Part 41: Perfection Base

Hello everyone and welcome back. Today's update starts with some move reshuffling.



These next couple of updates are gonna be in kind of an odd place moveset-wise. I'm starting to transition the permanent members of the team into more diverse movesets to tackle the endgame challenges. In this case, NATHAN can put Energy Ball to much better use than Beeisel can. Expect to see everyone's moves changing pretty frequently for the next while!





Delta Vespiquen learns several poison moves by level-up. So Beeisel actually won't be keeping Sludge Bomb, either. But you can see what I'm doing here regardless. I need to be able to hit as many types as I can between all six members of the team.



Sadly only three members of the team can learn Calm Mind. Beeisel and Gateau have better options already, while Origin/RHYDON can learn literally anything, and so is another conversation entirely.







Speaking of which, here's RHYDON's stats. I haven't renamed it yet. Let's get on that.





Flamethrower is a very powerful move, but in this particular case I want to stick with Lava Plume. Why? 30% burn chance.





While Dracolich would probably be better served using ghost moves, I've got other plans in mind for him.



That's enough of that for now. There's some more hot bullshit to deal with today, so let's not leave it waiting for long.



This route is actually very, very short. There's only a couple trainers and it's easily smaller than the city we just left.







The mountain is so large that exploring it will probably take its own entire update. It's four consecutive screens long!



nature.



This route has flocks of wild Jumpluff flying around.





We'll see the checkpoint in a moment.



That's actually a dive spot, but there's nothing much down there.





isn't.

Criss Angel? Is that you?



Just past the mindfreak master we find the checkpoint.



Looks like we need to move through this in order to get up Mt. Rose.



Shit. Hold on guys, gotta get my phone.

: Hey, Amy, this is your phone, right? Listen, I just stopped by the checkpoint they built up on Mount Rose... and I think it's being run by the Infernal Cult. Meet me outside. We'll need to find another way in.









Nora said meet her outside. Maybe she meant up around the way?









I keep mentioning it, but I fucking love the NPCs in this game.



At the far back of the route, next to a Relic Song wall, we find Nora. According to the wiki, you can find Miltankite on the other side. Sure, whatever. We're so close to the end of the game that getting "mad" at what's locked behind these stupid walls isn't even worth it anymore.

: Listen... Amy. You know that security checkpoint that's set up just east of here? That wasn't here a week ago- we used to be able to go up and down the mountain freely. It's... kind of suspicious that it's only here now that the Infernal Cult is playing their hand.

don't want to play it risky.

: We need to find-



Taen please leave us alone.

: ...well, this is convenient. How did you find us?
: We tracked Amy through her Mega Ring. What, you thought it was a free gift?



I mean, we haven't exactly been shy about using it.

: Reukra suspected you would need to climb the mountain and he sent me to find you. He has... a way to help. Naturally, he requires something in return. Amy knows where our base is- in the Black Market.



: We can't just... go somewhere, can we? There's always thirty things to do before we get there. We can't trust them. But... we should probably see what they want. I'll head over. It's not like we have to agree to what they offer.

It's literally a "but thou must" scenario.



This is something I will forever love the Insurgence Devs for. Like, holy shit. It wouldn't take very long to pop back in town and just PikaTaxi on over, but if we're ready right now we can take advantage of Nora's NPC-only ability to warp around.



Beeisel and RHYDON need to be caught up first. Like every other encounter with Perfection, we're gonna have to fight Taen once we arrive in the Black Market. It will not be easy. In fact, it's gonna be really fucking hard.



Only gonna need to bring the two lowest up to 75, so that won't take very long at all. Especially not now that we have access to level 90 Audinos.



Like that!



Also as promised, Gateau now has Play Rough instead of Dazzling Light. The last piece of her move set will have to wait until we get the TM on Victory Road, but she's a perfect candidate for learning Earthquake.



Also it's time to do some updating. Flying Press was nice for HenryDavid, but Centaurion has Acrobatics. So let's make him something nicer instead. Something... Rock.





NATHAN now has a fairly diverse move set. I just wish he could learn Calm Mind.





I showed this just above, but here it is again. Between Play Rough and Return, she'll never use Psychic. So it's there mostly just because I don't have anything better to replace it with yet.





Dracolich has become one of those Dragon Zombies from the first Dark Souls. We'll also find Sludge Wave in the next update if it weren't apparent enough.





RHYDON is pretty defensive. I'm half tempted to have it forget Calm Mind and relearn Barrier instead. It would actually be a pretty handy tank with both moves! Also Me First is there in case I take it to the Elite Four. One of them is a fucking Baton Pass team.





So yeah, I turned Flying Press into Stone Fist. Now Centaurion has a nasty answer to both fire and flying types. Also a 100 accuracy 70 power Rock move is not a common thing. Indeed, most every physical rock move I see on this list is either below 100 accuracy, or has 5PP.





Beeisel is in such an odd place. She learns a lot of special moves, but Shift Gear only affects physical attacks. I'm still not 100% sure on what her fourth move will be. Dracolich is covering the poison angle pretty handily, so her also having Sludge Bomb feels like a waste.



That's something to ponder later. We've actually got a pretty good spread of coverage across the entire team already.



: Well, this brings back memories. It was Amy and that scared Deoxys boy last time, though, wasn't it? What was his-
: Don't you dare say his name. It's your fault he's like that.



Damn, Nora.

: Heh, a bit of spark. Adorable. I couldn't care less about you, kiddo. It's Amy I invited here. Taen, go get the machine ready.



: It'll help you find your friend and get up the mountain. I don't want much in return, just two small favors. I want your time to test something, once again.



Oh dear. Ohhh dear.

: I have data on all your battles. I know you battled it recently- you're probably covered in it.
: What? Why would you need Mew's DNA?
: Can you really not see why?





: It doesn't matter. What do you say?



"But thou must." No really, we have to. Saying "no" will either not let us progress the story, or Reukra will just find a hair or something on our jacket. So may as well just say "yes" and get this over with.

: Fantastic. I'm glad we could come to an agreement.

He steps forward.

: Hmm...



See? Also you can probably guess where this is going. You're absolutely right.

: Follow me.
: I really wish you didn't do that, Amy. I don't know what he plans to do with that... no matter how obvious it is to him.







The screen shakes.

: You've never heard of Team Rocket?



The screen shakes harder.

: None of their experiments with Mew?



It shakes even harder.

: No possible clue as to what I'm trying to create?

It shakes a lot.



: Right. We should have control.
: Have fun, then. Good luck, you two.



: We've tried so many plans in our pursuit of perfection. A perfect pokemon... we've tried so many modifications and strategies. We've changed their types. Made Mega Stones. Gave them suits of armor. We've even tried fusing them together to create the perfect legendary.



: I hope this hurts.



By the way, the screen has been shaking like an earthquake between all his text boxes.









Hoo boy.







I can't come up with any words to describe a fight as nasty as this. We can't even find a Delta Darumaka until the postgame. I'll cover it then, because surprise Delta aside, Mewtwo is the star of the show this time.



NATHAN is my best answer to Poliwrath, but it's not a great answer. They're both equally dangerous to each other.



In the end, though, NATHAN is faster and so first blood goes to him.





Feeling pretty good about giving him Shadow Ball.



And NATHAN goes down to Close Combat. Ouch.



I don't really know what the fuck I'm thinking here. But baiting out one of these early is only gonna help.



STAB psychic, even if it's not super effective, is and has always been a beautiful thing.



Taen doesn't use his other restore here, so Gallade goes down at the start of the next turn.







One...



Two...



Finally get an attack off on the third turn.



THREE... I'm about ready to call bullshit here. That 3/10 chance is coming up pretty fuckin' often!



Gateau very nearly went down without getting an offensive move off.



But in the end, Play Rough took it out in a "single" hit.



Zebstrika is gonna mega evolve first off. So let's see what damage we can do with a buffed up Gateau.



It turns out... none. And in my infinite wisdom, I didn't bring Fancy so we don't have an immediate answer to the Fruit Stripe Gum Zebra.



Dazzling Gleam makes Centaurion a risky proposition.



Ouch. Acrobatics didn't do shit here.



Stone Fist hurt more, but it's still not a great look.



M.Zebstrika fell into the Overheat trap, and so its SpAtk is in the shitter. Centaurion was inspired to hit harder.



It tried Hidden Power Grass, but it dealt a whole four damage. Turns out that cutting all its special attacks by 2/3 is not a great idea. Who would have thought?



Mewtwo time.





Mewtwo is faster than Mega Dracolich.



Allow me to quote myself from when I recorded this: "BULLSHIT!"



Dracolich was my answer to Mewtwo. Was.





Welcome to lategame Insurgence. Hope you like the enemy team aces just tearing through your shit because of suspiciously """lucky""" crits.



Where have I seen this before?



Taen is too stubborn to switch out Mewtwo, and RHYDON is throwing up enough barriers that we've got an old-fashioned stalemate going on. Also Noctem is nerfing Mewtwo's psychics.



Ice Beam is working fine though. Damn!





I have a horrible feeling this is gonna become a common strategy as the end of the game gets closer.



Mewtwo could have ended this stalemate with another Ice Beam. Instead it's buffing itself. I guess the AI is taking pity again?



NATHAN is back in top condition!



It's not often you see Psychic from a freaking Mewtwo dealing a whole 11 damage.



Ouch.



This fight is going substantially better than the one in the movie did. RHYDON's Psychics are hitting just a tad harder than Mewtwo's are.





The stalemate is back in play again.



Mewtwo tries another Ice Beam and very nearly takes out RHYDON. But then its Life Orb finishes off what we couldn't.



Oh fuck off.



NATHAN vs Kyurem!



Neither side really does much in the first round. Shadow Ball deals slightly more percentage-wise than Ice Beam did.



So let's play dirty instead and pray the RNG keeps Kyurem from moving very much.



Like that!



At the time I either didn't remember or didn't know that Dragon resisted the four basic elements.



Not a smart move.







Oh really!?



The smart move would have been to revive Beeisel... or Gateau.





At least the Thunder Wave is paying dividends.





At least NATHAN is pretty much no-selling those Ice Beams.



To my surprise, Taen doesn't use his other Full Restore here and lets me have the win.





: You've had Kyurem, Mewtwo... even the entire Tao trio, and you still couldn't take them down. You two.



: He has some sort of ability that lets him take control of others- using a Psychic-type pokemon, maybe. I know that the hard way. He took the shard of the crystal we found.



You mean there's more Perfectionists than you two clowns?

: None of us have any clue where this power comes from. No Psychic-type I know can control people on this level... and now that he has a piece of the crystal, I don't know how far his power can extend.

Translation: It's absolutely imperative we take him out sooner rather than later.



: The virus I created extends life by strengthening the body and its resistance. This improved immune system seems to let the victim actually... ignore Zenith's power.



: I've stolen it, and studied it. It's a complete dud.

Meaning, despite what you might be thinking, there's no anti-vax subtext here.

: I have a hunch his control booths and checkpoints have something to do with his ability. So, Harmony's father or your friend should be able to get you up the mountain. I've been tracking their location. I can-
: You know where they are?! You didn't tell us?



: They have the same signature as Deoxys, and I'm sure there's no Deoxys around here. I've met with them, and negotiated with them. I've agreed to not disclose their location and allow them to continue whatever it is they're doing- so long as they do me small favors from time to time.



: You can talk to them. Negotiate with them. Do whatever it is you need to do. Now get out of here.



Strange bedfellows.

there...



I'ma take her up on this one.



: Let's see if Damian really... really is there.



And thanks to NPC warping powers, we're immediately placed where we started the update! And we'll end the update here too.

NEXT TIME: We actually climb Mt. Rose.