Pokemon Insurgence Part #31

Part 31: Murk Forest

Hello everyone and welcome back. Today, the LP officially transitions into what I could consider the mid-late game stage. Northern Torren, which we're about to enter, is the domain of the Infernal Cult.

Starting with the next update, we're going to be seeing a lot of them.

guest.

Winning the popular vote with 6 votes was Squirtle.

Bulbasaur had 5 votes, and Charmander had zero. While I'm mildly disappointed that Bulbasaur didn't win, I'm still quite happy with Squirtle. (Bulbasaur was my first pokemon ever back in Red.)

Next we have some administrative tasks to perform.

HenryDavid finally earns his well-deserved retirement.

The little dude kicked more ass than I would have given a Throh credit for. He will be missed.

DragonKick is brought onboard as his replacement.

I'm a tad disappointed nobody came up with a chess pun for his name. Though Centaurion works too.

Given the AI's love of stat decreasing moves, I feel Defiant is a better choice than Frisk.

Karate Chop might seem like an oddly weak move for something with stats like Centaurion has, but don't forget that his mega evolution 1) has a base attack stat equal to Mega Gyarados, and 2) has Technician. Even just as a "normal" Delta Bisharp, his stats are on par with Fancy's.

Also no item means he can pull some Hot Bullshit with 110 power Acrobatics spam.

Well, Nasca town was nice. But let's keep moving onward.

The cave leading out of town has a weird number of fossil pokemon.

Just past we find the Murk... oh really!? Yes, that's a Nurse Joy right there at the exit of the forest. Not entirely sure why she's here but sure, whatever.

The forest is actually a lot less complex than it appears. The critical path is S-shaped. You start in the bottom left and the exit is in the middle right.

Normally I don't show what happens in the fights against random trainers, but...

My first time through, I completely forgot about this entrance. Once we get into the upcoming town, we'll get a sidequest to go take care of the spiders in the forest. They live in here. I didn't find this location until I was nearly ready to take on the Elite Four. Just as well because we can't finish the quest in there until we have a super lategame ability.

I'm having a really bad day.

Sorry to hear that.

This guy was a trainer with a Zoroark for a pet. I may have accidentally one-shot it.

This is going to be the start of a running theme in the back part of this game. Lots of trainers that walk up to us, spout inanity, demand a battle, and then yell at us for beating them in said battle. This is what happens when you use lead pipes to carry potable water!

In case you really wanted a Leafeon, you can finally evolve that Eevee you've been carting around all game.

Jaern's cult of personality is very dangerous.

Maps.

Entirely by accident, I found the forest's hidden grotto.

And here's our prize now!

Delta Scraggy's line is pure grass type, with the abilities Rough Skin (Inflicts damage to the attacker on contact), Rivalry (Deals more damage to Pokemon of the same gender), and Anger Point (Hidden; Maxes the Attack stat after the Pokemon takes a critical hit). It learns a lot of physical grass moves, so it's perfectly usable.

There's not much else to say. It learns good moves and it has the stats to support them. It's very okay. Out of all the Delta Pokemon that exist, it sure is one of them.

I don't give him a nickname because I sincerely doubt I'm going to use him.

Becoming a Pokemon Ranger sounds pretty rad. Where do I sign up?

Hello?

I want to join. Please let me.

We're actually most of the way through the forest. But before we leave, there's a very important place to visit first.

Over on the left, do you see what appears to be the border of the forest?

It's a semi-hidden path. If you get closer, it's a little easier to see.

Some day I will be able to replace this move with something else, but it is not this day.

It's oddly fitting that Fancy was the one to get us access back here.

This little clearing has a house and a second, well hidden, grotto. Let's hit up the house first.

I've been waiting for this.

For whatever reason, he only has a single Ampharosite, but infinite everything else... including this little beauty. I've been waiting for this ever since I first decided to use Fancy.

Mega evolution boosts Donphan's stats to 600BST, with a staggering 150 base attack and defense. However, and most importantly, it has an absolutely beautiful ability... Irrelephant. Immunities mean nothing to a pokemon with the Irrelephant ability. With it, Fancy can fuck up anything with, say, Levitate. She can hit a flying type with Earthquake. It's as busted as it sounds.

Just behind the house is the grotto I mentioned above. No need to save scum this one, as it has only a single pokemon inside.

Delta Shinx is a pokemon I'm torn on. First off, getting the introductions out of the way, it is Steel/Poison type. Its three abilities are Sniper (Powers up moves if they become critical hits), Poison Touch (May poison a target when the Pokemon makes contact), and Venomous (Hidden; This Pokemon always badly poisons).

This pokemon is set up to be a fairy's worst nightmare. If its hidden ability sounds broken, I would like to point out it's not the only pokemon with that ability... merely the first. The others get it as a regular ability, but they only become available in the very late normal game, or in postgame areas.

So here's the deal, I would love to use this guy, but it's gonna be a monkey's paw sort of situtaiton. If we use Delta Shinx, then Beeisel gets benched. It's gonna be a one-or-the-other sort of situation. Both are insanely weak to ground moves, and both have the insane resistances of Steel type. Delta Luxray, however, is all about attack (120 base attack) while we all well know how tanky Delta Vespiquen is.

So which is it gonna be?

And if we pick Luxray, then we'll also need a good nickname for the venomcat.

As per request...

Anyway, let's move on.

Am I alone in thinking that these artists look like Jamie Hyneman?

A quick detour before we finish up the forest.

In the postgame, Keldeo shows up back here. Until then, though...

Heheheh...

Oh we can pull some bullshit with you my little friend. Anyway, back to the main forest.

Let's put Fancy through her paces.

Two rounds of non-boosted Rollout was enough to take out Cherrim, while Gogoat went down on the third round.

Level 63 mega-evolved stats!

Oh right, we were in a trainer battle.

And we're out of Murk Forest!

Hekate Town would be another of those stopover towns were it not the site of an arbitrary block. It's very small and has only a handful of houses. It's not even worth posting a map of.

This is part of the reason why. Hekate Town is split into three very tiny sections that are very far apart on the map.

We'll to to the top right flame first.

help me out with something?

Uh, sure.

We can't help him until after we get the 7th badge.

This old bastard won't let us leave until we clear out the local cult infestation. This whole region is full of cowards willing to hide behind a preteen girl.

The Elite Four are insanely strong. Their pokemon are all around level 90. Our strongest, Beeisel, is only 64 at the moment. That's still a single level behind Mew in the first update. We've come so far, but we still have an incredibly long way to go.

half as skilled as London is.

but I wouldn't be too sure.

For the most part, yeah. A good water or ground type will make most of the Infernal trainers cry.

An out of work miner? Why does that sound familiar?

This little plot detail from way back in the 8th update is coming home to roost. Basically, the Infernal Cult set up shop in the Fiery Caverns for some reason and kicked out all the workers.