Part 23: Who Wouldn't?

Just a couple of evolutions this time, one for a trade and one because why not.




We'll have a lot more to go through this update, hoo boy.



New place!


Cinnabar Island: The Fiery Town of Burning Desire
(Cinnabar is an orange-red mineral used to produce vermilion pigment)
Guren Island: Guren's red is the color of passion
(Guren refers to the red lotus, or more specifically its crimson color)
(Also, also, that's not exactly the Japanese name. In Gen 1, Cinnabar is simply called Guren, whereas in Gens 2 and 3, it was Guren Island. And then in Gen 4, it was called Guren Town. These can both work, since you can have Guren Town on Guren Island)



Despite the small size, there is a lot to do on this island. Firstly, nice stuff in the Mart, we'll stock up when need be.



And this place has been hinted at since the sixth update. Lot's of good stuff here.

"for examination."

I feel at home here, in a place full of delicious, delicious science!

"DR.FUJI!"

DEEPEST LORE



Now what would people meet up for in the world of Pokemon?



Oh yeah, trading. What a surprise. Well since we just happen to have one...



And yadda yadda yadda, seen it all before.

"magnificent!"

Aww, they fixed his secret knowledge. In JP Blue, he traded a Kadabra for Graveler and remarked that it evolved afterward. Well, for the international games, they basically took the whole script from JP Blue and used the technical info from RG to create a couple inconsistencies. So, yeah, the Raichu you gave him went and evolved! Really. Well, give it a few more games and it'll have its own Mega. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.



Oh yeah, we got a new Pokemon. Spiffy.



#112: Rhydon

"MT.MOON!"

: I think it's a rare, prehistoric POKEMON!

Ah, we meet again... y-you. Uh, keep it up.



Ah shit, I got to one too soon. Abort, abort!

"of POKEMON."

PIPES! Oh, uh, were you saying something?



Aw yeah, free stuff.

"of a METRONOME!"

: It tweaks your POKEMON's brain into using moves it doesn't know!

That does sound pretty cool. When I was younger I didn't know a metronome was an actual thing, so I thought he was beatboxing or something. Man I was a dumb five year old.



Final room of wonder.



Not really, but okay!



Uh sure, let's have a look then.



Again, spiffy.



Saves me having to get these guys later I suppose. So let's see what else is here.



Ah, I see.



Well I have two, but let's start with the very first one.



: It is fossil of KABUTO, a POKEMON that is already extinct! My Ressurection Machine will make that POKEMON live again!

: So! You hurry and give me that!



: I take a little time! You go for walk a little while!



Well I dumped my new recruits and ready for some new ones.



: Your fossil is back to life! It was KABUTO like I think!



Finally, we have our fossil back to life. Let's have a look.



#140: Kabuto



And we've still got one more fossil.



From there it's the same as before. We'll pick that guy up in a moment. There's just something we need to grab.



So this infamous stretch of water allowed you to do some crazy things with Missingno. and whatnot, since these were designated as grass tiles in RBG, but there was no data for them, so you got all kinds of crazy shit. A shame they fixed that in these games. Now they don't spawn anything. Oh well.



Instead we're here to pick up this "extinct" Pokemon. Pfft, there's probably a million of the damn things around here.



#138: Omanyte




And since we can, let's evolve these things and see how they turn out. Quite nicely I say.



#139: Omastar



#141: Kabutops



And that makes every fossil. It's as easy as that.



And that's the Lab pretty much done, lots of great stuff here.



#142: Aerodactyl



Okay, let's see what else this island holds.



Ah of course, a Gym. This shouldn't be a problem.



Oh, uh, okay. I'll come back later then.



Hmm, so it's a puzzle? Well it's like that yokai guy once said, "every puzzle can be looked up online for the solution."



Alright, let's head into the Pokemon Mansion for one crazy time.



This is a pretty large dungeon with pretty foreboding music, but it should be pretty easy. Let's see what Pokemon we can find.



Oh right. I really need to stop doing that.



Starting off good with some booty. There's a number of hidden items dotted here and there.



There's even some cool new Pokemon we can finally obtain after so long.



At least we don't have to pick up its evolved form.



And dotted around the mansion are switches we can press to open and close doors. And really, who wouldn't?



Now we can enter this room. I mean, there's nothing HERE, but we can enter it!



This is now a dead end, so let's head back and see if we can get any further.



Okay, it's still a dead end. But we can enter it!



Yeah, let's just move on...

"one big puzzle!"

You're right next to the stairs dude.

"sets of doors!"

Burgulars are interesting in that you have to talk to them before they fight you. They use fire types and such.



Up on the next floor, we have this blocked off room.



There's a number of these passages dotted around and we'll be viewing them out of order, since that's the order in which we find them.



At four large floors, this is definitely a large area. But I'm not sure how it really compares to other places.



He better not be just downstairs. I don't think any other guys reference their partner.



Hot damn we are finding some good shit. And since we're on a new floor, might as well grab something else.



It's weird how long we've had to wait for some of these ones. But we have them now.



Shouldn't have to worry about that, with that low a level.



So what's down here?



Nothing. Cool.



Flip the switch and in this room we find another report.

"South America"

: A new POKEMON was discovered deep in the jungle.

Guyana? I don't know that Pokemon.



It needs it more than anyone. Well, maybe not Wukong.



Nothing else on this floor, so let's flip the switch and head up to the next floor.



We'll ignore that statue for now to grab this item.



Now what's our prize in the other section?



Hmm. I wanna respin.

"over there!"

Uh, I don't think I'm exhibiting suicidal tendencies? But if that's the way forward...



Just before that, we'll go stare at this dead end.



GERONIMOOOOOOO



ooooooooohhhhhhhhh, whoops.



GERONIMOOOOOOO

"anyone here."

ooooooooohhhhhhhhh, great, an asshole.



Aw yeah, at this rate we might finish the game with someone at level 50! Hot damn.

"talking about."

Man, you are one hell of a jerk. Reminds of someone that I completely trash at every opportunity.



Tri Ace really doesn't need it.



We can at least reach this area, but if you head on through, you'll just leave the building. Very, very sneaky.



Just before we leave, let's get a little doggy!



I even remember to nickname it! Sure, I forgot to nickname Koffing and I'll forget to nickname another Pokemon, but hey, 1 out of 3 ain't bad.



We do need to catch another one for the trade.



Now let's explore the basement. There's some new shit to catch here.



Such as this little goopball. We'll get to the analysis in just a sec, but let's try and catch the damn thing first.

"PIKACHU!"

And here we have another one of those gimmick Pokemon. Transform (Henshin) will copy the target Pokemon in practically every aspect, aside from the palette colours, which is a nice touch. So we're basically trying to catch Ikue, with only 5PP in each move. But it will return into a Ditto if we catch it. Interestingly, if any other Pokemon uses Transform, it will be counted as a Ditto if caught. Very strange. Anyway, we're basically catching a Pikachu now, so let's have a go.



Takes a little bit, but eventually the bugger stays in. How Oak managed to catch one first try is beyond me.



#132: Ditto



Let's see what else we can find.



Ooh nice, what a find.



Sure just give me a heart attack Ikue, no big deal.



#126: Magmar

"powerful."

: We have failed to curb its vicious tendencies...

Can't wait for the remake where these are audio logs.



Once we have a fair fight, I'll be happy to-



Oh for... not again! Well, at least the guy didn't have anything too important.



Well, we'll get some nice booty. Blizzard (Fubuki) is a very good move in these games, with a lot of power and pretty good accuracy. In the Japanese versions, it even had a 30% chance to freeze! They fixed that for these games, annoyingly, but at least they didn't fix the 90% accuracy. Not yet anyway.



Well, we only have one choice for our fresh new TM. And now due the doors changing, we go the long way around to continue on.



At least there's no more new Pokemon to catch, so these repels are worth every penny.



Gee, I wonder why?

"my studies!"

You're a twit, but whatever.



Get to that switch in just a second.



Alright, cool.



Another good TM. Solarbeam (Sōrā Bīmu) is a two turn charge move that is still the strongest Grass move. Well, aside from Petal Dance, if you have a way of using that. I'll probably get rid of Razor Leaf for it, but don't have much of a reason to yet.



One last hidden item and we've obtained our prize. Now let's walk all the way back out.



Ahh, jk. Thank god they gave you this right at the start.



And now we can complete the last trade of the game.



Hope you like Growlithe's nickname! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding)



Another one for the box.



#087: Dewgong



So, since we're here, might as well take down the Gym. I mean, I'm not doing anything. Are you?



: The hot-headed BLAINE is a fire POKEMON pro! Douse his spirits with water! You better take some BURN HEALs!



Well we have Full Heals, they'll do. But there's another gimmick to this Gym.

"the next room!"

: Get it wrong and face the trainer blocking the way! If you want to conserve your POKEMON for the GYM LEADER...

: Then get it right! Here we go!



Now our Pokemon knowledge is put to the test, in the ultimate quiz. While it is technically true that Caterpie does eventually become Butterfree, it actually evolves into Metapod, so the answer is in fact, no.



But I knew the answer would be yes, so I'll choose whatever. It doesn't really mater if you answer right or wrong.

"as a trainer!"

If you're wrong, the trainer will come over to fight you, but if you're right, the door opens, but you can still talk to the trainer and fight them. And of course we'll fight them.



Great



Have we seen Flamethrower yet? I'll just say we haven't, I can't remember every little thing that's happened in the LP. Flamethrower (Kaen Hōsha: Flame Emission) is a nifty Fire move that has good damage and good accuracy. It's not the strongest, but it'll be the one you'll end up using.

"people's POKEMON!"

Imma burn you bitch.

"breath can get?"

For whatever reason this guy has no quiz attributed to him.

"combustion..."

: Blah, blah, blah, blah...

Uhuh... uhuh... oh, so it goes in that hole. Interesting. Anyway, must be off.



Okay, while there are only 8 badges, this is a game based off the anime and there are a number of badges you can aside from the usual 8. Shigeru had ten of the damn things, for all the use they were for him. So I'll say, yes, there are nine or more badges.

"POKEMON totally!"

THE **** IS THE BULL****?



Fuckin nerds, let me tell you.

"for you!"

There are some mean people in this world. So let's dry our tears and move on.



Hmm, so this depends on whether we count branch evolutions as a co-current number. It would make sense, in the strictest sense, as a Poliwag can evolve in three different ways, it's just one specific Poliwag cannot. But that depends on if you count potential Mega Evolutions, which is technically an evolution, or maybe it's more akin to a forme change. In any case, due to the overwhelming evidence, I believe we can say that Poliwag can evolve 3 times.



Oh yeah, this is gen 1 and those things don't exist yet. Whoops!

"I'd use that!"

I don't think anything like that exists.



Ah, another tricky one. Now Electric moves have no effect on Ground types, but this question is asking about thunder moves, completely different. And as we've seen over the course of this LP, the various moves with "thunder" in the name cannot effect Ground types. Simple deduction.



Still gonna fight the trainers anyway.



#078: Rapidash



Music to my ears.

"his way down!"

Pfft, a bird made of fire? That's just crazy.



Okay, is that a double negative in there? It's throwing me off, so, uh, yes?

"my favorite!"

Is it because you use Fire types and this is a Fire Gym?

"and NINETALES!"

Yeah, basically.



YES YES YES YES YES YES YES



Aw man.

"ice POKEMON!"

Oh, something I don't think I've mentioned. In this gen, Ice is normally effective against Fire. Strange, but it makes Ice even better.



But at least we've made it. I could heal, but, well, I'm not really afraid.

"CINNABAR GYM!"

: My fiery POKEMON will incinerate any challengers! Hah! You better have BURN HEAL!

VS Leader Blaine


Blaine: The Hotheaded Quiz Master!
(Blaine is a combination of blaze and flame, whereas Katsura is the name of the Japanese Judas tree. It is also the word for wig and from ka, fire)



Alright, the fire starter. Shouldn't be too tough.



Due to our pretty powerful team, I'm not too worried, even if he does have a number of levels above us.



See? Not a problem.



Uhuh, whatever. NEXT!



#059: Arcanine



Okay, you might think I'm totally crazy here, but allow me to show you something really cool.



Oh. Uh. Shit. I was trying to be clever here, but realized I hadn't retaught Vegeta Leech Seed. This will teach me to not try and be clever.



Oh crap, this is bad.



Oh. Phew. Now we can lay some serious hurt.



Ah, okay. Maybe we should change tactics. I'm sure mr skeltal will have no problem taking this thing down.



Holy shit, I am getting played by an 18 year old game.



Now Earthquake does pathetic damage. Arcanine already had alright Defense, but now it's even more impressive.



And there we go. Fire Blast (Daimonji) is the strongest Fire type move, but is only slightly less accurate then Gen 1 Blizzard. And of course the star shape used in every animation is based off the Japanese festival Gozan no Okuribi where a large bonfire is lit in the shape of the character 大 (big or great).



Okay, so we need to neuter this thing before it destroys us even further.



GodDAMN this thing is fast.



Well here comes Tri Ace the panic button!



Oh shit yeah, the Reflect is still up. Whoops.



Eventually something will work! I'm pretty sure critical hits ignore Reflect. Or maybe that's in later gens.



And then Blaine decides to go easy on me? I mean, I'll take a pity badge, sure, but a Fire Blast would've definitely taken me out. And it wasn't because it ran out of PP. In Gen 1, opponents never run out of PP. You'll always be in for the long haul if you're not careful.



Thanks for the help Vegeta!



Phew, what a perfectly manageable situation that I had complete control over.



: The VOLCANOBADGE heightens the SPECIAL abilities of your POKEMON! Here, you can have this too!



: TM38 contains FIRE BLAST! Teach it to fire-type POKEMON! CHARMELEON or PONYTA would be good bets!

I... well, I'm not disagreeing with you, but I doubt I would have those specific Pokemon by this point of the game.

"technique!"

: Don't waste it on water POKEMON!

I don't think any Water types can learn that- ohhhhhhhh, okay.



Quick walk back to start and we have cleared our seventh Gym. Only one more to go!



Next time: something completely different!