Part 54: Hiking Boots Roundup

Hello everyone and welcome back. You all, quite narrowly, voted for us to do the Science Club's quest first. Seriously, the vote wound up being 22-21!



But before we embark on that journey, there's a whole lot of places across the entire game world with newly-available loot now that we have the Hiking Boots. So let's retrace our journey starting in the Midna Garden.





I probably first showed this person off nearly 50 updates ago, but he's our first step on this saga.





sound?



damn dude.









Spoiler redacted. The short version is the next step in this trading sequence is in the place we're departing for later in this update.



Some places we're returning to are things I forgot during the Heart Swap roundup.



We need the Waterfall replacement to get the other thing hidden back here: Cobalion. He's hanging out in a grotto on top of the waterfall.



The next stop is in those ancient ruins where the Abyssal Cult tried to kidnap a baby Riolu. We could have gotten this a very long time ago, actually.



Third door on the left side...









This is a special version of Steelixite that turns it into a Fire/Steel type, with the Foundry ability. If you don't recall, that's the ability that turns Rock moves into Fire type moves. Its Mega stats are also shuffled around to be marginally more offensively-focused and faster.



This, if you recall, is the cave where I got fed up with grinding.



No idea why this is relegated to postgame, but whatever! It's ours now.



And while we're in here... let's get something we could have gotten pretty much half the game back.





It's a long and uninteresting path...









Mega Feraligatr gets the Tough Claws ability, which "powers up moves that make direct contact". Its attack also skyrockets to 140 base!



Route 3 has a single new item on it.





Now you, too, can have a human-sized gecko that launches pine trees from its tail.



Next we're south of Vipik City at the Crossroads.



We can finally go east from here.



Beyond the monsters being high level, there's zero reason to lock this off until the postgame. There's very little to do over here anyway!





This, by the way, is the first time that you can find wild Golducks in the game. Recall that I found /Nuprin/Naproxen in a Friend Safari.



The Misty Way route is mostly notable because it has one of the three remaining tile puzzles.



Each movement during the puzzle is AvsPMod skipping forward 30 frames. Before it lingers on the picture at the end, this gif is 16 seconds long. Tile puzzles suck.



6/8! We'll be grabbing the 7th later in this very update, in fact.



A ways further east, we finally arrive at Mist Island.



Beyond a few items, there's nothing here.









I can't remember which, but one of the Lati@s twins shows up here eventually. And that's all that's over here.



Roggan Town has the entrance to the Battle Frontier. May as well poke around there and see what's happening.









I see...



Most of the people here recommend you tackle the various challenges.















Delta Golett and Golurk are Fighting/Steel type. Their abilities are Iron Fist (Powers up punching moves), Battle Armor (Protects the Pokemon from critical hits), and Guts (Hidden; Boosts the Attack stat if the Pokemon has a status condition).

You can probably guess based on the context, but a Delta Golett is your reward for beating the Challenge Tube. He seems to be pretty powerful, and could be downright nasty if you gave him his hidden ability.



This person sells all the type gems.



This person sells the good shit.





This nerd down here has another leaf for the Delta Snorlax collection. This one would let Snorflax change into a cherry blossom tree if she weren't going to be retired soon. (Also if I actually had the book of leaves.)







Delta Plusle is Fire/Fairy type.





Delta Minun is Ice/Fairy type.

Both have Cute Charm (Contact with the Pokemon may cause infatuation) and Pixilate (Hidden; Normal-type moves become Fairy-type moves).

They're both cute, but beyond a few gimmicks, I doubt they have much use.



This cave leads to the tube challenge.



This guy sells an odd assortment of items.



This is the only place in the game you can get the mega stones for the starters you didn't pick. Also while we're here...

























Mega Eevee has 83 base in all its stats. Its ability is Protean Maxima, which... you know what, it's easier to link the wiki page than break it down.

The short version is that Mega Eevee will change formes to a mega version of one of its evolutions based on what move it uses. So if Mega Eevee uses Ice Beam, say, it will change forme to Mega Glaceon. When it changes, its abilities change too. You'd have to consult the page I linked above to see what forme gets what.

There's a specific list of moves that change formes, but they're pretty much the upper tier moves for each individual type. I'd make a list, but that wouldn't really help anyone and would be hard to read. So, if you're curious... take a look.

TL;DR: It's a headache-inducing gimmick.







There are 921 pokemon in Insurgence's dex. You need 920 to open the spire so you can catch the 921st. There's no fuckin' way I'm gonna do that. Also in the 1.2.3 patch of the game, you can't catch one of the Gen 5 legendary dragons. The 1.2.4 patch fixes that, but then breaks Delta breeding.

For whatever it's worth, there are multiple people who have completed the Insurgence dex. In the official Discord channel, there's even a role for people that can prove they've done it.



To round out the shops at the Battle Frontier, this person sells all the type boosting items. It's all stuff like Charcoal, Magnets, Black Glasses, and so on.



The next stop around the world is the Cave of Steam, which is between Helios City and the place with the library.







Utira Town, right. That's the name. Now to promptly forget it.



While we're here, there's something in the library. Zenith is rightfully gone from here.



Gotta head into the abandoned wing.





Over on the second screen is a tesseract rift.



We're picking up mega stones right and left today!



Just south of Utira is Route 8, where another item awaits.





We'll never use most of them, but they're nice to have I suppose.



Skipping ahead to the Whirl Islands... we're not going in, heavens no. If we did, way down where we first fought Audrey, we could Tesseract ourselves both a Delta Gardevoirite and a Delta Galladite. But fuck that.



Instead we're going to pick up a Delta I covered more than 30 updates ago.









I thought about it immediately after hitting Enter, but I should have named him Riverson.



Continuing on...



Way over on the far west side of the Stormy Seas map, there's a tiny dive spot.







Another mega stone for the pile.





Under this particular bush is...



Another Delta I covered more than 30 updates ago.





Because the pokedex entry said it skates. Get it?



We skip ahead a huge way to Route 14. I forgot to get this stuff after we caught Aragog.







It's a long underwater path, so let's just cut to the chase.





We actually surfaced way over in the middle of the route.





And after all that, what are our rewards?









Speaking of the middle of the route...



We're actually nearly done with collecting shit.



The cave leading out of Deyraan Town isn't our final stop, but it's easier to get to than the actual final item.









The last items are, naturally, in the Crystal Caves. Because we haven't run through it enough yet.



First off, there's a rock climb wall on the bottom of this shot that you may have seen before.



Gotta appreciate that Amy is basically Skyrimming her way down a sheer cliff face.



Diancie can be found behind that Relic Song wall.



And... christ. Here we go again. Back into the Void Gauntlet. Also I want you all to appreciate just how much travel I'm cutting out here. Y'all are getting the abridged version.



So let's cut to the chase, yeah?







That is 7/8! The last Meloetta tile puzzle can be found in the region we're finally ready to leave for.



Something I appreciate is...



Escape Ropes drop you right in the Crystal Cave lobby.



So our final stop is back in Suntouched City.



: It's been a while, hasn't it? I must say, the Scientist's Club definitely isn't as active as the rest of them. I might just disband it, honestly. There isn't much left you can help us out with. But this one! Oh, man. This is huge. Recently, our scientists have made a huge discovery.



: I know, right? Isn't that amazing? Not only that... but researchers believe that this might be the region that Delta Species originated from. That's right- the Holon Region! You might have heard of it before. Nobody really knows where they came from- some ancient civilization, some energy wave, maybe even just Darwinian mutation. But that's what you're here for!



: The guards will let you through if you say you're with me. Before you know it you'll be on a path to a whole new region, filled to the brim with Delta Pokemon! These aren't traditional Deltas either. The ones you'll find in Holon have all been discovered, so to speak, by guest researchers at the Holon University.

Read: they're Deltas that fans requested on the forums before the game went on feature lock.

: Anyways! Please! I'll see you in Holon! I know another Professor- Maple- who would love to make your acquaintance.











That's fast service!





The screen pans across some rail tracks.



NEXT TIME: The Holon Region awaits!