Part 46: Thank You For The Greatest Battle I’ve Ever Had

Update 47: Thank You For The Greatest Battle I’ve Ever Had









Well-thought and well-fought, child. This will not be the last we meet.







…

Wyndon - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST







Other Person: He awoke Eternatus and nearly caused a catastrophe for the entire region! You reap what you sow, I say.



Good morning, mate.

I’d return the greeting, but now that Lee’s no longer in hospital and I can start focusing again, I need to go over what happened with you and Eternatus again, because I remember what you said yesterday when you visited and what you said overtaxed, but I need to doublecheck that those weren’t all hallucinations. Did you really connect your brain to Eternatus?

No, we’re calling it Y Draig Goch now, Marnie named it.

You showed it to Marnie?!

It’s just a big, odd-looking Pokémon, all right? And I like to think it’s autistic, too.

That was the least coherent part of the whole deal.

I mean, that’s not actually true, but – look. Let’s go over this in full. When Rose was ranting, my attention drifted a bit when I heard the thing about pressure and temperature and thought, “that sounds a lot like what it’s like when I go through sensory overload”. So when we stared it down, I thought to meself, “Gloria, you’d be panicking and lashing out in the situation, too”. When Zamazenta linked us, I… It’s hard to describe. I just kind of pushed good thoughts and tried to comfort it when it was in the Pokéball. When it realized the ball was adjusting to its preferred environment, as they do, it stopped trying to fight its way free and settled down. I think we understood each other in that moment – we had that in common, even if, you know, we did not both actually have Autism Spectrum Disorder.

And you said you are STILL connected?

Aye. I mean, really, it’s just a big Pokémon. It’s a really, really OLD Pokémon, yeah, but it’s as far as I can tell it’s never been awake and not suffering before, so it’s still kind of fumbling around and looking to me like I’m its mother.

God, that is weird.

I know, right? It’s just so GRATEFUL, though. I can’t really talk to it in abstract concepts – it’s not that smart – but we can share feelings and impressions now. And, I’ve been coaching it on how to function outside of a Pokéball, and now that it can run around outside, it’s started trying to fight for me and do stuff with me! I introduced it to Marnie yesterday and it started playing with her and Jekyll. It was so happy I legitimately started crying. Hell, it knows I’m talking about it now and it just perked up in its Pokéball.

… Lee’s going to want to see it when you fight him, you know.

Oh, I’m going to be breaking Goch out in the fight, don’t you worry . But really, is Leon SURE he’s up for it? He just spent a few days in hospital, for God’s sake.

He’s got the doctors’ approval, he’s up and ready. He’ll be fine, and even if he wasn’t, there’s no way he’d miss it. Speaking of which… I know the fight’s not until this evening, but are you ready?

Honestly? Yeah. I just did the impossible, mate. Not only did I defeat a Legendary Pokémon that’s laid waste to the region multiple times, but I befriended it and now it’s looking forward to fighting with me in the final match. I’m ALREADY going down in history. Before you, might I add .

Maybe, but I’m going to write papers on your relationship and found entire new fields of Pokémon biology, so there .

Anyway, yeah I’m ready. I think I’m to spend the day socializing with my Pokémon and picking up a new outfit for the final. I guess I’ll see you there.

Godspeed, mate.

…



Goch, by the way, actually is worth including in your team. As has been mentioned elsewhere, that special form we fought on Hammerlocke Tower was a special form called Eternamax, and now that we actually have it, that form is off-limits and we can’t even Dynamax it at all. However, its signature move, Dynamax Cannon, is very powerful by default and also does double damage to Dynamaxed Pokémon, making it the single best source of damage to Dynamaxed Pokémon in the game.



Combine that with its high Speed and HP and you have a monster tailor-made to handle creatures in Dens or the end of boss battles. I know many good Pokémon players consider it bad form to include Legendaries in their team because they’re so OP, but I never claimed to be a good player.



Plus, you can hang out with it in your camp, give it food, and play with it. I’m not sure if the Affection system works with it, since I tried to grinding Affection for a bit and didn’t see any signs of change there. But it’s still amusing to see Eternatus chasing a toy Pokéball around. Who’s a good ancient abomination implied to be an alien from outer space? It’s YOU!



I could spend plenty of time bumming around the map, but there’s only really one thing to do. I only take the time to update my league card. I know it’s a bit drab, but it resembles the outfit Gloria wore at the start of her journey and she feels a little nostalgic. So anyway, let’s get this show on the road.













Before we begin, I’d like to make a note here: this is the only fight in the game so far where I’ll be going up against a team with a higher average level that me; I don’t have the patience to grind them all the way up and I’ve used up all of my experience candies.











I’ve never seen a crowd this wild! Everyone knows what you did for us this week, Gloria… They know you’re the one who caught Eternatus and saved the future of the Galar region. A real hero, who battled alongside the Legendary Pokémon, Zacian and Zamazenta... I couldn’t have dreamed of a better challenger to help increase my winning streak! Oh... And you’ve even added Eternatus to your party. The greatest challenger along with the most powerful Pokémon—is that it? Now you’re really getting me excited!



Now that I’ve seen just what kind of strength you possess as the greatest of challengers... crushing you into the dirt will show everyone just how strong their Champion truly is! Come on, Gloria! Let’s make this a final match that’ll go down in Galar’s history!



No! A match that’ll change Galar forever!













Battle! (Champion) - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST





Motherfucker throws FAST. He threw his cape off and his Aegislash out so quickly this was the only shot I could get.



Worth noting: he only talks about Eternatus if you actually have him in your party. Also worth noting: he pats his cheeks just before the fight, just like Hop did earlier. I can’t afford to hold back now, especially since I plan on making some deeply questionable decisions later in order to show certain things off – I mean, he’s the only Trainer we’ve faced so far that’s actually had six Pokémon.



Like brother, like other brother.

We already start suffering in the first part of the match; Mr. Blobby nearly goes down against his Aegislash. Same with Goch and Dragapult, though less so (even though it also obliterates his Haxorus in one hit). Leon’s party varies depending on what your starter was; Mr. Rime, for instance, only shows up if you took Scorbunny. We have no time for mercy or holding back; Bruce puts it down as fast as possible.



In past games, your rival always took whatever starter your starter was weak to. In this generation, Leon picks up the slack; Inteleon is the final evolution of Sobble. To counter it, I bring out none other than Chairman, boosted with experience candies and evolved with a Shiny Stone. Its Giga Drain proves wildly effective.









I just made a deliberately sub-optimal decision here. I’ve managed to scrape by so far without losing any Pokémon, so I have a little leeway to show some things off. The first thing?



























This move does significant damage to all enemy Pokémon that aren’t Fire-types every turn for four turns. It’s a terrifying from a terrifying Pokémon, indeed. So how do I respond?







Lindworm takes a shitload of damage from Max Rockfall and goes down to G-Max Wildfire’s effect at the end of the turn. I toss Tiddles out next, only to find that Charizard knows Max Overgrowth, which nearly kills it. Then its Gigantamax wears off.



There’s a quirk in how AI Pokémon fight; they will almost always use moves with a Type advantage, even when using a suboptimal move is a better idea. I’ve heard of Pokémon using, say, one of the many Psychic-type stat-boosting moves over and over again when facing a Fighting-type Pokémon because that’s the only move they have with a Type advantage even though it doesn’t do any damage. Here, though? I wagered that Grass-type move was Solar Beam, which takes a turn to charge. Charizard is faster than Tiddles and could take it out in one hit with pretty much any other move. But Tiddles is doubly weak to Grass. So Charizard spent that first move charging it up and then got KO’d by Max Geyser, securing me the match and the game.

The Galar Region's New Champion - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST























With Rose in prison and Oleana indisposed, MC is in chaos – and I’m the next in line to take it over right now. Can I count on your help as Champion?

Aye!