All the Pokemens

[Aura]

 

Great Canyon

So, we've finally arrived at our next dungeon: The Great Canyon! Regardless of what the truth entails, it's clearly not something we can just run away from and it's time we face it.

 

Nature tells us that the Hill of the Ancients is on the 13th floor, so we'll need to climb our way up a fair bit.

This dungeon is a bit of a calm before the storm. Going forward, we can expect to see a lot more dungeons that more closely resemble Mt. Thunder than anything else, so we'll definitely want to be prepared for that.

                      

The items are still consistent throughout the dungeon. We'll find Poke; Power and Special Bands; Gravelrocks; Brown, Clear, Gold, Gray, Orange, Pink, Red, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow Gummis; Cheri, Oran, Pecha, and Rawst Berries; Blast Seeds; Max Elixirs; Link Boxes; and TMs for the moves Aerial Ace, Attract, Brick Break, Bullet Seed, Dig, Facade, Frustration, Giga Drain, Hidden Power, Return, Roar, Safeguard, Secret Power, Shadow Ball, Shock Wave, Taunt, Thief, Torment, and Toxic.  

Great Canyon [1F - 3F]

   

For the first three floors, we'll find the pokemon Skiploom, Dunsparce, Phanpy, and Doduo. Skiploom has a negative recruitment rate while Dunsparce requires a Friend Area we don't have access to yet. Phanpy and Doduo both require the Safari friend area.

-------------------

Great Canyon [4F]

  

Starting on the fourth floor, Skiploom, Dunsparce, and Phanpy stop appearing but Breloom and Vileplume join in. Both of these are unrecruitable so gang up on them to your heart's content. The status problems they can afflict you with can put you in some rather perilous positions, so make sure you KO them quickly!

--------------------

Great Canyon [5F]

   

On the fifth floor, Murkrow and Cacturne take the place of Doduo. Cacturn is also unrecruitable, but Murkrow can be recruited with Flyaway Forest. Cacturne likes to use Leech Seed on you, so make sure you don't let him hang around for too long!

-------------------

Great Canyon [6F]

    

Noctowl joins the fray on the sixth floor, again, uncrecruitable.

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Great Canyon [7F]

   

On Floor 7, you'll start to find Heracross who can be recruited with the Overgrown Forest friend area.

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Great Canyon [8F]

   

On Floor 8, Murkrow is replaced by Ariados. Ariados is far better at reducing your speed than Weedle, so stay wary of them and don't get separated from your slowed down partners! Ariados is unrecruitable like all final evolutions.

---------------------

Great Canyon [9F]

 

The ninth floor is actually rather lonely, consisting only of Heracross and Ariados.

---------------------

Great Canyon [10F - 11F]

  

Heracross takes his leave on floor 10 and in his place stands Tauros, who can be recruited with the Safari friend area. Houndoom, however, is unrecruitable.

----------------------

Great Canyon [12F]

 

On the final floor, only Tauros and Houndoom stand.

===================

 

Along the way, I nearly forgot to use the Brick Break TM I'd purchased before on Charisma. I deleted Low Kick for it. In addition, Allia leveled up to level 20 and tried to learn Bite, but I decided to pass on it since I figured Facade and Dig would likely be more useful on this build.

===============

 

After climbing the 12 floors of the Great Canyon, we finally reach the Hill of the Ancients where we do, in fact, seem to find the pokemon Xatu Alakazam spoke of!

  

Unfortunately, try as she might, Nature can't seem to get a response from Xatu at all.

 

Nature tries everything she can think of, but it's just no use.

 

She asks for your advice, to which we can suggest either tickling or attacking him to get his attention. Both seem like they'll be successful, but one of them sounds... a bit reckless, doesn't it? So Tickling it is!

  

Nature tries my suggestion to tickle him, but it also seems to not work properly.

 

That is, until we suddenly start to get a delayed response from the strange pokemon who begins laughing from all the tickling out of nowhere!

 

Nature is caught by surprise, but is just relieved he seems to have broken Xatu out of its trance.

 

But all of a sudden, Xatu spreads its wings and billows a cry out to the sunset.

 

The pokemon briefly suggests that you watch the sun set with him. 

  

He then turns around and finally confirms his identity.

 

Like Alakazam, Xatu can immediately sense our past. he knows I am a human and not a mere Totodile as I appear. Of course, this catches Nature off guard once again.

  

Then Xatu explains his ability to see into the past and future.

Knowing this, Nature doesn't hesitate to ask about our past.

 

And indeed, our biggest fears seem to be realizing themselves as Xatu begins to explain, though he seems unable to tell us directly, at least not yet...

  

This definitely gets a reaction out of Nature, as expected, who demands more answers out of frustration.

  

Xatu proceeds to warn that something far more serious is afoot at the moment. Because the world's balance is offset by us having transformed into a Pokemon, something terrible is going to happen to the world if the balance isn't restored.

  

This is even more of a shock to Nature. It's unclear if she can connect the dots yet, but it seems like, if we're going to save this world, I'm going to need to return to being a human, which means leaving everything in this world of pokemon behind...

  

And it just so happens that we seem to have a tail... that can't be good...

===================

  

As for Team Promise, we didn't quite get caught up with the Mailbox like in Blue Rescue Team, so we were actually significantly lower level going through this dungeon. It was much more challenging as a result and, admittedly, a bit scary at times. But, we were able to push through with relative ease. The fact that we didn't get caught up with the Mailbox is actually why I didn't really update you on this adventure last time. Team Promise is still bronze rank. Nothing really happened of any interest. Didn't even recruit anyone new! Just bought a couple of friend areas, but at this point, we've seen all of the friend areas available to us until the post-game.

==================

With all that out of the way, next time, I suppose we'll have to figure out... whatever it is we're supposed to do with the information we got today. And Gengar's presence at the Hill of the Ancients is incredibly worrisome...

[Aura]

 

At the start of the next day, Nature seems rather concerned about how we're holding up about what we learned from Xatu.

 

Nature suggests that they want to do something about the balance of the world, but admits that they just don't know what exactly that entails. With no real answers, we decide to just carry on with our rescue missions.

 

As we step into Pokemon Square, we find the locals seem to be discussing something, so we decide to see what all the fuss is about.

 

The others will explain that a rumor is spreading around town that the story of Ninetails' Curse is one that actually happened, but Bellsproud suggests that it's probably just a rumor and it's not good to get super invested in them.

Lombre suggests we go speak with Whiscash if we want to hear the legend itself, so that sounds like a good idea!

 

Whiscash tells us about the Ninetails legend. He explains that it is believed that anyone who touches one of Ninetails' tails will be cursed for a thousand years. The legend goes that there was once a human who was foolish enough to grab one of its tails and was subjected to a thousand-year curse. However, just when the curse was cast, the human's pokemon partner, a Gardevoir, shielded the human from the curse with her own body.

Taking pity on the Gardevoir, Ninetails asked the human if he would like to save her. The human, however, had already fled and abandoned his partner to the curse. As Ninetails observed this, it made a prophecy:

 

That human will one day be reborn as a Pokemon.

At this point, the story is starting to sound all too familiar, and Nature has most certainly caught on just as much as we have.

  

The resemblance to our current situation becomes even more uncanny has Whiscash continue's Ninetails' prophecy: When the human becomes a pokemon, the world's balance will be upset."

 

On our somber walk back to the base... Nature isn't quite so eager to do rescue missions at the moment.

 

He decides to go home until tomorrow.

 

On his way out, he stops and turns around to apologize!

  

It seems he had started to doubt us, but at the last moment, perhaps recalled the reason he placed his faith in us in the first place. He promises not to doubt you anymore, and that the next day, we'd be back up to rescue missions!

=======================

 

We once again start to have that dream from before, the one where a strange figure appears before us but we can't quite see it clearly. We can hear it speaking, but can't quite understand it, either.

  

We decide to speak out to it directly, and finally are able to recognize a response: "I am Gardevoir."

  

Gardevoir is overjoyed to have been able to communicate with us.

  

It seems that Gardevoir knows us from before, but just as she's about to divulge her relation to us, she begins to fade away once again.

 

When we wake up, we recount the information we just learned and conclude that we simply must be the human from the legend... it all adds up, doesn't it? We transform into a pokemon, the world's balance is upset, Gardevoir seems to know us... she must have been our partner before.

Considering the character from the legend, however... that's not exactly a pleasant conclusion to arrive at.

 

Our glum appearance isn't very well hidden when we meet with Nature, who quickly tries to shrug it off. He mentions that he saw a commotion at Pokemon Square earlier, so we decide to head over.

 

As we go into town, Nature notices that it seems... different. Indeed, it's a lot quieter, the cheery music is gone, and all the stores are empty.

Stepping a bit further in, it seems everyone is gathered in the square!

 

We check in with Bellsprout, who is incredibly surprised to find out that "it was true!" Something's not settling very well...

 

Even Caterpie is here in the square, joining in on the talk of the town. This is certainly a big reveal...

  

When we finally approach, we find that Gengar is the one talking to everyone! This can't be good...

  

Gengar starts recounting the events that he observed at the Hill of the Ancients!

 

He tells the townsfolk about how he saw a pokemon speak with Xatu, and that Xatu revealed that pokemon was originally a human!

 

Gengar then proceeds to leak even more of our conversation: That being transformed into a pokemon is related to the upset balance of the world and consequently the many natural disasters that have been plaguing it.

  

Gengar finally proceeds to explain what will happen if the pokemon that transformed into a human isn't caught: The unthinkable that will happen to the world.

  

This naturally sends the public into a panic.

Of course, this infuriates Nature who knows exactly where this is going and can tell that Gengar is intentionally building up the story to make us look as bad as possible...

 

Of course, Gengar can use this opportunity to make himself look like a hero by coming up with the solution to everyone's problems.

  

And finally, as we could see coming from a mile away, Gengar name drops us to implicate our identity to the townsfolk of Pokemon Square.

  

Suddenly, everyone's eyes are on us.

  

Nature tries to stand up for us, but he's immediately disregarded. Everyone wants to hear what I have to say, to which... I... can't say anything.

 

Both Nature and Caterpie are disturbed by our inability to defend ourselves.

  

With this one move, Gengar has turned the entire town against us.

Everyone draws in closer to us, and Nature has no clue what to do. Surely... they aren't going to attack...?

 

And, suddenly, Lombre lunges at us with an attack. Like the "shot heard 'round the world," this single attack marks a dramatic shift in tone for the story. Suddenly, these aren't just peaceful townsfolk anymore... they've made an enemy out of us.

 

With everyone drawing in on us, we have no choice but to run.

 

Suddenly, Nature gets angry at us for not defending ourselves.

  

We tell him about our dream, to which he demands, adamantly, that as long as you don't remember grabbing Ninetails' tail, he refuses to believe you are the same person and reinstates that he has faith in you even after hearing everything... it's... honestly really touching, if not a little heartbreaking. There's a lot of evidence stacked against you...

Of course, it's not long before Team A.C.T. have to get involved. And they approach us directly.

  

Despite Alakazam's best efforts to defend us, he confesses that even he cannot deny that, as the facts currently stand, they have no choice but to fight you as well.

 

They stand at the ready to fight us, to show just how serious they are about this. However... Alakazam shows a level of mercy. He offers to give you until the next morning before they'll attack. This gives us time to flee town.

  

Alakazam warns that tomorrow, all of the rescue teams will begin to hunt you down.

  

He suggests that we must get as far away from town as possible and survive for as long as we can. Our mission is to get to the bottom of this story before our story as we know it is over.

  

Nature is overwhelmed by Alakazam's act of mercy. It's clear that at least he seems to know there's more than what we're being led to believe... However, he also knows that, as the facts stand, there is no way to convince anyone else to be merciful towards us. All he can do is buy us some time before orchestrating an official search. Time we'll need to find out the truth. How did we really become a pokemon? Are we really the human from that legend? And how can we restore the world's balance? These are all questions we'll need to find the answer to before the rescue teams reach us, and without being able to return home, it's going to be incredibly difficult.

  

Nature once again reaffirms that he still has faith in you, and Caterpie comes along as well to follow-up with his own reasons for trusting you. He promised to join your rescue team once he's older and he intends to stand by that.

 

How could we give up with these two cheering us on? No, we have to keep going forward, there's no question!

=======================

  

The next morning, we get up at the break of dawn so that we can flee from town. Nature expresses concern over the fact that we're fugitives, so he suggests that we keep the other team members out of this and just stick to ourselves. That'll help us conserve supplies as well, after all. It's gonna be a while before we get back to the village, so we'll need to stay stocked for as long as possible.

  

The many friends we've rescued along our journeys so far have all come to see us off: Caterpie, Diglett, Jumpluff, Metapod... 

  

Even the Pelipper that delivers our mail has a message to leave for us. It seems we're not quite as hated as Gengar would like for us to believe. Still, there are some powerful threats headed our way, so we do need to get going.

 

=========================

 

 

 

 

Lapis Cave

After a long and treacherous journey, we finally arrive at a distant dungeon known as Lapis Cave. Along the way, we witnessed just how bad the natural disasters have been getting. They seem to only be getting worse... just how far is "the unthinkable" after all?

 

Soon, it seems that the rescue teams are starting to catch up to us, so we have no choice but to dive into the caves in an attempt to put some distance between us!

=====================

Lapis Cave [B1F - B3F]

This dungeon is another rather gentle dungeon to ease you into doing dungeons with just your partner once again. You might have gotten used to relying on a third and maybe even fourth party member by this point, so it might be a bit of a learning curve to only have two party pokemon.

                     

On all floors in this dungeon, you can find Poke; Gravelrocks; Apples; Blue, Brown, Clear, Gold, Gray, Orange, Pink, Red, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow Gummis; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Blast Seeds; Max Elixirs; Link Boxes; and the TMs for the moves Aerial Ace, Attract, Brick Break, Bullet Seed, Dig, Facade, Frustration, Giga Drain, Hidden Power, Rest, Return, Roar, Safeguard, Secret Power, Shadow Ball, Shock Wave, Taunt, Thief, Torment, and Toxic.

 

The only pokemon you'll find on the first three floors are Zubat and Nincada. Since we don't actually have access to our friend areas right now, I don't believe it's possible to recruit any pokemon, but I thought I should mention their presence regardless.

-----------------------

Lapis Cave [B4F]

   

On floor 4, you'll stop finding Zubat, but in its place, you'll find Nidorina, Nidorino, and Illumise. 

 

It was on floor 4 when I found a TM for Toxic and used it to teach Toxic to Nature over PoisonPowder. A great way to build up damage against bosses!

---------------------------

Lapis Cave [B5F - B6F]

  

Starting with B5F, you'll no longer find Nincada.

Nature also leveled up on floor 6 and learned Razor Leaf! It's similar to Vine Whip, but longer range and has an increased crit chance, so I definitely can't see a fault in using that one!

---------------------------

Lapis Cave [B7F - B8F]

   

For the first time in the game, we've finally reached a dungeon that has different items appearing on different floors. Or, in this case, extra items that only appear on certain floors. Starting from B7F and on, you'll start to find Gold, Pecha, Power, and Stamina Bands alongside all other items you've been able to find so far.

The Stamina Band is a held item that decreases the rate at which you get hungry. It's especially great if you like to take advantage of difficult terrain that your starter is capable of navigating.

 

In addition to the bands, you'll find that Illumise is no longer appearing, either. You'll only find Nidorina and Nidorino here.

----------------------

Lapis Cave [B9F - B10F]

 

Between B9F and B10F, you'll also only find two pokemon, but these are completely different: Tagnela and Bagon.

----------------------

Lapis Cave [B11F - B12F]

  

On the 11th floor, Golbat joins the two.

 

It was on floor 12 where I was lucky enough to find a Link Box on the ground, which allowed me to restore the broken link in Nature's learnset by linking Leech Seed + Toxic!

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Lapis Cave [B13F]

 

On the 13th floor, Tangela leaves just Bagon and Golbat.

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Lapis Cave [B14F]

And on the final floor, Golbat is all on its lonesome.

===================

 

After a journey through the cave, we decide to check to see if we've managed to successfully get any distance away from our hunters.

 

Unfortunately, these are skilled rescue teams. They'll chase us through a dungeon like that with ease. It's back to running for us!

 

Unfortunately, it seems the only way forward is a treacherous-looking volcano! It looks dangerous, but we've got no other choice. Perhaps our pursuers won't follow us there?

  

Apparently, we were successful in our reasoning. By choosing to cut through Mt. Blaze, it seems the weaker rescue teams have given up the chase, leaving only the strongest to continue in their pursuit. Apparently no one has ever gone this far, so this must be uncharted territory for rescue team exploration. We'll just have to see how it goes... next time!

[Aura]

 

We soon arrive at the base of Mt. Blaze. While we scared off a handful of pursuers by coming here, there's no doubt that there are still rescue teams courageous enough to brave the fires of Mt. Blaze, so we still can't afford to rest for too long.

You might have noticed this Kangaskhan statue here. This statue actually allows you to access your storage... through some sort of witchcraft. It also allows you to save your game. You still can't access your friend areas or the shop and bank, but this does give you a small taste of the services that were available back home. You can store your valuable items for safekeeping and withdraw items to replenish your food and other important items. Just be wary you don't have free access to the store, so you can't afford to waste your last items. Think twice before you withdraw and put your items at risk!

When you're ready to go, speak with your partner and he'll provide you with two options for directions you can go. You can either head toward Mt. Blaze or the second option: Rock Path.

Rock Path

Rock Path is a very simple dungeon designed to help players who find themselves stuck without access to the typical mechanics of the standard gameplay loop. Normally, you can go to previous dungeons to levelup your weaker teams, and you can buy items. These features aren't available here, so you can instead go through this small dungeon to battle weaker opponents and gather resources.

Of course, just like the main story dungeons in this section, you can't recruit any pokemon here at the moment since you don't have access to friend areas.

--------------------

Rock Path [1F - 4F]

          

The items you can find here are incredibly rudimentary. Only Poke; Gravelrocks; Big Apples; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Blast, Heal, and Hunger Seeds; Max Elixirs; and Blowback, Cleanse, Escape, Evasion, Hurl, Petrify, Pounce, Radar, Rebound, Rollcall, Scanner, Switcher, Trapbust, Trawl, and Warp Orbs. There are some new items among these.

The Big Apple is just what it says on the tin: It's an Apple that recovers more of your belly than a regular Apple. In all seriousness, it's usually not very necessary and I tend to find myself using regular apples far more often.

There's also Hunger Seeds which you definitely do not want to eat yourself as it'll decrease your belly stat. But, you can throw it at an enemy to make them hungry, which will prevent them from moving.

As for the orbs, it's hard to remember which ones I've covered and which ones I haven't, but I believe the new ones only include Trapbust and Trawl?

The Trapbust Orb destroys all traps in the room. What are traps? Well, we've yet to actually encounter any, but trust me when I say that this can really prevent disaster, especially in the later dungeons. You might want to hold onto these orbs, though the single-use aspect of orbs makes this item a bit less useful.

The Trawl Orb will automatically draw in all items from the floor. You don't want to use this too recklessly, however, there's another mechanic in dungeons we haven't encountered yet, but let's just say there are some situations where you might not want to move items out of their spawn locations.

    

It's only a 4-foor dungeon and each floor contains the same set of pokemon: Pidgeotto, Zubat, Numel, Nidorina, and Nidorino.

---------------------------------

 

Once you complete the dungeon, you'll only end up right back where you started at the foot of Mt. Blaze. You might have an out if you're stuck at a low level or run out of items, but there's no getting out of climbing this mountain!

==================

Mt. Blaze

This dungeon is, quite obviously, the true way forward. I probably don't need to remind you again that you can't recruit any pokemon without friend areas, so I won't be detailing their recruitment requirements just yet.

            

The item spread here is consistent across the entire dungeon. It does lack food items, but the dungeon isn't too terribly long, so you probably won't need them. You can get by bringing a single Apple from storage in case you get really unlucky with stairs locations, though.

You've got Poke; Power and Special Bands; Gravelrocks; Black, Brown, Gray, Orange, PInk, Red, and Silver Gummis; Link Boxes; and TMs... I'm gonna go ahead and stop listing the TMs that are available in each dungeon. If you're looking for a particular TM, you'll probably wanna look up its location on Bulbapedia or Serebii. There's no way I'm gonna be able to keep track of which TMs are new and which ones aren't, so just keep your eyes peeled and get excited whenever you see a TM! Who knows what move it'll contain?

-----------------------

Mt. Blaze [1F - 3F]

   

For the first three floors, you'll find the pokemon Pidgeot, Magby, Numel, and Slugma.

 

It was only floor 2 where I found a TM for Bullet Seed! Multi-hit moves are incredibly powerful in this game, and Bullet Seed, being a ranged attack, is especially so! It's no question that I'll want to replace Nature's Razor Leaf with it ASAP!

--------------------

Mt. Blaze [4F]

Starting on the 4th floor, you'll run into a new type of tile: Lava! This may seem like standard difficult terrain for Fire-types, but there's actually an additional layer to them. Normally, certain pokemon can ignore difficult terrain, like most Flying-types and floating pokemon. However, if one of these pokemon hover over lava, there's a chance that they'll be inflicted with a burn! Burns can be devastating, so you'll definitely want to be careful if you have a pokemon like this in your party and are surrounded by lava. Make sure to keep them close so you can keep them safe.

Of course, all the hazards that arise from walking on narrow paths surrounded by difficult terrain still persist here. Be careful about Fire-types ambushing youf rom the sides while you're exploring. Be extra wary of rescue missions for Fire-types on these floors as well! It can be a nightmare of a Fire-type pokemon is waiting for rescue in the middle of a pool of lava.

  

The pokemon here are mostly the same as the previous floor, but Pidgeotto nopes out of the way as soon as the lava gets involved.

-----------------------

Mt. Blaze [5F]

   

Starting on the fifth floor, you'll start to find Shuckle.

----------------------

Mt. Blaze [6F]

  

Magby will stop appearing on the 6th floor.

--------------------

Mt. Blaze [7F]

  

Numel will drop off on the 7th floor in favor of Torkoal!

-------------------

Mt. Blaze [8F - 9F]

   

And on the 8th floor, Rapidash will join in on the fun as well.

-------------------

Mt. Blaze [10F - 12F]

  

Starting on the 10th floor, Shuckle will no longer appear.

=================

And now we'll have reached the midpoint of Mt. Blaze! This Kangaskhan statue unfortunately doesn't work the same as the one outside. You can only save here, but you do get a free heal and belly refill! Count your blessings!

Mt. Blaze Peak

After you've rested up, it's time for the second part of the dungeon where you'll want to conserve your items and PP.

 

The only items you'll find up here are Poke and Red Gummis. If you have a Fire starter, you might have a hayday up here! Otherwise, there's nothing too exciting.

-------------------

Mt. Blaze Peak [1F-2F]

 

The only pokemon you'll encounter up here are Fearow and Arcanine.

================

  

We finally arrive at the summit of the mountain. This mountain is clearly no exception to the calamities that have been plaguing the world. The volcano looks like it could erupt at any second! It's gotta be especially scary for a Grass-type like him!

 

As we go to leave, a voice shouts to us and the sky turns dark.

  

It's clear this voice isn't too happy about the state of the mountain at the moment, and it believes the source of this disruption is found in these intruders.

 

Geysers of fire launch out of the crater in outrage against us.

 

And finally, in a flash of light, Moltres appears! And he isn't happy!

=================

Team Recover

-------------------

Allia (Totodile); Lv. 21

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Facade+Rage, Dig, Water Gun

--------------------

Nature (Bulbasaur); Lv. 20

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed+Toxic, Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

===============

Vs. Moltres

 

To open up, a good way to start any boss battle is to throw a seed at it to afflict it with a status ailment in order to give yourself an immediate advantage. From here, we were able to step forward and attack Moltres. Unfortunately, Moltres quickly recovered from its sleep, so my Sleep Seed didn't really do a whole lot here.

Nature was able to hit MOltres with Leech Seed and Toxic to start building up damage faster. I was hoping to nail it with a Sleep Powder, too, but it hit me with a powerful Wing Attack which took Nature out immediately. Thankfully, I had a Reviver Seed, but I needed to get Nature out of range of Moltres.

Remembering Bulbasaur's moves, I decided to apply an on-the-fly strategy. By setting Bulbasaur's tactic to "get away," I was able to get him to retreat. From there, I could set him to "Wait there" and turn on the IQ Skill "Exclusive Move-User". This will cause him to attack Moltres using only his attacks. In this case, Bullet Seed!

 

As it turns out, even with the quad-resistance, Bullet Seed can rapidly build up massive damage against Moltres. Why does this happen? Well, if you recall, STAB attacks are a stronger multiplier than type matchups. Even though Bullet Seed has a fairly low attack power, it'll attack 2-5 times and each attack is always given the x2 STAB bonus as though it were super-effective. Unfortunately, against Moltres the x0.25 multiplier for Bullet Seed holds it back a bit, but combined with the x2, the damage of each hit is only halved. As you can see, the damage still adds up even under those calculations, and it spans a maximum of five hits as well! Coupled with the damage from Toxic and Leech Seed as well as my super-effective Water Guns and Moltres didn't stand a chance!

==============

 

Much like Zapdos, Moltres isn't willing to give up without fighting to the bitter end, but Nature demands attention in order to explain our situation, that we aren't the cause of Moltres' problems and that we were only chased here. He explains that the natural calamities aren't just occuring at this mountain, but all over the world and we're trying to put a stop to it.

  

Moltres finally permits us to go on the promise that we'll find the source of the calamities and put an end to them.

  

Nature suggests that we can't exactly act on that promise just yet, which angers Moltres immediately, forcing Nature to quickly finish his statement!

  

Nature explains exactly why the task is difficult at the moment and why he can't promise immediate results. Moltres seems content with his promise and allows him to leave.

  

he once again frightens Nature, but then reveals that he was just spreading his wings to take flight.

 

With that, Moltres bids his farewell and flies off, allowing us to leave freely.

================

  

As we leave the mountain, Nature reminisces on how far we've come and how difficult it was to get past Mt. Blaze. He suggests that perhaps we might have evaded everyone by doing so, but then we recall that Alakazam most certainly has been able to persist, so even still, there's just no time for rest.

  

  

 

And with that, we continue our journey for the truth. Next time, we'll see what waits for us to the north of Mt. Blaze as we march onward to the ends of the earth.

[Aura]

Just like Zapdos, after defeating Moltres, its portrait will appear on the title screen.

================

  

As Allia and Nature proceed along their journey, they find themselves in the cold forests of the north. It seems to be an incredibly lonely place with no pokemon in sight.

That is, until a mysterious one appears before us...

 

As soon as it appears to us, the pokemon immediately disappears.

  

Nature isn't quite sure of what it was he saw, but he definitely saw the pokemon, and we did, too! We can probably expect that one to make a prominent appearance soon as well, huh? For now, though, we agree that we should just keep going for now.

 

It isn't much longer before Nature is mesmerized by a sight before him.

The trees of a frozen forest lie before us.

 

As beautiful as the place is, it must be incredibly cold, and Nature doesn't seem to happy about that. But, we've gotta keep marching forward or our mob will catch up soon.

You do have access to another Kangaskhan Statue out here where you can access your storage, so make sure to use that before moving onward! Tell your partner you're ready to go and they'll once again give you a choice between two dungeons: Frosty Forest or Snow Path. Let's start with Snow Path.

===============

Snow Path

Just like Rock Path before it, Snow Path is a small dungeon that exists only for grinding and resource gathering and it can be played through as much as you like.

          

The items you'll find here include Poke; Gravelrocks; Apples; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Blast, Heal, and Hunger Seeds; Max Elixirs; and Blowback, Cleanse, Escape, Evasion, Hurl, Petrify, Pounce, Radar, Rebound, Rollcall, Scanner, Switcher, Trapbust, Trawl, and Warp Orbs.

The Cleanse Orb can clean sticky items in order to make them useable. It's not of much use right now, but it's another item whose usefulness you'll find later. You'll definitely want to hold onto these whenever you see them.

The Rebound orb gives you a weaker counterpart of the counter status which counters 1/4 of physical damage dealt.

---------------------

Snow Path [1F]

 

On the first floor, you'll run into only Azuril and Furret.

-------------------

Snow Path [2F]

  

Nosepass joins in on the 2nd floor.

-----------------

Snow Path [3F]

   

And the third floor brings in Pineco.

------------------

Snow Path [4F]

  

On the final floor, Azuril is no more.

=================

 

Of course, once you clear Snow Path, you'll loop right back to the start where you can either go back in, or delve into the forest.

===================

Frosty Forest

This is the real dungeon you'll have to overcome in order to progress with the game's story!

                        

The items you can find here include: Poke; Pecha Scarfs; Power, Special, and Stamina Bands; Gravelrocks; Apples; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Blast Seeds; Max Elixirs; Black, Blue, Brown, Gray, Gold, Orange, Pink, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow Gummis; Link Boxes; and a variety of TMs.

The Stamina Band is a held item that reduces your hunger. You'll definitely want to put this on your leader for especially long expeditions.

----------------------

Frosty Forest [1F - 2F]

 

For the first floor, you'll once again only find Azurill and Furret. This persists for the second floor as well.

It was on the first floor where I happened to find a Stamina Band which I slapped right onto Allia. I also gave the Persim Band to Nature.

---------------------

Frosty Forest [3F]

  

For the third floor, Nosepass will rejoin its friends.

--------------------

Frosty Forest [4F]

   

The fourth floor introduces Piloswine and Ditto. Ditto is an interesting pokemon to run into because, when it uses Transform, it can become any pokemon currently on the floor, not just in the room. So it could turn into just about anything. In addition, if you run into any other pokemon, you never really know if you're actually fighting a Ditto.

--------------------

Frosty Forest [5F - 6F]

  

Starting from the 5th floor, you'll stop seeing Furret.

 

As we step through the floors of the dungeon, between floors 5 and six, we'll be treated to a brief cutscene where someone is monologuing about the recent calamities in the forest.

-------------------------

Frosty Forest [7F]

  

Starting on floor 7, Nosepass and Piloswine will drop off in favor of Mightyena and Lairon.

------------------------

Frosty Forest [8F - 9F]

   

Floor 8 introduces Snorunt!

====================

On the 10th floor, you'll arrive at the checkpoint in the Frosty Clearing! You can save here before progressing deeper into the forest.

===================

Frosty Grotto

As soon as you advance onto the Frosty Grotto, you'll find the weather has changed for the first time! What's more, the weather here is snowy! That's a weather status that doesn't exist in the main series! In Snow, Ice-type pokemon can move faster.

      

Up here, you can find Poke; Blue and Clear Gummis; Cheri and Oran Berries; Reviver Seeds; and Max Elixirs.

Watch out for Reviver Seeds! I didn't think much of these items as collectibles in a dungeon until I witnessed a wild pokemon pick one up and tried to defeat it in order to get the Reviver Seed off of it... yeah, I didn't think that through very well. Obviously, if a wild pokemon is holding a Reviver Seed they picked up off the ground, the seed will trigger when they're KO'd, causing them to continue fighting. The seed they drop will be a useless Plain Seed. Don't be fooled! If an enemy picks up a Reviver seed and you don't have a move like Thief, then your Reviver Seed is as good as gone.

-----------------------

Frosty Grotto [1F - 4F]

Weather: Snow

 

Strangely, despite the natural weather here being snow, none of the wild pokemon you encounter in the Frosty Grotto are Ice-types, so the snow can only actually benefit your own pokemon. Not that you'll have any ice-types here during your first playthrough. None of the starters are ice-types!

===================

 

As we reach the peak of the forest, a mysterious voice calls out to us... I think you can easily put two and two together to see where this is going.

 

In a flash of light, Articuno appears! And just like Moltres, Articuno isn't very keen to let us pass without a fight. So, here we go!

===================

Team Recover

----------------------

Allia (Totodile); Lv. 22

Item: Stamina Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Facade+Rage, Water Gun

-----------------------

Nature (Bulbasaur); Lv. 21

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed+Toxic, Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

=====================

Vs Articuno

Let me tell you. If you could yell at your partner to actually use their moves in the right way, this boss fight would be super easy. Unfortunately, you're kinda stuck having to wrestle with the limitations of the game's AI... fair enough.

 

I once again started the fight by opening up with a Sleep Seed and then proceeded with the same strategy I used against Moltres. By all logic, it should work out just as well! Except...

...yikes. Articuno knows Powder Snow which covers the entire room and deals enough damage to Nature to guarantee an OHKO!

No kidding, Nature.

So, dying while a fugitive is unfortunately even more cruel than dying during a regular rescue mission. You'll still lose all the same stuff, but keep in mind you haven't been able to access the bank. In addition, you don't even get access to that mechanic I mentioned the last time I died...

In all honesty, I just reset at this point. Since I saved at this statue, I really wouldn't be losing much progress at all by doing so. So, let's do it!

==================

 

The second time around, I tried to be more careful and allowed Nature to get in closer and afflict Articuno with some status ailments. Unfortuantely, he didn't seem to want to comply with the strategy. Let me tell you, this game would be significantly less frustrating if you could just issue direct commands to your partners. Regardless, Articuno's Powder Snow is an incredibly terrifying attack to behold for me. If Nature gets KO'd, it's all over. I do have a Reviver Seed, though...

In a terrifying period, Articuno had actually hit us with a Powder Snow. nature was KO'd and revived with our Reviver Seed, but I was frozen in place, unable to budge. Thankfully, Nature's Bullet Seed was able to deal enough damage that the freeze didn't ultimately wind up mattering. But losing control at this moment was perhaps the most terrifying thing that could've happened!

================

 

Once again, things start playing out all the same as with Moltres. Articuno explains the calamities that have been occuring in the forest, namely, he's observed that the temperatures are rising and that snow is beginning to melt in places it's never melted before, and he's only begun to observe this shortly before seeing you entering the forest, which he finds incredibly suspicious.

 

Nature tries to explain things to Articuno the way he explained them to Moltres, but he unfortuantely seems to fail to persuade Articuno.

Articuno prepares to deliver one final attack in order to end our discussion...

 

When suddenly, the mysterious pokemon we saw before appears in a flash of light to stand between us.

 

The pokemon's name is revealed to be Absol. Absol affirms Nature's claims with his own observations, having sensed the disasters with his own abilities.

 

Much like Moltres, Articuno, too, reluctantly decides to believe us after hearing Absol's account as well. Once again, we're allowed to pass through!

  

And, just like Moltres, we have to promise to fix the calamities if we pass through, which Nature, of course, agrees to. His confidence definitely seems to improved dramatically!

 

Now that Articuno has flown off, we're left alone with Absol who insists that we roam together in search of answers as to how to handle the calamities. And so, Absol joins our rescue team!

-------------------------

New Team Recover Member:

Beacon (Absol)

Item: None

Ability: Pressure

-------------------------

I've left Beacon's level and moves unlabeled because I actually don't know what level he is just yet. It's gonna be until next time that we actually get around to that... sorry!

===================

 

 

And with that, we'll be once again ending off for today. We now have a new accomplice in our lives as fugitives. Hopefully Absol will be able to help us find our way to the real truth and avert the world's unthinkable fate! Only time will tell!

[Aura]

As expected, Articuno gets its own icon as well!

==================

As our story picks up where it left off, we find our fugitives wandering through a harsh snowstorm. The path seems cold and lonely for the three of us.

  

This feeling of hopelessness seems to be hitting Nature hard as well. This seems to be the first point since we've left where he's started to really doubt our ability to succeed.

He asks... what's going to happen? Truth be told, it's a difficult situation. I really love the use of dialogue boxes to allow you to give your character some of your own personality. Your choice doesn't amount to much, but in my case, I would really just be open about what's on my own mind. Under the circumstances, it would be really difficult to remain positive. But once you let that show...

 

Your partner stops right in his tracks and makes sure to get your attention in an effort to cheer you up. This is just another moments where this game really blindsides you with a shocking amount of depth for such an otherwise easily overlooked cutscene.

In the middle of this heart-felt scene, the screen suddenly starts to flicker, just what is going on?

 

Your partner comments on your reaction, but the screen continues to flicker until...

A voice calls out to you.

 

The voice sounds familiar, but you can't quite recognize where...

 

Until finally, Gardevoir appears!

 

Unfortunately, only you can see or hear Gardevoir. The others can't. But Gardevoir has some important information for us.

 

She reveals that we must make our way toward Mt. Freeze where the pokemon Ninetales lives.

 

She tells us that Ninetails is awaiting our arrival, so it seems, for once in our journey, we have a tangible destination to move toward!

=============

 

As we draw near Mt. Freeze, we catch Nature up on our conversation with Gardevoir. He seems really excited about where our journey is headed!

Of course, we can access our storage and save at this Kangaskhan statue here.

 

Since we have a new team member, I quickly reorganized my held items to give the Persim Band to Beacon and Special Band to Nature. Things should go pretty nicely from here.

Strangely, you can actually head into Snow Path, the same dungeon from before, if you find a need to grind, but if you were able to defeat Articuno, you probably shouldn't need it. At most, you might just need some apples or something. Our real destination, of course, is Mt. Freeze.

=================

Mt. Freeze

The music in this dungeon really captures that exciting positivity of this part of the game. There's a sense of foreboding to it, but it's clear you're finally pursuing a new thread of hope you'd recently lost.

                            

There are lots of items that can be found here at Mt. Freeze! You can find Poke; Heal Ribbons; Pecha Scarfs; Power, Special, and Stamina Bands; Insomniscopes; Gravelrocks; Iron Thorns; Apples; Ceri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Blast and Reviver Seeds; Max Elixiers; Blue, Brown, Clear, Gold, Gray, Orange, Pink, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow Gummis; Link Boxes; and a bunch of TMs!

The Insomniscope is a held item that prevents the holder from falling asleep. In dungeons with pokemon that can put you to sleep, it might be really good to put this on your leader instead of a Stamina Band. Keep in mind that if your leader falls asleep, you can't issue any commands at all to your partners, not even adjusting their movement tactics or anything of the sort. Sleep can be deadly.

Iron Thorns are a new type of throwing item similar to Gravelrocks. They deal less damage but, and I haven't tested this out, I believe they pierce through enemies in a straight line. So they're great for use in crowded corridors. I don't know if there's a limited range, but it might be a good idea to throw a couple down a long corridor before walking through.

------------------

Mt. Freeze [1F - 2F]

  

On the first two floors, the only pokemon you'll find are Pineco, Swablu, and Shelgon. Strangely, two of these pokemon are weak against Ice attacks... not a very good place for them to live, huh?

-----------------

Mt. Freeze [3F]

    

On the third floor, you'll find Pupitar and Seel.

------------------

Mt. Freeze [4F - 5F]

    

While the pokemon you encounter don't change on the 4th floor...

  

From the fourth floor onward, you can find Black, Purple, and Royal Gummis. Not sure why these gummis are too good for the first 3 floors, because no other item seems to have this restriction in the dungeon.

-----------------

Mt. Freeze [6F]

  

On the 6th floor, Pineco and Pupitar leave.

------------------

Mt. Freeze [7F]

   

On the 7th floor, Swablu and Shelgon give way as well and are replaced with Vigoroth, Zangoose, and Chimecho.

-------------------

Mt. Freeze [8F]

  

Seel stops appearing on the 8th floor.

It was also on this floor where Beacon leveled up and learned the move Bite! I replaced Scratch since Quick Attack is more or less the same move but better.

-------------------

Mt. Freeze [9F - 11F]

Weather: Snow

  

Starting on Floor 9, it begins to snow! Once again, none of your opponents are ice-types, so this can only benefit you.

------------------

Mt. Freeze [12F]

 

On the 12th floor, you no longer see Vigoroth or Zangoose. Instead, Chimecho and Slaking!

--------------------

Mt. Freeze [13F - 15F]

 

Chimecho finally gives way on floor 13 and is replaced by Seviper.

 

It was on Floor 14 where I, excitedly, found an Ice Beam TM! I used it to replace Facade since I haven't really been using the move as much recently. If I have a need for a physical attack, I can always use Dig. Of course, this does leave Rage in a rather precarious position. It probably won't last much longer on this moveset.

=============

Finally, on the 16th floor, you'll find the midpoint of Mt. Freeze! We're nearing the end of the dungeon! Make sure to save before moving onward!

============

Mt. Freeze Peak

As your each the peak, the music becomes a lot more ominous and tense... your nerves are starting to act up. Of course you've got a lot of questions on your mind, and a lot of answers you really don't want to hear... but you've got no choice but to keep going regardless.

               

Once again, the items on the later half of this dungeon aren't much to really look out for. Just Poke; Cheri and Oran Berries; Reviver Seeds; Max Elixirs; and Blue, Brown, Clear, Gold, Gray, Orange, Pink, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow Gummis.

----------------------

Mt. Freeze Peak [1F - 4F]

The only pokemon that lives this high up on the mountain is Glalie.

================

 

When we finally arrive at the summit of the mountain, Ninetails doesn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

Unfortunately, it seems like our time is up...

 

While we have been able to shake most of the rescue teams before us, as expected, Team A.C.T. have never given up the chase and it's here that we're going to have to come face-to-face with them...

  

A chaotic battle begins to ensue! It's actually a really exciting scene with characters flying around the battlefield, clashing together in an epic and brutal battle... it all goes by really fast, though.

Suddenly, a voice calls out once again demanding an end to the violence.

 

Even catching Alakazam himself off guard, Ninetales makes an appearance in the middle of the battlefield!

  

Of course, everyone is amazed by Ninetales' presence. It is a pokemon that's only existed in myth, after all.

 

Ninetales scolds Alakazam and demands a ceasefire, claiming us to be her guests.

  

Naturally, Alakazam has a lot of questions for Ninetales. You can imagine one as knowledgeable as himself would be estatic to find a new source of wisdom.

But it's not all just for his own enlightenment. He also has a duty to eliminate us if everything the people have been speculating was true.

  

Ninetails begins recounting the legend from her own memory.

 

She continues to explain that the human did indeed transform into a pokemon and is still alive to this day.

  

Finally, after all this work, the truth is revealed and a burden is lifted off of our shoulders. The human in the legend is not us.

  

Nature is completely overwhelmed with joy and starts dancing around me! Honestly, this moment genuinely had me tearing up playing through it. The story does such a good job of dragging you down to the lowest of lows that this moment feels so satisfying to realize that you're finally free from all the struggles, and your ally who's stood by you this whole time's faith has never been misplaced even though you both had so much reason to doubt. What an incredible feeling!

 

Ninetails decides to provide the information Alakazam likely finds most important: The world's balance.

 

She explains that the natural calamities are completely unrelated to the human transforming into a pokemon. It's interesting how this rumor was shifted as it passed from ear to ear, and the drastic consequences of that shift were pretty deadly. Still, we were able to get to the truth in the end and it just might be what saves the world...

Alakazam takes a moment to apologize and commend us for being able to achieve so much. Remember, no other rescue team has been able to reach this far and Team A.C.T. is the highest ranking rescue team of them all! If anything, we've shown that we actually are a lot closer to their skill level than we might've thought before. Still, getting here was no easy task so we most certainly still have a ways to go.

  

Nature, of course, is still more fixated on us. If we're not the human in the story, that only begs the question once again... who are we? And why are we here as a Totodile!? Even though this burden has been lifted, at the end of the day, it really just leaves us with more questions than answers, doesn't it? We're back at square one and we now have even more on our plate!

  

Suddenly, the earth starts quaking, interrupting our chance to get the answers we seek.

 

NInetails calls to attention a much more pressing danger with the growth of these natural calamities.

  

Groudon will be awakened if these earthquakes persist the way they have been! And he could cause all sorts of havoc if he awakens.

 

We immediately start discussing action that needs to be taken going forward. Groudon needs to be stopped before he causes irreversible damage to the world. Team A.C.T. immediately volunteer to go and fight Groudon. Nature does, too.

 

Alakazam insists that Groudon is far too dangerous for us to handle on our own.

  

Charizard and Tyranitar both chime in to assure us that they are better for the job. As impressive as we are, they simply cannot justify putting our lives at that great of risk.

 

  

With that, our lives as fugitives is finally over, and we can finally return home to our friends in peace.

Next time, we'll have to catch up on life as a Rescue Team again. On that note, we'll also have to take some time to catch up with Red Rescue Team. I have a feeling things are going to be significantly harder there...

[Aura]

 

It has been quite a while since we've checked in on Team Promise. A big difference we might feel right away here is that, unlike Team Recover, Team Promise didn't get nearly as sidetracked with the Mailbox. There simply weren't any missions that distracted us from our main goal. We were able to complete just one and then start learning about the Ninetails legend.

Naturally, the events of the story play out all the same.

Gengar convinces everyone to turn against you,

  

and Team A.C.T. force you to evacuate town.

One small detail I neglected to mention last time, mainly because I accidentally skipped the prompt during my run through the dialogue.

When your partner asks you if you're ready to go, you can actually say "no." While you might assume this is just a pointless dialogue option, it's actually a bit more interesting, and a bit humorous as well. You're given the opportunity to make a quick run to Pokemon Square and finish up any last-minute errands you might still need to run.

In Pokemon Square, it's still very early in the morning, there's no music, and everyone is asleep at their desks. You can actually still access these shops.

    

All of the shopkeepers are fast asleep, but they're all actually still sleep-working. They're all groggy and not paying any attention to who they're dealing with, so they'll all still do regular business with you. This is your last chance to access these shops, so I do encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.

=================

Of course, the story from here continues to play out all the same.

 

We first arrive at Lapis Cave,

Then we reach Mt. Blaze.

It's here where we're pit against Moltres!

 

You would think, being a Water- and Fire- type duo, we'd be much better equipped to Moltres, but let me tell you, these legendary bird boss fights were where I was really feeling how underprepared I was in this journey without the Exp from all those rescue missions. I can't tell you how many reviver seeds I squandered just because of how little damage I was capable of dealing with my attacks and the fact that Moltres was able to OHKO either of my pokemon with a single Wing Attack.

It wasn't too much later when I came up with the bright idea to use Link Boxes in order to link my weak moves together so I can at least do some healthy damage. I linked my own Tackle, Mud-Slap, and Growl together into a single move while I linked Kindle's Ember and Metal Claw together as well as his Scratch and Growl. I've actually amassed something of a collection of Link Boxes, so it wasn't too much of a cost to go ahead and do this. This is definitely the point in the game where these items are at their most useful, anyway.

--------------------

One additional detail I've yet to mention that I actually did encounter here in Red Rescue Team, was a Kecleon Shop! In most dungeons from here on out, you'll occasionally run into a Kecleon merchant! These merchants set up shop randomly on a floor and sell various random items. If you step on an item, you'll have the option to pick it up or leave it. Let me stress that you want to be very careful when interacting with a Kecleon shop. You want to speak with Kecleon and pay him before setting foot outside of the carpeted area. If you step one toe out of line, you will be branded a thief and Kecleon, along with his incredibly powerful security team, will barrage you from all sides. You do not wanna mess with this guy. While there are circumstances where you might want to do this, most of the time, it will merely spell your demise. Do. Not. Do it.

If you don't have enough money to buy an item you picked up, make sure to put it back. If you ate an item you can't afford... you aren't completely out of luck. You can drop any item from your inventory in order to sell it. Make sure to talk with Kecleon and make sure he's satisfied with the payment. 

Remember how I mentioned there was a reason you might not want to automatically collect every item on the floor with the Trawl Orb? Yes, use of a Trawl Orb can steal items from the Kecleon Shop as well, and Kecleon will not be happy about that, either.

Long story short, Kecleon is a very sensitive merchant and anything that involves you benefitting from his store without paying will result in you being branded a thief and assaulted from all sides. Yes, even if it was a complete accident or not even your fault at all. I cannot stress enough how careful you want to be around these shops.

=================

After defeating Moltres, we depart from Mt. Blaze...

And journey northward where we meet Absol for the first time.

We soon arrive at the Frosty Forest where we once again prepare for an incredibly difficult boss fight. With our newly linked moves, though, this fight shouldn't be too much of a problem at all. Let's see how it goes.

When we arrive at the Summit, we of course have to face off against none other than Articuno.

 

Surprisingly, Articuno actually proved to be a lot easier. Because of our Linked moves, I was able to dramatically reduce Articuno's Attack and Accuracy. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but moves that normally don't effect, such as Mud-Slap against a Flying type, do actually still work in this game! They just do half as much damage as a normal not-very-effective hit (that's a default x0.25 multiplier independent of whatever other type or ability they might have to further reduce damage).

Because of this, Articuno was rarely able to get any hits off. After a while, it did protect itself with Mist to avoid further stat reduction, but it was too little too late. Between my Water Gun and Kindle's linked Ember+Metal Claw, we were able to shred through Articuno's HP while it was just desperately trying to hit us.

==============

 

After defeating Articuno, with the aide of Absol, we are able to convince him to let us go!

==============

New Team Promise Member

-------------------

Hope (Absol); Lv. 20

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Scratch, Leer, Taunt, Quick Attack

===============

 

Ironically, the final dungeon Mt. Freeze is easier than the two dungeons that precede it, primarily due to the lack of a formal boss fight at the end.

  

  

Of course, we are cornered by Team A.C.T. and our epic battle ensues.

 

I do want to take a moment to bring up a nice detail I noticed during this cutscene. I actually really like that my partner is a Charmander now because of it. Charizard here will specifically speak to your partner and ask that they don't think less of him for not showing mercy, as he always goes all out in a serious fight. He says this regardless of your partner's species, but in this particular continuity, I like to headcanon that, perhaps Kindle is Charizard's little brother? It would explain why Kindle has such a strong desire to maintain our rescue team and why he's willing to go to such great lengths to help us when no one else will. He wants to be just like his older brother: A member of the greatest Rescue Team known to Pokemon Square! With all of this together, I'm really glad I selected Charmander of all pokemon as my partner.

I'm not sure if there's any story beats that conflict with this headcanon, but I think it's a fun idea to explore.

  

  

 

Headcanon aside, Ninetales jumps in to stop our clash and explain the story, clearing our names and ending our fugitive act, just like with Team Recover.

Starting tomorrow, we can finally recoup and return to our life as a rescue team!

[Aura]

 

As we boot up the game again, it seems Gengar is giving the townsfolk who've given up the chase a rough time.

  

Everyone seems to have their reasons for giving up the chase. Shiftry was the furthest along, but he couldn't risk getting close to Mt. Blaze due to his fear of fire-types.

  

This revelation displeases Gengar who immediately starts to talk down to the people, after which Lombre immediately calls out his laziness. Gengar insists that he's doing his part by waiting around and listening for word of our defeat, which he believes to be inevitable.

  

But soon, Medicham comes along to pass on the news that Gengar might not enjoy hearing. He immediately assumes the best for himself, but...

  

Medicham completely shocks everyone by exclaiming that we've returned!

  

Aside from Team Meanies, everyone here is overjoyed to see our return!

 

Nature and Allia have both grown a lot from their journey, and Gengar can immediately tell as Nature stands up for himself without hesitation this time. Still emboldened by having learned the truth, it seems.

  

As Bulbasaur explains what's going on, Gengar is put on the spot! Everyone's glaring daggers at him!

 

In a desperate bid, Gengar demands to see proof of our claims! Of course, we have none, just our own words which Gengar immediately dismisses... but he overlooks one minor flaw in this approach as he tries to get everyone to attack.

  

Not many people here are very big fans of Gengar's attitude about this whole thing and are glad to accept our word over his. They don't require proof at all to put their trust in us over him!

 

But, just to quell any room for doubt, Pelipper, too, comes to our aid!

 

Pelipper delivers newspapers to the crowd, which Lombre begins to read.

  

The newspaper details the events of our meeting with Ninetails and even sites Alakazam as a direct source! This is more than enough proof to expose Gengar as a sham!

  

In reponse to this, the townsfolk chase Gengar out of the square, leaving us alone to catch up with Caterpie!

  

Nature expresses how exhausted we our from our journey and that we both need a rest. Starting the very next day, we can begin our rescue work anew!

================

We wake up back in our home! It really does feel good to be back! After that stressful journey, things are finally back to normal for us!

As we go to check the mailbox, we'll find a letter from Pelipper who is glad we've returned!

You might be wondering about our friend, Beacon. Well, as you might have expected, much like any other rescue team recruit, Absol has set up camp in a friend area. Like the starters, he actually grants you access to a free friend area!

Darkness Ridge

Absol can be found in the newly granted friend area Darkness Ridge. This area is mostly home to Ghost-types.

===============

  

  

Across Pokemon Square, all of the shopkeepers have their own special dialogue for you when you revisit their services.

  

Even the townsfolk are ready to apologize to you as soon as they get the chance.

 

Shiftry, on the other hand, is a bit worried about Team A.C.T. having gone underground to fight Groudon.

  

As you head up to Whiscash Pond, Caterpie and Metapod are both there to express their joy at your return, and Whiscash seems to be lamenting that his seemingly harmless tale has caused so much discourse among the community. It's really not his fault, though. He couldn't have possibly known about the uncanny parallels to our own story.

Lastly, we have the Bulletin Board at the Pelipper Post Office which you'll notice now has missions for all of the dungeons we've explored over the course of our journey! That's right, you can now freely revisit all of those dungeons, with exceptions of Rock Path and Snow Path which both don't really serve much of a purpose anymore. Now that you have free access to your friend areas, you can now recruit pokemon from these dungeons as well! Any pokemon you could find in Rock and Snow Path can be found in the other dungeons as well, so you aren't missing out on anything.

Let's quickly go through each dungeon and recount each pokemon that can be recruited, shall we?

Lapis Cave

   

In Lapis Cave, Zubat, Nincada, Bagon, and Golbat all require friend areas we still don't have access to yet.

  

Nidorina, Nidorino, and Golbat all have negative recruitment rates. In Golbat's case, this is in addition to not having its friend area yet.

 

Illumise can be recruited with Rub-a-Dub river, and Tangela can be recruited with the Jungle.

----------------------------

Mt. Blaze

   

Pidgeotto and Rapidash are both completely unrecruitable. The same can be said for Fearow and Arcanine at the peak.

   

Magby, Numel, Slugma, and Torkoal all require a friend area we don't have access to yet as well.

------------------------------

Frosty Forest

  

Once again, all of your fully evolved pokemon are unrecruitable.

 

And your middle-stage pokemon have negative recruitment rates, making them also effectively unrecruitable.

 

Nosepass and Snorunt are unrecruitable due to not having access to its friend area.

  

Azurill can be recruited with Turtleshell Pond, and Ditto with the Decrepit Lab. I do believe that Rhyhorn is the first pokemon to appear in the second section of a dungeon that can actually be recruited! It simply requires the Safari.

--------------------------------------

Mt. Freeze

 

Slaking and Glalie are entirely unrecruitable.

  

Shelgon, Pupitar, and Vigoroth all have negative recruitment rates.

  

Pineco and Seel both require friend areas we don't have access to.

   

Swablu requires Flyaway Forest, Chimecho Thunder Meadow, and Zangoose and Seviper require the Wild Plains.

====================

Now, the main focus of today is going to be the Makuhita Dojo. Because while we were away on our journey of self-discovery, Makuhita was slaving away preparing a whole slew of mazes designed around the remaining types. Let's get going!

 

Normal Maze

The normal maze features a whole bunch of Raticate. The boss consists of a Zigzagoon, Furret, and Farfetch'd. Notably, no Raticate in sight. Curious...

--------------------------

 

Fire Maze

The Fire Maze is filled with Slugma, Ponyta, and Magby, all of whom appear for the boss fight.

---------------------------

 

Ice Maze

The Ice Maze contains only Piloswine, Swinub, and Snorunt who all appear in the boss fight.

------------------------------

 

Ground Maze

The Ground Maze features Diglett and Phanpy.

-------------------------

 

Psychic Maze

Holy fuck did this one completely blindside me! The last thing I was expecting out of the Psychic Maze was a dungeon filled with absolutely nothing but a bunch of Wobbuffet! Wobbuffet are incredibly challenging opponents. While their tactics can be worked around more easily in a battle if you're careful, you really need to be on your toes about switching your partners' moves and tactics around. Even though Shadow Tag doesn't quite work the same as it does in the main series, these Wobbuffet can make up for that by persistently hunting you down. So much for patience... ON that note, Wobbuffet can also pressure you to attack with their own generic attacks. Coupled with their Counter, Mirror Coat, and Destiny Bond, these pokemon are quite a nuisance.

All three of these moves function a little bit differently than they do in the main series. Counter and Mirror Coat, rather than countering the next attack, give the user the respective counter status which will immediately counter any physical or special moves respectively used. I do believe basic attacks also fall under the category of physical.

Destiny Bond works very differently. It can only be applied to a foe in front, but once applied, the linked pokemon will receive equal damage dealt to the pokemon that set up the Destiny Bond.

In order to fight these Wobbuffet, I strongly recommend making sure you're strong enough to one-shot them, or at least take them out really quickly. Only trouble is, of course, these Wobbuffet are also absurdly high leveled and they're quite bulky by default,. so it'll take a while before you can comfortably take them out.

I don't know who's bright idea it was to fill this dungeon with Wobbuffet, but I hate it all!! You might notice going forward that some of my items are redistributed. This is partially because I died my first time going through because I was massively unprepared for the disaster of a dungeon this was and ended up getting myself killed. Consequently, if you die in the Makuhita dojo, there's strangely also no way to circumvent the penalty for death. I really am just waiting for a prime opportunity to show off the mechanic I have in mind, but I just keep dying in the most inconvenient locations, unfortunately...

Anyway, I was eventually able to overcome the Wobbuffet boss at the end of the dungeon by exploiting the hell out of Nature's Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, and Toxic combo as well as extremely careful maneuvering of my partners.

-----------------------

 

Dragon Maze

If you weren't totally convinced that the Psychic Maze is a massive outlier compared to the rest of these type mazes, even the Dragon Maze is merely a bunch of Bagon and Shellgon that can be easily disposed of. None of these type mazes are even remotely challenging sans the Psychic Maze.

----------------------------

And with that, we've once again completed every type of maze available to us. I believe that covers every single pokemon type, but Makuhita seems to still have plans for more mazes in the future as he has yet to give us the reward he promised.

==========================

Well, that's our venture into the depths of the Makuhita dojo. Next time, well, we'll just have to see. We should be able to complete the next story beat, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see for now.

[Aura]

 

After a day of missions and getting back into the groove of things, we're met with the same dream from before.

  

Now that we're armed with the truth, we can better understand this dream and communicate with Gardevoir well enough to ask her some questions.

Gardevoir explains that a part of the curse she suffered at the hands of Ninetails, she was separated from her physical body and exists now as an agent of spirits.

 

She goes on to explain that, while her trainer was a terrible person, she still couldn't bring herself to hate him. At the end of the day, pokemon are very dedicated to protecting their trainers. She supposes that being a Gardevoir specifically might have something ot do with her own sense of loyalty. They are known to be incredibly loyal and faithful pokemon, after all.

 

She proceeds to explain that she takes pride in the role she's been given. When we inquire about that, she mentions that all things have a role in life, and that you do as well in all of this.

  

Before we're able to get further answers, we're shaken awake once again by another earthquake!

 

When we head out to meet with Nature, it seems he's bothered by the fact that Team A.C.T. have yet to return, acknowledging the legendary power of Groudon. But, he decides to put his faith in them and suggests that we should just do our part in keeping rescue missions going!

As we're on our way out, we're stopped by a strange voice.

 

The voice belongs to Wynaut and Wobbuffet!

Wobbuffet, even in a world where pokemon are capable of talking, still only seems capable of saying its name and nothing else. Wynaut sheepishly tells us they've placed a request on the bulletin board.

 

Nature suggests that we go check out the Bulletin Board to see what their request was.

 

And if we do, we'll find a special mission for a dungeon called "Uproar Forest," a location we've never been! "Please punish bad Mankey's gang." It seems to be the request from Wynaut.

  

Wynaut explains that this Mankey gang in Uproar Forest has been causing all sorts of problems. They get incredibly angry out of nowhere and attack everyone in sight.

 

To help us actually complete the mission, the two give us the location of Uproar Forest!

We'll need to go there to complete this mission sooner or later, but for now, we've got other missions to complete, too.

===============

 

Real quick, I did some linking used some TMs to prepare my team a little bit more. I taught Return to Roast thinking it would do a bit more damage, but I severely overestimated how much IQ he'd need to use Return effectively, so this unfortunately isn't going to last very long.

 

In addition, I was completely caught by surprise by this, but after completing a mission from my mailbox (I'm pretty sure), I received a special reward: An entire Friend Area!

Boulder Cave

Boulder Cave is a Friend Area that is home to pokemon that like to tunnel in the ground. We haven't encountered any pokemon like that just yet, at least not in a recruitable form. But we might soon enough! (hint hint). I'm not sure if the timing of this mission is scripted at all, but I have yet to receive it in Red Rescue Team, so perhaps it's completely random. Keep an eye out for the mission prizes, I suppose! This one I believe was an escort mission where I had to escort Cacnea to Dunsparce in Silent Chasm(?). I don't remember the details as I just mindlessly completed the mission without much thought. You just kinda get in a gameplay loop when missions start to pop up!

 

Over the next couple of days, pokemon news will also start to issue updates on the story about your journey which will arrive in your mailbox.

 

A few days of missions later, we're shaken awake once again by another earthquake! They've been happening a lot more frequently lately!

  

As we step outside, Lombre comes running to get us and explains that Shiftry is gathering everyoone up in Pokemon Square, so we go to see what's going on.

 

It seems a wide array of pokemon have been gathered together. A much larger crowd than has ever been gathered here! What has Shiftry gathered everyone here for?

  

Shiftry announces that, even after all this time, Alakazam's team have yet to return from their mission to fight Groudon! 

  

Immediately, this news causes a stir among the crowd.

  

Shiftry acknowledges that it is incredibly dangerous to journey underground and face Groudon, which is why he gathered rescue teams from around the world. The plan is to gather a team of the best of the best in order to take on the underground dungeon and assist Alakazam and his team in the fight against Groudon.

  

We consider going up, but Lombre stops us, insisting that, even though we're incredibly strong, we're still entirely outclassed by the legendary teams that have gathered here. He suggests its for the best to entrust this mission to them.

 

It isn't too long before the first volunteer's voice is heard from the crowd.

 

The first to join in the rescue is Blastoise of the legendary Team Hydro.

  

He explains that, as a water type, he has an advantage over Groudon and that his Hydro Pump will make quick work of the legendary behemoth.

 

The second voice is that of Octillery!

  

Octillery of Team Constrictor is known for entangling her foes and wearing them down over time.

She insists that she can't resist the urge to fight a tough opponent, and this opportunity is calling out to her.

 

And then there's Golem!

  

Groudon of Team Rumblerock is capable of enduring incredibly powerful attacks. He suggests he'll seal Groudon away with his Rock Throw. I'm... really not sure Golem is the best fit to fight Groudon, but I'll take his word for it.

  

As our champions are decided, everyone cheers them on!

 

And the newly formed team part the crowd as they make their way toward the dungeon in question. It seems Team A.C.T.'s struggle is in good hands. Once again, we can rest easy trusting this mission to specialists.

So, we return home and get back to work doing regular missions.

================

In the process of completing more missions, I was able to recruit a new member!

=================

New Team Recover Member

---------------------

Transport (Phanpy); Lv. 14

Item: None

Ability: Pickup | Moves: Odor Sleuth, Tackle, Growl, Defense Curl

==================

In addition, I taught Roast the move Thief over Return. Return was only doing 10 damage, even when linked with Howl and Leer. It just wasn't worthwhile.

==================

 

Finally, we were done with the missions from our mailbox, so it was time to make our way to Uproar Forest. I went back to Kangaskhan Storage to change out Allia's Stamina Band for a Pecha Scarf. In hindsight, apparently this was actually an unnecessary measure for me to take as the main pokemon I was concerned about is exclusive in Red Rescue Team where it was giving me the most troubles. Oh well, you're not always perfectly prepared for a brand new dungeon.

================

Uproar Forest

This dungeon was made available thanks to our acceptance of the Punish Bad Mankey mission.

        

For the first eight floors, the items you find are pretty standard here. You'll find Poke, Apples, Green and Grass Gummis, Cheri Berries, Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, Blast Seeds, and Heal Seeds. It almost feels like an early-game dungeon with this lineup of items.

--------------------------

Uproar Forest [B1F - B3F]

  

For the first two floors, you'll only have three pokemon to deal with. Well, two if you're playing Red Rescue Team, because Aipom can only be found in Blue Rescue Team! Venonat and Aipom require a friend areas we don't have access to yet. Seedot, though, can be recruited with the Mushroom Forest!

You'll want to watch out for Venonat whose Confusion can confuse you. You'll also want to be incredibly wary of Seedot whose Nature Power will transform into Earthquake!! However, Earthquake is actually surprisingly... weak in this game. Still, it'll damage every pokemon in the room indiscriminately, friend or foe. Even if you recruit a Seedot, you might want to remove its permission to use Nature Power. Otherwise it might inadvertently combo its own teammates into the ground while fighting other pokemon.

On B3F, you'll encounter a completely random weather effect! In my case, it was one of the most devastating: A Sandstorm which afflicts you for 5 damage every few steps, similar to poison. The only pokemon immune to this effect are Rock- Ground- or Steel-type pokemon.

-------------------------

Uproar Forest [B4F]

  

In Blue Rescue Team, you'll run into the same pokemon on these floors, there's nothing special about 'em.

  

But in Red Rescue Team, you'll start to run into Roselia who is significantly more annoying than Aipom. Between Poison Point and Poison Sting, you're going to be getting poisoned a lot in this dungeon if you're playing the GBA version. However, Roselia can be recruited earlier than Aipom, so you can get one on your team if you have access to the Beau Plains!

On B4F, Nature tried to learn Sweet Scent, but I figured the other moves he had were much better overall, so I passed on the move. It can be nice, however, to ensure your attacks hit more consistently. You get a lot more opportunities to use set-up moves like this in Mystery Dungeon as opposed to the main series, so these kinds of moves definitely get more use if you happen to have them. Still, it just can't compare to the others.

------------------------

Uproar Forest [B5F]

    

On B5F, you'll begin to run into Nuzleaf. As an evolved pokemon, it has a negative recruitment rate.

------------------------

Uproar Forest [B6F]

   

Venonat leaves the fun on B6F

On this floor, you'll run into yet another random weather effect. In this case, Rain, which increases the power of water attacks and weakens fire attacks. It also has an additional effect that jams explosive attacks like Explosion and Self-Destruct, similarly to the Damp ability.

---------------------------

Uproar Forest [B7F]

  

There won't be any difference here in Red Rescue Team, but in Blue Rescue Team, Aipom will cease to appear.

-----------------------

Uproar Forest [B8F - B9F]

  

Starting on the 8th floor, you'll start to encounter Mankey.

 

 

When you first arrive on B9F, I strongly recommend passing the staircase and exploring the entire floor.

On this floor only, you'll find a single item: A Walnut. They're just small food items, so they may seem pretty useless for now, but you'll want to gather up as many of these as you possibly can for reasons that'll become clear soon.

================

  

When we arrive on the 10th floor, we finally meet stumble across the Mankey Gang in the depths of the forest.

===================

Team Recover

-----------------------

Allia (Totodile); Lv. 25

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Water Gun + Rage, Ice Beam

-----------------------

Nature (Bulbasaur); Lv. 25

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed + Toxic, Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

-----------------------

Roast (Houndour); Lv. 16

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Early Bird, Flash Fire | Moves: Leer, Howl, Ember, Thief

==================

This battle is incredibly easy. These Mankey don't seem any stronger than the regular wild ones you've encountered up until this point. I was able to clear them all out just by spamming Ice Beam.

=================

  

When we return, we happily explain to Wynaut that we've defeated the Mankey Gang and they happily reward us with... a... peeled Chestnut.

  

It seems these two don't have any money and only have a peeled chestnut to offer as payment. It's a little unfortuante, but at least we were able to help them out a little!

 

As it turns out, however, it seems we were tailed by the Mankey Gang!

  

The Mankey Gang all get ready to attack.

  

As soon as they notice the Peeled Chestnut we're holding, they immediately start backing off and talking amongst themselves.

  

After a bit of a group discussion, they look back at us and ask if they can have our peeled Chestnut. These Peeled Chestnuts seem to be their favorite foods! But apparently because of the spiky shells they come in, they're incredibly difficult to peel for them since they get frustrated so easily. 

 

It seems odd just giving away the peeled chestnut, so Nature comes up with an idea: Why not put these Mankey to work for this reward?

  

The Mankey mull over the suggestion, but agree that they'll be willing to do some work if it's for the chestnut.

  

Nature proposes that the Mankey Gang can help us rebuild our house into a proper rescue team base!

 

The gang holds another meeting before agreeing to our terms!

 

 

Caterpie joins in as well, offering to use his silk to glue materials together!

  

Wynaut and Wobbuffet also agree to help with building the new base since they couldn't pay much for their rescue reward.

  

And everyone gets to working on the base's refurbishments!

==================

After a little bit of time, our rescue team base is under construction.

 

 

The base under construction will always look roughly the same, but with your starter's face on the front. The surroundings will be the same as it started while the base is under construction.

=================

  

Nature is excited that the base is starting to come together, but it's clear there's still a lot to do... and where are the Mankey Gang?

  

As it turns out, the Mankey are simply tired of working. They've realized that this project is a lot more than they were expecting when they accepted the payment of one peeled chestnut. If we want them to continue working, we'll need to get more peeled chestnuts!

 

We did get one Chestnut from our first trip through Uproar Forest, so we can peel this one for them and get them working a little bit longer!

  

We were able to get a little bit closer to finishing our base, but it's still not done and we're all out of chestnuts! It looks like it's gonna take a little bit longer!

===============

 

In the mean time, I received yet another mission in my mailbox that included a reward of a Friend Area! So, I decided to complete this mission real quick and received access to the Friend Area Mt. Moonview!

Mt. Moonview

Mt. Moonview is a really pretty friend area home to pokemon associated with the cosmos. Once again, we've yet to meet any pokemon who can call this place home.

===================

On our way to getting more chestnuts from Uproar Forest, we recruited a new member!

=================

New Team Recover Member

----------------------

Sew (Seedot); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll, Early Bird | Moves: Bide, Harden, Growth, Nature Power

================

We also encountered another new weather effect: Cloudy! In cloudy weather, damage from all attack types except for Normal-type attacks are reduced.

-------------------------

At the end of the dungeon, we were able to gather up two chestnuts!

 

Naturally, we gave one of the Chestnuts to the Mankey Gang to continue their work.

 

And finally...

 

It seems the construction on our new rescue team base is completed!

The new Team Recover Base! It's... honestly a little bit disturbing to look at.

   

  

  

  

 

 

The base's final design will always reflect your starter pokemon. Some of them look better than others, the Cubone base is by far my favorite, and the Skitty base is pretty cute, but most of them have this really... disturbing look to them. I think it's the hollow eye sockets. Each base design also comes with its own unique flag and mailbox, too.

 

Whatever the case, Nature seems to really like the design, so I suppose there's no point in clouding down on his satisfaction. Maybe it'll grow on me?

  

Everybody seems very proud of their hard work on the base, so it's fantastic that it's come so far!

  

Of course, the Mankey Gang are more concerned with our terms being over...

  

Nature tells the Mankey Gang that there's no more work left, so their deal will be coming to an end.

  

Unfortuantely, he really didn't think his response through very well. The Mankey go into a frenzy and begin to attack the base!

We all rush in to stop the assault.

 

  

After stopping the Mankey's rampage once again, we were finally able to resolve the dispute.

================

I would've stopped the session here, but strangely, there's no save point at the end of this scene. Instead...

 

The scene is followed up right away with another scene! We wake up to an Earthquake and Nature comes rushing into our base! He tells us there's something going on at the square and, judging from his expression, it's clear it's something serious.

  

We arrive at Pokemon Square to find that... the team that had been formed to rescue Team A.C.T. seems to have been completely defeated.

  

They were all beaten down badly in their attempt to brave the underground dungeon. They couldn't even reach Groudon himself before they were driven out.

  

Gengar naturally mocks them for trying to rescue a team they knew was stronger than them. If it was a job too much for Team A.C.T., of course it would be too tough for them.

  

The town is now in a restless panic.

  

Seeing everyone so disheartened really seems to hit Nature hard.

  

In this time of desperation, Nature turns to you. But we've already hardened our resolve. We've decided earlier that we were going to stop doubting ourselves. Even though this dungeon sounds incredibly scary, we've succeeded where no one else has before us already. We know we can make a difference.

  

Inspired by your refusal to give up, with newfound confidence, Nature calls out to the crowd and insists that we'll be joining the cause to rescue Alakazam's team!

  

  

It seems we're mostly only known by the locals. Word of us hasn't quite spread on the global scale just yet.

  

It seems there's a lot of doubt surrounding us, and for good reason. Even Nature isn't confident we'll be able to succeed, but he knows we have to give it all we've got.

  

Nature begins to explain why we started our rescue team in the first place and what it means to us to do what we do. This isn't the first time we've risked our lives to help someone in danger, and it's definitely not going to be the last.

  

Of course, Gengar is once again shot down. After hearing Nature's speech, everyone is reminded of their own reasons for wanting to create rescue teams.

 

We've succeeded in getting everyone to remember their pride!

 

Of course, this is something Gengar just can't understand. Clearly, he's distinctly lacking in the courage to join the cause. He seems to hate that everyone else's courage is making him look bad.

  

Even Blastoise, Octillery, and Golem are able to stand back up and are now ready and willing to put it all on the line all over again.

  

Everyone unanimously decides to brave the dungeon together! If everyone attacks the dungeon, just like how we braved Mt. Blaze, then our odds of success will raise significantly! Someone will succeed even if everyone else gets hurt.

 

Of course, Gengar casts his doubt over the entire situation, but he's completely overshadowed.

  

Blastoise thanks Nature for his inspiring words.

 

And now, everyone is ready to pursue take action starting our expedition of the dungeon tomorrow!

  

So, we're now left with a day to prepare before we venture out toward the dungeon in an attempt to reach, and defeat, Groudon. Just how well will it go? Next time, we'll prepare for our expedition and we won't give up until Alakazam's team is rescued and Groudon is defeated!

 

[Aura]

 

Once again, I didn't make any progress at all in Blue Rescue Team today mainly because I was away from home all day, but I did make some catchup progress in Red Rescue Team. On that front, I actually made quite a lot of progress and even got quite a bit ahead of Team Recover. As such, I won't be detailing everything I've accomplished in the process. Just summing up Team Promise's experience catching up to where Team Recover's story ended in the last post.

Admittedly, I got so far ahead because I'd played ahead before the last post as well, I just never detailed my experience then because the post was already incredibly long as it was.

Team Promise has yet to obtain any missions in their mailbox rewarding them with friend areas. Presumably because they were still a bronze-rank team. We went through the ropes, completing all the missions that popped into our mailbox before venturing onward to Uproar Forest.

As mentioned previously, I ran into a lot of frustration with Roselia poisoning my pokemon, which is why I so overly prepared for poison in Team Recover's adventure, having not realized that Roselia was a version exclusive until a bit too late.

  

Naturally, we went to take on the Mankey Gang at the end of the dungeon who were just as much pushovers as before. Sorry, they were a little bit more challenging. I couldn't hit them from a range with Ice Beam this time. I just had to wait for them to approach so I could slap them with Water Gun instead.

Just pretend that's a Mudkip on the building, okay?

  

  

  

Afterwards, the base construction subplot played out all the same as it did originally.

 

We had to gather up two more Walnuts from Uproar Forest once again.

In the meantime, we cleared a few more missions and were even able to get a few new recruits!

================

New Team Promise Members:

---------------------

Pin (Nidoran M); Lv. 12

Item: None

Ability: Poison Point | Moves: Leer, Peck, Focus Energy, Double Kick

--------------------

Grace (Roselia); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Natural Cure, Poison Point | Moves: Absorb, Growth, Poison Sting, Stun Spore, 

---------------------

Harvest (Seedot); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll, Early Bird | Moves: Bide, Harden, Growth, Nature Power

==================

  

Along the way, of course Octillery, Blastoise and Golem went off to rescue Team A.C.T.

It wasn't to long at all before our secret base was completed!

Of course, this celebration is shortlived.

  

  

Lombre brings us to the commotion in the square where we find that the rescue team sent to find Alakazam's team returned defeated.

In spite of Gengar's pessimism, Kindle was able to spark the fires of pride in everyone's hearts and we all make plans to go after Groudon as a massive party!

...and that's where this post is going to end. I know it's not a lot, but I've been busy, alright? I did do more, but I'd really rather have the visual aide of Blue Rescue Team to cover what comes next, so we'll just have to wait until next time!

[Aura]

 

  

As you prepare for your adventure underground, all of the shopkeepers will share how inspired they felt from Nature's speech. They'll all ensuthiastically do business with you.

 

In preparation for this expedition, I'll be bringing a handful of Reviver Seeds, a couple Max Elixirs, and some Apples are also going to be important. I also recommend Pecha Berries since there will be quite a few ways to get poisoned on the earlier floors. It's important to prepare for a long trip full of dangerous enemies. You don't want to be underprepared. As you can probably imagine, we're going into a fairly lengthy dungeon of endurance.

====================

Once we're ready to go, we can tell Nature and get to sleep so we can leave the next morning!

===================

  

Overnight, we're once again visited by Gardevoir in our dream, who cheers us on for our journey. She doesn't know what we can expect in the undeground dungeon or out of Groudon, but she has her confidence in us.

 

Gardevoir then explains that our role in this world is slowly coming to an end...

  

Naturally, we want to ask all the questions that have been plaguing our minds, but Gardevoir continues to claim that it's simply not the right time for us to discover that just yet. We just have to keep going... But she does suggest that, after your adventure ends, she may finally be able to reveal the truth.

====================

 

The next day, we're out and about!

Once you're ready to go, you can head straight to the new dungeon: Magma Cavern!

===================

 

Magma Cavern

The music here is extremely intense, fitting the climactic and intense feel of the dungeon. But we've only just arrived. We've got a long way to go to the depths of the cavern.

                     

Throughout the entirety of the first section of this dungeon, there are all sorts of incredible items you can find! Keep your eyes peeled because you may even find a held item you decide you want to swap out.

The items you can find include Poke; Gold and Heal Ribbons; Pecha and Warp Scarves; Persim, Power, Racket, Special, and Stamina Bands; Insomniscopes; Scope Lenses; X-Ray Specs; Gravelrocks; Iron Spikes; Silver Spikes; Apples; Black, Gray, Red, and Silver Gummis; a bunch of different TMs, and Link Boxes to pair with them.

The Warp Scarf is an odd held item that will randomly warp the wearer every 3-5 steps. You could either use this item and hope you get lucky enough to warp straight to the staircase in order to conserve hunger, or even throw it at an enemy in hopes that they can warp away. Either way, I think it's either a bit too risky for my tastes or a bit too situational. Probably better off just selling it.

The Racket Band will wake up any pokemon that are sleeping when the wearer enters the room. I'm really not sure what the intended purpose of this item is as it seems to be strictly dangerous for you. Maybe it's intended for an enemy to pick up and carry into a room? This item, too, seems far too situational, and even counter-intuitive, to ever be worth using over other held items.

The Scope Lens increases the crit rate of your attacks. Always a good item if you don't know what to give a pokemon.

The X-Ray Specs allow you to see the locations of all pokemon and items, including enemies and rescue clients, on the map at all times, even if they aren't within your normal range. Essentially, this is a permanent combination Scanner and Radar Orb. It can definitely be tremendously useful. While wearing this, you might occasionally find items hidden inside walls. You unfortunately won't have access to those just yet, but it's not too far away.

Silver Spikes are stronger versions of Iron Spikes. They'll deal 30 damage on contact with anything. I mistakenly suggested that these spikes pierce enemies damaging multiple in a row. In actuality, they only march in a straight line and hit the first pokemon they connect with. To make matters worse, they can even hit your allies if you aren't careful. I generally prefer Gravelrocks which can be thrown overhead, though I suppose these spikes are probably more reliable than Gravelrocks.

======================

Magma Cavern [B1F - B3F]

I decided to bring Beacon with me instead of Roast mainly because I'm not too terribly confident in Roast's level just yet. Beacon is significantly more appropriately leveled even after all those missions I completed since our return.

   

The pokemon you'll encounter on the first three floors are Raticate, who cannot be recruited; Sandshrew, who requires a Friend Area we don't have access to; Nidoking and Nidoqueen who also can't be recruited. You've probably noticed a trend by now that, when it comes to pokemon that are part of an evolution family, fully evolved pokemon are typically unrecruitable and middle stages typically have negative recruitment rates. The game is pretty adamant about keeping you at the base stage. At least, for now.

You'll want to be wary of Nidoking and Nidoqueen because of their Poison Point ability.

-----------------------

Magma Cavern [B4F]

  

Raticate starts to fall off after a little ways into the dungeon.

-----------------------

Magma Cavern [B5F - B6F]

   

Starting on B6F, you'll be introduced to Graveler who has a negative recruitment rate. Graveler is especially dangerous due to Self-Destruct. So make sure you're prepared to take them out quickly!

------------------------

Magma Cavern [B7F]

 

Sandshrew, Nidoking, and Nidoqueen are all gone on the 7th floor to make room for Magmar who can cause some problems between Smog's poison and Flame Body as well as Fire Punch's potential to burn you, too. Rawst Berries are a lot rarer than Pecha Berries, so you might be less prepared to recover from a burn. Thankfully, burns feel a lot rarer than poison as well. And it's not exaclty difficult to make quick work of a Magmar. Magmar is a final stage evolution, so it can't be recruited.

-----------------------

Magma Cavern [B8F]

Starting with B8F, the atmosphere changes to better reflect the dungeon's namesake magma.

   

Mawile and Arbok join the hunt from here. Mawile requires a friend area we don't have access to and Arbok, as a final evolution, cannot be recruited either. Arbok can paralyze you with Glare.

------------------------

Magma Cavern [B9F - B10F]

    

On the 9th floor, Magcargo will enter the battlefield. It's easily dismissed, but watch out for Flame Body! As a final evolution, it, too, cannot be recruited.

On floor 10, Allia leveled up and tried to learn Scary Face. Since I wasn't getting much use out of it anymore, I went ahead and Delinked Water Gun + Rage so I could replace Rage with Scary Face. 

------------------------

Magma Cavern [B11F]

   

Graveler has now left the battlefield.

-------------------------

Magma Cavern [B12F]

  

And now, Magmar has gone, too.

--------------------------

Magma Cavern [B13F - B14F]

 

Only Arbok and Magcargo remain.

-------------------------

Magma Cavern [B15F - B20F]

   

On floor 15, the entire array of wild pokemon are replaced with a new squad: Rhydon, Sandslash, Golem, and Grimer. Rhydon's Fury Attack can be pretty scary if he gets a lot of hits on you. His Lightningrod will also render Electric attacks useless on this floor, not that you're probably using a whole lot of those anyway. Strangely, Golem you find at lower levels than the Graveler you encountered earlier on. These ones are too low level to know SelfDestruct! Meanwhile, Grimer is by far the most obnoxious pokemon on this floor. Its Stench ability causes your partners near it to panic and run away. You'll want to take it out quickly and try to keep your partners in hallways where they aren't likely to be surrounded in their panic. They also know Minimize and Poison Gas, so you can imagine how much they can ruin your day. Grimer are the only pokemon here that isn't evolved, but it requires, say it with me, a friend area we don't have access to yet.

Starting on B18F, the tileset of the dungeon shifts yet again. We're really venturing deep!

------------------------
Magma Cavern [B21F]

 

Staring on B21F, Grimer is the only pokemon who returns from higher up, and alongside him is Onix whose size is incredibly intimidating! He's no pushover, either. Onix is really high level and its DragonBreath can do some heavy damage. That said, we actually are able to recruit this guy! Onix requires the Boulder Cave friend area which we received as a mission reward! We're this deep down and we're only just now finding another pokemon we can recruit.

---------------------

Magma Cavern [B22F - B23F]

At the very depths of Magma Cavern, Onix is the only pokemon you'll be finding. By this point, you're probably completely exhausted of PP and possibly even Max Elixirs if you came unprepared. Keep in mind you can use Gravelrocks and Spikes to attack from a distance without the use of attacks! It might save you some PP uses. Also don't be afraid to delegate battling some pokemon to your partners. You can always provide backup by throwing some rocks into the fray or tossing an Oran Berry or two. You're gonna be dropping items for better ones anyway, may as well get some use out of them while they're sitting in your inventory!

==================

Finally, on the 24th floor, we arrive at the... "midpoint" of the dungeon. If I'm being honest, what you're about to see here is probably the most anticlimactic part of the game, and I have to say that's partially due to the placement of this "midpoint."

==================

Magma Cavern Pit [B1F - B2F]

The music in this final stretch of the dungeon is incredibly menacing. You can expect to face some tough enemies, but the drumbeat calls to mind the large enemy you're marching towards. You'd best be prepared to bring everything you've got.

 

The only pokemon you'll be encountering way down here are Onix and its evolution, Steelix. Steelix is unrecruitable.

-------------------------

 

It isn't long at all before your each a clearing in the cavern. Just how much deeper can this dungeon go?

We feel another earthquake, emphasizing just how dangerous this place is. What if the whole place caves in?

 

Nature sees something: Charizard and Tyrannitar!

  

Charizard explains that they challenged Groudon and were completely overwhelmed.

Tyranitar explains that Alakazam is still fighting with Groudon, even now! We have to come to his aide!

  

We run off ahead.

=================

  

We find Alakazam seemingly alone in the next area.

  

Alakazam is clearly on edge, certainly this is a tough opponent indeed!

  

Without warning, Alakazam is suddenly wiped out by an attack!

 

When the room clears up, Alakazam is nowhere to be seen...

  

Now, Groudon must be coming after us. It's time to stand up and finish him off!

==================

Team Recover

-----------------------

Allia (Totodile); Lv. 27

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Water Gun, Ice Beam, Scary Face

-----------------------

Nature (Bulbasaur); Lv. 27

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed + Toxic, Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

------------------------

Beacon (Absol): Lv. 23

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Leer, Taunt, Quick Attack, Bite

================

Vs. Groudon

Now we have the most over-hyped bossfight of the entire game so far. As you can see, Groudon starts out all the way across the battlefield from you. I suppose this is supposed to be for dramatic effect as he slowly draws near, but at the end of the day, it jsut means you get several free turns before he even gets within range of you. He has no attacks that reach further than one tile in front of him, so yes, he has to travel all that distance to be able to even hurt you. All the while, you're in the perfect position to just throw out a bunch of long-range attacks, or even just the Gravel Rocks and Spikes you've collected along the way if you don't have any ranged attacks.

And since we just had a checkpoint literally two floors ago, we are fully healed and 100% prepared for this boss fight. That means I've got plenty of Ice Beams to use up.

To make matters even worse for Groudon, by the time he even gets close to us, I'm able to hit him with a Sleep Seed to stall him even longer.

  

We can further guarantee success by adjusting our team's moves after he wakes up while we just spam Scary Face to plummet his speed into hell. This guy's a walking joke.

 

With all that free setup, this boss fight is a total joke. He wasn't even able to get a single hit off!

In case it isn't clear, the threat of Groudon isn't so much his boss fight, but more so the test of endurance his dungeon is. It's not so much a long dungeon as it is a dungeon with essentially no midpoint. You don't get the midpoint until 2 floors before the final boss. Up until then, it's a 23-floor gauntlet which is only a few floors longer than Mt. Freeze in its entirety, Summit included. But once you've reached the midpoint, you basically have to try to lose.

====================

Team Promise

---------------------

Aura (Mudkip); Lv. 26

Item: Stamina Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Facade + Mud-Slap + Growl, Water Gun

-----------------------

Kindle (Charmander); Lv. 26

Item: Speical Band 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: Ember + Metal Claw, Smokescreen, Scary Face

-----------------------

Hope (Absol); Lv. 25

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Bite + Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Swords Dance

===================

  

In case you're curious about Team Promise's experience with this boss fight, this, too, was incredibly simple. Though it admittedly looked a bit different. Instead of piling on status conditions, we reduced his various stats with Growl, Scary Face, and Smokescreen. Though, I suppose Smokescreen applies the Whiffer status which makes the affected pokemon more likely to miss in addition to the constant stream of damage from the solar-powered Ember and Facade + Mud-Slap. Mud-Slap also contributing to the reduced stats. Groudon pathetically couldn't even touch us due to constantly missing, rather than constantly being put to sleep. I can't believe this is the monster everyone's been so afraid of this whole time.

=====================

 

After defeating Groudon; Alakazam, Charizard, and Tyranitar appear before us. They can't believe we were able to defeat Groudon.

 

Alakazam insists that he's fine, but that we all need to escape the dungeon immediately. With the frequent earthquakes, it is too dangerous to remain here any longer than necessary.

  

Nature is concerned about leaving Groudon behind, but Alakazam insists that Groudon will be just fine and that he was only in a rage due to his sleep being disturbed. We, however, aren't nearly as resilient as Groudon. We can't remain here any longer.

 

We don't have much longer to contemplate our next move before another earthquake shakes the place up, forcing Alakazam to demand we all leave immediately.

 

And this is where our session ends once again. Where else will our story take us next? What is our role? How will we restore the balance of the world? There are still so many questions, but I have a feeling we're right on the verge of answering them all really soon... whether we like what we hear or not.

[Aura]

Upon defeating Groudon, his portrait is placed alongside the Legendary Birds! Again, though, I can honestly say I think he's been the easiest boss fight so far.

  

Everybody is waiting around at the square wondering if we'll return. Presumably, everybody else has failed their excursions.. or hasn't even left at all. Who really knows.

  

When we finally arrive, everybody is ready to congratulate us on our greatest rescue yet! Apparently Pelipper spread the word of our success to all the other teams, so we were good to go from the start.

  

Everyone seems to have endless praise for us, even Alakazam! Let's not take all the credit, however. It's quite possible that Groudon was only so easy for us because Team A.C.T. have been tiring it out all this time.

  

The celebration is cut short a little bit when, suddenly, everyone begins to hear a voice calling out to them...

 

Nature recognizes the voice as coming from Xatu! He's reaching out to us using telepathy!

 

And Xatu announces that a star is falling from the sky!

 

Xatu sends to us a vision of the meteor that is coming to destroy the world! It's massive and seems impossible to stop!

  

Xatu finally explains that this star is the cause of the upset balance of the world. The climate change, the earthquakes, the fissures... all caused by this meteor that has come to destroy us all!

  

The urgency is not lost on Alakazam, who doesn't hesitate to ask what needs to be done.

 

Xatu explains that the only way we can stop this meteorite is with the help of the legendary dragon of the skies: Rayquaza! Unfortunately, Rayquaza lives high in the stratosphere, far too high to reach even by flying pokemon!

  

Xatu has already formulated a plan to work around this limitation. By combining his power with Alakazam's, together, they should be able to teleport a rescue team to the sky. It is an incredibly dangerous mission. It will involve exploring uncharted territory, fighting strong opponents, and no doubt, Rayquaza will not enjoy being disturbed.

  

Of course, we don't hesitate to volunteer for the journey.

 

Nature doesn't need to be convinced, and can't be discouraged.

  

So, just like when we went to rescue Alakazam, we have today to prepare for tomorrow's expedition. Let's make it count!

  

  

  

  

 

All of the townsfolk and shopkeepers around town have their own words to share with you as you come to speak with them. They're all cheering you on and rooting for you. It feels good to have everyone believe in you!

 

Bellsprout and Snubbull can be found outside the Pelipper Post Office.

Metapod can also be found at Whiscash Pond.

  

The friendly soul, Whiscash, is of course always willing to encourage you further.

 

As for preparation, I decided to bring 3 Reviver Seeds, 3 Max Elixirs, 2 Apples, an Escape Orb, as well as a Warp Orb. In hindsight, I'd also recommend bringing with you some items to protect from confusion above all else.

I also gave an Insomniscope to Allia thinking it could help against some pokemon we'll be encountering that are capable of using Hypnosis. It turns out you're definitely better off protecting against confusion... but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

 

Once you're ready to go, you speak with your partner and it's off to a good night's sleep.

====================

 

Bad Dream

Overnight, we start to have a vaguely familiar dream, but the atmosphere is incredibly uncomfortable and unnerving. This is a genuinely creepy experience. It's not clear what's going on at all, but you can tell something isn't right...

  

We soon get our answer to what's going on. Gengar has slipped into our home and is using Dream Eater with the intention of learning more about who we are. He's certain that, if you were a human before, there must be some dirt he can dig up on you. His plan, still, is to expose the evil in your heart.

  

But soon, he sees a strange light arrive in the room. This light spooks him and causes him to flee before being able to find the dirt he was looking for.

  

As Gengar leaves, our dream returns to normal. It seems Gardevoir has returned to us.

 

Gardevoir has finally decided that it is the time to explain everything to us.

The world of Pokemon required saving, yet no pokemon was capable of accomplishing the tasks we were set to do. So, Gardevoir searched the spirits of humans to be turned into a pokemon to help them. That's when they settled on you, who immediately confessed that you certainly were not strong enough to be called a hero. But it was not physical strength they required, but true courage. Being even less confident about this, you decided to ask the agent of spirits to give you a test to see if you truly had the courage to be the hero they sought. So, Gardevoir arranged for your meeting with Nature. The challenges we've faced up until now are exactly the test we needed to pass and, well, we've passed. Only once we've passed that test was Gardevoir allowed to tell us about our role.

Our role, of course, is to save the pokemon world from destruction at the hands of the meteor. And after we fulfill our role...

 

We must return to the human world.

  

Yes, it seems that once we save the pokemon world, we'll have no choice but to return to the human world and leave our partner behind. Of course, that would cause a lot of heartbreak in poor Nature, but Gardevoir provides that such is the way of life. Every hello means another goodbye, yet true friendship will remain eternal and never be forgotten.

  

 

Gardevoir provides her own feelings on the matter, how she has handled having to say goodbye to her own dear friend. To this day, she still believes she will meet with her friend.

  

For a brief moment, there was a disturbance in our dream, Gardevoir explains that someone must have been looking into our dream from the outside, but that they have run off. She seems to have sensed that pokemon being filled with grief and running off... curious...

With our questions answered, we now have another burden to bear, but it seems like our decision is already made. We can't go back, only forward. We will save the world.

===================

 

The next morning, we're finally all set to make our way to the sky!

Just like with Magma Cavern, we'll need to make way for the new dungeon: Sky Tower!

==================

We head off to the Hill of the Ancients to meet with Alakazam and Xatu.

  

It seems that the means by which Xatu and Alakazam plan to get us to the sky involve a special item known as a Teleport Gem. A physical manifestation of their collective Teleportation powers.

 

Xatu provides us with the Teleport Gem which will be used to send us to the sky to meet with Rayquaza.

  

Xatu explains that the gem was made with the help of himself, Alakazam, and an anonymous ghost-type pokemon who seems to have gone away. We only know one Ghost-type, but... surely not...

  

Before sending us off, Alakazam asks us one last time to be sure of our resolve. Will we go in spite of the danger? Our answer remains the same as it's been since the dawn of our rescue team: We will go.

 

With our resolve verified, our squad gathers around the Teleport Gem and we begin to glow before warping to the sky!

================

Sky Tower

We soon arrive at the base of a location known as Sky Tower. It seems the combined efforts of Alakazam, Xatu, and that anonymous Ghost-type were enough to barely get us to the bottom floor. Conveniently enough leaving the entire dungeon for us to explore! But hey, this is our final adventure, so we certainly want it to be a memorable one!

The music in this location is absolutely beautiful! It calls to mind our call to action, an exciting sound of adventure mixed in with a sense of serenity and beauty. Truly, this is a location like none other.

 

Nature is mesmerized by the sensation of walking on top of clouds.

 

But he's soon taken aback by yet another sight: The massive pillar of clouds that makes up Sky Tower. Rayquaza must be resting at the top. We'll have to climb the tower in search of Rayquaza! Let's not forget. We have a time limit. Who knows how much time we have before the meteorite reaches the world? We have to get Rayquaza's help before then! So there's no point in dawdling! We have to go!

===================

Sky Tower [1F - 5F]

                       

Once again, there are lots of different items you can find across this dungeon's many, and I mean many, floors. You'll find Poke; Gold, and Heal Ribbons; Detect, Persim, Power, Racket, Special, and Stamina Bands; Pecha and Warp Scarves; Insomniscopes; Scope Lenses; X-Ray Specs; Iron and Silver Spikes; Apples; Clear, Gray, Pink, Purple, and Sky Gummis; a bunch of even rarer TMs; and Link Boxes.

I believe the only new addition here is the Detect Band which increases the holder's evasion.

    

On the first five floors, you'll run into Shedinja, Shuppet, Forretress, Masquerain, and Lunatone. Shedinja, Forretress, and Masquerain cannot be recruited. Shuppet requires Darkness Ridge which is a friend area you should always have access to at this point in the game, and Lunatone requires Mt. Moonview which we were rewarded as a mission reward.

One of the first things I should warn you about this selection of pokemon is that... this is our first time seeing Ghost-type pokemon, and there's a reason for that. Ghost-types are potentially incredibly dangerous. They have the unique ability of walking through walls as though they were merely difficult terrain! Be especially wary if you're walking through corridors. If a Ghost-type attacks from inside the wall, you won't be able to attack them back. With the confusing behavior of your allies, it can be incredibly difficult to get away. For that reason, I recommend bringing a Warp Orb or two to scatter any pesky ghosts in unfortunate positions. Otherwise, try to keep an eye out for them as you walk through hallways and try to bait them out of the walls so that you can attack them.

Besides that obnoxious tendency, Ghost-types also tend to have really annoying attacks and abilities. Shuppet can afflict you with a curse. While this is often at the expense of its own life, Curse status deals a lot of damage to you and there's not much you can do to heal it besides just keeping yourself alive with Oran Berries or letting yourself succumb and coming back with a Reviver Seed.

Shedinja is also one of the scariest possible party members thanks to its Wonder Guard ability which protects it from all direct damage outside of Super-Effective hits. It will not protect them from Gravelrocks and the like, though, and with just 1 HP, it should be incredibly easy to pick off. But, if you didn't happen to bring anything like that with you, you might be staring death in the face as Shedinja is potentially entirely unkillable under the right conditions. Thankfully, it's only around for a brief while in this dungeon, so it's unlikely you'll be exhausted of your resources by the time you encounter one.

On the fourth floor, I found a Scope Lense! I gave this to Nature in place of his Special Band. With Bullet Seed, this should turn him into even more of a damage machine.

On the fifth floor, I found an Ice Beam TM which I taught to Beacon. I figured it'll be nice to have another Ice Beam user if we're gonna be fighting against Rayquaza.

--------------------------

Sky Tower [6F]

   

On the 6th floor, Shedinja is can no longer be found.

-------------------------

Sky tower [7F - 8F]

  

On the seventh floor, Shuppet is replaced with Duskull. Like Shuppet, Duskull requires Darkness Ridge to be recruited. Their biggest threat is Confuse Ray, though their Astonish can be a little obnoxious as well if it causes you to cringe.

On the 7th floor, it will be raining! Your Water types can rejoice!

------------------------

Sky Tower [9F]

  

Koffing joins the fray on the ninth floor in the stead of Masquerain. Koffing requires a friend area we don't have access to. Koffing's biggest threat is Self-Destruct, so make sure to keep your distance!

----------------------

Sky Tower [10F - 11F]

   

Ledian will join on floor 10. Ledian brings with it lots of support moves like Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard. They aren't so bad on their own, but in a group of enemies, they can cause some problems. They're also fully evolved, so no recruiting.

On Floor 11, you'll be met with Hail. Hail can make any floor tremendously uncomfortable. Hope you land near the stairs on this floor!

--------------------

Sky Tower [12F - 14F]

    

Starting on floor 12, you'll cease to find Lunatone and instead find Solrock and Altaria. Solrock, like Lunatone, can be recruited with Mt. Moonview. Naturally, Altaria can't be recruited.

The weather on 12F will be cloudy... I mean... you don't say?

Monster House

And on Floor 14... I finally ran into a mechanic I've been itching to warn about: A Monster House! I happened to spawn right in the middle of one at the start of the floor.

Monster Houses are essentially miniboss fights against a horde of enemies that spawn inside a room to ambush you! If you're wary, you might notice a large gathering of rare items in one area. That's a telltale sign of a Monster House. Especially if the items are normally unnatural finds in the dungeon. Unfortuantely, no amount of careful navigation will protect you from spawning right smack-dab in the middle of one!

As soon as you enter a Monster House, a whole bunch of enemies will drop in from above to ambush you. When you wander into one while exploring a floor, the best you can usually do is tell your allies to go the other way using the tactics menu while you hold the fort until they all back off, leaving you room to step back as well. Then you can have them rejoin the fight by calling them back. The important part is bringing the fight into the hallway so that you can fight your opponents one on one without worrying about getting surrounded. If your allies are in position, you can also swap out with them and play a support role while recovering from heavy damage.

If you do end up surrounded, a Warp Orb might help you to disperse the cloud of enemies to make them easier to deal with. Just note that the enemies that spawn in will usually pick up most of the items in the room by the time they surround you, so you might want to hunt them down if you're interested in looting the room. Other than that, fighting back with status problems to shut down some of your opponents is also a good move. Really, just do whatever you can to hinder the entire group.

These Monster Houses have had a chance of appearing in every dungeon we've visited since Uproar Forest, and in most dungeons going forward. Be very careful and don't let yourself be caught with your pants down! Depending on when these Monster Houses appear, they could spell the end of your adventure!

The music for the Monster House won't stop playing until you reach the next floor.

----------------------------

Sky Tower [15F]

   

Starting on Floor 15, Duskull can no longer be found meaning you, at least for now, no longer have to worry about Ghost Types ambushing you from the walls.

The weather on this floor is also hailing, though, so you don't wanna get too comfortable. Make it to the stairs quickly!

-------------------------

Sky Tower [16F]

    

On the 16th floor, you'll begin to encounter Scizor! Another fully evolved pokemon you can't recruit!

------------------------

Sky Tower [17F - 18F]

    

Well, that was shortlived. Starting on floor 17, you'll start to find Dusclops whose Pressure can be devastating, especially considering you're probably already starting to feel some degree of fatigue by this point in the dungeon. Dusclops' Pressure is the nemesis of your Linked moves. This is part of why I recommended bringing an abundance of Max Elixirs... you're probably gonna need 'em. And of course they have all the annoying tendencies of Duskull, too.

On the 18th floor, it's hailing again! You know the drill: Get to the stairs!

-------------------------

Sky Tower [19F]

   

On the 19th floor, you'll no longer find Ledian.

It was here that I was actually able to recruit a new team member!

================

New Recruit: Team Recover

----------------------

Sunshine (Solrock); Lv. 24

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Harden, Confusion, Rock Throw, Fire Spin

=================

Sky Tower [20F]

   

Starting on floor 20, you'll no longer find Altaria and will instead find Venomoth. Venomoth's Disable is capable of paralyzing you. It can also afflict you with, you guessed it, Confusion using Supersonic.

----------------------

Sky Tower [21F]

    

On the 21st floor, you're met with what will be the bane of your existence for the rest of the dungeon: Aerodactyl. These prehistoric devils do nothing but soak up damage, afflict you with confusion, hammer you with heavy damage, and laugh at you as you're helpless to stop them. They take forever to kill and, to top it all off, they have the Pressure ability just like your good friend Dusclops. They can even use Agility to amplify their speed! They are the epitome of obnoxious. By comparison, you'll hardly even notice Flygon can be encoutnered now. Aerodactyl requires a friend area we don't have access to yet, surprise surprise.

To make matters worse for Aerodactyl, this floor is cloudy, so damage you deal will be reduced.

----------------------------

Sky Tower [22 - 23]

    

Scizor is gone on floor 22, leaving us with even more of the obnoxious pokemon. Tropius is also introduced here, but he's not too scary. Tropius can be recruited with the Jungle friend area!

-------------------------

Sky Tower [24 - 25]

   

You're finally free from Dusclops on Floor 24.

=================

And finally we've arrived at the midpoint of Sky Tower. Unlike Magma Cavern, though, we still got a good bit more to go through after this point. But this free heal is more than welcome after almost all of your PP has been depleted from all those Presser users. I strongly recommend trying to maintain your Warp Orb until this half of the dungeon because there's no shortage of Pressure, unfortunately.

==================

Sky Tower Summit [1F - 8F]

The music here shifts to a rather somber take on the music so far. By this point, you're confident in your ability to make it in the end, and now you're probably going to be reminiscing about your time with your partner and wondering... just where are things going from here? We're nearing the end of the dungeon, and the end of our role... what does that mean for everyone around us?

            

The items you'll find here are mostly just rare TMs and, mostly, the same bands/ribbons/scarves you've found so far with the exception of the Joy Ribbon which is a very interesting held item that allows its holder to gain Exp equal to the amount of damage it takes every time it takes damage. It sounds like an incredibly powerful item for grinding levels!

     

There are a lot of new pokemon to find here, but none of them can be recruited. They are Claydol, Metagross, and Salamence. These guys sound menacing, but still, the biggest threat to your success remains to be Aerodactyl.

On the second floor, the weather will be sunny. You'll want to be wary of Tropius here since he does have Chlorophyll!

On the fourth floor, you'll find cloudy weather.

And on the 6th floor, rain.

===================

 

On the 9th floor, we finally arrive at the top of the tower where we're met with hostility, as expected.

  

Rayquaza has no interest in sparing time for intruders into his territory and warns us to leave.

 

Nature tries to plead with Rayquaza that we need its help...

 

Rayquaza asserts that the world of the land and the world of the sky are two separate domains that must be governed independently. There's no telling what has driven Rayquaza to be so bitter toward land-dwellers, but it doesn't quite seem to be in the mood to explain.

  

Determined not to help, the angered Rayquaza begins to attack!

=================

Team Recover

-----------------------

Allia (Totodile); Lv. 29

Item: Insomniscope 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Water Gun + Scary Face, Ice Beam

------------------------

Nature (Bulbasaur); Lv. 29

Item: Scope Lens 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Toxic + Leech Seed + Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

----------------------

Beacon (Absol); Lv. 26

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Swords Dance, Quick Attack, Bite, Ice Beam

----------------------

Sunshine (Solrock); Lv. 24

Item: Scope Lens 

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Harden, Confusion, Rock Throw, Fire Spin

===================

Vs. Rayquaza

It's the climactic battle against the guardian of the skies! We'll have to defeat him head-on if we want to talk.

Right away, I made a rather unfortunate mistake. My intention was to have everyone wait in place while I slipped around to the side so that I could get out of Beacon's way so that he could get in with some Ice Beams. But I forgot to set everyone's movement strategies to "Wait there," so Nature ended up blocking Beacon instead. As a result, I had to adjust my plan and slip around the other side. Meanwhile, Nature was able to hold Rayquaza off by keeping him asleep with Sleep Powder and peppering him with Bullet Seed. Even though Rayquaza quad-resists Bullet Seed, he's still getting hit 2-5 times in a row each turn. And I've yet to get in with my Scary Face to reduce his chances of waking up.

 

Due to my blunder with setting up our initial approach, by the time I was able to set things up so that I was ready to unleash any attacks, Rayquaza was unfortunately already nearly defeated. So... woops? I suppose I've gotten a bit too powerful, haven't I?

================

 

Rayquaza falls over, convincing us that he's defeated.

  

However, he gets back up with another roar, only for us to be interrupted by an... earthquake?

 

Rayquaza explains that what we just experienced were shock waves! Not just any shock waves, but massive ones! That's when Nature realizes that this cataclysm affects Rayquaza, too. So he knows he has to get Rayquaza to acknowledge the threat before it's too late.

  

Rayquaza is shocked to see the giant meteorite rapidly hurdling toward us. 

  

Rayquaza decides he's willing to help, but before he does, he has a warning:

We will not be able to avoid the damage from his Hyper Beam if he were to let it loose with us so close.

 

We tell him that we couldn't care less about our lives being at risk. Satisfied with our resolve, Rayquaza agrees to help.

 

Rayquaza begins charging his beam and...

  

he launches his Hyper Beam directly at the Meteorite!

==================

  

As we come to, we have no idea where we are.

  

After recalling everything that happened... could we be dead?

 

Before long, a familiar face appears before us... Gengar...

  

Gengar tells us he's going to drag us into the dark world now, perhaps to garner some sort of petty revenge. We're too weak to resist him, though...

  

As he continues to drag us along, we contemplate where he's taking us... what's going to happen... what this dark world even is...

  

As Gengar continues to drag us along, he soon stops, saying that he must have gone the wrong way, and that he can't tell which way he needs to go... what's going on here?

 

He ultimately decides to just leave us right where we are. With a good-bye, he disappears as we fade to white.

===================

 

Soon, we begin to hear a voice that takes the form of... Alakazam?

  

Soon, we wake up again at the Hill of the Ancients, surrounded by everyone from Pokemon Square!

  

As we reminice, we're able to put two and two together and recognize that... Gengar wasn't trying to take us to the Dark World at all... he was only pretending to to cover up for the fact that he was actually... saving us...? He's nowhere to be seen now, though...

  

Everyone is excited that we're alive and well!

  

When asked about the star, Xatu explains that the star was indeed destroyed in the explosion and that the world's balance will soon be returned.

 

Even our team members are safe as well!

  

Nature celebrates the joyous occasion!

  

And we're treated to a panning shot of the various landmarks surrounding Pokemon Square.

  

Everyone begins to celebrate our happy end.

  

 

We're treated to a silly scene where everyone teases Lombre about his fear of being blasted by Blastoise's Hydro Pump, leaving us alone on the side...

  

It's here where we're met by Gardevoir once again, who thanks us for our heroics.

  

Of course, our victory is bittersweet. We know something everyone else doesn't. And Gardevoir is here to remind us about that, too...

 

We start to glow, drawing everyone's attention to us...

 

It's time to finally break the news to everyone here... unfortunately, it means breaking up such a happy celebration, but the truth is about to come out either way...

  

Naturally, this goes over about as well as you would expect.

 

We try to explain it as simply as we can... we simply can't stay...

 

  

This part is honestly incredibly heart-wrenching. It still brings a tear to my eye today seeing our most loyal friend so confused by this realization...

 

  

 

It's an incredibly sad farewell, but we can't change the course of nature. We simply don't belong in this world... We were put here for one purpose and that purpose is no more.

  

 

Soon, the light surrounding us completely engulfs us as everyone calls out to us.

 

We begin to float off and, even though nobody is ready to say goodbye... we're gone...

 

  

  

Everyone is puzzled by this... why did we have to go so suddenly? Why now that everything had finally gotten better? When we could finally relax and celebrate?

  

Xatu provides that he had observed we had already accepted this fact before we left, even if it made us uneasy... And it's true. We knew before even leaving for Sky Tower that we would have to leave once our mission was done, but we couldn't delay it any longer.

  

  

Nature seems to understand why we had to go, but he can't seem to comprehend why we wouldn't have told him sooner...

  

 

Alakazam explains to the best of his abilities that this was a truth we couldn't have shared, one that pained us just as greatly, a burden we didn't want to share.

=====================

  

 

  

A voice calls out to us as we ascend. Presumably on our way back to the human world... Whose voice is this? The voice calls to our attention everything that's been going on...

 

"If you wish... and wish very strongly... perhaps you will meet again."

And from here, the credits roll.

  

As the credits close, we're met with the wishes of our protagonist. We don't want to leave... we don't want to cause that much pain.

 

We return to a quiet and somber scene at our rescue team base...

 

Where our spirit returns and we suddenly appear again! To everyone's surprise!

 

Lombre gets the mourning Nature's attention and finally, we're reunited!

What an emotional ending. Seriously, this story tears me up every time I go through it. The writers did such a good job of capturing the beautiful relationship among our little squdron. While the sequels are definitely much more highly praised for their emotional story, I really don't know if this game deserves to be overshadowed so much. The story gets so real at times that I really don't even know how to put it into words. It's definitely an inspired story. With a theme like friendship, it has every excuse to be the most generic, basic story an RPG could possibly have and yet, they explore it in such an interesting way. They show not just how powerful a good friend can be, but how much friendship can hurt, too. Not just in a "your friends are a weakness" way that's typically explored, but more "how much can you really trust your friends?" "What if they end up hurting you?" "What if you end up hurting your friends?" It's a story that really gets you thinking. It explores themes of guilt, fear of the unknown, and as a result, the rewards of a true friendship feel genuinely deserved here as opposed to just a generic excuse to keep the main team together.

I absolutely love this story. I can confidently say that this is the best game I've played in this thread so far...

...but, is it really over already? I mean, I've been hyping this game up since the start of Gen 3 as the largest spin-off title so far! And yes, this game does have enough content to even rival the main series. Much like XD and Colosseum, we've really only scratched the surface after completing the main story. But unlike those games, I don't think it's a stretch to say that the game has hardly even begun yet. If we continue further...

 

  

Yes, we get a message at the very end of the game telling us that a new adventure is about to begin. One which opens up the world in a massive way and promises to allow us to meet the other legendary pokemon.

Yes, don't worry, we aren't even close to finished with this project. I do intend to thoroughly cover this game just as I would any main series title. I would argue this game definitely deserves to be held to the same regard if not higher than the main series! While the most memorable part, to me, anyway, is over, there is a lot of exciting content just around the corner for us to delve into! And, on that note, the game is also about to get a whole lot tougher, too. We've only just begun to scratch the surface.

Next time, I'll be playing through. And of course summing up Team Promise's experience through all these ordeals as well.

[Aura]

  

Team Promise

So, when I stopped playing in my last session as Team Promise, it was actually at the midpoint of Sky Tower. I would've summed up the experience in the last post but, once again, the post got rather long.

As it turns out, there really wasn't much to talk about Team Promise's experience in Sky Tower. One thing that is worth mentioning, however, is that we were able to get a new recruit here!

===============

New Recruit: Team Promise

-----------------------

Shade (Shuppet); Lv. 28

Item: None

Ability: Insomnia | Moves: Screech, Night Shade, Curse, Spite

================

Admittedly, having a ghost type in your squad can be a bit of a nuisance in quite a few ways. Since they treat walls like difficult terrain, their AI when following you can be a bit quirky when walking through hallways. If you've been playing along, you might have noticed these sorts of quirks when walking with, say, a Fire type in a small path surrounded by lava. The AI likes to cut corners, quite literally, wherever possible in terms of movement. Normally, over difficult terrain, any pokemon is capable of cutting the corners. So when you make a turn, any pokemon following behind you will cut the corner as they try to follow you. Corners of walls, however, can only be cut by ghosts. So any pokemon trying to follow you around a turn in a hallway will have to make two steps... with the exception of ghosts. Since ghosts will try to cut the corner, they'll often hesitate for a step before cutting the corner to save that space of movement. During this hesitation, any pokemon behind them also have to wait a turn. Unlike the ghost, the normal pokemon behind it can't cut the corner to make up for the lost distance, so if the ghost is anywhere but the back of the line when making a turn in a hallway, it'll cause any pokemon behind it to be separated by a gap of empty space.

I'm not sure if that explanation was very good, but long story short, these pokemon make keeping your squad together a little bit frustrating at times. Especially on dark floors where you can only see so far. Try to keep your ghosts in the back of the line wherever possible.

That said, having a ghost in the party has its perks. Mainly, these ghosts are capable of provding extra backup if you can get them in the wall, usually done by messing with their tactics. If only you could issue them a command to take cover in the walls so that they could protect themselves from damage.

===================

Team Promise

------------------------

Aura (Mudkip); Lv. 27

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Facade + Mud-Slap + Growl, Water Gun

----------------------

Kindle (Charmander); Lv. 27

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: Ember + Metal Claw, SmokeScreen, Scary Face

-----------------------

Hope (Absol); Lv. 26

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Quick Attack, Bite, Swords Dance, ThunderBolt

-----------------------

Shade (Shuppet); Lv. 29

Item: X-Ray Specs 

Ability: Insomnia | Moves: Screech, Night Shade, Curse, Spite

Note: As far as I can tell, the X-Ray Specs serve no purpose on a partner, I just gave them to Shade to hold so that I could throw gummis at him.

===================

   

The battle against Rayquaza went much more smoothly here. I did have a bit of a scare with Shade using Curse, but I did still have Reviver Seeds to spare, so it wasn't too dangerous of a move. Besides, between the SmokeScreen, Mud-Slap, and Growls Rayquaza was burdened with, he was once again just a sitting duck and went down before we knew it.

-------------------------

Of course, the ending and credits play out all the same as Blue Rescue Team, so you're all up to speed on everything that's happened with Team Promise! We're now officially in the postgame of both titles!

======================

When we boot up Blue Rescue Team, we can find predictably find Rayquaza's portrait right where you'd expect to see it.

  

 

After loading your save, you'll be met with a brief summary of the game's ending and a reminder that the calamities have yet to stop completely, and so rescue mission operations continued to persist.

  

As eager as always, Nature ha already visited the Pellipper Post Office to find that the Bulletin Board is still full of rescue jobs which means there are still people who need help! We're a highly respected rescue team now, so we have a lot of responsibility! No time for lounging around!

  

When we go to leave, we're stopped by Caterpie who comes to tell us something strange has happened to Snubbull! He and Metapod explain that Snubbull's appearance has completely changed! It sounds odd, but any pokemon fan worth their salt probably has an inkling of what that means... it sounds like we should investigate!

=================

 

We make our way to Whiscash Pond in our search to find Snubbull where we find Alakazam standing next to a new face. We ask Alakazam if he's seen Snubbul only to find...

  

...this new pokemon claims to be the very same Snubbull we were looking for.

 

Granbull here explains that he went into a cave and completely transformed!

  

We inquire about this cave Snubbull visited and Whiscash answers the question by pointing us to a strange cave that appeared without his noticing.

 

Alakazam explains to Nature the process of "evolution" that Snubbull went through. It's completely new information, but we're all quite familiar with the process. Once a pokemon meets certain circumstances, it is capable of evolving into a new species and becoming stronger! Alakazam speculates that, because of the world's balance being upset, evolution was impossible. But now that balance has been restored, this cave has made its appearance and pokemon can evolve by visiting it! We can only assume he and the rest of his team probably have experience with evolution and weren't simply born in their final stages.

Of course, we want to evolve too! But unfortunately, the entrance is a bit too small for us to fit in together. We'll have to return sometime when we're alone.

I'm not much of a fan of the way this is handled, but it's a bit confusing when you first encounter it. Long story short, we've gotta just kinda forget about this cave for a little bit even though the game just explicitly called it to our attention. I think the order the game introduces new mechanics could've been handled a bit better, but I digress. For now, let's look at what else has changed around town!

  

Of course, everybody around town is here to thank you, along with all the shopkeepers... you get the idea. You can see how everyone's lives are going now that peace has returned to the world, and that's really nice!

If you visit the Wigglytuff Club...

  

......yeeeeeah you're gonna want a lot of money. This is why I made a bit of a stink earlier when I mentioned that our starters were a rather unfortunate duo. As you can see, the majority of the friend areas we haven't had access to thorughout the main series are now suddenly made available! And they are incredibly expensive! Some of these friend areas you could've gained access to from the start depending on your starter, but most of the pokemon we couldn't recruit up until now are now suddenly available!

Over the course of this playthrough, I'm gonna try to purchase all of the friend areas. As I purchase them, I'll make a note of which pokemon from previous areas we can recruit with them. I'll also make note of all pokemon whose friend areas we have access to now as we go forward and explore new dungeons.

  

If you're curious to know what pokemon require what friend areas, there's an option that I believe is new called "Check," which allows you to view a list of every pokemon you've met so far. Pokemon with Blue names are pokemon you already have recruited, green names are pokemon whose friend area you already have access to, and white names are pokemon whose friend areas you currently do not have access to. If you click on one, Wigglytuff will tell you what friend area they belong to, and whether or not it's one she can sell to you.

  

In addition, we have a few new mazes available at the Makuhita Dojo including the final type maze as well as mazes based around the four prominent teams in the game's story: Team Shiftry, Constrictor, Hydro, and Rumblerock. We'll do these mazes, too, but I'm gonna hold off a bit because I really wanna get to the really exciting new stuff first!

If we check out the bulletin board now, we'll find another special mission that takes place in a location called Howling Forest.

  

The rescue request contains a letter from a pokemon named Smeargle, an aspiring artist who fled from home because he didn't want to become an adult and now finds himself stuck in the depths of Howling Forest.

 

Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but I have a feeling this mission was meant to come off as a dirty joke in the original Japanese version. Especially with what it's like after you complete the mission, but for now, I'll put a pin in that idea.

Just like with Wynaut's request, by accepting this mission, we can unlock a new dungeon: Howling Forest!

  

On our way to meet with our teammates, we bump into Medicham who is laughing to himself about a story he heard from Lombre. He's laughing about the fact that Lombre managed to "almost drown at sea" despite living in the water. It sounds like there might be more to the story, so let's check out what Lombre has to say...

 

Of course, Lombre gets embarrassed at Medicham's assertion that he was drowning. He explains that he was out in the sea trying to learn how to Dive when he was caught in a storm when a dungeon appeared! He suggests that Whiscash might know more about the mysterious dungeon that appeared in the middle of the sea during that storm...

 

If we go to speak with Whiscash, indeed, he'll confirm that there is a dungeon he's heard of, aptly named the Stormy Sea.

Unfortunately, it isn't so easy to go there as any other dungeon. In order to reach the Stormy Sea, we must have the HM for Dive. That's right, HMs indeed persist here in Mystery Dungeon as well.

Whiscash recognizes our desire to explore the Stormy Sea, so he gifts us with the HM for Dive. It's quite possible that there are other dungeons that require HMs to access, though, so we'll need to keep our eye out for other HMs like this one...

  

So, Whiscash explains that if we either have a pokemon with the move Dive, or the HM in our toolbox, we should be able to reach the Stormy Sea.

 

And with that, we've gained access to another new dungeon! I don't intend to go there just yet, though. We've still got a bit to cover.

=================

 

On our way out to complete any missions, Nature gets an idea he wants to speak with us about before we leave.

  

Perhaps, after having some time away from you, your friend has come to realize that maybe he can be alright even without you. So, he suggests a new plan where, instead of always going into dungeons together, we can now go in with different pokemon, and we can even change our leader around at will, allowing us to play as a whole bunch of different pokemon! If we want, we can even go into dungeons alone. And now that cave makes a bit more sense...

 

So, for the first time, we can send our partner to his friend area! Perhaps it makes sense now why we had to start with our starter's friend areas?

After sending everyone home, we're finally alone... now I think it's time to visit that cave at Whiscash Pond.

=================

Luminous Cave

Luminous Cave is where evolution takes place in the world of Mystery Dungeon. This small area beneath Whiscash's Pond is home to a large crystal that can gift the power of evolution to anyone who is capable.

Evolution requirements are the same as in the main series. Most pokemon evolve by levelup but some require alternative special conditions.

 

When you enter the cave, a voice will call out to you, and you can attempt to evolve.

When you seek an evolution, you can offer an item for evolution. Most of the time, this is unnecessary and, to my knowledge, doesn't offer any sort of benefit. But, certain pokemon require an item to evolve.

 -> 

For example, while Ribbon the Nidoran F can evolve into Nidorina after reaching level 16...

 +  -> 

...in order for her to evolve into Nidoqueen, she would have to leave a Moon Stone as an offering for her evolution.

 +  -> 

Additionally, some pokemon in the main series require trades. These require the Link Cable item.

 +  +  -> 

Pokemon who require to be traded while holding a specific item evolve with both a Link Cable and the required item.

 -> 

Pokemon that evolve by happiness in the main series require their IQ to reach a certain level.

 +  -> 

 +  -> 

Pokemon that evolve depending on time of day require the Sun or Lunar Ribbon for day or night evolutions respectively. This only applies to Eevee who also requires its IQ to be sufficient as well since its evolution into Espeon and Umbreon depends on happiness.

 +  -> 

And as for the most unique evolution requirement, max beauty, Feebas requires the Beauty Scarf in order to evolve into Milotic.

Only once the correct conditions are met and the correct items offered, can evolution commence.

 -> 

 +  -> 

In the case of certain pokemon with branched evolutions, like Slowpoke, the choice to include the correct item can make a very significant difference in the result. Be sure to choose the appropriate item because evolution cannot be undone.

As explained throughout the main story, most evolved pokemon are incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to recruit by normal means. Luminous Cave is your best bet on obtaining these evolved pokemon. I'll try to call attention to evolution items as they come up in dungeons, but they can also pop up in the stores, so keep your eyes peeled for the ones you need!

 

Since Allia is well above the level necessary for her to evolve, it's time for her to undergo evolution.

 

In the end, Allia successfully evolved into a Croconaw!

===================

New Evolution: Team Recover

-----------------------

Allia (Croconaw); Lv. 29

Item: Stamina Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Water Gun + Scary Face, Ice Beam

=================

 

Evolving into other pokemon is as simple as making them the leader. In order to do so, you'll need to visit them in their friend area while they're on your team and select Make Leader.

By doing this, you can now take control of any pokemon on your team and they'll take on the role of leader! I'm playing as Nature now! With this, we can go ahead and evolve any pokemon we have recruited that are capable. It's not much, but we've got some!

====================

New Evolutions: Team Recover

------------------------

Nature (Ivysaur); Lv. 29

Item: Scope Lens 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed + Toxic + Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

-----------------------

Sew (Nuzleaf); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll, Eary Bird | Moves: Bide, Harden, Growth, Nature Power

=====================

Let's not forget about Red Rescue Team, either! We've got some evolutions to do there as well!

=====================

New Evolutions: Team Promise

-------------------------

Aura (Marshtomp); Lv. 29

Item: Persim Band 

--------------------------

Kindle (Charmeleon); Lv. 30

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: Ember + Metal Claw, Smokescreen, Scary Face

-------------------------

Harvest (Nuzleaf); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll, Early Bird | Moves: Harden, Growth, Nature Power, Bullet Seed

------------------------

Spike (Kakuna); Lv. 8

Item: None

Ability: Shed Skin | Moves: Poison Sting, String Shot

=================

Of course, we've only begun to play with changing your leader around. As you can see, we can now enter older dungeons to complete missions with pokemon that are at much more appropriate levels for the opponent's they'll be facing. Those misssions in Thunderwave Cave and the like no longer feel as arbitrary and pointless anymore. It gives our weaker teammates something to do! If you're not confident, you can always bring a stronger pokemon in to babysit a little bit.

 

When you return from your adventure, your selected leader will be the one who rests in the Team Base. All other pokemon, including your protagonist, will return to their friend areas. It can be a bit annoying scrounging together a team to take out to complete missions every single day, but it does add a new layer of freedom to your palystyle, so it's still a nice addition! Though it is a bit lonely not having your partner follow you around town anymore...

While completing missions in Blue Rescue Team, I purchased a few new Friend Areas.

Mt. Cleft

Mt. Cleft is a friend area we started with in Red Rescue Team thanks to choosing Charmander as our starting partner. This is the friend area Charmander will stay in. It's also the friend area that is home to Aron.

Pupitar can also stay here, but as an evolution, you're probably not gonna have a very good time getting him here without evolving a Larvitar, which we haven't found anywhere just yet.

------------------------------

Furnace Desert

I also purchased Furnace Desert which is home to quite a few desert-dwelling pokemon.

With this area, you can now recruit Sandshrew from Magma Cavern,

Trapinch from Silent Chasm,

And Cacnea from Mt. Thunder.

===================

I was able to recruit an Aron from Mt. Silver, already showing off the benefits!

================

New Recruit: Team Recover

--------------------

Armor (Aron); Lv. 6

Item: None

Ability: Rock Head, Sturdy | Moves: Tackle, Harden

================

In the end, we scrounged up our main team and brought them into new territory: Howling Forest!

-----------------------

Howling Forest

This dungeon is made available after accepting the special request "Smeargle's Desperate Plea," it's not guaranteed you'll have access to this mission at the start of the postgame. Every source I've checked says you can only get this mission after getting the Sky-Blue Plains friend area from another mission that offers a Friend Area as a reward, but I don't recall ever getting this location unlocked? Perhaps I overlooked it among mission rewards...

   

I've decided to enter this dungeon with Nature as the leader, just to see how he fares. I don't think I'm gonna make a habit of doing this, though. With Bullet Seed being his only direct-damage attack, I find it much nicer to play as other pokemon like Allia. For the most part, I'll probably continue playing as Allia through most new dungeons, but I might change it up here and there.

                     

Across every floor in this dungeon, the items are the same. You can find Poke; Apples; Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, and Yellow Gummis; Cheri, Chesto, Oran, Pecha, and Rawst Berries; Allure, Blast, Blinker, Heal, Reviver, Stun, and Totter Seeds; various TMs; various orbs; and Link Boxes.

The Chesto Berry is a new berry that cures sleep! It's... a bit counter-intuitive, though. You can't use items while you're asleep, so the only way to get use out of this is to throw it into an ally who's asleep. To be fair, though, the only alternative is to waste a Heal Seed, so I suppose this item is alright if you don't want to waste a universal status healer.

There are also a few new seeds. The Allure Seed inflicts the cross-eyed status on the target. This strange status causes all pokemon and items to appear differently, making it difficult to tell who's who.

The Blinker Seed inflicts the blinker status which essentially blinds the pokemon, causing them to stumble around. If that pokemon is you, you won't be able to see other pokemon or even dungeon walls. It sounds rather scary!

The Totter Seed inflicts confusion.

------------------------

Howling Forest [1F - 3F]

    

For the first three floors, you can encounter Azurill, Houndour, Poochyena, Whismur, and Spoink! We've encountered Azurill before, but he's here, we may as well mention that Whismur can be recruited with Turtleshell Pond! Houndour can stay in the Ravaged Field while Poochyena can stay in the Wild Plains. These two are also available in dungeons we've already explored. Whismur can be recruited with Echo Cave and Spoink can be recruited with Mt. Deepgreen.

On the first floor, we were able to recruit a Spoink!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

--------------------

Joy (Spoink); Lv. 13

Item: None

Ability: Thick Fat, Own Tempo | Moves: Splash, Psywave, Odor Sleuth

================

On the third floor, you're met with a random weather condition.

----------------------------

Howling Forest [4F]

     

On the fourth floor, you can start to encounter Furret who can't be recruited.

-------------------------

Howling Forest [5F - 6F]

    

Starting with the fifth floor, Azurill drops off.

-------------------------

Howling Forest [7F - 8F]

     

On the seventh floor, Shuckle joins! Shuckle was available previously and belongs to Mt. Deepgreen.

On the 8th floor, the dungoen's aesthetic changes to that of an underground cave instead of a forest.

--------------------------

Howling Forest [9F - 10F]

     

Starting on the 9th floor, many of the weaker pokemon from the lower floors are replaced with stronger evolved counterparts. Furret slips out in the confusion. In its place, we find Pidgey. Loudred has a negative recruitment rate while the others; Houndoom, Mightyena, and Grumpig are unrecruitable. Since pokemon can't be recruited in Tiny Woods, this is the first time Pidgey can be recruited! It requires Flyaway Forest.

It was around here where Roast leveled up and tried to learn Roar. I replaced Howl since he's not going to be getting much use out of physical moves anyway. Roar can save us from potentially awkward situations by blowing a dangerous opponent away.

-------------------------

Howling Forest [11F]

      

Snorlax is made available on floor 11. Snorlax is a bit of an odd case in the terms of fully evolved pokemon. This is well after Munchlax has been officially revealed and is a well-known pokemon, but Munchlax isn't actually obtainable in this game. Therefore, Snorlax is not treated as a fully evolved pokemon but as a pokemon with no evolution chain. Therefore, he is recruitable much like others like Tauros. Snorlax requires the friend area Energetic Forest to recruit.

------------------------

Howling Forest [12F - 13F]

     

Shuckle drops off starting on floor 12.

On the 13th floor, you're met with another random weather effect. This time, it was rain for me.

-----------------------

Howling Forest [14F]

     

And Exeggcute joins in on the 14th floor.

================

 

There is no boss fight at the end of the dungeon. Instead, you're met by the Smeargle who made the request on the bulletin board. Still lost in the depths of the forest.

We've arrived in time to save Smeargle! Wonderful!

================

  

And... here's where we kinda get to see the sad part of evolving your partner... now anytime he talks, since Ivysaur doesn't have any dialogue portraits, his portrait no longer appears when he speaks. It feels kinda dehumanizing in a way. The same is true for yourself as well, ironically enough.

 

Anyway, just as we're about to ask Smeargle what he meant by not wanting to become an adult, two more Smeargle begin to approach!

 

Nature asks Smeargle what's going on.

  

Smeargle tells us these are his friends, but the other Smeargles are trying to get him to participate in a "grown-up ritual," and telling him he should accept the ritual instead of running away from it.

 

Smeargle seems insistant that he doesn't want this paw-print, and Nature can't quite understand what's going on.

  

The other Smeargle explain that it's a coming-of-age ritual where they mark adults with pawprints on their backs when they reacha  certain age. It seems to be something a lot of Smeargle look forward to.

  

Smeargle seems to have some major objections to having the mark, however. He has such an aversion to the mark, in fact, that he offers to join our rescue team so that he doesn't have to go back home!

  

The other Smeargle seem a little disappointed that he won't be coming back, but bit him farewell and good luck with his choice.

  

Well... should we mention that... he already has a pawprint on his back? Clearly visible from his sprite? ...Maybe it's best not to tell him...

 

Smeargle suggests that one thing he can do for the team is to provide work as an artist. As an example, he looks around for something to use...

 

He suggests that he can change the design of the flag at our base if we come and speak with him at his friend area.

So, now, Smeargle is recruited!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

------------------------

Decore (Smeargle)

Item: None

Ability: Own Tempo | Moves: Sketch

==================

Sky-Blue Plains

As mentioned earlier, this mission is supposedly made available when you gain access to the Sky-Blue Plains friend area. I think you can see the reason why. Again, I don't remember ever getting this area, but I suppose I'll share it here as if it were an area we just got. Thankfully, there are no pokemon that can be recruited which we've met in any dungeons just yet, so we haven't missed out on any opportunities.

==================

With all that out of the way, I think we're just about finished for this session. Next time, we'll probably do some more missions, but we're probably not going to advance further toward the next new dungeon. Instead, I'd like to call attention to a new ability we've yet to explore.

[Aura]

Before getting to new content today, I went ahead and completed some more rescue missions, which allowed me to a new recruit from Mt. Silver!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

------------------

Gather (Zigzagoon); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Pickup | Moves: Tackle, Growl, Tail Whip

=================

Now, while I did mention we would be exploring some new content this time around, I actually forgot about something small I wanted to do first today:

The new mazes now available in Makuhita Dojo! I think it's actually a good idea in hindsight to complete these once your team is a little bit stronger, especially some of the later ones we'll be doing, but I figured I'd go ahead and knock them out of the way.

If you stop by the Makuhita Dojo, you'll find that we finally have the final type specialist maze: The Ghost Maze.

 

Depending on your luck, the Ghost Maze can be a little scary as all the Gastly that spawn on each floor will slowly close in on your location, surrounding you on all sides. But, they are pretty weak, so they can be easily dealt with. This definitely doesn't hold a candle to the out-of-place difficulty of the Psychic Maze.

Throughout the Ghost Maze, the only pokemon you'll encounter is Gastly, with a team of three Gastly serving as the boss.

------------------------

  

After completing all 17 type-specialist mazes, Makuhita will be amazed by your progress! Finally, he'll fulfill his promise of rewarding you for completing all the training courses.

 

This reward is a Bonsly Doll! That's right, even though you can't recruit them, some of the popular preview pokemon from Gen 4 do actually get cameos in this game!

In addition to the Bonsly Doll, you'll also receive a Ginseng.

================

If you'd like to see your Bonsly Doll, you cana find it outside your base right here! The outdoore environment kinda makes it look more like a statue than a doll... Perhaps it was called a statue in the japanese version? I can't say.

==================

Of course, you may have noticed that we're not quite done here. There are four additional courses available to us: Team Shiftry, Team Constrictor, Team Hydro, and Team Rumblerock. These are the four rescue teams that have had prominent roles throughout the main story. Yes, in the interest of challenging you to see your power for themselves, all of these teams have set up challenge dungeons in collaboration with Makuhita more or less as an excuse to battle you.

Aside from the unique quality of battling with the teams that have previously been referenced, these dungeons aren't much different than the regular type-specialist mazes. They're still extremely basic 2-floor dungeons filled with weak enemies and a second floor that's dark with difficult terrain, complete with a boss fight on the third floor.

Your reward for completing each of these Team-themed mazes is another Ginseng per maze completed.

  

Team Shiftry

Team Shiftry's dungeon is predictably filled with Nuzleaf. The boss fight against Team Shiftry was also a bit of a joke. Allia was able to take out Shiftry right away with an Ice Beam while Nature finished off the Nuzleaf in front of him with a Bullet Seed as well. Sunshine did some chip damage against Nuzleaf with Psywave, which she learned earlier in the dungeon, but I still had to finish the last Nuzleaf off with an Ice Beam. An easy victory, they never stood a chance.

If you're really paying attention, you may have noticed that I used a Light Screen TM on Sunshine as well. I figured I may as well turn her into a support pokemon, but I was under the assumption that Light Screen would cover all allies in the room. Apparently it only applies to the user, making it unfortunately a bit less useful than expected.

================

Team Constrictor

This dungeon was a bit annoying for me. Since the dungeon is full of water, Allia is incapable of using the move Dig. In addition, all of the pokemon here are Tentacool capable of confusing you.

And then we have the surprise revelation of a scary new feature that we're going to become all too familiar with...

Traps... These have been alluded to in the past with Nature obtaining the "Trap Avoider" IQ ability as well as the Trapbust Orb. Traps come with all sorts of effects and there's so many of them they'd be difficult to cover. In general, it's best just to avoid them. Some of them are fairly harmless, like the Chestnut Trap which will drop a Chestnut on your head, dealing 10 damage. A lot of them are pretty simple, like inflicting status conditions. In this case, I ran into a Slumber Trap which put me to sleep. However, there are far more devastating traps, too. The most infamous of these is the Apple Trap which will transform a random item in your inventory into an Apple. No matter how rare or valuable the item is, nothing is sacred to this foul machine. For that reason, you may want to start carrying two Escape Orbs so that you can escape and recoup if you lose one of them to an Apple Trap. Another one that can cause some problems if stumbled upon at an inopportune time, is the Pitfall trap which will instantly warp you to the next floor of a dungeon. This is usually actually a good thing, but if encountered during, say, a rescue mission, it could completely throw you off!

Needless to say, you're rarely going to want to spring a trap, but unfortunately, it's not usually clear where they are. Unless you have an item to sus them out, the only alternative is painstakingly attacking every step of the way. If you hit a trap with your basic attack, you can actually reveal it without setting it off. If you're especially paranoid about setting off a trap, you might want to apply this strategy. Just keep in mind that your partners are capable of setting off traps as well. Traps only seem to appear inside rooms, never in hallways (thank god). They can appear anywhere a wonder tile can. Wonder Tiles, in fact, are actually treated as traps. You may have even noticed pokemon with the Trap Avoider IQ Skill will also avoid Wonder Tiles! Unforuntately, that IQ Skill only applies traps that have already been made visible, which usually means soembody's already set it off.

Really, your best bet to avoid Traps is simply to minimize the number of tiles you're covering as you walk, though this is something you've probably already been doing to conserve hunger, so it's unfortunately not much help. Most of the time, you're probably just gonna be completely caught off guard by these randomly distributed traps because there's no rhyme or reason as to where they're placed.

Anyway, the boss fight with Team Constrictor was actually a little bit tough. Team Constrictor consists of an Octillery, Tentacruel, and Cradily. Octillery is especially dangerous with her ranged attacks, so I found it for the best to swap positions with Nature so that he could take her out quickly with Bullet Seed while I focused on Tentacruel. Cradily was easy enough to deal with using Ice Beam.

------------------------------

 

Team Hydro

Team Hydro's dungeon itself is incredibly easy, filled with a bunch of weak Poliwag. But the boss fight against Team Hydro itself, consisting of the final form Water Starters of each generation, is where the going gets tough. Team Constrictor was already tough, but Team Hydro is on a whole other level. These guys can kill us just by glancing in our direction! You're walking on thin ice battling them, especially when you're stupid like me, coming in as a Water-type that, once again, can't even its only non-resisted attack!

Ultimately, as derading as it was, the only way I could even deal any damage to the tougher foes here was by relying on Nature's combo of status moves to afflict them with Sleep to prevent them from attacking, and Toxic and Leech Seed to whittle away their HP. Following up with a Bullet Seed and just praying that Blastoise doesn't wake up and use Protect. If Blastoise gets a Protect off, it's basically game over. Even Nature's Bullet Seed can only deal 2 damage every hit. The best Allia could hope for is the occasional freeze to slow it down. Toxic and Leech Seed were essential in dealing damage, plus Leech Seed doubled as a way for Nature to recover a lot of HP! Unfortunately, Toxic doesn't build up damage over time like it does in the main series. It only deals more damage every round than regular poison. As for Sunshine, she unfortunately couldn't participate much here outside of cowering in the corner... sorry, sweetheart.

=================

 

Team Rumblerock

Compared to Team Hydro, Team Rumblerock is a total pushover. In fact, I'm almost inclined to argue that it's even easier than Team Shiftry's. They are higher level, so I suppose that's not entirely fair. Anyway, the dungeon is predictably filled with Graveler and you'll fight Team Rumblerock which consists of Golem and two more Graveler. Golem is actually lower level than his teammates, so I'm honestly pretty confident this guy's meant to be a bit of a joke. But hey, he was one of the brave champions who first volunteered to face Groudon, so let's not make fun of him too terribly much.

======================

 

And with that, I do believe we have officially completed every maze in Makuhita Dojo! There's no fanfare for this accomplishment, unfortunately, but you do get a Ginseng for defeating each team and that's nice! Don't ever question the value of permanently boosting the power of an attack.

Anyway, with this under our belt, I think we can start looking into that new ability we have now. It's gonna involve a trip back to Mt. Thunder, however.

[Aura]

So, it's been a little bit since my last post. With things getting hectic in class recently, I haven't had as much time to set aside for the game, and a lot of the things I want to do right now in the game are actually rather time-demanding.

Of course, one of the main things I've been doing is completing rescue missions and reaping the rewards. This means a lot of levelups, some evolution, new friend areas and new recruits!

=================

New Recruits: Team Recover

----------------------

Gamble (Murkrow); Lv. 14

Item: None

Ability: Insomnia | Moves: Peck, Astonish, Pursuit

-----------------------

Storage (Shuckle); Lv. 15

Item: None

Ability: Sturdy | Moves: Constrict, Withdraw, Wrap, Encore

-----------------------

Herb (Oddish); Lv. 7

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll | Moves: Absorb, Sweet Scent

==================

New Evolution: Team Recover

---------------------

Allia (Feraligatr); Lv. 30

Item: Stamina Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Dig, Water Gun + Scary Face, Ice Beam

----------------------

I've gotta say, having a fully evolved pokemon on the team after all this time feels really great! Feraligatr really looks menacing and I finally feel like I fit in among the bigger teams! It really makes you feel powerful trawling through earlier dungeons with a newly evolved pokemon!

=================

Thanks to my exploits, I was also finally able to rank my team up to Gold Rank! We are now officially on par with Team A.C.T.!

=================

Energetic Forest

Among the friend areas I got my hands on, the first was Energetic Forest which is actually home to quite a few pokemon we're already familiar with!

  

First of all, had you started with Pikachu, Meowth, or Skitty, you would've had this friend area from the start, giving you a pretty wide array of early access pokemon. So many, in fact, that I find it incredibly odd this friend area is limited to the postgame while an area like Evolution Forest is available from the beginning...

    

The pokemon from familiar areas so far this friend area grants access to are Stantler from Mt. Thunder, Mankey, Aipom, and Slakoth from Uproar Forest, and Snorlax from Howling Forest.

---------------------

Scorched Plains

The next area was the Scorched Plains!

 

Had you started with Cyndaquil or Torchic, this would've been one of your starting areas.

With it, you can recruit Growlithe from Mt. Thunder.

I feel like I should probably go ahead and mention that all pokemon in an evolution family share a Friend Area. I would think that's a given, but there may be some concern about oddities. Don't worry, lack of a proper friend area is of no concern when it comes to evolution requirements.

----------------------

Lastly, as yet another mission reward, I obtained the Friend Area Dragon Cave.

This friend area is home only to Bagon and its evolutions. With a name like "Dragon Cave," you'd think you'd find more Dragon-type pokemon here, but no... just Bagon. Bagon can be recruited from Lapis Cave.

================

  

While we're discussing Friend Areas, I should go ahead and bring up Smeargle's role! After recruiting Smeargle from his special mission, anytime you visit him in his Friend Area, he'll ask if you want to change your flag's design.

The flag he's referring to is, of course, this one outside the team base. When you ask him to change the flag, the flag's design won't change until the following day.

  

 

The flag will iterate through a few different designs each time you speak with him. Here's the ones I've seen so far. I'll try to screenshot the new ones as they come up. The flag design unfortunately can't be requested, it's all up to the whims of Smeargle's inspiration as an artist. It'll just iterate through a list and start over from the beginning, default design once your each the end.

=======================

With all of that out of the way, it's time to finally get around to that new ability I've been hyping up until now. For this, we're going to need to head into Mt. Thunder.

Specifically, we'll need to climb up to the very top of Mt. Thunder. In order to do this, I found out the hard way, you have to make sure you DO NOT accept any missions in the dungeon. It's okay if you take them from the bulletin board or mailbox, but DO NOT accept them if you want to explore the dungeon to the end. Otherwise, the game will treat the midpoint as the end of the dungeon and you'll be warped straight out...

Anyway, what do we want to come up to the peak of Mt. Thunder for again? Well, if you recall, Zapdos warned that he wouldn't hold back next time he met us, so... I think it's time we paid him a little visit, don't you?

  

When we arrive at the peak of Mt. Thunder, we'll find Zapdos once again! Had we come up here anytime before defeating Rayquaza, the peak of Mt. Thunder would've been empty. But here in the postgame, Zapdos seems interested to see how far we've come personally! Now, as you can see from these screenshots, I entered this boss fight with two party members, but I quickly realized that this is an unfortunate oversight on my end. We'll get to that soon enough.

The Zapdos you're fighting here is indeed much tougher than the one from before. But with our recent fighting experience, I actually feel he's a lot easier to take care of this time around. We're prepared, see!

But, the main reason you want to fight Zapdos again isn't just to duke it out for old time's sake. In case it isn't clear what I'm getting at here, Zapdos... is recruitable!

Yes, even the legendary boss fights are recruitable pokemon here in the postgame! But it's a little bit complicated. You see, there's a lot of variables you might not even think to consider that have to meet certain conditions in order to be able to recruit a pokemon. A lot of sources give you conflicting or incomplete information, so it's incredibly difficult to pinpoint the details, even for recruiting regular pokemon. For one, I believe I falsely suggested that you could recruit pokemon from two tiles away. As it turns out, this was a change made in a future title. In order to recruit pokemon here, they have to be adjacent to your leader, and your leader has to deliver the final blow.

For a pokemon recruited through a boss fight, however, things are a little different. The leader doesn't actually have to deal the final blow, nor do they actually have to be adjacent to the boss. Simply defeating the boss is enough. That information makes it seem like everything's great, right? Just make sure you have room in your party and charge into battle with three pokemon!

Well... as it turns out, there's an additional limitation on your party besides just being limited to four pokemon... your party cannot have a total cumulative size of 6 or more. I'd like to stress that this limit seems to be six or more. One source I was relying on states that the limitation is that the party size cannot be greater than six.

The reason this is such a big deal is simply that... Zapdos, and most Legendary Pokemon, are huge. Its size is 4. Feraligatr and Ivysaur are both size 1. Most pokemon are, in fact, unless they're known for their massive size. Onix and Wailord, for example, are also size 4 while Metagross and Salamence are only size 2. Honestly, I'm not even sure any size 3 pokemon exist... The important thing is, boss pokemon are typically size 4.

So, when you're coming into a boss fight against a pokemon with a size of 4 and your team has a total size of 2... yeah, the difference between six or more and greater than six becomes a lot more apparent. Save yourself the frustration and just go into this boss fight with a single pokemon of size 1.

 

After several failed attempts at recruiting Zapdos with both Allia and Nature, I decided to send Nature home and attempt again with just Allia and, sure enough, I was able to recruit Zapdos first try. So yes, it does seem like it's important to stand off against the boss alone if you wish to recruit them. Regardless, we now have a new recruit!

====================

New Recruit: Team Recover

---------------------

Storm (Zapdos); Lv. 45

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Agility, Detect

====================

On recruiting a boss pokemon like Zapdos, you'll instantly unlock its friend area for free if you don't already own it. In this case, I gained access to Legendary Island!

Legendary Island

These free friend areas aren't so useful for recruiting new pokemon as they are holding the pokemon you've just recruited. If you're a fan of the anime, this area might be home to some familiar imagery: Legendary Island takes some direct inspiration to the three islands Ash had to travel between in Pokemon the Movie: 2000. It's a really neat place to keep the Legendary Birds, I'd say. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say Moltres and Articuno share this friend area with Zapdos, right?

Speaking of which, next time, we'll most certainly be taking a solo trip to Mt. Blaze to recruit Moltres next! Now that we're over the hill of confusion, recruiting the other two legendary birds shouldn't take nearly as long, though, I can't exactly promise consistent updates in the near future. School work needs to be my priority!

[Aura]

  

  

Some more flag designs! It's a little easier said than done to remember to revisit Smeargle between missions, but I try to do it whenever I remember to! Anyway, I really like the white-on-blue Pokeball design the most of the ones we've seen so far, I think. I think it has a certain "elite" feel to it that none of the other flags seem to share. Also, I suppose minor spoilers for a new team member there. Woops. That's fine, it's not like there's much to talk about this time around.

==================

So, of course, part of our play session this time around involves taking up a whole bunch of missions. I think I've finally established a compromise that allows me to keep fresh missions cycling through the Mailbox without spending literal hours trying to fight a system that's clearly just trying to make sure I always have access to missions.

First of all, between each "beat" of this playthrough, I'll be clearing out my job list, completing all the missions in there. However, I am no longer going out of my way to a dungeon just for a single mission. If I accept any missions, there will at least be two at a time. This goes for the missions in the mailbox as well. I'll immediately withdraw the first four missions from the mailbox and, if any of the requests are unreasonable, such as a TM for a Power Band or some garbage, I'll simply toss the request. On the following days, when Pelipper comes to replant missions in my mailbox, I'll only accept them if they form a pair with any of the missions in my job list, or on the bulletin board. This unfortunately means a lot of running back and forth between the bulletin board and my base, but that's probably fine.

With my new process enacted, things should be pretty smooth sailing for the rest of the project unless something unexpected comes up.

As for our preparations, of course, we're still focusing on buying out all those friend areas! And we've got some new ones!

Echo Cave

    

Echo Cave is home to quite a few familiar pokemon: Dunsparce from Great Canyon, Zubat from Lapis Cave, Nosepass from Frosty Forest, Mawile from Magma Cavern, and Whismur from Howling Forest.

Turtleshell Pond

 

Turtleshell Pond is the starting area of Squirtle and Psyduck. It's not the most impressive area to start with, but you could do worse.

There isn't much in terms of familiar pokemon that can be recruited with this area, but you can get Azurill from Frosty Forest and Howling Forest!

-----------------------------

 

Of course, we wouldn't have completed a bunch of missions without getting some new recruits, too!

====================

New Recruits: Team Recover

------------------------

Machete (Scyther); Lv. 10

Item: None

Ability: Swarm | Moves: Focus Energy, Leer, Quick Attack

-------------------------

Stickers (Cacnea); Lv. 11

Item: None

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Growth, Absorb, Leer, Poison Sting

===================

And Roast finally reached level 24, allowing for evolution into Houndoom!

=====================

New Evolution: Team Recover

------------------------

Roast (Houndoom); Lv. 24

Item: Special Band 

Ability: Early Bird, Flash Fire | Moves: Leer, Thief, Flamethrower, Roar

===================

Another rather unfortunate discovery I've made, though it actually makes a lot of sense in hindsight, we can no longer actually return to Sky Tower without the HM for Fly! I suppose our petty desire to recruit some strong pokemon isn't important enough to warrant another Teleport Gem, huh? Unforutnately, though, missions can appear both in your mailbox and on the billboard for this dungeon, even if you don't have Fly yet! I guess those poor pokemon will just have to die up there...

================

 

Now then, for our main "story bit" this time around, we're of course going to be paying a visit to our favorite fire bird: Moltres. As you can see from these screenshots, I brought Storm along for this expedition. I figured since I'm going to climb my way to the top and send my partner home, I may as well bring along a new pokemon so I don't have to juggle held items around. What better pokemon to do this with than my new recruit Zapdos? Unfortunately, if I play as Zapdos, I won't be able to recruit Moltres due to a size discrepency, but I would like to take a moment to correct something I said in the last post. I suggested that it seemed impossible to recruit a pokemon if it made the team's size 6. As it turns out, though, the game does actually allow you to have a team of total size 6. I am capable of having Zapdos and two size 1 pokemon in the same party. 

Having learned this, I dug a little bit deeper this time around and found out what my issue was... it was my use of save states. Up until now, I was under the assumption that this game used a global timer to decide its RNG. The way recruitment behaves in normal gameplay, with pokemon starting to fade out like they're KO'd and then fading back in, the programmer side of my brain always just assumed that was the system running a quick check to see if the pokemon can be recruited. It just made sense to me that that was the reason for the KO animation. However, as it turns out, recruitment is determined each turn rather than each frame. And that normally doesn't make a difference, random is random. Except for the fact that I was using save states to play around with some ideas... so I guess I was caught red-handed, huh?

Don't worry, I haven't been particularly abusing Save States left and right, I just wanted to use them to save time in recruiting these legendaries. I just figured it would be a massive waste of time to just keep resetting the game over and over and clearing the entire final section of the dungeon time and time again only to keep failing the recruitment process. With how little I was able to find on this process using my standard sources, I wasn't sure what I could trust. However, it does seem like you probably can recruit a legendary with a team of 2. I just happened to keep defeating the opponent on the same turn.

On that note, I want to also take a moment to talk about recruitment rates now that we have some pokemon of high levels. If you recall, I've been mentioning that middle-stage evolutions have negative recruitment rates and thus can't be recruited... yet. Well, when you hit level 30, you might notice a very subtle boost in the frequency of recruitments you make. Starting at level 30, every 10 levels, you'll get a slight boost to all recruitment rates. If your current leader is in the 30's, then your chance of recruiting all recruitable pokemon is increased by 5%. This includes pokemon with negative recruitment rates, too! In the 40's, it's 7.5%. Unfortunately, this difference doesn't change too much until you're all the way up into the 90's where it finally reaches +24%. This is because most middle-stage evolutions have a -19% recruitment rate. The 80's only provide a 17.5% boost, so the result is still negative. There is another way to further boost your chances, though, but it involves an especially rare item that we'll have to look out for a while down the line. For now, though, take pleasure in the knowledge that we're slightly more likely to recruit the pokemon we want!

Anyway, all that aside, it's time to send Zapdos home and move on to take on our real foe.

==================

  

Vs. Moltres

Moltres was actually a lot scarier than I'd expected. I'd peaked ahead at the levels of some of the legendary rematches and saw that Zapdos and Rayquaza were both Lv. 45. From that, I'd concluded that all the legendaries must be Lv. 45. Since Zapdos was an easy fight, I figured Moltres would be the same story... boy was I wrong! Moltres here is actually Lv. 52! And that quickly became apparent when its Ember nearly tore through my HP like paper! I really wish I knew how thin the ice was that I was standing on during this boss fight because had it chosen to use Flamethrower at any point, I would be a gonner. After a couple of Water Gun and Mean Looks, though, Moltres suddenly didn't seem so tough anymore.

 

In the end, I was able to recruit Moltres successfully!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

-----------------------

Blaze (Moltres); Lv. 52

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Ember, Agility, Endure, Flamethrower

================

And with that out of the way, we're one step closer to being ready to progress toward the next area of the game. Next time, it's off to Frosty Forest to recruit Articuno! I have a feeling we'll be better prepared this time!

[Aura]

Today is a very small update on Team Recover's adventure. There wasn't much standing in our way from our next step, so let's get right to it!

We were able to get a new recruit from Mt. Thunder!

==================

New Recruit: Team Recover

------------------------

Sparks (Electrike); Lv. 12

Item: None

Ability: Static, Lightning Rod | Moves: Tackle, Thunder Wave, Leer, Howl

===================

Of course, our main journey involved delving into the Frosty Forest in an effort to recruit Aritucno. On this adventure, I brought along Sunshine and Blaze with the intention of getting to the bottom of these shenanigans. I'll update you on that soon.

One of the more fun aspects of this team I put together, though unintentional, is that, between Blaze's flight, Sunshine's Levitate, and Allia's Water-typing, all three of my party members are capable of crossing over water tiles like this! This actually makes navigating certain floors a bt less stressful. Just keep in mind that your hunger depletes faster in the water, so we can't get too comfortable exploring the water.

 

Eventually, we got to the end of the dungeon and had to send our good friend Blaze home, otherwise we'd have no ability to recruit Articuno!

==================

  

In the depths of the Frosty Grotto, we find ourselves face to face with Articuno again!

With two pokemon against one, Articuno was a bit of a joke, but as I replayed this battle several times... I once again struggled to get Articuno to recruit. This time, I was mindful of the fact that the turn count mattered. Still, I just couldn't get the result I wanted no matter how many different ways I tried to stall for extra time.

 

Eventually, I did resort to grabbing Sunshine's Scope Lens and sending him away, too so I could face Articuno head-on. This battle was significantly more challenging, however, as Articuno has some incredibly powerful attacks for which I really don't have an answer to. He was even able to freeze me with Powder Snow once! Even with the resistance, Powder Snow can deal a painful amount of damage thanks to Articuno's high level and the boost from STAB. I was able to get some wins pretty consistently, though, even if I sometimes wound up using some Reviver Seeds.

 

In the end, I was finally able to recruit the last of the Legendary Birds!

==================

New Recruit: Team Recover

------------------------

Blizzard (Articuno); Lv. 53

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Powder Snow, Mist, Agility, Mind Reader

=================

Like I said, it was a really short update today, and next time probably won't be much different, either, I'll be real honest, because next time we're off to meet with Groudon!

[Aura]

  

More flags! I actually really like the Staryu design! Even though we don't actually have a Staryu on our team,I thinnk it fits with the color scheme of the base quite nicely! This might be the one we ultimately stick with.

Secretive Forest

Between missions, I also went ahead and bought Secretive Forest. We've actually already met every pokemon that lives in this friend area!

   

The pokemon that can be recruited with this area are Spinarak from Silent Chasm, Nincada from Lapis Cave, Pineco from Mt. Freeze, and Venonat from Uproar Forest. With the exception of Ninjask, we've even seen all of their evolutions! Granted, you can't recruit any final evolutions so we haven't missed out on much in that regard.

==================

Anyway, as mentioned in my previous post, my original plan for today was to go and recruit Groudon. However, we ran into some issues which I'll explain in a bit. But in an effort to do so, I entered Magma Cavern with Nature, Allia, and Blizzard.

At one point, I rand out of inventory space and, rather than toss away a Link Box, I decided to go ahead and use it to link Blizzard's Agility and Powder Snow. Blizzard likes to use Agility a lot whenever an enemy enters the room, so I figured having him use Powder Snow to deal damage to all enemies in the same room would be quite fitting.

Another small detail I'd like to note is Onix. Onix is another Size 4 pokemon just like the legendary birds. It also lives in the very depths of Magma Cavern. It's a rather difficult pokemon to recruit and I'd honestly say really not even worth it. It's a size 4 pokemon that takes up a lot of space and you're really better off using pokemon with better selections of moves, especially if it's this rough out there. But, if you're going for completion, make sure to brave this dungeon with a small team.

...Onix isn't the most difficult pokemon to recruit, though, there are two in particular that stand out above all others for different reasons.

 

Anyway, once we get down to B2F of Magma Cavern Pit, where we found Charizard and Tyrannitar KO'd before, we'll actually find that this floor is entirely the same as it was then. This, I believe, is our first instance of a pre-designed room. This floor will always appear the same and is not subject to the procedural generation of the rest of the dungeon.

At the other end of the room, you'll find a Warp Tile which will advance you to the next floor into the Groudon boss fight, just like a staircase. In fact, I'm not really sure what the functional difference of this tile is from a regular staircase.

 

Of course, I said Farewell to Articuno before stepping into the boss chamber...

  

And our rematch with Groudon began! As expected, the boss fight is still a bit of a joke, even if Groudon is a lot stronger this time around. But...

After trying again and again, with or without a partner, I eventually looked this fight up only to find that... Groudon actually has a -10% recruitment rate. That means that, in order to recruit him in our position, we'd need to be... at least level 60. So unfortunately, it seems our little excursion here was a waste of time. Yikes...

=================

In the interest of not wasting this play session, I decided it was time to finally go to the long-awaited Stormy Sea in order to explore its depths and see what mysteries it's holding.

You might notice some other dungeons that have mysteriously appeared. Don't worry, I'll explain those soon enough, but for now, I want to focus on our story progress.

======================

Stormy Sea

In order to enter this sea, you'll first need to complete the story bits I covered before going into Howling Forest. You'll also need to make sure you either have a pokemon on your team that knows the move Dive, or you have the Dive HM in your inventory. As described before, Dive as a move works just like the move Dig, but it only works on water while Dig works on tiles that are not water... I guess they figured people would want both on the same build or something?

I brought along Nature, Storm and Beacon for this adventure. None of my other teammates are quite up to par with my main squad. I didn't want to bring Allia because her moves are mostly completely useless here, she can't even use Dig since the floor is entirely water. Granted, I just as easily could replace Dig with Dive temporarily since I do have a backup Dig TM, but I feel like that's just a bit careless, isn't it? Nah, I think it's for the best to hold onto the Dive HM so that we can explore as much as we want.

The music here is really exciting! Mysterious and adventurous, to be sure! And it's quite fitting, as this dungeon is a bit of a doozy in terms of floor count. Don't get too overwhelmed, though. Most of the floors are actually pretty small, so it's likely you'll spawn right in the same room as the staircase a lot. Still, make sure to bring some extra Max Elixirs, a Stamina Band, and some Apples for the trip.

               

                

            

As expected of an undersea dungeon, there are lots of treasures to be found down here! For the first 20 floors here, you can find all of these items! They are... deep breath...

Poke; Def., Pass, Pecha, and Warp Scarves; Detect, Patsy, Persim, Power, Stamina and Twist Bands; Gold, and Heal Ribbons; Insomniscopes; Scope Lenses; X-Ray Specs; Every Color (Black, Blue, Brown, Clear, Gold, Grass, Gray, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, Silver, Sky, White, and Yellow) Gummis; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Allure, Blast, Heal, Quick, Sleep, Totter, and Warp Seeds; Max Elixirs; and of course, an assortment of TMs but also Wonder Orbs!

Of course, there were some new items in there, so let's go over them, shall we?

The Def. Scarf, as its name implies, simply boosts the holder's defense. Similar to how the Special and Power bands increase physical and special attack.

The Pass Scarf is described as having the ability to pass moves onto allies at the cost of some belly. I'm really not sure what that means on the technical side of things, but from my current understanding, I think this item works similar to Baton Pass where you can use it to share the effects of moves like Swords Dance with your allies, at the cost of further reducing your belly whenever you use those moves. However, I really don't know if that's accurate, that's just what I'm assuming based solely on the item's description. I honestly have no clue how this items work or what the technicalities are.

The Detect Band boosts Evasion for the pokemon holding it.

The Patsy Band is a strange held item that increases the crit rates of any moves that target the holder. It sounds like a flat-out curse to wear this thing, but you could theoretically put it to good use with certain moves like Destiny Bond. I'm not sure how practically you could apply this item, you might be better off taking other approaches as it seems pretty dangerous to just let your opponent crit a lot, but if you're interested in playing around with some tricks, maybe you could get something creative to work with this?

The Twist Band prevents your offensive stats from being reduced.

I believe the Quick Seed is a new one. It increases your movement speed when eaten.

----------------------------

One last thing before we start diving into (Huh?) the dungeon, we have another fun mechanic introduced here: The ability to swap leaders on the fly! This is actually a command that's been teased in Pokemon News for quite a while, but this is the first dungeon that actually allows you to do this. By switching leaders, you can actually last a lot longer without having to eat any Apples. Especially if you pass your Stamina Band around. You can also more easily consume items like Max Elixirs without having to just throw them around like a Neanderthal. In addition, this can also be used to help isolated teammates that have found themselves in difficult situations. In this dungeon in particular, though, I find it best to focus on maintaining Storm as my main leader, for reasons that should become apparent by the end, though you can probably see where I'm going with this...

In order to switch leaders in a dungeon (one that allows for this), simply navigate to the Team Menu, select a pokemon that isn't the current leader, and choose the Leader command. That will switch control to that pokemon in particular. 

======================

Stormy Sea [B1F-B5F]

   

For the first five floors, you'll be running into Wingull, Tentacool, Shellder, and Omanyte. Wingull requires Shallow Beach to recruit, Tentacool and Shellder require Bountiful Sea, and Omanyte requires Deep-Sea Floor.

-------------------------------

Stormy Sea [B6F - B8F]

  

Wingull will stop appearing on B6F.

------------------------------

Stormy Sea [B9F]

  

On B9F, Tentacool and Shellder will phase out and two more pokemon will begin to appear. Seel isn't new, but this very well might be your first time encountering it in the post-game. It requires Ice Floe Beach. Anorith, meanwhile, requires Treasure Sea.

-----------------------------

Stormy Sea [B10F]

 

On B10F, Omanyte will leave as well, leaving behind only Seel and Anorith.

Also, on this floor, you'll begin to find Gravelrock mixed in with all the treasures you can find... exciting for somebody out there, I'm sure. Some really enthusiastic Gravelrock collector.

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B11F - B14F]

  

B11F brings in Slowpoke! Slowpoke requires the Bountiful Sea to recruit. Slowpoke seems capable of soaking up a few hits.

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B15F - B17F]

  

For the 15th floor, Seel takes a backseat and gives the reins off to the much scarier Spheal! Spheal is scary because, at the levels you encounter it here, it knows Powder Snow! And you know how devastating Powder Snow was when Articuno used it! Granted, these things aren't nearly as powerful as Articuno, but they can still build up a scary amount of damage if you're in a large room with one. If you have a Grass-type, it's definitely a good idea to switch to them and have them use Bullet Seed to pick it off from afar ASAP. Like Seel, you can recruit Spheal with Ice Floe Beach.

On the 16th floor, the aesthetic of the dungeon shifts to this deeper blue and the music changes to that of Lapis Cave's.

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B18F - B19F]

  

On B18F, Anorith is gone and in comes Omastar! Naturally, you can't recruit Omastar. You'll need to evolve an Omanyte!

---------------------------

Stormy Sea [B20F - B24F]

  

Starting from B20F, Slowpoke will no longer appear. In its place, you'll find Grimer. We've already explained why Grimer can be annoying. Try to take them out before they get to you! If you want to recruit them, you'll need the Poisonous Swamp.

          

Also, after B20F, the Max Elixirs, Seeds, and Berries will cease to appear, so hopefully the spares from B20F and earlier will carry you to the end of the dungeon! Try to cling to your Escape Orb if the going gets too rough! There's still a ways to go! It's a good idea to hold onto some of the Pecha Berries from the higher floors since you won't find them much longer after Grimer starts to appear.

                

                

 

Going forward, you'll only find the poke, gravelrocks, held items, gummis, TMs and Wonder Orbs. It's easy to overlook the missing essentials among all these goodies, but if you're unprepared, you'll definitely start to notice once you've exhausted your supply. It's always better to be overprepared than underprepared!

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B25F - B26F]

  

On B25F, Spheal is replaced (good riddance!) with Kabutops. Kaubtops is another fully evolved pokemon, so no recruitment for you!

---------------------------

Stormy Sea [B27F]

   

On B27F, Armaldo joins the show! Another fully evolved pokemon who you can't recruit.

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B28F - B29F]

  

Omanyte is gone at this point, so you're left with these tougher foes.

--------------------------

Stormy Sea [B30F]

   

On B30F, it's out of the frying pan and into the oven! Or in this case... out of the sink and into the... dishwasher? Grimer is gone now, but you'll start to find Seadra who has Poison Point. So don't start discarding those Pecha Berries just yet! In addition, Starmie is a doozie of a foe. It's capable of dishing out some serious damage with its Water Gun. Starmie, of course, is unrecruitable, and Seadra has a -19% encounter rate, so you'll have a tough time getting one of them to recruit. Don't worry yourself over that, though. You'll probably want to ust wait until you can find a Horsea to evolve.

-------------------------

Stormy Sea [B31F - B33F]

    

Tentacruel joins the fray on B31F. He's an incredibly odd case as the very first final evolution pokemon that is... recruitable? I mean, he has a -30% recruitment rate, so even at level 100, your level alone won't be enough to make it even possible to recruit them. You'll need the help of something else and, again, it's absolutely not worth the effort. Just evolve a Tentacool.

------------------------

Stormy Sea [B34F]

    

Armaldo will take his leave on B34F, but our terrifying Spheal is back, and it's evolved! It's now boasting some extra strength in addition to a -19% recruitment rate. Take it out ASAP if you're weak to Ice Attacks!

------------------------

Stormy Sea [B35F - B39F]

    

In a bit of an anticlimactic twist, the final pokemon to show its face here is Carvanha who will take the place of Kabutops. I'm not sure why... Carvanha... of all pokemon is found way down here. If you want to recruit it, make sure you have Treasure Sea!

 

And of course, once we're at the staircase leading down to the final floor, we'll need to prepare ourselves for something you might not expect. I'll switch leadership back to Nature and then send Storm and Beacon home, of course making sure to swap their items with some garbage from my inventory before seeing them off, as any items they're holding will disappear in the end.

==================

Team Recover

------------------------

Nature (Ivysaur); Lv. 31

Item: Stamina Band 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Leech Seed + Toxic + Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

===================

 

As we head toward the 40th floor, we hear a voice from the depths of the dungeon.

  

 

We find the source of the voice to be from Kyogre: The Lord of the Sea who has been recovering from an exhausting bout with Groudon long ago. And now, here at the depths of the Stormy Sea, we're ready to take on Kyogre! En Garde!

===================

Vs. Kyogre

------------------------

I happen to have the perfect out to Kyogre right here! I'm sure there are better choices, but Nature is pretty good at taking hits from him!

Being at the depths of a lengthy endurance challenge, the developers go a bit easy on you with this boss fight. His attacks actually aren't very strong, though watch out for potential stat boosts from his AncientPower. He can also reduce your speed with Scary Face. As always, though, Nature is really good at taking out bosses. I start with a Bullet Seed before he even gets close, and once he does, I drop the combo string of Leech Seed, Toxic, and Sleep Powder to render him totally helpless for the next few turns while I pelt him with Bullet Seed.

 

Kyogre himself actually has a 50% recruitment rate, so it's pretty likely you'll be able to recruit him after defeat. For this reason, I must admit that, yes, I did use save stats for this recruitment but I have a good reason! I really wanted to experiment a bit more with recruiting using two party members and, no matter how many times I try, I just can't seem to ever recruit the boss with another party member. Maybe there's something I'm missing, but almost every source I can find tells me it should be possible to recruit these Size 4 pokemon as long as my party's size is 2 or less, but I just can't get that to happen. Anyway, I wanted to try this out with Kyogre who has a much higher recruitment rate, just to be sure. I've tried several times to recruit Kyogre with Beacon still around, even making sure Nature gets the final hit and on different turn counts, I just couldn't get Kyogre to join. But, using Nature alone, it predictably took only two tries.

I simply must conclude that it's only possible to recruit bosses if you fight them alone in a one-on-one. I suppose it makes sense, you're showing that you can stand on the same ground and still win. Perhaps boss fights have a specific requirement to fight them solo. Though I imagine you still have to make sure your size is 2 or less within that solo pokemon.

I just find it difficult to conclusively make that claim because I don't see it up... anywhere at all. Nothing, except for rando forum users citing what worked for them, says you have to defeat the boss alone, just that you have to have a party size of 2 or less.

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

-----------------------

Davy Jones (Kyogre); Lv. 25

Item: None

Ability: Drizzle | Moves: Water Pulse, Scary Face, AncientPower, Body Slam

==================

Seafloor Cave

Naturally, upon recruiting Kyogre, you also gain access to his exclusive Friend Area as well: Seafloor Cave! A really beautiful friend area, I have to say! If not a little lonely for poor Davy Jones, but maybe he likes to be alone?

===================

And with that, we've reached the end of one of the longer dungeons in the game. When you think about it, it really isn't too terribly long. It's only 5 floors longer than Sky Tower and the individual floors are much smaller overall. There's also far less annoying enemies even though some of them definitely gave me a scare here and there, I never actually used a single Reviver Seed, which I suppose is a good thing. The big thing that makes this dungeon a bit more difficult than Magma Cavern or Sky Tower is that you don't get a midpoint. You have to do the entire adventure in one clean swoop. But that's not too difficult to get through. All it really takes is an Apple and Max Elixir and you basically have a portable midpoint. You should be good to go!

What will we do next time? I'm honestly not too sure. I think we'll have to check out what's new in town now that we've cleared the sea.

[Aura]

Team Promise

It's been a while since we've had an update on Team Promise, I think. Last time we checked in on their adventure, we'd simply defeated Rayquaza. The time slots I've usually spent playing this game have been taken up more recently, so I decided to spend this session playing catch up. 

In the process, we bout some new friend areas, completed some missions, and recuited new pokemon. I made the unfortunate mistake of accepting a mission from Sky Tower with the intention of deleting it before checking its contents and realizing it was a mission offering a Friend Area as a reward. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Fly yet here, either, so this mission will just have to sit there in my job list for a while, I suppose.

The conclusion of this session was simply recruiting the three legendary birds. Thanks to my experimentation in Blue Rescue Team, I decided it was for the best just to solo these bosses. So, this ultimately turned into Kindle's personal quest to find inner strength! We could write a whole fanfiction about this!

================

New Recruits: Team Promise

---------------------

Groove (Sudowoodo); Lv. 7

Item: None

Ability: Rock Head, Sturdy | Moves: Mimic, Rock Throw

-----------------------

Hugs (Teddiursa); Lv. 10

Item: None

Ability: Pickup | Moves: Scrach, Leer, Lick

------------------------

Thunder (Zapdos); Lv. 45

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Peck, Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Detect

------------------------

Ash (Moltres); Lv. 52

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Fire Spin, Agility, Endure, Flamethrower

----------------------

Frostbite (Articuno); Lv. 53

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Mist, Agility, Mind Reader, Ice Beam

=================

I have yet to go into Stormy Sea with Team Promise just yet. Here's hoping I'm able to recruit Kyogre on my first try! It's a scary thought having to go through the entire dungeon a second time...

Across all of these boss fights, the consistent strategy I went for was to keep the bosses whiffing with SmokeScreen while keepign them slowed with Scary Face. From there, I'd quickly rack up damage with my linked Ember and Metal Claw. This strategy worked pretty cleanly against Zapdos and especially Articuno who's weak to both attacks, but Moltres put up quite a bit of a fight. Not because of any particularly strong attacks, but just because it used Endure which really feels like it lasts for forever and a half! Eventually, though, I was able to blow on him to push him over the edge.

[Aura]

Team Promise

This time, we had yet another trip through Red Rescue Team. Not much in terms of actual progress was made, I just went through Stormy Sea.

 

My team was made up of myself (Marshtomp) and Thunder. Thunder actually taught me a little something, however. Apparently, there is a little bit of RNG involved with these pokemon's movesets. I was under the assumption that they were static based on the pokemon's level, but I suppose under certain circumstances there is some variance. If you recall, I complained that Storm didn't have any actual electric attacks in Blue Rescue Team. However, here in Red Rescue Team, Thunder does indeed know Thundershock! This simple addition made navigating Stormy Sea that much easier this time around.

Of course, since I ventured in with Zapdos in my party, no new recruits were made with the exception of the obvious after sending Zapdos home on the 39th floor. Unfortunately, Kyogre is where we start to really feel the pains of having to soft reset. Since there's no midpoint in the dungeon, failing to recruit Kyogre even once means having to do the entire dungeon all over again from the very beginning. Unfortunately, I actually did fail to recruit him once, so I had to play through the entire dungeon all over again. I did eventually get there, and thankfully, the devs took pity on this reality and gave Kyogre a boosted 50% recruitment rate, and you can recruit him on the first try if you're lucky enough. Odds are, you'll get him on the second try if you fail the first. If you're really unlucky, you might have to go through three or even four times.

Thankfully, the dungeon itself really isn't all that tough with a strong Electric type like Zapdos.

===================

New Recruit: Team Promise

------------------------

Ridge (Kyogre); Lv. 25

Item: None

Ability: Drizzle | Moves: Water Pulse, Scary Face, AncientPower, Body Slam

==================

This is unfortunately a very short update, but next time, we should be back in Blue Rescue Team to progress a little bit into the next section of the game!

[Aura]

As expected, after defeating Kyogre, its portrait will apepar next to the legendary pokemon defeated over the course of the main story. We've now defeated the Legendary Birds and the Weather Trio!

Without further ado, let's jump right into our save again.

 

The morning after defeating Kyogre for your first time at the Stormy Sea, you'll find a newsletter about a dungeon called the Buried Relic which was discovered underground recently! This dungeon is said to hold many treasures and it seems it's the talk of the town, I suppose everyone wants to go and see what mysteries the place holds!

  

  

If you go to any of the shopkeepers, they're all talking about the buried Relic.

 

Those that love to gossip in Pokemon Square are where to go to hear about the rumors.

  

If we speak to Lombre, he'll even allude to the buried items mechanic I mentioned before. It seems we'll want to keep the idea of treasure buried in the walls in mind while exploring the Relic. He suggests that Shiftry might know the location of the Buried Relic, so if you're interested, you'll want to speak with him,

  

If we speak with Shiftry, he'll share the location of the relic without any hassle at all. He's got a lot of respect for us now, after all.

 

And after speaking with him, the Buried Relic becomes unlocked for us to explore freely!

  

As always, when there's a rumor on the wind, Whiscash is there to shed some additional wisdom, and he really seems to know his stuff, so it's a good idea to check in with him. He'll tell us that there are "three parts" guarded by "three disciples" at the relic. And when the three parts are gathered together, a "mirage" will appear. Unfortunately, he can't elaborate further on what this means, but perhaps the explanation will become more clear once we actually go there.

=====================

 

Now, while we could go straight to the Buried Relic... I don't think that's a very good idea just yet for a few reasons. It's actually a very long and difficult dungeon, and I don't think you're expected to clear it at all just yet. I'm gonna go ahead and say right now that I have never played the postgame of any Mystery Dungeon game before, so I really don't know much of anything that we can expect to deal with going forward. I am going to be taking a peak ahead of time at some of these dungeons using Bulbapedia to see the kinds of items and Friend Areas we'll need before delving into a new dungeon. I just feel like that's an appropriate way to do things in the interest of saving time and stress. These dungeons can get long and scary at times.

Instead, I want to focus on something I addressed around when we were going thorugh Stormy Sea. You may have noticed that there are a bunch of dungeons we can explore beyond the Buried Relic. The dungeons available to me in Red Rescue Team differ from Blue Rescue Team, and if you're playing along, the dungeons you have access to probably differ as well. These are what I'll refer to as "Hidden Dungeons," and in order to unlock each one, you'll need to gain access to a different friend area either by purchasing it from Wigglytuff Club or being rewarded from clearing a mission. I like to imagine these are dungeons you've discovered on your way to the newly obtained friend area. There's no fanfare when you unlock these dungeons, so you may want to check if you've gotten one. But the possibility of unlocking an entirely new dungeon might explain why some of these Friend Areas are so much more expensive.

It's worth noting that these Friend Areas only become available here in the postgame, even if you obtain the friend area early.

I want to take a period of time to iterate through all of these dungeons that I have access to, and I'll be starting with the very first one on the list: Desert Region.

======================

To unlock the Desert Region, you'll need to gain access to Furnace Desert, which can be purchased from the Wigglytuff Club for 8500P.

        

The items here don't seem like much and are mostly consistent throughout: Poke; Gold and Heal Ribbons; Pecha Scarves; Power and Stamina Bands; Insomniscopes; and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs. You can get some nice TMs here as well as some Wonder Orbs that are much more useful in the postgame like Cleanse Orbs or Trapbust. And speaking of...

        

Since traps are going to start appearing far more consistently going forward, I think it's a good time to start going over what exactly each of them do.

 

The SelfDestruct and Explosion traps are very similar to each other. When you step on them, an explosion will occur damaging any pokemon, as well as destroying any items or walls, caught in the explosion. These traps won't KO you. The SelfDestruct Trap has a smaller explosion and deals 1/4 of your current HP. The Explosion Trap has a larger explosion that deals 1/2 of your current HP. These explosions will deal static 40 or 80 damage to wild pokemon, though, so here's hoping they don't KO a rare one! These usually aren't too terrible to bump into, but they can come at really unfortunate times or places. If you've been searching for a particular item, it might not be a bad idea to use a Trapbust Orb just to make sure it doesn't get blown up.

 

The Grimy Trap we've encountered before. It causes food items to turn into grimy food. The item becomes nearly useless, though it can be thrown at enemies to inflict them with various status ailments. Be wary of this trap as it might hinder your food supply. Try to make sure you bring in some more apples than you expect to need. However, with the ability to switch leaders on the fly, hunger isn't actually quite as much of a limiting factor as it was during the main story. The belly of your partners don't actually deplete over time, so if your leader starts to get hungry, you can always switch leaders as a desperate measure to keep going if need be. Switching leaders can also help you further conserve energy by switching to the pokemon that is closer to an item.

The Mud Trap will decrease a random stat by one stage. This can be countered by simply making your way to the nearest Wonder Tile, but it's usually not going to be too much of a hindrance.

The PP-Zero Trap is one of the more frustrating traps. It will immediately deplete the PP of one of your moves to 0. I don't think this will delink  a linked move unless you try to use it after the fact.

The Seal Trap will seal away one of your moves. This is a temporary hinderance and should fix itself on the next floor, making it much less devastating than the PP-Zero Trap.

The Slow Trap reduces your travel speed.

The sticky trap is a scary trap that can make one of your items sticky. When an item is sticky, it is completely unusable. I believe any item can become sticky so it's very important that you carry with you a Cleanse Orb or doubles of any important items in order to ensure you always have access to them.

Finally, the Warp Trap will warp you to a random tile.

Of course, keep in mind that any pokemon can step on any trap, even if it's already been triggered. So take care of how you're moving. Take direct control of your allies if you can, and make sure they have the Trap Avoider IQ Skill active where applicable to ensure they actively avoid stepping on exposed traps. Keep in mind you can swap positions with a pokemon by having your leader walk into their tile. This is important advice for escort missions as well as keeping new recruits alive.

===================

  

I ventured into the dungeon with Allia, Nature, and Sunshine.

Desert Region [1F - 6F]

   

On the first six floors, you'll find Sandshrew, Shedinja, Nosepass, and Trapinch. Sandshrew and Shedinja both require Furnace Desert to recruit, which you'll have to have access to in order to even get here in the first place. Nosepass requires Echo Cave and Shedinja is unrecruitable. Shedinja is a bit scary on the surface but he's a total joke when you realize you can KO him with a simple gravelrock. Sandshrew are capable of reducing your accuracy, forcing you to waste extra PP just to hit them. Don't underestimate the strength of these foes. Just because this is a bonus dungeon doesn't mean it's easy! These pokemon are all level 35 so they might take a couple of hits!

On Floor 2, I was able to recruit a Trapinch! I named him Bite. He's actually high enough level already to evolve!

==================

New Recruit: Team Recover

------------------------

Bite (Trapinch); Lv. 35

Item: None

Ability: Hyper Cutter, Arena Trap | Moves: Bite, Sand-Attack, Faint Attack, Sand Tomb

=================

On floor 4, I ran into something you may want to be aware of. I'm unsure if this is intentionally programmed into the game or what, but there often seem to be trap rooms that are filled with traps. I ran into a SelfDestruct trap immediately followed by an Explosion trap. If you run into two traps like this, you might want to assume there are a lot more in the room and either go another way or use a Trapbust Orb. It might be gambler's fallacy and just coincidence that traps sometimes spawn like this, but I say it's better safe than sorry. Make sure you're using your tactics well to keep your less intelligent allies safe!

On Floor 6, you'll run into a Santstorm! Big surprise! This was my primary justifcation for bringing Sunshine along since he's immune to sandstorm. Unfortuantely, Allia and Nature will be buffeted a lot, though. Ironically, Shedinja can still spawn on this floor and immediately get killed off by the sand. I don't actually know if you get Exp when this happens, though.

===================

Desert Area [7F - 11F]

  

On floor 7, Sandshrew, Shedinja, and Nosepass no longer appear at this point. In their place, you'll find Hitmontop and Nidoqueen, neither of whom can be recruited.

 

Floors 8 and 9 both have Sandstorms.

===============

Desert Area [12F - 13F]

  

Baltoy joins on floor 12 instead of Trapinch. He can be recruited with the Ancient Relic friend area! Baltoy is just as obnoxious here as it was back when we first went through Mt. Steel. Even moreso, in fact, since they can use Sandstorm and SelfDestruct! And their Levitate Ability allows them to travel over difficult terrain and grants tham immunity to Dig! Low PP is a bitch against these guys.

 

It was Floor 12, which is a Sandstorm floor, that I was given my first real scare of the dungeon. This Hitmontop started in the range of Sunshine and took him out immediately with a Triple Kick that I couldn't protect against at all. I had no clue these pokemon were this stron guntil this point. Thankfully, when an optional ally is KO'd they simply drop their held item and escape to their friend area. You can pick up their item and give it back to them after a successful escape from the dungeon.

=================

Desert Region [14F]

 

On floor 14, Hitmontop thankfully takes his leave, leaving me with greater comfort having my worst fear be Nidoqueen's Poison Point and Baltoy's... well, everything. Okay, it's not much of a consolation, but at least I can use Dig on Nidoqueen.

This floor is yet another Sandstorm floor! Those are the most fun, I assure you.

=================

Desert Region [15F - 20F]

   

Starting on floor 15, you'll stop finding Nidoqueen and start finding Gligar, Dusclops, and Sandslash. Yes, Dusclops, which means more Pressure to deal with. Sandslash is an even more obnoxious version of Sandshrew, Sand Veil causing some real problems especially this late in the dungeon, and Gligar is the only one of these three that is recruitable. He can be recruited with Mt. Deepgreen.

 

Floor 15 is a sandstorm floor, but it's alsy my first rather ugly encounter with an unexpected Warp Trap! Thankfully, since I'm able to change leaders, I'm not stuck having to trust the AI to protect Bite from getting KO'd. I can simply switch leaders to Nature and use Tactics to tell Allia to stay put. Allia was in a pretty safe corner of the map, thankfully. This definitely could've been a lot scarier.

Additionally, on the very same floor, I ran into a Sticky Trap! This one made my Escape Orb sticky, but thankfully, I actually had quite a handful of them from throughout the dungeon, Bite was even holding one for safekeeping, so this didn't hurt too much. Sticky Traps can seriously ruin your day, though, if you're unprepared.

================

Floor 18 is another sandstorm floor,

And this transitioned immediately into a monster house!! Not just any Monster house, but one where we were trapped in the very corner of a huge room! Reminder that this is coming right off of a sandstorm floor, so we were all pretty drained on HP. I'm gonna be honest, I thought this was finally the time I'd be showing off the rescue request mechanic I've been holding out on. But, thankfully, I had a Warp Orb! The Warp Orb is fantastic for situations just like this. While it isn't exactly a get out of jail free card, it can buy you some room to breathe. You'll still be dealing with all these pokemon scattered aroudn the floor, though, and all aggressively zeroing in on you, but you can at least get yourself into a more advantageous position and, if you're lucky, you might even be able to get to the staircase!

Anyway, on floors 19 and 20 only, you'll begin to find a brand new and rather mysterious item: A Key! While these items are functionally useless for us here, I don't think I need to explain at all to you why you absolutely want to be as greedy as possible with these items. Eat your apples and Max Elixirs, toss your extra Escape Orbs, whatever you have to do, make sure you don't leave these keys behind. If we ever find ourselves needing a key, we can always come back here!

================

And with that, our journey is over. No boss fights or anything of the sort at the end, just a casual trip through a rather generic dungeon. Your main purpose for coming here, aside from wanting to recruit the pokemon available here, are the items. Keys in particular. We'll probably be able to get more of them in other dungeons as well, but I'm intentionally not looking too far ahead in that regard.

Anyway, I hope exploring these dungeons like this isn't too terribly boring, but we're going to continue like this for a little while. It'll help us get a little bit stronger in preparation for some future adventures.

=======================

One last thing I wanted to note, is that if we check out our flag, we'll find that it has returned to its default design, meaning we've now seen every possible design the flag can take on. Ironically, the default design is likely the most unique since you'll only have access to it with your particular starter, but there's a sense of accomplishment for the exclusivity of the other flag designs, so I think I'll try to cycle it back to the Staryu one I mentioned really liking earlier. Maybe we'll get a Staryu sometime soon.

[Aura]

Team Recover

Another day, another mission session. After going through Desert Area, we actually have quite a lot of money, so we were able to buy a new friend area! One of our missions brought us to Magma Cavern, so I decided to buy one corelating to that dungeon.

----------------------

Poison Swamp

 

Poison Swamp is home to the pokemon Grimer from Magma Cavern and Koffing from Sky Tower. Of course, we still don't have access to Sky Tower, but we will soon enough.

----------------------------

In addition, it turns out that Bite, being at Level 35, is already strong enough to evolve into a Vibrava!

===================

New Evolution: Team Recover

----------------------

Bite (Vibrava); Lv. 35

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Bite, Faint Attack, Sand-Attack, Crunch

Now that Bite has Levitate, especially as a ground-type, he becomes a lot more universally useful. I might actually get some use out of Vibrava for a little while. It'll take some effort, though.

===================

 

I went ahead and taught Bite Dragonbreath over Bite and Dig over Faint Attack. I actually linked Dragonbreath and Sand-Attack out of error. I did this on the assumption that Dragonbreath worked like Ember and Water Gun. In fact, it works more like Flamethrower and Ice Beam. I suppose I probably should've assumed that from the get-go, but I'm not exactly what you might consider smart. Twister is probably the move that only hits one tile ahead of you. Sooner or later, I'll probably end up adjusting this, so it's not too much of a concern just yet.

==================

Without further ado, it's time to head into our next dungeon: Southern Cavern. This is a dungeon I actually already have access to in Red Rescue Team as well, so let's make our way there!

==================

  

This dungeon is absolutely filled with Rock and Ground-types, so I thought for sure that I'd be perfectly fine going in with Allia, Nature, and Bite together. I couldn't have been more wrong, it seems, because I quickly got my butt handed to me. By the 3rd floor I'd already used up two of my reviver seeds and nearly got KO'd twice in a row. I honestly have absolutely no clue how the enemies here were taking so many hits to KO and were dealing so much as they really are much higher level than me, but I guess I need to be a bit more careful. After nearly getting wiped out, I decided it was for the best to use an Escape Orb and try again with a new team.

This wasn't a terribly fruitless endeavor, however. I was able to get a new recruit!

===================

New Recruit: Team Recover

---------------------

Tiller (Diglett); Lv. 33

Item: None

Ability: Sand Veil, Arena Trap | Moves: Slash, Mud-Slap, Fury Swipes, Dig

================

Being level 33, Tiller was also ready to evolve!

=================

New Evolution: Team Recover

----------------------

Tiller (Dugtrio); Lv. 33

Item: None

Ability: Sand Veil, Arena Trap | Moves: Slash, Mud-Slap, Fury Swipes, Dig

================

 

On my second attempt, I brought in Blizzard and Bite. One of the most devastating attacks my first attempt was the move Magnitude, so I brought in a pokemon that was immune, and one that strongly resisted it. More importantly, Aritcuno's Powder Snow can hit all enemies in the room. Plus, when linked with Agility, it can even help me get away from enemies that are too strong to KO.

=================

Southern Cavern

This dungeon is unlocked by gaining access to the Boulder Cave friend area. This friend area can't be purchased in stores. Instead, you have to be rewarded it by clearing a mission with a "friend area" reward. Make sure to check your mailbox and throw out old missions you don't want to do! I have yet to notice any friend area rewards on the bulletin board, so I think they only appear in the mailbox. Don't quote me on that, though. I have no evidence either way.

The dungeon has a pretty bright-colored blue cave aesthetic to it.

                   

Throughout the majority of these floors, these are the items you'll find: Poke; Bounce, Pierce, Racket, Special, and Zinc Bands; Def., and Sneak Scarves; Diet and Joy Ribbons; No-Stick Caps; X-Ray Specs; Gravelrocks; Big Apples; Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries; Heal Seeds; and an assortment of TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Bounce Band protects the holder from items thrown at them. Any items thrown will be deflected back the way they came, presumably damaging whatever threw it instead.

The Sneak Scarf allows you to walk by sleeping pokemon without waking them up.

The Diet Ribbon is another strange item that will make your belly... empty faster. It also prevents your belly from filling when you eat. I really have no clue why you would ever wean this item. It's best used by throwing it onto an enemy, I suppose.

The Joy Ribbon, on the other hand, is an incredibly useful item! While holding a Joy Ribbon, a pokemon will gain one Exp for every point of damage they receive. Bring this with you while trying to train up a pokemon and they'll gain a lot more Exp! Especially if you're playing as them.

The No-Stick Cap protects your items from Sticky Traps! Great if you want to keep your Escape Orb or the like safe. Granted, you're probably better off just bringing Cleanse Orbs around. I'm not sure if this is worth your held-item slot over something like a Stamina Band.

We have seen Big Apples before, but I think I failed to mention what makes these items special: They'll not only fill up your belly more, but if you eat them while your Belly is full, they'll permanently increase your maximum belly size by 10! That's incredibly useful for long dungeons like this one.

--------------------------

             

Of course, there's also a handful of traps you'll find here as well. They are: Explosion and Self-Destruct Traps; Grime and Sticky Traps, Mud and Slow Traps; Slumber and Spin traps; Seal and PP-Zero Traps; Summon and Pokemon Traps; Warp Traps; and Pitfall Traps.

The Summon Trap summons wild pokemon to surround you. You can disperse them in the same manner as a Monster House, so it's not too terrible, but it can be devastating if it happens to be the worst possible time.

The Pokemon Trap transforms any items on the ground into Wild Pokemon ready to attack. Often, this trap is completely useless, but you might run into it on your way to collecting a valuable item. It's unfortunate but there's not really anything you can do about it aside from the typical "use a trapbust orb if you're paranoid about potentially losing an item you've been looking for"

Pitfall Traps can be either really helpful or unfortunate depending on who steps on them. The trap plummets you onto the next floor inflicting damage in the process. If it's the leader, you'll simply progress from there and your partners will follow you. If your partner falls down, they'll get KO'd in the fall and have to retreat instantly, even if you have a Reviver Seed. Hopefully that doesn't happen to you.

================

Southern Cavern [B1F - B4F]

  

Across the first four floors, you'll find Geodude, Diglett, and Seedot. Geodude requires Mt. Deepgreen to recruit. Diglett can be recruited with Boulder Cave which you'll need to have access to this dungeon, and Seedot will require Mushroom Forest. Geodude can be really scary here with Magnitude, Self-Destruct, and Rollout which is treated like a multi-hit move in this game. Take extra care around these landmines of damage and try to pick them off from a distance. Diglett isn't nearly as bad, but can still be a nuisance with Mud-Slap and Dig.

------------------------

Southern Cavern [B5F - B6F]

   

Cubone joins in on the fun on B5F and has a pretty obnoxious attack with Bonemerang, which is a ranged multi-hit move. I do believe this is the first starter pokemon we've met in the wild, so that's exciting! Cubone can be recruited with the Mt. Deepgreen Friend Area.

And speaking of which, I was even able to recruit Cubone right here!

====================

New Recruit: Team Recover

-------------------------

Club (Cubone); Lv. 28

Item: None

Ability: Rock Head, LightningRod | Moves: Bonemerang, Focus Energy, Leer, Headbutt

===================

Southern Cavern [B7F]

  

On the seventh floor, we finally say goodbye to Geodude.

===================

Southern Cavern [B8F - B9F]

  

And on B8F, we also say goodbye to Diglett in favor of Nidoking. As always, be wary of Nidoking's Poison Point. Heal Seeds and Pecha Berries are what you're after if you get poisoned and the stairs are nowhere in sight.

==================

Southern Cavern [B10F]

  

Phanpy joins in place of Seedot on the 10th floor.

==================

Southern Cavern [B11F]

 

And on the 11th floor, Cubone dips as well.

==================

Southern Cavern [B12F - B14F]

   

Recognizing a need for more life in the party, Vibrava and Baltoy join in on B12F! Vibrava has a -19% recruitment rate, but Baltoy can be recruited with the Ancient Relic friend area.

==================

Southern Cavern [B15F]

    

Gligar joins in on the 15th floor. It can be recruited with Mt. Deepgreen.

==================

Southern Cavern [B16F - B19F]

     

On B16, you can find Larvitar who can be recruited with Mt. Cleft! Be wary of Larvitar's Screech which can plummet your defense and make you extremely vulnerable to physical attacks. Wonder Tiles seem a lot rarer now, so you'll want to be especially careful. Especially so with a pokemon like Articuno who is incredibly weak to Rock.

==================

Southern Cavern [B20F]

     

On B20F, Nidoking and Phanpy finally say goodbye leaving only our new wave of friends. Ariados and Dugtrio both join in now, both being unrecruitable.

==================

Southern Cavern [B21F - B22F]

     

Vibrava leaves here in favor of Marowak, another unrecruitable pokemon.

==================

Southern Cavern [B23F - B24F]

    

Baltoy is gone on B23F.

It's on B24F where the dungeon's tileset shifts to this pretty pink rock with veins of gold.

=================

Southern Cavern [B25F - B26F]

    

Gligar is the next to go, replaced by Graveler who is just as terrifying, if not more-so, as Geodude. He has a -19% recruitment rate as a middle-stage evolution.

=================

Southern Cavern [B27F - B30F]

   

Larvitar is gone now, so no more fear of Screech.

================

Southern Cavern [B31F]

    

There's a pretty notable shift of pokemon on B31F. Suddenly, we now have Rhyhorn, Flygon, and Donphan joining in while Marowak and Ariados are both gone. Flygon and Donphan are unrecruitable while Rhyhorn can be recruited with the Safari Friend Area. Flygon's Dragon Breath can be a little bit scary and Donphan can take a few hits.

================

Sothern Cavern [B32F - B36F]

   

Dugtrio leaves on B32F leaving you with the new guys and Graveler.

================

Southern Cavern [B37F - B39F]

   

Graveler is gone now, and Pupitar is far more enjoyable to see. There isn't much to say about him.

=================

Southern Cavern [B40F]

    

We have now matched Stormy Sea in length but this dungeon just keeps on going. On B40F, you'll say goodbye to Rhyhorn and Flygon in favor of your deep earth-dwellers: Golem, Onix, and Rhydon. Just hold out a little bit longer, we should be near the end! Golem and Rhydon cannot be recruited, but Onix is recruitable with Boulder Cave, so he should always be recruitable here! That is, as long as there's room for a size 4 pokemon in your party!

==================

Southern Cavern [B41F - B45F]

   

Donphan gives way on B41F.

=================

Southern Cavern [B46F - B50F]

  

And so does Pupitar on B46F.

 

Finally, on B49F, the items you can find shift for the rest of the dungeon to include only Metal Coat and TMs.

Metal Coat is our very first evolution item! You can offer it at Luminous Cave to help certain pokemon evolve. However, it alone is not enough to evolve any pokemon.

 -> 

 -> 

The Metal Coat can be used in conjunction with the Link Cable, an item we've yet to find, in order to evolve Onix into Steelix and Syther into Scizor when offered together at Luminous Cave.

Once you're this deep in the dungeon, I recommend you start eating all of your food, saving the Big Apples for last. That will clear up space for the valuables on the last couple of floors and also expand your belly size in the process!

================

In the end, we finally made our way out of the Southern Cavern! What a rough dungeon! But, we got some Metal Coats out of the deal, which is definitely nice! Perhaps one day soon we'll be able to evolve Machete! Only time will tell.

==================

Team Promise

Meanwhile, in Red Rescue Team, we don't actually have access to Furnace Desert just yet, so we couldn't go into that dungeon. But, we were able to obtain Boulder Cave, so we could head on through this dungeon instead!

While completing missions, Team Promise also finally achieved Gold Rank! It's time to start working our way toward Platinum!

==================

 

For this Southern Cavern, I brought in Blizzard alongside myself, leaving Kindle behind for a bit since he wouldn't get much use here. I found myself having a bit more rotten luck with traps and also discovered that sticky items held in a partner's hands cannot be removed. Woops. Ultimately, I was able to make my way through the dungeon pretty healthily, though.

================

New Recruit: Team Promise

------------------------

Farm (Diglett); Lv. 33

Item: None

Ability: Sand Veil, Arena Trap | Moves: Slash, Mud-Slap, Fury Swipes, Dig

=================

Yup, just like Blue Rescue Team, the first pokemon I recruited here was Diglett. Not really much to say in that regard. Here he is! I'll probably evolve him in the next session, too.

[Aura]

Team Recover

--------------------

During my mission time this time around, I was able to recruit a Poochyena in Thunderwave Cave. I named him Sniff.

I also purchased Ice Floe Beach from Wigglytuff Club. This is one of the most expensive friend areas in the game and for no particular reason that I can tell...

 

This friend area is required to recruit only two families of pokemon: Seel, from Mt. Freeze, and Spheal, from Stormy Sea. It doesn't even unlock any dungeons on purchase so I'm really not sure why this one in particular is so expensive, but here we are.

================

New Recruit: Team Recover

-------------------

Sniff (Poochyena); Lv. 3

Item: None

Ability: Run Away | Moves: Tackle

=================

We were also finally able to reach Platinum Rank! We've officially surpassed Team A.C.T., but there's still room to grow! Our next goal is the Diamond Rank!

 

Now then, the next dungeon we'll be taking on is Wyvern Hill. To prepare for this trip, I strongly recommend you come into the dungeon with two keys, which we obtained from Desert Region. If you don't have any keys yet, I recommend holding off until you find some. You might thank me for that. Alongside your keys, make sure you also bring a Cleanse Orb or a No-Stick Cap just in case you're unfortunate enough to step on a Sticky Trap and have your key get sticky. Other than that, this dungeon is actually pretty standard. Just come prepared to face some tough opponents.

=================

 

With a name like Wyvern Hill, it's obvious we'll be dealing with a lot of Dragon-types. So, once again, I brought Blizzard to do most of the dirty work. I also brought Allia along since she has Ice Beam and is my strongest pokemon that isn't weak to Dragon.

-------------------------

Wyvern Hill

In order to gain access to this dungeon, you'll need to have gained access to the Dragon Cave friend area. This is another Friend Area you can't purchase directly, you'll have to unlock it as a mission reward just like Boulder Cave.

The dungeon has a more outdoors aesthetic to it that I don't think we've seen just yet outside of the forest aesthetic. I think this actually makes the dungeon a lot more pleasant looking.

                         

The items you'll find throughout this dungeon include: Poke; Bounce, Pierce, Racket, Special, and Zinc Bands; Def., Pass, and Sneak Scarves; Diet and Joy Ribbons; No-Stick Caps; X-Ray Specs; Iron and Silver Spikes; Sticks; Big Apples; Chesto, Cheri, Pecha, Oran, and Rawst Berries; an assortment of Seeds; Max Elixirs; and an assortment of TMs and Wonder Orbs.

            

The traps you'll encounter throughout this dungeon are Explosion and SelfDestruct Traps; Warp and Gust Traps; Pokemon Traps; Sticky and Grimy Traps; Slow and Mud Traps; Slumber and Spin Traps; and PP-Zero and Seal Traps.

Among these, I believe the only one that's new is the Gust Trap. This trap will blow you away in a straight line, as if you'd been hit by the move Roar or Whirlwind, or a Blowback Orb has been used on you. You fly back until you hit something. If you hit a wall, you'll take damage. If you hit a pokemon, both pokemon will take damage. Additionally, if you land on difficult terrain you can't traverse, you'll be warped to a random location on the map.

------------------------

Wyvern Hill [1F - 3F]

 

For the first three floors, you'll only be encountering Bagon and Dratini. Bagon will always be recruitable here as he requires the Dragon Cave Friend Area that's required for the dungeon. Dratini, on the other hand, requires the Mystic Lake friend area.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [4F]

  

On the fourth floor, Jumpluff joins in on the fun! Sharing a 4x weakness with one of the only two types Dragon is weak against makes his presence here almost feel like a joke. Of course, as a fully evolved pokemon, he can't be recruited.

This floor contains a random weather effect. In my case: Hail.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [5F]

  

On the fifth floor, Bagon is gone and replaced with Altaria who also can't be recruited.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [6F - 8F]

   

Starting on 6F, we'll run into Totodile and Ludicolo! Ludicolo can't be recruited, of course, but Totodile is another case of a starter finally being made recruitable! Totodile can be recruited with the Rub-a-dub River friend area.

On floor 7, I ran into a Monster House! Thankfully, I can show off one of the most exciting things about having a move like Powder Snow...

  

With just a single move, I was able to wipe out an entire Monster House basically for free! This become much less of a headache when you can just do this. I was even actually able to recruit a new friend: Buddy the Totodile!

================

New Recruit: Team Recover

-------------------

Buddy (Totodile); Lv. 29

Item: None

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Rage, Water Gun, Bite, Scary Face

================

Wyvern Hill [9F]

    

Starting on floor 9, you'll begin to run into Shelgon, who has a -19% recruitment rate fitting of his middle evolution status.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [10F]

     

On the 10th floor, Vibrava joins in on the fun as well! Again, a -19% recruitment rate for him. Go get a Trapinch from Furnace Desert! It's easier and doesn't require any grinding to evolve!

----------------------

Wyvern Hill [11F]

    

On the 11th floor, you'll have to say goodbye to Altaria.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [12F]

    

The 12th floor also means goodbye to Totodile, but hello to Dragonair!

This is another floor with a random weather effect. In this case, it's a sandstorm... lovely.

----------------------

Wyvern Hill [13F - 15F]

     

Oddish marches in on the 13th floor... an odd choice for Wyvern Hill, but I suppose it fits with the... grassy environment? Of course, Oddish requires the Jungle friend area to recruit.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [16F]

    

Ludicolo is gone on the 16th floor.

And it's a good thing for me, too, because this floor has another random weather effect and for me it just happened to be rain. With Ludicolo getting the benefit from both Swift Swim and Rain Dish, that could certainly be awkward.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [17F - 20F]

  

Vibrava and Shelgon both give way on floor 17.

 

Now, when you reach 20F, I strongly recommned waiting to take the stairs until you find a secret chamber. The chambers are inside isolated walls like this one with a locked gate at the entrance.

  

In order to open one, you'll need to use a Key from your inventory. That will reveal the contents of the hidden chamber which will usually reveal an especially rare item! As you can probably expect, the key will be consumed if you do this, which is why I suggested you make sure to bring two Keys along with Cleanse Orbs. In case it isn't clear, there's another one deeper in this dungeon.

The secret chamber on the 20th floor of Wyvern Hill contains a Sun Ribbon. The Sun Ribbon is a special item used for evolution of a particular pokemon.

 -> 

By offering a Sun Ribbon at Luminous Cave while having an IQ of at least 2 stars, Eevee is capable of evolving into Espeon! We haven't actually found a dungeon where we can recruit Eevee just yet, but it is one of the pokemon you can potentially start as. Just make sure this is actually the form you want to evolve your starter Eevee into. It's not a decision you can take back and Eevee is well known for having many options for evolution. This is just the first of many. However, it's worth noting that the Sun Ribbon is also only used for Eevee in this game, so if you're not interested, you might just want to pass this chamber up altogether.

-------------------------

Wyvern Hill [21F]

 

On the 21st floor, Dragonair and Oddish give way for Salamence.

----------------------

Wyvern Hill [22F - 24F]

 

On the 22nd floor, Flygon takes the place of Jumpluff.

The 24th floor is home to yet another random weather effect. This time: Sunny! ...Not that it mattered, because the stairs were right there.

-----------------------

Wyvern Hill [25F - 29F]

  

For the final stretch, Dragonite joins the fray. We've got a scary array of dragons this far in, but they all share a common heavy weakness to Ice!

Starting on floor 29 and for the rest of the dungeon, you'll start to find Dragon Scales. These are yet another evolution item.

 -> 

In conjunction with the Link Cable, the Dragon Scale can be used to evolve Seadra into Kingdra at the Luminous Cave! 

----------------------

Wyvern Hill [30F]

 

On the 30th floor, only the toughest dragons are still around.

 

Once again, I strongly recommend passing the stairs on this floor and searching until you come across another chamber. If you use a Key on only one chamber, this one is perhaps the most important.

Inside the chamber on floor 30 of Wyvern Hill is an HM! This one contains the move Fly! With this TM, we can finally revisit Sky Tower and no longer have to immediately trash rescue missions from there! This also means we have a new chance to recruit some of the more useful pokemon there like Shuppet and Duskull...

====================

Once you take the stairs at the end of Wyvern Hill, your trip is over and it's back to the base! Next time, we'll be taking on a dungeon that's actually looking a bit more tame than the ones we've been going through so far, and probably for good reason.

[Aura]

 

This time around there weren't any missions to clear at all, so we were able to go straight into our next dungeon: Solar Cave!

For preparation, just know that this is a much simpler dungeon than the ones we've been though. I recommend coming in with an Apple and Max Elixir or two. But I do recommend coming in with two keys and at least one pokemon capable of traveling over water. You won't regret it. I only have one key in storage at the moment, but you can find more in this upcoming dungeon if you're desperate. I'll just need to get a little lucky.

==================

Solar Cave

This dungeon is unlocked not with a Friend Area, but alongside the unlock of Stormy Sea. I think the reason for that will become apparent when we get a bit deeper inside. It seems intended as an easier transition between the endgame and postgame dungeons.

                          

You have a few interesting items available here that are more than worth your attention. The items available include: Poke; Def. and Pass Scarves; Detect, Patsy, Persim, Stamina, Twist, Weather, and Zinc Bands; Heal Ribbons; X-Ray Specs; Scope Lenses; Gavelrocks; Sticks; Cheri, Oran, and Pecah Berries; Blast, Heal, and Hunger Seeds; Max Elixirs; Moon Stones; Sun Stones; Keys; and an assortment of TMs and Wonder Orbs.

Sticks are an item that have shown up before but I think I forgot to cover them. There's not much to talk about, though. They just seem to be a weaker vesion of Iron Spikes.

 

More important to note are the Moon and Sun Stones! These are evolution items to be used at Luminous Cave!

 -> 

 -> 

 -> 

 -> 

 -> 

The Moonstone can be used to evolve Nidorina into Nidoqueen, Nidorino into Nidoking, Clefairy into Clefable, Jigglypuff into Wigglytuff, and Skitty into Delcatty. Clefairy and Jigglypuff are both pokemon we don't have access to yet, but you might be interested in these Moon Stones if you've been training a Nidoran from Thunderwave Cave or Mt. Thunder, or if you happened to start with Skitty.

 -> 

 -> 

The Sun Stone is a bit less versatile, but it's required to evolve Gloom into Bellossom or Sunkern into Sunflora.

In addition to the Moon and Sun Stones, you can also find more keys here! This might be your go-to dungeon to get keys if you find yourself needing more. It's not a bad choice, either.

              

On the topic of traps, you can find the Explosion and SelfDestruct Traps; Spiked Traps; Summon Traps; Sticky and Grimy Traps; Pitfall, Warp, and Gust Traps; Seal Traps; Poison, Spin, and Slumber Traps; and Slow and Mud Traps.

The Spiked Trap deals a flat 15 damage to any pokemon that steps on it. Pretty straight forward.

Can you guess what the Poison Trap does? I bet you'll never guess that it poisons you.

While the wide array of traps might seem a bit intimidating, all of the traps seem a lot less aggressive in this dungeon. I think across the entire dungeon I only ran into... one or two?

=================

  

Since this dungeon is generally pretty easy overall, I decided to dive in with a somewhat familiar team: Allia, Nature, and Bite! Although, I admittedly somewhat regretted bringing Nature in for reasons that will probably become clear soon, but I really wanted to bring him along because he's been on the verge of evolution for so long now and I just need one more level!

----------------------

Solar Cave [B1F - B3F]

       

For the first three floors, you've got a rather colorful array of Psychic types! These include Wynaut, Girafarig, Beldum, Drowzee, Natu, Spoink, Jynx, and Abra. What a mouthful! Wynaut requires the Echo Cave friend area to recruit and he's just as annoying as his older brothers in the psychic maze. Make sure to deal with him quickly and, if you have to attack him while his counters or Destiny Bond is up, make sure you're going to KO him! Girafarig requires the Sky Blue Plains to recruit. Beldum requires Magnetic Quarry and Drowzee requires Wild Plains. Natu requires Flyaway Forest. Beware of Natu's Synchronize ability! It can actually make things rather awkward if one of your party members is focused on inflicting status ailments on enemies... cough cough. Spoink requires Mt. Deepgreen. Jynx is a fairly tough foe who can't be recruited due to being fully evolved. Abra requires the Decrepit Lab and is incredibly difficult to recruit due to its tendency to Teleport away. If you want to recruit Abra, try to take it out in one shot with a strong super-effective attack.

---------------------

Solar Cave [B4F]

       

On the 4th floor, you'll stop finding those scary Wynaut and they'll be replaced by Meditite which is much more agreeable with me. Meditie requires Mt. Discipline to recruit.

----------------------

Solar Cave [B5F]

     

Girafarig and Beldum take their leave on B5F.

------------------------

Solar Cave [B6F]

  

Drowzee, Natu, and Spoink follow suit on the 6th floor.

-----------------------

Solar Cave [B7F]

On the Seventh floor, we get a change in aesthetic with a sort of underground ruins look to it. Very mysterious!

  

On this floor, Jynx stops appearing and you'll instead find Mr. Mime who can be recruited with the Decrepit Lab. Mr. Mime is a somewhat frustratingly bulky pokemon, but he's got low HP in spite of his high defenses, so gravelrocks and the like are surprisingly effective against them.

------------------------

Solar Cave [B8F]

    

On B8F, we start to find Lunatone and Metang. Lunatone can be recruited with Mt. Moonview, but Metang has a -19% recruitment rate. You're better off tracking down Beldum on the earlier floors or at Mt. Steel. (Hint: You probably want to get one here sinc ethey're already ready to evolve!)

 

On this floor, I actually managed to recruit an Abra! I named him Scatter.

==================

New Recruit: Team Recover

----------------------

Scatter (Abra); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Synchronize, Inner Focus | Moves: Teleport

==================

Solar Cave [B9F]

   

Abra and Meditite no longer appear here, but you might run into a Hypno. They're unrecruitable.

---------------------------

Solar Cave [B10F]

    

Kirlia joins in on B10F. It's another pokemon that likes to Teleport away, but this one has a -19% recruitment rate, so you're probably better off seeking out a Ralts somewhere else.

                   

Starting on this floor, the berries, seeds, and Max Elixirs no longer appear, but all of the other, more valuable items are still available!

 

But on Floor B10, I strongly recommend passing by on the Staircase. I spawned right next to it and, wouldn't you know my luck, the hidden chamber was to the right to me at the very start of the floor and just happened to be in the final room I checked.

Anyway, this Sealed Chamber might not look like much, but it contains the main reason for why this dungeon gets unlocked so suddenly. The item inside this chamber is none other than the Dive HM! But... that's not a Dive HM in the screenshot! Besides, we already got one! Well, if you happen to lose your Dive HM by some recklessness, this is where you'll come to replace it. However, if you come across the location of an HM that you already own, it'll instead be replaced by a Link Cable! This is true as well for the Fly HM we got in Wyvern Hill. If we return to that chamber on Wyvern Hill's 30F, we'd also get another Link Cable!

You might notice the item is on a small island inside the chamber surrounded by water. That's right, just having the key isn't always enough to get your hands on the treasure inside. Thankfully, this isn't nearly as punishing as it could be. You can always make one of your partners the leader temporarily to go and grab the item if your current leader can't navigate the terrain inside. Just know that you can't make new recruits the leader, so don't rely on an idea like that.

Link cables are perhaps the single most valuable evolution item because they're required for quite a lot of evolutions and even required along side a lot of other evolution items! Let's take a deep breath and cover them all!

 -> 

 -> 

 -> 

 -> 

A Link Cable on its own is required to evolve Kadabra into Alakazam, Machoke into Machamp, Graveler into Golem, and Haunter into Gengar. It's an item that facilitates evolution in pokemon that normally require a trade to evolve!

 

 -> 

 -> 

When paired with the King's Rock, the Link Cable can also evolve Poliwhirl into Politoed and Slowpoke into Slowking!

 

 -> 

 -> 

When paired with a Metal Coat from Southern Cavern, it can evolve Onix into Steelix and Scyther into Scizor!

 

 -> 

When paired with a Dragon Scale from Wyvern Hill, Seadra can evolve into Kingdra

 

 -> 

And last but not least, when paired with an Upgrade, Porygon can evolve into Porygon2. That is a lot of responsibility for this one item, so you might want to make sure to revisit some dungeons if you want to evolve everything. Important to note: A Link Cable will be required to fully evolve your starter if you happened to start with Machop.

--------------------------

Solar Cave [B11F]

     

On B11F, Wobbuffet joins the fray. You know how I feel about these guys. They're tougher versions of Wynaut so try to take them out before they can get their counters up and once their counters are up, try to take them out in one shot.

-------------------------

Solar Cave [B12F]

     

On B12F, Chimecho joins the fray. They can be recruited with the Friend Area Thunder Meadow.

-------------------------

Solar Cave [B13F - B14F]

On the 13th floor, you'll find the dungeon aesthetic will change once again to a more deep cave aesthetic.

   

Kadabra will begin to appear here as you say goodbye to Mr. Mime, Lunatone and Metang.

---------------------------

Solar Cave [B15F]

   

Hypno is gone on the 15th floor and replaced by Medicham. These guys can deal some pretty scary amounts of damage and they like to use Calm Mind to stagger their movements if you try to hit them with moves like Dig. Be wary!

 

There is another hidden chamber here on the 15th floor. Just my luck, it was the last possible room to explore once again. I was lucky enough to pick up a second key, though, so I was able to get my hands on the HM inside!

It's here that you'll find the HM for Waterfall! This one doesn't require you to travel over water to get, so it's free as long as you have a key!

-----------------------

Solar Cave [B16F - B17F]

    

Kirlia and Wobbuffet are no more at this stage, but you'll start to find Claydol and Grumpig, both of whom are unrecruitable.

Starting on B16F, you'll begin to find Link Boxes. This is actually the first time in a while these items have appeared in a new dungeon. You might want to seek them out if you're running low, not that the Link Shop is expensive at all at this point in the game.

-------------------------

Solar Cave [B18F - B20F]

   

On the 18th floor, Chimecho disappears.

 

On the 20th floor, I ended up getting a bit of an unfortuante notification: Claydol picked up the Surf. It's a bit of a spoiler of what we'll find here, but yes, you're supposed to be able to find the Surf HM on an island surrounded by water, similarly to the Dive HM in sealed chamber higher up. However, since this one isn't surrounded by a chamber, any wild pokemon capable of travleing over water is also capable of picking it up. This might be good news if you don't have a pokemon that can do so, but more likely, you've probably come prepared to pick it up. So if that happens, this floor turns into a mad dash to find that pokemon! Claydol is the only wild pokemon here capable of causing this grievance. To make matters worse, Claydol also has Teleport, so you'll need to be especially careful about taking it out quickly!

Eventually, I was able to hunt down the Claydol and grab my Surf HM! These are incredibly valuable items so you'll definitely want to grab them where you can.

After grabbing my Surf HM, I made my way to the staircase and finished the dungeon!

And that's Solar Cave! We're almost at the end of these optional dungeons before we have to make our way into the Ancient Relic! Progress is being made! Next time, it's off to Darknight Relic!

[Aura]

It's been a little bit since my last post due to some personal stuff, but I'm back with another update! Though we aren't going to be making much progress in terms of exploring new dungeons. That's because this time around, things progressed in a bit of an unexpected manner...

 

Before we get into that, however, I did take some time to get some evolutions done. In the last session, Nature grew to level 32 meaning he was finally able to evolve into his final stage of evolution! In addition, we recruited an Abra which came at level 16 meaning Scatter, too, was ready to evolve!

In addition, now that we've gotten a Metal Coat from the Desert Area and a Link Cable from Solar Cave, we now have the items necessary to evolve Machete the Scyther!

  

In order to evolve a pokemon like Scyther, you'll need to select "yes" when the game asks if you'd like to offer an item. It'll also ask for an additional item. In some cases, you'll only need one item to evolve, such as using a Sun or Moon Stone on Eevee, or a Link Cable on Kadabra. In Scyther's case, however, we do need to offer a second item in addition to the Link Cable: The Metal Coat!

The result is that Machete is capable of evolving into Scizor!

==================

New Evolutions: Team Recover

------------------------

Nature (Venusaur); Lv. 32

Item: Scope Lens 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Toxic + Leech Seed + Sleep Powder, Bullet Seed

------------------------

Scatter (Kadabra); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Inner Focus, Synchronize | Moves: Teleport

Kadabra is actually a really nice pokemon to have for quick adventures through dungeons. If he goes alone, Teleport can help to warp around and avoid having to explore unnecessary floors altogether. You can just keep warping until you're in the same room as the stairs! Just be careful because you just as easily could wind up in a difficult spot.

------------------------

Machete (Scizor); Lv. 18

Item: Power Band 

Ability: Swarm | Moves: Focus Energy + Quick Attack, Aerial Ace + Pursuit

================

 

As for the unexpected progression this time around, while I was in the middle of evolving my pokemon, I stumbled upon this cutscene in which Bellsprout and Lombre both seemed to notice somebody.

  

Soon, we see a Spinda tottering its way into the square. It falls over in exhaustion, so naturally, everyone comes to help!

  

When the Spinda comes to, he's in our team base and Nature and Allia are both watching over him. He's in good hands!

 

Spinda explains that he's a traveler whose been traveling the world in search of a rumored "mirage Pokemon". Of course, chasing a mirage certain sounds like a journey that will get you killed.

  

Sure enough, this Spinda hasn't had any luck in his search and has resigned to just giving up the hunt after being driven to his wit's end.

 

Nature is shocked by his decision to give up just like that and tries to encourage him.

  

Knowing he's reached his limit, Spinda decides to give you the Clear Wing he's held onto. He explains that it's his biggest clue to the whereabouts of the mirage pokemon. However, he's been unable to figure out much more than that.

 

After explaining about the Clear Wing, Spinda entrusts the Clear Wing to you and fully gives up on his dream, stumbling his way out of the room and leaving Allia and Nature behind with the Clear Wing.

  

With this, Nature suggests that we go and visit Xatu at the top of Great Canyon to ask about the mirage pokemon and see if we can't gather anymore information on the matter. Perhaps we can still help Spinda live out his dream by solving the mystery for him?

 

In order to do so, we'll need to make our way through Great Canyon ourselves. Yes indeed, in order to continue, we'll be going through the very same Great Canyon that we traveled through during the game's main story. As a result, this is a good time to assemble a weaker team who are better suited for the weaker pokemon here. There's no point bringing in Nature and Allia who are far stronger than everything here.

  

I brought in a team of Machete, Scatter, and Sense. I also paid a quick visit to the Gulpin Link Shop to have Scatter remember the move Confusion!

  

When we arrive at the Hill of the Ancients to meet with Xatu, we can show him the Clear Wing and ask about the mirage pokemon.

 

Unfortunately, Xatu doesn't seem to have much information to offer himself...

  

After some pondering, he comes to recall certain pokemon that might be able to help our plea.

  

They rage with the eruptions of volcanoes,

roar as one with the thunder,

and race with the north wind.

The pokemon described here certainly aren't exactly subtle. Xatu explains that these pokemon are said to be "shadows" of the mirage Pokemon and that we should seek them out if we wish to receive further information.

 

He tells us about an island to the northwest known as the "three fields" and suggests we go to visit the Fiery Field to go find one of the three shadows of the mirage.

And with that, we gain access to a new dungeon: Fiery Field! I don't think we're going to got here just yet as we do have a few more friend area-tied dungeons that I'd like to get to first. It seems like going to the Fiery Field is going to turn into a new plot thread for us to follow. This one seems to have more to it than that of the Howling Forest or Stormy Sea.

[Aura]

Well now! It's been a while since an update, hasn't it? Well, there's a couple of reasons for the long wait, but rest assured, we're still going!

Since I've saved up enough money without ever really needing any of the available friend areas, I went ahead and purchased the second of the most expensive friend areas in the game: The Southern Island. This friend area is home to only two pokemon whom we've yet to meet yet. If the name of the island sounds familiar, consider it a clue as to who you can recruit here.

During rescues, I was able to recruit an Aipom from Uproar Forest!

===================

New Recruit: Team Recover

----------------------

Hand (Aipom); Lv. 15

Item: None

Ability: Run Away, Pickup | Moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, Sand-Attack, Astonish

==================

  

Shortly after returning from our mission, I'm a bit caught off guard by a surprise cutscene. Early in the morning, I'm suddenly awoken by an incredibly loud sound.

 

As we step outside, we continue to hear the racket!

Suddenly, a mysterious figure zooms by! Okay, it's a bit cheating when we take a screenshot like this, but this pokemon speeds by with blinding fast speeds, so in normal gameplay you're probably not going to get as good of a look at it. I'll just... continue playing coy about it.

  

Allia seems perplexed by whatever it was she just saw, but it's too early for any investigating, so it's back to sleep.

 

It isn't long before our sleep is interrupted again, this time by Nature, who says there's a commotion at the square again. I suppose we'd better check it out. Perhaps it's related to what we witnessed earlier?

  

Stepping into the square, we find that one of the Kecleon brothers is furious over an apparent theft at his shop. It seems that a large amount of TMs have been stolen overnight!

  

It seems as though Kecleon's shop is the only location that was hit by this thief. This certainly seems to warrant further investigation.

 

Alakazam inquires more about the thief and Kecleon begins recounting his story.

  

He explains that he didn't get a good look at the thief because, as soon as he saw them, they flew off at incredible speeds.

  

 

Alakazam suggests the thief might've flown off toward the Northern Range. Of course, the mystery peaks our heroes' interest as well. We'll want to investigate further.

 

And now, we have another new dungeon to explore and yet another plot thread to follow! We can now go to explore the Northern Range.

===================

However, we're not going to be pursuing any plot threads just yet. I want to continue delving deeper into the optional dungeons from our friend areas. Today, we'll be focusing on Darknight Relic!

In preparation, I went ahead and taught Allia Surf with the HM we got from Solar Cave. It's worth noting that HMs can't be used inside a dungeon, so you may have to visit the Link Shop if you want to de-link moves. It's odd, but you can only freely delink moves when learning TMs inside a dungeon. When you use the TM from the overworld, you have to go delink the moves yourself. If you try to forget a linked move, both moves will be forgotten! That can't be good!

  

This is a rather difficult dungeon, so of course, I ventured forward with my A-team of Allia, Nature, and Bite. Only... this quickly proved to be a terrible idea for reasons we'll go over soon enough.

If you wish to play along, then I strongly urge you to enter this dungeon alone with a pokemon that knows a room-wide attack, Articuno is always a good choice, and make sure to bring extra Max Elixirs, Heal Seeds, Gravelrocks or perhaps stronger overhead items like Geo-Pebbles, you'll actually get a lot more use out of these items than you might think here. Warp Orbs are always nice as well. In addition, Cleanse Orbs might also come in extra handy here since items you pick up in this dungeon have a chance to be sticky on collection.

================

Darknight Relic

In order to gain access to Darknight Relic, you'll need to purchase the Secretive Forest friend area for 6,500P at the Wigglytuff Club. I must say, though, this is perhaps the single most bizarre dungeon I've experienced so far.

                       

                    

The main draw here seems to be the items. Specifically, the held items. As you can see, there are a lot of them here. The items you can find in this dungeon include: Poke, Bounce, Curve, Detect, Patsy, Persim, Pierce, Power, Racket, Special, Stamina, Twist, Weather, and Zinc Bands; Def., Pass, Pecha, Sneak, and Warp Scarves; Diet, Heal, Joy, and Plain Ribbons; No-Stick Caps; Insomniscopes; Lockon Specs; No-Aim Scopes; Scope Lenses; Whiff Specs; X-Ray Specs; Geo-Pebbles and Gravelrocks; Iron Thorns, Silver Spikes, and Sticks; Grimy Food; Oran, Pecha, and Rawst Berries; Blast, Heal, Reviver, Sleep, and Totter Seeds; Max Elixirs; and your typical assortment of TMs.

What. a. mouthful. We've got quite a few new items mixed in here, so let's get into them.

The Curve Band allows thrown items to bounce off of walls. I'm not sure what exactly that means, but it sounds to me like any item thrown straight, when colliding with a wall, will change direction rather than stop, allowing you to pull off some fun trick shots. It's another held item that sounds to me more like a gimmick than anything actually particularly useful.

The Plain Ribbon is so mundane it's kind of hilarious. It literally does nothing and doesn't even sell for much.

The Lockon Specs increases the accuracy of thrown items.

On the contrary, the No-Aim Scope causes thrown items to be thrown in random directions.

Grimy Food will afflict whoever eats it a random status effect. This is the same item a Grime Trap will convert your food into. It's not totally useless, however. As mentioned before, you can throw it at enemies to afflict them with status problems that just might get them off your tail in a desperate situation. It might not sound like much, but trust me, you just might run into a desperate situation here.

             

Trap-wise, there's nothing new, but that only makes the dungeon that much more stressful. You've got your Explosion and Self-Destruct Traps, Pokemon Traps, Pitfall Traps, Sticky and Grimy Traps, Warp and Gust Traps, PP-Zero and Seal Traps, then your Spin, Slumber, Slow, and Mud Traps.

================

Darknight Relic [B1F - B3F]

    

...I think you can suddenly see why this dungeon is such a nightmare. Yes, we've already been over how annoying Ghost-type pokemon can be, and now we've got a whole dungeon of 'em! What a... fun(?) Time? These ghosts will haunt you everywhere you go and terrorize you from within the walls.

To make matters worse, throughout the entire dungeon, there is very thick darkness, severely limiting your field of vision in hallways which gives ghosts that much more of a chance to catch you by surprise. This is a big part of why I urge you to come alone rather than with the typical team of 3.

As for the specific pokemon, well, would it be too much of a surprise if I told you that Shuppet, Misdreavus, Sableye, and Gastly can all be recruited with Darkness Ridge? It actually just might be rather surprising considering it was Secretive Forest that unlocked this dungeon in the first place. Of course, Shedinja can't be recruited since he's fully evolved.

Every single one of these pokemon are obnoxious for their own reasons. Shuppet likes to drain your PP with Spite and Curse you, Misdreavus and Gastly like to confuse you and put you to sleep, then there's Sabeleye whose Detect is absurdly overpowered. I did find out, however, that gravelrocks can pierce through Detect. They can also hit enemies in walls! I wasn't lying when I said those rocks would be your friend here. Shedinja isn't nearly as bad. It's actually really low level here so it's even less dangerous than it normally is. If you have nothing else, you can always throw an item at it to bypass Wonder Guard. Of course, all of these ghost types seem to know the moves Astonish and Night Shade. Both of which can really mess with your team. Astonish can cause you to lose a turn while Night Shade is a move that damages all surrounding pokemon, which means it can deal some pretty devastating damage to your teammates. Another reason to come alone with a powerful pokemon.

It was on floor B2F where I recruited Cloak the Shuppet!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

---------------------

Cloak (Shuppet); Lv. 28

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Knock Off, Screech, Spite, Night Shade

=================

Darknight Relic [B4F - B5F]

    

For the next couple of floors, the pokemon aren't changed.

 

However, the Special and Zinc Bands will cease to appear after the 3rd floor. If you're after those then there's no reason to even go continue further.

-------------------------

Darknight Relic [B6F]

    

On the 6th floor, Shuppet is replaced by its unrecruitable older brother Banette.

-------------------------

Darknight Relic [B7F - B10F]

    

And on B7F, Gastly is replaced with Haunter who has a -19% recruitment rate.

=====================

And it was on B7F where it really sunk in just how dangerous this dungeon really was. You see, I've yet to cover the last challenge. The challenge of your stupid idiot AI recruits who will cause all sorts of problems for you. I've already voiced my grievances about having a Ghost-type in the party as they can block pokemon behind them as they wait for you to clear the way so that they can cut the corner, leaving wide gaps in your party (which can be especially dangerous with such thick darkness, mind you), but, being ghost-types themselves, they can also attack other Ghost-types in the walls. This sounds like a good thing until you recall that the AI in this game is absurdly aggressive for no reason, even if you try to set their tactics to passive options. Normally, if a ghost is attacking you from a wall, the best option is to just keep walking so that the ghost has to move in closer, eventually to be drawn out from the wall. But if you have a ghost-type in your party, they won't see that as an option and will instead elect to challenge that wall-bound pokemon to a 1:1 fight. The only backup you're likely to be able to provide is a gravelrock every chance you get. When you consider the wide variety of annoying and powerful attacks the pokemon in this dungeon have, it is extremely scary when your new recruit picks a fight you know it can't win. Especially when you can't provide any level of direct backup.

And that's all on top of the regular grievances of a new recruit, like the low IQ causing them to step on exposed traps and the like, or the fact that you can't take direct control of them until they're cemented as a permanent team member.

As you can probably tell from the screenshot up there, I did wind up getting KO'd do to a series of unfortunate events. But, I don't see this as a total failure, because it's actually about time we get to talk about this mechanic! I honestly thought it was going to come up a lot sooner than this.

The first time we died in this series, I just let it happen because we were still early on and I didn't have much to lose. You lose a hefty amount of items from your toolbox, any money you had on your person, and naturally any new recruits on your team as well. Needless to say, it's a rather terrible outcome... but that's exactly where Rescue Team's key mechanic comes into play: Friend Rescue!

 

If you die at a really inconvenient time, don't bite the bullet just yet! Much like the many rescue missions you can complete throughout the game from random NPC's, you can also send your own rescue requests to friends! When you die, simply say yes when the game asks if you'd like to issue a distress call and your progress will be quicksaved.

You'll return to the main menu but the top option will read "Awaiting Rescue." You can still continue, but if you do, you won't be rescued and you'll lose all that stuff. That's not good at all! This might be a good time to put the game down and work on whatever homework you've been neglecting...

...I'm sure that's not just me.

Of course, it won't do you any good just to wait around to be rescued. You need to send your rescue request out! In order to do so, go to Friend Rescue on the home menu,

  

Then Get Help, Send SOS Mail, and select your rescue request.

Once you've selected your rescue request, you'll be given a few options as to how you'd like to send your request. You can connect to another copy of Blue Rescue Team using DS Wireless Communications in order to quickly send the mission to a friend. Two copies of Red Rescue Team can link together with a Game Link Cable instead. A copy of Red and Blue Rescue Team can easily connect together using the DS's Dual Slot functionality. Having a copy of Blue Rescue Team in the DS slot and Red Rescue Team in the GBA cartridge slot, you can link the two games together as well. Of course, this option isn't available on models of DS from the DSi and beyond since they unfortuantely lack that coveted GBA backwards compatibility that made the DS Lite oh-so-special.

But, your friend isn't always in the same room as you, or even existant. So, while a bit unweildy and seemingly out of its era, this game comes with a password system! You can generate a password on one copy of the game and share it... however you like! Write it down on a note, text it to a friend, or even just post it online! Even though a password system may have seemed dated at the time, it's actually proven to be the most timeless option here! In the modern era, I'd have to say this is probably the most convenient way to do friend rescues since you and your friend don't even have to physically meet up or even play the game at the same time.

The process here is pretty straight-forward. One player dies and sends a rescue request by one of the previously described methods. Another player receives the rescue request and goes to do the rescue. The rescue functions much like any other mission, if I understand correctly. I've never actually performed one myself. The catch is that, if you get KO'd during a rescue attempt, you cannot be rescued yourself.

  

After a successful rescue, you connect again to send an A-OK Mail which the first player can receive!

 

Now, "Awaiting Rescue" has been replaced with "Revive Team," meaning we're ready to dive deeper into our dungeon!

I posted my rescue password in a status here on ED a while back and, thanks to a friendly stranger, @Blacking Your GF, I was able to return alive and well!

My intentions originally were that I would take this period of time to catch up with Red Rescue Team and then rescue Team Recover with Team Promise, but I was surprised to actually get a response to my status! With this, I'm able to continue along as normal!

Unfortunately, not everything is peachy. I wound up losing Allia in that last tussle and any supporting teammates that were KO'd before the rescue don't get revived. But, thanks to the rescue, I do indeed still have Cloak and can continue pressing forward! Admittedly, going deeper is a rather foolish choice and I really should've used my Escape Orb to leave and come back with a better suited team, but at this point, it was kinda personal. I wanted to finish what I'd started.

=====================

Darknight Relic [B11F]

    

Duskull begins to appear on B11F and they're... actually kinda pushovers.

------------------------

Darknight Relic [B12F - B15F]

    

For the final few floors, you'll start to find Gengar instead of Haunter... not to be confused with the Gengar from the main story... geeze, I really hate this game's naming conventions. Anyway, Gengar seemed surprisingly tame overall, not difficult at all to put away.

And, partially in thanks to our little incident, we actually had room in our party for a new recruit, and that room wound up being occupied by yet another recruit: Grim the Duskull!

=================

New Recruit: Team Recover

---------------------

Grim (Duskull); Lv. 35

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Curse, Pursuit, Confuse Ray, Astonish

=================

And with that, we've finally reached the end of Darknight Relic! What a nightmare of a dungeon and... really not worth it at all. If I'm being totally honest, I don't see any possible reason you should ever subject yourself for going through this entire dungeon. The only reason I can even consider at the moment is perhaps if you really need a Ghost-type pokemon. There is merit to that, after all. Ghost-types can be incredibly useful as long as they're not just your stupid newly-recruited friend.

===================

 

But before we sign off for the day, I want to make one final pit stop tonight: The Pelipper Post Office. This is a place I've been waiting to show off in detail until our first real death. Granted, I expected the context to be that I'd be rescuing Team Promise with Team Recover, so the experience is a little upside-down from what I had planned, but that's fine. Anyway, this place isn't just a world-building exposition machine.

 

The Pelipper here basically serve as an in-game version of the Friend Rescue menu from the main menu. You can come here to receive SOS Mail, Send and Receive A-OK Mail, and then there's thank-you mail which I consider to be an incredibly important part of being rescued.

  

You can send a Thank-You Mail to the person who rescued you and, optionally, attach an item as well. The Thank-You Mail isn't a required step in the rescue process, but after your friend went through all the effort of risking their valuables just to rescue you, the least you could do is offer up one of your own as thanks. Imagine if you'd lost everything in your inventory instead of just one valuable item. I think it's important to be thankful like that!

Well, with all that aside, it looks like next time we've got one more optional dungeon to explore before finally returning to our numerous plot threads.