Part 13: Path to Pastoria

Part 13: Path to Pastoria

Veilstone City Night

"Pokedex back?"

We'll be just as happy to send both of you crying home to your mommies!

You're trying to get the Pokedex back from us? Not when we, Team Galactic, can make so much better use of it! But, OK, guarding the warehouse does get boring! We'll take you on two-on-two!



Remember those Team Galactic goons? The guys who tried to take Prof. Rowan's research results in Jubilife? I ran into them, and they ripped off my Pokedex! Will you team up with me to take them on? You and your Pokemon together with me and my Pokemon... our dream team's not going to lose. Not with the way we work together! I'm not letting those criminals get away with this!



It's another multi battle, and I'm not crazy, I just want to get rid of Clefairy asap, it really doesn't do anything.



Oh, colour me surprised, it actually helped a lot. Now I can destroy everything!



And it's as easy as that. Spoilers, this will be the last time we'll fight alongside Lucas/Dawn, so this is the last opportunity to see their team, which also includes their starter.



Aww, that stinks! Our Pokemon are chumps! We should get new ones from headquarters. Humph! Who cares about some Pokedex anyway? Team Galactic's going to own all the Pokemon in the world... no, in the universe! There! Take it! Take your Pokedex!

Those things we had in the warehouse've already been moved to Pastoria City anyway... So we'll say "You'll get yours!" and run like the grunts we are.

What's going on here? Why is Team Galactic out in the streets like they own the place? Hikari, thanks, honestly. I'm useless without my Pokedex. I have to have it for helping Prof. Rowan with his studies. So, Hikari, what are your plans now? I think I'm off to the Pokemon Mansion on Route 212. They say they show off rare Pokemon to visitors.

Looker Encounter



I heard of children feuding with the Team Galactic. It turns out, of course, to be you.

Hey... it's that weirdo from Jubilife.

You insult me to my face? How very uncouth of you.

Oh, sorry. Honestly. I was upset from having my Pokedex ripped off by Team Galactic. I didn't even think when I spoke up. I'll be going now. Uh... watch out for Team Galactic.



Of more interest is the criminal behavior of the Team Galactic. They attempt to steal the belongings of a child? The scale of their criminality, it seems rather miniscule. The triviality of their action makes them more sinister, perhaps. Their warehouse needs investigation. Come with me, and we'll take a look!




It will not do to leave this item here to be used by the Team Galactic. So, we did not learn very much from this exercise... no matter. What concerns me is what I have overheard in the Game Corner. The Team Galactic has transported something to Pastoria City. What they are up to, I do not know, but I have bad feelings about it.



Well wasn't that fun? In DP, Lucas/Dawn just drop their Pokedex and heading into the warehouse to pick up Fly is optional, so some dumb kids probably missed out, because kids are really bad at doing anything you don't tell them about.

Route 214 Day




A clever ruse, but Skulletor can't move his head very well. Kirlia has a simple enough split evolution, continue as normal if you want the hard hitting Gardevoir, or continue as normal until you get a Dawn Stone for Gallade. It's not too far off, but it'll probably be late enough that you'll have plenty of moves to relearn for it.



So what made me decide to go this way instead of Route 212? Well, I don't actually have a choice. In DP, either path is fine, but the way south of Hearthome is still blocked, so through Veilstone it is.



I'll just keep on chipping away at the rock wall little by little. Do you know why? I'm a Ruin Maniac who is fascinated by the UNOWN. I know it's a little sudden, but how about you and me have a race? You go and catch the Unown, and I'll keep digging away. We'll have a race to see who can get done faster.



Well, I guess there's no reason to not do it. There's Hippopotas in this cave, but it's pretty damn rare until later. We'll head back to Solaceon sometime soon, I'm sure.



Tails, we battle! Now, how will this play out, my friend?



I flipped a coin when I was ten. I decided to live in Sinnoh then.



Well I hope you enjoyed the PI class, since that's the only one in game. Okay, there is another one, but we won't be seeing them. At least you can see more in battle facilities.



Yeah, I use it to track new Pokemon I've seen.





Uh, like that, yeah. As you can see from its stats, this is not a Pokemon to be carrying round until level 40, especially since it's immediately hamstrung by its movepool. The best STAB move it has is Pin Missile, but you can relearn Bite, which will help you a fair bit. It gets actual useful moves later on, not too long after you catch it, getting Bug Bite and Poison Fang, though the former is only in Plat, as it usually is. At least its small size doesn't affect its TM usage, with Brick Break, Aerial Ace and Poison Jab all being nice options. It might be a struggle to begin with, but I'd say it's worth it.



Interesting idea, but it only works if you get evasion!



Oh, wow, two more new Pokemon, uh, okay. Tangela is a fine choice, but has to deal with Mega Drain until you get Ancientpower and then evolution after 33. That's not when the problems end, since Power Whip is a great move you'll get in the postgame, so until then, you'll need the physical classics, but that's not possible until evolution. Got not much time before then at least.

The mixed bananasaur is back and ready to do okay damage to a fair few things. There's a nice mix of moves to learn, from Razor Leaf, to Body Slam, to Magical Leaf, to Air Slash, but of course Earthquake, Return, Steel Wing and Silver Wind can be considered. I mean, sure, you could give it Cut, Fly, Strength and Defog, but you'll have to leave behind Rock Smash, and if you're not going all the way, then what's the point?





Ah geez, right, this is a bit of a hard mon to find, but is it worth it? Well, it's pretty damn slow and has its movepool clogged up with the Stockpile garbage. But hey, you get to use Vine Whip for most of the game, along with Faint Attack. Okay, so what can you use until you get Crunch and Power Whip? Uh, well, you learn Swords Dance by TM! There's Return, as well as Sludge Bomb, since it can use both spectrums. Hmm, doesn't even learn Bug Bite from tutor until HGSS. Well its ability helps it a lot, because goddamn does it not learn much. Eventually it'll have some pretty cool moves, but is it really the best recipient of them? Will it survive an attack after being endlessly outsped? Will you bother making use of Stockpile? These answers are up to you.



Well you seem to have half my damn dex right here! Yanma still doesn't get STAB... until later! But you'll evolve it long before it gets any good moves, because of course stuff like U-turn, Air Slash, Bug Buzz, hell, even Wing Attack and Hypnosis, are after Ancientpower. So there's lots to look forward to! Otherwise, the best you've got is Quick Attack and Uproar. Sure, there's also Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Aerial Ace and Signal Beam, so you'll last until you get to the actual good STAB options. Just remember there will never be any Fly. For some reason.





Please, no more. So far, Luxio hasn't been too exciting, but maybe Luxray turns things around! Well, kinda, the increased Atk gives your Spark more oomph, since it's the best physical STAB you'll ever get, even if Thunder Fang is kinda tempting due to the flinch chance at the cost of 5 less accuracy, something that will matter, I'm sure. Otherwise, you've got Crunch and Return and that's about it. Eventually, we'll get the postgame Superpower tutor, but you'll have to use Thunderbolt for extra power eventually. It's not too far off, but if your SpAtk isn't high enough, it might be worth sticking with Spark. Next time you should breed it for some variety in Ice Fang. That's all we've got, mainly because quadruped Pokemon get fuck all for moves.



There are some Pokemon we have to encounter in the wild, but the game is set up so you can fight most trainers and see all the Pokemon that way, it's pretty neat.



Now imagine if another team member evolved at 30. That would just be crazy.





Well the more I do now, the less I do later... If you kept your female Burmy as is, here's the default, poor typing aside, it has the tools to be effective. All three forms have completely different movepools, different stats and stuck with Bug Bite since Signal Beam is a postgame tutor. Always fun. If you land a good Hidden Power when you evolve, great, you will desperately need that special coverage since aside from various Psychic moves, you're stuck with Razor Leaf for a long time until you finally get Leaf Storm before the game is over. Still, you've got Giga Drain and Shadow Ball to keep you going. And, uh, that's about it, but hey, you weren't doing huge damage anyway, so it's whatever. Uh, not much else to say, but at least I can cover the other two forms in my own ti-





GODDAMMIT!!! Burmy from Honey Trees will always be Plant, but if you fight with one at a honey tree encounter you'll easily get this cloak. Has a much better typing and much better moves to go with it, though it learns fucking Rock Blast instead of Razor Leaf and Fissure instead of Leaf Storm. Okay, sure, but you've got Earthquake, use it! Cause it's the only good move it really has, all forms learn the Psychic moves even if this one can't use them well, but at least you can boost you coverage with... ugh, Rock Tomb. Sucker Punch from a nearby tutor ain't a bad idea either. I hope you weren't expecting anything else. Stone Edge? Strength? Get outta here with your pipe dreams.



Woah, the double nice. Nice. Easily the best typing, though Forretress isn't sweating from this competition. While it has lower offenses, they're still passable, and you start off with Mirror Shot to go with your Bug Bite. You only get Iron Head later, so Leaf Storm still easily wins out, but with Flash Cannon, Gyro Ball, Stealth Rock and Toxic, you don't have a bad bagworm here. Fun surprises are Magnet Rise and Gunk Shot from lategame tutors, so despite being an absolute mess of movepool and stats, it's weirdly fun, almost. Look, I'm surprised I have this many words about a Pokemon I haven't thought about in a long time.



You only ever saw Plant Burmy and Wormadam in DP, so this is a nice addition. Guess I've got to get all 3, won't that be fun?



The route is split down the middle, so this weird fence maze is still as weird as it was in Gen 1, but fine since it's the only time is appears.



Is it possible to become more powerful by understanding Pokemon?



No surprise there.



plz no steppy. Rhyperior is pretty damn good, but it's a long road until then. You'll get the Protector long before you evolve, because oh man is that a while away. The best you'll have is Rock Blast until then, but of course there's Earthquake and, ugh, Rock Tomb to help this slow charger along. It still has a shocking amount of special moves to learn, but it mainly needs to not die against Water or Grass moves.

"That's what a Collector does."

Ah christ, Collectors always have good stuff, especially in this game.



Yup. Well you can probably guess what his other two Pokemon are. We already have the stones, so which do you prefer? The main problem of all the Eeveelutions is we get one at level 20, but they learn their basic elemental attack at 15, which is pretty damn important for some Eeveelutions. Not Jolteon, since while it won't learn anything good until 43 in Thunder Fang, we have Shock Wave and you can give it Thunderbolt later on. Otherwise there's Shadow Ball, uh, Double Kick? Already we're out of options, so wait until Signal Beam in the postgame.



This route is just crazy. Vaporeon has ridiculous SpAtk, so slap Surf and Ice Beam on it and you're golden. Well, okay, it'll be Water Gun and Aurora Beam to begin with, but Surf isn't far off and you can buy Blizzard in Veilstone for something nice. There's also Icy Wind from tutors if you like your accuracy. Another mon you should be able to get away with no relearning the basic STAB move, with later options of Shadow Ball and Signal Beam being alright coverage.

And then there's Flareon. How many more times must we go over this mon? Its SpAtk is passable, since the only physical STAB move it'll get is Fire Fang at 43, with Quick Attack and Bite until then. For some Eeveelutions, they need to wait until 29 for Eevee to get Bite before they evolve, but Flareon skips that. Otherwise, there's Return, Superpower for postgame tutor and, uh, Iron Tail? Poor thing always struggles to make ends meet, but Fire Blast solves some of its problems.



Phew, there's been too many Pokemon for my liking to cover, but at least we're all do-



OH COME ON! About damn time though, Skulletor just got even more broken.





You already know what I'm gonna say about this mon. Holy fucking shit that Atk stat at the cost of literally everything else. When you're giving Deoxys-A a run for its money, you know it's crazy. It already has Earthquake, which is more than it'll ever need, but it gets Zen Headbutt soon, which is a fun tech. Still gotta rely on Rock Tomb, but when the game is nearly over, that is when the man, the myth, the legend, Head Smash, comes a-calling. It can also do other stuff like Avalanche and Thunderpunch or whatever. Iron Head, Outrage and Superpower from postgame tutor, but who cares, Earthquake will solo basically everything, it's fucking Rampardos.



I could enter for some Master Balls, but I'd need to win it quite a few times for it to actually matter. Ugh.



I love the unstoppable force, it's so bad.



Need more s u c c in your life? This restores 30% more HP from draining moves, but it doesn't make the move do 30% more damage! It also works on Ingrain and Aqua Ring, as well as increases the damage from Liquid Ooze.



Everybody's rollin. If you can't evolve, then Graveler is passable, it gets Earthquake pretty early and will give you the boom, which is always appreciated. Otherwise, you've got Rock Throw so you can ignore, ugh, Rock Tomb and move straight onto the other Rock moves that take forever to get to. Won't be too long until you can get Fire Punch and Thunderpunch, it's an alright option! But please evolve.



There's one more new mon in the grass, but you always gotta wait for it to show. We're done with the route on one side, so time to head up the other side!



There are mysteries waiting for me to investigate around the world. This is no time to be feeling sorry for myself.



Even gift Pokemon can be seen elsewhere, just in case you missed them.



If you're trying to find the Pokemon you want, you need to go everywhere! Not just east and west, either. South and north are important, too!



Oh hey, we can evolve Gligar now, while its holding this at night and gains a level. There's a fair few Pokemon we can evolve, but even if it'll be a long time before we actually see them, we'll evolve them then, since it gives us something to do in the postgame.




Discovery is the treasure I seek. Collecting a lot is my life!



Oh hey, now we can evolve Magby into Magmar and then again into Magmortar. Despite seeing none of those Pokemon. Cool.



The physical/special split hit Houndour kinda hard, now its movepool is clogged up with a bunch of physical attacks it can use, sure, but would prefer otherwise. Still, Fire Blast solves most problems, but you'll have to manage with Faint Attack until Dark Pulse towards the end of the game. Still, you're about to evolve, so that Fire Blast becomes much more potent.

Valor Lakefront Day / Night



Not a new city, but definitely somewhere to visit.



Also new Pokemon to get, or at least try to. This is where Sudowoodo and Mr. Mime would first be in their respective games, but we can get them both later.



You motherfucker. Been a while since we've talked about this mon. With very even stats, it will do just fine, if nothing amazing. Early Psybeam and Double Hit lets you dish out damage pretty consistently, with a choice of Psychic or Zen Headbutt later. Also get some offbrand moves in Assurance and Crunch. Since it learns a million TMs, choose what fits your new member, though Shadow Ball is important since you're immune to Ghost. It's easy to pass over, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just different.



We're lying in ambush for it here.

They say there's a legendary Pokemon in this lake. I aim to capture it on film like I've done before. It was me who filmed that red GYARADOS at Lake of Rage.

Do you have some Cake of Rage? DP started the game with a TV program about the Red Gyarados, so it doesn't exactly click if you're a Plat only player.



The hotel people won't be happy with me... I'm sure I had it when I left the reception counter earlier... If I only had the Poketch app Dowsing Machine, it would be so easy to find...



Sunyshore City, which is down this road, had a major blackout! Crews are working on restoring power, but the road's closed now.



Ah, finally, a location for Jirachi to appear.



This place is interesting enough. Between 9am to 11pm, you can fight up to 5 double battles for some exp. There's 9 total pairs that are chosen randomly and there's some interesting Pokemon to fight, but nothing we won't find otherwise.



However, my analysis indicates that it is composed of natural ingredients. What is it? You are?



We're at a fancy restaurant, and you want to analyze what's served? Oh, you're a Trainer?



Each table has their own story, but whatever, if you want to know them, find out yourself. I always advocate playing these games, since I don't show off everything! Oh and I'll talk about Swablu later, it was a small chance we saw it here to begin with.



The results of that battle are insignificant. Let's drink up.

Cheers, dear! Please don't start analyzing what we just drank!



For whatever reason this pool is around the boundary of Route 213, making some of Valor Lakefront, uh, not actually in the lakefront.



Oh! You're working on filling a Pokedex! I hope you'll come show me your Pokedex when you've filled it up more!



Suite, suite, key.



...oh I've gotta go in to get my reward. Sheesh, talk about being inconvenient!



Blow the White Flute if you want to attract more wild Pokemon. It's a rare glass flute you can only get in the Hoenn region.

While only the White and Black flute are in this game, all of them can be obtained, and thus traded over, from HGSS, though the Blue, Red and Yellow flutes go in the Battle Items pocket, while the other two just go in general items. Uh, anyway, the White Flute increases the encounter rate by 50%. They're all infinite use. Oh yeah, she gave you a Lava Cookie in DP, but we can buy those now.




Use it, and for a while afterward, the slowest Pokemon move first! Before the faster can move, the slowest gets to attack! How you use it is up to you, Trainer...



Do do do do doooooo. We've restored your Pokemon to full health. We hope to see you again!



Alright, cool little diversion, back to beating up kids for fun and profit.



That cloud looks like giant ice cream! I bet it tastes yummy!



Hm? Was that a shiny Shellos?



Mom blew up my inflatable tube for me. I ran out of breath just opening it!




Beach booty.



Oh, it's Skulletor's first battle. Excellent!



Go on. Don't be shy about going up to people to hear what they have to say... just don't you talk to me.



Ah geez, we're in this corner of the internet already?



I need only to see their footprints, and their innermost thoughts are revealed to me! Oh? You are skeptical of my claim? Then, let your RAMPARDOS walk in front of me, right here. From its footprints, I will determine how it feels about you.

If a Pokemon were to travel alone, it would be limited as to where it could go. But traveling with a human, a Pokemon would be able to travel farther afield to more distant cities and lands. Traveling with Hikari has been rewarding and reassuring. And very entertaining...



Alright, uh, cool. Since we're here, might as well see what everyone thinks of me.

Etrian: If I said there can be friendship between Pokemon and people, will GROTLE's friends understand? But if you see Hikari and ETRIAN, you will understand. Because Hikari and ETRIAN are friends!

I must say, your GROTLE and you share a very close bond. This is for you.



Oh cool, there is a reason to do this weird thing.



Oh yeah, since Hearthome, we have Contest related stuff on the Pokemon page. Whatever, I'll cover Contests soon enough.



We've obtained our first ribbon! Like Gen 3, there's a fair few to pick up and it's definitely worth doing, as you'll see later. Let's talk about what's actually going on as we see what Radium and Pop think of us.

Radium: Hikari is... a remarkable human and Trainer. That I can always perform the best any LUXRAY can... I attribute that entirely to my partner Hikari. When we travel, I can see wild Pokemon eyeing us enviously...



As you'd expect, this feature is based on happiness. There's 5 phrases each Pokemon can say, which corresponds to the happiness rating in the Friendship Checker app. There's also 5 distinct groups of Pokemon, divided into Cute Pokemon, Tough Pokemon, Scary Pokemon, Slow Pokemon and Voiceless Pokemon. All categories aside from the last one have two sets, depending if the Pokemon has a footprint or not, so a Grovyle and a Cloyster are in the same group, but have different responses since one has a proper footprint. The Voiceless Pokemon, like Porygon, Beldum, Bronzor, etc, will always say "Sssshhnnn... ... ...Ssshhhnnn... ... Ssshhhnnn... ...", but all Pokemon will be awarded the ribbon when they reach max happiness.

Pop: Some wild Pokemon frown upon others for traveling with humans. They jeer that the caught Pokemon have "forgotten the wild." But that view is mistaken. They have just never met a Trainer who could be a great partner. A great partner like Hikari, in other words...

So where do our Pokemon fall? Etrian is currently in the Cute group, but moves to Tough when it evolves, so it'll have the same view as Radium and also Skulletor and Pop when they reach max happiness, since I do want the ribbon on the entire team. So yeah, our entire current team won't have much variety, but maybe when we fill the rest of them it'll be fine? Ehhhh, don't hold your breath. Tough covers most fully evolved Pokemon, so it's not too surprising, with Cute covering most unevolved Pokemon. And the rest of the categories contain what you expect. It's a neat little thing, just don't be weird about Pokemon feet. Oh too late. God you sicken me.



Still very illegal.




They're really trying to justify Rock Smash. Can't wait to finally get rid of this garbage.



That's about it for this route. Well, I guess we'll catch some stuff.





It's not a shiny, if only, but the other form of Shellos, divided by Mt. Coronet. There's no difference between them, same stats, same moves, but I made these infographics and dammit I'm gonna use them!



Of course we can never escape from these guys. Not too different from last gen, you got your Wing Attack and your Water Pulse and your evolution, but not much else. Still learns Shock Wave somehow and will appreciate Surf, but you'll need other moves from other places since Stockpile rears its head again.



If you didn't fancy the trade in Eterna, then this is the earliest you can obtain Chatot otherwise. In Plat. I'll mention when it first becomes available in DP.



It's been a long journey, but we've finally made it. We'll rest up and then next time, we'll-



I have to wait here until then? I'm going batty from this wait... Oh, man, I wish I could do something that involved lots of explosives! Yup, this is going to be a smashing job for Team Galactic...



Next time, we'll explore the city, that sounds like not our problem, honestly.






We do have Pokemon to evolve on occasion. I've just never known where to put these? In the middle of an update? Linked from elsewhere? Let's just dump them at the end so you can skip them if you want.