Part 21: First Reactions After Falling Through The Ice

Our first new friend for this part of the game is Zapnap, now evolved into Theriamp. She's got a huge attack stat to use Returns and Rock Slides, and she's fast enough to make things uncomfortable.


Our other friend is Superfly, a Smore like Blants, but where Blants was a dude who used the regular evolution, Superfly is a girl (a 1/8 chance but Beefcake did his job) who is ducking the Firoke evolution.


As you imagine, having an unevolved ant this late is kind of shitty but Overheat on the ice route is enough to get her to where I need her.


Lanthanite Cave has a waterfall we can't climb yet, so for now it's just a way to Snowbelle.

Bank.


The first thing we see is some sort of chilly bug.


I hope this pun makes it obvious how it's evolution goes.


If you said "awkwardly stuck in a rupee, politely asking for help to be let out" you were right!


There's this ice/dragon thing that's kind of adorable if you ask me.


A little cute draggo deserves a little cute name.


Mt. Lanthanite and Route 16 intertwine a bit on the way to the next town.

PU-Route16.ogg

This is a remix of the Abandoned Ship music from Ruby and Sapphire, but with a completely different mood. I kinda like that they did that.


It's always hailing on Route 16. Hail deals 1/16th damage to all Pokemon but ice-types, and makes the move Blizzard never miss.


The NPC trainer chatter is mostly about how it's really fucking cold. Good Human Hokage Dick Solomon's burning spirit of justice keeps him warm.


It's weird to run into an evolved thing in the wild before its unevovled form.


Anderind kinda looks like a knock-off of the Tas-T Freeze bear.

...Google it.

Anderind, statwise, is just worse than Mamoswine somehow. Mamoswine isn't in Uranium though, so it can fill the Ice/Ground niche without competition.


There's the thing that can evolve into Anderind. It has a branched evolution actually.


Since I got an Anderind, I can just have FrostyBuns here go with the other evolution.


Superfly hits level 45, where she gets a pretty nice move.


Heat Wave is mostly notable for doubles, where it's a spread move. Here it's because I don't have the TM for Flamethrower yet.


Also, a level 45 female ant holding the Royal Jelly becomes the new queen.


It uses Vespiquen's (admittedly amazing) cry but it really should be ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!




Seikamater is Normal/Bug, which sounds like pretty bad typing but she makes the most of resisting Ground.


Her ability gives her a 50% boost to Fire, Electric, and Water moves, effectively granting her 5 STAB types. That 218 HP is not a glitch, it's intentional madness. 160/90/90 defenses make Superfly nigh fucking indestructible it she's not being hammered by STAB weaknesses. Her special attack is a beefy 105, perfect for having so many good moves. Speaking of!


She can use TMs to cover whatever evolution didn't give her, and even then some. She gets good special moves in grass, ice, poison, and fighting in addition to her 5 STABs. Heal Order is still there from the relearner, as are plenty of set-up and support moves. Evolving her from a Triwce, for example, would give her access to Tail Glow. And Baton Pass is in her egg moves because sure, let her do that too.


Giga Drain is like the only thing she doesn't have, but Energy Ball is good enough for things that don't get Giga Drain. I got this TM... somewhere.


A hold item that extends Hail for 3 turns, from 5 to 8. Useful, believe it or not, for teams based on Hail.




Avalanche is a weird move and is only really useful for slow things that want a physical ice move.

Which isn't much.


Sliding puzzles, in their proper video game context of ice.




The A+ good shit special ice move. Notable in that nearly every water type learns it, so grass isn't that safe of an answer.


Surfing on my ant queen, trying to figure out where the fuck to go.


It's about here that Tie Tuesday finally broke down and just rare candied his team to level 100, by the way. I'm still just trying to keep up. Screenshot after next has a level 48 thing, so I'm still behind with a 45 average.


Snopach is the other fossil. Instead of Zapnap's electric death, we could've had a cute but godawful rock/ice elephant.


Alpico is the other evolution for Pufluff. It's Ice/Fairy so Iron Head erases it from the time stream.




While Zapnap's special attack isn't her strong suit, this does allow her to deal a little damage while escaping a bad matchup.


And Porkyus takes the dragon move to the face and laughs it off. Volt Switch and U-Turn are fantastic moves with tactical applications miles deep. Though, the move has to hit for the switch to happen, so ground-types can completely blunt a Volt Switch.


Traction's speed boost is getting out of hand, but Duke Nukem handles that easily.


Hey, you remember Hyper Voice, from two updates ago? How it's a high-power special normal move? And how Duke Nukem has high special attack and turns normal moves Nuclear?

There's a reason we call Nucleon the yellboy.


A dead end? But that item indicates there's more content yet.


So I pore over the cave, trying every possible spot an exit could be. I'm so thorough that I've definitely revived General Leo.


I try going back to see if there's something I missed, and...


Oh, there's a path to the right here, I guess.

I think it's kind of mean there's a sign pointing to the dead end first, but maybe I'm just a dummy!


Heck yes! A gag, but again! The only change is the different circumstance!


There's an exact copy of the dragon trainer from before, by the way.


Trainer Pokemon range from 44 to 48, and random encounters can go as low as 32? Christ.


More sliding puzzles. Fucking sliding puzzles.


Dermafrost is Snopach's evolved form, and the name is more than a portmanteau for once. Just a bit, but a worthy bit!


These gate buildings are just loading zones if you think about it.


I mean, on the other side is Snowman Land.

Bank.

PU-Snowbank Town.ogg

I kinda like this song, actually. It's gentle and peaceful, kinda fitting this little snowy hamlet. The way it remains fairly minimal in the number of instruments used at once, centered around a piano, it sounds like an Animal Crossing track. The kind that play At 1 AM.


...The dialogue remains the same as ever.


But look, the buildings have snowy tilesets instead of just the ground and trees! It's like they gave a shit about presentation for here and pretty much only here!


The 7th gym holds the secret to mega evolution, only giving the power to those who triumph.


There's a dentist here, a weird NPC who was removed for a bit then was returned for 1.1 because who doesn't like move tutors?


He predictably teaches bitey moves.




Crunch a reliable and powerful physical dark move, with a really handy side effect for winning damage races. It's the best My Fursona is going to get.




Ice Fang is a mediocre move that we only really use on things with Strong Jaw or that have no better options. Fafurr does get Icicle Crash and Icicle Spear as egg moves... but nothing in its egg groups learn them to pass them on.

I'll just ignore the bright glaring neon sign that says this means I'm using Fuzzybutt later.




Same with fire fang. For MEGAWEAPON it gives it an option against other Steel-types, which is an important gap in his STAB moves' coverage.


That egg I've been hauling around finally cracks. Luxi is the fairy/dragon thing that was there the whole time.


Past the pillars (there are only pillars near important places) is the 7th gym... and a familiar face.