Part 13: A Game of Tag

Music: Go-Rock Quads!


When I said that they left last update, I mean Garret, Clyde, and Tiffany left.

When we capture the legendary Pokemon, we can do whatever we feel like doing! We'll summon storms, drop thunderbolts, whip up massive fires... We'll do it all! And what will the Ranger Union do then? Why, nothing but stand around crying, "Boo-hoo-hoo!" The citizens will lose faith in the union, and that'll be that for you Rangers! Hahaha! *leaves*

So, your ultimate goal is to put the Rangers out of job? That's kind of petty
So far the other branches of the Rangers have seemed fairly competent. Why is this jerk imagining that they're all as useless as the Summerland branch?

Music: Olive Jungle


I forgot to show this last time, but here's the mission description. I'm sure the jungle can't be as bad as the sewers, right?
That's just tempting fate!



Just to the right, we see weeds that are actually Oddish. If we used Target Clear on it, we can capture it here.

Shame that there's no Pokemon with Gust available here, though.

Music: Go-Rock Squad!


You know what we've been missing? Evil Organization Grunt Battles!

Hey, stop right there. Did you enjoy the Go-Rock Quads' performance? There's nothing entertaining for you past here, though. It would be wasteful for you to go, so I'm stopping you from going out of the goodness of my heart. ...What's with that look? If you want trouble, I've got it. I just got these Wurmple with my new Styler, so let's see them rock! Charge!

Music: Go-Rock Squad Battle (Weak Grunt)


Wurmple shoots needles. That's pretty much it.



However, Wurmple moves extremely slowly. When it's panicked (signified by its sweat marks), it moves at the same speed as Grimer. Which is still slow.

Music: Capture Complete


Required Loops: 3
Possible EXP: 11/15/19/25

When a Pokemon panics, it moves more quickly but is less likely to attack. We've seen it several times before, but it's not that important (which is why I didn't explain it before).

Music: Olive Jungle


Like the other forced battles, we don't get to keep the Pokemon we captured
I like depriving these grunts of the pokemon they stole after beating them. It feels like we're making a difference one battle at a time.

The Wurmple ran off... The Styler busted... I'm not good enough yet... *flees*



As we progress, we're shown where the grunt with Politoed is going. Not that we need it since this jungle is very linear.



Electrike is our portable battery for this mission.



Its attack has a larger area than Magnemite.



Required Loops: 2
Possible EXP: 7

It does give more EXP, but it still heals the same amount as Magnemite. Pichu still reigns as best battery for now.
Ouch. Magnemite, but not as good is kinda damning.



That Snorlax is asleep. It's impossible to get around it.

So Snorlax went all the way from Fall City Harbor to here just to sleep again?





Phanphy attacks by charging. Strangely, in this game a Pokemon's tackle is not limited to a straight line. Avoiding it is kind of luck-based and it sucks.

This basically teaches us another useful tactic the game doesn't mention: Making empty loops to reduce the line and thus the possibility of getting attacked.
An elephant pokemon attacking with rollout? Sounds familiar!



Required Loops: 5
Possible EXP: 16/20/24/30

Charging Pokemon sucks, but it's still better than jumping ones. At least these ones have warnings.



With Phanphy, we can get more Pokemon from trees. Most of them have Silcoon.



Silcoon has no attacks, but it does have a defense. Our only method of dealing with it is to wait it out.



Required Loops: 8
Possible EXP: 20/24/28/34

Geez? 8 required loops to capture, and it can just randomly decide to hunker down and cause your loops to do nothing? And on top of all that, it doesn't even have a useful field ability? Wow. That's exceedingly rude.
This is our introduction to defensive Pokemon. It will get worse later



This and one other in particular have something different. There's no indication on what Pokemon are up on the trees, by the way.





As you might've guessed, Slakoth moves slowly. Amazingly, it's tied with Grimer's speed.
That's a pretty good condemnation of how slow Grimer are. "You're as slow as an actual sloth!"



Required Loops: 6
Possible EXP: 30/33/36/40

Music: Go-Rock Squad!


With that done, let's go back to chasing Politoed and the grunt.

The Go-Rock Squad's going to take over as the real Rangers! Any Pokemon I capture with this new Styler obeys everything I say!

Take over as the real rangers? Okay, I've suddenly got a theory about why the head Go-Rock person is doing all this.

Music: Go-Rock Squad Battle (Weak Grunt)


Ekans can create a poison puddle, just like Grimer and Muk. It can also charge at our line.

Music: Capture Complete


Required Loops: 5
Possible EXP: 28/32/36/42

It's best to put the styler to aggro it, and then capture it quickly after it charges. Or just use Plusle.

Music: Olive Jungle
...Huh? *flees*



Up ahead, we have some falling Spinarak.



It shoots the bug version of puddles.



Required Loops: 3
Possible EXP: 18/22/26/31



Sign Cool down in this pure, bracing stream and let it wash away your worries! <Summerland Tourism Bureau>

Moving on ahead, we see camouflaged Lotad. Unlike other camouflaged Pokemon, Lotad will sometimes go back to normal on its own.

Which is good because we have catch it for later. And, like I said before, there's no Pokemon with Gust available right now.
Yay! Lily pad duckling!

Music: Wild Pokemon Capture


This mission's Pokemon really flips flops between being a pushover and a pain.

Music: Capture Complete


Required Loops: 3
Possible EXP: 16/17/18/19

Music: Go-Rock Squad!


*Politoed leaves*



Wah! You weren't supposed to see me get embarrassed like that! I'm telling you now, it's not because I'm not skilled enough! This new Styler's acting up! That's why that Politoed's not paying attention! You want to make something of it?


Agreed.

Music: Olive Jungle
*When talked to* How does one get across the stream? If I were a Ranger, I'd knock down this Dead Tree and use it as a bridge... Oh, there I go, talking to myself.



Welp. Phanphy won't cut it, so looks like we'll have to look around.



Luckily, there's a Heracross nearby.



Ouch. (Yes, that's a wild Ludicolo. And the tree on the right is the second one with a Slakoth.)

Music: Wild Pokemon Capture


Anyway, Heracross is a test on both "shortening the line" and "bait the attack" technique. Otherwise, we'll get hit with its awkward curved charge.

Music: Capture Complete


Required Loops: 8
Possible EXP: 48/55/62/72

I don't think Heracross can be without using those techniques since there's no super effective assist available.
Sounds like it could be a bit of a roadblock if you don't pick up on those skills!

Music: Olive Jungle




Thanks, Ranger! I'll just be on my way. Good job, too! *leaves*

WELP
To be fair, it was pretty easy to see that was going to happen.