? Where was the sacrifice?
: Oh, the innocence of youth.



: You clearly haven't done your reasearch on the Infernal Cult. We were the first. It's only natural that we caught the legendary we worshipped long ago.



: After all, it's nearly time to begin. We're in the mountains if you're still aching for a fight. I'll be waiting.





: I... I dodn't know they've already caught Groudon...



No shit, Sherlock.

: You saw how quickly the Abyssal Cult moved into action after they caught Lugia. I don't know what Infernal is planning, but I don't like it.



: Something Zenith said made me think about Perfection. It's a long shot, but I have an idea. I need to research this more.



: I'll see you around.



Let's get the hell out of here.







The old man that stopped us before has ceased to exist, so we're free to continue on to Route 12! ...next time!

Looking Ahead

Route 12

Hitmonlee (10%)
Hitmonchan (10%)
Hitmontop (10%)
Vigoroth (4%)
Spinda
Cacturne
Tangrowth (6%)
Stoutland (5%)
Florges (5%)

Selene City

Delta Liepard

NEXT TIME: On to Selene City!