Part 6: Big Bosses

Part 6: Big Bosses

Barry Encounter



You came to see the Pokemon statue, right? I'll take you there!



Shaping our world are time and space in an intertwining spiral. Revered in Sinnoh are the Pokemon of time and space... Sinnoh's myth... its truth needs investigation...



I wonder who that guy is. Don't think we've seen him before.



An easy way to become a great Trainer! Yeah, that! All right. Listen close... make certain all your attacks hit! Avoid enemy attacks for sure! You do that, you'd never lose! You'd be the invincible Trainer! Anyway, go check out the Pokemon statue. See you around!



That's some XCOM logic, but the theory is sound. So let's finish exploring Eterna, there's still quite a bit to do!



"When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate."

Ooh, mysterious. There's a bunch of these type plates around, some hidden, some not. We'll be sure to pick them all up, they boost the move of the same type by 20%! You might think that makes it better than the standard type boosting items we've had since Gen 2, but they've also been boosted to that, so use whichever one you like.



Pah, lame, modern heritage sites strip away all the fun of visiting old stuff.

Route 211 Day



The house nearby sells herbal medicine, we all know how much I love Revival Herbs, but it'll be a while before we get some, always nice to have them readily available early. And with that, it's new route time! Let's catch some thingymahoosits.





Alright, phew, another garbage baby I don't need to breed. Uh, ever wanted to use Chimecho in a slightly less painful way than a 2% encounter? Well, this is a happiness evolution, so not really? In any case, Chingling is perfectly usable, though its small movepool is a bit of a pain, only really being able to use Confusion, Uproar and Grass Knot for quite a time. As a baby, it only offers Last Resort to its evolution, which isn't great at all, so best evolve it fast, it won't be very useful otherwise. Hey, at least we just got the Soothe Bell!



Another familiar face. Now that Psychic can be physical, Meditite can make much better use of Pure Power, though losing Shadow Ball definitely hurts. Admittedly though, its only move to use for a while is Confusion, but then it gets Force Palm and, yes, Hi Jump Kick quickly after. Very useful, but that Return TM would be real helpful right now, shame you only get one for a while, huh? But at least there's, urp, Rock Tomb, sorry, my gag reflex is back, and the elemental punches a little later on. It's a fun time with proper planning!



Gah! Seems the little shits are still doing this...



Sowing confusion among the foe is one way a ninja battles. A Pokemon can't overcome its confusion unless it switches out.

Radium is always there to help me get out of Zubat bullshit.



Hikers are always welcome sights.



It's 7pm, so evening is nearly over. While it's not too smooth, there's much better gradual time changes compared to Gen 2.



Hoothoot is definitely a choice, since it gets early Uproar and Confusion and later on gets Air Slash. I used one just fine in HGSS and it can become a real SpDef monster. Add in Shadow Ball and, uh, Silver Wind, and you'll be fine. Just stay away from Rock moves.



Yup, I taught it how to say HECK! But my mom didn't find it very funny and took my DS away for a day...



Ugh, well, best to get this out of the way early. It's time for our first out of many, many times we'll be going into Mt. Coronet. Seriously, there's like 15 different areas in this place.

Mt. Coronet




Well, we can't go too far, but that doesn't mean there's nothing here for us!





If you want to make the next Gym a breeze and just sit there taking attacks, then this will do the job. You won't do very much back with those awful offenses, even with Extrasensory. But with Hypnosis, Iron Defense and Confuse Ray, you and your opponent will both want to die. Don't think about getting any real offenses until you evolve and get Gyro Ball though.

Heatproof creates the best mindgames, halving the damage from Fire moves and Burn damage, removing a weakness. Obviously you'll want to go with the immunity, but no one in their right mind would use a Ground move on a Bronzong, so you can surprise them when they try to hit you with Fire and then... uh... whittle them down and try not to die from more Fire attacks? Don't look at me, I dunno what I'm doing!



What is with all these adorable lost childs roaming around? As another happiness evolution, you'll be stuck spamming Magical Leaf until it finally evolves. Wait until later if you want Clefairy.



Since the last Pokemon is taking its time to show up, ain't low encounter rates just grand, it's time to ~HACK~ since I've gotta encounter every Pokemon somehow. Just type in the National Pokedex number... the level I want it to be at... don't really care about the nature... alright! That should do it.



...hm. Guess not. I've got to type these numbers in quite quickly and confirm with L then R.



...hm. Guess I need to learn my National Dex numbers. Bah.



There we go, uh, as simple as that! It's also the first Pokemon we're catching as part of the Platinum Pokedex Expansion! They just lazily stick like 60 Pokemon after the original DP dex, instead of mixing things in more naturally. Now we've got a load of holes in our dex, yay!



Also, since I shifted time somewhat to make it night so Cleffa appeared, we can now catch Hoothoot. It's been available since Eterna Forest, but the Honey trees, man! Also we were going back to the forest later when it would've naturally been night anyway, so might as well do it now.

Eterna City Night



Is it a Pokedex? Wow, it brings back some memories. Pardon me, but what's your name? ... OK, hello, Hikari. I'll be sure to remember that name! My name is Cynthia. I'm a Trainer just like you. I've been studying Pokemon mythology lately, just out of curiosity. Here in Eterna City, there is a statue of an ancient Pokemon. Have you seen it already? According to myth, it was an extremely powerful Pokemon. Who knows? You may encounter something like it while you're traveling with your Pokedex. Oh, I know! Try using this. It should be helpful.



It will let you go places that were previously inaccessible to you. That's important for filling up your Pokedex, right? Then luck be with you, young Trainer! Oh, there's one last thing! Please give my regards to Prof. Rowan.



She seemed important, but I doubt we'll see her much. Just before we head to the Gym, since this honey tree is close by and ready to go, might as well check it out.



This is important, since while the Pokemon is determined when you slather the tree, thus making you unable to change it without reloading and waiting another 6 hours, the actual PID hasn't been set, so you can keep resetting for gender, nature, IVs, etc. Very important for some Pokemon, but again, we'll go into this much more when we see what's in the other trees. Ugh.



Eh, sure, Aipom unfortunately only gets Scratch until it gets Double Hit way down the line to finally evolve. Return is appreciated. It gets a wide variety of TMs, of course, and the elemental punches later on are always nice, but it's a bit fragile for how long you've got to cart it around.



Slathering the tree again has a 90% chance of the same group appearing on the tree in 6 hours time. IF it was also the last tree slathered with Honey. Yeah, that immediately makes that mechanic useless. Is this a Munchlax tree? Honestly, there's no way to tell until you find one, it's pretty shitty. Now enough depressing talk, it's Gym time!

Pokemon Gym



The Gym Leader, Gardenia, is a user of Grass-type Pokemon. It should be obvious, but Grass-type Pokemon really hate fire. They're also at a huge disadvantage against the Flying type, too. Oh, wait a second. I should tell you about the Gym itself first. You can't challenge the Gym Leader until you beat all the Gym's Trainers. It's a bit challenging, but just think of it as good training and go for it!



Most Gyms stay the same, while others, like this one, got a huge overhaul. We'll see what it entails as soon as we switch Pop in.



Hmm, yeah, nah, don't expect to see him much for this bit.




Spin the clock round and round, where it stops nobody kno-



Oh, the next trainer. Figures.




Every time you beat a Trainer, the floral clock moves. The fountain also stops if I lose. It's so you can go to the Pokemon Center during your challenge.



That is definitely what happened, yes.



That's a lot of Budew and Roselia.




Quick stop at the center and then it's time!



When I first saw you, I was convinced you'd find your way to me. My hunch was right on the money. You have a winning aura about you. So, anyway, this will be fun. Let's have our battle!

Gym Leader Battle





Gardenia/Natane: Master of Vivid Plant Pokemon
From gardenia, a genus of flowering coffee plants, and ナタネ Natane, rapeseed plant, as well as 菜 na (vegetables) and 種 tane (seed).








Gardenia is a pretty tough fight, especially in Platinum when she's given a few buffs. At least Roserade is unchanged, it did NOT need anything else.



Turtwig is a pain being the setup mon for everyone else, but since we're chipping away at it, that Reflect should fade shortly after we beat it. And best for her to use healing items early.



That was probably another Reflect, so at least my plan worked! No, really, flinching endlessly and having the sun up was exactly what I wanted.



Praise the sun!





An interesting Pokemon if nothing else, with an early Sunny Day and Petal Dance, you can definitely do some damage since you'll activate your ability and transform, right? Well, let's go over it in a moment, but Cherrim is perfectly fine as is, it only has Grass special attacks aside from Hidden Power, which is a bit annoying, but it'll get Weather Ball as an egg move in HGSS! Yeah that's not great, but it has the stats to do damage and do damage early, it's pretty nice. While its physical Normal moves might not have much kick to them, well, maybe we can do something about that...



Under the sun, Flower Gift activates and Cherrim transforms into... exactly the same mon, more or less, but here's some good news, its ability boosts Atk and SpDef for it and its allies by 50%! Yes, Attack. So, uh, now Razor Leaf has a real kick to it and you can almost pretend you're part Normal with how much damage you're doing! A Heat Rock is the only way to make this strategy effective, but it gives it a weird little option that somehow works... kinda. Cherrim's form is not tied to Flower Gift, so if it's suppressed or changed in some way, it'll keep on shining and really, that's the most we can ask for it.



Anyway, I wanted to have the sun up when Cherrim came out cause I don't think I would've shown off its form otherwise, so be grateful! But we're just getting Pop his exp, can't miss out on that and really start cooking.



So you may have been wondering how the hell I'm going to get through the Grass Gym with a Grass, Water and Electic type. The answer is... Curse and then plink away with Tackle and Razor Leaf! That's seriously it, but when all you have is a Curse hammer...



Ah crap, I was using Razor Leaf to try and crit and guess what the AI thought was a good switch-in?





Well here we are, a fucking problem. Still, having tough bosses by facing early evolved Pokemon is still working wonders, Roserade is real dangerous, but an excellent upgrade to Roselia. You can either evolve it as soon as you get the stone, which is a while away, or when Roselia learns Petal Dance at 40. Still, with stats like those, even Giga Drain is gonna hurt. You can also relearn Weather Ball, but it won't be too effective unless you weather it out with Cherrim. Still, once you get Sludge Bomb, it's all over, and Shadow Ball doesn't hurt either. It's definitely physically frail and takes massive damage from Prinplup's Pluck and Monferno's Flame Wheel, so Grotle users will have to get thinking.



This is taking a fair while, even at +2, but at least Grass Knot doesn't do a huge amount. Being paralysed is nice, since Etrian's Speed is completely tanked and this prevents Poison Sting from being annoying.



While Razor Leaf will do very little, Tackle crits are still the real business. It's out of healing and out of options, so we're done with this fight.



Oh, right, this thing is still alive... dammit, Pop won't get any exp since Cherrim switched out! Oh well.



Ah, darn, 1HP. Still, Pop will outspeed and finish the job, nice work Etrian-



-you absolute fucking MAD LAD!



Bye, Curse, I prefer my coverage.

Pokemon Gym



Wasn't it hard for you to raise your Pokemon to be so good? I guess that's a measure of how much you love your Pokemon. In recognition of that, I proudly grant you this!

"of battle."

Now that you have two Gym Badges, all Pokemon you received in trades will obey you up to Lv. 30. I've also got something else. It's a gift from me!



It's one of my favorite moves. The heavier the foe, the more damage this move will cause.



You and your Pokemon are gonna get even tougher, and I mean seriously!



There we go, a nice, clean badge I got through a clever strategy I'm pretty happy worked out. Grass Knot has 20PP and 100% accuracy that deals a varying base power depending on how heavy the opponent is in kg, from 20BP at 10kg or less, to up to 120BP for 200+kg. Early on it obviously won't do much, but as your foes get bigger and heavier, it's a pretty dependable move.



Alright, now to teach Cut to remove these bushes and... SHIT! I could've taught Cut before the Gym battle and made it ten times easier, I am such a fucking moron!!!



Oh don't patronize me with some of the best special coverage some Pokemon used to get!!! It's now a physical move and those moves are a dime a dozen.

Galactic Eterna Building



I am, after all, an officer of the International Police. It is only natural that I be a master of disguise.



...are you fucking kidding me? WHY DID YOU REMOVE YOUR DISGUISE???

I therefore think you will be OK, but I must warn you to be careful anyway. Also, a word of advice. This building, it has two stairs. One of them, a trap it must be. But the crooks of Team Galactic, they do not appear, how shall I say, smart. There should be an easy way to tell the stairs apart!



But I have no clue as to who they are or what it is they wish to do. The minions, they appear ignorant of the intentions of their boss.




Oh hey, Pop's back! You can already tell which stairway is right, but might as well indulge them. This was just a regular building in DP, and therefore much simpler to traverse.




Our astonishing undertaking is most certainly breathtaking. If you ever hope to see its glorious unveiling, then don't meddle with us!

This is also the first appearance of a female grunt. You know as much on the overworld cause they got a big booty.



Now these are images to take out of context.





Well, we'll go over it even if it didn't do anything. This is one of them slow, frail, mixed attackers, but it can get the job done. It won't be too great until it evolves quite a bit later, but with Revenge and Mud Bomb, it has an interesting spread. Its best Poison move is Poison Jab... after it evolves, but the elemental punches are always nice and it's got quite a few picks from TMs. But since none of its stats are too great, it'll be barely reaching to be effective by the time it can evolve. Its typing doesn't make many types friendly to it either, so expect it to go down quite a lot.



What do you have against taking Pokemon from others? Look in any field or forest! Those things aren't exactly rare!



Yeah, pretty obvious, but it's worth going up both.



Good news, it seems Glameow has dropped Fake Out for Faint Attack. Hopefully next is Hypnosis...



When I get promoted, I'll demand better stolen Pokemon.



Hopefully there's something good this way!



Damn it!!!




You can catch Pokemon anywhere. What's so special about them? Trainers that lose theirs should quit whining and catch some more!



I hope these are the bad guys, or we're gonna be so embarrassed!



Evil scientists? Well, they're always evil, so we can't count it against them.



Neat.



One day you'll see what we are all about. It's wonder, compassion, splendor, humor, power, awe, and tragedy!



Ah finally, we're gonna need this.




Hmm, they seem pretty villainous, especially since they're reminding me of trade evolutions.



Oh, never mind then!



How silly of me to even ask. You want to free the Pokemon. Fine! I, Jupiter, will deal with you.

Galactic Commander Battle



Outta the way you, this isn't what we're here for.



Alright, let's see how we fare against this boss!



FUCK





Well, tank is half correct with great HP, but meh defenses. Another dangerous Pokemon to fight pretty early since that is a mean Attack... and a mean attack in Night Slash! Between that, Flamethrower, Poison Jab and, uh... Explosion? Hell yeah!... you've got a pretty solid mon that has alright defensive coverage. It doesn't do too much aside from that since half of those moves are special, but it'll do enough damage with them. Night Slash is the main deal anyway, so while it was a rough road getting up to this point, I'd say it's pretty worth it.



So what's my strategy against this mon? Well, whittle it down and hope it doesn't crit too much. A flawless strategy, I know, but it's what I got. Night Slash has 70BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy. Since I only have the one Revive, I won't really be able to PP stall this thing.



But hey, I keep my party full so those spares can die for me while I heal something up. Works pretty well if it only goes for Smokescreen!



Mars has collected energy from the Valley Windworks. We're pretty much finished here. I'll let you in on one little thing. Our boss is researching the myths of ancient Pokemon. With the power of mythical Pokemon, he will become the ruler of Sinnoh... I suggest you keep out of Team Galactic's affairs from now on. This is your last warning!

Eterna City Night



They said "CLEFAIRY came from space. Hand it over!" Their logic baffles me still. It's like they are from space. Anyway, they're gone now. Thank you very much! I can't thank you enough right now, but cruise by my Cycle Shop, OK?



Dammit, can't I cruise without interruptions???



I wanted you to have this Pokemon Egg. Will you accept it? Oh? You have six Pokemon with you already. I'll give you this Egg when you've made room for it. I'll be waiting right here.

Oh yeah, my reluctance to use the PC for saving lots of data will probably bite me here and there. But I was curious what would happen. I doubt you could leave Eterna and have Cynthia stand here FOREVER, but it would be pretty funny.



The Pokemon inside the Egg is happy, too. I'm sure of it! Keep that Egg with you in your party of Pokemon. A Pokemon will hatch from it while you are traveling. I would be happy to know that it will help fill another page of your Pokedex. See you again!



Hmm, I wonder what's inside? We'll see soon enough, I'm sure.




"Press the B Button to shift up or down." In third gear, you can't go all that fast, but it's easier to control. In fourth gear, it gets harder to steer and stop, but it's fast! Really!



A neat thing is being able to get on your bike from these racks, but in any case, there's still a fair few things to do around Eterna and we'll do that... not next time. Cause we're going Underground!