Part 61: Holon Volcano
Hello everyone and welcome back. We're very nearly done with the Holon Region. In fact, today's update is the penultimate Holon update!
I have wonderful, wonderful news! So, you remember when I called you a while back, about the fighting pokemon? We now have conclusive evidence that was Delta Regirock! A Delta version of a legendary pokemon! How wonderful! And, more importantly, we now have evidence that Delta Registeel will be passing through the Holon Volcano area!
I can't wait! This will be my big break! "Well take away your tenure", they said... oh, I'll show them! I'll make the whole world pay! The world will see the power of my Delta Species pokemon!
Nobody tell him that half the deltas are jokes.
...anyways, yeah, come to the base of the volcano as soon as you can. Delta Registeel will be swinging by soon, and you don't want to be tardy and miss it!
Right. Anyway, this is Settlement Juliet.
No points for guessing that the Holon finale happens up there.
Delta Feebas is Ghost type, and its abilities are Rattled, Run Away, and Spirit Call (Hidden; Powers up Ghost-type moves in a pinch). You might recognize Spirit Call from quite a few screenshots during the LP, as Delta Feebas is the only pokemon to get it aside from Delta Charmander's line.
On the other hand, Delta Milotic is also pure Ghost type, but gets three different abilities.... Regenerator, Defiant, and Cursed Body. Mega Milotic gets Absolution (Hidden; Boosts the Special Attack stat when the New Moon is active). Absolution is also a hidden ability of Darkrai and Delta Larvesta's line. Absolution also takes awayy 1/8 HP per turn that New Moon is active.
Milotic is kinda weird, because one of its abilities boosts its attack stat. Milotic is primarily a special attacker. It's got base 125 SpDef and 100 SpAtk. Boosting its 60 base Attack is odd. It's an alright ghost type, but there are better ones to use. Also gotta love the edgy aura of darkness.
Delta Mawile is really pretty, but my favorite has to be Delta Magmortar. Gotta love ScubaSteve!
This NPC has a lot to say, so...
doesn't seem to me like they just disappeared. I think they left voluntarily. Like they were scared of something. Could it have been a pokemon? Maybe... But looking at what happened to Professor Maple, I think it's very clear that these Deltas are a lot more dangerous than we first thought.I've been cutting most of it out, but all across the region, there have been people wondering about what happened to the ancient civilization that was around here. This seems to be the conclusion the game gives... that they were scared away by delta species pokemon.
top of an active volcano?
Nobody likes the guy who runs around trying to act like the "Only Sane Man" to everyone else. Everyone is probably aware that the volcano is active, but their research grant requires them to be here.
For some reason we can't give ourselves permission to visit up top, so we have to actually go into the volcano like a chump.
This unassuming cave is the entrance to the volcano.
The volcano is home to five Delta species, though we can only catch three at the moment.
And the
encounter rate
is at
maximum.
Do you remember way back in the third update, when I was talking about how the Run Away ability of Staaaaares would be useful? I specifically had this area in mind at the time. If you don't use Max Repels religiously, then you're gonna have an annoying and tedious time.
Holon Volcano is also home to the 8th Meloetta Tile Puzzle. So by the end of this update, we'll be ready to finish the longest sidequest in this game.
the day!
One of the side paths!
Son of a bitch. The other side of that Relic Song wall has...
Delta Venipede's line is Rock/Fire type. They have Weak Armor, Magma Armor, and Mold Breaker (Hidden) for abilities.
Scolipede learns quite a few extremely powerful attacks that all seem to either have shitty accuracy or cause 50% recoil damage. Also quadruple weakness to both Ground and Water means this awesome looking firebug just... isn't as good as its normal version. A pity.
There's nothing here in the bottom of the area. Kind of weird, because you'd think there'd be at least one trainer hanging out back here.
Maple and Pine are in the middle of the zone.
People have seen both Registeel and its Delta counterpart all over the mountain! We've done some calculations... they should be passing by any moment now. Professor Pine was kind enough to let me borrow Holon University's last few Master Balls to catch them.
Pine! Shush, they're coming by now!
He lets Registeel pass by, but...
Boom. Gotcha. Wow, that was... absurdly easy and anticlimactic. Master Balls... really take all the fun and excitement over catching a pokemon away, don't they? It's a wonder they even exist at all.
Maple. This is absolutely foolhardy. This is a legendary pokemon! The type of pokemon who control our ecosystems, the weather, even time and space! Not only should any one person not have this power, but who knows what kind of impact the removal of such an important species will have on the ecosystem!
I promise you, when we're done researching, I'll release it. I only want the best for everyone!
Pine leaves.
Nobody can cut my tenure if I'm the owner of the world! It's so incredible to think that I'm holding a legendary pokemon... A superior, Delta legendary pokemon. Amy... I really believe in these Deltas. These are the future. Incredible pokemon with different types...
But I AM going to catch all three members of this trio. For research purposes of course. You said you found Regice and its counterpart underneath the lake?
I'll be underneath the lake! You can't stop the tide of Delta Species, pun intended.
I'm glad he's having fun doing this. I think it's important he have his fun now, because he's going to stop having any once he tries to take on Amy.
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. Audrey was last seen holding this. How did it get here? Are there multiple Blue Orbs? For that matter, are there multiple Kyogres and Groudons? I don't pick it up because I don't realize it's here, but the Red Orb is also in this volcano.
There's more stuff over here, where the Regis were coming from.
Indeed.
Wait...
Is that...
Nah, couldn't be.
See the three red rocks at the bottom of the screen? There's a ladder hidden between them. The wiki doesn't mention that. It just says there's a ladder in this area. It takes me a while to find it as a result.
The Red Orb is the item diagonally up from Amy.
These platforms permanently appear when we use Tesseract. We'll swing around to them in a minute.
But first...
Delta Aron's line is Fire/Steel type and they look fucking sweet. You can try to be as detached from it as you want, but there is no denying that there is something pure fucking awesome about a giant flaming steel dinosaur. Anyway, all three have the same abilities: Flame Body (Contact with the Pokemon may burn the attacker), Drought (Turns the sunlight harsh when the Pokemon enters a battle), and Heavy Metal (Hidden; Doubles the Pokemon's weight).
This pokemon is a huge tank. Normal Aggron already is a tank with its typing, but its Delta version gets more resistances, and is only 2x weak to fighting instead of 4x. Oh and it takes 1/4 damage from five types. I'm pretty sure if it got its mega evolution in this game, it would be nearly unstoppable.
-I'm kinda thinking of using Charsi just because "this is the most metal pokemon in existence".
The rocks appeared back where we met the professors.
Delta Sableye is actually below that semi-hidden ladder I pointed out earlier.
Just wandering around blindly now...
just asking.
He's a megalomaniac. You should never get involved with megalomaniacal madmen.
This cave is way back near the entrance. It's actually very important!
It's mostly just a long side path, but there's a lot of water in here for some reason.
of crazy pokemon you could find here!
This is up on top of a small Rock Climb wall near Dooper.
I spy with my little eye...
The final Meloetta Tile Puzzle!
We're finally done with this sidequest we've been chipping away at for the entire game. All that's left is to make it official.
I'm positively giddy at being done with that sidequest. No more sliding tile puzzles! No more tediously translating the layout into 1-15 and then plugging that into a solver and following its directions!
Minara here is kind of a direct hint at what to do.
This cave looks really cool. I'm also glad they didn't make this section full of fog to simulate steam.
Huh... what an odd move.
I love these shots of a magma sea surrounding this little spit of land. It brings back memories of messing around with Dwarf Fortress 0.31.
Anyway, we need to fish in this pool at the back of the cave. It only has a single encounter...
Delta Remoraid and Octillery are both pure Fire type. They have Heatproof (Weakens the power of Fire-type moves received), White Smoke (Prevents other Pokemon from lowering its stats), and Contrary (Hidden; Makes stat changes have an opposite effect) for abilities.
It's Octillery, but Fire type. It still learns a bunch of cool moves and has the stats to use physical and special attacks equally well. So it's still very good, except now it can play a nasty game with its stat changes. Contrary seems like it could be difficult to use effectively, but would also pay off in spades when its time comes.
Named for the Devil May Cry character who uses a bunch of guns.
After this I finally realize there's something hidden in these rocks.
Delta Sableye is Rock/Fire type, and its abilities are Solid Rock (Reduces damage from supereffective attacks), Weak Armor, and Unburden (Hidden). Mega Sableye gets Bulletproof (Protects the Pokemon from some ball and bomb moves).
I'm not sure this guy is very good. While its mega form has Mega Sableye's usual great defensive stats, you're also giving up your team's mega evolution for something that is, at best, merely alright. While I would love to be wrong about this, I just don't see it being useful at all.
It looks neat, though.
Name courtesy of my friend.
Anyway, that's enough for now.
NEXT TIME: The