Part 14: Electrifying Progress

Lightning Fort



If you can beat me in a card battle, you can enter the next room. But I have a request all challengers must agree on first... sorry! Please include 4 Pikachu cards in your active deck before we start. I don't mean Flying Pikachu, either. Just regular cute Pikachu cards. Are you willing to do that and have a duel with me? You have... 4 Pikachu cards, right? Thank you very much. As for prize cards... please place 4, okay?



Oh isn't it handy we already had a Pikachu deck we used earlier. Having a wide variety of decks is pretty handy in this game, but the game is easy enough that you can spare 4 slots for Pikachu. They make great Computer Search discards!



Still, even with the best deck, it doesn't matter if you can't find a second mon!



Let's try that again, this time using some magnets! Pikachu just charges up and oneshots us, but such is life.



Of course since we have to use Pikachu, Cassie gets cheeky with some Fighting mons like Marowak and Sandslash. Bit rude, but we can take it.



Uh, barely.



Best get evolving that furball, cause the real mascot is here to win!





Quick as a flash, due to how ridiculously fragile this thing is, Dark Jolteon mainly relies on evading the next attack, unless you're feeling lucky with Thunder Attack. Taking away a fifth of its health if you get the wrong flip is pretty bad, but 30 damage is pretty standard, so maybe you'll stick around for a bit. Otherwise, Cassie uses Electabuzz for quick damage, as we saw, as well as Intro sits-in-its-house Raichu, pretty simple deck, nothing some Pikachu can't handle.



Minto, you're really strong, aren't you? You have my respect. Even moreso since you freely came to GR Island and you're fighting alone. That takes some real courage. I'd like to be courageous, too... I'm going to try my best to be just as brave as you! Now to input the password so the doors will open... the next room is guarded by Chip. We also have a Grand Master there. Please try your best, as Chip is a strong card player.



The amazing leader GR No.3! That's right! You may have beaten me before, but you can't defeat me here!

I have a special requirement for challengers here, however! The only energy allowed in your deck is Electric energy! I won't play against a deck containing any other energy type! A victory here wins you some cards and the release of our Grand Master. The one named... Stan or something? Anyway, he's fine. Aha! So your deck does have purely Electric-type energy cards. In that case, let's duel! We'll use 4 prize cards!!



Welp, looks like we're using the Pikachu deck again. It's just too convenient. Since Magnemite had its fun, Pikachu needs its time to shine. It has been about 5 minutes since it was last on your screen, after all.



He sit.



He get hit by Selfdestruct. Ow.



But since we charge up first with Pikachu, we can win the mirror, it's a pretty damn good card! Chip has dropped his weird Grass and Fire deck from before and goes all Electric, with Dark Magneton and Dark Electrode as the highlights, along with Flying Pikachu and Zapdos. Not surprised he didn't evolve anything considering he has 22 Pokemon cards and 1 Oak. Better luck next time, eh?




I didn't expect to be defeated with such brute force. Alrighty, then, Minto! I'll keep my word! There's a special method to open that capture pod. Okay, you. Go stand in front of the pod.



I was captured because I wasn't able to beat Team GR. Here, take this gift.



Hold it, Stan!

What is it?

Take these booster packs to redistribute over there, will you?

Oh, thanks a lot, sir. You're a good man. Say, Minto, you'd like to fight against me at the Pokemon Dome, right? I'll be there waiting for you!

I must follow the rules of Team GR's Lightning Fortress. I'll open the doors leading to Catherine for you now!



A shorter fortress this time, but no need to extend it if you don't need to. Oh yeah, this is your last chance to do TCG Island's Challenge Cup, since they're more stealthily tied to plot progress.



Oh! You're Minto! So you've finally come here. I suppose you wish to fight for ownership of a GR Thunder Coin. But this won't be your ordinary card battle. All damage done by Electric-type Pokemon is increased by 10. Knowing that, then, is your deck good to go? We'll use 6 prize cards. Fight! Fight! Thunder Fight! Let's make some sparks!

GR Fort Leader Duel



Minto! I hope you're well! I have information about Team GR's Electric Leader, Cathering! She uses a rule called "Thunder Charge" that powers up her Electric attacks, doing +10 extra damage! That means that Electric Pokemon attacks that do 10 damage would then do 20 damage! Catherine's deck uses many Electric Pokemon, including Pikachu, Voltorb, Dark Jolteon, and Dark Raichu! Will you make your own deck of Electric Pokemon and try to overpower hers? How well you do is up to you and what strategy you use! Ronald (O__O)



Good we're starting off with Doduo, since Catherine is pretty damn scary, 10 extra damage per Electric attack adds up very quickly, so you could get swept pretty early.



Oh hey, remember this attack? Now imagine if it could 2 shot our entire deck!



Best way for us to get around it is to peace out, brutha.



Oh yeah, Speedball does 30 damage for 1 energy, absolutely terrifying!



Since Dark Alakazam is our best, if fragile, attacker, we gotta scoop if we wanna win this.



Well that's a dead Hypno. Catherine has a very quick deck that uses Dark Jolteon, Dark Raichu, Voltorb and Doduo. And that's it, she attacks quickly and pretty damn hard in that short time, so her little variety really works in her favour. She also has 4 Bills and 3 Potions, making me almost think she's one of the deadliest opponents we've faced thus far.



Thankfully being able to keep our main attacker healthy while also being able to oneshot Voltorb makes this fight a lot more forgiving. Still, the effect works for both sides, so you can absolutely obliterate her with your own Lightning deck!





Using that coin, you may enter both the GR Fire and GR Water Fortresses. It's all you, Minto! Go, go, go!



We won't be visiting those fortresses just yet, as something more interesting is on the horizon.

GR Challenge Cup



Now we have a second Challenge Cup to miss out on when we forget stuff! We have until we beat the second of the two Fort Leaders we just unlocked to clear this Challenge Cup.



That's the third one we can get.



Despite the Thunderdome aesthetic, the cup is exactly the same as the TCG Island one, beat 3 in a row and claim a hopefully not shit promo card.



HOSTESS: You've done well surviving this long, Jess! Here's our next challenger, Minto! Let's see... if my information is correct, Minto is Team GR's rival! Are you both ready? Place your 4 prize cards first! Now then!! Start the competition!

GR Member Duel



First of three! Like the TCG Island Challenge Cup, who we face is completely random, so any regular fort member could pop up, spoilers!



Since the Dark Weezing, Dark Arbok and Dark Persian deck only got a bit of the spotlight in the Grass Fortress, so we'll finish its run here. Lots of nice status to throw around, always a good time.



We'll go over the actual cards we're facing when we face the peep for realsies.



Doing alright so far, so let's throw it all away.





I'm really struggling, why is it so bad??? Both of its attacks are practically trash, sure you can drag in something big with the first attack, but that's not really gonna stop them? Then you've got to flip to land the poison and do piddly damage until they die? Big woop, especially with how fragile you are as well. Not all Dark cards are created equal, and a fair few of them are just too mediocre or frail to do anything of note.



The AI also isn't giving Dark Persian much of a chance. That's a surprise.



But sure, we'll say it softened them up for us.



Oh hey someone we already faced. Bit of a shame, but it'll only get more likely the more of these cups we do.



We're using the same deck against her, but her restriction of only Grass energy obviously doesn't apply here.



Woah, Dark Persian got a kill, stop the presses!



We could plink away for a million years against these guys, so let's speed it up a bit and explode on them.



Ah, much faster, Hey, you guys suggested, so I show it. Doesn't mean it's any good lol.



Team GR sure has a lot of variety...



Any before battle restrictions don't apply in Challenge Cups, but their in-battle rules are absolutely still a thing. That's not too big a deal, but it can hurt some bench damage decks.



It's Dark Arbok's turn, so it'll Stare at stuff and make them hurt slightly.



Hurts a fair bit, but when we get to Poison, they tend to run away.



See, like that.



The trick to winning these fights, aside from the enemy running out of energy, is to have an identical mon to move in when one gets defeated. Flawless, really.



Ah shit that was the reward??? Abort, abort!





A card so good they released it twice! This promo was released as an insert in Volume 3 of Pokemon Card Fan Club in Nov 1997, though when it was released as a Wizards Promo in Nintendo Power Aug 2000, Giovanni was removed and it was replaced with a standard holographic starry background. Boo.




Well wasn't that fun, we've got 2 fortresses ahead of us, so we'll cover them next time, making this a little short. But hey, let's at least meet the locals.





Oh hey it's the most sought after card in the game. Again. Obtained through the same way as Venusaur, this time through the A course.



Next time, we'll plunge into lava and water to get the next 2 coins!