Part 56: Young and Super Energetic

Update 57: Young and Super Energetic



And you helped me come to a decision… And yes, it’s going to seem a bit out of nowhere, but…



I’m going to be Galar’s Pokémon Professor someday!

Hop's Theme - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST

Uh, excuse me? I’m right here, you know!

Well, you’re going to retire someday.



There IS some precedent for Regions having multiple Pokémon Professors. They have a mentor-student relationship, mostly.

There you go.

… You know what? I was planning on just asking this, but I should probably make it all formal-like:



I’ve got all the books and data on Pokémon you could ever want! Since you want to be a professor someday, I’ll oversee your studies!

Then I definitely want to! Only...you sure I can really be any help to you?

Come on, Hop! You deserve this!

Of course he does! Mind you, it’ll be a lot of work. Work’s really been piling up since I lost my first assistant!

Wait! So what you really mean is you’re offering me the position to help yourself out? Ah, fine! I’ll still do a bang-up job!

I’m not letting you share the title until you AT LEAST have a PhD, though .

I know this is a different path than what you and…



Looking forward to it, Hop.

Oh, wait, isn’t there someone you should update on the day’s events now, mate?

Bloody hell, has it really only been one – oh. Oh shit.

…

Spikemuth - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST



Gloria, what the fuck is going on?!

How much did Piers tell you?

He told me that we oughtta keep an eye out for some nobs trying to lead a revolution, and the lads’ve been pretty thorough at rooting them out, but… You never even texted me! I was worried sick!

I’m sorry, love, I was all kinds o’ busy trying to save the region!

Well, clearly you’ve got it under control enough to come back an’ visit me now. D’you ever think to send me somethin’ to tide me over?

I came to Spikemuth the moment I could! And why didn’t you try to contact ME?

Because if you WERE foilin’ a coup, I – wait. We’re both gonna start fixatin’ on this if we don’t let ourselves cool down first. Hows about we engage in some stress relief before continuin’ this conversation?

That is a CAPITAL idea.



[EXTENDED]Bopping to Marnie's Theme | Pokemon Sword and Shield Animation (RECOMMENDED VIEWING)



Come on, game, you can’t even change her title to Gym Leader? Anyway, once you’ve beaten the game you can challenge Marnie to a fight once a day. Unfortunately… Well, her team isn’t all that much different from the last time we fought her. Compared to us she’s severely underleveled, so I had to break out a bunch of backbenchers to even hope to show off what she can do.



Her Liepard is loaded down with moves that manipulate how other Pokémon fight, whether making them Flinch, preventing them from using the same move twice in a row, or manipulating stats. Unfortunately, it lacks any kind of offensive power, which makes it pretty easy to take down. Probably sensing she’s in for a beating, she skips straight to her most powerful Pokémon, Grimmsnarl.

Hey, I have somebody to introduce you to!

Somebody – darlin’, we are in the middle of a fight!



… I don’t recognize that one. Some new species…?

(Would you mind showing off?)

Of course not.











... I like this one. From what I can see, a natural leader AND a descendent of Alfred… A good choice for a wife.

Ach – Zamazenta! We-we aren’t there yet!

Wait, as in… Is that…

LOADS of mad stuff today.

Zamazenta is practically tailor-made to take Grimmsnarl out. It has a selection of moves designed to boost its Attack while penetrating its enemies defenses, but, well. It’s bad LPing, but I couldn’t resist. Next up is Briggs versus her Toxicroak, which exists as a counter to Pokémon that target Dark, but it can’t seem to land a hit on Briggs before it goes down. Her Scrafty breaks out a new moves, Drain Punch, which sucks a lot of health out of Briggs…



… Before I finally smack it with a status effect I’ve been waiting for all game. Frozen completely immobilizes a Pokémon until it breaks free. You can melt it out with a Fire-type move or various items and environmental effects, but until you do, unlike Paralyzed or Confused (which only make using moves harder), it just stops you dead until you heal it or switch it out. Fortunately, moves that can cause it are rather rare and it doesn’t have any moves that automatically cause it, unlike just about every other status condition (see how Kabu constantly lit my Pokémon on fire way back). Let me tell you, I was living in fear/anticipation of somebody Freezing one of my Pokémon in Melony’s Gym. But, well, it’s rare enough that I managed to beat the Ice Gym without ever seeing it. But repeated Ice Beams here finally got me my wish.

And then Marnie uses a Full Restore and completely invalidates my efforts. Briggs goes down that turn, but at least he got to show something off. Dadliest comes out next, since its Fighting moves can take down just about anything she has to offer. Scrafty goes down pretty quick.



But Jekyll comes out next. Time to show off Morpeko’s signature move.











Yeah, it summons a hamster wheel . I’ve talked about how Pokémon try to prioritize Type advantages when using moves, and we’ve even used that tendency to screw over the AI before. So why did it hit us with a move that wasn’t very effective when it has a perfectly good Dark-type move it could break out instead?







I’ve talked before about Morpeko’s Full Belly/Hangry gimmick, and here’s what it looks like in action: it switches Aura Wheel between Electric and Dark every turn. My best guess is that on the first turn the AI looked at the possible Dark typing and decided it was the best choice to use against the Ghost-type Trevenant even though at the time it was still Electric. But since that’s all it has to show off, I just have Zamazenta Dig it into oblivion.



And that was that. That really wasn’t the most amazing fight in the world, but at least it was better than Bede’s shameful display .

Ah… That went about as well as I expected. You a bit calmer now?

Yeah, thanks.

I have a feelin’ you got a lot to talk about. Like how you have a Pokémon that can turn into a human. And thinks we’re married?

Oh my, yes. How about this: first, I’m going to give you a blow-by-blow of what happened today. Second, I’ll formally introduce you to Zamazenta and we’ll get a briefing from her. Third… You know how I constantly whinge about Motostoke?



I've realized what I hate is constantly being singled out for attention as the best Trainer in the Region. So, where in Galar could I find a place where the Champion ISN'T the most prominent Trainer?

You wanna transfer to a Spikemuth university so Piers can take the attention off you. Can't say I'd object to havin' you around more often. We can help you with that.

Yes! And then… How would you like to learn some more about medieval Munethic economics… from someone who was actually there?

… You always get me the best gifts .

And with that, my coverage of the main game is over. There are plenty of secrets for me to find out there, but I’ve always been the type of player that kind of stops the moment I finished the main storyline. So instead of tooling around out here, I think it’s time that we moved on to the next phase of the LP.

Ready for some bold text? From this point forward, I’m playing this game for the first time . While I have read up on the plots of the areas we are about to cover, I may end up going back to edit past posts in order to make the story work better. Not that I haven’t done that before, but . I’ll make a post before every update where this happens to let you know what’s changed and where to find it. The spoiler policy is also slightly different; wrap plot spoilers in spoiler tags, but hints about where to find interesting things don’t count as spoilers as long as they don’t fully explain what’s there or touch on the plot in any way. I’d like a little bit of mystery, but I do NOT mind directions. Finally, I will not be covering every quirk or secret either DLC has to offer. Like with the main game, I prefer writing up storyline reinterpretations or personal essays instead of scavenger hunts. I know this probably isn’t what everyone might prefer, but it’s my LP, so there .

(Also, there’s a whole section I skipped in the Weald seen where the Brothers Prim return and reveal their getting off by doing an apology tour of all things. That… Didn’t happen here.)

With that said… Next time, we’ll begin our visit to the Isle.