Part 10: Few, Frenetic Fights

There's still half of the island to free, and we'll do so with a fossil Lockdown deck, suggested by Gridlocked. I wanted to show off a fossil deck, since they're... interesting. However, the main issue is that Mysterious Fossil isn't a Basic, so you can't solely use Fossil mons, so Lapras will be slapped on for better energy balance and something to start with.



If so, you must first defeat me in a card duel! 6! We'll duel with 6 prize cards!

GR Leader Battle



Yo, Minto! Are you checking your mail? I've secured some more important information about Team GR! This time, I pulled all the stops! Don't let my efforts go to waste! I've been shadowing GR No.3 lately. His deck is made of Grass and Fire Pokemon! If he sets up his Exeggutor, its Big Eggsplosion can really hurt! Be careful! Ronald (O__O)



First goal of any fossil deck is getting out your Mysterious Fossils, and hoping to god your opponent doesn't snipe them during their turn. Fossil Excavation is useful for this since it lets you find one from your deck OR discard, which will keep this deck running smooth.



Fuckin balls... anyway we've seen what this Lapras does, so we'll focus on the other cards. And of course, despite having a Lightning mask, we're fighting a Grass and Fire deck. One does lead to the other I suppose.



We nearly lost here since I wasn't drawing into anything and was left with a single Mysterious Fossil. That was a close one!





Thankfully we're able to turn this around, cause this Kabutops is great! I like using the different cards a mon has, but Kabutops only gets the one until the GS era for whatever reason. Anyway, Sharp Sickle is very useful and if you charge it up some more, it'll heal itself, since it's pretty damn fragile. This is essentially a Stage 2 for how much it needs setup, but since we're facing a Vending Moltres that needs as much setup as us, I think we'll be fine.



The, well, Fossil Omanyte has a pretty damn good power, seeing what our opponent is up to, the cheeky bugger. That Exeggutor looks scary, so let's try to avoid it. I'm also using the two Vending Omanyte, which also have interesting effects, giving you 10 extra damage from all your fossil mons for a turn, or letting you draw a Mysterious Fossil from the discard. If you get a coin flip, of course.



This Fighting resistance all the birds have is a pain, but it's not like it's doing anything in return.





Let's at least speed this up a bit. If they didn't keep running away. OMASTAR can be built up in the back for Water Gun, which is still a nice attack, even if you lose Clairvoyance to do it. You could also try your luck with Spike Cannon, but Water Gun gets just as strong with a couple extra turns of setup, so it's not a big deal. Still, considering how much effort these fossils are to evolve, the end result isn't hugely amazing.



Oh yeah, that's why you use fossil decks, cause Aerodactyl has an amazing power. Make sure you've got everything you want before you plop this card down, especially if you're using other Aerodactyl to attack. But if you've got a deck full of Basics, then you can completely screw over your opponent. Uh, unless they're also using Basics, but really, it's not like they're the most popular cards or anything, r-right?



But of course this screws over the AI like you wouldn't believe, leaving them with a bunch of weak unevolved Pokemon that you can easily pick off. Okay, these images aren't the best examples, but GR No.3 has 6 different cards that can evolve, even if they don't have the entire evolutionary lines.



This constant switching is a bit of a pain, but that's why running two types is useful in case you run into a deck that really screws you over.





Ah, more of these Dark thingys. There is a Dark Charizard, but GR No.3 decided not to use one, probably because it can only evolve from Dark Charmeleon, whereas this can evolve from any Charmander. Its attack is weirdly worded, of course you'd need Fire energy to use it, morons, but a coin flip is pretty eh. Considering regular Charmeleon is pretty damn good, it's hard to recommend it, but maybe Dark Charizard is worth it (spoilers, it isn't).




In a pinch, Aerodactly does alright damage with Wing Attack, nothing too tough!



And you'll take these lovely booster packs! I'll set the club members free from their cage now. Here goes--! GRAAAAAAAHHH!!!! Don't think you've won! I've still got the Fire Club under my control! I'll be waiting for you at the Fire Club, kid!

Water Club



Thank you so much for defeating that Team GR member! Here-- take this deck as a reward for your victory. It should be useful in battling GR No.3 later!




GR No.3 is in the Fire Club now. Be extra careful around him! I know you'll succeed, Minto!!

Both Amanda and I almost drowned in the pool... we were getting exhausted treading water inside that cage. Thank you, Minto. You saved us just in time!

I'm Amanda! Thank you so much for your help. Only you could have done it, Minto!

Hmm, well, maybe I should've done this first, considering they were on a time limit to drowning and all... those wacky card games!



That GR No.3 was rushing out of here so fast, he dropped some cards! I'll take this Lost Isle booster pack. Here, you can have the other, a Legends booster pack! Keep up your rhythm of defeating the Team GR members! I'll help by sharing any booster packs I find! Later, Minto!



Now that we've had help from our ~ Friendly Rival ~ it's time to free another club.




Scratch

Clear Profit: Flip a coin until you get tails. For each heads, draw a card.

Oh look it's a terrible Promo Meowth that I guess you could use for early game draws before dying? It was available as an insert in the Jan 98 CoroCoro issue and was never available otherwise. Cool, or whatever.



He has since returned here and is waiting for you! You can win again, I know it! Good luck, Minto!!



It was my own foolishness that cost me ownership of the Water Club. It caused me a lot of mental trauma losing to a twerp like you! However, I've gotten stronger. You'll never free the Fire Club! We'll have a fateful duel with 6 prize cards! If you somehow manage to best me again, I'll free the Fire Club!

GR Leader Battle



Boy doesn't this look familiar. GR No.3 is lying, he's using the exact same deck, but we got a theme deck to make this rematch easier, since we had such a hard time last time? Vengeful Anti-GR3 Deck features Gyarados, Wartortle, Ninetales and Arcanine, so it's not too bad, but it has too few Fire energy for how discard happy that type is. But I'll happily take the Bill and Prof Oak! Sucker.



Here's a fun strat, let's slap down an Aero immediately so all we have to face are weak basics. Sure, we could've put some more Aero down, but oh where's the fun in that. This is all we'll need.



Dry Up can be a pain, but only if it actually lands more than 1 head.



Paralysis is a great time to switch to the Vending Lapras. 2 energy for 30 damage with Surf is pretty nice.





But man this is pretty easy, imagine if he could actually evolve any of these mons??? Well, as you can see, Dark Gloom is annoying, but nothing too crazy, but Dark Vileplume would've screwed us over, though thankfully Mysterious Fossil is a Trainer in name only. Thankfully its attack means you don't want to do more than 30 damage, but it's also not a big deal with switches. Otherwise, they had Jungle Pinsir, which does a fair bit of damage for not much setup, and Exeggutor, which we all know how terrifying that is.



Ahah, you just activated my trap card! Surprised it took me that long to make that joke, but leaving a Mysterious Fossil around can be helpful, since the AI can't resist and you don't lose a prize for it.



Nooo! Defeated again... how are you so strong?! Argh... take these booster packs. You've also earned this for defeating me twice.



If you own all four, you can use our airship at the airport. It only flies to GR Island, where I happen to be headed myself. Since you've defeated me, I'll free the Fire Club right away.

Fire Club



Minto, you have my gratitude. Please, come over here. We! The Fire Club! Thank you for your help!! I know it's not much, but take this Fire coin.



Use the Fire coin in a duel to singe your competition! Please hurry and defeat any GR thugs still hanging around!

We saw your battle, and wow! You burned so hot! I'd love to have a duel with you!

You burned! You sizzled! You spread like wildfire! I can't help but feel the urge to have a duel with you!

Thanks, Minto! You pulled through! Fire! Come back sometime so we can have a duel! FIIIRE!!



One last GR member remains, and since we've done 2 battles so far, we'll stick with the fossil deck for a little bit longer.



You fought Miss Brittany to learn of my whereabouts, right? Thank you very much, Minto. Since you could defeat Brittany, surely you're trustworthy. Please take this. It might be useful when fighting GR No.2.




Please do your best to save the Grass Club!



Alright, let's go fight the- uh, are they not here?

Team GR Takeover!



Ah, so a GR No.3 situation, gotta fight them twice to clear out both clubs. Very well, I accept! Oh wait, got some mail.



Riveting, gimme the free stuff old man!!!



That includes this Club's Master, Rick, of course! He's aaall ours! Ohhh? Who's there?! So the rumors are true! It's you, Minto! Let's see just how strong you are in reality! 6 prize cards! Let's gooo!

GR Leader Battle



Yo, Minto! I've got some new intel for you. It's really useful stuff!! I wrote as soon as I could! Be sure to keep checking your mail for my updates, Minto! My latest reconnaissance uncovered GR No.2's deck: it's made of Grass and Fighting Pokemon. Be especially wary of his Dark Arbok! (O__O)



Alright, what kind of deck have you got?



Just what Ronald said, was he also using Omanyte? The Give In! Anti-GR2 Deck is alright due to having Seaking and Parasect as the main focus, along with Ivysaur and, uh, Kakuna? 2 Pluspowers are very, VERY nice and you're given enough Magikarp between 2 decks to fill them out, so that's cool I guess? All these theme decks are mostly lame, but that's why you carve them up into something delicious!





Alright, enough of these damn evolutions, let's slap you down! Attacks that have the opponent flip the coin are pretty rare, means it's not your fault if it doesn't work out, but due to how hilariously fragile this mon on, I don't think they're really gonna retreat, right? I don't really see the point in using this over EARTHQUAKE!!!



Oh hey Sandslash isn't a Pokemon we haven't really seen, but that's because they're pretty bad. Maybe this Vending one is maybe slightly more interesting? Maybe not.



Alright, it's probably for the best we can evolve stuff again, might as well have the opponent put up some kind of resistance.



Dynamax Diglett???





We're nearly at the end, and to be fair, they're kinda kicking my ass, but here's the other Dark Pokemon they're using. It's fine, I guess, Poison Vapor takes a lot of energy for not a lot of damage, but it has utility. If Stare was a blanket Power stop for a turn, then this could've been interesting, but it's a bit fragile and doesn't do too much to justify it.




And that's a wrap, somewhat of a close fight, they had a Parasect, a Pinsir and Onix as other mons we didn't see, but they could get cluttered with spare Geodude and leftover Ekans that it's a miracle we saw as many evolutions as we did.




Go on over to our airport. Show them that coin and you can fly for free! By the by, we still have the Science Club Master, Rick, in our custody. If you want him back, you'll just have to come to GR Island. Maybe I'll see you on our island! I'm outta heeere!

Rival Theme



I was busy while you were fighting against the members of Team GR. I snuck aboard their airship and took back some stolen cards! The cards have been returned to their owners in the island's Clubs! I also managed to snatch a few booster packs while I was there! Here, this Lost Isle booster pack has your name on it!! The airship that flies to GR Island is finally ready to board! You've gotta go! But be careful! It's enemy territory over there! I'm going to stick around this island and collect some more cards. My deck needs a lot of work before I'm ready to travel! I'll see ya later, Minto.



Guess we only fight GR No.2 the once? Weird. Well, everyone has their cards back and are ready to duel, if we so wish, but to dangle this new island in front of you and not go would be pretty mean, so let's get rocking!



GR No.5: Great! I'll allow you free passage to GR Island! Follow me.



They're acting like we can't immediately head back. Don't worry about any of that, hopping between both islands is what we'll be doing a fair bit of.

On To GR Island!




Well there's our final destination. Boy is there a lot in our way to get to it.

GR Island




Already there's a lot to explore and go over. Starting with, hm, this place?



Alrighty then. Well, we're in enemy territory, people are relying on us and we need to take them down as soon as we can, and there must be absolutely no distra-



Ooh, gambling!