Part 2: Portside

Part 2: Portside



Sniff...

We've contacted the police and the proper authorities about PROF. KRANE. They should let us know if they discover anything. I still cant believe that this is happening...

PROF. KRANE predicted that someone will again try making SHADOW POKEMON. His prediction was on the mark.

DAVID, the TEDDIURSA you snagged probably isn't the only SHADOW POKEMON that was made... when the PURIFY CHAMBER is completed, we will be able to save many SHADOW POKEMON at the same time, but... PROF. KRANE is crucial to this project. Without him, there's nothing we can do!

Lily's Determination



LILY? The DIRECTOR's not here! It's hopeless. There isn't any possible way to get it done.

You're on the verge of finishing! This isn't the time to feel sorry for yourself. The PURIFY CHAMBER project got this far not just because PROF. KRANE was here. We got here because we all worked as a team. Having come this far, it would be wrong to stop now. Our pride as scientists is on the line. Let's finish the project as one! Things will get very busy around here! I'll go upstairs and check how the data processing is progressing.



But the PURIFY CHAMBER won't be ready for a while yet. What would be a good idea?

Sniff... JOVI hopes the PROFESSOR is okay... JOVI hopes he isn't hurt... Will he wait until JOVI gets bigger and goes to rescue him?



Oh hello there, this song fills your with determination, maybe Prof. Krane isn't fucking dead.



We've ordered a special MACHINE PART for the PURIFY CHAMBER from the PARTS SHOP.



Mommy, can JOVI go? JOVI wants to help everyone!

JOVI, I appreciate your offer. I know you want to help. But, it's an important component... ...okay. JOVI, you're a member of the LAB's staff, too. You may go if you take DAVID with you. Dear, would you mind going with JOVI?

Okay, Mommy! Big brother is JOVI's assistant! You have to listen to JOVI, big brother!



Ahah! I was just kidding about the earlier just kidding, Jovi will indeed be a permanent party member.



Like with Colosseum, I'll be going over every new Shadow Pokemon we'll be encountering, though that's just more work for me, since there's A LOT! Still, you know how it works, since we're actively trying to purify these guys.



Shadow Pokemon work basically the same as before, we need to lower their Heart Gauge to zero before we can purify them. As the gauge lowers, the Pokemon will learn new moves, finally gain experience, happiness and EVs, and have their nature revealed. I go over Shadow Pokemon in great detail here if you need a refresher, as most of it will apply to this game, though there will be some subtle differences.



Teddiursa, 100% capture chance, starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Return, Shadow Mist/Refresh, Lick, Metal Claw

Alright, like Makuhita, the first Shadow Pokemon is pretty nice, if a bit slow and one note. I'll be going over any new Shadow moves we encounter, since Shadow Rush is no longer the only one! So there's some strategy to using Shadow Pokemon, since the Shadow type is super effective on EVERY type and only not very effective on opposing Shadow Pokemon. However, no Pokemon is Shadow type and Shadow moves aren't particularly strong this time around, so they won't be dealing amazing damage. Still, it's much more interesting to both use and fight against Shadow Pokemon, which is a huge plus.

Anyway, Teddiursa, it's great to use the entire game, mainly because it gets the fantastic attack in Return, which in XD is postgame otherwise, which sucks since XD's postgame is even smaller than Colosseum's, so there's not a lot to do when you get those moves. Metal Claw is also a nice addition, but it'll get pretty meh later on, since you can't upgrade it to Iron Tail. At least you'll have Earthquake and Brick Break to give it, though it seems a bit early to decide which Pokemon gets those TMs, since there's only one and it's always a tough decision. Otherwise there's some exciting move tutor moves (yes you read that right, oh baby), if you don't fancy the purness of Return and instead prefer Double-Edge or Body Slam. Again, someone else on the team might also like them. Teddiursa also won't be evolving for a little while, but by getting it this early and keeping it on your team, it'll be doing a lot of damage with Return. And that's all it needs to do. You, uh, might have to rely on Faint Attack for Ghost types though.

Shadow Blitz is a 40BP physical move, since Shadow moves can be physical, special or status moves, with 100% accuracy, infinite PP and no secondary effect. It'll crop up a lot early, but since you can't learn new Shadow moves, or replace them with TMs and such, you just deal with what you're given. Since it's super effective against most Pokemon you'll face against, it technically has 80BP, but that's about it. It's cool to have, but nothing to get excited over.

Shadow Mist is a status move with 100% accuracy that lowers both opponent's evasion by 2 stages. Shadow status moves are kinda nuts in this game, since they all target both opponents (and some more than that!), so any Double Team shenanigans we'll face are gonna be quickly squashed. This also makes a lot of other moves, including the more deadly Shadow moves, more accurate, so this move is pretty damn nasty when used in tandem with others. Will we abuse this? If a future team member has it, absofuckinlutely.



Huh? DAVID is your assistant?! Uh... you must be confident with such a good assistant, JOVI. ...anyways, DAVID, could we ask you to hold on to that SNAG MACHINE and use it? There may be other SHADOW POKEMON out there. If you spot one, rescue it from the criminals. I'll make approaches to the authorities and other people to have POKEBALLS available for sale at shops. There's more. I wanted to give these to you, DAVID.



They're documents on SHADOW POKEMON that PROF. KRANE and I compiled. Please read them. There should be other MEMOS on SHADOW POKEMON. I'll see about finding them. Okay, my friend, you be a good bodyguard to our princess!



SHADOW POKEMON are the victims of criminals who use them for misdeeds. They must be taken from their bad masters and protected. The most effective means of taking such POKEMON from criminals is the SNAG SYSTEM developed by CIPHER five years ago. It is an unforgivable act among TRAINERS to steal another TRAINER's POKEMON, but there is no other way to save SHADOW POKEMON. The SNAG SYSTEM was originally designed to steal any POKEMON from TRAINERS. We must immediately develop a system that snags only SHADOW POKEMON... and nothing else.



It is impossible for ordinary people to distinguish SHADOW POKEMON from regular POKEMON based on appearance. In developing a new SNAG SYSTEM, our biggest challenge was devising some means of recognizing SHADOW POKEMON immediately. We solved this challenge with a headset device that senses SHADOW POKEMON. We named this headset the AURA READER.



Alright, our next objective is to the sea! Let's go get the Machine Part and not get distracted along the way!

Gateon Port



I'm glad we never visited this place in Colosseum, Wes would've looked ridiculously out of place.



What is it with these games and alien looking girls?





Oh, sorry! JOVI is sorry! It wasn't on purpose!

And look what you've done! You've messed up the happening look of ZOOK, the coolest, baddest, and most happening guy around! Gnnnnn! Sorry doesn't begin to cut it!



You look like you'll be a million times more fun than some munchkin! I'll stomp you flat with my SHADOW POKEMON!

Mr Verich's Theme (This isn't a mistake, the initial translation muddled things up and misnamed a lot of music, which soundtrack uploaders copied without checking. It's annoying.)



Shut it! Hey, meddling senior citizen, take your preaching to someone who cares! Or do you want me to pound you, too?

MR. VERICH, perhaps I should...

Hah? And who do you think you are? So now you're going to play the man and stop me? This gets better by the minute! Let's see you try!



Oh shit, this guy is serious business. After all, while we faced many Kadabra in Colosseum, we never saw a single Alakazam!



Wait how do we know his name is Ardos? Ah whatever.



Should I give chase?

No, no. That won't be necessary. He won't come back. Leave him be.

Yes, sir. Let us be on our way.

Uh... thank you!

Hohoho. That hardly deserves such gratitude, my little lady. We did only what had to be done. Nothing more.



Well that was fun. Hopefully Jovi doesn't run into anyone else, since we've got a bit of exploring to do. I hope we see that Fun Old Guy again.

Pokemon Center



First stop to any new town is the Pokemon Center! Even if we haven't actually battled yet in this update...



This place looks super fancy even if there's nothing here. So onto the Mart!

Gateon Port



Unlike dry land, there's not a POKEMON CENTER to be seen on the open sea. So, you never want to be caught short on POTIONS! I know! Here, let me give you a POTION. It's convenient, I tell you!



Our PC Potion was a bit late, but at least we got it now.



Um... what was I supposed to say? Oh, it doesn't matter! I've finally become the owner of a POKEMON MART! ...oh, no! What am I saying? I'm so sorry!



Don't let your dreams be memes man. The most basic selection you could ever think of. Never buy Awakenings.



Wasn't it weird the first Gen 4 Pokemon was revealed like two years before DP came out? Anyway, this lady is too old for herbal medicine. I say screw that, this woman needs to make me Revival Herbs until she keels over.




Oh hey, let's do some more actual battles, here nearly midway through the second update. God this game is slow. Like before, sending out a Shadow Pokemon reduces the heart gauge, but the amount will always depend on the Pokemon's nature, which we don't know just yet.



Crit aside, this is what we'll be doing for a little while. Teddiursa will be a temporary member of the team, since we need to use two Pokemon. It'll be a little bit before we get our first proper team member, but Teddiursa will do just fine. Shame the battles won't be more interesting, but everything is super weak and I just do the most damage possible, since there's no reason to do anything else.



The more you battle, the stronger your POKEMON shall grow. It is up to you to put in the effort. Also... there is no rule forbidding anyone but tough TRAINERS from entering the KRABBY CLUB. We have so much idle time on our hands, I decided to play a little prank on you! Hahahaha!

Krabby Club



Man an establishment like this is too good for Orre.



This Mr. Verich guy seems very rich.



Darn, no alcohol.



Oh, is that all? That was merely putting a fool in his place. Don't worry about it. We're busy here. One thanks from you is plenty. It wouldn't do if you got harassed by another fool. Go on home already.

...



Doesn't matter how hard you try, rich people just always seem to want the guillotine.



One day I'll be up on stage like this.



Our POKEMON-twosome act remains the world's best for all time! We certainly won't be upstaged by upstarts like the MAGICIANS on stage now.




If you wish to see our act, then let it be on the stage.

Gateon Port



Okay, we've had our fun, but now it's off to the Parts Shop with no more distra-



Oh! EMILI and ACRI!

JOVI!

So it was you, JOVI, being harassed by that big, strange man. Were you okay?

Yup, strong people helped us. Big brother was there, too, so nothing bad happened. JOVI came here on an important visit. Big brother is JOVI's assistant today!

Oh, you must be JOVI's brother DAVID. I'm glad we finally met!

I'm EMILI. Hi, JOVI's big brother!

JOVI has been a very nice friend to my daughter EMILI. That elderly gentleman's name is MR. VERICH . He comes here by boat with his two assistants occasionally. There's something mysterious about him, don't you think? He's supposed to be fabulously wealthy. Rumors like that give me shivers! I'm hoping to become a novelist. Whenever I come across anything mysterious, I try to imagine a story around it. Anyways, be careful in this town. There are lots of rough customers about. EMILI, we should be going.

Okay, bye-bye, JOVI!

Yup. See you, EMILI!



Bye. Hi.



Umm... big brother can't run errands by himself without JOVI, so JOVI might not be able to play for a while.

I hope JOVI's big brother will be able to run errands for himself soon.

Great, now I'm getting owned by two small girls. Story of my life.



He doesn't seem that important, we'll probably never see him again.



Seems we can't access the rest of town until that guy in the distance stands on a switch. ...any minute now.



Uh, sure.



How about no.



See, that's more like it.



Well, nothing's level 5 anymore. But still...




Oh, let's all sing for the WINGULL sailor~ [musical note] For let it be known it's a mighty sailor~ [musical note] Oh, there was a small WAILMER~... Yo, kid! I surely lost that battle, but I have the music in me~ [musical note]



Right, the thing, the stuff, important! Gah!



He said his grandson PERR will be back from repairing the ROTATING BRIDGES, so I'm supposed to mind the shop until then. But I don't know where anything is or how to ring up a sale or anything. I have no clue what to do! I suppose it doesn't matter, though. It's really quiet here. I'm getting awfully bored, really.



Our world is huge! And this huge world is filled with an incredible profusion of POKEMON. Of all the POKEMON in our world, the one that I found to be the most interesting is EEVEE. Now, EEVEE is a unique POKEMON. It can evolve into five different kinds of POKEMON, you see. While I sailed, I studied EEVEE quite exhaustively. As a result, I obtained five items that are the keys to EEVEE's evolution. Oh? You say you are raising an EEVEE? What a fortuitous coincidence! This must have been meant to happen! Well, let me commemorate this occasion by giving you one of the five items.



Well damn, here's something I bet you didn't expect to do with an Eevee: evolve it! We can choose one of the Eeveelutions we want, so let's go over all of them! Vaporeon is a great choice since it has a very high SpAtk and HP, and can take some nice hits, even from Grass and Electric types. It's slow, but very dependable, but will be weak to Earthquake spam, which is a shame. For any of the Eeveelutions, you need to obtain them before level 16 otherwise you'll miss out on very important STAB. However, it's not the worst thing, since you can relearn moves in this game (wow!), but it requires Pokecoupons, so it's not exactly repeatable.

It's also a bit limited in its moves, since there's no Surf HM and Hydro Pump is very far away. Still, Water Pulse is in the game, along with Ice Beam, so hey, they're reasonably obtainable to get and are great in tandem. Due to Surf being kinda common, your ability is quite nice too. Aside from Bite as an Eevee (a move a lot of the Eeveelutions rely on for coverage, alas), you don't learn very much, though its Attack isn't completely awful, so I guess you could give it a couple moves. Maybe Body Slam or Iron Tail? Meh.



You want a fast boi? Jolteon is fast and drops Thunders. And, uh, that's all it really does, but it's really good at that! At least you get Bite from Eevee to do something against Ground types, since it's the only other special move it learns. It does have some variety, with Double Kick, Pin Missile, Dig and Shadow Ball, but its Attack is pretty darn bad, so it's not really an option.

Of course in this doubles game, Protect is a must and if you're feeling spicy, you can use Thunder. Though without rain you'll be very sad and thankfully you can get both Shock Wave AND Thunderbolt in this game, which is just crazy. None of the Eeveelutions have good level up movepools, so you have to pick what you can get. Jolteon doesn't do a lot, but with an early Thunder Wave through tutors, it's a great neuter to scary threats and a starter that helps you catch stuff. That's pretty good.



Ah, Flareon, what a weird mon this is. Sure, its SpAtk is pretty damn good, only slightly lower than Vaporeon and Jolteon, but man, its Attack is SO GOOD! Still, as a mixed attacker, it's pretty decent and can easily carry you through the game. But a really good Fire type is about to come up, so it's difficult to recommend, but with Fire Blast (maybe Overheat late game if you're really spicy), Body Slam, Bite and Protect (slow and weak to Earthquake, oh yeah), it can do quite well. You can also go further with Shadow Ball, Iron Tail, or Dig, if you know an Earthquake isn't coming (it will be though), so hey, you can definitely make it work. It's just a bit slow and frail to be too dependable, but when the sun shines, it'll burn your face off and feast on your flesh. It's sick of being made fun of, bitch.



Now we're here with the OGs. Eevee starts off with a lot of friendship, so after a couple of levels, it'll evolve no problem, so don't think about it. I might've been a bit hard on Umbreon last time, since it's too easy to compare it to Espeon, but now with all five Eeveelutions around, it's even harder to recommend. I'm sorry, I'm just not a stall guy, since it doesn't do much damage and gets Bite as its best STAB move. It'll get some nice options in Swagger, Confuse Ray, Substitute, Taunt and Toxic, but you'll be clicking Bite a lot of times, since XD just isn't as difficult.

It's nice to have something to soak up hits, especially when the AI is really thick, but all the other Eeveelutions outdamage it nearly twice as much. But hey, maybe that's what other team members do. I just always find it hard to recommend, it's so much better in multiplayer than singles. However, having something on the field that really doesn't die is pretty nice for those nasty fights these games inevitably have. Maybe it'll work for you. And hey, it can easily get Psychic this time around!



Oh look, my favourite Pokemon, time to be biased towards it again! But seriously, Espeon was great, if one note, in the last game and it's great, if one note, in this game too. However, the absolute biggest difference in this game compared to Colosseum is Espeon gets BITE! It's pretty freaking amazing and gives it twice the usable moves it had before. But otherwise, yeah, it hits really hard with Psychic attacks. Woo. It'll also be a bit before you can get Reflect again, so it'll be pretty frail for the most part, so Protect is needed again. Otherwise, you just need to wait until you get Psychic and then go to town on the game, it's always a lot of fun.



So since I've already used Espeon, basically used Umbreon, won't be getting Flareon for a reason that'll become clear soon enough and Vaporeon can't learn Surf... Jolteon it is. That was easy.



If you want to speak to someone from the shop, there's one repairing the bridge outside. That's who you should speak to. I wish someone from the shop would come back soon. It's not easy tending to a shop like this.

Bridge repair? That bridge over the sea? That bridge moves when you step on a button in the middle.



There's really nobody home, so let's change that.



Huh? You need a MACHINE PART. Where's Grandpa? ...he's gone off to DR. KAMINKO's... Arrrgh! When my grandpa gets excited over some mechanical thing, he's off like a shot, never mind the shop or his grandson, me. I'll find that MACHINE PART you need. Can I get you to come to our shop?



Sure we'll totally do that in like ten minutes or whatever. Stuff to explore!



Not gonna press any buttons yet, the two island houses to the northwest and south have nothing in them (that we can take), so we'll head all the way right.



Love being called feisty by old guys.



Ooh, what will our second Shadow Pokemon be?



Cooooooool



While I get rid of the Taillow, wanna see something creepy?



rerorerorerorerorerorero



Ooh a new Shadow move. Shadow Shed is a status move with 100% accuracy that removes Safeguard, Reflect and Light Screen from both sides of the field. It's like Defog before Defog was good. Or, uh, before Defog, thinking about it. Anyway, it makes those moves a bit trickier to use, since they all get wiped, though you usually have the one.



Ledyba, 255 catch rate (99%, half health, Pokeball, paralyzed), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Psybeam, Shadow Shed/Refresh, Aerial Ace, Supersonic

If you remember how hard I was on Ledian last game, guess what, this is that, but even shittier! Okay, XD does give Shadow Pokemon better movesets, especially those that replace Shadow moves, as you can already see, so hey, at least it gets STAB this time around. Even though we'll see a few familiar faces to last game, XD has enough improvements in it that some Pokemon are pretty good compared to previous appearances. Ledyba, uh, is not one of them. I mean, yeah, it gets better, but if you go from a 3/100 to a 5/100... yeah. It could do something if you gave it TMs, or some support moves, but man, Ledian is just a real lesson in how not to distribute stats and typing. Sheesh.



That machine you have on your are, it's quite the getup! The way the lights pulse and all, it's mighty impressive, whatever it is! I thought for a second there that you'd taken my POKEMON! You know, lad, ever since I battled with you, I've been missing a POKEMON. It's an important, precious even, POKEMON I'd gotten as a gift. Do you have any idea what became of it?



Hey let's go into this lighthouse and never speak of this again.



We could go up the lift, but then we'd skip all of these important items! I could never leave home without these!



Sometimes it's good to run away from a particular person for no particular reason.



Well wasn't that worth it?




Ooh, I wouldn't mind using a Zubat on my te-



Crap. Lick that pupper.



Another new move! Shadow Hold is a status move with 80% accuracy that prevents both opponents from switching out. That would be useful if the AI ever switched. I, uh, can't really remember it ever doing that in Colosseum, but maybe they do it more this time around. I still can't remember. Still, it's a good move to use on the roaming lege- oh.



Oh, uh, this happened sooner than I thought. Reverse Mode is like Hyper Mode, except you have no reason to keep it in it as it doesn't benefit the Pokemon in any way. Thankfully, the Pokemon uses a move, then goes into Reverse Mode, instead of consuming its turn to go into Hyper Mode.



In Reverse Mode, the Pokemon is damaged by 1/16th of its health, including the turn it entered the mode. Like Hyper Mode, you have to Call it out of it and can't use items on it. Unlike Hyper Mode, no Shadow moves get increased crit chances, so there really is no benefit to keep it in, unless you're busy. It'll disobey if it doesn't use a Shadow move.



Poochyena, 255 catch rate (99%, half health, Pokeball, paralyzed), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Dig, Shadow Hold/Heal Bell, Poison Fang, Howl

Well this is a step up from Ledyba, since any direction you walk is that, but it's still not very good, being a physical Dark type and all. Getting Dig and Poison Fang is nice, but not particularly amazing, while Heal Bell is... not something you think this mon could get, but at least it's not Refresh (boy we're gonna see that move a lot). Still, Mightyena isn't that great, it'll be using Bite for STAB for a long time and will have to use Body Slam as its best physical move, cause it really doesn't get much else. A fantastic Dark type is going to appear very soon, so it's very hard to recommend because of that, but it can do you fine if you insist. Honestly, the Shadow Pokemon in this game do get real nice, but these are some weird first choices. Ah well, not like I was gonna use them anyway.



Well, what was so tough about that? I was conned!



Okay, let's finally get the Machine Part for the sixth time this update.



It's a rare item, that MACHINE PART. It took a while to get the order in. How's your DIRECTOR, PROF. KRANE, doing?



I've been through something like that before, but who would've thought it'd happen again? I hope the LAB DIRECTOR's found. I'll be rooting for you, so don't give up.



There we go, quick and easy, with very little time wasted. An S rank, if you will.